Treasure Hunt

Many ancient wizards were fond of living in Wiltshire. For a time, it was a bustling place with different banquets held every day at various mansions, and it was also the place with the most wizards.

But the situation here changed dramatically twelve years ago.

As if overnight, almost half of the wizards were forced to move and become neighbors with Dementor, leaving behind large swaths of empty mansions.

The place suddenly became quiet.

But the other wizards living here thought it was fine... at least they could expand their mansions even bigger without any worries.

Lestrange's mansion was situated on a hillside to the north.

Several windows around the house were broken, the roof tiles were incomplete, and the once-impressive gate and walls were covered with all sorts of unknown vines, making it look almost exactly like the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade from the outside.

But just over a decade ago, this was the most spacious and impressive building within a few kilometers, and the Lestrange family was once a shining star in the Wizarding World.

But after its owner moved to Azkaban, the place became increasingly dilapidated until it turned into what it is today.

None of the wizards living nearby were willing to come here, let alone help clean the house.

At night, the hillside was completely silent, with only the occasional chirping of insects.

Under the moonlight, two figures, one large and one small, emerged from the shadows and stopped in front of the house.

"Sirius, are you sure this is Lestrange's ancestral home?" Kyle asked doubtfully, looking at the house that was no less impressive than the Shrieking Shack.

"If the Lestrange we're talking about is the same one, then yes..." Sirius said.

"This is so dilapidated." Kyle frowned. "Didn't they even think of using the Fidelius Charm to protect this place?"

"No, and there's no need," Sirius said. "Twelve years ago, who would dare to mess with them? That woman... Bellatrix, she was a favorite of You-Know-Who back then. Too many wizards wanted to curry favor with her, and because of You-Know-Who's trust, the Death Eaters practically used this place as their command center."

If there were Fidelius Charm, it would become very inconvenient.

"The ridiculous thing is, it must have been the same group of people who turned this place into what it is today after she was imprisoned in Azkaban."

Sirius glanced at Kyle and continued, "Although I don't know why you suddenly wanted to come here, I'm sure the house has already been looted of anything of value. You're destined to make a wasted trip today..."

"Is that so...that's not necessarily true." Kyle walked forward.

Sirius looked slightly helpless, but still followed.

The lock on the front door had long since become a useless decoration; Kyle simply cleared away the tangled vines and easily entered the house.

The interior looked even worse; there was hardly a single piece of complete furniture to be seen, the largest of which was a table missing a leg.

Just as Sirius said, there was almost nothing of value to be seen here; even the decorations that were set in the pillars or walls had been removed.

"If I could, I really wouldn't want to step into this place," Sirius frowned.

"What exactly are you looking for? If it's Galleon, just say the word. I have plenty of those."

"That's yours, I don't want it." Kyle pulled a Niffler out of his pocket.

"Look around, where's the underground storage room here...?"

The Niffler looked around and quickly headed in one direction. In the process, it acted like a vacuum cleaner, collecting all the broken glass, nails, and shards of porcelain on the ground into the pouch on its belly.

Finally, the Niffler stopped in front of a statue in the corner of the room.

There used to be a statue here, but now only the base remains, and beneath the base is an open hole.

It looks like this place has been visited before.

Kyle casually picked up the Niffler, scratched its belly, and then threw away the junk it had picked up earlier with some disdain. The little guy was a bit unhappy and squeaked around.

Kyle ignored it, picked up an oil lamp, and went into the underground storage room on his own.

Unsurprisingly, there wasn't much left here either, but thankfully, the things Kyle needed hadn't been touched.

On the wall of the cramped storage room hung a frameless painting that had long since faded.

You can vaguely see that the background of the painting is this house, but the people inside are nowhere to be seen.

"This painting should be of old Lestrange, but I can't remember his name," Sirius said as he followed in. "Kyle, don't tell me this is what you're looking for... These kinds of Magical portrait are only valuable to the Lestrange family; they're just trash elsewhere."

"Yes, but no..." Kyle said.

Sirius didn't quite understand.

But the next second, he saw Kyle throw away the magic painting, pick up a hammer he didn't know where he got it from, and start banging it against the wall behind him.

"Thump... thump... thump..."

The wall proved unexpectedly fragile and was quickly smashed open, revealing dark gray stone underneath, but Kyle's actions didn't stop...

The dull thumping made Sirius even more confused. He couldn't understand what Kyle was doing—was he planning to tear this place down?

But just as he was about to ask, another crack appeared in the wall.

Sirius was astonished to find that as Kyle knocked down more and more stones, the originally gray stone gradually became distorted, then kept shrinking and compressing. Soon it turned into a dark gold box the size of a fist.

"Transfiguration... I thought there was a hidden compartment..."

Kyle put on the Dragonhide Gloves, picked up the box, and shook it... A crisp clinking sound came from inside.

Clearly, the key he was looking for was hidden in this box.

But the problem was how to open it. He took a quick look and the whole box seemed to have been cast in one piece, with no trace of any splicing or even a keyhole.

Seeing Kyle's actions, Sirius blinked, dumbfounded, and stammered, "This, this is..."

"It should be a magical item, specifically used to store important items," Kyle said. "But opening this thing won't be easy..."

"I know," Sirius scratched his head, "But how do you know there's something behind this wall... I mean, this is the Lestrange family home!"

"Could it be that you've been here before? But that doesn't make sense. When Bellatrix was captured by the Auror, you were less than a year old."

"No, I was a little over two years old then," Kyle corrected.

"That's not important!" Sirius felt his head spinning. "How did you know... where this thing is?!"

"Of course someone told me," Kyle laughed. "I paid a little money to get the information from someone in the know."

"An insider? Who is it?!"

"Believe me, you definitely don't want to know its name."

Kyle carefully put away the box, then thoroughly checked the surroundings to make sure nothing was missed, before picking up the oil lamp and leaving the storeroom, ready to go home.

It's so inconvenient that we can't use our wands freely here.