The Return to Hogwarts

Amostah smiled nonchalantly, crossed his arms, and racked his brains for details about werewolf body language.

"Actually, it wasn't that complicated. There were more than a dozen werewolves who wanted to cause me trouble. I used a combination spell to add a magical fire similar to Fiendfire to the metal spears that were made of stone. I drove it directly into their hearts, which blocked the werewolves' powerful physical regeneration ability from the root. None of those guys lasted more than half a minute under this magic before they all turned to ashes."

Actually, there are many spells that are useful to them, but some spells might cause me trouble if I used them. I was still quite young then, and the Ministry of Magic's strict prohibitions still had some effect on me.

"Amosta--"

Professor Flitwick imagined Amostella slaughtering the pack of ferocious werewolves in his mind, and he trembled uncomfortably several times. Before he could ask any more questions, the door to the faculty dormitory was suddenly pushed open, and a Ravenclaw upperclasswoman rushed in with a look of terror on her face.

It's Percy's girlfriend, Penelope Crivart, a prefect in Ravenclaw!

Amosta deftly swung his wand before the door even opened, turning the werewolf back into a chair. He stared at Penelope, whose beautiful brown curls were almost soaked with sweat, and a bad thought suddenly began to churn in his mind.

“Miss Krivat, perhaps you should explain why you barged into the faculty lounge without knocking!”

Professor Flitwick was a very good-tempered man, but he was still a little embarrassed that someone from his own department had behaved so rudely in front of another professor.

“Professor Flitwick, and Professor Blaine—”

Penelope's eyes were glistening with tears; she looked quite frightened.

"Another student has gotten into trouble. Phew, it's a locked room mystery!"

Professor Flitwick screamed in alarm, nearly falling off the table. Amosta narrowed his eyes and asked in a deep voice,

"Please be more specific, Miss Krivat. What is your source? Who was attacked? And what is the current condition of the student who was attacked?"

Penelope trembled and began to sob softly. Amosta comforted her gently for a long time before she calmed down a little.

"--We were in Transfiguration class when Filch suddenly rushed into the classroom to tell Professor McGonagall that another young wizard had been attacked. We rushed out after him, and Filch led us to the place where Lorris was attacked. There was a new line on the wall—'Her remains will remain in the Chamber of Secrets forever--'"

As she spoke, Penelope broke down in tears. Professor Flitwick came over, stood on tiptoe, and gently patted her back, encouraging her to continue.

Professor McGonagall conducted an emergency investigation and discovered that it was Percy's sister, Ginny Weasley, a first-year Gryffindor student, who had gone missing.

Ginny Weasley?

That little girl who seemed a bit sickly and listless a while ago?

Amosta's gaze was deep and intense, but why her?

“Amosta!” Professor Flitwick cried out.

Amosta nodded, understanding what Professor Flitwick meant. He instructed Penelope not to wander around the castle alone anymore, but to stay with the professors as much as possible, before rushing out of the faculty dormitory without looking back.

When he came out, he found that almost all the young wizards already knew what had happened, and everyone's face was filled with fear and unease, as if a great disaster was about to befall them.

Amos Tower strode up to the third floor of the castle and found Filch herding all the young wizards who wanted to see the handwriting back to their respective house rooms. In the inner circle, Professor Snape was trying to erase the words. When he saw Amos Tower approaching, he immediately spoke in a low voice...

"Dumbledore has already inspected this place and found nothing. In addition, he discovered that someone used a powerful freezing spell to freeze all your panoramic telescopes. He's unsure if your surveillance can still record any valuable footage under these conditions."

Amosta nodded, seemingly unsurprised.

"I'll check it out later. Those telescopes can record the images and automatically transmit them back to my office. I didn't feel anyone break into my office, so I think the images should still be there."

Now, the sky outside was completely dark. Amosta stared into the darkness outside the window, feeling in a daze that the castle was trapped, but also with a sense of relief that something he had been waiting for for a long time had finally come to fruition.

The heir to the Chamber of Secrets has finally started making moves again, and this time, he didn't just petrify a student; he kidnapped Ginny Weasley, Bill and Charlie's sister. To be honest, Amosta had already sentenced the girl to death in his mind.

It only takes one spell to take a person's life; a few hours later, Ginny Weasley's body might already be cold.

A surge of inexplicable anger welled up within Amostra. Besides being an investigator for the Board of Trustees, he also held the title of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. The fact that the Slytherin heir had attacked his student almost in front of him left Amostra feeling offended.

Where is Dumbledore now?

Amos Tower withdrew his gaze and looked back at Professor Snape, noticing that his eyes also held the same unease as the young wizards.

“Lucius Malfoy, on behalf of the school board, invited the Ministry of Magic to get involved in this matter, and they were incredibly efficient this time. I heard from Cornelius Fudge in his office that they were planning to take Hagrid away.”

“Has Hagrid has already been proven innocent?” Amosta frowned. “Why are you still holding onto him?”

"Only Dumbledore and we believe—"

Snape pursed his thin lips, his expression somber.

"When faced with pressure, Connery Fudge is a weak-willed person; he has to come up with something to help him withstand public opinion!"

Amosta's eyes flickered, as if he were deep in thought. After a long pause, he finally spoke.

"I'd better go and find out what Dumbledore is up to first."

Today, out of curiosity, I asked the editor about the readership data, which is about 1400. To be honest, although the number of favorites is less than 10,000, this number of readers still makes me very happy. Here, I would like to thank you all for your continued support of this book. I will continue to write regardless of whether the data is good or bad, but good results will undoubtedly give me more motivation.

