Waiting, waiting, and continuing to wait patiently, Harry felt that he was gradually losing his patience.
After getting that important memory from Professor Slughorn, Harry only returned to the Gryffindor common room temporarily, shared the good news with Ron and Hermione, and then stayed directly in the headmaster's office waiting for Dumbledore to come back.
However, Harry did not expect that he would face a long wait.
From morning to noon, and from noon to afternoon, Dumbledore still did not return to Hogwarts, as if the memory he had gained was of no importance.
Professor McGonagall came to the headmaster's office again and told Harry about Professor Slughorn's situation. The effect of the truth serum on the poor Potions Professor had been successfully removed, and apart from being a little frightened, he was not seriously injured.
Harry was not surprised that Snape had the antidote to Veritaserum. Narcissa must have gotten the Veritaserum from Snape.
This whole thing was a bit of a coincidence.
If Snape was Dumbledore's man through and through, Harry couldn't help but suspect that this was a trap designed by Dumbledore and Snape, letting Narcissa use Veritaserum to force Slughorn to reveal the whereabouts of the Felixir, and then allowing himself to go over and successfully pick up the leak and complete this almost impossible task.
It's no wonder Harry had this idea. In Albert's words: There have never been so many coincidences in this world.
It's a pity that Dumbledore and Snape were not in the same group at all, otherwise Slughorn would probably have fainted in the toilet crying.
After walking around the office for who knows how many times and ignoring the dissatisfied complaints of Phineas's portrait, Harry sat back in the armchair and searched for Malfoy's whereabouts with the Marauder's Map. He always felt that the guy was plotting something.
At least, while taking the Felicis Felicis, Harry's intuition told him that there was something wrong with Malfoy and that he might take action in the near future.
Harry couldn't find Malfoy in the Slytherin common room, near the Room of Requirement, or even in the library.
"That guy is probably still in the Room of Requirement, but what is he doing in there?" Before coming to the headmaster's office, Harry tried to enter the Room of Requirement, but there was obviously someone inside and he couldn't get in at all.
"You seem to have a big prejudice against the student named Malfoy." Phineas continued, "Because of the little grudge between you, you suspect him..."
"If Draco Malfoy's father Lucius wasn't a Death Eater, his mother Narcissa hadn't just broken into Hogwarts to steal the Felicity Potion, and he himself hadn't joined the Death Eaters, I wouldn't think there was anything wrong with him." Harry turned his head to look at the portrait of Phineas on the wall and sneered, "To be honest, I don't think there are many Death Eaters who deserve sympathy. If they all deserve sympathy, then who should sympathize with the Muggles they killed? Do you think you should sympathize with those innocent Muggles who died tragically?"
Harry ignored Phineas and picked up the newspaper from the desk, which he had read countless times.
He suspected that Dumbledore was in Azkaban.
Perhaps a fierce battle had just taken place in Azkaban, and Dumbledore was there to prevent Voldemort from breaking out.
Perhaps Dumbledore was injured in the battle with Voldemort and is receiving...
No, with Dumbledore's level, there are only a few people who can hurt him.
But when he thought of Dumbledore's necrotic hand, Harry couldn't help but worry.
Just as Harry's thoughts began to drift, he suddenly heard footsteps outside the office. He jumped up from his chair and looked towards the entrance of the principal's office with anticipation.
I saw a familiar figure push the door and walk into the office.
"Harry!"
The old man seemed quite surprised to see Harry in his office.
"Sir, you're finally back." Harry walked forward excitedly, reached into his robe pocket and took out a small glass bottle, handed it to Dumbledore like a treasure, and said, "I got Slughorn's memory."
"That's brilliant, Harry, I knew you could do it!"
Dumbledore was stunned for a moment, then a smile broke out on his face.
He took the glass bottle containing Slughorn's memories, strode to the cabinet where the Pensieve was placed, moved the Pensieve onto the desk, and immediately poured the memories in the glass bottle into the Pensieve.
