Amoesta stood in the hall cultivating the soul-sucking creature, gazing at the room. In these rooms, like a resplendent nebula in an infinite dark universe, there were halos of light. Since meeting that woman, Vithya Kliorna, events had flowed through his mind one after another. These discoveries were like pieces of a puzzle, converging in Amoesta's mind into a complete story.
This magnificent painting is about to be complete, but it lacks the most core piece - why is the secret surrounding everything related to him?
By solving this puzzle, Amoesta could basically restore most of the truth about the whole thing.
"When I was imprisoned in Azkaban, there were more dementors on the island than just the ones we saw above, but certainly not as many as below..."
"One hundred and sixty-two."
Amoesta's expression was indifferent, and he said calmly,
"In the official Azkaban resources released by the Ministry of Magic in March this year, the current number of Dementors was recorded. And this figure was one hundred and sixty when it was still one hundred and fifty-nine a decade ago. Even today, the Ministry of Magic still cannot figure out the exact reproduction method of Dementors. The academic community believes that these creatures reproduce by self-splitting. They think that as long as a Dementor absorbs enough happy memories, it will have the condition for reproduction."
The question of how Dementors are bred no longer needs speculation. The scene before us provides the answer. Sirius Black was blinking his eyes, pondering the increase in the number of Dementors that Amoesta had just mentioned.
"Ten years ago, after the fall of Voldemort, those Death Eaters and their followers who had been massively sent to Azkaban were put in prison, which caused a sudden surge in the number of prisoners. This probably relieved the Dementors from worrying about starvation, so their reproduction rate increased."
As if knowing Sirius's confusion, Amoesta followed up.
There are still numerous rooms within this secret realm yet to be explored. Ravenclaw and Gryffindor were rushing straight towards the core area, and the room they were in was undoubtedly the heart of the secret realm.
However, several people noticed that there was another small door on the right side of the room, and this door was open, indicating that it led to another room.
"Let's go, Rowena--"
After seeing all this, Gryffindor's mood and expression were both heavy. He called out to Ravenclaw and turned towards the small door.
Amoesta and Sirius followed him, and both of them felt that the memory they were experiencing was coming to an end.
Behind the door was a relatively short corridor, with solid rock walls on both sides. Only at the end of the corridor was there a broken doorway.
The wooden door had clearly not been damaged by natural weathering; instead, it showed distinct signs of having been deliberately broken.
For several centuries, the two founders of Hogwarts were probably the only other wizards to have entered this secret realm. Apart from them, it is estimated that only that white witch with a thick layer of mythical color has entered here.
They entered the room behind the door in single file. When Amoesta entered, his usually dim eyes suddenly shone with a glint of excitement, and he was not alone in this reaction - Rowena Ravenclaw was showing a similar spark.
It was another spacious room, with wooden shelves all around the walls. Half of the shelves held ancient books, while the vast majority were scrolls written on vellum.
"Helford's library?"
For the first time since they entered the island, Ravenclaw was in high spirits. She approached quickly, extending her hand to pick up a magical book with a dark, bloodstained cover. However, as soon as her delicate finger touched the book, it suddenly began to sandify, leaving only smoke wrapping around Ravenclaw's fingertips.
"Merlin had destroyed the protective spells in this library when he entered. These books have been in an unprotected state for centuries and are mostly damaged."
Seeing his friend's disappointment, Gryffindor displayed a mischievous smirk, while Sirius flashed a smile and patted Amoesta's shoulder, whose face turned black again.
Apart from the shelves on the walls, the library was filled with a clutter of objects. Ravenclaw no longer tried to pick up the books. Her gaze pierced through the shelves and suddenly locked on to a certain direction, and her footsteps resumed as she moved around the obstacles, heading towards that direction.
In the center of the library, there was a desk made of a white material that was clearly not wood, but from the bones of some kind of creature.
By now, they had no more interest in being surprised by Helford's cruelty. Ravenclaw walked towards the chair, her gaze falling on a stack of manuscripts placed on the desk.
The text on the first page of the manuscripts was in ancient runes, which both Ravenclaw and Amoesta were proficient in, so it wasn't too difficult for them to read.
"What is recorded on it?"
Sirius, who knew a bit of rune symbols, stretched his neck and stared at the strange patterns with confusion.
"It looks like magic... or a ritual, I'm not quite sure. Wait, let me take a closer look..."
Having learned from the previous experience, Ravenclaw did not try to open the second page of the manuscript again. However, it seems she had some way to read the following content.
"Holy artifacts."
Without warning, Ravenclaw, who was deeply engrossed in reading content that Amoasta could not see, suddenly blurted out those two words.
"Holy artifacts?"
Gryffindor frowned, pondering all his knowledge of magic and alchemy. However, he found nothing in his memory.
"Like Horcruxes, are they some kind of evil magic?"
"Holy artifacts? The Deathly Hallows?"
Amoesta's brow furrowed slightly. He had not heard of such things, but he was not completely unaware of them.
"That's right, Godric. Holy artifacts are the exact opposite of Horcruxes. You're correct; this is indeed a very evil kind of magic, and it's extremely dangerous."
"Ravenclaw's voice was serious."
"Leaving this notebook here must mean something. When we get back, I really need to spend some time studying it."
"The Holy artifacts. My father... He mentioned them to me and Regulus when he was still alive..."
"Surprisingly, Sirius has also heard of some of them. He blinked his eyes, looking confused all over."
"It originally comes from the story of three brothers in the Tales of Beedle the Bard. But, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw are much older than Peeves, aren't they? Holy artifacts?"
Sirius suddenly exclaimed,
"The story of the three brothers. Could the Death mentioned there be Helford?"
"Stories and truths are often very different. But at this point, it seems that Holy artifacts are closely related to Helford. And it's highly likely that Holy artifacts actually exist."
Amoesta's eyes flickered with a spark of intelligence as he spoke thoughtfully.
After a few more minutes, Ravenclaw seemed to have taken down all the content on the parchment. She raised her head and looked around the shelves, her gaze filled with regret. If given enough time, she could have copied all the contents of the library's books and manuscripts, but unfortunately, she doesn't seem to have enough time to do so.
"Let's go, Godric. Let's check out the back room of the library. That's the last stone chamber."
(End of Chapter)
