Many ancient wizards were fond of living in Wiltshire. Once, it was a lively place with different banquets held at various manor houses daily, and it was also the place with the most wizards.
But twelve years ago, the situation here changed drastically.
It was as if overnight, almost half of the wizards were forced to move, to live alongside Dementors, leaving behind a large number of deserted manors.
The place suddenly became quiet.
But the remaining wizards living here thought it was quite alright... at least they could expand their own manors without any concerns.
The Lestrange manor was situated on a hill to the north.
Several windows around the house were broken, the roof tiles incomplete, and the once grand doors and walls were covered in various unknown vine plants, making it resemble the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade from the outside.
But ten years ago, it was the most spacious and grandest building within a few kilometers, as the Lestrange family was once prominent in the Magic Realm.
However, after its owner moved to Azkaban, it became more and more dilapidated, until it turned into what it is today.
No nearby wizard was willing to come here, let alone help clean the house.
At night, the surroundings of the hill were silent, with only the sporadic sound of insects chirping.
Under the moonlight, two figures, one large and one small, emerged from the shadows and stopped in front of the house.
"Sirius, are you sure this is the Lestrange ancestral home?" Kael examined the house before him, which was no less impressive than the Shrieking Shack, and asked suspiciously.
"If the Lestrange we're talking about is the same one, then yes..." Sirius replied.
"This place is in ruins." Kael frowned, "Didn't they think of using the Fidelius Charm to protect it?"
"No, and they don't need to." Sirius said, "Twelve years ago, who would've dared to mess with them? That woman... Bella, was quite the favorite in front of You-Know-Who back then, with many wizards eager to ingratiate themselves with her. Also, because of You-Know-Who's trust, the Death Eaters practically made this place their command post. If there was a Fidelius Charm, it would have been very inconvenient.
The ironic thing is, it was probably the same group of people who, after she was sent to Azkaban, let this place become what it is now."
Sirius glanced at Kael and continued, "Although I don't know why you suddenly want to come here, I'm sure anything of value in the house has already been looted. You're bound for a wasted trip today..."
"Is that so... not necessarily." Kael stepped forward.
Sirius showed a hint of helplessness but still followed.
The lock on the front door had long become a useless decoration. Kael easily cleared away the intertwined vines and walked into the house.
The inside looked even worse; there was hardly any intact furniture, with the largest object being a table missing one leg.
Just as Sirius said, there was nothing of value to be seen here, even the decorations inlaid on the columns or walls had been pried loose.
"If I could avoid it, I wouldn't set foot in here at all." Sirius frowned.
"What exactly are you looking for? If it's Galleons, feel free to ask, I have plenty to spare."
"That's yours, I don't want it." Kael pulled out a Niffler from his pocket.
"See if you can find where the underground storeroom is here..."
The Niffler scanned its surroundings and quickly headed in a specific direction, capturing everything like broken glass, nails, and ceramics into the pouch on its belly as if it was a vacuum.
Finally, the Niffler stopped in front of a statue in the corner of the room.
Where there should have been a statue, now only a pedestal remained, with an uncovered hole beneath it.
It seemed like this place had been visited too.
Kael casually picked up the Niffler, scratched its belly, and disdainfully threw away the junk it had collected earlier, though the little creature wasn't too pleased and squeaked in protest.
Kael ignored it, took up an oil lamp, and walked into the underground storeroom by himself.
As expected, there wasn't much left here, but fortunately, the item Kael needed was untouched.
On the walls of the narrow storeroom hung a picture that lacked a frame and had long faded.
One could vaguely make out that the background of the picture was this house, but the people inside were missing.
"This picture should be of old Lestrange, but I don't remember his name." Sirius, who followed in, said, "Kael, don't tell me what you're looking for is this thing... such a Magic Portrait is only of some value to the Lestrange family, elsewhere it's just trash."
"Yes, but not exactly..." Kael said.
Sirius was a bit confused.
But in the next second, he saw Kael discard the Magic Portrait and pull out a hammer from somewhere, starting to pound on the wall behind it.
"Thud... thud... thud..."
The wall, surprisingly fragile, soon crumbled, revealing grey stone blocks inside, but Kael didn't stop...
The dull thudding left a bewildered Sirius even more confused, not understanding what Kael was up to, was he planning to demolish the place?
But just as he was about to ask, the wall split open again.
Sirius was surprised to find that as more stones fell away from Kael's hammering, the originally grey stones twisted, shrank, and squeezed until they transformed into a small, dark golden box about the size of a fist.
"Transfiguration Technique... I thought there was a secret compartment..."
Kael put on Dragon Skin Gloves and picked up the box, shaking it... a crisp knocking sound came from within.
Evidently, the key he was seeking was hidden inside this box.
But the problem was how to open it; from a rough examination, the entire box seemed cast in one piece, with no signs of assembly, not even a keyhole.
Watching Kael's action, Sirius blinked, dumbfounded, stuttering, "Th-this is..."
"It should be a Magic Item specifically for storing important items." Kael said, "But it's not easy to open this thing..."
"I know." Sirius scratched his head. "But how did you know there was something behind that wall... I mean, this is a Lestrange ancestral home! Could it be you've been here before? But that can't be, when Bellatrix was caught by the Aurors, you weren't even a year old."
"No, I was over two at the time." Kael corrected him.
"That's not important!" Sirius felt his head swell, "How the hell did you know... about the location of this thing!"
"Of course, someone told me," Kael smiled, "I spent some money getting information from an informant."
"An informant? Who was it!"
"Trust me, you definitely wouldn't want to know its name."
Kael put away the box, carefully examining the surroundings to ensure nothing was missed, before leaving the storeroom with the oil lamp, ready to head back.
It's impossible to freely use a wand here, too inconvenient.