Harry Potter: I started checking in from Diagon Alley

After all, the purpose of creating Horcruxes is to prevent oneself from dying completely.

Carrying Horcruxes with you at all times is just plain stupid.

Sirius couldn't understand why Horcruxes would be placed at Hogwarts.

In his view, this was pure self-destruction.

It's normal to entrust a Horcrux to a trustworthy subordinate, after all, Eric did find the locket in Black's old house, and Sirius couldn't refute that.

Sirius wanted to ask one more question, but by then the door to the Room of Requirement was already fully open.

A spacious area filled with all sorts of miscellaneous items unfolded before them. The area far exceeded the size of a single room; it was more like a huge hall.

All sorts of boxes, materials, clothes and other miscellaneous items were piled up like small mountains.

Their gaze passed over the mountain of debris and looked into the distance, only to find that the wall stretched as far as the eye could see.

As far as the eye could see, there were only piles of clutter, stacked high, almost filling the entire space. There was no way to leave a footprint; only a few narrow paths could barely be made to pass through the piles of clutter.

Sirius and Eric both felt a sense of suffocation upon witnessing this scene.

Hidden within this seemingly endless pile of junk may lie the Horcrux they so desperately seek.

The two stepped into the spacious hall, which was filled with an ancient and solemn atmosphere.

The high dome is inlaid with pillars of candlelight, and the light shines on the floor, making the entire hall bright and warm.

Sirius Black stepped into the hall, his eyes scanning the space around him.

"You don't know that Voldemort once studied at Hogwarts, do you?" he heard Eric say.

"What?!" Sirius exclaimed in shock, his eyes widening as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "When did this happen?"

Eric smiled and replied, "He used to be Dumbledore's student." A playful smile appeared on his lips.

Sirius was somewhat incredulous. "How come I didn't know?"

His jaw almost dropped.

Eric shrugged nonchalantly and laughed, "He's the Dark Lord, of course he can't let you know his true identity. On the other hand, if you knew, you wouldn't be alive now. Someone who knows Voldemort's identity and is still alive must either be so strong that Voldemort can't kill him, or be so cautious that even Voldemort can't find him."

Sirius couldn't help but wonder, "Then where did you get that information from?" His brows furrowed, seemingly skeptical of Eric's words.

“Dumbledore told me,” Eric replied immediately.

Sirius looked at Eric with a skeptical expression. "Really?"

His voice carried a hint of doubt, unsure whether he fully believed Eric's words.

"Well, really."

Sirius Black pondered for a moment, finally putting aside his doubts, "...So, you think he would hide his Horcruxes at Hogwarts based on this? But isn't he afraid of being discovered by Dumbledore?"

“There are probably two reasons why he did this,” Eric patiently explained. “First, based on the available intelligence, it is known that Voldemort must have started pursuing immortality and creating Horcruxes during his youth. At that time, he was not yet the Dark Lord and could still enter Hogwarts through normal channels, and may not even have graduated yet. The second reason is naturally that the most dangerous place is the safest.”

Sirius fell into deep thought, silently savoring Eric's words, "...What you're saying makes a lot of sense, but I still feel like you're lying to me."

“Hehe, we’ll find out if we look around. We can’t hide any of the other secret rooms and passages in Hogwarts from each other. We’ve already searched all of them. The only place we haven’t searched is the Room of Requirement. If he really would hide a Horcrux in the castle, this is the only place he would have it.” Eric pointed in one direction and said, “You search over there, I’ll search over here.”

Sirius looked at the items filling the hall, feeling utterly overwhelmed. He took out his wand and cast a Summoning Charm: "Summon Horcrux."

But there was no response; nothing answered his call.

Eric said, "Horregular objects are not ordinary items; the Summoning Charm has no effect on them. This is because they contain the soul of a wizard, and you cannot use the Summoning Charm on a being with a soul."

Eric looked around; the clutter in the hall made him feel oppressed and chaotic.

Dust swirled, exuding an ancient scent, as if time had stood still here for many years.

His gaze fell on a corner where a small mountain of miscellaneous items was piled up, seemingly disordered yet somehow following a certain pattern.

Sirius followed Eric's gaze, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes. Their task seemed like searching for a needle in a haystack; the entire hall was their search area, leaving him feeling utterly lost.

Chapter 212 Ravenclaw's Crown!

However, Eric smiled slightly and said softly, "We need to focus on Voldemort's Horcruxes, not be intimidated by this pile of junk. Remember, they are part of the Dark Lord, and they can't be ordinary items."

Sirius asked in a daze, "Then how should we look for it?"

He looked up at the piles of clutter that filled the entire hall, his expression horrified: "Are we supposed to search every single corner of this place?"

“Of course not,” Eric said. “We do have a goal.”

Suddenly, Eric's attention was drawn to a glimmer of light. He walked toward the small hill of junk and carefully used magic to take an item from the top.

It was a brooch, its once magnificent appearance now worn beyond recognition by the passage of time. The rusty brooch exuded a heavy aura, as if bearing endless pain and darkness.

Eric smiled slightly and said softly, "These are the kinds of items we're looking for. They may have been forgotten, but their existence may be closely linked to Voldemort's soul."

Sirius remained puzzled.

Eric explained, “Voldemort is a very proud man, as I’ve mentioned before. This personality trait helped him become one of the most powerful wizards of our time, but it also brought its own drawbacks. The most prominent one is that he believes himself to be a great man. And great men should use great things, even Horcruxes.”

Eric pushed the brooch in his hand, and the brooch floated in the air and flew to Sirius in front of him.

