#172 - Section 172

Later, because of a quarrel with his mother, he was removed from the family tree, so he could only live with the Potters.

He hadn't returned for over twenty years, and this was the first year he'd come back to this old house.

Hearing this, Harry was also silent. It seemed like Kreacher had also mentioned Sirius being kicked out of the family by his mother.

If he had thought it through earlier, he wouldn't have asked, making things so awkward now.

“I've long since gotten over it. Look here, this was originally my cousin, Andromeda Black. Because she married a Muggle-born wizard, she was also removed from the family. And here, this is me…”

Seeing Harry's embarrassment, Sirius tried his best to express his dissatisfaction with the family, and his accustomedness to it.

Listening to Sirius introduce the names on these little black holes, Harry understood why Sirius was kicked out of the family tree.

This family was too extreme. Squibs who couldn't awaken magical talent were kicked out, those who married Muggle wizards were kicked out, and even during the Sorting Ceremony, if you weren't in Slytherin, that was also a reason to be kicked out of the family.

Lupin stood quietly by, watching everything. He had known all of this for a long time.

Back when Sirius was kicked out, they were still studying at Hogwarts. They all knew about this, and they knew the reasons behind it.

Ethan, on the other hand, waited for a while, and then, with a pop, Kreacher finally Apparated back.

He was holding a small black box in his hand. After approaching Ethan, he respectfully handed it over.

Ethan opened it directly.

Inside was an ancient object similar to a small compass, with mysterious runes engraved around it. In the middle was a snake-shaped 'S' symbol, inlaid with emeralds, and strung with a silver-white chain.

And like the other Horcruxes, it had a special, decaying stench. Without a doubt, this was Voldemort's genuine Horcrux.

It was only because it had been made into a Horcrux, an evil Dark Magic tool, that Ethan didn't react when he held it.

Just like the diadem, as long as Ethan could pull out the soul within, it could return to its original form.

After playing with it for a while, Ethan put it back in the box and opened a corner of Nibelungen, throwing the Horcrux and the box inside.

After all, Ethan was going to the living room later, and he would be quite close to Harry then.

It wouldn't matter if they were further apart, but if they were too close, Harry would be able to sense the Horcrux, even though he wouldn't notice anything now.

But if he came into contact with the Horcrux in the future, and knew that he could sense Horcruxes, and knew how he reacted when he encountered one, he would definitely remember today's encounter and come looking for him.

So, to avoid trouble, it was better to be careful.

After doing all this, Ethan took out a small bottle of pale green potion and handed it to Kreacher.

This was diluted Winged Serpent venom, which could effectively erase memories.

Although Ethan knew the Obliviate Charm, it had side effects. Unless Ethan wanted to deliberately trick someone, he usually chose Winged Serpent venom.

Anyway, he kept Winged Serpents at home, so the venom was quite easy to obtain.

Watching Kreacher drink it all down, Ethan released the Imperius Curse.

“I've already brought you to the room?”

“Forget it, what do you need? Tell me quickly!”

Kreacher, who had recovered from his daze, was first puzzled, then asked quite impolitely.

“No need, I've already obtained it.”

Ignoring Kreacher, who was still standing there in a daze, Ethan pushed open the door and walked out.

“Did you get what you needed?”

Seeing Ethan come out, Sirius, who was chatting with Harry, also turned his head.

“Harry, you and Lupin sit here for a while. I'll take Adrian to retrieve the family's collection of books.”

Seeing Ethan return, Sirius immediately took action.

The Unbreakable Vow, it was better to complete this as soon as possible.

Sirius didn't want to carry such a ticking time bomb on his back.

And to be honest, he didn't have much affection for Ethan, of course, he didn't have any ill will either.

Although Ethan had an element of taking advantage of the situation in this transaction, it was all voluntary.

It wasn't like he forced him to make the vow.

In the short few meetings, Sirius knew that he couldn't outsmart Ethan, and his personality was inclined towards the pure-blood's pursuit of interests above all else.

He and Sirius were on different paths.

They could have some friendship, but not deep, and not offend each other. This was Sirius's current thought.

Following Sirius, they arrived at the third floor and stopped at a door frame with a golden plaque bearing the name 'Orion Black'.

Ethan knew that this was Sirius's father, which was not a secret in the wizarding world.

But Sirius didn't take Ethan directly inside, but went to the room next door without a plaque.

Like the door, the doorknob was just for show. Sirius used his wand to open it.

Ethan guessed that Black Manor, like Hogwarts, was a living building that could recognize its owner.

In terms of history, the Black family was no worse than Hogwarts, perhaps even older and more ancient.

It was just that the scale and magical protection of Black Manor were definitely not as good as Hogwarts.

Now that Sirius, the last of the pure-blood line, had become the head of the Black family, he had the authority to go anywhere.

Entering it, this place was different from other parts of the Black family that Ethan had seen. It was not stained with any dust, as if someone had used it yesterday.

Ethan wouldn't be curious about this. In Ethan's mind, there were several spells that had this effect.

It was just that this study was not large, and the collection of books did not match the name of the Black family, the oldest and most noble pure-blood family.

Although it was larger than the study in Ethan's house in Godric's Hollow, and the collection of books was much richer, it was relatively small compared to the Worre family's study that Ethan had entered.

Logically speaking, this shouldn't be possible!

Walking to the desk, Ethan saw a book lying half-open on it, with several books piled messily next to it.

Ethan picked it up directly, and immediately knew that the book was made of human skin. The moment he picked it up, it let out a scream that made his soul feel uncomfortable.

