Myrtle Warren

"Now there's another question: does the Basilisk belong to the category of 'snake'?" Xiwen asked Newt.

"That's right, the Basilisk is also a member of the snake family of Fantastic Beasts." Newt nodded in affirmation.

"It seems it really was Riddle; there's no other possibility," Xiwen sighed and said softly. "As a descendant of the Gaunt family, he can speak Parseltongue, so it's not surprising that the Basilisk obeys his orders."

"Furthermore, as far as I know, Riddle doesn't want to return to the Muggle orphanage, and therefore doesn't want Hogwarts to close. So he most likely already knew about the Basilisk's abilities before us, and deliberately arranged for it to use only half of its power to attack Mannis and Grub, instead of actually killing anyone, to prevent the Ministry of Magic from forcibly shutting down Hogwarts."

"But what he might not know is that Hogwarts is no longer a school that the Ministry of Magic can easily shut down," Xiwen with a shake of his head and a light laugh.

"Not only that, this Basilisk could very well be the one Salazar Slytherin left in the Chamber of Secrets a thousand years ago," Newt added. "After all, Basilisk can live for over a thousand years when they are in a state of complete hibernation!"

Knowing who the enemy was made things easier. Xiwen turned around immediately and opened a Dimensional Gate, intending to find Riddle and the Basilisk and eliminate them to prevent them from causing further danger to the other young wizards.

"Wait a minute, Xiwen. Are you really ready to face the Basilisk?" Newt stood up, asking with some concern. "Basilisk with such a rule-based, deadly ability is really not easy to deal with!"

"It's alright. Didn't you say that a rooster's crow is deadly to Basilisk, that they'd flee in terror at the sound of a rooster?" Xiwen said nonchalantly. "I'm going to buy a big rooster first before dealing with that Basilisk."

As he spoke, he turned to Newt and asked, "Come to think of it, I still don't understand why the Basilisk is afraid of attacks. The two aren't even in the same size class, are they?"

"Perhaps it's because of the way the Basilisk hatches?" Newt said uncertainly. "If you put an egg under a toad's body to hatch, there's a certain probability that it will hatch into one of these creatures called Basilisk."

"Perhaps many roosters, upon seeing a small snake hatch from an egg, would mistake it for an insect and eat it. Over time, the Basilisk developed a fear of roosters crowing," Newt analyzed. "Many animal instincts are learned and eventually deeply ingrained in their blood."

"I understand, then I don't need to worry anymore!" Xiwen laughed. "Why not just take a few more roosters? Whichever one crows first will inflict considerable damage on the Basilisk."

Seeing Xiwen's performance, Newt shook his head helplessly.

"Stop thinking about the rooster. Have you forgotten what our organization is called?" he asked. "There are clearly more suitable Fantastic Beasts for you to take away than a rooster."

"You mean... I should bring Fawkes along?" Xiwen asked, his eyes wide.

The first time Xiwen saw Basilisk was not long after, in a girls' lavatory at Hogwarts.

At the time, Xiwen was searching for Riddle and the Basilisk when he passed a women's washroom from which a continuous stream of weeping could be heard.

Xiwen initially didn't want to pay attention to the little witch's crying in the washroom, but he overheard a slightly familiar name in her fragmented words, so he stood outside the washroom door and called out—

Who is crying in the bathroom?

The crying in the bathroom stopped abruptly, as if it had been immediately cut off.

Some time after Xiwen finished speaking, the crying from inside began to come out intermittently again.

Xiwen returned and, after confirming that there were no other little witches in the washroom, decisively went inside.

"Don't cry, tell me what's wrong," he said softly to the sobbing little witch in the cubicle. "What's your name?"

The little witch seemed a bit startled by Xiwen's intrusion into the women's restroom. It took her a while to react before she stammered, "I thought this was the women's restroom..."

"It's definitely the women's restroom," Xiwen nodded, speaking nonchalantly. "But as a Prefect, it shouldn't be a problem for me to go into a place like this to deal with a little wizard's crying, right?"

"Tell me your name first, it'll be like the Prefect asking you a question."

"I... my name is Myrtle Warren. I just have a habit of coming to the washroom to cry for a while when I'm sad. I shouldn't have done anything wrong, right..." the little witch named Myrtle Warren said in a trembling voice.

"No, being sad isn't your fault," Xiwen said comfortingly. "Tell me, what makes you so sad?"

After much persuasion, Xiwen finally managed to convince the third-year witch, Myrtle Warren, to tell him her story.

So, through Myrtle's hesitant words, Xiwen learned the whole story.

It turns out that Myrtle was a Muggle-born witch who, after entering Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was sorted into Ravenclaw House.

However, Myrtle failed to make any friends at Hogwarts. Instead, she was often ridiculed and bullied because of her appearance, including her ugly glasses and acne-covered face. Her roommate, Oliver Hongbei, was the one who mocked her the most.

"Oliver Hongbei made fun of me for looking like a four-eyed dog with my glasses, so I came here to hide," she complained, sobbing. "Why do they have to pick on me? I don't want to wear glasses either!"

After hearing the story of Myrtle, Xiwen didn't know what to say.

As far as he knew, although Ravenclaw had a very strong academic atmosphere, it was also common for people to look down on others, and this competitive atmosphere was second only to Slytherin.

Slytherin primarily compete based on bloodline, while Ravenclaw compete based on academic achievements and whether a young wizard gets along with others.

As a descendant of Seer had awakened her Third Eye, Manto Trelawney endured a long period of ridicule and mockery. However, she could clearly see everyone's intention to ridicule her and remained unfazed by the mockery and sarcasm.

Over time, the Ravenclaw wizards stopped bothering her.

Myrtle, however, was different. She was a true Muggle-born wizard, and having no friends at Hogwarts meant having no friends in the entire Wizarding World. Therefore, she must have finally succumbed to her deep loneliness recently, which is why she chose to come to this washroom to weep bitterly.