Harry Potter and the half-blood prince part 8 AUDIOBOOK

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#harrypotter  #audiobook #harrypotterfan  Narrator: James Dobinson

Transcript

00:00:00CHAPTER XXI THE UNKNOWABLE ROOM

00:00:05Harry racked his brains over the next week as to how he was to persuade Slughorn to hand

00:00:09over the true memory, but nothing in the nature of a brainwave occurred, and he was reduced

00:00:13to doing what he did increasingly these days when at a loss, poring over his potions book,

00:00:18hoping that the Prince would have scribbled something useful in a margin, as he had done

00:00:21so many times before.

00:00:23You won't find anything in there," said Hermione firmly, late on Sunday evening.

00:00:28Don't start, Hermione, said Harry.

00:00:30If it hadn't been for the Prince, Ron wouldn't be sitting here now.

00:00:33He would if you'd just listened to Snape in our first year, said Hermione dismissively.

00:00:37Harry ignored her.

00:00:38He had just found an incantation, Sectumsempra, scrawled in a margin, above the intriguing

00:00:45words for enemies, and was itching to try it out, but thought it best not to, in front

00:00:49of Hermione.

00:00:50Instead, he surreptitiously folded down the corner of the page.

00:00:54They were sitting beside the fire in the common room.

00:00:56The only other people still up were fellow six years.

00:00:58There had been a certain amount of excitement earlier when they had come back from dinner

00:01:02to find a new sign on the notice-board that announced the date of their apparition test.

00:01:07Those who would be seventeen on or before the first test date, the 21st of April, had

00:01:11the option of signing up for additional practice sessions, which would take place, heavily

00:01:16supervised, in Hogsmeade.

00:01:18Ron had panicked in reading this notice.

00:01:21He had still not managed to apparate, and feared he would not be ready for the test.

00:01:23Hermione, who had now achieved apparition twice, was a little more confident, but Harry,

00:01:28who would not be seventeen for another four months, could not take the test, whether ready

00:01:31or not.

00:01:32At least you can apparate, though, said Ron tensely.

00:01:35You'll have no trouble come July.

00:01:36I've only done it once, Harry reminded him.

00:01:39He had finally managed to disappear and rematerialise inside his hoop during their previous lesson.

00:01:45Having wasted a lot of time worrying aloud about apparition, Ron was now struggling to

00:01:50finish a viciously difficult essay for Snape that Harry and Hermione had already completed.

00:01:55Harry fully expected to receive low marks on his, because he had disagreed with Snape

00:01:59on the best way to tackle Dementors, but he did not care.

00:02:02Slughorn's memory was the most important thing to him now.

00:02:05I'm telling you, the stupid prince isn't going to be able to help you with this, Harry, said

00:02:09Hermione more loudly.

00:02:10There's only one way to force someone to do what you want, and that's the Imperius Curse,

00:02:15which is illegal.

00:02:16Yeah, I know that, thanks, said Harry, not looking up from the book.

00:02:19That's why I'm looking for something different.

00:02:21Dumbledore says Veritaserum won't do it, but there might be something else, a potion or

00:02:25a spell.

00:02:26You're going about it the wrong way, said Hermione.

00:02:29Only you can get the memory, Dumbledore says.

00:02:31That must mean you can persuade Slughorn, where other people can't.

00:02:35It's not a question of slipping him a potion.

00:02:37Anyone could do that.

00:02:38How do you spell belligerent, said Ron, shaking his quill very hard while staring at his parchment.

00:02:44It can't be B-U-M.

00:02:46No, it isn't, said Hermione, rolling, pulling Ron's essay towards her.

00:02:51And Augury doesn't begin O-R-G either.

00:02:54What kind of quill are you using?

00:02:56It's one of Fred and George's spell-checking ones, but I think the charm must be wearing

00:03:00off.

00:03:01Yes, it must, said Hermione, pointing at the title of his essay, because we were asked

00:03:05how we deal with Dementors, not Dugbogs.

00:03:08And I don't remember you changing your name to Runil Wuzlib either.

00:03:12Ah, no, said Ron, staring horror-struck at the parchment.

00:03:16Don't say I'll have to write the whole thing out again.

00:03:18It's OK, we can fix it, said Hermione, pulling the essay towards her and taking out her wand.

00:03:24I love you, Hermione, said Ron, sinking back in his chair, rubbing his eyes wearily.

00:03:29Hermione turned faintly pink, but merely said, don't let Lavender hear you saying that.

00:03:33I won't, said Ron, into his hands, or maybe I will.

00:03:36Then she'll ditch me.

00:03:37Why don't you ditch her if you want to finish it, asked Harry.

00:03:41You haven't ever chucked anyone, have you, said Ron.

00:03:43You and Cho just sort of fell apart, yeah, said Harry.

00:03:47Wish that would happen with me and Lavender, said Ron gloomily, watching Hermione silently

00:03:51tapping each of his misspelled words with the end of her wand so that they corrected

00:03:55themselves on the page.

00:03:57But the more I hint I want to finish it, the tighter she holds on.

00:04:00It's like going out with a giant squid.

00:04:02There, said Hermione, some twenty minutes later, handing back Ron's essay.

00:04:07Thanks a million, said Ron.

00:04:08Can I borrow your quill for the conclusion?

00:04:11Harry, who had found nothing useful in the Half-Blood Prince's notes so far, looked around.

00:04:15The three of them were now the only ones left in a common room, Seamus having just gone

00:04:19up to bed, cursing Snape and his essay.

00:04:22The only sounds were the cracking of the fire and Ron scratching out the one last paragraph

00:04:26on Dementors using Hermione's quill.

00:04:29Harry had just closed the Half-Blood Prince's book, yawning, when, crack!

00:04:34Hermione let out a little shriek, Ron spilled ink all over his essay and Harry said, creature!

00:04:39The House Elf bowed low and addressed his own gnarled toes.

00:04:43Master said he wanted regular reports on what the Malfoy boy is doing, so creature has come

00:04:48to give, crack!

00:04:50Dobby appeared alongside Creature, his tea-cosy hat askew.

00:04:54Dobby has been helping too, Harry Potter, he squeaked, casting Creature a resentful

00:04:58look.

00:04:59And Creature ought to tell Dobby when he is coming to see Harry Potter, so they can make

00:05:02their reports together.

00:05:04What is this? asked Hermione, still looking shocked by these sudden appearances.

00:05:09What's going on, Harry?

00:05:10Harry hesitated before answering, because he had not told Hermione about setting Creature

00:05:14and Dobby to tail Malfoy.

00:05:16House Elves were always such a touchy subject with her.

00:05:19Well, they've been following Malfoy for me, he said.

00:05:23Night and day, croaked Creature.

00:05:25Dobby has not slept for a week, Harry Potter, said Dobby proudly, swaying where he stood.

00:05:31Hermione looked indignant.

00:05:32You haven't slept, Dobby, but surely, Harry, you didn't tell him not to?

00:05:36No, of course I didn't, said Harry quickly.

00:05:38Dobby, you can sleep, all right, but has either of you found out anything?

00:05:42He hastened to ask before Hermione could intervene again.

00:05:46Master Malfoy moves with a nobility that befits his pure blood, croaked Creature at once.

00:05:53His features recall the thine bones of my mistress, and his manners are those of...

00:05:58Draco Malfoy is a bad boy, squeaked Dobby angrily.

00:06:01A bad boy?

00:06:02Who?

00:06:03Who?

00:06:04Malfoy took a parcel of his tea cosy to the toes of his socks and then ran at the fire,

00:06:08as though about to dive into it.

00:06:10Harry, to whom this was not entirely unexpected, caught him around the middle and held him

00:06:14fast.

00:06:15For a few seconds, Dobby struggled and then went limp.

00:06:18Thank you, Harry Potter, he panted.

00:06:21Dobby still finds it difficult to speak ill of his old masters.

00:06:24Harry released him.

00:06:25Dobby straightened his tea cosy and said defiantly to Creature, but Creature should know that

00:06:30Draco Malfoy is not a good master to a house-elf.

00:06:33Yeah, we don't need to hear about you being in love with Malfoy, Harry told Creature.

00:06:39Let's fast forward to where he's actually been going.

00:06:42Creature bowed again, looking furious, and then said, Master Malfoy eats in the Great

00:06:47Hall, he sleeps in a dormitory in the dungeons, he attends his classes in a variety of...

00:06:52Dobby, you tell me, said Harry, cutting across Creature.

00:06:55Has he been going anywhere he shouldn't have?

00:06:58Harry Potter, sir, squeaked Dobby.

00:07:00With his great orb-like eyes shining in the firelight, the Malfoy boy is breaking no rules

00:07:05that Dobby can discover, but he is still keen to avoid detection.

00:07:09He has been making regular visits to the seventh floor with a variety of other students who

00:07:14keep watch for him while he enters.

00:07:17The Room of Requirement, said Harry, smacking himself hard on the forehead with an advanced

00:07:22potion making.

00:07:23Hermione and Ron stared at him.

00:07:25That's where he's been sneaking off to.

00:07:28That's where he's doing whatever he's doing, and I bet that's why he's been disappearing

00:07:32off the map.

00:07:33Come to think of it, I've never seen the Room of Requirement on there.

00:07:36Maybe the marauders never knew the room was there, said Ron.

00:07:39I think it'll be part of the magic of the room, said Hermione.

00:07:42If you need it to be un-plottable, it will be.

00:07:45Dobby, have you managed to get in to have a look at what Malfoy's doing, said Harry eagerly.

00:07:49No, Harry Potter, that is impossible, said Dobby.

00:07:52No it's not, said Harry at once.

00:07:54Malfoy got into our headquarters there last year, so I'll be able to get in and spy on

00:07:58him, no problem.

00:08:00But I think you will, Harry, said Hermione slowly.

00:08:03Malfoy already knew exactly how we were using the room, didn't he?

00:08:07Because that stupid Marietta had blabbed.

00:08:09He needed the room to become the headquarters of the DA, so it did.

00:08:13But you don't know what the room becomes when Malfoy goes in there, so you don't know what

00:08:16to ask it to transform into.

00:08:19There'll be a way around that, said Harry dismissively.

00:08:21You've done brilliantly, Dobby.

00:08:23Harry Potter's done well too, said Hermione kindly, but far from looking grateful, Creature

00:08:28averted his huge bloodshot eyes and croaked at the ceiling, that but blood is speaking

00:08:32to Creature, Creature will pretend he cannot hear.

00:08:36Get out of it, Harry snapped to him, and Creature made one last deep bow and disapparated.

00:08:41You better go and get some sleep too, Dobby.

00:08:43Thank you, Harry Potter, sir, squeaked Dobby happily, and he too vanished.

00:08:48How good's this, said Harry enthusiastically, turning to Ron and Hermione the moment the

00:08:52room was elf-free again.

00:08:53We know where Malfoy's going, we've got him cornered now.

00:08:56Yeah, it's great, said Ron glumly, who was attempting to mop up the sodden mass of ink

00:09:01that had recently been an almost-completed essay.

00:09:04Hermione pulled it towards her and began siphoning the ink off with a wand.

00:09:08But what's all this about him going up there with a variety of students, said Hermione?

00:09:14How many people are in on it?

00:09:15You wouldn't think he'd trust lots of them to know what he's doing.

00:09:18Yeah, that is weird, said Harry frowning.

00:09:21I heard him telling Crabbe it wasn't Crabbe's business what he was doing, so what's he telling

00:09:25all these... all these...

00:09:27Harry's voice trailed away.

00:09:29He was staring at the fire.

00:09:30God, I've been stupid, he said quietly.

00:09:33It's obvious, isn't it?

00:09:34There was a great vat of it down in the dungeon.

00:09:36He could have nicked some any time during that lesson.

00:09:39Nicked what, said Ron?

00:09:40Polyjuice potion.

00:09:41He stole some of the polyjuice potion Slughorn showed us in our first potions lesson.

00:09:46There aren't a whole variety of students standing guard for Malfoy.

00:09:49It's just Crabbe and Goyle, as usual.

00:09:51Yeah, it all fits, said Harry, jumping up and starting to pace in front of the fire.

00:09:56They're stupid enough to do what they're told even if he won't tell them what he's up to.

00:10:00But he doesn't want to be seen lurking around outside the Room of Requirement, so he's got

00:10:04them taking polyjuice to make them look like other people, those two girls I saw him with

00:10:09when he missed Quidditch.

00:10:10Ha!

00:10:11Crabbe and Goyle!

00:10:12Do you mean to say, said Hermione in a hushed voice, that that little girl whose scales

00:10:16I required?

00:10:17Yeah, of course, said Harry, loudly, staring at her.

00:10:20Of course.

00:10:21Malfoy must have been inside the room at the time, so she, what am I talking about, he,

00:10:25dropped the scales to tell Malfoy not to come out, because there was someone there.

00:10:29And there was that girl who dropped the toad spawn too.

00:10:32We've been walking past him all the time and not realising it.

00:10:35He's got Crabbe and Goyle transforming into girls, guffawed Ron.

00:10:39Blimey!

00:10:40No wonder they don't look too happy these days.

00:10:42I'm surprised they don't tell him to stuff it.

00:10:44Well, they wouldn't, would they, if he'd shown them his dark mark, said Harry.

00:10:49Hmm.

00:10:50The dark mark we don't know exists, said Hermione, sceptically, rolling up Ron's dried essay

00:10:54before it could come to any more harm, and handing it to him.

00:10:58We'll see, said Harry, confidently.

00:11:00Yes, we will, Hermione said, getting to her feet and stretching.

00:11:03But Harry, before you get all excited, I still don't think you'll be able to get into the

00:11:07Room of Requirement without knowing what's there first, and I don't think you should

00:11:11forget.

00:11:12Ron heaved her bag onto her shoulder and gave him a very serious look.

