The-Magick-Most-Vile (II) [Chapter 226]

Albus quickly controlled his emotions, but only a moment of lapse was enough for Harry to realize that Albus knew what he was talking about… After regaining his bearings, Albus stared at Harry with narrowed eyes as he knew that lying or playing dumb wasn’t going to help him. Horcrux was not a term a person could simply stumble upon by some accident.

“Where did you learn that term?” Albus asked, looking slightly on guard.

Harry wondered how to answer the question without revealing the Ancient One before he finally started to speak. “After I discovered that Voldemort was not dead, I started to look for ways a Wizard or Witch could cheat death and it was Grindelwald, who suggested that Voldemort might have used Horcruxes to anchor his Soul to this plane” Harry answered.

This time, Albus didn’t show any outward reaction, but he internally nodded his head. Yes, Gellert would most definitely know about Horcruxes. While Gellert didn’t have the aptitude for Dark Arts like Voldemort did, he knew his fair share of Dark Arts. “I see…” Albus mumbled before he decided to get some answers of his own. “I was wondering if I am talking with Tom or Hadrian…” Albus trailed off with a frown.

Harry raised his brows at the man before he burst out laughing… “Did you really think that the small piece of Soul lodged in my scar will be strong enough to overpower me?” Harry asked in a mirthful tone after he finally started to calm down. “I removed that as soon as I realized what it was” Harry explained smugly, only to receive disbelieving looks from Albus.

“I find that really hard to believe” Albus stated skeptically.

“I went to a Voodoo Witch to get it removed and it is your problem if you don’t believe me” Harry stated with a shrug. Albus stared at Harry contemplatively while wondering if Harry was telling the truth or not. Albus knew that Magic could create miracles and Voodoo Magic was quite an exotic branch of Magic. It might have been possible to remove a Horcrux from an object without destroying it with Voodoo Magic.

Albus stroked his beard with a thoughtful look on his face before he decided to start speaking. “Let’s say I believe you, why should I tell you anything? I am afraid that you might try to make one for yourself” Albus accused as he narrowed his eyes at Harry.

At the man’s accusing words, Harry simply rolled his eyes at the man… “I already know how to make one, you old fool, but I know what will happen to me if I do… Yes, I am afraid of death, who isn’t? But that doesn’t mean that I am going to rip my own Soul into pieces” Harry finished with a scoff. “Now, I am growing tired of you trying to change the topic. If you don’t want to answer me, then good, I will take the answers straight from your head” Harry threatened.

Meanwhile, Albus simply smiled at him… He was quite confident that Hadrian couldn't breach his Occlumency barriers, after all, raw power didn’t mean that they were going to be good in Mind Arts. It took Albus decades to master the Mind Arts and he was quite proud of himself. With his questions, Albus was killing two birds with one Spell.

First of all, he was getting to learn about Harry. It irked him to no end, but he knew very little about Harry and that wouldn’t do… Then he didn’t want to reveal anything about Voldemort’s Horcruxes to Harry, so he was trying to change the topic. Yes, it was prophesied that Harry was going to beat Voldemort, and not only that, there was another Prophecy saying that he was going to reshape their world, Albus couldn’t let that happen.

Albus knew that Harry was strong enough to easily beat Voldemort, but if Harry vanquished Voldemort then he would become a messiah to the people of Wizarding Britain. They would forget his crimes within a moment and they would start to defer to him… It would make it easier for him to change Wizarding Britain with so much influence and power. It would become impossible to stop Harry after that.

Then again, he wasn’t sure if the Soul piece lodged in Harry’s scar was destroyed or not… If not, then Voldemort would keep coming back. “Yes, I believe Tom had made Horcruxes, but I haven’t managed to find anything about them, yet” Albus revealed with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

“Is that so?” Harry mused aloud. “Then what happened to the diary of Tom Riddle?” Harry asked, and Albus barely managed to rein himself back from showing any reaction. He started to wonder how Harry managed to learn about the diary. There was a very small chance that Lucius would have told him about the diary willingly, but Harry could have used Legilimency to learn about the diary’s existence.

After pondering for a bit, Albus realized how Harry came to learn of the diary’s existence was not important. Harry knew that the diary was more important than anything…

“Tom Riddle’s diary?” Albus asked innocently and after staring at him for a few moments, Harry stood up and the chair disappeared.

“It is clear that you are not going to answer my questions, so be it” Harry said with a deep nod of his head and Albus immediately raised his guard. “Fine, I will do it myself” Harry growled before he stared straight into Albus’ eyes and he was forced to admit that Albus’ reputation was not unfounded. For the first time, he had to work really hard to slip through someone’s Occlumency barrier, which was a humbling experience for him.

Meanwhile, Albus was shocked to his very core when he realized that Harry managed to break through his Occlumency barriers. Yes, Harry had to work hard to breach his Occlumency shields, but he still managed to do so and to be honest, Albus couldn’t fathom how Harry managed to do that… Was someone training him in Mind Arts? It was quite plausible, but who?

He was certain that it wasn’t Gellert… While Gellert was a Magical Titan just like him, he wasn’t that good when it came to Mind Arts. Even Severus was way better than Gellert, so it must be someone else… Though now that Harry has managed to breach his Mind, there were only two things he could do… He could distract him with other memories, or he could show him fake memories…