Chapter 1098: Inheriting Voldemort's Legacy
Chapter 1098: Inheriting Voldemort's Legacy
Soon after Dumbledore left, a figure appeared out of thin air without warning. He raised his wand, alert to his surroundings, his gaze sweeping over the destroyed house in front of him before checking his wristwatch. Only when he was certain that no one else was around did he slowly lower his wand and make his way towards the entrance of the underground chamber beneath the ruins.
The Aurors from the Ministry of Magic had been unable to break into the chamber, or rather, they had been kept out by the protective measures left in place by Voldemort. It seemed that a more specialized curse-breaking squad was needed to decipher the dangerous curses and hidden chamber entrances left by the Dark Lord.
As for leaving someone to guard the place? That was a joke. If any Death Eaters showed up or Voldemort returned, the Auror left to watch over the chamber would be as good as dead.
As for Dumbledore, he naturally guessed what might be hidden beneath, but he urgently needed to rush to the Ministry to rescue Harry and didn't have the time or energy to enter the chamber.
And so, Voldemort's "legacy" was left for Albert to claim.
Albert was well aware that there might be dangers within the chamber, but he still wasn't going to give up. After planning for so long, he deserved some rewards.
Moreover, the Felix Felicis could help Albert avoid most dangers and significantly reduce the risks of entering the chamber.
Even so, Albert still donned his best pair of dragon-hide gloves before heading towards the chamber entrance with his wand in hand.
As soon as he stepped onto the downward staircase, Albert paused and threw a luminous ball downward, illuminating the space below.
The chamber contained furniture—a table and chairs. There was a candle on the table, and it seemed that some objects had been on the desk but had already been taken away by the Aurors.
However, these objects were likely just a front.
If this place was truly Voldemort's lair, there would be more than just those items. Otherwise, Voldemort would have fled immediately after the Aurors arrived, instead of exposing himself to them.
Albert narrowed his eyes slightly as he scanned the surroundings for traces of magic.
Magic was everywhere in the room, but Albert still managed to find some clues. He walked to the right and tapped the wall gently twice with his wand.
There was no response.
"Open," Albert said in Parseltongue to the serpentine ornament on the wall.
The next moment, the true entrance to the secret chamber suddenly appeared before Albert.
Indeed, the so-called chamber was merely a decoy to conceal the actual chamber, which could only be accessed by speaking Parseltongue—a point of pride for the descendants of Slytherin, perhaps.
Albert didn't rush in but instead threw a bright ball of light into the chamber, illuminating the interior completely.
The chamber was spacious, with an experimental table in the center and large cabinets all around. On top of the cabinets were numerous books and scrolls, as well as various Dark artifacts, undoubtedly Voldemort's creations or collectibles.
"Looks like my luck is holding out," Albert said cheerfully as he pulled a bag from his robe's pocket. From the bag, he took out a large box and, after opening it, waved his wand gently. The scrolls and books jumped down from the cabinets and neatly piled into the box. He intended to take only the non-magical books and scrolls, claiming Voldemort's decades of research for himself.
After all, Voldemort would soon be dead, and it would be a waste to leave these treasures to rot here.
As for the Dark artifacts, Albert had no intention of touching them, not even with dragon-hide gloves.
However, he had prepared for this.
Albert took out a pair of wooden hands and cast a spell on them, commanding them to take the Dark artifacts and store them in the box.
"With all these Dark artifacts, I could open a shop," Albert joked, though he hadn't really thought about what to do with them.
Nevertheless, they were his spoils of war, and it was better to take them all away than leave them here.
Albert sealed the items from the chamber in boxes enchanted with strong shielding charms and planned to find a place to hide them later, only dealing with them after Voldemort's demise.
After clearing out the chamber, Albert still wandered around the now-empty room, searching for any traces of magic.
There was no rule that a lair could only have one secret chamber.
Albert suspected that there might be a laboratory hidden here, as he himself had one, and Voldemort, who frequently experimented with Dark Magic, would likely have the same need.
Indeed, Albert's suspicions proved correct, as there were two more hidden chambers.
He found a mark resembling a snake on the wall sconce and a similar mark on one of the bookshelves, which seemed to indicate a revolving door.
"Quite the hidden lair, influenced by Slytherin, perhaps?" Albert quipped, though he admitted that using Parseltongue was indeed a clever method.
At least, aside from Voldemort himself, others would find it difficult to discover these secrets.
After switching to Parseltongue, Albert successfully activated the mechanism behind the candle, revealing a very ordinary room with a bed and an old cabinet.
The cabinet held several objects that seemed to be ancient.
"I didn't expect Voldemort to be a collector," Albert mused. "But why did he use the relics of the Hogwarts Founders to create Horcruxes?"
