"What's wrong with Professor Snape?"

Kyle, who was almost knocked over, looked at Snape who was leaving in a hurry and asked in confusion: "Professor, you are not going to deduct his salary?"

"Of course not."

Dumbledore adjusted his mood and said with a smile: "In fact, the salary of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is ten Galleons more than that of other subjects... There is no other way. If it were not for this, we would not be able to recruit a suitable professor."

Kyle believed that it was true that the salaries were high, but he did not comment on whether those professors were suitable. Dumbledore should know the answer.

"Boy, I feel like you're thinking of something very rude." Phineas Bright in the portrait suddenly said, "Believe me, my intuition is always accurate."

"Good afternoon, sir." Kyle looked up at the portrait, "I admit, I was just thinking about whether I should remind Sirius to do a proper house cleaning and clear out some useless things.

"...For example, the portrait next to the stairs in the living room."

"I guessed right, you are indeed an impolite little brat." Phineas screamed like a cat whose tail was stepped on. "I warn you not to do this, and Sirius will not throw away the portrait of his grandfather."

"Really?" Kyle said calmly, "That's not necessarily true..."

Next to the staircase at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, hangs a portrait of Phineas. With this advantage, he can move freely between the headmaster's office and there to convey some of Dumbledore's requests or plans.

But usually, Dumbledore would choose to speak in person instead of letting Phineas convey the message, so the portrait was basically useless.

Sirius had thought about throwing that thing away more than once.

"I'm warning you..." Phineas said sternly, "That's my house, you can't kick me out."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm just making a suggestion." Kyle shrugged. "It's up to Sirius to decide how to do it, but I don't think he would mind a new painting."

"You!" Phineas was so angry that his beard stood up. He ran out of the picture frame with a whoosh. I guess he was going to number twelve Grimmauld Place to find Sirius.

"Hahaha, well done!" said a bearded wizard nearby. "This is really interesting. You're the first student who has embarrassed him like this."

"Thank you for the compliment, Principal Dippet," Kyle said with a smile.

Because he had been here many times, he was already very familiar with these portraits. The one in front of him was Armando Dippet, who was also the headmaster before Dumbledore.

He and Phineas Black had always been at odds with each other. Nine out of ten times the other was beaten, he was the one who kicked him first, and the only remaining time was because he ran too slow and didn't catch up.

"Kyle," Dumbledore said quietly, "it would be useful to keep Phineas at Grimmauld Place."

"I know, I was just trying to scare him." Kyle said, "After all, there's a permanent sticking spell on his portrait, so I can't throw it away even if I want to."

The corner of Dumbledore's mouth twitched. How would he know that there was a permanent sticking spell on the portrait if he hadn't touched it?

"Don't get me wrong, it was Sirius who discovered it, and it has nothing to do with me." Kyle explained, and then changed the subject: "Professor, what do you want me to do?"

"It is a small matter."

"What?" Kyle asked.

"It's about the Horcruxes," said Dumbledore.

He took out an ancient stone basin from the cabinet. "But before that, how about we take a look at a memory? This is something I spent a long time searching for, and it is also the most important memory I have found."

Since Dumbledore said so, Kyle naturally would not object.

Dumbledore took out a small crystal bottle from the inside pocket of his clothes. The memories inside seemed to have become a little condensed due to the long time, and were not as smooth as before. Dumbledore took some effort to pour it into the Pensieve.

The Pensieve began to emit a hazy light.

Kyle walked over and felt his consciousness continuously falling down into the silver substance. When he opened his eyes again, there was another person in front of him.

It was a much younger Slughorn, who now had thick blond hair.

Maybe it was because he was used to Slughorn's bald head, but Kyle always felt a little awkward, as if his head was full of straw.

"Professor Slughorn started losing his hair quite early." Kyle turned around and said, hearing the footsteps behind him.

"What?" Dumbledore was stunned for a moment, not quite understanding what Kyle meant.

"Look here." Kyle pointed to the top of Slughorn's head, where there was a small bald spot, about the size of a Galleon.

Dumbledore didn't say anything. Kyle's focus was a little unexpected.

