Chapter 113: Scarborough Fair (Edited)

Tom made a small observation and was about to return to the castle, but suddenly he saw a flash of light out of the corner of his eye.

Tom was attracted to the glow, and found a small, simple wreath. Half was buried in the earth, and half in mossy vines. The wreath had a necklace wrapped around it. The flash of light was the reflection of sunlight on the necklace.

Tom gently swept the vines off the wreath and dug it out of the ground.

[Dungeon: Scarborough Fair unlocked]

[Requirements to enter the dungeon: Two people must touch the pendant together to enter the dungeon]

[Objective: Fulfill Elaine and Benn's wish]

[Reward: Divination Talent +1]

"Scarborough Fair..." Tom chewed on this special word, and the word Scarborough Fair seemed to be the name of a place, and it sounded familiar, but he couldn't really remember it.

Tom followed the secret passage, back to the Slytherin Chamber and back to Hogwarts.

Tom's trip to the Chamber of Secrets had been rewarding, because he had solved a big risk, he had accessed a secret passage out of the school, and he had replicated the basilisk. That was a bonus, he hadn't even entered the two rooms Slytherin had left.

Tom flew back to Myrtle's bathroom, Myrtle had gone somewhere, but that was just what Tom wanted.

It was almost dinner time and the students were gathered in the Common Room, so Tom slipped back into the Common Room and took a bath, washing the dirt off his body and getting rid of his smelly robes.

After dinner, the young Ravenclaw wizards gathered in the Common Room to pass the time chatting.

Tom also sat quietly in a corner of the room, waiting for Hermione to return. Soon Hermione entered the Common Room, looked around, saw Tom and walked quickly towards him.

When some of the little witches saw this scene, they all showed ambiguous smiles, and winked at their friends, however, no one noticed that after a group of little witches entered, a lone figure also entered.

"Where have you been this afternoon? I couldn't find you." Hermione sat down opposite Tom and handed him a small package, which Tom sniffed, and which must have contained some good things in it.

"Dinner today has barbecued steak, I remember you liked it earlier, so I brought you some slices."

Tom's mouth watered at the thought of juicy Hogwarts chops. He had just showered and changed, missing dinner time.

"Let's go outside and talk." Tom offered, since eating with a girl in the Common Room was grounds for public scandal.

"It's a bit late, if we violate curfew..."

"It'll be against school rules!" Tom finished for Hermione, who froze and then laughed, "Yeah, it's going to be against school rules."

Tom led Hermione out of the Ravenclaw tower and, before it was curfew time, they went downstairs.

"You're going to the library? are you mad? Eat in the library and Mrs. Pince will kill you." said Hermione in horror, she couldn't imagine what would happen if she angered Mrs. Pince and got kicked out of the library forever.

"It's not the library, it's here." Tom opened the door to the Charms room and walked in.

He unpacked the food Hermione brought and spread it out on the table: bread, sausages and barbecued steaks, and Hermione also put some vegetables on the bread very carefully.

Watching Tom eat bite by bite, she was very happy, she couldn't help but reach out and pat Tom's head, "Good boy, eat more."

Tom: "..."

Why does this sound a little familiar and feel weird?

Hermione pulled a jug of drink out of her pocket, "Try it, there's a new drink in the big dining room today, I think it's called apple cider vinegar."

"Apple cider vinegar?" Tom was confused, it sounded like apple cider vinegar to him, vinegar, it was too familiar, could it be a drink?

"Try it, it's very good." Hermione handed him the delicate teapot.

Tom took a sip and, to his surprise, it tasted very good, bittersweet in the mouth, not at all vinegary as one might expect, but with the sweetness of fruit juice, and very pleasant to drink. The steak was a little fatty, so a sip of this took the fat off.

What Tom didn't know was that apple cider vinegar is not vinegar, but a drink made from fermented apple juice and then mixed with apple juice and other ingredients, not a cooking condiment. Fruit vinegar has a long history, and grape vinegar has been popular in France since the 10th century.

"Actually, I have something to tell you." Tom swallowed his "meat pie" and handed one to Hermione, "It's about something I've been researching..."

Hermione nodded, her eyes widened, her body leaned forward and she leaned in front of Tom, intending to listen to him very carefully.

"The Chamber of Secrets, have you heard of it?"

