Chapter 70: Don't do anything stupid!
"Why did you lie to them, Harry?" asked Hermione with worry. It never felt good to her to lie to her teachers, but she trusted her friend. So she decided to listen to what he had to say first.
"First of all, I didn't want to share the fact that I heard a voice with people like Lockhart, Snape, and Filch. One of them would have leaked it to the school just to get revenge on me for something I didn't do or for some other stupid reason. Also, because Dumbledore knew more than he let on. I could see from his reaction that he recognized that form of petrification, and without casting any analysis spells, he knew that the Mandrake Restorative Draught would work," explained Harry.
"Are you sure? Maybe the draught does work on all forms of petrification?" pointed out Hermione, as she wasn't informed about the potion since it was a seventh-year potion.
Harry shook his head. "No, the draught works only on transfiguration and curse-based petrifications. It could also be petrification by poison or a venomous bite, and for that, he would have to cast spells to determine that," he provided a clear explanation. If he hadn't worked in advance, he would have never realized that small detail. Dumbledore didn't pull his wand out even once during the whole examination.
"So what does that mean?" asked Padma, worried, while following behind her friends.
"It means Dumbledore has seen that before. Since this is related to some kind of secret chamber in the school, that means it had to have happened here before during the last century while Dumbledore was at Hogwarts. Well, maybe he could have seen it somewhere else, but then he wouldn't have been so sure that it had to be a magic-based petrification," summarized Harry his conclusion.
"Shouldn't we have told them that you heard a voice? It could be important. And there is clearly some truth to that, as that voice led you directly to Miss Norris," asked Tracey with a hint of worry.
"No, same reason. There were too many untrustworthy people present. And I don't trust Dumbledore. He has too many secrets and important positions. And I already have a guess about what it was. But I won't share it until I am sure," replied Harry firmly.
"You want to investigate it yourself, don't you?" said Daphne as she glared at him with her piercing blue eyes, her beautiful face scowling.
"Exactly. You know me so well, Daphne!" replied Harry with a grin.
"sigh You do realize that we could stop you like we did last year after your fight with Quirrell. We could always make sure that someone monitors you," she threatened.
Harry remembered that annoying phase after he woke up in the hospital wing, where they even had to threaten the other boys to check on him during the night, and he couldn't even enter his Sacred Gear. "What do you want, Daphne?"
"I want you to be careful. Before you do something dangerous, tell us. That way, we are at least informed if something should go wrong. I know you would find a way to escape us, but I want you to trust us. So promise us that you will try to stay safe and inform us before you do something dangerous or stupid," she requested with a hint of worry in her eyes.
He hesitated for a moment, but at this moment, she reminded him of Rias, who always had the same worry for her peerage. "Okay, I will do that," he nodded, agreeing to her terms.
"Good! As a reward, I will tell you what I know about the Chamber of Secrets!" she said with a beautiful smile, her demeanor changing completely from before.
"What have you heard about it?" asked Hermione, interested, as she was already planning to research it the first thing tomorrow.
"Yes, I did. From my parents. It is an urban rumor among Slytherins and one of the things my parents informed me of, that I had to know about Slytherin. Of course, that didn't happen, but it's still nice to know that this knowledge didn't go to waste. The legend says that Slytherin, after founding the school, had a disagreement with the other three founders about something. It isn't quite clear what it was about, but it was related to Muggleborns. More radical Slytherins and purebloods believe he didn't want them in Hogwarts. But the truth is, nobody truly knows what it was about," she retold them what she knew.
The others hung on her words, as they were Ravenclaws through and through and never believed there could be too much knowledge.
"This conflict ended up with Salazar Slytherin leaving the school forever. But before that, the legend says he had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing. Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic. At least, that is what the radicals believe. Others say he left something behind to defend the school from threats, while some believe he left his inheritance there. Like the other founders, his legacy disappeared after his death, as he never had a vault in Gringotts since he lived before its founding," she finished recounting the legend.
"Fascinating. Are there any more rumors? Like about its location or possible heirs?" asked Harry, fascinated by Daphne's story. This Chamber of Secrets sounded like something he would love to find. A place where Salazar Slytherin, one of the most famous wizards of the wizarding world, may have left his legacy behind, was a place he had to find.
She shook her head. "I don't know anything about its location. Only that it is supposed to be in the school or somewhere close to it."
"Somewhere close to it? Maybe the Forbidden Forest is worth exploring."
"But I have some knowledge about possible descendants. To be honest, I have two leads for you. The first one is the last official descendants of Salazar Slytherin, the Gaunt family. An extremely pureblood family that even went so far as to marry brothers and sisters to keep their blood pure. They were famous Parselmouths like Slytherin himself," she said.
"Parselmouth? The ability to speak to snakes?" asked Harry, confirming his guess about the voice he heard previously.
"Exactly! Unfortunately, the last known descendant died in Azkaban a few years ago," Daphne nodded.
"I see. That's unfortunate. And the other lead?" he asked, now even more interested.
"Well, there is another wizard rumored to be related to Slytherin as he is a Parselmouth and has claimed it himself. You-know-who is the other possible heir of Slytherin," she muttered quietly, staring at him with worry.
Harry only nodded, lost in his thoughts. 'Is that guy here again in the school? Does my ability to speak with snakes have anything to do with him? Are we related? Is he a Gaunt descendant? And most importantly, did he already clear out the Chamber of Secrets?' he wondered as they quietly returned to the common room. Daphne had given him a lot to ponder.
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