In addition, my editor told me that if there are no unexpected events, it should be available next week. I don't know the exact day yet, but it will be available in the fourth round of recommendations. I don't know if this is a good thing or not.

The release date was a bit rushed. I originally thought it would be after four rounds of updates, and I was even hoping it might make it onto a chart like the Sanjiang List. But I can't worry about that now. I need to ask for a day off on Saturday to think about the next part of the plot and also to build up some backlog. I can't possibly post 4000 words on the first day of release.

Chapter 77 Taking a day off on Saturday

I apologize to everyone; I need a few days to adjust my thinking, so I'm asking for leave.

In addition, the release date has been confirmed with the editor; the book will be available next Friday.

Chapter 78 People are panicked

In the Gryffindor common room, Percy sat silently on the sofa with his hands covering his face. Fred and George sat opposite him, but neither of them reacted to the comforting words of their mutual friend, Lee Jordan.

Ron sat by the fireplace, his face ashen, his lips moving constantly, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness.

Beside him, Harry fidgeted anxiously, glancing occasionally toward the door of the common room, as if waiting for something.

"I found it!"

Finally, the portrait of the fat lady was opened, and Hermione crawled out of the doorway, panting, waving a note in her hand.

Harry glanced at Ron, who showed no reaction, and quickly stood up from his chair to await Hermione's answer.

"--Professor Blaine's guess is correct,"

Hermione's orange eyes flashed with a hard light. Without a word, she shoved the note into Harry's hand and quietly recited its contents.

"In our country, many terrible beasts and monsters roam, the most bizarre and deadliest of which is the serpent monster, also known as the serpent king. This serpent can grow to enormous size and can usually live for hundreds of years."

It was hatched from a male egg by a toad. The basilisk kills people in a terrifying way. In addition to its deadly fangs, its stare can also kill. Anyone who is stared at by its eyes will die instantly.

Spiders flee at the sight of basilisks, for basilisks are their mortal enemies. Basilisks, in turn, flee at the mere sound of a rooster crowing, for the rooster's crow is also deadly to them.

"But--"

Ron finally came to his senses. He moved his dry, pale lips and mumbled something.

"So far, no one has died. If the basilisk's gaze could kill, Colin and Justin would be no exception."

"That's because no one has ever made eye contact with the basilisk—"

Harry felt like his stomach was submerged in ice water, and he muttered softly, his cheeks twitching.

"Hagrid's rooster was strangled, and Colin saw it through the camera. The basilisk burned all the film in the camera, so Colin was just petrified. Justin is Nick, and he must have seen the basilisk through the nearly headless Nick. Nick was indeed stared at by the basilisk's gaze. But he couldn't possibly die a second time, right?"

"And Mrs. Lorris"

Hermione said seriously,

“I suspect it saw the basilisk in the reflection of the water flowing from Myrtle’s washroom. Harry, I’m glad you’ve figured it out. Riddle deceived you. The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a basilisk, not some hairy monster. Hagrid may be innocent!”

Hermione's conclusion made Harry turn pale, and he stammered, unsure how to explain why Riddle's memories had deceived him.

"Let's go find Hagrid!"

After a long pause, Harry finally came to his senses and said firmly,

"Hagrid definitely knows something. I don't know why Riddle told us a false memory; maybe it's the real killer. But whatever the case, Hagrid definitely knows some crucial information!"

Professor McGonagall ordered all the young wizards to stay in the common room and not to go out. Although Percy was in no condition to carry out Professor McGonagall's orders, none of the three of them knew what was going on outside. Harry rushed to the dormitory to get his Invisibility Cloak, leaving Hermione and Ron speechless.

When they quietly slipped out of the common room, they found that there were no young wizards wandering around the castle anymore. The corridors were silent, except for professors patrolling the castle in groups. The expressions on the professors' faces made them feel desperate.

Is Ginny still alive? Why did the heirs of Slytherin ultimately target Ginny?

Even Hermione couldn't answer this question. In fact, what was flashing through Harry's mind was a horrific image: Ginny being found as a cold corpse, Mrs. Weasley wailing over Ginny's body, and Mr. Weasley squatting to the side, plucking out his few remaining hairs one by one!

Regret tore at Harry's heart like a venomous snake. At this moment, he deeply regretted not handing Riddle's diary to Professor Blaine sooner.

Professor Blaine could deduce from the sounds he heard that the attack was carried out by a snake moving through a tube. If it were him exchanging notes with Riddle, Harry would bet Professor Blaine could uncover what secrets Riddle was hiding in his mind!

It was a starlit night. They hurried toward the window of Hagrid's house, which was lit up. No one spoke until they reached Hagrid's door. Harry looked around warily before taking off his Invisibility Cloak.

Seconds after they knocked, Hagrid flung the door open, and they were met with Hagrid holding a crossbow and pointing it at them, with his big hound, Fang, barking loudly behind him.

Hagrid seemed quite shocked that they were there. He looked agitated, spilling water from the kettle that nearly extinguished the fire, and then his large hand trembled violently, knocking over the teapot.

"You've already heard about Ginny, haven't you?"

Ron stared at Hagrid with a sullen face, and Hermione remained silent, so Harry had to start a conversation himself.

"Oh, yes, I've already heard about it."

Hagrid seemed completely unaware that they had come to question him. His voice choked with emotion, and he kept glancing nervously out the window. Just as he was about to cut a thick slice of fruitcake, there was another loud knock on the door.

Harry could only swallow all the questions he wanted to ask, and together with Hermione, he pulled the dazed Ron into a corner. After seeing them hide, Hagrid once again grabbed the crossbow and suddenly pulled open the door.