allendalepharm Chapter 124 Wizard Muggles and Chimera
Chapter 124 Wizard Muggles and Chimera
Chapter 124 Wizard Muggles and Chimera
Lockhart called his friends back because they were going out.
Vincent Crabbe's visit was to fulfill his promise to his father, the elder Crabbe, to hand over ownership of the family's polka dot fish farm.
They need to do two things.
The first step is to register with the Ministry of Magic's dedicated archives department. The Ministry of Magic may not be much in the eyes of the Twenty-Eight Holy Pureblood Families, but they cannot ignore the authority of the Wizengamor Inquisition. After registration, the assets will be protected by law.
The second is the real, private transaction, which is the magical exchange at the Rainbow Fish Farm, protected by a kind of safe house magic.
But Crabbe clearly couldn't do that; he now only had a few loyal house-elves left in his household, and no other members of his kind.
All he could do was hand over the dragon statue from the family ancestral home, which had been made into a key to the door, to Lockhart, along with the complete recipe for the secret Floo powder for the mysterious fireplace at the entrance to the Rainbow Fish Farm.
In addition, he also hoped to entrust some of the family collection to Lockhart.
He even kept this a secret from Draco Malfoy, whom he was supposed to swear allegiance to, and didn't let his good friend know.
The orphaned child had visibly matured. Although he still looked simple-minded, he seemed to have begun to think. "Actually, the Crabbe family has another branch in Italy, which was expelled from the family because it insisted on marrying a Muggle."
On the way to the Ministry of Magic building in the flying car, Crabbe pursed his lips and stared at the cotton candy-like clouds outside the window for a while before saying, "If I am also killed by the mysterious people like my parents, I hope you can help me hand over these family collections to them so that they can continue the glory of the Crabbe family."
Lockhart chuckled. "Aren't you afraid I'll pocket it?"
Crabbe shook his head sheepishly. "Professor, I'm just stupid, not dumb. You're a great professor. I can feel that you actually care about me and Gore. Others would just think we're fools."
Just as Snape said to old Malfoy, there might never be another professor in the world who would still have any expectations for Goyle and Crabbe.
Yes, he's definitely not stupid.
With even old Malfoy at risk of being purged by the Dark Lord, this helpless child begins to yearn for someone to rely on.
He knew that a child of his status would not receive the protection of Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard of the time, but Professor Lockhart was real and within reach.
This is a biological instinct; it doesn't need much thought to know what to do.
Humans are sometimes truly amazing creatures.
Crabbe's growth happened in an instant.
Lockhart sighed, patted the boy on the shoulder, and said, "When you come of age and get married, if you are still alive by then, I will return all the family collections you entrusted to me."
Crabbe opened his mouth, seemingly a little shy about talking about the naked exchange of interests that only adults would discuss, but finally mustered up the courage to say, "You can take half as a trade."
He knew very well that if he really died, everything in the family, which had no one to inherit it, would be taken by the Ministry of Magic, or even the Malfoy family. It would be impossible to leave it to the Italian branch of the family that had been expelled from the family tree.
Expulsion from the family tree is a very serious matter for ancient wizarding families. Even the official Ministry of Magic would not consider an expelled descendant as an heir to a divisible estate.
Just like the Gaunt family, one of the Twenty-Eight Holy Pure-Blood Families, many people believe that this family of direct Slytherin descendants only has Voldemort as a blood relative.
But that's not actually the case at all.
The descendants of the Gaunt family wield considerable influence in the American wizarding community. Gormley Gaunt and her Muggle husband founded the Ivermony School of Witchcraft and Wizardry after arriving in America.
With generations of teaching and social development, this family has become an integral part of the American wizarding community.
Even so, neither the Gaunt family nor the British Ministry of Magic would consider this family, which developed in American wizarding society, as a branch of the Gaunt family.
Lockhart quickly took Crabbe through all the formalities, and also took the tooth from the dragon statue that served as the key to the door, as well as the secret recipe for the Floo Fireplace.
There are two recipes.
"The main gate is the entrance to the rainbow bream farm, the same way you led everyone in earlier," Crabbe explained. "There's also a warehouse door, which used to be a warehouse within the farm open to the public for trading and shipping."
"The warehouse's fireplace used to be connected to the Ministry of Magic's Floo Network. You could get here by using this unique Floo Powder provided by the Crabbe family, through any fireplace."
He shook his head. "Later, because the farm closed, this fireplace was disconnected from the Ministry of Magic's Floo Network. To get the Ministry back in, we need to find some influential people to help us."
Lohat nodded, looking at the contents of the parchment in his hand. He was amazed by the ingenious Floo network design.
This is the foundation of an ancient pure-blooded family.
It is said that "even a starved camel is bigger than a horse." Even in their most destitute times, these families could casually produce things that many ordinary wizards might struggle their entire lives to obtain.
Just like Tom Riddle's mother, Merop Gaunt, who was hated by both her father and brother, even in her most destitute moments, she still wore a Slytherin locket around her neck.
The Crabbe family's vault was located at the deepest part of Gringotts. The goblins who received them led them through countless doors in the hall, selected one to enter, and then rode in a small cart along a winding track deep underground, passing through various anti-theft measures and magical waterfalls of mist. It took them a long time to finally arrive at the vault's entrance.
The vault is guarded by a Chimera, a 5X danger level creature, a magnificent and dangerous magical animal with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the power of a fire dragon.
As the group approached, the Chimera began to roar violently, rattling its chains. The fairies who were there to greet it quickly took out a meatball that smelled of medicine to soothe it.
