Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Slughorn stopped abruptly and refused to continue.

“Encase? But how — ?” Riddle asked again.

“There is a spell, do not ask me, I don’t know!” said Slughorn, shaking his head like an old elephant bothered by mosquitoes, clearly irritated and angry at Riddle’s untimely questioning. “Do I look as though I have tried it — do I look like a killer?”

“No, sir, of course not,” said Riddle quickly. “I’m sorry … I didn’t mean to offend …”

“Not at all, not at all, not offended,” said Slughorn gruffly, quickly returning to his usual demeanor. “It’s natural to feel some curiosity about these things, Tom. … Wizards of a certain caliber have always been drawn to that aspect of magic. …”

“Yes, sir,” said Riddle. “What I don’t understand, though — aside from the method you mentioned — I mean, are there other ways to split the soul? Like being split by someone else using a certain kind of magic? Without murder, but… entering some strange world, meeting Death or some powerful wizard there, and then a fragment of the soul gets split off?”

“Are you talking about dreaming, Tom?” Slughorn chuckled again. “Haha, nothing like that exists in reality. If you ask me, you must be under too much pressure and have wild thoughts. After all, this kind of Dark magic is a taboo we really shouldn’t be exploring.”

“Maybe so,” said Riddle. “Sir, are there really no other ways to split the soul?”

“The only way to split the soul is the one I just told you. Some evil Dark magic can extract a person’s soul from the body, but doing so is a kind of harm, and it goes against the purpose of making Horcruxes in the hope of gaining immortality. No one can use any magic to directly help someone make Horcruxes. However… hmm, wait, I suddenly remembered a legend…”

“What legend?”

“It’s about Horcruxes and Salazar Slytherin,” said Slughorn uncertainly. “A very old legend — or perhaps more of a rumor. You’ve probably heard it too, that Slytherin left a Chamber of Secrets within this school.”

“Yes, sir, I’ve heard about it. It is said that the great Slytherin left a weapon for his descendants in that Chamber of Secrets to purify Hogwarts and drive away those wizards with impure blood,” said Riddle with obvious interest. “But what does this have to do with Horcruxes?”

Evan also focused his attention. This was information he did not have.

According to the theory of time magic, the content of this conversation was something that had not happened before he returned to Hogwarts a thousand years ago. In other words, only after Evan changed history did Riddle, influenced by Slytherin’s magic, create the first Horcrux — an accidental one. Therefore, he began asking Slughorn about it. It was during his inquiry that Slughorn told him about the information related to Horcruxes and the Chamber of Secrets.

Just as Riddle was curious, Evan was also very curious — what connection was there between Slytherin’s Chamber of Secrets and Horcruxes?

Based on the timeline, Riddle should have already discovered information related to the Chamber. It wouldn’t be long before he opened it, released the Basilisk, and caused a series of tragic events: the death of Moaning Myrtle, Hagrid’s expulsion, and so on. Moreover, he used that murder to create his first Horcrux: Riddle’s diary.

Inside that Chamber, besides the Basilisk left by Slytherin, there was also a secret treasure left behind by the Four Founders.

The Chamber of Secrets was the entrance to the treasure, but there was nothing related to Horcruxes inside.

Or was there originally something, something Slytherin left behind, and Riddle took it after opening the Chamber of Secrets?

Evan still held the same opinion: Salazar Slytherin was the most troublesome and also the most dangerous of the Four Founders.

This powerful wizard had some mad ideas that were beyond ordinary comprehension. Even though he had learned from Evan that Voldemort would create Horcruxes, he still deliberately left behind information, magic, and even more dangerous spells related to Horcruxes for Voldemort to find. What on earth was he trying to do?

Did he think things weren’t hard enough? That the chaos wasn’t big enough?

With his help, the difficulty of Evan and his team defeating Voldemort directly had increased several times.

“Slytherin left behind a Chamber of Secrets, but I’m not sure whether there’s actually a weapon in it that could purify the school. I understand what you mean by ‘purify,’ but you should talk to me about things like that — don’t let Professor Dumbledore hear it, Tom. He wouldn’t like that kind of thinking, and it could be very bad for your future career in the Ministry,” said Slughorn kindly. “I’ve heard that legend, that what Slytherin left in the Chamber had something to do with Horcruxes. Well, I guess it might be a magic, not the magic of making Horcruxes, but the magic of becoming a higher existence than Horcruxes. Horcruxes would just be the beginning of that magic, Tom.”

“The beginning?! Are you saying… a kind of magic that surpasses death and immortality?!” Riddle’s tone had clearly become more greedy.

“That seems to be the case,” said Slughorn. “But it’s just a legend — no, it’s more accurate to call it a rumor. After all these years, no one has ever found that Chamber in the school…”

Evan suddenly understood — this power more advanced than a Horcrux, could it be referring to the evil god?

The Chamber of Secrets left by Slytherin that Slughorn mentioned was not the one with the entrance in the bathroom on the second floor, but the one in the Lair of the Acromantula, that underground ruin which sealed the body of the evil god, the “Eyeball Monster.”

That was another Chamber of Secrets left by Salazar Slytherin at Hogwarts.

It was there that Slytherin left behind the magic for becoming an evil god. But Voldemort ultimately never discovered that place.

Only after Hagrid released Aragog into the Forbidden Forest did the spiders discover that deep underground chamber.

The walls of the Chamber of Secrets were engraved with the magic of how to become an evil god, and the first step was to collect the souls of other people. That was probably what Slughorn had meant.

But what did he mean when he said that the Horcruxes were only the beginning of this magic?

Things were starting to take a strange turn. Compared with past intelligence, new information was emerging again, and many pieces were starting to connect.

Because of the effect of time magic, many things had changed, without any of the people involved even noticing.

For example, at this very moment, the young Tom Riddle in Slughorn’s memory hadn’t yet acquired so much information. He still lacked a clear understanding of the world that had quietly shifted. He was still following the original trajectory — but even so, much had already changed.

Perhaps it was precisely because of Slughorn’s reminder that he went to open the Chamber of Secrets not long after…

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