Harry: What Kind of Teammate Is This?

Crabbe led the petrified Colin and Justin into the water pipe and disappeared into the dark tunnel in the blink of an eye.

Harry and Ron's eyes widened; all the clues had been connected by this one line.

The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is inside the sink in the washroom. The Basilisk can easily enter the pipes of Hogwarts Castle and use the pipe system to roam throughout the school.

Moaning Myrtle encountered the Basilisk that had just emerged from the Chamber of Secrets and died on the spot.

What's most unexpected is that the Chamber of Secrets had been right under their noses all along. Hermione and Loren brewed Polyjuice Potion in this bathroom during the day, while Crabbe opened the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets at night, releasing the Basilisk to wreak havoc.

"He, he is the Heir of Slytherin! The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets of Secrets is in Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom ..." Ron was terrified. "We have to tell Professor Dumbledore right away!"

"No, not us, it's you," Harry said solemnly. "I have to follow him and keep an eye on him."

Ron looked at him in disbelief. "Are you crazy? That thousand-year-old Basilisk might be hiding under the Chamber of Secrets."

Harry let out a long sigh and looked meaningfully into the darkness deep inside the tunnel, "I know. But he took Colin and Justin with him, and I have to follow them to prevent them from becoming the Basilisk's dinner before the professor arrives."

Ron's face flushed red with anxiety, but he couldn't find any reason to refute him.

"I will try to stall for time,"

Harry patted him on the shoulder and smiled casually. "You'd better hurry up and find the professor to save me as soon as possible, or I might become the Basilisk's dessert."

He took a few steps back, braced himself against the stone platform by the pool, flipped over, and jumped into the dark pipe, disappearing from sight.

Ron glanced at the pipe entrance, wiped his face haphazardly with his sleeve, sniffed, and ran off as fast as he could.

"They thought you were the heir, why are you working so hard..." The boy's voice was filled with uncontrollable sobs as he complained on behalf of his friend.

The inside of the pipe was covered in a sticky, wet liquid. This accumulated, grimy slime made it easy for Harry to slide down without any fear of injury. The pipe twisted and turned, winding its way down a steep slope.

Occasionally, Harry could hear the slight thuds around the corner, and he knew he had slid very, very deep beneath the school, even deeper than the Dungeon Classroom, and deeper than the Slytherin Common Room beneath the Black Lake.

Harry had been sliding through the pipe for so long that he was starting to panic when he suddenly slipped out of the pipe and fell onto the damp ground with a thud.

Concerned for Colin and Justin's safety, Harry immediately scrambled to his feet and ran down the dark stone passage. He quickly caught up with Crabbe, whose two stiff bodies floated behind him as he slowly made his way in.

"I skipped dinner to bring these two out. Can the magical ritual you mentioned really grant me direct access to knowledge and make me incredibly powerful?" Crabbe's voice echoed in the silent, empty underground Chamber of Secrets.

Harry, following behind, watched suspiciously... Who was Crabbe talking to? Did he also have an accomplice wearing Invisibility Cloak?

A thin black snake crawled out from Crabbe's collar, up his clothes to his shoulder, and emitted a hoarse human voice. "Of course, Horcrux possess Magic Power you can't even imagine. By merging our souls together, you will directly possess my knowledge and even master all the magic I know."

Upon hearing the sound, Harry paused, and the scar on his forehead began to burn and ache again.

Horcrux, what are those?

What is soul fusion?

Why did that snake trigger his scar? Was Voldemort possessing that snake?

Suppressing all his doubts, Harry trailed behind Crabbe and saw a colossal creature coiled around the tunnel entrance in the distance.

"Basilisk!" He suppressed his horror and refrained from making a sound.

Strangely, Crabbe and the black snake acted as if they hadn't seen the Basilisk at all, and walked around it on their own.

Harry approached and realized it was just a snakeskin. The skin shimmered with a bright green light, clearly belonging to a venomous snake.

A rough estimate suggests that the animal that shed its skin was at least twenty feet long.

Harry's heart skipped a beat as he silently prayed that Ron would arrive with the professor as soon as possible. He might not be able to be the Basilisk's dessert; he would only be a small side dish to satisfy the hunger.

"Open." The thin black snake opened a solid wall with a low, hoarse hiss.

