From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

If Dumbledore had even a quarter of the Dark Lord's skill in this area, William believed he could have easily obtained the necessary information from Slughorn, instead of going through such a difficult process.

“Well,” Slughorn said, without looking at Riddle, clearly knowing he shouldn’t say so much, but unable to stop himself. “Of course, it won’t hurt to give you a brief introduction, just so you can understand the term. A Horcrux is an object that contains a part of a person’s soul.”

“But I don’t quite understand what’s going on, sir.”

The Dark Lord asked the question using typical rhetoric used to gain a position in Azkaban.

“That is to say, you split your soul in two,” Slughorn said, becoming increasingly absurd—something no professor should teach his students—“and hide a part of it in an object outside your body. That way, even if your body is attacked or destroyed, you won't die because a part of your soul remains unharmed. But, of course, existing in this form…”

He clearly realized his mistake and tried to salvage the situation by saying, "...very few people would want that, Tom, very few indeed. Death is a quicker death."

But such a remedy was futile—the snake had already set its sights on its prey.

The Dark Lord had clearly put in the effort; he just needed a professor to give him some pointers on the key points he couldn't understand, and Slughorn obviously had that ability, and their relationship was at that level.

He pressed on impatiently—it was clear that Slughorn was starting to regret his decision.

But it was too late, far too late.

"It's normal to be curious about these things... talented wizards are always drawn to the magical side..."

He whispered, trying to defend the Dark Lord, like someone who had realized they had done something wrong but couldn't undo it.

“Yes, sir,” Riddle said, “but what I don’t understand—and I’m just curious—is a Horcrux really that useful? Can a soul only be split once? Would it be better to split it into multiple pieces, making you more powerful? For example, isn’t seven the most magical number? Seven—?”

When these words were uttered, William and Dumbledore simultaneously widened their eyes and looked at each other.

Seven pieces!

And it is certain knowledge, the seven souls!

If the conversation hadn't continued, William would have cheered.

“My God, Tom!” Slughorn cried, “Seven! Isn’t killing one person evil enough? Anyway… splitting a soul is evil enough… but splitting it into seven pieces…”

"Of course," he said softly, "we're talking about assumptions, aren't we? Just academic..."

Professor Slughorn tried to fix things, but it was too late.

But his memory is proving invaluable now—seven!

William patiently read through the last bit, his tone much lighter, "There's only one left, Headmaster."

"If he splits into seven souls, then he can create six Horcruxes. We have already identified five Horcruxes besides Harry's, so we only need one more."

"You still insist that Harry was an accident?"

"Yes, there's no reason to suddenly use a human to create a Horcrux, and I don't believe that the Dark Lord, who isn't in a completely healthy state, can create a Horcrux."

"So where do you think it is?"

"Where do you think is the safest place to hide things in the entire Hogwarts?"

William looked at Dumbledore and revealed the answer, "I'll give you this to carry with you."

"So I guess the last Horcrux must be very close to him, extremely close... possibly even on his person. Of course, we need to investigate again the locations where the Death Eaters might hide things and the locations he used to like, as a final precaution."

Chapter 562 Going Further and Further Down the Path of Crime

"I think one of us has definitely gone crazy."

“That can’t be me, sir.”

William straightened his wizard robes, trying to make himself look like a middle-aged wizard, while next to him stood Dumbledore, dressed in a way that made him completely unrecognizable.

The two of them were walking furtively on a side path next to the alley, looking extremely suspicious and not like good people at all.

That's right—sneaky. Although the word has nothing to do with Dumbledore, the two of them were indeed sneaky, both in their behavior and in what they were about to do.

“I’d like to confirm this one more time, Professor William.”

Dumbledore waved his wand casually, and after confirming that no living creatures around could hear their conversation, he finally spoke, "You mean we have to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic, and most likely search the Aurors' offices?"

