288 The Potion of Fear, Slytherin’s Treasure, Mr. Anthony, The Weighing Scale (5k3)

288 The Potion of Fear, Slytherin’s Treasure, Mr. Anthony, The Weighing Scale (5k3)

This is the first time Karan has been hit by the Imperius Curse.

It was really a wonderful feeling. He felt light and airy. The thoughts and worries in his mind were swept away, leaving only a hazy, invisible and intangible joy.

He followed Voldemort's orders and felt particularly relaxed and carefree, and could only be vaguely aware of the changes in the scene around him.

When Voldemort told him to strangle the cock, Callan did so.

When Voldemort asked him a question, Callan answered sincerely.

When Voldemort asked him to jump into the passage leading to the Chamber of Secrets, Karan slipped in regardless of the rough earth and rocks.

But now, Voldemort asked them to drink this obviously poisonous potion.

Callan recognized it immediately for what it was - it was the poison that Voldemort was supposed to have hidden in Slytherin's locket in the cave.

Their colors and looks are exactly the same.

And that was the place where Regulus was supposed to die in the future.

But the poison is not fatal, at least not immediately.

Voldemort was too proud. He would not immediately kill those who found the Chamber of Secrets. He would let them live for a while to figure out how they could get past his defenses.

Most importantly, find out why they are so eager to empty the stone basin.

Because there is hidden the [treasure] left by Slytherin.

Only Voldemort knew this.

In fact, it does.

Callan expected that it would definitely not contain Slytherin's locket. Although it was also a relic of Slytherin, it had been passed down by the Gaunt family and was later passed down by Voldemort's mother, Merope. It was sold to Mr. [Bock] in Borgin-Bock, the shopkeeper Karan met in Knockturn Alley, for a very small amount of money.

Hidden inside the stone basin is a truly unknown treasure. Even Karan doesn't know what it is.

He had never heard of such a thing existing, and perhaps it was Voldemort's special discovery within the statue that he had never spoken of to anyone.

There was originally only a basilisk left behind by Slytherin inside the statue. It was a place that no one had ever gone deep into, and only Voldemort knew what was inside.

But all this is not important anymore.

Because Voldemort put three goblets into their hands and ordered them coldly: "Drink."

So, just like the expressionless Lily and Snape, Karan gathered around the stone basin with them, put the goblet in his hand, and then filled a cup full of poison out.

The green potion was swirling in the glass, revealing a layer of green dark light, but not a drop of the potion leaked out.

Karan raised the cup to his mouth and swallowed little by little.

At the same time, as if he had just been hit by the Imperius Curse, a voice from the back of his head sounded in his ears again.

[You know you are not completely under control, right? 】

"Correct."

Karan endured the burning sensation in his abdomen, and he answered silently in his heart.

"But I must not expose my Occlumency talent - at least it must be concealed enough that Voldemort will not detect it, such as when I am manipulating a magic coin."

【and then? 】

the voice asked again.

"Then......"

Karan drank the potion in the cup and closed his eyes tightly, as if he was savoring and enjoying it.

But when Voldemort's sneer came, Karan suddenly realized clearly that the wonderful feeling of being manipulated was reduced.

Instead of being happy, he was suffering.

Karan put the goblet into the stone basin again.

"Then you can just keep waiting."

"Waiting for a response, waiting for the heat of the magic coin."

“Waiting for the only late bloomer—Dorcas Meadows.”

On the other side, in the deep passage.

Gaspard narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he would close them tightly in the next second.

Holding the broom in one hand and his wand in the other, he cast the lighting spell.

Steve sat behind him uneasily, closing his eyes tightly and not daring to open them. He just kept asking in a low voice: "How's it going?"

"hold on."

After a while.

"How's it going?"

"hold on."

After a while.

"How's it going?"

"Wait a little longer."

Gaspard answered Steve's questions patiently, rarely losing his temper.

He knew very well that when he was really killed, the intact Steve would be the only guarantee for the safety of the two of them.

At the same time, it is also the guarantee of Karan’s safety.

Steve silently endured the whistling sound in his ears. Curiosity and uneasiness filled his mind, urging him to open his eyes, even if only once.

However, as a future magical zoology expert, I constantly remind myself: I must not have any eye contact with the basilisk.

Never open your eyes.

Suddenly, as Steve was wondering how far underground they had reached, Gaspard spoke.

"Steve, I think you should see this."

Steve could hear a faint tremor in Gaspard's voice.

He finally quietly opened his eyes, which stung from the sudden appearance of the light group.

After his vision slowly recovered, Steve found that they had stopped near a huge creature.

"This is shedding..."

The moment he spoke out his judgment, Steve found that his voice was also trembling.

"It's the shed skin of a basilisk."

Steve looked at Guspard in horror.

Gaspard tried hard to suppress his inner uneasiness and asked: "Generally speaking, is the size of the shed skin the same as that of the basilisk?"