Albert began to inventory the contents of the cabinet: a metal object resembling the Eye of Horus, but with no magical traces; an ancient scroll with no magical traces; a metal plate inscribed with text; a stone tablet resembling Mayan civilization; a skull that seemed human... There were quite a few items that Albert couldn't identify.
Having been stored here, they must all be very valuable items, and none of them are magical.
Albert made off with all of these treasures without a second thought.
He soon found Voldemort's vault behind the cabinet, unprotected by any warding spells, left for Albert to take as he pleased.
Unfortunately, Voldemort wasn't particularly wealthy, and Albert doubted that there were more than two thousand galleons in the small vault, with many of them being coins from other countries rather than Galleons.
"What a poor sod," Albert muttered, suspecting that this was the reward money from the task.
Regardless, all these Galleons now belonged to Albert.
As he searched the room, he soon understood why Voldemort was so reluctant to abandon this place.
In total, there were four large boxes filled with Voldemort's decades of accumulation, now claimed by Albert... or inherited, one might say.
Albert's curiosity about the other secret chamber grew.
When Albert used Parseltongue to open the secret chamber hidden behind the bookshelf, his initially cheerful mood took a turn for the worse. The chamber was indeed a laboratory.
On the shelves were various disgusting organs soaked in green liquid, and what appeared to be a desiccated corpse, which Albert suspected might still be alive, so he conjured a chain to bind it securely.
Werewolves, vampires, and corpses of various humanoid magical creatures could be found here, indicating that Voldemort had been researching the source of wizards' magic.
Next to the shelves was a unicorn skeleton, its once-holy horn now tainted by dark magic, turned into an ominous black. Albert suspected it was highly toxic and had likely become a very dangerous dark artifact.
Thankfully, there was also a trove of magical ingredients, many of which were extremely rare, providing some solace.
After all, those ancient dark arts sometimes required potions as well.
Albert took all the ingredients from the chamber, but he had no intention of taking the corpses soaked in green liquid with him. Instead, he planned to burn the remaining contents of the chamber to ashes, destroying any evidence of his intrusion. Otherwise, if Voldemort discovered that his lair had been emptied, he might grow suspicious.
No, perhaps he would guess that it was Albert's doing?
Nevertheless, with their enmity reaching a point of no return, and with both sides intent on killing each other, Albert saw no reason to hold back. After searching the chamber thoroughly, he stood at the entrance and released the Devil's Fire, turning everything within into ashes.
Watching the raging inferno of the Devil's Fire, Albert waited a full ten minutes before extinguishing it and erasing any traces of his presence. Then, he quietly departed.
He planned to find a place to hide the boxes of spoils first, just in case there were tracking spells on them. Even though they were stored in boxes enchanted with strong shielding charms, Albert couldn't be sure that Voldemort wouldn't be able to track them down.
He could always dig them up later, after Voldemort's demise; the Dark Lord didn't have many years left anyway.
After triple-checking that he hadn't forgotten anything, Albert gathered his things and headed home to rest. He had been on edge and busy for an entire evening and needed some downtime.
Using the Time-Turner to return to the past, Albert made his way back to the manor, only to find someone waiting in the great hall.
"You're done?"
"Yeah, I'm done," Albert replied, yawning and covering his mouth. "I'm gonna go take a shower first."
"Did you forget something?" Isabelle asked, her expression unreadable.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have worried you."
"Now, tell me, what were you up to tonight?"
"I was... inheriting a legacy."
"That's not funny at all."
"I found the mysterious man's lair, and using a discreet method, I informed the Aurors from the Ministry of Magic, who then blew up his lair and drove him away. After they left, I took the opportunity to inherit the mysterious man's legacy," Albert shrugged, "He had quite a collection of valuable books and scrolls, but unfortunately, he wasn't very rich. There weren't many Galleons to be found."
"You... you're unbelievable... Do you realize what you've done?" Isabelle was stunned by Albert's audacity, despite his nonchalant tone.
She had understood him perfectly.
Albert had essentially raided Voldemort's lair.
"Of course not. I just buried them somewhere temporarily. I plan to dig them up and inherit his legacy after the mysterious man is dead," Albert explained.
"Isn't that dangerous?"
"Our enmity has reached a point of no return, so it doesn't really matter. Besides, it's payback for the last Dueling Competition," Albert said with a vengeful glint in his eye, as if to emphasize his grudge-holding nature. "For now, Potter and Dumbledore are taking the heat, and the mysterious man can't be sure it was me anyway. I've burned that place to ashes, so there's no evidence left."
At that moment, Voldemort, who had intended to return and minimize his losses, stood frozen, staring at the ashes before him, his face contorted in rage.
Someone had used the Devil's Fire to burn down the ruins, including the secret chambers beneath, turning everything into ashes.
"Damn it! Damn it all! They all deserve to die!"
Voldemort's angry roars echoed across the wilderness in the dead of night, his thirst for blood even stronger now.
(End of Chapter)
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