Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts #Chapter 33: Hagrid - Read Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts Chapter 33: Hagrid Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT
In mid-October, the flu that had plagued Hogwarts, instead of subsiding, had intensified, and even several professors had the misfortune of getting caught.
Luckily, Felix had the foresight to get two bottles of tonic from Madam Pomfrey in advance and took a sip before class to avoid being infected by the untrustworthy little wizard.
On Wednesday, Felix had a rare day off from class, so he walked out of the castle and followed a path through the greenhouse and past the Whomping Willow to the forbidden forest warden's hut.
Just as he approached, a large dog barked, and Felix waited quietly.
A man shouted twice at the big dog, "Fang, shut up!" Then turned his head to look at him, a measure with its gaze.
"Professor Hap? You want something?"
To his eyes, the professor dressed in fine, well-made clothes, with neatly groomed hair and a clean-shaven beard, is a completely different person from him.
"As a new professor, I suddenly realized that I hadn't visited you yet, which, I must say, is very rude ..."
"Is it?" Hagrid muttered, blocking the doorway, clearly not too interested.
"I learned from Dumbledore that you are an excellent warden of the Forbidden Forest and are very good with magical creatures, and it just so happens that I am also very interested in these cute little guys."
"Really? Ahem... I mean ..."
Felix tapped his wand on the ring on his left index finger, and a thick book appeared in his hand with a silhouette of a group of animals on the cover.
"This is my gift."
Hagrid's eyes fell on the group of animal silhouettes in various forms, and he stammered a little, "Ah, this, you're too kind. I mean ... you don't really have to ..."
Hagrid stood frozen in place and waved his thick arm, "Come in, come in."
Felix entered Hagrid's Hut without difficulty, a standard bachelor room as far as he could see, it looked disorganized, but everything is in its rightful place.
It's only when Hagrid handed him a mug that he realized what a mistake he had made, this mug hadn't been washed in days? It looked dirty!
After chatting with Hagrid for a few words and noticing that he kept his eyes on the book, he naturally changed the subject to it.
"Hagrid, I made this book myself, with a lot of thought, and I hope you'll like it."
Hagrid picked up the book and opened it, with his large hand and flipped through the first page which showed a little animal with a single tiger's stripe in the head, relying on its two hind limbs for support, its body standing upright and its two forearms hanging down over its chest in a wary manner.
The next picture shows a scene in which this little fellow is fighting a lion. The little fellow is quite brave, not only showing no fear in the face of an opponent more than ten times its size but attacking again and again.
"What is this little fellow?" Hagrid's eyes lit up at once.
Felix glanced at the picture, "It's a species of honey badger that is found in Africa, they are very brave and very intelligent."
On the next page, there was a scene of a honey badger sparring with a different animal, and Hagrid was so fascinated that he kept flipping forwards.
One novel creature after another appeared before his eyes, and it was as if a new world had opened up to him.
Halfway through, he looked up, a little puzzled, "Professor Hap, I haven't seen many of these animals, they don't seem to be magical creatures."
"That's right, you're an expert on magical animals, you've seen more than me in this area. It's a good thing I worked in the Muggle world for two years and saw a lot of interesting creatures that may not have magical traits, but still have fascinating characteristics by virtue of their unique physiology and habitat ..."
"I have compiled some of these from various Muggle books, films, and videos to complete this magic book."
Hagrid, obviously aware of the effort that had been put into this gift, muttered in a small voice, "This is too expensive, too expensive."
Felix smiled, "Hagrid, you're welcome, I have a similar gift for each of the professors. And-"
"I do have a small favour to ask you."
"What is it?" Hagrid asked cautiously.
"I need some unicorn hair, not too much ..." Felix looked a little embarrassed.
"Oh, that's it, it's easy." Hagrid relaxed as he leaned forward and tugged a furry, dirty mat over from the side.
"Here, I've got plenty of this stuff if you don't have enough, the little unicorns change their fur several times before they grow up, and I help tidy it all up."
Felix froze a little as he took the floppy mats, which looked like they were suffering under Hagrid's bum, no less.
Hagrid added, "Unicorn hairs, although they contain magic, not every one of them has the kind of magnitude to make a wand, they were picked up by that old man Ollivander, you know, he has a partnership with Hogwarts and will give discounts to new students ..."
The two then engaged in a conversation about magical creatures, and Hagrid discovered, to his surprise, that the professor wasn't telling lies, not like a certain self-absorbed professor at all.
Professor Hap knew a lot about some magical creatures, one could even say that he knew many things that he himself is unaware of.
For example, the Sphinx can be put into a state of confusion or reflection by saying just three riddles before it meets you.
For example, when encountering a Nogtail, he can use his magic to transfigure a stone into a white dog, as they are particularly afraid of dogs with pure white fur.
For example, trolls are afraid of bright lights ...
Halfway through, Felix also provided butterbeer and special cakes, and the two had a good time.
It's already a little dark when Felix walked out of Hagrid's hut.
He saw a small red-haired witch by the path, who seemed to be an in bewildered state of mind, and is shooed back to the castle by him.
The next day, Felix traded a few branches of Whomping Willow and a small pot of Devil's Snare from Sprout, the Professor of Herbology Class.
The former is a highly valued material, often used to make wands and very vital in the boiling process of a range of potions, but thanks to Harry and Ron - who had driven their car into a whomping willow at the beginning of the school year - it's currently quite abundant.
Office.
Felix looked at the materials on his workbench: a dirty mat, a few black branches seven or eight metres long, a small pot of shrunken plants.
He is pretty much very satisfied in his mind.
Felix is ready to complete a magical artefact.
The method of making it came from a rather old and isolated magic book, which he had recently found in the library. Originally he hadn't cared much about it, seeing as the name of the book, Applications of Alchemy, is no different from many books he had seen before.
But he soon realized the difference; the book's cover had been added later, and the pages inside were significantly older; if it hadn't been protected by magic, Felix had no doubt it would have decayed to ashes immediately.
Within the slim booklet were the notes of more than ten people, some messy, some neat, with a mixture of additions and corrections to those who had preceded them, as well as arrogance and condescending overlooks of those who had followed.
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Notes from a slightly chatty Chagas Gunter led Felix to conclude that the book came from a family called "Gunter", or at least that it had been in their possession for a long time.
The notes that follow are full of praise for their great-grandfather.
There was more than one who did that.
This gave Felix the pleasure of reading the commentary.
The runic artefact that Felix was about to complete also came from this ancient book, "runic artefact" rather than "alchemical artefact" because its internal circuitry is constructed entirely from a series of magic runes, with no trace of latter-day alchemy.
Many people would not be able to tell the difference, but Felix is an exception - Rune Engraving can be used in ancient magic as well as engraved on objects because it is a language, a magic language.
Its essence was an ancient wizard's exploration and summary of magic.
Alchemy, on the other hand, is different because it is partly an inheritance of ancient magic Runes, which have been developed independently with the aim of "leaving magic on objects and giving them a special magical function".
So the symbols used in alchemy cannot be called Runes, but merely magic icons.
But it also had the advantage of being a magical technique, and the many great wizards who experimented with ways to impart magic to various objects have left a legacy of mind-boggling techniques.
The French alchemist Nicholas Flamel is one of the best in this field.
Compared to alchemy, runic artefacts are considered " ancient art ". This is one of the reasons why he believes that the notes are quite old.
...
The runic artefact that Felix wanted to create is called " Binding Vine", which uses the spreading properties of the magic vine itself to launch a surprise attack, with the advantage of no incantation and a stable and trouble-free launch.
But how powerful it is a matter of opinion, or at least a question mark in Felix's mind.
But he isn't looking for potency either, he is looking for the ideas contained within: firstly, the idea of making a runic artefact, and secondly, the skill of combining opposing magical properties in depth.
Unicorns, which represent purity and goodness.
On the other hand, the devil's snare is an extremely aggressive magic plant that is always actively attacking all kinds of small animals and unlucky humans; hunting is their instinct.
It's difficult to combine the magical properties of the two together under normal circumstances, and Felix took a reference from the ancient books to neutralize this antagonism with the help of the Whomping Willow - which, despite its violent behaviour, is an unmistakably unbiased plant.
With a wave of his wand, Felix breaks up the mat, woven from unicorn hair, and places it in the water to absorb a dunk; almost instantly, the water becomes pitch black.
Felix: "..."
He changed the water several more times before the unicorn fur got cleaned, and then he dried it with magic.
It's only then that the unicorn fur showed its original appearance, the long soft, and smooth white hairs stretching out to their fullest, the warm light flowing constantly as if it were a solidified Mercury build.
The other two main materials would take time to develop, the devil's snare needed to be wait for it to grow a little more, and the willow branches needed to be infused with magic and made more flexible to facilitate the transformation.
Felix estimated that the preparations would not be finished until at least the end of November.
But he could think ahead about how to optimize the magic circuit ...
Time went by and Felix completed the first mass general examination for all five grades - an examination he had promised at the start of the school year.
The weekend before Halloween, he is still busy grading exam papers.
It's a good thing he isn't alone; there's another assistant working overtime with him.
Ten o'clock in the evening.
Hermione covered her mouth and yawned, stealing a glance at Professor Hap.
"Professor, I'm done grading."
Felix looked up, "I have some more here, so go ahead and return. Have a good Halloween party."
Hermione said goodnight and left the office. As she walked, she too had something to look forward to in three days. But it isn't a school party she is planning to attend, it is the 500th anniversary of the death of Gryffindor's ghost, Nearly Headless Nick that she decided to attend.
In the common room, many of the young Gryffindor wizards were still catching up on their homework.
Ron let out a whine, still eight inches short on his Potion paper and a foot short on his History of Magic paper.
"Why do we have to do so much homework before Halloween!"
Ron shouted out the thoughts of a number of the young wizards, who looked on with approval, and then continued to keep their heads down and catch up with their homework.
Hermione sat down next to Harry and Ron and said nonchalantly, "If you guys had finished your homework earlier, you wouldn't have this much trouble."
She is much busier than anyone else; in addition to her homework, she not only had to do her job as an Ancient Magic Rune class Assistant, but she also had to additionally practice magic runes taught by Professor Hap. So far, she has grasped 19 magic runes.
Professor Hap said she would have the opportunity to work independently on an Alchemy item this year.
Ron grimaced, "Stop nagging and hurry up and lend me your History of Magic paper."
"You have to finish your homework yourself!"
"I'm just taking reference, aren't I, Harry?"
Harry nodded his head in a hurry.
Eventually, Hermione lent them her homework.
Over the next two days, the festive atmosphere on campus grew stronger. The rooms were bright and cheerful, despite the pouring rain outside the windows and the ink-like darkness of the sky.
Professor Flitwick decorated the great hall with flying bats, Professor McGonagall morphed huge colourful decorations, and the huge pumpkins Hagrid had planted were finally put to use, carved into hollowed-out lanterns big enough for three to five people to sit inside.
There are whispers around campus circling that Dumbledore has booked a skeleton dance troupe to liven up the festivities.
Everyone is looking forward to the party for Halloween day.
Only Harry and Ron were sullen, as Harry had agreed to attend the 500th anniversary of the death of "Nearly Headless " Nick, and Ron had stood by his brother and offered his company.
But the more they saw the great hall decorated with lanterns, the more bitter their smiles became.
This bitterness finally reached its peak on the afternoon of Halloween.
At seven o'clock, the three of them walked straight through the doorway, ready to go to the feast. As they passed by the great hall, it's decorated with lights and candles glowing. Huge pumpkin lanterns, each the size of a carriage, were on display, and some young wizards had already chosen their seats and were talking and laughing.
As Harry pushed his way through the crowd, he even saw one of the twins guiding the ghostly dolls, catching up with one wizard after another, spraying black air in their faces and making ghostly "cackling" noises from the magic golems.
Just the day before, Felix handed out the results and fulfilled his promise that the first-place winner in each grade would receive a customized version of the magic golem, with more power and more "tricks" inside.
The top student in Year 4 is not one of the twins, but Cedric of Hufflepuff - who is a frequent first-place winner. When he was picking his prize, he was fooled by the twins and picked the ghost doll.
He is now sitting with his friend, but his eyes were on a third-year Ravenclaw girl, and he suddenly felt some regret in his heart that he should have chosen a cute little one and given it to this girl ...
Cedric's mind wandered a hundred times, and the path beneath the trio feet winded and twisted as they made their way down, straight to the basement, the sound of joy behind them growing lower and lower, just as they were feeling at the moment.
Through a cold corridor of black candles, they saw "Nearly Headless " Nick standing at the door of one of the chamber to greet his guests, dressed up today in a black velvet cloak.
"Welcome, my dear friends, it's wonderful to have you here ..."
Almost at the same time, Dumbledore also announced the official start of the Halloween party, and the cheers of the young wizards echoed through the great hall.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other, their faces eerie in the light of the bluish candlelight, and the three walked in as if they were dead.
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Great Hall.
The atmosphere of the evening was very enthusiastic, and Dumbledore honoured his word by bringing in a troupe of skeleton dancers. They played cheerful ditties on instruments made of bones while dancing comically, a style of performance that was, frankly, very memorable.
The little witches had a satisfied look on their faces as they sat in their pumpkin lanterns and gorged themselves on the festive specialities - not that they varied much in terms of flavour, in Felix's opinion, but they were original enough in style to be different.
Felix stuck a piece of black, tombstone-shaped caramel cake into his mouth in one bite.
There were ribbons and monster masks of various colours hanging from the ceiling of the great hall, and he even saw three big black dogs - not that black dogs have a great reputation in the wizarding world. But it took him a closer look to realize that it is actually a three-headed dog.
Felix: "..." always had the feeling that the three-headed dog's fame had been jeopardized.
Before he knew it, the time passed ten o'clock and raced towards eleven. One by one, the young wizards put down their cutlery, beaming with the satisfaction of a full meal.
Felix wiped his mouth with his napkin and began to discuss the spell with Professor Flitwick, while Professor Lockhart tried to interject, only to be ignored by the two.
Two months after the start of the school year, it wasn't hard for anyone with a lick of intelligence to see what a piece of work Lockhart is.
Felix couldn't help but give Dumbledore a reproachful glance, 'You've wasted my faith in you, and you've found such a turd to be a professor?
Thanks to that, I thought he had real talent.'
Felix felt unworthy of the time he had given.
Finally, the skeleton dance troupe ended their performance with an alternative soothing tune, and the crowd applauded cheerfully in unison until they took a bow and exited in a cloud of black smoke.
The evening ended, and the young wizards huddled their way out of the Great Hall. A few professors were left waving their wands and cleaning up the mess.
At that moment, a young wizard returned flustered, his lips quivering.
"Professors, I think you need to come and see ... something happened!"
Without him having to say anything, the professors heard the shouts of alarm from the young wizards outside the hall, and Dumbledore took a few strides over and the crowd automatically parted a space.
Felix and Professor Flitwick looked at each other and quickly followed.
They ascended the stairs to the second floor. Following the line of sight of the young wizards, they turned the corner and came to an empty passage.
The first thing Felix saw is Harry, Ron and Hermione, the three of them standing alone with obviously empty space around them, but the next moment his eyes fell on the cat hung on a torch stand.
It's Mrs Norris.
It looked very stiff, as if it had died.
Next to it, on the wall, a foot above the floor, is scribbled with some writing that glowed with emblematic light in the light of the burning torches.
The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.
Enemies of the heir, beware.
Filch yelled something as Dumbledore quickly crossed the crowd and unstrapped Mrs Norris. His expression turned serious, his blue eyes peering intently through the half-moon-shaped lenses.
"Come with me, Filch." He said to Filch, "and you, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Granger."
Lockhart quickly suggested his office, then followed Dumbledore, followed by Professor McGonagall, Snape, and Felix, while Professor Flitwick is left behind to calm the panicked young wizard.
Lockhart's office.
Several professors were gathered around a glossy table, surveying the stiff Mrs Norris.
The tip of Dumbledore's long, hawkish nose almost touched the fur of Mrs Norris's body. He scrutinized it through the half-moon-shaped lenses of his glasses, his long, slender fingers poking gently here and there.
Professor McGonagall also bent over, her face almost touching the cat too, squinting intently.
Snape, meanwhile, stood behind them, half his body hidden in the shadows.
Felix stood on the other side, his fingers brushing over Mrs Norris's spine, the fur on her body turned unusually hard, then he touched her body gently with his wand and felt a powerful aura of the curse.
She's not dead ... seemed to be petrified ...
And almost at the same time, Headmaster Dumbledore straightened up and said softly, " she is not dead, Filch, she's petrified."
But the Headmaster's words did not relieve Filch from his resentment, and he instantly aimed his suspicion towards Harry, going out of his way to reveal himself as a Squib
But his suspicions were quickly dismissed, as "it would require the highest depths of dark magic."
The trio clearly couldn't do that.
What's more, there's spooky handwriting on the wall.
Chamber of secrets ...
Felix, lost in thought, is such a familiar name.
Snape took the main stage next, interrogating the trio in a mocking tone as Harry stumbled over the explanation, causing Felix to sigh from the sidelines.
Boy, not even skilled enough to lie, not psychologically strong enough.
However, Felix then fell into thought, what were they hiding?
After attending the anniversary party in the basement, they were supposed to return to the Great Hall, but they were not ...
Perhaps he could find a chance to ask his assistant.
After the trio left, several professors exchanged information.
"Potter isn't being completely honest, Headmaster, that's my opinion," Snape repeated his opinion.
This was evident to all of them, as no professor retorted.
But Professor McGonagall habitually defended her students, "We have no evidence that they did something wrong, in fact, they may have simply heard some strange sound."
" That can't be ruled out," Dumbledore said non-committally, "What is your opinion, Felix."
The eyes of various people in the room fell on Felix, even the picture of Lockhart on the wall peeked out of the shadows.
"My opinion ... I'm still thinking about the writing on the wall, the chamber of secrets was opened, whose chamber of secrets? Opened by whom? And who is it that is working against this so-called heir?" He threw out three questions in a row.
Professor McGonagall pursed her lips as she said dryly, "Sounds like another Slytherin Chamber of Secrets myth, but there's never been proof ..."
Aside from Felix and Lockhart, two newcomers, the other three were old faculty members, by now, having heard similar schoolyard legends that spread through this small wizarding community every few years and kept popping up with more and more sensational and hunting content.
"But as far as I know, the two most famous names that can be associated with the word Chamber of Secrets are Ravenclaw and Slytherin. And in reference to this attack, the reference is already pretty obvious."
A few others could understand what Felix meant, the Chamber of Secrets and Slytherin linked together.
Ravenclaw wouldn't do something like this.
"Fair enough speculation, but unfortunately no proof." Snape stabbed him.
Finally, Dumbledore hammered the point home, "Let's search through the castle for the next few days and see if we can find anything."
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The next day, Felix arrived at the corridor where the attack had happened last night and isn't surprised to encounter Filch.
The corridor had obviously been cleaned by him, and the puddles of water had disappeared from the floor. On the wall with the words "Chamber of Secrets has been opened," he laid on an empty chair.
At the moment, his back is turned from Felix, and he's painstakingly scrubbing the words on the wall with cleaner, but it seemed to be futile.
"Mr. Filch."
Filch turned back, his eyes protruding, his face plastered with an unnatural flush and his mouth muttering, but when he saw Felix, he greeted him politely, "Professor Hap."
"I've come to look at the scene, maybe I can find some clues left behind."
Felix hadn't dealt much with the Filch when he was at school, back then he didn't have Mrs Norris as a helper, while he himself was completely immune to him with his excellent Disillusionment Charm.
Filch gave way and stood somewhat limply on one side. He had revealed himself as a Squib yesterday, and today he didn't want to stay a second longer in the face of this genius professor.
"Well, then, I'll leave you to it, Professor, I have a little more ... to do."
"Go ahead and get busy," Felix responded, "Oh, right." He waved his wand and the writing on the wall faded all at once.
"Huh?"
He is a little surprised and quickly moved over to the wall, looking the writing up and down. "It seems to be an obligatory spell, but it's not a permanent adhesive spell." Felix gestured at the wall with his wand, and soon the writing disappeared.
"Thanks, thanks." Filch turned red, said hastily, and left quickly, without taking even his cleaning kit with him.
Felix began to search the surrounding area, and soon, he found a clue.
He crouched down and tapped his wand on the ring on his left hand, and a large magnifying glass appeared in his hand.
Felix looked closely at the floor, where there is a burn mark.
"What is this? How did it appear?"
Felix looked at the girls' lavatory which is directly across the hall and without much thought he quickly pushed open the brass handle and stepped inside.
It is a rather dark, damp place, the walls were stained, the floor is full of puddles of water, the tiles on the row of sinks were peeling off, and the only source of light is a few dark candles.
Fighting back the discomfort, Felix's eyes darted around.
From the innermost cubicle came a sudden voice, "Who's there?" With that, a grim-faced spirit rushed out, her pearl-coloured glasses covering most of her face.
She looked over at Felix, clearly recognizing this professor.
Dazed and somewhat disbelieving, the spirit glanced behind her, and yes, this is her own personal basement, the girls' lavatory ...
" Professor, prof...?"
"Hello, Myrtle." Felix's voice is rather calm. He is here to investigate a case, he had a legitimate excuse, well, that's all.
Myrtle looked at him blankly for a few seconds, then suddenly let out a scream and the whole spirit flew back into the Flush Toilet, he could even hear a loud, crisp splash.
Felix: "..." As far as everything goes? There's a question I wanted to ask her, and I can force myself not to be embarrassed for that.
Felix said, "Myrtle, I know you're here, did you see that attack yesterday ..."
"No! Nothing!" Myrtle yelled from the cubicle.
With that, he heard footsteps some distance away, and with a frightened heart, he hurriedly cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and quickly left the lavatory, brushing past a red-headed girl.
Being spotted by a spirit isn't terrible, but if a student ran into him ...
His whole reputation would be ruined.
Over the next few days, he cooperated with several professors when he was not in class and searched the entire castle, with the uncoloured result that he found nothing.
One day in the great hall, Felix is still thinking about it as he ate his lunch.
"It all started with the Dark Lord's Horcrux but knowing that doesn't seem to help ... I don't know who the heir is, where the Chamber of Secrets is, and where the Horcrux is hidden."
"Chamber, Slytherin, heir, petrified ... those are obviously the keywords. But how do you connect them?"
Felix always felt like he is getting very close to the truth, but yet he just separated by a fog.
"Slytherin ... snake?"
He tried to remember, trying to lift the dusty memories that had been sealed away for so long. He seemed to remember seeing something, "Harry" fighting a gigantic snake. But the memory is rather vague, and he wasn't sure if he is remembering it correctly; he is under the impression that "Harry" had also taken out a large group of dementors by himself.
How is that possible? Even a normal adult wizard couldn't do that!
Besides, how could Dementors attack the school?
But Felix quickly warned himself that in the world of fiction, anything is possible. Especially with the presence of a 'protagonist'.
"So, it's probably true that a giant snake caused Mrs. Norris's petrification." Felix went along with this conjecture.
But once again, he had a problem.
What snake had the power to petrify?
All Felix could think of is Medusa, but that magical creature was extinct.
"Don't rule out that Slytherin performed a bloodline graft ... from his surviving notes, he was very deep into bloodline research."
He hadn't made up his mind until he finished his lunch. He soon had a new idea, though, gathering rumours about the Chamber of Secrets from Hogwarts over the years and sifting through them one by one.
Perhaps the truth is hidden amongst the rumours.
...
Three days later, Felix stood across a tapestry of "Trolls Beating Up Barnabas" on the seventh floor of the castle, watching oddly as a silver door slowly appeared.
And there you have it, he found it?
With a little hesitation, he tapped his wand against his chest, and a light flickered across his wrist, ankle, and chest, and then he stepped inside.
It's an oversized junk storage room, with mountains of various discarded items, broken quill pens, old books, damaged Sneakoscopes... He also saw the golden Snitch with half of its wings missing.
He walked around carefully and found a trace of no one.
"A hidden room?" He could hardly imagine that the proud Slytherin would have placed his secret room here.
"This room is quite hidden, though. It must have some interesting enchantments to study and research for another day." Felix walked out of the room, looking somewhat fondly at the silver door that had quietly disappeared.
On the other side -
The trio also working hard to discover the secrets of the Chamber of Secrets, and by "working hard" I mean mostly Hermione Granger.
After days of fruitless searching and a two-week rental list on Hogwarts History of a Pastime, the Gryffindor witch finally raised her hand to ask a question in History of Magic class for the benefit of the group and gained valuable information about the Chamber of Secrets.
Poor Professor Binns had to go off the curriculum and lecture on 'myths and legends' while the crowd peered at him, much to his annoyance. After this interlude, his slow, dry voice picked up speed - making his lessons even more hypnotic than ever before.
The young wizards, who had been in high spirits, once again collapsed, their faces rapidly becoming blank and dazed.
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After class, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked out of the classroom while discussing the information they had just received from Professor Binns.
"I already knew that Salazar Slytherin was a perverted old loony," Ron said in utter disgust.
Hermione as she still sorted through the information so far, "Professor Binns mentioned there is a creature in the Chamber of Secrets, no one knows exactly what it is, but Harry, we have a lead."
She gave Harry a deep look.
Harry magically understood her words as he glanced quickly from side to side and whispered, "You mean, my Parseltongue ..."
Ron also looked at the two with a terrified look on his face.
"That's right!"
