Dumbledore clasped his hands together and placed them on his desk.
He heard what Sherlock said, but he didn't appear particularly surprised; instead, he seemed to be deep in thought, as if hesitating about something.
Sherlock did not disturb him; he knew that the old man held many secrets in his mind.
Every time he was in deep thought, it meant that what he was about to say would involve something extremely secretive.
A moment later, Dumbledore's gaze turned back to Sherlock.
"I didn't expect that you would discover so much just from experiencing these things, Sherlock."
He said seriously.
"Regarding Riddle, this matter could be said to be what he pursued his entire life. If I tell you, then there will be no turning back for you; he will do everything in his power to kill anyone who knows the truth."
Sherlock naturally knew that the real Tom Riddle, that is, Lord Voldemort, was not yet dead.
He asked Dumbledore about the diary, and the reason was actually very simple.
The diary contained a remnant of Lord Voldemort's soul, and Sherlock needed these soul fragments for soul stitching.
When he woke up in the Hospital Wing, he had already realized that the cracks in his own soul seemed a bit too large, and the thread formed by the remnant soul in the diary had only stitched about one-fifth to one-sixth of the way.
Yet, with just this bit of soul combined, Sherlock could already clearly feel that the strength of all the spells and Transfiguration he used had significantly increased.
It was like having taken a potent tonic.
Most importantly, in the Common Room, that feeling of becoming unprecedentedly powerful, where he could kill the Basilisk with just a thought, seemed to have remained.
He seemed to have learned a type of magic without being taught.
A type of magic that didn't require waving a wand or chanting spells—he only needed to have a thought, and he could directly interfere with reality.
However, the strength of this magic now was far from the invincible state he had when he first finished the soul stitching.
But it was still very powerful.
During the process of soul stitching, Sherlock also discovered that his soul didn't seem to be torn.
What was actually stitched together wasn't a torn soul, but two complete souls!
One of them was the soul of Sherlock, who had transmigrated and possessed dominant consciousness.
The other was the soul of the Original Owner, which had completely lost its thoughts.
Originally, when Sherlock transmigrated, the Original Owner's soul was already effectively dead and gradually disappearing.
But the magic of soul stitching was equivalent to forcing the Original Owner's soul to merge with Sherlock's, making Sherlock's soul stronger with every fusion.
Magic in the Harry Potter world exists—inherited from the ancestors' bloodline, and power—derived from the Wizard's soul.
The stronger the soul, the more powerful the spells cast.
So Sherlock actually had ulterior motives regarding Lord Voldemort's remnant soul.
He felt that for things like the diary, Lord Voldemort certainly had more than one, and the things necessary for his soul stitching, as it appeared now, seemed to be possessed only by Lord Voldemort.
This also changed the plans of Sherlock, who had originally intended to resign and leave after serving as the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts for a year, provided he was lucky enough to survive without losing any limbs.
It was safer outside, but there would certainly be less contact with Lord Voldemort.
Staying at Hogwarts, with Dumbledore and Harry Potter, the two number-one active fighters against Lord Voldemort, he could also follow along and get a share of the spoils.
So, facing Dumbledore's words, Sherlock had nothing to hesitate about, and he waved his hand and said.
"Professor, do you think that under the circumstances where I have already destroyed one of his remnant souls, he could still let me off?"
Dumbledore was also rendered speechless.
Sherlock was right; regardless of whether he learned about Horcruxes later, he had already destroyed one now, and if Lord Voldemort found out, he certainly wouldn't let him go.
The threat of knowing the secret seemed less important by comparison.
"Riddle's lifelong pursuit was immortality," Dumbledore said softly.
"Feels a bit low-level," Sherlock shrugged and said.
Dumbledore laughed.
"Compared to other great ideals, Tom's ideal of pursuing immortality is somewhat less admirable. But he did have a goal he could strive for."
"During his time at Hogwarts, he found a way to achieve immortality—a Horcrux."
Sherlock was stunned for a moment and repeated the word.
"Horcrux..."
He was obviously familiar with this term; he had seen it in the Restricted Section of the library, in that book "Advanced Dark Arts Analysis," which described such an extremely evil magic.
"Yes, a Horcrux," Dumbledore continued. "This is a type of magic that can split a Wizard's soul and host it in different objects. As long as the Horcrux is not destroyed, the Wizard who created the Horcrux with their own soul will never die."
"Lord Voldemort, he is the one who mastered this kind of magic."
Sherlock blinked and asked,
"Can many Horcruxes be made?"
"Theoretically, it can undergo infinite splitting."
