The Return to Hogwarts

Behind the door is a small, not very spacious, flat stone platform, with a cliff edge at the edge.

Sirius Black was the first to step forward, standing on the edge of the cliff, peering down with a look of utter disbelief!

Two miles below, terrifying columns of fire erupted from the churning lake of lava, their fiery red bursts exploding in the air with a sound remarkably like the roar of a fire dragon. While the 'fireworks' raining down on the sky were dazzling, it was unlikely that anyone witnessing this spectacle would feel any joy or excitement!

Under unparalleled high temperatures, the rocks on the shore of the lava lake were continuously melted, eventually revealing a huge space with a narrow opening and a large belly!

"How did they do that? Is this still the power of a wizard?"

Sirius was trembling with fear and said with a sullen face.

Merlin suspended Avalon Island in the sky, while Helbo dug a large hole in his lair to channel lava upwards. Amostella shook his head. What were these ancient wizards thinking?!

"The magic concentration here is indeed astonishing, Rowena—"

Gryffindor fanned the scorching air with his rough, large hands.

"This unusual concentration of magic energy comes from the lava lake below. It seems we need to go down there."

"Go down there? Are you kidding me!"

Sirius's solemn words nearly made him tumble headfirst into the lava lake. He stared tremblingly at the bursting lava bubbles in the lake. Sirius was certain that if even a tiny bit of it touched him, he would die!

Amosta was also slightly surprised, but he was much calmer than Sirius.

"Don't worry, there must be some way."

Amostella was quite familiar with the patterns of these kinds of ruins. Although he couldn't sense them, he was certain that the enormous cavern before him was filled with powerful sealing magic. Since Gryffindor said they would descend into the lava to leave, there must be a correct path. If they tried to force their way through, the pillars of fire spewing from the lava lake below wouldn't be so 'gentle'!

Chapter 435 The Most Evil Wizard in History

2023-08-22

Magic follows the rules!

If Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were to attempt to disregard the rules and force their way into the lava lake below, all the remaining defensive magic within this magical ruin would likely erupt immediately, potentially causing the entire island of Azkaban to be submerged into the sea.

Ravenclaw remained silent, her icy blue eyes flashing as her gaze swept across the entire cave.

"Any findings, Rowena?"

Cracking the mystery was clearly not Godric Gryffindor's forte. After taking a few glances at the cave, he gave up the search and placed his hopes on Ravenclaw.

Amosta and Sirius both turned their attention to Ravenclaw. They knew she could definitely find a path to the boiling lava lake, but they were curious about how she did it.

Gazing at the profile of this potentially powerful and beautiful legendary witch, Amosta's brow twitched slightly.

Since boarding the ship of the two founders of Hogwarts, Amosta has been so busy with secrets that he has not had the energy to properly observe the crown worn by the legendary witch.

To outsiders, Ravenclaw's crown is merely a famous artifact with valuable historical significance. However, none of the relics left by the four founders are simple. For instance, now, as Ravenclaw is lost in thought, the Crown of Wisdom she wears keeps shimmering with the same crystalline light, clearly providing her with some kind of assistance.

After a long while, a smile appeared on Ravenclaw's lips.

“I remembered some things Salazar had told me.”

"Oh, what?"

The relationship between Gryffindor and Slytherin was clearly not as bad as later rumors suggested. When Salazar Slytherin was mentioned, Gryffindor did not show disgust but instead asked with great interest.

“Salazar once told me that the earliest recorded Parseltongue was none other than the despicable Herpo himself.”

“You mean—” Gryffindor raised an eyebrow, “I should have dragged him out of that dark basement.”

Amostella's brow furrowed as he suddenly realized how to open the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin.

"It doesn't matter--"

Ravenclaw blinked and smiled. "I once consulted Salazar and wrote down some Parseltongue."

"Harry speaks Parseltongue too, right?"

Sirius, who had been silent all along, suddenly asked a question. After receiving an affirmative answer, Sirius muttered a few words under his breath.

Parsleyan is a strange, eerie, and obscure language, but when Ravenclaw utters it, the tone carries a touch of etherealness. At first, the sound is barely audible, but after a dozen seconds, the hissing sound overwhelms the roaring lava lake below, carrying a sacred solemnity.

Splash--

The churning sea of ​​lava splits open in the middle, forming two incredibly spectacular lava waterfalls. The intense light emitted by the boiling and surging lava even makes one mistake it for looking directly at the sun!

In the dazzling light, a staircase slowly rose and approached the edge of the cliff.

"vomit!"

Sirius's face turned deathly pale at just one glance. The intense dizziness even made his body become transparent and ethereal. It seemed that the overly intense stimulation had caused his original mind to awaken, to the point that he was about to leave this world of memories.

Amosta patted Sirius on the shoulder, but his own expression was also quite grim.

The despicable Helbo, the only black wizard from ancient Greece whose infamy still survives. He was an exceptionally talented wizard, and aside from Horcruxes and Blood Curses, in the current magical world, those incredibly powerful and extremely evil black magic spells lacking a clear origin are still often attributed to Helbo.

