"Professor Lin!"
Harry's cry rose into a shriek.
The instant the Basilisk shattered the Protego Charm, Lin Du staggered backward from the impact. Yet his wand traced a reverse arc even faster, its tip erupting with dazzling silver light:
"Flipendo!"
An invisible force slammed viciously into the Basilisk's lower jaw, knocking its massive head sharply aside. Its lunge veered off course, and it crashed past them into a nearby stone pillar with a thunderous impact, spraying rubble everywhere.
Harry scrambled forward, wanting to steady Lin Du, but his fingertips touched something cold and hard—
The arm holding Lin Du's wand was turning gray-white from the fingertips upward at a visible speed, losing all warmth and softness.
"P-Professor... your..." Harry's tongue tangled, and overwhelming terror seized him.
Lin Du lowered his gaze to his rapidly stiffening fingers, then looked up at Harry.
His face was somewhat pale, but his expression was unexpectedly calm. There was even a reassuring smile at the corner of his lips.
"Don't panic, Mr. Potter." His voice remained steady, though he spoke slightly more slowly than usual.
"I made some preparations... Looking directly into the Basilisk's eyes won't be fatal. At worst... it will be like this."
He moved his fingers slightly, though they could no longer bend. The petrification was creeping up his wrist. "A little cold, a little stiff, but I'll recover once the mandrakes mature. Compared to that..."
His dark eyes settled on Harry, reflecting the boy's panicked face. "You found this place so quickly... your initiative deserves recognition. This determination to pursue the truth to the end is also very Gryffindor."
His tone gave no indication whether he was praising Harry or feeling helpless. "But following us in alone is another matter. Courage is worthy of praise, but your actions were far too reckless—
"This kind of impulsiveness, without regard for the consequences, may one day make you, or someone you care about, pay a heavy price."
"I... I thought you..." Harry's face burned. Overwhelming shame and lingering fear nearly drowned him.
Not only had he suspected the person truly protecting them, but his reckless excitement had nearly gotten Professor Lin killed and placed both of them in danger.
"Now isn't the time for self-reproach, Mr. Potter." Lin Du interrupted him. The petrification had already spread to his shoulders and neck. Turning his head looked somewhat stiff, but his gaze remained clear.
"Now, look ahead."
Harry followed his gaze—
The Basilisk, temporarily driven back, was raising its massive head from the rubble. The agony of losing an eye and the rage of being repeatedly thwarted had driven it completely mad.
Its remaining eye, though its gaze could no longer focus, still gleamed with a feral light. Relying on its other senses, its thick body began to writhe again, probing toward them.
At the same time, Harry discovered in horror that nearly everything below Lin Du's waist had turned a cold ash-gray. Only his chest, head, and the area above remained unchanged, but the boundary of petrification was still slowly and relentlessly creeping upward.
"I can probably... do one last thing." Lin Du's voice grew slower.
He barely raised the arm that had not yet completely petrified and pointed his wand at the frenzied giant serpent in the distance. A heart-stopping bright orange glow gathered at the tip, compressing and lengthening until it gradually formed an incomparably blazing spear made purely of violent Fiendfyre.
"Need to make sure... its last eye can't see either."
The next second, the flaming spear flew from his hand like a meteor streaking through the darkness, piercing straight through that wildly rolling golden vertical pupil!
Flames burst within the eye socket, hissing as they burned.
The Basilisk's huge body collapsed as if every bone had been pulled from it. It struck the ground with a crash, rolling and convulsing in agony, letting out dying, meaningless hisses. But its once-deadly eyes had become two charred, bloody holes.
"The rest..." Lin Du's gaze seemed to be losing focus. With his last effort, he fixed his eyes on Harry's face. "I'll leave it to you, Harry. I believe... you can do it."
The moment his words ended, the final gray-white spread over his jaw and covered his face.
Those calm black eyes froze into lifeless ash-gray stone.
A lifelike yet cold and rigid silver-haired stone statue stood before Harry, still holding the posture of a slight bow, as if it were still giving him instructions.
"Professor... Professor Lin!" Harry's voice caught in his throat. He reached out uselessly to touch that icy cheek, but received no response.
At the same time, the remaining Fiendfyre chains that had bound the Basilisk, no longer sustained by Lin Du's Magic Power, flickered a few times like dying embers in the wind before going completely out.
The Chamber of Secrets' tremors and the Basilisk's wails gradually subsided, but Harry could hear the blind beast's heavy breathing and the scrape of its scales against the ground growing stronger and more dangerous again.
It had lost its sight, but its sense of smell, hearing, and perception of vibrations remained. The pain and darkness had only made it more violent.
Now, in this dark Chamber of Secrets, the only living creatures still able to move were him and the thousand-year-old Basilisk, blinded in both eyes and consumed by utter madness.
Overwhelming fear clenched Harry's heart again, stronger than ever before.
His entire body went cold, his hands and feet icy, and his stomach cramped.
He wanted to run, to hide, to have anyone—Ron, Hermione, even Professor Snape—come help him.
But he couldn't.
Professor Lin... had traded himself for this opportunity.
He had blinded the Basilisk and left the final step to Harry.
"Can... can I do it?" Harry looked at his trembling hands. They seemed so powerless.
He was only a second-year student. He could not even guarantee that every Stunning Spell would succeed. How could he possibly kill a monster like this?
But Professor Lin believed he could.
Just as despair and self-doubt swallowed Harry, a clear cry rang out, drawing nearer and nearer!
A streak of golden-red light shot into the Chamber of Secrets like an arrow and circled above Harry's head—it was the phoenix Fawkes!
Clutched in its talons was the battered, greasy Sorting Hat!
Fawkes dropped the Sorting Hat at Harry's feet, then circled Lin Du's stone statue twice with concern. It shed several pearl-like tears before giving a clear cry, as though its mission were complete, and vanished into the air in a flash of fire.
Harry stared blankly at the hat by his feet, then looked at the blind Basilisk in the distance. Guided by its sense of smell and hearing, it was feeling its way toward him, smashing stone pillars to pieces one after another.
There wasn't much time left.
Before you continue