Chapter 147: Salazar's Legacy
Ethan opened the velvet package first. Inside lay a ring set with a green gem and a locket that seemed to be made of brass, trimmed in silver and carved with a large green serpent shaped like an S.
Just as he had done when he acquired the box, Ethan first cast Specialis Revelio and the Revealing Charm to ensure there were no hidden hexes on the objects.
He had learned these two spells from Snape. They were the same charms the professor had used to detect any concealed magic on the manuscript he had retrieved from Quirrell.
Neither item showed any reaction, so they were safe for the moment. However, Ethan couldn't afford to be careless. These were items from a thousand years ago, and given that Salazar's Horcrux still existed, who knew what traps he might have left in his legacy? As a result, Ethan didn't dare pick them up without a more thorough inspection.
*This couldn't be the locket Salazar always wore, could it?* Ethan remembered Salazar's portrait hanging in the school and realized it wasn't the same one.
The locket in the portrait had been octagonal, whereas the one sitting in front of him was oval.
*I don't know what properties this locket has. The one that became a Horcrux could draw out the darkness in people's hearts and create illusions.*
Ethan fiddled with the locket using his gloved hand. He opened it, but it was empty.
He looked at the green gemstone ring again. *I wonder what special ability it has.*
But given how recklessly Dumbledore had put on the Resurrection Stone ring, Ethan didn't dare wear it.
Since he couldn't determine the specific uses of these two items yet, Ethan decided to set them aside for now.
He remembered the school had instruments capable of detecting hexes on magical items. He couldn't bring these items to school, but he could find similar ones elsewhere to test them during the holiday.
After properly wrapping the two items in velvet, Ethan cast two spells on the manuscript again.
Testing the parchment was much simpler because, aside from the text written on it, the sheets hadn't undergone any additional magical refinement. So aside from possible hidden hexes, there wouldn't be any other traps.
He cast both spells, but neither revealed anything. Ethan found no soul fragments in the manuscript either.
*Looks safe for now.*
He laid the parchment sheets out on the table one by one, quickly scanning their contents.
Soon the table was full, so he gathered the papers in order, stacked them into a pile, and laid out the next batch to continue scanning.
There were about a hundred sheets in this stack, all densely covered in text.
Two sheets seemed to explain the artifacts left by Salazar. Ethan pulled those out first. He wrapped the remaining manuscript and the two alchemical items together in a cloth and placed them in his bag.
Ethan had just started reading when a few of his roommates returned from the club. "Why did you leave so early? It's a real shame. You missed Lockhart getting hit by a Tripping Jinx. Some student cast it, and he fell, smashing his face."
"You missed quite the spectacle. What a pity."
"I didn't have a partner, so I couldn't practice. I headed back early." Ethan set down the manuscript he was holding, looking somewhat regretful.
"Exactly. He actually lost a tooth. He spent ages scouring the ground for it, and when he finally found it, he went to the Hospital Wing with his hand pressed over his mouth."
"I honestly hope Madam Pomfrey makes a mistake just once and leaves him with a missing tooth for good. Then he wouldn't be able to flash those pearly whites like he used to, or brag about winning the Most Charming Smile Award so many times."
After being forced to perform on stage several times, Draco's loathing of Lockhart was already deep. He had simply smiled and played along for the sake of House Points. Seeing Lockhart make a fool of himself once again brought him genuine joy.
That wish probably wouldn't come true. Skele-Gro should be able to fix it, or Ossio Dispersimus could probably reattach the broken tooth. Ethan sounded regretful as well. Magic was too convenient. Sometimes that wasn't a good thing.
"Pity."
Even Goyle and Crabbe sighed. As essential cast members, they'd been forced to perform, playing trolls, yetis, werewolves, and all sorts of villainous creatures.
That night, Ethan brought two pages of the manuscript to the Room of Requirement and ran into the twins.
After chatting with them for a while, he settled comfortably onto a cozy sofa and read through the description of the two items.
The locket, crafted in the same style as a Horcrux, was a defensive magical item. It could resist spells that penetrated memories, such as Legilimency; defend against spells targeting a person's soul, like the Imperius Curse; and allow the wearer to resist spells that created hallucinations, such as the Confundus Charm.
"Good stuff, good stuff. It actually has a defensive effect against the Imperius Curse, one of the three Unforgivable Curses." Ethan raised the parchment slightly to hide his face, not wanting the twins to see the grin he was struggling to suppress.
*One can create hallucinations, and the other can resist them. So these two items are a pair with opposite functions. It's a pity that the locket was made into a Horcrux.* Ethan planned to carry this locket with him after confirming there was no danger.
As for the green gem ring, it was a pure dark magic artifact. Its main function was to create and control Inferi.
