After that, the school was peaceful for a period of time. Everyone seemed to have forgotten about the poor cat, as if nothing had happened. However, when Harry and the others asked Hagrid about the rooster's death, they still couldn't see the truth.
They still had doubts about it. If the basilisk really existed, did it live in that secret room? The words on the wall seemed to be ignored by everyone.
But Hermione didn't. She asked Professor Binns about the secret room in the History of Magic class, and Professor Binns looked at her unhappily. As an old-fashioned ghost, Binns didn't like myths and legends. He liked facts, real and reliable facts, but he wasn't good at it. He could only read from the book in a dry, low, monotonous voice, like an old-fashioned vacuum cleaner. In the end, the whole class was drowsy. They would occasionally wake up, write down a name or a date, and then fall into a half-asleep state again.
However, today's class was probably the most serious class he had ever taught in his teaching career. Unable to hold back the students' unusual strong interest, he told them about the legend of the secret room.
"Is the basilisk the scary thing in the secret room?" Hermione continued to ask, but before Professor Binns could answer, she started to think to herself, "The symbol of Slythrin is also a snake. This possibility is too high." Then she sat down and immersed herself in her own thoughts. She whispered from time to time.
"I really regret telling you this ridiculous story," Professor Binns scolded the students because they had started to talk about it directly, ignoring him. He coughed, which finally brought everyone's attention back to him.
In less than five minutes, the students fell into that kind of drowsiness again.
After class, the three of them began to talk about the secret room that they had just heard.
"I knew that Salazar Slythrin was a perverted old lunatic," Ron said to Harry and Hermione, "but I didn't know that he was the one who came up with this pure bloodline nonsense. Even if he gave me money for free, I wouldn't go to his school. To be honest, if the sorting hat had let me go to Slythrin, I would have taken the train home without saying anything. "
Hermione nodded reluctantly, but in her heart, she still felt that she couldn't use the academy to differentiate between good and bad people.
As for Harry, his feelings were even more complicated because the Sorting Hat had seriously considered placing him in Slytherin. He remembered as clearly as if it had happened yesterday, the little voice that had spoken in his ear when he had put the hat on his head a year ago.
"You will be very successful, you know? It is all hidden in your mind. Slythrin will help you succeed, there is no doubt about it."
If Slythrin represented evil, could it be that there was something evil in his character or nature?
They then went to the corridor where the attack happened, hoping to find some clues. As they searched, they walked to the girls' bathroom. When they were about to ask Myrtle about what happened on Halloween, Percy, Ron's brother, found them and drove them out after deducting five points. Of course, he had no right to deduct points.
That night in the common room, Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat as far away from Percy as possible. Ron was still in a bad mood. When he was doing his magic homework, he always spilled ink on the paper. When he absent-mindedly took out his wand to remove the stains, he unexpectedly set the parchment on fire. Ron was so angry that flames appeared in his heart. He slammed the book "Standard Incantation, Level 2" shut. To Harry's surprise, Hermione also slammed the book shut.
"Who do you think will be the heir of Slythrin?" Ron asked while fiddling with his broken wand.
"I don't know." Harry shook his head.
"Me too." Hermione felt that Ron would say a name she didn't want to hear, but she still shook her head.
.
"I am Salazar Slythrin." Ron lowered his voice and looked around. When he saw that no one was looking at him, he continued, "I will definitely find an excellent successor, and a pure-blooded one. I will be more than happy to deal with muggles and muggle-blooded wizards."
"You mean Draco?" The name blurted out from Harry's mouth.
They didn't notice that Hermione's lips were pursed.
"Who else could it be?" Ron's voice was even lower. "Think about it. Although we don't want to admit it, he is indeed very good at magic. I feel that those sixth and seventh grade students are not as good as him." As if recalling what happened in Hagrid's cabin in the first grade, Ron took a deep breath and continued, "You can't imagine that Crabbe and Gore are the heirs of the Chamber of Secrets, can you?"
At this point, Harry couldn't help but laugh out loud. Those two people were really not heirs. If Salazar knew that his heirs were such trash, perhaps the first ones the basilisk would kill would not be Muggles, but these two idiots.
"Think about it again. There was a rumor before that he used a curse to torture a Muggle, and as a result, his wand was confiscated," Ron continued.
Harry also remembered his experience that day. He still had a lingering fear when he thought about it. He had almost been transported to the Malfoys' house with the cabinet. That day, he had heard a lot about Lucius, and it seemed that he had dealt with some black magic items. Later, when they met again at Liza Bookstore, the atmosphere between the Weasleys and the Malfoys became even more hostile. Whether it was emotional or reasonable, Harry was on the side of the Ron family.
"But these are all guesses," Hermione mumbled. She was a little hesitant to speak for him because even she didn't know who to believe. "What you said makes sense. He is indeed the most suspicious, but we don't have any evidence," she said helplessly.
"Yes, we can't walk up to him, point at him and ask," Hey, Draco, did you open the Chamber of Secrets? " That would be stupid. If he could answer us, he would be even more stupid. "Ron shrugged.
"Maybe I have a way." Hermione hurriedly looked at Percy across the room and lowered her voice even more. "Of course, it won't be easy, and it's dangerous, very dangerous. We'll have to break about 50 school rules. "
"In another month or so, if you're willing to tell us, you'll tell us, right?" Ron said impatiently.
"We can become someone he's familiar with and ask him directly." Hermione didn't know when she had thought of this suggestion.
"You're kidding, right?" Harry and Ron laughed out loud. They looked at Hermione in disbelief.
"I'm not." Hermione shook her head and said, "Although Snape is very annoying, the knowledge from his classes is very useful. A few weeks ago, he mentioned a type of potion in class — compound decoction."
"What's that?" Ron and Harry asked in unison.
"This type of decoction can turn you into another person," Hermione said slowly. "Of course, these have a time limit. After a while, you'll change back."
Suddenly, Hermione realized that Harry and Ron were looking at her silently and didn't say anything.
Hermione then remembered that Crabbe and Gower were only Malfoy's followers in name. In reality, Malfoy didn't spend much time with them. They weren't very close. Who else could it be?
Percy.
Ron and Harry wouldn't be willing to become girls, even if it was only for a very short period of time.
Hermione felt her stomach start to cramp. She had dug a hole for herself.
"Hermione, the safety of the entire school depends on you." Ron looked at her expectantly.
Harry nodded his head heavily.
"But that formula is very difficult to get," Hermione said. She was a little reluctant and wanted to find an excuse. "Snape said that it's in a book called Power Potion. It must be in the forbidden section of the library."
There was only one way to borrow a book from the forbidden section: get a teacher's autograph.
"I have a good candidate in mind," Harry said.
"Me too." Ron smiled too.
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