The Trio squeezed through the cramped corridor and soon came to the hallway where the attack had taken place.
The scene before them had changed considerably from that night; the water had been cleared away, the petrified cat is no longer hanging on the torch's stand, and the writing that read "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened" had been cleared away.
However, there is an empty chair propped up against the wall.
"Filch is always on guard here." Ron whispered, "He's been very grumpy lately, often finding all sorts of reasons to deduct points, like talking too loudly or being playful."
"But that's none of our business, we just need to check the scene and see if we missed any clues," Hermione said.
A few people moved quickly, Harry flopped down on the ground, his glasses almost on the floor, and soon he spotted the burn marks and Hermione spotted the impressive sight of spiders lining up to escape the castle.
"What does this mean?" Harry wondered a little.
Ron stepped away from the spiders with a horrified look on his face, "It could mean a lot - like that the spiders are afraid of that creature."
Hermione sorted through the clues as usual, "So, the one that launched the attack is a snake, characteristically its attacks cause petrification, and is a natural enemy of spiders. That clue is pretty close to the truth!"
The little witch said excitedly, "Give me a week, at most two weeks, and I'll find out what it is. Ron, honestly, why do you keep shivering there?"
So the next thing Ron told is the story of how he was holding a teddy bear as a child and the twins used lame magic to turn the bear with many legs, causing them to giggle.
Annoyed, Ron said, "You wouldn't think it is hilarious if you had that experience. Imagine you are holding a teddy bear and calling its name, only for it to suddenly sprout many legs ..."
"There are no more puddles on the floor," Harry said suddenly.
"Someone probably cleaned the floor, like Filch, that's what he does," Ron said without thinking.
"But where did the puddle came from?" Harry had a hunch that this might be a clue.
"Ah! I figured it out." Hermione let out a squeal.
"What?"
"I thought of something, a possible witness who lives right next to us and may have witnessed the whole attack."
Following her gaze, the two boys looked at the sign of the girls' lavatory and gulped in unison.
...
After dinner, they walked out of the castle and made their way down the path to Hagrid's Hut.
Along the way, they were still arguing about what had happened during the day.
"If you ask me, we shouldn't have gone to the girl's lavatory, that Myrtle, and that place ... just a nightmare! And we got spotted by Percy." Ron rambled on the way.
"But we also learned that she died fifty years ago, and before she died she saw a pair of big, scary yellow eyes, which means what? That's the eyes of that snake."
Hermione ignored Ron's muttered 'not necessarily' and continued, "Your details are also useful, we also know the name Tom Riddle, who won the school's special contribution award fifty years ago, so maybe it's not a coincidence!"
Harry's eyes widened, "You mean that Tom is the man who captured the previous successor to the Chamber of Secrets."
"Exactly."
The trio knocked on Hagrid's door, and he warmly welcomed the trio of little wizards inside.
Ron looked amazed, "Hagrid, your house looks clean."
Indeed, as the trio looked at Hagrid's hut, it had got more than a little cleaner, at least to the naked eye, the black floor had turned into a dark brown floor.
"Oh, you should say that," Hagrid said casually, "the last time Professor Hap came to visit me, he helped me clean up a bit on the way out, it was easy for him, just a wave of his wand."
"Professor Hap?" Hermione asked in surprise.
"Yes, Professor Hap. Dumbledore recommended him, he needed a bit of advice on magical creatures, and I'm an expert in that field, but he's actually not too bad, very insightful in some cool directions, yes, very insightful."
Hagrid served up a plate of brittle biscuits, a jug of pumpkin juice, and three glasses. He said rather proudly, "Professor Hap is an excellent wizard, I didn't have much contact with him when he was at school, but -" he pointed to a book on his chair, "look guys, that's a gift from him! "
The trio couldn't wait to open the book, and Hermione noticed that it's somewhat similar to a comic book the Muggles had, with mostly photographs and a short introductory text at the bottom of each page.
"Are these all magical creatures?" Ron asked curiously, it's nothing like the stuff he had seen as a child.
"No, these are creatures from the Muggle world." Harry said excitedly, "Look, this is a lion, this is a giraffe - it has a long neck, I've seen it in the zoo, and this one is a badger, somewhat similar to the Hufflepuff's symbol, but they're certainly aren't of the same kind."
Hermione is no stranger to these animals, she had read the full set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which had a section on animals. But the pictures in the Muggle books wouldn't move.
So Hermione asked, "Is this the book Professor Hap made himself?"
Hagrid took a big gulp of butterbeer and let out a crispy burp, "Yes, it's very heartfelt, isn't it? I feel like I owe him one ..."
It took most of a day before the trio remembered what they had come here for.
"The chamber of secrets? The heir? The creature?" Hagrid's face went pale for a moment.
"Yes, we found some clues, fifty years ago ..." Harry is about to present their findings, but he quickly got interrupted by Hagrid.
"Listen, there was no chamber, there was no creature, it was just an accident!" Hagrid got a little agitated and waved his thick palm, then his voice trailed off, and he muttered, "It really was an accident, no one thought it would happen like that, no one ..."
With that, the trio got shooed out of the hut.
"He's definitely hiding something!" Ron said indignantly.
"That much we can all see."
The trio returned to the warmth of the common room and, having to face reality, began to catch up on their homework.
When the sky darkened, Hermione suddenly closed her book, startling the two.
"Who do you think the heir would be?" Hermione asked them in a low voice, again seeming to be talking to herself.
"It's definitely a Slytherin, I'm guessing Malfoy," Ron said quickly.
Harry accepted this immediately, "There's the possibility that it's really him, you guys, their family has been purebloods for generations, he'd have a reason to do that, and on top of that, he's taken quite a bashing recently - he's been detained by Professor Hap for insulting Hermione!"
Hermione's breathing suddenly stopped for a moment.
Ron also seemed to discover a theory, "Harry your words are so right, he must have done it, maybe the Malfoy is a certain heir of Slytherin and their family has kept the secret for generations ... right Hermione?"
At that moment the twins came walking over from the distance, "I thought I heard you guys talking about Professor Hap, did he make any more interesting trinkets?"
The twins sat left and right on either side of Harry and Ron.
"Nothing," Ron said quickly.
Next to him, Fred put one arm around his shoulders and scowled at the trio, "Come on, we can exchange information. We admire Professor Hap, too."
George next to Harry chuckled, "Yeah, very much, we'd love to take him apart and study his head."
Fred sighed, "George, you sound as if we have some sort of ill will towards Professor Hap."
"Do you?"
"Of course not."
"At most we-"
"Trying to imitate his magic golem." The two men said in unison at last, after a word from you and me respectively.
Harry thought for a moment, "Well, we went to Hagrid's hut in the evening and saw a magic book that Professor Hap had gifted him."
"What's it about?"
"Muggle animals, and as you know, Hagrid is obsessed with those."
"Cool!" The twins said in unison as they looked at each other.
Ron said, "It's your turn, we agreed to exchange information."
Fred winked, "Our little Ronnie has grown up-"
"-not a good dupe anymore." George followed up.
"But - who made you our brother." Fred teased as usual, whispering, "We can provide information, you know, we're fans of Professor Hap, if any of you want to know his whereabouts, like to start a casual encounter or something ..."
Ron said in surprise, "You guys follow the professor?"
"Don't say that, we just got a little help, for example, Professor Hap has been going to the Forbidden Forest a lot recently for some time." Fred shrugged and blurted out a heavy dose of information.
"The Forbidden Forest?" Hermione said in surprise.
The trio looked at each other.
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At night, at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were hiding behind the bush at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, glancing in the direction of the castle all the time.
Hermione said with some anxiety, "I don't think we should suspect the Professor ..."
Ron quickly said, "Hermione, we've suffered from this before, remember Professor Quirrell in the first year? Who would have thought that the timid, cowardly man actually had a Voldemort glued on the back of his head?"
"But that doesn't mean that other professors-" Hermione tried to argue the facts and defend the professor she admired.
"Think about Lockhart, he may not be a dark wizard, but he's definitely not considered a qualified professor, Harry, you forget you acted as a vampire in your Defence Against the Dark Arts class?"
Harry thought for a moment, and suddenly his stomach turned a little.
So Harry whispered to her, "We're not suspicious, we're just curious to see what he's doing in the Forbidden Forest. That would also rule out our suspicion on him, and we could even ask Professor Hap for help."
Hermione stopped talking.
The trio hid in the brush, the November night had a touch of coolness in it, and a thin mist added an extra layer of chill to that.
Ron stiffened a little from the cold, and he said shakily, "Maybe, he won't come tonight, why don't we go back first?"
" Let's just wait a little longer," Harry said patiently.
After a while longer, it's nearing midnight.
A tall figure came out of the castle.
"Someone's coming, it's Professor Hap." The trio perked up, after all, they hadn't waited in vain.
At the other end -
Felix left the castle and headed in the direction of the Forbidden Forest.
A cool breeze blew against his face at night, a very pleasant feeling.
He reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest and then noticed that something seemed to be watching him.
A small animal? Forbidden forest creatures?
But they shouldn't be at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Felix took out his wand and a dozen bright milky white dots of light flew out from the wand tip and then burst rapidly, illuminating the forbidden forest in a radius of a hundred metres.
There is nothing.
Somewhat puzzled, he followed his senses and went towards a large tree, examining it carefully.
Half a moment later, he laughed softly.
Opposite, the three youngsters, cloaked in Harry's invisibility cloak, didn't dare to breathe and looked across towards the professor with nervous faces.
Harry could even feel his legs shaking as Ron's rolling hot breath sprayed across his face.
But fortunately, the professor didn't suddenly reach out and lift their invisibility cloaks. He brushed past them and walked into the Forbidden Forest.
" Huff~huff!" The trio took a big breath.
"Did he find out?"
"I don't think so."
"Why don't we go back." Ron backed off.
"No, let's continue." At this point, Hermione decided to stick with it instead.
So the trio held on to an invisibility cloak and took baby steps behind the professor.
Felix isn't going very fast, and he fiddled with his wand in his hand, a hint of curiosity flooding his mind.
The trio, main protagonists, is there a "plot" going to happen today?
There were too many flaws, misplaced footprints next to the tree, the faint sound of breathing, and a gut feeling that gave him a hint of the trio's location.
Still, it was the smell of his assistant's shampoo that really made him recognize the trio.
This was the reason why Felix did not unmask them on the spot.
As Felix proceeded along his intended destination, he got a little surprised to find the trio still following behind him... their target is me?
Well, it might be a good opportunity to get to know the other two "protagonists".
About half an hour later, Felix came to a halt in a vacant space deep in the Forbidden Forest.
Thirty or forty metres away, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were also hiding behind a large tree, "What's he up to?"
"Shhh!"
Felix raised his wand and waved his wrist, three crimson spells struck the stones, and to the astonishment of the trio waiting outside the scene, the three stones turned into three large black dogs.
The dogs were half a person tall, and their furs are as smooth and oily as fine black velvet. The three large black dogs moved their bodies slightly, then directed their gaze at Felix, their upper limbs lowered, their teeth bared outward, their gaze filled with aggression.
"Quite the advanced transfiguration skills ... you see, they simply look like they're alive," Hermione commented in a whisper.
"I don't care about his level of transfiguration, I just want to know what he's doing in the Forbidden Forest," Ron muttered, but he too watched with rapt attention.
The next moment, however, something happened that took them by surprise; three large black dogs rushed towards Professor Hap at the same time and attacked him. They were extremely fast and broke through a distance of more than ten metres in almost the blink of an eye.
"Ah!" Hermione couldn't help but let out a scream, from her perspective, the big black dogs' fangs were less than three feet away from Professor Hap.
But instead of dodging, Felix flicked out a curse.
Hermione is anxious, even if it blocked one of the big dogs, there were two more. Harry and Ron's faces were also plastered with horror, especially Harry's; another professor dead in front of him in a year's time?
However, they had all apparently forgotten that all three big dogs had been transfigured by this professor.
In a second's time, the situation on the field changed abruptly.
Felix's figure disappeared abruptly, leaving a cloud of black smoke in place, and the next instant his figure appeared two metres away, and just as it did, a red light shot out of his wand. His figure disappeared in sync and reappeared in another corner, sending out a spell in an identical manner.
In the eyes of the three, it was as if the professor had transformed into three in an instant, casting three magic spells at the same time.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
The three big black dogs were hit by the spell in the sound speed and fell down instantly.
Under the invisibility cloak, they watched in awe.
"Oh my god, what kind of magic is this!" Ron's mouth gaped widely, his mind still recalling the scene from earlier.
Out of the black smoke, the professor's cold face appeared along with a red light, and in the blink of an eye reappeared in another place with a speed that's too dizzying to dodge or resist.
Harry is similarly wide-eyed.
And in the centre of the vacant space, Felix, who had just finished releasing his magic, shook his head, still not able to do it, off by half a metre.
That was only two jumps, if he had done it ten or more times, was he in danger of being hit by his own spell?
The reason Felix came out here is to perfect his trinity raid, which in his middle of school years he named as one of the "instant kill" techniques.
The principle is very simple: a trinity, that is, three types of the spells used at the same time, blending perfectly to create an effect where one plus one becomes far greater than three.
The speed of "Apparition", the power of "Full Body-Bind Curse" and, most importantly, "Thought Acceleration" to maintain his balance and reflexes.
When combined, Felix can unleash his spell from a dozen different positions in an instant, forming a magnificent line of cross-energy that can make one man into a team.
The principle is indeed simple, but the road is extremely difficult.
The difference lies in how to improve one's reflexes and how to maintain one's balance in a split second.
At the beginning of the school year, he worked out the prototype, or branching technique, of this magic, the "Thinking Room", but it could only be used as a teaching aid. Now more than two months had passed, and he hadn't been idle in that time.
While Hermione had been practising the magic runes in the Thinking Room, he had been in the Thinking Room contemplating how it could be applied in combat.
Luckily, he had gained quite a bit of insight recently.
That was why he had gone deep into the Forbidden Forest for several days in a row - escaping the anti-Apparition ward that's present in Hogwarts Castle everywhere!
"Two hops, barely acceptable." Felix got quite satisfied; after all, it could be enhanced later.
He then glanced back, his gaze fixed steadily in the direction of the trio.
"Come out."
--
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Harry, Ron, and Hermione shuddered as they lifted the invisibility cloak.
The trio stepped forward, wincing, "Professor ..."
Felix's eyes kept glancing between the three, "Miss Granger, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Weasley, can you tell me the reason for your presence here?"
Harry gathered his courage and said, "Professor, I, we wanted to visit Hagrid, in case you didn't know, we're kind of close to him."
"This is not a good place to come around, you are too far into the Forbidden Forest." Felix shook his head, "I think your professor should have told you not to trespass into the forbidden forest."
Ron stammered, "Professor, we were looking for Hagrid, but we happened to see you and were curious for a moment, so we followed you."
"A moment of curiosity," Felix fiddled with the wand in his hand as he looked at the trio, not speaking.
A tremendous amount of mental pressure fell over them.
Finally, Hermione said, with a whimper, "I'm sorry, Professor, we disappointed your trust-"
"It's alright," Felix said calmly, "it's in every young wizard's nature to take risks, especially the Gryffindor ones. But I hope you will define the line between bravery and foolhardiness, and know that you only have one life to live."
Felix didn't say anything more as he led the trio back to the castle.
"Let's see, breaking curfew, trespassing into the forbidden forest, and stalking a professor ..." The trio's faces paled as Felix's words rang out, "ten points each and a one-week detention."
The trio sleepwalked back to the common room.
Seeing Hermione's sad face, Ron soothed, "It's nothing, better than the best outcome I could have imagined. I was expecting us to be docked fifty points each and put in detention until Christmas."
Harry's face looked with approval; if they had fallen into Snape's hands tonight, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
As he laid in bed, Ron suddenly spoke to Harry, "That was cool, right?"
"What?"
"Professor Hap, O swish, whiz! Can't even see him move, he's definitely much better than Snape if you ask me, even better than Dumbledore!"
"Headmaster Dumbledore is the strongest," Harry said without thinking.
"That's not necessarily true, the Headmaster has not done anything in years. If it had been decades ago, I certainly wouldn't suspect it ..." Ron muttered in a small voice before drifting off to dreamland.
Harry, however, is somewhat sleepless, his mind kept coming up with the images of Professor Hap casting spells, every movement, from Professor Hap casting the first spell then bursting into black smoke, breaking down and replaying in his mind.
He remembers it all vividly.
The next day, Hermione remained a little sad, but she quickly pulled herself together and even began to discuss the Chamber of Secrets leads with them.
The young witch said with a scowl, "So it seems that Professor Hap is not the heir of Slytherin."
Ron said, "Don't be so arbitrary, we've just put a temporary hold on the suspicion, although Professor Hap is certainly cool." He admitted that much.
Harry hastily changed the subject, feeling somewhat ashamed of their stalking of the Professor last night, which had put Hermione, who worked as an assistant, on the spot.
"I think it's more likely Malfoy after all."
"Exactly," Ron interjected.
"But how do we coax it out of him? He's not going to swagger and admit he's the heir of Slytherin, right ?."
Hermione nodded as she whispered, "Perhaps, we need to make a Polyjuice Potion."
"What is it?"
"Polyjuice Potion, it can turn you into another person." Hermione peppered them with knowledge.
The two of them remained confused.
Hermione said, somewhat annoyed, "Don't you all listen to your lessons? Snape mentioned in class that the process of brewing this potion is very difficult and requires a variety of precious ingredients, and its recipe is recorded in the book Potent Potions."
The trio discussed it in small voices.
But then, they got stuck on the first step.
The recipe for the Polyjuice Potion is difficult to get hold of because the Potent Potion in which it's recorded is in the forbidden section of the library.
There's only one way to borrow this book from the forbidden section: to get an official seal signed by a professor.
"There's no reason for us to borrow that book," Ron said, "it's not something we should mess with at our grade level."
"I think," Hermione said, "that if we pretend that we're interested in the theory, we might have some hope ..."
"Oh come on, professors don't fall for it that easily," Ron said, "unless they're stupid enough to do it ..."
Saturday morning.
The trio had breakfast and went together to the Ancient Runes Professor's office - to complete their detention.
Harry lamented a little that the first Quidditch game is about to take place, and he is unable to attend training, about which Quidditch Captain Wood had a strong opinion.
Knocking on the door, the trio is surprised to see Draco Malfoy in the room.
Malfoy is slumped in front of a table with a large, thick book in front of him, looking at the page numbers, having reached the final ten or so pages. His quill kept scribbling, and the tip of his nose even had a little ink on it.
Harry remembered with a jolt that Malfoy had been punished with copying a book.
Professor Hap said in a relaxed tone as he closed the door, "I was going to keep you apart, but after thinking about it, it was too much trouble. I enquired him, and Mr. Malfoy doesn't mind sharing the same table with you."
Ron let out a sudden snicker, the look on Malfoy's face didn't look like he "didn't mind" and he seems to be looking forward to their detention.
Felix conjured out three chairs and placed them in front of them, "I'll go find the materials you need to copy." With that, he left.
The four people in the office stared at each other with wide eyes.
Harry said teasingly, "Malfoy, your detention still isn't over yet? It's taking a lot out of you."
Malfoy tilted his head high, "Harry Potter!" He glanced at the three and seemed to want to say something when he saw Hermione, but he hastily held back.
He said, slightly condescendingly, "At Professor Snape's suggestion, Professor Hap allowed me to take a break in the middle of the session as a way of - not having to miss Slytherin's Quidditch training, Potter! I'll beat you at the tournament!"
Harry's mood soured for a moment. With the financial backing of the Malfoy, the entire Slytherin Quidditch team had switched to Nimbus 2001 Brooms, which made them extremely fast, like seven pale green silhouettes on the pitch.
Ron teased, "The real game is all about skill, even if you take the back door and become a Seeker, you'll just be more the butt of a joke, loser!"
"Shut up, Weasley. Do you even have a double-digit Golden Galleon left in your family's vault?"
Ron's face turned red, and even his ears grew hot as he pulled out his wand and shouted, "Say that again! Malfoy, say it again!"
Harry and Hermione hastily held him back, leaving aside what would happen if they fought in a Professor's office, and even if he allowed Ron to fight, what would happen, another day of spitting slugs all over the place?
Felix returned with a thick pile of parchment, and Harry and Ron were in no mood for any sort of fight as they looked at the more than a foot-high pile of material.
"I asked Professor McGonagall about it, and she had a batch of papers that were too old and required a renewal, so I volunteered to take this job," Felix said slightly perkily, " It happens to be related to your behaviour - the list of student violations and their penalties."
Felix placed the material on the table and with a "thud" brought up a thick ring of dust, he waved his wand to "Scourgify" and a gust of wind carried the dust away, "Let's get to work, kiddos. "
Felix sat in a corner of his office, seven or eight metres away from them, "Silencio." He pointed his wand at himself and then flipped open a thick book and enjoyed his leisurely weekend.
At the other end, Harry, Ron, and Hermione resigned themselves to their fate and sat down, Ron is strongly repulsed to sit with Malfoy and as a last resort, Harry had to be next to him.
Harry flipped open a piece of parchment and began to copy the material with a quill dipped in ink.
Malfoy whispered, "Potter! You know, you're going to lose ..."
"Shut up, Malfoy!" Harry yelled in a low tone.
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Harry felt awful about this detainment because Malfoy kept muttering in his ear and constantly provoking him. This made his efficiency plummet, and it's nearly noon, but he had only copied ten sheets of parchment.
The thickness couldn't even catch up to one little thumb.
At lunchtime, Harry complained to Hermione and Ron about this. He broke down a little and said, "I never thought he'd talk so much, and be buzzing around non-stop."
Ron offered him advice, "You could harass him too."
Harry looked speechless, he didn't have that much to talk with Malfoy.
Hermione pondered, "You could probably provoke him and use the opportunity to ask him if he's the heir of Slytherin."
"Don't be ridiculous, how could he say, unless it was someone close to him." Ron retorted.
Harry agreed that this idea is not plausible, rather it would be easy to spook him. "By the way, Hermione, what do we do about the sign?"
"How about you get it from Professor Hap?" Ron suggested.
"That's not a good idea." Hermione sighed, "He's not like Professor Lockhart, like that ..."
"-like a twat." Ron answered, getting a glare from Hermione.
"But I can try tonight, just so you know, try." Hermione didn't give a positive response.
After lunch, they returned to the Ancient Runes office and continued their own scribing tasks.
And Harry had to endure the provocative looks from Malfoy, as he tried several times to draw his wand and inflict a vile spell on him; one wasn't enough, it was better to do what Professor Hap had done and send out three spells in a flash, leaving him defenceless ...
By the afternoon, Felix looked at the results of a few of them and nodded in satisfaction, "Not bad, you three will be done by tomorrow afternoon. And Mr. Malfoy, you're making even faster progress, just seven or eight sheets short."
Draco Malfoy nearly burst into tears, thanks to how much he had paid for his slip of the tongue, two whole large books, the kind that is copied completely by hand.
Almost two months before and after, although in between he skipped a lot of detainment to go to Quidditch training ...
The following, Malfoy wrote so hard that even Harry couldn't be bothered, and finally finished copying the entire thing before dinner.
Felix couldn't help but compliment him twice, "Very good, well Mr. Malfoy, your detainment ends here."
"Yes, Professor," Malfoy whispered.
Seeing him sort out his stationery made Harry and the others very envious, they still had a full day of detainment tomorrow.
"Oh, yes, Mr. Malfoy," Felix called out to him, startling Malfoy.
He isn't going to be given a few more books, is he?
Fortunately, Felix had no such thoughts as he waved his wand and out of the corner flew a thick pile of parchment - covered in dense handwriting. Under his magic, the parchment split in two and got quickly bound together in midair.
Two book covers flew out of the suitcase and wrapped the parchment together, hot gold writing slowly emerging on the cover and looking, like two books.
"Mr. Malfoy, here are the fruits of your labour, a present for you."
The two books landed in front of him, and Malfoy looked stunned.
Felix said, "Although you come from a glorious pureblood with exceptional talent, Muggles are not inferior, as I think you have learned." He pointed to the two handwritten books in front of Malfoy.
"Through this detainment, I hope you will remember one thing, weakness or strength is not an obstacle to survival, arrogance is."
Malfoy held the two books, his lips opening and closing, but he said nothing.
When he left, Felix said to the trio who were watching, "Alright, you're done for the day, we'll continue tomorrow."
Hermione whispered and asked Felix, "Professor, can I continue studying magic runes with you tonight?"
Felix got somewhat surprised as he thought for a moment and said, "In principle, I have no objection, but your homework ..."
Hermione said cheerfully, "That's okay, I've finished all my homework." She looked as if she had hit the jackpot.
As the trio exited the office and made their way to the great hall, Ron looked at Hermione with an incredulous look on his face, "Did you really finish your homework?"
"Of course!"
"When did you write it?" Ron seriously doubted that his own clock is different from Hermione's, did she have a few more hours in her day than he did?
Hermione is in a rather good mood, and she said, slightly condescendingly, "Now that I know I'm going to be detainment for the rest of the week, of course, I have to finish my homework early, isn't that common sense?"
Ron mumbled something and Harry looked ashamed.
...
Malfoy returned to the Slytherin common room and put his book bag down.
He sat in his chair with a grim look on his face, his eyes looking out the window at the dark lake through the green light of the common room, with a fish or two swimming past the window now and then.
