Chapter 507: The location of the Horcrux
The Headmaster's office had become silent as a result of Jon and Lily's narration.
McGonagall's entire expression had gone from shock at first, to disbelief afterwards, to incredulity, and finally had become somewhat numb.
It wasn't until she listened to Lily speak about the fall of Hogwarts in the other world, where Sprout had died in battle, Flitwick was missing an arm, and several other professors familiar to her were either dead or injured, that her entire being became sad.
Dumbledore acted emotional after hearing it all, especially after he found out from Jon how he ended up, but didn't seem to show much regret or sadness.
"On the subject of where exactly Riddle went, I have done some investigating over the years on that question as well. I was convinced that he didn't really die on the night that everyone was celebrating, but it was as if he had vanished from the world. Later on, when I was checking some files and information from the Ministry of Magic, I learnt that there had been a case of a missing time-turner more than ten years ago, and it was from that time that I added Riddle finding a way to go back to the past as a possible entry, but I didn't realise that this was actually the final answer."
After saying this, Dumbledore looked at Jon and Lily very seriously.
"I need to apologise for everything that has happened to you. Dealing with this world's Riddle should have been the responsibility of those who belong to our world, but because of our negligence he endangered more people."
In response, Jon and Lily were both blunt in their behaviour.
"It certainly has nothing to do with you Professor, just because you failed to neutralise the bad guy doesn't mean you have to transfer all his faults to innocent people, we are all well aware of that, and there is only one person who has no way of being forgiven, and that is Voldemort."
Dumbledore apologised for this, is him, making his own attitude clear, he then asked in the meantime.
"So the purpose of your visit is to weed out the Horcruxes left behind by him in this world?"
Jon said with a nod.
"That's right, and on top of that the time-turner that allowed him to bridge the two worlds needs to be destroyed, but both of those are actually quite simple."
Everyone's eyes went to Jon, including Lily, who only knew what they needed to do when they came to this world, but didn't have the slightest clue as to what they actually had to do.
All she had learnt was that Voldemort had more than one or two Horcruxes, and where they were hidden was unknown.
Jon, on the other hand, had a good idea of what to do about it and said.
"Mr Iniesta and I explored the biggest possibility of how to destroy the time-turner before we came here. We need to first find the place where Voldemort used it from this world back then, that's where it all began originally, and that's the only place where the individuality that became a bridge to both worlds could be completely obliterated, and any violent means of destroying it could be used."
"As for Voldemort's Horcruxes..."
It couldn't have been simpler for Jon, who had already read the original story and the fact that this world's Voldemort was outright absent meant that those Horcruxes he had hidden were most likely not altered at all, but to make sense of why he knew where they might be located, he would need a proper justification.
"Before Professor Dumbledore of our world fell into a deep sleep, he recounted to me some of the information he had once investigated about Voldemort's Horcruxes. This included the specific number of Horcruxes that Voldemort had made, and where they had once been located. All of these locations were of course useless before, as Voldemort had retrieved all of his Horcruxes, but in this world, he certainly hadn't done so yet. So, I think we can verify tonight whether or not that information about the locations of the Horcruxes still has any validity."
Jon looked to Dumbledore.
"Because there is a Horcrux hidden right here in this very castle."
McGonagall had a look of shock on her face which she had already displayed untold times today, and Dumbledore was also a little surprised.
They were both looking at Jon, wanting to get an answer from him.
Jon had no intention of hiding it either.
"Right here on this floor, the wall opposite the tapestry of the Troll Beating Barnabas is hiding the entrance to the Room of Requirement, and inside one of the rooms dedicated to storing things there is a Diadem that Ravenclaw left behind, and that's one of the Horcruxes."
He told the location and what the Horcrux was so clearly and bluntly that one could not feel that there would be any falsehood.
They didn't linger afterwards, and instantly Dumbledore, along with McGonagall, followed Jon out of the Headmaster's office to the opposite side of that tapestry on the same floor, and in front of them, Jon opened the door to the Room of Requirement with a silent chant in his mind, and stepped into the miscellaneous room where all sorts of things were stashed away.
Without any surprise, the Ravenclaw's Diadem was there for them to find.
It was also enough to confirm that Jon's information about the Horcruxes didn't have any problems.
It was just that after getting the Diadem, neither Jon nor Dumbledore had the intention of destroying and disposing of it immediately, and both of them shared the idea of finding all the Horcruxes first and then destroying them in a unified manner so that they could prevent some possible eventualities that were very unlikely but not impossible to happen.
After confirming the existence of the Diadem, they did not rush to find all the other Horcruxes overnight, it was now past 8 pm, after a day's journey, Jon and Lily had not eaten dinner yet, and they both needed a good night's rest as well.
Just before McGonagall went off to help them prepare their rooms, as well as get the house elf in the kitchen to prepare two dinners, Lily looked at Dumbledore with a slight tremor in her voice and said.
"I have a request, Professor Dumbledore."
Dumbledore was looking at her as well as if Lily didn't even have to say anything for him to know what the request would be.
"I don't think it's a request, Lily, it's supposed to be a mother's rightful authority, no matter what world it is or what time of year it is."
After saying that, Dumbledore glanced at the portraits that lined in the walls of the Headmaster's office.
"If it's not too much trouble, Phineas, go and find Sir Nicholas for me and ask him to bring Harry to the Headmaster's office, and tell him that I have some things to find him alone."
Sirius' great-great-grandfather didn't show any displeasure as he usually did, and with extreme gusto, he dashed away from the portrait frame.
Dumbledore, on the other hand, turned to Lily.
"I'm not going to stop you from having a mother and son reunion, but as for where you came from, I think the fewer people who know about it before the dust really settles, the better it will be."
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