00:11:15That what you're supposed to be concentrating on is getting that memory from Slughorn.

00:11:20Goodnight.

00:11:21Harry watched her go, feeling slightly disgruntled.

00:11:24Once the door to the girls' dormitories had closed behind her, he rounded on Ron.

00:11:28What do you think?

00:11:29Wish I could disapparate like a house elf, said Ron, staring at the spot where Dobby

00:11:33had vanished.

00:11:34I'd have that apparition test in the bag.

00:11:37Harry did not sleep well that night.

00:11:38He lay awake for what felt like hours, wondering how Malfoy was using the Room of Requirement

00:11:43and what he, Harry, would see when he went in there the following day.

00:11:46For whatever Hermione said, Harry was sure that if Malfoy had been able to see the headquarters

00:11:51of the DA, he would be able to see Malfoy's.

00:11:54What could it be?

00:11:55A meeting place?

00:11:56A hideout?

00:11:57A storeroom?

00:11:58A workshop?

00:11:59Harry's mind worked feverishly, and his dreams, when he finally fell asleep, were broken and

00:12:04disturbed by images of Malfoy, who turned into Slughorn, who turned into Snape.

00:12:09Harry was in a state of great anticipation over breakfast the following morning.

00:12:13He had a free period before Defence Against the Dark Arts, and was determined to spend

00:12:17it, trying to get into the Room of Requirement.

00:12:19Hermione was rather ostentatiously showing no interest in his whispering plans for forcing

00:12:24entry into the room, which irritated Harry, because he thought she might be a lot of help

00:12:28if she wanted to.

00:12:29Look, he said quietly, leaning forwards and putting a hand on the Daily Prophet, which

00:12:33she had just removed from a post-dowel, to stop her opening it and vanishing behind it.

00:12:37I haven't forgotten about Slughorn, but I haven't got a clue how to get that memory

00:12:41off him, and until I get a brainwave, why shouldn't I find out what Malfoy's doing?

00:12:45I've already told you.

00:12:47You need to persuade Slughorn, said Hermione.

00:12:49It's not a question of tricking him or bewitching him, or Dumbledore could have done it in a

00:12:53second.

00:12:55Instead of messing around outside the Room of Requirement, she jerked the Prophet out

00:12:59from under Harry's hand and unfolded it to look at the front page.

00:13:02You should go and find Slughorn and start appealing to his better nature.

00:13:06Anyone we know? asked Ron, as Hermione scanned the headlines.

00:13:10Yes, said Hermione, causing both Harry and Ron to gag on their breakfast.

00:13:14But it's all right, he's not dead.

00:13:16It's Mundungus.

00:13:17He's been arrested and sent to Azkaban.

00:13:19Something to do with impersonating an Inferius during an attempt at burglary, and someone

00:13:23called Octavius Pepper has vanished.

00:13:26Oh, and how horrible, a nine-year-old boy has been arrested for trying to kill his grandparents.

00:13:31They think he was under the Imperius curse.

00:13:33They finished their breakfast in silence.

00:13:35Hermione set off immediately for Ancient Runes, Ron for the Common Room, where he still had

00:13:40to finish his conclusion on Snape's Dementor essay, and Harry for the Corridor on the seventh

00:13:44floor and the stretch of wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls

00:13:49to do ballet.

00:13:51Harry slipped on his invisibility cloak once he had found an empty passage, but he need

00:13:54not have bothered.

00:13:56When he reached his destination, he found it deserted.

00:13:58Harry was not sure whether his chances of getting inside the room were better with Malfoy

00:14:02inside it or not, but at least his first attempt was not going to be complicated by the presence

00:14:07of Crabbe or Goyle pretending to be an eleven-year-old girl.

00:14:10He closed his eyes as he approached the place where the Room of Requirements door was concealed.

00:14:15He knew what he had to do.

00:14:16He had become most accomplished at it last year.

00:14:19Concentrating with all his might, he thought, I need to see what Malfoy's doing in here.

00:14:24I need to see what Malfoy's doing in here.

00:14:27I need to see what Malfoy's doing in here.

00:14:30Three times he walked past the door, then, his heart pounding with excitement, he opened

00:14:35his eyes and faced it.

00:14:37But he was still looking at a stretch of that mundanely blank wall.

00:14:40He moved forwards and gave it an experimental push.

00:14:43The stone remained solid and unyielding.

00:14:45OK, said Harry aloud, OK, I thought the wrong thing.

00:14:50He pondered for a moment and then set off again, eyes closed, concentrating as hard

00:14:54as he could.

00:14:55I need to see the place where Malfoy keeps going secretly.

00:14:58I need to see the place where Malfoy keeps going secretly.

00:15:02After three walks past, he opened his eyes expectantly.

00:15:05There was no door.

00:15:06Oh, come off it, he told the wall irritably.

00:15:09That was a clear instruction.

00:15:11Fine.

00:15:12He fought hard for several minutes before striding off once more.

00:15:15I need to become the place you become for Draco Malfoy.

00:15:20He did not immediately open his eyes when he had finished his patrolling.

00:15:24He was listening hard as though he might hear the door pop into existence.

00:15:27He heard nothing, however, except the distant twittering of birds outside.

00:15:31He opened his eyes.

00:15:33There was still no door.

00:15:35Harry swore.

00:15:36Someone screamed.

00:15:37He looked around to see a gaggle of thirstiers running back around the corner, apparently

00:15:41under the impression that they had just encountered a particularly foul-mouthed ghost.

00:15:45Harry tried every variation of I need to see what Draco Malfoy is doing inside you that

00:15:50he could think of for a whole hour, at the end of which he was forced to concede that

00:15:54Hermione might have had a point.

00:15:56The room simply did not want to open for him.

00:15:58Frustrated and annoyed, he set off for Defence Against the Dark Arts, pulling off his invisibility

00:16:03cloak and stuffing it into his bag as he went.

00:16:06Late again, Potter, said Snape coldly, as Harry hurried into the candlelit classroom.

00:16:11Ten points from Gryffindor.

00:16:14Harry scowled at Snape as he flung himself into the seat beside Ron.

00:16:18Half the class was still on its feet, taking out books and organising its things.

00:16:22He could not be much later than any of them.

00:16:25Before we start, I want your Dementor essays, said Snape, waving his wand carelessly, so

00:16:31that twenty-five scrolls of parchment soared into the air and landed in a neat pile on

00:16:36his desk, and I hope for your sakes they are better than the tripe I had to endure on resisting

00:16:41the Imperious Curse.

00:16:43Now if you will open your books at page—

00:16:45What is it, Mr Finnegan?

00:16:47Sir, said Seamus, I have been wondering, how do you tell the difference between an

00:16:51Imperious and a Ghost, because there was something in the Prophet about an Imperious.

00:16:57No, there wasn't, said Snape in a bored voice.

00:17:00Sir, I heard people talking.

00:17:02If you had actually read the article in question, Mr Finnegan, you would have known that the

00:17:06so-called Imperious was nothing but a smelly sneak-thief by the name of Mundungus Fletcher.

00:17:13I thought Snape and Mundungus were on the same side, muttered Harry to Ron and Hermione.

00:17:18Shouldn't he be upset Mundungus has been arrested?

00:17:20But Potter seems to have a lot to say on the subject, said Snape, pointing suddenly at

00:17:26the back of the room, his black eyes fixed on Harry.

00:17:29Let us ask Potter how we would tell the difference between an Imperious and a Ghost.

00:17:35The whole class looked around at Harry, who hastily tried to recall what Dumbledore had

00:17:39told him the night that they had gone to visit Slughorn.

00:17:42Well, ghosts are transparent, he said.

00:17:44Oh, very good, interrupted Snape, his lip curling.

00:17:47Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted

00:17:53on you, Potter.

00:17:54Ghosts are transparent.

00:17:56Pansy Parkinson let out a high-pitched giggle.

00:17:59Several other people were smirking.

00:18:01Harry took a deep breath and continued calmly, though his insides were boiling.

00:18:05Yeah, ghosts are transparent, but in theory are dead bodies, aren't they?

00:18:09So they'd be solid.

00:18:10A five-year-old could have told us much, snared Snape.

00:18:13The Imperious is a corpse that has been reanimated by a dark wizard's spells.

00:18:18It is not alive, it is merely used like a puppet to do the wizard's bidding.

00:18:22A ghost, as I trust that you are all aware by now, is the imprint of a departed soul

00:18:28left upon the earth, and of course, as Potter so wisely tells us, transparent.

00:18:34Well, what Harry said is the most useful if we're trying to tell them apart, said Ron.

00:18:38When we come face to face with one down a dark alley, we're going to be having a

00:18:42shifty to see if it's solid, aren't we?

00:18:44We're not going to be asking, excuse me, are you an imprint of a departed soul?

00:18:48There was a ripple of laughter instantly quelled by the look Snape gave the class.

00:18:52Another ten points from Gryffindor, said Snape.

00:18:55I would expect nothing more sophisticated from you, Ronald Weasley.

00:18:59The boy is so solid he can apparate half an inch across a room.

00:19:03No, whispered Hermione, grabbing Harry's arm as he opened his mouth furiously.

00:19:07There's no point, you'll just end up in detention again.

00:19:10Leave it.

00:19:11Now open your books at page two hundred and thirteen, said Snape,

00:19:16smirking a little, and read the first two paragraphs on the Cruciatus Curse.

00:19:21Ron was very subdued all through the class.

00:19:23When the bell sounded at the end of the lesson, Lavender caught up with Ron and Harry.

00:19:27Hermione mysteriously melted out of sight as she approached, and abused Snape,

00:19:32hotly for his jive about Ron's apparition.

00:19:34But this seemed merely to irritate Ron,

00:19:36and he shook her off by making a detour into the boys' bathroom with Harry.

00:19:40Snape's right, though, isn't he? said Ron, after staring into a cracked mirror for a minute or two.

00:19:45I don't know whether it's worth me taking the test.

00:19:47I just can't get the hang of apparition.

00:19:50You might as well do the extra practice sessions in Hogsmeade,

00:19:53and see where they get you, said Harry reasonably.

00:19:55It'll be more interesting than trying to get into a stupid hoop anyway.

00:19:59Then, if you're still not, you know, as good as you'd like to be,

00:20:02you can postpone the test.

00:20:03Do it with me over the sump.

00:20:05Myrtle, this is the boys' bathroom.

00:20:08The ghost of a girl had risen out of a toilet in a cubicle behind them,

00:20:11and was now floating in mid-air, staring at them through thick, white, round glasses.

00:20:16Oh, she said glumly, it's you two.

00:20:19Who were you expecting, said Ron, looking at her in the mirror?

00:20:22Nobody, said Myrtle, picking moodily at a spot on her chin.

00:20:26He said he'd come back and see me, but then you said you'd pop in and visit me too.

00:20:31She gave Harry a reproachful look.

00:20:33And I haven't seen you for months and months.

00:20:35I've learned not to expect too much from boys.

00:20:38I thought you lived in that girl's bathroom, said Harry,

00:20:41who had been careful to give the place a wide berth for some years now.

00:20:44I do, she said, with a sulky little shrug,

00:20:47but that doesn't mean I can't visit other places.

00:20:50I came and saw you in your bath once, remember?

00:20:54Vividly, said Harry.

00:20:55But I thought he liked me, she said plaintively.

00:20:59Maybe if you two left, he'd come back again.

00:21:01We had lots in common.

00:21:03I'm sure he felt it.

00:21:04And she looked hopefully towards the door.

00:21:07When you say you had lots in common, said Ron, sounding rather amused now,

00:21:10do you mean he lives in an S-Bend too?

00:21:13No, said Myrtle defiantly, her voice echoing loudly around the old tile bathroom.

00:21:18I mean, he's sensitive.

00:21:19People bully him too.

00:21:21And he feels lonely and hasn't got anybody to talk to.

00:21:24And he's not afraid to show his feelings and cry.

00:21:27There's been a boy in here crying.

00:21:29Said Harry curiously.

00:21:30A young boy.

00:21:31Never you mind, said Myrtle.

00:21:33Her small leaky eyes fixed on Ron, who was now defiantly grinning.

00:21:37I promised I wouldn't tell anyone, and I'll take his secret to the...

00:21:41Not the grave, surely, said Ron with a snort.

00:21:43The sewers, maybe.

00:21:45Myrtle gave a howl of rage and dived back into the toilet,

00:21:48causing water to slop over the sides and onto the floor.

00:21:51Goading Myrtle seemed to have put fresh heart into Ron.

00:21:54You're right, he said, swinging his schoolbag back over his shoulder.

00:21:58I'll do the practice sessions in Hogsmeade before I decide about taking the test.

00:22:02And so, the following weekend, Ron joined Hermione and the rest of the six years,

00:22:06who would turn 17 in time to take the test in a fortnight.

00:22:09Harry felt rather jealous, watching them all get ready to go into the village.

00:22:13He missed making trips there, and it was a particularly fine spring day,

00:22:16one of the first clear skies they had seen in a long time.

00:22:19However, he had decided to use the time to attempt another assault on the Room of Requirement.

00:22:24You'd do better, said Hermione, when he confided this plan to Ron and her in the entrance hall,

00:22:29to go straight to Slughorn's office and try to get that memory from him.

00:22:33I've been trying, said Harry crossly, which was perfectly true.

00:22:36He had lagged behind after every potions lesson that week in an attempt to corner Slughorn,

00:22:40but the potions master always left the dungeon so fast that Harry had not been able to catch him.

00:22:45Twice Harry had gone to his office and knocked, but received no reply,

00:22:49though on the second occasion he was sure he had heard the thickly stifled sounds of an old gramophone.

00:22:54He doesn't want to talk to me, Hermione.

00:22:56He can tell I've been trying to get him on his own again, and he's not going to let it happen.