Two followers came over, "Draco, want to go for supper?"
"Crabbe, Goyle ..." Malfoy shot them a serious look, "Never mind, you guys go ahead."
Crabbe and Goyle shrugged and quickly left.
Malfoy shrunk himself into his chair, his pale blonde hair and slightly pale face half-hidden in the shadows.
He is still thinking back to the few words of Professor Hap.
Despite his attempts to refute the ridiculous idea, the two months of copying as punishment had put parts of the book into his head.
It reminded him of the time when his mother had taken him as a child to a pureblood wizard, and he had run into his aunt.
That aunt is his mother's second sister, but had been removed from the family because she had married a stupid muggle.
There was a terrible argument between them and his mother urged her to go back and confess her mistake, which was unceremoniously rejected.
He remembered very little of it, and the only words he remembered were his aunt shouting at them, "What have you got to be superior to, apart from magic?"
That twisted expression he remembered to this day.
Somehow, he suddenly grabbed his book bag and pulled out the two books, staring at the covers.
One, The Muggle Struggle: from a Million Years Ago, and the other one, How Muggles Think.
The covers were familiar to him, after all, he had been holding and copying them for two months, but they were also slightly different -
Underneath the author, a few new words had been added - transcribed by: Draco Malfoy.
Malfoy picked up the book, How Muggles Think, and turned the page from the first. Looking at the familiar font on it, he set aside his prejudices for the first time and read carefully.
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At 7pm, Hermione walked into Professor Hap's office on time, as she had done for the past two months.
This time, however, she felt a little nervous.
Felix looked up and smiled when he saw that our little witch looked a little restrained, "Sit down first, I had thought you would be absent for this weekend, after all you have been here for most of the week."
Hermione gathered her courage and said, "Professor, I'm sorry we followed you because we got a lead on the Chamber of Secrets and happened to find you in the Forbidden Forest ..."
Felix was somewhat taken aback, "So I became the subject of suspicion ..."
"No Professor, you are very good, we are the ones who were too sensitive," Hermione hastened to explain, "We came across a professor during the previous academic year who is a dark wizard and tried to steal a hidden magic stone from the school."
"Oh, with an experience like that, it's no wonder you guys are paranoid. Still, I would advise you that while perhaps your intentions are good, you must act within your means, and many dangers are not varied based on whether one is despicable or noble."
Hermione nodded good-naturedly.
They spent the next five thinking hours in the Thinking Room, with Felix teaching her three magic runes.
This time was one that they repeatedly compared notes over and over, without being too exhausted or learning much. Hermione even had the extra energy to continue practicing for another ten minutes when she returned to reality, and she could barely sketch out those three magic runes.
"Very brilliant." Felix couldn't help but clap his hands in praise.
If he had been in a similar position, he wouldn't have been able to outperform her without his golden finger.
But he also noticed a flaw in this young witch, the magic she had mastered always seemed to be modest in power, not fluctuating much in terms of ups and downs - which is good to a certain extent, the spellcasting is stable and once learned, it's hard to fail.
But at some points it is also a disadvantage, as she is less likely to "explode" and be able to amplify the power of a spell with her powerful emotions.
It could be fair to say that she is more suited to being a magical scholar, studying and learning magic, rather than a spellcasting wizard like Auror.
Felix thought that perhaps when she graduated, he could ask her to become his research assistant, or - as a partner?
He couldn't be blamed for thinking this much, it's because there were too few qualified candidates available as backups, and that's what he is so unsatisfied with Hogwarts, and the wizarding world in general - the training methods are too sloppy, how many wizards graduate and still study magic tirelessly?
On the contrary, there was no shortage of such wizards in the dark market, but the point is, would he dare to hire such a person?
If I could dominate the wizarding world ... a thought came to his mind, but it is quickly discarded, that's not his path.
"It's early, you could get back early or want to watch a film together?" Felix asked the young witch as he glanced back at the time, just a little past nine.
Hermione smoothed her hair, "Oh - Professor Hap?" She stammered, "I think - I'm rather curious about a certain Potion and would like some kind of background knowledge."
"Potion?"
"Yes, you know, we learn about antidotes and basic potions in Potions class, but I've read in the book about some potions, some of the more advanced ones, possess very magical effects ..."
"Indeed." Felix thought about it, it isn't a big deal. "Potion, let see." He waved his wand and taped the ring on his left index finger, and six finger-thick vials appeared in front of him.
"The field of potion is indeed complex and magical, and although I took Professor Snape's Advanced Class, I have to say that I'm still far from being able to master the field of Potion as a whole."
Hermione is somewhat surprised that Professor Hap would hold Snape in such a high esteem?
"First one, Baruffio's Brain Elixir." Felix let the first vial on his left fly to Hermione, "It can significantly enhance the brain power of the person taking it and speed up their learning efficiency. In a way - somewhat similar to the Thinking Room."
Hermione looked at the vial in front of her, it filled with a light blue liquid, gently swirled with bright fluorescent flashes.
"Many wizards have become so addicted to the potion that they can't help themselves, and have lost the ability to think altogether because of the misuse of Baruffio's Brain Elixir." Seeing Hermione's outstretched hand tremble for a moment, he added, "But it's still okay to take it once in a while."
"Second, the Fire Protection Potion." A small vial of purple liquid flew in front of her, "Although the name isn't remarkable, it's effective against magical fire."
Hermione suddenly remembered the question Professor Snape had set during the first year quest.
It was a logical reasoning question, and one of the potions worked as a way to get through magical flames.
"Third, Felix Felicis ." A vial flew up to her, containing the least amount of potion, only a third of it, maybe two or three millilitres. But it's the prettiest - it resembled a liquid of molten gold that jumped up like swimming fish with the slightest shake, the fluid blobbing.
"Also known as a Liquid of luck, it allows the person who takes it to have all things go well, as if by magic. But misuse leads to vertigo, recklessness and arrogance ..."
"It must be very complicated to brew, right?" Hermione asked.
"Extremely complicated, it takes at least six months and one wrong step, and it can turn into a pot of poison." Felix said rather emotionally.
"Fourth one, the Wolfsbane Potion. It prevents werewolves from losing their minds after a full moon transformation, but of course, it's useless to me, merely used as a collection ..."
"Fifth, Polyjuice Potion ." Hearing this, Hermione's spirits shot up, and she stared dead at the vial that flew in front of her. "It seems you've heard of this potion as well?"
Hermione whispered, "Professor Snape mentioned it in class, it allows the person taking it to take the form of someone else."
"Yes, it's also a rather complex potion that takes a month to brew. A standard dose works for about 10 minutes to 12 hours, depending on the quality of the potion."
"What about this one?"
"Mine? Probably enough to transform one person for half an hour."
Hermione looked a little disappointed. It seemed that one still had to brew it on their own, and the question is back to square one; how were they supposed to get the professor's seal of approval and get the recipe?
Felix's explanation continued as he waved his wand and sent the last vial flying in front of her.
"The sixth one, Ecstasy. Also known as the love potion. Once taken, one will fall madly in love with the person who gives him/her the potion."
Hermione couldn't help but open her mouth wide.
"You'll realize that it's used somewhat similarly to Polyjuice Potion: polyjuice is added with someone else's hair or body tissue, thus turning them into the other person;"
"The ecstasy, on the other hand, is to add one's own hair or body tissue and give it to someone else to drink, thus making them fall in love with them."
The young witch said indignantly, "This potion is an abomination."
Felix shrugged, "Indeed, it will only give you false love, as if it were a soap bubble - like its odour, which happens to be the favourite smell of your heart."
Felix waved his wand and the cork of the vial popped out with a loud bang, "You can try the smell of it - don't worry, it's the purest form of the original liquid and not very dangerous, at least not to your sanity. "
Hermione leaned in close and sniffed gently, it smells like books, sunshine and her home in the muggle world.
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The following week passed swiftly and everyone got busy.
Felix had to focus more on the fifth and seventh year, which is, after all, a grade where the future of a young wizard lay at stake. Of course, he also sincerely hoped that more people would take up the study of runes - not the old-fashioned translation, but something like his field of study.
He also had to tend to the little devil's snare, as well as whomping willow branches with a magic infusion that would make or break his first magical artefact.
And then there were the instant killing techniques, which could not be abandoned.
Many forbidden books in the library were still waiting for him to sort through and read ...
Everyone else had been busy too, Harry was busy with Quidditch training, the whole Gryffindor Quidditch team became anxious as the first match approached, they used the time in the evenings to practice extra hrs every day after class.
Hermione had to find some professor to get a sign on top of her daily practice of runes and looking up information on the Chamber of Secret's monster.
She managed to get a signature from Professor Lockhart without any problems, and with slightly exaggerated bragging words, Lockhart signed his big-name without even reading the content of the note.
"That was very witty of you when you caught that last ghoul with the colander ..." Hermione blushed a little at the thought of what she had said.
But luckily, the project of brewing a Polyjuice Potion went off without a hitch.
"It'll take about a month to brew it, in or around Christmas," Hermione said cheerfully.
Harry and Ron crouched sadly on the lavatory room floor, which had got a bit nasty.
The rest of the day went by without a new attack occurring at the school, or an unknown monster popping out and turning the young wizards to stone.
The young witches also lost interest in the legends and secrets of a thousand years ago and even suspected that the last incident was a bad prank, the victim being Filch's cat, the "accomplice" of the most unpleasant castle keeper.
A young wizard already swore that he had seen a sneaky shadow wandering around the second floor before the incident, holding a piece of cake that had been spiked with a petrifying potion!
Such rumours spread faster than the truth, so within a week everyone was talking about what petrifying potion could achieve a similar effect, leaving Dumbledore at his wits' end, stuck waiting for the mandrake to ripen to configure an antidote.
But the professors at Hogwarts knew what the truth was, and they spent the week searching the entire castle, only in vain. So they could only order the Head Boy and Head Girl to undertake the task of spreading the propaganda.
Percy then gave an example of his own brother wandering around the abandoned girls' lavatory during a Gryffindor assembly to illustrate the irrational and dangerous nature of such behaviour.
The scene was so heated that Ron almost got into a fight with his brother.
"You shamelessly ambitious man who cares only for his own power! I am your brother! Your brother! You're a total power animal!" Ron's ears were red as he cursed loudly.
"I am a Head boy of Gryffindor! I have to think about the badge on my chest, understand, dumbass!" Percy shouted with the same red ears.
"And you were there! You also went to the girls' lavatory!"
"I was doing my duty as a Head Boy! A ten-point minus for Gryffindor!"
But all in all, there existed harmony and camaraderie at Hogwarts.
This peace lasted until Saturday's first Quidditch game of the school year.
This Quidditch game is highly anticipated, firstly because it's between two old rivals, Gryffindor and Slytherin, and secondly, because Slytherin had "shamelessly" received off-field assistance, with the whole team riding the world's most advanced broomstick, the Nimbus 2001.
The other two teams wanted to see the power of the Nimbus 2001 in action.
Felix didn't bother to go, just stood outside the tower and took a glance from afar.
He had little interest in Quidditch competitions, and it wasn't because he had failed his first year flying class; there was no causal relationship between the two.
He just liked to be quiet rather than lively, and didn't really like too much noise.
Still, Felix wanted to spit on Hogwarts' curriculum, why were flying lessons only available in his first year? It made it impossible for him to even brush up on his points.
He's flying steadily now, okay!
That afternoon, he heard the big news that Harry Potter had been injured on the pitch, breaking his arm in a shattered, crumbling kind of way.
It was only thanks to Professor Lockhart's presence and powerful magic to extract the shattered bone fragments from Harry's arm that the Gryffindor genius seeker's career got salvaged.
"This is all a load of bollocks!"
Hermione said indignantly in the evening, this incident completely broke her fanboy filter and Lockhart remained black all her life from then on.
The truth is that Harry had simply fallen and broken his arm, something a simple healing spell could have fixed, but with Lockhart's "enthusiastic help" he had to stay at the school clinic and take a "Skele-Gro" to make the bones grow back.
Felix shivered at the thought of the sewer smell of the Skele-Gro.
Later that night, Felix dropped the young witch off and was about to watch a film to refresh himself when Dumbledore's Phoenix Patronus flew in through the window.
The Patronus appeared before him, and Dumbledore's solemn voice came from its mouth.
"Felix, come quickly to the Professor's Common Room, there is an emergency."
When Felix arrived swiftly, a number of professors had already gathered in this office, obviously arriving in a hurry, a few still in their pyjamas.
Dumbledore sat solemnly in his chair, his eyes half-closed, and Professor McGonagall kept rubbing her hands together.
"What's happened?" Felix asked in a whisper as he moved closer to Snape.
Snape glanced at him before whispering, "The attack has happened again, a second time."
Felix frowned.
"Who was it?"
"Colin Creevey, that fanatical Potter wannabe."
Felix had no recollection of him at all and aside, Professor McGonagall said with a sad expression, "He only started this year and has always admired Harry ... yes, always carries a camera with him, I recall him well ... I heard he's already mailed three photo albums home. Oh, dear!"
Felix picked up that broken camera on the table and a strong smell of charred air hit him.
After another ten minutes, a cheerful, pleasant voice pushed open the door to the room, "Did I miss something?"
Lockhart, dressed in gold pyjamas, walked into the room, slightly taken aback, "So many people!" But his next comment made the professors glare at him, what he said was, "Is everyone having a pyjama party?"
"I'm the best at this, I'm seasoned in this!" Lockhart winked and flashed his trademark toothy grin.
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Felix found it hard to understand this Professor Lockhart.
He had long since seen through the man for what he is - a businessman who sells books by making up stories and self-promotion.
As for his magic skills, he had long ago returned them to his teacher as he graduated.
This author's formula is to put his own name to his story and to shamelessly enrich himself under the banner of "autobiography".
This is not uncommon in the Muggle world, but the wizarding world is not that liberal, and to some extent, it's quite simple. You say it in your book that it's your own adventures and people would choose to believe it - and that's a fraud, and if it comes out, it's basically going to ruin his reputation.
Doesn't he know this himself? Why did he jump so much when he knew it? And to jump and perform it in front of the best group of British wizards in the wizarding world?
To be honest, Felix didn't understand it at all.
He and Lockhart were two completely different people.
"Silence." With the arrival of Lockhart, Dumbledore presided over the meeting.
"A second attack took place, just an hour ago, similarly petrified, just like Mrs. Norris," Dumbledore said with a slightly heavy tone.
"But this one is completely different in nature, the victim being a young wizard, a first-year, which suggests-" his azure eyes looked around with extreme pressure, "that the Chamber of Secrets has really been opened. "
"Hogwarts is facing a crisis!"
All the professors became solemn.
Next, Professor McGonagall recounted the information from the last time the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. She pursed her lips and began to recount that part of history, "Fifty years ago, the Chamber of Secrets was opened once."
"A student lost her life as a result, her name was Myrtle Elizabeth Warren, and yes, she remains at Hogwarts to this day as a ghost on campus."
"Since then, however, the Chamber of Secrets has been closed, until now-"
"So, then," commented Lockhart impatiently, "the attack is over? I mean, there's been a student that got hit, no? I've seen a number of similar cases, like the water banshee at Morgan Lake, which appears every thirty years, and since I gave the inhabitants in there my home-made amulet, they've never been troubled again ..."
Professor McGonagall's lips pursed even tighter as she said aloud in an extremely rare manner, "I must warn you, Professor Lockhart! Colin Creevey is simply petrified, he has not lost his life."
Dumbledore followed McGonagall's words, "True, none of us know if the monster will attack again and if the consequences will be merely petrification. If you have any suggestions, you can all make them."
Professor McGonagall said, "I have currently arranged for the heads of each house to patrol and strictly forbid young wizards from going to the isolated areas, and for the first and second years, furthermore, to group up for their classes and minimize going alone."
"Very good, Minerva," Dumbledore said approvingly.
"Headmaster Dumbledore," Felix felt the need to voice the information he had, "my focus of concern on the Chamber of Secrets all along. There are three keywords revolving around the Chamber of Secrets-"
He glanced at the crowd, "The unknown monster, the heir to Slytherin, and the location of the Chamber of Secrets."
"Once we know any of those points, we can sort out the truth."
Dumbledore closed his slender fingers as if in thought, "Please continue, Felix."
"The unknown monster, why don't we associate it with Slytherin? The Slytherin symbol is a snake, perhaps this monster is also a snake, and that solves the problem of how it appeared in the castle - with the help of the pipes that are all over Hogwarts."
The crowd pondered, and Snape spoke up, saying in his mild, indifferent tone, "Felix, the Slytherin symbol maybe a snake, but that's only because he's a Parseltongue. If you had researched him a little, you would have discovered that he is a master of bloodline research, and he studies more magical bloodlines than you can imagine."
"But we can't rule that out, can we?"
"Heh! That unknown monster that murdered a witch fifty years ago and fifty years later all it did was petrify ..." Snape stared at Felix with his stone-like cold eyes, "If I understand you correctly, Felix, this isn't the same monster, right?"
Felix shook his head, "I can't answer that, so my opinion is only for your reference."
He continued, "There are two possibilities I can think of for the heir of Slytherin. Active and Passive."
"Perhaps this heir is awake and knows what he is doing, such as carrying on the will of Slytherin and exorcizing the young wizard from the Muggle family. But it is also possible that he stumbled upon the Slytherin relic and is controlled by it."
Dumbledore looked up, "A very insightful observation, you've expanded our thinking."
He pondered, "We have overlooked this in the past, it seems we need to educate the students more."
Felix's "manipulation theory" drew a number of professors into the discussion, he waited for a little and continued, "As for the location of the chamber, I have no way of knowing, perhaps we could enquire the portraits and ghosts of the castle?"
After a long moment of silence, an older professor spoke with hesitation, "Originally I shouldn't have said this, but I think Hogwarts is at a critical time and any clue is important ..."
Felix looked at the old professor, his name was Sylvanus Kettleburn, he had been his teacher in the Protection of Magical Creatures class when he was a student, but he is rumoured to have plans to retire.
The professor, known for his preference to study and look after dangerous creatures, had set an everlasting record, experiencing 62 probationary reviews during his term at school.
If Felix had to rate him, he is another version of Hagrid.
At the moment, Kettleburn said, "The boy is definitely not a bad boy, but if you ask me if he's anything like me ... who made a mistake out of curiosity," he paused and said a name: "Rubeus Hagrid. "
"It wasn't him, Sylva," Dumbledore said in a firm tone, "I was teaching Transfiguration at the school back then, and I know he's innocent, but there's no proof ... for it, and headmaster Dippet expelled him. "
"It was a grave mistake, and we didn't catch the real culprit."
The meeting ended and Dumbledore divided up a series of tasks, for now, it still had to be mainly about prevention, in addition to conducting daily patrols, and urging the young wizards in the classroom not to trust any sort of magic item bollocks.
When Felix went out, he saw that Lockhart is talking to Dumbledore about something.
The Headmaster's expression is very intriguing.
--
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The day after the weekend, word of the Colin Creevey attack spread through Hogwarts.
This time is different from the last time, that was just a cat after all, and this time it was a student. If they hadn't heard that it's possible to save him, I fear it would have caused widespread panic.
On the other hand, the regular patrols of professors and Head students also added fuel to the anxiety on the side, even though it is a necessary act.
In the evening after the Runes class.
Felix spoke to Hermione briefly about what could be revealed, "The professors at Hogwarts will keep the young wizards safe, you can spread the word around more often about it a bit with others."
Hermione happily agreed.
"But, Professor, why did you guess that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a snake?" Hermione asked cautiously.
Felix, of course, wouldn't tell the truth, he could only relate the little story that Slytherin and snakes were compelled with.
"You mean Slytherin manipulated the snake to do his bidding?"
"Of course, after all, he's the most famous Parseltongue after all," Felix replied.
From the few words left behind by the Ravenclaw, it's clear that Slytherin had all sorts of snakes at his side and at his disposal all year round, which made him very 'famous' at the time.
Hermione exclaimed, "A Parseltongue can manipulate snakes?" Her heart thumped.
"I'm just speculating, after all, Parseltongue is so rare that there aren't many samples to study. But since this ability is hereditary, it means that it is not simply a type of exotic language, but contains magic power ..."
...
In one corner of the common room, a violent conflict is breaking out among the trio.
"Harry, I think you should tell Dumbledore, or Professor Hap, about you being a Parseltongue."
"Don't say it." Ron retorted without a second thought.
"Ron! You don't know the extent of the problem yet." Hermione glared at him in annoyance.
Ron lowered his head and whispered, "Harry, I mean, don't make this a public secret, if you expose your Parseltongue in public, you'll be finished and definitely treated as the heir to Slytherin."
"We could just tell Headmaster Dumbledore and ask him to keep it a secret," Hermione argued reasonably.
Harry rubbed his forehead, "But it wouldn't mean much, right? You guys know I'm not the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets, which means that there's still a Parseltongue lurking in the school."
"If I'm exposed, then maybe he will hide even deeper instead."
Harry didn't want to reveal his secret, not only because of the bad reputation of the Parseltongue but also because of some kind of hidden mental resistance towards the strong proposal from the Sorting Hat when he was sorted in his first year to enter Slytherin House.
Was that a sign of something?
That the Sorting Hat saw him for what he is?
Harry said to Hermione, "What's more, we can't be sure if the monster is a snake yet, can we? Maybe what I heard that day is just the murmuring of a passing snake, Professor Hap admitted as much. And you haven't found a corresponding snake in all the days you've been trawling the library?"
Hermione left speechless; the closest thing she had found came from a species called Basilisk, which had a lethal gaze, but it didn't petrify people.
Ron finally made up his differences on the subject, "Let's just brew some Polyjuice Potion as soon as we can and get Malfoy to talk about this."
"And that little elf called Dobby, he's weird too."
In addition to reassuring the young wizard in class over the next week, Felix made a point of caution, "Don't trust any artefact that talks unless you can see where its thoughts are hidden."
"Professor, are you talking about the Sorting Hat?" One of the twins, Fred, asked.
"No, it's been through a thousand years, we can trust it enough," Felix said seriously, "but some sorts of other things, like things you get by chance from library shelves, from old abandoned broom closets, like those, if you find you can talk to them, then you must beware."
"They can be extremely dangerous Dark Magic artefacts."
"I could give hundreds of similar examples ..."
For the next half of the lesson, Felix continued to scare the unreliable little wizards with real-life examples from various countries, and judging by the looks on their faces, he had achieved his goal.
By late afternoon, when the twins told others the story they had heard, they all listened with rapt attention.
"I never thought Professor Hap is so knowledgeable," Fred said to Ron as he and George came into a corner of the common room.
He squeezed his eyes and gestured to a moody Ginny, "Ginny, I have quite a few stories left to tell, if you want to hear them, I ..."
"No need!" Ginny said desperately.
The twins looked at each other and began to exaggerate as they imitated an unlucky man who had found a dark magic book and whose eyes had grown on the book ever since.
Ginny shivered as she listened.
"Okay guys, don't scare Ginny." Hermione took the younger girl's hand and said soothingly, "The Professor will protect us, as long as we don't get too curious ..."
Ginny nodded.
The next day at noon, Ginny took a sneaky glance and left the large group for a secluded area where she pulled a black book out of her book bag and threw it with force.
In the afternoon, Potion class ended, and the trio quietly made their way into the abandoned lavatory to brew the Polyjuice Potion.
"All going well so far," Hermione announced happily as she looked at the colour of the potion.
"Wait." Harry looked to a corner of the lavatory where there seemed to be something, but it was too dark for him to make much out of it.
He is just about to get closer when suddenly there were footsteps outside the door.
The trio looked at each other in alarm - "Who's there?" Harry shouted.
The footsteps quickly scurried away.
Gritting his teeth, Harry got the door open and chased after him and, halfway through, he came back.
"It's Malfoy!" He said through gritted teeth, "He must have followed us here."
"So did he find out about ..."
"Not sure."
"But it's not safe here anymore."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione agreed to change places and this time, they chose an abandoned classroom in the basement.
"It's pretty isolated."
The three of them were very satisfied with the new location.
In the evening, a young wizard slipped quietly into the place where Harry and the others had brewed their potions earlier, hesitated slightly, and went into the girls' lavatory.
Halfway through the day, he stepped out and left quickly, something hidden in his robe.
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As the Creevey incident fermented, the young wizards of Hogwarts showed an extremely unreliable side as everyone hid from their professors, giggling and exchanging amulets, talismans, and other protective playthings.
During this period, such a practice quickly took the school by storm, with Neville Longbottom buying a large, smelly onion, a spiky amethyst, rotting water, and a salamander tail.
As a result, the other Gryffindor boys told him he actually isn't in danger: he's pureblood and therefore safe from attack.
"They went after Filch first," said Neville, his round face filled with fear, "and everyone knew that I was pretty much a Squib."
The professors had to repeatedly emphasize the complete ineffectiveness of these things in class three times over. Among them, Felix, with his good reputation and gentle attitude, gained a lot of fans from the young wizards.
There were even a number of lower-year students who "came in" and asked for psychological guidance.
"Professor, can I, can I have a chat with you?" A curly-haired Hufflepuff boy stopped him while he's patrolling the hallways.
"Sure." Felix sighed inwardly, the fourth one this week, this reputation is wearing him down.
The young wizard looked a bit formal as the two made their way to a pillar, but Felix's high " favourable" rating among the young wizard community helped him calm down quickly.
