Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
With a little help from Felix Felicis, Harry stood in front of Lori and Dumbledore, a vial of silvery liquid in his hand. He slowly emptied its contents into the pensieve, the silver snapping to black the second it hit the surface, swirling like ink, or blood, in the reflective pool.
The two Gryffindors submerged their heads, finding themselves in Slughorn's study, except their teacher was much younger, with red cheeks and drink in hand. Tom Riddle suddenly spoke up.
"I was in the Library the other night, in the Restricted Section, and I read something rather odd about a bit of rare magic. It's called, as I understand it... a Horcrux."
Now was when the true memory differed from the old one they had previously seen. Instead of Slughorn throwing Riddle out by the scruff of his collar after hearing the previously incoherent word, he paled slightly.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Horcrux," Riddle continued, "I came across the term while reading and I didn't fully understand it."
"I'm not sure what you were reading, Tom, but this is very dark stuff, very dark indeed."
"Which is... why I came to you."
Slughorn visibly stiffened as he spoke, "A Horcrux is an object in which a person had concealed part of their soul."
"But I don't understand how that works, sir."
"One splits one's soul and hides part of it in an object. By doing so, you're protected, should you be attacked and your body destroyed."
"Protected?"
"That part of your soul that is hidden lives on. In other words, you cannot die."
Riddle, with a curious gleam in his eyes, moved over to the blazing hearth, "And how does one split his soul, sir?"
"I think you already know the answer to that, Tom."
"Murder."
"Yes. Killing rips the soul apart. It is a violation against nature."
Riddle fiddled with his ring, "Can you only split the soul once? For instance, isn't seven...?"
"Seven?" Slughorn asked incredulously, "Merlin's beard, Tom. Isn't it bad enough to consider killing one person? To rip the soul into seven pieces. This is all hypothetical, isn't it, Tom? All academic?"
