"I found this in the attic."
About two or three hours later, the two n and the dog reconvened in the ground-floor drawing room.
Lockhart first showed Severus and the others his discovery: an old wooden chest with a lock on it.
"This lock has a special charm on it. A regular Unlocking Charm won't open it."
Hearing Lockhart's words, Sirius just gave him a sidelong glance and sneered,
"You actually know how to use an Unlocking Charm?"
The dramatic ups and downs of recent days had long since accustod Lockhart to this level of sarcasm.
"I've had plenty of opportunities to brush up on spells from my student days while working with the mory Modification Squad at the Ministry," He shrugged. "Or maybe my Unlocking Charm is just truly diocre."
Severus temporarily placed the letters he found in the study on the coffee table. He examined the wooden chest for a mont, then tapped the keyhole with his wand.
"It's indeed reinforced with a special Anti-Alohomora Charm."
"Can you undo it?" Lockhart asked.
Severus smiled.
"Why do we have to pick the lock at all? The reason a door is locked is because it's weaker than the wall, designed specifically for entry. But if the wall's strength falls below the door's, we can simply make a new door elsewhere."
As he spoke, the wand pointed at the wooden chest already glowed with a red light.
The chest shook violently under the spell. Soon, countless spiderweb-like cracks appeared on its surface.
Finally, Severus just gave the chest a light tap with his finger. Apart from the brass lock itself, which remained intact, the rest of the chest shattered into countless pieces!
"That's not 'making a new door in the wall'! That's demolishing the entire wall until only the door fra is left!" Lockhart complained.
Sirius was also full of doubt.
"If soone really wanted to hide sothing in this chest, no one would be stupid enough not to consider that the chest itself is more fragile than the lock."
"Because initially, the chest and the lock were equally sturdy. It's just that the protective charms on the chest were cast earlier and succumbed to the erosion of ti before the lock did."
As he spoke, Severus rummaged through the chest fragnts to retrieve what was stored inside.
There was a robe, a beautifully crafted quill, and a badge that looked exactly like the Dark Mark.
Sirius spotted the Dark Mark badge imdiately and couldn't help but let out a snort.
"Of course. If both parents were Death Eaters, what good could the child possibly be!"
Severus, of course, understood this was a jab at ilia.
That Dark Mark badge couldn't possibly be proof of being a Death Eater. Those scoundrels all had the Mark tattooed on them by Voldemort. Badges like this were symbols of a group ford naturally by students at Hogwarts who sympathized with Voldemort during that ti.
They hadn't graduated from magic school yet, so they couldn't be recruited as Death Eaters. Thus, they ford such student club-like organizations.
Lockhart glanced at Sirius. He felt such words were inappropriate. Regardless of the past, ilia's parents ultimately died resisting Voldemort.
But his relationship with Sirius was already strained, so he didn't say anything more.
Severus ignored him. This foolish dog was just that brainless. Even though he had looked ashad and regretful that morning after hearing about Regulus, by the afternoon, he had reverted to this rigid, stereotypical attitude.
After a brief inspection of the Dark Mark badge, Severus picked up the robe.
The school crest on the robe identified it as a Hogwarts school uniform. The size was large, likely belonging to an older student.
The uniform itself wasn't remarkable. Severus turned it over several tis but only found an embroidered patch in the shape of a grey wolf on the hem.
"What's the significance of this?"
Not only Severus, but Sirius and Lockhart were also puzzled.
Lockhart then showed them the quill.
"This is a Dismal's Self-Answering Quill. It was quite popular among certain groups at Hogwarts back in our day."
At Hogwarts back then, anyone who took out this quill would be mocked by a crowd.
As for why Sirius rembered this so clearly, it was because Regulus had been tricked into buying one back then, and Sirius had mocked him relentlessly for it at ho.
"This probably belongs to ilia herself."
Whether it was the uniform style or the quill's release date, reaching this conclusion wasn't difficult. But arriving at this result alone wasn't very useful.
It didn't provide them with any substantial clues.
Finally, Severus turned to Sirius.
"What did you find on the ground floor?"
Sirius shook his head.
This couldn't help but disappoint Severus. All the letters he found in the study were unsigned. They only revealed that the writer was very close to ilia's parents and likely to ilia herself.
However, Sirius then spoke up again.
"But precisely because I found nothing, that itself is another kind of discovery!"
His words successfully captured the attention of Severus and Lockhart. Both n looked down, shifting their gaze to the only legitimate pure-blood family heir among them.
"The Fawleys are an old pure-blood family, just like the Blacks. And such wizarding families, no matter what, would absolutely not lack a wine cellar at ho."
Sirius's voice held a hint of pride. Of course, he wasn't proud of his lineage, but proud that so discoveries weren't about an individual's intelligence or talent.
Severus understood his aning.
"You didn't find the Fawleys' wine cellar?"
"Since it's established that a pure-blood family must have a wine cellar, but I couldn't find it no matter how I searched, that ans the wine cellar must have been hidden by so special ans!"
Sirius declared.
"That hidden wine cellar must contain the key clue! As long as we can find it, we're bound to uncover the key to why ilia Fawley's mories were erased!"
It was rare for Sirius to be reliable, and even rarer for him to use his brain. This greatly pleased Severus.
"Excellent, Sirius. I hope you rember this feeling… the feeling of engaging your brain!"
Soon, the two n and the dog spread out through the Fawley ancestral ho. They began searching the ground floor, trying to locate the entrance to the Fawley wine cellar.
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