Dumbledore did not answer Harry's question immediately. Instead, he took another small sip of tea before looking up at Harry and asking unhurriedly, "Why do you ask?"
He paused briefly, then continued, "There is a way, of course, but it would be much more troublesome."
"Because..." Harry hesitated, but then he thought of how formidable Dumbledore's Legilimency was. Perhaps he already knew. Harry simply stopped trying to hide it and told him the truth:
"I feel as though there's a Soul Fragment of Voldemort deep inside my soul, too."
Having said this, Harry stared intently at Dumbledore, wanting to see his reaction.
Dumbledore's expression did not change in the slightest at Harry's words. He calmly took another sip of black tea.
"Professor, you... already knew?" Harry asked tentatively.
"Hmm, knew? Yes, yes, I knew long ago. About ten years ago, I suppose." Dumbledore nodded.
"Before I handed you over to your aunt and uncle. After all, you had just survived that terrible incident, so I needed to check whether there was anything wrong with your body. You can understand that, I trust."
Harry nodded. Of course he could understand that.
He had seen the ruins of the cottage where he and his parents had been attacked-it had since been rebuilt and turned into a factory building. Under those circumstances, a physical examination was perfectly normal.
Seeing Harry nod, Dumbledore continued:
"Even then, I noticed something was not quite right with your soul. At the very least, it did not seem like the soul of a baby barely over a year old. So I paid it a little attention. After that, I discovered the anomaly.
"Well, although I could not be entirely certain, it appeared that, for some reason, Voldemort's soul-or at least part of it-had attached itself to you. I