Chapter 41: Counter "Rooster Chicken Scream"

After being accused of murder by Filch, Professor McGonagall carefully analyzed the situation, while Snape questioned Harry in a strange manner.

Meanwhile, Lockhart tried to show off and take the task of brewing the Polyjuice Potion, which was originally assigned to Snape.

Eventually, Dumbledore stepped in and insisted on the principle of "innocent until proven guilty," allowing Harry and his friends to leave.

"Where have you been!" Pansy exclaimed as Draco sat down at the dining table, her tone filled with anxiety and worry.

"I heard that Filch's cat has been petrified. Weren't you afraid...?" Pansy asked, her eyes filled with concern.

"Where did you go just now?"

"Are you suspecting that I am the one who did that?" Draco chuckled, noticing that Pansy was worried about him.

However, he didn't provide an answer to Pansy's question.

Instead, he made a few jokes, causing Pansy's attention to shift.

The atmosphere in the auditorium was somber, as the news of the petrification had dampened the festive mood.

Students were no longer discussing Halloween pumpkin ghosts, but rather the attack on Mrs. Norris.

Although most students don't like Filch, they still felt a sense of sympathy and fear upon seeing Filch's distress.

"Enemies against heirs, be alert." A Ravenclaw student asked, confused about the phrase.

"That's not the key point. What we should be most concerned about now is what petrified Mrs. Norris," a thin boy replied.

"Medusa?" Luna raised her hand.

"Oh, little Luna, that's just like the Mythical beast you're always looking for. It doesn't exist," a student scoffed.

"I'll find it one day," Luna said, lowering her head and returning to her thoughts about finding her rare snore beast.

"Medusa?" A girl who had been buried in her thoughts seemed to tremble upon hearing the word. She raised her head and said, "She told us in Professor Sprout's class... ."

"Do you mean there may be a basilisk in our school?" This was a gentle female voice, but everyone could sense the tremor in her tone. If Draco was present, he would recognize this black-haired girl as Cho Chang from the Ravenclaw house.

Thus, rumors about a deadly snake in the school spread quickly throughout the school.

"Draco!" A few days later, while Draco was enjoying his breakfast at the Slytherin table, he suddenly saw two black shadows appear in front of him. They shouted at the same time, and Malfoy could sense their restlessness.

"Huh?" Draco raised his head and eyebrows, looking at the serious Weasley brothers.

"What are you doing here?" Pansy asked, surprised to see the Gryffindor students.

As a Quidditch player, she naturally paid attention to her opponents, the Weasley brothers.

"It's not convenient to say here," Fred and George said in a serious tone, abandoning their usual mischievous smiles.

"I know what you want to ask," Draco said, waving his hand.

"It was just a coincidence. If I really knew the future, wouldn't I just make a little money in your eyes?"

The Weasley brothers looked uncertain.

After a moment of silence, George spoke up. "Do you want those things?"

"As you wish," Draco said, picking up a cup of honey tea and drinking it, as if he didn't want to talk to them anymore.

"We won't take advantage of you," Fred said before returning to the Gryffindor table with George.

"You're actually doing business with the Weasley family. Uncle Lucius will scold you," Pansy said, looking at Draco in surprise.

"You won't tell him right?" Draco asked, gazing at her quietly.

"Uh..." There was hardly any hesitation as Pansy denied the question, but she was curious about their deal.

"You'll find out by the afternoon," Draco said.

"I hate it when you get all suspenseful like this," Pansy said, looking at him fiercely.

In the afternoon, the answer was revealed.

Mrs. Norris was the first victim, although he was not attacked by the basilisk.

Since the disaster with the elf, Professor Lockhart had not brought any living creatures into his classroom.

He preferred to read large sections of the book he had written to the students, and sometimes even performed some dramatic pieces.

Therefore, in the Defense Against Dark Arts class in the afternoon, Lockhart and Harry were performing "Weekend with the Werewolf," with Lockhart playing himself and Harry playing the werewolf.

Just as Harry's character was about to pounce on Lockhart's throat, and Lockhart was about to fight back, a discordant voice suddenly filled the classroom.

"Giggle."

The sound was like the first domino falling, a bomb dropped into deep water. Then, the sound of chickens in the classroom became one after the other.

"Everyone keep quiet!" Lockhart was stunned by the chaos in the classroom. It was a grand occasion when dozens of roaring letters of roosters were opened simultaneously, but his voice was drowned out by the cacophony of the chickens.

It seemed that even if he was heard, no student would pay attention to him.

Looking at the mess in the classroom, Neville secretly buried his head. He had accidentally activated the roaring letter, and he hadn't expected to cause such a big chain reaction.

When news of the possibility of a Basilisk spread from the Ravenclaw house, Hogwarts was terrified.

Students learned that the roar of a rooster could be fatal to the Basilisk, so some of them began to beat the chickens raised in the school.

The trio even went to Hagrid, but were told that all the chickens had died unexpectedly. This made them suspect that there was some sort of conspiracy at play.

Then some students heard the propaganda: "Roaring letters of the rooster, your best choice for dealing with the Basilisk. Two galleons can get you one. Buy more and get over a hundred at a time, with a greater discount."

There was no need to ask where this propaganda came from.

It was clearly from Fred and George. Although there were still doubts, it was not in the Weasley brothers' character to spend money without making a profit.

In the blink of an eye, all the students were carrying several roaring letters of the rooster. Neville had become the first spark, setting off the explosion in Lockhart's class. This was also partly due to the dissatisfaction of some male students.

After all, for students who studied hard, Lockhart had nothing of value to teach, which is why they dared to follow suit.

If it had been Professor McGonagall's class, Neville's inadvertent behavior might have been like a spark in the wind, unable to cause a prairie fire.

In short, Lockhart was unable to teach his class that day. He seemed a little angry and went to Dumbledore's office to complain, saying that the students had collectively defied classroom discipline.

However, Dumbledore lightly brushed him off, stating that it was not a bad thing for students affected by rumors to relax in this way.

The first thing Lockhart did in the next lesson was to check everyone's pockets and bags. He confiscated all the roaring letters of the rooster, which led to a class-wide protest.

However, he kept his elegant smile and said, "When you face the Basilisk, you won't have a chance to open those letters. What you need is this." He then walked up to each student and gave them something resembling an amulet.

Returning to the podium, he announced loudly, "This is a petrified anti-petrification symbol I have created for you. You just need to wear it on your chest, and you'll be protected even if you look directly at the basilisk!"

Most of the female students stared at him with admiration, while Ron pouted his lips under the podium and turned his head disdainfully.

Harry stared at the amulet in front of him in a daze, intuitively feeling that the Weasley brothers' roaring letter was more useful.

As for Hermione, she carefully collected the amulet and placed it in her bag.