"Alive," Pansy breathed greedily, savoring the rare fresh air. The corners of her mouth tilted up in a satisfied smile. If she had to breathe the stuffy air in this old house any longer, Pansy felt she might faint at any moment.
She cautiously poked her head out the window, gazing down at the desolate street below.
Malfoy, on the other hand, went straight to an exquisite fireplace in the center of the room. Flanking the fireplace were two ornate glass cabinets, and one wall was covered with a Black family tree tapestry, its branches sprawling and reaching back to the Middle Ages.
Embroidered at the top of the tapestry were the words: "The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black—Toujours Pur."
"Why are there so many holes burned in this tapestry? If this were in my house, a rug like this would be replaced within a day of being damaged. Seems like all those rumors about the Black family's wealth are false," Pansy said, circling around to stand behind Malfoy. Following his gaze, she saw the tapestry riddled with holes and tilted her head, a hint of disdain in her voice.
"They punish those who betray so-called 'family honor' by removing them from the family. The first step is to erase their names from the family tree," Malfoy said coolly.
"Is that so?" Pansy turned her attention back to the tapestry, scrutinizing it closely.
"Oh, I get it! Sirius Black must have been sent to Azkaban, so his name is gone because the family considers it a disgrace," Pansy clapped her hands lightly, speaking with a tone of realization after staring at the tapestry for a few seconds.
"You may be right," Malfoy said, not wanting to offer any further explanation. It wasn't necessary, and Pansy's deduction was reasonably sound, so he decided not to discourage her enthusiasm.
Besides, Malfoy couldn't explain why he knew the so-called truth.
"Step back a little. Some strange things might pop out," Malfoy warned Pansy, preparing to open the dusty glass cabinets, where he suspected the Horcrux might be hidden.
Hearing this, Pansy immediately took a few steps back but kept her eyes fixed on Malfoy's actions.
"Be careful, Draco," Pansy cautioned.
Indeed, many bizarre magical objects were hidden inside. Malfoy carefully dealt with them. A silver snuffbox seemed to come to life, leaping from the shelf and trying to bite his hand, only to be shattered into tiny silver shards by a spell. At the same time, a pair of multi-legged tweezers-like silver instruments scurried swiftly up Malfoy's arm, heading straight for his throat, seemingly intending to pierce his skin, but they were quickly flicked away by Malfoy's wand, flying straight out the window.
"Why isn't it here?" Malfoy frowned. The contents of the glass cabinet were now clearly visible. Besides the few aggressive objects he had just dealt with, there were only a pile of antique seals, a few rusted short swords, animal claws, coiled snakeskin, a decorative crystal bottle inlaid with an opal, and filled with blood.
Finally, his eyes fell on a dust-covered music box.
Malfoy grabbed it and gently wound the spring.
Then, faint, ominous music began to play from the music box.
"Dra…" Pansy felt a wave of drowsiness wash over her upon hearing the sound. Her eyes became glazed, and she yawned, her body swaying. Finally, she leaned back and collapsed onto the soft sofa behind her, unable to finish Malfoy's name.
"It's better if you get some sleep," Malfoy said softly, watching Pansy slump on the sofa, her eyes tightly shut.
The process of destroying the Horcrux should be kept secret, no matter what, for his own sake and for her safety.
Sometimes, knowing too much is definitely not a good thing.
Afterward, Malfoy gently closed the lid of the music box and casually removed the earplugs from his ears, tossing them onto the floor.
"Kreacher," Malfoy whispered the house-elf's name.
With a sound like an explosion, Kreacher appeared before Malfoy, holding a black brush in his hand, covered head to toe in dust, as if he had been cleaning.
"Master Malfoy, what is your command?" Kreacher asked respectfully, bowing deeply.
He seemed to have adapted quickly to the arrival of his new master. If any other wizard had inherited this old house, it would have been impossible for Kreacher to accept them so quickly, but Malfoy was related to the Black family and a pure-blood, so he quickly gained Kreacher's loyalty.
"I command you, Kreacher, decades ago you went to a cave and took a box from there. I demand that you give me that box," Malfoy said directly, stating his purpose. He suddenly realized that he didn't need to search around like a headless fly. The house-elf before him was a witness to all of Regulus's actions; he knew all the inside information.
He only needed to give it a firm order to get the truth.
Regulus had sacrificed himself to have Kreacher bring back the Horcrux and ordered him to destroy it.
But how could an ordinary house-elf destroy such an evil, possibly magically protected object?
Therefore, the Horcrux that Regulus sacrificed his life for must now be hidden somewhere in this house, and Kreacher couldn't possibly not know.
"Master Regulus said that Kreacher cannot tell anyone… anyone in the family… anything about the cave…" Hearing Malfoy's command, Kreacher's eyes instantly lost their luster, and he stammered, answering Malfoy's question in his bullfrog-like, deep voice.
He was resisting, resisting Malfoy's request, which was almost impossible for a house-elf whose highest law was to obey his master's orders.
"I am not a direct member of the Black family. Besides, Kreacher, you must know that I am your new master. The constraints of your former master should no longer bind you," Malfoy said, his eyes fixed on Kreacher, not relaxing in the slightest. He didn't want to push the poor house-elf too hard and could only try to exploit the loopholes in Regulus's words.