Steve nodded, his expression becoming more alarmed.

"At least twenty feet..."

Gaspard murmured under his breath: "It's really bad..."

The two looked at each other silently, and they both saw the meaning in each other's eyes.

None of them planned to give up.

"I'd better prepare in advance." Steve whispered, opening the suitcase in his hand and climbing in quickly: "Don't wait for Karan to send a message later and find out that it was not timely enough."

Gaspard nodded silently and extinguished the light ball on his wand.

"Knox."

He said softly: "The lighting spell can easily expose our position, which is extremely conspicuous in the eyes of the basilisk."

"As for the road ahead which is destined to be slower... I hope Karan can hold on longer."

The two's journey was bumpy due to darkness, and the situation inside the Slytherin statue was equally bad.

After taking a full cup of potion, the expressions of the three people wrinkled up in pain, and their bodies curled up slightly. Lily was whimpering in pain, and Snape's face was frighteningly white.

Until Voldemort's cold and ruthless voice sounded again.

"Go on," he said.

So the three of them grasped the goblet with trembling hands and held it up to their mouths.

They drank like thirsty children, but as soon as they finished they started screaming again, as if their insides were on fire.

"Don't...don't hurt her..." Snape suddenly murmured in a low voice, with fear in his tone: "You are not allowed to hurt her, no, no... .Escape...Mom, we have to escape from here...we have to..."

At this time, another voice sounded.

"Oh, Petunia..." Lily cried with tears in her eyes: "It's not my fault, Petunia, don't blame me, don't blame me, I will write to you, don't Ignore me, Penny..."

Perhaps due to their young age, just the second cup of poison suddenly caused horrific scenes to appear before their eyes, recalling the fear they had experienced.

Karan, is no exception.

He clenched the edge of the stone basin with both hands, struggling to support his body, blinking feebly, and sweat blurred his vision.

After opening his eyes again, he suddenly saw a familiar sofa chair appearing inexplicably opposite him, behind the painful Snape and Lily.

It was originally staying in Anthony's Courtyard, in the same house where he once lived.

Now, Mr. Anthony was sitting there with a smile on his face, looking at him with gentle eyes.

"Karan, long time no see," he said.

Karan shook his head vigorously, but it had no effect at all, and Mr. Anthony's figure became increasingly clear inexplicably.

"Don't waste your efforts, Karan." He said in an inexplicable tone: "No one can bring you any painful experience, I can't, and neither can the children in the orphanage."

"From beginning to end, there is only one person who makes you feel pain - and that is yourself."

"I believe you know this best, don't you?"

Karan struggled to stay awake. He did not answer aloud, but said silently in his heart: "I don't understand what you mean."

But Mr. Anthony laughed. He seemed to hear Karan’s thoughts and said with a smile: "I have always known that you are different, and I also know that you are the most assertive person. You know everything in your heart. , but can make the most calm judgment and is difficult to be influenced by other people.”

"Only you can decide what your choice is."

"I saw this. Although I couldn't completely change you, I learned how to take advantage of it."

"Otherwise, how can I safely leave the Anthony Court in your hands?"

Karan snorted coldly, but he didn't answer, not even in his heart.

Mr. Anthony continued to smile and look more affable.

"Stop acting like a kid, you know what I mean."

"I'm just taking advantage of your gratitude towards Anthony Court to the greatest extent, and maybe you still have a little bit of guilt."

"I knew direct requests wouldn't do anything for you, so I took another approach - I asked you to do nothing and left everything to you."

"I never regret my decision because I know what choice you will make in the end."

"You will continue to feel guilty, extremely guilty. This guilt cannot be vented, because you cannot find a dead person to settle the score, so you have to work harder to repay the guilt in your heart."

"This is you, Karan."

Mr. Anthony suddenly stood up. He walked to the opposite side of Karan who seemed to be falling down, looked directly into his eyes and said: "You know everything, and you have calculated everything in advance. But at the same time, you also know one thing. Thing: Not everything can be simply measured on a scale."

"Some existences will become more precious and disgusting to you as time goes by - because to some extent it has become a way to hinder you. You want to do whatever you want, want to be away from everything, want to Pursue what you truly love – magic.”

"But I have to remind you again, Karan."

Mr. Anthony's face gradually filled all of Karan's sight, and he smiled gently.

"Don't reject these existences, try to accept them."

"This is love, Karan."

"It's [love]."

Karan's face was distorted with anger, and Mr. Anthony kept laughing loudly in front of him. This laughter filled all of Karan's hearing, making him have to be in the laughter.

Karan's eyes suddenly wandered. When he focused again, the face in front of him was no longer Mr. Anthony, but turned into Voldemort who looked like melted wax.

"Amazing willpower." Voldemort looked at Karan who remained silent and commented coldly.

Snape and Lily on the other side had completely lost consciousness. They didn't seem to know what they were doing. They were just screaming uncontrollably, and the shrill sounds echoed in the empty secret room.