"Professor, I'm having some difficulties." Felix gestured for him to continue, "My name is Justin Finch-Fletchley, I come from a Muggle family ..."
Felix's mind became clear.
"... When I received my admission letter, I wasn't sure about coming to Hogwarts, but, well, as you know, I was originally going to attend Eton, where my parents graduated from."
Felix said approvingly, "I've heard of that school, it's quite famous in the Muggle world."
"Yes, that's right." Justin got a little more excited, "But I was more curious about magic, and I convinced them to let me come to Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall's display shocked them at the time."
Felix nodded, Hogwarts traditionally has the habit of visiting new students from Muggle families.
But it would be interesting to imagine the expressions of the Muggles under the idealistic view, who saw magic for the first time.
Justin continued, "A lot has happened this year, with difficult times ... everyone is panicking, and a lot of people are writing home."
"Your parents are worried about you too, right? Did they let you take a break from school for a while?" Felix asked.
"No, no, Professor," Justin said quickly, "I didn't tell my family, I'm sure Hogwarts will stay open, Professor, and I love magic! I, I'm just a little scared, there are a lot of rumours that ... Harry, Harry, he is the heir of Slytherin!"
"Rumours are mostly untrue." Felix said calmly, "Do you believe this rumour?"
"I'm not sure, judging from logic, well, Professor, you know the word logical, right? Great, judging from logic, they just appeared in the wrong place, but I don't know much about magic ..."
"Don't worry, it's not him, I can assure you of that, the professors have enough insight to separate fact from rumour."
Justin breathed a clear sigh of relief.
"Are there any more questions?"
"And, Professor, I hear you're a Muggle-born too? Sorted into Slytherin?"
"That's right."
"Then you must have suffered a lot of trouble with others, right? Did you hit them back hard?"
"Ah, you could barely say that."
Justin's expression perked up, "Professor, many young wizards, especially those from Muggle families, worship you, you're their idol!"
?
I've just, become the idol of Muggle wizards?
"Professor, everyone wants to be as brave as you are ..."
After sending off this young wizard who was initially shy and then quickly turned to a chatterbox, Felix's heart remained somewhat amazed. He laughed softly after a while. This feeling ... is not bad.
December came, and with the tireless efforts of the professors, the young wizards finally abandoned their unreliable amulets and turned to more practical gadgets, such as a pair of Foe-Glass that could detect potential dangers in advance.
It was rumoured that girls carried a small mirror with them and used it to look around every corner, but this practice was quickly abandoned and not many people were able to stick with it.
The devil's snare that Felix had raised for so long also sprouted strong and ready for consumption.
They're also the branch of the whomping willow, under more than a month of diligent Magic irrigation, every inch of it is infused with Felix's own magic, which makes its surface shine and still maintain enough vitality.
Felix sampled the effect, he drew his wand, "Reducio!" The seven to eight-meter-long branch shrank rapidly and became a long snake-like thing in the blink of an eye.
"It's still a little thick."
He kept casting spells, and the branch became smaller and smaller, but the process also became more and more difficult. Luckily, the branch was soaked with his own magic power and did not reject him, and with the help of a few more techniques from the ancient books, he managed to turn it into a thin, flexible rope of emerald green colour.
Without rest, he quickly carved dense runes on the surface to maintain the effect of the magic.
"It looks quite good!"
But next, there's a dilemma in his mind.
According to his vision, he wanted to rely on whomping willow thin rope as a skeleton, the unicorn hair knitted into it, forming a small pouch-like thing.
But he's stuck on the first step, how to weave them together in the proper way?
"I know about this, I learned to knit sweaters with my mother!"
In the end, with the help of his assistant, Hermione provided seven knitting solutions in a row, impressing Felix.
After three days of work, the little witch finished her work brilliantly, even using the leftover bits of material to knit a small beaded pouch for herself after getting Professor Hap's permission.
The beads were also ready-made, and Hermione made them out of a block of chestnut wood that she used to practice runes.
The final half-finished product is a delicate purse that belongs to Felix, and a beaded pouch, which belongs to Hermione.
"The rest of the work, is to carve magic rune circuit, let's make the devil's snare mobile in the pouch and mislead itself to think that it is still growing strong ... and tweaking, probably need a week or two."
"Wait until the critical point, then we can use the magic to motivate the devil's snare to launch an attack."
"Of course," Felix explained, "your beaded pouch material is not good enough and may not be able to hold too many devil's snare vines."
"That's enough for me." Hermione said happily, "Professor, can I complete the construction of the runes by myself?"
"You can't do that for now, but, you can help me with it."
...
On Thursday afternoon, a small group gathered around the bulletin board, reading the words on a piece of parchment that had just been pinned up.
A few words at the top sparkled and kept drawing attention to it. It read--
Dueling Club.
--
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Dueling Club!
The word had spread throughout Hogwarts in just a few hours, and learning to protect oneself at this particular time is simply a sore point for all young wizards.
Except for the first-year students who are still naive and ignorant, any other young wizard of any grade can bow on this topic with a handful of bitter tears.
Hogwarts is unreliable!
The original course that teaches young wizards to defend themselves against danger, the Defense Against the Dark Arts course, has been very watered down over the years, but there is still something to learn. This year, it has been recognized as a drama class.
As a result, the young wizards have an avid interest in dueling clubs that will improve their strength.
Seamus Finnegan looked excited, "They finally thought of starting a dueling club! It's about time they finally do that."
"Which professor is taking this course?" Ron squeezed through the crowd, his eyes constantly searching the parchment as if trying to circle the name of a professor or two.
A Ravenclaw girl next to him said, "It isn't written above, but I hope it's Professor Flitwick, he was a dueling champion when he was younger."
"Professor Hap is better." Ron quickly retorted, since the night after the trip to the Forbidden Forest, he was obsessed with Professor Hap's prowess and thought he could hang Snape, and about Headmaster Dumbledore he could not tell, but it's at least 50-50 chance.
Harry subconsciously also wanted to nod, but when he glanced at the girl who spoke, he could not help but stop and stare.
Noticing Harry's gaze, Cho Chang smiled at him in a friendly way, and Harry felt his breath stop.
"What do you suggest, Harry?" Ron asked.
"What?"
Harry took an elbow from Ron in the ribs, but it didn't hurt at all, and he said vaguely, "Oh, yeah, you're right about everything ..."
The young wizards murmured, asking each other what they thought.
"First gathering tonight. Man, are you going to be there?"
"I'm not against taking some lessons in dueling, it might come in handy someday."
"I think we could use it right now."
"Do they think they're going to duel with that Slytherin monsters?" Ron muttered, but he also read the notice with interest, "Harry, what do you think?"
"That girl does look very ... what did you say?" Harry suddenly snapped awake.
Ron looked at him with a suspicious expression.
"A duel, yes, of course, I'm going." Harry concentrated this time on reading the words on the parchment.
By the time dinner is served, most of the table was filled with news about the dueling club, and someone swore that at least three professors would be in charge of the entire club and that they would show a high-profile showdown with no restrictions.
It was said to be very wild.
The name Felix Hap, once again, appeared in the mouths of many girls, and the rumours of his open challenge to a pureblood family in his fifth year became more and more outrageous.
From the original version of "calm and unassuming", to the later "sad and helpless, fighting to the death", Professor Hap's personal image, from a cold and powerful genius wizard, quickly turned into a tragic figure waving a wand and rushing to the spinning windmill.
Many of the younger witches who hadn't faced Felix were holding doll-like wooden figurines in their arms, and their eyes were filled with tears of sympathy.
"They are talking too much," Ron said discontentedly as he kept stabbing a piece of potato with his fork. It simply destroyed the powerful image of Professor Hap in his mind.
He turned his head, trying to seek approval, only to see Hermione's eyes also clouded with a layer of water.
"He really suffered too much in those days ...," the little witch stated very emotionally.
"Who? Professor Hap?" Ron's head hit with a question mark. Are we talking about the same person?
Harry ate his dinner sullenly, not saying a word the entire time except for the occasional glance up.
"Harry, you're not right," Ron said.
"I'm fine."
"Not right since you got back," Ron asked in a whisper as he moved over, "Did you hear that voice again?"
"No, I'm done eating, see you in the common room." Harry left quickly.
Halfway there, Harry lightly hammered his head, what was wrong with him?
But he had heard her friend call her name, Cho Chang, how lovely ...
After a while, Ron came back by himself.
"Where's Hermione?"
"I don't know, she said she had to leave first and told us to wait for her in the great hall." Ron shrugged, "By the way, what do you think would Professor Hap teach us if he were to come along?"
This topic caught Harry's attention, and he quickly went through the scenes when Professor Hap cast spells, and the most impressive one was indeed the forbidden forest one.
He expressed his opinion to Ron.
"Harry, that magic is too high level," Ron looked around and said to him slightly mysteriously, "I inquired from Fred - no, I did not say out it was Professor Hap. "Seeing that Harry wanted to open his mouth to say something, he hastily added.
They were both asked by Professor Hap to keep it a secret and not to tell what happened that night.
"Apparition is quite a dangerous magic, and we can't learn it until we are at least full-grown."
Appari- what?"
"Apparition, allows you to disappear from one place and appear in another place in the meantime."
Harry quickly remembered the name of the spell, Professor Hap's performance in the Forbidden Forest that night had given him a great shock, but he had thought at the time that it was the professor's exclusive magic.
"And, as I learned by the sidelines, this magic is used for travelling in a hurry, and it is rarely used repeatedly in a short span of time, and the slightest slip can result in a Splinch."
"Splinch?"
"For example, your head flies away, the body remains in place." Ron explained with a slight exaggeration, "Not to mention, having to cast a spell while moving, and frankly when I told Fred about it, he thought I was telling a joke."
Harry ignored the danger in Ron's mouth with a look of fascination.
...
Ancient Runes office.
"You mean the Dueling Club?" Felix asked with interest.
"Yes, it's posted on the bulletin board, it's in the great hall tonight at eight o'clock, aren't you aware of it, Professor?"
Felix shook his head.
Hermione's face looked rather disappointed.
Then she offered her farewell, not a few steps outside, she suddenly turned around, clenched her fist, her face red with encouragement, and said, "Professor, we all think you are a very good wizard, I read a saying from a book: the hardship of youth is nothing, it will only become your motivation to move forward. You have a long life ahead of you, go for it!"
Watching her stomp away, Felix had a question mark on his face.
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8:00 p.m., school Great Hall
The long dining table disappeared, and in the center of the Great Hall stood a temporary square gilded stage, edged by three wooden steps.
Hundreds of candles floating in midair, the center of the Great Hall, decorated beautifully.
Harry, Ron hurried back to the Great Hall, the whole school is almost here, crowded, they are feverishly discussing. The two squeezed along the gap in the crowd towards the front, Harry inadvertently knocked off a first-year witch's glasses, he hastily apologized "sorry".
The witch took the glasses and put them back on her forehead, humming something softly that Harry didn't hear.
The two of them went to the Gryffindor wizarding area, where Seamus, Dean, and Neville were all present, "Hey! Harry, this way." They sighed with relief, "There are lots of people here."
Neville Longbottom's round face turned serious, "Almost all of them are here, it seems everyone is curious about the Duel Club."
At that moment, Hermione came over from the other direction to rendezvous, and she is holding a newspaper in her hand.
"You're a little late, where have you been?" Harry asked, while stretching his neck to look out of the corridor.
"I went to see Professor Hap first, then I ran into Professor McGonagall on the way back."
"Something wrong?" Ron asked casually and didn't wait for her answer when he suddenly let out a heavy sigh, and a number of other young wizards reacted the same way as he did, as they saw Professor Gilderoy Lockhart in his magnificent purple robes striding into the great hall.
Next to him is a stern-faced Severus Snape, and the two were a wonderful contrast - the former warm and welcoming, the latter downcast and solemn; the former brightly dressed, the latter covered in black.
Harry let out a groan, his two most hated professors will be teaching him dueling courses.
The peacock-like Professor Lockhart gave a graceful speech, starting with a ten-minute account of how he had "worked hard to convince Dumbledore to give everyone the chance to learn how to protect themselves," interspersed with the familiar self-congratulatory and book-buying advice. -They have become immune to this rhetoric.
In the last thirty seconds, Lockhart made a rare introduction of his "assistant" Professor Snape.
"Professor Snape, who himself knows a little about dueling, has graciously agreed to assist me with a little demonstration before class - but don't worry, I'll get your Potion professor back to you in one piece." He grinned widely.
Snape curled his upper lip and pulled out a courtesy smile that sent chills down Harry's spine; if Snape had smiled at him like that, he would have long since scampered away.
In the meantime, the school nurse, Madam Pomfrey, stood impatiently at the edge of the field, carrying a white medicine box with her, and Professor Felix Hap also appeared quietly in the corner of the great hall.
He is quite interested in this so-called "dueling course", and deep down he had some ideas, so he decided to come and take a look.
If Professor Lockhart messed up, maybe he could take over ...
And from what he knew about this professor, the odds were great that he would flop.
It's a test of his subconscious dissatisfaction with the mediocrity and chaos of the wizarding world and Hogwarts, but being prudent, he decided to wait and see first.
...
The dueling session began in less than three minutes, and Felix's eyes twitched as he looked at Professor Lockhart, who had been knocked off his feet by the "Expelliarmus", and stood up in confusion, his magnificent purple robe ripped open in a long gash.
You are still a rookie, can't you have some self-awareness?
Professor Lockhart is assisted to his feet by several young wizards as he stumbles back to center stage, "Okay, everyone, see!" His wavy curly hair stood up at the roots under the magic spell, he looked rather comical, but it's his next words are the most comical ones.
"This is what will happen if you got hit by Disarming Charm, I hope I just impressed you with my demonstration--" he glanced at Snape, "But don't mind me saying this, your intention just now was obvious, if I wanted to stop you, it's not going to take a lot of effort ..."
"But the young wizards need to grow their insight, might as well show them ..." Lockhart couldn't go on anymore, Snape is looking at him with a murderous look on his face.
Lockhart wisely changed the subject and moved the lesson to the next stage. Without any specific teaching, he pulled out a dozen pairs of young wizards and had them stand in a small grid across the stage.
"This is the end of demonstration this time! Let's see what you've learned, Professor Snape, if you'll help me ..."
What followed was a lousy battle, and Lockhart, wishing to avoid a head-to-head with Snape or giving specific magic instructions, shifted his task to critique and instruct, but he overestimated the level of spellcasting and discipline of the young Hogwarts wizards.
In particular, Snape intentionally or unintentionally arranged for his own house and the little lions to pair up, which is strange if they didn't fight.
Although Lockhart repeatedly stressed that only the Disarming Charm can be used, which the young wizards have never learned - if you do not count Lockhart's "demonstration" just now. So after a few ineffective incantations by both parties, a variety of small vicious jinx popular among the student community emerged.
From Felix's point of view, Harry and Malfoy's group was barely interesting, but the two basically had no concept of dueling, using a turn-based system, like here a Tickling Charm " Rictusempra ", oh, then take this "Tarantallegra", while the rest were just watching So, it's a turn-based system.
The remaining wizards, Neville and Justin, were both on the ground, panting as if they had battled hard, but they hadn't released a single spell from the beginning to the end.
Ron scratched the dead-faced Seamus and apologized repeatedly, his wand is still spewing green smoke.
And his own assistant side ... their wands have long since lost, wrestling with each other, the Slytherin girl with a huge size advantage gained the upper hand, her arm clamped Hermione's head, but Hermione also has one hand deadlocked on the opposite side' hair ... ...
"Oh my god, oh my god!" Lockhart screamed, but he had no effect on the field, and Felix had to cross the crowd, waving his wand around to separate the young wizards a dozen times.
"Professor Hap ..." Lockhart is a little flustered and still hesitant, but soon his mind is drawn to the tragic situation of the little wizards. "Miss Fawcett ... press hard and pinch your nose, the bleeding will stop immediately, and your nose is broken, and..."
Madam Pomfrey stepped on stage and pulled Lockhart away as the distinguished school nurse madam quickly cast a spell and poured various coloured potions into the mouths of the young wizards. "Dumbledore should not have approved ... it's ridiculous, it's just ridiculous ... totally incompetent ..."
Seamus took a sip of the green gooey stuff, his face turned even greener, and finally he burped and spewed out a cloud of green gas.
"Shame on the professor for letting little wizards engage in dangerous activities ..." Pomfrey kept muttering under her breath, but she quickly solved the trouble and in less than five minutes back and forth, the little wizards were back on their feet.
Lockhart looked a little overwhelmed, "Well, ah ..." he froze for a few seconds, "Let us thank Madam Pomfrey for her efforts, she is a strong support staff for our dueling classes... ...and of course, Professor Hap."
He stole a glance at Felix, who is standing on the stage with absolutely no intention of going down.
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"So next ..." said Lockhart, stammering slightly, "I thought it's best to teach you how to stop some unfriendly magic, yes, unfriendly, as I wrote in my book... . Documented personal experiences."
"Please volunteer to come up as a pair - Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you? Professor Hap, Professor Snape, we'd better leave the stage to them ..."
Felix fiddled with his wand absently, "A very good offer, Professor Lockhart. But before that, I think it's necessary, to let the young wizards know what a real duel is like, even if it's a demonstration duel."
Lockhart's expression froze for a moment, "This, I ..." he looked in all directions and found the young wizards off-stage so interested in this that he couldn't speak.
"Professor Snape, what do you think?" Felix asked Snape, who had been silent.
A certain Potion Professor measured him with a deep and unexpected look, and he pulled a smile with a wide grin on his lips, "Are you asking a duel, Felix?"
"A mere demonstration match."
Neither man took Lockhart into account.
Snape gave him a deep look, said nothing more, and simply drew his wand.
Lockhart on the side awkwardly found himself miraculously detached from the center of the vortex, his face regained enthusiasm, "It seems that we have to temporarily add a duel to our course, let us welcome the two professors!"
This time the stage applauded enthusiastically, Ron gleefully recited to Harry, "Honestly, I've waited too long for this day! Do you think Snape will be hospitalized?"
As a " strong fan " of Professor Hap, he is naturally on the side of Felix.
"It's just a demonstration match," Hermione stressed this point, but she still jumped up and down on her tiptoes.
Lockhart stepped back to the edge of the stage and applied a "Sonorus" on himself - a spell he was quite adept with thanks to his book signing presentations.
"I'm going to give you a commentary, although this is only a demonstration match, the real duel will not be like this, which requires a sharper sense of foresight to detect danger - for more details on this, please see my published works." Lockhart spoke eloquently, "But - it is still good for you. Following bow ..."
However, neither of the two on the stage paid any attention to him, and instead chatted with each other for a few moments.
"Felix, what do you want to do?"
"Professor, I just stopped by to take a look and make a contribution in the process."
"Don't lie to me!" The two were very close to each other, which made this conversation only each other could hear.
"Is it because Professor is only proficient in Legilimency?" Felix teased.
Snape grunted, in his eyes, the former student has a very strong sense of purpose, and now the behaviour, which he categorized as "Felix ready to seize the power with his first step".
The two bowed, each took seven steps backward, turned to look at each other, and raised their wands to their chests at the same time.
"As you can see, the two professors hold their wands in the usual dueling position," said Lockhart, fulfilling his commentary duties, "one of the three common dueling positions, next I will count to three, and they will cast the first spell."
The students at the bottom held their breath, and the atmosphere is completely different from the "demonstration" of Lockhart just now.
"One ... two ..."
"Snape will not be killed in seconds, right?" Ron shouted excitedly.
"I don't think so, gosh--" Hermione just about to say that Professor Hap looked up to Snape, but she is quickly stunned by the dazzling scene on stage.
"Three!"
Snape shouted, " Expelliarmus!" A dazzling red light flashed, and the spell quickly flew to Felix.
Felix twirl his wand, smoothly release a "Protego", an invisible magic barrier appeared in front of his body, Snape's spell bounced off, then he flicked his wrist, the magic barrier emitted a dazzling white light, and swiftly flew forward.
Snape sent out two spells in a row to break Felix's Protego, and the magic barrier quickly dissipated.
However, the white light from the Protego spell obscured Snape's vision, and when he subconsciously shifted his position - years of habit saved him once - three dull black lights brushed against him, the nearest one, almost against his nose.
All this happened in the span of less than three seconds from Snape's strong first strike, to Felix's defensive counterattack, and with the white light to cover the rapid release of three sneak attacks.
Lockhart: "..."
The little wizards: "..."
The duel continues, Snape does not dare to take it lightly, he has not made a move for almost ten years, although he has not given up on the exploration of magic, but he mainly focused on the improvement of potions.
However, he is quickly picking up the combat experience he once had, and after several rather thrilling deflections in quick succession, finally began to counterattack.
Both of their magic spells kept flying around, but both had a tacit agreement not to accidentally injure students.
A variety of defensive spells, attack spells, disarm spells cut through the air, emitting a sharp whistling sound, the distance between the two people sometimes quickly close, and sometimes far away, their feet keep moving from one position to another in small increments.
Lockhart wisely jumped off the stage after a spell grazed his hair, but he still commented loudly: "The duel is somewhat intense ... see their feet? MOVE, MOVE, don't just stand there, silly!"
Lockhart still got two brushes, at least eloquent, and through his explanation, many young wizards drifted into realization, sort of saving his image a little.
Snape scoffed at this, though, as he dexterously dodged a spell and drew an opening to counter. He felt that Felix's magic spells are gradually strengthening in power, which made him under more and more pressure.
Damn, this kid is putting pressure on me!
"Why does it feel like Professor Hap's magic spell is getting thicker and thicker?" Even many small wizards noticed this, but with their knowledge, they could only judge the strength of the spell from the "appearance".
Snape's wand shook violently, a strengthened version of the "Protego" blocked in front of his body, two hot red lights flew and one by one impacted on it, issued a "thud" sound, the magic barrier was torn open by a mouth gap.
Amazing magic proficiency ...
The second hot red lights hit the top with a "thud" sound, and the barrier was torn open.
The young wizards on the stage were dazzled, realizing for the first time that the so-called duel was not just a silly face-to-face magic spell, but that there were too many ways to cast spells in terms of speed, timing, means of defense, pace, and awareness...
But they do not know, both people did not use their full strength.
Felix slightly easily tilted his head to avoid a red ray, using this short gap to turn the wand to send a magic spell, the heart quickly assessed the limit of this potion professor.
Professor Snape's strength shouldn't be like this ...
The next second, Felix's heart suddenly rose alert, he threw out three shield charms in a row, and let it fly far out and in the way of the necessary path.
A crimson, powerful spell sliced through the air and quickly passed through the first and second barriers before rushing viciously towards the third one.
The young wizards' eyes widened, they might not be able to judge the strength of the spell, but Snape's spell left an ever-burning trajectory in midair, and also pierced through the shield charm's barrier in one fell swoop, they could see it clearly.
"Dang!"
A violent boom rang through the great hall.
Felix's third shield charm worked, bouncing off Snape's surprisingly powerful spell.
He smelled a hint of dark magic ...
The characteristics of dark magic incorporated into the disarming charm, Professor, you are really surprising me.
Do you have a much stronger magic spell? Do you still have a backhand ...
Snape is far from relaxed, he did hide some magic spells, but they are dark magic, can not be used in public, and looking at Felix's performance, even if he used it the effect will not be great.
He has surpassed me ...
Snape has never been so clearly aware of this at the moment.
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The two stopped casting spells at the same time, with quite a tacit understanding.
"Wonderful! An evenly matched battle!" Lockhart's voice appeared at the right time, "Did you see that? How tacitly they understand each other! I bet they practice together a lot in private, two cunning guys!"
Snape's face turned dark and ugly, and he walked off the stage without saying a word. But he did not leave either, but stood in the shadows.
The exchange between them, rather than a duel, is more like a probe.
He did still have a few Dark Magic hidden, but they were learned from Dark Lord, and he never used them since that incident, which meant quite a lot. And what about Felix ... his ancient runes? What about his Alchemy artefacts? What about Dark magic?
In the duel, his magic power has been constantly strengthening, by the end of the duel what he showed, is that his limit?
Snape tried to make a specification of Felix's strength, but he found he could no longer discern it.
Felix calmly walked off the stage, and the crowd automatically made a way out, as the young wizards' eyes flickered in awe over Snape and Felix.
To the eyes of the young wizards, the duel ended evenly and without a winner. Although Professor Hap had shown a very relaxed display overall, didn't Snape also pierce two shield charms with a single spell?
That's the strongest defensive magic available to most minor wizards.
"Snape is actually so strong!" Ron is obviously taken aback.
"Professor Hap has very high regard for Snape," Hermione whispered, she is now somewhat fretful, to make polyjuice potion, the odds were they would have to break into Snape's private collection, and if they were caught ...
Harry didn't say anything, the duel just made his blood boil, he could not wait to replace either one of them. But he realized that he might be able to see each spell clearly, but in their place, he might not even be able to avoid the first spell.
At this point, Professor Lockhart returned to center stage, and he gave a spirited speech, "It looks like the demonstration went very well, and I think you can't wait to - gosh, to cast spells as smoothly as the three professors, but don't be overly ambitious, you're nowhere near that level! You're not even close to that level!"
Ron muttered underneath, Harry didn't hear it, but he intuitively thought it was a rebuke for Professor Lockhart's words because his thoughts were similar.
"- Next, we will follow the intended schedule and choose two representatives to demonstrate for all. As I just said, how about Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley?"
