Beneath that tree, something was drawing the attention of Harry's Left Hand of Chaos and Calamity-or stirring some other emotion in it.
"What could it be?" Harry's curiosity flared up again, and he carefully approached the large tree.
"Switching Spell!" With a light flick of Harry's wand, the soil beneath the tree parted to either side. Changing an object's shape was the most basic method in Transfiguration, and also the most widely used.
Harry had a very good grasp of Transfiguration. A little task like this no longer required him to use his hands at all.
The soil parted, revealing what lay inside.
Just as Harry had guessed, it was another wooden box.
The box was about half a foot long and four inches wide and deep. He did not know what kind of wood it was, but it was very dark. Its exterior was also bound with paper covered in strange runes that Harry could not understand.
The powerful wizards who had left earlier had also carried off something similar. Harry had seen it from his hiding place. And judging by their behavior, they seemed to have come specifically for it.
What was it?
Curious, Harry lifted the box out of the soil. The moment it touched his hands, he could not help shivering.
An incredibly cold, sinister aura seeped from the box, making every hair on Harry's body stand on end in an instant. Something was wrong with this thing. Very wrong.
Although he had absolutely no idea what it was, Harry was already certain of that.
Yet the power in his left hand seemed particularly excited at that moment. Harry could even feel the black, threadlike strands formed from runes on his palm seemingly trying to seep into the wooden box.
But there seemed to be something