Chapter 236 Black's Old House

After Harry left, Rita lay on the ground and didn't get up for a long time.

She looked weakly at the mark on the back of her hand, her eyes were a little dull.

This imprint is extremely complicated, and at the same time it flickers, exuding a strange light.

Rita already knew how to use this mark, and easily concealed the mark from the back of her hand.

And this made her even more awed, because the legendary Dark Mark couldn't hide himself.

"Oh, I'm such a cheap hand, this time I kicked the iron plate." Rita couldn't help but thumped her head that was still aching, and sighed softly.

"However, Harry Potter seems to have great ambitions, and knows how to use politics and public opinion better."

"She should be able to become the Minister of Magic. It seems to be a very good choice to follow her and do things for her."

After a long time, Rita turned into a beetle with complicated emotions and flew towards Hogsmeade.

...

On a small road leading to the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, Hedwig was asking Harry for advice, holding back his doubts for a long time:

"Sister Harley, didn't you say that the Witch Path has various curses and black magic?"

"I remember you mentioning that you could kill that mouse called Peter Pettigrew any time you wanted to."

"Then why don't you use the same method to threaten this woman named Rita Skeeter and forcefully control her?"

Harry quietly listened to Hedwig's speech, and then did not choose to explain directly: "Hedwig, let me give you an example."

"Which do you prefer, when I order you to deliver my letter, or when I ask you to deliver it?"

Hedwig tilted her head and thought for a while: "The second kind."

"Yes," Harry continued to analyze patiently,

"You see, I threatened that Skeeter with my life, asked her to do something for me, and asked her to help me in the form of a transaction. The latter must be more acceptable to her."

"During this transaction, I just use her life and hide a secret that is meaningless to me if it is leaked out, in exchange for her to do things for me."

"If you think about it carefully, I didn't actually pay anything, but it can minimize Skeeter's resistance."

Hedwig nodded thoughtfully, and asked again: "Aren't you afraid that she won't take the deal seriously? After all, the deal is not compulsory."

"I have already given her dignity and steps. If she is not sensible, then I can only say sorry."

Harry said lightly, with an unusually cold voice,

"That mark is the black magic I designed by drawing on Voldemort's dark mark and the ability of the alien pathway."

Saying that, Harry raised his right hand, and the symbol representing the witch floated out of nowhere in midair,

"This symbol itself contains the meaning of mysticism, which is equivalent to a constant ritual. From the current point of view, it will only point to me in this world."

"If Skeeter betrays me and wants to do something bad, whether it's locking her position or taking her life, it's easy for me."

"And she is also a smart person. Although she doesn't know witches, she must be able to associate this special mark with Voldemort's Dark Mark, and she can also guess my intention for leaving this mark."

"Skeeter has seen the methods I used to deal with the acromantula before, and knows that I am not the so-called suspected black wizard, but the method is far superior to the black wizard."

"So what should be done, I think Skeeter should be very clear."

"As the saying goes, hit her with a stick and give her a sweet candy. Emperor Roselle's words are rough, but the truth behind them is not rough."

Hedwig nodded, and did not continue to ask who the Great Emperor Roselle was, but said at the end: "Human beings are really complicated."

"It's normal." Harry said casually, and then one person and one bird entered the invisible state directly at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

...

Easter is finally here, but the students don't like the holiday.

Halloween has a Halloween dinner, Christmas has a Christmas break, and Easter has a…

Easter homework!

After all, when the Easter holiday comes, the time is approaching the final exam.

The professors tacitly increased the amount of homework several times, and even Professor Lupine, who had always had very little homework, assigned a few more papers on black magic creatures.

And everyone seems to firmly believe that their own class is the most important, and other professors' homework can be put aside later, so they are unwilling to reduce homework.

This is hard for the students.

But Harry and Hermione didn't have this trouble. After all, the two of them performed well in the last few classes before the holiday and exempted most of their homework.

Now, under the leadership of Professor Lupine, the two have gone to Black's old house with the help of the Portkey made by Professor Dumbledore.

Black's old house is located at No. 12 Grimmauld Place. The house is enchanted and perfectly hidden between No. 11 and No. 13.

Neither Muggles nor ordinary wizards who don't know it can see the gate of Black's old house.

