Guidance

"Sit."

Lin Du waved a hand, and three armchairs silently slid up behind Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

His gaze swept over the three of them before finally settling on Hermione, who had kept her head lowered and half her face tightly wrapped in a scarf.

"So," he said calmly, interlacing his fingers on the desk, "who can tell me what happened to Miss Granger?"

The office fell silent—

Harry twisted his fingers uneasily. Ron stared at the tips of his shoes as though he wanted to burn a hole through them, while Hermione buried her face even deeper.

Lin Du's gaze moved between them, and he noticed a suspicious speck of silver powder on the hem of Ron's robes—the distinctive sheen of ground African tree snake skin.

Combined with Hermione's extremely unnatural attempt at concealment, as well as the guilty looks on all three of their faces...

"It seems," he said, leaning back in his chair, "that you successfully brewed Polyjuice Potion, but had a little accident when taking it?"

"How did you—?!" Ron abruptly looked up, his face full of alarm.

Lin Du did not explain. With a light tap of his wand, the scarf around Hermione's face loosened on its own, revealing the thick ginger cat fur beneath it.

In fact, the success of this "accident" was largely thanks to the chaos that had persisted at Hogwarts for weeks.

Last Wednesday night, while the air in the dungeon classrooms was filled not only with the strange smells of potion ingredients but also with the lingering stench of dungbombs, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were holding their breath behind a suit of armor around the corner.

"He's gone!" Ron said in a lowered voice, watching Professor Snape's black-robed figure swiftly vanish at the stairwell. "Merlin's beard, even a bat bogey couldn't stand that smell!"

This was already the third time that week Professor Snape had left his office early.

The omnipresent stench fermented in the poorly ventilated dungeon corridors, and even the Head of House most obsessed with potions could not endure it.

Harry's heart pounded wildly in his chest.

They had watched for an entire week and confirmed the pattern of Snape's departures—as long as the dungbomb stench reached a certain threshold, he could tolerate it for no more than half an hour before storming off.

"Bubble-Head Charm!"

Hermione decisively flicked her wand, and three transparent bubbles immediately covered their heads, sealing out the nauseating stench of the dungbombs.

She nervously looked around the gloomy dungeon corridor, her voice muffled through the bubble. "I'll say it again: if Professor Snape catches us, we'll be in detention until the end of the school year!"

"We've come this far!" Ron said thickly. Though his face had gone pale, he still forced himself to push at the oak door. "We can't go back empty-handed, can we?"

To their surprise, the lock clicked open—

Clearly, Snape had never expected anyone to dare infiltrate his private domain when he might return at any moment.

The three of them quickly slipped inside.

By the faint glow of their wands, they soon found their target on a display shelf—

The roll of silver-glinting African tree snake skin lay casually beside several glass jars, as though it were merely an ordinary potion ingredient.

Hermione quickly took down the snake skin and stuffed it into her robes. The three immediately left the office, gently closed the door, and fled down the dark corridor.

The entire process had gone unbelievably smoothly.

Lin Du leisurely watched the three nervous students, lightly tapping his fingertips against the desk.

"So, can you first tell me why you went to such lengths to brew Polyjuice Potion?"

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The three exchanged panicked looks.

Harry took a deep breath and gathered his courage to look Lin Du directly in the eye. "Professor, are you Salazar Slytherin's heir?"

Lin Du's hand, holding his teacup, froze in midair. "What?"

"You showed up too promptly on the night Mrs. Norris was attacked!" Ron hurriedly added. "It was like you knew it would happen beforehand!"

Lin Du slowly set down his teacup, suddenly understanding. "So that's why you've been following me around lately?"

"And you weren't at all surprised that Harry is a Parselmouth..." Hermione added softly.

"Merlin... What are children these days even thinking?" Lin Du said, rubbing his brow with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

"If I were the heir, do you think you'd still be standing here unharmed? The first ones petrified would be you three little detectives, always lurking outside my office."

"But you appeared at too perfect a time that night!" Harry insisted.

"Actually," Lin Du said calmly, "as the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, it is my duty to remain alert to the traces of Dark Magic and unusual incidents."

Harry opened his mouth, seemingly still wanting to argue, but Lin Du continued before he could speak.

"As for Harry being a Parselmouth, Miss Granger, do you remember coming to ask me about 'hearing sounds that others couldn't hear'?"

Hermione's eyes widened slightly. "You mean when I asked you..."

"To an experienced adult," Lin Du said gently, "the thoughts of little ones like you are practically written all over your faces."

At that moment, he gave his wand a light tap. A soft golden light flashed, and the cat fur and cat ears on Hermione's face swiftly shrank until they were almost invisible.

"This is only a temporary restoration. A powerful reversal spell requires more complicated preparations, to avoid permanently affecting your hair follicles."

Lin Du put away his wand, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

Feeling immensely relieved, Hermione touched her restored cheek and muttered softly, "I clearly followed the steps in Moste Potente Potions... Who knew Pansy kept a cat!"

"After all that work, you got the most important part wrong? That's just too..."

Ron could not help snorting with laughter, only to receive a vicious glare from Hermione.

The three looked at one another, and the atmosphere loosened a little.

Lin Du lowered his wand, his tone becoming serious.

"So, can you now tell me who exactly you intended to pry information from after going to such lengths to brew Polyjuice Potion?"

Harry froze. In the end, Hermione spoke. "We suspected Malfoy knew about the Chamber of Secrets..."

"So who did you turn into? Crabbe? Goyle?" Lin Du raised an eyebrow.

"How did you know..." Ron's mouth fell open in astonishment.

"Isn't it obvious?" Lin Du chuckled. "So, did you learn anything?"

The three shook their heads dejectedly.

"Malfoy didn't know anything," Harry said dispiritedly. "He was just bragging."

"It seems your Polyjuice Potion really was a waste of effort." Lin Du watched their crestfallen expressions. "But..."

He deliberately paused, waiting until all three had raised their heads before continuing.

"Since you are so fixated on the Chamber of Secrets, why not turn your attention back to its founder—Salazar Slytherin himself?"

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