stonecrandall Page 134
Page 134
An unprecedented fear spread rapidly through the castle.
Although the spring scenery outside the window was picturesque, it couldn't warm the hearts of the students at Hogwarts; every face in the school seemed filled with anxiety and unease.
Harry kept repeating to himself the last words Dumbledore had said the night before.
"I will only truly leave this school when everyone here betrays me... At Hogwarts, those who ask for help always receive it."
Last night, he and Hermione visited Hagrid and learned the truth about what happened fifty years ago from him.
Unfortunately, just as they were about to leave, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, Dumbledore, and several school board members burst in and took Hagrid away.
The board members even claimed that they had voted to expel Dumbledore.
This is exactly what Dumbledore said before he left—Harry suspected that Dumbledore did it on purpose, that he had discovered himself hiding nearby.
But what's the use of saying all this?
Ron had missed several days of adventures due to exhaustion, leaving Hermione to investigate the truth with him.
Now they have some clues, but who should they ask for help?
“Levin Green!” Harry said. “At this point, he’s the only one who can help us!”
“We should have asked him a long time ago,” Hermione said, pursing her lips. “But before that, I need to go to the library. This trip to the Forbidden Forest has given me some new inspiration.”
At noon, Levin was intercepted by the two in the corridor.
"Levin, Levin, you have to help us!" Harry grabbed his sleeve and said urgently, "We already know what the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is!"
"Oh? You knew?" Levin raised an eyebrow. "Tell me, what information do you know?"
Harry quickly spilled the beans: "Yesterday we visited Hagrid, and he told me that someone actually opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago and killed a student—Myrtle in the washroom, who remained there after her death."
"However, Hagrid became the scapegoat and was dismissed as the culprit who opened the Chamber of Secrets. But we know that Hagrid did indeed hide a monster, but he hid the giant spiders, the ones in the Forbidden Forest. These monsters do not have the ability to petrify people."
"So what is the real monster?" Levin asked cooperatively.
Harry looked at Hermione, who nodded and proudly stated her conclusion to Levin.
"The monster in the secret room is a basilisk! That's what the book says."
In our country, many terrible beasts and monsters roam, among which the most bizarre and deadliest is the snake monster, also known as the snake king.
This snake can grow to enormous sizes and can typically live for hundreds of years. It hatches from an egg hatched by a toad.
The basilisk kills in a terrifying way; in addition to its deadly fangs, its glare can also be fatal.
Anyone who is stared at by its gaze will die instantly.
Spiders will run away when they see a basilisk, because the basilisk is the spider's mortal enemy. The basilisk will flee in panic as soon as it hears a rooster crowing, because the rooster's crowing is also deadly to it.
As she spoke, she said excitedly, "These conditions all match up. Harry could hear whispers in the castle that others couldn't because he heard the Basilisk's voice, and Harry speaks Parsley."
"The reason why the attacked people were only petrified is because they all indirectly saw the basilisk's gaze."
"The eight-eyed giant spiders in the Forbidden Forest are running around because they have discovered the basilisk. Hagrid's chicken coop was attacked because the killer wanted to prevent the basilisk from being killed by the chickens."
At this point, she asked curiously, "Since the method of breeding basilisks is so simple, there should be many basilisks. But why does 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' mention that there have been no records of witnessing basilisks in the Great Yin for at least four hundred years?"
Harry also looked at Levin.
Levin explained, "Not just any egg can hatch into a basilisk; it has to be a male egg."
"Do roosters have eggs?" Harry asked curiously.
"Of course a rooster can have eggs."
Levin said, "In fact, if you understand Muggle biology, you'll find that, compared to humans, birds don't have such clear boundaries regarding sex. Under extreme conditions, the sex of birds can change. For example, occasionally, a hen can turn into a rooster when there are no roosters in the flock."
"In this situation, the rooster actually possesses the sexual characteristics of both a rooster and a hen. If magic is used to interfere, it is indeed possible to achieve the result of the rooster laying an egg."
After hearing Levin's words, the two of them both gaped open.
This was the first time they had ever heard such groundbreaking knowledge.
Seeing their interest, Levin continued his explanation: "Actually, the phenomenon of basilisks hatching magical beasts from eggs hatched by alien creatures is not unique to them."
“We all know that snakes are cold-blooded animals and they cannot incubate eggs, but if a snake incubates a hen’s egg, it will give birth to a basilisk. This creature is not as deadly as a basilisk, but its venom can still petrify its victims.”