Even a powerful magic master can only see that there is an incongruity caused by magic here, and it is impossible to enter Black's old house without knowing the specific location.

After all, the Black family does not lack powerful magic masters. After years of reinforcement, there are basically no loopholes in the interior of this house.

Under the leadership of Professor Lu Ping, the three walked up the stone steps.

Professor Lupine tapped the silver serpent knocker lightly with his wand.

There were many loud sounds of metal impacting inside the gate, as well as the clicking sound of the chain running.

After a while, the door slowly opened.

The bottom of the gate was constantly rubbing against the floor, making a harsh "squeak" sound, obviously it hadn't been maintained for a long time.

"Luminescence flickering."

Professor Lupine calmly recited the spell, and the tip of the wand emitted a warm light, illuminating the dark hallway.

A dank breath came to the face, mixed with a lot of dust, and revealing a strange and sweet rotten smell.

Hermione thoughtfully took out three cloth masks, one for each of Harry and Professor Lupine.

"Thank you." Professor Lupine took the mask and said in a relaxed tone, "It's a pity that I didn't think of wearing a mask before I came."

"I should have thought that this old Black house has not been maintained and cleaned for so long, there must be a lot of dust."

"And Sirius is not good at cleaning."

During the conversation, the three carefully looked at the hall.

A row of old-fashioned magic gas lamps on the wall automatically lit up after hearing the voice.

However, the gas lamp was probably too old, and the magic inside hadn't been recast for a long time, so the light was extremely muddy.

Under this dim light, the foyer looked extremely gloomy, and the peeling wallpaper reflected a strange light.

There is also a cobweb-shaped chandelier above the head. The chandelier is green in color and has a large number of snake-shaped patterns on it.

But the chandelier was out, and only one or two bulbs occasionally shone with a dim, magical glow.

In addition to the lamps, there are many portraits on the wall, but the portraits have been blackened, and the frame is almost decayed.

Harley remembered that a book that introduced the common sense of life in the wizarding world mentioned that although magical portraits could visit each other, they still had a deep connection with the original portrait of him.

If their own portraits were not properly preserved and eventually decayed, those portraits would die with them, even if they escaped to someone else's portraits.

This is probably the case for the ancestors of the Black family whose names are written under the frame.

"Harry! Remus! Hermione!" shouted surprise from the depths of the house, and then Sirius strode out.

But his image is really not good-looking:

Sirius wore patched black robes of unknown date, and held a battered wand in one hand and a bottle of bug spray in the other.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, it's still dirty in here," Sirius exclaimed, over a worn chair lying on the carpet,

"Kreacher, that old beast, always finds ways to interfere with me, prevents me from cleaning, and secretly picks up things I throw away."

"Sirius," Professor Lupine shook his head, "I really think you should treat it kindly, after all, it is also very poor."

"Yeah, it's really pitiful." Sirius snorted coldly,

"Sorry, Remus, I mean... you know, Kreacher has been completely brainwashed by my mother, and only recognizes my mother."

"It doesn't look down on me at all. If it weren't for the magic restraint of the Black family, it even wanted to drive me out of Black's old house."

"Of course, I don't care about the garbage dump of Black's old house, but I can leave on my own initiative, and it can't drive me away!"

As he spoke, Sirius waved his wand subconsciously.

"Who is Kreacher?" Hermione couldn't help asking.

"A house-elf, a house-elf who has served the Black family for a long time..."

Sirius explained aloud, and Hermione couldn't help frowning.

After what happened to Harley before the start of her second year, she didn't like the creature very much.

And Harry and Hermione also mentioned the history of house elves in their chats, especially their "glorious records" of trying to exterminate all wizards and enslaving the human race.

This made Hermione's impression of this creature drop to freezing point.

Although the good service attitude of the elves in the Hogwarts kitchen is very helpful to Hermione, it does not prevent Hermione from having a good impression of this group itself.

Sirius continued to explain, and even started to trace back the ancestors whose heads were chopped off by Kreacher and hung on the wall of their own house.

"Okay, Sirius," said Professor Lupine,

"I understand how much you hate Kreacher, there's no need to waste time on it."

At the same time, he gave Sirius a sneaky look, and motioned to Hermione who was beside him.

Sirius also immediately realized that this topic seemed really inappropriate in front of two underage wizards.

He changed the subject bluntly: "I've already vacated a room for you, it's on the second floor."

