The Shopkeeper of All Worlds in the British Wizarding World

Chapter 365 Another Horcrux

"What happened next? What did my brother do after you told him all this?" Sirius became excited after hearing the story. If Lupin hadn't stopped him, he might have grabbed Kreacher's neck and interrogated him.

"Master Regulus is very worried, very worried." Kreacher screamed, "Regulus told Kreacher to hide and not leave the house." Then... after a while... one night, Master Regulus came to the cupboard and found Kreacher. Master Regulus looked strange, not like his usual self, and Kreacher could see that he was in a state of confusion... The master asked Kreacher to take him to the cave, the same cave that Kreacher had been to with the Dark Lord...

"He made you drink the potion?" Hermione asked with some disgust. Although she had no intention of liberating the house-elves now, as a person who grew up in modern society, she was naturally disgusted with the slavery system.

Kreacher shook his head and burst into tears. Hermione covered her mouth: she seemed to have guessed something.

"Master Re-Regulus pulled a locket out of his pocket, just like the Dark Lord's," said Kreacher, tears streaming down both sides of his long nose. "He told Kreacher to hold it, and when the basin was dry, to replace the locket..."

At this point, Kreacher was already in so much grief that he could no longer control himself. He forced himself to continue:

"He ordered - Kreacher to go - leave him alone. He told Kreacher - to go home - not to say anything to the mistress - what he had done - but to destroy - the first locket. Then He drank it—drank the potion—Kreacher replaced the locket—and watched... Master Regulus... being dragged underwater... and then..."

"Don't say that, don't say that—" Sirius grabbed his hair hard, with a painful expression on his face. "Regulus is still too weak. He became a Death Eater as soon as his parents told him to. It's all my fault. If only I could have persuaded him to leave this home."

"It's not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong." Lupin comforted him. "If there is a mistake, the biggest mistake is Voldemort's ambition and evil." Hermione also nodded in agreement.

"So, you took the locket home," Ryan said, looking at Lupin who was comforting Sirius. Ryan felt that he didn't need to intervene and was determined to ask everything about the locket. "Did you try to destroy it?"

"Kreacher couldn't leave a mark on it," said the old elf sadly. "Kreacher tried everything, but nothing worked... There was so much powerful magic on the box, Kreacher believed that it could only be destroyed from the inside, but it couldn't be opened... Kreacher punished himself again and again, and tried again and again. Because Kreacher failed to carry out the order, Kreacher couldn't destroy the locket! The mistress was mad with grief because Master Regulus was missing, and Kreacher couldn't tell her what happened, couldn't, because Master Regulus forbade him to tell his f-family about what happened in the cave..."

"Oh, God..." Hermione turned around and hugged Ryan's neck, then rested her head on his shoulder.

"The flame of justice and courage will still burn in people's hearts even in the darkest times, and the possession of these noble virtues has nothing to do with their origin, education or even bloodline. The only thing required is hope in the heart. I think Sirius' brother must have died bravely with the hope of defeating that man." Ryan put his arm around Hermione's shoulders and kept comforting her.

Ryan also felt his nose sour at this time. It was one thing to read about it in a novel, and it was another to experience it personally. From any perspective, a person who sacrificed his life for a noble ideal could be called a true hero.

At this time, the living room fell into silence, with only the sound of Kreacher sniffling. After everyone calmed down a little, Ryan said to Lupin who had almost recovered, "Professor, I think you may need to inform Headmaster Dumbledore. The magic level of house elves is not much weaker than that of ordinary wizards. The defense is so strong and the person can hide it in such a complicated way. The object must be very important to that person. This is beyond our ability to solve."

"I'll go find Dumbledore right now." Lupin stood up immediately, patted Sirius on the shoulder, and quickly walked downstairs.

"I think Dumbledore should be able to destroy this thing." Ryan said as he watched Lupin going down the stairs.

"You must destroy it!" Kreacher jumped up and hugged Sirius and cried. Sirius was about to scold him, but he swallowed his words after thinking of something. It was just a little awkward for Kreacher to sit there quietly and wait. After waiting in silence for more than 20 minutes, footsteps were heard on the stairs. Dumbledore appeared at the stairs in a purple robe. After greeting Sirius and the other three, he asked directly about his purpose.

"You said you found a locket containing Slytherin's relics that was hidden by Voldemort using various traps, and you all thought that it was impossible to harm the box? Can you let me see the box?"

"That's it." Ryan handed the locket to Dumbledore, and then added, "I feel that this locket is a bit like the ring we encountered with Moody last time."

"Got it." Dumbledore nodded seriously and pulled out his wand to suspend the locket in the air with magic. Then he aimed his wand at the locket and began to cast a spell. Golden-red flames spurted out from the tip of his wand, and finally formed a phantom of a phoenix that revolved around the locket.

Ten seconds later, the locket was completely enveloped by golden-red flames, forming an artificial sun in the air. Dumbledore began to utter unfamiliar words slowly, but Ryan, who had learned ancient magic words, knew that this was Anglo-Furtok, a variation of the famous Rune in Britain.

As the spell was recited, wisps of black smoke emerged from the locket. After seeing this, Dumbledore waved away the flames surrounding the locket and then reached out to take the locket.

"Ryan, your feeling is correct. This is indeed another Horcrux of Voldemort." At this point, Dumbledore looked somewhat helpless. "And unlike the last ring, the core of this Horcrux is hidden in Slytherin's locket. So its protection is stronger than the last ring, which means that we are now facing the double protection of Slytherin and Voldemort. Such protection is difficult to open directly with brute force."

Seeing the uneasiness on the faces of the four onlookers, Dumbledore added, "That being said, from another perspective, this Horcrux is also easier to destroy. Because of the characteristics of the locket itself, it is difficult for Voldemort to merge his soul with such an object. It can be seen that his spell simply strengthened the locket itself, so the piece of soul that was split inside should have been simply placed inside instead of being combined with the object."

"This means that as long as the box can be opened, the pure soul inside can be easily destroyed." Ryan reacted after Dumbledore finished speaking. "I have a guess. This is Slytherin's locket, so maybe some Slytherin-specific methods will be used to open it."

"You mean Parseltongue?" Dumbledore reacted immediately.

"It's very likely, and the mysterious man also masters this language. He may have chosen this thing as his Horcrux after discovering this." Ryan stated the information he knew in a speculative tone.

"Your analysis should be correct." Dumbledore nodded. "But the problem is that it is not easy to find wizards who can speak Parseltongue."

"I remember Harry should be able to do that. He once said that he had a conversation with a python before he entered school," Ryan said.

"Ah, that is an option. But because of the spell that failed to kill Harry, Voldemort's brain is likely to be connected to Harry's brain sometimes. If we look for Harry, there is a possibility that our plan will be exposed to Voldemort, so this can only be used as a backup option. By the way, remember to keep this sentence confidential, especially not to tell Harry himself." Dumbledore said seriously, and the other four nodded seriously.

After seeing that this option was rejected by Dumbledore, Ryan thought for a moment and said to Dumbledore, "I think I can speak Parseltongue. Can you let me try?"

(End of this chapter)