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  troyed, one cannot die, for part of the ul reas earthbound and undaad but of urse, existence such a for ”
  sghorn39s face crupled and harry found hiself reber-g words he had heard nearly o years before: ”i was ripped fro y body, i was less than spirit, less than the anest ghost  but still, i was alive”
  ” few would want it, to, very few death would be preferable”
  but riddle39s hunr was now apparent his expression was greedy, he uld no lonr hide his longg
  ”how do you split your ul?”
  ”well,” said sghorn unfortably, ”you t understand that the ul is supposed to rea tact and whole splittg n it i an act of viotion, it is agast nature”
  ”but how do you do it?”
  ”by an act of evil — the supre act of evil by itg urder killg rips the ul apart the wizard tent upon creatg a horcrux would e the daa to his advanta: he would encase the torn portion —”
  ”encase? but how — ?”
  ”there is a spell, do not ask , i don39t know!” said sgho shakg his head like an old elephant bothered by ositoes ” do i look as though i have tried it — do i look like a killer?”
  ”no, sir, of urse not,” said riddle ickly ”i39 rry i didn39t an to offend  ”
  ”not at all, not at all, not offended,” said sghorn gruffly, ”it is natural to feel curiosity about these thgs  wizards of a certa caliber have always been drawn to that aspect of agic  ”
  ”yes, sir,” said riddle ”what i don39t understand, though — jt out of curiosity — i an, would one horcrux be uch e? can you only split your ul once? wouldn39t it be better, ake you stronr, to have your ul ore pieces, i an, for stance, isn39t seven the ost powerfully agical nuber, wouldn39t seven — ?”
  ”rl39s beard, to!” yelped sghorn ”seven! isn39t it bad enough to thk of killg one pern? and any case  bad enough to divide the ul  but to rip it to seven pieces  ”
  sghorn looked deeply troubled now: he was gazg at riddle as though he had never seen hi ply before, and harry uld tell that he was regrettg enterg to the nversation at all
  ”of urse,” he uttered, ”this is all hypothetical, what we39re discsg, isn39t it? all acadeic  ”
  ”yes, sir, of urse,” said riddle ickly
  ”but all the sa, to  keep it iet, what i39ve told — that39s to say, what we39ve discsed people wouldn39t like to thk we39ve been chattg about horcruxes it39s a banned subject at hogwarts, you know  dubledore39s particurly fierce about it ”
  ”i won39t say a word, sir,” said riddle, and he left, but not before harry had glipsed his face, which was full of that sa wild hap-pess it had worn when he had first found out that he was a wiz-ard, the rt of happess that did not enhance his hand features, but ade the, how, less huan
  ”thank you, harry,” said dubledore ietly ”let go  ”
  when harry nded back on the office floor dubledore was already sittg down behd his desk harry sat too and waited for dubledore to speak
  ”i have been hopg for this piece of evidence for a very long ti,” said dubledore at st ”it nfirs the theory on which i have been workg, it tells that i a right, and al how very far there is still to go ”
  harry suddenly noticed that every sgle one of the old head-asters and headistresses the portraits around the walls was awake and listeng on their nversation a rpulent, red nosed wizard had actually taken out an ear trupet
  ”well, harry,” said dubledore, ”i a sure you understood the significance of what we jt heard at the sa a as you are now, give or take a few onths, to riddle was dog all he uld to fd out how to ake hiself iortal”
  ”you thk he eeded then, sir?” asked harry ”he ade a horcrux? and that39s why he didn39t die when he attacked ? he had a horcrux hidden where? a bit of his ul was safe?”
  ”a bit or ore,” said dubledore ”you heard voldeort, what he particurly wanted fro horace was an opion on what would happen to the wizard who created ore than one horcrux, what would