A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

The next day, a weekend morning.

Harry and Ron staggered out of their dormitory and saw Hermione already sitting in a chair in the common room.

The two had just sat down next to her when they saw Hermione slam a newspaper on the table with a "thud".

"I knew it!" the little witch said angrily.

Harry and Ron snapped out of their daze. They exchanged a glance, and Harry asked, "What happened, Hermione?"

"Remember the book the professor showed us? The one about Headmaster Depp. Back then, there was a copy of the Daily Prophet on Professor Hyp's desk, and I had a bad feeling about it. This morning I found the newspapers from the last few days... That woman, Rita Skeeter! She dared to slander Headmaster Dumbledore..." Hermione was trembling with anger.

Harry quickly picked up the newspaper, and Ron plopped down next to him, leaning his head over.

That was yesterday's Daily Prophet. The most striking image was of Dumbledore looking up with a full head of white hair. Judging from the photograph, he looked both old and sinister. The headline on the front page was "Dumbledore's Big Mistake".

Harry sensed something was wrong and quickly began to read—

"Our special correspondent Rita Skeeter reports: The eccentric Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, has always been a highly controversial wizard."

"As the recognized greatest wizard of his time, Dumbledore has been hiding in Hogwarts Castle ever since he defeated the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, rarely appearing in the public eye."

Everyone praises him highly, believing he is protecting the hope of the British magical world, continuously supplying it with various magical talents. But is that really the truth?

"I recently received letters from several parents reporting horrific attacks at schools, with the perpetrators still at large. Mrs. Ferrian from Top Hill wrote: 'My child lives in constant fear at school, and the professors are helpless and do nothing about it! I have no choice but to send my child home for Christmas.'"

"I found this concerned parent and interviewed her. The situation was far more serious than I had imagined—this wasn't the first attack; an attack had occurred more than a month ago. Only that time, the victim was a cat, but the news was strictly suppressed!"

"In order to mitigate the impact and avoid being discovered and attacked by the outside world, the headmaster did not hesitate to fabricate a sensational lie - he attributed it all to the thousand-year-old legend of Hogwarts, the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin."

"The irony is that he did something similar fifty years ago when the headmaster was a Transfiguration professor, during which time a poor Ravenclaw witch tragically lost her life. Hogwarts apprehended the suspect, but Dumbledore had a huge influence on the then headmaster, Armando Dippet, and through his intervention, the matter was eventually dropped, and the suspect was merely expelled from the school."

"Three days before I wrote this, two weeks had passed since the second student attack, yet the outside world remained completely unaware, and the perpetrators were still at large. We cannot help but worry: has the all-powerful Dumbledore truly grown old?"

"I will follow up on this matter and reveal the truth to everyone. In the next issue, we will start with the work of this headmaster and unveil a more authentic image of Dumbledore."

That concludes the main text. However, at the bottom of the page, there is a small line of text that previews the content of the next report, which reads:

Dumbledore has always been willing to hire controversial instructors, such as Gilderoy Lockhart and Felix Heap this year, but are these two really suitable? Let's wait and see (insider information is welcome, contact: Rita Skeeter, editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet, author of twelve best-selling books, and best-selling record holder).

"How could she say that about Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed angrily. "And what about the Chamber of Secrets? We saw it with our own eyes, how could it be a lie!"

"You can't believe a word Rita Skeeter says. She's always making up rumors and gossip about celebrities," Ron said knowledgeably. "A few years ago, her feud with Lockhart in the newspapers caused quite a stir, and my mother really disliked her."

"It seems we now know what kind of woman this is," Hermione said sarcastically.

Ron picked up the newspaper. "Did you notice? This woman is planning a series of reports. The next one is about Professor Lockhart and Professor Hyp. How will she present them?"

Hermione said helplessly, "She portrayed Headmaster Dumbledore as a schemer, so I doubt the two professors will escape the same fate."

"I don't care about Lockhart; he's all talk. Do you think Professor Hyp might storm into the Daily Prophet building and unleash a bat-like curse on that woman?"

"Ron! That's illegal! How could the professor do that!"

The three discussed the matter and ultimately came to a rather pessimistic conclusion.

Harry pointed to a sentence in the newspaper, "She said a suspect was caught fifty years ago. Who was she referring to?"

"Come on, Harry, you actually believe that woman's nonsense?"

"Of course I don't believe it, but—" Harry's eyes were fixed on Hermione.

Her face paled instantly. "Fifty years ago, he was expelled... Was that suspect Hagrid?"

Ron licked his lips nervously.

Harry said quickly, "I believe Dumbledore, Hagrid can't be the murderer! But since he's listed as a suspect, he must know something!"

The three were preparing to brave the snowstorm to reach the Forbidden Forest cabin when they bumped into a burly figure as soon as they stepped out of the castle. It was Hagrid, his face covered in snow, his thick beard frozen, and he was carrying a dead chicken.

"Hagrid, oh—" Harry bumped right into him.

"Watch out! Little ones!" Hagrid said gruffly, waving a limp chicken in his hand, a few feathers flying through the air with his movements...

That evening.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione have just returned from the abandoned underground classroom, and everything is going well with the Polyjuice Potion.

Harry carried with him the magic scrolls given to him by Professor Hyp, translating the Parsley language word by word. In the empty, abandoned classroom, hoarse, eerie sounds would occasionally echo.

This kept Ron from getting a good night's sleep—in his half-awake state, he would always see a witch brewing a mud-like potion, and a wizard making a hissing sound like a snake.

Earlier that afternoon, they finally got firsthand information about the secret room from Hagrid.

At this moment, they were hiding in a corner of the lounge.

"Almost all of them match up!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly.

"What?"

"The monster of the Chamber of Secrets! Wait for me—" Hermione had clearly made up her mind. She hurriedly ran back to her dormitory and soon returned with a piece of parchment.

The three huddled together, looking at the text above, which was about a terrifying magical creature called a "basilisk".

After Harry and Ron finished reading the information, Hermione recounted the clues she had gathered over the past few days: "Basilisks can hibernate for long periods, their eyes are lethal, they are natural enemies of spiders, they are afraid of chickens... What comes to mind?"

"So, the monster in the secret room is the basilisk?" Ron asked excitedly.

"No mistake!" Harry slammed his fist on the table.

They received two main pieces of information from Hagrid: one was that his chickens kept dying inexplicably; the other was that he had kept an eight-eyed giant spider fifty years ago, and the giant spider was terrified of the monster in the secret chamber and refused to reveal a single word about it.

They all match!

"But there's still a major problem: the basilisk can't petrify people. I initially overlooked it because of this, but now the circumstantial evidence is quite compelling," Hermione said meticulously. "Perhaps I should find some time to ask Professor Hyp if there's any way to lessen the damage from the basilisk's gaze..."

She angrily pounded her head. "It's so strange, I feel like something's right in front of me, but I just can't seem to see it..."

Harry swallowed hard. "Hermione, I think I understand."