Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Chapter 236: Ukrainian Ironbelly

Under the threat of the dragon and the fire, everyone recoiled.

“Unbelievable, the outside rumors are true. There is actually a dragon in Gringotts!” Harry shouted in surprise, his eyes mixed with curiosity and panic.

“The Ukrainian Ironbelly, the largest dragon species in the world. Very dangerous.” Sirius cautiously said, “These goblins should have a way to subdue it. It looks like they’ve tormented it enough, but we should be careful. Evan, don’t be so close!!”

Evan stood next to Griphook and looked curiously at the dragon at the corner.

Although he had seen dragons in many magic books, this was the first time he saw a living one.

As the largest fire dragon known in the current magical world, the Ukrainian Ironbelly can weigh up to six tons. Its body is round and the scales on its belly are extremely hard. Compared with the Peruvian Vipertooth or the Romanian Longhorn, it flies slower, but it is more dangerous.

It is used to landing from high altitude and capable of crushing the dwellings on which it lands to power.

Normally, its scales are metallic grey, its eyes are deep red, its claws are particularly long, and it’s particularly vicious.

Ironbellies have been subject to constant observation by the Ukrainian wizarding authorities, ever since a particular Ironbelly carried off a sailing ship from the Black Sea in 1799.

The dragon’s blood and scales are extremely precious magical materials. The heartstrings and the nerves are used to make wand cores. In ancient times, only a handful of powerful wizards could get these things, because only they were able to slay dragons.

Although there are already places to raise dragons for profit, the price of dragon blood and scales still exceeds their weight in gold.

Different types of dragons have different dragon blood, scales, nerves and values.

Among the dragons, the magic of the Ukrainian Ironbelly belongs to the weaker kind. Its dragon blood is not the best magic potion material. Its heart strings and nerves are rarely chosen to make wands, but the hard scales on its belly have high magic power and are essential ingredients for many magic props.

Nevertheless, Evan doubted the value of the scales of the Ukrainian Ironbelly in front of him and whether anyone would need them because they looked extremely haggard and unhealthy.

“It’s partially blind!” At the side of Evan, Griphook gasped and said, “It was brought here when it was a baby dragon. It has been over two hundred years now. Its power is declining, but its temper is more brutal than the dragons outside. But we have a way to control it. It has formed a conditioned reflex to the Clankers.”

Griphook took out a number of small metal instruments that when shaken made a loud, ringing noise like miniature hammers on anvils.

He gave them to everyone and demonstrated how to use them.

“Well, you know what to do,” Griphook continued. “It will expect pain when it hears the noise, it will retreat back. We will take the opportunity to run past him to the little room at the end.”

“That’s why I hate coming here!” “Sirius mumbled, “Crazy dragon, and equally crazy goblins…”

They lined up, Griphook stood at the front, followed by Evan, Hermione, Harry, and Sirius. Everyone had a Clanker in his hand.

Evan’s left hand clasped Hermione’s tightly, and her palm was full of sweat.

They followed the goblin, and advanced around the corner again, shaking the Clankers, and the noise echoed off the rocky walls, grossly magnified, so that the inside of Evan’s skull seemed to vibrate with the din.

The huge dragon let out another hoarse roar, then retreated.

Evan could see it trembling, and as they drew nearer he saw the scars made by vicious slashes across its face, and guessed that it had been taught to fear hot swords when it heard the sound of the Clankers.

Because he was close enough, Evan could feel the amazing heat from it.

A few seconds later, when everyone passed by the dragon and entered the small room at the end, they were pale, wiped off the sweat, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Close contact with a dragon was definitely a remarkable experience.

In front of them was a circular downward staircase, which looked very old, with a faint fluorescence of blue rock on the ground and a mysterious smell.

As they went down, the roars of the dragon gradually faded away.

Back into the calm, on both sides of the stairs were large and small coffers.

Besides the numbers used to identify the rocks, Evan could only see all kinds of odd-shaped gates.

Not surprisingly, the vault of the Death Eater Bellatrix was in it, with another Horcrux, Hufflepuff’s Golden Cup, placed by Voldemort in her custody.

Evan didn’t know which one it was. Fortunately, there weren’t a lot of vaults there. He tried to remember the terrain nearby and carefully observed it in front of a suspicious door. He was wondering how to destroy this Horcrux…

“If you don’t want to die, you’d better stay away from that door.” Griphook suddenly turned back and said, “The doors of the vault are all enchanted with great defensive magic and curse, and only the goblins can open them in the right way, otherwise…”

“I’m just looking at it!” Evan explained. He really meant to have a look, memorize the surrounding terrain, and prepare for the rush to find the Horcrux later.

“I know, but I must remind you that greed, in the end, fails even the greedy.” Griphook grinned unkindly. “Remember, if you want to take something that is not yours from the Gringotts, death is waiting for you. All kinds of magic arranged here are completely beyond your imagination.”

“Evan is just curious. No one will be interested in that scrap.” Sirius said impatiently, “Come on, we’d better hurry up. I don’t want to spend all day in the cave.”

The circular staircase zigzagged downward, seemingly endless, and they went on for about ten minutes, to the edge of the staircase, and Griphook suddenly stopped.

Evan also hurriedly stopped, and the surrounding area was dark and there was no light.

They all pulled out their wands. Under the faint fluorescence of their tips, Evan saw something different from above. It should be a naturally formed cave.

Cracks were everywhere on the rock walls, and a whirring sound came out of the cracks.

Shout, shout, shout!!!

The sharp and harsh sound did not stop. It was extremely strange, as if it were the screams of countless banshees.

The atmosphere was getting tense. They had just seen the dragon. No one could tell what else was there. Did these crazy goblins use the banshees to guard the vaults deep underground?!

Evan felt Hermione leaning towards him, holding his hand tightly.

“What are these sounds, what’s underneath?” Harry whispered.

“It’s the wind!” Sirius’s voice, too, was a little repressed. “As for the following things, you will know immediately. It is definitely an unpleasant scene that’s beyond imagination. I was brought here once by my father 16 years ago and I never wanted to come back here again…”