Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 96 Gaunt's Old House

Big Hangleton is only a few miles away from Little Hangleton, but the scenery is completely different. If Little Hangleton still has some life, then Big Hangleton, which is further away from the city, can only be described as dilapidated and desolate.

It is said that decades ago, there was a family called "Gunter" living in Big Hangerton, and they were one of the wealthiest families in the area. Now, however, only a dilapidated old house remains.

No, it could hardly be called an old house anymore; it should be called ruins or relics—the house was completely covered by a large, overgrown forest, only half-hidden among the tangled roots. The trees blocked out all the light, making it exceptionally dark; the walls were covered in moss, most of the roof tiles had fallen off, and here and there, branches about to grow out of the roof were peeking out. Thick, tall weeds grew all around the house, reaching up to the windows, and the windowsills were covered with thick layers of age-old grime…

To sum it up in one sentence—even the living conditions of the Upper Cave Man were better than this thing.

In the forest that had remained unchanged for decades, a figure suddenly appeared, holding a flying broom in one hand and stuffing it into his pocket. His entire body was covered in a transparent, bubble-like membrane...

"So, how did the Gaunt family manage to live in a place like this back then? Even without these trees, neither the environment nor the structure of the house looks like a place fit for human habitation..."

"Well, thankfully the bathing spell wasn't removed."

Looking at the rotten wooden planks, the dust that could be blown three feet high by the slightest breeze, and the various kinds of flying insects swarming everywhere, Avada sighed at how destitute the Gaunt family, descendants of Slytherin, had become back then, and couldn't help but admire his own wisdom.

Then he got down to business, carefully observing the structure of the room in front of him with his magical senses...

"Alright, I knew Voldemort wouldn't leave his ring unprotected, except for placing a curse on it."

Avada shuddered at the dense array of magical structures—the outermost layer bore a variant of the Muggle Repelling Charm, effective against weaker wizards; the door to the house was afflicted with a deadly poison curse; the interior had been expanded into a labyrinth by the Unseen Stretching Charm, filled with all sorts of ruthless magical traps and mechanisms, leaving no way out…

"Any one of these traps could leave no trace, not even a corpse."

"However, just like that cave, the Apparition barrier here only works against humans, and is completely ineffective against non-human creatures such as phoenixes and house-elves, so I can still pass through easily..."

"Um?"

Avada felt that what he had just thought about was a bit strange, but the current situation left him no time to think about what went wrong. So he used a quick and easy spell to send himself into a spatial interlayer, and then saw a tiny magical void in the distance amidst the dense magical structure.

"That's the one..."

He carefully maneuvered his flying broomstick over, and after repeatedly confirming that there were no traps in the room where the resurrection stone was placed, he put away the broomstick and returned to the normal space. He stared at the unremarkable ring, his brow furrowing—

The magical structure on the resurrection stone, like an invisibility cloak, is abstract and twisted, resembling a Thestral. While chaotic, it also seems to possess a certain regularity, but its purpose remains unclear...

"Both of the Deathly Hallows look like this."

Avada rubbed his chin: "Although I haven't examined the Elder Wand closely yet, I know that even the core of that wand is made from the tail hair of a Thestral... Just what exactly is a Thestral??"

"It seems I'll need to study Thestrals more thoroughly in the future... No, now's not the time to think about that."

He subconsciously squinted, took out a small bottle of intelligence-enhancing potion, took a sip, and began to decipher the magical structure on the ring with some difficulty.

The outermost layer is, of course, that vicious curse that kills instantly upon contact. If Avada is not mistaken, anyone who touches this thing will have their life force and mental energy destroyed in an instant, without even the chance to become a ghost!

The good news is that this curse is a one-time thing.

"Wait, no, there are trigger conditions... It seems that only those with a certain level of mental strength are qualified to trigger this curse? In other words, this curse is specifically designed to trap and kill powerful individuals? Or perhaps it was even specifically reserved for Dumbledore?!"

Avada shuddered, finally gaining a sliver of real understanding of Voldemort's methods at the height of his power and intelligence.

"Fortunately, he voluntarily chose to reduce his intelligence for a more secure path to immortality..."

He sighed and continued his observations:

Beneath the curse lies Voldemort's Horcrux magic, a complex and familiar structure enveloping a magical void—a fragment of Voldemort's soul. But beneath the Horcrux magic lies the true magical structure of the Resurrection Stone itself.

"Good luck. It seems Voldemort didn't modify the magical items themselves when creating Horcruxes, but simply attached them to the surface. The diadem is like that, and so is the Resurrection Stone."

"So, in that case, the locket and the golden cup should also be spared? Those precious magical artifacts are safe..."

As he pondered this, Avada drew his wand and tentatively cast a levitation spell on the Resurrection Stone. The next second, just as he had wished, the ring slowly rose into the air and hovered there.

"There really is no resistance to the spell? That makes things easier."

He pulled a box of unknown material from his pocket, opened it, and slowly lowered the Resurrection Stone inside. He then sealed the lid shut and wrapped it with several layers of tape—this box was something he'd bought specifically for Diagon Alley, costing him over thirty Galleons. The box was originally intended to store unidentified cursed objects unearthed during archaeological excavations, and according to the seller, it could even be used to seal the flames of Fiendfire.

Whether it can seal away the Fiendfire is unknown, but the protective structure inside this box is indeed the second most perfect Avada Kedavra has ever seen, second only to Professor Baker's black crystal ball.

Besides, his mental strength was far from enough to trigger the curse on the ring, so he could wear it directly without any problem. It's just that he personally felt uneasy, and what if Dumbledore shook his hand or something someday…

"Resurrection Stone, all set."

Avada Kedavra used the Boundless Curse to send himself out of the perilous Gaunt mansion. Looking at the tightly sealed box in his hand, he breathed a sigh of relief: "That curse isn't incomprehensible. It can be worn away little by little. If all else fails, I can go to Azkaban and find a Death Eater to put it on him..."

"As for the gold cup, I'll just pick it up when I go shopping in Diagon Alley. I've been away for four or five days, it's time to go back and spend some time with those guys."

"I don't even know what the Lestrange family's vault number is. I only remember it's next to that fire dragon. I'll have to search for it one by one..."

(End of this chapter)