Kabunara steeled himself and followed behind Severus.
Fiendfyre, a flame even capable of destroying Horcruxes, naturally had no trouble incinerating these shed snakeskins.
Treading on the remaining ashes, they pressed forward.
Finally, after another five minutes of walking, all the snakeskins blocking the tunnel were burned away.
The Fiendfyre, having no more fuel, showed clear signs of turning on its caster at that moment.
But Severus didn't even raise his wand, and the evil flame simply vanished into the air.
This alone demonstrated his profound mastery of dark magic.
Kabunara, now accustomed to such displays, said nothing and simply followed Severus past the cleared area.
Soon, they felt a refreshing breeze blowing from directly ahead, slightly dispersing the tunnel's foul odor.
This change invigorated both Kabunara and Severus. They realized they were nearing the tunnel's exit!
They quickened their pace simultaneously. Before long, they saw a faint blue glow ahead.
Finally, when they truly left the tunnel, they discovered the other end opened into a natural space that seemed utterly unlike an underground chamber!
It was filled with various herbs and plants. Numerous fairies fluttered in the air above. The ceiling was covered with countless unnamed vines, and between those plants, what seemed like some kind of ore emitted a pale blue light, illuminating the entire space.
The air was filled with a fresh, clean scent. Kabunara was dumbfounded by the sight before him, seemingly unable to believe the place guarded by the Basilisk was like this.
Severus had already jumped down from the tunnel exit. The grass was very soft.
The fairies, appearing to have never seen outsiders, all flew over, swirling around Severus.
'Century-old Dittany, Scurvy-grass, Belladonna, Plangentine, Alihotsy...'
Severus surveyed the herbs distributed around, clearly aware that simply harvesting all the herbs here and selling them to an apothecary would yield an extremely substantial fortune!
Looking at the herbs, Severus walked to the center of this underground greenhouse. A large patch of ground here was bare, leaving only exposed soil and a deep pit.
Clearly, something or some structure had been here but was dug up by someone at some unknown time.
Just as Severus was studying the empty patch, Kabunara also jumped down from the ledge.
However, upon landing, he accidentally stepped on something hard, stumbled, and nearly fell.
When he looked back at the 'stone' on the ground, he realized it wasn't a stone at all.
It was a Hag's Ghost, its face frozen in terror, petrified and motionless!
"Mr. Snape!" Kabunara immediately called out to Severus.
Severus turned around, looked where Kabunara was pointing, and also spotted the Hag's Ghost he had been searching for in the forest!
"Well!" He said with surprise, "It's actually here!"
He walked over to the petrified Hag's Ghost, examined its condition, and quickly reached a conclusion.
"It made eye contact with the Basilisk and was petrified."
"Can ghosts die?" Kabunara obviously lacked relevant knowledge.
Severus shook his head.
"No, it's not dead. To restore it, a Mandrake Restorative Draught is sufficient."
The Mandrake Restorative Draught required mature Mandrakes. Severus certainly knew how to brew it, but he didn't have the ingredients on hand.
"But why is it here?" Kabunara asked, puzzled.
Severus turned his gaze to the deep, plantless pit in the center of the garden.
"According to the information I received, it came to this forest to search for something, most likely related to dark magic."
He returned to the earthen pit.
"Something was clearly here before, but it's missing now."
Kabunara also saw the deep pit, then glanced around at the surrounding plants.
"This place looks familiar, don't you think?"
Severus had already noticed this.
"Herbs, vines, grassland... it completely matches the location of the Fountain of Fair Fortune in the story."
"Yes!"
Then, Severus's gaze fixed intently on the pit in the center.
"If this really is the location of the Fountain of Fair Fortune, then the thing removed from here..."
He paused for a moment, then walked into the pit, stopping at the very center.
Judging by the dryness of the exposed soil, the pit had been dug a long time ago, but there was no sign of any plants growing over it.
"What do you think," Severus said, "if what was dug up from here was the legendary Fountain of Fair Fortune itself, might there still be spring water underneath this pit?"
Kabunara had the same thought. The two men looked at each other, then both raised their wands and cast Excavation Spells at the pit beneath their feet.
"Deprimo!"
After the joint spellcasting, the pit immediately deepened by several feet.
Just as they thought they still hadn't dug deep enough and were about to cast again, the soil in the center of the pit in front of Severus began to loosen subtly.
It seemed something was hidden beneath the loose, dry earth, ready to burst forth at any moment!
Severus instinctively stepped back a few paces, standing beside Kabunara.
Within seconds, the movement under the soil grew increasingly violent. Finally, a large section of earth was pushed aside, and a silvery-white light, similar to that of a Patronus Charm, shot out violently from underground!
The commotion startled all the fairies living here. They let out mosquito-like squeaks and scattered in all directions.
The silver light, upon encountering the rocky ceiling of the cavern, showed no sign of stopping. Instead, it passed straight through the obstruction, seemingly bursting directly out of the ground.
The silvery light bathed both Severus and Kabunara in a silver hue. This strange phenomenon lasted about ten seconds before gradually fading away, finally returning to calm.
