Chapter 142: Horcrux?
In addition to the torches burning at the entrance, Dumbledore had conjured several bright fireballs. They floated in the air, casting light throughout the Chamber.
In the firelight, Ethan saw massive stone pillars carved with serpents coiled around them in various poses. These pillars supported the ceiling, which was now illuminated by the fire.
A strange green haze permeated the Chamber, its source unclear.
Past the towering pillars, at the end of the hall, loomed a colossal statue as tall as the room itself. The statue was set against the back wall, appearing as if it had been hewn directly from the living stone.
"Salazar's statue. The entrance is also here," Dumbledore explained.
"Mm, I've seen a portrait of Salazar. It matches perfectly," Ethan said, nodding as he looked up at the ancient, decrepit, monkey-like face. The wizard's incredibly long but sparse beard hung down to the hem of his robes. Two bare, gray feet poked out from beneath the robes, resting on the smooth floor.
Ethan hissed in Parseltongue.
"Close your eyes and come out."
"You should add another instruction: tell it not to move around once it's out," Dumbledore said. He didn't think the current instructions were safe enough.
Ethan hissed again, following the advice.
The statue's mouth opened, stretching wider and wider. It didn't stop, expanding far beyond the limits of human anatomy.
It finally stopped once the opening stretched across half the face.
The creature inside stirred. A rustling sound echoed from the hole.
*So hungry. Prey!*
"I'm heading out first. Take care." Hearing the Basilisk stir, Ethan immediately bolted.
He dashed out of the Chamber, pausing by the doorway to inspect the four massive emeralds.
Growing bored with the gems, Ethan wondered if wizards had been wealthier in general back then, or if Salazar had simply amassed a fortune as one of the most powerful wizards of his era.
After a moment's reflection, Ethan decided that, given the era, Salazar's status as a powerful wizard had brought him such wealth.
A sudden thought struck him. *Come to think of it, had that vessel thrown Voldemort's Horcrux diary into the pipes for the Basilisk to retrieve?*
Since he didn't actually know where the Horcrux was, and had a moment to spare, he might as well check here.
Ethan lit his wand and activated his ability to perceive soul fragments, scanning the area outside the Chamber first.
*Not here. I can take my time searching on the way back. Once the fight inside is over, I'll go in and take a look.* Standing with his back to the Chamber, Ethan heard a phoenix cry, a rooster crow, and the Basilisk's agonized roar.
But when he turned to examine the two doors, he made an unexpected discovery.
"A soul?!" He spotted a soul fragment inside the serpent's eye on the left door.
He examined it closely several times, confirming it wasn't a trick of the light. Sure enough, there was a soul fragment inside the emerald eye of the snake on the left.
"A Horcrux!" Although Ethan couldn't be certain, he was about eighty to ninety percent sure this was a Horcrux. He just didn't know whose it was.
"Voldemort's? Aren't there only supposed to be seven? Did he secretly make another one when he returned to school? Or..." Ethan thought of the statue in the Chamber.
"Salazar Slytherin? Could it be his Horcrux? If so, why didn't he resurrect here when he died?" Ethan thought of the statue in the Chamber.
"Does this mean Salazar's main soul is actually still alive, like Voldemort, wandering the world and possessing various creatures to survive?"
Ethan didn't know. This unexpected Horcrux tied his mind in knots.
However, Horcruxes dated back much further, at least to before the Common Era. The Shafiq family had destroyed a Horcrux belonging to Herpo the Foul.
This suggested that creating Horcruxes might have been relatively common back then, likely resulting in several such artifacts. After all, Herpo hadn't been resurrected from his destroyed Horcrux, any more than Salazar had been from this dormant one.
And as a powerful wizard from a thousand years ago, Salazar could easily have left a Horcrux behind.
"I need to visit the Restricted Section. I don't know if the book on Horcruxes is still there." Ethan wanted to find it to see if it contained a method for identifying a Horcrux's owner.
"Ethan, come in." Dumbledore's voice drifted out, interrupting his thoughts.
"Coming." Ethan glanced at the emerald Horcrux, planning to retrieve it discreetly when he was alone. Taking it now would be too conspicuous.
The Basilisk lay on the ground. Its two yellow eyes were shriveled, still oozing black blood, but its body bore no other wounds. Ethan didn't know what magic Dumbledore had used to kill it.
Blood flowing from the Basilisk's eyes had gathered into pools on the ground. The drops that had fallen during the battle had blossomed into crimson flowers.
