C108(2)

Seeing Hermione want to turn back, Kain couldn't help but reach out and hold her head down. Looking at the Basilisk would be like colliding with the Avada Kedavra. Even he needed to look at his feet and listen to the sounds to direct himself.

As the noise grew louder, Kain raised his head and exhaled a large ball of Fiendfyre from his mouth. The flame immediately took the shape of a phoenix. 

As Kain continued to manipulate the Fiendfyre, the surrounding water pool was vaporized by the intense heat.

"Hiss~ hiss!"

The roar of the Basilisk was filled with panic. It had lived for thousands of years, growing from a small creature to one tens of meters in length, yet it now felt fear and terror in the face of the Phoenix-shaped Fiendfyre, which was twice its size.

But before the Basilisk could turn around, a Fiendfyre dragon appeared in the passageway of the Slytherin statue, and the surrounding Fiendfyre quickly formed a fence, tightly encircling it.

This time, the Basilisk truly dared not move. It could only curl up its enormous body and roar weakly.

The Fiendfyre fence suddenly parted, creating a passage. Kain's Shadow Clone emerged and addressed the Basilisk. "I know you can hear human speech. Turn over and surrender to me now, or you will be burned to death by Fiendfyre."

Having lived for thousands of years and possessing its own thoughts, the Basilisk could likely understand human language. If not, or if it was too stubborn to express itself, Kain would simply claim its dead body.

Fortunately, not long after Kain finished speaking, the Basilisk uncoiled and flipped onto its back, exposing its belly.

"Assuming you're sensible, shrink quickly," Kain said with a smile. He cast the Shrinking Charm on the Basilisk and extinguished the surrounding Fiendfyre.

The Basilisk, now shrunken to only about ten centimeters long, coiled up in Kain's hand. He cast a Petrification Charm and a Cleansing Charm on it before placing the creature around his wrist like a bracelet.

"Now, let's talk about you, Miss Granger," Kain said, turning to Hermione. "Why did you take a diary that you knew was cursed with dark magic?"

Kain gently lowered Hermione from his arms. Upon hearing his question, she immediately lowered her head.

After a pause, she spoke. "I heard a voice at the time. It felt like a dream. The voice said things I often thought about, and it was intermittent. At that moment, I only had one thought: I wanted to chat with him for a while."

"After we get back, start practicing Occlumency and Memory Magic," Kain instructed. "Don't say anything when we go outside, and leave everything to me."

Kain patted Hermione's head. He had initially planned to sneak into the secret room to take the Basilisk, but luckily, there were no major losses, and this crisis could now be turned into a benefit.

After subduing the Basilisk, the only remaining function of the Chamber of Secrets was the pipes leading to each floor—but that was something for Dumbledore to handle. 

Kain took Hermione and made their way outside. Using the Levitation Charm, they floated up through the sink of the girls' bathroom. Just as they exited, Harry arrived with Dumbledore and several other professors.

"Professor Pent—"

"The matter has been resolved, Headmaster. Hermione was controlled by someone, but I rescued her. The dark wizard who controlled Granger and the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets has been eliminated."

As Kain spoke, he noticed Snape staring at his wrist. Looking down, he realized that the Basilisk bracelet had slipped off. He quickly pulled it back up.

"What happened to the classmate who was attacked?" He asked.

Dumbledore pretended not to notice the basilisk bracelet and replied, "Fortunately, Percy was only petrified. He didn't look directly at the Basilisk, but to recover, we'll have to wait for Professor Sprout's mandrake to ripen."

Kain nodded. "I'll send someone over. There should be plenty of mandrake available, that's all."

"I believe Professor Snape will make a perfect anti-petrification potion, Professor Pent."

Hermione trembled slightly at the mention of Percy's name. Percy was the senior with whom she had a bit of a disagreement, especially because she had refused to introduce her godfather. 

She subconsciously disliked Percy, which led her to manipulate the Basilisk to take revenge.

Hermione was about to speak when Kain gently held her head down.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, I want to tell you something about this diary."

Upon hearing this, Dumbledore looked at the object in Kain's hand. If Kain didn't explain it properly, it would be hard to tell that it was a diary. "Come to my office, Professor Pent."

Kain instructed Hermione to wait for him in the office and then followed Dumbledore to the Headmaster's office.

As soon as they entered, a red phoenix flew toward Kain. He could sense the phoenix's thoughts. It wasn't hostile, just curious and surprised. 

The phoenix landed directly on his shoulder and then paused, studying Kain.

"Fawkes sees you as he would a friend," Dumbledore said.

He offered some candies, but seeing that Kain wasn't interested, Dumbledore peeled off a honey candy and popped it into his mouth. "Professor Pent, what do you wish to tell me?"

"This diary is Tom Riddle's Horcrux. It was he who influenced Hermione to open the Chamber of Secrets and release the Basilisk. By the way, he also opened the Chamber fifty years ago."

"That's truly surprising news. Is the Basilisk from fifty years ago the one on your wrist?"

"It's a bit different, but that's not important. What matters is that Tom Riddle has more than one Horcrux—probably seven."

Upon hearing this, Dumbledore's face grew serious. Tom Riddle had been his student and was now the Dark Lord.

"I see, Professor Pent. Thank you very much for this information. As for the Basilisk..."

"I subdued it, headmaster Dumbledore. The Basilisk has already expressed its surrender to me."

Kain made it clear that although this was Slytherin's pet, it had abandoned Slytherin and now belonged to its new master, Kain.

Dumbledore waved his hand. "Of course, I have no objection to the ownership of the Basilisk, but Hagrid will need some proof, Professor Pent."

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