Raised By Wolfstar: Slytherin Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince

Chapter Twenty-Four: Horcruxes

(As always with memory chapters there isn't to much I can change, however I did try to add as many as I could throughout, and near the end when Dumbledore is explaining the memories meaning to Harry I did add somethings that hint to a reveal coming at the end of the book. I will also say I am so glad this is the final memory chapter of this book.)

Harry could feel the Felix Felicis wearing off as he crept back into the castle. The front door had remained unlocked for him, but on one of the corridors leading down to the dungeon he ran into Mrs Norris, meaning Filch couldn't be far behind, and just barely managed to hide in a hidden passageway Harry was fairly certain Filch didn't know about before hearing Filch walk past him. After a deep breath and not hearing anymore footsteps he emerged from the passageway and continued down to Slytherin's Dungeon and walked up towards the enchanted wall.

'Kneazle,' said Harry confidently, then proceeded to smash his nose on the still very solid wall.

'Ow!' he said, while rubbing his now tender nose with one hand and checking his watch with the other. It was past midnight, so the password might have already been changed. He'd have to wait for a Prefect on patrol to come by and if it was someone like Pansy or Draco he could still get in a lot of trouble.

'Bloody hell, what do I do now?' Harry asked himself allowed, he did not feel like sleeping on the cold solid stone floor. 'I don't want to go up to Dumbledore's office and risk getting caught if Dumbledore is on one of his trips.'

'He is here,' said a low chilly voice. Harry yelped as the scariest ghost in the castle, The Bloody Baron, had just appeared beside him.

'Er, good evening, Dumbledore is in the castle? Is he in his office?' asked Harry nervously. He had only ever been haunted by the Baron, in his six years at Hogwarts this was the first time they had actually spoken. The Bloody Baron nodded and then floated away. It was only after he left that Harry realized he had never taken his Invisibility Cloak off and maybe the Baron thought Harry was another spirit.

Harry hurtled back along the corridor, up several flights of stairs and within minutes, he was saying 'toffee éclairs' to Dumbledore's gargoyle, which leapt aside, permitting Harry entrance onto the spiral staircase.

'Enter,' said Dumbledore when Harry knocked. He sounded exhausted.

Harry pushed open the door. There was Dumbledore's office, looking the same as ever, but with black, star-strewn skies beyond the windows, he had just finished putting something inside his midnight-blue handbag.

'Good gracious, Harry,' said Dumbledore in surprise. 'To what do I owe this very late pleasure?'

'Sir—I've got it. I've got the memory from Slughorn.'

Harry pulled out the tiny glass bottle and showed it to Dumbledore. For a moment or two, the headmaster looked stunned. Then his face split in a wide smile.

'Harry, this is spectacular news! Very well done indeed! I knew you could do it!'

All thought of the lateness of the hour apparently forgotten, he hurried around his desk, took the bottle with Slughorn's memory in his uninjured hand, and strode over to the cabinet where he kept the Pensieve.

'And now,' said Dumbledore, placing the stone basin upon his desk and emptying the contents of the bottle into it. 'Now, at last, we shall see. Harry, quickly...'

Harry bowed obediently over the Pensieve and felt his feet leave the office floor...Once again he fell through darkness and landed in Horace Slughorn's office many years before.

There was the much younger Slughorn, with his thick, shiny, straw-colored hair and his gingery-blond mustache, sitting again in the comfortable winged armchair in his office, his feet resting upon a velvet pouffe, a small glass of wine in one hand, the other rummaging in a box of crystalized pineapple. And there were the half-dozen teenage boys, including Morgan Nott and Christopher Avery, sitting around Slughorn with Tom Riddle in the midst of them, Marvolo's gold-and-black ring gleaming on his finger.