This Christmas was as uneventful as the Black Lake in winter. Not many people mentioned Slughorn's Christmas party.
Harry had never given up on persuading Slughorn to hand over the real memory, but after his initial failure, Slughorn had avoided Harry ever since.
The same was true at this Christmas party. Although he had invited Harry in, after greeting him from afar, Slughorn hurriedly pulled over someone nearby and launched into an awkward conversation.
In truth, Harry had never planned to bring up the memory at the party.
By now, Slughorn's memory was no longer all that important. Dumbledore had long had suspicions about Voldemort's Horcruxes and had even found quite a bit of evidence. He only wanted Slughorn's memory for further study, in hopes of finding more details.
Slughorn should really have been grateful for Dumbledore's invitation. If Dumbledore had not called him to Hogwarts, the Death Eaters would have taken the old man before Voldemort long ago.
For Dumbledore, bringing Slughorn close was more out of affection for an old colleague. What concerned him more now were clues to Voldemort's next Horcrux and the attacks the Death Eaters might launch.
There was a Pensieve in the Headmaster's Office. Though it could not be used to wash one's face, it allowed a person to view a memory from a third-person perspective. This treasure had provided Dumbledore with much valuable intelligence.
Based on his investigation, Dumbledore had narrowed down the next Horcrux's location to a sea cliff.
The place was unremarkable, sparsely populated, and had no particularly beautiful scenery. However, it had once appeared in a photograph of the young Voldemort.
At the time, Voldemort was still called Tom Riddle, a little orphan abandoned at Wool's Orphanage.
When Tom Riddle's name appeared on Hogwarts's parchment, the task of welcoming this