#757 - Chamber of Secrets (asking for monthly ticket recommendation)

Anduin found that the Horcrux in the ring was more difficult to 'manipulate' than Voldemort's soul that had been resurrected before.

This is because after an object is made into a Horcrux, it is equivalent to adding a layer of protection to the soul. At the same time, because it is only a part of the soul and there is no more specific consciousness to control it,

the internal memory fragments are obviously missing and appear very disorganized.

Fortunately, Anduin had enough patience and superb thinking exploration skills. He had done a lot of experiments with other people's brains and souls to help the Longbottoms with their treatment, and now this skill comes in handy.

In the following days, Anduin dealt with the affairs of Diagon Alley and Hogwarts, while taking time to explore the Horcrux bit by bit, gradually gaining a lot of useful information.

However, it seems that Voldemort was able to split his soul relatively skillfully when he made this Horcrux.

Voldemort only implanted memories from the two years before making the Horcrux, but even these two years of memories contained an extraordinary amount of information.

First of all, it can be determined that this ring should be the second Horcrux made by Voldemort. It was made in August 1943, when Voldemort, a fifth-year student, also known as Tom Riddle, split his soul by killing his biological father, and then made this Horcrux.

And two months before that, Voldemort had just created his first Horcrux. Anduin could roughly see that it was a plain-looking notebook.

However, what was even more surprising was what happened when this Horcrux was made!

Voldemort actually killed Moaning Myrtle in the second-floor girls' bathroom of Hogwarts Castle by commanding the Basilisk to create the Horcrux.

During this period, Voldemort even framed Hagrid, who was only in his third year at the time, causing him to be expelled from school and his wand broken. Later, it was because of Dumbledore's pity that he got a job as a gamekeeper and stayed at Hogwarts.

"So that's why Hagrid was expelled back then? That honest guy was really wronged… And that unlucky Moaning Myrtle, it was simply an unprovoked disaster."

Anduin had learned some of Hagrid's past from him, but because of his relationship with Hagrid, he had never asked too much about it. He never expected that Voldemort was involved.

"And there's a Basilisk in Hogwarts, and judging by its size, it must have been alive for hundreds or even thousands of years. Haven't the professors at the school noticed it? This is too outrageous. And what the heck is that so-called Chamber of Secrets?"

Anduin smiled self-deprecatingly. He realized that his understanding of Hogwarts was still too shallow. There was such a dangerous creature under this castle.

However, because the memories he could see were relatively scattered and vague, Anduin did not figure out how to open the Chamber of Secrets and summon the Basilisk.

But this didn't stump him!

After pondering for a moment, Anduin immediately got up and returned to Hogwarts. He was not the kind of person who hesitated. Since he had discovered a secret, it was not his style to not get to the bottom of it.

As soon as he returned to Hogwarts, he rushed to the bathroom on the second floor of the main castle, and then looked up and down at the circular magic pool in the center.

Anduin was no stranger to this bathroom. He had interrogated a group of young wizards here to get clues about the Lestrange family.

And in Voldemort's memory, he summoned the Basilisk from this magic pool. However, the spell Voldemort used seemed to be Parseltongue, which Anduin himself not only didn't know, but it was also difficult to restore it based on those fragmented memory fragments.

But Anduin now had a simpler and more direct method. He approached the pool and slowly placed a hand on the wall.

Then, Anduin disappeared into the huge stone pillar that wrapped the sink.

'Transfiguration Charm' or 'Earth Walking Charm' has unparalleled advantages when exploring such terrain. At least it allows Anduin to not have to use barbaric means to tear the bathroom apart.

After passing through the wall of the sink, Anduin quickly entered a thick, sloping tunnel leading straight to the ground.

Just in case, Anduin took out the Invisibility Cloak and put it on, and then threw out a magic lamp that looked like a golden snitch, slowly going deeper along the tunnel.

The stone tunnel was very long, turning one bend after another. Along the way, there were bones of small animals everywhere, and a huge snake skin shed by the Basilisk.

Following this pipe, Anduin, floating in the air, continued to travel downwards for a few minutes before finally reaching the end.

It was a solid stone wall with two intertwined snakes carved on it, their eyes inlaid with large, sparkling emeralds.

After discovering this wall, Anduin immediately prepared to repeat his old trick and use the Transfiguration Charm to cross it, but he was blocked when he cast the spell.

After Anduin's inspection, he found that this wall had been cast with a powerful protective magic, making it almost impossible to pass through by trickery.

"Hmm… the protective magic here is quite simple and crude, and it seems to be connected to the magic source of Hogwarts," Anduin analyzed, stroking the wall. "To pass through here, it seems that there are only two ways: to break it by force or to get the corresponding password,"

"But directly destroying it by force is equivalent to fighting against the magic power that Hogwarts has accumulated for thousands of years. Even if it is really destroyed, it may affect the operation of the castle's magic array."

"This path is not feasible. If I really break this, Dumbledore will have to fight me to the death? But if I want to crack it by technical means, I have to find a way to get the magic array blueprints here, or even the entire Hogwarts magic array blueprints. Otherwise, even I can't do it, and open it while ensuring that the magic array is not damaged."

"The guy who built this Chamber of Secrets is really amazing. He actually makes me feel a little helpless. Could this really be created by Salazar Slytherin?"

"Superb craftsmanship, plus the ability to connect to the main magic array of Hogwarts, it seems that there is no other answer besides him."

After a little thought, Anduin concluded that this was probably built by that ancestor Slytherin, and to get to the other side of the wall, you must have the corresponding cracking spell.

This is not to say that Anduin has no other way to pass through here, but using other means will more or less damage the magic pipes here.

