The Secret of the Locket

Seeing that there was nothing more for them to do, Bathory and Annis took their leave. Bathory vanished as a shadow, while Annis disappeared as fallen leaves scattered on the ground.

Vampire Royalty and the Hag each have their own unique magical heritage. They each have their own magical system and know magic similar to "Apparition." Moreover, their magic is not affected by wizards' "Anti-Apparition Charm," just like House Elf, Phoenix, Diricawl, Zouwu.

Sarf remained immersed in the mysterious and inexplicable resonance with her wand. Skylar stood to the side, observing the magical fluctuations in the air with his Magic Eye.

Almost half an hour passed in this way.

Sarf opened her eyes, which were as beautiful as peach blossoms, and gave Skylar a charming smile.

After absorbing the unknown power and aura from the Snakewood Basilisk-Horn Wand, Sarf's temperament underwent a tremendous change. Every smile and frown exuded a captivating charm, especially her deep, star-like eyes, which shimmered so brightly that a single glance was enough to mesmerize anyone who looked into them.

Skylar's body swayed almost imperceptibly, and he snorted coldly, clearly unmoved. "Stop with your simplistic tricks; they won't work on me." After his battle with Monroe's "Illusion Eye," Skylar realized his weakness in this area, so he had worked hard to improve his control over his Magic Eye, thus gaining greater resistance to magic cast by eye-type spells.

Sarf pouted, somewhat displeased, and said, "You—" Seeing the subtle threat in Skylar's eyes, she suddenly bit her lower lip and fell silent. After a long while, she lowered her head and said resentfully in a voice only she could hear, "So clueless! Idiot! Fool! Fool! Blockhead!"

"Lend me your wand for a moment. I want to see what happens when the wand and its owner form a bond of soul and magic." Skylar extended his hand.

Sarf, still biting her lip, reluctantly handed the wand to Skylar.

Just as Skylar received the wand, the locket in his arms suddenly made a "ding" sound, automatically flew out of Skylar and floated in mid-air, while the wand and the locket each shot out a bright green beam of light and connected.

The locket suddenly opened, revealing a blurry pattern reflected in the air; its shape suggested it was a map.

When Skylar first opened the pendant box after acquiring the Parseltongue talent, he discovered that besides the magic that summoned the Basilisk, there was also a blurry map inside. Skylar tried to find the location indicated by the map, but due to the limited clues on the map, no matter how he analyzed and deduced, he could only succeed in vain.

Skylar had not forgotten the legends left behind by the Four Founders of Hogwarts.

Putting everything else aside, let's just talk about the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff heritages that Skylar has already fully acquired.

The Ravenclaw heritage includes a Chamber of Secrets, a vast collection of rare books, Aquila, and the Spirit Essence of Wisdom, who also enabled him to comprehend the profound mystery of "Divine Insight of Amaterasu." The Hufflepuff heritage, on the other hand, includes the "Freeze" spell Isa, the cauldron artifact inscribed with food and potion-making magic, the mystery of the origins of the Sprite, and the Source of Life, which also enabled him to comprehend the profound mystery of "Creation Regeneration."

Based on these two experiences of receiving the inheritance, Skylar could be certain that Slytherin's legacy could not be as simple as just a Chamber of Secrets and a Basilisk.

Skylar was almost certain that Slytherin himself had left behind other legacies, and the location indicated by this map was very likely the place where those legacies were located.

With the fortunes that Skylar has accumulated to this day, there are very few inheritances that he would consider worthy of his attention, but the inheritances of Slytherin and Gryffindor definitely hold a place in his heart.

As mentioned earlier in this book, Slytherin left two great legacies to his descendants, the Gaunt family: his Snakewood Basilisk-Horn Wand and the locket he always carried. In the early twelfth century, the once-powerful Gaunt family parted ways because the two brothers were evenly matched in strength. The younger brother went to the MacGillycuddy's Reeks in Ireland, where he established his own lineage, forming another branch of the Gaunt bloodline.

The scene before him clearly made Skylar realize that to uncover the secrets of the map and obtain the true Slytherin legacy, he needed both the Snakewood Basilisk-Horn Wand and the locket. All of this became impossible the moment the Gaunt family split up, sowing the seeds for the Gaunt family's future decline.

Despite being a family with the talent of Parseltongue, they ended up living in a dilapidated ancestral home, reminiscing about their past glory with a ring and a pendant box.

In the original story, Harry, the poor boy who was used to living in the broomhouse, even wondered if the Gaunt Shack was habitable after seeing it in Bob Ogden's memories. He described it as follows. "The walls were covered in moss, many of the roof tiles were missing, and the rafters were showing here and there. Thick nettles grew around the house, reaching all the way to the windows, which were very small and filled with thick layers of grime." This description reveals just how impoverished the Gaunt family had become by the last generation.

In contrast, let's not even talk about the House of Malfoy, who were once incredibly wealthy and powerful. Even Sirius Black was expelled from the family and only inherited his fortune from his uncle, was able to squander it all and still leave Harry a considerable amount of Galleon after his death.

Unexpectedly, what truly led to the downfall of the Gaunt family was that family split.

Skylar snapped out of his reverie, opened his mouth, pointed his Snakewood Wand at the map, and chanted the decryption spell in Parseltongue: "In the name of the Pure-blood, I command you to reveal your secret!"

The map suddenly began to spin, radiating intense light. Moments later, the map changed at a visible speed, with mountain ranges and rivers beginning to appear...

Finally, the map stopped changing, and a small, green, serpentine mark appeared in the mountains.

Skylar recognized the location at a glance; it was the MacGillycuddy's Reeks in Ireland, the place where the second son of the Gaunt had fled when the family split up!

That's quite interesting. It seems that the second son must have sensed something when he traveled all that way to rebuild the family branch there.

Thinking of this, Skylar immediately snapped his fingers, and with a crack, Dobby's respectful figure appeared in the Chamber of Secrets.

"Honorable master, is there Dobby I can do for you?"

"Dobby, I need your Apparition to guide us, take me and Sarf with you. Our destination is in the MacGillycuddy's Reeks... Let me think... Hmm, let's set it at the Coomloughra Valley!"

"Yes! Dobby has been there before; you can Apparition there directly."

With a crackling sound, the figures of the two people and the elf vanished from the Chamber of Secrets.