This gives us an idea of ​​just how many lives this guy took during the years he was active.

Gryffindor, his face contorted with rage, drew his sword. His overwhelming aura even repelled the pervasive heat. He was about to strike when Ravenclaw suddenly stopped him.

"Stop, Godric—"

Faced with the furious Gryffindors, Ravenclaw gently shook his head.

The staircase before them was not made of stone, nor was it constructed using any precious building materials. Leading straight to the bottom of the lava, the hundreds of steps, ten feet wide, were entirely formed from severed hands!

These lifelike fingers, which retain moisture even under the scorching heat of lava, are not the hands of wizards, but the hands of house-elves!

On either side of each step, a head floats—the head of a house-elf!

These severed heads still retained the humble smiles they had when they were alive, smacking their lips, with their heads slightly turned downwards, as if they were bowing to the owner of the ruins!

Helbo used the hands of his house-elf as stairs and his head as a handrail!

This guy has such utter contempt for life!

House-elves are still active in the wizarding world, mostly serving pure-blood wizarding families, and many can be found in Hogwarts' kitchens. These little creatures take pride in serving wizards, considering it the meaning of their lives; this distorted concept is ingrained in their souls. Therefore, they are regarded as property, not life, by the wizards who use them.

But Amostella was certain that even in the current magical world, those pure-blood wizarding families who inherited harshness and prejudice would find it hard not to be moved by what they saw!

“Kreacher—”

With Amosta's reassurance, Sirius's complexion finally improved, but he still covered his mouth.

"What would Kreacher say if he saw this?" Sirius Black murmured softly, slightly out of breath, but then shook his head.

"Kreacher would probably consider this the highest honor. He dreams of cutting off his head after he dies and hanging it next to my mother's portrait."

Amosta's eyes flashed with a fierce light.

House-elves weren't unfamiliar magical creatures to him, but he hadn't paid much attention to them in the past. The horrific scene before him, however, had jolted him awake.

Isn't that ridiculous?

Look at the goblins, look at the centaurs, werewolves, vampires, leprechauns, Veela, and even goblins!

What kind of species would hold such an extreme survival philosophy, regarding being a slave to a wizard as the highest belief in life?

"Helga would probably go crazy if she saw this--"

If they cleaved the steps, they wouldn't be able to penetrate the lava. Gryffindor could only suppress his murderous intent and angrily sheathed his sword. He thought of his other kind-hearted friend, sighed, and shook his head.

"Helga has been thinking about lifting the evil curse on these little creatures. If she saw the torment they were suffering, she would probably go crazy."

The wizarding world a thousand years later is much more relaxed, but even so, the treatment of house-elves is still appalling. One can imagine what kind of life these little guys lived in the closed wizarding society a thousand years ago, where honor and bloodline were still the mainstream.

Of their four close friends, Helga was the gentlest and kindest; only she would pay attention to such humble and pitiful creatures.

"Since the nascent form of wizarding society, house-elves have served wizards. To this day, almost no one has attempted to trace the origins of domesticated elves. Now it seems highly likely they were born here, created as slaves—"

Chapter 436 A Breeding Ground

2023-08-23

Despicable Halberd—to Sirius Black, it was just an ordinary name. Although he was recorded separately in the history books of magic, and many books on dark magic in the restricted section of Hogwarts had his name engraved on their title pages, what was there to care about a dark wizard who died two thousand years ago?

But after following the memories of the two founders of Hogwarts to get here, Sirius realized he had made a huge mistake!

Horcruxes, which allow one to split their soul to gain immortality, and souls can even be cut apart?

That's what Gryffindor said, and Sirius didn't quite understand, but the fact that Dementors were created by wizards who excessively fragmented their souls still gave him quite a fright. As for Rowena Ravenclaw's claim that house-elves might actually be a magical, intelligent race created by Helbo, Sirius couldn't even fathom the extent of that creature's power!

"Amosta?"

They eventually stepped onto the staircase made up of the hands of house-elves. Walking on such a path, no one could look pleasant. They tried to avoid looking at the sides of the staircase, maintaining humble and ingratiating expressions even in death, and descended in silence.

Sirius, his face gloomy, suddenly spoke up, "You've been investigating Halberd, haven't you?"

Amosta was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and after a long silence, he nodded gently.

"But—could it be!" Sirius Black wanted to ask urgently, but then he suddenly remembered the conversation between the two founders of Hogwarts when they were up there, and his expression immediately turned horrified.

"This guy is still alive?!"

“I guessed that would be the case,” Amosta said expressionlessly, seemingly in a bad mood.

"Lived for two thousand years?!" Sirius's voice was distorted. "And when we came in just now, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor mentioned Merlin. What exactly is going on?"

This time, however, Amosta did not give any reply. His gaze was fixed on the churning lava, as if he had discovered something.

"All right--"