The Imperius Curse seemed to be gradually losing its effect. Simple orders could no longer make them drink the terrible poison, and the fear they aroused overshadowed everything else.

Voldemort looked at Kahlan with admiration.

"A wizard with amazing potential."

He said coldly, while putting another cup full of poison to Karan's mouth.

"Too bad it's just a damn Mudblood."

Snape, the only mixed-blood wizard on the other side, did not receive any preferential treatment. Voldemort also roughly pushed the poison to his mouth, made him drink it obediently, and then let him howl on the cold floor.

Perhaps even if there is a pure-blood wizard among the three, the result will be the same miserable, because when the other person appears here, it can only mean that he is a pure-blood traitor.

The potion in the stone basin was consumed little by little, and Voldemort seemed to be in no hurry to let them die immediately.

"This would be a perfect warning."

He said coldly, putting the goblet in his hand into the stone basin again.

"As a warning against me, the great Voldemort."

"Anyone will be severely punished for this, no matter who you are, no matter where you are..."

When Karan was fed another cup of poison, he could no longer hear any voice from the other party, and only Mr. Anthony's gentle laughter remained in his ears.

The laughter was not harsh, but was layered together, with different time periods, different volumes, and different echoes.

He tried hard to maintain his remaining consciousness, trying not to escape the control of Voldemort's Imperius Curse, and at the same time opened his eyes and looked around.

The potion in the stone basin gradually bottomed out.

Karan glanced at it inadvertently, but suddenly he was stunned and almost fell into the clouds, regaining his instinct.

It was a piece of parchment.

A blank, slightly worn, square piece of parchment.

This is the [treasure] left by Slytherin.

At the same time, it also looks exactly the same as the future [Marauder’s Map]!

Just when Karan was trying his best not to escape from the influence of the Imperius Curse, a hot feeling suddenly came from his side pocket.

There was a traceless stretching spell cast inside, and it contained a lot of things.

This included magical coins, and the blank parchment he got from Slytherin's serpent statue.

While falling into the passage in the depression, Karan had used exquisite wandless magic to spread four messages - just like he had done when he was sitting alone in the study before school started. (Chapter 186)

A blank message was sent to Aberforth, but he stopped it in time.

Two identical messages were sent to Steve and Gaspard, perhaps they were heading here.

And, finally, a message was delivered to Meadows in Egypt.

She has lost contact with her for a long time, and this is the first time Karan takes the initiative to contact her.

Now, the magic coin finally gets a response.

Karan didn't look to see what the news was.

It's like his active contact.

When Meadows responded to him, it represented her answer.

Whether it is contact or response, it is the final answer.

So, invisibly, the magic coin changed again and became fiery.

Two more identical messages were delivered at the same time!

Then Callan regained his mind, and out of the corner of his eye he observed Lily and Snape screaming, and Voldemort walking towards here again with an empty wine glass.

Mr. Anthony suddenly appeared in front of him again, with a smile in his eyes and a gentle face.

"They can't hold it anymore." He said: "They are too young and their magic power is too weak. The most important thing is that they are not born with closed brains. The fear caused by the potion may not be enough for you. It may be enough to sustain you for a while, but it will soon kill them completely.”

"But that doesn't matter, right? They don't mean anything to you anyway. Maybe even the children in Anthony's Court are more important than them."

"But this comparison may not be fair. After all, there is a big family living in Anthony Courtyard, but there are only two of them."

Mr. Anthony suddenly smiled, as if the mention of Anthony's Court was a very pleasant thing to him.

Because this will always make a person dissatisfied.

Karan Sangster.

"To shut up......"

Karan replied feebly in his heart.

"Soon, soon." Mr. Anthony said with a smile: "I won't appear in front of you very often, so you have to seize the opportunity to say something nice, right?"

"But we can also make a bet." He suddenly suggested.

"Kreacher—that is, the house elf of the Black family. Not only did he drink all the potions, he even managed to escape from the siege of the Inferi."

"Perhaps we can make a bet, which one is stronger, their willpower to survive or the orders given to house elves?"

"Shut up..." Karan said in his heart again.

But Mr. Anthony suddenly became interested and began talking non-stop.

"What do you think of this bet? As for the bet, is it exchanged for one-tenth of my family property? Something that you can use with peace of mind?"

"I know you don't care about this, but it's better than nothing."

Mr. Anthony turned his head to look at Voldemort, who was getting closer, and the two people who were screaming violently, and inexplicably suppressed the smile on his face.

"Perhaps this bet is equally unfair to you."

He looked directly at Karan and said.

"Regulus just didn't make it."

So, under Mr. Anthony's gaze, Karan seemed to be unable to hold on any longer. He fell headfirst into the stone basin, opened his mouth a little, and swallowed the potion inside.

He silently conveyed the last thought in his heart.

"Shut up......."