Did he go to such great lengths to obtain the memory in order to determine when Slughorn became bald? Fortunately, Kyle did not dwell on this question too much, but instead looked at the other people who were talking around him.

This seemed to be Slughorn's office, with six or seven boys gathered around him.

The one sitting closest to Slughorn was the young Voldemort, who should have been called Tom Riddle at that time.

He gave Slughorn a bag of preserved pineapple fruit, and then talked about a professor's retirement.

Kyle had no impression of the name they mentioned, and thought it was probably not an important person.

"Oh, it's Galadia, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, my old colleague." Dumbledore said beside him, "He is about to retire, and Riddle probably wants to take over his position at this time."

“But you turned him down,” Kyle said.

"Yes," Dumbledore said, "I persuaded Armando to reject his application to stay at school, even though many professors, including Galadia, believed that Riddle was capable enough to take over the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

Dumbledore's expression was calm.

He was very sure that Riddle's goal was not to become a professor at the school, but to have other intentions, so he rejected his application to stay in school twice.

"So he is now asking Professor Slughorn to verify the authenticity of this news?" Kyle asked.

"No." Dumbledore shook his head and said, "He was showing his ability to Professor Slughorn. Sometimes, getting information is also a kind of ability."

It was just as Dumbledore said.

Slughorn looked a little surprised. "Where do you get all your information, kid? You know more than most professors."

Riddle smiled but said nothing.

"You are such a clever guy. You always know things you shouldn't know, and you are always careful to please important people..." Slughorn seemed to want to blame Riddle, but his tone was more like a tease. "By the way, thank you for the pineapple. You guessed it right. This is my favorite..."

There was a burst of laughter all around.

But at this moment, the surroundings were suddenly shrouded in thick white fog, blocking Kyle's vision.

"This memory has been tampered with!" Kyle blurted out.

This fog in memory is like a mosaic, added later, obviously someone didn't want them to hear or see something.

The white fog obscured everything. Kyle only heard an unnaturally high-pitched voice saying, "...You will make a mistake, kid. Remember my words."

The corner of his mouth twitched and he asked, "Whose memory is this?"

"Professor Slughorn's," said Dumbledore.

"So..." Kyle turned to look at Dumbledore, "Is Professor Slughorn not very good at anything other than potions? This fake voice is too crude."

That high-pitched voice was completely different from the natural voice before. It was too deliberate and obviously an attempt to cover up something.

"Well, he wasn't very good at Memory Charms at the time," Dumbledore said, "but he made up for that shortcoming later.

"As for the reason, you will find out if you continue reading. It should be here soon."

After Dumbledore finished speaking, the white mist in front of Kyle's eyes dissipated.

By this time, Slughorn had finished his pineapple preserves, and the small golden clock on his desk had jumped from half past nine to eleven.

It was already curfew time and everyone else had left the office, except Riddle, who lingered at the back.

After everyone left, he said, "Sir, I want to ask you something..."

"Then ask, boy," urged Slughorn.

"Sir, I would like to ask if you know anything about... Horcruxes."

Thick fog appeared in the office again, followed by another overly fake voice.

"I know nothing about Horcruxes, and I wouldn't tell you even if I did. Get out right now, and don't let me hear you mention it again!"

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But at this point, Kyle had already guessed Dumbledore's purpose in letting him see this memory.

The next second, the two left the memory.

"Professor." Kyle looked at the Pensieve in front of him, "Do you think that was when Riddle learned the secret of the Horcruxes?"

"It is undeniable that Professor Slughorn must have told him some secrets, otherwise he would not be so ashamed as to tamper with his memory."

Dumbledore said softly, "This is also his weakness. He always finds it difficult to reject those children he values. Tom was once his most promising student. For a long time afterwards, he always believed that Tom could achieve something."

"He was right, wasn't he?" Kyle said. "In a way, Riddle did achieve something."

"But this is obviously not what Professor Slughorn wants to see, so he wants to hide the mistakes he has made." Dumbledore took out the memory from the Pensieve and put it back into the bottle.

"His method was very crude, but this is also good news." Dumbledore continued: "It shows that he did not have the heart to completely forget these memories, but chose to cover them up."

"I was hoping you could help find it."

"Ah? Let me go?" Kyle blinked, not quite willing to agree.

