Harry, Go Kill the Basilisk

"Professor Lin!"

Harry's cry changed pitch.

The instant the Basilisk shattered the Shield Charm, Lin Du was sent staggering backward by the impact. But the wand in his hand drew a reverse arc at even greater speed, and a dazzling silver light erupted from its tip:

"Flipendo!"

An invisible force slammed into the Basilisk's jaw, violently knocking its massive head to the side. The direction of its lunge shifted, grazing the two of them and crashing into a nearby stone pillar, sending shards of rock flying.

Harry scrambled forward, trying to help Lin Du up, but his fingertips brushed against something cold and hard—

From the fingertips of the hand holding the wand, a gray-white stony color was spreading at a visible speed, losing all warmth and softness.

"P-Professor... your..." Harry's tongue twisted into knots, immense panic seizing him.

Lin Du looked down at his rapidly stiffening fingers, then back up at Harry.

His face was a little pale, but his expression was unexpectedly calm, even with a comforting smile at the corner of his lips.

"Don't panic, Mr. Potter," his voice was still steady, though his speech was slightly slower than usual.

"I made some preparations... looking directly into the Basilisk's eyes isn't fatal, at most... it's like this."

He wiggled his now unbendable fingers. The petrification was creeping up his wrist. "It's a bit cold, a bit stiff, but it'll recover once the Mandrakes mature. Compared to that..."

His dark eyes looked at Harry, reflecting the boy's panicked face. "You found this place so quickly... your initiative is commendable. This determination to see things through to the end, it's very Gryffindor."

His tone held no hint of praise or helplessness. "But coming in alone is another matter. Your courage is admirable, but your actions are too reckless—

This kind of impulsive recklessness, without regard for consequences, could cost you, or someone you care about, a heavy price in the future."

"I... I thought you..." Harry's face burned. The immense shame and lingering fear nearly drowned him.

Not only had he doubted the person who was truly protecting them, but his own rashness had nearly killed Professor Lin and put them both in danger.

"Now is not the time for self-recrimination, Mr. Potter," Lin Du interrupted him. The petrification had already spread to his shoulders and neck. Turning his head looked stiff, but his gaze remained clear.

"Now, look ahead."

Harry followed his gaze—

The Basilisk, temporarily repelled, was raising its massive head from the rubble. The pain of losing an eye and the fury of repeated defeats had driven it into a complete frenzy.

Its remaining eye, though its vision was unfocused, still radiated a predatory ferocity. Relying on its other senses, its thick body began to writhe again, probing in their direction.

At the same time, Harry discovered with horror that the lower half of Lin Du's body had almost entirely turned a cold, stony gray. Only his chest and head remained as they were, but the boundary of the petrification was still slowly but steadily creeping upward.

"I can probably... do one last thing," Lin Du's voice grew slower.

He struggled to raise the arm that wasn't fully petrified, pointing his wand at the raging giant serpent in the distance. A point of heart-stopping orange light began to condense at the tip of the wand. The light compressed, elongated, gradually forming a scorching hot spear made purely of wild Fiendfyre.

"I have to make sure... its last eye can't see either."

If you like this book, remember to add it to your bookshelf to avoid losing it next time.

The next second, the flame spear shot out, like a meteor streaking through the darkness, precisely piercing the wildly spinning golden vertical pupil!

Flames erupted in the eye socket with a sizzling, burning sound.

The Basilisk's massive body collapsed to the ground as if its bones had been removed, thrashing and twitching in agony, letting out a dying, unintelligible hiss. But its once deadly eyes had been reduced to two charred bloody holes.

"The rest..." Lin Du's gaze seemed to be losing focus. He finally managed to fix his sight on Harry's face. "Is up to you, Harry. I believe... you can do it."

The moment his words fell, the last of the gray-white spread across his jaw, covering his face.

Those always calm black eyes solidified into lifeless stone gray.

A lifelike, yet cold and stiff, silver-haired stone statue stood before Harry, still in a slightly bowed posture, as if still giving instructions.

"Professor... Professor Lin!" Harry's voice caught in his throat. He reached out futilely to touch the cold cheek, but there was no response.

At the same time, the residual Fiendfyre chains that had been binding the Basilisk's body, no longer sustained by Lin Du's magic, flickered like embers in the wind and then completely extinguished.

The tremors of the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk's wails gradually subsided, but Harry could hear the blind beast's heavy breathing and the sound of its scales scraping the ground, which were growing stronger and more dangerous again.

It had lost its sight, but its sense of smell, hearing, and perception of vibrations remained, and had become even more ferocious due to the intense pain and darkness.

Now, in this dark chamber, the only living beings that could move were him and the blind, utterly maddened thousand-year-old Basilisk.

A tremendous fear gripped Harry's heart once more, more intensely than ever before.

He felt cold all over, his hands and feet were ice-cold, and his stomach cramped.

He wanted to flee, to hide, to have anyone—Ron, Hermione, even Professor Snape—come and help him.

But he couldn't.

Professor Lin... had exchanged himself for this opportunity.

He had blinded the Basilisk and left the final step to him.

"Can... can I do it?" Harry looked at his trembling hands, which seemed so powerless.

He was just a second-year student, who couldn't even cast a Stupefy successfully every time. How could he possibly kill such a monster?

But Professor Lin believed he could.

Just as Harry was being consumed by despair and self-doubt, a clear cry sounded from afar, approaching!

A golden-red light shot into the Chamber of Secrets like an arrow, circling above Harry's head – it was the phoenix Fawkes!

Clutched in its talons was that old, greasy Sorting Hat!

Fawkes dropped the Sorting Hat at Harry's feet, then circled Lin Du's statue twice with concern, shedding a few pearl-like tears. With a clear chirp, as if its mission was complete, it transformed into a ball of fire and vanished into the air.

Harry stared blankly at the hat by his feet, then looked at the blind Basilisk in the distance, which was already using its sense of smell and hearing to grope its way in his direction, smashing stone pillars as it came.

There wasn't much time left.

If you can't find it by the book title, you can try searching for the author, maybe they just changed the name!