Six Horcruxes!

On the eve of the start of the second semester of sixth grade, Dumbledore reappeared in the Dining Room with a crimson Phoenix.

Upon seeing Fawkes, Will knew that Dumbledore had truly returned.

During dinner, Will was cutting his steak and enjoying his roast meat when he suddenly felt something moving in his pocket. He reached out and pulled it out; it was a lifelike, bright red paper Phoenix.

It says on it: Chocolate Muffin.

Will looked toward the professor's table, Dumbledore's gaze fell upon him. The two exchanged a glance, Will nodded slightly— Dumbledore was probably calling him to his Office again; ' Chocolate Muffin ' was likely the Password.

As the student who has visited the Headmaster's Office the most at Hogwarts in recent years, Will has developed a certain understanding with Dumbledore.

After dinner, Will went to the Headmaster's Office with practiced ease.

Pushing open the door, Fawkes stood on the perch, preening his feathers with his beak.

"Snap!" A crisp sound rang in Will's ear— Fawkes Apparition directly onto Will's shoulder.

Fawkes nuzzled Will's cheek and swayed on Will's shoulder, seemingly very happy.

"Ah, Will," Dumbledore said, pulling his hand from a large bowl of scurrying Cockroach. "Would you like some Cockroach Clusters? I just bought them."

Will frowned – who wouldn't find this disgusting?

"No need, Professor, I just ate half a chicken and two steaks." Will patted his stomach. "I can't eat anything now."

"Young man, you have quite the appetite. Also, Will, you seem to be in even better spirits since I last saw you." Dumbledore grabbed a few Cockroach and stuffed them into his mouth, crunching them loudly, making Will's teeth ache.

Before Will could speak, a familiar voice reached their ears. "Maybe only you could stomach this kind of thing."

At the doorway, Snape's expression remained grim.

"Severus, Cockroach Clusters are very popular," Dumbledore shook his head. "That's prejudice."

"We're not here to listen to your narration of this stuff, let's get to the point." Snape looked a little impatient.

"Will, Severus, I think you know why I called you here," Dumbledore said slowly.

"Horcrux." Will didn't let Dumbledore keep him in suspense any longer.

"Yes, Will," Dumbledore, looking at Will, "You spent a week at the Malfoy Manor; hopefully, you obtained the intelligence we needed after taking such a great risk."

Snape immediately chimed in, his tone quite displeased. "He's been there for a week, and all you're thinking about are your intelligence reports and plans. Shouldn't you be concerned about Will's safety first?"

Will looked at Snape: "Professor, as you can see, I'm actually quite safe, and I've figured out everything we wanted to know."

In particular, regarding the number of Horcrux.

After saying this, Dumbledore, who had originally wanted to say something more to Snape, immediately stared at Will: "How many?"

"Just as we guessed, six." Will lied without batting an eye, "Besides Harry, the Diary, Nagini, the Slytherin's Locket, and the Ravenclaw's Diadem in your hand."

He also possessed a Horcrux.

Dumbledore nodded, his expression serious. "What's the basis for that? And what Horcrux is Tom carrying?"

"There are two parts to the evidence. One part is the previous theory. I still maintain that the number of times his soul split has a special meaning."

The other part... This time, facing him up close, I became certain that the Ring on his hand was a Horcrux.

After some probing, I discovered that he had absolutely no interest in Hufflepuff's Cup.

I don't think he would be uninterested in his Horcrux, and...

Will paused for a moment. "The black stone on his Ring is strange, and there's something carved on it—a triangle, with a circle inside the triangle, and a vertical line down the middle."

The design on it is exactly the same as the Resurrection Stone I read about in the book.

Will had made himself clear enough; Snape and Dumbledore already knew what he meant.

Dumbledore nodded. "That matches my guess... so his search for the Invisibility Cloak makes sense."

Snape paused for a few seconds. "So, we're really going to fight a madman who believes in fairy tales for three things from fairy tales?"

"Obviously, that's true, and it's not something that only exists in fairy tales, Severus." Dumbledore's tone became much lighter.

Clearly, Dumbledore's mood improved considerably after learning the "exact" number of Voldemort's Horcrux.

Now that only Harry and the Resurrection Stone Ring remain as Horcrux, we just need to figure out how to deal with them; there's no need to worry about Voldemort having any other backup plans.

After so many years of dealing with Voldemort, this was the closest Dumbledore had ever come to success. How could he not be happy?

But Snape wasn't so happy. He looked at Dumbledore and said, "So, you're going to target Harry now?"

"Severus," Dumbledore sighed upon hearing Snape's words, "You must understand, this is necessary."

"But why not wait for Will to study things Soul Studies? Why not give Harry more time?"

"Severus!" Dumbledore raised his voice, "Aren't you putting Will and Harry in a difficult position? Don't forget, it's not that we're not giving Harry time, it's that Tom won't give Harry any more time!"

And... Severus, don't forget just how difficult the Soul Studies really is.

Are we really going to rely on Will and put all the burden Will this student who hasn't even graduated yet?

This is true; Voldemort couldn't contain himself and had been stirring up trouble.

Snape couldn't refute it, and as for Will... he certainly couldn't put any pressure on Will. It was just that Will's "genius" was too outstanding, which made Snape think that Will had a way.

But thinking about it carefully, Will is only a sixth-year student and hasn't graduated from Hogwarts yet.

I put a lot of pressure on Will.

After all, being exceptionally talented in Potions doesn't mean being exceptionally talented in all other areas.

"I'm sorry, Will." Snape looked at his best student and sighed, "I shouldn't have put you through all this; it wasn't your responsibility to begin with."

At that moment, Snape felt a bit like Dumbledore, that wicked Old Honeybee.

"Professor," Will shook his head and ruffled Fawkes's hair, "What does it matter? I'd love to help, I'd do everything in my power to bring peace to the Wizarding World."

Dumbledore himself— Will has grown up surrounded by the love of many people, and thankfully he hasn't gone astray.

But... he felt a little worried whenever he thought of Harry.

After all, Harry will be facing a life-or-death situation...