Hermione's Decision

"Reach a consensus?"

Snape swept Li Wei up and down with icy eyes, then nodded.

"Consider yourself lucky, but you should understand—there won't be a next time!"

With that, he abruptly turned around and hurried to leave.

"Hey, Snape."

Li Wei suddenly called out to him.

Snape turned back, his furrowed brows revealing questioning eyes.

"Thank you for speaking up for me earlier. If you didn't constantly bring up Dark Arts, you wouldn't be so annoying."

"..."

Snape's expression at that moment was as if he had drunk a cup of Wolfsbane.

For some reason, he suddenly found Li Wei disgusting—he couldn't understand why Li Wei would say that; it was completely out of character for the other person.

"Is your brain functioning properly?"

He forced himself to remain calm and uttered this sentence, then waved his wizard robe and turned away stylishly, leaving quickly like a fat bat.

In Li Wei's office.

Jiamer paced back and forth uneasily, Qiao Weili sat silently in his seat, while Cedric and Hermione exchanged glances.

No one spoke first.

The four of them dared not break the silence—as if doing so would cause something terrible to happen.

So Hermione began to signal Harry wildly with her eyes, occasionally adding facial expressions and small body movements.

[What do you think we should do now? Professor Li Wei won't be in trouble, will he? Why is there a basilisk? Didn't we already tell Dumbledore?]

[How should I know? You're asking me—]

Hermione shot Harry a glare, then looked at Ron.

[What do you think about this?]

Ron glanced nervously from side to side and timidly approached Hermione.

His expression was as if he had been kicked in the groin and was in dull pain, and he endured this pain as he quietly asked:

"Hermione, is something wrong with your eyes?"

"..."

Hermione felt like she was going crazy.

How had she endured this all this time?

Did these people not have even the slightest idea about the current situation?

Subconsciously, she turned her gaze to Cedric—he was currently staring at the table in front of him with a worried expression. Just by looking at his demeanor, Hermione knew he must have thought of something.

However, Ron was between her and Cedric, making it impossible to connect with him.

Time ticked by, but Li Wei still hadn't returned.

Ron and Harry both felt an extreme itch in their throats, wanting to clear their throats with a dry cough, but they forcefully held back.

In this situation, Qiao Weili suddenly spoke.

"Cedric, Hermione, you should go back. It's almost time for the curfew, isn't it?"

"Can I stay here until Professor returns? I'm really worried."

Cedric was the first to make the request under the admiring gazes of the three youngsters—they had actually thought the same thing.

Qiao Weili's tense expression eased slightly, and he forced a smile.

"Go back first, don't worry. If the situation were really bad, they would have already started fighting. The fact that they could have a calm conversation means that Headmaster Dumbledore is indeed a reasonable person."

"Alright."

Cedric didn't insist further.

After all, if Professor Li Wei didn't return all night, Qiao Weili couldn't possibly let them wait here all night.

Seeing Qiao Weili concede, Hermione and the other two obediently stood up and left behind him.

"Bang."

After closing the door, Ron and Harry both let out a heavy sigh of relief—they weren't familiar with the two assistants, unlike Hermione, who saw them every week. Sitting inside earlier, the pressure was immense.

Especially Harry, he took all the blame upon himself—Professor Li Wei had suffered a completely undeserved disaster; it was because he impulsively went to find the basilisk that this situation had occurred.

However, after relaxing, he couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. Why, even though Headmaster Dumbledore knew about the basilisk, would he allow it to attack?

Where did something go wrong in this chain of events?

"I want to tell Cedric about our previous findings. What do you think?"

"Tell him? Why?"

Ron didn't quite understand—why tell others the secret they had worked so hard to uncover?

"Can we trust him?"

Harry felt a bit worried—he always had a bad feeling about things lately.

"Listen! The Chamber of Secrets has been opened for some reason, and we have to figure this out, or everyone will be in danger! If there's another Basilisk attack, the school might even have to close."

"Will it be that serious?"

"Of course!" Hermione gestured emphatically with both hands. "Seeing how Qiao Weili and Jiamer performed earlier, don't you understand how dangerous a Basilisk is?"

Seeing Ron and Harry's confused expressions, Hermione suddenly realized—neither of them had properly completed the assignments the professor had given, and the professor hadn't taught them about Basilisks yet. Only the study group members had spent extra time studying it beforehand.

With that thought, she sighed and patiently began to explain:

"The Ministry of Magic categorizes the danger level of every dark creature based on its threat assessment system.

For example, Harry, the Troll you defeated last semester is a 4X difficulty dark creature, belonging to the highly dangerous category that requires wizards with specialized knowledge to handle—according to Professor Li Wei, the danger level of such creatures is so high that only professors can resolve them.

But although Trolls possess astonishing strength, their intelligence is very low, making them one of the easier creatures to deal with within that difficulty level.

As for the Basilisk, it's a 5X difficulty, symbolizing extreme danger. It can easily kill adult wizards, and even the most seasoned Aurors often find themselves helpless against them, not to mention the Basilisk's deadly eyes.

With such a dangerous creature active in the school, the reason we haven't suspended classes yet is probably just because Professor McGonagall and the others don't know that a Basilisk is responsible."

Harry's already grim expression tightened.

If classes were suspended, it wouldn't just mean the end of his wonderful school life; more importantly, he would have to return to the home he hated half a year early. How could that be allowed!

"Tell Cedric! I think he's wiser than us!"

"Hey, Harry!"

Ron stared at him, not understanding why his friend had suddenly switched sides.

"Okay."

Hermione nodded.

"Cedric, please wait."

She called out to the fourth-year student who was walking ahead without saying a word.

He turned around and calmly looked at the three of them, asking:

"Have you decided?"

He had deliberately not interrupted them from the beginning, just to give them time to discuss.

But beneath his calm exterior, Cedric was already burning with anxiety about everything that had happened tonight!