"But Harry... can the two of you share a room?"

As he said that, the expression on Sirius' face was vaguely awkward,

"I'm really sorry, I only cleaned two rooms, Remus can live with me, I think..."

"It's fine for me and Harry to live in one room." Hermione quickly replied, "We usually live in the same dormitory, which is normal."

"That's good, that's good," Sirius wanted to rub his hands in embarrassment, but suddenly remembered that he was still holding a magic wand and insecticide spray in his hand, so he could only smile helplessly,

"That old Kreacher has been interfering with my work, otherwise Black's old house is so big, it would never be..."

I don't know how uncomfortable Sirius was tortured by Kreacher during this period, he always subconsciously led the topic in this direction.

Fortunately, Professor Lupine forcibly dragged him and suggested that the children should be settled down first.

The group skirted the various facilities and passed the row of crumpled house-elf heads that Sirius had mentioned.

Looking at this picture, the expression on Hermione's face became more and more unnatural.

Although she doesn't like the house-elves, Hermione is deeply disgusted by the brutal behavior of the Black family.

Harry and Hermione's rooms are located on the second floor by the second door to the right.

The room was dimly lit, with high ceilings and two single beds side by side.

"Sorry, I'm afraid you have to clean it again." Sirius said apologetically, "I prepared two sets of quilts for you, you can tidy them up yourself."

"I'm going to take Remus to our room first, and we'll have lunch after cleaning."

After Sirius left, the door was slammed shut, and the lights in the room were turned on.

Looking at the two beds in front of her, Hermione seemed a little regretful, and pulled out her wand vigorously, and swung it several times: "Whirlwind clean!" "Clean it up!"

The two spells were used, and the room became much cleaner immediately.

Harry took out the mattress for the two of them from his pocket, threw it on the bed, and at the same time stuffed the purple quilt prepared by Sirius into the side cabinet.

"Look, I'll just say it." Hermione said triumphantly while making the bed,

"I knew that if you want to go to this old house that no one has lived in for many years, you should bring all kinds of daily necessities."

...

After tidying up the room, it was almost noon.

Sirius originally wanted to show off his skills by cooking himself, but Professor Lupine forcibly held him back, not allowing him to destroy the stomachs of the two little witches.

Harry dug out some pounds from his pocket, and the four of them finally chose to go to a nearby Italian restaurant for lunch.

After returning to Black's old house, Sirius went straight to the point and took Harry and Hermione to the Black family's library.

After all, the house is too dirty, many places have not been cleaned, there is nothing to visit.

As for Professor Lupine, he chose to rest in the living room.

After all, he was a werewolf, and the powerhouse of the Black family would never welcome a werewolf.

Sirius apologized deeply for this, but Professor Lupine looked very open and seemed very free and easy.

"This can be said to be the most precious place of the Black family."

After bidding farewell to Professor Lupine, Sirius walked carefully along the corridor, while introducing Harry and Hermione,

"I left a note in my room. I didn't expect this note to be cleaned up."

"I thought my room had been cleaned out, but it was still there, untouched."

"I know that in the entire Black family, only I was assigned to Gryffindor, and everyone else is Slytherin."

"So only my room is decorated in gold and red, and there are a lot of lion decorations, which are incompatible with the silver and green snakes of others..."

Sirius suddenly remembered something, "...Sorry, I got off topic."

"All in all, even I need to look at the note again to find the correct route to the library."

"All kinds of magic are applied here. Although it is not fatal, it can trap people."

"Without the help of members of the Black family or Professor Flitwick's level of superb magical attainment, that person could sleep here forever."

"After all, knowledge is always the most valuable property of a wizarding family, and the Black family, which can be called a pure-blooded family even among pure-bloods, has inestimable value of hidden knowledge."

Sirius led a group of people to avoid all kinds of defensive magic, and finally came to an ancient gate.

The door didn't have any decorations, just like the doors of ordinary rooms, it only had a silver handle in the shape of a snake's head.

But Harry could feel that there was a powerful magic at work on this door.

It seems that only by pouring a special medium into the handle of the snake head can the door be opened correctly.

Otherwise, that intruder will enjoy a deadly counterattack.

Apparently, the ancestors of the Black family were also old silver coins, leaving non-lethal spells in front, and the last line of defense was mixed with a fatal spell.

