Chapter 239 The Deeds Of The Black Family

"Sirius, what is all this?" Harry asked, surprised.

"I don't know, it's not the same place I visited 16 years ago!" Sirius looked around and wondered, "I remember before, the room was full of stacks of gold coins and golden treasures, to the point where we couldn't even step inside..."

Currently, the vault was empty. Besides the strange treasures and objects of dark magic that looked quite sinister at first glance, not even a hint of gold could be seen.

"Griphook?"

"We cannot disclose our clients' secrets, but this doesn't seem like something that needs to be kept secret," Griphook said disapprovingly. "This vault was opened 13 years ago, and upon the orders of its then-owner, Mrs. Walburga Black, we sent our staff to transfer all the gold and possessions here to the personal vaults of Mrs. Bellatrix Lestrange and Mrs. Narcissa Malfoy. Due to the large amount of gold, it took us two days to complete the task."

Listening to Griphook's description, Evan could imagine the scene at that time.

The goblins lined up, entering and exiting the Black family vault, carrying gold in their arms and transporting them to the personal vaults in carts.

"Not surprising, after Regulus' death, my dear old mother redistributed the family's wealth," Sirius said sarcastically. "Each of my cousins got their share. One of them is married to a Death Eater, and the other is one of the craziest. My mother must have been so proud! No surprise. I should have expected as much. Surely she didn't want to leave me anything."

Sirius approached a skull and kicked it with his foot.

The old, cracked skull rolled on the floor, emitting an uncomfortable and harsh sound, rolling into the dark corner of the room.

Evan, Harry, and Hermione looked at each other and saw fear in each other's eyes.

As if sensing the atmosphere was not quite right, Sirius immediately raised his head and said, "Well, you three don't be disheartened by this. No one cares about gold. We are here to find the documents. Let me see, they should still be here."

He approached a cabinet and rummaged through it, and Evan hurried to help.

Sirius was right, everything that seemed dangerous, objects of dark magic, and items clearly bearing the emblem of the Black family, were left here, untouched.

The absence of gold was not the only strange thing in the vault.

Many things were simply strange ornamental accessories, belonging to the personal collection of former Black family members.

There were also many objects with magical power, and Evan even sensed a strong magical reaction from several of them. Unfortunately, most of them were objects of dark magic and couldn't be used.

Facing a large table of dark red stone, Evan saw a simple card.

The card indicated that everything on the table belonged to Arcturus Black, and Evan remembered the Black family tree he had seen the previous day. This individual was Sirius's grandfather, a person who had remained alive until 3 or 4 years ago.

On the stone table, the most striking item was a motionless eye stained with blood, in a glass case.

It seemed as if it had been directly plucked from someone's head.

There were several bones placed inside the stone platform, most of them were bones of magical creatures, but many had the characteristic shape of human bones.

There could not be a deed on top, so Evan went to the side to open another cabinet.

Under a thick layer of dust, he saw dozens of large glass bottles filled with unknown yellow and green liquids.

He frowned, approached, and gazed with curiosity.

The nearest glass jar contained an Ashwinder, very slim, the size of a thick thread. It was bent in a strange way, very similar to the pattern of an Ashwinder in the book.

The Ashwinder is a rare magical creature. It is a snake born of magic.

The Ashwinder is created when a magical fire burns for too long. A slender snake of pale gray color with bright red eyes would rise from the embers of an unattended fire and slither into the shadows of the dwelling it finds itself in, leaving an ashy trail in its wake.

The Ashwinder lives for only an hour and during that time seeks out a dark and secluded place to lay its eggs, after which it will crumble into dust.

Ashwinder eggs are bright red and emit intense heat.

Ignoring them will cause the dwelling to ignite within minutes. These Ashwinder eggs possess great magical power, and if frozen with a Freezing Charm, they can be used in a Love Potion or ingested whole as a cure for ailments.

Due to the high demand for fire, this type of snake is actually difficult to obtain.

It is impossible to keep an Ashwinder as a specimen, and Evan had never seen anything similar except for this one in the jar.

Just as he was about to approach and examine what was in the other jars, Hermione's voice came from the side.

"Come here, I found the writings!" Hermione exclaimed.

Hermione pulled out a lot of yellowed paper from a filing cabinet, which was filled with text and proved to be very difficult to read. It was in Old English. On the back, there were the seals of the Black family and the Ministry of Magic, proving the ownership titles were legal and valid.

"This is Spider's Tail Alley 6!" Hermione picked up the top document and examined it closely. "I've never heard of this place; where is Spider's Tail Alley?"

"On the north side of Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, there's a large area of Muggles in between," Sirius explained. "It's an ancient meeting place for wizards, with about 500 years of history. Because many dark wizards have gradually abandoned it in recent decades, this place lacks significance."

Under this document was the ownership title for Grimmauld Place 12. It had belonged to the Blacks for centuries. In addition to the house, it also included a large expanse of land. The document bore the emblem of the Presbyterian Church of the Ministry of Magic and the emblem of the then Muggle King.

The fourth title was for a shop in Knockturn Alley, and both had a long-term lease agreement.

One of them, number 21, was rented out to an elderly witch for a 40-year period to sell things like poisoned apples and candles. As for number 83, it was leased to the McGonagall family for a hundred years to sell the skin and skulls of various magical creatures.

After that, the fifth title turned out to be a shop in Diagon Alley, at number 36 Diagon Alley.

"36 Diagon Alley!" Hermione recalled attentively. "It seems to be between Eeylops Owl Emporium and Ollivanders Wand Shop, there..."

In Evan's memory, indeed, there was a large place there that had been inactive for a long time.

That place must be 36 Diagon Alley. This location wasn't the best, but there were many people around. Especially at the beginning of each school year, many young wizards would buy magical wands or an owl as a pet.

It was perfect for the newspaper headquarters. If the place were large enough, the ground floor space could be maximized to sell Weasley joke products.

Within the filing cabinet, the latest entry was the Black Mansion in the countryside. It was very grand and seemed to have an abandoned castle in it.