Giant Pit

As night fell, in the snow-covered Smith Manor, the study window was still lit. Ge Bo Smith was sitting at his desk, flipping through envelopes he had received recently.

On the cabinet next to the desk are countless glass bottles, filled with fragments of memories as thin as silver threads.

Suddenly, there was a gentle knock on the study door.

The house- House-elf pushed open the door and bowed to the wizard at the desk, saying, "Master, the visitor will arrive in five minutes."

The entire manor was well hidden. Apart from a few important people, no one in the Smith Family knew of its existence, let alone its location.

"I understand." Ge Bo Smith picked up his cold tea, finished it, leaned on the table to stand up, and slowly walked toward the manor's hall.

Upon entering the hall, they saw the flames under the marble fireplace suddenly turn a deep green, Bard Brood emerged from the fireplace, bending over.

"What happened? Why are they using the Internal Floo Network?" Ge Bo Smith asked Bard Brood, puzzled.

Today, the Floo Network is controlled by the Floo Network Floo Network Authority of the Ministry of Magic, making it difficult to hide its use from the Ministry of Magic. However, there are still some places that are not monitored by the local Floo Network, such as the internal Floo Network of Hogwarts and the fireplace in Ge Bo Smith's secret manor.

"Hasn't the others arrived yet?" Bard Brood brushed the ashes off his black robe and looked around.

"No, you're the first." Ge Bo Smith vaguely guessed the reason. There couldn't be many reasons that would bring them together. Just then, the fire in the fireplace started burning again.

"Good evening."

Tiberius Ogden came out of the fireplace and greeted the two men.

Morg McDougal didn't keep them waiting long, and soon emerged from the blazing fireplace.

"Now that everyone's here, let's talk about something important." Ge Bo Smith led them to a comfortable room in the manor, where the house- House-elf respectfully served tea and refreshments before quickly turning and leaving.

"Regarding Rowena Smith," Bard Brood looked at Ge Bo Smith, frowning as he asked, "How much does he actually know?"

The other three frowned. They were certain that none of the four present would reveal their secrets to anyone else. Each of Wildsmith would not divulge their private matters to anyone else.

Bard Brood placed a letter on the table, tapped it lightly with his wand, and the envelope opened automatically, beginning to read its contents. If Albert were here, he would have seen that the letter was addressed to Professor Broad, stating that he had successfully mastered more advanced uses of Ancient Runes, and included detailed accounts of his experience entering Ravenclaw's Chamber of Secrets. Of course, it also included Rowena Smith's speculations.

"Rowena certainly doesn't know much; he probably only deduced it from a few Smith Family documents," Ge Bo Smith continued. "He's not stupid; he must have guessed something, and he even went into Ravenclaw's Chamber, so it's not surprising that he knows the surname Wildsmith. Moreover, I even suspect that Albert Anderson and Isobel McDougal probably know something as well."

"The question now is, what does Rowena Smith want to do?" Bard Brood frowned and reminded him. "Don't forget, he's been holding a grudge about this, and don't forget about Brell."

Brell McDougal was the father of Isobel and Katrina. When Brell was very young, he died mysteriously in a magical experiment accident.

Although Brell, a former candidate, had been eliminated, he remained a member of their loose circle. At that time, they suspected that Brell's death might be related to Rowena.

All four of them fell silent!

They all knew why Bard Brood had summoned them: both qualified candidates were at Hogwarts, and if Rowena Smith suddenly went mad and killed them all, the next generation of Wildsmith heirs would be doomed.

The selection of candidates is usually very secretive, but Rowena was once a candidate and was determined to investigate, so it was not difficult to find some clues.

Although the probability of him going insane is very small, it still has to be taken seriously by the group.

Unfortunately, Rowena Smith was too fixated on the matter, and some of his personality traits were too problematic, which was the main reason why Rowena wasn't chosen.

"In a few months, Rowena should leave Hogwarts on her own. I'll be keeping an eye on them during this time," Morg McDougal volunteered.

"If anything bad happens, I'll handle it." Ge Bo Smith's tone was calm; even though Rowena Smith was his grandson, he couldn't cross the line.

For Wildsmith, only wizards who also shared the same surname could be considered true family.

"Let Albert put that Bronze Book back after Rowena leaves Hogwarts," Tiberius Ogden said.

The gathering didn't last long before everyone dispersed.

Ge Bo Smith stood by the window, gazing at the snowstorm outside, and murmured, "Rowena, what exactly are you trying to do?"

Room of Requirement, Albert, wearing earplugs and Earplugs, was completely unaware of what was happening. He was working with Mandrakes roots, preparing to finish the Banshee's Howl.

That thing had been stuffed into salt and pickled for a long time, and it had completely changed its appearance.

Mandrakes roots dehydrated with salt become unusually grotesque; if one had to describe it, it would be that they died a truly gruesome death.

Albert poked the dehydrated Mandrakes roots with the Honesty Detector, and sure enough, a strong reaction occurred. There was no doubt that the thing had died with its eyes wide open, and had truly become a Dark Magic Item.

The rats nearby had been unconscious since the Mandrakes roots were pulled out of the salt, and it was unknown whether they were already dead.

Albert stuffed the Mandrakes roots into a bag made of Swamp Snatcher leather, which had been expanded with Undetectable Extension Charm, and then placed it into a pre-prepared silver container. Everything went very smoothly.

Only after the Banshee's Howl completely stopped did Albert slowly remove his Earplugs and earplugs, confirming that the container he had made could effectively suppress it, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

If he failed, he estimated he would fall into a coma. His roommate, realizing he hadn't returned, would search for him in the Room of Requirement according to his requests. Albert had even written down the steps on parchment on which to proceed if he fell into a coma.

However, the backup plan was no longer useful, so Albert threw it into the fireplace to burn. Albert poked the Banshee's Howl with the Honesty Detector, but the poke didn't produce any reaction, perhaps because of the many outer layers of isolation.

Of course, Banshee's Howl is not a proper Dark Magic Item in essence, so it is impossible for it to have any skills on the Panel Skill.

However, Albert was quite satisfied with the thing. All he needed to do now was find an opportunity to test its power. He remembered that Fred and George seemed eager to try it out, so he would lend it to them to play with first.