Karl spoke up to wake Dumbledore from his reminiscence, "Principal?"
"Hmm?"
"I won't be expelled, right?"
On the surface, he was cautious, but in reality, he was as steady as a mountain. Accomplishing the great feat of destroying one of Lord Voldemort's Horcrux was worth more than enough, even if he were awarded five hundred house points.
"Hmm... Of course not, Karl. But the Restricted Section is very dangerous. Such things are not allowed to happen again in the future. If you wish to consult the books inside, you must obtain permission from me first."
"Then, regarding the Fiendfyre Curse..."
Dumbledore shook his head helplessly, "Very well, I will explain it to the other Professors."
Dumbledore had actually known about Karl learning the Fiendfyre Curse from the very beginning, but he had not stopped him.
Because Fawkes had told him that there was a pure fire spirit full of love and beauty within the child, so there was no need to worry about the Fiendfyre getting out of control.
"Thank you! Principal!"
After comforting Karl, Dumbledore reined in his complicated emotions.
"Let us discuss the issue step by step. Now, let us return to Tom."
Karl asked knowingly: "Tom?"
"Tom Marvolo Riddle was Lord Voldemort's name before, and he was once a student at Hogwarts."
After Dumbledore's explanation, Karl sighed, "So it was Senior Tom."
Hearing this, Dumbledore couldn't help but let out a muffled laugh. He understood that the vast majority of Wizards feared Lord Voldemort, and it was extremely rare to find someone like Karl who didn't care.
"A very interesting way to address him, though I don't think he would like it."
"Karl, I must confirm, you destroyed the ravenclaw diadem and the soul of Lord Voldemort, is that correct?"
Taking the fragments of the ravenclaw diadem out of his pocket, Karl placed them on the table.
"I have already received confirmation from The Grey Lady. You should know her true identity."
Dumbledore gently brushed his hand over the fragments, his eyes filled with nostalgia, "The daughter of Rowena."
"That's right. She told me that back then, Lord Voldemort had deceived her to gain her trust and obtained the location of the diadem."
"It was also because of The Grey Lady, that is, Helena, that I confirmed that the soul fragment was indeed Lord Voldemort."
Dumbledore suddenly thought of something, "Where did he find the ravenclaw diadem?"
"In the forests of Albania."
"So that's where it was..."
Dumbledore beckoned gently, and a crystal-clear small bottle flew from a bookshelf in the distance into his hand.
At the same time, a stone basin carved with runes and strange symbols appeared on the table, filled with silver clouds.
He opened the bottle and poured the clear liquid inside into the stone basin, and the clouds instantly began to change.
"This is a Meditate basin. Come and see if there are any changes in Tom's appearance."
Soon, Karl saw a person in the stone basin; it was Lord Voldemort.
"Except for his hair being a bit longer, there is almost no difference in other aspects from the soul in the ravenclaw diadem."
A look of contemplation flashed in Dumbledore's eyes, "This was Tom's appearance when he was working at Borgin and Burkes Dark Arts shop. In other words, he created the Horcrux around that time."
"I have always believed that Tom was not dead, and I had some speculations, but today I finally have evidence."
"Horcrux... there might even be more than one, after all, his appearance changed too much later on."
"The most critical point is that Tom said'see you again' to you. Clearly, he has the confidence to be resurrected."
Seeing that Dumbledore had no intention of hiding anything from him, Karl asked with a curious tone, "Principal, what is a Horcrux? Is it what Lord Voldemort used to escape death and rely on to be resurrected?"
Dumbledore's face flickered with sadness as he mourned those who had been killed because of Horcrux.
"By using evil means to kill others, the soul is split, and then a part of the soul is put into an object. This forms a Horcrux."
"A Wizard who possesses a Horcrux will not die even if their body is destroyed. They will exist in the world like a lonely ghost until they are resurrected through cruel and sinful means."
"But this method comes with a price. The process of splitting the soul is extremely dangerous, and the consequences are unpredictable."
"In the thousands of years since the Horcrux was invented, many Dark Wizard would not do this even if they had the ability, preferring to walk painfully toward death."
Thinking of Lord Voldemort's final ending in the original story, it was indeed tragic to the extreme; he had brought it upon himself.
Karl was silent for a while and asked a question that many people in his previous life were curious about, "Principal, can't you destroy Lord Voldemort from the soul either?"
Dumbledore sighed, "In fact, if we could find Tom's remnant soul, the Ministry of Magic could do that. A kiss from a Dementor would be enough."
"However, the consequences of doing so would be very serious. As long as Tom's soul still exists, his Horcrux might be able to stir up trouble, but they are ultimately just Horcrux."
"But if his soul disappears, then the resurrected Lord Voldemort in the future will not be just one."
"Every Horcrux that Tom has hidden away could potentially become a new Lord Voldemort at some point."
"This is a very terrifying thing."
So that was it. The Horcrux thing was truly outrageous. It was no wonder Lord Voldemort would rather split his soul than not create a Horcrux.
To some extent, Lord Voldemort's words were completely correct.
On the road to immortality, he had indeed gone further than anyone else.
"Principal, how many Horcrux do you think Senior Tom might have, like the ravenclaw diadem?"
Karl decided to remind Dumbledore, so he wouldn't have to work hard, suffer, and get nothing, and even if he finally found a Horcrux, he would be plotted against by the Dark Arts on it.
"Like the ravenclaw diadem..."
Dumbledore quickly thought of the relics of the other three founders. The sword of Gryffindor was in the Sorting Hat, so that was no problem.
The lost Hufflepuff's cup, and the slytherins locket, needed to be focused on.
"Thank you for your reminder, Karl."
"The number of Horcrux will not be too many, after all, the number of times a person's soul can be split is limited."
Facing Dumbledore's thanks, Karl waved his hand, "You're welcome, Principal. Also, you mentioned that creating a Horcrux requires killing others, and since Lord Voldemort started creating Horcrux so early, perhaps we can start investigating through the murder cases from back then."
"Hmm... what you said makes a lot of sense."
Dumbledore agreed deeply, especially regarding the people Tom came into contact with when he worked at the Borgin and Burkes Dark Arts shop.
Initially, this choice of Tom's had puzzled many people, but now the reason had emerged.
And... the incident that led to Hagrid's expulsion back then, he had always felt it was very suspicious.
"Let's leave Tom's matter here for now. It's better if I investigate it myself."
"Now let us talk about Professor Elvis Heller. I want to know what he did."
Anger appeared in Dumbledore's usually gentle eyes. Alluring students to come into contact with dangerous Horcrux was something he absolutely could not tolerate. Elvis Heller must pay the price for this.
Simply put, he was already courting death.