What appeared before Draco's eyes was a younger Horace Slughorn.
The bald head he knew now was covered with a full head of thick, glossy blond hair, and Draco truly was not used to seeing Professor Horace like this.
And at this age, Professor Horace's beard was nowhere near as long or thick as it was now. It was not white either, but ginger, and his body had not yet become the round, walrus-like shape Draco was familiar with.
Still, the beginnings of that future stoutness could already be faintly seen...
At that moment, Professor Horace seemed completely unable to see Draco and the others at all. He simply had his small feet propped up on a large velvet cushion and was reclining halfway in a comfortable wingback chair.
He looked far more spirited at this age.
Not only that, he was leisurely holding a small glass of wine in one hand while the other carefully selected sweets from a dessert box.
Draco withdrew his gaze from him and looked at the time on the wall, using that to make a judgment. Professor Horace was most likely having afternoon tea right now...
Just as Draco was observing the surroundings, a soft cry sounded out. Hermione had arrived as well.
First of all, it had to be said that a Pensieve was not something used often. More accurately, it was not the sort of magical object an ordinary wizard would ever get to use.
Nor was there any real necessity for it.
Even someone like Draco, with his background and standing, had not actually used one many times, let alone Hermione, who was only truly seeing the real thing for the first time today.
It was easy to imagine, then, how everything about the Pensieve felt fresh and fascinating to Hermione.
So the instant she appeared beside Draco, he very clearly saw that gleam in her eyes. She looked as excited as a thief who had just found a great treasure.
In fact, the way she immediately started touching things and looking around without a word was enough to show just how curious she was about the scene....
Watching her own small hand pass straight through an object, Hermione widened her eyes in adorable surprise. "My hand... went through it?!"
Seeing Hermione's silly reaction and taking in everything, Draco let out a quiet laugh, clearly in a good mood. "What you're seeing now is only a memory from the past. It doesn't really exist, so of course you can't touch it."
"A memory... can actually do something like this? Magic really is amazing..."
Thoughtfully, she drew her hand back.
She looked up at Professor Horace, who was busy with his own things. His vivid, lifelike presence made it very difficult for Hermione to believe this was just a memory.
It reminded her of a film, except this was one you could experience in person.
Pansy, who appeared a moment later, also saw Hermione's reaction, and rolled her eyes in annoyance at how embarrassing it was.
She was a witch herself, yet she was still sighing over how amazing magic was?
Before Pansy could open her mouth and mock Hermione, the door, which seemed to be the Slytherin Head of House's office, was knocked on....
...
Knock, knock, knock~
This memory seemed to have perfectly recreated even the sound. That knocking felt as though it had truly happened right beside Draco and the others' ears...
"Come in, child."
At Professor Horace's voice, the wizard waiting outside pushed the door open and walked in.
He was a young wizard about the same age as Draco and the others, probably only fifteen or sixteen.
And yet, although it was their first time seeing him, both Pansy and Hermione felt a prickling chill run down their spines.
Especially those eyes of his, which held not the slightest trace of a smile. They made Pansy and Hermione instinctively shrink back a little.
It felt as though... they had encountered a dangerous beast.
Feeling as if the air around her had suddenly grown cold, Hermione moved closer to Draco on her own.
And only after moving closer did she notice that Draco's expression seemed a little strange...
"Draco, you seem to know this person?"
"Know him? It would be more accurate to say there really isn't anyone in the wizarding world who doesn't know his name."
"...."
That vague answer, one that was barely an answer at all, was enough to make Hermione and the others guess something, and their eyes widened.
And the conversation that followed between Professor Horace and that young wizard directly confirmed the shocking suspicion in their hearts.
"Sir, is Professor Merrythought retiring?"
"Tom, Tom, even if I knew, I couldn't tell you. Still, I must say, I'd love to know where you heard that, my boy. You know more than half the professors do."
Before entering the memory, Draco had already done a little checking into what had happened back then.
Professor Merrythought had been the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at the time, and clearly, Tom had already set his sights on that teaching post.
But the most important thing was Tom's true identity.
The child Professor Horace called Tom was, naturally, the Dark Lord while he was still a student...
Voldemort!!
...
Compared with the shadow that had emerged from the diary in the Chamber of Secrets back then, this was the first time Draco had ever seen Voldemort's face so clearly from such close range after entering a memory.
The young Tom was far more handsome than the Voldemort of the present. He did not look nearly as vicious or mad either. At the very least, his nose was still sitting properly on his face....
As for the girls, even if they already had someone they liked, Pansy and Hermione still had to admit that the young Voldemort truly was very charming. Just the fact that he could behave so naturally in front of a professor was already something most students could not manage.
As Voldemort sat down, Draco listened to the conversation between the two while also noticing Voldemort's right hand, which rested casually on the arm of the chair.
There was a ring on one of the fingers of Voldemort's right hand.
It looked crudely made, somewhat ugly, and even bore what seemed to be the crest of some ruined family. It was the sort of thing no one would bother looking at twice.
But in reality, that ring unexpectedly caught Draco's attention.
To be precise, what Draco was focused on was not the ring itself, but the black stone set into it.
Because on that black stone, Draco saw the symbol he had previously seen at Luna's house.
A line.
A circle.
A triangle.
And when they were combined, they became...the Deathly Hallows!!