"Come to an agreement?"
Snape swept Li Wei up and down with icy eyes, then nodded.
"Consider yourself lucky, but you should understand—there will be no next time!"
With that, he spun around and hurried off.
"Hey, Snape."
Li Wei suddenly called after him.
Snape turned around. Beneath his tightly furrowed brows were eyes full of inquiry.
"Thanks for speaking up for me earlier. If you didn't go on about the Dark Arts every day, you wouldn't actually be so unpleasant."
"..."
Snape looked as though he had just swallowed a cup of Skele-Gro.
For some reason, he suddenly found Li Wei disgusting—he could not understand why Li Wei would say something like that. It did not fit his character at all.
"Is something wrong with your brain?"
He forced out those words, then flicked his wizarding robes and turned away with flair, quickly leaving like a fat bat.
Inside Li Wei's office.
Jiamer paced back and forth uneasily. Qiao Weili sat silently in his seat, while Cedric and the three children stared at one another.
No one took the initiative to speak.
The four of them did not dare break the silence—as though something terrible would happen if they did.
So Hermione began frantically signaling to Harry with her eyes, occasionally adding facial expressions and small gestures.
[What do we do now? Professor Li Wei won't be in trouble, will he? Why was there a Basilisk? Didn't we already tell Dumbledore?]
[How would I know if you're asking me—]
Hermione glared at Harry, then turned to Ron.
[What do you think about this?]
Ron nervously looked around, then timidly leaned closer to Hermione.
His expression looked as though someone had kicked him in the balls and he was still aching faintly from it as he endured the pain and quietly asked:
"Hermione, are your eyes bothering you?"
"..."
Hermione felt as though she was going mad.
How had she put up with this all along?
Did these people really not have even the slightest thought about the current situation?
Subconsciously, she looked toward Cedric—he was staring at the table before him with a deeply troubled expression. Hermione could tell just from his demeanor that he must have thought of something.
However, Ron stood between her and Cedric, making it impossible for her to get his attention.
Time passed second by second, but Li Wei still had not returned.
Ron and Harry both felt an unbearable itch in their throats and desperately wanted to cough, but they forcibly held it in.
At that moment, Qiao Weili suddenly spoke.
"Cedric, Hermione, you should head back first. It's almost time for the nighttime curfew, isn't it?"
"Can I stay here until the professor returns? I'm really worried."
Under the admiring gazes of the three younger students, Cedric was the first to make the request—they had actually been thinking the same thing.
Qiao Weili's tense expression eased slightly. He forced a smile and said:
"Go back first. Don't worry. If things were truly that bad, they would have started fighting already. The fact that they could talk calmly shows that Headmaster Dumbledore really is a reasonable man."
"All right."
Cedric did not insist further.
After all, if Professor Li Wei did not return all night, Qiao Weili could not possibly let them wait there for the entire night.
Seeing Qiao Weili yield, Hermione and the other two obediently stood as well and followed behind him as they left.
Bang.
After the door closed, Ron and Harry both let out long breaths—they were not familiar with the two assistants in the first place. Unlike Hermione, who still saw them every week, the pressure of sitting in there had been overwhelming.
Harry especially blamed himself for everything—Professor Li Wei had suffered entirely because of him. If he had not impulsively gone looking for the Basilisk, none of this would have happened.
But after relaxing a little, he could not help feeling that something was wrong. Why had Headmaster Dumbledore still allowed the Basilisk to attack when he already knew about it?
Something had gone wrong somewhere.
"I want to tell Cedric everything we discovered earlier. Do you think that's okay?"
"Tell him? Why?"
Ron did not understand—why should they tell someone else the secret they had worked so hard to uncover?
"Can we trust him?"
Harry was a little worried—he had been having bad feelings lately.
"Listen! The Chamber of Secrets has been opened for some reason, and we have to figure this out. Otherwise, everyone will be in danger! If there's another Basilisk attack, the school might even have to close."
"Will it really be that serious?"
"Of course!" Hermione waved both hands forcefully. "After seeing how Qiao Weili and Jiamer acted earlier, don't you understand how dangerous a Basilisk is?"
Seeing the confused looks on Ron and Harry's faces, Hermione suddenly realized—the two of them had not properly completed the assignments Professor Li Wei had given them, and he had not yet taught them about Basilisks either. Only the study group members had spent extra time learning about them in advance.
Thinking this, she sighed and patiently explained:
"The Ministry of Magic defines the danger level of every dark magical creature according to its hazard rating system.
For example, Harry, the troll you defeated last term was a 4X dark magical creature. It was classified as highly dangerous and could only be handled by wizards with specialized knowledge—according to Professor Li Wei, such creatures were dangerous enough that only professor-level wizards could deal with them.
But while trolls possess astonishing strength, they are extremely unintelligent, making them relatively easier to deal with among creatures of that rating.
Basilisks, on the other hand, are rated 5X. That means they are extremely dangerous. They can easily hunt and kill adult wizards, and even the most experienced Aurors are often helpless against them—not to mention the Basilisk's deadly eyes.
Such a dangerous creature is roaming around the school. The only reason classes have not been suspended is probably because Professor McGonagall and the others still do not know that the Basilisk is behind this."
Harry's already grim expression tightened at once.
If classes were suspended, not only would his wonderful school life end early, but more importantly... he would have to return to that home he hated more than half a year early. How could that possibly be okay?
"Tell Cedric! I think he's smarter than we are!"
"Hey, Harry!"
Ron stared at him wide-eyed, unable to understand why his friend had suddenly switched sides.
"Mm."
Hermione nodded.
"Cedric, please wait."
She called out to the silent fourth-year student walking at the front.
He turned around and calmly looked at the three of them.
"Have you discussed it?"
From the beginning, he had deliberately avoided disturbing them so they would have time to discuss it.
Yet beneath Cedric's seemingly calm exterior, he had already been frantic with worry over everything that had happened tonight!
Before you continue