"There is only one recorded instance in history of a wizard successfully killing a Chimera, and that wizard later died from exhaustion."
He fell from his own Pegasus and died.
The fairy who was guiding Lockhart and Crabbe along said with no small amount of pride, "It's very safe here!"
Yes, disregarding the outrageous abilities of top wizarding figures like Dumbledore and Voldemort, for the average wizarding community, there is probably no safer place in the world than Gringotts Vault.
The fairy quickly opened the door to Crabbe's family vault. It placed its palm on the door, and soon a pattern of snake scales appeared on the door, glowing one after another. Then, like a strange snake, it slithered into the wall and the door disappeared in an instant.
Upon opening, a golden light rushed into view. Everywhere one looked, there was a dazzling golden light, with all sorts of golden artifacts. The fairy did not follow them in; instead, she and her two companions stood guard outside the door, patiently waiting for Crabbe and Lockhart to enter.
"Mom said—"
Crabbe stared blankly at everything in the vault. "Call me stupid if you want. As long as I don't do anything bad or anything good, and just live my life, the blessings of my family are enough to make me and several generations of my descendants live a prosperous life."
He swallowed hard. "There's so much delicious food I could eat for a lifetime."
He seemed to have thought of something to eat, rubbed his chubby belly, then his face fell, his eyes filled with sadness.
It seems that it was because she was thinking of her mother.
He stood there for a while before continuing, "Mom kept scolding Dad, saying really nasty things, scolding him for watching Malfoy, scolding him for being greedy and wanting to bring glory to the family."
"Professor, do you think Mom is right?"
Lockhart didn't give him a direct answer, because there's never a right answer to this kind of thing. "It depends on the person, Vincent. Different Crabbes have different paths to take in life."
Crabbe clearly didn't understand what he was saying and looked up at him with a somewhat bewildered expression.
"Ask your own heart." Lockhart patted him on the shoulder. "No one can give you the answer to this kind of question; you have to find it yourself."
"If you don't know the answer yet, then just be content with your lot, be a student, and time will give you the answer."
Crabbe nodded somewhat blankly, then lowered his head and began to repeat the sentence over and over, seemingly intending to memorize Professor Lockhart's teachings.
This child is really stupid.
But Lockhart truly saw in him that wondrous state unique to wizards, which could perhaps be called "true".
Such "truth" is neither pure, nor does it distinguish between good and evil, nor does it differentiate between social classes.
If Crabbe chooses to follow Malfoy and join Voldemort, choosing to gamble for the future glory of his family, then he can be considered worthy of the family name "Crawbbe".
If he truly behaved himself, lived a peaceful life, and stopped getting involved in the struggle for survival between pure-blood wizards and Muggle wizards, that would be fine. After all, he was stupid, and a mindless person like him was destined to be cannon fodder in such a struggle, even if Malfoy was willing to help him out.
Lockhart didn't really understand the future that well.
No one can be certain that with the victory of Dumbledore's faction, the victors will ultimately be influenced by their desire to assimilate into the wizarding community, and their self-interest will determine their perspective, with Muggle wizards becoming the most hostile to the Muggle community and forming the new "pure-blood family".
Or perhaps, under the influence of Muggle ideology brought about by Muggle wizards, and the shrinking living space brought about by the rapid advancement of Muggle technology, wizarding society was ultimately completely dismantled by the Muggles, becoming like the powerful Chimera at the entrance of the vault, a beast that even ordinary wizards could not defeat.
Who knows what the future holds?
The original story only covered seven years of content, but he has to live a lifetime in this magical world, perhaps a very long lifetime.
Crabbe needs an answer.
Lockhart was no different.
He didn't discuss these matters with Crabbe again, and instead had Crabbe take him to see the things the other party had entrusted to him.
The glittering gold decorations in front of them didn't seem to be the real deal. They walked all the way to the deepest part of the vault and came to a large coffin model in one of the inconspicuous corners.
The coffin was a traditional European-style long wooden box, made of ordinary oak, and looked quite unremarkable.
When the coffin lid was opened, a humanoid magical artifact woven from various magical animal feathers, colorful magical materials, and gemstones was revealed.
"I don't know what it's for, but it's probably not very valuable."
Crabbe casually remarked, glancing back at the vault to make sure the greedy goblins hadn't followed him in, before asking Lockhart to help him prop up the coffin lid against the wall.
He drew his wand and cast a spell on the coffin lid, "Open Alohomora!"
But it didn't have any effect.
This is a bit awkward; that's how it is with underachievers—they can't even master this basic magic.
"Let me do it." Lockhart stepped forward, drew his wand, gently tapped it against the coffin lid, and softly chanted the incantation.
He could cast the spell with ease. He had now completely absorbed the original owner's memories and everything. Apart from the most powerful forgetting spell, he could still cast spells like unlocking spells, apparition spells, simple healing spells, and repair spells normally.
"The Arahomon Opens!"
As the magic was cast, the otherwise unremarkable coffin lid, which showed no signs of magic, suddenly lit up with a platinum-gold pattern.
These patterns quickly intertwined and outlined the coffin lid, depicting an exquisite door and a brass-textured doorknob.
Crabbe grabbed the doorknob and opened it. The two looked inside and were surprised to see a slightly dark room.
The room seemed to be filled with various exquisite shelves, and in the very center, on a small raised platform, a scepter inlaid with precious gems and jewels was inserted diagonally, emitting a soft glow that provided the room with a dim light.
Below the scepter is written: "The glory of the Crabbe family comes from the flames."