The Locket's Origins Are Highly Suspicious / Voldemort's Traps Are Almost Laughable

"Harry ..."

Just as Sirius was about to say something, Harry stopped in time.

"Godfather, I'm suddenly curious..." Harry asked softly, "Why did your mother display her portrait here?"

"These things... heh, who knows?" Sirius shrugged seemingly casually, his expression returning to its previous nonchalant tone. "Maybe it's just like the education she received from childhood—to protect this ancestral home, to protect the eternally noble and pure Black family."

From childhood to adulthood... Sirius's words made Harry thoughtful.

It seems that Walburga Black herself came from this family and never changed her surname.

"Never mind... Godfather, since this is her wish, I think we should let her stay here." Harry casually dispelled the spell, and at the same time used magic to manipulate the two velvet Veil to close them back together, tying them tightly at the bottom.

Unlike before, Harry left a small gap in the Veil, allowing Walburga Black to see directly into the hallway... and the door.

Was it simply to protect the family, or was it a desire to see his son return as soon as possible? And why did Sirius, who clearly hated his ancestral home, still choose to return to live there...?

Harry could touch on these things a little, but there was no need to discuss them in detail with Sirius, and as an outsider, he had no right to make unwarranted comments.

"Harry, to be honest... I'm ashamed." Sirius glanced at the sealed portrait and said softly, blaming himself, "I've been really trying to invite you here, thinking you could stay with me, your godfather, for a while, but honestly, even I don't like this place, and now you've made a complete mess of it since you arrived. So, if you feel..."

"Didn't we agree beforehand that Hermione and I would stay here for a few days? I won't go back on my word." Harry smiled and shook his head. "As for the environment here, I can help you tidy up since I'm here."

"In that case, I'll take you to the rooms that have been prepared in advance. I hope you won't find them too simple." Hearing Harry say this, Sirius stopped trying to dissuade him and turned to lead Harry upstairs.

However, the moment Harry stepped onto the stairs, his body inexplicably stiffened, and his pupils instantly contracted sharply.

After that, Harry suddenly overtook Sirius and ran quickly upstairs.

"Ah... Harry, what happened?" Sirius hurriedly stepped aside and asked, puzzled.

But Harry seemed not to hear him and quickly disappeared around the corner of the stairs.

"Could it be... Oh no!" Hermione changed drastically as she recalled what had happened before. "Uncle Black, do you have Voldemort's Horcrux in your house?!"

"What did you say?!" Sirius and Lupin were both taken aback when they heard Hermione's question.

"Horcrux... How is that possible?" Sirius shook his head immediately. "Although my parents have always advocated the Pure-blood glory, they have never come into contact with Voldemort. How could it be... Wait, could it be him?"

"Who is it?" Hermione asked, frowning.

"My brother, Regulus Black..." Sirius explained in a low voice, "He used to be a Death Eater, but he was later killed by Voldemort."

"By... Voldemort?" Hermione was stunned upon hearing this.

"Yes, but it's also possible that Voldemort ordered his men to do it. Regulus was very young back then, and the Dark Lord wouldn't bother dealing with him personally." Sirius's tone seemed somewhat sarcastic, but it was more of a deep sigh.

"As for why he was killed, who knows? Anyway, once you become Death Eater, you can't escape it in the end... um."

Sirius paused involuntarily at this point.

Although he was unwilling to admit it, he had to say that a certain Snivellus was indeed wholeheartedly on Harry's side... and that guy used to be a Death Eater.

"Let's go check on Harry. Horcrux... I really don't understand why one of those things would be here."

Sirius shook his head slightly and led the two upstairs, only to find Harry standing in front of a glass display case in the living room.

Because no one had touched it for years, the display case was covered in dust, and various items were scattered inside, including snuff boxes, gold rings, and all sorts of seals.

Those things may have been priceless, but now they're all just a dull gray.

Just as Harry was about to open the cabinet door, a small, thin figure suddenly blocked his way.

"What are you doing? You damned bastard, don't you dare touch anything here!!"

The newcomer was likely House-elf from the Black family. He wore only a tattered cloth around his waist and was otherwise completely naked. A large clump of white fur was piled up haphazardly in his ear canals, and his eyes were cloudy and swollen, suggesting he was quite old.

At this moment, the old House-elf was glaring at Harry with eyes wide open, his throat gurgling like a bellows, looking just like an enraged bullfrog.

"Get out of here right now! It's disgusting! Besides his lowly cronies, Sirius has brought back a bunch of bastards to defile the family. Kreacher can even smell the filthy Mudblood..."

"Kreacher, shut up and get out of the way!!" Sirius finally arrived at that moment. Hearing the old elf in the house insulting Harry and Hermione, he was immediately enraged and shoved the elf over the ground.

"From now on, you stay right there and don't move an inch! Don't make a sound!!"

"Yes, sir! Sirius, you have tarnished the honor of the Black family! Kreacher wishes you had never been released from Azkaban!!"

