Chapter 733: The Most Magical Number (Edited)

Accompanied by Professor McGonagall and Hermione, Fish happily finished his breakfast.

Professor McGonagall hesitated whether to ask Fish what they had been doing last night but ultimately chose to trust Fish and Hermione.

"By the way, what happened with Horace? Did Harry succeed, nya?"

?ω?

However, after wiping his mouth with a handkerchief, Fish asked Hermione in front of Professor McGonagall.

Hermione looked at Professor McGonagall and felt there was nothing to hide, so she casually replied, "It worked, and that memory is here with me now. Harry believes Dumbledore should see it as soon as possible."

"Professor Slughorn should be hiding in his office right now, after the few words I directed at him this morning." Professor McGonagall answered Fish's first question. Furthermore, with Fish and Hermione stating the obvious, there was no need for Professor McGonagall to pretend otherwise. "So, did you go through all that trouble last night just to get a memory from Professor Slughorn?"

"Yes! It was Albus who asked Fish and Harry to go see Horace for his memories, nya!" Fish responded without hesitation after two seconds of sympathy for Professor Slughorn.

Anyway, it wasn't like he was in trouble, so naturally, Fish wasn't going to hide it from Professor McGonagall. "Albus said the memory might contain clues about Voldemort's Horcruxes, and Harry only got it after Fish reminded him to use the Felix Felicis potion!"

(`´)

Fish said with self-satisfaction, taking credit for it.

"I see..." Professor McGonagall then realized what was going on, nodded, and said, "Then you should give the memories to Dumbledore as soon as possible... but he left Hogwarts three days ago, and he is no longer at the school."

"Fish has the two-way mirror to contact Albus, nya!"

(ΦωΦ)

Fish took out a small delicate mirror from his magical bag.

The mirror was dark, but it was evident that the other two-way mirror was in a pocket or a box.

"Hey! There it is again, this mirror is so useless! It's not as useful as a Muggle telephone." Fish shouted at the dark mirror twice and, not getting a response, resentfully put it back in his pocket.

It seemed he would have to wait until the agreed-upon time in the evening when he would use the two-way mirror to contact Dumbledore.

But before that...

"Minerva, let's first check this memory!"

(?ω?)

It was basically impossible for Fish to restrain his curiosity; it's not like he didn't know how to use the Pensieve anyway.

Although Professor McGonagall knew that if she forced him to stop, Fish would obediently wait until Dumbledore returned, but...

Why stop him? Anyway, the memory wasn't going to suddenly disappear.

So she smiled and shook her head, then squeezed Fish's soft cat ears before saying contentedly, "I won't go, there is still a lot of work to be done at the school. You and Hermione can handle it."

Fish didn't insist, took Hermione's hand, and rushed towards the Headmaster's office.

As soon as the two stepped onto the automatically rotating spiral staircase, Fish ran up ahead of Hermione.

"Fish will go for the Pensieve first! Hermione, you too, hurry up!"

=(=(ω=(ω)

Fish rushed up the stairs and burst into the Headmaster's office.

"Good morning, Fawkes, Phineas, Darius, Armando...!"

Fish quickly greeted Fawkes on his perch and the headmasters in the portraits on the wall before cheerfully retrieving the Pensieve from a nearby cabinet.

"So, did you get it?" Phineas asked from the portrait.

"Yes! Fish and Harry and the Order of the Cat did it together!"

(`´)

While waiting for Hermione, Fish excitedly shared his actions from last night with the Headmasters.

Just as Fish was giving a brief account of the previous night, Hermione finally arrived, out of breath and running late.

"You... you ran too... too fast..." Hermione clung to the oak door, gasping heavily for breath.

Fish ran to her side, helped her sit in front of the desk, and handed her a drink bottle.

"Hermione, give the bottle to Fish nya!"

(?ω?)

Once Hermione caught her breath, Fish reached out his hand, urging her to continue.

Hermione gave Fish an annoyed look and took out the glass bottle containing Professor Slughorn's memories from her bag.

Fish uncorked the bottle, poured the silvery-white substance into the Pensieve, and then lifted the stone basin and swirled the memories as if they were made of gold. The faces of young Professor Slughorn and Voldemort appeared and disappeared in the basin, and a fragmented voice filled with dangerous words emerged:

"The soul... division... murder..."

"...horcruxes... more..."

But soon the images and sounds faded away, leaving behind a pearlescent silvery-white substance in the basin that couldn't be defined as either liquid or gas.

Fish held the Pensieve in his hand and impatiently immersed himself in it, followed by Hermione.

After a long-awaited whirlwind, the two found themselves back in Professor Slughorn's office from decades ago.

Voldemort and a few other male students were gathered around Professor Slughorn, discussing topics that didn't interest Fish and that he had already heard once.

Bored, Fish strolled around the room and tried to examine the ornaments that caught his attention.

Unfortunately, the objects of his memory were intangible, so after a couple of turns, Fish returned to Hermione's side.

By then, several of the other students had already left, and only the young Voldemort remained.

"Sir, I wanted to ask if you knew about Horcruxes..."

Voldemort repeated the question, but this time, there was no white mist obscuring his vision, nor were there any changes in Professor Slughorn's or Voldemort's influence.

In fact, there should have been another mist before this one, but once again, it didn't appear.

But Fish and Hermione, who had known that the last memory had been altered, were not surprised, as they had already directed their attention to Professor Slughorn and Riddle in the midst of their conversation.

As Dumbledore had said, Professor Slughorn had been very indulgent with his favorite student, sharing with Riddle most of the instructions for creating Horcruxes, knowing that they were not at all good, except for the final step of sealing the soul fragments.

And Professor Slughorn took it upon himself to excuse Riddle: "It's only natural for him to be curious about these things... talented wizards are always drawn to the magical side of things..."

But thanks to his attitude, the ever-cautious Riddle had been given an inch.

"Yes, sir," said Riddle. "But what I don't understand is... just out of curiosity, what I want to ask is, does a Horcrux serve any real purpose? Can the soul only be divided once? Wouldn't it be better to have more pieces, to make yourself stronger? For example, isn't seven the most magical number?"

Upon hearing this dreadful hypothesis, it was clear that Professor Slughorn regretted it, but probably out of preference for Riddle, and partly out of luck, he not only continued to insist that it was only an academic discussion, but also warned Riddle not to tell anyone.

"People won't be pleased to know that we've been discussing Horcruxes. It's forbidden at Hogwarts, you know... Dumbledore is particularly strict about it..."

"I won't say anything, sir," Riddle said and left.

As he turned around, an expression of ecstasy filled his face, just like when he had first discovered he was a wizard. That joy didn't make his face more handsome, but rather a bit somber...

The memory ended there, and Fish and Hermione rose into the air, and moments later, both landed again on the floor of the headmaster's office.

In front of them, besides the Pensieve, was Dumbledore, who had hurried back from outside the school when he realized the protective magic of his office had been activated.