"That was... what was that!" Kabunara murmured.
Severus was also astonished by what had just happened. He didn't speak but looked towards the deep hole left behind after the silver light dissipated.
Something seemed to be hidden there, also silvery-white, buried under loose soil, with only a shiny corner exposed.
Moving forward and brushing away the dry soil with his hand, Severus saw a silver, whistle-like object buried beneath!
He was very cautious and did not pick it up directly. Instead, he first tapped the silver whistle with his wand, checking to ensure it wasn't cursed or some special Portkey, before picking it up from the ground.
Externally, it looked new, as if made recently. But the overall design of the silver whistle didn't seem like a modern creation… it clearly possessed an ancient history.
"Does this thing... have any connection to the legendary Fountain of Fair Fortune?" Kabunara, having recovered, came to Severus's side.
Severus shook his head. He had no conjectures about it either. Instead, he looked up at the rocky ceiling where the silver light had disappeared.
"What I'm more curious about is, where did that silver light go?"
…
Just as Severus, together with the Albanian Aurors, was preparing to explore underground...
At the Troll Camp, Harry, Draco, and the others were also preparing for action.
Despite their earnest promises to Severus about staying put with Andrews and not going anywhere...
Less than half a day later, the two boys were utterly restless.
"Remus, please! You promised us, right? You said if we helped properly build the Trolls' houses, you'd take us into the forest with that treasure map to look for treasure!"
Harry had been pestering Lupin for an hour, trying to get him to take himself and Draco out.
Draco, with his arms crossed arrogantly, looked at Lupin and said, "So werewolves don't keep their word!"
Lupin, who was helping Andrews weave a fence for the Yellow-Horned Goats' new pen, finally couldn't take their badgering anymore.
"Alright, alright," He said, standing up helplessly, "I did promise you."
He looked at Harry, "Though I'm surprised you actually know to get my permission now, to have me take you exploring."
Harry sold out Draco without hesitation, "He whispered to me that we could just steal the dragonhide map and go look in the forest ourselves without you, but I firmly refused!"
Draco glared angrily at Harry, "You snitching rat!"
"If you dared say it, I dare repeat it!"
Seeing the brewing argument between the two, Lupin had to interrupt, "Let's go, just go! Don't you want an adventure? We need to tell Andrews first, otherwise he'll worry if he finds us gone."
Hearing this, Harry and Draco ended their standoff. They both snorted, turned away from each other, and followed Lupin.
They found Andrews first, informing him they'd be exploring the forest that afternoon.
Then Lupin, with the dragonhide map that actually showed no clear treasure location, pretended to study it with Harry and Draco.
"Don't you think this part looks a bit like the clearing where we first entered the forest?" Lupin pointed to a section of the map.
He essentially wanted to find a safe spot to play an exploration game with Harry and Draco.
But neither Harry nor Draco were so easily fooled.
"Are your eyes different from ours?" Draco was still sharp-tongued, "Where does that look anything like somewhere we've been?"
Harry saw right through Lupin's plan, "You're treating us like three-year-olds, Remus."
Lupin gave an awkward smile, then shrugged: "Well, do you have any ideas? This map doesn't show anything."
Draco was the first to propose: "What about going where Snape is? Wherever he is, there's bound to be treasure!"
As expected, the suggestion was vetoed by Lupin the moment it was made, "No. He's dealing with dangerous matters."
Draco curled his lip, his expression full of disdain for the so-called danger Lupin mentioned.
Harry had never expected Lupin to take them to Severus.
After the experience of being captured by werewolves, neither Severus nor Lupin would ever let them near anything dangerous again.
If not for Lupin's protection among the werewolf pack last time, Harry and the other children would have been in grave danger.
While Draco was making his suggestion, Harry was studying the map of the Albanian Forest. Soon, he picked a target.
"Let's go here. Didn't Mr. Andrews tell us before that he and Lulu found the Hag's Ghost Professor Snape was looking for around this area? Let's go there too! Maybe we can help the Professor find that ghost!"
Lupin looked at the spot Harry indicated.
Seeing it was neither the Dragon Reserve nor the Albanian Aurors' restricted zone, but located on the edge of the magical creature sanctuary near where ordinary animals lived, and thus unlikely to be dangerous, he nodded in agreement.
"Alright then, let's set off!"
Draco still looked unenthusiastic. He genuinely wanted a real adventure or to find treasure. But neither Lupin's nor Harry's chosen location seemed to offer any prospect of wealth.
But his opinion alone couldn't sway Harry and Lupin.
After leaving the Troll Camp, the trio followed the tributary of the river westward.
They were already very close to the area where Severus had previously searched for the Hag's Ghost.
They walked for less than an hour before arriving at the flower patch inhabited by fairies that Severus had once visited.
Draco had been complaining nonstop along the way. Arriving here, he couldn't hold back: "So what's here? This is just child's play, not a real adventure! And there's no treasure to find."
Lupin was just about to find some excuse to divert the children's attention when, in the distant east of the forest...
A silvery radiance suddenly lit up that half of the sky. Even Lupin and the others, now near the western edge, all saw that silver light rising from the ground!