0837 The Object

A tremendous roar echoed through the dark chamber, the heavy impact causing the entire vast room to tremble. What was even more alarming was that under the basilisk’s frantic, desperate ramming, Salazar Slytherin’s stone leg snapped clean off at the knee. The massive stone pillar crashed down, falling directly toward Bryan and Newt.

This sudden turn of events stunned Newt so completely that he stood frozen without any reaction. Bryan had no choice but to grab Newt’s arm and drag the legendary magizoologist several steps aside, preventing him from meeting such an ignominious end.

CRASH!!!

The mountain-sized stone leg thundered to the ground. The violent tremor launched both Bryan and Newt into the air, and the entire stone chamber swayed in the lingering shockwaves. Dust fell like fine rain from above. Fortunately, Bryan’s quick reflexes allowed him to conjure a milky-white barrier, sparing them from further embarrassment.

But an even more dire situation emerged!

The massive statue, now missing one leg, was destabilized by the chain reaction of tremors. The towering sculpture, dozens of feet high, began to tip to one side. If such an enormous stone mass crashed to the ground, it would surely collapse this converted cellar.

Even Bryan’s brow furrowed at this development.

He suddenly raised his index finger, and a small golden flame appeared at his fingertip. With a flick of his finger, the tiny flame left his fingertip and grew rapidly in the air. By the time it reached the stone statue, it had become a sweeping curtain of golden fire that enveloped Slytherin’s aged face—a visage clearly deformed by magical experiments.

Magical constructs are more easily dissolved.

Like snow meeting spring sunshine, the enormous Slytherin sculpture began melting rapidly from the head down. Before the body could tilt much further, the massive statue vanished before Newt’s eyes as if erased from existence.

Whoosh!

Bryan swept his sleeve, conjuring a fierce wind that dispersed the dust before it could spread. The flames that had consumed the statue flew up to the ceiling, transforming into brilliant stars that illuminated the dark chamber like daylight.

Only after completing all this did Bryan have the leisure to look at the basilisk that had caused all this trouble. When he did, he was immediately speechless.

Most of the basilisk’s massive body was now embedded deep within the wall, with only half its tail still exposed, thrashing wildly in the air. It seemed to be trying to burrow through the wall to escape, but it had reached the spatial limits imposed by the Undetectable Extension Charm. No matter how hard it struggled, it couldn’t advance another inch!

Crash, crash, crash!

Unaware of this limitation, the basilisk continued its frantic writhing, sending chunks of stone cascading down.

Newt stared at the basilisk which now resembled a giant “earthworm” with both amazement and bewilderment. After a long moment, his wrinkled cheeks trembled, and he turned to Bryan.

“What exactly did you do to it?”

“Nothing much, really,” Bryan said, frowning as he pondered. “The last time I encountered it, it was trying to kill several young wizards, so I… well, gave it a bit of a scare?”

Bryan responded to Newt’s glare with an expression of innocence.

In fact, he had omitted one detail: at the time, he had destroyed a Horcrux belonging to Salazar Slytherin’s heir right in front of the basilisk.

The basilisk continued its never-ending thrashing, which was quite disruptive. Bryan raised his hand and gestured with his fingers. One of the stars illuminating the ceiling fell down and transformed into a massive flaming sword above the basilisk embedded in the wall, looking ready to strike.

The wriggling tail went rigid instantly.

Bryan walked over calmly and said in an even tone, “Come out.”

Rustle—

The tail coiled, and the basilisk began moving its body again. But this time, instead of trying to escape forward, it was backing up. After another bout of struggling, with a loud thud, the basilisk emerged back into the cellar, lying disheveled in front of Bryan.

The flaming sword hovering above the basilisk lost its blade form, softening into a rope that descended and formed a floating collar around the basilisk’s massive head. Throughout this entire process, the basilisk remained perfectly still as it remembered being burned by this type of flame and trembled at the destructive aura it contained.

“I thought it could only understand Parseltongue,” Newt said, looking somewhat pleased as he turned to Bryan. But Bryan was certain he caught a flash of frustration cross Newt’s face before he finally sighed in resignation.

“Violence may make magical creatures submit temporarily, Bryan, but you’ll never earn their genuine trust. You can never truly become friends with them.”

Bryan nodded thoughtfully, then looked into the basilisk’s blind eyes with calm indifference.

“Open your mouth.”

The basilisk flicked out a small portion of its forked tongue, seeming both resentful and aggrieved. But what choice did it have?

The wizard in front of it appeared even more formidable and powerful than during their last encounter. It could only comply, slowly opening its mouth to reveal rows of fearsome, terrifying fangs dripping with intense, pungent venom.

Bryan examined it briefly and quickly spotted two empty spaces among the fangs in the basilisk’s lower jaw.

“Dumbledore took one of the fangs?”

The basilisk’s compliance left even Newt momentarily stunned. He took a deep breath and moved to Bryan’s side.

