Chapter 725: Mission Failure (Edited)

"Fish hasn't even started drinking yet!"

Fish shouted angrily at Slughorn.

"Eh? Ah! I'm sorry..." Professor Slughorn unconsciously apologized and then proceeded to prepare the cup of black tea again.

Fish grabbed the cup, brought it close to his nose, sniffed it to make sure it was the same cup he had just taken, and then smiled satisfactorily as he took a small sip.

After apologizing, Slughorn rubbed his bald head, confused, suddenly feeling that something was wrong...

Weren't we talking about Horcruxes?

After all the commotion Fish had caused, his emotions became disjointed.

Harry took the opportunity to continue, "Professor, Dumbledore is searching for Voldemort's Horcrux and he needs you to give him a clue. Otherwise, even if we defeat Voldemort this time, he'll come back just like a year ago!"

Professor Slughorn's gaze flickered for a moment, as if Harry had convinced him a little.

But after a moment of hesitation, he shook his head firmly and said in a low voice, "I have no clue. The memory I gave to Dumbledore earlier is all I have."

Of course, he knew why Voldemort had returned to life. Even when The Daily Prophet had mocked Harry and Dumbledore in various ways, he had believed that Voldemort had returned to life...

Because, from Slughorn's perspective, he himself had shown young Voldemort part of the path to creating a Horcrux, and the cruelest part at that. He believed it was his own mistake that had allowed Voldemort to create it.

But Slughorn had no idea what Voldemort's Horcruxes were, and that's why he hid the memory from Dumbledore.

If he had known that Voldemort had created more than one Horcrux, and that Dumbledore was primarily interested in determining the number of Horcruxes, he might not have resisted as much as he did now.

Unfortunately, he had reacted too strongly to that, and had little patience to wait for Dumbledore or Harry to explain what they were really plotting.

"Well, that's all I can tell you. I'm going back to bed!" Professor Slughorn walked away absentmindedly, not looking like he wanted to sleep again.

"Why don't you tell us the truth? Did you make Voldemort's Horcruxes for him?!"

Fish, seeing that Harry had failed in the negotiation, immediately left his tea cup and jumped up to interrogate him.

"What?!" Professor Slughorn's face turned white instantly because he had actually thought about it himself... but of course, he couldn't admit such a thing.

So, Professor Slughorn, with trembling lips, roared in horror, "That's slander! Do I look like a man who would do something so cruel?"

And yet, in doing so, he made himself appear even more conceited.

"I thought you said you knew nothing about Horcruxes."

Fish pointed at Slughorn's bald head and continued questioning him.

Faced with Fish's question, Slughorn's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, but nothing came out, and he was left speechless.

"...Get out! I'm going to bed!"

Finally, in a fit of anger, he abruptly kicked Fish and Harry out of his office.

With a bang, Professor Slughorn slammed the door shut behind Fish and Harry, signaling the end of their negotiation.

"Tch! That's why Albus won't let Fish do it, or he'll have to make Horace look good!"

Fish, who had been expelled from the room, said with a pout, "Fish must have been right, judging by how guilty he seems!"

Harry didn't really believe that Professor Slughorn would do such a thing, and after thinking about it, he conjectured, "Perhaps, as Professor Dumbledore suspected, he actually told Voldemort how to create Horcruxes..."

"Is that so, nya?" Fish shook his head, perplexed. "Then it doesn't make sense for us to ask for his memories."

"Because they are just assumptions, we'll have to see the real memories to know what's going on." Harry patiently explained to Fish, "This is probably the closest lead to Voldemort's Horcrux."

"Then let Fish knock him out directly and give him Veritaserum, nya!" Fish growled impatiently.

Harry chuckled bitterly and didn't say anything.

In fact, he agreed that Fish's plan had a good chance of success, but it would offend Professor Slughorn to the core, and Dumbledore would never have accepted Fish's method unless it was truly urgent.

Fish murmured and grumbled as Harry and he walked back.

Fish was fine; he just needed a nap. But Harry, on the other hand, especially because they hadn't slept more than a few hours last night after reading three memories in Dumbledore's office and discussing them afterwards, was so tired that he could barely keep his eyes open.

"That's it, nya!"

∑(ΦДΦ)

As the two approached the Gryffindor dormitory, Fish suddenly shouted, startling the drowsy Harry who was following Fish almost subconsciously.

"What's wrong?"

Harry sleepily looked around, not understanding what was happening.

"Fish has a way to make Horace tell the truth, nya!"

(?ω?)

Fish exclaimed excitedly.

"What is it?" Harry asked absentmindedly, yawning. He didn't really believe that Fish had any good ideas; he just wanted to sleep now...

Then Harry, still dazed, heard Fish say, "If we can't give the potion to Horace, we can drink it instead!"

Indeed...

Harry yawned again, tears forming, and mumbled, "What's the point of us drinking Veritaserum...?"

"Who said you need to drink Veritaserum? Don't you have a bottle of Felix Felicis?"

Fish's somewhat powerless voice sounded in his ears.

Harry, still dazed, unconsciously nodded and uttered a sleepy "hmmm," but as soon as his brain processed the content of Fish's words, he snapped back to reality.

"All right! How could I forget about this! Maybe it will work." Harry also became excited.

"So, what are you waiting for? Go and try it!" Fish urged.

Although he wanted to get this over with, Fish also wanted to see the effects of the potion.

Harry, however, quickly calmed down after his excitement and said with a bitter smile, "We just came back from Professor Slughorn's office, so it's not a good idea to go back now. And..."

He yawned again.

"I'm just too sleepy right now."

"Fine then..."

(?ω?)

Fish sighed in frustration. "Why isn't your Animagus form a cat? Then you could recover from sleep as quickly as Hermione, nya..."

Harry sighed...

Don't even mention it, he regretted it a long time ago.