Such Dark Magic books were not uncommon. Ethan had seen many and naturally knew how to deal with them.

After forcibly using magic to silence it, Ethan began to examine the book. What caught his eye was the method for creating Horcruxes.

Unfortunately, Ethan had already learned about this evil Dark magic from Little Tom.

Then the name of this book is self-evident: "Advanced Dark Arts Unveiled." Regulus found the secret of the Horcruxes in this book.

It was also the culprit that led to his death.

If Regulus hadn't been so clever, he would have been able to live safely. The Malfoy family was able to break away from the Death Eater identity, and there was no reason why Regulus, the head of the Black family, couldn't.

Wouldn't it have been better to live peacefully for more than ten years and watch Old Dumbledore destroy this thing?

As a result, he tricked Old Dumbledore into a series of Voldemort's tricks, almost killing him, only to get a fake.

Sirius didn't pay much attention after Ethan picked up a book on Dark Arts.

"These are all the Black family's collection of books, but this is only a part."

"After you collect them all, I'll take you to the other side."

Seeing this, Ethan naturally wouldn't refuse. He restored a shrunken box to its original size. After opening the lid, Ethan took out his wand and gently tapped one of the bookshelves.

The entire bookshelf floated up and landed above the box, rapidly shrinking and entering it under the effect of the spell.

Nagini was in the box. After Ethan put the book and the entire bookshelf into it, she roughly sorted it out inside, mainly to put it in place, so as not to fall to the side after entering the box and scatter the books everywhere.

The specific classification will be done after Ethan returns to his home in Godric's Hollow.

Sirius's face twitched involuntarily at Ethan's thieving behavior of not even letting go of the bookshelf.

He only said he would give the books, not the bookshelves!

But in the end, he didn't say much.

Ethan's method of loading the entire bookshelf was really fast. In just a few minutes, a study was cleared out.

Looking at the empty study, Sirius sighed and came to a mirror.

He placed his wand on the mirror and said, "The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, Ever Pure!"

As Sirius's voice fell, the mirror rippled like a stone thrown into a calm water surface.

After a few seconds, the mirror disappeared directly, revealing a dark door. On the door, a mountain-shaped symbol, two five-pointed stars, and a shield with a dagger inserted in it were engraved with golden threads. On both sides of the shield were two leaping dogs, and the doorknob was in the shape of a silver coiled snake.

Sirius pointed the tip of his wand at the position of the doorknob.

The next moment, the golden threads on the entire door lit up, followed by the sound of gears turning from inside the door.

It was the same sound Ethan heard when he went to Gringotts to deposit one million Galleons, it seems that the goblin's anti-theft technology was used.

In a series of creaking sounds, the dark door gradually opened.

Sirius took the lead and walked in. The originally dark space suddenly lit up as Sirius entered.

This is worthy of being an ancient family with a thousand years of inheritance!

In terms of scale, it is larger and more gorgeous than the Worre family. Even on the bookshelves, Ethan could sense bursts of magical fluctuations.

Moreover, a considerable part of the books contained magic, just like the book "Advanced Dark Arts Unveiled," with magic attached to them.

"This is the Black family's real library, now they are yours."

Sirius had no nostalgia for everything in front of him.

Since Sirius said so, Ethan naturally wouldn't be polite. He immediately started the great cleaning mode, Ethan didn't let go of any of the bookshelves.

Fortunately, Ethan's current box was expanded large enough with the Undetectable Extension Charm.

Otherwise, it might not be able to fit.

Although he only glanced briefly when loading the bookshelves, many of the books on the bookshelves were even placed in the same positions as in the Hogwarts library.

Ethan suspected that Phineas Nigellus Black, Sirius's great-great-grandfather, had made a copy of all the books in the Hogwarts library when he was headmaster.

Now, Ethan also has the part of the books that Dumbledore specially collected in the headmaster's office and wouldn't let anyone see.

Although many of these seemed useless to Ethan, he didn't let them go.

After Ethan cleared everything here, Sirius said:

"Now, our oath is completed, right?"

"Indeed, the transaction is complete."

Ethan satisfactorily put away the box with the Undetectable Extension Charm, and then left the library with Sirius.

After the two left, the black door engraved with the Black family crest closed with a sound and returned to its previous appearance as a mirror.

At the same time, Ethan also felt a burst of magic flowing on his arm. He pulled open his wizard robe and found that some tiny fiery red threads were untying and dissipating.

Sirius on the side also pulled open the sleeve of his wizard robe, watching this scene.

Both of them were experiencing the Unbreakable Vow spell for the first time, and they were relieved only after all the fiery red threads had disappeared.

"Adrian, would you like to have a meal with us? The taste of a Muggle restaurant outside is not bad. I can order and have them delivered, and let Lupin pick it up."

Sirius, who had returned to the second floor, was also much more relaxed, after all, he had removed a curse that could take his life at any time.

"No need, my house-elf should have already prepared dinner, and Cassandra and the others are probably waiting for me to go back for dinner too."

Ethan refused with a smile.

Ethan wasn't surprised that Sirius knew about the nearby Muggle restaurant.

Ethan, who had read the original book, knew that Sirius had collected photos of Muggle girls wearing bikinis when he was still in school, and even posted them in his room.

He was very interested in things from the Muggle world and had contacted a lot of them, and the modified motorcycle was also proof.

"In that case, I won't keep you."

Ethan refused, and Sirius didn't force it.

Anyway, just treat him like a normal friend and make a good relationship.

"Ethan, do you have a house-elf?"