HP: I beat the otome game at Hogwarts

Shift!

Leila's mind raced through every swear word she knew. What incredible luck! Just this once, she was all alone, and tonight was the perfect time to catch the killer and end it all, and she ended up running into the mysterious monster in the locked room.

Draco Malfoy also heard the strange sound, and his face turned grim—clearly, he immediately realized that the two of them might have stumbled upon the monster in the secret chamber.

The two locked eyes and reached a tacit agreement:

Run!

But the thing was moving very fast. Lyra could hear its heavy body gliding across the ground, and the vibrations on the ground grew stronger and stronger, caused by the enormous creature moving at high speed.

"Damn it! We have to find a way to get rid of it—" The platinum young master was completely unaware that his voice was trembling uncontrollably.

But Lyra couldn't afford to laugh at him now. Just as she was about to suggest running downstairs to find the professor, she suddenly heard a chilling hiss: "...Kill...Tear..."

"!" Wait, that cold yet slightly familiar voice... isn't that—

"Hello, cutie~" Leila couldn't help but greet her.

But to the young master of Platinum, it was the same eerie and cold hissing sound.

"Merlin! It's a Basilisk! Wait, how come you speak Parsley too?!" Draco Malfoy felt like his whole body was splitting open. It was one thing for that scarred savior to speak Parsley, but why was a Muggle speaking Parsley too?! This isn't Slytherin!!

Merlin's beard! And what kind of wholesale parsleyan is this now? Are they everywhere?!

"...Another Parseltongue?" The chasing behind slowed down, and the cold hissing sound resumed. This time, if you listened carefully, you could still discern a hint of doubt.

"It's nice to meet you. Can we be friends?" Lyra tried to recall her crash course in the Harlequin language and continued to strike up a conversation.

Poor Draco could only hear a hissing sound with its own built-in code in his ears.

"What did it say? Are you communicating with it?" The young master was so nervous that his tongue almost spasmed.

"...Your pronunciation is a bit strange...you don't seem to have a natural Parsley accent..."

"Don't ask me, I don't know what it's saying either!" Lyra replied to the young master Platinum when she had a moment.

"Aren't you a Parsène?!" Draco couldn't understand at all. "Can a Parsène only speak and not understand?"

“Shh! I’m not a Parseltongue speaker, I just learned a few broken Parseltongue phrases from Harry…” Lyra admitted truthfully.

"!!!" Draco Malfoy struggled to describe his complex emotions: on one hand, he was filled with despair at being unable to communicate with and stop the Basilisk in this critical moment; on the other hand, as a pure-blood nobleman and a Slytherin who took pride in the House, he felt a sense of relief upon learning that Parseltongue was still rare and precious, not some common breed...

"...You lack the master's aura; you are not of the master's bloodline..."

"I'm Layla, what's your name?" Layla could only continue reciting the only three quick-learned Parseltongue phrases she had ever mastered.

"...I'm sorry, but I must obey my young master's orders...to kill..."

Both Lyra and Draco could hear the basilisk's voice behind them, which was filled with murderous intent and extremely cold.

“Don’t turn around, listen to me. You’re still wearing the amulet I gave you, aren’t you?” Draco’s expression suddenly darkened, as if he had made a decision. “You go find the professor first. I’ll stall for time. I’m a pureblood, I’ll be fine—”

"Don't talk nonsense, the basilisk can't tell the difference between you and me!" Lyra immediately rejected the platinum young master's valiant suggestion, "If we're going to run, we run together—"

"Wait, the amulet!" Lyra's eyes lit up. She pulled up the sleeve of her school robe, revealing the ruby ​​bracelet on her left wrist, and quickly took it off and put it on Draco's wrist.

"Where did this bracelet come from?" The platinum-wearing young master's face darkened instantly.

“It was a gift from a friend, don’t worry,” Lyra said, showing off the emerald bracelet on her right hand. “I also have the amulet you gave me; we’ll each have one—”

"I would never wear any talisman given to me by some unknown stinky man!" the platinum young master vehemently refused.

"Then I'll trade with you!" Lyra had no choice but to take off her emerald bracelet while snatching back her ruby ​​bracelet.

"You still want to wear a talisman given to you by someone else?!" The platinum young master's face darkened even more.

"Is this the time to be arguing about this?!" Leila screamed angrily.

Sure enough, in the short time that the two were delayed by arguing, the basilisk behind them quickly caught up, and the crawling sound grew louder and louder.

If they delay any longer, they'll both be doomed.

Since I'm a player and won't actually be in danger, and I have a protective charm for double insurance, I might as well kick this crazy, indiscriminate young nobleman out of the way—

Lyra quickly slipped the emerald bracelet onto Draco's wrist, then kicked the platinum-haired young master into the empty classroom beside her, locking the door with her wand.

Then, clutching the ruby ​​bracelet, she happily turned to greet the petrification experience gift package—

Lyra saw a pair of huge, clear yellow eyes, and at the same time, the ruby ​​bracelet in her hand shattered into powder.

She stood frozen in place, her last thought before turning into a statue:

You know what, yellow eyes are actually quite attractive.

*

Draco Malfoy listened listlessly through the door as the sounds of the basilisk crawling faded into the distance. He knew he was safe, but he didn't have the courage to open the door.

He hadn't heard any heartbreaking chewing or bone-crackling sounds, so he knew the black-haired girl was wearing a talisman and must have just been petrified. But he remained slumped on the cold floor, motionless, as if he were the one who had been petrified.

In his short and smooth-sailing life, he had never experienced such a shock: a girl of Mongol descent, in the face of a basilisk, risked her life to protect herself, a pure-blooded noble.

That's a basilisk! A thousand-year-old basilisk left behind by Slytherin!

If he had been out of his mind to let the other run away first and stay behind to delay, it was because he knew that he possessed more than one amulet made by an alchemist master, and that he was a pureblood.

Everyone knows that purebloods are immune to attacks.

He simply wanted to demonstrate his courage and demeanor to the girl he liked, to show her how noble, powerful, brave, and fearless a true pureblood could be, and how vastly different he was from those poor, down-on-his-luck pureblood traitors and scarred men with nothing but a savior aura.

He just wanted to show off in front of pretty girls when he was safe and secure.

The worst consequence afterward was that I got a scolding from my dad.

But she had nothing but the talisman she had given herself.

A mere hemp seed, yet he stepped forward to protect him.