"I don't think that's appropriate, Professor Lockhart." Snape regained his composure as he walked quickly to the stage, his robes fluttering like a bat gliding lightly across the stage.
" Longbottom can wreak unexpected havoc even with the simplest spell, and if we let him up here," Snape's gaze was rather icy as his eyes swept over Felix, "we'll just have to keep the remains of the Finch-Fletchley in a tinderbox."
The Slytherin student laughed.
"How about Malfoy and Potter?"
"Great!" Lockhart agreed quickly, whatever Snape's proposal might be.
He gestured for Harry and Malfoy to walk to the center of the stage.
Watching Snape and Malfoy muttering, Harry first glanced at Professor Hap at the other side of the stage who didn't know what he was thinking, he could only turn his head to look at Lockhart, "Professor, can you show me how to use the disarming charm once more?"
Lockhart: "..." He came closer, right next to Harry, paused for ten seconds or so, then straightened up, tapped him on the shoulder, and said, "Just do as I said!"
"What?" Harry asked, stunned, but he noticed that Malfoy is already standing across to him.
"One, two, three - go!" Lockhart shouted quickly.
"Serpensortia" Malfoy shouted, his wand exploded and a cloud of black smoke quickly turned into a single black snake.
The black snake hit the floor with a "thud" as it moved closer and closer to Harry.
The small group of wizards closes to the stage screamed and backed away to make some space available.
Felix took one look at it, then lost interest, a simple little mischief spell. Snape lazily drew his wand, "Don't move, Potter," seeing the expression on Potter's face, he is so flattered that his bad mood, which Felix had just caused, is miraculously improved.
At this point, Lockhart saw an opportunity, he thought he had to do something to salvage the situation. So he stepped forward and shouted, "Let me do it, I'll take care of this trouble." But then he noticed that Harry's gaze became even more alarmed.
A spell from Lockhart meant trouble, a plain knowledge Harry had developed in just a few short months, as the bones he had taken from him on the Quidditch field could prove it.
Sure enough, a potent spell from Lockhart hit the black snake, and a loud "bang" sounded throughout the great hall, and instead of disappearing, the black snake rapidly expanded and turned into a large python.
And the python, as if on steroids, became manic, it raised its head high, revealing fangs, took an offensive posture.
Felix and Snape raised their wands at the same time, but the next second, a creepy sound came, it's like a snake "hissing" sound, but it seemed more horrible and frightening, people can not help but feel their hair erect.
The two turned their heads at the same time, looking at the little wizard who spoke a strange language - Harry Potter.
The black python swung and twisted its body as if it had a cramp, looking more and more hideous, but it quickly collapsed on the floor, smashing the floor into a large crater, nearly taking Justin who is in front of it in one wave.
Although Harry is still confused about the situation, he knew that he had stopped the black python from attacking, so he gave Justin a big smile.
But he soon realized something wrong, the hall was suddenly quiet.
Everyone looked at him strangely, and Justin shuddered as he shouted, "What are you up to?" Like a frightened rabbit, quickly ran out of the great hall.
Snape came forth and looked at the Black python, which is lying on the ground, and turned back into a wisp of black smoke, his eyes also became extremely deep, which contained too many things, which Harry simply could not understand.
The crowd began to whisper and point at him - this is never going to be pleasant, and a chill ran through Harry's spine.
Just then, he became aware of someone tugging at the back of his shirt.
"Come on," Ron whispered, "let's go--"
"But why-"
"Don't ask, Harry, let's go ahead."
Ron and Hermione almost dragged Harry out of the Great Hall with a forceful tug.
The crowd automatically parted way for them, and as they walked out of the Great Hall, murmurs exploded behind them.
Felix halted in place as pieces of the recent time kept surfacing.
Parseltongue ...
Harry Potter is surprisingly a Parseltongue.
The previous places that could not be figured out suddenly one by one coherent, Hermione's several desires to inquire, looking for him to ask about other wizard's inaudible murmurings, after the attack and a special interest in snake magical creatures ...
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The trio walked out of the Great Hall and followed a stone path to an open area.
It's now a little after 9 p.m. and it's become completely dark.
"What is going on? Why are you guys acting so weird?" Harry asked irritably as he broke free from their grasp.
Ron gave him a long glance, "Harry, you're exposed."
"What-" Harry suddenly choked as tremendous fear gripped his guts, "You mean, that Parseltongue thing?"
"We heard you just talking to that big black snake, in another language."
Ron's words kept his heart sinking as he desperately tried to justify himself, "But I was trying to save Justine's life! If I hadn't told the snake not to attack him-"
"Is that what you were saying?" Ron interrupted him.
"Of course! You were there. ..."
"Mate, the look on your face when you were talking, it was a bit scary ... like you were giving it some command, goading it to keep attacking or something."
Hermione said somewhat sadly, "Harry, I think the ... possible reason for this is because the Parseltongue just sounded very evil, and your voice at the time was kind of a raspy hiss with a horrible echo that sounded creepy."
"Professor Hap said that Slytherin was also a dark wizard in the eyes of others because he had no qualms about manipulating snakes with the Parseltongue gift and making them do his bidding."
On the other end, Felix approached Dumbledore later in the evening and the two talked for a long time.
"Felix ... your perceptiveness amazes me, I will inform the portraits and professors of the castle to work hard for a while longer, until the Christmas holidays, when most young wizards will go home, at that time, the castle will be quite empty. We can start a full search ..."
"Sir Dumbledore, have you given any thought about the Parseltongue?"
"Yes, perhaps Parseltongue is the key to opening the Chamber of Secrets, but I think that there will be something you can do, Felix?"
"Sure. But, about the dueling club ..."
Dumbledore was non-committal, "If Professor Lockhart doesn't object, I have no problem with that."
Would Lockhart object? Then the dueling club is already his.
Felix got up with satisfaction and took a few steps out, he suddenly stopped, "With all due respect, Headmaster Dumbledore, haven't you considered telling Harry Potter directly? He and his friends also have been following the clues to the Chamber of Secrets as well."
Dumbledore lapsed into silence, "I can't be certain yet, Felix. Harry's Parseltongue reminds me of a few things that I have to figure out ..."
...
That night, Harry tossed and turned, unable to sleep, he gazed through the gaps in the curtain at the snowflakes drifting across the castle windows, his mind at a loss.
He once again remembered the advice of the Sorting Hat to him.
"I belong to Gryffindor." He once again emphasizes it to himself.
Originally, Harry thought this day would be his second most difficult day of this school year (the first being the day when Ron received a Howler from Mrs. Weasley), but he found out he is wrong; the next morning the news spread throughout Hogwarts and everyone is looking at him strangely.
As if the next moment, he would suddenly open his mouth which is brimming with fangs, and bite their heads off.
For most of the afternoon, Harry hid in the abandoned classroom in the basement, watching Hermione brewing ployjuice potion with Ron.
Harry watched as Hermione threw bunches of twigs into the crucible, and he suddenly remembered something, "Hermione, what happened yesterday when you said Professor McGonagall was looking for you?"
Ron lifted his head and stopped dozing.
Hermione's expression came alive for a moment as she happily announced, "My paper is finally going to be published."
Harry had nearly forgotten about it, he was full of anticipation, but now more than three months had passed, and the thesis had completely cleared from his mind.
"It's strange that it took so long to get published," Ron said.
"That's because it took me over two months just to revise the thesis, not to mention the time I had to add reviewing it. They sent me a manuscript acceptance letter yesterday, a copy of the Daily Prophet, and a sample issue of Who Will Define Ancient Runes - forwarded by Professor McGonagall."
The little witch is in a good mood as she poked some leeches right into the bottom of the pot and kept stirring.
"Why are there two issues in the newspaper?" Ron asked, puzzled.
"The body of the paper is in the Who Will Define Ancient Runes magazine, but the Daily Prophet also reported about it," Hermione said, with narrowed eyes, she seems very satisfied with it.
Both the Daily Prophet and Who Will Define Ancient Runes have been carefully stored away for her to bring it back home for the summer.
After Friday, it's finally time for the weekend.
On Saturday morning, the trio holed up in a corner of the common room, Harry's mood growing more and more irritable as he felt that everyone who passed by him would give him a deliberate glance, and even the sound of their voices would suddenly lower.
But the attitude of the Gryffindor young wizards really can not be considered worse, now when Harry walked out, he has the effect of clearing out a corridor, the deterrent effect is comparable to the castle keeper Mr. Filch.
Since the cat he kept was petrified, this gentleman recently adopted a different strategy than before - hiding in the shadows, waiting for the violating little wizards to come to his door.
By virtue of his familiarity with the castle, he had caught three couples in a row who were hiding and dating against the ban, scaring the little wizards of Hogwarts.
Near noon, Professor McGonagall came by to collect the list of students who will be staying for Christmas, as she does every year during the second week of December.
The three of them found Malfoy's name in it, and they coincidentally chose to stay in school.
After Professor McGonagall left, Harry and Ron were bored playing wizard's chess, and sighing from time to time.
Just when Hermione couldn't resist saying something, an owl flew in and landed on her shoulder.
Hermione opened the letter on the owl's leg, which is a sticky note.
"It's from Professor Hap." She glanced up at Harry and Ron and said in a slightly odd tone, "He invited Harry to join me to his office tonight, saying it's important."
Harry is somewhat stupefied.
--
7:00 PM.
The three of them walked towards the Ancient Runes office, and Ron suddenly asked somewhat uneasily, "Can I come too? I mean, Professor Hap only looking for Harry ..."
"You've asked this for the third time, Professor Hap has mentioned you and said that you are more than welcome if you are interested," Hermione said impatiently.
The trio stood in front of the door, and she knocked, then pushed the door open.
Professor Hap is leaning over his desk looking at a book, a rare sarcastic smile on his face.
This expression is quite rare, and Hermione quickly glanced at the title of the book, "Armando Dippet: Master or Moron? , the author is Rita Skeeter.
The young witch found a copy of the Daily Prophet on the table, with Headmaster Dumbledore's picture on the front page and the headline "Dumbledore's Big Blunder".
Her curiosity immediately aroused, but Professor Hap had pressed the book on top of the newspaper.
Hermione: "..."
"Professor Hap, good evening." Harry greeted formally.
" Here, you are, have a seat."
Felix sat on a sofa, which is opposite of three young wizards.
"Professor, what can I do for you?" Harry got apprehensive, don't mention the Parseltongue.
"Harry, you're a Parseltongue."
Harry: "..."
"Professor, I swear, it was never me who opened the Chamber of Secrets, there's another Parseltongue in the castle, and he's the heir of Slytherin!" Harry yelled excitedly, he even came close to blowing his own cover about the Polyjuice potion and Malfoy.
"Calm down," Felix summoned three glasses of orange juice with his wand, "No one said you opened the Chamber of Secrets."
"Then you were looking for me--"
Harry is somewhat puzzled, but from across the room, Professor Hap gestured at the orange juice floating in front of him, so he picked up the glass and took a sip.
Hermione and Ron also took small sips.
"My purpose in seeking you is simple, I want to learn Parseltongue."
"Pfft!"
"Cough cough cough!"
"Cough!"
"Professor, what did you say?" Harry felt inconceivable, he would have given anything to get rid of his Parseltongue gift. But now, someone is actually taking the initiative to learn this Parseltongue?
--
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"The prejudices of the heart are a mighty hill to climb, Harry."
...
As Harry walked dizzily out of the Ancient Runes office, his mind is still reverberating with what Professor Hap had said to him.
Two hours ago, he tried to dispel the professor's "horrible" idea, but two hours later, he's already holding a magical scroll and began to think about how to translate the evil language" Parseltongue ".
He even thought he would be benefiting the entire wizarding community.
"Harry, I think Professor Hap's point is right, a person's talent is not what matters, and what matters is what kind of person he chooses to be!" As someone who had listened to the whole conversation, Ron quoted Professor Hap's words.
"What's more - Professor Hap's offer is also very generous," Ron added, he looked at the golem in Harry's hand with an envious look, it is a golem with ice blue hair.
This is the price Professor Hap had paid for the complete deal - one of the top class Golems from his private collection, which, according to Professor Hap, could "easily defeat a seventh-year graduate".
Harry's memory returns to two hours prior ...
"Harry, we are always quick to label people, to label things we are not familiar with, but with a little understanding, we can see that this action is quite one-sided. For example, Headmaster Armando Dippet did a lot of solid deeds during his term yet all people can remember are just some ridiculous rumours that have been twisted by someone with a vested interest ..."
Prof. Hap brought the book "Armando Dippet: Master or Moron?" on the table and the book " went " to the middle page, so that the trio could see the contents.
"Headmaster Dippet improved Hogwarts' school rules by abolishing the vast majority of corporal punishments ... At the same time, he also refused the Dark Lord's application for a job and spared the students of Hogwarts from his influence - this is a general opinion, but Is this really the case? The author with the idea of exploring the truth, from which I see a completely different logic, it was a dusty history that was covered up, full of political dirty ..."
Felix said calmly: "This book, full of lies and distorted facts, which has been on the best-seller list for a long time."
Harry was disgusted with the woman named "Rita Skeeter" and empathized with Principal Dippet - they were both misunderstood, only he is because of the Parseltongue.
He quickly agreed with Professor Hap's offer out of some sense of empathy. Professor Hap then flung him a dictionary and told him to translate it accordingly.
Ron and Hermione watched curiously, and after some initial shock, they became intensely interested in the matter itself. In Ron's words, "This is the process of decoding Parseltongue, we're witnessing history!"
But the process is not easy, Harry turned the first page of the dictionary and held his tongue for a while, but could not say a word.
"Professor, I can't do it."
Felix thought for a moment, "You are not skilled in your Parseltongue, perhaps you are missing the direct stimulation." He waved his wand and applied a detect-feedback enchantment to the magic dictionary.
The effect is that when someone is reading the book, it would feel like they were looking at a snake face to face.
This got Harry into gear quickly, and after skipping the first and second useless words, he made a raspy, eerie sound that startled Ron and Hermione who were next to him.
"That voice feels so evil." Ron shivered, his body chilled.
"This is a serious piece of research on magic, Ron." Hermione is shocked as well.
"Which word is it?" Felix asked.
Harry pointed at the third word in the dictionary, " This one, [stay away]."
"How many tones can you make on this page?"
Harry tried again, moving his fingers over the dictionary so that the other three could judge his progress.
The next moment, though, Harry either stifled his speech or normal English words popped out of his mouth. Ron reminded him more than once, "Harry, you're speaking human tongue " and "Harry, we can understand."
It wasn't until the last word on that page that Harry finally said in a Parseltongue, " This word is [eat," he said excitedly, "I'm familiar with this word, I heard it on Halloween."
Felix's fingers rested on his chin, "That means that out of 23 words on one page, the left and right sides to be exact, only two can be translated into Parseltongue."
"What did that mean, Professor?" Harry asked.
"Ah, animal language is always less enriched than human language, and it's also vague. The concept of 'eat', for example, we have a dozen words with similar meanings, which is very rare in the languages of other intelligent creatures."
Felix thought for a moment, "Let's pause while I do some modification on the dictionary."
The trio looked at Professor Hap's workbench, a very wide " dent " type table with a smooth wooden surface and with a waxed finish.
In Harry's view, Professor Hap with his wand tapping the dictionary, the tip of the wand emitted various shades of light, the professor sometimes silent, sometimes reciting something, and only after ten minutes, he stopped.
"Professor?" Harry is about to ask what he did, and then he opened his mouth wide.
The words in the dictionary suddenly "came to life".
Completely literally, the surface of the yellowish pages swirled with ripples like water, and the words in the caption of each entry began to twist and turn as if they had arms and legs. Then they struggled to break free from the dictionary and emerged into the three-dimensional world.
Next, the dictionary flipped pages with a clatter, and one by one the " captions " were thrown out, they landed on the surface of the workbench, the black hollow lines wiggled and bounced. In less than a minute, the number reached several thousand.
This scene is extremely shocking, a two-dimensional object came into the real world at once.
"Professor, am I dreaming?" Harry asked dumbly.
"It's magic," Felix said calmly.
Hermione's eyes erupted with an intense glow, this is magic ... She had always thought that magic is something concrete, a magic spell, a magic potion, or a picture that moved, but Professor Hap had shown her in action that magic could do much more than that.
Magic is unknown, with all kinds of possibilities.
Felix looked at the array of "words" in front of him with satisfaction, they were temporarily animated, he flicked his wand, the suitcase in the corner opened with a bang, from which a sheet of parchment flew out.
Felix held up his wand and made a circle, allowing them to be connected to each other, these parchments stuck together under the effect of magic.
Then Felix's wand struck the table, and the legion of "words" on the workbench got incorporated into the parchment, and a word appeared on it, and they were arranged in a clear order.
When it's all over, the long parchment, or rather parchment scroll, rolled itself up and turned into a magic scroll.
"Snap!"
It landed on the workbench.
"Here you go, Harry, thankfully I know quite a bit of cold magic." A smile appeared on Felix's face.
"How is this meant to be used, Professor?"
"It stores your pronunciation of the Parseltongue - of course, you'll need to tap the corresponding words with your wand before using it. Also, I've eliminated some English vocabulary, mind you, there are tens of thousands of words in the dictionary, but a lot of it is simply useless."
So in the remaining time, Harry spread out the scroll, word by word translated - this time the translation progressed much faster.
Throughout the office, a raspy, eerie voice would come every few dozen seconds.
And Ron and Hermione also from the initial discomfort, to get used to it, and then numb, after less than an hour.
At nine o'clock, Professor Hap sent the three out, "Harry, you can usually find somewhere unoccupied to record, and if you encounter any problems, just find me."
Then he said to Hermione, "Tomorrow's runes lesson is temporarily cancelled, I have something to deal with temporarily."
"I have to go to see someone." The professor said so.
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The next day, on the morning of the weekend.
Harry and Ron staggered out of the dormitory and saw Hermione already sitting on a couch in the common room.
The two had barely sat down next to her when they saw Hermione slap a newspaper on the table with a "pop".
"I knew it!" The little witch said angrily.
Harry and Ron snapped out of it. They looked at each other and Harry asked, "What happened, Hermione?"
"Remember the book that Professor showed us? The one about Headmaster Dippet, there was a copy of the Daily Prophet pressed on Professor Hap's desk at the time, and I just didn't feel right, and this morning I got the last few days' papers ... that woman, Rita Skeeter! How dare she slander Headmaster Dumbledore ..." Hermione is shaking with anger.
Harry quickly picked up the newspaper, Ron sat on his butt next to him and poked his head over.
It's yesterday's Daily Prophet, the most striking is the photo of Dumbledore with a head full of white hair looking upwards, solely from the photo effect, which he looked both old and dismal, and the name of the front-page headline is "Dumbledore's Big Blunder".
Harry had a bad feeling, and he quickly read it -
"Our special reporter Rita Skeeter reports that the eccentric Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, has always been a very controversial wizard."
"Recognized as the greatest wizard of our time, Dumbledore has been hiding in Hogwarts' castle and rarely appeared in the public's eye since he defeated the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945."
"Everyone praised him, believing that he is guarding the hope of the British wizarding community and constantly delivering all kinds of talents for the wizarding community, but is that really the truth of the situation?"
"The author recently received some letters from the parents of students, claiming that there was a horrific attack in the school and the culprit has yet to be found. Mrs. Ferrien Topsham wrote: "My child is in fear of his life at school every day, and the professors are doing nothing about it! I had to bring my boy back for Christmas."
" With a great sense of urgency, the writer reached out to the concerned parent and interviewed her. It's far more serious than we expected - the attack was not something that had happened for the first time, it had happened more than a month prior. Only that time the victim was a cat, So the news was kept under tight lock key!"
"In order to mitigate the impact and avoid being discovered and denounced by the public, this Headmaster went out of his way to concoct a sensationalist lie - he blamed it on the millennial legend of Hogwarts, the Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets."
"Hilariously, a similar thing happened fifty years prior to this, when the Headmaster was a professor of Transfiguration, during which a poor Ravenclaw witch tragically lost her life. Hogwarts caught the suspect as soon as possible, but Dumbledore had great influence over then Headmaster Armando Dippet, and with his good graces, the matter was eventually dropped, and the suspect was merely expelled from the school."
" As I write this, three days ago, two weeks have passed since the second assault on the Student, but nothing is reported about it and the perpetrator's still on the loose. We have to worry about this matter, the omnipotent Dumbledore, Is he really growing very old?"
"The writer will follow up on the matter and bring back the truth to everyone. In the next issue, we will start with the performance of This Headmaster to reveal a more realistic image of Dumbledore for everyone."
This is the end of the main article, but at the bottom of the page, there is a small line of text, a preview of the content of the next issue of the report, which reads.
Dumbledore has always been brave enough to hire controversial faculty members, such as this year's Gilderoy Lockhart and Felix Hap, but are these two really the right people? Let's wait and see ( we welcome information from those who know, contact: Rita Skeeter, the gold editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet, author of twelve best-selling books, bestseller record-holder).
"How can she say that about Dumbledore!" Harry said, very angry. "And how can the Chamber of Secrets be a lie, when we saw about it with our own eyes!"
"Not a word from this woman, Rita Skeeter can be trusted, she often makes up gossip rumours about famous people." Ron said insightfully, "She and Lockhart made a particularly huge splash a few years ago when she and Lockhart were fighting in the newspapers, and Mom hated her."
"It seems we have a good idea about what this woman is like," Hermione said mockingly.
Ron picked up the paper, "Have you noticed that this woman is actually trying to do a series, and the next issue is about Professor Lockhart and Professor Hap. How will she script their story?"
Hermione said helplessly, " Headmaster Dumbledore is portrayed by her as a shady person, I guess the two professors will not be spared."
"I don't care about Lockhart, he's just an empty shell. What do you think, will Professor Hap storm into the Daily Prophet building and give that woman a vicious curse?"
"Ron! That's illegal, how would a professor will possibly do that!"
The three of them discussed the matter, and the final conclusion was rather pessimistic.
Harry pointed to a quote in the paper, "She said that the suspect was caught fifty years ago, who is she referring to?"
"Come on, Harry, you still believe that woman's bollocks?"
"Of course, I don't believe it, but-" Harry's eyes were fixed on Hermione.
Her face paled quickly, "Fifty years ago, the suspect who was expelled from ... was Hagrid?"
Ron licked his lips uneasily.
Harry said quickly, "I believe Dumbledore, Hagrid can't be the killer! But since he's listed as a suspect, he must know something!"
The trio prepared to brave the snow and wind to go to the forbidden forest warden's hut, just out of the castle, when they bumped into a stout figure, none other than Hagrid, his face full of snow blizzard, his thick beard caked with ice, and he held a dead chicken in his hand.
"Hagrid, oh--" Harry crashed right into him.
"Watch out! Little ones." Hagrid said gruffly, still waving the limp chicken in his hand, a few of its feathers flying through the air with his movements ...
Later that evening.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had just returned from the abandoned classroom underground, and everything is going well with the polyjuice potion.
Harry carried the magic scroll given by Professor Hap with him, translating a word by word in a parseltongue. In the empty, abandoned classroom, now and then echoes of the hoarse, eerie sound of terror can be heard.
This makes the dozing Ron kept awake - half-asleep, he always saw a witch brewing a potion like mud, a male wizard making a snake-like "hissing" sound.
And in the early afternoon, they heard a handful of secret room information from Hagrid.
At the moment, they are hiding in the corner of the common room.
"Almost everything is in order!" Hermione suddenly said.
"What?"
"The monster of the Chamber of Secrets! Wait for me--" Hermione obviously had perfected her thinking, she hurried back to the dormitory, not a few seconds later brought back a parchment.
The three of them came together and looked at the writing on it, which is about a terrible magical creature called " Basilisk ".
When Harry and Ron finished reading the information, Hermione said about the possible clues collected these days, "the basilisk can be dormant for a long time, the basilisk's eyes are lethal, the basilisk is the natural enemy of spiders, the basilisk is afraid of chickens ... what do you think of this?"
"So, the monster in the chamber is a basilisk?" Ron asked excitedly.
"Can't be wrong!" Harry slammed his fist on the table.
They got two main pieces of information from Hagrid: one was that the chickens he raised always died inexplicably; the second was that he had raised the eight-eyed giant spider fifty years ago, and the eight-eyed giant spider was so afraid of the monster in the chamber that it refused to reveal even a word.
It all fits together!
"But there is the biggest issue, is that the basilisk can not petrify someone, I initially ignored it because of this point, but now, the evidence on the side has been very sufficient." Hermione said very critically, "Maybe I should find some time to ask Professor Hap what I can do to make the basilisk's gaze less harmful ..."
She hammered her head with some resentment, "It's so strange, I feel like something is right in front of me, but I can never find it ..."
Harry swallowed hard, "Hermione, I think I know."
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Meanwhile, Felix is fully dressed and standing in front of the fireplace of his office. He sprinkled a handful of floo powder, said clearly and loudly "Diagon Alley", his entire body disappeared from Hogwarts.
Diagon Alley.
Felix came out of the public fireplace, shaking the dust off his body, and fished out a slip of paper from his pocket - it is an address.
The next moment, Felix directly Apparated to that location.
On the outskirts of London, in front of a single detached house, a tall figure appeared abruptly.
Felix looked at the door number, walked up on the steps in the snow to the door, and tapped on the door with his wand.
A moment later, a refined woman opened the door, her gaze peering through a pair of eyeglasses studded with jewels, and is examining the stranger in front of her with a critical look on her face.
