Chapter 23
"Me?" Lucien shook his head. "No, I wasn't born with it like them, I've learnt it after finding it intriguing."
This was, in fact, a perfectly natural thing, but to Hermione and the others, it sounded like something out of a fairy tale "Learn it? But... if you can't even understand it when you hear it, how do you do that?"
"It's just a matter of putting in some extra hard work. Anyway, that's not relevant to what we need to do right now." Lucien gave a brief explanation and pulled the conversation back on track.
"Potter is indeed a Parselmouth, and the voice he heard is very likely that of the basilisk."Hearing Lucien confirm it, the suspicion that had been vaguely forming in the three students' minds became solid fact. They immediately grew anxious.
"What do we do? There's actually a basilisk wandering around the castle? This is too dangerous!" They looked at Lucien, hoping he would immediately make a reassuring decision—especially Hermione.
At that moment, her face was full of anticipation and calm composure, as if she was already certain that Lucien would handle the matter properly. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed the very next second.
"There's nothing to do. Tell Dumbledore and leave everything to him." Lucien stood up, quickly wrote a letter with a self-inking quill, and summoned Barton.
"Barton, take this letter to the owlery."
"If it's just delivering a letter, Barton can handle it—"
"No, let an owl do it." Lucien gently shook his head at Barton and whispered in his ear, "Our current identity hasn't been desensitised yet. There's no need to remind Dumbledore that there's a house-elf in the castle who can come and go freely. Besides, you might not even be able to find him."
"Yes." Barton bowed and turned to leave.
The two assistants heard Lucien's plan and showed no reaction, but Harry and the others didn't quite understand "Professor—you're not going to tell Dumbledore in person? I mean, telling Dumbledore is good, of course, but what if he doesn't see the letter? What if the basilisk kills someone in the meantime?"
"It won't." Lucien's voice was so calm that to Hermione and the others, it sounded almost indifferent.
Disappointment and incomprehension overwhelmed Harry. He thought of the ineffectual Professor Quirrell—the man who had later been revealed as Voldemort's lackey—and a surge of urgency rose in his chest.
"Harry—" Ron sensed his best friend's thoughts and subtly tugged at Harry's arm, signaling that they should discuss it later.
He, too, was starting to feel that something was off about this professor.
"No, I have to say it!" Harry shook off Ron's hand, took another step forward, and stared directly at Lucien.
"How can you guarantee nothing will go wrong? Since you're the one who told Hermione about the Chamber and the basilisk, that means you know better than anyone how dangerous it is, right? Now that we know the basilisk is lurking in the castle waiting to kill, we should take immediate action! Pushing it off like this is irresponsible!"
"Harry! Stop it!" Hermione's face went pale. She grabbed the hem of Harry's robe and yanked him backward, convinced that Professor Lucien had deeper reasons for acting this way.
"Bang!"
The sound of hands slamming hard on the wooden desk suddenly rang out.
Harry turned his head—and saw that the woman who had earlier dazzled him to the point of dizziness was now leaning on the desk, glaring at him with eyes that looked ready to kill.
Just meeting her gaze like that made Harry feel as if his breathing might stop.
"If—"
She strode toward Harry, her eyes sharp, her steps cutting like a blade.
"—your meager intellect prevents you from fully understanding what the professor means, then at the very least, you should learn to ask questions calmly. Understood?" Her presence was so striking, her aura so commanding—like a beauty who had just triumphed at a ball—that for a moment, all three of them were stunned.
"I—you—I—" Harry stammered, desperately trying to say something, but shamefully realized his voice was trembling.
"Enough, Camille. Rein in your magic a bit—don't scare them."
Lucien pinched the bridge of his nose and took the opportunity to reflect on himself.
Although he remembered that in the original story, no one died during the basilisk incidents, others didn't think that way. He had appeared too calm.
Moreover, though it wasn't his intention, he had now officially intervened in the plot. An event that was supposed to drag on for an entire school term had been brought to the forefront early. Whether the subsequent developments would still follow the book was now uncertain.
No—on second thought, this was actually an excellent opportunity to test things. The basilisk was dangerous, but as long as proper countermeasures were taken, it wasn't necessarily fatal.
With that in mind, Lucien's eyes flickered as he picked up where Camille left off and said timely "You're Harry, right?"
"Y-yes—sorry, Professor. I just couldn't understand." Harry looked deeply remorseful, because he truly felt he had misunderstood Lucien.
"Listen—this matter isn't that simple." Lucien leaned down toward the three and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. He decided to see just how far these three could go.
"The basilisk was left in the Chamber by Slytherin a thousand years ago, yet Hogwarts has never had an accident because of it. What do you think that tells us?"
"That it's locked up and can't get out?" Hermione's eyes lit up.
"Maybe it was just dormant before, like how ordinary snakes hibernate, but now it's woken up." Ron hadn't fully recovered from Camille's earlier pressure, but his mouth moved faster than his brain.
"Hmm, either interpretation works—the basilisk might have awakened from dormancy, or it might have escaped from wherever it was confined—" He guided the three, leading them step by step. "So, which do you think is more likely: that this happened naturally, or that someone is meddling?"
"Professor! You mean—" Hermione was the first to think of a certain possibility. Her eyes widened as she looked at Lucien in horror.
"What does that mean? What does it mean, Hermione? What did you figure out?" Ron looked at her anxiously. Harry gave up thinking and turned to Hermione as well.
Hermione glanced at the two of them and explained patiently "Remember the legend of the Chamber? Slytherin said his true heir would open the Chamber and kill all those of impure blood. There must be a key figure involved—someone who awakened the basilisk and opened the Chamber! He intends to use it to kill all Muggle-born and mixed-blood wizards!"
"Correct." Lucien affirmed Hermione's deduction.
"And I believe this is an extremely dark act—no matter who it is, I won't allow them to cling to such outdated thinking, and I certainly won't allow them to wantonly take others' lives."
"So, Professor, you want to find this person?" Excitement appeared on Hermione's face. Harry and Ron felt their blood burning—they sensed they were participating in something dangerous and momentous.
Even if they were a little afraid inside, wasn't Professor Lucien here? They could trust him!
Note : Drop Powerstones.
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