Chapter 964: The Missing Horcrux
Chapter 964: The Missing Horcrux
"When did this change occur...?" Severus Snape's voice was soft, almost a whisper to himself.
"There's no one else here," he assured Karl, "and don't let me think you're a fool."
"I guess," Karl took a deep breath, "it must have been the night Lord Voldemort was defeated."
"Yes, it all started from that day," Snape spun around abruptly, and the hem of his robe nearly hit Karl's head.
Fortunately, Karl reacted quickly and sidestepped to avoid it.
Snape's love for his robes was evident, perhaps due to spending so much time in the underground classroom; not wearing a robe would indeed be chilly.
Karl touched a badge on his collar, and a gust of wind blew by, dispelling the usual chill of the underground classroom.
"It seems you're not a fool after all. Take a look at this; it will prove your guess is correct."
Snape walked behind the desk and pulled out a thick stack of booklets from the drawer.
Karl stepped forward and realized that they were copies of The Daily Prophet, stacked almost as thick as two books.
Upon closer inspection, Karl noticed a common theme: they all contained articles about Albus Dumbledore, and the words were not flattering.
Old fool, idiot, madman, dictator, nemesis of the Defense Against the Dark Arts, sole supporter of the Auror Office...
Wait, there seemed to be some odd titles mixed in.
Karl flipped through the papers but couldn't find the article he had inadvertently seen earlier.
He then realized the sheer number of these newspapers was significant.
With such a thick stack, there were at least eighty, if not a hundred, implying that Dumbledore had been insulted in the newspaper over a hundred times.
Most of them were written by Rita Skeeter, but there were also names Karl didn't recognize, with no recollection at all.
They were likely attention-seekers without Rita Skeeter's talent.
Additionally, the timing of these articles was intriguing; none were published before 1981, the year Lord Voldemort was killed, and none in recent years.
Oh, and none from the past few years, either.
The last one praised Cornelius Fudge and mocked Dumbledore as an old fool; Karl recalled that on the afternoon this paper was published, Fudge had changed his mind, announcing Voldemort's return and putting the Ministry of Magic on war footing.
After that, the newspaper's tone towards Dumbledore became much more polite.
"It seems Lord Voldemort had a special ability," Karl muttered, "to teach these arrogant people how to respect others."
"You should understand why, don't you?" Snape gave a cold laugh, "which is why you'd rather have the Dark Lord 'live' than tell everyone the truth."
Karl didn't respond but looked at Snape with a peculiar expression.
"Speaking of which, I'm curious why you collect these newspapers?"
"What?" Snape was momentarily taken aback, then frowned, "it's not important; my focus isn't on these."
"On the contrary, I think this is important," Karl shook his head earnestly.
Snape fell silent, and after a long while, he spoke softly, "you must swear not to tell anyone."
Seeing his hesitation, Karl's eyes widened with a sense of unease.
He licked his dry lips and nodded repeatedly.
"Rest assured, I never reveal any secrets. If you're still worried, we can even sign a magical contract."
"A magical contract isn't necessary," Snape hesitated for a long time before saying, "I was concerned that Lily Evans might also become a laughingstock in The Daily Prophet, so I wanted Dumbledore to stop this behavior.
But he seems completely unbothered, never getting angry no matter how harsh the articles are."
"That's it..." Karl blurted out, a bit disappointed.
"Hmm..." Snape narrowed his eyes, "so what do you think?"
A hint of untraceable murderous intent suddenly filled the air, and Karl quickly shook his head.
"No, I think so too."
But he also breathed a sigh of relief.
Snape's action of collecting these newspapers was indeed puzzling, and if it weren't for his feelings for Lily Evans, Karl might even suspect he wanted to compete with Grindelwald.
If that were the case, Karl would seriously consider leaving with Kanna to a faraway place, anywhere sufficiently distant from Snape, to avoid being splattered with blood when Grindelwald came looking for him.
However, that's not necessary now.
Kyle pretended as if nothing had happened and continued reading the newspaper.
Severus Snape stared at Kyle's eyes, although Kyle's Occlumency was skilled and he couldn't see anything, he still instinctively felt that Kyle was thinking about something very impolite.
"You'd better put away those foolish thoughts," Snape said.
"I don't understand what you're talking about," Kyle replied with a standard smile.
"Good," Snape said coldly, continuing the conversation from earlier.
"Remember, you can tell others that the Dark Lord is dead, but don't mention anything about the Horcruxes."
"Is that still necessary?" Kyle shrugged. "The Ministry of Magic already knows from you, don't they?"
"They only saw part of my memories," Snape said. "I'm still confident in my Occlumency, but compared to the Dark Lord, Shakel's Legilimency is far inferior. He only saw what I wanted him to see."
"Of course, most of it was true, the only thing missing was that Harry was the last Horcrux, which was also Dumbledore's intention."
"I know," Kyle said. "The memories he provided also lacked that part."
"This was to protect Harry, he promised me that he wouldn't tell a third person... "
As Snape said this, he looked at Kyle again, "but unfortunately... he didn't keep his promise."
"Hey, I'm the one who solved the problem of Voldemort's soul fragment in Harry's body, without needing him to voluntarily suffer the Killing Curse," Kyle said irritably. "You and Dumbledore didn't do what I did."
"Do you think I'll thank you?" Snape sneered.
"I think Lily Evans would thank me."
There was a cracking sound, like the sound of bones rubbing against each other.
"You'd better not continue to provoke me..." Snape said, his eyes becoming increasingly menacing...
Damn it, if it weren't for Kanna, he would have kicked Kyle out already.
"I'm just stating the facts," Kyle said, but didn't stimulate Snape further.
"Fine, let's continue the conversation... apart from Legilimency, didn't Kingsley use Veritaserum on you?"
