The Attack Begins

After gathering all the information, Skylar's life returned to the same routine as last semester—going back and forth between two places. Aside from his daily studies and homework, he spent almost all his time on tedious magical research.

Although there was not much material on Blood Magic in the Restricted Section of the library, that was only relative. It was still enough to keep Skylar occupied for quite some time.

Time passed quickly. The first two months of the school year went by just like that, and Halloween was approaching. According to the plot, the Basilisk's first attack in the Chamber of Secrets would take place that day.

At the Halloween feast, even Skylar, who usually stayed shut away in his room, had to make time to attend.

In the Great Hall, Skylar sat at the Slytherin table.

Draco had an arm around Skylar's shoulders. After two months of Quidditch training, Draco had become far broader than before, and there was now a hint of toughness in his face. "Hey, Skylar, it feels like I've barely seen you these past two months. You never came to watch my Quidditch training, and I hardly see you even at dinner. What exactly have you been busy with?"

Pretending not to hear the last question, Skylar smiled faintly. "Do I really need to watch your training to know how capable you are? With your skill and the exceptional performance of the Nimbus 2001, Slytherin's Quidditch championship this year will depend on you."

Draco immediately nodded in agreement, his face full of pride.

Daphne and Meredith also gazed at Skylar with aggrieved expressions, apparently resentful of having been neglected by him over the past two months. Only after Skylar sweet-talked and coaxed them for a while did the two girls finally smile again.

Skylar quietly observed the Gryffindor table. Harry and the other two were not there. After carefully recalling the original plot, Skylar remembered that the trio had gone to the Deathday Party for ghosts.

He discreetly shifted his gaze to tonight's target—Ginny Weasley. Sure enough, just a few minutes before the feast ended, Ginny quietly left the Great Hall alone.

Skylar followed without drawing attention. At a corner, he cast an Invisible Phantom Charm on himself. After confirming that no one could see him, he followed Ginny step by step. As expected, she went to the girls' bathroom at the end of the third floor.

This girls' bathroom had quite a reputation. Everyone called it Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom. Ever since a student named Myrtle Warren had been killed here fifty years ago, her Ghost had wandered the place ever since. Most students were unwilling to enter this bathroom, and over time, it had become half-abandoned.

Skylar knew that this bathroom concealed the entrance to Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. One of the copper faucets on the sink had never produced water, and a tiny snake was engraved on it. If someone said "Open" to it in Parseltongue, the faucet and sink would slowly vanish from sight, revealing a large pipe leading to the Chamber of Secrets, wide enough for a person to crawl through.

Skylar followed Ginny into the bathroom and watched her use Parseltongue to activate the faucet mechanism, seemingly calling the Basilisk out. Although he had confidence in his invisibility magic and had conducted plenty of experiments with snakes, the Basilisk was the king among serpent-like magical creatures. Skylar was not completely certain whether it could see him while he was invisible. To be safe, he silently retreated from the bathroom and hid behind a suit of armor near the entrance, waiting for the plot to begin.

Then he saw a large amount of water flow out from beneath the bathroom door.

Mrs. Norris, the cat kept by Hogwarts caretaker Filch, came to the bathroom and kept meowing at the door, as though she was delighted to have caught some prank-playing student, unaware of the misfortune that was about to befall her.

Skylar had just closed his eyes when he heard the sound of something huge and heavy slithering along. Mrs. Norris's cries abruptly stopped. Then came another bout of slithering, until everything finally fell silent.

When Skylar opened his eyes again, he saw the red words painted on the wall: "THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE." Mrs. Norris, petrified, hung high before the stone wall. Immediately afterward, he saw Harry and the other two race to the scene, following the strange voice that only Harry could hear.

Skylar did not want to cause any misunderstandings. While still invisible, he slipped back into the crowd of students returning to their dormitories after the feast. He then watched as the furious Filch wrongly accused Harry and the other two. In the end, Dumbledore intervened and took the trio away, bringing the matter to a temporary close.

From Halloween onward, the atmosphere at school became extremely strange.

No one knew who had dug up the legend of Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, but all kinds of rumors began spreading through the school. Most people suspected that Harry Potter was the culprit.

Among the first people to discover Mrs. Norris on Halloween, Hermione's parents were Muggles, so she could not possibly be Slytherin's heir. Ron came from an all-wizarding family, but his entire family belonged to Gryffindor, and Ron himself was not strong enough. That left only Harry as the most suspicious one. He had defeated Voldemort, and in the minds of most young wizards, only the most powerful dark wizard could defeat the Dark Lord.

Skylar curled his lip. It had nothing to do with him anyway, so he returned to his previous secluded routine.

