---
"This is a curse! It was Voldemort who killed Old Tom's family!"
This was an obvious conclusion, and Harry answered without hesitation.
Dumbledore nodded.
He smiled and said, "Clearly Voldemort killed his grandparents and the father who did not want him.
And he must have used mory magic on Morfin.
In addition, he probably stole Morfin's ancestral ring. To Morfin, losing that ring was the most terrifying thing.
He believed that if the ring were gone, his father would certainly kill him."
Harry instinctively glanced at the ring on Dumbledore's hand.
Dumbledore casually covered it with the sleeve of his robe.
Without explaining, he continued, "It took a great deal of effort to extract this mory from Morfin's mind. In recent months, I have been trying to clear his na.
But Morfin did not wait long enough. He died in Azkaban not long afterward."
As he spoke, Dumbledore took another crystal bottle from his pocket.
Harry and Darren both noticed that the mory inside looked lumpy and fragnted.
But mories could not naturally decay like that.
Dumbledore poured it into the Pensieve.
"Before we finish, there is one more mory for you to see. After that, I will give you your first piece of howork."
Darren did not need to guess—it had to be Slughorn's mory.
Sure enough, when they entered, they saw Slughorn.
He was much younger then. His hair was completely black.
His belly was still large, but not as sagging as now.
He was resting his feet on a soft stool.
Six or seven boys surrounded him.
The most striking among them was Tom Riddle.
But Harry still felt he was not as handso as Darren.
Tom already wore the ring on his hand.
Clearly, his father had already been killed.
He smiled and asked Slughorn, "Professor, is Professor rrythought about to retire?"
"You sly boy, even if I knew I wouldn't tell you!"
Slughorn laughed.
Then thick smoke filled the room.
From within the smoke ca Slughorn's unnaturally loud voice:
"You will make mistakes, child!"
The smoke cleared.
Judging by the confused expressions on the students' faces, this was clearly not what had originally happened.
Slughorn then urged everyone to leave.
"It's late…"
Tom Riddle remained behind.
"Sir, I wanted to ask you sothing."
"Ask, my boy."
"Sir, do you know anything about Horcruxes—"
Smoke suddenly billowed again.
Slughorn's voice burst out loudly just as before:
"I know nothing about Horcruxes, and even if I did, I would not tell you! Leave at once, boy!"
Dumbledore chuckled.
"That will do. Let us return."
He brought Darren and Harry back.
A thoughtful smile rested on his face.
"Darren, what do you see?"
"This mory has been altered."
Darren answered without hesitation.
Dumbledore nodded approvingly.
"Exactly. And this is the howork I must give you. I need you to persuade Professor Slughorn to reveal his true mory willingly."
Harry asked quickly, "Headmaster, even you can't do it?"
"No. Professor Slughorn is an expert in mory.
After I forced him to surrender this version, he most likely began carrying antidotes to Veritaserum.
That ans we cannot rely on Truth Potion. The only way is for him to give it of his own free will.
And I do not wish for Slughorn to leave Hogwarts."
Dumbledore smiled gently.
"Now, children, it is late. You should go to bed."
---
The next day.
Harry told Hermione and Ron about Dumbledore's assignnt.
"I think it's easy. If you and Darren go together, he likes you both so much he'll definitely hand it over!"
Ron said while stuffing his mouth with breakfast.
Hermione shot him a disgusted look.
"Don't listen to him. Don't startle the snake. You and Darren must prepare carefully before speaking to Slughorn.
Asking directly is the stupidest thod possible.
If it were that simple, Dumbledore would have succeeded long ago.
Professor Slughorn wouldn't give it to Dumbledore, so why would he give it to you?"
Hermione sounded pessimistic.
Harry was unconvinced.
"Maybe Darren can do it. Slughorn likes Darren the most.
He believes Darren will be a great figure soday, maybe even Minister of Magic.
If Darren asked, he might agree."
Darren rolled his eyes.
"You're dreaming. This is about Horcruxes.
Slughorn wouldn't even admit he knew the word, let alone discuss it.
Do you think a professor who values his reputation would expose such a secret just because I asked?"
Darren said helplessly.
Hermione nodded firmly.
Harry and Ron exchanged looks.
They could not find any argunt.
The more they thought, the more Darren made sense.
"So what do we do?"
Harry had no idea.
Darren rubbed his chin and smiled.
"Actually, I do have a plan. Get Professor Slughorn drunk, then play the emotional card.
If soone did that to , I'd tell them everything."
[Ding, Father 100]
[Ding, Father 100]
[Ding, Father 100]
[Ding…]
"Oh please, you'd spill everything even without an emotional card!"
Harry looked at Darren helplessly.
Still, the idea itself was not bad.
Using emotion on Slughorn…
Harry instinctively looked at Hermione.
He thought she would volunteer.
But Darren imdiately objected.
"No. Drunk n can behave unpredictably.
I think when n are drinking, girls should not be present."
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