The rest of the memory no longer seemed important.
White mist suddenly began billowing up from beneath their feet, quickly spreading through the room until Draco and the others could barely make out anything in front of them.
Strangely, even though Voldemort's figure had already become blurred, his voice still reached their ears with perfect clarity.
Even more puzzling, the memory still showed no sign of ending even after the white mist had completely engulfed the entire room.
It was worth mentioning that just before everything vanished from sight, Draco caught a fleeting glimpse of wild joy on Voldemort's face.....
"Is... is it over?" Hermione, who had absolutely no experience using a Pensieve, finally let out a long breath of relief.
Even though it had only been a short memory, she had still felt a kind of suffocating pressure from Voldemort.
From beginning to end, Voldemort had worn a smile and spoken with perfect composure, yet he still gave her a strange and deeply unsettling feeling.
Just when Hermione thought she was finally free of that discomfort, Draco's next words made her eyes widen in surprise. She had just assumed everything was over.
Draco raised a brow. "No, this should also be part of Horace's memory."
"You mean that white mist was also part of Professor Horace's memory? But we didn't see anything."
"Clearly, our former Head of Slytherin never imagined that the Tom he trusted would treat him this way."
Although the Voldemort of this time was not yet the Dark Lord he would become in the future, Draco's words made one thing clear. Even back then, Voldemort had already been the sort to stop at nothing.
Even when the other person was his own Head of House...
After hearing Draco say that, Hermione suddenly understood why Professor Horace had willingly stepped down as Head of House, and why, after leaving Hogwarts, he had hidden his name and disappeared from the wizarding world.
It was not only because he feared Voldemort would silence him.
It was also because he had been betrayed by a student he had once cared for....
...
Seven Horcruxes.
That madman Voldemort had actually split his soul into seven pieces.
Even after an entire night had passed, Pansy and the others still could not calm themselves after learning that shocking, horrifying piece of information.
Even Pansy, who usually seemed carefree and thoughtless, spent the night tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep.
As for Hermione, who was prone to thinking too much, it was even worse. Now, no matter what she looked at, she would instinctively wonder whether it might be one of the Horcruxes.
In any case.
After finally enduring the night, Hermione could no longer suppress her curiosity. The moment the sun rose, she ran alone to the Slytherin common room and quietly waited for Draco to appear.
The instant she saw him, she asked the question she had been turning over in her mind for hours.
"Hermione? You're here this early?"
"Draco, I need to ask you something important. Do you have any suspects?"
Although the question sounded abrupt and out of nowhere, Draco immediately understood what Hermione was really asking.
"I do, I suppose."
"I do, I suppose? What is that supposed to mean?"
Draco stopped walking and glanced at Hermione, who had come looking for him first thing in the morning. "You still remember what happened last night, don't you?"
"Of course I do. My memory isn't so bad that I'd forget everything after one night."
Thinking Draco was making fun of her, Hermione shot back at him while also lightly thumping his waist a few times with her small fist.
Even though they were talking about something serious, Hermione seemed to have grown used to making these almost coquettish little gestures toward Draco.
And Draco, who knew exactly how to handle Hermione, immediately wrapped her small hand in his own.
In that instant, Hermione's restless mood quickly settled under that intimate gesture from Draco....
Looking at Hermione, who now seemed a little embarrassed and annoyed, Draco smiled. "You still remember what I told you before about the Deathly Hallows, right?"
"You mean..."
"That's right. The Dark Lord had a ring set with one of the Deathly Hallows. If I wasn't mistaken, it should have been the Resurrection Stone."
"The Resurrection... Stone?!"
So the Deathly Hallows were real?
In the end, Hermione did not say the words out loud, because Draco would never joke with her about something like this.
At that point, Draco still seemed uncertain about one thing. "But even so, I still can't be sure whether the Horcrux Dumbledore destroyed was that black gem ring."
"You mean... the worst-case scenario is that there may still be four Horcruxes we haven't found."
"Exactly. As long as even one Horcrux remains intact, the Dark Lord still has a chance to come back from the dead, and there are still four such things out there."
"...."
That was completely unfair.
After all, finding two Horcruxes already counted as incredibly good luck.
Without any clues, trying to find the remaining four Horcruxes somewhere in the wizarding world was no simple task at all.
Unless Voldemort had been out of his mind when he made them, and had chosen objects that would be absurdly easy to guess...