Sirius examined the brooch closely, sensing its ancient aura. The brooch was made of silver, shimmering with a faint light. Its surface was engraved with delicate patterns, as if telling a long and ancient story.

However, Sirius Black did not notice anything special about the brooch.

What's so special about this brooch?

“Look at the very bottom,” Eric reminded him.

Sirius Black held the brooch up to his eyes and finally noticed the difference.

He carefully examined every detail of the brooch, noticing the name at the very bottom: Alice Zig Gaunt.

The brooch is extremely old, which suggests that it belonged to an ancient member of the Gaunt family.

"This..." Sirius exclaimed in surprise, "The Gaunt family?"

“Yes, you finally figured it out.” Eric looked at Sirius’s expression, knowing he had realized the importance. He continued, “The Gaunt family are descendants of Slytherin. They have tried to perpetuate Slytherin’s power and legacy through generations. Correspondingly, of the four founders of Hogwarts, only Ravenclaw did not leave any descendants. The other three—Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff—all continued their families. In Hogwarts, if anything related to the four founders cannot be called great, then nothing deserves that title.”

Eric then took out Slytherin's locket, which was inlaid with delicate patterns and emitted an alluring light.

Sirius Black, just by gazing at it, can feel a powerful energy.

This force seemed to be constantly tempting Sirius, trying to change his mind.

Sirius was surprised. Eric actually carried this locket with him and was still unaffected by it?

Eric said, "This item originally belonged to Slytherin, but Voldemort turned it into a Horcrux. The other two Horcruxes we know of, besides Voldemort's own student diary, are Marvolo Gaunt's ring, who was also a descendant of Slytherin."

Sirius suddenly realized: "What we're looking for should be all items related to the four founders. The possibility that they were turned into Horcruxes by Voldemort is far greater than that of other ordinary items."

Eric nodded and said, "That's right."

Sirius frowned, glancing around the corners of the Room of Requirement, a mixture of confusion and anticipation in his eyes.

"And this brooch...?" he asked hesitantly.

“Unfortunately, this is just an ordinary brooch, nothing special.” Eric’s voice carried a hint of regret. “But the existence of the Room of Requirement has always been a mystery. As a room that has existed since the beginning of Hogwarts, the secrets it holds that we may only know the tip of the iceberg.”

Eric smiled at the end: "So, keep looking."

Without further ado, Sirius and Eric began to move forward separately, circling around the corner of the Room of Requirement.

Both of them have their own specialties in object-finding magic.

Sirius poured a pale green liquid from his potion bottle—a sharpening potion made from leech bile, cordyceps, and other ingredients. He drank it down in one gulp, and as the liquid flowed down his throat, he immediately felt a cool, refreshing sensation, as if he had been awakened. His vision became sharper, and he could even see the smallest details.

At the same time, he summoned a ball of light to surround himself, a fairly common object-finding spell. The ball of light emitted a soft glow, like a guiding light, illuminating the surrounding environment. It was like Sirius Black's capable assistant, automatically alerting people to valuable items in the vicinity.

After taking the potion, Sirius shivered, then transformed into a large black dog. His body became long and agile, his limbs strong and powerful, exuding a wild strength. The black dog sniffed the air, sensing faint breaths.

With the aid of the Sensitivity Potion, Sirius's already sharp senses in his dog form became even more acute, allowing him to easily distinguish distant objects.

Sirius Black began to run rapidly through the House of Requirement. His black fur danced with the rhythm of his run as he nimbly weaved through the clutter. His paws pounded the ground with a soft thud.

His movements were incredibly agile, and he quickly disappeared into the pile of debris with a series of leaps and bounds.

Wherever he goes, he can quickly search the surrounding objects to find items that meet his criteria.

On the other side, Eric spread his mental energy outwards, covering the surrounding terrain.

Then, he used the Guardian Charm to summon his Guardian Deity.

His Patronus split into four, each transforming into the shape of one of the four Hogwarts houses' representative animals.

Eric closed his eyes, fully unleashing his spiritual power and attaching it to his guardian spirits. Then, with a wave of his wand, his guardian spirits turned and scattered in all directions.

Eric's goal was extremely clear.

That is, the crown that belongs to Ravenclaw!

Chapter 213 Ravenclaw's Crown! (2)

Soon, Eric made a discovery: his guardian spirit brought back a message.

Finding an unknown item in a vast, overwhelming pile of garbage would normally be difficult.

But it's different if you, like Eric, know what you're looking for.

That's the magic of magic.

With Eric's abilities, there are at least ten different ways to find Ravenclaw's crown.

As long as the crown is indeed in the House of Response.

In this situation, Eric's search suddenly shifted from looking for a needle in a haystack in the entire Requirement House to finding a crown, or rather, a crown-shaped object.

That makes things much easier.

Eric's instruction to the guardian spirit was: bring back all items with similar shapes.

Just as Sirius was in trouble, Eric's patron saint finally brought back the items he had longed for. These items were in the form of crowns and headdresses, piled up in a chest, completely full.

While still numerous, it was a significant improvement over the previous haphazard search throughout the Room of Requirement. Eric dismissed all the Patronus he had summoned and then dumped the headdresses on the ground. He then took out his wand and activated a mental field.

Eric was lucky; guided by his mental energy, he found what he had longed for almost instantly.

One of the crowns, exquisitely crafted, still displayed its delicate artistry despite being covered in dust. It lay quietly on the ground, radiating a silvery-white light, elegant and alluring.

While it appears normal to the naked eye, from a spiritual perspective, the crown shines like a firefly in the dark, making it hard to miss.