00:23:01Well, you've just got to keep at it, haven't you?

00:23:03The short queue of people waiting to file past Filch,

00:23:07who was doing his usual prodding act with the secrecy sensor,

00:23:11moved forwards a few steps, and Harry did not answer in case he was overheard by the caretaker.

00:23:17He wished Ron and Hermione luck, and then turned and climbed the marble staircase again,

00:23:21determined, whatever Hermione said, to devote an hour or two to the room of requirement.

00:23:26Once out of sight of the entrance hall, Harry pulled out the marauder's map

00:23:29and his invisibility cloak from his bag.

00:23:31Having concealed himself, he tapped the map, murmured,

00:23:34I solemnly swear that I am up to no good, and scanned it carefully.

00:23:39As it was Sunday morning, nearly all the students were inside their various common rooms,

00:23:42the Gryffindors in one tower, the Ravenclaws in another,

00:23:45the Slytherins in the dungeons, and the Hufflepuffs in the basement near the kitchens.

00:23:50Here and there a stray person meandered around the library, or up a corridor.

00:23:54There were a few people out in the grounds,

00:23:56and there, alone, in the seventh floor corridor, was Gregory Goyle.

00:23:59There was no sign of the room of requirement, but Harry was not worried about that.

00:24:03If Goyle was standing guard outside it, the room was open,

00:24:06whether the map was aware of it or not.

00:24:08He therefore sprinted up the stairs, slowing down only when he reached the corner into the corridor,

00:24:13when he began to creep very slowly towards the very same little girl,

00:24:17clutching her heavy brass scales.

00:24:19But Hermione had so kindly helped a fortnight before.

00:24:22He waited until he was right behind her, before bending very low and whispering,

00:24:26''Hello, you're very pretty, aren't you?''

00:24:29Goyle gave a high-pitched scream of terror, threw the scales up into the air,

00:24:32and sprinted away, vanishing from sight, long before the sound of the scales smashing

00:24:36had stopped echoing around the corridor.

00:24:38Laughing, Harry turned to contemplate the blank wall behind which

00:24:42he was sure Draco Malfoy was now standing frozen,

00:24:45aware that someone unwelcome was out there,

00:24:47but not daring to make an appearance.

00:24:49It gave Harry a most agreeable feeling of power,

00:24:51as he tried to remember what form of words he had not yet tried.

00:24:55Yet this hopeful mood did not last long.

00:24:57Half an hour later, having tried many more variations of his request to see what Malfoy was up to,

00:25:03the wall was just as doorless as ever.

00:25:05Harry felt frustrated beyond belief.

00:25:07Malfoy might be just two feet away from him,

00:25:09and there was still not the tiniest shred of evidence as to what he was doing in there.

00:25:14Losing his patience completely, Harry ran at the wall and kicked it.

00:25:18Ouch!

00:25:19He thought he might have broken his toe, as he clutched it and hopped on one foot.

00:25:23The invisibility cloak slipped off him.

00:25:25Harry?

00:25:26He spun around one leg and toppled over.

00:25:29There, to his utter astonishment, was Tonks,

00:25:31walking towards him as though she frequently strolled up this corridor.

00:25:35What are you doing here?

00:25:36He said, scrambling to his feet again.

00:25:39Why did she always have to find him lying on the floor?

00:25:41I came to see Dumbledore, said Tonks.

00:25:44Harry thought she looked terrible, thinner than usual, her mouse-coloured hair lank.

00:25:49His office isn't here, said Harry.

00:25:50It's round the other side of the castle, behind the gargoyle.

00:25:53I know, said Tonks.

00:25:54He's not there.

00:25:55Apparently he's gone away again.

00:25:57Has he? said Harry, putting his bruised foot gingerly back on the floor.

00:26:01Hey, you don't know where he goes, I suppose?

00:26:03No, said Tonks.

00:26:05What do you want to see him about?

00:26:07Nothing in particular, said Tonks,

00:26:10picking, apparently, unconsciously, at the sleeve of her robe.

00:26:13I just thought he might know what's going on.

00:26:15I've heard rumours.

00:26:16People getting hurt.

00:26:18Yeah, I know.

00:26:18It's been in the papers, said Harry.

00:26:20That little kid trying to kill his...

00:26:22The Prophet's often behind the times, said Tonks,

00:26:25who didn't seem to be listening to him.

00:26:26You haven't had any letters from anyone in the Order recently.

00:26:29No one from the Order writes to me anymore, said Harry.

00:26:32Not since Sirius.

00:26:33He saw that her eyes had filled with tears.

00:26:36I'm sorry, he muttered awkwardly.

00:26:38I mean, I miss him as well.

00:26:40What? said Tonks, blankly, as though she had not heard him.

00:26:43Well, I'll see you around, Harry.

00:26:46As she turned abruptly and walked back down the corridor,

00:26:48leaving Harry to stare after her.

00:26:50After a minute or so, he pulled the invisibility cloak on again

00:26:53and resumed his efforts to get into the Room of Requirement.

00:26:56But his heart was not in it.

00:26:58Finally, a hollow feeling in his stomach,

00:27:00and the knowledge that Ron and Hermione would soon be back for lunch,

00:27:02made him abandon the attempt and leave the corridor to Malfoy,

00:27:06who, hopefully, would be too afraid to leave for some hours to come.

00:27:09He found Ron and Hermione in the Great Hall,

00:27:11already halfway through an early lunch.

00:27:13I did it?

00:27:14Well, kind of, Ron told Harry enthusiastically when he caught sight of him.

00:27:18I was supposed to be apparating to outside Madam Pudderfoot's tea shop,

00:27:22and I overshot it a bit.

00:27:23Ended up near Scrivenshafts, but at least I moved.

00:27:27Good one, said Harry.

00:27:28How did you do, Hermione?

00:27:30Oh, she was perfect, obviously, said Ron, before Hermione could answer.

00:27:34Perfect deliberation, divination and desperation, or whatever the hell it is.

00:27:38We all went for a quick drink in the free broomsticks after.

00:27:41You should have heard Twycross going on about her.

00:27:44I'll be surprised if he doesn't pop the question soon.

00:27:46And what about you? asked Hermione, ignoring Ron.

00:27:49Have you been up to the Room of Requirement all this time?

00:27:52Yep, said Harry.

00:27:53And guess who I ran into up there?

00:27:55Tonks.

00:27:56Tonks, repeated Ron and Hermione together, looking surprised.

00:27:59Yeah, she said she'd come to visit Dumbledore.

00:28:01If you ask me, said Ron, once Harry had finished describing his conversation with Tonks,

00:28:06she's cracking up a bit, losing her nerve after what happened at the Ministry.

00:28:10It's a bit odd, said Hermione, who for some reason looked very concerned.

00:28:13She's supposed to be guarding the school.

00:28:15Why is she suddenly abandoning her post to come and see Dumbledore when he's not even here?

00:28:19I had a thought, said Harry tentatively.

00:28:22He felt strange about voicing it.

00:28:23This was much more Hermione's territory than his.

00:28:27You don't think she can have been, you know, in love with Sirius?

00:28:31Hermione stared at him.

00:28:32What on earth makes you say that?

00:28:34I don't know, said Harry shrugging, but she was nearly crying when I mentioned his name.

00:28:38And her Patronus is a big four-legged thing now.

00:28:41I wondered whether it hadn't become, you know, him.

00:28:44It's a thought, said Hermione slowly,

00:28:46but I still don't know why she'd be bursting into the castle to see Dumbledore.

00:28:50If that's really why she was here.

00:28:52Goes back to what I said, doesn't it, said Ron,

00:28:54who was now shoveling mashed potato into his mouth.

00:28:57She's gone a bit funny, lost her nerve.

00:28:59Women, he said wisely to Harry, they're easily upset.

00:29:03And yet, said Hermione coming out of her reverie,

00:29:06I doubt you'd find a woman who sulked for half an hour because Madame Rosmerta

00:29:11didn't laugh at their joke about the hag, the healer, and the mimble-less Mimbletonia.

00:29:16Ron scowled.

00:29:20Chapter 22 After the Burial

00:29:23Patches of bright blue sky were beginning to appear over the castle turrets,

00:29:26but these signs of approaching summer did not lift Harry's mood.

00:29:30He'd been thwarted, both in his attempts to find out what Malfoy was doing

00:29:33and in his efforts to start a conversation with Slughorn

00:29:36that might lead somehow to Slughorn handing over the memory

00:29:39he had apparently suppressed for decades.

00:29:42For the last time, just forget about Malfoy, Hermione told Harry firmly.

00:29:46They were sitting with Ron in a sunny corner of the courtyard after lunch.

00:29:51Hermione and Ron were both clutching a Ministry of Magic leaflet,

00:29:54common apparition mistakes and how to avoid them,

00:29:57for they were taking their tests that very afternoon,

00:29:59but by and large the leaflets had not proved soothing to the nerves.

00:30:03Ron gave a start and tried to hide behind Hermione as a girl came round the corner.

00:30:07It isn't lavender, said Hermione wearily.

00:30:10Oh, good, said Ron, relaxing.

00:30:12Harry Potter, said the girl, I was asked to give you this.

00:30:16Thanks.

00:30:17Harry's heart sank as he took the small scroll of parchment.

00:30:20Once the girl was out of earshot, he said,

00:30:23Dumbledore said we wouldn't be having any more lessons until I got the memory.

00:30:26Maybe he wants to check on how you're doing, suggested Hermione,

00:30:29as Harry unrolled the parchment.

00:30:31But rather than finding Dumbledore's long, narrow, slanting writing,

00:30:34he saw an untidy sprawl, with very difficult to read,

00:30:37due to the presence of large blotches on the parchment where the ink had run.

00:30:41Dear Harry, Ron and Hermione,

00:30:44Aragog died last night.

00:30:45Harry and Ron, you met him and you know how special he was.

00:30:49Hermione, I know you'd have liked him.

00:30:50It would mean a lot to me if you'd nip down for the burial later this evening.

00:30:54I'm planning on doing it around dusk.

00:30:56That was his favourite time of day.

00:30:57I know you're not supposed to be out that late,

00:30:59but you can use the cloak, wouldn't ask?

00:31:01But I face it alone, Hagrid.

00:31:03Look at this, said Harry, handing the note to Hermione.

00:31:07Oh, for heaven's sake, she said,

00:31:09scanning it quickly and passing it to Ron,

00:31:11who read it through, looking increasingly incredulous.

00:31:13He's mental, he said furiously.

00:31:15That thing told its mates to eat Harry and me,

00:31:18told them to help themselves.

00:31:20And now Hagrid expects us to go down there

00:31:22and cry over its horrible, hairy body.

00:31:25It's not just that, said Hermione.

00:31:26He's asking us to leave the castle at night,

00:31:28and he knows security's a million times tighter,

00:31:31and how much trouble we'd be in if we were caught.

00:31:34We've been down to see him by night before, said Harry.

00:31:37Yes, but for something like this, said Hermione,

00:31:40we've risked a lot to help Hagrid out.

00:31:42But after all, Aragog's dead.

00:31:44If it were a question of saving him.

00:31:47I'd want to go even less, said Ron firmly.

00:31:49You didn't meet him, Hermione.

00:31:51Believe me, being dead will have improved him a lot.

00:31:53Harry took the note back and stared down

00:31:55at the inky blotches all over it.

00:31:57Tears had clearly fallen thick and fast upon the parchment.

00:32:01Harry, you can't be thinking of going, said Hermione.

00:32:04It's such a pointless thing to get detention for.

00:32:06Harry sighed.

00:32:07Yeah, I know, he said.

00:32:09Suppose Hagrid'll have to bury Aragog without us.

00:32:12Yes, he will, said Hermione, looking relieved.

00:32:14Look, potions will be almost empty this afternoon,

00:32:17with us all off doing our tests.

00:32:19Try and soften Slughorn up a bit, then.

00:32:22Fifty-seventh time lucky, you think, said Harry bitterly.

00:32:26Lucky, said Ron suddenly.

00:32:27Harry, that's it.

00:32:28Get lucky.

00:32:29What do you mean?

00:32:30Use your lucky potion.

00:32:32Ron, that's it, said Hermione, standing stunned.

00:32:35Of course.

00:32:36Why didn't I think of it?

00:32:37Harry stared at them both.

00:32:39Felix Felicis, he said.

00:32:40I don't know, I was sort of saving it.

00:32:42What for? demanded Ron incredulously.

00:32:44What on earth is more important than this memory, Harry? asked Hermione.

00:32:48Harry did not answer.

00:32:49The thought of that little golden bottle had hovered on the edges of his imagination for

00:32:54some time, vague and unformulated plans that involved Ginny splitting up with Dean, and

00:32:59Ron somehow being happy to see her with a new boyfriend had been fermenting on the depths

00:33:04of his brain, unacknowledged except during dreams of the twilight time between sleeping

00:33:09and waking.

00:33:10Harry, are you still with us? asked Hermione.

00:33:12Well, yeah, yeah, of course, he said, pulling himself together.

00:33:16Well, okay, if I can't get Slughorn to talk this afternoon, I'll take some Felix and have

00:33:20another go this evening.

00:33:21That's decided then, said Hermione briskly, getting to her feet and performing a graceful

00:33:26pirouette.

00:33:26Destination, determination, deliberation, she murmured.

00:33:31Oh, stop that, Ron begged her.

00:33:32I feel sick enough as it is.

00:33:34Quick, hide me.

00:33:35It isn't lavender, said Hermione impatiently, as another couple of girls appeared in the

00:33:40courtyard and Ron dived behind her.

00:33:43Cool, said Ron, peering over Hermione's shoulder to check.

00:33:46Blimey, they don't look happy, do they?

00:33:48They're the Montgomery sisters, and of course they don't look happy.

