"Some say he died," said Hagrid. "Codswallop, in my opinion."

"Why?" asked Harry.

"Well it's obvious, in'it? A wizard like that's bound to have a couple a horcruxes."

"Horcruxes?"

"Most everyone's got one," said Hagrid. "'He'd a been mad to try takin' over without a few, at least. Which reminds me..."

The half-giant slammed his shovel-like hand onto the tabletop. Harry jumped.

"...I'll be needin' one fer later."

Harry watched in befuddlement as Hagrid waggled his umbrella over the squashed remains of fly. A wisp of shadow rose from the corpse, and the groundskeeper directed it into the large, cheap ring around his finger.

"What was that?" asked Harry.

Hagrid wiped the sweat from his brow with a sleeve, then took a long swig from his tankard. "Horcrux, a'course. I'm workin' with flesh eatin' slugs later today. Can't be to careful; just look at what happened to ol' Kimminy down at the Dangerous Menagerie. Fell right into a vat of 'em, the poor blighter. Didn't even bother with a horcrux. Probably thought there weren't no need."

"So they protect you?"

"Sure enough. See that fly there?" He pointed to the insect remains, and Harry nodded.

"Well," said Hagrid, "That fly had a life, an now it's in my ring, see? So the next time some critter gets the best of me, 'stead of going on 'the next great adventure', as Dumbledore likes to say, I get another chance."

"So you can live forever?" asked Harry excitedly.

"Nah. You age normal, but play your cards right, an you can avoid goin' before your time."

"That's brilliant!"

Hagrid smiled around his tankard. "In'it?"

-oOo-

A/N

I can just see the construction site signs: "Caution: You are entering a horcrux area."