"Now, we can finally see the hidden truth. Harry, you go in first..." Dumbledore actually looked a little excited.
After Harry put his head into the Pensieve, he finally saw the memory that Slughorn didn't want others to know. Just as Dumbledore guessed, Slughorn did tell Voldemort that he could split his soul by killing people, and the secret that Horcruxes could make people immortal.
After learning the news that Voldemort had been resurrected, Professor Slughorn realized the great harm he might have caused that day, so he hid this memory. He was not only ashamed of the mistake he had made, but also afraid of being remembered by Voldemort.
A man who knew Voldemort's secret would not live long.
However, this memory still helped Dumbledore a lot, because in his conversation with Professor Slughorn, Tom Riddle apparently mentioned the crazy idea of splitting the soul into seven parts.
The reason is that seven is the most magical number and can increase Voldemort's power.
"So, Albert's prediction is true." Harry said suddenly.
"Yes, this memory does prove that Voldemort did split his soul, and even tried to split it into seven parts." Dumbledore seemed to be in a very happy mood.
"So, now we only need to find the last two Horcruxes to completely kill Voldemort." Harry was in a good mood as well. The depressed mood he had been waiting for was swept away. Nothing made him happier than seeing Voldemort's death.
"Yes Harry," Dumbledore nodded, "The remaining Horcruxes are most likely the Hufflepuff cup and the Ravenclaw diadem."
"Professor, when will you take me to look for the Horcruxes?" Harry asked excitedly, "If we can destroy one more, Voldemort will be doomed soon."
"I'm afraid we'll have to wait a little longer. I'm still gathering information, and now is not the right time." Dumbledore did not tell Harry that the cave where he had previously suspected the Horcruxes might be stored was probably empty. After all, it was strange that Slytherin's locket appeared in Blake's house, and as he said, the timing was not right.
"Oh, okay."
Harry was quite disappointed by this, but he seemed to remember something and suddenly said, "By the way, Professor, did Professor McGonagall tell you about the attack on Professor Slughorn at school?"
"I already know about this. Professor Slughorn is fine, just a little frightened. Madam Pomfrey said that he can be discharged after resting in the school hospital for one night." Dumbledore didn't seem to care much about this matter.
"I stopped the attacker when he was about to leave. I think it might be related to the good luck brought by the Felicis. Although the man used the Polyjuice Potion to disguise himself as Pansy Parkinson, I can be sure that the attacker is Narcissa Malfoy. Her real name can be seen on the Marauder's Map.
"I think Narcissa Malfoy broke into Hogwarts and attacked Professor Slughorn for the Felicis Felix." Harry rambled on about his analysis. "I heard from Sirius that Narcissa and Bella were searching for the Felicis Felix all over Europe and were wanted for murdering a pharmacist. I think they probably..."
"I already know about this, Harry." Dumbledore finally interrupted Harry's rapid-fire speech and said calmly, "I think you are probably tired, go back and rest first. Your friends should also be waiting for you to go back and share this good news with them."
"No, sir, I have a feeling that Draco Malfoy wants to do something, they must have a big conspiracy..."
"That's damned prejudice," Phineas said lazily.
"This is not prejudice. This is the intuition I gained after taking the Felicis Felix. I think it should not be wrong. Also, the newspaper said that Voldemort was planning to break into Azkaban..." Harry glared at Phineas fiercely and told him all his findings and guesses in one go.
There was nothing he could do. There was something strange about Narcissa Malfoy breaking into Hogwarts, and he thought it was some kind of bad omen.
"Don't worry, Harry. I just came back from Azkaban. Scrimgeour has already set up heavy defenses and traps with the Aurors in Azkaban." Dumbledore comforted him softly, "As for Hogwarts, I don't think anyone can cause trouble while I'm in school."
These confident words left Harry speechless for a moment.