00:33:51Didn't you hear what happened to their little brother, said Hermione?

00:33:54I'm losing track of what's happening to everyone's relatives, to be honest, said Ron.

00:33:58Well, their brother was attacked by a werewolf.

00:34:00The rumor is that their mother refused to help the Death Eaters.

00:34:03Anyway, the boy was only five and he died in St Mungo's.

00:34:06They couldn't save him.

00:34:07He died, repeated Harry, shocked.

00:34:09But surely werewolves don't kill.

00:34:11They just turn you into one of them.

00:34:13They sometimes kill, said Ron, who looked unusually grave now.

00:34:17I've heard of it happening when the werewolf gets carried away.

00:34:20What was the werewolf's name, said Harry quickly.

00:34:22Well, the rumor is that it was that Fenrir Greyback, said Hermione.

00:34:26I knew it.

00:34:27The maniac who likes attacking kids.

00:34:29The one Lupin told me about, said Harry angrily.

00:34:33Hermione looked at him bleakly.

00:34:35Harry, you've got to get that memory, she said.

00:34:37It's all about stopping Voldemort, isn't it?

00:34:39These dreadful things that are happening are all down to him.

00:34:42The bell rang overhead in the castle and both Hermione and Ron jumped to their feet,

00:34:46looking terrified.

00:34:47You'll do fine, Harry told them both,

00:34:49as they headed towards the entrance hall to meet the rest of the people,

00:34:52taking their apparition test.

00:34:54Good luck.

00:34:55And you too, said Hermione with a significant look,

00:34:57as Harry headed off to the dungeons.

00:34:59There were only three of them in potions that afternoon.

00:35:02Harry, Ernie and Draco Malfoy.

00:35:04All too young to apparate just yet, said Slughorn genially.

00:35:08Not turned seventeen yet.

00:35:09They shook their heads.

00:35:11Ah well, said Slughorn cheerily.

00:35:13As we're so few, we'll do something fun.

00:35:15I want you all to brew me up something amusing.

00:35:18That sounds good, sir, said Ernie sycophatically.

00:35:20Rubbing his hands together,

00:35:22Malfoy and the other hand did not crack a smile.

00:35:25What do you mean, something amusing?

00:35:27He said irritably.

00:35:28Oh, surprise me, said Slughorn airily.

00:35:31Malfoy opened his copy of Advanced Potion Making with a sulky expression.

00:35:35It could not have been plainer that he thought this lesson was a waste of time.

00:35:38Undoubtedly, Harry thought, watching him over the top of his own book,

00:35:41Malfoy was begrudging the time he could otherwise be spending in the Room of Requirement.

00:35:46Was it his imagination, or did Malfoy, like Tonks, look thinner?

00:35:50Certainly he looked paler.

00:35:51His skin still had that greyish tinge.

00:35:53Probably because he was so rarely seeing daylight these days.

00:35:57But there was no air of smugness or excitement or superiority.

00:36:01None of the swagger that he had had on the Hogwarts Express,

00:36:03when he had boasted openly of the mission he had been given by Voldemort.

00:36:07There could only be one conclusion, in Harry's opinion.

00:36:10The mission, whatever it was, was going badly.

00:36:13Cheered by this thought,

00:36:14Harry skimmed through his copy of Advanced Potion Making

00:36:17and found a heavily corrected, half-blood prince's version of Analixer

00:36:21to induce euphoria,

00:36:23which seemed not only to meet Slughorn's instructions,

00:36:25but which might, Harry's heart leapt as the thought struck him,

00:36:28put Slughorn into such a good mood that he would be prepared

00:36:31to hand over that memory if Harry could persuade him to taste some.

00:36:35Well now, this looks absolutely wonderful, said Slughorn,

00:36:38clapping his hands together an hour and a half later,

00:36:41as he stared down into the sunshine-yellow contents of Harry's cauldron.

00:36:44Euphoria, I take it!

00:36:46And what's that I smell?

00:36:47Hmm, you've added just a sprig of peppermint, haven't you?

00:36:50Unorthodox, but what a stroke of inspiration, Harry!

00:36:53Of course, that would tend to counterbalance

00:36:55the occasional side-effects of excessive singing and nose-tweaking.

00:36:58I really don't know where you get these brainwaves, my boy!

00:37:01Unless...

00:37:02Harry pushed the Half-Blood Prince's book deeper into his bag with his foot.

00:37:06It's just your mother's genes coming out in you!

00:37:09Oh yeah, maybe, said Harry, relieved.

00:37:11Ernie was looking rather grumpy, determined to outshine Harry for once.

00:37:14He had just rashly invented his own potion,

00:37:17which had curdled and formed a kind of purple dumpling on the bottom of his cauldron.

00:37:21Malfoy was already packing up, sour-faced.

00:37:23Slughorn had pronounced his hiccuping solution merely passable.

00:37:27The bell rang and both Ernie and Malfoy left at once.

00:37:30Sir, Harry began, but Slughorn immediately glanced over his shoulder.

00:37:33When he saw that the room was empty but for himself and Harry,

00:37:36he hurried away as fast as he could.

00:37:38Professor! Professor! Don't...

00:37:40Don't you want to taste my po...

00:37:41Called Harry desperately, but Slughorn had gone.

00:37:45Disappointed, Harry emptied the cauldron, packed up his things,

00:37:49left the dungeon and walked slowly back upstairs to the common room.

00:37:53Ron and Hermione returned in the late afternoon.

00:37:56Harry, cried Hermione, as she climbed through the portrait hall.

00:37:59Harry, I passed!

00:38:00Well done, he said.

00:38:01And Ron?

00:38:02He...

00:38:03He just failed, whispered Hermione,

00:38:05as Ron came slouching into the room, looking most mor...

00:38:07most morose.

00:38:09He was really unlucky, a tiny thing.

00:38:11The examiner just spotted that he'd left half an eyebrow behind.

00:38:14How did it go with Slughorn?

00:38:16No joy, said Harry, as Ron joined them.

00:38:18Bad luck, mate.

00:38:19But you'll pass next time.

00:38:21We can take it together.

00:38:22Yeah, I suppose, said Ron grumpily.

00:38:24But half an eyebrow?

00:38:26Like that matters.

00:38:27I know, said Hermione soothingly.

00:38:29It does seem really harsh.

00:38:31They spent most of their dinner roundly abusing the apparition examiner,

00:38:34and Ron looked fractionally more cheerful by the time they set off back to the common room,

00:38:39now discussing the continuing problem of Slughorn and the memory.

00:38:42So, Harry, you're going to use the Felix Felicis or what?

00:38:45Ron demanded.

00:38:46Yeah, suppose I'd better, said Harry.

00:38:48I don't reckon I'll need all of it, but...

00:38:50Not twelve hours' worth.

00:38:51It can't take all night.

00:38:53I'll just take a mouthful.

00:38:54Two or three hours should do it.

00:38:56It's a great feeling when you take it, said Ron reminiscently.

00:38:59You can't do anything wrong.

00:39:01What are you talking about, said Hermione laughing?

00:39:03You've never taken any.

00:39:04Yeah, but I thought I had, didn't I, said Ron, as though explaining the obvious.

00:39:09Same difference, really.

00:39:10As they had only just seen Slughorn enter the Great Hall,

00:39:13and knew that he liked to take time over meals,

00:39:15they lingered for a while in the common room,

00:39:17the plan being that Harry should go to Slughorn's office

00:39:20once the teacher had had time to get back there.

00:39:22When the sun had sunk to the level of the treetops in the Forbidden Forest,

00:39:26they decided the moment had come,

00:39:28and after checking carefully that Neville, Dean and Seamus

00:39:30were all in the common room,

00:39:31sneaked up to the boys' dormitory.

00:39:33Harry took out a rolled-up socks at the bottom of his trunk,

00:39:36and extracted the tiny, gleaming bottle.

00:39:40Well, here goes, said Harry,

00:39:42and he raised the little bottle and took a carefully measured gulp.

00:39:45What does it feel like, whispered Hermione.

00:39:47Harry did not answer for a moment.

00:39:49Then, slowly but surely,

00:39:50an exhilarating sense of infinite opportunity stole through him.

00:39:54He felt as though he could have done anything,

00:39:56anything at all,

00:39:57and getting the memory from Slughorn seemed suddenly not only possible,

00:40:01but positively easy.

00:40:03He got to his feet, smiling, brimful of confidence.

00:40:06Excellent, he said, really excellent.

00:40:08Right, I'm going down to Hagrid's.

00:40:11What, said Ron and Hermione together, looking aghast.

00:40:13No, Harry, you've got to go and see Slughorn, remember, said Hermione.

00:40:16No, said Harry confidently.

00:40:18I'm going to Hagrid's.

00:40:19I've got a good feeling about going to Hagrid's.

00:40:21You've got a good feeling about burying a giant spider,

00:40:25asked Ron, looking stunned.

00:40:26Yeah, said Harry, pulling his invisibility cloak out of his bag.

00:40:29I feel like it's the place to be tonight.

00:40:31You know what I mean?

00:40:32No, said Ron and Hermione together, both looking positively alarmed now.

00:40:36This is Felix Felicis, I suppose, said Hermione anxiously,

00:40:40holding up the bottle to the light.

00:40:41You haven't got another little bottle full of, I don't know,

00:40:44essence of insanity, suggested Ron, as Harry swung his cloak over his shoulders.

00:40:49Harry laughed, and Ron and Hermione looked even more alarmed.

00:40:53Trust me, he said, I know what I'm doing,

00:40:55or at least he strolled confidently to the door.

00:40:59Felix does.

00:41:00He pulled the invisibility cloak over his head and set off down the stairs,

00:41:04Ron and Hermione hurrying along behind him.

00:41:06At the foot of the stairs, Harry slid through the open door.

00:41:09What were you doing up there with her?

00:41:12Shrieked Lavender Brown, staring right through Harry at Ron and Hermione

00:41:16emerging together from the boys' dormitories.

00:41:18Harry heard Ron spluttering behind him as he darted across the room away from them.

00:41:22Getting through the portrait hall was simple.

00:41:24As he approached it, Ginny and Dean came through it,

00:41:27and Harry was able to slip between them.

00:41:29As he did so, he brushed accidentally against Ginny.

00:41:32Don't push me, please, Dean, she said, sounding annoyed.

00:41:36You're always doing that.

00:41:37I can get through perfectly well on my own.

00:41:39The portrait swung closed behind Harry,

00:41:41but not before he had heard Dean make an angry retort,

00:41:44his feeling of elation increasing.

00:41:46Harry strode off through the castle.

00:41:48He did not have to creep along, for he met nobody on his way,

00:41:51but this did not surprise him in the slightest this evening.

00:41:54He was the luckiest person at Hogwarts.

00:41:57Why he knew that going to Hagrid's was the right thing to do, he had no idea.

00:42:01It was as though the potion was illuminating a few steps of the path at a time.

00:42:05He could not see the final destination.

00:42:07He could not see where Slughorn came in,

00:42:09but he knew that he was going in the right way to get that memory.

00:42:13When he reached the entrance hall, he saw that Filch had forgotten to lock the front door.

00:42:16Beaming, Harry threw it open and breathed in the smell of clean air

00:42:20and grass for a moment before walking down the steps into the dusk.

00:42:24It was when he reached the bottom step that it occurred to him

00:42:26how very pleasant it would be to pass the vegetable patch on his walk to Hagrid's.

00:42:30It was not strictly on the way,

00:42:32but it seemed clear to Harry that this was a whim on which he should act.

00:42:35So he directed his feet immediately towards the vegetable patch,

00:42:38where he was pleased, but not altogether surprised,

00:42:40to find Professor Slughorn in conversation with Professor Sprout.

00:42:44Harry lurked behind a low stone wall,

00:42:47feeling at peace with the world and listening to their conversation.

00:42:50I do thank you for taking the time, Pomona, Slughorn was saying courteously.

00:42:56Most authorities agree that they are at their most effacious if picked at twilight.

00:43:01Oh, I quite agree, said Professor Sprout warmly.

00:43:04That enough for you?

00:43:05Plenty, plenty, said Slughorn,

00:43:07who, Harry saw, was carrying an armful of leafy plants.

00:43:10This should allow for a few leaves for each of my third years,

00:43:13and some to spare if anybody overstews them.

00:43:16Well, good evening to you, and many thanks again.

00:43:19Professor Sprout headed off into the gathering darkness,

00:43:21in the direction of the greenhouses,

00:43:23and Slughorn directed his steps to the spot where Harry stood, invisible.

00:43:28Seized with an immediate desire to reveal himself,

00:43:30Harry pulled off the cloak with a flourish.

00:43:32Good evening, Professor.

00:43:34Merlin's beard, Harry!

00:43:35You made me jump, said Slughorn,

00:43:37stopping dead in his tracks and looking wary.

00:43:39How did you get out of the castle?

00:43:41I think Filch must have forgotten to lock the doors, said Harry cheerfully,

00:43:44and was delighted to see Slughorn scowl.

00:43:47I'll be reporting that, man.

00:43:48He's more concerned about litter than proper security, if you ask me.

00:43:51But why are you out here, Harry?

00:43:54Well, sir, it's Hagrid, said Harry,

00:43:56who knew that the right thing to do just now was to tell the truth.

00:43:59He's pretty upset, but you won't tell anyone, Professor.

00:44:01I don't want trouble for him.

00:44:03Slughorn's curiosity was evidently aroused.

00:44:07Well, I can't promise that, he said gruffly,

00:44:10but I know that Dumbledore trusts Hagrid to the hilt,

00:44:13so I'm sure he can't be up to anything very dreadful.

00:44:16Well, it's this giant spider.

00:44:18He's had it for years.

00:44:19It lived in the forest.

00:44:20It could talk and everything.

