Hope's Blessing from Desperate Souls

The Inferi in Potions Lake had all been released. With no Inferi needing to be deterred, Dumbledore did not raise the Fire Ring.

Unlike the gloom they had felt when they first entered the cave, it was now like a new-moon night, dark and serene.

The calm Potions Lake did not show the slightest ripple, like a mirror polished from obsidian;

Reflected in the lake water, a river of stars seemed to appear before Vizet's eyes, countless faint lights gathering into starlight, as if suspended above Potions Lake and yet also hidden deep within it.

The gathered starlight seemed to sense Vizet's gaze. Like fireflies, it kept flickering as it drifted toward him.

Vizet reached out, wanting to catch it, but the starlight passed straight through his palm and circled around him, rotating with extreme slowness. It looked like a magnificent swirling star cluster.

"Wonderful..." Dumbledore also stretched out a hand, his eyes half closed as though sensing something. "Perhaps this is from those victims... their final blessing..."

"The purest blessing, born from the instinct of the soul... I think perhaps you need a vessel, one that can hold souls, such as creating a 'Soul Guiding Box.'"

"A vessel that can hold souls..." The first thing that surfaced in Vizet's mind was Salazar Slytherin's Locket.

When they repaired the locket earlier, Luna had mentioned something: she had felt a special attraction.

It was precisely because of Luna's words that Vizet had carried the locket with him. Perhaps it might prove useful someday.

He took the locket from his pocket and made a hissing sound like a long snake flicking its tongue. "Open!"

Under the effect of Vizet's Parseltongue, with a click, Salazar Slytherin's Locket sprang open.

Neither of their guesses had been wrong. The swirling star cluster sped up, and