"Do you think I wouldn't think of them using Veritaserum on me?"
Snape struggled to restrain himself. "And as a former Potions professor, I have at least three methods to make Veritaserum ineffective."
"So they thought they got the whole truth, but they lacked the most important part."
"You mean... the number of Horcruxes," Kyle raised an eyebrow.
The memories provided by Dumbledore were actually very complete, although they lacked the parts about Slughorn and Harry, but they did mention the number of Horcruxes.
This meant that the Ministry of Magic only knew that the total number of Voldemort's Horcruxes was seven, and six of them had been destroyed.
The diary, the Hufflepuff Cup, the Slytherin Locket, the Ravenclaw Diadem, the Resurrection Stone Ring, and the Runesnake.
Dumbledore, in order to protect Harry, deliberately didn't mention him in the memories... but this decision also inevitably hid the whereabouts of the seventh Horcrux.
"You're not as foolish as I thought," Snape said, his speech speeding up.
"You finally understand that in the eyes of the Ministry, Voldemort was killed after destroying only six Horcruxes, and the seventh one is still missing, which is good news for you."
"Why is that?"
Kyle guessed some of it, but seeing Snape's slightly upturned mouth, he shook his head, "I don't know."
Snape walked behind Kyle and suddenly laughed.
"You think that others don't know what you did during the previous Hogwarts war."
"What did I do?"
"The Fiery Flame and those Death Eaters who were captured," Snape said.
"They weren't captured."
"But in the eyes of some people, they were," Snape said sarcastically. "Many Aurors and Amelia Bones have seen that you intentionally let the Fiery Flame go out of control, killing hundreds of Death Eaters."
To be honest, for a moment, Kyle was a bit nervous, but that was all.
The Fiery Flame was originally difficult to control, and without evidence, the Ministry couldn't do anything to him. If necessary, he could just reveal some truth.
He really didn't believe that the Ministry officials would go against a few Death Eaters and him.
If they were really that stupid... just as Snape said, he could, by virtue of having killed Voldemort himself, expel anyone from the Ministry, including Amelia Bones.
Additionally...
Kyle looked at Snape, and from his expression, it was clear that he wasn't done speaking.
"Hmm... then why haven't they come to bother me?" Kyle asked cooperatively.
"That's because I showed them the image of you killing the Dark Lord." Snape said.
"Now that Dumbledore is dead, if the Dark Lord is destined to return, then the only one who can stop him is you, the new savior."
Snape walked past Kyle, then turned again, staring into Kyle's eyes.
"So they gave up, pretending to know nothing, and as long as that Horcrux isn't destroyed, they will show you the respect you deserve."
"Then I really have to thank you, Mr. Snape." Kyle said excitedly.
"Pretentious..." Snape took a step back.
"And it seems you misunderstood something. I'm not doing this to help you; I just don't want Kanna to be sad."
"Then I'll thank you on Kanna's behalf." Kyle didn't care and said casually.
"You..." Snape's footsteps halted, and he turned back angrily, "Get out! Get out now!"
Before Kyle could react to what was going on, he was forcefully sent out.
Bang! The door slammed shut in front of him.
Huh?
Why is he angry again?
Kyle blinked, a little puzzled. This time, he didn't mention Lily Evans.
But the door was already closed, and even if he knocked, Snape probably wouldn't open it.
Geez, his temper is as volatile as a fire-tailed lizard, changing in an instant.
Kyle shook his head and decided to head towards the stairs, pondering Snape's words as he walked.
The fact that the Ministry didn't know Harry was a Horcrux was indeed good news for Kyle.
Kyle couldn't help but laugh.
What Snape said earlier was correct. He wanted Voldemort to "stay alive," so he didn't reveal the truth to everyone at the first opportunity.
Although Kyle wasn't afraid of the Ministry causing trouble for him, it was better to minimize issues. Moreover, he didn't want to be like Dumbledore, locking himself up in Hogwarts and going nowhere.
So, he had been thinking of ways these past few days.
The principal of St. Mungo's, Sassia, was one of his "preparations," but Snape brought him even better news.
It has been proven that Voldemort can be resurrected from death, so in the Ministry's eyes, the current situation is probably similar to that of a decade ago.
Voldemort is dead, but only temporarily gone. He might return after a decade or a few decades.
Moreover, after this hearing, the Ministry's focus should be on finding the last Horcrux.
Oh, right, and the other Horcruxes.
Kyle was certain that Amelia Bones wouldn't feel at ease having such an item in someone else's possession, even if it had been destroyed.
Thinking of this, Kyle couldn't help but quicken his pace.
Of course, he wouldn't hand over the item in his possession, so he had to create a few fakes before the Ministry's investigation reached him.
Kyle wasn't worried about being found out. After all, those items had been destroyed, and even if they were real, they would become fake after a round in the Fiery Flame.
The only thing to be mindful of was the unique magical residue on the Horcruxes.
This wasn't a significant issue either. Kyle had researched Horcruxes for a period, and although he hadn't crafted them himself, he wasn't unfamiliar with them.
He was confident that the Aurors wouldn't see through them. At worst, he could ask Nicole to provide a certificate, and no one would doubt it.
Kyle climbed the stairs, leaving the dimly lit underground classroom.
As he reached the foyer, he saw Hermione walking ahead, with Harry and Ron following, pestering her for notes.
"Please, Hermione, lend us your notes." Harry pleaded.
"You don't want us to fail our O.W.L.s, do you?"
Watching the pitiful Harry, Kyle suddenly laughed.
Thinking about how the Ministry officials would be searching for Horcruxes later, he couldn't help but chuckle.
Amelia Bones probably wouldn't have imagined that Voldemort's last Horcrux was the savior, Harry Potter.
(End of Chapter)
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