Horcrux was a completely unfamiliar term to Eda. Even if Dumbledore wrote the word down for her, Eda would not recognize it.
Eda's research into the Dark Arts was not particularly thorough. Although she had studied a great deal of knowledge related to the Dark Arts in The Progress of Modern Dark Magic and in the Restricted Section of the library, none of that knowledge had anything to do with Horcruxes.
In other words, Dumbledore had touched upon a blind spot in Eda's knowledge.
A Horcrux was an object containing a fragment of a person's soul. The soul was split once, and the separated portion was stored inside an object. In this way, even if the body was destroyed, the person would not die, because a fragment of their soul still remained unharmed in this world.
This was why Voldemort had not died when the Killing Curse rebounded onto him. His Horcruxes had remained intact, leaving fragments of his soul still in existence. Thus, he had merely lost his physical body and power, becoming a being even less substantial than a wandering spirit.
As for the Dark Magic known as Horcruxes, the identity of its inventor could no longer be determined. The first appearance of this magic dated back far earlier than the time of the four founders of Hogwarts.
Its inventor might have been Herpo the Foul, because this ancient Greek Dark wizard was the first person known to have successfully created a Horcrux.
Herpo the Foul was one of the earliest Dark wizards known to magical history and also one of the most influential. He invented many evil curses, which made him infamous.
Herpo was an early Parselmouth. He was also the first Dark wizard known to have discovered that incubating a chicken egg beneath a toad could produce a Basilisk.
Because it had happened so long ago, no one knew how Herpo had died, nor did anyone know how his Horcrux had been destroyed.
"Horcrux..." Eda muttered the word to herself. Once again, she felt the wonder and unfathomable depth of magic. She said, "Professor, is this the reason you said you couldn't stop him?"
Dumbledore nodded and said, "Yes. Because of the existence of Horcruxes, I can only defeat him, but I cannot kill him. Even if I successfully destroy his physical body, he will 'resurrect' again and again."
"To completely destroy Voldemort, we first have to destroy his Horcruxes. Otherwise, what awaits us will be his return again and again," Eda said. "It would be like a nightmare that you can never wake up from."
Dumbledore slowly paced back and forth, as if he had turned the Astronomy Tower into his office. He said, "Yes. It was only in the past few years that I learned about Horcruxes and realized that Voldemort's power exceeded my expectations."
In this world, aside from Dumbledore, there was no one who could stand against Voldemort. Eda was perhaps the only one who could exchange a few moves with him now. As for Harry, if he faced Voldemort at this point, he could only be completely overwhelmed. He was still a long way from becoming the savior.
Only Dumbledore could truly fight Voldemort and possessed the power to defeat him.
But Dumbledore was already over a hundred years old. He would continue to grow older day by day, and eventually, he would no longer possess the power to defeat Voldemort. What would they do then?
Voldemort only needed to establish his reputation, lie low like an old schemer, and survive until the very end. Eventually, people would have no choice but to place their hopes on Harry. Better yet, Voldemort could be even more ruthless and simply outlive Harry. After all, thanks to his Horcruxes, he was practically immortal.
But Voldemort had not chosen to do this. His pride would not allow him to win in the end through such a method.
Besides, the future was always filled with endless variables. Even the first Dark Lord of this century, who was skilled at prophecy, could not predict everything, let alone the second Dark Lord, who was not particularly skilled in that field.
"Eda, do you remember what Voldemort said that night when he 'resurrected'?" Dumbledore asked.
"I have gone farther than anyone else on the road to immortality." Eda tried to imitate Voldemort's tone from that night. "Conquering death. Now I have been put to the test. It seems that at least one or two of my experiments worked... because I did not die, even though that curse was fatal."
Dumbledore sighed with admiration. "The memory of young people is always something to envy!"
Eda rhythmically tapped the battlement. Now that she knew about the existence of Horcruxes, thinking back on Voldemort's words made her break out in goosebumps.
Conquering death. Even the three Peverell brothers from the story had failed to accomplish that. Although Voldemort had exaggerated himself somewhat, he had indeed succeeded in avoiding death.
On that night in 1981, he should have been killed by his own curse.
"Professor, when did you realize that Horcruxes existed?" Eda asked. "Benedict Fowley?"
During Eda's first year, Fowley had served as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He had broken into the common rooms of all four houses and turned the entire castle upside down, but he had found nothing.
"Fowley gave me a warning. He made me realize that there was something that could allow Voldemort to return," Dumbledore explained softly. "Unfortunately, he was unable to tell me what exactly he was looking for, because he did not know himself."
"So after him, you invited Professor Cecil. You hoped to learn more about the Dark Arts from Professor Cecil and use that knowledge to find this thing." Eda continued the headmaster's explanation.
Glover Cecil, a knowledgeable Dark wizard. A Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who had harmed Eda, yet also taught her a great deal about defending against the Dark Arts.
"That is correct. At the time, we came up with several possibilities. Horcruxes were one of them," Dumbledore said. "But there was no evidence to support our hypothesis. Voldemort could have used any of those methods."
That had all happened during Eda's first and second years. After that came Quirrell's attempt to steal the Philosopher's Stone and the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets.
"The diary, Tom Riddle's diary!" Eda suddenly realized.
She had always felt that diary was extremely strange. Not only did it possess its own thoughts and memories, it could also absorb other people's life force, allowing itself to break free from the diary and even acquire a brand-new physical body.
So that was it. No wonder Eda had never been able to find any magical records resembling the "diary." Because it was a Horcrux! A Horcrux Voldemort had created when he was still a student!
"It was not until I saw that diary that I became certain Voldemort had used Horcruxes to ensure his immortality." Dumbledore's expression was solemn, without the slightest trace of joy. "That diary also made me realize that there was no way Voldemort had only one Horcrux."
The diary from fifty years ago had come from Lucius Malfoy. He probably had no idea what the diary actually did, otherwise he would never have put it into Ginny's cauldron.
Such an important Horcrux, yet Malfoy knew nothing about it. Did Voldemort simply not trust him enough? Or was this Horcrux not unique, making it somewhat less important?
Eda felt that both were true. The diary was only one of Voldemort's Horcruxes. Voldemort had entrusted the diary to Malfoy for safekeeping, but because he did not trust him, he had never told him the truth.
Malfoy, unaware of the truth, was afraid that he would be punished years after Voldemort's downfall for secretly possessing an object from Voldemort's student days. So he pinned the blame for this precious Horcrux on Mr. Weasley.
"Where should we look for Voldemort's Horcruxes?" Eda asked. "He must have hidden them somewhere extremely well concealed. There might even be powerful magical arrays protecting them. Perhaps, like the diary, he entrusted one of his followers to keep one. We do not even know what the Horcruxes look like!"
Eda was somewhat agitated. Destroying the Horcruxes was equivalent to weakening Voldemort, but the problem was, where were they? And what did they look like?
"I have been trying to find the Horcruxes all this time, but ultimately I found nothing," Dumbledore said. "So I changed my approach. I hope to collect old stories about him and trace his footsteps, using them to deduce the possible hiding places and number of his Horcruxes."
Eda looked at Dumbledore. She was not entirely sure why the headmaster was telling her such a confidential matter. Was it because he trusted her, or did he hope that she could help him search for the Horcruxes?
"Professor, are you telling me all this because you want me to search for the Horcruxes?"
"Of course. You are the most suitable person for this," Dumbledore said. However, Eda did not immediately realize the double meaning in his words.
"But not now. You only have one year left at Hogwarts, and only one year of your student life remains. During this year, don't think about anything and don't do anything. Cherish this most wonderful period of your life."
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