Hogwarts Advanced Guide

Chapter 408 The Story Behind the Crown - Slytherin's Horcrux
After breakfast in the morning, the sixth graders take their seats and wait for their dean to step down from the staff table.The work of distributing class schedules this semester is more complicated than usual. The deans must first ensure that each student's OWLs scores meet the requirements before allowing him to continue studying the NEWTs improvement class he chose.

"Minerva, remember to send Harry to Potions class, I think Professor Slughorn would be very happy to see Harry in his class." Hera said to Professor McGonagall on his right, who was holding the timetable and going to distribute it.

"I thought maybe you could come along and take a look at Gryffindor's Quidditch team this year. I can't wait to start the first match." Professor McGonagall's eyes were shining. During the whole year of last year, the Quidditch game was basically suspended - Umbridge sent off so many players that it was difficult for Gryffindor to form a student team.

"Of course." Hera readily agreed.

"Oh, I think we should also look at the students of Slytherin, there are many good seedlings!" Professor Slughorn muttered.

Hera nodded, "Of course I won't forget about Slytherin, after all I was born in Slytherin."

In fact, many people, including Professor McGonagall, have forgotten this point, because Hera is always close to the Gryffindors, and he has almost no Slytherin friends, except Professor Snape.

It didn't take long to distribute the timetable, except for Harry, who thought he had no chance to take the advanced class of Potions, but Hera and Professor McGonagall told him convincingly that Professor Slughorn was willing to accept him into the advanced class, and was willing to lend him textbooks and materials, and even Ron got permission for the advanced class of Potions-although he didn't like to continue Potions class so much.

Hera returned to the headmaster's office, and Penello was sitting behind the desk reviewing the documents. God knows why Hogwarts always has endless documents to review. Hera was lucky to have Penello help him deal with these documents, so that he would not be chained to the office all day.

"You have to see this, it's from Albania." Penello picked up an envelope on the table and handed it to Hera.

Hera took the envelope, and on the cover was written: Letter from Albania, addressed to the headmaster's office on the eighth floor of Hogwarts.

"I think it's a letter from Mundungus. I can't think of anyone else in Albania besides him." Hera raised her eyebrows, sat opposite Penello, opened the envelope and looked through it.

The letter was not long, and Mundungus brought some news about Ravenclaw's diadem in the letter. This should be a task assigned to him by Dumbledore. According to unofficial records, Ravenclaw's daughter Helena stole her diadem and fled with it to Albania, where Helena also died.No one knows where the diadem is, or who else has seen it, or if it still exists.The crown has since disappeared.

Mundungus collected no information about the whereabouts of the crown at all, he only collected a few rumors from the wizard.

The crown is likely to be one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.

In the words of Dumbledore, Voldemort will always use something commemorative as his Horcrux, such as Slytherin's locket, such as the opal ring of the Gaunt family.

Hera quickly finished reading the letter, and he threw the letter into the fireplace, turning it into a ball of ashes.

So far, Hera has destroyed three Horcruxes. According to Dumbledore's speculation, Voldemort is likely to have made seven Horcruxes, one of which is Harry Potter, which means that there are still three Horcruxes missing.To kill Voldemort, all of his Horcruxes must be destroyed.

"Dumbledore left me the memory to protect Nagini. Then tell Harry everything." Hera murmured, her eyes gradually brightened. "In other words, Nagini is also one of the Horcruxes. In this way, there are only two Horcruxes left."

"Horcrux. What is it?" Penello asked softly, frowning.

Hera looked up, a little stunned, and quickly smiled, "It's nothing, it's just a product of black magic." He stood up, walked to the window, and prevented Penello from seeing his expression clearly, "Ravenclaw's crown"

"Ms. Gray must know where it is, but Dumbledore can't pry her mouth open. In other words, Dumbledore can only let Mundungus search for the whereabouts of the crown." Hera rubbed her chin and thought, "But I am different. Although Ms. Gray always speaks riddles, there is always some information."

"I'm going to visit the Astronomy Tower." Hera strode out of the office wearing a cloak.

On the top floor of the Astronomy Tower, today's weather is extremely gloomy, which seems to indicate that something bad is about to happen.

"Ms. Gray," Hera asked softly, watching her back, hanging a few inches above the ground, her waist-length hair and robes reaching to the floor.

"Hera, you're here. What do you want to find out?" Ms. Gray nodded, she slowly regained consciousness, and looked at Hera with a bleak expression on her beautiful face.

"I need you to tell me all about the missing diadem."

"I'm afraid," Ms. Gray's voice became very cold, and Hera saw her expression so cold for the first time, "I can't help you."

"We all know your identity." Hera showed a philistine smile, "We all know what you did back then."

Ms Gray yelled: "You have no idea what's going on!"

"Then you might as well talk about it, you and I know that I don't want to wear the crown, I just need to destroy it." Hera found a step and sat down, carefully cleaning the place to make sure there was no owl droppings.

Ms. Gray remained calm, floating in the air, looking down at Hera, as if hesitating whether to tell Hera.

But Hera was in no hurry, he had a lot of time to waste.

Ms. Gray seemed to have made up her mind. She said slowly, "I stole the crown from my mother."

"I know." Hera nodded.

"I stole the diadem," said Lady Gray softly again. "I wanted to be wiser and more famous than my mother, and to prove to her that Uncle Slytherin was right. So I took the diadem and ran away."

"Wait, what does this have to do with Slytherin?" Hera asked puzzledly, interrupting Ms. Gray.

Ms. Gray gave him a deep look, "Slytherin left Hogwarts because they disagreed, and he thought that something should be done to prevent the school from falling out of their control. My mother and others couldn't accept this at all. They thought he hadn't given up his discrimination against young Muggle-born wizards."