Then Malfoy saw Kreacher's eyes seem to refocus, his stiff body began to tremble, shaking and gasping for breath, his shriveled chest rising and falling rapidly, emitting a blood-curdling scream—
"Kreacher made a mistake, Kreacher failed to carry out Master's orders!" The terrifying memories sealed deep within his heart were released, Kreacher's expression fell into terror and remorse, his body suddenly moved, choosing to rush towards the fire poker standing by the hearth, he wanted to beat himself severely, punish himself, he failed to complete the task that Regulus Master had given him!
"I order you to stop, Kreacher," Malfoy said slowly.
As soon as the words fell, Kreacher fell straight onto the cold floor, tears gushing from his sunken eye sockets.
"Give me that box, I will fulfill Regulus's unfinished wish for him," Malfoy walked to the floor next to Kreacher's lying body, looking sincerely at Kreacher's sunken eyes and said.
"No, no, that is a terrible box, Kreacher cannot harm the new master." Kreacher's eyes still couldn't stop tearing, shaking his head on the floor, flowing down his long nose into his open mouth, revealing a mouthful of gray teeth.
"Terrible?" Malfoy keenly seized a word from Kreacher's mouth, thinking.
It is very likely that Slytherin's locket has already demonstrated its power to bewitch people as a Horcrux, perhaps because Kreacher is a house-elf, which is different from ordinary wizards, that he escaped this calamity.
"I repeat one more time, I order you to hand over that box to me," Malfoy said slowly, but the tone hidden in his words was an undeniable firmness.
"That box is hidden in the place where Kreacher usually sleeps!" Kreacher suddenly began to scream, somersaulted from the stone floor and stood up, rushing downstairs.
"Basement?" Malfoy didn't have time to think much, why did he still miss it even though he had checked there relatively carefully? He also followed Kreacher downstairs.
"So that's how it is." Soon, Malfoy followed Kreacher's footsteps to the basement where he had just taken a turn with Pansy, and then watched Kreacher rush over quickly and open the cupboard.
Inside, there was a sink, and below it was a hole, the opening filled with traces of oil stains, and a few dead bugs lying there.
"This is where Kreacher usually sleeps." At this time, Kreacher's expression was full of pride again, as if it was the place where he lived, the simpler and dirtier, the more proud he was of it.
"But Kreacher is still unwilling to let the new master get this box, this box is the Dark Lord's thing, it's too evil, too cruel, Regulus Master was because of it that…" As Kreacher spoke, his sad emotions began to surge again, and his voice began to twitch again.
Malfoy ignored him, but said in a low voice: "Dobby." He called out the house-elf he had brought from his home.
"Dobby is always ready to listen to Master's orders." It has to be said that house-elves are very good at Apparition, Dobby only took a moment to arrive in front of Malfoy, bent his waist, and gave a salute.
"Watch him." Malfoy stared at Dobby and said, pointing at Kreacher with one hand.
"Sword come!" Then Malfoy raised his wand and chanted a spell, only to see Gryffindor's sword burst through the door and fly into his hand, if anyone was present and observed carefully, they would find that the tip of the sword was quenched with a touch of black liquid.
At this moment, the box had been picked out of the hole by Kreacher and rolled onto the dust-covered ground.
Malfoy's eyes stared at the locket in front of him, this box was inlaid with a turquoise green python-shaped gemstone, arranged in an "S" shape, with strange patterns all over its body, it was spitting its core, opening its bloody mouth, as if it saw food, ready to pounce over to prey, around the green gemstone, were engraved with astrological symbols and azimuth notations.
These symbols involve the measurement of the relative angles of planets and the astrological knowledge of their interrelationships.
"It's you." Malfoy nodded with certainty, and then without hesitation, began to destroy the Horcrux, the longer the night, the more dreams, a delay would lead to changes.
As if feeling the danger, at this time the things in the locket were rustling like cockroaches in a cage, as if seeking sympathy from others, and then the small golden lid of the locket clicked open.
Behind the two small glass windows, there were living eyes blinking, black and bright, like Tom Riddle's eyeballs, Malfoy had some impression of this, but then these eyes narrowed into a slit, turning from a dark black to a blood-like red.
"What do you want? I can satisfy you!" Hissing sounds kept coming from this locket.
Malfoy remained unmoved.
With a "clang", Gryffindor's sword was raised high, and then quickly fell, drawing a beautiful arc in the air, and then the tip of the sword pierced through those evil eyes with unparalleled precision and stabbed in.
Clean and neat!
As usual, the Horcrux still spontaneously exerted its magic on the surrounding people, carrying out seduction, hoping that someone could be hooked and provide him with the energy to resurrect.
But Malfoy, who had destroyed multiple Horcruxes, was not shaken by the bewitching sound like a demonic sound, or rather, his desires had not yet reached the point where the Horcrux could arouse them.
In a sense, Voldemort's sense of crisis was too strong, his foresight made him fear death from the age of teenagers, but that was the stage when human beings were most energetic and vital, but he still began to implement his plan for immortality, which is so puzzling.
The ancient emperors, even if they later became superstitious about alchemy, mostly reached the age of knowing their destiny, tasted and felt the terrible power of time, and then began to pursue that almost impossible glimmer of dawn—immortality.
"Meaningless temptation after all." Malfoy stared at the already broken locket. Smiled contemptuously and shook his head.
At this moment, wisps of light smoke emerged from the colored silk lining of the locket, which symbolized the complete destruction of the Horcrux.
No matter how evil the Horcrux is, it is only an appendage of a part of a person's soul, and what it seduces back and forth is those few things—wealth, power, and strength.
But these things are often only tempting to people who lack them.
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