Tom Always Came Up with New Tricks

As a descendant of Slytherin and one of the Twenty-Eight Pure-blood families, Gaunt's ancestors were once quite wealthy.

However, their family is notoriously mentally challenged, and is known for its restlessness and violence.

The reason is simple:

Pure-blood families value bloodlines highly, and the Gaunt family is no exception.

To maintain the purity of their family bloodline, Gaunt often chose to marry members of his own family.

Not only that, they encouraged this behavior, and there was even a period when they called it "Germany Orthopedics," and they were proud of it.

The Gaunt family is essentially a history of incest, and that's no exaggeration.

Prolonged inbreeding also led to the Gaunt family wizards having volatile tempers.

This personality trait has become more pronounced with each generation. They lack rationality and have a particular fondness for lavish displays.

Therefore, as early as a hundred years ago, the family's wealth accumulated over nearly a thousand years was squandered, turning them into a completely impoverished household.

The large family took pride in inbreeding, but it also declined because of it.

Standing at the door of the dilapidated house, William was still squinting, carefully examining the ouroboros door knocker.

The door knocker looked worn and old, but it gave William a very uncomfortable feeling.

Dumbledore remained silent, waiting for him to observe.

William tapped his wand in the air, cautiously saying, "There's a powerful curse on it; touching it carelessly will kill you instantly..."

"Indeed," Dumbledore exclaimed. "The difference between seeing and observing is quite obvious."

Many wizards lack the ability to observe.

William, you've come a long way in the realm of magic.

"Professor, this door knocker is key to our entry. But the curse isn't my area of expertise. Can you break it?"

William's greatest expertise lies in Alchemy and Ancient Runes; he has done very little research on curses.

Recently, I've often seen Hermione secretly studying the Book of Curses, which she borrowed from the Restricted Section. I wonder who she's trying to curse.

But it doesn't matter, Hermione wouldn't curse him, right?

William had that much confidence.

Dumbledore examined the door knocker and shook his head. "Tom likes things that are cursed. Those Horcrux, in a sense, are also a kind of curse."

He certainly didn't want others to enter this old house easily, so he cast many spells on it.

"If I had a little more time, I might be able to crack it completely, but time is of the essence right now..."

William pondered for a moment, then analyzed, "Tom couldn't have left the door knocker just to kill any approaching wizard."

"He himself might occasionally go in to check on his precious possession, which means that the door knocker can open the house door, probably requiring a special password..."

"Parseltongue!" William's eyes lit up.

"That's right." Dumbledore smiled. "This design is clearly inspired by the Chamber of Secrets of Secrets."

Tom is the Heir of Slytherin, so naturally he wants to show that to others.

Even if he didn't believe anyone could find the Chamber of Secrets, he certainly didn't believe anyone could find this place.

A tribute to Slytherin... Whether it's Voldemort or Tom, they always manage to come up with something new!

Neither William nor Dumbledore can Parseltongue, but... Harry, the little tool, can.

William pulled an Oxford dictionary from the Safety Watch and began to examine it carefully.

Last semester, William, having nothing better to do, had Harry read the Oxford dictionary aloud in Parseltongue and then number it according to the page numbers.

William collected many high-frequency words and beautiful phrases, which he stored in a crystal ball.

Harry even copied down some of Zaun's sayings.

So that one day, when I'm facing Voldemort, it will come in handy.

I wonder if Voldemort would be happy to hear the Parseltongue version of "I am your father".

William quickly found what he was looking for.

"Open the door!" Harry's hissing voice came from the crystal ball.

The ouroboros's eyes flickered, and it suddenly came to life, transforming into a living creature resembling Basilisk.

It swam out, spat out a silver key, held it in its mouth, raised its little head, and wagged its tail at William as if to ask for credit.

William took the silver key, but couldn't find the lock.

"I think..." Dumbledore suddenly said, "We'll have to pay a price to find the lock."

"What's the price?" William said. "You have to give this snake something?"

"Yes," said Dumbledore, "If I'm not mistaken, it's blood."

"Blood?"

"Yes, Tom wants the visitors to enter in a way that diminishes their own importance," Dumbledore said.

"How pathetic! Tom never grew up in his entire life."

His tone was contemptuous, even disappointed, as if Voldemort had failed to meet his expectations.

Voldemort never understood that there are many things more terrifying than physical harm.

For example, the life of the person you love most?

William shrugged.

Death is quite clever in this respect; he requires two people who are as close as brothers to sacrifice themselves in order to obtain the Deathly Hallows!

Dumbledore pulled out a fruit knife from somewhere.

"..."

William strongly suspected that the principal might still be carrying bananas or similar items with him.

What a fruit monster!

Dumbledore was about to strike the wrist, William stopped him, saying, "Wait... Professor."

"What's wrong?" Dumbledore asked, puzzled. "William, do you want to use your blood?"

"No!" William quickly waved his hand and took a small bottle out of the Safety Watch.

"I have some fresh Basilisk blood here, I wonder if it will be usable?"

William's tone was as if he'd forgotten to finish milking a cow that'd just been milked that morning.

Okay, this blood was just drawn this morning. Every few days, they wake the Basilisk, take some blood, and then let it go back to sleep... It's become a habit.

William wondered Basilisk the Skee would feel uncomfortable if it didn't bleed every few days, right?

"If that doesn't work, I also have dragon blood, Matagot blood, Acromantula blood, Fluffy blood... all kinds of flavors, I have them all, surely one of them will suit it?"

"..."

As it turns out, the door knocker isn't that particular; any blood containing magic will do.

William chose the cheapest blood from the Acromantula and splattered it on the door knocker.

The blood, turning into specks of light, seeped into the door ring, forming a door lock.

Dumbledore inserted the key and gave it a gentle turn.

With a creak, the door opened.

The two went inside.

The room was filled with dense darkness; you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

Both wands lit up simultaneously.

The Gaunt Shack was indescribably filthy, with thick cobwebs on the ceiling and a pile of rusty pots on the table.

The ground was black and covered in dust.

There was also a row of... footprints!

The footprints looked quite old, and were covered in dust, though not as deep as those on the sides.

"It seems someone has already arrived before us." Dumbledore's expression was not good.

The house has three small rooms. The large room in the middle serves as both the kitchen and living room, and there are two other doors leading to the other rooms.

The two followed the footprints toward one of the houses.

Once inside, William was dumbfounded.

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