Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 422 Ariana
The interior of the old Gaunt house was as shabby as it looked from the outside, perhaps even worse.

As there was no light, the room was pitch black. Mike could only vaguely see spider webs all over the house through the moonlight shining in from the door. There were also various black particles on the ground. Mike was very familiar with this; it was rat droppings.

Apparently, the shed became home to spiders and rats after the Gaunt family disappeared.

Mike carefully lit his wand, and it was not until the light returned that he could truly see the scene inside the shed.

This is a standard small villa from the last century, but strangely, there is not much furniture in the house. It can almost be described as bare.

On the long dining table in the living room, which was the only one that could be considered a large family dining table, there were two plates with some black dirt remaining on them, as if the food that had been in them had rotted away.

Mike looked around while moving forward cautiously. He even thought that Voldemort must have placed many magical restrictions in this villa to protect his Horcruxes, just like the dead snake at the door.

However, just as he was being cautious and alert, an accident happened.

"Pfft!"

There was a sudden muffled sound, and Mike felt his feet go empty, and he lost his balance!
In a hurry, Mike didn't care about so much and instinctively released the Killing Curse at his feet, but the tip of the blackthorn wand had just emitted green light when a ball of soft white light lifted him up.

"Don't get excited." Dumbledore frowned and said, "It's just a rotten board."

Mike gasped and looked down, and sure enough, he saw a broken wooden board and the wet mud underneath it.

Combined with the strong strange smell of decay in the air, Mike understood instantly.

Most of the wood in this old wooden shed has been eaten away by the humid air of Yingguo over the endless years. In other words, the old Gaunt house is now a veritable dangerous house!
Normally speaking, wizards' residences should not be so shabby. After all, their owners are a group of strange people who can use magic.

But the strange thing is that wizards don't like to use magic on their own homes, even though it can save a lot of effort and gold galleons.

They believed that living in a house that required magic to exist was a very shameful thing, especially the pure-blood nobles. They were extremely cautious in this regard, and this was an important reason why the Malfoys laughed at the Weasley family.

Because the Burrow, the residence of the Weasley family, is a crooked and strange building that is kept together entirely by magic.

So Mike was not surprised at all that the old Gaunt house was in such a dilapidated state, but the scene just now still made Mike feel very embarrassed, especially since it happened to be seen by Dumbledore.

"Humph!"

Mike snorted coldly and walked behind Dumbledore without saying a word.

The meaning was self-evident. Dumbledore glanced at Mike with a smile, but did not make any teasing. Instead, he turned around and continued walking forward.

Mike followed Dumbledore, walking forward carefully in his footsteps.

He had already made up his mind that if Dumbledore fell down, he would definitely make fun of him!
Unfortunately, the area of ​​the Gaunt old house was not very large. Dumbledore only took two steps forward and arrived at another door leading to the backyard.

"Crench!"

Dumbledore pushed open the door, and as he moved, a deserted yard full of weeds and rubble appeared in front of Mike.

Dumbledore walked out without looking back. The bright moonlight shone on his white robe, casting a long shadow behind him.

Mike felt his heartbeat begin to speed up. Having read the original novel, he knew very well that the resurrection stone ring that Voldemort had made into a Horcrux was hidden in this yard!

Taking a deep breath, Mike quickened his pace and chased after him.

At this time, Dumbledore, who was walking in front and almost reaching the center of the yard, suddenly stopped.

"It should be right here."

He said without turning his head.

"That Horcrux?" Mike said, pretending to be confused. "What are you going to do?"

Upon hearing this, Dumbledore suddenly turned his head and winked at Mike mischievously, then said with a smile:
"Just find it out."

As soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, Mike noticed that the ground began to shake slightly.

As time went by, the shaking became more and more violent, and finally Mike was surprised to find that the soil around them was turning over by itself!
This is really spectacular!

All the soil in the yard was churning with weeds, gravel and all kinds of garbage. With the help of the flickering fluorescent light, Mike could even see that the bugs and mice living in the soil were also brought out, twisting their bodies and rolling in the air along with the mud waves!

Suddenly, Mike noticed that Dumbledore's eyes lit up!
Then all the mud waves around fell down, leaving only a wave three meters away carrying a square of mud and rushing towards them.

Looking at the lump of dirt, Dumbledore slowly stretched out his hand.

Just as if detergent was dropped into dirty water full of oil, the mud on the cube of earth quickly dissipated. Finally, when Dumbledore's hand officially fell, the cube of earth turned into a black stone box!

Mike instinctively held his breath and stared at the black stone box without blinking. He knew very well that the critical moment was approaching!

However, Dumbledore did not open the box directly as Mike expected. Instead, he turned his head to look at Mike and said:

"If nothing unexpected happens, the Horcrux should be inside. How do you plan to destroy it?"

Dumbledore's words made Mike stunned. In his guess, Dumbledore should have known very well about the method of destroying the Horcrux, and there was no need for him to explain it.

But now he didn't think much about it and said bluntly:
"The basilisk's venom, the Killing Curse, and the holy sword I have can all destroy Horcruxes. But I suggest you use the Killing Curse, which is the most direct method."

"No, we can't use the Killing Curse, which is one of the Unforgivable Curses," said Dumbledore. "You should use your holy sword. When I open the box and confirm that everything is correct, you can swing the sword and chop it up."

As soon as these words came out, Mike showed a disgusted expression on his face. He couldn't understand why Dumbledore insisted on not using the Killing Curse, which was so convenient and practical?
However, he did not refute Dumbledore, but drew out the holy sword as he was told.