"As I was saying." Dumbledore glanced at him, "It is difficult for Professor Slughorn to reject children who are dear to him.

"And the reason he came to Hogwarts again was because of you and Harry, so it's only right for you to do this."

"Harry?" Kyle looked around.

"He's not here. I haven't figured out how to tell him about this. After all, he's different from you. I need to explain a lot of things in advance."

Dumbledore looked at Kyle, as if waiting for him to say something.

"Oh." Kyle nodded as if he hadn't seen it and said, "Then Professor, you can think about it slowly. Don't worry, Harry is easy to deceive... well, easy to talk to."

Dumbledore's expression remained unchanged, he just glanced in the direction of the door.

"Didn't you ask Professor Snape why he was angry before?" He continued, "This is the reason. He believes that the Horcrux is Tom's deepest secret. Anyone who knows about it will be in danger. He doesn't want you to take risks."

"Who doesn't want me to take risks? Professor Snape?"

Kyle's face changed, and he said seriously: "Professor, I think you need to conduct a major investigation in the school. I suspect that some professors are Death Eaters disguised as Polyjuice Potion. This kind of thing must be prevented, it is better to solve it as soon as possible."

"Don't say that."

Dumbledore laughed. "Actually, Professor Snape is not as strict as you think, and..."

He looked at Kyle and said in a teasing tone, "You will become a family sooner or later. It's reasonable for him to care about you."

"That's a matter for the future." Kyle rubbed his forehead. He also had a headache about this.

"So what's your decision?"

Dumbledore said, "Would you mind doing me this favor? I must say that getting the real memory is very important to us, but if you have concerns... I can understand."

"Professor, do you think I can stay out of the Horcrux issue?" Kyle couldn't help but say.

He has destroyed so many Horcruxes of Voldemort, does he still care about knowing one more piece of information?

And Harry is still the same...

Snape's worries were completely unnecessary. Whether they knew about Slughorn's memory or not, Voldemort would never let them go.

At this moment, an owl suddenly flew in from the window and handed a letter in its claws to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore glanced at the letter and his expression became increasingly serious.

"Sorry Kyle, I might have to go do something else." He stood up and then Apparated out of the room.

Fox chirped softly and disappeared in the flames.

Almost in the blink of an eye, Kyle was the only one left in the office. He looked around at the empty office, then at the portraits who closed their eyes and pretended to sleep again, and prepared to leave.

After leaving the headmaster's office, Kyle was still thinking about what Dumbledore had just said, but he suddenly realized that Slughorn's memory didn't seem to be of much use.

That was just a memory related to the Horcruxes, but think about it, how many Horcruxes does Voldemort have? The diary and the resurrection stone ring have been destroyed, and the crown, gold cup, and locket he found are also in Nicolas Flamel's place. Calculating the time, it should have been solved by now.

These are the five Horcruxes.

Oh, and there's that giant snake called Nagini.

During the Triwizard Tournament, Kell was teleported to the top of the mountain where Voldemort held his resurrection ceremony using a portkey disguised as a trophy, and while Voldemort and Dumbledore were fighting, he kidnapped the snake.

However, what was a little beyond Kyle's expectations was that the snake was not a Horcrux...but it was not an ordinary animal either, but a blood-cursed orc.

Simply put, it is a snake transformed by a wizard.

This situation is a bit like Animagus, but the difference is that the blood-cursed orcs are permanent and cannot switch freely between animals and wizards like Animagus. They can only remain in animal form forever.

Moreover, their own consciousness will be slowly erased until they become a real animal.

That's what Newt told him during the holidays.

In addition, Newt knew the snake and wanted Kyle to leave Nagini with him no matter what.

Kyle naturally had no reason to disagree. He was not Voldemort and had no habit of carrying a snake with him. Even if he did, he had a more suitable basilisk. So he readily gave Nagini to Newt.

This is also the reason why Newt has never taken the panther back. Both parties can be said to have a tacit understanding.

But there was one thing that confused Kyle. Nagini was a female snake, which meant that before she became a blood-cursed orc, she was a witch.

Newt has always had a 'snake girl' with him... He hasn't decided whether to tell Tina about it.

(End of this chapter)