Now that Voldemort knew of all that from his new memories, he could only smile bitterly.
There were so many mistakes that he made. It seemed as if his arrogance was the cause of his downfall. But now Voldemort was sure of something. He knew that since he had discovered he was a wizard and the true heir of Slytherin, he had always considered himself better than anyone, but at that time, he had never made a mistake.
These mistakes only started to appear later on.
As Voldemort looked at the Slytherin locket, he moved his left hand and rested it on the table.
He mentally reminded himself to visit the cave and put on some alert because he was sure that Dumbledore was going to find it one way or another. Better to use this to his advantage. But for now, he had a more pressing issue.
Then he used his right hand to remove Marvolo Gaunt's ring and placed it next to the locket. After looking at the two objects side by side, Voldemort turned his head around to look at the snake. Nagini was sleeping silently in the corner of the room.
All three objects had something in common.
They each had a piece of Voldemort's soul and were therefore a Horcrux. Among the seven Horcruxes that Voldemort has created, these three were currently in his possession.
And among the seven, one was forever eradicated.
The diary that was already destroyed in 1993 by Harry Potter with the Basilisk's fang.
"Funny how the first Horcrux that I created was the first one to get destroyed." The memory of the creation resurfaced.
It was in the first-floor girls' lavatory in Hogwarts Castle where he killed the girl, Myrtle Warren, and thus Voldemort placed part of his soul inside the diary.
Horcruxes could only be created after committing murder, the supremest act of evil, as a means to tear the soul.
As for the Hufflepuff's Cup, which was the fifth Horcrux, it was safely stored in the Lestrange family vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank, which belonged to Voldemort's loyal servant Bellatrix Black. Voldemort thought about collecting it only after releasing Bellatrix from Azkaban.
The next one, which was the Ravenclaw's Diadem, was hidden in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts Castle.
When Voldemort first hid it, he thought that no one apart from him would ever be able to open such a secret room in Hogwarts, but now he was proven wrong by the new memories.
Harry Potter, as fate had it, was able to find it and later destroy it.
"I will need to get my hands on it as soon as possible, and that boy Draco Malfoy will do it for me." Voldemort just had to wait until the new school year began, which would be in around one month, and then let the boy do the task.
As for the last Horcrux, Harry Potter, which was totally unintentionally created by Voldemort, was imprisoned in Azkaban. When Voldemort was hit by his own backfired Killing Curse at Potter's home in Godric's Hollow, it caused Voldemort's soul to split, with one fragment immediately seeking out the only other living thing in the room and latching onto it, Harry Potter.
"I have achieved my goal of attaining immortality through the Horcruxes, but in the end, it's due to them that the boy Harry Potter would have weakened me and killed me." Voldemort saw how if he had not intervened, Harry Potter, together with his two friends, would have begun hunting the Horcruxes and ultimately killing him.
"Also, it is exactly due to these Horcruxes that I was making so many mistakes."
There was no perfect solution till now to attain immortality, and the making of Horcruxes had too many side effects.
One of them was dehumanization.
The more Horcruxes one created, the less human they became, both emotionally and physically. But that was one change that Voldemort did not mind. I
It is to power that people submit and not look.
But the other side effect was what was concerning him. And that was instability.
Creating just one Horcrux would result in the master soul itself becoming abundantly unstable, and here Voldemort created seven. This has resulted in his thoughts and judgment becoming unstable, which is why he was making so many mistakes.
"I can't have my mind not working properly. After being reborn in that graveyard and with those new memories of the past and present, my mind has become clearer. That's why I'm able to succeed in all of the plans I have been doing, but I know, I can feel that my mutilated soul is starting to affect my thoughts again. If I don't act soon, maybe in the next year or two, I will become just a mad wizard trying to achieve my goal without any plan or reasoning." Voldemort's thoughts were racing to find a solution to the corruption of the soul caused by the creation of a Horcrux.
What he was sure of was that he needed to get his separated soul from the Horcruxes and merge it back with his main one.
"I can just keep one of the Horcruxes and use the five remaining to merge with my main soul. This would maybe minimize the corruption issue and at the same time keep me immortal."
With one of his Horcruxes in the form of his diary already destroyed, Voldemort knew that the possibility of getting his soul fully back was impossible. He also knew that even if he proceeded with this solution, just keeping one Horcrux would still corrupt his thoughts, only at a slower rate.
The alternative was to ditch the Horcrux and use the Elixir of Life as a source of immortality, but Voldemort was never fond of this method. If he chose the Elixir of Life, then he would constantly need to drink it in order to keep himself alive. When Voldemort visited Nicolas Flamel to make him create the Philosopher's Stone, he did not think of using it as an alternative to Horcrux to solve this issue, but to use the stone in his other plan.
"So I can't use the Elixir of Life even once, or else my body will become dependent on it. Then I will have to proceed with the solution of retrieving my Horcruxes and get my separated soul back with my main one." With this thought, Voldemort became irritated as he had no idea how to reverse a Horcrux.