"—You're late."
A somewhat cold voice rang out in the darkness. It was not loud, yet it made all three young wizards shudder. Hermione's gaze abruptly shifted from the enormous monkey-like face of the Slytherin statue toward the source of the voice, where she saw a familiar face slowly emerge from the shadows.
Professor Snape.
He wore a voluminous black cloak, like an enormous bat, gliding silently out of the darkness.
Ron's face turned pale again, while Harry looked ready to bolt at any second. But the young wizards quickly remembered that they had come here with permission.
Snape's gaze swept across the young wizards before finally settling on Zheng Qing. His tone was as unpleasant as ever. "—Why did you bring them along? This violates the rules."
"Mr. Reinhardt believed that bringing Harry here might give us a chance to solve his little problem. I thought it made sense," Zheng Qing replied with a smile.
"You thought?" Snape's thin lips twisted into a mocking smile. "Since when did Hogwarts need outsiders to think for it?"
"—I believe Professor Dumbledore agrees with us as well." Zheng Qing's smile faded. After a pause, he changed the subject. "By the way, I thought you had already opened the nest and released that basilisk."
"Ordinary Parseltongue cannot awaken this statue."
Another unfamiliar voice came from the darkness. A witch stepped around the hem of Slytherin's statue and appeared before them. A little bone dragon perched on her shoulder hissed threateningly at the kitten on Zheng Qing's shoulder. "We tried several kinds of Parseltongue. We could open the Chamber's door and the entrance in the bathroom... but we could never make Slytherin 'open his mouth.'"
Harry was completely confused.
He had no idea what these adults were talking about.
But the atmosphere made him