Although Harry didn't think that the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic could stop Voldemort from breaking out of prison, with Dumbledore at Hogwarts, it would be difficult for anyone to cause trouble. Even if Malfoy had prepared some evil conspiracy, it would probably be a joke in front of Dumbledore.
"What if they took Felicis Felicis? I mean..." A possibility suddenly emerged in Harry's mind, and he looked at Dumbledore suspiciously.
This whole thing is really weird, could it be a trap they set
It seems possible that Albert may have predicted Malfoy's conspiracy in advance and then joined forces with Dumbledore to take him down in one fell swoop.
After all, that guy loved doing this kind of thing, and he used similar methods to kill a bunch of Death Eaters and dark wizards with the help of the Ministry of Magic.
"Harry, I don't think anyone can threaten the safety of Hogwarts students in front of me." Dumbledore said calmly, but Harry could see that he didn't want to talk about this topic.
"Sir, I can feel that this is definitely a conspiracy."
Harry was silent for a moment, and then he spoke out his thoughts, "Maybe this was intentional by Albert, or there are other reasons. Although I don't know what role Malfoy and his son played in this, I don't think there is any conspiracy that can be hidden from Albert and you..."
"You think too highly of me." Dumbledore suddenly interrupted.
"If possible, please tell me everything you can tell me. I think I can withstand the pressure. When I decided to defeat Voldemort, I was mentally prepared." Harry looked into Dumbledore's eyes and said, "To be honest, I don't want to look like a fool. That feeling is quite bad."
"There aren't that many coincidences in the world. If there are many coincidences, it's definitely not a coincidence." Harry looked away and looked at the newspaper on the table. "This is what Albert told me. I think it makes sense."
Dumbledore looked at Harry deeply, realizing that this was the boy's protest and dissatisfaction with his concealment. Harry was far better than he thought, and he discovered a lot of things just through some clues, which made Dumbledore feel extremely relieved.
He knew that Harry had been making preparations silently.
"Harry..."
Before Dumbledore could speak, a green light suddenly flashed outside the window, instantly attracting the attention of the two men.
"What is that?"
Harry and Dumbledore walked to the window of the headmaster's office and looked up at the familiar skull floating in the night sky. A huge python emerged from the skull's mouth.
"Dark Mark, how could there be a Dark Mark in Hogwarts?" Harry's eyes widened involuntarily, and he suddenly thought of a possibility.
This was Draco Malfoy's doing, this was his plot.
"I don't know, but I don't think it's a prank."
Dumbledore looked at the Dark Mark that appeared on the Astronomy Tower, turned his head and said to the portrait on the wall, "Phineas, please inform Sirius and ask him to gather the Order of the Phoenix to reinforce Hogwarts. I'm afraid we can't rely on the Ministry of Magic."
"Harry, I want you to return to the Gryffindor common room." Dumbledore turned back to Harry and said.
"I can fight even without the professor."
After noticing Dumbledore's look, Harry quickly changed the subject and said, "At least, I'm sure I can do something."
"I hope you can put on the invisibility cloak and alert other professors that there may be Death Eaters breaking into the school and ask them to go to the observatory." Dumbledore made arrangements quickly.
Fawkes the Phoenix chirped, spread his wings and flew towards Dumbledore.
"Professor, this must be a trap." Harry took out a Felicia Ricci from his pocket, put a pill into his mouth, and handed the bottle to Dumbledore.
"Remember Harry, go find the other professors. They will be much more useful than going there alone." After saying that, Dumbledore reached out and grabbed Fawkes' claw, then turned into a ball of fire and disappeared.
“Damn it!”
Looking at the place where Dumbledore disappeared, Harry clenched his fist unwillingly, but he knew that going there now would only cause trouble for Dumbledore. So, he pulled out his wand and cast the Disillusionment Charm on himself, then hurried to the Charms Office on the eighth floor, preparing to wake up Professor Flitwick first, as the former dueling champion would definitely be able to help Dumbledore.