“Not only that… we also need to attack the Aurors, feed them Veritaserum, and make it look like this is a reckless and audacious act by the Death Eaters.”

William nodded, saying things that even the prisoners of Azkaban dared not utter.

This is why this operation was kept strictly confidential, and even Professor Moody wasn't informed.

They spent two weeks reinvestigating the families of the Death Eaters, searching every place where they had hidden things, but ultimately found nothing—this was a necessary assurance that the last Horcrux was not in Britain.

Knowing that there were only so many Horcruxes, William analyzed their locations: the Golden Cup and the Diary were in the hands of his most trusted Death Eater, the Ring was hidden in his grandfather's house, the Locket was in the cave he loved as a child, and the Tiara was hidden in Hogwarts. Therefore, the remaining Horcruxes were either in the hands of his most trusted Death Eater or in places he considered meaningful enough.

William had looked into the Dark Lord's history, and so far, the only place that was truly significant was probably the place where the Dark Lord decided to lose his nose and cease to be human. Apart from that, the item was likely in the hands of the Death Eaters.

The location where the dangerous human transformation was completed is still under investigation, and we have made some progress. However, regarding the Death Eaters—after all other places have been thoroughly searched, William noticed that there was one Death Eater whose identity had not been investigated.

Umbridge, Voldemort's most beloved Death Eater, the Dark Lord's most deeply hidden follower in the wizarding world, was killed after the Great Escape from Azkaban.

If it were anyone else, Dumbledore would only need to say hello—unfortunately, that wasn't the case with this one.

Fudge's biggest fear was that his subordinates would collect dirt on him, and few normal wizards would believe that Umbridge, the former Deputy Minister of Magic, didn't have something on her hands.

Dumbledore checking Umbridge's belongings—William knew Fudge's reaction without even thinking.

Honestly, if Fudge didn't faint upon hearing this news, he'd be lucky he hadn't done anything wrong...

In order not to disrupt the current positive situation of unity against the Dark Lord, an investigation is necessary, but it must be conducted secretly.

"But do we really have to buy them again?"

"Not only that, I'll also use a time converter to create a few fake bodies, and then use English with a slight American accent to buy supplies for this operation. That way, I can divert the trouble as much as possible."

William even re-examined the areas Dumbledore had checked—the beetle that had ruined his office had left a terrible impression on him.

"Even the Galleons used in this purchase were just obtained from Gringotts in the United States recently. In order to avoid them being recorded, these things were all packed up and smuggled into the United Kingdom."

As he spoke, he pulled out the Time-Turner, whose power had noticeably weakened, and pulled out several figures. He then began to use Transfiguration to disguise them, before looking at Dumbledore with pleading eyes.

Having finally remembered what to do after being watched by William, Dumbledore waved his wand, both amused and exasperated, to perfect the transformation details—the summoned phantoms now looked flawless.

'Every time I see it, I feel like it's art…'

William nodded slightly and walked to the front of the group, while Dumbledore was enveloped in a phantom and became one of the wizards who followed.

"Then, let's begin..."

-

Bokin-Bock Shop, the biggest shady shop in Knockturn Alley.

The "black" here doesn't refer to excessive greed—admittedly, the boss here is incredibly ruthless, but this "black" refers to the black magic of darkness.

That's right, this is an open shop selling dark magic items. The prices are high, but it's perfectly legal—it has two owners, Mr. Borgin and Mr. Burke, both of whom are top-notch skinners.

However, these two store managers are not ordinary, they are very extraordinary.

William still hasn't figured out just how skilled they are. The only thing he can confirm is that the Dark Lord started working at this shop right after graduating and didn't quit until afterward. And the shop wasn't even liquidated—neither by the Ministry of Magic nor by the Death Eaters.

In fact, according to some information William obtained, this shop serves several purebloods, including but not limited to selling their valuables, providing high-grade goods of dubious origin, supplying illegal potion ingredients and finished products…

This is also a major reason why William insisted on bringing Dumbledore to his house to shop – not only were all the items available, but he would also have more opportunities to thoroughly investigate what the Dark Lord was doing there back then during the post-incident investigation.

