Petrification and Suspicion

Emerging from Lockhart's office, Harry encountered Ron, who had escaped a ghost party, and Bing Huan and Hermione, who had come from the Great Hall with pudding and chicken legs for them.

They walked together towards the Gryffindor common room, listening to Ron recount his experiences at the party, a mix of sympathy and amusement.

"Kill~kill~"

Harry and Bing Huan stopped simultaneously.

"This sound again." Harry told them to be quiet and pressed himself against the wall, listening intently.

"What's wrong? Harry."

"There's a crawling sound inside the wall, are there pipes in there?" Bing Huan knocked on the wall.

"So hungry..."

"Listen! There's talking." Harry said urgently.

Hermione and Ron looked at Harry with blank expressions. Bing Huan also leaned against the wall. "I only hear crawling? Hmm, and a bit of hissing. Is there a snake in there?"

"Kill~it's time!" The voice gradually faded, seemingly heading upstairs.

"This way!" Fearing something might happen, Harry took the lead and ran. On the second floor, Harry pricked up his ears again. "Blood! I smell blood!"

Harry felt the culprit was about to act and went up to the third floor via the stairs. The third floor was strange today, with water all over the ground. As if it knew it was being followed, the voice had disappeared after they came up.

The four of them wandered around the third floor. Turning a corner, they entered an empty corridor. The water on the ground reflected some blood-red patterns. Looking up, the wall read: The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.

Something seemed to be swaying under the torchlight. It was Mrs. Norris, hanging like a sculpture on a bracket. Harry and the other two were startled. "Should we... rescue her?" Harry's speech was a little faltering.

Ron: "Let's go get a teacher. If anyone sees us, they'll think we did it."

As soon as he finished speaking, voices came from both sides of the corridor. Gryffindor and Slytherin students, led by their prefects, approached.

Upon seeing Mrs. Norris hanging upside down, the noisy crowd fell silent. Most people wore expressions of horror, but one person was delighted, feeling like he could finally vent his anger.

Marcus shouted, "Enemies of the heir, you're next! Mud—oof!"

"Bang!"

With a loud crash, Marcus was embedded in the wall. When everyone turned their heads back, they saw Bing Huan slowly retracting his foot. Draco turned to his followers and said, "See? This is the fate of backward, extreme pure-blood ideology."

"Boss, you were like this because of violence..."

"Truth!" Draco corrected. "I was convinced by the truth. When he bypassed dozens of spells and came at me with a punch, but I flew back before he even touched me, I was completely convinced."

"But he was alone."

Draco looked at his talkative subordinate. "Then what if I told you there are a bunch of them in Huaxia, and he's the young master there?"

"..."

"Bing Huan!" Hermione ran to Bing Huan's side and checked him all over to make sure he was alright. "This will cost points."

"He had a dirty mouth, I just helped clean it up."

Hermione knew he was standing up for her, which was precisely why she didn't want him to be punished. Bing Huan seemed unconcerned, smiling as he smoothed Hermione's brow. "Look at you, you're getting a forehead wrinkle. If I'm okay, maybe I can even deduct points from Slytherin?"

Hermione: (ﾟｰﾟ*?)? I was thinking about how to help you get fewer points deducted, and you're already planning to deduct from the other house?

Dumbledore, leading the teachers, arrived and used magic to remove Marcus from the wall. Snape, with a cold expression, asked, "Can anyone explain to me why a Slytherin student is in the wall?"

"I did!" Bing Huan eagerly raised his hand (with a proud look).

"You seem quite proud?!" Snape felt he was about to laugh in anger.

"He insulted my... he insulted a classmate with the word 'Mudblood'."

"What!" Snape's expression changed. Those were the three words he hated most in his life, the greatest insult to Lily! Although furious, as the Head of Slytherin House, he quickly suppressed it. "I wasn't aware Slytherin had such an ill-mannered student, but regardless, it should be the professors who discipline him, not for you, a student, to resort to violence. Gryffindor loses fifty points!"

