Struggling to survive at Hogwarts

Harry thought the world was absolutely terrible!

If he is guilty, let the law punish him, instead of sending a peacock to torment his eyes!

Merlin's beard! Harry had never hated anyone so much, except for his Uncle Vernon and his family, since he was 12 years old!

Gilderoy Lockhart, that flamboyant and overconfident professor, actually had Harry help him write a reply to the readers!

"Oh, Lockhart! Your eyes, as bright as stars, appear in my dreams every night!"

How I wish I could be by your side, if you could gaze at me with those mesmerizing eyes every day...

I am willing to give everything for you!

Harry forced himself to finish reading the letter, feeling nauseous. He felt as if his eyes had been polluted, and he simply didn't have the courage to pick up a pen and write a reply.

Harry's silence puzzled Lockhart, but when he picked up the letter in front of Harry, he instantly understood the reason for the other's silence.

Harry also turned his attention to him because of his actions.

"Ha! Harry! You should know, after all, I'm an excellent wizard! So it's understandable that some book fans are a little excited! Isn't it?"

As he spoke, Lockhart winked at Harry, a gesture that made Harry extremely uncomfortable. A greasy feeling gradually welled up in Harry's heart, making him almost gag.

Just then, a hoarse voice reached Harry's ears, "...food...tear it apart...blood...killing..."

Harry tilted his head in confusion, trying to hear who was speaking, but the voice disappeared again in the next second.

Harry asked Lockhart, somewhat puzzled, "Professor, did you hear that? There was a strange sound just now."

Lockhart was about to continue showing off his achievements to Harry, but was interrupted by Harry, who said somewhat unhappily, "A sound? I didn't hear anything."

“No, Professor, just now, a sound was heard!” Harry insisted.

Harry's confident expression made Lockhart take it seriously as well, and a chill ran down his spine.

Lockhart glanced around warily, his eyes catching the clock on the table. "Oh! Harry! I think you must be tired... Well, we've been writing for so long!"

Tonight seems to be Halloween. If you rush over now, you might still make it in time…

Harry was overjoyed when he heard Lockhart was going to leave on his own, and ran towards the door without saying a word.

Harry ran into Ron and Hermione as soon as he stepped outside.

"What? You heard a strange sound?" Hermione asked, puzzled.

If Harry hadn't looked so serious, Hermione would have almost thought he was teasing her.

"Dude! You really heard that? But we haven't found anything along the way. Not a single person." Ron was also puzzled.

Harry was about to argue when the two of them didn't believe him, but then that strange voice rang out again!

Harry was determined to find the source of the sound, so he ran in the direction of the sound.

“Harry!” x2.

Ron and Hermione had no idea why Harry had suddenly run off. Although they were completely confused, out of concern for Harry, they followed him.

The three of them walked to the corridor on the third floor of the castle, where a string of spiders crawling in an orderly fashion caught their attention.

“I’ve never seen a spider crawl like that before…” Harry said in bewilderment.

The next moment, Ron exclaimed in surprise through the water on the ground, "What is that?"

The three of them looked up and their eyes met two lines of large characters on the wall.

"The Chamber of Secrets is open. Enemies of the Heirs, beware!" Hermione read aloud the message on the wall, enunciating each word clearly.

"No!" Harry exclaimed in surprise as he looked to the side. The other two also saw clearly: a cat was hanging upside down from a sculpture nearby.

"It's Mrs. Lorris." The three of them recognized the cat, and the next second, a large group of students appeared from one side of the corridor.

When the young wizards saw what was happening before them, it was as if they had been put on pause.

The other three young wizards from the houses looked at Harry, his two companions, and the blood-written words on the wall with suspicion and disbelief.

After seeing the blood-written words, the young Slytherin wizards silently turned their gazes to the dark-haired girl at the front of the line.

Draco had intended to take this opportunity to mock Hermione and get back at her for all the humiliation he had suffered, but when he saw the atmosphere in his own house, he couldn't help but frown.

Then she glared back at all those eyes that were looking at Thea.

Thea already knew what kind of people these were, so she didn't turn around to look. Instead, she noticed that the Gryffindor prefect had stopped the young wizard who was about to take a picture.

The prefect of Gryffindor, I think his name is...Percy Weasley?

"What are you doing here? Hurry up! Get out of the way!" Just as Thea was thinking this, a sharp voice came from the crowd and got closer and closer.

“Potter? What are you doing…” Filch struggled to squeeze into the center of the crowd and looked at Harry in the center with a puzzled expression.

The next second, Mrs. Lorris's stiff figure came into Filch's view.

“Mrs. Lorris…” Filch’s incredulous and sorrowful voice rang out.

In a flash, Filch turned on Harry, "—You killed my cat…"

“No, I didn’t…” Harry tried to explain.

Filch wouldn't listen, his emotions escalating. He grabbed Harry by the collar, shouting, "I'm going to kill you! Potter..."

"Argus! Don't be impulsive. Please let go of Potter." At the crucial moment, Dumbledore appeared, followed by a puzzled Professor McGonagall and a gloomy Professor Snape.

The three professors turned their gaze to the words in blood. Thea noticed a fleeting look of shock on Professor McGonagall's face.

As for Dumbledore and Snape... the two of them basically showed no change in expression.

"So little wizards, go back to your dorm rooms right now and don't come out!" The little wizards immediately obeyed and turned to leave.

“Except… the three of you.” Dumbledore pointed to Harry and his two companions who were walking at the back.

Once everyone had left, Dumbledore turned to Filch and reassured him, "She's not dead, she's just petrified..."

"Ah, I knew it. It's a pity I wasn't there. I happen to know a way to break a curse." Lockhart appeared out of nowhere and continued to boast.

Dumbledore ignored him and continued, "But I don't know how she was petrified..."

"Ask him! He did it!" Filch pressed Harry relentlessly.

“It wasn’t me, Headmaster. I swear, I didn’t touch Mrs. Norris,” Harry said anxiously to Dumbledore.

"In my opinion, the headmaster, or perhaps Potter and his friends, just happened to be passing by,"

The three little ones looked at each other, unable to believe that the old bat would be so kind.

"...But Potter, why weren't you in the hall just now?" Snape changed the subject.

“He writes back to his fans through me,” Lockhart blurted out, earning a glare from Snape.

“That’s why Ron and I went to find Harry, and he said…” Hermione hadn’t finished speaking when Harry interrupted, “I said I was very hungry!”

Snape immediately turned his gaze to Harry, then gestured to Dumbledore with his eyes, "This is the savior you've raised? Even a slug can see he's lying!"

Dumbledore was completely unaffected by Snape's words: "He is innocent until proven otherwise."

Dumbledore made the final decision.