00:44:22I heard rumours there were acromantula in the forest, said Slughorn softly,

00:44:26looking over at the mass of black trees.

00:44:28It's true, then?

00:44:30Yes, said Harry, but this one, Aragog, the first one Hagrid ever got.

00:44:33It died last night.

00:44:35He's devastated.

00:44:36He wants company while he buries it.

00:44:38And I said I'd go.

00:44:39Touching, touching, said Slughorn, absentmindedly,

00:44:42his large droopy eyes fixed upon the distant lights of Hagrid's cabin.

00:44:46But acromantula venom is very valuable.

00:44:49If the beast has only just died, it might not yet have dried out.

00:44:52Of course, I wouldn't want to do anything insensitive if Hagrid does upset,

00:44:56but if there is any way to procure some,

00:44:58I mean, it's almost impossible to get venom from an acromantula while it's alive.

00:45:03Slughorn seemed to be talking more to himself than Harry now.

00:45:06Seems an awful waste not to collect it.

00:45:08Might get a hundred galleons of pint, to be frank.

00:45:11My salary is not large.

00:45:13And now Harry saw clearly what was to be done.

00:45:16Well, he said, with a most convincing hesitancy.

00:45:18Well, if you wanted to come, Professor, Hagrid would probably be really pleased.

00:45:23Give Aragog a better send-off, you know?

00:45:25Yes, of course, said Slughorn, his eyes now gleaming with enthusiasm.

00:45:30I tell you what, Harry, I'll meet you down there with a bottle or two.

00:45:33We'll drink the poor beast's, well, not health, but we'll send it off in style anyway,

00:45:37once it's buried, and I'll change my tie.

00:45:40This one is a little exuberant for the occasion.

00:45:42He bustled back into the castle, and Harry sped off to Hagrid's, delighted with himself.

00:45:48You came, croaked Hagrid when he opened the door

00:45:50and saw Harry emerging from the invisibility cloak in front of him.

00:45:53Yeah.

00:45:54Ron and Hermione couldn't, though, said Harry.

00:45:56They're really sorry.

00:45:57Don't matter.

00:45:59He'd have been touched your hair, though, Harry.

00:46:01Hagrid gave a great sob.

00:46:03He had made himself a black armband out of what looked like a rag dipped in boot polish,

00:46:07and his eyes were puffy, red and swollen.

00:46:10Harry patted him consolingly on the elbow,

00:46:12which was the highest point of Hagrid he could easily reach.

00:46:15Where are we burying him?

00:46:16He asked.

00:46:17The forest.

00:46:18Blimey, no, said Hagrid, wiping his streaming eyes on the bottom of his shirt.

00:46:22The other spiders won't let me anywhere near their webs now Aragog's gone.

00:46:26Turns out he was only on his orders.

00:46:28They didn't eat me.

00:46:29Can you believe that, Harry?

00:46:31The honest answer was yes.

00:46:33Harry recalled with painful ease the scene when he and Ron

00:46:35had come face to face with the Acromantula.

00:46:38They had been quite clear that Aragog was the only thing that stopped them eating Hagrid.

00:46:42Never been in an area of the forest I couldn't go before, said Hagrid, shaking his head.

00:46:46It wasn't easy getting Aragog's body out of there, I can tell you.

00:46:50They usually eat their dead, you see.

00:46:52But I wanted to give him a nice burial, a proper send off.

00:46:55He broke into sobs again, and Harry resumed the patting of his elbow,

00:46:59saying as he did so, for the potion seemed to indicate that it was the right thing to do.

00:47:04Professor Slughorn met me coming down here, Hagrid.

00:47:06Not in trouble, are you?

00:47:08said Hagrid, looking up alarmed.

00:47:09You shouldn't be out of the castle in the evening.

00:47:11I know it's my fault.

00:47:13No, no.

00:47:13When he heard what I was doing, he said he'd like to come and pay his last respects to Aragog too,

00:47:19said Harry.

00:47:19He's gone to change into something more suitable, I think.

00:47:22And he said he'd bring some bottles so we can drink to Aragog's memory.

00:47:25Did he?

00:47:26said Hagrid, looking both astonished and touched.

00:47:29That's a right noice of him, that is.

00:47:32He's not turning you in, either.

00:47:34I've never really had a lot to do with Horace Slughorn before.

00:47:37Coming to old Aragog, though.

00:47:39Coming to see off old Aragog.

00:47:41Well, he'd have liked that, Aragog would.

00:47:44Harry thought privately that what Aragog would have liked most about Slughorn

00:47:48was the ample amount of edible flesh he provided.

00:47:51But he merely moved to the rear window of Hagrid's hut,

00:47:53where he saw the rather horrible sight of the enormous dead spider lying on its back,

00:47:58outside, its legs curled and tangled.

00:48:01Are we going to bury him here, Hagrid, in your garden?

00:48:04Just beyond the pumpkin patch, I thought, said Hagrid in a choked voice.

00:48:08I've already dug the, you know, grave.

00:48:10Just thought we'd say a few nice things over him.

00:48:12Happy memories, you know.

00:48:14His voice quivered and broke.

00:48:15There was a knock on the door and he turned to answer it,

00:48:18blowing his nose on his great spotted handkerchief as he did so.

00:48:22Slughorn hurried over the threshold,

00:48:24several bottles in his arms and wearing a sombre black cravat.

00:48:27Hagrid, he said in a deep grey voice,

00:48:30so very sorry to hear of your loss.

00:48:32That's very nice of you, said Hagrid.

00:48:34Thanks a lot.

00:48:35And thanks for not giving Harry detention either.

00:48:38Wouldn't have dreamed of it, said Slughorn.

00:48:40Sad night, sad night.

00:48:42Where is the poor creature?

00:48:43Over here, said Hagrid in a shaky voice.

00:48:46Shall we?

00:48:47Shall we do it then?

00:48:48The three of them stepped out into the back garden.

00:48:50The moon was glistening palely through the trees,

00:48:53and its rays mingled with the light spilling from Hagrid's window

00:48:55to illuminate Aragog's body lying on the edge of a massive pit

00:48:59beside a ten foot high mound of freshly dug earth.

00:49:03Magnificent, said Slughorn,

00:49:05approaching the spider's head,

00:49:07where eight milky eyes stared blankly at the sky

00:49:09and two huge curved pincers shone motionless in the moonlight.

00:49:14Harry thought he heard the tinkle of bottles

00:49:16as Slughorn bent over the pincers,

00:49:18apparently examining the enormous hairy head.

00:49:20It's not everyone appreciates how beautiful they are,

00:49:23said Hagrid to Slughorn's back,

00:49:25tears leaking from the corners of his crinkled eyes.

00:49:27I didn't know you were interested in creatures like Aragog, Horace.

00:49:31Interested?

00:49:32My dear Hagrid, I revere them,

00:49:34said Slughorn, stepping back from the body.

00:49:36Harry saw the glint of a bottle disappear beneath his cloak,

00:49:39though Hagrid, mopping his eyes once more, noticed nothing.

00:49:42Now, shall we proceed to the burial?

00:49:45Hagrid nodded and moved forwards.

00:49:47He heaved the gigantic spider into his arms

00:49:49and with enormous grunt rolled it into the dark pit.

00:49:52It hit the bottom with a rather horrible crunchy thud.

00:49:56Hagrid started to cry again.

00:49:58Of course, it's difficult for you who knew him best,

00:50:01said Slughorn, who, like Harry,

00:50:03could reach no higher than Hagrid's elbow,

00:50:05but patted it all the same.

00:50:07Why don't I say a few words?

00:50:09He must have got a lot of good quality venom from Aragog,

00:50:12Harry thought, for Slughorn wore a satisfied smirk

00:50:15as he stepped up to the rim of the pit and said,

00:50:18in a low, impressive voice,

00:50:19Farewell, Aragog, King of Arachnids,

00:50:23whose long and faithful friendship

00:50:24those who knew you won't forget.

00:50:26Though your body will decay,

00:50:28your spirit lingers on in the quiet,

00:50:30web-spun places of your forest home.

00:50:33May your many-eyed descendants ever flourish

00:50:36and your human friends find solace

00:50:38for the loss they have sustained.

00:50:40That was beautiful, howled Hagrid,

00:50:43and he collapsed onto the compost heap,

00:50:45crying harder than ever.

00:50:48There, there, said Slughorn,

00:50:49waving his wand so that the huge pile of earth

00:50:52rose up and then fell

00:50:53with a muffled sort of crash onto the dead spider,

00:50:56forming a smooth mound.

00:50:58Let's get inside and have a drink.

00:50:59Get on his other side, Harry.

00:51:01That's it.

00:51:02Up you come, Hargrid.

00:51:03Well done.

00:51:04They deposited Hagrid in a chair at the table.

00:51:07Fang, who had been skulking in his basket during the burial,

00:51:10now came padding softly across to them

00:51:12and put his heavy head into Harry's lap, as usual.

00:51:14Slughorn uncorked one of the bottles of wine he had brought.

00:51:18I have had it all tested for poison,

00:51:21he assured Harry,

00:51:22pouring most of the first bottle

00:51:23into one of Hagrid's bucket-sized mugs

00:51:25and handing it to Hagrid.

00:51:27Had a house-elf?

00:51:28Taste every bottle after what happened

00:51:29to your poor friend Rupert.

00:51:31Harry saw in his mind's eye

00:51:33the expression on Hermione's face

00:51:35if she ever heard about this abuse of house-elves

00:51:37and decided never to mention it to her.

00:51:39One for Harry, said Slughorn,

00:51:41dividing a second bottle between two mugs,

00:51:43and one for me.

00:51:45Well, he raised his mug high, to Aragog.

00:51:48Aragog, said Harry and Hagrid together.

00:51:51Both Slughorn and Hagrid drank deeply.

00:51:53Harry, however,

00:51:54with the way a head illuminated for him

00:51:56by Felix Felicis,

00:51:57knew that he must not drink,

00:51:58so he merely pretended to take a gulp

00:52:00and then set the mug back on the table before him.

00:52:03I had him from an egg, you know,

00:52:05said Hagrid morosely.

00:52:07Tiny little thing he was when he hatched,

00:52:09about the size of a Pekingese.

00:52:11Sweet, said Slughorn.

00:52:13Used to keep him in a cupboard up at the school until,

00:52:15well...

00:52:16Hagrid's face darkened and Harry knew why.

00:52:19Tom Riddle had contrived to have Hagrid thrown out of school,

00:52:22blamed for opening the Chamber of Secrets.

00:52:24Slughorn, however, did not seem to be listening.

00:52:26He was looking up at the ceiling,

00:52:28from which a number of brass pots hung,

00:52:30and also a long, silky skein of bright white hair.

00:52:34That's never unicorn hair, Hagrid.

00:52:36Oh yeah, said Hagrid indifferently.

00:52:39Gets pulled out of their tails.

00:52:40They catch it on branches and stuff in the forest, you know.

00:52:42But my dear chap,

00:52:44do you know how much that's worth?

00:52:46I use it for binding on bandages and stuff

00:52:48if a creature gets injured, said Hagrid shrugging.

00:52:50It's dead useful.

00:52:51Very strong, see?

00:52:53Slughorn took another deep draught from his mug,

00:52:55his eyes moving carefully around the cabin now,

00:52:58looking, Harry knew, for more treasures

00:53:00that he might be able to convert into

00:53:02a plentiful supply of oak-matured mead,

00:53:04crystallised pineapple and velvet smoking jackets.

00:53:08He refilled Hagrid's mug and his own

00:53:10and questioned him about the creatures

00:53:12that lived in the forest these days

00:53:13and how Hagrid was able to look after them all.

00:53:15Hagrid becoming expansive under the influence of the drink

00:53:18and Slughorn's flattering interests

00:53:20stopped mopping his eyes and entered happily

00:53:22into a long explanation of bow-truckle husbandry.

00:53:27The Felix Felicis gave Harry a little nudge at this point

00:53:30and he noticed that the supply of drink

00:53:32that Slughorn had brought was running out fast.

00:53:34Harry had not yet managed to bring off the refilling charm

00:53:37without saying the incantation aloud,

00:53:39but the idea that he might be able to do it tonight was laughable.

00:53:42Indeed, Harry grinned to himself

00:53:44as unnoticed by either Hagrid or Slughorn,

00:53:46now swapping tails of the illegal trade in dragon eggs,

00:53:50he pointed his wand under the table at the emptying bottles

00:53:53and they immediately began to refill.

00:53:56After an hour or so,

00:53:57Hagrid and Slughorn began making extravagant toasts

00:54:00to Hogwarts, to Dumbledore, to elf-made wine

00:54:04and to Harry Potter, bellowed Hagrid,

00:54:07slopping some of his fourteenth bucket of wine

00:54:09down his chin as he drained it.

00:54:11Yes, indeed, cried Slughorn a little thickly.

00:54:14Pariota, the chosen boy who, well, something of that sort,

00:54:18he mumbled and drained his mug too.

00:54:21Not long after this, Hagrid became tearful again

00:54:24and pressed the whole unicorn tail upon Slughorn

00:54:26who pocketed it with cries of,

00:54:28to friendship, to generosity, to ten galleons of hair.

00:54:33And for a while after that,

00:54:34Hagrid and Slughorn were sitting side by side,

00:54:37arms around each other,

00:54:38singing a slow, sad song about a dying wizard called Odo.

00:54:42Ah, the good die young, muttered Hagrid,

00:54:45slumping low onto the table, a little cross-eyed,

00:54:48while Slughorn continued to warble the refrain,

00:54:50my dad was no age to go, nor were your mum and dad, Harry.

00:54:55Great fat tears oozed out of the corners

00:54:57of Hagrid's crinkled eyes again.

00:54:59He grasped Harry's arm and shook it.

00:55:01As wizard and witcher on their age, I never knew.