Hermione shook her head, but suddenly paused, "I think I've heard that name somewhere; yes, in 'Hogwarts: a history', I should have seen it there, but I can't quite remember."

But luckily it wasn't an exam, and he didn't have to jump to look it up, Tom told Hermione bit by bit what he knew about Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets.

Hermione had understood, "So you've been busy looking for Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets these past few days?"

"That's right."

"The Chamber hasn't been found for centuries, how could you...?"

"I found it."

Hermione: Σ(⊙▽⊙

"It's been undiscovered for centuries because there has been a Gaunt family that has hidden it: they are the descendants of Slytherin, but now there is no one left to cover it up, the Gaunts are extinct and the last Gaunt bloodline is the one who must not be named, who killed his uncle's family himself, helping to extinguish Slytherin's offspring."

Hermione: I don't understand, but I'm surprised.

"So you've come to invite me to open the Chamber of Secrets with you? But according to legend, when the Chamber of Secrets is opened, all young wizards from Muggle families will be killed..." Hermione was a little anxious, her face flushed with excitement, "We should go find Professor Dumbledore, he'll be able to sort this out."

Tom thought for a moment, if Dumbledore was taken by surprise by the basilisk, could it be a bit risky? After all, the horror of the basilisk is in the encounter: you will die when you see it, which is simply incomprehensible.

However, a wizard of Dumbledore's level is very hard to kill with a sneak attack, maybe he still has some trump cards up his sleeve.

"Just listen to what I have to tell you..."

Tom told Hermione a bit about his experiences over the past two days, and Hermione gasped, "How could you do so much in a single weekend? And to top it all off, you took the time to take a walk with me in the middle of all this!

"It's too dangerous! Do you know how dangerous the Ministry of Magic has rated the basilisk? You, you shouldn't have been so reckless" Hermione stood up, "You really should have reported it to Professor Dumbledore, and I told you that if anything happens, you can call me, I should still be of some use!"

Tom shrugged, struggling against the basilisk, if there's no way to revive, it's better not to go looking for death.

"Anyway, the Chamber of Secrets is safe now, would you like to take a look?" Tom threw out a very tempting option.

Hermione felt instantly complicated, her rational mind was telling her that she should inform Professor Dumbledore, and that it was too late to go to the Chamber of Secrets right now, there was definitely not enough time. But her sensitivity went straight to reason with a "stunning charm", she dragged the fainting reason aside and said, "Why are you hesitating?! Go away!".

"Okay, okay" Hermione agreed with Tom's suggestion: look, the Chamber of Secrets is on the second floor, and we're on the second floor too, so there's no problem going through there.

So Tom went with Hermione to Myrtle's bathroom, and this time Myrtle was inside.

When she heard the footsteps, she jumped.

"Oh? It's the handsome boy from last time," Myrtle grinned as she flew, "and this time with a girl!"

She floated over to Hermione and circled her.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk..."

"I heard there's a crybaby here who doesn't do anything all day, so I brought her here," Tom interrupted Myrtle directly, so she wouldn't say anything nasty.

Myrtle covered her face and flew off in a rage, "Get out of this bathroom! I won't share this bathroom with you even after you die!".

Myrtle stormed out. Tom led Hermione to the tap at the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

"Didn't you say you needed Parseltongue to open it? Where did you learn Parseltongue?", Hermione was a bit puzzled, but when she saw Tom suddenly turn into the beautiful Occamy, he understood everything.

Tom was also very proud of himself, and that's because how could ordinary people think of this way to master Parseltongue?

Tom opened the Chamber of Secrets, then turned into Fawkes and led Hermione into the pipe.

"I didn't know there was such a place under Hogwarts." Once inside the Chamber of Secrets, Hermione marveled at the amount of work that had gone into its construction, "I wonder how Slytherin managed to build it back then, even in modern times, it would take a year or more to build a tunnel like this."

Tom thought about the pitiful speed at which the British Underground was being built, and felt that Hermione was actually giving credit to the British when she said it would take a year to build. In Western Europe, it is not uncommon for a railroad to take five or six years to build: the government discusses a bill, the bill is discussed in parliament, money is finally raised to start construction, and then a war of words ensues between builders, workers, environmental groups, etc.

The only good thing about this inefficient process is that the welfare of the workers is guaranteed: no overtime, lots of money, a strike now and then, and a good time.