Felix gently introduced himself, "Felix Hap, currently serving as Professor of Ancient Runes at Hogwarts - you mentioned me in the paper, Ms. Skeeter."
"You're Felix Hap?" Rita Skeeter's eyes lit up and in the blink of an eye, her bright red nail-painted fingers grabbed Felix's arm and dragged him into the room, "Come in!"
The living room had a neatly arranged table and chairs, and the air is filled with the scent of enchanted fragrances. On both walls, on one side is a huge floor-to-ceiling wine cabinet, and on the other side are square shelves with various books, trophies, and newspapers. On a hanger behind the door stood a crocodile skin handbag.
" It's an honour that I received ... Mr Hap, I'm very interested in you, I've wanted to interview you for a long time." Rita Skeeter sat across him, her hair styled in delicate, stiff, oddly large curls that looked particularly awkward with her big jawed face.
"Ms. Skeeter ..."
Felix is quickly interrupted by the woman, who is imposing and fiercely, waving her wand and a shorthand quill and a roll of parchment flying out of her crocodile skin handbag.
" So Mr Felix, you won't object if I use a shorthand quill to take notes, will you? This will free up my hands to talk to you normally ..."
Without waiting for his reply, the parchment had automatically spread out, and the shorthand quill landed vertically on it, the tip quivering gently.
"Well, let's start the conversation here ... just from the point you came here today. I'm guessing ..." she suddenly smiled out, showing three gold teeth, "you were commissioned by someone, right?"
The long, green shorthand quill danced quickly, pouring down a fluid string of words.
With a heart full of thoughts, this late-night visitor showed strong displeasure in the face of the editor's questions, but not against the editor, but against the hidden shadow who is behind the whole affair ...
Felix laughed softly, he looked at the wall clock, it's just seven o'clock.
He did not reply, but instead surveyed with interest around the furnishings of the living room, the floor-to-ceiling wine cooler that occupied a third of the wall, filled with large and small, exquisitely shaped flasks, and a few scattered ornaments.
Rita Skeeter raised her heavily drawn eyebrow.
"Are you wary by any chance, Mr Felix? It's all right, our readers like people with rebellious personalities, and they'll protect you."
"Rebellious personality?" Felix repeated.
"Yes, like the type of people who defy power and rebel against authority ... If you're threatened, don't worry, speak up, and we'll give you a sense of justice in return."
The shorthand quill kept recording, but Felix had no interest in reading it, and he stood up and went to the shelf at the opposite end of the wine cabinet where the honour prize were kept.
The top of the shelf is stacked with personal accolades belonging to Rita Skeeter, including certificates for articles in newspapers, bestsellers and their sales figures that she had published over the years, a myriad of this sort of stuff ...
For example, he saw "Armando Dippet: Master or Moron?"book. He sighed, "If half of what's in this book is true, it's not a bad toilet read ..."
Rita Skeeter's eyebrows wrinkled, her fingers clenched her wand so tightly that her two-inch-long bright red nails pierced into her skin.
She quickly stood up and approached Felix, looking at him without looking away, "Mr Felix, I know who you are, one of my colleagues advised me not to play with you ... ridiculous statement, he has only graduated a few years ago, by virtue of his family background he has entered the news industry. " She said as if pointing out.
"If you ask me, our readers have a right to know the truth, like -"
"The truth?" Felix interrupted her.
"That's right, the truth!" She emphasized deliberately, "Let's talk about your experiences, your childhood and so on, I think it will help you to have a clear perspective of yourself."
"I don't think that's necessary anymore, I know exactly what kind of person I am."
However, Rita Skeeter didn't give up, the parchment and quill on the table flew to her, "Mr Felix, you came from a muggle orphanage and entered Slytherin when you enrolled, you must have been bullied quite a bit, right? Are you interested in talking about it, I think there will be quite a few readers who are very interested in this."
"Rita, ah Rita, do you really know me?"
"Of course!" Her gaze was firmly pinned on him as if she were looking at a precious treasure, "Mr Felix, you are well known in the wizarding community, there are many labels on you: a Slytherin from a Muggle orphanage, received many death threats during school, defeated one of the 28 purebloods Clan Shafiq and a group of dark wizards under the shelter of Dumbledore, became a Muggle specialist after graduation, and is now back to Hogwarts as a ..."
Rita Skeeter said while letting the quill take quick notes, looking at Felix's non-committal attitude, she said seductively, "Your experience is legendary, if you agree, I would like to write a biography of you, it would imply endless amounts of golden-Galleons and great fame!"
"However, the label of Muggle specialist seems too civilized, our readers like a tough wizard with a strong character, and preferably with a relationship to a celebrity ... Let me think, how shall we deal with it?"
Felix got amused, he pointed to the book in front of him, "Like this type of biography?"
"Art requires a certain amount of imagination." She said slyly.
Felix became somewhat impatient and decided to solve the immediate problem as soon as possible, so he returned to his seat.
This act caused Rita Skeeter to mistake it as his tacit acceptance, so she sat her butt down on the couch and said with an urgent and overbearing gesture, "Let's start with your relationship with Dumbledore."
"Ms Skeeter, I need you to stop your inaccurate reporting, I noticed that you mentioned me in the Daily Prophet and were about to make up a big story-"
"I'm not making it up, it's a different perspective at best ..."
Felix nodded, "Let me tell you what a different perspective is." He tapped his fingers on the table.
"Ta-da," the fingertips collided with the table with a crisp clink.
"What are you talking about-" Rita Skeeter choked suddenly as she found the world in her eyes changing all at once.
The colours were rapidly disappearing, the delicate purple long-necked glass bottle, the crimson robe on her body, the golden trophy in the cabinet, the black and brown crocodile handbag, the pale yellow parchment, the green sketch quill ...
The colour of everything, is fading.
--
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The whole world is left with only black, white, and grey hues.
Rita Skeeter stiffened and watched with difficulty as Felix tapped his fingers on the table, which is fair and slender, with healthy light pink nails - the only colour within her field of vision.
As the fingers tapped, a dark grey ripple blossomed from the tips of his finger, and the ripple passed through both of them, spreading silently in all directions.
"You-" the woman said arduously, her wand held in her hand, but she could not raise it even a fraction of an inch.
"You see, I occasionally use this perspective to observe the world, to observe magic, and it's quite interesting as usual." Felix introduced his attitude unchanged from the beginning.
But Rita Skeeter didn't think so.
"It's illegal for you to do that ... ... Azkaban ...," she opened and closed her lips with extreme difficulty, one word after another word at a time.
"Rita, Rita, you don't think I'm going to do something bad to you, huh?" Felix said amused, "I just now asked you, do you really know me?"
"Obviously, you don't know me."
"One of your colleagues advised you not to play with me? I guess he must be a Slytherin."
Rita Skeeter's eyes fixed him with a deadly stare.
Felix said calmly, "I used my holiday time to visit a few stubborn purebloods in the fifth year, and they haven't talked about me in public since then."
"Do you know why?"
Her eyes widened.
"You think - whose power do I need to rely on to counter the threat of extreme pureblood families? No, Rita," he said softly, "I'm just showing them a possibility."
As Felix's mood swung, the whites and greys all over the room quickly tinted to inky blackness, deep, depressing darkness.
Rita Skeeter's body trembled lightly.
"Yes, a possibility, if I become a Dark Lord ..." he did not continue.
The darkness faded quickly and returned to black and white again, like an old faded photograph.
"When you think about it, I'm actually a very nice person to talk to. As long as you don't provoke me, I don't have the time to take care of you. But unfortunately, it just so happens that-"
"You got in my way. ..."
Ignoring her, Felix beckoned the parchment on the table and read it carelessly.
The parchment had unknowingly filled a foot, which made him somewhat burst into laughter, if the young wizards at Hogwarts, had this ability to make things up, they absolutely would be laughing out loud in their dreams.
"Tsk!"
"This paragraph is excessive."
"Did I say that?"
"Staying close to Dumbledore, who, me?" He shook his head.
The colours in the room gradually came back, an equally magical scene, like a child finding, faded pictures in an old storage room and picking up crayons to scribble over them.
The world came alive again.
Rita Skeeter found that she had regained her ability to move.
She glanced at the wand in her hand and then at Felix, who is still reading the parchment, and her eyes wandered.
But she quickly gave up on the foolish idea.
" Think about it, do you wish to continue? This might be an opportunity. Seize it from me, and the subsequent story will be yours to make up." Felix looked up, pale-blue eyes peering at her.
"You're joking, Felix, no, Professor Hap, Sir-" Rita Skeeter kept changing the title.
"Heh."
He tossed the parchment in his hand down lightly, and it turned silently into ashes.
"About what I came for ..."
"I apologize! I will stop all untrue statements!" She said quickly, with a pleasing smile on her face.
"Thank you, Rita."
Felix stood up, smiled slightly, and bowed courteously, then he pushed the door open and his figure blended into the night.
By now it is completely dark, the north wind and snowflakes blow his robe " rustle ", Felix walked two steps against the wind and snow, and then the next moment he disappeared in the same place.
After a while, Rita Skeeter quietly opened the door, glanced around, there was nothing outside the house, she quickly closed the door.
A vicious curse spewed from her mouth, and she is cursing someone with almost the worst words she had ever known in her life.
"Felix Hap!" She shouted the name viciously.
"I want revenge! Revenge ... on ... his secrecy ... Yes, that's right, this damned ... man doesn't know I'm Animagus yet, maybe, no, it's too risky."
After cursing for a long time, Rita Skeeter's mouth went dry, and she finally stopped.
She went to the liquor cabinet and tried to take out a bottle of wine to quench her thirst, but as soon as her fingers touched the handle, the gorgeous silver handle turned to fine sand in her hands.
Rita Skeeter froze in place.
Tentatively, she reached out a short, long, stubby finger and nudged a long-necked purple glass bottle - her favourite wine bottle. But the next second, the jug quickly disintegrated into fine sand, including the liquor stored inside.
Her eyes became frightened, and her body stumbled into the chair behind her, and then she noticed that the chair also fell apart and turned into a puddle of fine sand.
Rita Skeeter looked around her house - every part of it is constantly decomposing into fine sand, including her delicate picture frames, crocodile skin handbags.
Even the floor is not spared.
"Ahhhhh!"
She ran out of the house in horror, and as she watched, the entire detached house shook, and from the bottom came a swirling sea of sand that slowly, but surely, engulfed the house.
"That's a lesson." A voice sounded very abruptly in Rita Skeeter's head.
Her lips trembled as if she wanted to say something, but this time, she hurriedly shut her mouth.
The edge of the forbidden forest.
Felix's figure reappeared out of nowhere, and he walked step by step towards the castle against the blizzard. The December weather is cold as hell, especially with the high winds mixed with blizzards, every step is a tough test.
When he saw the outline of the castle from a distance, a thought struck him, and he shook his head, not really thinking about it anymore.
Felix pushed open the dark brown door, shaking off all the snowflakes and entering the warm castle.
He waved his wand, and the door behind him closed with a bang, keeping the snow and darkness out.
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As Christmas approached, the festive atmosphere became stronger and stronger, and the enthusiasm of many young wizards for learning dropped.
Many professors said that students could not relax, but they did not exert too much pressure, and this was reflected in the amount of homework assigned.
But this leniency does not include both fifth and seventh grade. As they were required to deal with the OWLs and NEWTs, the Ordinary Wizard level exams, and the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test, respectively, this year.
Ancient Runes, fifth-grade classroom.
Felix once again reaffirmed the importance of the OWLs exam, "You only have six months until the Ordinary Wizard Level Exam, excluding holidays and weekends, how much time is left?"
"Let me do the maths for you, six months, let's say twenty-five weeks."
Amidst the dumbfounded expressions of the young wizards on the stage, this professor did the maths, "Two classes per week, one big class of two hours and one small class of one hour, counting up to ..."
"That's only seventy-five hours in total."
" Do you study this long outside the classroom? No matter how I count, it's still less than two hundred hours."
Looking at Professor Hap's regretful expression, the young wizards were silent.
But Felix's in a good mood today, and he decided to do a student survey.
"Which subject do you think you are the least good at?"
A little witch said timidly, "Does ancient runes count?"
"Not really!"
"Then it's the history of magic." The Hufflepuff girl said, "Professor Binns always makes us memorize lots of stuff, and I don't have a very good memory."
"He never highlights anything in class, the other professors more or less give some hints." A Ravenclaw said indignantly.
Professor Binns is the type of professor who says, "All I talk about is the main point, and all I mention in class is the test point," and this professor is also known for his flat, uneven language, which sounds like he is reading scripture.
The hypnotic effect is first-class.
"The history of magic ... very well, Miss Seldon, Mr. Pardis. Any more?"
"I'm not very good in my astronomy class, I always get confused about planets."
"The practical lessons in herbalism class are interesting, but I can't remember the properties of magical plants any time."
"Don't you think arithmetic divination is complicated?"
"Divination class is a nightmare!"
Someone immediately retorted, "Nonsense! Divination is the easiest class to pass."
"Trelawney is a psychopath!"
"Professor McGonagall is very strict."
"Kettleburn's class is always full of dangerous magical creatures."
"Professor Snape is awful."
The little wizards discussed feverishly, and it quickly went so crooked that Felix hastily called a break, how did it develop into criticizing the professors of various subjects?
He summed up the young wizards' points: "So, you generally don't perform well enough in courses that are more theoretical and require a lot of memorization, such as ancient runes, history of magic, and astronomy classes."
Felix came up with a temporary idea, and he decided to make an attempt: "How about this, let's play a game."
" Let's invite two students ... Well, it will be Miss Seldon, Mr. Pardis, I need your cooperation."
The two young wizards stepped forward curiously.
The classroom sprang to life for the little wizards.
"Take out your wands."
Seldon and Pardis pulled out their wands excitedly, their eyes fixed on Felix.
Professor Hap's teaching is always filled with all sorts of new and exciting tricks - a comment that had been widely circulated in other grades, but fifth and seventh grades had been exposed relatively little to it.
"Let's see ..." Felix flicked his wand, and a nine-panel grid appeared in front of each of the two.
Inside the grid were nine sparkling runes.
And above the heads of the two young wizards, two hot gold names were displayed - Petter Seldon, Warren Pardis.
"Professor, what is this?"
Hufflepuff's Petter Seldon asked curiously, as her friend tapped her finger on the top of her head to reveal the name on top of her head, which, strangely, had the number "0" next to it.
"We will have a magic knowledge contest, next, I will say a phrase, you need to find the corresponding rune to it as fast as possible, and use your wand to touch the corresponding grid."
"You need to be faster than your opponent in order to get a point."
" When one of you gets a hundred points first, the game is over."
Felix looked at the two of them, "Let's try it first."
He mouthed a series of paraphrases, "Light, illuminating the path ahead, also denotes the glow of knowledge."
Petter Seldon and Warren Pardis stared intently at the runes floating in midair in front of them, and when Professor Hap reached the second phrase, Petter's eyes lit up, and she quickly tapped her wand in the bottom left corner of the ninth box.
"I know, it's Ken!"
When her wand touched the rune, that area instantly turned bright gold, and at the same time, a "1" sign appeared above her head, pausing for two seconds before disappearing.
Petter looked at the top of her head as an afterthought - the initial number "0" became "1", she looked at the professor, "I won? "
"In a sense." Felix said, "I assume you understand the rules of the game?"
Both of them nodded at the same time, this kind of play is fascinating, Warren on the other side can't help but clench his wand - just now he was a step slow.
Felix waved his wand, making the first set of nine squares disappear, and the second set of nine squares appeared in front of the two.
"The second phrase, reward, symbolizes victory, satisfaction-"
Warren flung his wand in the middle of the nine-grid at once and watched the area turn a dazzling gold, his face filled with a flush of excitement, "It's Wyn, Professor."
"Correct answer." Felix nodded, and a "1" sign appeared on the top of Warren's head, while the score became 1.
The game continued, "Poor, hard, and also represents some kind of misfortune."
Without thinking, Warren tapped his wand in the upper left corner, but this time, the area quickly turned a miserable grey.
"Wrong answer, Mr. Warren." Felix waved his wand, and a "-1" sign appeared above his head, and his score reverted to zero.
Warren shook his fist in annoyance.
At this moment, the young wizards have completely understood the rules of the game, right answer plus points, the wrong answer deducted points, whoever reaches one hundred first, is the winner.
"Harvest, Banker, or Growth Cycle ..."
Warren quickly waved his wand ...
"Correct, plus one point."
"Next ..."
"Very good, Miss Petter. Next, we'll have a more difficult challenge."
The first dozen or so sets were fairly superficial runes, but soon the difficulty climbed at a rate visible to the naked eye.
The two slowed down, taking more and more time to think as the score pulled hard to 73:71.
"Gain skill or random luck, reveal hidden secrets, breed life."
Petter bit her lip as Warren kept snapping his knuckles.
"It's Peorth, Peorth," the young wizard watching from the sidelines couldn't help himself, and an answer crept out.
Petter's eyes lit up, and her wand clicked on the correct answer.
Felix did not comment, he did not stop the little wizards off-stage from reminding them, but he did not give the two extra points either.
He simply replaced the other group of nines sets.
So the two understood what the professor meant: Next, you will have to compete with the whole class of young wizards.
The two looked at each other with bitter faces.
But the little wizards offstage got excited, and in the next dozen or so groups of nine-grids, they worked together, chattering and joking, while the two onstage each got only one point.
The bell rang, but no one moved.
The score was stuck at 99:98.
The young wizards were quiet at the moment and were not making any noise.
Felix said quickly, "The power of the sun over the devil and the darkness ..."
"It's Sigel," said Petter, the tip of her staff pointing at the center of the ninth circle, and the golden light flashed.
"I've won, I've won!"
At her scream, Professor Hap waved his wand, causing brilliant fireworks to burst across the classroom.
"Thank you both students for your wonderful performance, ten extra points for Hufflepuff and five extra points for Ravenclaw."
"Now, class dismissed!"
--
Thanks for all your support.
I am going to open P_atreon with 30 Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: /Crazy_Cat.
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The young wizards discussed feverishly to themselves, as fifth-year students, they were rarely exposed to such interesting lessons - each professor pushing them as hard and as far as possible to reach their potential.
In a way, of course, it's a debt they owed from the previous four years.
In the hallway, Warren Pardis said to his friend, somewhat remorsefully, "I can actually win, I'm just not lucky."
"You were the one who went too aggressive, and you got at least ten questions wrong." His friend replied.
As the young wizards rushed out of the classroom, Felix rubbed his sore fingers.
The "choreography" for this knowledge contest had been put together by him, magic by magic. From the ninth grid to the score changes, to the colour feedback of the correct and incorrect answers, he did it all by himself.
" A blunder, next time let's change it to a ten-point system."
In the afternoon, Felix attempted the two lessons in the sixth and seventh grades, and the results were excellent - even the "special needs" students of ancient runes stayed awake enough in the classroom.
This made his thoughts clear.
" In the future, I can do more of this kind of game-like teaching, but the prerequisite is to do sufficient preparation work." In the great hall in the evening, Felix stuck up a piece of potato drizzled with black sauce breathlessly, feeling a little weak after a long day.
The number of spells he had cast today was clearly over the limit.
The common room.
The twins, Fred and George, were fighting against each other with their golems, having finished their second and third sets of practical runes.
This makes their battle very spectacle, Fred's golem, every swing will bloom a circle of light, a "crackling" sound, Lee Jordan's hair is standing up because he is too close.
On the other side, George is not far behind, his golem is the very popular "fire boy", every time he uses his trademark "big fireball", it will attract a sound of enthusiasm.
At that moment, Percy Weasley burst in from outside the lounge, he just finished his rounds. Upon seeing him, Ron in the corner simply turned his head away.
A Cold War still remained between them.
"Ron, haven't you made up yet?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"Not until he apologizes to me," Ron said stubbornly.
Harry sighed, he couldn't say much, after all, Ron had lost a lot of face by taking the blame for the three of them.
"Hey! Percy, I heard you got ten points from Professor Hap today?" A Gryffindor asked.
Percy puffed out his chest haughtily, making his Head Boy badge even more conspicuous, "Yeah, Professor Hap tried a new method of teaching, and I have to admit, he's rather wise."
"And you beat Slytherin!"
Percy said modestly, "It was just a competition, and on top of that, on a ten-point system, I was able to answer nine questions correctly ahead of my opponent."
The Gryffindor's exclaimed in awe again, Percy was worthy of being a school tyrant who had taken 12 papers.
"Nine questions ahead!" Ron repeated with a look of disdain.
Harry hurriedly changed the subject, "Hermione, did you ask Professor Hap about the basilisk?"
Hermione shook her head, "I rarely see the professor, from Monday to Friday." Unless there was a paper she needed to grade.
"But it's too late to drag it out until the weekend!" Harry said reluctantly, "In case there's an attack in the middle of ..."
He slammed the table hard enough to startle the two young wizards passing by, who gave Harry a wary look and quickly moved away from him.
"Look at that, they all think I'm the culprit!"
"Harry, why don't we go find Professor Hap now?" Hermione gave him a careful look.
Harry glanced at the wall clock, it's past nine o'clock in the evening, "Tomorrow." He slumped in his chair, like a deflated ball.
They were basically sure that the monster in the chamber is the basilisk, and about Hermione's confusion - the basilisk gaze is lethal, but the current two victims are only petrified - Harry also has his own speculation: those victims are not directly stared at the basilisk's eye. Mrs Norris was looked at it via the reflection of stagnant water, and Colin Creevy was through the lens of the camera.
But whether this is accurate remains to be verified.
That's when Ron said to him, "Harry, the golem Professor Hap gave you, is it in your book bag?"
" Yes." Harry returned feebly.
He had practiced it several times in private, but he was still a little short in skills, only able to manipulate the golem to walk normally.
"How about we try?" Ron glanced at Percy in the crowd.
" Here?" Harry couldn't make up his mind.
Hermione's eyes lit up, she had wanted to try it for a long time, and she had been attracted to this type of style during the opening public class.
Ice blue hair, delicate and lovely face, which hit her heart perfectly.
"Maybe ... this isn't a good choice ..." Hermione said under her breath, but she didn't stop Harry from taking the golem out of his book bag, though.
"Hey! What are you guys doing?" Fred walked up with his arm around George's shoulders.
"Oh, a magic golem, I guess." Ron tried to say in a cloudy tone.
Fred saw the golem in Harry's hand and was taken aback, "This is not a regular golem." From the appearance alone, the two are completely incomparable to each other as well.
"Professor Hap gave it to us," Ron said.
Fred picked the magic golem, "This thing ..." he glanced at George, "I can barely feel its magic fluctuations, more exquisite than Diggory's ghost doll - -is even more different from the ones we've dismantled."
"You guys even dismantled--"
"Shh!" Fred put his finger up, "Keep your voice down, it's our little secret from Professor Hap ..."
George took the golem and said smoothly, "One time we broke the magic golem in our hands."
"It was 'accidentally' broken, and we were very afraid at the time -" Fred said.
"Fear of being penalized, detained-"
"Or hung up and whipped with a whip soaked in cold water -"
"So we went to apologize with trepidation -"
"And then what happened? What punishment did you receive?" Ron asked.
"No, little Ronnie," Fred winked and gave a wicked grin, "The professor said we were very talented in alchemy and going to give us each an extra ten points, but-"
George sighed, "He steeled himself to not give us points when we laid the second broken golem part in front of him."
Hermione rolled her eyes.
George examined the unusually elaborate golem, letting out occasional admiration, and finally, he gave it back to Harry: "That's remarkable, what have you done?"
"Yes--" Ron is just about to speak when Hermione stomped hard on his foot.
The twins looked at each other and shrugged.
Fred said, "Want us to demonstrate it for you? This golem must have quite a few new features, and I don't think you're very skilled at it."
"Who said that! Harry, show us your hand."
Harry drew his wand, and under his tug, the golem stood up with a swing.
Several young wizards looked over from afar.
Harry struggled to control the golem, but unfortunately, at best, it could only wield a few icy blue snowflakes.
"Harry, you don't have enough control," Fred stated the reason.
Harry pointed his wand at the golem, and he felt he had touched its core. So he concentrated all his attention and tried to awaken the dormant magic circuit.
His magic contacted a rune about ice and snow, then he felt sharp and cold as if he had eaten ten Popsicles in one breath, and his consciousness seems frozen.
Harry's face turned purple with cold as he exhaled a cold breath.
"Harry, what's wrong with you?" Ron scrambled to his feet, and at this moment, anyone could see that something is wrong with him.
However, the next second -
" Snicker, snicker!"
The golem suddenly lit up, light blue ice crystals have floated down, the surrounding temperature plummeted, "she" fiercely raised her arm, a series of ice-blue icicles rose up, cold air like a tumbling wave of air spread around.
A few people watched this scene in awe.
In front of the palm-sized golem, a row of half-human-high ice pillars extended seven or eight meters away, completely freezing the door of the common room.
The cold ice fog filled the common room, and the young wizards in the common room sneezed collectively.
At the same time, Professor Hap, far away in his office, is taking small sips of tea and moodily flipping through an ancient alchemy book.
Next to him lay today's edition of the Daily Prophet, with today's front-page headline: "The Good and the bad: The vast difference between two new professors" by Rita Skeeter.
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The weather brightened up on Tuesday morning, and the winter sun shone on Hogwarts, tinting the old castle with a golden glow.