That's right. Although William was the one who caused the trouble, the Ministry of Magic would be happy to intervene in the subsequent investigation if he were willing—because it would mean that Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic are on the same side, expressing their support for magical activities.

But clearly, the shop owner had no idea that an Azkaban madman was targeting him—he only saw a group of furtive guys speaking with foreign accents coming to his shop to be ripped off.

He still vividly remembers the biggest deal he ever made – buying Slytherin's locket for ten Galleons!

That was a truly remarkable deal, but unfortunately, you can no longer find such a sucker.

However, it wouldn't be bad to trick some foreign devils—these guys don't look like British wizards at all, and they keep sneaking glances at the dark magic items. Aren't they just easy targets?

"Welcome, welcome! This is Borgin & Bork, the most comprehensive store in all of the UK."

He proudly introduced, "We have everything that other stores have, and we even have things that other stores don't have. This is the guarantee of Bokin-Bock Store."

The boss on duty today was Bojin, who looked at the newcomer with considerable curiosity.

They all disguised themselves—that's not a big deal, in fact, not many people come to him to buy things without disguising themselves.

However, he had almost never seen so many people come to his store to shop at once, since it was really not appropriate for too many people to know the effects of his products.

However, Bokin's attention was quickly drawn to a large bag of Galleons that the fat sheep pulled out.

Merlin's Beard - Are these bumpkins only taking to the streets in such large numbers because they're afraid of being robbed?

Don't they know that Gringotts has very convenient services?

However, Mr. Bokin had no time to pay attention to anything else at the moment. This group of fat sheep from out of town were like buyers, purchasing supplies on a large scale—potions, special powders, some unorthodox magical items, and even the Hand of Glory was bought up by them, which one of the wizards curiously held in his hand and examined…

'This guy, didn't he even consider what it was made of?'

Mr. Bokin tried hard not to show his disgust until it came time to pay the bill—because these fat sheep actually quoted a rather shrewd price, which was completely unlike their act of being clueless.

After several attempts to put things down and take them away, Mr. Bokin was forced to sell the item at a price that didn't earn him enough profit...

The drastically reduced profits made him spit out a curse after those people left, "What kind of people are they!"

-

Who goes there?!

After William confirmed that no one was around, he finally stopped pretending to have an American accent—thanks to the twins, the voice-changing potion from the Rebirth Compound Decoction made it less tiring for him to fake it.

"He made at least double the cost as profit. If it weren't for maintaining his public image, I would have had a serious talk with this guy."

As William inventoried the supplies, he disgustedly destroyed the Hand of Glory and the phantom holding it with the same spell... This thing was too disgusting; he didn't even want the phantom anymore.

"But we've bought everything we needed... arsonists, obstructors, saboteurs, and troublemakers..."

William, wearing dragon-skin gloves, took stock of the supplies—these were what they would use for this afternoon's raid on the Ministry of Magic.

That's right, it was afternoon, not night... that's how rampant it was.

To be precise, it was a surprise attack that took place just after noon, around 2 p.m. They directly broke into the Auror office at the Ministry of Magic, took control of the Aurors inside, then took the opportunity to search Umbridge's belongings, and finally created chaos, framed the Death Eaters, and left.

As for safety, William had no doubts—he himself was confident he could break out, and with Dumbledore by his side, there was even less to worry about.

“Let’s find a place to eat,” William said, handing a bag of supplies to Dumbledore. “Then we’ll get to work.”

-

"It's almost Easter, and the weather is getting warmer. Many people like to take a nap after finishing their morning work—as far as I know, this is quite common in the Ministry of Magic."

"Aurors are no exception—because of their special work, they prefer to sleep when it's safest, and midday when the sun is at its brightest is obviously a good time."