A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

After class, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked out of the classroom, discussing the information they had just received from Professor Binns.

"I've known all along that Salazar Slytherin is a crazy old lunatic," Ron said with utter disgust.

Hermione was still sorting through the information: "Professor Binns mentioned the monster in the Chamber of Secrets. Nobody knows what it is, but Harry, we have a direction now."

She gave Harry a long look.

Harry understood him perfectly. He glanced quickly to the left and right and whispered, "You mean, my Parsleyan..."

Ron looked at the two of them with a look of horror.

"That's right!"

The three squeezed through the crowded corridor and soon arrived at the corridor where the attack had taken place.

The scene before me had changed considerably from that night. The water had been drained, the petrified cat was no longer hanging on the torch stand, and the words "The secret room has been opened" had been cleaned up.

However, there was an empty chair leaning against the wall.

"Filch has been standing guard here all this time," Ron whispered. "He's been really irritable lately, constantly finding excuses to deduct points, like talking too loudly or being cheeky."

"But that's none of our business. We just need to check the scene and see if we've missed any clues," Hermione said.

The group sprang into action. Harry lay on the ground, his glasses almost touching the floor, and soon he discovered the burn marks. Hermione also spotted the spectacular sight of spiders lining up to escape the castle.

"What does this mean?" Harry asked, puzzled.

Ron stood far away from the spider, his face filled with terror: "This proves a lot—for example, the spider is afraid of that monster."

Hermione, as usual, sorted through the clues: "So, the attack was launched by a snake, characterized by its ability to petrify, and it's a natural enemy of spiders. This clue is very close to the truth!"

The little witch said excitedly, "Give me a week, two weeks at most, and I'll be able to find out about it. Ron, honestly, why are you shaking like that?"

Then Ron told the story of how, when he was a child, he was hugging a teddy bear and the twins used their clumsy magic to make the bear grow many legs, which made her giggle.

Ron said irritably, "You wouldn't find it funny if you'd ever experienced it. Imagine you're hugging a teddy bear and calling its name, and suddenly it sprouts a bunch of legs..."

"The puddle on the ground is gone," Harry said suddenly.

"Someone probably cleaned the floor, like Filch, that's his job," Ron said without hesitation.

"But where did the water come from?" Harry instinctively felt that this might be a clue.

"Ah! I've got it!" Hermione screamed.

"What's wrong?"

"I've got an idea, a possible witness, she lives right next door and may have witnessed the whole attack."

Following her gaze, the two boys looked at the sign for the girls' restroom and swallowed hard.

……

After dinner, they left the castle and followed the path to Hagrid's cottage.

Along the way, they continued to argue about what had happened during the day.

"If you ask me, we shouldn't have gone to the girls' restroom. That Myrtle, and that place... it was a nightmare! And Percy found out about us too." Ron kept rambling on.

"But we also learned that she died fifty years ago, and before she died she saw a pair of huge, frightening yellow eyes. What does that mean? It means they were the eyes of a snake."

Hermione ignored Ron's muttered "not necessarily," and continued, "Your information is also very useful. We also learned the name Tom Riddle, who received a special contribution award from the school fifty years ago. Perhaps this isn't a coincidence!"

Harry's eyes widened. "You mean, that Tom killed the previous successor of the Chamber of Secrets?"

"That's right."

The three knocked on Hagrid's door, and he warmly welcomed the three young wizards inside.

Ron looked on in surprise. "Hagrid, your house is clean now."

Indeed, the three of them looked at Hagrid's cabin and found it much cleaner; at least to the naked eye, the black floor had turned into a dark brown floor.

"Oh, you mean this?" Hagrid said casually. "When Professor Hyp visited me last time, he helped me tidy up before he left. It was very simple for him, just a wave of his wand."

"Professor Hyp?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"Yes, Professor Hyp. Dumbledore recommended him. He needs some advice on magical creatures. I'm an expert in that area, but he's not bad either. He has insightful views on some obscure areas, yes, very insightful."