00:55:05Terrible thing, terrible thing,

00:55:08Slughorn sang plaintively.

00:55:10And Odo the hero, they bore him back home

00:55:14to the place that he'd known as a lad.

00:55:17They laid him to rest with his hat inside out

00:55:20and his wand snapped in two, which was sad.

00:55:23Terrible, Hagrid grunted,

00:55:25and his great shaggy head rolled sideways onto his arms

00:55:28and he fell asleep, snoring deeply.

00:55:30Sorry, said Slughorn with a hiccup,

00:55:33can't carry a tune to save my life.

00:55:36Hagrid wasn't talking about your singing, said Harry quietly,

00:55:39he was talking about my mum and dad dying.

00:55:41Oh, said Slughorn, repressing a large belch.

00:55:44Oh dear, yes, that was terrible indeed, terrible, terrible.

00:55:49He looked quite at loss for what to say

00:55:51and resorted to refilling their mugs.

00:55:53I don't suppose you remember it, Harry, he asked awkwardly.

00:55:57No, well, I was only one when they died, said Harry,

00:55:59his eyes on the flame of the candle flickering

00:56:02in Hagrid's heavy snores.

00:56:03But I found out pretty much what happened since.

00:56:06My dad died first, did you know that?

00:56:09I didn't, said Slughorn in a hushed voice.

00:56:12Yeah, Voldemort murdered him

00:56:14and then stepped over his body towards my mum, said Harry.

00:56:17Slughorn gave a great shudder,

00:56:18but he did not seem to be able to tear his horrified gaze away

00:56:22from Harry's face.

00:56:24He told her to get out of the way, said Harry remorselessly.

00:56:27He told me she needn't have died, he only wanted me.

00:56:31She could have run.

00:56:32Oh dear, breathed Slughorn, she could have.

00:56:35She needn't.

00:56:36That's awful.

00:56:37It is, isn't it, said Harry in a voice barely more than a whisper.

00:56:40But she didn't move.

00:56:41Dad was already dead, but she didn't want me to go too.

00:56:45She tried to plead with Voldemort, but he just laughed.

00:56:48That's enough, said Slughorn suddenly, raising a shaking hand.

00:56:52Really, my dear boy, enough.

00:56:53I'm an old man, I don't need to hear, I don't want to hear.

00:56:57I forgot, lied Harry, Felix Felicis leading him on.

00:57:00You liked her, didn't you?

00:57:02Liked her, said Slughorn, his eyes brimming with tears once more.

00:57:06I don't imagine anyone who met her wouldn't have liked her.

00:57:09Very brave, very funny.

00:57:10It was the most horrible thing.

00:57:12But you won't help her, son, said Harry.

00:57:14She gave me her life, but you won't give me a memory.

00:57:19Hagrid's rumbling snores filled the cabin.

00:57:21Harry looked steadily into Slughorn's tear-filled eyes.

00:57:24The potions master seemed unable to look away.

00:57:27Don't say that, he whispered.

00:57:29It isn't a question if it were to help you, of course, but no purpose can be served.

00:57:35It can, said Harry clearly.

00:57:36Dumbledore needs information.

00:57:38I need information.

00:57:40He knew he was safe.

00:57:42Felix was telling him that Slughorn would remember nothing of this in the morning.

00:57:46Looking Slughorn straight in the eye, Harry leant forwards a little.

00:57:49I am the chosen one.

00:57:51I have to kill him.

00:57:52I need that memory.

00:57:53Slughorn turned paler than ever, his shiny forehead gleamed with sweat.

00:57:58You are the chosen one?

00:58:00Of course I am, said Harry calmly.

00:58:02But then, my dear boy, you're asking a great deal.

00:58:05You're asking me, in fact, to aid you in your attempt to destroy.

00:58:09You don't want to get rid of the wizard who killed Lily Evans?

00:58:12Harry, Harry, of course I do, but…

00:58:14You're scared he'll find out you helped me.

00:58:16Slughorn said nothing.

00:58:18He looked terrified.

00:58:19Be brave, like my mother, Professor.

00:58:21Slughorn raised a pudgy hand and pressed his shaking fingers to his mouth.

00:58:26He looked for a moment like an enormously overgrown baby.

00:58:29I am not proud, he whispered through his fingers.

00:58:32I am ashamed of what that memory shows.

00:58:35I think I may have done great damage that day.

00:58:38You'd cancel out anything you did by giving me that memory, said Harry.

00:58:41It would be a very brave and noble thing to do.

00:58:44Hagrid twitched in his sleep and snored on.

00:58:47Slughorn and Harry stared at each other over the guttering candle.

00:58:51There was a long, long silence, but Felix Felicis told Harry not to break it.

00:58:55To wait.

00:58:56Then, very slowly, Slughorn put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his wand.

00:59:01He put his other hand inside his cloak and took out a small, empty bottle.

00:59:05Still looking into Harry's eyes, Slughorn touched the tip of his wand to his temple

00:59:09and withdrew it, so that a long, silver thread of memory came away too, clinging to the wand tip.

00:59:15Longer and longer the memory stretched until it broke and swung, silvery bright, from the wand.

00:59:21Slughorn lowered it into the bottle where it coiled, then spread, swirling like gas.

00:59:25He corked the bottle with a trembling hand and then passed it across the table to Harry.

00:59:30Thank you very much, Professor.

00:59:33You're a good boy, said Professor Slughorn, tears trickling down his fat cheeks,

00:59:37into his walrus moustache.

00:59:39And you've got her eyes.

00:59:41Just don't think too badly of me once you've seen it.

00:59:44And he too put his head on his arms, gave a deep sigh and fell asleep.

00:59:51Chapter 23

00:59:52Horcruxes

00:59:54Harry could feel the Felix Felicis wearing off as he crept back into the castle.

00:59:58The front door had remained unlocked for him, but on the third floor he met

01:00:01Peeves and only narrowly avoided detection by diving sideways through one of his shortcuts.

01:00:06By the time he got up to the portrait of the fat lady and pulled off his invisibility cloak,

01:00:10he was not surprised to find her in a most unhelpful mood.

01:00:14What sort of time do you call this?

01:00:16I'm really sorry, I had to go out for something important.

01:00:18Well, the password changed at midnight, so you'll just have to sleep in the corridor, won't you?

01:00:23You're joking, said Harry.

01:00:25Why did it have to change at midnight?

01:00:26That's the way it is, said the fat lady.

01:00:28If you're angry, go and take it up with the headmaster.

01:00:31He's the one who's tightened security.

01:00:33Fantastic, said Harry bitterly, looking around at the hard door.

01:00:36Really brilliant, yeah.

01:00:38I would go and take it up with Dumbledore if he was here,

01:00:41because he's the one who wanted me to.

01:00:42He is here, said a voice behind Harry.

01:00:46Professor Dumbledore returned to the school an hour ago.

01:00:49Nearly headless Nick was gliding towards Harry,

01:00:51his head wobbling as usual upon his ruff.

01:00:54I had it from the bloody baron.

01:00:56Who saw him arrive, said Nick.

01:00:58He appeared, according to the baron, to be in good spirits,

01:01:00though a little tired, of course.

01:01:02Where is he, said Harry, his heart leaping.

01:01:04Oh, groaning and clanking up to the astronomy tower.

01:01:07It's a favourite pastime of his.

01:01:09Not the bloody baron, Dumbledore.

01:01:11Oh, in his office, said Nick.

01:01:13I believe, from what the baron said,

01:01:15that he had business to attend to before turning in.

01:01:17Yeah, he has, said Harry,

01:01:19excitement blazing in his chest at the prospect of telling Dumbledore

01:01:22he had secured the memory,

01:01:24who he wheeled about and sprinted off again,

01:01:26ignoring the fat lady who was calling after him.

01:01:28Come back!

01:01:29All right, I lied.

01:01:30I was annoyed you woke me up.

01:01:31The password's still tapeworm.

01:01:34But Harry was already hurtling back along the corridor,

01:01:37and within minutes he was saying toffee eclairs to Dumbledore's gargoyle,

01:01:41which leapt aside, permitting Harry entrance onto the spiral staircase.

01:01:45Enter, said Dumbledore when Harry knocked.

01:01:47He sounded exhausted.

01:01:49Harry pushed open the door.

01:01:50There was Dumbledore's office,

01:01:52looking the same as ever, but with black, star-strewn skies beyond the windows.

01:01:56Good gracious, Harry, said Dumbledore in surprise.

01:01:59To what do I owe this very late pleasure?

01:02:02Sir, I've got it.

01:02:03I've got the memory from Slughorn.

01:02:05Harry pulled out the tiny glass bottle and showed it to Dumbledore.

01:02:08For a moment or two, the headmaster looked stunned,

01:02:11then his face split in a wide smile.

01:02:13Harry, this is spectacular news.

01:02:16Very well done indeed.

01:02:17I knew you could do it.

01:02:19All thought of the lateness of the hour apparently forgotten,

01:02:21he hurriedly opened around his desk,

01:02:24took the bottle with Slughorn's memory in his uninjured hand,

01:02:28and strode over to the cabinet where he kept the pensieve.

01:02:32And now, said Dumbledore, placing the stone basin upon his desk

01:02:35and emptying the contents of the bottle into it,

01:02:37now at last we shall see Harry quickly.

01:02:41Harry bowed obediently over the pensieve and felt his feet leave the office floor.

01:02:45Once again he fell through darkness

01:02:47and landed in Horace Slughorn's office many years before.

01:02:51There was the much younger Horace Slughorn,

01:02:53with his thick, shiny, straw-coloured hair and his gingery blonde moustache,

01:02:57sitting again in the comfortable winged armchair in his office,

01:03:00his feet resting upon a velvet pouf,

01:03:03a small glass of wine in one hand,

01:03:05the other rummaging in a box of crystallised pineapple.

01:03:07And there were the half a dozen teenage boys

01:03:10sitting around Slughorn with Tom Riddle in the midst of them,

01:03:13Marvolo's gold and black ring gleaming on his finger.

01:03:17Dumbledore landed beside Harry, just as Riddle asked,

01:03:20Sir, is it true that Professor Merryfort is retiring?

01:03:24Tom, Tom, if I knew I couldn't tell you, said Slughorn,

01:03:27wagging his finger reprovingly at Riddle, though winking at the same time.

01:03:31I must say I'd like to know where you get your information, boy,

01:03:33more knowledgeable than half the staff you are.

01:03:36Riddle smiled, the other boys laughed and cast him admiring looks.

01:03:39What with your uncanny ability to know things you shouldn't,

01:03:42and your careful flattery of the people who matter.

01:03:44Thank you for the pineapple, by the way.

01:03:46You're quite right, it is my favourite.

01:03:48Several of the boys tittered again.

01:03:50I confidently expect you to rise to minister for magic within 20 years,

01:03:5415 if you keep sending me top pineapple.

01:03:56I have excellent contacts at the ministry.

01:03:59Tom Riddle merely smiled as the others laughed again.

01:04:01Harry noticed that he was by no means the eldest of the group of boys,

01:04:05but that they all seemed to look to him as their leader.

01:04:08I don't know that politics would suit me, sir,

01:04:11he said when the laughter had died away.

01:04:13I don't have the right kind of background, for one thing.

01:04:15A couple of the boys around him smirked at each other.

01:04:18Harry was sure they were enjoying a private joke,

01:04:20undoubtedly about what they knew or suspected

01:04:23regarding their gang leader's famous ancestor.

01:04:25Nonsense, said Slughorn briskly.

01:04:27Couldn't be plainer, you come from decent wizarding stock.

01:04:30Abilities like yours?

01:04:31No, you'll go far, Tom.

01:04:33I've never been wrong about a student yet.

01:04:35The small golden clock standing upon Slughorn's desk

01:04:38chimed eleven o'clock behind him, and he looked around.

01:04:41Good gracious, is that the time already?

01:04:43You'd better get going, boys, or we'll be all in trouble.

01:04:46Lestrange, I want your essay by tomorrow, or it's detention.

01:04:49Same goes for you, Avery.

01:04:51One by one the boys filed out of the room.

01:04:54Slughorn heaved himself out of his armchair

01:04:56and carried his empty glass over to his desk.

01:04:58A movement behind him made him look around.

01:05:00Riddle was still standing there.

01:05:02Look sharp, Tom.

01:05:03You don't want to be caught out of bed out of hours, and you a prefect.

01:05:07Sir, I wanted to ask you something.

01:05:09Ask away, then, my boy, ask away.

01:05:11Sir, I wondered what you know about horcruxes.

01:05:15Slughorn stared at him, his thick fingers absent-mindedly caressing

01:05:19the stem of his wineglass.

01:05:21Project for Defence Against the Dark Arts, is it?

01:05:24But Harry could tell that Slughorn knew perfectly well that this was not schoolwork.

01:05:29Not exactly, sir, said Riddle.

01:05:31I came across the term while reading, and I didn't really fully understand it.

01:05:35No, well, you'd be hard-pushed to find a book at Hogwarts

01:05:38that'll give you details on horcruxes, Tom.

01:05:41That's very dark stuff.

01:05:42Very dark indeed, said Slughorn.

01:05:44But you obviously know all about them, sir.

01:05:46I mean, a wizard like you.

01:05:48Sorry, I mean, if you can't tell me, obviously.

01:05:50I just knew if anyone could tell me, you could.

01:05:52So I just thought I'd ask.

01:05:54It was very well done, thought Harry.

01:05:56The hesitancy, the casual tone, the careful flattery.

01:05:59None of it overdone.

01:06:00He, Harry, had had too much experience of trying to wheedle information out of

01:06:04reluctant people not to recognise a master at work.

01:06:07He could tell that Riddle wanted the information very, very much.

01:06:10Perhaps had been working towards this moment for weeks.

