"How could anyone do such a thing?" Penelope asked, her face filled with bewilderment and shock. After a slight pause of two seconds, she continued, "A complete soul is very important to everyone."
"Yes." Amanda nodded indifferently. This point has been mentioned in many books in the Wizarding World. The importance that Wizards, a group that has access to magic and various mysterious things, place on the soul is imaginable.
"But Voldemort, like the person who created the concept of Horcruxes, is undoubtedly very afraid of death."
"Afraid of death?" This time, Cho Chang spoke up, asking. She didn't understand, was there any necessary connection between Horcruxes and being afraid of death?
"The main purpose of a Horcrux is to split a Wizard's soul. This way, as long as the container storing the Wizard's soul is not completely and permanently destroyed, that Wizard will not die of old age, or even be killed."
"Because a part of his soul will always exist in this world."
"And Voldemort's name has another meaning in French: 'flight from death.'"
"So Voldemort is afraid of death; this is an obvious fact."
"Merlin's beard..." Ron murmured softly, "Voldemort is actually afraid of death."
He really couldn't imagine that such a notorious Dark Lord would be afraid of death.
"Dark Wizards aren't necessarily unafraid of death, Ron," Hermione said, looking at him with a wry smile. "On the contrary, the fact that a Dark Wizard could create the concept of a Horcrux might suggest that they are even more afraid of death than ordinary Wizards."
"Heh," Harry sneered, clearly recalling those killed by Voldemort, including his own parents. "They're afraid of death, probably afraid of going to hell to see Satan after they die."
Hermione silently raised her hand and gave Harry a thumbs-up. She wholeheartedly agreed with Harry's statement.
Voldemort and his loyal Death Eaters would definitely go to hell after death, after all, Merlin and Heaven probably wouldn't want to welcome this group of people.
"So Voldemort created Horcruxes," Harry nodded, repeating the conclusion Amanda had just stated, then turned to look at him intently, "Does that have anything to do with me? Or rather, with my dreams?"
The perceptive boy had clearly grasped the crucial point of the matter and had a vague premonition.
Amanda lowered her eyes. Having begun to recover her emotions, and with initial success, she had a basic judgment of how much impact the news she was about to reveal would have on everyone, especially Harry himself.
So she became reluctant, reluctant to tell Harry the truth of all this.
Even if Harry had a chance to live... that was just hope, wasn't it?
What's more, knowing one's destined fate, and a fate that involves being 'killed' once, is too cruel.
"Amanda, you remember what I said, right?" Hermione gently held Amanda's hand, speaking softly.
"Mm." Amanda nodded, her head lowered, and mumbled in response.
"Amanda," Harry suddenly spoke. When Amanda looked up at him, the increasingly handsome boy smiled warmly, "If all this concerns me, I want to know everything. I am also prepared to know everything."
Harry's resolute gaze slowly stabilized Amanda's rarely wavering heart. She slowly opened her mouth and spoke the cruel truth.
"Based on the diary destroyed in second year, your Parseltongue ability, and the dream you described from last night, Voldemort created more than one Horcrux, splitting his soul more than once."
"This left his soul in an abnormally unstable state, and then on the night he killed you..."
Amanda paused slightly, looking at Harry's firm gaze. "He was hit by his own rebounded Killing Curse, losing his physical body, and at the same time, his soul shattered. One of those fragments should have attached itself to you at that moment."
"You are a Horcrux Voldemort accidentally created, Harry."
Listening to Amanda's explanation, Hermione's mouth slightly dropped open, Ron looked incredulously from Amanda to Harry, and the three senior students covered their mouths with their hands, looking at Harry with worried and sympathetic eyes.
Harry, however, seemed to have been prepared, and smiled with relief.
"So it's not that I have Slytherin blood after all," he said, pretending to be relaxed as he patted his chest, feeling the worried and sympathetic gazes of his friends around him. "You scared me, I really thought the Sorting Hat was right before, that I belonged in Slytherin."
"Mate," Ron took a deep breath, clenching his teeth tightly. "This is not the time for jokes."
Harry smiled and waved his hand, leaning back against the sofa as he casually asked Amanda, "So I have to die, right? After all, a Horcrux has to be completely destroyed."