After waiting for a while, and estimating that they had gone far away, Harry followed them inside.

In the dimly lit room, many stone pillars carved with coiled and intertwined snakes towered high, supporting the ceiling that seemed to melt into the darkness above, casting long, eerie shadows across the room filled with a mysterious, verdant mist.

Not far ahead, the serpent was still explaining Horcrux to Crabbe, "Most mediocre people think Horcrux are very evil magic and consider them taboo. But this is a vulgar idea, just like medieval Muggle thought all magic was the power of the devil—they were afraid, so they despised it."

"By killing someone, a part of the soul is split off, and then the split soul fragment is sealed and hidden in an object outside the body. In this way, even if your body is attacked or destroyed, you will not die."

The serpent's words echoed eerily in the Chamber of Secrets like the whispers of a demon, his tone laced with ambiguous sarcasm. "Because a part of the soul remains in the world, unharmed."

Harry tried to control his breathing, but his thoughts were churning like the most turbulent waves of the ocean, leaving him in a daze.

So this is Voldemort's secret, and this is why he cannot be killed.

"What does this have to do with knowledge and power?" Crabbe asked in a low voice, seemingly also stunned by the serpent's words.

"Hehe," the slender snake chuckled twice, "The split soul is not isolated; it still maintains a mysterious connection with the main soul."

The slender snake raised its body, its forked tongue hissing near Crabbe's ear. "I am about to share with you the secret of immortality—I will place a fragment of my soul within you, and through the mysterious connection between souls, you will be able to master my knowledge, my magic..."

Crabbe asked excitedly, "Will I become as powerful as you? Will I become the third Dark Lord?"

"Hiss~" The thin snake kept flicking its tongue.

It was a Parselmouth, Harry recognized it; the slender snake was saying "idiot!"

A deep chill suddenly ran through him... It was all fake; the magic and knowledge were fake. Voldemort had only wanted to trick Crabbe into participating in the ritual and accepting his fragments of soul.

What exactly is Voldemort trying to do?

Crabbe, with two stiff bodies, reached the last pair of pillars and left Colin and Justin at the feet of the Slytherin Statue.

It was a statue as tall as the room, with an old, monkey-like face and a sparse, long beard that stretched almost to the hem of a wizard's robe carved from stone.

"What do you need me to do?" Crabbe asked excitedly, eager to become as powerful as the Dark Lord.

The thin snake slithered from his body to the ground: "You kill one of them—"

"Stop your evil deeds! The righteous Lockhart will not allow you to do this!" A passionate, uplifting, and positive voice came from behind.

Half an hour ago.

Sweat poured from Ron's head, making his red hair wet and limp on his scalp.

He was running at the fastest speed he'd ever been, because every second he wasted could mean the death of his roommate Harry. But things weren't going well.

Dumbledore was kept outside the Headmaster's office because he didn't know the password.

Professor McGonagall's office was empty.

Professor Flitwick's office was empty.

Snape wasn't even in the Potions Office on the basement floor.

"Where are the professors? Where have they all gone?" Ron cried out in despair, covering his face. He had only one last option left.

He swung his leaden legs to Lockhart's office, the sound of pages turning in the room filling him with joy.

Ron pushed the door open and burst in, rattling off the story. "Professor Lockhart, hurry and save Harry! Crabbe has kidnapped Colin and Justin, Harry has chased him into the Chamber of Secrets!"

Lockhart, who was writing a letter to Rita Skeeter, looked up, put down the quill in his right hand, and his eyes gleamed with a watchful light. "Oh... Mr. Weasley..."

"So, according to you, Crabbe is the heir to the Chamber of Secrets of Secrets?" Lockhart asked.

"Yes!" Ron urged urgently, "Go save Harry!"

The yellow candlelight in the office wasn't very bright; it barely illuminated the room thanks to the reflection from the full-length mirror by the door. A breeze blew in from outside, causing the candlelight to flicker gently.

Lockhart was positioned directly opposite the candle flame in the mirror. The candlelight in the mirror suddenly swayed to the right, pulling at one's gaze and causing a slight daze. Lockhart, who had been hunched over his desk for a long time, felt dizzy for a moment.

An adventure in Chamber of Secrets...

Materials for the new book...

Fame, power, money... countless temptations flashed through his mind, but he suppressed them for the time being and calmly considered the issues of safety and ability.

