Harry and Hagrid tensed instantly, leaning forward and shouting anxiously, " Draco! Hermione! Are you alright?!"
Ignoring the dull ache in his back, Draco immediately looked down at the person in his arms, his voice tense. " Hermione, are you hurt?"
Hermione gasped for breath, shook her head, and reached out to support him.
"I'm fine... How about you? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine too." Draco didn't want her to worry.
The two exchanged a glance, then simultaneously looked up at the cave entrance and shouted in unison, "We're alright!"
Harry finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Hagrid patted his massive chest and muttered gruffly, "That scared me to death... It's good that you're alright, it's good that you're alright..."
Draco helped Hermione to her feet and made room for her, saying, "You can stand here; you can get down now."
Hagrid nodded and carefully led Harry down the pipe; he was simply too big.
As soon as it landed, it made a heavy "thud," and even the pipes vibrated slightly.
The pipes here are no longer vertical, but horizontal and forward, and the space suddenly opens up, becoming a dark stone tunnel that allows people to walk upright.
"We must be miles below the school," Harry said, his voice echoing back.
"It should be at the bottom of the lake," Hagrid guessed.
There's a lot going on beneath the classic Hogwarts!
Draco gripped his wand tightly and gestured forward. "Let's go."
The sound of their footsteps echoed loudly in the deathly silence as they pounded on the damp ground.
The tunnel was too dark, so Hermione, Harry, Hagrid all lit their wands.
Several beams of light cut a small patch of vision in the darkness, elongating the shadows of the four people and casting them on the slippery wall, twisting like lurking monsters.
The surroundings were as quiet as a tomb, with only the sounds of footsteps and breathing, until a crisp "crack" sound rang out.
Harry looked down and saw that he had stepped on a piece of rat skull. He lowered his wand, illuminating the ground...
Densely packed, layer upon layer, were the withered bones of small animals, accumulated here for who knows how many years.
Walking further ahead, the tunnel suddenly opens up into a bright and open space.
They finally entered the Chamber of Secrets.
This is an incredibly large underground sanctuary, so ancient that it seems to have slumbered there since the very beginning of Hogwarts.
It was cold and damp inside, filled with dust, mold, and a faint, nauseating smell of snakes.
The ground was covered with a huge amount of shed snake skins.
The snakeskin was layered, dry, translucent, and had a cool white and pale green sheen.
These snakeskins stretched from the ground all the way into the depths of the hall.
Some were as thin as paper, while others were as thick as leather, and some were large enough to cover an adult.
It makes a rustling sound when you step on it, which gives you the creeps.
A wide, black stone passageway stretched straight ahead, leading directly to the Slytherin head in the very center of the hall.
The statue, carved from a single block of dark stone, stands over ten meters tall and depicts Salazar Slytherin himself.
With a high nose, a pointed chin, cold and arrogant eyes, and long hair hanging down, he looked down indifferently at all the intruders.
Along both sides of the passage, every few steps there stands a small stone snake statue. They are coiled up, heads raised, mouths slightly open, and stone forks protruding slightly.
Bathed in the light of the wand, it appeared sinister and eerie, like countless silent eyes staring intently at the newcomer.
Hagrid's short, stubby finger suddenly pointed into the air above the hall.
"What... what is that?"
Harry, Hermione, Draco immediately looked up in the direction he was pointing.
Above the hall, in front of the Slytherin Colossus, a ring of dark green light floated in mid-air.
It wasn't very bright, but it was exceptionally clear.
It looks like it was written with ancient magic ink, or like floating incantations and symbols.
The runes slowly rotated, radiating a terrifying sense of oppression.
"It's like some kind of magic... a very ancient contract-like seal," Hermione said.
Draco stared intently at the floating green light and calmly said:
"This should be the core incantation of the Chamber of Secrets. Fifty years ago, the Chamber of Secrets was opened; now it has opened again on its own, which should be driven by this incantation."
"If we attack it directly and destroy it, will that close the Chamber of Secrets?"
Harry gripped his wand tightly and stepped forward, ready to go.
Draco shook his head firmly, stopping him.
"No, we absolutely cannot attack rashly."
"This is a contract seal personally placed by Slytherin, binding everything to it."
"If you attack now, the likely outcome is that you'll trigger a defensive spell that will blow us all away. We're not prepared at all; we can't take that risk."
" Draco is right." Hermione's eyes were serious.
"Most ancient curse seals have extremely strong chain reactions. We must first understand their function before trying to remove them, rather than destroying them."
Hagrid also lowered his attack form. "Listen to you guys... this thing looks weird."
Draco looked again at the slowly rotating dark green seal and said, "This seal is probably keeping the Chamber of Secrets open, and it's also incubating and awakening the Basilisk."
"To completely seal off the Chamber of Secrets, don't break it; instead, use the right method to bring it back to sleep."
He looked at Harry: "And only someone who can Parseltongue can do that."
"What should I do?" Harry asked.
Draco gazed at the imposing Slytherin statue, his voice heavy with unease.
"Let's go check out the statue first. I remember its mouth opens; there might be clues inside."
The four of them stepped on the dry, cracked snake skin scattered on the ground, moving forward step by step along the passage.
When I finally stood at the foot of the giant Slytherin head statue, an ancient and cold sense of oppression washed over me.
The statue's face was inches away, its eyes as cold as ice that had never melted, as if it were looking down on all intruders.
Harry felt a tightness in his chest, as if an invisible hand was pressing down on him. Hermione moved closer to Draco, and Hagrid unconsciously tensed his massive body.
Only Draco kept his head up. " Harry, try communicating with the statue using Parseltongue."
Harry didn't hesitate at all; over this period of time, he had already placed unconditional trust in Draco's judgment.
He stared at the statue's cold lips, and a strange hiss, like that of a snake, escaped his throat.
No one knows exactly what he said.
But the next moment...
Boom! The entire massive stone statue trembled, and a dull thud echoed through the Chamber of Secrets.
Slytherin's lips, which had been tightly closed for a thousand years, slowly, very slowly opened.
Deep within the dark oral cavity, a round object covered with pale green veins rested quietly on the stone tongue.
Hermione's pupils constricted, and she gasped, "A basilisk egg! A new Basilisk egg! A new Basilisk is about to appear!"
Draco stared at the egg, his face darkening. "It seems that even if we destroy this egg, the curse of the Chamber of Secrets will continue. We still have to start with the cursed seal in the air."