Platonic

Dumbledore's office was silent. Dumbledore was on his chair and in front of him, Chris and Harry sat in their usual seats. Every portrait of the previous headmaster and headmistress were awake and leaning forward to hear what was going on.

"I have been hoping for this piece of evidence for a very long time," said Dumbledore at last. "It confirms the theory on which I have been working, it tells me that I am right, and also how very far there is still to go. . . ."

"Seven then," said Chris.

"Yes, seven," nodded Dumbledore.

"He made seven Horcruxes?" said Harry, horror-struck, while several of the portraits on the walls made similar noises of shock and outrage.

"And we have destroyed only two," sighed Chris. "The Diary and the Locket."

"What else there could be? We have five more left," said Harry shocked.

"I am glad to see you appreciate the magnitude of the problem," said Dumbledore calmly. "But firstly, no, Harry, not five Horcruxes: four. The seventh part of his soul, however, maimed, resides inside his regenerated body. That was the part of him that lived a spectral existence for so many years during his exile; without that, he has no self at all. That seventh piece of the soul will be the last that anybody wishing to kill Voldemort must attack — the piece that lives in his body."

"But four more Horcruxes, then," said Harry, a little desperately, "how are we supposed to find them?"

"I have my guesses," said Dumbledore. "And I think you, Harry, know too what the other Horcruxes could be. Lord Voldemort liked to collect trophies, and he preferred objects with a powerful magical history. His pride, his belief in his own superiority, his determination to carve for himself a startling place in magical history; these things suggest to me that Voldemort would have chosen his Horcruxes with some care, favouring objects worthy of the honour."

"Like the Slytherin's locket," said Chris.

"Yes," said Dumbledore. "For the reasons I have already given, I believe that Lord Voldemort would prefer objects that, in themselves, have a certain grandeur. I have therefore trawled back through Voldemort's past to see if I can find evidence that such artefacts have disappeared around him."

"Hufflepuff's cup!" said Harry loudly. "Marvolo's ring!"

"Yes," said Dumbledore, smiling, "I would be prepared to bet my hand, that they became Horcruxes three and four. The remaining two, assuming again that he created a total of six, are more of a problem, but I will hazard a guess that having secured objects from Hufflepuff and Slytherin, he set out to track down objects owned by Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. Four objects from the four founders would, I am sure, have exerted a powerful pull over Voldemort's imagination. I cannot answer for whether he ever managed to find anything of Ravenclaw's. I am confident, however, that the only known relic of Gryffindor remains safe."

"Do you think that's why he really wanted to come back to Hogwarts, sir?" said Harry. "To try and find something from one of the other founders?"

"My thoughts precisely," said Dumbledore. "But unfortunately, that does not advance us much further, for he was turned away, or so I believe, without the chance to search the school. I am forced to conclude that he never fulfilled his ambition of collecting four founders' objects. He definitely had two — he may have found three — that is the best we can do for now."

"So he got something from Ravenclaw's too and then?" asked Chris. "There is another one."

"Yes, and I think I know what the sixth Horcrux is. I wonder what you will say when I confess that I have been curious for a while about the behaviour of the snake, Nagini?"

"The snake?" said Harry, startled. "You can use animals as Horcruxes?"

"Well, it is inadvisable to do so," said Dumbledore, "because to confide a part of your soul to something that can think and move for itself is obviously very risky business. However, if my calculations are correct, he used Nagini to kill an old Muggle man, and it might then have occurred to him to turn her into his last Horcrux. She underlines the Slytherin connection, which enhances Lord Voldemort's mystique; I think he is perhaps as fond of her as he can be of anything; he certainly likes to keep her close, and he seems to have an unusual amount of control over her, even for a Parselmouth."

"So," said Harry, "the diary's gone, the locket's gone. The ring, the cup, and the snake are still intact, and there might be a Horcrux that was once Ravenclaw's."

"An admirably succinct and accurate summary, yes," said Dumbledore, bowing his head.

"And you are still looking for them. Is that where you've been going when you've been leaving the school, Professor?" asked Chris.

"Yes and no," said Dumbledore. "I have been looking for them but I am also visiting the places where Malgino lived and grew up before he attended Hogwarts. I have also visited a few places he went after he left Hogwarts. Though I have to say, I didn't expect very much from those places considering the amount of time had passed after that."

"You have?" Chris gaped at Dumbledore.

"Yes, Christina," Dumbledore nodded. "But I am afraid I am not so close to the secret of Malgino as much as I am to Voldemort's. But there are hopeful signs for the next Horcrux."  

Chris leaned back on her chair feeling a little better. If they were close to the next Horcrux then they will soon found out about Malgino.

"And if you do find the next one, sir," said Harry quickly, "can I come with you and help get rid of it?"

Dumbledore looked at Harry very intently for a moment before saying, "Yes, I think so."

"I can?" said Harry, thoroughly taken aback.

"Yes, you both can," said Dumbledore smiling as he saw Chris opening her mouth. "I think I will need your assistance."

****

"Hey," said Chris sitting beside Harry in the common room.

"Hi," smiled Harry.

It was the first day of the Easter holidays and Hermione, as was her custom, had spent a large part of the day drawing up study schedules for Chris, Ginny, Colin and Luna for their O.W.L.s.

While Ginny, Colin and Ron sat near Hermione talking and watching her tapping each little square on their schedules with her wand so that it flashed a different colour according to its subject, Harry and Chris sat near the window.

"Well, umm — Harry, I was just —" Chris sighed. "Look, I'm a little uneasy about the whole Slughorn thing. I just want to ask, can we go back to being friends, like we were before?"

"Yeah," Harry said after a moment. "Sure. No problem. The Slughorn thing was not that weird. I mean, you were just helping me, weren't you? I am very thankful for that and we're good, don't worry."

"Great," Chris smiled. 

"Chris, what do you think?" Hermione said holding up the schedules.

"Lovely," Chris said sliding up to them.

Yeah, keep things platonic and everything will go back to normal. That's it!

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To be continued. . .