Dylan shooed away the Weasleys and the others.
He explained to Neville and them that he would be staying put in his trunk for the time being.
While Neville and Seamus went out to chat with other students,
Dylan flickered, using Coal's shadow power, and under the cover of night, directly plunged into the shadows.
…
"Oh\! Harry, is there anything else you want me to do?"
Moaning Myrtle floated in mid-air, looking quite bashful as she saw Harry and his companions enter through the door.
She was short and stout, with quite a few pimples on her face.
"No... it's just that the professor and I have some things to do. Could you possibly go and cry somewhere else?"
Myrtle sniffled, "Of course."
Harry had contacted Myrtle before, after Hermione's incident. Back then, he had a hunch that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets might be inside the sink in this bathroom.
This time, he once again confirmed his suspicion.
Harry quickly found a pattern with a snake marking engraved below one of the taps. He softly spoke the opening incantation in Parseltongue.
There was a grating, teeth-clenching sound, and the floor slowly split open, revealing a dark and rather deep passage.
The passage was filled with a damp, rotten smell, and many slimy green mosses climbed the walls.
"Blimey\! This... this looks like the entrance to hell Dylan mentioned." Ron gasped, taking a sharp breath.
Looking at the seemingly deep passage, Harry paused for a moment but had already made up his mind: "I'm going down."
He couldn't not go.
The sooner they found Ginny, the more likely they were to save her\!
"Shouldn't we call Dylan over first...?" Ron hesitated somewhat.
"There's no time\! Ginny might be in danger right now\!" Harry shook his head.
Ron was silent for a moment, then nodded slightly. "Alright, anyway, he's hardly ever been involved in these things with us."
Lockhart looked at the two of them, then at the pipe that looked like it could swallow him whole, swallowed hard, and a hint of his usual charming smile appeared on his face.
"Well, it seems you don't need me, so I'll just..."
"You're the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Now, you'll go first to scout ahead."
Harry pointed his wand at Lockhart.
Lockhart's expression was quite unwilling, but Ron impatiently gave him a shove, sending him straight down.
"I haven't even been scared yet\! Where do you think you're going?" Ron yelled.
"Ahhh—"
Lockhart's figure disappeared into the bottom of the passage.
"Ugh, this place is really filthy\! I shouldn't be in a place like this\!"
Seeing that he was alright,
Harry and Ron were about to go down.
But Moaning Myrtle floated over again. "Harry, if you die, I'd be ever so pleased for you to share a toilet with me."
Harry's lips twitched, and the first thing that popped into his head was something Dylan had once said to Malfoy:
"—That bloke actually has alright features and bone structure, but he looks like a right prat and still thinks so highly of himself. It's brilliant, really."
—This sentence had once made Malfoy so angry he had a fit and didn't bother anyone for a whole week.
Taking a deep breath, Harry forced a smile.
No matter what, Moaning Myrtle had indeed helped him a lot.
Of course, he wouldn't say these things to Myrtle's face.
"Thanks."
Harry's figure disappeared into the pipe, and Ron followed closely behind.
"Whoosh, whoosh"
The sound of wind came.
The rapid descent and feeling of weightlessness made their hearts race, and they couldn't help but cry out.
"Thump\!"
When they landed, they immediately stepped onto a pile of eerie white bones.
"Ugh—\!" Ron lifted his foot in disgust. "How many things has that monster eaten here?"
Harry looked around. "This pipe is deep, even deeper than the dungeons."
Ron nodded, pointed his wand at Lockhart, his eyes scanning the slimy walls around them, and then said, "I reckon we're probably under the lake."
"Lumos\!"
Harry's wand emitted light.
"Let's go, Ginny must still be inside."
The group moved forward slightly.
The passage gradually widened.
A huge cavern appeared before their eyes.
At this moment, a pungent, fishy stench still filled the cavern.
Harry immediately saw the enormous snake skin in front of him, its shed skin gleaming with a creepy, slimy luster in the dim light.
It was a vibrant, vivid green.
He frowned and walked over.
"Crikey, that snake must be at least twenty feet long, wouldn't you say?" Ron exclaimed from behind. "And it looks like a poisonous one\!"
"The Basilisk *is* a poisonous snake." Harry frowned.
Lockhart's gaze was fixed on the two of them from behind. Suddenly, his eyes rolled back, his knees buckled, and he collapsed straight to the ground.
"What? Hang on, Harry, he looks like..."
Ron stopped and leaned closer to Lockhart.
Unexpectedly, Lockhart suddenly rolled over and snatched the wand directly from Ron's hand.
"Oi\!" Ron was startled.
"The adventure ends here, boys\!"
Lockhart, faking unconsciousness, grabbed Ron's wand and, wrapped in his grubby but still rather flamboyant robes, pointed the wand directly at the two of them.
"Now, I'm going to take this skin back to the school and tell them I was too late to save the girl, and that you two, upon seeing her mangled body, tragically lost your minds."
"Now, say goodbye to your memories\!"
Lockhart clutched Ron's wand in his hand.
—The tape on that wand, after Ron had another spell backfire, had been re-wrapped by Dylan with invisible tape.
It had slightly increased the stability.
But not by much.
Lockhart raised the wand high above his head.
"Obliviate\!"
Bang\!
The spell instantly rebounded.
A flash of bright light.
An explosion occurred.
Lockhart screamed and fell straight backward.
At the same time,
The explosion of the wand triggered a chain reaction, and stones began to fall from the top of the cavern.
Ron quickly backed away, just managing to avoid being hit by the stones, but the passage was quickly blocked by the rubble.
