The Dark Lord at Hogwarts is not too cold

Tom Riddle... was a name too remote for Slughorn, yet too terribly clear to forget as long as he lived.

"You must have heard of Tom Riddle," Cyrus said again, leaning forward.

His clear blue eyes fixed on Slughorn as if Dumbledore was examining him, and the professor paled, but he stammered his answers under the influence of alcohol.

Slughorn bowed his head, humming slowly.

"Yes... indeed a genius..." said the professor. "At that time, no one in Slytherin could surpass him. He did a lot for the house...."

"Then what kind of man is he?" Cyrus seduced him slowly, "I heard that he was fired later"

"Excellent! Of course, worse than you, kid." Slughorn nodded affirmatively, "He's not as perfect as you, but he's just a human...always has some shortcomings. If he does something wrong, he will naturally be punished."

He looked sad again, and even forgot to refill the empty wine glass.

He just kept licking the wall of the wine glass with his mouth, and the whole person was completely immersed in memories.

"Did something wrong?" Harry hit the point.

"How should I put it...he has a very deep city, and he doesn't look like a teenager at all, but smart wizards always go astray, because he studies some magic privately..."

Cyrus and Hermione understood immediately, and the research was naturally on the 'Horcrux'.

At this time, Slughorn looked nervous. He grabbed the handkerchief on the plate held by the house elf with his chubby hands, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and shook his body to the sides.

As a result, the surrounding people are not so tight.

"Eternal life... how could he think so?" Slughorn seemed to be talking to himself, full of doubts, he waved his hand, and shouted impatiently, "Okay! It's getting late!!"

Only Cyrus and his party were left in the office.

The professor yelled that he was sleepy and it was getting late, so he drove them out. He shook his fat body and pushed the students out in a trance...

He tried his best to avoid it, hiding the truth of the matter deep in his heart.

But with the effect of alcohol and clichés, Cyrus and Harry understood: Voldemort's purpose of making Horcruxes is to live forever, and Slughorn obviously knows the secret.

It's better to guess a little more daringly --- Riddle learned it from him.

"It doesn't make sense, it's impossible for ordinary people to know this!" On the way back to their respective lounges, Hermione said softly, "I looked through the Restricted Section during the summer vacation...there is no such thing as a Horcrux"

According to Slughorn, he only knew Riddle, a gifted student, and it was impossible for him to know the secrets of his research.

But many things are unknown.

However, before the start of the Christmas holiday, a letter interrupted their daily search for clues.

It was a snowy day, when we were discussing spells in the auditorium, and Cyrus and his friends were reading books from the restricted section, Hermione's owl "Mercury" came back here with a letter.

What makes Cyrus noteworthy is that it wears a small plaque around its neck, which is George and Fred's 'Stitch' medal.

And the pattern of the Iron Armor Curse on it no longer shines.

A moment of uneasiness flashed through his heart, and he opened the letter with both hands. His trembling hands made his movements extremely awkward. Generally speaking, Klein and the Grangers would not send letters before the Christmas holiday.

The handwriting on the envelope was very illegible...but it was still recognizable as an urgent letter from Mr. Granger.

Hermione was still flipping through "The Darkest Magic", when suddenly she heard a loud noise around her, and saw Cyrus fell to the ground in a daze, causing everyone around her to look sideways curiously.

"What happened?" She temporarily put down the book in her hand.

But Cyrus didn't speak, just shook his head vigorously, he held his head helplessly, he felt his head spinning for a while, and his chest seemed to be stepped on by a giant monster, making Cyrus breathless.

Hermione crouched down in panic and picked up the letter.

"Annie Klein was seriously injured...the situation is critical...the Grangers were attacked by unknown wizards in the middle of the night, please make the first-level preparations in the Homeland Strategy Bureau..."

Krum stood up immediately. He and another Hufflepuff student helped Cyrus up and put him back on the chair. Suddenly, another large group of owls rushed into the auditorium.

When the wizards thought it was their own letters, they only saw a group of owls circling densely over the heads of Cyrus and Hermione, dropping letters one after another.

Harry dropped the half-blood prince's potion diary and opened a...

"Cyrus, your father?!" Ron screamed.

"I'm going to find Principal Dumbledore...I have to go back!" Cyrus was in a trance because of the shock, and could only stand up with his arms supporting the tabletop. It was hard for him to believe what happened suddenly.

He thought a lot for a while, but most of all he couldn't believe it...

how come?

How could his father, Annie Klein, be seriously injured suddenly?How did the Grangers get attacked?

"What about those people, didn't the Prime Minister send those people to protect your parents?" Harry was also surprised when he realized it.

But next, Ginny's words made everyone feel cold: "Dead... The letter said that at Granger that night... that is, the Muggles around Hermione's parents, all died... .”

Harry's hands and feet felt numb, and seeing Cyrus' blank eyes, he felt panicked.

He didn't dare to imagine, what would happen to him if someone suddenly told him that something happened to Sirius?

"Overnight...?"

Cyrus looked at Ginny in disbelief, with panic in his eyes, as if he wanted her to tell him quickly that this was just a prank by his jerk father.

But Ginny just bit her lip and nodded silently.

The fact is that overnight, the Muggles in the entire community, including those who used to protect the Grangers, all died, just like the Riddle family... died without a sound.

No wounds, no struggles...

"Where are my parents?" Hermione frantically activated Occlumency.

Fear, fear... Those dreams once again appeared in front of her eyes, and Hermione seemed to see the Grangers lying in a pool of blood and glass debris again.

It was as if she heard her father again, shouting desperately with his last breath, "Run... run..."

"I'll look for...here!" Ginny fumbled among a pile of letter papers, and found Mr. Granger's signature. "It's okay, Hermione! Your parents told you not to worry, it's okay!"

But even so, Hermione didn't lift her heart.

She looked at Cyrus with guilt and self-blame in her eyes... She suddenly felt that fate was such a trick.

But she might as well guess, if there was no Cyrus' father, would her parents be the same as that 'Granger' parents?Hermione couldn't speak, and could only gently hold the sluggish Cyrus.

Such a huge "letter pouring incident" is hard to keep other wizards from noticing.

It didn't take long for the rest of the auditorium to know what was going on, and they wanted to step forward to comfort them, but seeing Cyrus bowing his head in silence, the words were held back in their hearts.

How could it be...how could it be?

Everything was so sudden that Cyrus felt unreal.

He wanted to vent, to break everything off the table, to use the Force to drop the entire table...but his rationale told him it wouldn't work because it wouldn't change anything.

Some warm fluid slipped into my neck, what was that?

Those were... Hermione Granger's tears.