Chapter 325: Finding the Cup

Dragon's Roar is a common skill among dragons, present to varying degrees in dragons across most worlds.

This pressure, emanating from the dragon's spirit, instills fear and trepidation in weaker beings, often causing them to flee without a fight.

Compared to ordinary humans or animals, lower-level dragon-related creatures, such as dragon-hybrids or the fire dragons from the Harry Potter world, are especially sensitive to Dragon's Roar.

Even if these creatures are powerful, they experience extreme fear when confronted with Dragon's Roar—whether the dragon emitting it is a juvenile or near death.

For the fire dragon before them, Dragon's Roar was the best means of driving it away without a fight.

For Cho and Penelope, who could now use some dragon abilities in their human forms, Dragon's Roar was not a difficult technique to learn.

With Alaric's guidance, they quickly mastered how to use Dragon's Roar without transforming into dragons.

Soon, the fire dragon let out a hoarse roar and began to retreat.

Clearly, Cho and Penelope's Dragon's Roar had frightened it.

As they watched the dragon tremble and pull back, they could see the awful scars on its face, likely the result of the torment it suffered during its training by the goblins.

With the dragon gone, the trio finally stood before the Lestrange vault.

Now, they faced the final barrier—the vault door.

As the deepest vault in Gringotts, the Lestrange vault had the most rigorous defenses.

Unlike other vaults that could be opened with a key, this vault required a certified goblin to gently knock on the door to make it disappear bit by bit.

Anyone other than a Gringotts goblin who touched the door would be sucked in and trapped inside, with goblins checking every ten years for any thieves stuck in there.

Alaric carefully examined the vault door and sighed.

"What's wrong? Can't open it?" Penelope asked with concern.

"No, I can open it," Alaric shook his head.

"But it will take some time, and I can't guarantee no one will come here in the meantime."

"What should we do?" Cho asked anxiously.

"If only we had used the Imperius Curse on a goblin, that old guy who seems to be in charge," Penelope said with regret.

"There's no choice but to force it open," Alaric said to the two girls.

"Forced entry will trigger the alarm, so we must be quick. We need to find the Horcrux before they arrive."

"Don't worry, once you open the door, we'll start searching," Cho said confidently.

Penelope nodded in agreement.

"Alright, then be prepared. We only have one chance," Alaric warned.

"Just to let you know, the items in this vault are protected by repelling charms, so the Summoning Charm won't work on them.

The vault also uses duplication and fire spells—any item touched by an intruder will be duplicated and burned, but the duplicates are worthless.

If too many items are touched, they could eventually be crushed by the gold."

"Got it."

"We'll be careful."

"Then, I'll start."

Alaric stepped back and used his wand with full force to cast the Severing Charm on the door.

A fierce blue light flashed as the powerful Splitting Charm almost instantly struck the door.

Being the deepest vault in Gringotts, the door was heavily enchanted to resist magical damage.

Ordinary Severing Charms would have no effect.

However, Alaric's wand was far superior to the Elder Wand, and Alaric himself was one of the strongest wizards in this world.

Combined with his thorough preparation and full power, the resulting Severing Charm was extraordinarily potent.

The door's defensive spells held for a moment but could not withstand the force.

Soon, cracks began to appear where the charm hit, spreading across the door.

With a loud crash and clanging noises, the supposedly impregnable Gringotts vault door shattered into pieces before the trio.

A hole revealed itself behind the broken door.

Inside the vault, the space from floor to ceiling was packed with piles of gold coins, golden cups, silver armor, pelts of various strange creatures with spines or wings, potions in ornate bottles, and even a skull still wearing a crown.

"Quick, find it!" Alaric said as they all rushed into the vault.

They had seen descriptions of Helga Hufflepuff's cup in books, and Lady Manasseh had previously described its appearance.

It was a small golden cup with a badger carved on it and two handles.

They just needed to search according to the description.

"Lumos!"

The three of them used their lit wands to illuminate the piles of items around them.

However, the treasure was overwhelming.

The Lestrange family's accumulation over centuries was immense, and among the countless items, the various cups were dazzling.

At least, Cho Chang and Penelope each saw several different gem-encrusted goblets.

Suddenly, Penelope screamed.

"Ah!"

Alaric quickly pointed his wand at her and saw a golden goblet slip from her hand.

As it fell, it shattered into numerous goblets.

Within a second, the floor was covered in identical goblets, making it impossible to tell which was the original.

"It burned me!" Penelope groaned, sucking on her blistered fingers.

"I just wanted to see if they really had duplication and fire spells."

"Now you know," Alaric said, touching her small, soft hand with his wand.

He tapped the red burn, which soon cooled and vanished.

"Be more careful next time," Alaric said, releasing her hand. The girl blushed and nodded.

Her actions had indeed been reckless.

Due to the danger of duplication and fire spells, they had to carefully maneuver around, pointing their wands at every corner and crevice.

However, avoiding contact with everything was impossible.

Cho Chang accidentally knocked a pile of fake galleons onto the floor, mixing with the goblets.

There was almost no space left to stand.

The hot gold radiated intense heat, and the entire vault felt like a furnace.

Alaric's wand beam moved over shields and goblin-made helmets, the layers of shelves reaching up to the ceiling.

As his wand rose higher, it suddenly illuminated an object.

"There! Up there!"

Cho Chang and Penelope also pointed their wands at it.

The small golden cup gleamed under their combined light: the cup once belonged to Helga Hufflepuff, later held by Hepzibah Smith, and then stolen by Tom Riddle.

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