"Then how many Horcruxes did Lord Voldemort make for himself in total?"
Dumbledore shook his head.
"That is also what I want to know. To kill Lord Voldemort, it is not enough to just defeat him; one must also destroy all his Horcruxes. Since I learned of this, I have been searching for Horcruxes, but for now, there have been no discoveries. The diary you destroyed is the only Horcrux currently known."
He turned to look at the portraits of the past Principals on the wall, the white light reflecting off his crescent-moon spectacles, and Dumbledore said softly,
"But we still have time, Sherlock. By researching Riddle's past, regarding what items he turned into Horcruxes and how many he made, we will always make discoveries."
After finishing his talk with Dumbledore, Sherlock left Dumbledore's office.
Next, this Headmaster had to receive many guests: Neville's grandmother, Harry, Ron, and also Lucius Malfoy.
He did not blame Neville; Riddle's honeyed words had deceived many adult Wizards, and for a child like Neville to struggle and break free from his control was already very brave.
Harry also learned in the office that it was Lucius who had deliberately intended to throw that diary into Hogwarts.
His family's House-elf Dobby knew all of this, which was why he had been trying to stop Harry from returning to Hogwarts.
When Lucius left, Harry also set a small trap, letting Lucius inadvertently give Dobby a sock, which was equivalent to returning the House-elf's freedom, liberating Dobby from the Malfoy family.
Tonight, Hogwarts held a celebratory banquet. The students were extremely happy, and the Professors were also very pleased.
Flitwick and Professor McGonagall came to toast with Sherlock frequently, and even Snape, who had been keeping a cold face, used the excuse of clinking glasses to find Sherlock and ask about the Transfiguration he used to kill the Basilisk.
As for who the Heir of Slytherin actually was, Dumbledore did not announce it to the public, nor did he reveal the information that Neville had been controlled and opened the Chamber of Secrets to release the Basilisk.
But he did not hide from the public that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened, that the monster inside was a Basilisk, and that it was ultimately killed by the combined efforts of Sherlock, Harry, and the other two.
Even a reporter from The Daily Prophet specifically took a photo of Sherlock, Harry, Ron, and Neville to use as the headline for the next day's newspaper.
Sherlock did not take all the credit for defeating the Basilisk alone; the help Harry and the others provided in solving the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets and in the Common Room was obvious to all.
The Basilisk's corpse was also bought by Snape with his own money, along with the snakeskin found in the Chamber of Secrets.
He paid five thousand Galleons, and this money was split equally among Sherlock, Harry, and the others.
After Ron received the money, he consciously handed over most of it to his family, and then used the remaining money to buy himself a new wand and new clothes.
Harry also did not keep all the money to himself, or rather, given his wealth, over a thousand Galleons wasn't a large sum to him, so he split half of his share with the awakened Hermione.
If not for the information Hermione left behind, he wouldn't have been able to find the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets in the end.
Neville not only didn't receive punishment this time, but also gained an unexpected fortune, which kept him grinning happily all day.
His grandmother, after hearing that Neville had gained the recognition of Gryffindor and pulled the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat, also felt very proud of him.
And the reason they were able to get five thousand Galleons was the result of Sherlock bargaining with Snape.
The Basilisk, especially the one in the Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets, a Basilisk that had lived for thousands of years, was actually of immeasurable value.
That old miser Snape had actually only offered one thousand Galleons at first.
He insisted that the Basilisk's skin had been poked full of holes by Sherlock and most of the internal organs had suffered varying degrees of damage, so its medicinal value wasn't very high anymore.
If it had been Harry and the others, deterred by Snape's usual sternness and his status as a Professor, they might have been too embarrassed to speak up, and the price might have been set right there.
But Sherlock wouldn't take such a loss; he sparred with Snape for a long time, infuriating the old bat, and finally raised the price to five thousand Galleons.
Even at five thousand Galleons, Sherlock felt he had asked for too little.
If he had really gone out to sell it, the value of a thousand-year-old Basilisk would likely have been even higher.
But at the end of the day, this Basilisk was just an unexpected harvest, and being able to sell it for five thousand Galleons and make a small fortune was not bad.
His biggest harvest this time was still the gift from Lord Voldemort: that piece of his remnant soul.
After the events in the Chamber of Secrets were over, Hagrid was also released by the Ministry of Magic.
He hadn't been back at Hogwarts for half a day when he received some very unfortunate news from the Centaurs.
On the night he was taken away, a fire broke out in the deepest part of the Forbidden Forest, and his spider friend Aragog and his kin, all the Acromantulas, were completely wiped out by this fire!