Hogwarts Advanced Guide

Chapter 409 Prying Slughorn's Mouth Open - How Difficult!
On this day, Hera was in a bit of a state of despair. He locked himself in the Response Room, and didn't leave the room until dinner in the evening, with a smirk—he didn't want others to find out about his abnormality, and their worries would have no effect.

In the auditorium, Professor Slughorn approached Hera and said cheerfully: "I didn't expect Harry to be so talented! Severus definitely misjudged. He obviously inherited her mother's talent. Lily was so ingenious in Potions back then!"

Professor Snape's face twitched, and he turned away angrily.

"I don't think Harry will let you down." Hera said with a smile. "He's always been a good boy."

"Of course, undisputed excellence!" said Professor Slughorn aloud. "You don't know the potion of living hell that he brewed. I dare say that only one drop is enough to put the whole class to sleep."

"You'll soon find out that he's going to make a mess of everything." Snape's voice came from behind Slughorn coldly, which made his body stiffen a bit.

Slughorn gave a dry laugh, thinking that Snape was really jealous of him: Harry had never shown such talent when Snape was in class.

"First day of class, not bad?" Hera asked.

"Of course, I even have some regrets. I should have promised to come back to school in advance." Slughorn said with some regret.

Snape let out a cold snort from his nostrils, obviously his mood was not as good as that of Professor Slughorn.

"Horace, may I ask you some questions? I hope we can discuss it in your office after dinner." Hera lowered her voice, which made Slughorn tense.

"Well, I think I'm too old, and my memory has become confused. Maybe Severus can better untangle your confusion about potions." Slughorn muttered, he didn't want to have any personal friendship with Hera. Although Hera was also an excellent wizard, he obviously had a strong purpose.Slughorn didn't want to get in trouble.

He tried to leave Hera's position, but Hera grabbed his arm tightly.

"After many years, you finally returned to Hogwarts. In order to avoid any trouble for you - the rules are much different from those in the past. I must explain it clearly to you." Hera continued to whisper, he did not intend to give up.

Slughorn frowned, as if he couldn't avoid it, he could only say helplessly, "Well, at 8 o'clock, the dungeon, how about it?"

"It couldn't be better." Hera nodded and said happily.

Slughorn returned to his seat, but he didn't look as happy as before, he looked a little sullen.Slughorn probably guessed what Hera wanted to talk to him about, and for the rest of the dinner, he kept rummaging through himself for something.

"I know what you want to do," Snape's voice came faintly from the left, and Hera looked up at him, his lips moving up and down slightly, "but you must be clear about one thing, he is a master of potions, but also a master of Occlumency. Don't act rashly, come to my office later."

Hera nodded, but did not answer aloud, and the dinner continued as usual.He waited patiently until a quarter to eight before heading to the dungeon.But before going to the basement, he deliberately went back to the office and found Tom Riddle's diary-even though there was a big hole in it.

The dungeon had been exclusive to Snape for a long time. When Hera came to the corridor, she saw a few Slytherin students playing here. After they saw Hera, they fell silent almost immediately, and obediently walked to another corridor - leading to the common room.

Pushing open the door of the dungeon, before the Slughorn showed up, the big belly was already protruding.Hera walked into the classroom, which was filled with steam and filled with all kinds of strange smells.Hera walked past the large bubbling cauldrons, watching with interest.

"I'm glad you started researching potions as soon as you returned to the castle." Hera praised sincerely. Slughorn is indeed a potion master. He will hardly miss the opportunity to brew potions. I believe he has been eager to brew a pot of potions for a long time, otherwise he would not have returned to Hogwarts to conduct research in batches on the first day.

"There, now," said Slughorn, his bulky figure looming through the hot steam. "Come on, sit down yourself, I think you know every corner of this place better than I do."

Hera nodded, pulled a chair and put it on the opposite side of the podium, but he didn't sit down in a hurry. Slughorn was standing behind the podium.

"Tell me, what changes in Hogwarts in recent years need my old man's attention?" Slughorn smiled awkwardly. He stood there, looking a little nervous.

Hera shook her head lightly, "I don't think any rules can affect you, after all, I'm the principal."

"So, are you kidding me?" The smile on Slughorn's face disappeared, and Hera's words annoyed him, making his mouth swell with anger.

Hera shook her head again, "I just hope to have a chance to communicate with you."

"I'm afraid there's nothing you want to know about me here," Slughorn pointed to his head. "I'm just an old man who is dying. I have no intention of getting involved. I just want to brew potions and teach in the castle."

"No intention of interrupting, but I had to," Hera said as he moved closer to Slughorn, which pressed him against the blackboard. "I have to figure out one thing."

"I'm a professor, protected by the Ministry of Magic and the castle, what do you want to do?" Slughorn shouted.

Hera chuckled, "How could I do anything bad to you? I just want to clarify one thing, it's that simple."

"It's that simple!?"

"It's that simple!"

Slughorn's chest heaved, and he tried to smile. "Well, you ask."

"I want to know, besides the Horcrux, what method does Tom Riddle use to live forever." Hera's voice was not loud, but it gave Slughorn a big jump.

"What are you talking about!" Slughorn yelled, causing the potion in the cauldron to ripple. "What are you talking about! I don't! Not a bit! Also! I don't understand!"

"We all know what Tom has done." Hera asked bluntly, putting his hand into his pocket.