As soon as the holy sword was drawn out, it emitted a holy white light. Under the illumination of this light, the entire dark yard instantly became much brighter.

The black stone box seemed to have sensed the threat of the holy sword. Under the illumination of the white light, a faint black aura began to emerge from its body. Mike even vaguely heard a human-like wailing!
However, this strange scene did not last long, because Dumbledore took action.

He swung the magic wand in his hand violently, and a bright beam of light several times brighter than the holy sword rushed down from the sky and enveloped the black stone box.

The sudden dazzling light forced Mike to close his eyes, and when the light faded and Mike opened his eyes again, he saw that the stone box, which was originally as black as ink, had now turned gray. The beam of light summoned by Dumbledore was like a powerful corrosive liquid that corroded the entire stone box, turning it from a hard stone box with a faint metallic color into a fragile block of mud that seemed like it could decay and collapse at any time!
The fact was just as Mike guessed. Dumbledore blew gently at the stone box, and then the square stone box instantly turned into a pile of fine powder and collapsed into a ball.

Mike, with his powerful magical perception, clearly saw that the moment the stone box disappeared, a ball of extremely powerful magic rushed towards the two of them!

Mike thought this was one of Voldemort's traps, and he almost instinctively held the holy sword in his hand horizontally as a blocking gesture.

However, to his surprise, this powerful magic did not have the slightest killing power. It was like a warm spring breeze blowing across his face!

Mike breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this. He stuck his head out and looked at the pile of ash remaining in the stone box, and saw a ring standing in it!
This is a very large ring. Mike guessed that it must have the function of automatically shrinking, otherwise few people would be able to wear it.

It is made entirely of gold. Perhaps because it is so old, the color of the ring is not the attractive golden color of gold, but a dull bronze color.

In its center, there is a huge hexagonal black gem inlaid, on which is engraved a strange shape composed of a triangle, a circle and a straight line.

The moment Mike saw the pattern, he recognized the identity of the ring - the Resurrection Stone Ring!

The reason is simple: this graphic is so famous!

Decades ago, the first Dark Lord Grindelwald swept across Europe with this pattern. At that time, this pattern itself had already been given the meaning of death by him.

Even to this day, many elderly people in Europe are still deeply afraid of this pattern!

And the moment Mike saw the ring, a strange, inexplicable fire of desire burned in his heart!

"Put me on, put me on and you can return to your original world and reunite with your loved ones!"

A vague voice that was difficult to distinguish between male and female kept echoing in Mike's ears. Mike stared at the ring, and his breathing suddenly became rapid. He felt that his consciousness was slowly dissipating, and there was only one thought left in his mind: put on the ring!

Unconsciously, Mike slowly took the first step towards the ring, followed by the second step, and the third step...

Mike's speed was getting faster and faster, and in the end he was even jogging!

As Mike got closer and closer to the ring, the voice in his ear became clearer and clearer. Mike felt a hint of joy for some unknown reason, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise!

"If just being near it makes me so happy, wouldn't I be overjoyed when I actually put it on?"

As Mike thought so, his steps became faster!
But at this moment, the holy sword in his hand suddenly burst out with a strong light, enveloping Mike completely!

"boom!"

A huge explosion sounded in Mike's mind, shattering the strange sound in his ears and waking Mike up!

Mike stopped suddenly, and at this moment, he was only half a step away from the resurrection stone ring!
"wtf!"

Mike cursed angrily and jumped back away from the ring. At this time, Mike's back was completely soaked with sweat. He was panting and forced himself not to look at the ring anymore!

At the same time, he felt a deep fear. It was now very clear that he must have been bewitched by the trap that Voldemort had set on the ring!
Mike really didn't expect that the bewitching trap left by Voldemort on the resurrection stone ring would be so terrifying. If the holy sword hadn't come to save him, he would probably have to wear the ring before Dumbledore!
wrong!

Dumbledore!

Mike came back to his senses and turned his head to look in the direction of Dumbledore. He saw that Dumbledore had a dazed expression on his face and picked up the ring and was slowly moving it towards his right glove!
As he moved, a black gas rose from the ring.

This black energy seemed to be alive. It quickly wrapped around Dumbledore's right index finger and began to pull it hard.

Under the pull of this force, Dumbledore's movements suddenly accelerated, and he put the ring on his finger in an instant!

Then, Dumbledore, still in a daze, began to spin the ring, one circle, two circles, three circles...

It wasn't until the third circle that a strange scene happened!

I saw that the originally thin mist around suddenly gathered together and turned into a figure in the air so blurry that I couldn't even tell whether it was a man or a woman!

"Ariana."

Dumbledore spoke slowly in a voice that sounded almost dreamy.

Mike noticed that Dumbledore's eyes were completely red, and tears were constantly sliding down his face, eventually falling on his robes, leaving a wet mark.

"Ariana, I'm sorry."

Dumbledore was already choking with sobs. While apologizing, he stretched out his right hand wearing the Resurrection Stone ring and tried to touch the figure in the air.

The figure in the air seemed to have its own consciousness. Seeing this, it floated down and stretched out its hand towards Dumbledore.

The two hands, one real and one virtual, were clasped together in mid-air, and at that moment, Mike clearly saw a strong black light burst out from the resurrection stone ring, and then a ball of black gas drilled into Dumbledore's palm.

At the same time, under the illumination of the black light, the figure seemed to be suddenly injected with a force, and the whole person became clearer!

(End of this chapter)