The House-elf grumbled as it accepted the order, then expertly slapped itself several times before remaining motionless, sprawled on the ground.

However, its mouth was still trembling slightly, clearly indicating that it was continuing to curse and swear in secret.

Hermione frowned at Sirius's rude attitude, but ultimately said nothing.

She's very worried about Harry; they're about to open the glass case!

Chapter 436 The origin of the locket is very strange.

There's no mistake... the Horcrux must be here!

As soon as Harry stepped onto the stairs, he sensed something and instinctively began to search.

Although Harry didn't completely lose consciousness this time thanks to Rowena's help, he still couldn't suppress the excitement in his heart and finally couldn't help but stand in front of the cabinet.

Harry carefully opened the cabinet door with both hands and immediately saw what he was looking for.

A long silver chain hangs from which hangs an exquisite and antique pendant. The pendant is made entirely of gold, and on the front is a capital letter 'S' inlaid with a dozen or so Winky emeralds, shaped like a twisted, hissing serpent.

Around the outer edge of the letters were many different shaped engravings... Harry threw them out immediately; they were symbols commonly used in ancient alchemy.

Slytherin's Locket, Salazar's most prized possession, was also one of Voldemort's Horcrux!

"Hoo..." After taking a few deep breaths and reminding Rowena in his mind to prepare, Harry slowly reached for the locket.

Since this Horcrux has appeared in front of me by sheer coincidence, I might as well just deal with it!

Seeing Harry's actions, Kreacher, who was lying on the ground, couldn't help but let out an urgent sob, and even at the same time, a lot of snot and tears flowed from his nose.

A very ugly piece of silverware next to the locket seemed to sense Harry's movement and jumped straight into his hand.

The thing was like a pair of tweezers with many legs, able to cling to Harry's arm like a spider, climbing upwards and even trying to pierce his skin.

However, Harry simply summoned a ball of water and blasted it directly to the ground.

Immediately afterwards, he gripped the locket tightly in his hand!

"Hmm..."

In an instant, Harry's expression turned extremely painful, and his body suddenly convulsed violently. However, after swaying a few times, he finally let out a long sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Harry... are you alright?" Hermione asked anxiously as she rushed forward to help him up.

"It's alright, this Horcrux is dealt with now," Harry said softly, offering a faint, weak smile.

In reality, only he himself knew just how dangerous the process of absorbing soul fragments truly was.

The stronger Voldemort's magic was when he created the Horcrux, and the longer he kept Horcrux in his possession, the more powerful the soul fragments within Horcrux would become... Harry was nearly killed by Voldemort's soul when he was dealing with Ravenclaw's Diadem last time.

The soul fragment in this locket is even more powerful than the one in the Ravenclaw's Diadem. Fortunately, the presence of Rowena, a powerful figure in the Limbo, allowed Harry to finally resolve the situation.

After absorbing the soul fragment from the locket, Harry now possesses almost all of Voldemort's memories, and besides the Gaunt family ring, he also knows the location of the last Horcrux — the Hufflepuff's Cup.

But at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder about the origin of this locket.

This thing shouldn't be in Blake's old house at all!

Slytherin's Locket and Hufflepuff's Cup were both made into Horcrux by Voldemort around the same time.

That was after he found the Ravenclaw's Diadem and returned from Albania. The young Voldemort found a job in Borgin Burke and, through his personal charm, successfully tricked an older, fat witch, Hepzba Smith, into revealing that she possessed two treasures inherited from the Four Founders.

Immediately afterwards, Voldemort brutally murdered Mrs. Smith and framed the Smith family's House-elf for the crime, then fled with the two treasures.

He used the crime of killing Smith to turn the golden cup into Horcrux, then murdered a Muggle tramp, using this crime to defile the locket, and carried it with him for a long time during his later wanderings, just like Ravenclaw's Diadem.

Later, Voldemort placed the Ravenclaw's Diadem in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts, but he still carried the golden cup and locket with him.

It wasn't until Voldemort gathered a large number of Death Eater and launched the Dark Wizarding War that he handed the Golden Cup to Bellatrix Lestrange Lestrange, the Death Eater was most loyal to him... who was also Sirius's cousin.

So Hufflepuff's Cup is now kept in Gringotts, in the Lestrange Family's vault, but Harry has no interest in looking for it.

Without a doubt, the Hufflepuff's Cup is Voldemort's most powerful Horcrux to date. If Harry were to risk touching it in his current state, he might very well be entering the final battle with Voldemort prematurely!

He hasn't accumulated enough karmic debts yet, and his own strength isn't strong enough to fight Voldemort without his staff in his soul form, so it's best for him to stay away from Horcrux.

The same goes for the Horcrux ring hidden in the Gaunt family mansion; let's just leave it there for now, there's no need to go looking for it.

The strangest thing now is the locket, because according to Harry's memories, Voldemort had already placed Slytherin's Locket in a seaside cave before 1979, and set up many traps to protect it.