"Yes." Amanda nodded, her face devoid of any expression.
"What a joke!" Ron's voice suddenly rose. He abruptly stood up, staring intently at Harry, as if his best friend would suddenly disappear and die in front of him if he blinked.
"Harry has been through so much, he... he finally survived, and now he has to die?!"
"Don't get so agitated, Ron."
Hermione closed her eyes. At this moment, her eyes were also slightly red, but she still maintained some rationality and turned to look at Amanda.
"But we still have a chance, right? Harry still has a chance to live, otherwise Headmaster Dumbledore wouldn't have specifically suggested following Voldemort's plan, and ensuring that Harry's blood must be used for his resurrection."
"Right," Amanda affirmed. Hermione was always so sharp, able to find the key points of things, but at the same time, a hint of hesitation appeared on her face. "According to the deduction, Voldemort will use the Killing Curse to kill Harry, and the Killing Curse targets the soul."
"Harry's soul is complete and flawless, while the fragment of Voldemort's soul attached to him is incomplete and terribly weak."
"Analyzing the principle of how the Killing Curse works, if Voldemort uses the Killing Curse on Harry, there is a very high probability that it will eliminate his own soul fragment."
"As for what you just said about Headmaster Dumbledore insisting that Voldemort use Harry's blood to resurrect him," Amanda said, looking at Hermione, "because the relevant information is incomplete, the books I've read don't mention that doing so can ensure Harry isn't harmed by the Killing Curse."
"However, analyzing Headmaster Dumbledore's character, he would not stand by and watch Harry walk towards a certain death. Therefore, the result of doing this must be beneficial to Harry's survival."
"It can be inferred that Voldemort using Harry's blood to resurrect will, to some extent, deepen and complicate the relationship between him and Harry. This relationship is very likely to be the key to Harry's survival."
"But overall, a case similar to Harry and Voldemort has never existed in the Wizarding World throughout history. Whether Harry can survive is uncertain. Based on the known circumstances, I judge it to be a one-in-ten chance of survival."
After listening to Amanda's analysis, everyone's expressions didn't improve at all. A one-in-ten chance of survival... Although there was a glimmer of hope, it was ultimately uncertain.
"Is it possible, I mean, is it possible," Cho Chang hesitated, looking at everyone present, "that we capture Voldemort, lock him up, and make it impossible for him to harm anyone ever again?"
Wouldn't that solve the Voldemort problem and ensure Harry's survival?
"No," this time, before anyone else could speak, Harry himself retorted, "Nothing is foolproof."
The fourteen-year-old boy's face showed unease about the one-in-ten chance of survival he would face, but there was no fear or retreat whatsoever.
He was still just a child, so to ask if he was afraid of being killed by Voldemort...
Harry felt that he was afraid; to say he wasn't afraid at all would be bragging.
But he was even more afraid of Voldemort succeeding, and even more afraid of Voldemort harming more people after succeeding.
"Imprisoning Voldemort could lead to accidents, and if Voldemort is still alive, it's a signal to Dark Wizards and Death Eaters that their master is still there, which is a hope. We cannot give them any hope!"
Putting away the unease on his face, Harry said resolutely.
"Regardless, completely destroying Voldemort's Horcruxes and then definitively killing him is the only viable option."
"Doesn't Voldemort have more than one Horcrux? Find them all and destroy them, and then I," Harry pointed to himself, "I'll go find Voldemort and let him kill me."
"After that," Harry raised his eyebrows, "I think both Amanda and Headmaster Dumbledore should be able to finish off that Voldemort fellow."
"Sacrificing only one person to eliminate an extremely dangerous Dark Wizard, don't you think it's worth it?"
Harry spread his hands, as if to say, 'Why don't you understand such a simple truth?'
"Worthless..." Ron mumbled softly, slumping back onto the sofa in defeat.
"This is really, really risky." Hermione closed her eyes. Her friend had a one-in-ten chance of survival, and she couldn't be happy no matter what, even if they had a chance to completely kill Voldemort afterwards.
"This really isn't a good idea, Harry," Penelope said faintly.