Felix slept until eight o'clock, opening his eyes amidst the laughter of several young wizards having a snowball fight.
When he lifted the covers, his cotton pyjamas automatically detached and a delicate, soft, and silky jumper slid over his body. He moved his neck to make the clothes adjust more comfortably, and then put on a padded pant under the effect of magic.
"Magic makes people lazy," Felix couldn't remember when he had heard this in his class, but he deeply believed it.
After donning a dark wizard's robe, he pushed open the window and looked out at the snowy landscape from above.
The weather had warmed up considerably and Felix didn't feel cold. A thick layer of white snow was piled up in the clearing and yard in front of the castle, and many young wizards were hurrying to the hall for breakfast.
"Luckily I don't have a class this morning, it's true that happiness is all about comparison."
Back in his office, he sorted through the tasks he had at hand in the recent period -
Locating the Chamber of Secrets, as well as dealing with basilisk ( which he had agreed with Dumbledore to solve during Christmas break).
Finding the Dark Lord's relics suspected to be a Horcrux ( propaganda for three times without a clue, another evidence of the young wizard's unreliability).
Practicing instant killing techniques (recently slacked off a bit and stagnated at four jumps in progress)
Acquiring the rare skill Parseltongue ( pending feedback, responsible: Harry Potter)
Appointment with Kline (on hold indefinitely ...).
The next contact with Hagrid the Dirtbag (in elaborate preparation).
Scavenging the Hogwarts Millennium Collection (in progress).
Dealing with the public opinion threat posed by Rita Skeeter ().
Completing the Vine of Binding, a runeic creation ().
Guiding Hermione to complete her thesis ().
Preparing Christmas presents ().
Undertaking a dueling club program ().
Proposal for reforming the teaching of the ancient runes course ().
Befriending Lockhart ( brain-dead, this task is null and void).
Felix smacked his lips, there is no particularly urgent matter now. With less than a week before Christmas, he also got somewhat lazy.
" Might pay a visit to Professor Snape, to finalize the dueling club aide affair."
Felix went down the stairs of the castle, through the yard, there were a few strange-looking snowmen by the road - this is obviously a lower-year students' work, with limited magic attainments, they can only do this work by hand.
After breakfast, he made his way down to the castle's basement and found his way to the potion professor's office.
Knocking the Professor's office door, Snape expressionlessly refused his requests to enter.
"I don't think I invited you to visit my office, Felix."
However, Felix has long been familiar with the professor's character, unless you want to flirt with him, then have something to say, and say what he is most interested in.
So Felix said: "Professor Snape, I got permission from Headmaster Dumbledore to take charge of the subsequent dueling course. And as for the teaching faculty, I need to know your opinion ..." He stopped and looked Snape straight in the eye.
Snape pursed his lips tightly, his black eyes fixed on him for a brief moment, and then he moved out of the way, "Please come in, Felix."
This potion professor's office is located in the underground, dimly lit, the shelves by the wall are filled with a myriad of glass specimen jars, and then within, there is Professor Snape's private bedroom.
Felix walked to the specimen shelf, carefully examined one of the jars, "Is this the claw of the eight-eyed giant spider? Is it from the batch that lives in the Forbidden Forest?" He asked with interest.
Professor Snape came out of the inner room, with two cups of pumpkin juice behind him. "No." He said coldly, handing him a glass of pumpkin juice.
The conversation between the two then got down to business.
"Felix, when did you steal the dueling club from Lockhart?"
"Professor, I must remind you that it was rather Professor Lockhart who was too busy with his daily work and had to relent in making concessions."
"I don't think so," Snape scoffed at that, "what's so busy about one-man-acting class."
"Busy writing back to fans, of course. From what I understand, he spends at least one hour a day doing that." Felix let out a mischievous smile, "I can relate to Professor Lockhart, after all, we're both writers who have to deal with the harassment of fans, and he's more productive than I am."
"He wrote the book ..." Snape didn't say anything further, his expression said it all. "But you write back to fans as well? That's unexpected, I thought, you won't spend time on such trivialities."
"There's no way out," Felix said emotionally, "they're mostly officials from the ministries of magic in various countries, and we discuss muggle legislation and how to deal with muggles."
Snape choked.
He said, "Felix, don't beat around the bush with me, say what you came for."
"Professor, I want to know if you still have the desire to participate in my dueling course."
"Your... dueling course?" Snape trailed off on the word "your" for a long moment.
"Yes, my dueling course." Felix looked at him frankly.
It's a distinction of dominance.
Snape fell silent.
Felix looked relaxed, he did not know if Snape would agree, but from the information obtained from Lockhart, at that time Snape volunteered to act as an assistant for this course.
This indicated that he is interested in the dueling course.
As for the reason, Felix did not know, and he did not care much.
However, he heard that Snape had been seeking a position to teach the Defense Against the Dark Arts course, but unfortunately, Dumbledore never agreed. Between these two, is there a connection?
For example, Snape used the dueling course as a substitution for the Defense Against the Dark Arts course? Felix speculated in his mind.
"I need to be involved in the selection of the course content." Snape made a condition.
Felix showed a smile, "Of course, your experience is worth valuing." He said so.
Felix put the cup filled with pumpkin juice back on the table, he stood up, "Professor, the next dueling class will be conducted after the Christmas holidays, I will communicate with you about the content of the class by then, have a good day."
"No, thanks," Snape said with a stern face.
Felix, who was just about to walk out the door, suddenly stopped: "By the way, Professor Snape, I prepared your Christmas present in advance, I'm sure you will be satisfied."
Snape's mouth is tugged with a smile, he said, "I will prepare a gift for you too, Felix."
...
In the evening, Felix and Professor Flitwick swapped their shifts for the routine patrol through the castle. There were always some little wizards, with all kinds of justified and unjustified reasons, who were out of the sight of the professors, the head boys girls and acted alone.
But to his surprise, he ran into a hurried and panting Miss Hermione Granger.
"Professor Hap! Oh my, I finally ran into you, professor!" The young witch said excitedly.
"Miss Granger, what happened?"
"The monster in the chamber ... chamber ..." Hermione tried to speak, but she was running a short distance the whole way, and at the moment she is out of breath.
"There is a new attack?" Felix's expression got serious, seriously now? There is another attack a few days before Christmas?
His assistant first nodded, then shook her head.
"The attack did happen, but no one hurt. However, Harry, he, he went after basilisk!"
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"Calm down, Miss Granger!" Felix enquired, "You need to tell me how much time has passed since you and Harry last saw each other? Can you determine his location now? And in what way is he trailing the basilisk?"
Hermione quickly said: "No more than five minutes, Professor. We presumed that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is in Myrtle's lavatory, so we agreed to meet there. Harry was able to locate the basilisk through the Parseltongue ..."
"Very well," Felix interrupted as he waved his wand and from the tip flew a silvery glow that condensed in the air into a tiny bird that hovered in midair with a pair of narrow, scythe-shaped wings.
Felix said aloud: "Headmaster Dumbledore, Harry Potter pursuing the Chamber of Secrets basilisk alone, please come quickly to the abandoned lavatory of Myrtle, where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is most likely located."
After saying that, the tiny bird waved its wings and turned into a stream of light, and instantly disappeared.
"Professor, what kind of magic is this?" Even though the situation is an emergency, the little witch still can't help but ask.
"Patronus charm, it can help you defend against dementors, or on some occasions, you can use it to deliver a message or something."
" That's a kind of rain swallow?"
"Well, it's fast."
"Let's go to the lavatory first." Felix said to Hermione, "You can tell me all the details of what happened on the way."
By the time both arrived pretty close to Myrtle's lavatory, Felix had figured out the situation.
An hour ago.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in the Great Hall finishing a quick supper when they looked at each other and slipped out in silence.
"It's six-twenty," Hermione told the two before moving on, "We have about forty minutes, so as long as we make it back and return to the common room with the rest of the group before seven, no one will notice we've been out."
They were going to meet with Professor Hap, gain his trust, and then report the secret room information to Headmaster Dumbledore.
But something went wrong in the halfway -
"Rip you ... to pieces ... have to kill ... hunger for blood ..."
As they passed through a dimly lit corridor, Harry suddenly heard the voice, and he shouted, "It's the basilisk! It's out!"
"You heard it?" Ron said nervously.
Harry rushed out, he climbed the stairs, straining his ears to keep searching, he seemed to hear a subtle friction noise, so he rushed ahead, Ron and Hermione followed closely behind.
But the sound, if any, Harry would occasionally be lost, he had to climb up and down to confirm the location.
The trio ran for most of the time, tired and panting.
"It went back? Maybe it just came out for a walk?" Ron asked expectantly.
"Absolutely not!" Harry said, "It wanted to kill, it said it craved for blood!"
"Tear you ... apart... target ."
Harry jerked his head up, the voice overhead.
"It's upstairs!"
Harry quickly ran upstairs, leaving Ron and Hermione far behind.
Turning around to a corner, he saw Justin alone from the other side of the corridor.
" Coming ... out to kill someone ... to rip them to shreds ..."
Harry's expression turned horrified, it is going to be too late. He shouted toward Justin, "Close your eyes, Justin! Close your eyes, the basilisk of the Chamber of Secrets is out!"
Justin, who had been avoiding Harry for the past few days, sniffed in shock and asked, "What?"
Harry had no time to explain, he had already heard the " clattering" sound clearly, that must be a basilisk, it's coming out, it's going to kill!
" Flipendo!" Harry pulled out his wand, a Knockback Jinx knocked Justin away, his face still wearing surprise and panic at the time.
Harry lunged at Justin to drag him away, which wasn't easy - Justin struggled for dear life as he broke free of the spell's effects, and the two tangled.
"What are you going to do? Harry, what are you going to do!"
"Shut up! I'm saving your life!" Harry gave him a hard punch to silence him, "Listen! The Chamber of Secrets monster is out, and its eyes can kill anyone, so close your eyes now."
There's a rustling sound that came through the hallway that is distinctly clear.
Justin closed his eyes tightly, and his body couldn't stop shaking. Harry also closed his eyes, while one hand fumbled for his wand - which had fallen on the ground during the brief fight between the two.
"Are we going to die, Harry? I don't want to die, Harry, and I'm sorry I misunderstood you." Justin said incoherently.
"Shut up!" Harry yelled, a clear echo echoing down the hallway.
He touched a small wooden stick which was his wand, but he had absolutely no way to fight the basilisk, his eyes were still closed!
Harry judged that the snake monster is less than two meters away from them, and perhaps its head is dangling in front of him?
He even smelled a pungent fishy odour.
"Get out of here!" He shouted.
"What?" Justin asked, shivering.
"Not you, get out of here!"
Justin only understood the first half of the sentence, and the second half, which came out of Harry's mouth, is a creepy sound, like the "hiss" of a snake, but much more terrifying.
It is Parseltongue, he realized immediately.
Harry kept speaking Parseltongue, telling the basilisk to " leave here " and " go back ", and it worked, the sound of the basilisk movement stopped.
But it also did not move away, but instead responded, "kill ... master's orders ... rip ... clean muggles ..."
"Get out of here!" Harry said in a Parseltongue, "I order you, get out of here!" Thanks to the magic scrolls he had been working on for the past two days, it had made him a lot more proficient in Parseltongue.
"Master's orders ..."
"Your master and I are best friends, we're on the same team, listen! You are in danger, there is a powerful wizard coming! Just leave here quickly!" Harry kept urging, he didn't know if it would work, but Hermione had learned from Professor Hap that Parseltongue could be used to control snakes.
He did not know whether it is true or not, but could only pray in his heart it is true.
Finally, the basilisk went into action, and Harry held his breath, waiting for his fate - and hooray, the slithering sound of the basilisk got further and further away, and eventually disappeared.
"Can't stop killing ... the next attack ... soon ... held back a little longer... ..." were the words Harry heard from the ceiling, and it appeared that the basilisk had returned to the pipeline.
Justin shivered and slumped on the floor, aghast.
"It's over." Harry opened his eyes.
A few dozen second later, Hermione and Ron came panting from behind, "Harry, what happened?" They lost him and took a bit of a detour.
Harry said very fearfully afterward, "The basilisk tried to attack Justin and I stopped it."
"What- oh my God!" Hermione pointed to the scrape marks on the ground, "That's ..."
"Yeah, I had a head-on encounter with it."
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Ron and Hermione's expressions were wonderful at the moment.
Harry struggled to stand up, "Thanks to your information, Hermione, Parseltongue can indeed control Snake Monsters."
Hermione covered her mouth, "Harry, you almost died, you know that?"
"Yeah, sorry!" Justin said as he got up from the floor, "He was trying to save me ..."
He climbed to his feet, wiped his hands on his shirt, and formally held out his hand, "Harry, I'm sorry I've been misunderstanding you. I once approached Professor Hap, and he assured me that you were never the killer, but I freaked out during that dueling class ..."
"It's nothing." Harry pretended to be relaxed as he held out his hand in the meantime, and the two shook hands together.
"A happy ending, right?" Ron said, "I don't mean to interrupt the friendly atmosphere, but I think we need to inform Professor as soon as possible ..."
"Wait," Harry said as he walked over to a wooden door in front of him, which was hidden.
"This can't be ...," Hermione covered her mouth.
"It could be," Harry said, "but it should be gone by now."
He pushed the door open and stepped inside.
Ron and Hermione followed him.
It is a very small room, full of dust, and long track trails disappeared at a wall.
"You think that there is an entrance to the Chamber of Secrets here?" Hermione asked.
"We discussed it, didn't we?" Harry carefully surveyed the place where the snake monster trail disappeared, " there is probably only one entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, but in order to facilitate the basilisk's movement, Slytherin may have left more than one exit in the castle's pipe network."
Harry said in a Parseltongue, "Open up." Justine, who had just entered, shivered.
The walls didn't react even a little, which disappointed him a little.
Ron guessed, "Harry, if this is really an exit that Slytherin prepared for the basilisk, he must have set special conditions-"
" In turn, that means that the real entrance to the Chamber of Secrets must not have these restrictions!" Hermione said excitedly.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Ron looked as if " the problem is finally solved ", " we just need to inform the professor, no matter who it is, as long as it is not Lockhart ... "
Harry said, "No, you should inform the professor."
The other three looked at him in confusion.
"Look, you guys go get someone, Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Hap, or even Snape."
"What about you, Harry?"
"I'm going to follow along a bit to prevent the basilisk from coming out again. From the conversations I've had with it, it's not a nice one, in case it can't resist the urge to attack ... halfway through," Harry gave them a meaningful look, "We've already guessed the real entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, haven't we? I'll see you there!"
Harry took a deep breath and hurriedly ran away.
"Let's go!" Ron and Hermione moved immediately.
"Wait!" Justin stood up, "I'll help too."
Hermione and Ron looked at each other, "Okay if you find any professor, tell them to go to the abandoned girl's lavatory where Myrtle usually stays, the monster in the secret room is a basilisk, tell the professor to be careful not to look it in the eye."
Then the three of them split up.
At the other end, Harry ran all the way in the direction of the lavatory, and just as he was about to arrive, he met up with a person on the corner, and they collided hard.
Harry's glasses were knocked off, and he felt pain all over, which reminded him of his experience of falling off his broom at the Quidditch match. He glanced across at the young wizard, who he recognized as Draco Malfoy from the colour of the man's hair.
Malfoy was also hit hard, he had a very dull expression and seemed dumbstruck as a black book flung out of his arms.
"Potter ..." he said with a confused look before finally coming back to his senses, "Potter!"
Harry picked up his glasses from the floor and stood up quickly, "Get out of my way, Malfoy!" He left immediately.
Draco, who remained in place, glanced around somewhat confusedly, and his expression suddenly became terrified.
" Huff~huff~"
Harry ran furiously all the way to the girls' lavatory, and he pushed the door open, oblivious to the stagnant water on the floor.
He said carefully and tentatively in a Parseltongue, "Are you here? The monster of the Chamber of Secrets?" All the while preparing to close his eyes.
After waiting a few seconds, just when he thought that everything is safe, he heard a rustling sound.
It is the basilisk!
Harry moved his feet following the subtle sound, and he judged that the basilisk had returned from other pipes. According to their previous analysis, Hogwarts' castle is littered with all kinds of pipes, but the Chamber of Secrets can not be hidden in the pipes, so the two must have a unique connecting passage.
And that place is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.
As a result of their discussion, the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is likely to be in the place where Myrtle was killed back then - the present abandoned girls' lavatory because Myrtle had described with great enthusiasm that she had heard a boy's voice on the day she died.
This boy could only be the heir to the Chamber of Secrets of the previous generation!
Following the subtle voice, Harry came to the center of the lavatory, where there is a circular row of hand-washing sinks. He gently set his book bag aside, ignoring the stagnant water on the floor, and plopped down with his ear pressed against the metal pipe of the sink.
After a loud sound like a slimy hose slicing through the ground, the sound disappeared completely.
Waiting quietly for a dozen seconds, Harry stood up, around the sink, carefully examined around, unsurprisingly in a facet sidewall found a small snake pattern.
He could hardly hold back his excitement and whispered in a Parseltongue, "Open."
Instantly, the facet emitted a dazzling white light and began to spin rapidly. Then, the sink also moved, Harry, watched it slowly disappear from his sight, revealing a very thick pipe.
Harry stepped over the stagnant water, poking his head to look, inside the dark tube in front of him, which looked like a path to hell.
Harry is hesitating whether to go down, according to his past habits, certainly does not want to jump straight down. Although the last time he was detained by Professor Hap, copied documents for two days for his reckless behaviour about the penalties of young wizards in the past, so he felt he should be a little steady.
"What are you doing?"
A very melancholy voice appeared behind him, very close to him, as if speaking close to him at the back of his head.
Harry got startled, his feet slipped, and his whole body plunged in, disappearing down the tunnel.
The last thing he saw is a rather surprised expression on Myrtle's face.
My Bookbag ...
There is Professor Hap's golem there!
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On the other hand, Ron, Hermione, and Justine each searched for the professor's trail. After seven o'clock, the young wizards all returned to their respective house lounges under the leadership of their head boys girls, and the whole castle became empty.
A few minutes later, Ron is the first to encounter a professor, when he runs over with surprise, followed by a look of despair - it's Lockhart.
Lockhart is also a part of the patrol today.
"Ha! Look what I've caught! A little wizard who wanders through the night, playing off the clock! What's your name again?" Lockhart showed an expression of surprise as he walked up and grabbed Ron's arm, "Come on kid, you should be a Gryffindor, I'll take you to see Professor McGonagall."
"No! Let go of me, Harry is in danger, we've encountered a basilisk!" Ron fought to free himself from the grip that held him in place.
"A basilisk?"
"The monster of the Chamber of Secrets!" Ron yelled as he is furious.
"The chamber ... basilisk ..." Lockhart tensed up, and with his other empty hand, he pulled a magenta handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat rising from his forehead. "What are you talking about? Don't expect that you can fool me with a lie ..."
"I'm not lying!" Ron nearly went mad as he pushed hard and pulled a wand out of Lockhart's breast pocket with his hand.
"Hey!" Lockhart stumbled to the ground, "My wand!"
The sound of the two men bickering soon drew the other free-spirited presence in the castle, Peeves the Ghost, who walked through a wall just in time to see Ron and Lockhart tussling.
"A student and a professor fighting! Student and professor fighting!" Peeves shouted, gloatingly.
"Clang clang clang." Filch's footsteps came from the distance.
Ron ran without a pause, and in a panic, he found himself in a familiar hallway.
Myrtle's girl's lavatory - they'd been brewing polyjuice potion here for some time, though it has been moved to the abandoned classroom on the ground floor.
Ron swallowed and carefully opened the lavatory door handle.
With Myrtle's previous experience, he is afraid he would push the door and see a pair of big yellow eyes.
Ron pushed the door open with his eyes closed, "Is anyone here? Harry?"
"He's not here. Oh, that little wretch!" A strange voice said, which Ron recognized as Myrtle's tone, and he opened his eyes.
A silver, transparent ghost floated in midair.
"Harry came here, right? Where is he?" Ron wanted to ask further details, but the sight before him made his eyes widen; the sink in the center of the lavatory had vanished out of thin air, and in its place, there is a deep black hole.
He walked forward, took a rather disgusted look at the deep, dirty pipe, and asked, "Myrtle, Harry jumped in?"
"Yeah, it was so sudden, I was just trying to talk to him ..." Myrtle said in a rather mournful tone, "and his stuff is still here!"
Only then did Ron realize that under one of the sinks were Harry's backpack, lying in a crooked mess on the floor.
"Oh, Merlin!" Ron prayed in his heart as he opened Harry's book bag - a golem with ice blue hair is quietly lying inside.
Ron let out a whine.
"What's wrong?" Myrtle floated over to him and looked at the contents of the bag with him. She pointed at the golem with interest and said, "What's this? Is it the new popular doll out there in the castle?"
"Harry's in danger ...," Ron mumbled in a small voice.
"What?"
"I said, Harry's in danger!" Ron took a deep breath, grabbed the golem as soon as he could, and took a few steps to the entrance of the chamber.
After a few seconds, he turned his head to look at Myrtle and said pitifully, "Can you give me a push?"
Without waiting for her to reply, Ron jumped in as if he is going to die.
"Ahhhhhhh!" His exaggerated screams came from the water pipe.
At the other end, Justin found Professor Snape, and almost simultaneously, Hermione found Professor Hap.
When Felix and Hermione arrived at the girls' lavatory, they saw Peeves chasing a Weeping Myrtle with a box of rotten bread.
What the hell?
"Throw it in the stomach, get ten points! Throw in the head, get fifty points! Very good, ha, ha, ha!"
The small lavatory is filled with the playful laughter of the Peeves and the sobs of the Myrtle.
"Oh, God, poor Myrtle, Peeves don't fight." Hermione watched the scene sadly.
Felix waved his wand and stopped the flying bread in the air.
Peeves then noticed the two people who had just entered, "Professor, hello." He held up the hat on top of his head and greeted.
"Peeves, get out of here," Felix said calmly.
"As you wish." then Peeves' figure disappeared.
"Professor, look!" Hermione said, pointing to the entrance of the chamber.
"I see it." Felix turned his head and asked another presence in the room, "Myrtle, did Harry jump?"
Myrtle had silver teardrops on her face, but she answered, "Yes, and a red-headed boy with lots of freckles on his face too."
"It's Ron!" Hermione exclaimed.
"That's him, why aren't you three here anymore-"
"Shut up, Myrtle!" Hermione hurriedly stopped her words, not to let Professor Hap find out the secret of them secretly brewing the polyjuice potion, then she carefully glanced at Felix.
Myrtle whimpered and quickly flew into the innermost compartment, and did not come out any longer.
The little witch felt a little ashamed, and she mentally apologized to the poor ghost.
At that moment, a clear sound chirping rang out, Felix looked for the sound, Dumbledore's figure appeared suddenly, he wore a grey with spotted pattern pyjamas, long beard knocked loose -- usually, he tied up his beard.
Apparition, or ...? Felix's eyes settled on the phoenix on his shoulder.
It's quite a strange scene, a silver, transparent phoenix standing on Dumbledore's shoulder, in a Patronus appearance.
No, it's a Patronus!
Only, Patronus would look silver transparent, shrink into a little, palm-sized bird.
But this also seems like a real phoenix ...
" Fawkes just recently passed Nirvana, its power is very weak, I had to use the Patronus to protect it," Dumbledore explained it.
So, it is the young phoenix cloaked in a phoenix Patronus?
Felix nodded, "Headmaster Dumbledore, Potter, Weasley and Granger, the three of them found the Basilisk that came out to attack in the corridor, they saved Justine, and then Potter initiated to come and guard the entrance of the chamber, allowing the other three to seek the professor's help."
"However, Potter and Weasley, for whatever reason, went down one after another."
"At the moment, it is unclear if they are in danger."
"Very well, Felix." Dumbledore fell into thought, but within a few seconds, he looked up and said to Fawkes on his shoulder, "Fawkes, it's going to be tough on you."
Clad in a silver coat ( the same type of Patronus) the little phoenix gave a low chirp.
"Remember, the basilisk's biggest threat is its eyes."
--
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The phoenix flew down the pipe and left.
To Felix's puzzled gaze, Dumbledore explained, " Fawkes is too weak now, she couldn't carry three of us, if Harry is in danger, as long as he sincerely seeks help, Fawkes will sense his location."
At that moment, from the door came a cold voice, "Sorry, I think it's four." Professor Snape appeared, dressed in a dark green pyjama gown, his hair tousled and mussed, slightly out of breath.
"Severus," Dumbledore looked at him, "you're here too."
"How can I possibly would not come, Potter ... a Hogwarts student's life is being endangered!" Snape's temper isn't exactly pleasant, "What are we waiting for, do we have a party here?"
"That's right, Severus." Dumbledore seemed to dawn on him as he glanced at the four people present, "Miss Granger ..."
"I'm going down!" Hermione said quickly, "I'm not going to drag you down, I can, um ..."
She saw the book bag in the corner, her eyes lit up, and she ran over to rummage through it and finally found a scroll.
"Headmaster, Professor, this is Harry's scroll, it contains a partial record of the pronunciation of the Parseltongue, I thought it might be useful."
"This is?" Dumbledore showed a surprised expression as he looked at Felix.
" As it has mentioned ..." Felix said implicitly, and the headmaster remembered it.