And this place is connected to Hogwarts as a whole. Damaging this place means damaging the school's protective magic array.

At the same time, because Hogwarts has a history that is too long, so long that it is close to being dilapidated, and the magic pipes in the school have been constantly updated and transformed over the years, they can only be described as intricate.

Without complete blueprints, Anduin really has no confidence in fixing it after breaking it. It would be troublesome if he accidentally damaged Hogwarts.

Thinking of this, Anduin could only shake his head helplessly. It seems that now is not the time to explore the Chamber of Secrets, and it seems easier to find the correct way to open it than to enter through technical means.

Voldemort opened the entrance to the bathroom through Parseltongue and commanded the Basilisk to kill Moaning Myrtle, so logically speaking, the way to open this wall should also be related to Parseltongue.

"I didn't expect that I would have to learn another language at this age."

Anduin smiled self-deprecatingly, then took out a few monitors from his body and deployed them around the stone wall, and then carefully retreated.

For this place, he can only monitor it for now, and enter it after finding a way in the future.

In the days after ending the exploration of the Chamber of Secrets, Anduin began to search for information related to the Chamber of Secrets and Parseltongue in Hogwarts and his own library.

However, Parseltongue, as an extremely rare language, is a very rare ability, usually hereditary, and almost all Parselmouths are descendants of Salazar Slytherin.

And the information shows that the Gaunt family is the currently known direct descendant of Slytherin that can be traced back to, which is why Voldemort was able to open the Chamber of Secrets.

But besides these fragmented records, Anduin could not find any other people or things related to Parseltongue. He didn't even know who in this world still understands this language.

Seeing that he couldn't find any clues from the information, Anduin could only think of asking someone for help, and the first person he looked for was his own headmaster, Dumbledore.

"Parseltongue? Why are you suddenly interested in it?"

In the headmaster's office, Dumbledore rummaged through the candy jar in front of him, picked up a cockroach cluster with shaking feet, threw it into his mouth and chewed it deliciously, then asked Anduin curiously.

"Uh… it's just out of academic curiosity. It is said that Voldemort knows Parseltongue, and I want to learn more about this enemy."

Anduin felt awkward all over as he watched Dumbledore swallow the headless cockroach. He couldn't understand why anyone would make snacks into such a disgusting shape.

At the same time, he was not prepared to explain the matter of Voldemort's Horcrux to Dumbledore. If possible, Anduin would prefer to solve this trouble silently.

"Voldemort… it seems you don't think he's that easy to die either," Dumbledore nodded knowingly, he just thought he understood Anduin's thoughts.

Then Dumbledore revealed a surprising secret to Anduin, "Regarding Parseltongue, I actually have some research, but I can only understand Parseltongue, but I can't speak it."

"That's not it." Dumbledore shook his head with a smile. "It's just that when I was young, I had a strong interest in various languages, which drove me to learn some extracurricular knowledge. In fact, I also know Mermish and Gobbledegook, but Parseltongue is indeed a very difficult ability to master. Although I spent a lot of energy on it back then, it only allowed me to understand it."

Anduin nodded when he heard this. He didn't realize that his old headmaster knew so many things. If he remembered correctly, Dumbledore was also a master of Charms, Transfiguration, and Alchemy.

Compared to him, Anduin suddenly felt that he seemed to have a lot of room for improvement.

"Then who did you learn Parseltongue from? Can you introduce me?" Anduin asked after sighing.

"I'm afraid I can't help you with this. The person who taught me Parseltongue back then was a Charms master from Egypt. It is said that he had the blood of Herpo the Foul, but unfortunately he is no longer alive."

Dumbledore shook his head regretfully. "The old professor's life was full of discrimination because of Parseltongue. The wizarding world generally believes that people who know Parseltongue are the embodiment of evil, but as far as I know, although he had the blood of Herpo, he was indeed a morally upright person."

"That's really a pity."

Anduin sighed when he heard this, not knowing whether he regretted the professor or losing the opportunity to learn Parseltongue.

However, although there is currently no way to learn Parseltongue, Anduin was not particularly sad. Anyway, the Chamber of Secrets has always been there, and there are plenty of opportunities to explore.

After temporarily putting down the matter of the Chamber of Secrets and Parseltongue, Anduin took out a rhombus-shaped stone from his arms and showed it to Dumbledore, "Headmaster, do you know what this is?"

"Hmm?" Dumbledore pushed his half-moon glasses and carefully looked at the small stone that Anduin was pinching at his fingertips for a while, and couldn't help but widen his eyes, "This… could it be… the Resurrection Stone from the Deathly Hallows?"

"That's right." Anduin praised Dumbledore's good eyesight, "I got this Resurrection Stone by chance. I think you might be interested in it."

After saying that, Anduin gently pushed the Resurrection Stone towards Dumbledore, and the rhombus-shaped stone floated to the desk as if it had no weight.

"Resurrection Stone…" Dumbledore looked at the stone in front of him, his eyes mixed with excitement and emotion, and he couldn't help but mutter softly.

The old man hesitantly took the Resurrection Stone, and then Anduin saw a beautiful girl appear not far from him, looking at Dumbledore with a smile on her face.

"Ariana…" Dumbledore murmured a name in a trembling voice, looking at the other party with a hint of longing and pain.

After a murmur, Dumbledore couldn't help but reach out towards Ariana, but the girl beside him was close at hand, but as far away as if separated by a world.

"Headmaster, I have confirmed that this is not a physical entity, it is just a fantasy that is between substance and soul."

Although he didn't want to interrupt Dumbledore at this time, Anduin couldn't help but remind him, fearing that he would get deeper and deeper.