Sean did not hold back or waste any time. He walked straight to the sink with the serpent symbol and said clearly in Parseltongue, "Open."
Blaise and the other two looked at the secret Chamber entrance opening smoothly under Sean's Parseltongue command, absolute shock written plainly across their faces.
Sean saw their expressions of amazement and said matter-of-factly, "Blaise, I already told you last year that Parseltongue is ultimately just a language like any other. With the correct learning method, it is not impossible to learn for those without the natural gift."
"But are you not learning it far too quickly?" Blaise protested.
"I am a genius," Sean stated simply.
Hearing Sean's completely shameless words, Kulkan rolled her eyes dramatically while still held in his arms. Merlin only knows why a snake can roll her eyes, but Kulkan certainly managed it. The reason for her eye roll was that Sean's words were delivered with exactly the same expression and tone as when she herself had previously claimed she was simply "lazy" as an excuse.
Blaise and the other two had absolutely no intention whatsoever of refuting Sean's bold claim of being a genius.
After all, the fundamental idea that Sean was indeed a genuine genius was deeply ingrained in their minds by now.
The three students followed Sean obediently and jumped through the opened entrance leading down to the Chamber of Secrets. At Sean's clear instruction, they all used magic to cushion their fall properly, allowing them to land and escape completely unscathed.
Blaise and the others had heard Sean talk about the legendary Chamber of Secrets many times before, but hearing about something and actually seeing it with your own eyes were two completely different experiences. Once they landed inside the Chamber, they immediately looked around with wonder. Knowing that the basilisk was long dead and the danger was completely over, they eagerly pulled out their wands and cast Lumos charms, looking around the ancient chamber like excited tourists visiting a famous historical site.
"Hey, hurry up, you three," Sean called impatiently.
"Wait just a minute, wait a minute—we are looking at the actual Chamber of Secrets! It is truly... magnificent!" Blaise called back distractedly.
With a deep sigh of frustration, Sean walked straight ahead to the deepest part of the vast chamber. He looked at the basilisk's remains, now reduced to nothing more than a massive skeleton. He knew very well that almost everything genuinely useful had already been carefully removed from it during previous visits, leaving behind only its incredibly strong bones. These bones, while extraordinarily durable, were of relatively little practical use in most magical applications, and so they had been left behind in the Chamber.
A few massive fangs still remained embedded in a nearby basilisk skull fragment. Since they were permanently stained with deadly venom, there was not much safe use for them, so the previous salvagers had only taken a portion of the fangs and left the rest here undisturbed.
Approaching the enormous skull carefully, Sean observed its faint surface cracks and scratches, remembering clearly how he had struck it repeatedly with his conjured chain mace during their battle, managing to leave only a few small cracks in the bone. Back then, Sean had realized immediately that the basilisk's skull was far stronger and more durable than most metals he had known in either of his lives. If it could possibly be fashioned and forged into a proper shield...
With that promising thought firmly in mind, Sean checked the available space remaining in his Undetectable Extension Charm pouch, carefully confirming it would successfully hold the massive skull. He then cast a levitation spell and carefully stuffed the entire skull inside the enchanted bag. Having been rendered unconscious during his initial magical awakening in the Chamber, he had not taken very much with him during his hasty departure, and since then, with so many other pressing matters constantly demanding his attention, Sean had completely overlooked these valuable materials. Now that he was back here again, he absolutely could not let these precious items go to waste.
Sean used the remaining available space in his Undetectable Extension Charm pouch to carefully stuff two more large basilisk vertebrae inside as well, and then he waited patiently for Blaise and the other three to finish their enthusiastic exploration and enter the main chamber.
"Is this actually the skeleton of the legendary basilisk? It is so impossibly huge, Sean! How did you possibly manage to kill such a monster?" Andy asked with genuine awe.
"Did I not say it before? I killed it with the Sword of Gryffindor that Headmaster Dumbledore lent me for the battle," Sean replied.
"Wow, look at its teeth—they are really enormous!" Blaise exclaimed, completely ignoring Sean's answer.