"Very good, Granger." Dumbledore complimented.
Hermione tried her best not to look complacent.
Dumbledore touched her shoulder with his wand, and she felt herself become light and levitated from the ground with a little effort.
Then, they each applied a levitation spell on themselves, "Ready?" Dumbledore got an affirmative answer, he waved his wand, the four became light as soap bubbles and then floated down into the dark water pipe.
Next, a long underground tunnel, Felix is not sure whether it's a kilometre, or five kilometers, then through tunnel curves, seven turns, and sometimes spiral down they went down.
With the shimmering light of magic, Felix could see that the inner walls of the tunnel were slimy, soggy with liquid, and many tubes forked off in all directions.
Finally, all the way down, the channel became horizontal. They came to a circular clearing, the floor filled with stagnant water, and above the stagnant water were countless ghastly white rat skeletons.
At the moment, they were standing on the huge pile of skeletons.
The tunnel is as silent as the grave.
Dumbledore looked around with a serious expression, a place he had never known before, and he said softly: "Huge project ... seems Slytherin spent quite a lot of time for this."
The four walked toward the mouth of one of the largest tunnels, and from a distance, Felix saw a coiled behemoth.
"Close your eyes!" He quickly shouted.
Hermione obediently closed her eyes, and Dumbledore and Snape closed their eyes while drawing their respective wands.
Following the feeling, Felix waved a blazing red light, wrist-thick spell roughly hit the body of the behemoth with a dull to the core boom.
At the same time, there is an extremely stealthy wind - this is Snape's magic spell.
Dumbledore also struck, he added a shallow golden shield for the four.
Wait a moment, there is no hissing and snake monster movement expected sound.
Felix opened his eyes, the behemoth has broken into several pieces, but not the slightest smell of blood.
He and Snape came forward, only to find that it was a huge pair of green snake skin, but the surface is stained with a layer of dust, looking like gray-green ash colour.
"The basilisk is at least twenty feet long -- besides," Felix said, "excellent Severing Charm, Professor Snape."
Snape topped him off, "You're not bad either, Felix, your 'Stunning Spell' is as effective as an Exploding Charm."
Hermione and Dumbledore came closer, Hermione carefully surveyed the remains of the snake molt. A third of it had been blown to pieces - a sign of Professor Hap's magic - and the rest had been sliced in half, the cuts smooth and flat, obviously some kind of powerful cutting magic.
The young witch picked up a piece of snake molt, hard, like a piece of metal, she could not help but smack her lips together.
Dumbledore carefully examined the basilisk faded skin, "a period of years, probably when last time the chamber opened, the snake monster left it behind."
At that moment, a crisp phoenix sound came from far away.
"We need to pick up the pace." Dumbledore walked ahead of the others.
They turned around one corner after another, and their feet tread on the soggy water, making a snapping sound. Hermione felt her feet sticky, her nerves trembling uncomfortably, just wanting to get it over with as soon as possible.
Finally, they came upon a solid wall with a round iron door enclosed into it. The arrangement looked somewhat like the circular door of the Gryffindor common room, but instead of portraits, seven intertwined snakes were coiled on it, their eyes inlaid with large, glittering emeralds. The snakes' tails intersected, and their heads parted, closing the entrance completely.
"Obviously, we need the entry command or forced destruction," Felix said.
Snape waved his wand, the invisible cutting spell, the iron switch erupted into a bright green luminescence, and when all went quiet, the round iron door is intact.
Dumbledore fingers stroked the twisted snake on the iron door, he shook his head, "I can break it, but that will take time." He looked to Felix.
Felix takes out the scroll with understanding and tosses it high, the scroll quickly spreads out and unfolds into seven or eight meters long.
His wand tapped on it, and he whispered, "Open." The writing on the scroll began to twist, distort, and reassemble, and soon a vortex appeared in the center of the scroll.
The four people present heard a strange, "hissing" sound from the scroll.
The next moment, the round iron door moved, from the intersection of the snake's tail, swam out of a smaller snake, it swam around the iron door for a whole cycle, and then a "click", the door opened.
"Professor, this is?" Hermione is a little curious, she did not know that this scroll has this function.
"It can convert my words into Parseltongue, of course, provided that it has enough Parseltongue data stored inside."
Dumbledore said with a look of admiration, "Is this the idea you mentioned to me during the interview, combining muggle wisdom with magic?"
Snape's and Hermione's eyes fell upon him simultaneously.
Felix said calmly, "Just an attempt."
"Felix," Dumbledore said, "there aren't many open-minded wizards like you left."
Afterwards the group moved on and crossed the circular iron door, and before them is a long, dimly lit space. The space resembled a hammer, the handle of which was a spacious corridor in front of them, with many stone pillars carved with coiled serpents coiled on either side of the corridor.
These stone pillars were towering to support the high, dark ceiling, casting a long, treacherous shadow under the greenish glow.
And at the end of the space is an open clearing, like the square head of a hammer. At the edge of the clearing is a statue equal in height to the room itself, clinging to the dark wall behind it.
Felix almost immediately recognized it as a Slytherin statue, a similar object he had seen in a number of books.
His eyes fell on the clearing, where a fierce battle - or rather, ruthless bashing - is taking place.
A blind basilisk twisted and turned its body wildly, it stood thirty feet long, and each fling of its body set off a huge rain of stones as a small wizard dodged in desperate disarray.
It is none other than Harry Potter.
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"Headmaster, we ..." Felix drew his wand.
Dumbledore did not answer, but instead fell into a deep silence, as if he is asleep.
"Headmaster Dumbledore!" Hermione anxiously stomped her feet.
Dumbledore pondered for a few seconds, he waved his wand and a Disillusionment Charm is placed over them.
Felix then heard the conversation between Dumbledore and Snape.
"I don't understand, Dumbledore ..."
"What, Severus?"
"The boy ... Harry Potter, he's dying!"
"I'm here," Dumbledore said shortly.
The conversation ended there, but Felix couldn't help but get caught up in his thoughts -
Did Dumbledore want to train Potter as a successor? Between life and death to inspire a person's courage and potential, not to mention this old man is standing on the sidelines at the moment, in control of the situation.
Or maybe ...
He suddenly remembered the conversation he had with Dumbledore when Potter's parseltongue was exposed. Headmaster said he still needed to confirm something, what could that be?
They approached the battlefield silently, and as they got closer, Felix noticed large, broken ice crystals in the empty space, and a dozen palm-sized, bloodstained black scales stuck on half of the collapsed ice wall.
It seems that Harry is not powerless to fight back.
The four of them came near a stone pillar wrapped around a snake in front of the clearing and lifted, part of the effect of the Disillusionment Charm - which allowed them to see each other's positions.
"Professor!" Hermione tugged on his sleeve, and behind the stone pillar, a small wizard is lying on the ground, and next to him was a small, palm-sized bird.
It is Ron and Fawkes.
"Headmaster, Ron has been spotted."
Dumbledore glanced at the field, "Severus ..."
"I'm keeping an eye on him," Snape said without looking back, his gaze still firmly fixed on Harry's body with a very resistant expression.
Dumbledore and Felix crouched in front of Ron, his clothes covered in dust and scratches, but his body is unscathed.
A small phoenix on the side gave a low chirp, seemingly seeking credit.
"Thank you, Fawkes," Dumbledore said to it with satisfaction.
"Professor, Ron he ..." Hermione looked at Ron worriedly.
"He's fine," Felix said, tapping the ring on his left hand with his wand, a potion flew out, and he gave Ron a hard dose.
Ron's eyebrows knitted up.
In the empty space, the battle that belonged to Harry continued -
He hid behind a boulder, waving his wand, the palm-sized golem volleyed out a cold air mixed with ice crystals, the blind basilisk simply can not find "her", it could only attack the whole field, again and again, the snake's tail still remains on the dotted white frost.
Harry agilely dodged a human-size stone, the boulder in front of him was smashed into pieces. He hurriedly jogged away, but the sound of footsteps attracted the snake monster's attention, and the next second, the thick tail whipped over.
Harry immediately commanded the golem to block in front of him, " thumb thumb thumb!" A prism of ice appeared out of thin air.
The huge black snake tail smashed down on its head, and after a tooth-aching crushing sound, the icicle and the golem both broke apart on the ground.
And Harry took this opportunity to run away on tiptoe.
The three professors hiding in the shadows lowered their wands at the same time, and Felix couldn't help but glance at the puddle of golem fragments on the ground in pain, just like that?
...
"Professor, I want to help Harry!" Hermione said.
Felix was silent for a moment, "You've thought about it?"
"Yes."
Felix lifted Hermione's disillusionment charm while taking a beaded pouch out of the ring and handing it to her. "It is going to be your Christmas present, so I'll give it to you in advance - I don't need to tell you how to use it, right?"
"No, thank you, Professor!" Hermione said cheerfully.
She isn't worried about Harry's safety, with the two professors and the Headmaster around, how could he die, but she didn't want to see Harry fighting the basilisk all alone.
They are best friends!
Hermione carefully hid in the shadows, then she walked forward as lightly as possible.
On the field, Harry struggled to dodge the basilisk's tail, and flying around debris, the loss of the golem's help, he suddenly fell into an absolute disadvantage.
Harry mouth hissed: " calm down!"
But the basilisk had already gone mad, and the fact that it is blind almost foretells its death - either by killing or by starvation. What's more, the fact that they had broken into the secret room.
"Kill ... kill ..." the snake monster made a "hissing" sound, and followed the sound of a tail flung at Harry, and The tail came over.
"Whoosh!"
The sharp whistling sound cut through the air, an emerald green wrist-thick vine climbed the basilisk's tail, forcibly halting its attack.
Harry showed a disbelieving expression.
"Hermione!?"
The little witch wrapped the other end of the devil's snare around the stone pillar, using it to counter the basilisk's terrifying power. "Harry, run!"
Harry couldn't think why Hermione appeared here, he quickly ran away, tripping midway, to the Sorting Hat, the big silver bird brought to him!
Just a few moments ago, the basilisk found him as an intruder, decided to kill him and Ron, at that time, regardless of parseltongue it attacked him while saying "master's orders" is everything.
At the critical moment, a large silver bird suddenly appeared, not only pecking the basilisk's eyes but also after a brief disappearance, brought him the Sorting Hat.
He didn't know quite sure why, but he is sure it would be useful for the situation at hand.
He picked up the tattered hat and put it on its head, muttering in a low voice, "Whatever comes, please help me."
No voice answered him, but the hat pressed tighter and tighter, as if an unseen hand desperately grasping the Sorting Hat on his head.
Jang!
Something heavy and hard landed on top of Harry's head, nearly knocking him unconscious. Harry found that it is a shiny silver sword, the hilt of the sword set with brilliant egg-sized rubies.
Not far away, Felix's eyes were frozen, that is ... Gryffindor sword?
Hogwarts the symbol of courage and trust, one of the four giants Gryffindor's sword?
He turned his head and stared dead at Dumbledore, is this what you want to confirm?
Dumbledore did not pay attention to his gaze, his eyes passed through the half-moon glasses, fell on the basilisk, his lips opened and closed silently.
This made Felix vaguely feel a hint of discomfort, it's a very eerie feeling. In his vision, the basilisk, Harry, and Hermione three's magic are very conspicuous, but there seems to be something more on the field.
Under the disillusionment charm, he curled his fingers and gently touched his brow, and in a flash, the colours of everything in sight were melting and fading.
Only black, white, and grey remained.
Felix looked ahead at the battlefield, under his calm face, there is surging waves of shock.
In his field of vision, three steps to the left, a huge source of magic blazed like a dazzling sun, it is Dumbledore. From his feet, the magic spread out a line, the other end of the line connected to the ground below the basilisk.
There is a huge concentration of magical fluctuations, in his unique perspective, the ground like a wave of water, a wave of ups and downs.
What is this?
Dumbledore had struck, when did he do it?
It seemed to be some kind of transfiguration, but he had never seen such an outrageous transfiguration ...
It turned out that, without his knowledge, Dumbledore had put the basilisk into a cage.
At the moment, Felix does not care about the battle on the field at all, there is no need, the basilisk is a large tool. Perhaps its only value is to cooperate with Harry to play a scene so that Dumbledore could see something.
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On the other hand, Ron woke up under the effect of the potion.
"Well ... where am I? Harry! Hermione?" Ron sat up in some confusion, then he saw Harry and Hermione, who were circling the basilisk.
He quickly recalled what happened.
He caught up with Harry with the golem, the two found the basilisk, Harry tried to say something in a parseltongue, but the basilisk directly attacked.
They could only run as hard as they could, not even daring to look back.
At that moment, a big silver bird appeared, it pecked the basilisk's eyes, and then, he got swept away by the frenzied basilisk's tail, and his body hurts so much that he thought he nearly killed in the process.
Ron's last memory is the image of Harry holding him, the big silver bird turned into an invisible dot, and then landing on his shoulder.
It shed tears, is it sad for me?
Ron stood up and moved his arms and legs, which were actually intact?
He took out Lockhart's wand and prepared to move forward, but the scene of him being swept by the basilisk appeared before his eyes, and great fear gripped his heart.
I'll die!
He stared at the field, Harry holding an unfamiliar silver sword, brought by Hermione? But where are the Professors, where is Dumbledore? He looked around, no sign of the professors.
Also, what were those things that looked like devil's snare branches? Ron felt that he woke up, and the situation has been completely unreadable.
At the moment, the basilisk has already broken free of the third devil's snare control, it becomes angrier and angrier, hissing, and showing the long poisonous teeth that looked like a row of sharp daggers.
It coiled its body in a circle, the tail "crack" slapped the stone pillar, rolling up a piece of debris.
Harry scrambled up the toe of the Slytherin statue, the basilisk lunged forward, the huge head of the snake smashed out a half-meter deep crater.
Hermione's beaded pouch has lost its effect, she rushed out to send out a few red magic spells, but the basilisk's scales easily bounced it off.
What should I do?
Ron is trembling, and his heart is at war with the world.
Snape's mouth hooked a silent mocking smile, he raised his hand and raised his wand.
However, the next moment -
Ron Weasley rushed out, he picked up a stone and smashed it on the head of the basilisk.
"Hey! I'm here!" He waved his arms exaggeratedly to attract the basilisk's attention.
The basilisk's black eye sockets turned toward Ron, causing him to gag.
Under the disillusionment charm, a few professors had different thoughts.
"Stupid lion." This is Snape's opinion.
"Brave Gryffindor ..." Dumbledore's eyes moistened.
"Commendable courage," Felix said, but that would never be his choice.
Ron paid the price for his recklessness, rolling and crawling to avoid the sweeping snake's tail, painfully hurt by the stones on the ground, and he broke a gash in his finger.
The basilisk opened its mouth wide, its ghastly white fangs reflecting the green light hanging down from the ceiling, looking very scary.
In a panic, Ron threw the wand in his hand, which belonged to Lockhart's in the air across an arc, coincidentally fell into the mouth of the basilisk - but did not do anything.
And with this effort, Harry has climbed up the huge statue, his feet is under the giant head of Slytherin.
Harry stood high above the basilisk, looking down at the frantic attack, clutching the gleaming Gryffindor sword in his hand.
The basilisk in the center, Harry, Ron, and Hermione exactly in three different locations.
As if a telepath, their eyes crossed the basilisk, as they saw each other.
Ron suddenly ran in Harry's direction, his mouth hissing, the only parseltongue he had ever learned from Harry - the one he intended to use to scold Malfoy.
"Stupid!"
This word instantly attracted the basilisk's full attention, plus Ron stumbled all the way down and made a sound that allowed it to quickly lock onto its target.
The basilisk twisted its snake body, scraping its scales against the ground, and swam quickly towards Ron.
Hermione followed, but she got a bit far away and could only see the basilisk's back.
Ron ran under the Slytherin statue, he shouted: "Harry!" At this moment, time seemed to freeze--
The basilisk raised its head high, ready to attack, Hermione's mouth opened wide, eyes full of surprise. And Harry, he raised the Gryffindor sword, leaping from the Slytherin statue.
The three professors outside the field with their wand held high at the same time, clenching it in their hands, Snape took a deep breath of cold air.
Time seems to have slowed down, Harry felt the whistling wind from his ears, the basilisk in his eyes is slow as a snail, he even in midair especially have the strength to adjust his falling posture.
It's like playing a different kind of Quidditch game ...
" Snip!"
The surface of the silver Gryffindor sword blossomed like a watery glow, piercing through the head of the snake monster like a thunderbolt, and Harry, with the speed of his descent and his own weight, slammed the sword completely into it, leaving only a hilt.
The basilisk felt the threat of death and pain, it completely frenzied, desperately flinging head, tail like a long whip sweeping the ground debris. Harry's death grip on the hilt of the sword, his leg got nicked, but he was completely unaware of it.
Instead, he is desperately turning the hilt, so that the Gryffindor sword in the head of the basilisk would open a bloody hole.
And the basilisk's body became rigid all of a sudden, and Felix stared at the scene with dead eyes, not letting go of any detail.
In his field of vision, the basilisk is imprisoned by the huge magic power below it.
It is Dumbledore!
Everything flashed like lightning, five or six seconds later, Harry is flung out of the way, "Wingardium Leviosa!" Hermione arrived, she waved her wand and used a standard floating spell to catch Harry.
The basilisk is extremely resilient and wriggled for almost a minute after its head was pierced before collapsing with a crash.
Ron limped over to the two, he is bruised and battered, but he smiled brightly, "We won, it's incredible, isn't it?"
Harry also laughed out, he suffered badly, multiple cuts on his arm, a long gash on his thigh, that is the basilisk's dying counterattack.
He is about to say something, but his vision blurred in front of him for a moment.
"Harry!"
"Harry!"
Ron's voice and Hermione's voice as if a layer between, Harry heard with some difficulty, he faintly heard Hermione saying " a basilisk venom, basilisk's venom is highly toxic ".
Am I going to die?
Harry asked himself. His lips opened and closed, but he is not sure if he has spoken.
"Harry!" Ron shouted.
Hermione shouted towards where Felix and the others were, "Professor, Headmaster ..." The disillusionment charm lifted and Dumbledore came striding out.
"Headmaster, Harry is going to die," Ron said sadly, too late to think about why Dumbledore had arrived so coincidentally.
"He's not going to die!" Dumbledore's firm tone brought great comfort to Ron and Hermione.
Dumbledore waved his hand and Phoenix Fawkes let out a chirp and flew down, it landed next to Harry and big drops of tears fell on his wounds.
The wound quickly stopped bleeding, shrunk, and healed completely.
"Headmaster? Professor?" Harry opened his eyes, he looked at the phoenix in front of him and then at his own wound, "What's going on, I'm not ..."
"Harry, the tears of the phoenix can detoxify poisons and heal wounds."
Harry looked curiously at the Fawkes in front of him, this is Phoenix? But it's too fugly, right, and too small, only palm-sized.
"What is its name?"
" Fawkes."
Harry looked at the phoenix and said gratefully, "Thank you, Fawkes, it's nice to meet you, I'm Harry, Harry Potter."
The Phoenix's tiny head jumped onto his shoulder and nuzzled Harry's face affectionately.
Dumbledore introduced, "The Phoenix is a quite fascinating creature, unfortunately, Fawkes has just undergone a nirvana, in a little while it will be covered in marvellous red and golden feathers."
"They can carry heavy things, their tears can cure poison, and they are an exceptionally loyal companion."
They then returned to the castle, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sent to the school clinic.
Among them, Ron and Hermione were both bruised, Ron somewhat more badly, while Harry had just been healed by the tears of the phoenix and apart from the dirty spots, there is nothing wrong with his body at all.
--
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The school nurse, Madam Pomfrey, took care of these wounds with just a few simple minor magic spells, and then she poured a vial of potion for the three of them to cheer up, "It's good for you all!" Harry choked and rolled his eyes.
"Madam Pomfrey, please give us a few more minutes," Dumbledore said gently.
Madame Pomfrey turned and left.
It's just the trio, Dumbledore and Felix at the scene, Snape had been sent away by the Headmaster to find Professor McGonagall - and later they would have to make another trip to the Chamber of Secrets to get rid of the basilisk's body.
"I'm sure you all have a lot to say." Dumbledore's eyes fell on a sideways looking at the table where the Sorting Hat, a silver sword inlaid with rubies, laid.
Harry began to tell them the story as it happened. He told them that he heard a wandering spirit-like voice without a form for the first time when he was detained in Professor Lockhart's office. Combined with the information Hermione got from Professor Hap, he confirmed that he is a parseltongue.
"But because of the bad reputation of the parseltongue, I concealed it, and besides, there were no attacks at the time," Harry said with some shame.
"Everyone has their own secrets that they don't want to be pried into," Dumbledore said kindly, which made Harry feel a little better.
He also told that after the first attack, they discovered the spiders in the castle escaping and learned from Myrtle that she was the victim of the Chamber of Secrets opening fifty years ago. Harry specifically mentioned the point that the day of the attack on Myrtle, she heard a boy's voice, which is the greatest evidence that they judge the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.
Dumbledore couldn't help but clap his hands in admiration.
"Hermione deduced it," Harry did not take the credit, Hermione waved her hand sheepishly.
After that came the second attack, and speaking of which, Harry had a strong urge in his heart to voice their suspicions about Malfoy, Dumbledore must be able to find out something, right?
However, just as he gathered enough courage, Snape and Professor McGonagall pushed the door in, Professor McGonagall saw the three of them in a mess, could not help but hold her chest, "Oh my God, what have you all been through? Professor Snape said you guys recklessly challenged the monster in the chamber ... If this is true, I'll definitely detain you ..."
"Minerva," Dumbledore interrupted, "and Severus, you are just in time, let us hear their adventures before we make our final judgment."
So, there were two more people listening to the story.
Harry opened his mouth and finally swallowed his suspicions about Malfoy as he began to recount the key information he had learned from Hermione that the parseltongue could manipulate snakes - as Slytherin did - and then from Hagrid about the existence of the eight-eyed giant spider Acromantula and its fearful attitude towards the monster.
"And those dead chickens!" Ron reminded him.
"That's right, Hagrid kept a lot of dead chickens, and he thought the foxes were responsible." Harry added, "That's pretty much the information we're relying on to piece together the truth about the Chamber of Secrets."
"I'm more interested in understanding how this series of events happened tonight?" Dumbledore nodded approvingly at first, then he asked.
Harry then continued with the story of how they slipped out of the great hall to meet Professor Hap to explain the situation - Snape made a "snort" - and halfway through heard the sound of the basilisk again, so They saved Justin, and Harry sent the others to seek help from the professor, while he went to keep an eye on the monster to prevent it from attacking others.
"That was a noble act, Harry," Dumbledore said softly.
"But what I saw was just a reckless and arrogant venture. Headmaster Dumbledore, you've given them too much leeway." Snape played the role of splashing cold water with a stern face.
Felix watched with interest, Snape's distaste for Harry Potter was really unconcealed, but then he was the first to stand up for Harry when he was in danger ...
Associated with what he had investigated, the corners of his mouth could not help but hook up.
"We can't rush to judgment, Severus."
Ron and Hermione then told their part of the experience separately. Hermione had nothing to say, she merely circled the empty castle for a few minutes and ran into Professor Hap.
Ron's story, on the other hand, is much more exciting; not only did he attack the professor (Lockhart), he also snatched his wand, and in a panic - Ron tries to gloss over the story to make him look in bright light - he went to the lavatory and realized that Harry wasn't carrying his powerful golem, so he simply jumped down and did a " delivery job for the hero".
"By the way, Headmaster," Ron said apprehensively, "Professor Lockhart's wand was swallowed by the basilisk, do I have to pay for it?" His own wand is still half broken.
"That's really is a problem, Gilderoy has had some bad luck lately ... I'll talk to him." Dumbledore said in a light-hearted tone, "If we're lucky, his wand is still lying intact in the basilisk's stomach."
After all three young wizards had told their part of the story, Professor McGonagall said feebly, "What you have done tonight goes far beyond your duties, and I might add, you have broken at least a hundred school rules along the way - but how did you defeat the basilisk? "
Harry recounted how he and Ron met near the snake molt, they went into the chamber together, and then encountered the basilisk. Speaking of this, Harry suddenly realized that he should have stopped near the snake molt, but he had not thought of this at all at the time.
Am I really a reckless, stupid lion, as Snape said?
As the story continues, the two's unexpected visit offends the basilisk's psychological bottom line - it attacks Harry and Ron frantically until Fawkes pecks the snake's eyes, and they barely have the strength to face the basilisk.
"Professor Hap's golem helped a lot." Harry glanced gratefully at Felix, the professor just smiled and did not say anything, his gaze kept pausing on the tattered and dirty sorting hat. As Harry continued speaking, during which he glanced oddly at Hermione, who he didn't know when she arrived.
Finally, he recounted the process of taking out the basilisk with the ultimate leap of his own, with the three of them working with each other. At this point, finally ended the whole story.
Felix clapped his hands, "A wonderful adventure, I think, your story, enough to make a book."
"Felix," Snape bracketed a long voice, in his characteristic, without a trace of emotion, "perhaps, you see yourself in them ..."
"No, Professor Snape," Felix said light-heartedly, "I'm nothing like them. They're both good Gryffindor, and you and me," he glanced at Snape, "we're standard Slytherin, aren't we?"
"As the Sorting Hat can testify."
He reached out, extremely naturally, picked up the Sorting Hat, and put it on his head.
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