In truth, investigating exactly how many Horcruxes the Dark Lord had made, and in what forms those Horcruxes existed in the world, was not just a whim on Draco's part.
This was actually a task Lucius Malfoy had assigned him.
After all, no one was better suited to investigate this matter than Hogwarts students.
Not only were most of the professors who had taught during the Dark Lord's school years still at Hogwarts, but Draco and the others also had the advantage of being students themselves.
With that identity, they could approach those professors while minimizing the chance of drawing suspicion from Dumbledore, or from any eyes the Dark Lord might have planted inside Hogwarts...
Still, even after narrowing the range down to a certain extent, actually uncovering the truth was no easy task.
Setting aside the question of which target to start with, just figuring out how to gather information was enough to give Pansy and the others a headache for quite a while.
After all, Draco and the others had no intention of alerting the enemy.
Once the other side became wary, there would be no way to investigate the matter clearly.
And unless someone was an idiot, no one would ever admit to having murky ties to the Dark Lord, especially at such a sensitive time.
It was easy to imagine just how difficult this investigation would be...
...
The Slytherin common room.
At the moment, Pansy was sprawled limply across the table as if all her strength had drained away.
Beside her sat Draco, quietly deep in thought.
Looking utterly listless and not the least bit ladylike, Pansy shook her head weakly.
"Did we get it wrong? We've spent so much time on this, and in the end we still haven't made any progress at all."
Aside from the professors who had taught at Hogwarts back then, Pansy and the others had also spent quite a bit of time approaching the ghosts, those beings who had been around for who knew how long, and trying to coax information out of them.
Most frustrating of all, they had not gotten a single useful piece of information...
Hermione had also come up empty-handed. She first shoved away the face that kept edging closer and closer to her with obvious disgust, then explained her own situation.
"Same on my side. Though Peeves seems like he might know something. We might be able to get something out of him."
"Peeves? What if he's just tricking you? Don't forget, that troublemaker lives to mess with students. Who knows whether anything he says is true?"
"Don't worry, I didn't tell him anything. And besides, it's only a feeling."
"Mm... if it's Peeves, always flying around the castle causing chaos, then maybe he really did happen to see some kind of secret."
Listening to the information the two girls had gathered, Draco lightly tapped the armrest of his chair with his fingers.
To be honest, Draco had never had very high hopes from the start. Rather, trying to pry secrets out of wizards so much older and more experienced than they were had been nearly impossible from the beginning.
Unless that professor happened to be Lockhart, the sort who loved stirring up trouble...
Just as Pansy and Hermione were sighing, Astoria spoke up to comfort them.
"It's not time to give up yet, is it? Aren't there still people we haven't approached?"
"At this point, aside from Headmaster Dumbledore, whom we can't get near, and Snape, who's been in an especially bad mood lately, we've already investigated just about everyone we could."
"No... there's still one more."
Just as Hermione thought of a certain professor, the common room door happened to open.
And the person who entered, smiling as he walked in with his round belly, was Professor Horace.
"Aha! Minerva didn't lie to me. Dear Miss Granger, you really are here."
They heard Professor Horace's voice from afar.
He seemed to spot Hermione immediately. Having suddenly appeared in the Slytherin common room, Professor Horace came over to Draco and the others with narrowed, smiling eyes.
If one looked closely, then as Horace walked toward Draco in the firelight, it was possible to see something like a hot glow burning deep in his eyes.
Especially when his gaze swept over Draco, it was as if he had seen some priceless treasure, and a peculiar light flashed through his eyes...
Cradling his round belly, Horace greeted them with a beaming smile.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen."
"Good afternoon, Professor."
"Good afternoon, Professor."
"Good afternoon, Professor."
Other than Draco, who simply nodded, Pansy and the others all stood and returned the greeting with impeccable manners.
Truth be told, after spending so much time around Pansy and the others, Hermione had gradually picked up all those ladylike manners as well. At a glance, no one would have guessed she was actually a young witch from a Muggle family.
And once Professor Horace noticed that, the smile on his face visibly widened...
Professor Horace, who had suddenly appeared here, did not seem inclined to explain his purpose right away.
Instead, he abruptly began sharing memories of the days when he had still been Slytherin's Head of House...
"Nothing has changed here at all. If not for everything that happened, I might still be Slytherin's Head of House even now."
It was a rather rare sight.
This old man, usually so full of energy, had suddenly grown sentimental as he reminisced about the past.
But he quickly came back to himself.
"My apologies. Lately I keep ending up like this without meaning to."
Draco spoke directly.
"So, Professor, what did you come to see us for?"
"Oh, right, I nearly forgot. I came to invite Miss Granger to one of my parties. I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss it again, would you?"
"...A party, but..."
"Of course, your friends are more than welcome as well. Then it's settled. I very much look forward to your coming."
"..."
Although Hermione knew Professor Horace had a habit of not listening to what other people were saying, she had not expected it to happen to her personally.
Watching the professor's retreating back as he came and went entirely on his own terms, Hermione finally turned toward Draco with a helpless expression.
In response to Hermione's pleading look, Draco merely shrugged.
"Isn't this perfect? After all, our final target was just that Professor Horace."
Yes.
Just as Draco had said.
Given the state of their investigation so far, the biggest suspect was still Voldemort's Head of Slytherin at the time.
In other words, Horace Slughorn, who had just walked out of here.