Karl called out, waking Dumbledore from his reverie, "Principal, sir?"
"Hmm?"
"I won't be expelled, will I?"
Outwardly cautious, he was actually as steady as a mountain. Killing one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes was a great achievement, and even adding five hundred house points wouldn't be too much.
"Hmm... Of course not, Karl, but the Restricted Section is very dangerous. Such things are not allowed to happen again in the future. If you want to consult the books there, you must first get my permission."
"What about the Fiendfyre Curse..."
Dumbledore shook his head helplessly, "All right, I'll explain to the other Professors."
He had known about Karl learning the Fiendfyre Cursefrom the very beginning, but he hadn't stopped him.
Because Fawkes told him that the child had a pure, loving, and beautiful fire spirit within him, so there was no need to worry about Fiendfyre getting out of control.
"Thank you, Principal, sir!"
After comforting Karl, Dumbledore reined in his complex emotions.
"Let's discuss the problems step by step. Now, let's go back to Tom."
Karl asked knowingly, "Tom?"
"Tom Marvolo Riddle, that was Lord Voldemort's previous name. He was once a student at Hogwarts."
After Dumbledore's explanation, Karl sighed, "So it was Senior Tom."
Hearing this, Dumbledore couldn't help but let out a muffled laugh. He understood that most Wizards feared Lord Voldemort, and those who, like Karl, didn't care were extremely rare.
"A very interesting name, but I don't think he would like it."
"Karl, I must confirm, you destroyed ravenclaw's diademand Lord Voldemort's soul, right?"
Taking the fragments of ravenclaw's diadem from his pocket, Karl placed them on the table.
"The Grey Lady has confirmed it. You should know her true identity."
Dumbledore gently brushed his hand over the fragments, his eyes filled with a hint of melancholy, "Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter."
"That's right, she told me that Lord Voldemort tricked her into trusting him back then and found the location of the Diadem."
"It was also because of The Grey Lady, that is, Helena, that I confirmed that piece of soul was Lord Voldemort."
Dumbledore suddenly thought of something, "Where did he find ravenclaw's diadem?"
"In the forests of Albania."
"So it was there..."
Dumbledore gently beckoned, and a crystal-clear small bottle flew from a distant bookshelf into his hand.
At the same time, a stone basin engraved with runes and strange symbols appeared on the table, filled with silver mist.
He opened the bottle and poured the clear liquid into the stone basin, and the mist instantly began to change.
"This is a Pensieve. Come and see how Tom's appearance has changed."
Soon, Karl saw a person in the stone basin, and it was Lord Voldemort.
"Aside from his hair being a bit longer, there was almost no difference from the soul in ravenclaw's diadem."
Dumbledore's eyes flashed with thought, "This is what Tom looked like when he worked at Borgin and Burkes Dark Arts shop, which means that around that time, he created the Horcrux."
"I always believed that Tom hadn't died, and I had some guesses, but today I finally have evidence."
"Horcruxes... and there might be more than one, after all, his appearance changed too much later."
"The most crucial thing is that Tom told you 'until we meet again,' which clearly shows he has confidence in his resurrection."
Seeing that Dumbledore had no intention of hiding anything from him, Karl asked curiously, "Principal, sir, what is a Horcrux? Did Lord Voldemort use a Horcrux to escape death and resurrect himself?"
A trace of sadness flashed across Dumbledore's face, mourning for those who had been killed because of Horcruxes.
"By evil means of killing others, one splits their soul and then places a portion of it into an object, thus forming a Horcrux."
"A Wizard with a Horcrux will not die even if their body is destroyed. He will exist in the world like a wandering ghost until he resurrects himself through cruel and wicked means."
"But this method comes at a cost. The process of splitting the soul is extremely dangerous, and the consequences are unpredictable."
"In the hundreds of years since Horcruxes were invented, many Dark Wizards, even if they had the ability, would not do this, preferring to face death in pain."
Thinking of Lord Voldemort's ultimate fate in the original work, it was indeed tragic to the extreme, and he got what he deserved.
Karl was silent for a moment, then asked a question that many people in his previous life had been curious about, "Principal, are you also unable to eliminate Lord Voldemort from a soul level?"
Dumbledore sighed, "In fact, if Tom's remnant soul could be found, the Ministry of Magic could do it. Just one Dementor's Kiss would be enough."
"However, the consequences of doing so would be very severe. As long as Tom's soul remains, his Horcruxes might be able to cause trouble, but they are ultimately just Horcruxes."
"But if his soul disappears, then there will be more than one Lord Voldemort to be resurrected in the future."
"Every Horcrux Tom has hidden could at some point become a new Lord Voldemort."
"This is a very terrifying thing."
So that's how it is. This Horcrux thing is truly outrageous, no wonder Lord Voldemort would rather split his soul to create them.
In a sense, Lord Voldemort's words were not problematic at all.
On the path to immortality, he had indeed gone further than anyone else.
"Principal, sir, how many Horcruxes like ravenclaw's diadem do you think Senior Tom has?"
Karl decided to give old Dumbledore a hint, lest he toil and suffer for nothing, finding a Horcrux only to be ambushed by the Dark Arts on it.
"Like ravenclaw's diadem..."
Dumbledore quickly thought of the relics of the other three founders. Gryffindor's sword was safely in the Sorting Hat.
That meant the lost Hufflepuff's Cup and Slytherin's Locket needed special attention.
"Thank you for the reminder, Karl."
"The number of Horcruxes won't be too many, after all, a person's soul can only be split a limited number of times."
Facing Dumbledore's thanks, Karl waved his hand, "You're welcome, Principal. Also, you said that creating a Horcruxrequires killing others, and Lord Voldemort started making Horcruxes so early, perhaps we can investigate through the murder cases from that time."
"Hmm... what you said makes a lot of sense."
Dumbledore deeply agreed, especially regarding the people Tom had come into contact with when he worked at Borgin and Burkes Dark Arts shop.
At the time, Tom's choice had puzzled many people, and now the reason had emerged.
Also... that incident that led to Hagrid's expulsion back then, he had always found it very strange.
"Let's leave Tom's matter here. I'll investigate it."
"Now, let's talk about Professor Elvis Heller. I want to know what he did."
Anger appeared in Dumbledore's usually gentle eyes. Luring students to dangerous Horcruxes was something he absolutely could not tolerate, and Elvis Heller had to pay the price for it.
Simply put, he had brought it upon himself.