Antonin's announcement wasn't as surprising as it should have been. There was a time when no one believed it was even possible that the Dark Lord could die. Once it was discovered that Hermione and Ron assisted Harry Potter in hunting out his horcruxes, their new master resolved to discover everything he could learn about how to combat the effects of destroyed horcruxes. To everyone's knowledge, or rather, those select few who were privy to this exceptionally private matter, there wasn't a single person alive who could answer his questions. Too few people were willing to make even one horcrux, let alone seven. Having an accidental eighth horcrux only further compounded his problems.