“That’s right,” Newt nodded. “Not long after Wright was brought to me, Albus wrote asking if he could have one of Wright’s fangs for research. So, during a routine dental examination, I extracted one and sent it to Albus.”

He paused, then bent down and pointed to the other empty socket. “Around October last year, Wright became very agitated for a period. I spent a long time communicating with it before it finally told me that one of its teeth was bothering it. I suspect losing that fang created psychological trauma.

In any case, I examined its teeth again and discovered that this particular fang’s root, buried in the gum, was severely corroded and loose. So, I convinced Wright to let me extract it. What surprised me was that when I removed this damaged fang, I found it was hollow inside, containing a Slytherin family crest made of goblin-wrought silver and gold, adorned with emeralds.”

Seeing that Bryan was listening intently with narrowed eyes, Newt caught his breath and continued, “I asked Wright about it, but it knew nothing about this object. It had no idea why its tooth contained such a thing, though it did recognize that the exquisite Slytherin crest bore Salazar Slytherin’s own aura.”

Bryan rubbed his fingers thoughtfully. “Did you tell Headmaster Dumbledore about this?”

“I did mention it in a letter to Albus, and he was very interested. He wanted to examine the crest, but I told him that Wright was quite hooked with Salazar’s aura on the crest, so it begged me to return the crest to its stomach.

Albus asked me to confirm with Wright whether anyone else had ever had contact with the crest through it. After receiving that confirmation, he abandoned his plans to obtain the crest. But Albus said that if the opportunity arose and I met you, I should tell you about this matter.”

Bryan stood with his hands clasped behind his back, quietly considering.

When Dumbledore first heard about this, his initial reaction was probably to suspect it was another Horcrux hidden by Voldemort. But he would have quickly realized this was unlikely.

First, the basilisk had told Newt it knew nothing about the crest.

Second, Voldemort would never make such an error as to let two of his Horcruxes come into contact, as this would greatly increase the risk of exposure.

Third, if a Horcrux was truly hidden in the basilisk’s fang, there would have been no need for Lucius Malfoy to send the diary back to Hogwarts for the Chamber to be opened.

This must have been Salazar Slytherin’s own handiwork.

Dumbledore knew what he should be investigating, something related to Hogwarts’ four founders. He had previously retrieved Ravenclaw’s diadem from Dumbledore and showed extreme interest in the mysterious runes on the founders’ artifacts.

Dumbledore probably thought this crest might be connected to his investigation. To avoid creating the impression that he was prying into personal secrets, he had Newt convey this information instead.

Bryan glanced at Newt, who was watching him curiously. After a moment’s hesitation, his gaze returned to the basilisk’s open mouth with indifference.

“Spit it out,” Bryan commanded.

Bryan’s indifferent gaze fell upon the basilisk as he spoke calmly.

Hiss, hiss—

The fierce basilisk flicked its tongue, the hissing sounds it made carrying a note of grievance.

Salazar Slytherin was this basilisk’s creator. To it, Slytherin was like a father figure. It had obeyed Slytherin’s instructions, remaining in the Chamber for a thousand years. During those long ages, only when Slytherin’s descendants occasionally returned to Hogwarts could it briefly release its nature.

In Wright’s simple thoughts, since Slytherin had hidden that family crest in its fang, it must be a gift from its father. Yet this powerful wizard before it was now forcing it to surrender its father’s gift.

The blazing fire collar bobbed slightly up and down, yet it brought the basilisk a bone-deep chill. It understood clearly that this wizard would not hesitate to destroy it.

“Bryan—”

Seeing Wright, normally so fierce-tempered after their long companionship, appearing so docile before Bryan, Newt felt sympathy.

“That crest is Wright’s only memento of Salazar Slytherin. I can persuade it to spit it out, but could you please not take it away?”

“I’m sorry, Newt, but I can’t promise you that,” Bryan replied, unwilling to lie to Newt. He spoke calmly, “Though I can’t prove it, I’m fairly certain that Salazar Slytherin left this crest most likely for me, so I must take it.”

Bryan’s words made Newt furrow his graying brows.

He didn’t quite understand what Bryan meant. Salazar Slytherin from a thousand years ago had specifically left a family crest for him, even using such a concealed method? What was Bryan trying to say—that he was a direct descendant of Slytherin?

That seemed unlikely. Everyone knew Bryan Blaine was Muggle-born, while the British magical academic community recognized the Gaunt family as Slytherin’s acknowledged descendants.

Though he had only met Bryan twice, with their total time together less than half a day, through hearsay and brief interaction, Newt felt he had gained some understanding of this young man. Meeting those calm, unperturbed pale purple eyes, he knew he couldn’t persuade Bryan to change his mind.

Newt abandoned his attempt at persuasion, sighing heavily before falling silent. Bryan once again turned his gaze to the basilisk.