Pointing to his pockets, Slughorn yelled, "Stop, stop your hands!"

Hera took out Tom Riddle's diary directly from her pocket, "I just want to show you this, where do you want to go?"

Slughorn breathed a sigh of relief, and forced a smile with difficulty, "Of course that's what I was thinking of, yes, that's it."

"Then do you know what this is?" Hera put the diary on the podium, and the big hole pierced by Gryffindor's sword was so arrogantly facing the ceiling.

Slughorn sized it up carefully, but didn't reach out to touch it. "I'm afraid I don't recognize this thing."

"This is Tom Riddle's diary. I think you are familiar with this name, right?" Hera said playfully.

Slughorn nodded. "He used to be a very good student, but no one knows what he did after graduation."

"Let's not beat these dumb fans," Hera said, propping her hands on the podium. "It's so obvious who Tom Riddle is."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Slughorn paled, trying to look calm, but to no avail.

"Tom Riddle is the one who can't even say his name." Hera whispered, with a weird smile.This made Slughorn sit down on the chair in horror.

"What are you talking about? God, how is this possible!" Slughorn looked panicked, as if he had just learned the news, which made Hera feel a little dazed for a moment.

"I don't think we need to prove this matter again." Hera crossed the podium and said softly.

"My God, how is this possible, I can't believe it, I never paid attention to him, he turned out to be the Dark Lord! How is this possible!?" Slughorn said in pain, covering his face.

Hera sighed, but continued to ask: "I have to figure out what else he did besides the Horcrux. What exactly did you tell him?"

"I didn't tell him anything, I didn't pay attention to him at all, he was always like that when he was in school, and no students wanted to approach him." Slughorn said.

"Very well, it looks like you know what a Horcrux is." Hera smiled and nodded.

Slughorn's face grew pale, and he looked at Hera as if he were looking at a demon.

"Professor Horace Slughorn, you must realize that you may have done a great deal of harm—"

"Enough! I don't know what you're talking about," Slughorn snarled at Hera, as if suddenly gaining strength, "Get out of my office, please! I don't know anything about this, I don't know anything, I just went back to the castle to teach and retire!"

"Okay." Hera felt that it would be difficult for him to make any progress today, but he believed that as long as time passed, Slughorn's psychological defense would always be broken by him, and it only took a little time!
"Looking forward to our next conversation with you."

"Never again," said Slughorn grimly, holding the lectern to his feet.Hera put the diary in her pocket and left with brisk steps.

He is confident that he can pry out Voldemort's means of immortality from Slughorn's mouth. Although it seems a bit cruel to the old man, if you don't figure out what methods Voldemort did to allow him to return to the world after death, Hera must do this, otherwise it will be difficult to ensure that they really killed Voldemort.

After leaving the dungeon, Hera went straight to the Defense Against the Dark Arts office on the third floor, which was now occupied by Snape, and he had to leave his gloomy basement and come to the space above ground.

"Good evening, Severus." Hera pushed open the door, and saw Snape sitting behind the desk, looking down at the book above, obviously carefully preparing for the class.

Snape nodded in response, and he closed the book and put it on a shelf aside, along with other "Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Defense", "Defense Against the Dark Arts: An Introduction to the Basics", and "Defense Against the Dark Arts Fundamentals".

"I almost pried Slughorn's mouth open. His clumsy lies don't fool anyone." Hera pulled a chair across from Snape, across the table.

"After all, he is an excellent master of Occlumency. He is just showing weakness. It is not easy to legally pry out the events of the year from his mouth." Snape said coldly, "But let's not talk about this first, I have to show you this." He stood up, walked to a storage cabinet in the corner, groped inside for a while, and took out a large snake-necked bottle, which was full of silver liquid.

"This is...memory?" Hera looked at the snake-neck bottle suspiciously. It looked very much like the memory in the Pensieve, but the amount of it was a bit too much!
Snape nodded, "Dumbledore gave it to me a few days before he left. He seems to have known that there would be a big battle at the Ministry of Magic."

"What did Dumbledore leave?" Hera lowered her head slightly. How much did Dumbledore leave for them so that they could increase their chances of winning a little bit when dealing with Voldemort?
He knew that his time was short, but he still devoted all his time and energy to defeating Voldemort.

"Put it in the Pensieve, I think it must be a very important memory." Snape pursed his lips, and when he mentioned Dumbledore, he was not in a good mood. "Use it well."

"Thank you." Hera took the snake-neck bottle. It was obviously very light, but Hera felt that it was so heavy that he couldn't even hold it. He felt like he had been thrown into hell.

"I'm very curious, how did Potter shine in Potions class." Snape's voice was as cold as a snake, but it made Hera seem to have returned to the world. "There must be something strange about it, maybe it's from the Dark Lord."

"I'll figure it out," Hera nodded, and finally added, "Recently...does your arm hurt?"

Snape knew what Hera meant, and he lifted the robe directly, revealing his arm, which had a mark of a snake emerging from the mouth of a skeleton.

It still stayed on it so obediently, without any abnormalities.

"It's too quiet, there has been almost no movement in the past month." Snape said in a deep voice.

Hera nodded, "It's not bad news, is it?"

"Maybe."

"I thought maybe you could teach me a spell, I don't know when it might come in handy."

"What spell?"

"Dark Mark!"

(End of this chapter)