The room fell silent. Just then, Harry appeared at the top of the stairs.
There were still green grass and leaves clinging to him, as though he had just been rolling around on the ground in the grove.
“Harry, why are you alone? Where’s Ginny?” Hermione asked. “Weren’t you on a date with her?”
“Shh, keep your voice down. Mrs. Weasley doesn’t know we’re all gathered here. She thinks you lot are dutifully doing the chores she set you,” Harry made a gesture and pointed downstairs. “We ran into Mrs. Weasley and Fleur just as we walked in. They kept Ginny behind. I heard Fleur saying sothing about a wedding rehearsal. Ginny and Gabrielle are both bridesmaids. Oh, and Gabrielle — they’re looking for you right now!”
“Then I’d better go down. My sister already told there would be one or two rehearsals. I think it’s necessary. I’m so nervous, and I don’t even know how many guests will be at the wedding. If I ss up, it will be dreadful,” Gabrielle hurried downstairs as she spoke. “Don’t worry, I’ll just say I didn’t see the five of you.”
“No matter how many guests co, it’s not going to help Mum’s stress levels,” said Ron, watching Gabrielle’s retreating back.
“All right, let’s go inside to talk,” said Evan, stepping into the room. Then, as if rembering sothing, he added, “Unless Harry wants to see the ghoul.”
“See what?” Harry looked puzzled, but when Ron showed him the ghoul, his expression imdiately turned queasy.
Harry and Ron spent a little while talking about the ghoul and Ron’s plan. Harry seed to be trying to persuade Ron not to co with them.
Just like Evan’s concerns, Harry also felt guilty that everyone was giving up so much to be with him.
He wanted to persuade Ron to stay until Hermione said impatiently, “This matter has been decided, Harry. What we really need to discuss now is not whether we should follow you and Evan, nor a funny ghoul in pajamas, but where we’re going and what we’re going to do after we leave here. First of all, it’s certain that we have to go into Gringotts to get Hufflepuff’s Golden Cup. It’s both a Horcrux and the key to finding Hufflepuff’s treasure. We have to get it.”
“That’s right, so we have to break into Gringotts,” Evan followed up. “I got so information from Bill and I roughly know what is under Gringotts. In fact, it’s not as difficult as it sounds. There’s a simple way. Harry, Hermione, do you rember? When we followed Sirius to Gringotts to get the title deed in our third year, we passed by Bellatrix’s vault on the way to the Black family vault. Unless I’m mistaken, that’s where the Cup is kept.”
“But how will we know which one is Bellatrix’s vault? They all look the sa.”
“I’ll use magic to control the goblin guiding us. But if I do that, we’ll probably be listed as the most unwelco people by the goblins.”
No one minded. These were extraordinary tis, and extraordinary asures were needed. Explanations to the goblins could co later.
Surely, once Voldemort was defeated, the goblins would forgive them for breaking into Gringotts.
And if they lost to Voldemort, then whether or not they earned the goblins’ forgiveness wouldn’t matter at all.
“Speaking of Horcruxes, considering that except Evan, none of us actually know much about them, especially Elaine who knows nothing at all, I think it’s necessary to go over this Dark magic again,” said Hermione, pulling Secrets of the Darkest Arts, which recorded the magic of Horcruxes out of Evan’s cloth bag.
“rlin’s pants, you don’t carry this book with you all the ti, do you?” said Ron with disgust.
“Of course I do. Any book that’s useful should be kept close at hand, even if it’s one full of evil magic,” said Hermione firmly, carefully opening the book as if it were sothing recently dead. “Don’t make that face, Ron. Yes, this book is terrifying, but it’s also useful. Let see… at present, the Horcruxes Voldemort has left are Hufflepuff’s cup and the statue of the evil god. I rember you telling before that Voldemort made a total of seven Horcruxes.”
“It’s just a possibility. He only approached Slughorn to find out what would happen if you split your soul into seven,” said Harry.
“I can’t believe he actually wanted to split his soul into seven,” Hermione whispered. “It warns in this book how unstable you make the rest of your soul by ripping it, and that’s just by making one Horcrux! This kind of thing is beyond the scope of ordinary evil. The soul can only be split through killing.”
“We know that, he doesn’t care,” Ron couldn’t help shuddering. “Isn’t there any way of putting yourself back together?”
“Yes,” said Hermione with a hollow smile, “but it would be excruciatingly painful. Unlike killing and splitting the soul, the soul can only be rged through remorse. You’ve got to really feel what you’ve done. There’s a footnote. Apparently the pain of it can destroy you. I can’t see Voldemort attempting it sohow, can you? Anyway, assuming there really are seven Horcruxes, we’ve already destroyed Riddle’s diary, Slytherin’s locket, and Ravenclaw’s diadem —”
“— and Marvolo Gaunt’s ring. It was on Dumbledore’s hand and disappeared with him. It’s a special Horcrux,” said Evan. “It’s made up of all of Voldemort’s goodwill and a fragnt of his soul, which was forcibly stripped away by Salazar Slytherin. Dumbledore said it no longer had anything to do with Voldemort.”
“A special Horcrux… if it’s no longer tied to him, would Voldemort even count it as a Horcrux?” Hermione murmured. “Even if we include it, we’re still short one.”
“Don’t worry,” Evan paused and glanced at Harry. “He may not have had ti to make it. We only need to consider destroying the golden cup and the statue.”
“The most troubleso thing is the evil god statue. Destroying it will be very difficult.”
“Wait, what’s the thod for destroying a Horcrux? Stab it with a basilisk’s fang?” Harry asked.
He knew that the three destroyed before had all been done with basilisk fangs.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a basilisk’s fang,” said Evan. “Anything else will work, as long as it’s powerful enough. The basilisk’s fangs are only effective because they have only one, incredibly rare antidote: phoenix tears.”
“Exactly. You have to use sothing so destructive that the Horcrux can’t repair itself. Otherwise, even ripping, smashing, or crushing a Horcrux won’t do the trick,” Hermione read the book patiently. “Unlike a human soul, the fragnt of soul depends entirely on its container, its enchanted body, for survival. It can’t exist without it.”
“This magic is very interesting. Are there any specific restrictions on what can serve as a container for a Horcrux?” Elaine suddenly asked.
“So far, it seems there aren’t. Theoretically, it could be an object, a person, or even a spell,” said Evan.
“A spell?”
“This is just a theoretical possibility. There’s no concrete evidence that Voldemort ever preserved a fragnt of his soul inside a spell, and I don’t think he would have,” said Evan. “That would be too hasty and dangerous. You know, Voldemort carefully selected each of his Horcruxes. …”
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