"That's a terrible idea." Marietta Eckmore sniffled, shaking her head with red eyes.
Cho Chang reached out and patted her on the back, "It really is a bad idea. If Professor McGonagall knew..."
"Oh, Merlin," Harry raised a hand to cover his eyes, directly interrupting Cho Chang, "If Professor McGonagall knew, she'd definitely tie me up and hide me in Hogwarts."
"Professor McGonagall wouldn't be so rough." Hermione forced a smile, refuting him.
The atmosphere in the room eased slightly. Harry clasped his hands behind his head. "At least now we know what we need to do next, right? Destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes."
"Yeah," Ron finally recovered as well. "It's just that we don't know what his Horcruxes are, or how many there are."
"Under these circumstances, trying to destroy the Horcruxes is simply a pipe dream."
Hermione spread her hands, then said thoughtfully, "But perhaps Headmaster Dumbledore or the Professors know some clues?"
"Maybe we can ask Amanda to analyze it." Marietta Eckmore also recovered slightly, looking at Amanda, who was still being hugged by Hermione.
Amanda frowned slightly. "Regarding the number of Horcruxes, there's too little information to analyze, but we can conclude that, including Harry and the destroyed diary, Voldemort has definitely more than two Horcruxes."
"As for what the Horcruxes might be, based on Voldemort using the diary as his Horcrux, it can be inferred that Voldemort holds himself in extremely high regard."
"Therefore, it is highly likely that he would use his old possessions as Horcruxes. Based on the idea of old possessions, it can be inferred that similar types of Horcruxes might be hidden in places where Voldemort once stayed or places related to his background. Possible locations include Hogwarts, the Riddle House, the Gaunt House, and other places Voldemort might have visited and left a deep impression on."
"At the same time, regarding the same question of what Voldemort's Horcruxes might be, analyzing Voldemort's arrogant and conceited personality, it's highly probable he would choose extremely valuable items in the Wizarding World as Horcruxes, prioritizing items left by Hogwarts' four most famous founders in the British Wizarding World."
"Items left by the four founders." Cho Chang pondered and nodded.
"Helga Hufflepuff's Cup, Salazar Slytherin's Locket, the diadem of ravenclaw, and Godric Gryffindor's Sword." Hermione quickly chimed in.
"Merlin's four founders," Ron gasped softly, looking at Hermione in disbelief, "How do you know what they all left behind?"
Hermione rolled her eyes helplessly, "I told you and Harry to read 'Hogwarts: A History' ages ago, but neither of you listened."
"Uh..." Ron scratched his head and'sensibly' shut his mouth. It wasn't that he and Harry didn't read it; it was just that the book was really too thick, and just looking at it made them not want to read it.
Seeing that they had finished discussing, Amanda continued to narrate the analysis that instinctively ran through her mind, "Regarding the hidden locations of the Horcruxes, in addition to Hogwarts, the Riddle House, the Gaunt House, and other places Voldemort may have visited and left a deep impression on, which have already been analyzed, taking the diary being given to Lucius Malfoy for safekeeping as an example..."
"Horcruxes might also be hidden in the homes of Death Eaters loyal to Voldemort. Considering that Death Eaters loyal to Voldemort are mostly Pure-blood families Wizards, the Horcrux hiding places could also extend to the corresponding Pure-blood families Wizards' Gringotts vaults."
"Items left by the four founders, Voldemort's old possessions." Penelope murmured softly, her eyes downcast.
"Riddle House, Gaunt House, Hogwarts, places Voldemort has a deep impression of, and Pure-blood families' Castles and their corresponding Gringotts vaults." Hermione reached up to pinch her temples.
"None of these places sound easy to find." The first two would probably be hard to even locate, and for Hogwarts, they had no idea if Voldemort had hidden a Horcrux there, or where he would have hidden it if he did.
As for the fourth, they had no idea where it was. And the last two types of locations... it might be quite difficult to investigate, but perhaps if Amanda went, it might not be so difficult, Hermione thought uncertainly.
"It's pretty good, actually," Harry clapped his hands, smiling to signal everyone to relax. "At least we have a direction now, we're not completely clueless, right?"
He felt that the current situation was already very good.
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