Lockhart asked himself in a low voice, "Can I handle Crabbe?"

"Think about Crabbe's performance at the Duel Club. His Shattering Curse was deflected and hit him. And what happened? Nothing happened."

"Even if he is the heir to the Chamber of Secrets of Secrets, he is still just a second-year wizard."

"His spell has no power..."

The young wizard answered softly, Lockhart's pupils dilated slightly. For a moment, he felt that the Weasley in front of him looked somewhat like Loren.

"What about the monster in the Chamber of Secrets? Can I deal with it?" he asked again.

"You won't be in danger. That monster only has the ability to petrify. Look, no one has died in the several attacks."

"Moreover, the monster obeys the little wizard's orders. As long as we control the little wizard first, there will be no problem..." The seductive voice was like the devil's whisper, using the illusion woven with desire to drag people into the abyss of darkness.

The wind stopped, and the candlelight ceased its flickering, calmly releasing a warm, yellow, and not-so-bright light.

"Of course! As a professor, I will definitely ensure the safety of my students!"

Lockhart slammed his hand on the table excitedly, stood up abruptly, grabbed his wand, and headed outside. "Take me there, hurry up!"

Ron scratched his head, feeling puzzled. Why Lockhart, who had been so slow just moments before, suddenly become so energetic?

"This, over here, the Chamber of Secrets is in Myrtle's Bathroom."

The moment the two stepped out of the office, a series of crisp cracking sounds rang out in the room... the sound of a mirror shattering.

Hospital Wing.

Loren and Hermione worked together to settle Madam Pomfrey in a hospital bed and lifted the Stunning Spell from her, but she would still need some time to wake up.

"Madam Pomfrey has been attacked, and the attackers have taken Colin and Justin with them. We must inform the professor immediately!" Hermione's ears perked up, a sign of her cat's anxiety.

Loren pressed his hand on the pocket of his magic robe; Bloody Mary's Mirror had been getting hot since earlier. The illusion left on Lockhart had been triggered, meaning he had access to information about the Chamber of Secrets of Secrets and the Basilisk.

He reached out and ruffled Hermione's fluffy head twice. "I'll go inform the professor that your Magic Power is currently disordered, so stay here and look after Madam Pomfrey."

Feeling ticklish, Hermione's cat ears twitched slightly. She raised her hand and elbowed him, saying seriously, "I know, go and inform the professor!"

"Good."

Loren left the Hospital Wing and went straight to the monster statue without delay.

"Cockroach Clusters, Licorice Wands, Coconut Ice Cake, mint candy Pepper Imp..." Her mouth kept spitting out a string of candy names.

I don't know which one was right, but the wall slowly opened.

Loren rode the spiral staircase to the Headmaster's office and pushed the door open. "Headmaster Dumbledore, Harry has entered the Chamber of Secrets!"

In the room, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Sprout were sitting around the desk, with Dumbledore in the main seat.

All five people turned to look at him at the same time...

"Stop your evil deeds! The righteous Lockhart will not allow you to do this!"

Lockhart, wand in one hand, strode forward with an air of elegance, his thick, sturdy shoes making loud footsteps that echoed in the empty, Chamber of Secrets.

Crabbe and the slender snake turned their heads at the same time, their eyes fixed on the three people who had appeared behind them.

Ron jogged over to Harry, panting heavily, feeling like his legs were about to break.

"How did you find Lockhart? What about the other professors?" Harry's voice was mournful, his heart sinking, sensing that tonight might be in for a bad time.

Ron was also helpless. "The other professors are not in their offices, so we have no choice but to ask him."

Seeing Lockhart getting closer and closer to Crabbe and the thin snake, Harry quickly called out a warning, "Professor, watch out, that snake is—"

Before he could even speak, Lockhart had already brandished his wand: "[Obliviate]".

A colorless and invisible spell quickly spread from the tip of the wand.

"Hmph, a spell targeting the soul." Voldemort, possessed by a serpent, opened his mouth and spewed out a cloud of gray smoke, along with Memory Charm, which hit Lockhart's face.

The powerful thrust sent Lockhart flying, crashing into a stone pillar and knocking him unconscious.

Seeing this, Harry gave Ron a bitter look. "You might as well go find Loren."

"I was in a hurry to find the professor to save you, and I didn't think of that."