But this thing has now appeared in the Black family...

Wait, Kreacher?!

Suddenly, Harry caught sight of the House-elf lying Nonverbal Spell beside him, and a lot of things suddenly became clear to him.

In the memories he gleaned, Voldemort apparently borrowed a House-elf from Regulus to test his ability to protect the Horcrux...

Harry couldn't find anything about what happened after that in Voldemort's memories, so he didn't know what had happened, but the House-elf Voldemort took away was probably Kreacher.

So Kreacher should have died in that cave, so why did he come back with Horcrux?

"Kreacher, I have something to ask you." With that thought, Harry held the locket up to Kreacher. "How did you manage to bring this thing back?"

"..." Faced with Harry's questioning, the House-elf's gaze unconsciously began to dart away, yet he remained silent throughout.

"This matter concerns the true cause of Regulus Black's death, and I believe my godfather also has the right to know." Seeing Kreacher's lack of cooperation, Harry said calmly, "You may be keeping this a secret for some reason, but you must also know... who your master is now to obey!"

"Kreacher, answer Harry's question!" Sirius, having been reminded by Harry, immediately gave the order.

"That locket, Kreacher brought it back! That damned, stinking bastard asked the question, and Kreacher has answered it!" Kreacher shouted at Harry, glaring at him hatefully, while slapping himself several times.

"And what about the rest?" Sirius roared, his eyes wide. "Regulus... what happened to my brother?!"

"No... I can't say! Kreacher really can't talk about Master Regulus!!"

Upon hearing Sirius's words, the House-elf was immediately tormented by both disobeying orders and painful memories. He kept banging his head against the floor, each bang heavier than the last, as if he wanted to kill himself.

"No! Please stop asking! Sirius is a bastard, a wicked son! He wants to force Kreacher to his death! Ahhh!!"

Chapter 437 Voldemort's traps are something I'd rather laugh at.

In the living room of the Black mansion, Kreacher continued to self-harm, his forehead slamming heavily against the floor, eventually drawing blood. Everyone present frowned as they watched.

"Harry, can we please stop pressuring him?" Hermione pleaded, her expression distressed, as she gripped Harry's sleeve tightly. "He's just so pitiful..."

"Hermione, of course I know he's pitiful, but if he won't tell the truth, isn't my godfather pitiful too?" Harry asked softly. "Regulus Black, he was my godfather's younger brother, and I'm now absolutely certain that Kreacher knows the cause of his death!"

"Well... alright." Seeing that Harry had made up his mind, Hermione could only lower her head sullenly and stop talking.

"Godfather, discipline him with orders, the more detailed the better," Harry then reminded Sirius.

Kreacher is a seasoned House-elf, even Dobby adept at exploiting loopholes than Dobby was... Harry had already discerned this from the question just now.

Therefore, the only way to get him to talk is to force him into a situation where he has no choice but to speak.

"Kreacher, I order you, from this moment on, do not move! And tell us everything... everything about Regulus!!"

"Alright, Kreacher will tell you..." Hearing Sirius's order, Kreacher knew he could no longer hide it, and could only kneel on the ground, feeling wronged and dejected.

"Sirius has run away from home, which is a welcome relief... He's a bad boy, always breaking the rules and causing the mistress of the house a lot of heartache..."

"But young Master Regulus was very well-mannered; he knew what the Black family name and his noble blood meant. For many years, he had longed for the Dark Lord, the one who would free wizards from hiding and allow them to rule over Muggle and Mudblood..."

"Kreacher, get to the point!" Harry glared coldly at the babbling House-elf before him. "And this is my first and last warning to you: if you dare utter that word again..."

"What can you do? Lowly Kreacher is not afraid to die. He will do everything in his power to protect the honor of the Black family! Even if he is killed by a despicable bastard, he will cut off his own head before being humiliated and hang it in the Black family's hallway!!"

Kreacher screamed desperately, tears and snot streaming down his face, but he remained kneeling in place. He was unable to move due to Sirius's orders, so he could only tremble his arms slightly, creating a stark contrast.

"You're wrong. I won't kill you." Harry shook his head indifferently. "But I might very well burn Regulus's house down, and all those things that you consider treasures but my godfather considers trash—I'll burn them all down, leaving not a single ash!"

"No! You can't! Demon, you absolutely can't do this! Cough cough... No, absolutely not!!" Kreacher was frantic upon hearing this, but bound by Sirius's orders, he could only kneel on the ground and roar in despair, as if he were about to cough up blood.

"You want to stop me? Fine," Harry continued calmly. "Didn't you just say you wanted to protect everything about the Black family? Well, the only way you can protect it now is to speak properly and tell them everything. Kreacher, you should be able to do that, right?"

"This... Kreacher understands."

It should be said that, having learned from Dobby's experience, Harry was quite adept at dealing with House-elf.

Threatened like this, Kreacher's psychological defenses quickly crumbled, and he readily confessed everything he had been hiding.