The Chamber of Secrets and Li Wei

One week later, the Gryffindor common room.

"Found it!"

Hermione carefully put away the notes in front of her and then looked at the startled Harry and Ron beside her.

"Harry! The sound you heard earlier should be the Basilisk!"

"Basilisk?" Ron was the first to react. "Harry heard the Basilisk's voice? Harry, can you understand snakes?"

"How is that possible, Hermione? What is this Basilisk you're talking about?"

Hermione picked up another transcribed notebook and said sternly:

"The Basilisk is a Dark creature with a danger rating of XXXXX. Its breeding method is bizarre, it's extremely rare, and it possesses fatal danger. Usually, only dark wizards would attempt to create one.

This creature has an extremely long lifespan, at least 50 feet long. Any creature that makes direct eye contact with it will die instantly. Only a Parselmouth can control a Basilisk!"

"Parselmouth! Harry, you're a Parselmouth! Why didn't you tell us?"

"A what?" Harry asked.

"You can understand the language of snakes, right? That's what a Parselmouth is!"

Harry was about to retort when he suddenly remembered something, his eyes widening:

"One time in the zoo, I accidentally let a large python out. The python lunged at my cousin Dudley—it's a long story.

The python told me it had never been to Brazil, and I let it out without thinking. I didn't mean to. I didn't even know I was a wizard back then."

"That's it! You heard the snake's language! That's why you could hear that voice wherever you went, but no one else could, because only you possess Parseltongue.

Merlin's beard! There's such a dangerous creature in Hogwarts castle?"

Hermione's eyes were wide with disbelief.

But at the same time, she was screaming wildly in her heart, "Professor Li Wei was right! Slytherin really did keep a Basilisk in Hogwarts! This is too absurd!"

"I thought the Three-Headed Dog we saw last semester was already outrageous enough, and now there's a Basilisk. Where is it kept now? It hasn't been released yet, has it?"

Ron smacked his lips and continued to ask.

"What do we do now? Tell the professors immediately?"

"Wait, we should confirm first! Let's go find Hagrid. Maybe it's another pet he's keeping?"

Harry stopped Ron.

For some reason, after hearing that he was a Parselmouth, he instinctively felt a bit repulsed and didn't want too many people to know about it.

"This matter can't possibly be related to Hagrid, but I don't object to finding him first to understand the situation. Maybe he can discover something new."

"Why wouldn't it be related to him? He could keep pets like the Three-Headed Dog, so having a Basilisk as a pet... well, that's a bit much, I admit."

Hermione shook her head and said mysteriously to the two of them:

"Do you know the legend of the Chamber of Secrets? Legend has it that Slytherin back then..."

"...Wait, you're saying Harry is Salazar Slytherin's chosen heir? But he's clearly a Gryffindor."

After hearing the legend of the Chamber of Secrets, Ron stared at Harry in disbelief, a hint of fear flashing in his eyes.

Harry was annoyed by his gaze and raised his voice:

"How is that possible? I'm just a bit more special than others, I can understand snake language, what's the big deal? I don't plan to use it for anything."

"It's a big deal," Hermione lowered her voice. "Because being able to speak to snakes was Salazar Slytherin's famous skill, which is why the symbol of the House of Slytherin is a snake."

Harry was stunned.

He suddenly remembered that the Sorting Hat had wanted to put him in Slytherin. He had insisted on refusing. Could it be that...

"Wait, Hermione, how do you know about this?"

Ron didn't look at Harry but questioned Hermione instead.

"Professor Li Wei told me. His knowledge is beyond anyone's imagination!

I can't believe someone like him remained unknown in the wizarding world for so many years.

I spent over ten hours in the library this week researching, and I couldn't find a single piece of information about the Chamber of Secrets."

"Professor Li Wei? The homework fiend?"

Ron's expression was a bit pained—he liked the professor's hands-on teaching style every class, but he really hated his heavy workload!

Not to mention that many people couldn't complete his required memorization assignments, causing all their Gryffindor scores to be deducted!

It wasn't just him; almost every Gryffindor student thought the same way.

Except for Ravenclaw and Hermione, almost no one fully liked that professor; it was a love-hate relationship.

Because of the frequent point deductions, Slytherin and Gryffindor, two originally top-ranked houses, dropped from first and second place to second to last in the House Cup standings in just one week!

This directly turned them from strong contenders for the championship into fellow sufferers! Who could accept that!

I heard Professor Snape was furious about this matter, but he didn't confront Li Wei. Instead, he glared at the Slytherin students in class with a gaze that could kill.

This was the first time students from the other three houses had seen Snape get angry at students from his own house.

"Ron, Professor Li Wei's assignments are very meaningful. You shouldn't call him that."

Hermione corrected Ron's mistake with a serious expression.

"Alright, alright, it's not important. It's just a name."

Ron waved his hand dismissively.

However, he no longer had any doubts about Hermione's source of information.

When Harry heard that the source was Li Wei, he became even more anxious. He even considered asking Professor Li Wei for help.

It's just that his performance in class hadn't been good enough.

In the two weeks Li Wei had been teaching, over four class periods, Harry hadn't even had a chance to speak with him.

If he suddenly showed up in his office, would it be strange?

Thinking this, Harry pursed his lips.

"Let's go find Hagrid first and see if he knows anything about the Basilisk, then we'll make a decision!"

Defense Against the Dark Arts Office.

The enclosed area Li Wei had excavated using the Untraceable Extension Charm was taking shape after a week of arrangement.

The entire room had been continuously expanded into a circular maze, divided by nine partitions.

The walls were entirely constructed from enchanted frost stone, with fireproofing, blocking, concealment, and six layers of protective enchantments along the edges.

"Are you all ready? Let's begin."

"Yes, Professor."

Two assistants stood beside Li Wei. The three of them stood in the center of the spacious maze, their expressions solemn.

[Fiendfyre]

One of the most dangerous and darkest Dark Arts known in the magical world.

When cast, it can transform into a series of flame-based lethal creatures that actively hunt down all life forms within range.

It possesses the characteristic of infinite proliferation.

It can devour all combustible materials (whether tangible or magical) to continuously grow stronger, never extinguishing.

This flame is almost all-destructive. Ordinary objects or protective magic are a given, but it can also destroy things that normal magic cannot, including Horcruxes.

In the hands of the first Dark Lord, Grindelwald, the power of this spell was even great enough to destroy all of Paris.

Corresponding to its formidable destructive power are equally obvious drawbacks.

Firstly, it is extremely prone to losing control.

Using this spell in a confined space, under the indiscriminate attack of Fiendfyre, is almost equivalent to suicide.

Besides being extremely prone to losing control, the spell's initial cast is not fast enough; it can be easily dodged before the magic fully forms.

Furthermore, this spell is extremely easy to block.

Although anything that stands in its path will be burned to ashes, battles between wizards sometimes only require a moment's advantage.

But even with such drawbacks, Fiendfyre remains an extremely powerful spell.

What Li Wei wants to research is how to improve its weaknesses after mastering this spell.