In November, Hogwarts officially welcomed the start of the Quidditch season. The opening match was Slytherin against Gryffindor.

This Quidditch match was different from the one described in the original story. Slytherin's brooms were more than a level above Gryffindor's, Draco was not much weaker than Harry, and Dobby, following Skylar's instructions, did not interfere with the match.

On the day of the match, Skylar did not go to watch in person. He merely sent Dobby to hide in a corner and observe, then report the course of the match afterward.

During the match, Slytherin maintained the lead with their superior flying brooms, while Draco effectively kept Harry occupied. All that could be said was that Harry truly deserved to be someone shrouded in protagonist's luck. Despite being surrounded and blocked at every turn, he still managed to catch the Golden Snitch with a Cleansweep Seven, allowing Gryffindor to scrape out a narrow victory by just ten points.

Because Dobby had not interfered, Harry was not injured by a Bludger, nor did Lockhart later mistakenly remove the bones from his arm with a spell.

After listening to Dobby's report, Skylar inwardly sighed at Harry's frightening flying talent, while also feeling helpless about the protagonist's luck surrounding him. "Dobby, haven't you always been worried about Harry Potter's safety at Hogwarts this year? Now I'm giving you a task. Go to Harry Potter—of course, when he is alone—and give him a warning. Tell him that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened and that he should leave Hogwarts quickly and go home."

"Understood, young master. Dobby will definitely do it."

Slytherin did not fall into despair because of their loss in the opening match.

On the contrary, the Slytherin team's superiority in equipment had already become clear in that match. Draco's performance had not exactly been dazzling, but it was still far better than expected. Few players in their first match could perform like that; Harry was simply a rare exception. Moreover, Slytherin had lost by such a small margin that it was almost negligible, so they still had great potential to compete for the championship.

At Draco's call, the entire team trained even harder. Slytherin's condition was obvious to all, putting pressure on both the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Quidditch teams.

Skylar's magical research did not temporarily come to a halt until the first week of December.

Skylar rubbed his temples, easing his somewhat weary mind. The long period of secluded research had left him looking a little haggard, but it had also given him a solid theoretical foundation in the power of bloodlines. What he needed now were some samples for experimentation and practical application. He already had an idea about that, but what mattered more at the moment was laying plans for the events that would unfold this semester and seeing whether he could gain the greatest possible benefit from the Chamber of Secrets incident.

While Skylar had been immersed in magical research, a second attack took place at Hogwarts.

This time, the victim was Colin Creevey, a first-year Gryffindor student. Like Mrs. Norris, Colin was fortunate enough to have merely been petrified rather than killed by the Basilisk's gaze. News of his attack quickly spread throughout Hogwarts.

Rumors flew everywhere in the school. Everyone became suspicious of everyone else, and fear began spreading among the students. During this time, the exchange of protective charms, anti-evil objects, and other means of self-protection became popular throughout the school.

Skylar walked through the corridors. During class hours, the hallways were especially quiet. It was obvious that the students were afraid that wandering around the castle would make them the next victim. This situation did make Skylar's exploration of the castle more convenient.

Skylar's first target was the Room of Requirement from the original story. It was said that the entrance to this magical room was opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being beaten by trolls on the eighth floor of the castle. Skylar silently repeated, I need a place to hide things, and after passing the wall three times, a door indeed appeared on it.

He eagerly pushed the door open and found himself standing in a room as large as a cathedral. Shafts of light from high windows illuminated what looked like a city filled with towering walls.

Skylar could tell that those high walls were built from items hidden there by generations of Hogwarts students. There were piles of broken furniture stacked so precariously that they seemed ready to collapse, likely stuffed here to hide evidence of spells gone wrong. There were thousands upon thousands of books, undoubtedly forbidden books, defaced books, or stolen books. There were winged slingshots and Fanged Frisbees, a few of which still weakly circled above the mountain of prohibited objects. There were hats, jewels, cloaks, and things that looked like Fire Dragon eggshells. Several stoppered bottles still glimmered with an evil light. There were also a few rusty swords and a large axe stained with blood.

Skylar could not help but complain inwardly. This place was practically a treasure trove. Countless people had entered Hogwarts over the years—were they all blind? How could they ignore so many items that looked like possible treasures?

Skylar summoned Dobby, and one wizard and one elf began slowly sorting through the mountain of junk.

After a long period of effort, Skylar found that most of the items were incomplete or badly damaged. He found only three interesting objects: a suitcase, an ancient-looking pure silver dagger, and Ravenclaw's Diadem, one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.

After tidying up, Skylar eagerly returned to his dormitory with his findings to study them.