Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Chapter 18 Part 1

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Chapter 18 Part 1

The next day Harry confided in both Ron and Hermione the task that Dumbledore had set him, though separately, for Hermione still refused to remain in Ron’s presence longer than it took to give him a contemptuous look. Ron thought that Harry was unlikely to have any trouble with Slughorn at all. “He loves you,” he said over breakfast, waving an airy forkful of fried egg. “Won’t refuse you anything, will he? Not his little Potions Prince. Just hang back after class this afternoon and ask him.” Hermione, however, took a gloomier view. “He must be determined to hide what really happened if Dumbledore couldn’t get it out of him,” she said in a low voice, as they stood in the deserted, snowy courtyard at break. “Horcruxes …  Horcruxes  … I’ve never even heard of them. …” “You haven’t?” Harry was disappointed; he had hoped that Hermione might have been able to give him a clue as to what Horcruxes were. “They must be really advanced Dark Magic, or why would Voldemort have wanted to know about them? I…