If a master of magic really came all the way through and cracked all kinds of non-lethal magic, it is very likely that he will relax his vigilance here, and finally be overwhelmed by this magic.

After standing still in front of the door, Sirius drew out a brand new wand.

This is the wand he bought from Ollivander, and it is specially used for fighting.

The dilapidated wand before was just a second-hand wand that Sirius bought from the overturning. After all, Sirius, who had experienced the Wizarding War, knew the importance of a spare wand.

Sirius flicked his wand lightly on his arm, the blood flowed out quickly, and the wound healed quickly.

The blood was suspended in mid-air, and then automatically poured into the mouth of the snake-shaped handle.

After devouring the blood of the immediate members of the Black family, the silver snake seemed to come alive and began to spin on its own.

Sirius also aimed his wand at the handle at the right time, silently chanting the spell.

After going through a series of complicated operations, the door slowly opened.

"Dear ladies!" said Sirius in an exaggerated voice after the door was fully flung open.

"Please allow me to solemnly introduce you here - the library of the Black family!"

With that said, Sirius took a step forward, and then turned sideways.

Looking at the scene in front of her, Hermione opened her mouth in shock, and Harry's eyes flashed with excitement.

Harry was fortunate enough to see the collection of books in Nico's house, which was much better than the library in front of him in terms of quantity, but not as good in quality.

Although Nico has lived for more than six hundred years and has accumulated a huge collection of books, his collection contains a large number of Muggle books——

Whether it's Muggle food magazines, music collections, or art journals, Nicole has collected them all.

But the Black family is different.

As the oldest and wealthiest pure-blood wizarding family known to have existed in the Middle Ages, members of this family only collect valuable spellbooks.

"Go, there is no magic in the library, after all, no one wants these valuable magic books to be destroyed."

Sirius waved his hand and led the two little witches into the sea of ​​books,

"You choose some content that you want to learn, but don't choose too much. You must first focus on understanding a certain knowledge, and then learn the next one."

"It's easy to chew too much, but the book is here anyway, so I won't run away with long legs."

"Oh, that's right," Sirius seemed to remember something, and suddenly said loudly, "The bookshelves are divided into three colors, green, silver and black."

"On the green bookshelf is ordinary magic, and on the silver bookshelf is advanced magic, but the nature is more inclined to normal magic."

"As for the black bookshelf..."

Sirius paused, and raised his voice a bit,

"The magic books above are all recorded in black magic. The darker the color of the bookshelf, the higher the danger of magic."

"When you see a black bookshelf, try to avoid it. After all, you don't need to read many black magic books, and you may be disturbed just by approaching it."

Harry agreed, as his wand slipped from his robes into his hand.

A bright silver snake appeared and merged into a magic mirror, forming a simple clone.

"Sorry, Sirius." Harry thought silently, "How could the witch let go of black magic?"

After wandering in the sea of ​​books for more than an hour, Sirius greeted Harry and Hermione and left here.

Hermione was carrying several prophecy books about astrology. Obviously, she still couldn't forget Professor Trelawney's prophecy.

Harley only held an ordinary spell book in her hand, but the silver Patronus avatar had retrieved several black magic books for her.

"Have you chosen?" Sirius glanced at the books of the two, "Charms, as expected, astrology... Divination class?"

"To be honest, I never took this class, after all, we didn't have a divination teacher at that time."

"I remember that Professor Dumbledore is planning to cancel this course. After all, most of the current divination prices are old liars."

"For some reason, he recruited Sybill Trelawney out of nowhere, and the course continued."

Hermione nodded repeatedly, obviously agreeing with Sirius' point of view.

Although Professor Trelawney managed to make a real prophecy, after thinking about it, Hermione also realized that Professor Trelawney apparently only occasionally made real prophecies.

Most of the time, especially during class time, Professor Trelawney is still the old liar who only brags and deceives people, but does not teach students real skills.

"Okay, since you have made a decision, let's leave." Sirius waved his hand,

"When you need any books in the future, you can write to me directly and I will replace them for you."

...

...

(Thanks to "Angel Who Supports God" and "Nine-tailed Flaming Fox" for their rewards!)

(ps. The magician's loyalty spell in the original text of the Order of the Phoenix is ​​not here, it is just an ordinary hidden magic.)