“Spit Out-“

“Spit out the crest.” Bryan said again, “Don’t make me repeat myself a third time.”

What choice did the ‘docile’ Wright have?

It had only two options: either spit out the crest its father had left it, or be burned to ash by the gray-haired wizard and be forced to surrender the crest anyway.

So, Wright’s massive body began to tremble, its belly was pressed against the ground slowly swelling as it pushed the crest it had swallowed back up toward its mouth.

“Pfft—”

A crest wrapped in pale green gastric juices but still gleaming with metallic luster was ejected from the basilisk’s mouth. Bryan blinked, causing the crest to hover before him.

Bryan flicked his finger, and as a gentle breeze swept over the crest, the palm-sized metal piece, a full inch thick, immediately became spotlessly clean.

Just as Newt had described earlier.

The crest’s main body was made of goblin-wrought silver.

In today’s Wizarding world, this extremely precious magical metal was rarely used in totally for crafting objects. Only those precise, expensive alchemical instruments would use this silver to carve magical runes at their core components.

The Slytherin family crest patterns on both sides of the heavy crest were made with melted gold, and like the locket, the lifelike ‘S’ at the center of the design was adorned with pure emeralds of the finest quality, while the crest’s edges were engraved with exquisite patterns.

Looking at the Slytherin family crest slowly rotating in front of him, Bryan’s eyes flashed with scrutiny.

Unlike the locket, the crest bore obvious traces of magic, though Bryan couldn’t immediately determine the specific purpose of the enchantments attached to it. However, he could be certain that this crest belonging to Slytherin was not like the sword, diadem, cup, locket, or that Resurrection Stone ring—objects that could be traced in various historical documents.

Slytherin had left it with definite purpose, this was beyond doubt.

Bryan hesitated for a moment. He glanced at the basilisk, which was emanating subtle waves of dejection, and not only did he not loosen the fire ring around its neck, he tightened it slightly. Before Newt could cry out in alarm, Bryan extended his hand.

Plop—

Under Bryan’s somewhat tense gaze, the cold, heavy family crest fell into his palm.

No dazzling radiance erupted, no flickering lights appeared. Everything in the cellar remained as before, except for Newt’s stern voice of protest.

Gazing at the family crest, Bryan’s brows gradually furrowed as he tuned out Newt.

Of Hogwarts’ four great founders, he had now personally encountered Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. He had even engaged in one-sided interaction with Gryffindor across that memory. Only with Salazar Slytherin had Bryan never come face to face.

He had always had some expectation of this meeting, after all, he was someone from Salazar Slytherin’s own house. Yet he wondered if it was because this great founder looked down upon his Muggle origin wizards that Slytherin had never appeared in front of him.

His closest contact with this unique founder had been in that place where the sculpture of Slytherin himself was present and the Chamber that Gryffindor said had answer to all his curiosities.

Bryan had thought this family crest would be his opportunity to meet Slytherin, but reality was contrary to his expectations.

The heavy crest lying in Bryan’s palm seemed like nothing more than a priceless work of art. Apart from its shiny beauty, it showed no other activity at all.

“What do you think it is?”

Running his fingertips back and forth over the crest’s patterns, Bryan examined it from every angle for several minutes without discovering any clues. He unconsciously asked Newt.

Newt had realized that Bryan had only tightened the fire ring to prevent Wright from interfering while he studied Slytherin’s legacy. He exhaled quietly and stood beside Bryan, silently observing Slytherin’s bequest alongside him.

Hearing Bryan’s question, Newt tilted his head. When he had first obtained the crest, he had studied it for some time but hadn’t made much progress.

“Unfortunately, Bryan, I’m neither a historian nor a heraldic scholar. I did consult some records about Salazar Slytherin, but I found no mention of this crest appearing anywhere in history. I can only tell that it’s probably goblin work.”

“Probably from goblins—”

Bryan murmured in repetition.

This wasn’t difficult to determine. Goblin craftsmanship had a very distinctive style, and the fine patterns on the crest’s edges and goblin-wrought silver were clear evidence of goblin origin. This wasn’t particularly different—all the objects left by the four founders were goblin-made, though some were later imbued with magical powers by wizards.

Bryan held the heavy crest with its side facing up, studying the edge patterns intently.

When investigating Hermione’s attack earlier, Bryan had learned from a goblin at Gringotts’ world bank in Paris that these patterns weren’t merely decorative—they were actually vague ancient goblin script.

Turning the crest back and forth, examining the patterns, Bryan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

‘Gringotts… goblins… Slytherin… key?’

Gradually, a vague hypothesis formed in Bryan’s mind.

“I need to take this crest with me—”

After taking a deep breath, Bryan looked at Newt.

“I think I know what its purpose is, but I need to confirm it.”

Newt nodded. After a moment’s hesitation, he glanced at Wright lying flat on the ground.

“If someday Slytherin’s crest no longer serves any purpose for you, could you return it to Wright, Bryan?”

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