Chapter 20
A week later, in the Gryffindor common room.
"Found it!" Hermione carefully closed the notes in front of her and turned to look at the startled Harry and Ron beside her.
"Harry! The voice you heard earlier must have been a basilisk!"
"A basilisk?" Ron was the first one to react. "Harry heard a basilisk? Harry… can you understand snake's speech?"
"How is that possible? Hermione, what's this basilisk you're talking about?"
Hermione picked up another notebook she had copied from and said seriously "The basilisk—a dark creature rated XXXXX by the Ministry, extremely dangerous. Its breeding methods are bizarre and it is very rare. It possesses lethal lethality, and only the darkest wizards would attempt to create one. This creature has an extraordinarily long lifespan and a body length of at least fifty feet. Any living being that makes direct eye contact with a basilisk will die instantly. Only a Parselmouth can control it!"
"Parselmouth! Harry, you're a Parselmouth! Why didn't you tell us?"
"I'm a what?" Harry asked.
"You can understand snakes, right? That's Parseltongue!"
Harry wanted to object, but suddenly remembered something and said wide-eyed "Once at the zoo, I accidentally released a huge python. It lunged at my cousin Dudley—this is a long story. At the time, the python told me it had never been to Brazil, and somehow I just let it out. I didn't mean to. Back then I didn't even know I was a wizard."
"That explains it—you were hearing snake language! That's why you can hear that voice wherever you go, but no one else can, because only you possess Parseltongue. Merlin's beard! There's actually such a dangerous creature inside Hogwarts castle?" Hermione's eyes widened in disbelief.
But at the same time, she was inwardly shouting with excitement "Professor Lucien was right! Slytherin really did lock a basilisk inside Hogwarts! This is insane!"
"I thought the three-headed dog we saw last term was already ridiculous enough. Now there's a basilisk… It must still be locked away somewhere, right? It hasn't been released yet?" Ron smacked his lips and continued asking.
"So what do we do now? Tell a professor right away?"
"Wait, we should confirm it first! How about we go see Hagrid? Maybe it's another one of his pets?"
Harry stopped Ron. For some reason, after learning he was a Parselmouth, Harry instinctively felt uneasy about it and didn't want too many people to know.
"This can't possibly be related to Hagrid, but I don't mind going to him first to find out more. Maybe he'll have some new information."
"Why couldn't it be him? He kept a monster like a three-headed dog as a pet. A basilisk as a pet… okay, that does sound a bit far-fetched."
Hermione shook her head and said mysteriously to the two of them "Do you know the legend of the Chamber of Secrets? The story goes that back in the day, Slytherin—"
"…Wait, you're saying Harry is the heir Slytherin designated? But he's clearly a Gryffindor." After hearing the legend of the Chamber, Ron stared at Harry in disbelief, a flicker of fear even passing through his eyes.
Harry was annoyed by his gaze and raised his voice "That's impossible! I'm just a bit more special than others—I can understand snakes, that's all. What does that have to do with anything? I'm not planning to use it to do anything."
"It's a big deal," Hermione lowered her voice. "Because the ability to speak to snakes was Salazar Slytherin's famous talent. That's why the symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent."
Harry froze. He suddenly remembered that the Sorting Hat had indeed wanted to put him in Slytherin, and he had stubbornly refused. Could it be…
"Wait, Hermione—how did you find out about all this?" Ron didn't look at Harry; instead, he questioned Hermione.
"Professor Lucien told me. His knowledge is beyond anything I could have imagined! I simply can't believe someone like him has remained unknown in the wizarding world for so many years. This past week I spent more than ten hours in the library searching for information, and I didn't find a single mention of the Chamber."
"Professor Lucien? That homework maniac?" Ron's expression twisted in discomfort—he really liked the professor's hands-on combat style in every class, but he genuinely hated the massive workload!
Not to mention that many students couldn't complete the memorisation assignments Lucien required, causing Gryffindor to lose almost all their house points! He wasn't alone; nearly every Gryffindor felt the same way.
Aside from Ravenclaws and Hermione, almost no one completely liked the professor. It was always a mix of love and hate.
Because of how frequently points were deducted, Slytherin and Gryffindor—the two houses that had been leading the rankings—dropped from the top two to the bottom two in just one week!
This turned them from strong contenders for the House Cup into fellow sufferers at the bottom. Who could accept that!
It was said that Professor Snape was furious about it, but instead of confronting Lucien, he viciously scolded the Slytherin students in class with a murderous glare. This was the first time students from the other three houses had ever seen Snape lose his temper at his own house.
"Ron, Professor Lucien's assignments are all extremely meaningful. You shouldn't call him that." Hermione said sternly, correcting Ron.
"Fine, fine, it's not important—just a nickname." Ron waved it off carelessly. But he no longer doubted Hermione's source of information.
When Harry heard that the information came from Lucien, he grew even more anxious. He even considered going to Professor Lucien for help. The problem was that his performance in class hadn't been impressive.
In the two weeks Lucien had been teaching—four class periods—Harry hadn't even had a chance to speak with him. If he suddenly showed up at the professor's office, wouldn't that seem strange? With that thought, Harry pressed his lips together.
"Let's go see Hagrid first, find out if he knows anything about the basilisk, and then decide!"
Defense Against the Dark Arts office.
The sealed area that Lucien had carved out using the Undetectable Extension Charm had, after a week of preparation, begun to take shape.
The entire room had been expanded into a circular maze divided by nine walls. The walls were constructed entirely of enchanted frost-stone, with fireproofing, blocking, concealment, and six layers of protective barriers applied along the edges.
"Is everything ready? Let's begin."
"Yes, Professor."
Two assistants stood at Lucien's side. The three of them stood in the center of the open maze, their expressions grave.
[Fiendfyre]
One of the most dangerous and darkest forms of magic known in the wizarding world. When cast, it transforms into a series of deadly creatures made of flame that actively hunt down all living beings within range.
It possesses the ability to multiply indefinitely. It devours everything flammable—whether physical or magical—growing ever stronger and never extinguishing.
This fire is nearly unstoppable; ordinary objects or protective spells are meaningless against it. It can even destroy things that normal magic cannot, including Horcruxes.
In the hands of the Dark wizard Grindelwald, this curse was powerful enough to threaten the destruction of all of Paris. Corresponding to its overwhelming destructive power are equally obvious weaknesses.
First, it is extremely prone to losing control. Using this curse in an enclosed space is, under its indiscriminate attack, virtually suicidal. Aside from being highly unstable, the curse also takes time to form—before the magic fully manifests, it can easily be evaded.
Additionally, the curse is relatively easy to block.
Though anything in its path will be incinerated, in duels between wizards, sometimes all one needs is a single moment. Yet despite these flaws, Fiendfyre remains an extraordinarily powerful spell. And what Lucien wanted to research was, after mastering the curse, how to improve its weaknesses.
Note : Drop Powerstones.
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