The Reversed Order

"The Sword of Gryffindor is indeed one of my goals."

Big Tom looked at Manus in surprise and nodded:

"There are no clear legends about this item, and unless you specifically look into it, probably no one should know about it. You've actually heard of it?"

Then Big Tom sighed:

"Unfortunately, this relic had no known whereabouts before I created this Horcrux. I suspect it was taken back by the Goblins... You should know the Goblins' habits, right?"

"Yes, items crafted by Goblins are owned by the Goblins; the buyer only purchases the right to use them."

Manus nodded and then said:

"You only mentioned the Sword of Gryffindor, so the Slytherin relic shouldn't be the Basilisk, right?"

Although Manus had seen the Basilisk and knew it hadn't been made into Horcrux Basilisk, if Voldemort had indeed targeted the Basilisk as Horcrux but hadn't actually done so, it would be somewhat certain that Voldemort wouldn't be making any new Horcrux.

Unfortunately, Voldemort did not take a liking to the Basilisk.

"No... the Slytherin memento I chose is a locket."

Big Tom was visibly downcast; he wouldn't deliberately hide anything from Manus in such a trivial setting. Perhaps he was preparing to conceal it for a more important moment?

"Slytherin's Locket?"

I've never heard of it before. Even after reading Slytherin's memories of Ravenclaw, Manus had to go to great lengths to find it in those memories. It had no special significance to Slytherin himself.

"Why did you choose it? Didn't you say you would choose precious items to make Horcrux?"

"It may not be that important to Slytherin, but it has a different kind of sentimental value for me; it once belonged to my mother."

Big Tom's expression was strange when he talked about it; it was clearly tinged with sarcasm, yet also seemed somewhat sad.

"After being abandoned, she couldn't return to the Gaunt family and became destitute, so she pawned this locket to Karaktakus Burke in exchange for ten Galleon."

Wow, it's so dark.

Even if the locket used by Slytherin has no legendary story of its own, the mere fact that it was used by Slytherin makes it impossible for it to be worth only ten Galleon.

No, even if it doesn't belong to Slytherin, a locket from a thousand years ago couldn't possibly be worth only ten Galleon.

"You bought it?"

The fact that Karaktakus Burk is still alive and well means...

"No, I originally intended to kill Karaktakus Burke and retrieve the locket. But I soon discovered that it had already been resold long ago."

Big Tom shrugged:

"I plan to spend some time working there, both to accumulate knowledge in areas such as magical items and to earn money, while also using the connections at Borgin -Bock to conduct research."

This time, without Manus pressing for answers, Big Tom took the initiative to continue:

"I don't know what happened after that. At the time, I had only investigated this much and had no plans to take any action."

"What about Hufflepuff's Cup?"

"The information about this item wasn't difficult to investigate at the time. Its owner was Hepzba Smith, a descendant of the Hufflepuff, a very wealthy collector who frequently threw parties to show off her collection."

Manus nodded, then suddenly spoke:

"Then, what value does that Diary for you?"

Big Tom paused for a moment, but quickly gave his reason:

"I was eager to try it out, to see what would happen if I made a second Horcrux. The Diary was the easiest thing I could find and wouldn't arouse any suspicion."

"And then you killed someone at Hogwarts to make Horcrux?"

Manus lowered his head slightly, looking down at Big Tom, who should have been close to graduation but was still more than a head shorter than him:

"The reason is true, but the order is wrong. On this point, you and Little Tom in that ring have unexpectedly reached a tacit understanding... Little Tom can explain that he claimed to be the only Horcrux from the beginning in order to make himself irreplaceable, and that he didn't know the whereabouts of the other Horcrux. But what about you? Why did you reverse the order in which these two Horcrux were made?"

Such an unnecessary act might be possible without any reason, simply because someone wanted to do it, but that possibility is highly unlikely in the case of him and Big Tom.

"Since there's only one Horcrux, even if it doesn't have anything special about it, it won't seem strange, and it won't make people curious about the purpose of Horcrux creation, right? So can you tell me, what is the purpose of hiding this one?"

"... Okay, but you have to answer me first: how did you find out about this? Did you find the Diary?"

Big Tom frowned, thinking to himself that there was no reason for it.

Putting aside the question of how Manus could possibly find the Diary he had specifically kept for himself, if that were the case, given Manus's cunning, he could easily glean this so-called purpose from the fragments of the Diary without even asking him...

Big Tom wasn't without suspicion that Manus was bluffing him, but the possibility was too slim, and denying it might really mean his death.

Because if nothing unexpected happens, the other party will soon find another Horcrux, a Horcrux created after him... and his value will no longer be so irreplaceable.

Big Tom had absolutely no intention of gambling with his life.

"Yes—it's quite a coincidence, I figured it out from my memory."

"... Memory? Whose memory?"

Big Tom looked completely bewildered; who else besides himself knew about this?

"Professor Slughorn, he once thought of you while thinking of me, probably because he considered us both exceptionally gifted students. However, in his memory, we are quite different."

Big Tom couldn't help but sneer inwardly. After all these years, Slughorn was still so confused. This guy was clearly the same kind of person as him!

However, Big Tom soon realized:

"You learned about this by using Legilimency on Slughorn? That's impossible!"

Slughorn undoubtedly knows Occlumency, and no matter how skilled one is at Occlumency, Legilimency cannot be hidden from someone who knows Occlumency —one can forcefully break through the protection of Occlumency, but it is impossible to hide the fact that one has used Legilimency.

Would Slughorn allow Manus to use Legilimency on him, especially to access such important memories that could ruin his reputation?

Furthermore, even if Slughorn knew he had created Horcrux, he couldn't possibly know the order in which they were made!