"Open!"
This time, Harry did not need to rack his brains imagining that he was facing a living snake.
He had the experience of his last attempt, and the snakes carved into the wall before him looked remarkably lifelike.
As a hissing sound rang out, the two intertwined snakes on the wall slowly parted. A crack opened down the middle of the wall and rapidly widened.
It was a door-the door to the true Chamber of Secrets!
"The Chamber of Secrets!" Hermione's voice trembled, not with fear, but with the excitement of drawing close to the truth.
Without wasting words, they walked straight into the chamber. None of them noticed a dark shadow flash past behind them before vanishing.
Harry and the others took every step cautiously. No one spoke, as though they could not hear one another's heartbeats.
They gripped their wands tightly, constantly guarding against a basilisk attack from any angle, however impossible it seemed.
The chamber was dimly lit. Numerous stone pillars entwined with giant snakes supported the ceiling, but when they looked up, they could see only darkness.
"What's that?" Ron suddenly cried. In fact, the others had noticed it too: at the far end of the chamber, a statue stood between two exceptionally thick, enormous pillars.
Its gigantic face was ancient and wizened, with pinched, simian features and a long beard that extended all the way to the hem of its robes.
"It's Slytherin! Salazar Slytherin!" Hermione recognized the statue's face at once. She had seen it in Hogwarts' history and remembered it vividly.
"Creevey! No wonder even Fruit Tea couldn't find him-he was here!" George suddenly exclaimed.
Following the direction of his finger, the others finally saw a small, thin figure in robes lying between the statue's enormous feet.
It was Colin Creevey, who