The Wind and the Wings of Hogwarts

As Harry recounted his dream, Scott's gaze began to frequently drift towards the portrait of the former headmaster on the office wall.

The former principals in those portraits still look like they're dozing off, but their eyes, which occasionally open slightly, betray them.

In particular, Scott's suspect, Phineas Black, made some rather obvious moves.

Scott frowned.

If Harry could see news of Voldemort's actions reaching Medea through his dreams, would she suspect that Harry was a "Horde"?

Even if she didn't think of that, it didn't stop her from using Harry as a Voldemort detector.

Just then, after listening to Harry's story, Dumbledore said to him, "Harry, what you saw in your dream is real."

"How could this be?" Harry exclaimed in disbelief. "That was just a dream... how could it be?"

Before Dumbledore could answer, Scott suddenly spoke up, "Is it because of the prophecy? The power of the prophecy created a connection between Harry and Voldemort."

Dumbledore glanced at Scott with some surprise, but did not refute his words.

"Choose the lesser of two evils," Scott thought.

“That perspective seems plausible too,” Dumbledore said with a smile.

"What prophecy?" Harry asked, bewildered. "Why didn't I know about it?"

Dumbledore continued to smile, looking at Scott with kind eyes.

Scott could only explain, "It was a prophecy from over a decade ago, about you and Voldemort. Voldemort decided to eliminate you after hearing that prophecy, but of course, this operation failed."

"Just because of the prophecy?" Harry found it hard to accept.

He glanced at Dumbledore and immediately understood that Scott's words were true.

"Why do you know all this?" he couldn't help but ask Scott.

“Some of the portraits and ghosts in this castle know about this,” Scott replied. “Of course, they don’t usually tell anyone.”

He was telling the truth; he and Helena had discussed this topic during a casual chat.

"Does prophecy have such power? I mean, to connect me with Voldemort?"

Harry still finds it hard to accept that he has become connected with Voldemort.

Chapter 338 The Last Horcrux

In response to Harry's question, Scott shook his head. "I was just guessing."

After he finished speaking, he turned to look at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore smiled and said, "That's possible, after all, no one can claim to have fully mastered the wonders of magic."

“Okay,” Harry said reluctantly, “is there any way to break this connection?”

He looked at Dumbledore with hopeful eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Dumbledore said apologetically. “I think perhaps only by completely defeating Voldemort can this problem be solved.”

He glanced at Harry's clenched fist, then turned to Scott and started talking about Horcruxes. "After receiving the message from Sirius, I went to the Black family, got some information from Kreacher, and then went with Sirius to the cave in Harry's dream."

At this point, his expression became solemn. "Regrus was a hero. He discovered Voldemort's secret long ago, and he sacrificed his young life to destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes."

For reasons unknown, he patiently recounted Regulus Black's story to Scott and Harry in detail.

Regulus Black was a pureblood and a worshipper of Voldemort, and joined the Death Eaters at the age of 16.

Voldemort once asked him for a house-elf to experiment on, so he recommended Kreacher, the house-elf of the Black family.

But he noticed something amiss with Kreacher, who was terrified when he returned home, which made him suspicious of Voldemort.

So he later took Kreacher back to the cave where Voldemort kept the Horcruxes, and deliberately drank poison to exchange for the Horcrux—Slytherin's locket.

Finally, he handed the locket to Kreacher, ordering it to destroy the Horcrux, but he himself was dragged into the water by the Inferi and died.

Dumbledore said softly, "When we arrived, the place had been severely damaged. Fortunately, we found Regulus's remains and buried him."

“He… I mean, Regulus is really something,” Harry said sadly. “Sirius never knew any of this, and he even said Regulus was an idiot.”

“Sirius was clearly heartbroken. He was devastated and believed it was all his fault.” Dumbledore’s voice turned somber. “He told me that if he hadn’t run away from the family, his younger brother wouldn’t have had to face the terrible Dark Lord.”

He's right!

Just then, a strange voice came from the side.

The three people who were talking turned to look at the portrait on the wall that was speaking.

It is a portrait of Phoenix Black, in which he has his eyes fully open and his face is gloomy.

"Sirius is right. It was because of his rebellion that Regulus lost his life at such a young age!" he said angrily.

Upon hearing this, Harry immediately objected.

"Who are you?" he asked, tilting his head back.

In the painting, Phoenix Black looks down at Harry with an arrogant expression. "I am the former headmaster of Hogwarts! And the great-great-grandfather of Sirius and Regulus!"

Harry was somewhat surprised by his identity, but still stood up to refute him, "Why would you think it was Sirius's fault? It was clearly Voldemort's fault! Besides, if the Black family hadn't been so obsessed with Voldemort's ideas, how could Regulus have become a Death Eater?"

"Potter boy! Who do you think you're talking to!" Phoenix Black in the painting was furious. "It was your father, James Potter, who corrupted Sirius!"