"There's an even more extreme case: if a snake's egg is hatched by a rooster, it will give birth to a petrifying lizard. It's an eight-legged lizard with a basilisk-like gaze. Although it can't kill people directly, it can turn them into stone."
Chicken-snake beast? Petrified lizard?
The two were completely bewildered by Levin's explanation; they had no idea there were so many strange and wonderful things in the magical world.
This is so weird!
Just as the discussion was about to go off-topic, Levin himself brought the topic back to the main point.
"Your analysis of the monster sounds very reasonable. I also think the monster in the secret room is a basilisk. You did a good job!"
Hermione's face lit up with delight, and Harry grinned from ear to ear.
It's truly rare to receive praise from Levin Green.
"However, do you know who will be the successor to open the secret chamber?"
“We initially suspected it was Malfoy, but when we infiltrated his vicinity, we found nothing. Later, even Malfoy himself was petrified.” Harry shrugged.
"So, you've come to some conclusion?" Hermione's eyes lit up. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have asked this question specifically."
"clever."
Levin nodded.
“I have indeed come to a conclusion: the heir is Ron Weasley—at least for now.”
Update [5/4], Bonus Chapter [28/56]
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Chapter 142 Feathered Serpent Transformation
"Ron? At present?" Hermione fell into deep thought upon hearing this.
"But how is that possible?"
Harry couldn't believe it and protested loudly, "How could you think that? Ron's family has been Gryffindor for three generations, and he's always been with us. He could never be the heir."
Wen waved his hand: "Perhaps your thinking was misguided, believing that a so-called 'heir' must be someone who inherits the Slytherin bloodline. But is it possible that a 'heir' could also be a curse, or a magical artifact, capable of hypnotizing or directly controlling someone to achieve one's own goals?"
of? "
“You mean…” Harry opened his mouth, but didn’t utter a word of rebuttal.
Even he himself realized there was a problem.
“That’s right. Following this line of thought, it’s not just a few purebloods who can open the secret room. We can broaden our suspicions to everyone, and since this kind of hypnosis and control goes against people’s will, we just need to find the person who behaves the most abnormally.”
“And of all of them, Ron’s behavior is the most abnormal!” Hermione thought it made more and more sense. “Polyhydral Soup, Ron’s behavior, his drowsiness… Levin is right.”
“But…but Ron was with me when Mrs. Norris was attacked, he didn’t have a chance to do that at all,” Harry pointed out the flaw.
“So when Levin said ‘temporarily’,” Hermione explained to Levin, “Ron was probably controlled later. He was perfectly normal when school started, otherwise he wouldn’t have been stupid enough to drive to school with you.”
Harry: Why do you still remember this stupid thing?!
Harry thought and thought, but couldn't find any other reason to refute him.
Levin's reasoning was so rigorous and logical.
So much so that after thinking it through, he himself felt that Ron was very likely the culprit.
Finally, Levin unleashed his trump card:
"While you were visiting Hagrid, I went to the Forbidden Forest to visit the centaurs, and they told me that they did indeed see a young red-haired wizard when the basilisk was rampaging through the Forbidden Forest."
Harry was completely speechless.
He believed Levin's statement was not unfounded.
The centaur's testimony is most likely true.
In the end, all he could say was, "I'll go ask Ron!"
Then he ran toward the Gryffindor common room.
"etc"‖!"
Cai Wen shouted,
Harry turned around and saw Levin toss him a charm.
In appearance, this amulet looks similar to those sold by the Weasley twins.
However, its workmanship and quality far surpass those products.
“Here, take this in case something happens to you,” Levin said. “Hide it well and don’t let anyone find it. With it, even if something happens to you, we can come and rescue you.”
"Thank you, Levin." Although reluctant to believe that Ron was the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets, Harry thought it over carefully and still diligently hid the amulet under his clothes.
It's better to be safe than sorry.
He waved to Levin and turned to leave.
"What about us?"
Seeing Harry walk away, Hermione looked at Levin and asked, "What do we do now?"
"Of course we also have our own mission."
"Call Ciri and come with me back to the tower for the wilderness ritual."
As Levin spoke, he pulled a beautiful emerald feather from his pocket and waved it at Hermione.
"It was just delivered this morning; this will be our killer copper for dealing with the basilisk."
Soon, they found Ciri in the Ravenclaw common room, and the three of them returned together to the oak tree in the tower.
Levin temporarily opened a demiplane, allowing this small world to connect with the entire world.
Then he returned to the basement and began brewing the [Permanent Owl's Wise Elixir].
Ciri and Hermione then began preparations for the [Wilderness Ritual].
With the previous ceremony as an example, they were quite familiar with the process this time.