Hagrid brought over a plate of biscuits, a jug of pumpkin juice, and three cups. He said with considerable pride, "Professor Hyp was a fine wizard. I didn't have much contact with him when he was in school, but—" he pointed to a book on the chair, "look, that's a gift he gave me!"

The three eagerly opened the book, and Hermione discovered that it was somewhat similar to a Muggle comic book, mostly consisting of photographs with brief introductory text at the bottom of each page.

"Are these all magical creatures?" Ron asked curiously, as they were completely different from what he had seen as a child.

“No, these are creatures from the Muggle world,” Harry said excitedly. “Look, this is a lion, this is a giraffe—it has a very long neck, I’ve seen them at the zoo, and this is a badger, somewhat similar to the Hufflepuff symbol, but they’re definitely not the same.”

Hermione was quite familiar with these animals; she had read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, which included a chapter on animals. But the pictures in Muggle books don't move.

Hermione then asked, "Did Professor Hyp make this book himself?"

Hagrid took a big gulp of butterbeer and let out a crisp burp: "Yeah, he really put in the effort, didn't he? I feel like I owe him a favor..."

After most of the day had passed, the three of them finally remembered why they had come.

"The secret chamber? The heir? The monster?" Hagrid's face turned pale instantly.

"Yes, we've found some clues, from fifty years ago..." Harry was about to introduce their discovery, but Hagrid quickly interrupted him.

"Listen, there's no secret room, no monsters, it was just an accident!" Hagrid exclaimed, waving his large hands. Then his voice trailed off as he muttered, "It really was an accident. Nobody expected it to happen, nobody..."

The three were then evicted from the hut.

"He's definitely hiding something!" Ron said indignantly.

"We can all see that."

The three returned to the warm common room and had to face reality, starting to catch up on their homework.

After a while, Hermione suddenly closed the book, startling the two of them.

"Who do you think will be the heir?" Hermione asked them softly, as if talking to herself.

"It's definitely a Slytherin, I'd guess Malfoy," Ron said quickly.

Harry immediately accepted this idea. "Maybe it really is him. Think about it, his family has been pure-bloods for generations, he has a reason to do this. And most importantly, he recently suffered a major setback—he was put in detention by Professor Hyde for insulting Hermione!"

Hermione's breath hitched for a moment.

Ron seemed to have found a theoretical basis as well. "Harry, you're absolutely right. It must have been him. Maybe the Malfoy family is a descendant of Slytherin, and they've kept this secret for generations...right, Hermione?"

Just then, the twins approached from a distance. "I think I heard you talking about Professor Hyp. Has he made something interesting this time?"

The twins sat on either side of Harry and Ron.

"It's nothing," Ron said quickly.

Fred, who was sitting next to him, put his arm around his shoulder and winked at the three of them. "Don't do that, we can exchange information. We also admire Professor Hyp."

George, sitting next to Harry, laughed and said, "Yeah, we idolize him so much, we wish we could take him apart and study his brain."

Fred sighed. "George, you're making it sound like we have some kind of malice towards Professor Hyp."

"Is there?"

"Of course not."

"At most—"

"Trying to replicate his magical puppets." The two of them said in unison, one after the other.

Harry thought for a moment, "Well, we went to Hagrid's hut in the evening and saw the magic book that Professor Hyp gave us."

"What's it about?"

"Muggle animals, you know, Hagrid is fascinated by them."

"Cool!" the twins looked at each other and said in unison.

Ron said, "It's your turn. We agreed to exchange information."

Fred blinked. "Our little Ronnie has learned something new—"

"—You're not so easily fooled anymore," George chimed in.

"But—who told you to be our little brother?" Fred teased as usual, then whispered, "We can provide information. You know, we're Professor Hyp's fans. If any of you want to know his whereabouts, like arranging a chance encounter or something..."

Ron asked in surprise, "You're following the professor?"

"Don't say that. We just received a little help. For example, Professor Hyp has been going to the Forbidden Forest a lot lately." Fred shrugged and casually dropped a bombshell.

"The Forbidden Forest?" Hermione asked in surprise.

The three of them exchanged glances.