Why does Harry say that there is only one Horcrux left, after only having destroyed 4?

I'm aware what the horcruxes are in Harry Potter and am aware of the lore with part of Voldemort's soul being in Harry.

What I was wondering was that in Hogsmeade, talking to Aberforth in Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Harry states that...

We've been hunting Horcruxes. We think the last one's inside the castle.

At this point he knows of having destroyed 4 and is not aware that he is one. This still leaves 2 horcruxes to destroy that Harry knows of (he finds out that these are the diadem and the snake later). Why does he state that "the last ONE" is in the castle when there should be TWO more left?

harry-potter the-deathly-hallows-2

Best Answer

Because they didn't know the other Horcruxes existed.

Only Dumbledore knew how many Voldemort had created.

The seven Horcruxes are:

Tom Riddles diary
Marvolo Gaunt's ring
Salazar Slytherin's Locket
Helga Hufflepuff's Cup
Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem
Nagini the Snake
Harry Potter

By the time Harry & co are talking to Alberforth, only the first 4 had been destroyed.

Harry did not know that he was one, and no one knew that Nagini was one.

Dumbledore only revealed the truth about Harry and Nagini after Harry's "death", when they talked in the spirit realm.

So at the time of the conversation, they only knew of one more Horcrux, the fifth one, the diadem.

That's why Harry said there's only one left. He didn't know there were more. Even Voldemort didn't know Harry was a Horcrux.

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How many Horcruxes does Harry think there are?

He wanted to split his soul into 7, so he planned on making 6 Horcruxes. 6 bits of his soul in objects plus one bit of soul in his body = 7 pieces total. To his mind he had 5 already when he went to kill Harry, (1) the diary, (2) the ring, (3) the cup, (4) the locket, (5) the diadem.

How many Horcruxes are left after Deathly Hallows Part 1?

At that point they didn't know there were 7 horcruxes, just that Voldemort split his soul into seven pieces. When you think about it, that means only 6 horcruxes because Voldemort still had one part left. In reality, Voldemort split had soul into 8 pieces because he accidentally made one when he tried to kill Harry.

How does Harry know there are 7 Horcruxes?

Then because of their connection Harry saw all of the horcruxes when Voldemort thought about their hiding places thus confirming the number. It was an educated guess based on all the information Dumbledore had learned about Tom Riddle's life. He came to know him pretty well.

Are there 7 or 8 Horcruxes?

Yeah. There were 8 horcruxes. 7 were made by Voldemort intentionally ( Nagini, goblet, diary, locket, ring, diadem and the part of his soul in Voldemort himself) and 1 was made accidentally which was Harry.

All 7 Horcruxes Getting Destroyed

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Czapp Árpád, Cansu Ysfgl, Yogendra Singh, Rachel Claire