01:06:13Well, said Slughorn, not looking at Riddle,

01:06:16but fiddling with the ribbon on top of his box of crystallised pineapple.

01:06:19Well, it can't hurt to give you an overview, of course,

01:06:22just so that you understand the term.

01:06:24A horcrux is the word used for an object in which a person has concealed part of their soul.

01:06:29I don't quite understand how that works, though, sir, said Riddle.

01:06:33His voice was carefully controlled, but Harry could sense his excitement.

01:06:36Well, you split your soul, you see, said Slughorn,

01:06:39and hide part of it in an object outside the body.

01:06:42Then, even if one's body is attacked or destroyed, one cannot die,

01:06:46for part of the soul remains earthbound and undamaged.

01:06:50But, of course, existence in such a form...

01:06:52Slughorn's face crumpled, and Harry found himself

01:06:55remembering words he had heard nearly two years before.

01:06:58I was ripped from my body.

01:06:59I was less than spirit, less than the meanest ghost, but still I was alive.

01:07:05Few would want it, Tom, very few.

01:07:08Death would be preferable.

01:07:09But Riddle's hunger was now apparent.

01:07:11His expression was greedy.

01:07:13He could no longer hide his longing.

01:07:14How do you split your soul?

01:07:16Well, said Slughorn uncomfortably,

01:07:18you must understand that the soul is supposed to remain intact and whole.

01:07:22Splitting it is an act of violation.

01:07:25It is against nature.

01:07:26But how do you do it?

01:07:27By an act of evil, the supreme act of evil.

01:07:30By committing murder.

01:07:32Killing rips the soul apart.

01:07:33The wizard intent upon creating a horcrux would use the damage to his advantage.

01:07:38He would encase the torn portion, encase.

01:07:41But how?

01:07:42There is a spell.

01:07:43Do not ask me, I don't know, said Slughorn,

01:07:46shaking his head like an old elephant bothered by mosquitoes.

01:07:49Do I look as though I have tried it?

01:07:51Do I look like a killer?

01:07:52No, sir, of course not, said Riddle quickly.

01:07:54I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend.

01:07:57Not at all, not at all, not offended, said Slughorn gruffly.

01:08:00It's natural to feel some curiosity about these things.

01:08:03Wizards of a certain calibre have always been drawn to that aspect of magic.

01:08:07Yes, sir, said Riddle.

01:08:08What I don't understand, though, just out of curiosity, I mean,

01:08:11would one horcrux be much use?

01:08:13Can you only split your soul once?

01:08:15Wouldn't it be better, make you stronger, to have your soul in more pieces?

01:08:19I mean, for instance, isn't seven the most powerful magic number?

01:08:22Wouldn't seven?

01:08:24Merlin's beard, Tom, yelped Slughorn.

01:08:27Seven?

01:08:27Isn't it bad enough to think of killing one person?

01:08:30And in any case, bad enough to divide the soul, but to rip it into seven pieces?

01:08:35Slughorn looked deeply troubled now.

01:08:37He was gazing at Riddle as though he had never seen him plainly before,

01:08:41and Harry could tell that he was regretting entering into the conversation at all.

01:08:45Of course, he muttered.

01:08:47This is all hypothetical, what we're discussing, isn't it?

01:08:50All academic.

01:08:51Yes, sir, of course, said Riddle quickly.

01:08:54But all the same, Tom, keep it quiet.

01:08:56What I've told, that's to say, what we've discussed.

01:08:59People wouldn't like to think we've been chatting about Horcruxes.

01:09:01It's a banned subject at Hogwarts.

01:09:03You know, Dumbledore's particularly fierce about it.

01:09:05I won't say a word, sir, said Riddle, and he left.

01:09:08But not before Harry had glimpsed his face, which was full of that same wild happiness

01:09:13it had worn when he had first found out that he was a wizard.

01:09:15The sort of happiness that did not enhance his handsome features,

01:09:19but made them somehow less human.

01:09:22Thank you, Harry, said Dumbledore quietly.

01:09:24Let us go.

01:09:26When Harry landed back on the office floor,

01:09:28Dumbledore was already sitting down behind his desk.

01:09:30Harry sat too, and waited for Dumbledore to speak.

01:09:34I have been hoping for this piece of evidence for a very long time,

01:09:38said Dumbledore at last.

01:09:39It confirms the theory on which I have been working.

01:09:42It tells me that I am right, and also how very far there is still to go.

01:09:46Harry suddenly noticed that every single one of the old headmasters and headmistresses

01:09:50in the portrait, erect portraits around the walls,

01:09:52was awake and listening in to their conversation.

01:09:55A corpulent, red-nosed wizard had actually taken out an ear trumpet.

01:09:59Well, Harry, said Dumbledore,

01:10:00I am sure you understood the significance of what we just heard.

01:10:03At the same age as you are now, give or take a few months,

01:10:07Tom Riddle was doing all he could to find out how to make himself immortal.

01:10:11You think he succeeded then, sir, asked Harry.

01:10:14He made a horcrux, and that's why he didn't die when he attacked me.

01:10:17He had a horcrux hidden somewhere.

01:10:19A bit of his soul was safe.

01:10:21A bit, or more, said Dumbledore.

01:10:23You heard Voldemort.

01:10:25What he particularly wanted from Horace was an opinion on what would happen to the wizard

01:10:28who created more than one horcrux.

01:10:30What would happen to the wizard, so determined to evade death,

01:10:34that he would be prepared to murder many times, rip his soul repeatedly,

01:10:38so as to store it in many separately concealed horcruxes?

01:10:41No book would have given him that information.

01:10:44As far as I know, as far as I am sure, as Voldemort knew,

01:10:47no wizard had ever done more than tear his soul in two.

01:10:51Dumbledore paused for a moment, marshalling his thoughts,

01:10:54and then said,

01:10:55Four years ago I received what I considered certain proof that Voldemort had split his soul.

01:11:00Where? asked Harry.

01:11:01How?

01:11:02You handed it to me, Harry, said Dumbledore.

01:11:04The diary.

01:11:05Riddle's diary.

01:11:06The one giving instructions on how to reopen the Chamber of Secrets.

01:11:10I don't understand, sir, said Harry.

01:11:12Well, although I did not see the Riddle who came out of the diary,

01:11:16what you described to me was a phenomenon I had never witnessed.

01:11:20A more mere memory, starting to act and think for itself.

01:11:23A mere memory, sapping the life out of the girl into whose hands it had fallen.

01:11:27No, something much more sinister had lived inside that book.

01:11:31A fragment of soul, I was almost sure of it.

01:11:33The diary had been a horcrux.

01:11:35But this raised as many questions as it answered.

01:11:38What intrigued and alarmed me most was that the diary had been intended as a weapon,

01:11:43as much as a safeguard.

01:11:45I still don't understand, said Harry.

01:11:47Well, it worked as a horcrux.

01:11:49It's supposed to work.

01:11:50In other words, the fragment of soul concealed itself.

01:11:54It was kept safe and has undoubtedly played its part in preventing the death of its owner.

01:11:58But there could be no doubt that Riddle really wanted that diary read,

01:12:02wanted the piece of his soul to inhabit or possess somebody else,

01:12:05so that Slytherin's monster would be unleashed again.

01:12:08Well, he didn't want his hard work to be wasted, said Harry.

01:12:11He wanted people to know he was Slytherin's heir,

01:12:14because he couldn't take credit at the time.

01:12:17Quite correct, said Dumbledore, nodding.

01:12:19But you don't see, Harry.

01:12:20That if he intended the diary to be passed to or planted on some future Hogwarts student,

01:12:25he was being remarkably blasé about the precious fragment of his soul concealed within it.

01:12:31The point of a horcrux is, as Professor Slughorn explained,

01:12:34to keep part of the self hidden and safe,

01:12:37not to fling it into somebody else's path and run the risk that they might destroy it.

01:12:42As indeed happened, that particular fragment of soul is no more.

01:12:45You saw that to that.

01:12:47The careless way in which Voldemort regarded this horcrux seemed most ominous to me.

01:12:51It suggested that he must have made, or been planning to make,

01:12:55more horcruxes, so that the loss of the first would not be too detrimental.

01:13:00I did not wish to believe it, but nothing else seemed to make sense.

01:13:04Then you told me, two years later, that on the night that Voldemort returned to his body,

01:13:08he made a most illuminating and alarming statement to his Death Eaters.

01:13:12I, who have gone further than anybody along the path that leads to immortality.

01:13:17That was what you told me, he said.

01:13:19Further than anybody.

01:13:20And I thought I knew what that meant, though the Death Eaters did not.

01:13:24He was referring to his horcruxes.

01:13:26Horcruxes in the plural, Harry, which I do not believe any other wizard has ever had.

01:13:31Yet it fitted.

01:13:32Lord Voldemort had seemed to grow less human with the passing years,

01:13:36and the transformation he had undergone seemed to me to be the only explicable of his soul.

01:13:41It was mutilated beyond the realms of what we might call usual evil.

01:13:47So he's made himself impossible to kill by murdering other people, said Harry.

01:13:51Why couldn't he make a Philosopher's Stone, or steal one, if he was so interested in immortality?

01:13:56Well, we know that he tried to do just that five years ago, said Dumbledore,

01:14:01but there are several reasons why I think a Philosopher's Stone

01:14:04would appeal less than horcruxes to Lord Voldemort.

01:14:08While the Elixir of Life does indeed extend life, it must be drunk regularly,

01:14:12for all eternity, if the drinker is to maintain his immortality.

01:14:16Therefore Voldemort would be entirely dependent on the Elixir,

01:14:19and if it ran out, or was contaminated, or if the stone was stolen,

01:14:23he would die just like any other man.

01:14:25Voldemort likes to operate alone, remember.

01:14:27I believe that he would have found the thought of being dependent,

01:14:31even on the Elixir, intolerable.

01:14:33Of course, he was prepared to drink it if it would take him out of the horrible part-life

01:14:38to which he was condemned after attacking you, but only to regain a body.

01:14:42Thereafter, I am convinced he intended to continue to rely on his horcruxes.

01:14:47He would need nothing more, if only he could regain a human form.

01:14:50He was already immortal, you see, or as close to immortal as any man can be.

01:14:55But now, Harry, armed with this information,

01:14:58the crucial memory you have succeeded in procuring for us,

01:15:01we are closer to the secret of finishing Lord Voldemort than anyone has ever been before.

01:15:06You heard him, Harry.

01:15:07Wouldn't it be better, make you stronger, to have your soul in more places?

01:15:11Isn't seven the most powerful magical number?

01:15:14Isn't seven the most powerful, powerfully magic number?

01:15:19Yes, I think the idea of a seven-part soul would greatly appeal to Lord Voldemort.

01:15:24He made seven horcruxes, said Harry, horror-struck, with several of the portraits on the walls,

01:15:29which made similar noises of shock and outrage.

01:15:32But they could be anywhere in the world, hidden, buried, or invisible.

01:15:35I'm glad you see, you see, to see you appreciate the magnitude of the problem,

01:15:40said Dumbledore calmly.

01:15:42But firstly, no, Harry, not seven horcruxes.

01:15:45Six.

01:15:45The seventh part of his soul, however maimed, resides inside his regenerated body.

01:15:51That was the part of him that lived a spectral existence for so many years during his exile.

01:15:55Without that, he has no self at all.

01:15:58That seventh piece of soul will be the last that anybody wishing to kill Voldemort must attack.

01:16:03The piece that lives in his body.

01:16:06But the six horcruxes, then, said Harry, a little desperately.

01:16:09How are we supposed to find them?

01:16:11You are forgetting.

01:16:12You have already destroyed one of them, and I have destroyed another.

01:16:16You have, said Harry eagerly.

01:16:19Yes, indeed, said Dumbledore, as he raised his blackened, burned-looking hand.

01:16:24The ring, Harry, Marvolo's ring, and a terrible curse there was upon it too.

01:16:29Had it not been, forgive me the lack of seemly modesty for my own prodigious skill,

01:16:35and for Professor Snape's timely action when I returned to Hogwarts,

01:16:39desperately injured, I might not have lived to tell the tale.

01:16:42However, a withered hand does not seem an unreasonable exchange for a seventh of Voldemort's

01:16:47soul.

01:16:48The ring is no longer a horcrux.

01:16:50But how did you find it?

01:16:51Well, as you now know, I have made it my business for many years to discover as much as I can

01:16:56about Voldemort's past life.

01:16:58I have travelled widely, visiting those places he once knew.

01:17:02I stumbled across the ring hidden in the ruin of the Gaunt's house.

01:17:05It seems that once Voldemort had succeeded in sealing a piece of his soul inside it,

01:17:10he did not want to wear it any more.

01:17:12He hid it, protected by many powerful enchantments, in the shack where his ancestors had once

01:17:17lived.

01:17:17Morphin, having been carted off to Azkaban, of course, never guessing that I might one

01:17:22day take the trouble to visit the ruin, or that I might be keeping an eye open for traces

01:17:27of magical concealment.

01:17:28However, we should not congratulate ourselves too heartily.

01:17:32You destroy the diary, and I the ring.

01:17:34But if we are right in our theory of a seven-part soul, four horcruxes remain.

01:17:40And they could be anything, said Harry.

01:17:42They could be old tin cans, or, I don't know, empty potion bottles.

01:17:46You are thinking of portkeys, Harry, which must be ordinary objects, easy to overlook.

01:17:51But Lord Voldemort used tinned cans or old potion bottles to guard his own precious soul?

01:17:56You are forgetting what I have shown you.

01:17:58Lord Voldemort liked to collect trophies, and he preferred objects with a powerful magical

01:18:03history.

01:18:04His pride, his belief in his own superiority, his determination to carve for himself a startling

01:18:09place in magical history.

01:18:11These things suggest to me that Voldemort would have chosen his horcruxes with some

01:18:15care, favouring objects worthy of the honour.

