Severus pulled the dagger from a humanoid canopic jar, and black liquid, thick as tar, immediately gushed out.
"Oh, Paracelsus, what is that smell?" Gong Saiyi covered his nose and kept dry-heaving.
"Crocodile entrails," Prince Eugene said. "Sailors would remove a crocodile's internal organs, turn the body into a mummy, then stuff stones inside it as ballast to keep their ships from capsizing. The removed entrails weren't simply thrown away. They were preserved in jars like these."
"Can't you smell that stench?" Gong Saiyi said thickly through the Bubble-Head Charm enclosing his head.
Eugene did not answer him.
"I never thought I'd one day envy a ghost with no sense of smell."
"Careful," Severus said. "There's something wrong with this water."
The black liquid flowing from the jar was unlike the stagnant water from before. An invisible force tugged at it, constantly warping its shape.
"Splitting a cake between two brothers is different from splitting it between eight," Prince Eugene said. "The fewer crocodiles remain, the stronger it becomes."
Gong Saiyi used his Patronus in an attempt to force the thing about to emerge from the water back down, but his macaw seemed afraid of whatever lurked in the black water and did not dare fly too close.
Severus circled his wand over his head, and soon a white swan flew from its tip. Only with both birds working together did they barely manage to force it back.
"Your Patronus has changed." Prince Eugene looked at Severus. "I remember it used to be a deer."
"That has nothing to do with you," Severus said coldly.
Eugene looked at Gong Saiyi, who was watching Severus's retreating back with a thoughtful expression.
"Let's go," Prince Eugene said, leaving the exhibition hall first.
Fawkes? Is that what you call the bird of immortality?"