The conversation continued in the principal's office.

Dumbledore paused and said to Snape: "Vodemort restrained his temper. He still needs you now. I knew this since I discovered that Umbridge's mind was messed up... How did that sentence say it? Anyone who asks for others will be respectful. Obviously, Voldemort is no exception."

"I'm not interested in hearing you share some vulgar proverbs."

"Oh, Severus, these exquisite short sentences are thought-provoking and worth savoring... You know, I've been trying to make you fall in love with life again," Dumbledore said kindly.

Snape shook his head suddenly, as if something dirty was stained...

"Since Voldemort wants you to take advantage of the opportunity to cure my injury, he will definitely wait for a while. I think maybe the duel time will be determined based on my physical condition?" Dumbledore said thoughtfully: "In this way, I can affect his judgment. Just accept a few interviews at the right time and take a few pale photos... Well, I thought of it. Wisengamo, the Wizard Trial... I have to talk to Ms. Bones."

"Severus, your role is so special that even if Voldemort doubts you, as long as you still have value in use, he will not act rashly. In addition to Umbridge, there is another loophole, which is Harry. Fortunately, he practices his brain closure technique well, and Voldemort seems to have taken the initiative to isolate the connection, but nothing is absolute, so don't take it lightly." He warned at the end.

"When it comes to Potter," Snape said suddenly, "Dumbledore, you lied to me. Harry Potter...he is one of them, one of the Horcruxes."

A moment of silence.

"When did you know?"

"Is that true?" Snape roared in a low voice, and he stood up and stared at Dumbledore through the table. "I am a spy for you, making up lies for you, and risking fatal danger for you. All this is said to be to ensure the safety of Lily's son. Now you tell me that his ending was destined from the beginning? It's like a pig to be slaughtered-"

"How touching, Severus," Dumbledore said, "Are you really starting to like that boy?"

"Like him?" Snape shouted, "Call the Gods Guard!"

The silver doe popped out of the tip of his staff. It landed on the floor, and leaped gently to the other end of the office, and flew out of the window. Dumbledore watched it go away, watching its silver light disappear, and then turned to Snape, his eyes full of tears.

"It's still like this for so long?" he asked softly.

"It's always been like this," Snape said.

Dumbledore sighed and closed his eyes, only Snape's breathing was left in the room, he murmured: "You lied to me, Dumbledore." After a while, Dumbledore opened his eyes, his eyes had returned to calm, staring at Snape from above the half-moon lens.

"I don't want to excuse myself, Severus. But I did prepare the worst - when it was absolutely necessary, the boy had to die last time, so I trained him, honed him, observed him, like a craftsman, carefully carved his own work."

"Last time?" Snape looked up, "Dumbledore, make it clear."

"On the night Voldemort tried to kill Harry, the killing curse bounced on himself, and a fragment of his soul was blown away and attached to the only living soul in the collapsed house, Harry Potter..."

"A part of the Dark Lord lives in that baby's body? Is it a Horcrux?" Snape asked anxiously, "So the snake-man accent, connecting the Dark Lord's thoughts, is it all because of the soul fragments?"

Dumbledore nodded slightly, "To be precise, Harry is not a complete Horcrux."

Snape was a little confused, so his understanding of the Horcrux was still in a very shallow state. He only knew the most basic information, and some of the content was even concluded by himself based on multiple pieces of information. He did not know how to make the Horcrux, let alone many taboos, so he could easily connect Harry to the Horcrux and reveal the truth by accident.

At this moment, he pricked up his ears and listened carefully.

"...The real Horcrux production steps are extremely cumbersome and the difficulty is beyond imagination. Perhaps this is why Voldemort is unable to connect Harry to the Horcrux yet - Harry is not even as good as the snake in terms of integrity. But he did play the role of the Horcrux: as long as that fragment still exists in Harry's body, Voldemort will never die in real meaning."

"Then, can we separate the fragments?" Snape racked his brains, "That was just stuck on by accident, right? It's like a piece of dirty thing on the wall, just find some way to remove the stains-" He held his breath and looked at the old man in front of him, "Have you found it?"

Dumbledore shook his head slowly.

Snape's body shook for a moment, and he supported his hands on the table, looking at Dumbledore with empty eyes.

"Any matter involving the soul must be extra cautious," Dumbledore said softly: "We cannot learn from the books of our predecessors, we must rely entirely on ourselves. Moreover, Harry's situation is even more dangerous: Voldemort's soul fragments have not been processed and directly stuck to Harry's soul. Over the years, the closeness of their connections may be far beyond your and my imagination. And this connection will become stronger and stronger as Harry gets older, like a parasitic life."

"You should have heard of Harry's exaggerated pace of progress this school year?" he asked.

Snape looked at Dumbledore expressionlessly, and Dumbledore looked back at Snape too.

"I thought - it was the result of his hard training."

"I don't deny that there are reasons for this. But - except for the gap in knowledge and experience, Harry is no less weak than you now. This is absolutely not normal, Severus."

"Is there no other way?"

"Felix and I - we both are trying to find solutions. In his books on Horcrux, he found a way of thinking: Confession can reunite the divided souls. Felix's achievements in the realm of memory magic are amazing," Dumbledore said. "He wanted to capture Voldemort and soak in a jar full of 'confession' emotions, one day, two days, even one year, two years."

Snape was shocked by Felix's bold idea.

"... But I don't have much hope for this method, and the conditions are too harsh: you must first seize the living Voldemort - compared with other steps, this step is even easier. You also have to make Voldemort sincerely repent for what he has done. To be honest, I don't think he has a slight regret in his heart. Even if he suddenly shows me the patron saint... In addition to these, even if Voldemort is forced to confess, what impact will it have on Harry to extract the soul fragments?"

"No one knows."

Snape was in a stalemate.

After a while, he asked with difficulty: "You only talked about Felix's efforts, what about you? What did you do?"

"Oh, I can't reveal it to you yet," Dumbledore said apologetically, "that method may be more illusory and incredible than making Voldemort sincerely confess...and I cannot verify it for the time being, and speaking it will only add to the trouble."

He stuffed the black gem ring into the drawer and fiddled with the exquisite silverware on the table. The conversation seemed to end there. Snape stood up and walked towards the door. "Oh, by the way, Severus?" Snape turned his head and looked at the blue eyes under the half-moon lens.
Chapter completed!