Inside the vault, they wandered around like headless flies. "Lady Hufflepuff should have made her cup more conspicuous. We wouldn't be having such a hard time looking for it otherwise!" Ron Weasley's complaints barely stopped.
The others said nothing either. They were clearly just as exhausted.
Suddenly, a clattering rang through the quiet vault for a moment. Everyone looked over to see Dobby standing there in bewilderment, panic written all over his face. "Dobby didn't mean to touch the treasure. Dobby only wanted to see if this was the cup..."
Before he could finish, the object on the ground seemed to come alive and writhed. Then, before everyone's shocked eyes, it split into two identical items.
Eli cried out in alarm. "Don't touch anything! These objects have all been placed under a Duplication Charm. Any unauthorized contact will make them keep multiplying!"
Unfortunately, it was already too late by the time he said it. In the chaos, each of them had touched one thing or another. Clanging sounds rose one after another, and the floor was quickly covered by treasure multiplying at an explosive rate.
Eli was helpless in the face of this situation as well. There was no way he could remove the Duplication Charms from so many objects all at once.
Everyone scrambled frantically. More and more things were being touched, while the space in the vault grew smaller and smaller. They had no choice but to climb higher, or they would be crushed to death. At this rate, their only options were to flee or be trapped inside the vault forever.
Worse still, the duplicated objects were scorching hot. Touching them with bare skin would burn them immediately.
Amid the chaos, Eli was preparing to blast open a path when he spotted an ancient-looking golden cup on