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Pets can turn into people?!

Could it be Animagus?

Wait a minute, Animagus doesn't have a half-human, half-snake state, does it?

Seeing the confusion in Hermione's eyes, Zicomo explained:

"I told you, Laya's situation is very special. She can transform into this half-snake, half-human state, or into the little lizard you saw before, or even into a completely human form."

So I told you then that you could treat her like a girl.

Hermione hadn't expected that her cousin's "special" was such a special law.

She quickly accepted Laya's premise, since everything illogical could be explained by magic.

"So, why is Mrs. Lorice here too?"

She had noticed it earlier; the cat playing with Laya was Filch's cat, Mrs. Lorris.

“You can call her Lorris now; she is no longer Mrs. Lorris of Filch.”

Zicomo told Hermione about how he "rescued" Lorris and how Lorris planned to spend her later years there.

Hermione nodded after hearing this; a teenage cat really should retire.

"Alright, it's about time. Harry and Ron should be back by now. You should go out and see them."

Zicomo glanced at the time and reminded him.

"Aren't you coming out with me?" Hermione asked.

Zicomo waved his hand, indicating that he was not interested.

"I know without even guessing that Draco is definitely not Slytherin's heir. He might not even be able to beat Harry. If he were the heir, then no one would have to worry about Voldemort coming back for revenge."

Hermione left the Zen Garden and went to the Gryffindor common room, but did not see Harry and Ron.

She waited a while before the two of them walked in from outside, looking dejected.

They didn't laugh when they saw Hermione's appearance; instead, they slumped listlessly onto the sofa.

"What's wrong with you?" Hermione asked.

"Sigh, it's a long story. When we realized the potion was losing its effect, we quickly left the Slytherin common room, only to run into Snape outside."

Ron said, utterly dejected.

In fact, Snape had been waiting for a long time. Ever since Zicomo led him to secretly observe the two men stealing his potion ingredients, he had been calculating the time.

He noticed the two men were in a hurry at the Christmas Eve dinner and knew they were about to make their move.

So he waited patiently outside the Slytherin common room.

Because Zicomo had discussed it with him, he didn't deduct too many Gryffindor points, only a symbolic twenty points.

However, Harry and Ron were asked to come to his office every night for a week to help him process potion ingredients.

He had already prepared dozens of kilograms of slugs, and that was just for one night.

He needed to think of what other disgusting potion ingredients he could find; he might as well use these two laborers.

"By the way, what's wrong with you?"

Harry and Meghan had already noticed Hermione's new look.

"I mistook cat hair for human hair. It's not a big deal; it'll be fine in a few days. Tell me what you found." Hermione waved her hand, moving on from the matter.

The result brought by the two greatly disappointed Hermione.

Just as her cousin had said, Draco was not the so-called heir.

The only useful information was that the secret room had been opened fifty years ago, and that people had died at that time.

"Sigh, now that we know the monster in the secret room is a basilisk, who exactly opened it?"

Recalling Zicomo's words, Hermione suddenly thought of someone.

"Do you think Voldemort could be Slytherin's successor?"

Hermione's guess startled Harry, who jumped up from the sofa.

“Very likely!” Harry exclaimed excitedly, “But where is he now?”

Hermione analyzed, "Last semester he was living on Quirrell's head, could he be living on someone else's head this semester?"

“Yes! That must be it,” Harry agreed.

“But there are so many people at Hogwarts, how are we supposed to know who he’s staying with?” Ron poured cold water on Harry’s hopes.

Harry was not discouraged at all. He said, "It's okay, we can take our time and see who's been acting strangely this semester."

As he spoke, he began to think about which professors and students had exhibited unusual behavior this semester.

Hermione yawned: "Let's talk about this tomorrow. Don't forget you'll be facing Snape's punishment tomorrow."

After saying that, she turned and left, going back to her dormitory to sleep.

Ron stood up, stretched, patted Harry on the shoulder, said "Good luck," and went back to his dormitory.

Harry was left alone, lost in thought.

After thinking for a long time, a figure suddenly appeared in his mind—the most unpopular person at Hogwarts, Filch.

Voldemort most likely possessed Filch.

Filch was present at the scene every time someone was petrified.

Including the time Harry was hospitalized and Colin was petrified.

After Harry was discharged from the hospital, he inquired and learned that Colin was discovered and notified by Professor Filch.

Chapter 100 Tom Arrives at the Door, Regarding the Aftermath

Some might say, Filch's cat was also petrified, so how could Filch have done it?

Harry has two guesses about this.

One possibility is that Filch did it on purpose to clear himself of suspicion; otherwise, it wouldn't make sense why the basilisk went to such great lengths to petrify a cat on its first appearance.

Moreover, Filch has harbored hatred towards him ever since. On the night Mrs. Norris had her accident, Dumbledore clearly said that the mandrake could be given to Snape to make the antidote, but Filch chose the unreliable Lockhart instead.

This whole thing is suspicious; perhaps Filch never wanted the antidote to be made.

Another possibility is that even Filch himself was unaware that he had done these things.

Voldemort only needed to control Filch to release the Basilisk, and then find a way to make Filch forget his memories of this period of time, so that no one would know that he had returned.

Having experienced failure last semester, he will undoubtedly be more cautious when he tries again, and it's not impossible that he might use this method.

If Zicomo knew Harry's deduction, he would definitely laugh and applaud. What a brilliant Harry!

He did indeed learn of Harry's deduction, because the next day Harry told him and Hermione about his speculation.

Voldemort is indeed the heir to Slytherin, but Harry's suspicions are a bit far-fetched.

Last semester he suspected Snape, this semester he suspects Filch, and he's curious who Harry plans to suspect next semester.

Ultimately, Harry decided to make Filch his prime suspect and decided to observe him discreetly for the time being.

However, before he could take any action, Snape came knocking on his door first.

"Potter, and Weasley. I hope you don't forget tonight's punishment."

Harry looked miserable; he had originally planned to follow Filch that night to investigate his actions.

It now appears that the plan will have to be put on hold for the time being.

…………

That night, Harry and Ron finished dealing with the dozens of pounds of slugs Snape had ordered, and walked back to their dormitory, exhausted.

As they passed a staircase, they discovered that a corridor was flooded.

"This direction leads to... Myrtle's restroom?"

Harry figured out the source of the water and beckoned Ron to come and investigate.

The two went to the washroom and found Myrtle crying.

After some questioning, it turned out that someone had hit Myrtle on the head with a book.

This puzzled them; don't ghosts usually pass through various objects?

What kind of book could possibly hit her on the head?

Harry picked up the book from the ground. He didn't know what material it was made of, but it was waterproof.

"Tom? [Unintelligible text]"

“That name sounds familiar.” Ron recalled where he had seen the name before. “Right, I saw it in the trophy room. I think he received some kind of special contribution award about fifty years ago.”

"Fifty years ago again? What exactly happened when the secret room was opened back then?"

Ron shook his head. How would he know what happened back then?

“Fifty years ago, I died here,” Myrtle said softly from the side.