The Old Guard Still Had Style

The eyes on the snake-patterned faucet stared silently at him.

Gavin did not open the door right away.

Ekrizdis had exhausted so many tools trying to open this wall. Gavin hoped whatever lay beyond was just an ordinary secret chamber, not something's dining room.

He went back to the collapsed wall and cleared away several boulders blocking the passage, making sure he could get through at any time.

Three almost invisible lines stretched across the entrance—

Sensorial Transfiguration.

If anything came in, he would know immediately.

On the map of Azkaban, the figures in the prison ward were still moving between the fields and the prison. No one was approaching the mountaintop.

Gavin put away the map and pointed at the entrance.

"Guard this spot. If anyone comes, give me a howl."

The New Dementor Chief clenched its fists and thumped its chest.

"Hiss—hah! (Loy—al!)"

Then it took up position to one side as a temporary security guard.

Only then did Gavin return to the brass faucet. He activated Magic Sight and began studying its structure.

Gavin was no longer the twelve-year-old boy who only knew how to seal doors with Dragon-Blood Cement—

He was thirteen now.

After studying day and night at Azkaban, he could understand most alchemical structures.

Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets was itself an advanced alchemical creation.

Every material was top quality, as was the workmanship of every Magic Rune.

The magical structure behind the wall was tightly sealed.

The waterway, the seams around the door, and the authentication runes were all connected. The only visible input point was the snake coiled around the handle.

That was almost identical to the girls' bathroom at Hogwarts.

Finding no obvious weakness for now, Gavin could only open the door the old-fashioned way.

The good news was that he no