Chapter 60 Chapter 60
Evan struggled to sit up, his body aching all over.
He should have been inside the mouth of the Slytherin statues by now, but he found himself in a spacious area. Directly above him was a hole through which the basilisk serpent came and went.
"Strange, very strange, did I go back a thousand years, was it a dream?" Evan shook his head and gripped his wand.
While holding his wand, he directed his attention to something in his hand.
"Lumos," Evan whispered. With the faint light from his wand, he saw that it was a small potion of a dark golden color.
"This... is Salazar's potion."
Evan paused for a moment, now certain that what had happened was not a dream, but reality; he had used the Time-Turner to go back a thousand years and meet the founders.
Like Hufflepuff said, Slytherins weren't as bad as they seemed, and at the end of the day, Salazar had given him an incredible potion!
Then Evan recalled a potion described in a magic book, the potion in his hand matched its description, a recipe lost centuries ago.
Carefully, he tucked the potion into his pocket. If others knew he had it, they would likely try to take it from him, even the Ministry of Magic might seize it.
He was prepared to take the potion when there was no one around. As he was about to leave, Evan thought of something; the school founders had said they were going to leave some secret treasures in the Chamber of Secrets to help protect Hogwarts from Voldemort.
If he was right, the treasures should be somewhere around this statue.
He quickly looked around.
Like the Basilisk's lair, the inside of the statue was larger than the outside, filled with the bodies of small animals.
After searching for a while, he found a hidden door.
He opened the dark door, dust flying everywhere.
When the dust settled, Evan stood at the entrance to a round room.
The room was exactly like the one he had visited a thousand years ago, beautifully decorated, with statues of the four founders in the four corners.
Unlike the old Slytherin statue outside, the four statues here were the four giants of the Era: the ambitious Salazar Slytherin, the kind Helga Hufflepuff, the fair Rowena Ravenclaw, and the brave Godric Gryffindor.
They looked exactly like the people he had just met.
In front of the four stone statues stood four stone altars with rounded grooves.
This should be the true chamber of secrets of the founders with the secret treasures they left behind, but he must overcome the trials first.
Evan took a step forward and saw different words on the walls.
It was like a giant sorting hat, on Gryffindor's wall in golden paint was written: Brave Gryffindor from the wild moor, he rewards the bravest with the greatest prize, the key to unlocking the treasure is the courage buried in the heart, you need the recognition of your loyal followers with pride.
Hufflepuff was written in black: The benevolent Hufflepuff comes from a wide valley. Treats everyone equally, everyone has the chance to obtain their treasure. The key to unlocking the treasure is integrity and loyalty, all you need is to trust in your humblest friend.
Ravenclaw was written in blue paint: Just Ravenclaw, from the hill. The brightest minds deserve a reward. The key to unlock my treasure is extraordinary intelligence that you will inherit forever from your equally intelligent ally.
The last was Slytherin's wall, written in silver: Ambitious Slytherin, from the marsh. Only believed in pure-blood wizards, half-bloods cannot get anything from me. The key to unlocking this treasure is great power, kept in the depths of the earth by your cunning servant.
Evan finally finished reading.
He couldn't understand those insinuations.
Evan had not the faintest idea where the keys to the secret treasures were, who the followers, friends, allies, and servants mentioned above were?
He had to remember all those words, he had to find clues when he left the chamber.
By the time Evan remembered everything, he heard a terrible scream from outside the statue.
He finally remembered Tom and the basilisk, and hastily left the room.
Just as he exited Slytherin's mouth, Evan heard Harry shout his name, and he quickly responded; Fawkes descended to take him away.
Harry seemed to have succeeded in resolving everything.
The scream must have been from Tom; in the center of the chamber lay the lifeless body of the basilisk, pierced by Gryffindor's sword. Next to it was Tom's diary, punctured by the fangs of the basilisk, whose venom had burned a hole through the pages.
"Evan, we did it, I defeated Tom, I destroyed the diary as you told me!" Harry said upon seeing Fawkes taking Evan, then hastily asked, "Are you alright, how are you feeling? I saw that you were hit by Tom's spell."
"I'm fine, it's a long story, I'll tell you later."
Evan shook his head and saw Ron, who was still under the statue, and said hurriedly, "Let's see how Ron is doing."
When Evan and Harry reached where Ron was, he was already standing.
He had an empty look upon seeing the basilisk's corpse, he fell onto Harry's blood-stained robes and Evan's equally torn ones, upon seeing the diary at his feet.
Trembling and panting, tears streamed down.
"Evan, Harry, it's all my fault, I shouldn't have believed in Tom, I wanted to tell everyone, but I was afraid. Riddle said that if I did, they would never think of me as a friend again."
"Yes, you are a true fool. If I weren't dead tired right now, I would give you a beating Ron!" Evan said angrily, "you believed in Voldemort, not in your friends."
"It's all my fault, they should expel me," said Ron, "after the first attack, I felt odd, I was foolish enough to think everything would be fine if I got rid of the diary, but everything only worsened and worsened."
"It's in the past now, Ron," Harry reassured him, "we all trust you, you were under Riddle's control, you didn't act on your own will."
"But..."
"I forgive you since you saved Ginny in the common room, Ron," Evan said, lifting Ron up, "but in the future, tell us from the start and don't try to handle it on your own."