Bing Huan raised an eyebrow. "Oh~ Come to think of it, I seem to perfectly fit the description of a Mudblood. You Slytherins have used that word in front of me multiple times, and now you're deducting points. Hmm, Professor, can I consider this a declaration of war from Slytherin House against the Daoist Sect?"

Professor Snape: ??(･_･*) How did things escalate so quickly?

A declaration of war was out of the question, at least not over such trash. However, this matter certainly needed an explanation. Otherwise, they'd have to clean up after every instance of their foul mouths, and Slytherin common room would practically be an open-top convertible.

Moreover, he didn't want Hermione to hear such vulgarities again. No matter how much he advised her to ignore it, with her strong personality, she couldn't truly turn a blind eye.

Grindelwald stepped forward to mediate. "Alright, alright, starting a war would be too childish. I believe this student Marcus was simply being foul-mouthed, uncivilized, and lacked proper upbringing. Wouldn't you agree, Severus?"

Dumbledore raised his hand to calm things down. "In that case, Mr. Bing Huan bravely defending a classmate's honor earns ten points, but using the wrong method results in a deduction of five points as a penalty. Marcus, for uttering insults that caused extremely serious consequences, loses twenty points."

The two centenarians looked at Bing Huan helplessly. The young man nodded, smiling. "Okay, Professors, I'll be mindful."

"My cat! My cat!" Filch's screams echoed throughout the corridor. Everyone suddenly remembered Mrs. Norris was still hanging there!

Filch's bulging eyes fixed on the four people in the center. "You! You killed my cat! I'll kill you!"

Grindelwald saw someone clenching his fist again and quickly stepped forward to stop him, not daring to let this ancestor act up again. He stepped forward to restrain Filch. "Calm down, old man. You absolutely don't want to get punched by this kid, I guarantee it."

Dumbledore asked the other students to leave first, then carefully took Mrs. Norris down for examination. "She's not dead, Filch. She's just been petrified."

"Ask him!" Filch pointed sharply at Harry.

"This is clearly not something a second-year student could do. It requires very advanced dark magic proficiency," Dumbledore stated firmly.

"He did it! He did it!" Filch's face twitched horribly.

"I didn't touch Mrs. Norris at all!"

"Nonsense! It was you!"

"If I may say something, Potter might have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but we didn't see Potter at the Halloween banquet. Where were you at that time?" Snape stared intently at Harry's face.

"I can explain that, Severus. Harry was helping me reply to letters," Lockhart stepped forward.

"Then... what about the other three?"

"Ron went to the ghosts' party. I was afraid they wouldn't eat well or make it to dinner, so I packed some for them." Bing Huan raised his right hand, holding the chicken leg bones Ron had left in the bag.

"It's good that Ron couldn't hold out on the way," Hermione whispered next to Harry.

"It seems there's no evidence proving the children are guilty. Therefore, they are innocent now," Dumbledore spoke at the opportune moment.

"My cat has been petrified! Someone must be punished," Filch was still very unhappy.

"So what, should we chop off our heads to entertain you? You don't know how to find the killer, but you just keep punishing, punishing. I really..." Bing Huan hated this kind of person the most – incompetent, brainless, quick-tempered, and acting like the whole world was his enemy.

Harry and Ron quickly pulled Bing Huan back, "No, no, no, forget it, forget it, forget it."

"Alright, Filch, we can cure her," Dumbledore said patiently. "Professor Sprout is cultivating Mandrakes, and they will be mature in some time." Professor Sprout nodded, indicating there was no need to worry.

"I'll prepare it," Lockhart suddenly interjected. "I've prepared it at least a hundred times. I can..."

"Excuse me!" Lockhart's boasting was directly interrupted by Snape. "I believe I am still the school's Potions Master, so I wouldn't trouble you with this."

"..." The silence from everyone was deafening.