01:18:18The diary wasn't that special.

01:18:20The diary, as you have said yourself, was proof that he was the heir of Slytherin.

01:18:25I am sure that Voldemort considered it of stupendous importance.

01:18:29So the other horcruxes, said Harry.

01:18:31Do you think you know what they are, sir?

01:18:33I can only guess, said Dumbledore.

01:18:35For the reasons I have already given, I believe that Lord Voldemort would prefer objects that

01:18:40in themselves have a certain grandeur.

01:18:42I have therefore trawled back through Voldemort's past to see if I can find evidence that such

01:18:46artefacts have disappeared around him.

01:18:49The locket, said Harry loudly.

01:18:51Hufflepuff's cup.

01:18:52Yes, said Dumbledore, smiling.

01:18:54I would be prepared to bet, perhaps not my other hand, but a couple of fingers, that

01:18:59they became horcruxes three and four, the remaining two assuming again that he created

01:19:04a total of six.

01:19:05I may not more of a problem, but I will hazard a guess that having secured objects from Hufflepuff

01:19:11and Slytherin, he set out to track down objects owned by Gryffindor or Ravenclaw.

01:19:16Four objects from the four founders would, I am sure, have exerted a powerful pull over

01:19:21Voldemort's imagination.

01:19:22I cannot answer for whether he ever managed to find anything of Ravenclaw's.

01:19:26I am confident, however, that the only known relic of Gryffindor remains safe.

01:19:31Dumbledore pointed his blackened fingers to the wall behind him where a ruby-encrusted

01:19:35sword reposed within a glass case.

01:19:40Do you think that's why he really wanted to come back to Hogwarts, sir, said Harry,

01:19:44to try and find something from one of the other founders?

01:19:46My thoughts precisely, said Dumbledore, but unfortunately that does not advance us much

01:19:51further, for he was turned away, or so I believe, without the chance to search the school.

01:19:56I am forced to conclude that he never fulfilled his ambition of collecting four founders'

01:20:00objects.

01:20:01He definitely had two.

01:20:02He may have found three.

01:20:04That is the best we can do for now.

01:20:06Even if he got something of Ravenclaw's or of Gryffindor's, that leaves a sixth

01:20:11Horcrux, said Harry, counting on his fingers.

01:20:14Unless he got both.

01:20:15I don't think so, said Dumbledore.

01:20:17I think I know what the sixth Horcrux is.

01:20:20I wonder what you will say when I confess that I have been curious for a while about

01:20:24the behaviour of the snake Nagini.

01:20:27The snake, said Harry, startled.

01:20:29You can use animals as Horcruxes.

01:20:31Well, it's an inadvisable thing to do, said Dumbledore, because to confide a part of your

01:20:36soul to something that can think and move for itself is obviously a very risky business.

01:20:41However, if my calculations are correct, Voldemort was still at least one Horcrux short of his

01:20:47goal of six when he entered your parents' house with the intention of killing you.

01:20:51He seems to have reserved the process of making Horcruxes for particularly significant deaths.

01:20:57You would certainly have been that.

01:20:58He believed that in killing you, he was destroying the danger the prophecy had outlined.

01:21:03He believed he was making himself invincible.

01:21:05I'm sure that he was intending to make his final Horcrux with your death.

01:21:10As we know, he failed.

01:21:12After an interval of some years, however, he used Nagini to kill an old muggle man,

01:21:17and it might then have occurred to him to turn her into a last Horcrux.

01:21:22She underlines the slivering connection, which enhances Lord Voldemort's mystique.

01:21:27I think he is perhaps as fond of her as he can be of anything.

01:21:30He certainly likes to keep her close, and he seems to have an unusual amount of control over her,

01:21:35even for a parcel mouth.

01:21:37So, said Harry, the diary's gone, the ring's gone, the cup, the locket and the snake are

01:21:42still intact, and you think there might be a Horcrux that was once Ravenclaw's or Gryffindor's.

01:21:47An admirably succinct and accurate summary, yes, said Dumbledore, bowing his head.

01:21:52So, are you still looking for them, sir?

01:21:55Is that where you've been going when you've been leaving the school?

01:21:57Correct, said Dumbledore.

01:21:59I have been looking for a very long time, I think.

01:22:01Perhaps I may be close to finding another one.

01:22:04There are hopeful signs.

01:22:06And if you do, said Harry quickly, can I come with you and help get rid of it?

01:22:09Dumbledore looked at Harry very intently for a moment before saying,

01:22:13Yes, I think so.

01:22:14I can, said Harry, thoroughly taken aback.

01:22:17Oh, yes, said Dumbledore, smiling slightly.

01:22:20I think you have earned that right.

01:22:21Harry felt his heart lift.

01:22:23It was very good not to hear words of caution and protection for once.

01:22:26The headmasters and headmistresses around the walls seemed less impressed by Dumbledore's

01:22:31decision.

01:22:31Harry saw a few of them shaking their heads, and Phineas Nicholas actually snorted.

01:22:36Does Voldemort know when a Horcrux is destroyed, sir?

01:22:41Can he feel it?

01:22:41Harry asked, ignoring the portraits.

01:22:44A very interesting question, Harry.

01:22:46I believe not.

01:22:47I believe that Voldemort is now so immersed in evil, and those crucial parts of himself

01:22:51have been detached for so long, he does not feel as we do.

01:22:54Perhaps at the point of death, he might be aware of his loss.

01:22:57But he was not aware, for instance, that the diary had been destroyed until he forced the

01:23:02truth out of Lucius Malfoy.

01:23:03When Voldemort discovered that the diary had been mutilated and robbed of all its powers,

01:23:07I am told that his anger was terrible to behold.

01:23:11But I thought he meant Lucius Malfoy to smuggle it into Hogwarts.

01:23:14Yes, he did, years ago, when he was sure he would be able to create more Horcruxes.

01:23:19But still, Lucius was supposed to wait for Voldemort's say-so, and he never received

01:23:24it, for Voldemort vanished shortly after giving him the diary.

01:23:27No doubt he thought that Lucius would not dare do anything with the Horcrux other than

01:23:31guard it carefully, but he was counting too much upon Lucius's fear of a master who had

01:23:35been gone for years, and whom Lucius believed dead.

01:23:40Of course, Lucius did not know what the diary really was.

01:23:44I understand that Voldemort had told him the diary would cause the Chamber of Secrets to

01:23:47reopen, because it was cleverly enchanted.

01:23:51Had Lucius known he had a portion of his master's soul in his hands, he would undoubtedly have

01:23:56treated it with more reverence.

01:23:57But instead he went ahead and carried out the old plan for his own ends, by planting

01:24:02the diary upon Arthur Weasley's daughter.

01:24:04He hoped to discredit Arthur, have me thrown out of Hogwarts, and get rid of a highly

01:24:08incriminating object in one stroke.

01:24:10Ah, poor Lucius!

01:24:12What with Voldemort's fury about the fact that he threw away the Horcrux for his own

01:24:16gain, and the fiasco at the Ministry last year, I would not be surprised if he is secretly

01:24:21glad to be safe in Azkaban at the moment.

01:24:25Harry sat in thought for a moment, and then asked,

01:24:27So, if all of his Horcruxes are destroyed, Voldemort could be killed?

01:24:32Yes, I think so, said Dumbledore.

01:24:35Without his Horcruxes, Voldemort will be a mortal man, with a maimed and diminished

01:24:39soul.

01:24:40Never forget, though, that while his soul may be damaged beyond repair, his brain and

01:24:44his magical power remain intact.

01:24:46It will take uncommon skill and power to kill a wizard like Voldemort, even without his

01:24:50Horcruxes.

01:24:51But I haven't got uncommon skill and power, said Harry, before he could stop himself.

01:24:56Yes, you have, said Dumbledore firmly.

01:24:59You have a power that Voldemort has never had.

01:25:01You can.

01:25:02I know, said Harry impatiently.

01:25:04I can love.

01:25:05It was only with difficulty that he stopped himself, adding, Big deal.

01:25:09Yes, Harry, you can love, said Dumbledore, who looked as though he knew perfectly well

01:25:13that Harry had just refrained from saying.

01:25:16Which, given everything that has happened to you, is a great and remarkable thing.

01:25:20You are still too young to understand how unusual you are, Harry.

01:25:24So, when the prophecy says that I'll have power, the Dark Lord knows not.

01:25:28It just means love, asked Harry, feeling a little let down.

01:25:31Yes, just love, said Dumbledore.

01:25:34But, Harry, never forget that what the prophecy says is only significant because Voldemort

01:25:38made it so.

01:25:39I told you this at the end of last year.

01:25:41Voldemort singled you out as the person who would be most dangerous to him, and in doing

01:25:46so he made you the person who would be most dangerous to him.

01:25:50But it comes to the same.

01:25:52No, it doesn't, said Dumbledore, sounding impatient now, pointing at Harry with his

01:25:56black, withered hand.

01:25:57He said, you are setting too much store by the prophecy.

01:26:00But, spluttered Harry, but you said the prophecy means, if Voldemort had never heard the prophecy,

01:26:05would it have been fulfilled?

01:26:07Would it have meant anything?

01:26:08Of course not.

01:26:09Do you think every prophecy in the Hall of Prophecy has been fulfilled?

01:26:13But, said Harry, bewildered, but last year you said one of us would have to kill the

01:26:17other.

01:26:18Harry, Harry, only because Voldemort made a grave error and acted on Professor Trelawney's

01:26:23words.

01:26:23If Voldemort had never murdered your father, would he have imparted in you a furious desire

01:26:28for revenge?

01:26:29Of course not.

01:26:30If he had not forced your mother to die for you, would he have given you a magical protection

01:26:35that he could not penetrate?

01:26:37Of course not.

01:26:38Harry, don't you see?

01:26:40Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do.

01:26:44Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress?

01:26:47All of them realise that, one day, amongst the many victims, there is sure to be one

01:26:52who rises against them and strikes back.

01:26:54Voldemort is no different.

01:26:56Always he is on the lookout for the one who would challenge him.

01:27:00He heard the prophecy and he leapt into action, with the result that he not only hand-picked

01:27:04the man most likely to finish him, he handed him uniquely dead weapons.

01:27:09Deadly weapons.

01:27:10But it is essential that you understand this, said Dumbledore, standing up and striding

01:27:15about the room, his glittering robes swooshing in his wake.

01:27:18Harry had never seen him so agitated.

01:27:20By attempting to kill you, Voldemort himself singled out the remarkable person who sits

01:27:25here in front of me and gave him the tools for the job.

01:27:28It is Voldemort's fault that you were able to see into his thoughts, his ambitions, that

01:27:33you even understand the snake-like language in which he gives orders.

01:27:37And yet, Harry, despite your privileged insight into Voldemort's world, which, incidentally,

01:27:43is a gift any Death Eater would kill to have, you have never been seduced by the dark arts,

01:27:48never, even for a second, shown the slightest desire to become one of Voldemort's followers.

01:27:53Of course I haven't, said Harry indignantly.

01:27:55He killed my mum and dad.

01:27:57You are protected, in short, by your ability to love, said Dumbledore loudly, the only

01:28:02protection that can possibly work against the lower of power like Voldemort's.

01:28:06In spite of all the temptation you have endured, all the suffering, you remain pure of heart,

01:28:11just as pure as you were at the age of eleven, when you stared into a mirror that reflected

01:28:15your heart's desire, and it showed you only the way to thwart Lord Voldemort, and not

01:28:21immortality or riches.

01:28:22Harry, have you any idea how few wizards could have seen what you saw in that mirror?

01:28:27Voldemort should have known, then, that he was dealing with, that, what he was dealing

01:28:32with.

01:28:33But he did not.

01:28:34But he knows it now.

01:28:35You have flitted into Lord Voldemort's mind without damage to yourself, but he cannot

01:28:39possess you without enduring mortal agony, as he discovered in the Ministry.

01:28:44I do not think he understands why, Harry, but he was in such a hurry to mutilate his

01:28:48own soul, he never paused to understand the incomparable power of a soul that is untarnished

01:28:54and whole.

01:28:55But sir, said Harry, making valiant efforts not to sound argumentative, it all comes to

01:29:00the same thing, doesn't it?

01:29:02I've got to try and kill him, or...

01:29:04Got to, said Dumbledore.

01:29:05Of course you've got to, but not because of the prophecy, because you yourself will never

01:29:10rest until you've tried.

01:29:11We both know it.

01:29:12Imagine, please, just for a moment, that you had never heard that prophecy.

01:29:17How would you feel about Voldemort now?

01:29:19Think!

01:29:20Harry watched Dumbledore striding up and down in front of him and thought.

01:29:23He thought of his mother, his father and Sirius.

01:29:26He thought of Cedric Diggory.

01:29:28He thought of all the terrible deeds he knew Lord Voldemort had done.

01:29:31A flame seemed to leap inside his chest, searing his throat.

01:29:35I'd want him finished, said Harry quietly.

01:29:37I'd want to do it.

01:29:38Of course you would, cried Dumbledore.

01:29:40You see, the prophecy does not mean you have to do anything, but the prophecy caused Lord

01:29:45Voldemort to mark you as his equal.

01:29:47In other words, you are free to choose your way, quite free to turn your back on the prophecy.

01:29:52But Voldemort continues to set store by the prophecy.

01:29:55He will continue to hunt you, which makes it certain, really, that...

01:29:59That one of us is going to end up killing the other, said Harry.

01:30:02Yes.

01:30:03But he understood at last what Dumbledore had been trying to tell him.

01:30:06It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle

01:30:10to the death, and walking into the arena with your head held high.

01:30:13Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways.

01:30:17But Dumbledore knew.

01:30:18And so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride.

01:30:22And so did my parents.

01:30:24That there was all the difference in the world.

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