When the trio came out of the school clinic, they had warm smiles on their faces - just now, Dumbledore in recognition of their outstanding courage, gave them two hundred points each, but also a collective contribution award.
Of course, some digits need to be deducted from the extra points - any past violations of school orders will be left alone, but some of today's actions - twenty points each for the trio going out in violation of the ban, and fifty points for Ron's misconduct towards Professor Lockhart, plus a month of detention.
Even so, they earned four hundred and ninety points for their house at once.
This means that Gryffindor had secured the House Cup in advance.
"I think it's worth it!" Even Ron, who had to spend a month in solitary detention, had no problem with it.
If they won the Quidditch Championship once more, this year would be perfect ... Harry thought a little greedily, but there is still time!
At the end of the conversation, Harry and Dumbledore had communicated alone, and in this private conversation, he gathered the courage to voice his long-standing doubts about whether he had been sorted into the wrong house, after all, the Sorting Hat strongly implied that he would achieve great things if he remained in Slytherin.
And he was completely reassured by Dumbledore's words, pointing to the Gryffindor sword on the table and telling him, "Only a true Gryffindor can pull it out of the hat."
He also figured out the reason he could do the parseltongue, which, according to the Headmaster, is because Voldemort had transferred some of his powers into his body that night.
This left Harry dumbfounded.
"It makes more sense to live the way you want to live than to dwell on a past you can't change," Dumbledore said to him.
...
It is completely dark, but the shadow that has enveloped Hogwarts for two whole months has finally dissipated.
Ron suddenly spoke up, "You guys, what did Professor Hap just mean by what he said? It's Gryffindor, Slytherin, whatever ..."
Harry thought about his behaviour tonight and said with feeling, "I guess, maybe it's the traits that different houses cherish? Like courage, which Gryffindor respects, and calm self-control, which Slytherin esteems."
"I almost forgot Professor Hap is a Slytherin until you said it." Ron cooed in a small voice.
Hermione did not say anything, she remembered her first private rune lesson, Professor Hap was particularly interested in the Sorting hat, his original words were "Maybe I should re-introduce myself to it sometime?"
The little witch felt this just seemed like an excuse for the professor to reintroduce himself to the Sorting Hat ...
When they returned to the common room, the trio hid in a corner and exchanged detailed information, Hermione's words surprised them the most, the three professors were standing on the sidelines from the beginning to the end.
"How could they do that?" Ron said indignantly, but he felt like he was going to die several times.
"With them in, our lives are not in danger." Hermione sensibly said.
"I just want to know why we desperately have to kill the basilisk, and they are watching from the sidelines!" Ron is still full of complaints.
"I think Headmaster Dumbledore might be trying to test us, remember last year?" Harry said thoughtfully, "Voldemort is not dead, this is what Dumbledore told that time, he said, Voldemort will return one day."
"Could it be that Dumbledore wants to train us as the heirs to resist Voldemort?" Ron said with a red face as if the mere utterance of this inference is enough to excite him, "Dumbledore is not young, I mean, it is time for him to consider this issue, right?"
Dumbledore's heir sounds so much more perfect than Slytherin's heir.
The trio couldn't help but breathe hard at the same time.
---------
The Chamber of Secrets.
Dumbledore, Snape, Felix, and Professor McGonagall stood by the corpse of the basilisk, Professor McGonagall came here for the first time, she could not help but survey the place.
"It's like a lair of darkness and terror." She whispered.
Felix touched his finger across the pupil of the basilisk - most of it had been destroyed by Fawkes, black blood had contaminated most of the snake's face, and he had managed to gather a bit of clean material.
He is very interested in the basilisk gift of "death to all who stare", which is what he is extremely wary of the basilisk - but only wary, he has too many ways to avoid it.
However, he is curious, if Dumbledore and the basilisk look at each other, what will happen?
Will Dumbledore get killed by the basilisk's gaze? When Felix saw the Headmaster's magic power source, which is so vast that it can be considered terrifying, his heart swayed.
In front of this class of wizards, is the basilisk's "death stare" really useful?
Just like he can resist a Stupefy spell or a couple of them.
Felix analysed Dumbledore's strength while collecting various materials from the basilisk. Professor Snape, who did the same.
Whether it is basilisk venom, basilisk teeth, blood, scales, he will never refuse any of them.
On the other end, Dumbledore is talking in a low voice with Professor McGonagall.
"Albus, I think, we should publicize it well, so the outside world can see that we solved the trouble of the Chamber of Secrets so that they won't talk about it casually." Naturally, Professor McGonagall had read the previous coverage and felt angry in her heart.
"Minerva, I don't object to this, but it would have to wait for a few days ..."
"Why?"
"Lucius Malfoy has been very active on the school board lately, and he seems to think that this is a good opportunity to get me out of the school," Dumbledore said non-committally.
"How dare he!" Professor McGonagall yelled angrily.
"From what I understand, Lucius has threatened several school board members, and it might be within the next few days that he will make a move on me ..."
"Dumbledore, so what should we do?"
"Just wait." Dumbledore's gaze seemed to penetrate the ceiling above the chamber and saw the landscape further away.
Felix and Snape also exchanged a series of words in the process of drafting the initial plan for the distribution of the basilisk material.
He also found Lockhart's wand, with the "Aguamenti" spell he rinsed it several times, in addition to the lingering strong odour, from the exterior alone you can not see what it has gone through.
I hope Lockhart will not mind.
Afterward, they moved the basilisk's body to an abandoned classroom and locked the door with magic - they would split the basilisk when the school announced the information.
When Felix returned to his office, he realized it is nearly nine o'clock.
Hogwarts still has a curfew and the corridors are sparsely populated, but it won't be long before the usual buzz will return.
Sitting on the sofa, Felix is still thinking about the chamber.
The Chamber was found, and the basilisk was dead, but there is still a Slytherin heir within the castle.
Or simply, in Felix's mind, a certain little wizard who had been manipulated by Voldemort's Horcrux.
How to pull her/him out?
If you really cause a major mess, not to mention the other, Hogwarts closed for two months for a thorough inspection, so you can make him unable to cope up.
Felix pondered his strategy when there came a sudden, sharp knock at the door.
He pushed the door open and saw a young wizard who surprised him quite a bit - Draco Malfoy.
Strangely enough, Malfoy's face is very pale, and the tip of his nose holds a fine bead of sweat. He was also clutching a long, dark green striped long scarf - at the other end of the scarf, about two meters from him, dragging a plain black book.
You could tell that Malfoy is trying his best to keep himself away from that item.
"Come in, Mr. Malfoy," Felix said, his instincts telling him that he would get something big for himself tonight.
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