The Chamber of Secrets

But just then, the students and professors, having finished dinner, gathered there.

Everyone noticed the words written in blood on the wall and Harry and his three companions standing beneath them.

"What happened? Out of the way, out of the way." As everyone whispered among themselves, Filch saw the crowd and pushed his way through.

"Potter, what are you do-" Filch broke off when he noticed Mrs. Norris in Mia's arms. "Mrs. Norris..."

"You killed my cat?" Filch's voice trembled and his eyes reddened. "I'll kill you!"

"Wait, Mrs. Norris isn't dead. She's only been petrified, and she can be saved." Seeing the agitated Filch about to attack Harry, Mia hurriedly stopped him.

Filch turned to look at Mia, seemingly trying to find a trace of deception in her eyes, but he found none. He took the cat from her.

Dumbledore arrived with the professors. Seeing the crowd and noticing the words on the wall, he said, "Everyone, return to your dormitories in an orderly fashion."

"Everyone, except the four of you."

The professors organized the students and sent them back to their dormitories first.

"Don't worry, Argus. She's only been petrified." Only when Dumbledore came to the same conclusion as Mia did Filch breathe a sigh of relief.

"I knew it. What a pity I wasn't there at the time. I happen to know how to save her." Lockhart's after-the-fact remark made Mia shoot him a speechless glance.

"But it's hard to say how she was petrified." Dumbledore might have guessed something, and his tone was rather grave.

"If you ask me, he did it." Filch looked over at Harry. "You've seen the words on the wall."

"It wasn't Harry. He had nothing to do with it. He was with us the whole time," Mia retorted, shielding Harry behind her.

"If I may say a word, Headmaster, perhaps Potter and his friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time." Professor Snape also knew that Harry couldn't have done it.

Hermione, Ron, and Harry couldn't believe Snape was actually speaking up for them. They exchanged terrified glances.

"However, there are indeed a few points of doubt. For instance, I didn't see Potter at dinner."

Well, that was the Snape they knew.

Mia looked at the professor helplessly.

"I'm afraid that was because of me, Severus. Harry was helping me answer my fan mail," Lockhart said in Harry's defense as well.

"That's why we went to find him, Professor. When we found him, he said..." Hermione looked at Harry, who shook his head.

"Said what, Miss Granger?"

"I said I wasn't hungry." Harry didn't know why, but he didn't intend to mention that he could hear a voice.

"He's innocent without evidence." Dumbledore believed Harry too and cleared him of suspicion outright.

"Then what about my cat? Someone has to pay!"

"An antidote made from Mandrakes can save her. Professor Sprout already has a batch of Mandrakes that will soon be mature," Mia said. Filch looked at Professor Sprout, and only after she confirmed it was he willing to drop the matter.

"All right. From now on, everyone must be careful."

Transfiguration the next day

Professor McGonagall had been teaching the students to turn animals into goblets, but in response to their questions, she told them about the Chamber of Secrets.

Mia also learned about the Chamber of Secrets through Professor Snape's answers.

"Hogwarts was founded a thousand years ago by the four greatest wizards of their time: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin."

"Three of the founders got along well, but the fourth did not. Salazar Slytherin wanted Hogwarts to be more selective when admitting students."

"He believed magical education should be limited to those from magical families, that is, pure-blood wizards."

Mia frowned. "That's a little extreme."

Snape agreed. After all, Lily came from a Muggle family. "He couldn't change the other three's minds, so he decided to leave the school. According to legend, Slytherin built a hidden room in the castle."

"It was called the 'Chamber of Secrets.'"

"But he sealed the chamber shortly before leaving, to await the return of his true heir to the school."

"Only this heir could open the chamber and release the horror within, thereby purifying the school and purging those whom Slytherin considered unworthy of studying magic."

"But despite countless searches by the school's staff, no one has found the chamber. Legend has it that only the Heir of Slytherin can control what's inside it. Some say a monster lives there."

After listening, Mia fell into thought. Snape didn't disturb her and marked assignments on his own.

The chamber, the heir, the words in blood, Harry, the strange voice.

Something has been overlooked. What is it?

Someone tried to stop us from coming back to school. Dobby! Dobby had said during the holidays that someone had devised a plot against Harry. Who would target Harry? Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

Then what about the heir and the chamber? The heir should mean a descendant of Salazar. Salazar's heir can control the monster, which means Salazar had something that could be inherited, and it had to be through blood. If it were an object, anyone could possess it.

"Professor, did Salazar Slytherin have a skill no one else possessed, one that could also be inherited?"

"According to legend, Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth, and only his descendants could inherit that skill. Do you think it's...?" Snape had a guess of his own.

"Possibly." What was in the chamber was very likely a Basilisk. Harry could also understand snakes, so it could be confirmed that it was a Basilisk. Harry could understand them because he was Voldemort's Horcrux, and Voldemort was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin.

"For now, it's only a guess. Be careful these next few days," Snape cautioned Mia.

"All right, Professor."