*No matter how I look at it, it's a failed imitation of the Resurrection Stone, repurposed to control Inferi.*
Ethan considered this highly likely. The Gaunt family, the last owners of the Resurrection Stone, were the sole descendants of Slytherin. It wouldn't be surprising if Salazar had once possessed the Resurrection Stone.
Moreover, the other locket had originally been in their possession, only to be taken and sold later by Voldemort's mother.
Thinking back to the blood ritual required to open the box after claiming the inheritance, Ethan felt something was off.
*But isn't this redundant? If Salazar restricted his heir to a descendant of his own bloodline who could speak Parseltongue, wouldn't it have been better to simply leave these items outside the school as family heirlooms?*
*Why hide them inside the school and build a separate chamber just to store them?*
Ethan couldn't make sense of it.
*Could it be that he foresaw the decline of the Gaunt family long ago? Unlikely. Even prophecies can't see a thousand years ahead, right?*
In the end, Ethan could only conclude that Salazar, who had only one daughter, didn't know whether his bloodline would continue. To prevent his legacy from being lost, he didn't want to put all his eggs in one basket.
But this theory had a flaw: the Horcrux. Salazar hadn't died at all, so why leave a legacy?
However, this was a puzzle he couldn't solve at the moment. He would have to set the matter aside and hope to find answers once he made further progress.
For now, was there another way to open the box without using blood?
The box was already open, anyway. He could research the mechanism later, when he had time.
Pushing thoughts of the box and ring to the back of his mind, Ethan tucked away the two parchments, said goodbye to the twins, and headed back to the dormitory early.
On Sunday, Ethan set aside his Charms practice. Finding an unused classroom, he turned his attention to Salazar's remaining manuscripts.
He would have to visit the Restricted Section again tonight. The copy he'd made of Secrets of the Darkest Art had vanished that morning.
From morning to night, pausing only for lunch and brief breaks, Ethan devoted all his time to studying the manuscript pages.
While he hadn't read most of the hundred or so pages closely, he had skimmed through them and pored over several chapters in detail. From this section alone, Ethan began to see a side of Salazar that differed from the legends.
According to legend, Salazar had opposed admitting students from non-magical families. This disagreement led to a falling out with the other three founders and his eventual departure from the school.
However, these manuscripts revealed that while he did indeed disagree with admitting non-magical students, he seemed to be researching methods to grant them magical ability, effectively ensuring that all families possessed magic.
Although every experiment detailed in these manuscripts failed, they left behind valuable data. At the very least, they'd allow successors to rule out the wrong paths.
In the manuscripts, Salazar documented his repeated experiments on Muggles. Some subjects perished immediately, while others were lucky enough to survive the first round. However, they were immediately forced into the next trial and ultimately could not escape death.
Between the lines lay cold data and various potion recipes, devoid of even a shred of sympathy for the test subjects.
As for the Basilisk in the Chamber, beyond its legendary function of purifying impure blood, it had other uses.
The manuscripts contained numerous failed potion recipes that used Basilisk venom as an ingredient.
Salazar had also detailed the effects of the venom in his experiments.
Surprisingly, Basilisk venom could stimulate a person's bloodline, causing fluctuations in the body's wizarding blood.
The founder had made this discovery after an accidental poisoning. Subsequently, based on this finding, he conducted experiments involving magical creatures, Squibs, and Muggles, eventually reaching this conclusion.
However, this conclusion held no practical value because Basilisk venom was simply too lethal. A single drop was enough to kill an adult.
When diluted, the results were disappointing. He spent a year conducting an experiment on a Squib, using diluted venom for stimulation while simultaneously detoxifying it. But a year later, the tormented Squib died before awakening any spellcasting ability.
Salazar formulated numerous potions based on this property, combining the venom with various other ingredients. Unsurprisingly, they all failed.
Apart from these, the manuscripts contained several spells that had once been powerful but were now obsolete, superseded by better alternatives.
They weren't entirely without value, though. At the very least, they allowed Ethan to analyze the evolution from ancient to modern spellcraft, aiding his efforts to improve and create new spells.
After dinner, he took a short break, walked halfway around the Black Lake, and returned to an empty classroom to pore over the manuscripts.
While he was there, Filch and Professor McGonagall, who was on patrol, stopped by to urge him not to stay too late and to return to his dormitory before curfew.
Ethan cooperated readily. He turned off the lights at nine forty-five, left the classroom, and deliberately walked through the fifth-floor corridor on his way to the dungeons.
After the library closed at eight o'clock, Madam Pince would spend her time organizing the books students had left in disarray. Only when she finished would she lock the doors and finally leave.
But her routine wasn't consistent. Sometimes she finished early, and sometimes she worked late. Ethan checked to see if anyone was still inside the library.
Fortunately, the library door was already locked when he passed by. That meant he could bypass the lock and slip inside the moment curfew began.
He hid in the corridor outside the library, waiting quietly.
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