Chapter 491: Slytherin's Locket
Chapter 491: Slytherin's Locket
Kreacher's face showed a look of fear, but he still insisted on saying nothing. He endured Sirius Black's curses, muttering softly to himself, "Poor old Kreacher, he shouldn't have believed the little brat."
Ivan rolled his eyes. Destroying a Horcrux was not something that needed to be kept secret from Sirius Black. Whether he said it or not, Sirius would find out eventually.
However, Ivan still stopped Sirius, who was about to teach Kreacher a lesson, and spoke up in his defense. "This shouldn't be Kreacher's fault. Perhaps someone put a Silencing Charm on him. We should just go and see for ourselves."
At this, Sirius calmed down a bit, realizing the possibility. Generally, a House-Elf couldn't disobey their master's orders, so he gave Kreacher a stern look and said, "Fine! Let's go! Where is it?"
Sirius decisively led everyone downstairs, with Kreacher trailing behind them. They stopped at one of the cabinets.
"Is it here?" Ivan walked over and asked.
Kreacher hesitated but nodded.
Sirius pushed Kreacher aside and opened the cabinet, rummaging through it. However, his actions startled a small creature hiding inside.
A creature with many legs, resembling a silver pair of tweezers, suddenly darted out, its long silver needle tail aiming for Sirius's arm. Sirius dodged it.
Sirius quickly grabbed a Black leather book nearby and smashed the creature, but more of these small creatures fled in panic, scurrying into the cracks in the floor.
"Damn! I'll have to buy some spray and clean this entire house!" Sirius was at a loss with these annoying pests.
But now wasn't the time to think about that, so Sirius quickly turned his attention back to the cabinet.
Inside, there was a music box, a winding key, a large number of antique seals, a dusty box, and various other odds and ends.
Sirius picked up the nearest box and opened it, finding a golden Order of Merlin, First Class inside.
Sirius remembered that this was awarded to his grandfather for his "contributions" to the Ministry of Magic. He glanced at it briefly, then casually tossed the box and the medal aside. This wasn't what he was looking for.
"These aren't it either", Sirius threw the Black Family-branded seals, the winding key, and the music box to the ground, and finally picked up a box that looked like a keepsake.
It was very old and elegant, with a silver-white chain. The front resembled a compass, with mysterious runes carved around it, and a large S-shaped mark in the center, depicting a snake with green gemstones embedded in it. It was clearly expensive!
However, the Black family had many such valuable antiques, so Sirius didn't pay much attention to it at first. It wasn't until he subconsciously tried to open it and found he couldn't that he realized something was wrong.
Ivan's gaze was also drawn to the object. Having been involved with the Chamber of Secrets, he recognized the snake-shaped mark as one of Slytherin's usual symbols.
He had seen it on the door of Slytherin's laboratory. Clearly, this was Voldemort's fourth Horcrux—Slytherin's Locket!
"It's this one", Kreacher whispered softly from the side.
Sirius Black abruptly turned his head. He had been paying close attention to Kreacher and naturally heard the House-Elf's words.
"You mean this thing is what Regulus left behind? Why did he leave it? And how do I open it?" Sirius demanded.
However, the House-Elf only shook his head, mumbling that he couldn't say. His eyes, as big as light bulbs, brimmed with tears, and his nose quivered, making him look very pitiful.
But Sirius had no sympathy for him and continued to press for more information.
The old House-Elf couldn't withstand the pressure from Sirius and let out a shrill scream.
"Destroy it! Regulus ordered Kreacher to destroy it!"
After saying this, Kreacher's face changed dramatically. He trembled, picked up the book that had been tossed on the ground, and started hitting himself on the head.
"Bad Kreacher! Very bad, very bad Kreacher!" Kreacher pounded his head with the book, as if he had gone mad.
"Stop it, I said stop!" Sirius snatched the book away, but Kreacher then started banging his head against the wall. Sirius had to repeat himself several times before the House-Elf finally stopped.
"Don't push him, Sirius! From the looks of it, he's definitely under some kind of restriction", Ivan said, shaking his head as he looked at Kreacher's pitiful state.
Then, Ivan turned his gaze to the Locket in Sirius's hand, hesitated for a moment, and spoke.
"I think this thing looks like something that person left behind."
"That person? You mean Voldemort?!" Sirius was initially stunned but quickly understood who Ivan was referring to, his brow furrowing.
"Yes! In my second year, I came across something left by the Dark Lord, and it felt very similar to this!" Ivan couldn't explain how he knew this was Voldemort's Horcrux, so he resorted to a vague feeling as an excuse.
"You mean that diary?" Harry immediately recalled the incident. He and Ron had once asked Hermione about what happened and knew all about it.
"What are you talking about?" Sirius looked at them curiously.
Before Ivan could speak, Harry recounted the story of how Lockhart was bewitched by a Dark Magic item and attacked students in their second year.
"At the time, many people were terrified. In the end, it was Ivan who dealt with Professor Lockhart and destroyed those Dark Magic items", Harry said excitedly, recounting Ivan's heroic deeds.
Sirius and Lupin looked at Ivan in surprise. They knew Ivan wasn't an ordinary young wizard, but they hadn't expected him to have such a legendary experience in his second year!
Ivan shrugged. He didn't think that experience was worth boasting about. He had almost been outmatched by a fifth-year Tom Riddle, which only showed that he had underestimated his opponent.
At that moment, Kreacher suddenly grabbed the edge of Ivan's robe and asked excitedly, "Mister, did you really destroy something left by the Dark Lord?"
(End of Chapter)
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