Thousand-Year Basilisk

Headmaster Dipper nodded with satisfaction. Hagrid had already been expelled; as long as Tom Riddle was dealt with, everything else would be easy.

Headmaster Dipper smiled. "It's getting late. Go back to bed, Tom."

After saying goodbye to the Headmaster, Tom left the Headmaster's Office, but he didn't head straight back to the Slytherin Common Room.

Matthew followed Tom to the Girls' Lavatory, where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was hidden.

After Tom opened the Chamber, its legend had left the students in a state of panic. Some time ago, under pressure from the outside world, Hogwarts' board of governors had even begun planning to close the school. If that happened, Tom would be sent back to that dreadful Orphanage.

He had discovered long ago that Hagrid was secretly raising dangerous Acromantulas. That was why he had framed Hagrid and told Headmaster Dipper that Hagrid was the one who had opened the Chamber.

Headmaster Dipper didn't want to close the school either, but he also didn't want the legend of the Chamber to ruin Hogwarts' reputation. He separated the students' deaths from the legend, declaring that Hagrid had secretly kept dangerous pets at Hogwarts and that one of them had run amok, accidentally killing a student.

Tom didn't want Hogwarts to close, and he didn't want to return to that dreadful Orphanage, so he decided to bury the secret of the Chamber. He made a diary and stored a sixteen-year-old version of himself inside it, hoping that one day the diary would guide someone else to follow in his footsteps and complete Salazar Slytherin's noble mission of "purifying the school." He had also used Myrtle Warren's death to turn the diary into his Horcrux.

Tom had left the diary in the Chamber. He planned to retrieve it now, then seal the Chamber away.

There was a bronze tap carved with a small snake in the sink of the Girls' Lavatory.

Tom stood before the bronze tap and spoke in the cold, harsh hiss of Parseltongue. "Open."

A dazzling white light shone from the bronze tap carved with the small snake, and it began to spin rapidly.

Then the sink slowly slid aside, revealing a thick Water Pipe beneath it.

Matthew watched Tom jump into the pipe. To avoid colliding with him, he waited a moment before entering.

Clutching Preserved Egg, Matthew slid down the pipe. It was long and winding, and he felt as if he were riding a waterslide at Water World Amusement Park—except this one was much longer and far dirtier.

After a while, they slid through a horizontal section of pipe and shot out onto the ground.

Matthew pointed his wand at himself and Preserved Egg in turn. The grime clinging to them vanished instantly.

Using Magic Sense, he could sense Tom in the dark Stone Tunnel ahead.

The tunnel was silent, and the ground was littered with the remains of small animals.

After following Tom for a while, they came upon a twenty-foot-long hollow skin: the one the Basilisk had shed.

To avoid alerting Tom, Matthew fought the urge to stuff the snake skin into his Bag of Infinite Space. It was excellent material!

After another turn, they came to a stone wall carved with two intertwined snakes, their eyes set with shining emeralds.

Tom continued in the cold, harsh hiss of Parseltongue. "Open."

The two snakes carved into the wall slowly separated. The wall split down the middle and gradually slid apart.

Matthew chose not to follow Tom inside. To keep Tom from noticing any disturbance from the Basilisk, he had to wait until Tom left before he could kill it.

More than ten minutes later, Tom came out, holding a diary that he hadn't had before.

Just as Tom was about to seal the Chamber completely, Matthew, who had been waiting beside the entrance in the stone wall, swiftly slipped inside.

Once the wall closed, Matthew pointed his wand at his throat. "Speak with Cats!"

This was the first spell Matthew had created. Before starting school, young wizards sometimes lost control of their magic. They instinctively released the excess magic inside them; for instance, before Harry Potter started school, he had once made the glass at the zoo disappear.

Matthew had experienced this too. One night when he was little, he suddenly discovered that he could understand Preserved Egg.

Although the ability was gone the next day, Matthew remembered the feeling. After many attempts, he created a spell that let him communicate with cats.

However, even though Matthew had created the Speak with Cats spell, he didn't understand how it worked. He cast it by instinct, guided by his feelings.

"Preserved Egg, send out your clones to scout and find the Basilisk. My original self and I have to keep our eyes shut the whole time. If we look it in the eyes, we'll be cursed and turned to stone or killed," Matthew instructed.

"Okay, meow~"

The voice Matthew heard sounded like a boy's, from before his voice had broken. That was how Preserved Egg sounded after the Speak with Cats spell translated his voice.

Preserved Egg flicked his tail. It broke off where it joined his body and fell to the ground. The severed tail then split into ten sections.

Each of the ten pieces of tail transformed into a small black ball of fur. Soon, the little black balls swelled rapidly until all ten had become Preserved Egg.

Then Preserved Egg grew another tail.

After that, nine of Preserved Egg's clones ran into the room ahead.

Preserved Egg was a black cat with the Spirit Cat Bloodline. He had inherited the spirit cat's ability to split into clones, and his original self could share their memories.

After Matthew advanced to a Level 2 Wizard Apprentice, his Magic Sense had reached a radius of fifty meters. Combined with Preserved Egg's clones, it gave Matthew the confidence to search for the Basilisk with his eyes shut. Without its deadly gaze, the Basilisk was far less dangerous.

Matthew tucked Preserved Egg's original self into the hood of his cloak behind his head, while the remaining clone stayed on the ground to lead the way.

Just then, Preserved Egg said, "Found it. The Basilisk is in there."

The room was enormous, with many massive stone pillars lining either side. A giant snake was carved into each one, appearing to coil and twist around the pillar.

At the far end of the room stood a colossal Slytherin Statue.

The Basilisk was lying at the statue's feet.

Preserved Egg said, "The Basilisk isn't looking toward the entrance right now."

Matthew opened his eyes and quickly surveyed the Chamber.

He tried casting the Shapeshifting Technique on the surrounding stone pillars, but they seemed to be part of the castle itself and protected by it. His spell had no effect.

After he cast the spell, the concealment effect of the Time Force on his body disappeared.

Matthew and Preserved Egg quickly shut their eyes.

The Basilisk sensed movement behind it and twisted its body, about to turn its head.

Matthew struck first.

"Avada Kedavra!"