"They became friends because they got along well!" Harry retorted.

"Humph!"

Phoenix Black in the painting snorted, as if he wanted to say something, but a hand reached out from the portrait next to him and covered his mouth.

"Quiet down, Phoenix."

Among the top row of portraits, a witch with long, curly silver hair spoke.

Her voice sounded both gentle and authoritative.

“We are just portraits,” she said. “Don’t point fingers at the living.”

Scott looked up.

The speaker was Dalys de Winter, one of Hogwarts' most famous headmistresses, who was also a renowned healer in her lifetime.

Her portrait still hangs on the walls of St. Mungo's Hospital for the Magical Injuries and Sicknesses.

After Delis de Winter finished speaking, the wizard who had been covering Phoenix Black's mouth released his grip.

Phoenix Black looked terrible, but he didn't say anything more.

"Thank you, Delis."

As Dumbledore smiled and thanked Delis de Winter, Phoenix Black's face darkened further.

"Sit down, Harry," Dumbledore said, gesturing for Harry to sit down.

Then he said to Scott, “I would like to ask you to do another arithmetic reading, Scott.”

Scott nodded knowingly. "About Horcruxes?"

Dumbledore's expression turned serious.

“Yes, about Voldemort’s Horcruxes,” he said softly. “Voldemort had seven Horcruxes in total. The ones we know of now are Tom’s diary, Ravenclaw’s tiara, Slytherin’s locket, Hufflepuff’s cup…”

Harry exclaimed, "A tiara is a Horcrux? And Hufflepuff's Cup?"

Dumbledore nodded. "The Ravenclaw crown has been purified, and as for the Hufflepuff Cup, it was the one that was stolen from Gringotts on the first day of school."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "According to Lestrange, the owner of that underground vault, the Golden Cup was entrusted to them by Voldemort for safekeeping."

Harry's eyes widened. "So the Golden Cup ended up in the hands of that Slytherin's daughter?"

“Not just the Golden Cup,” Dumbledore said in a deep voice. “I suspect that she also took Slytherin’s pendant, and of course, there’s something else.”

He took a sip of hot tea before continuing, "In order to track down Voldemort's Horcruxes, I once went to the Gaunt family's old house. From the traces there, I was certain that someone had taken something from there before me. At that time, Madam Slytherin had only recently left Hogwarts."

Scott looked down at the steaming teacup in his hand and said, "If Voldemort really hid one of the Horcruxes in Gaunt's old house, then Medea has at least three Horcruxes."

"Adding the two that were destroyed and purified at Hogwarts, only two Horcruxes remain unaccounted for," Dumbledore said.

Scott nodded and reached for his wand.

He said, "I will try my best, although there is no guarantee of a result."

"Wait a minute!" Harry was clearly still confused. "I don't understand why Slytherin's daughter would collect Horcruxes? Did she team up with Voldemort?"

Scott turned to look at him and replied, "No, she and Voldemort are enemies. She needs to sacrifice Voldemort's complete soul to be fully resurrected."

He briefly recounted the oath Medea had made with Ravenclaw, while glancing at the portraits on the wall out of the corner of his eye.

"Is that so?" Harry was clearly very surprised to hear this for the first time.

“Considering Medea’s actions at Hogwarts…” Scott looked away. “I suspect that the reason she occupied the Merlin Order’s residence and Edinburgh Castle was to use the powerful magical energy contained in those ancient buildings to complete the Horcrux sacrifice ritual.”

“I think the same way as you, Scott,” Dumbledore confirmed the guess.

Scott ignored Harry, who was still in shock, and began a divination.

As he waved his wand, strings of complex numbers began to roll, change, collide, explode, and calculate in the air.

"The laws of arithmetic!"

"The numbers are displayed!"

Scott waved his wand repeatedly, and countless numbers transformed into specks of golden light that drifted down, eventually revealing the final result.

Number [1].

After the golden number [1] appeared, it flew toward Scott. Scott reached out his free left hand and caught the number in his hand, then closed his eyes slightly.

“Is this divination?” Harry’s muttering reached Scott’s ears. “This looks much better than reading crystal balls and tea leaves in Divination class.”

After a while, Scott opened his eyes.

“There’s only one left,” he told Dumbledore. “Medea didn’t get three Horcruxes, she got four.”

Dumbledore was only surprised for a moment by the result, but quickly recovered.

“No wonder Voldemort was so angry,” he murmured. “Just like in Harry’s dream, his rage nearly destroyed that seaside cave.”

At this moment, Harry said excitedly, "Isn't this a good thing? If we can find the last Horcrux, we'll have a chance to defeat Voldemort completely!"

“That’s true in a way,” Scott said, picking up his teacup again. “But who knows if Medea might turn into a darker monster than Voldemort?”