Dumbledore was cleaning his robes, but black blood still stained the hem.
"It's finally dead," the old man said. "I might not have managed without Fawkes's help." Despite his words, he looked completely relaxed.
Ethan didn't know what the blood was used for, but since he had never seen it before, he quickly grabbed several reagent bottles from his bag and filled them.
Dumbledore watched him, somewhat amused. "As far as I know, Basilisk blood has no special properties. It's quite toxic."
"For research. I've never seen this material before," Ethan said, filling four reagent bottles to the brim.
"Then you might as well harvest some Basilisk venom directly. It's more potent that way."
"Thanks for the reminder." Ethan produced another set of empty vials and carefully extracted venom from the base of the fangs, transferring it into the vials.
"Very well. I'll transport this Basilisk to the surface shortly. You can process it with Severus afterward."
Ethan stepped aside to watch. The old man produced a small bag and aimed his wand, levitating the massive Basilisk upward. The snake shrank slowly as it approached the bag's opening.
While he waited, Ethan walked through the chamber but found no trace of the diary containing Tom's soul fragment.
"Hurry up and finish looking. I want to get back and change my clothes," Dumbledore called out, having finished packing away the Basilisk.
"I'm coming. Let's go." Ethan watched the old man extinguish the Gubraithian Fires he had conjured one by one, restoring the chamber to its original state.
Once they had cleaned up the bloodstains, they left the Chamber. Ethan sealed the door with Parseltongue.
Instead of retracing their steps as Ethan had expected, they grabbed Fawkes's leg and Apparated back to the Headmaster's office.
Ethan thought he would check for himself next time whether the diary was hidden underground, just before leaving the Chamber.
"You head on back. I'll inform everyone tonight that the Basilisk has been slain."
"Once I've shown it around, I'll give it to Severus. You can ask him for whatever you need then." The Basilisk was dead, but Dumbledore still had much to do.
He needed to secure Hagrid's release and calm the panic among the students.
Seeing Ethan still standing there, the old man chided him with a laugh, "I'll get those notes I promised you together as soon as possible. Are you still worried I'll renege?" The Basilisk was dead, but Dumbledore still had plenty to do.
"I'm not worried you'll renege. I'm worried you've got too much on your plate and might forget," Ethan said with a shrug.
After a moment's thought, Dumbledore said, "I'll have those notes ready for you after Christmas, during the holidays."
"Fine," Ethan agreed reluctantly, though he felt the wait was pretty long.
"When you head back, send for Professor McGonagall. I need her help," Dumbledore called as Ethan turned to leave.
"Got it!" Ethan replied without looking back. He opened the door and walked out.
"Have Minerva draft the school announcement. I need to sort out the details of this matter and write to the Ministry of Magic and the Wizengamot."
After Ethan left, the old man sat thinking for a while before he began writing his letters.
From the third floor, Ethan first stopped by Professor McGonagall's office on the second floor to pass along Dumbledore's message. The Transfiguration professor was dressed casually. Afterward, he headed toward the Great Hall.
The errand hadn't taken long. There was still some time before the meal was served, but after all the walking he'd done that day, Ethan didn't want to make another trip. He decided to just wait in the Great Hall.
"Hi, Ethan, are you done?" Hermione walked into the Great Hall just as he was idly flipping through a book.
"All done. Why didn't you eat at Hagrid's? I remember he was planning to make roast rabbit for lunch today." Ethan was surprised to see her.
"Hagrid burned the rabbit. It turned to charcoal and was completely inedible." Hermione looked heartbroken as she recalled the roast rabbit she'd been anticipating.
*That's odd. Hagrid is usually an expert at campfire cooking. How could he make such a mistake?*
"He said he wanted to try a new roasting method this time, so he tossed the spice-rubbed wild rabbit straight into the fire."
"But halfway through, he received a note from Dumbledore. He burst into tears and completely forgot about the rabbit.
"By the time he remembered, the rabbit was burned black."
That explained it. Ethan suspected the old man had been warning Hagrid about the plan to clear his name, telling him to prepare so he wouldn't be caught with contraband such as a wand.
After chatting for a while, students began filing into the Great Hall. Hermione waved to her roommate and headed back to the Gryffindor table.
Professor McGonagall worked quickly. Before Ethan had even finished eating, an announcement appeared on the bulletin board in the hall, calling for all students to gather in the Great Hall at seven that night to hear Dumbledore announce the results of the investigation into recent events.
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