Hera took a deep breath and nodded, he felt that he was about to know the secret events of the year.This is definitely a shocking secret, which has been passed down for thousands of years and no one has known it.

Ms. Gray lowered her head slightly, "Slytherin passed away not long after returning to Gaunt's old house, which surprised everyone, because they are almost the most powerful wizards in the world, and time will not defeat them so easily. I know there must be some mystery in it, but my mother refuses to admit it."

She paused, then raised her head, "I found a child in Gaunt's old house—or a Horcrux."

Her voice was not loud, but it echoed in Hera's mind, and the shock made him dizzy.

"You mean child?" Hera's eyes were a little dark, if he hadn't been sitting on the steps, he might have fallen to the side.

Ms. Gray nodded and continued to speak softly, "That's right, a child is also a Horcrux, a body made of Slytherin's bones, basilisk blood, and the magic power of the Resurrection Stone. I don't know when he will wake up from his deep sleep, but I saw Slytherin's suicide note in Gaunt's old house."

Hera didn't speak, his brain hurt badly, as if someone kept whispering something in his ear.
"Hera Hera Hera I named you Hera, which means you will be the god who conceived everything."

Hera closed her eyes in pain, and he clutched his head tightly, his headache felt like it was about to burst.

"He did everything for the Horcrux, and even poured most of his own magic power, so that he could be successfully conceived. Slytherin didn't know how long it would take him to wake up, but in order for everything to go smoothly, he had to do everything possible." Ms. Gray showed a look of reminiscence, "He was an outstanding wizard, but no one could understand what he did at the time. My mother and others misunderstood him and made him leave the castle sadly."

"I tried to understand everything he left behind, and tried to speed up the birth of the Horcrux, but I failed. Slytherin's research is so cutting-edge that I can't even understand its departure at all."

"Don't say it, don't say it!" Hera clutched his head and fell down on the steps. His head was about to split open, and the memories of the past 20 years were spinning in his mind like a paste.

"I stole the diadem," repeated Lady Gray. "I tried to make myself wiser, so I ran away with the diadem. I tried to unravel the knowledge left by Slytherin."

The voice in Hera's head became clearer, and the pain lessened—or Hera was almost getting used to the pain.

"They said my mother never admitted that the diadem was gone, she kept pretending it was still there. She even hid her loss from the other founders of Hogwarts and the horrible things I did."

"Then my mother fell ill—very ill. She desperately wanted to see me again at the end of her life, but I was so absorbed in my Slytherin studies that I ignored her call. She sent a man to me who loved me for a long time, but I rejected him. My mother knew that he would not rest until he found me."

Ms. Gray took a deep breath, completely ignoring Hera who was struggling to sit up on the steps, and continued:
"In order to keep it secret, I was forced to hide in XZ, and the previous research could not be continued. I hid in the forest of Albania, and he found it. I refused to go back with him, and he became furious. Baro has always been a bad-tempered person. He hated me for rejecting him, jealous of my freedom, and stabbed me to death."

Ms. Gray raised her cloak, revealing a black wound on her snow-white chest. "When he came to his senses, he was so remorseful that he took the weapon he had claimed my life from and committed suicide. After so many centuries, he deserved it for being shackled in order to repent his sin." She added angrily, "However, in order to study the knowledge left by Slytherin, I returned to the castle, even if I turned into a ghost, to witness everything he planned."

"So, you already knew the secrets of Gaunt's old house." Hera looked at Ms. Gray in pain, her voice trembling, but she insisted on finishing.

"Yes, I knew it a long time ago." Ms. Gray raised her head, "I know what a terrible thing Slytherin did. He brutally killed the traitor in the castle in order to make a Horcrux. The traitor once told the Muggles the location of Hogwarts. This caused heavy losses to the school. Two children were captured and sent to the stake. So I never blamed him. I know he did the right thing."

The pain subsided a lot, and Hera could finally sit up, but he still held his head with one hand, which made him feel more relaxed. The sweat drenched his back, and Hera was trembling with the wind. "Slytherin. You must know?"

"Of course I understand, Hera." Ms. Gray smiled, which made Hera's scalp tingle, and he didn't want to hear what she said next. "Of course I know all too well."

"No! Don't tell me! Don't say it!" Hera denied everything. He stood up in a panic and tried to leave the Astronomy Tower. Just as he was holding the doorknob and was about to open the door to leave, Ms. Gray's voice suddenly came from behind.

Like singing, ethereal and distant.

"The god who conceived everything will lead the birth of a new order—"

"No! I told you to shut up!" Hera pushed open the door and took a big step out.

Ms. Gray closed her eyes. "You and I know it well."

Hera shook his head and left the Astronomy Tower in a panic. He didn't want to know all this. He was just Hera, a branch of the Lestrange family. He had nothing to do with these things thousands of years ago. He had nothing to do with these things.

He has nothing to do with Slytherin!

Not at all!

Hera didn't go back to the principal's office. He went directly to the Response Room and asked for a quiet room. He needed to calm himself down, at least he couldn't face Penello in this flustered posture.

The room was quiet, the floor was covered with cushions, and Hera suddenly fell on it, his mind was like a paste.

"What does Slytherin have to do with me, ha! How could it possibly!?" Hera laughed and denied everything, his face pale and his lips trembling. "How is it possible, it must be someone else, I just happened to be there."

But Hera clearly remembered: the genealogy of the Gaunt family that Leni brought him did not contain his name at all.

"It's understandable. After all, I'm Lestrange, not Gaunt. It's normal not to be on top, very normal." Hera comforted herself in this way.

"It's easier to explain the snake language. The blood of the Gaunt family is not so rare, right? It's normal, it's nothing more than normal!"

(End of this chapter)