"What?" Sean stared blankly.
Sean looked at Blaise, who was clearly not listening to his answer at all, and his mouth twitched slightly with irritation. "You three, if you do not actually want to know what magic I just used in my room, I will gladly go back right now. You can continue to visit and explore down here by yourselves for as long as you like."
"Wait, wait—think about it, how could we possibly not want to know what magic you used? It is nothing more than an ancient magical chamber. How could even the mysterious and grand Chamber of Secrets possibly compare in importance to your new magic?" Blaise quickly backtracked.
Looking at Blaise and the other two now standing in a neat row and looking at him with complete attention, Sean's mouth twitched once again with barely suppressed annoyance. If these three people were not genuinely his closest friends, he would have gladly broken their noses one by one with a solid punch to teach them proper respect!
"Alright, I will stop wasting time with nonsense. Now I will show you the magic I was practicing, and then we will all go back. You three can come back and keep exploring here some other time if you wish."
With those words, Sean reached out and carefully plucked Kulkan from where she was coiled in his arms, gently tossing her over to Blaise to hold. Then, taking a moment to center himself properly, Sean took a deep breath and slowly exhaled to calm his mind completely.
Once he had achieved a state of perfect calm, Sean activated his Animagus transformation once again.
His human body suddenly began expanding rapidly, spinning and stretching in impossible ways. Before Blaise and the other two's absolutely horrified gazes, Sean transformed smoothly into an absolutely massive white serpent!
Sean's Animagus form was a magnificent snow-white serpent speckled with sleek, gleaming scales that caught the light beautifully. His serpentine eyes were a striking golden color, gleaming with a faint supernatural luster. His overall appearance was not particularly ferocious or frightening, but rather strangely beautiful and evocative. While not quite as impossibly large as the ancient basilisk had been, he was certainly a massive and impressive creature by any human wizard's standard of measurement.
Glancing at the completely stunned Blaise and the other two standing frozen in shock, Sean turned his massive head to examine his own transformed body. He estimated he stood approximately seventeen or eighteen meters in total length, but he did not appear quite as physically sturdy or innately ferocious as the basilisk had been.
Stretching his long serpentine body slightly to test his mobility, Sean realized with satisfaction that after transforming into his Animagus form, many physical movements and instincts in his white serpent body had become completely natural and instinctual, requiring absolutely no conscious relearning or practice whatsoever.
At this realization, Sean suddenly remembered his system panel and immediately opened it mentally to check his current status.
[Sean Bulstrode (Animagus, White Serpent King Form)]
[Occupation: Wizard Apprentice]
[Affiliation: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Slytherin House]
[Skills: (Locked)]
[Talents: Serpent King Scales LV3, Serpent King Eyes LV3, Troll Strength LV2, Troll Spiked Hide LV2 (Others locked)]
[Equipment: None]
This was Sean's complete detailed information displayed in his Animagus form.
All of his original learned magical skills were currently blocked and inaccessible, but his unique talents that were specific to his Animagus form were now unlocked and active: Level 3 Serpent King Scales and Level 3 Serpent King Eyes. Meanwhile, his original innate talents of Troll Strength and Troll Spiked Hide remained accessible, and Sean discovered with pleasant surprise that these two particular talents had actually reached Level 2, bringing them one significant step closer to their previous maximum level. As for his other various talents and learned magics, they remained completely blocked and unusable in this form.
It was also particularly worth noting that due to the nature of the Animagus transformation itself, Sean's magical equipment and clothing had also temporarily transformed along with his body, rendering them completely unusable for their intended purposes.
In other words, if Sean were to be killed while in this transformed state, the Pure White Pocket Watch's life-saving ability would be completely ineffective—a critically important point that Sean needed to remain constantly aware of.
Of course, with the combined magical and physical resistance provided by both Serpent King Scales and Troll Spiked Hide working together in Sean's current transformed state, even if he were forced to face Voldemort's shade directly in open combat, he would very likely survive the encounter relatively intact.
Sean felt absolutely certain of this assessment.
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