"Ron\! Ron\! Are you alright?" Harry was immediately startled and rushed forward, looking through the gaps in the stones.
"I'm fine—it's just that this daft git... he seems to have lost his memory." Ron stood there, somewhat at a loss.
He looked up, fearing that the entire tunnel would collapse.
"Wait here—with Lockhart. I'll continue ahead to find Ginny\!"
Harry made a direct decision.
If they continued to waste time here, shifting stones,
Ginny would probably end up just like those bones\!
"Okay..." Ron tried his best to keep his voice steady. "Then I'll clear these stones first, so you can... so you can crawl back through here later."
"See you later\!" Harry turned and left, stepping over the huge snake skin.
Ron watched the direction Harry left in, bit his lip, and turned his attention back to the pile of stones blocking the passage.
He bent down, grabbed a stone with both hands, and tried to lift it up with all his might.
However, the stone was heavier than he could have imagined.
Moving it even an inch was incredibly difficult.
Ron's face turned red, and he kept panting heavily.
Just as he was completely focused on the stones,
A blurry outline suddenly appeared in the empty space beside him.
Immediately after, a questioning voice came.
"Why aren't you using your wand?"
"Where would I get a wand? What? Hang on, you're..."
The sudden question startled Ron.
But after instinctively answering, he immediately realized something was wrong.
He turned his head, wanting to see the person clearly, but in the end, he was blinded by a flash of light.
"Obliviate\!"
A low voice echoed softly in the cavern.
Ron's movements suddenly froze, his originally tense muscles instantly relaxed, and he slumped to the ground like a puppet with severed strings, just like Lockhart, temporarily losing consciousness.
"Well, that was easy."
Dylan caressed the shadow ring on his hand, a slight smile curving his lips.
He looked at Lockhart, who had been knocked out by a stone Ron dropped, and with another gentle tap of his wand,
Lockhart, lying on the ground, vanished in the blink of an eye, taken into Dylan's trunk.
—He had placed a trunk in his dormitory, identical to his pet-space trunk, which his dad had custom-made for him in advance.
Anyway, Neville and the others wouldn't be able to open the trunk to check.
Even if they wanted to, Dylan had placed enchantments around it.
Unless they could bring a professor,
They definitely wouldn't be able to get in on their own.
After putting Lockhart into the trunk,
Dylan's gaze returned to the pile of stones in front of him.
He didn't bother trying to move the stones like Ron did. Instead, his figure blurred again, and following the shadows, he sank into the stones and then passed right through.
"This really reeks."
Dylan smelled the rotten stench filling the cavern, and his lips curled slightly in distaste.
But no matter what, it smelled much better than the last time he encountered a troll.
It was just some foul odor, produced by constant fermentation in this dark and confined environment.
Not like a troll, which smelled like a mixture of rotten food, sour sweat, and putrid organs.
Once inhaled, it would churn your insides fiercely and then cause a wave of stomach acid to surge.
—Dylan didn't even need to cast a Bubble-Head Charm to isolate the smell while standing here.
"Blimey, that's a long bit of skin, just a tad torn."
Dylan walked to the shed Basilisk skin.
"It's a pity it's not complete. It must have been crushed by the Basilisk after shedding. But the fragmented parts can still be used to make some things."
Dylan sized up the snake skin at his feet—in fact, it was almost as tall as his chest.
"Basilisk skin might seem useless, but in reality, these sheds are not only tough but can also deflect most spells. Making small trinkets to wear, or even crafting a robe from it, would be a good shout."
Dylan walked along, collecting all the shed skin into his possession.
The Basilisk possesses extremely strong magical power, and its skin might also contain some special magic.
Dylan planned to use some of the snake skin for experiments.
To see if this material could become one of the main ingredients in his research for new potions.
—If it could, then Dylan would have to take good care of the Basilisk deep within the cavern.
…
At the same time, Harry's figure walked into a dimly lit, spacious room.
There were many stone pillars carved with large snakes here, their serpentine patterns coiling and entwining around the pillars, towering to support the ceiling that disappeared into the darkness, and casting strange, huge shadows on the ground.
Harry gripped his wand tightly, his heart pounding wildly.
The dim environment caused his adrenaline to pump continuously—he felt like he could even Stupefy a bloody dragon right now\!
Soon, at the very front of the room, he saw a small figure lying on the ground, her hair as red as flames.
"Ginny\!"
Harry's eyes widened, and he immediately ran over quickly, even dropping his wand on the ground.
"Ginny, don't die\!"
Harry grabbed Ginny's shoulders, but looking at her cold and bloodless cheeks, he panicked even more.
"Wake up, wake up\!"
At this moment, a tall boy with black hair suddenly walked out slowly from the shadows beside a stone pillar.
Looking at Harry's anxious face, his expression was cold, and he opened his mouth to speak.
Suddenly, a voice came from behind him.
"She looks ever so peaceful lying there, pale-faced, but that's not good. She'll catch a chill."
"?\!"
Riddle was startled.
—He actually jumped away.
"Who are you?\!"
Riddle watched Dylan warily.
His eyes also glanced towards Harry.
But he was surprised to find that the other boy was still crying and trying to wake up the childish little girl, as if he hadn't even noticed what was happening on his side.
Dylan, wearing Kalthas's black robes, slowly walked out of the shadows.
"Don't fret, I won't harm you."
Riddle's eyelid twitched.
But soon, he calmed down and narrowed his eyes.
"What you just said was rather twisted, wasn't it?"
Under the mask, Dylan's eyebrows rose slightly.
"Oh? Is that more twisted than you possessing a little girl and manipulating her, then?"
Riddle's just-relaxed expression suddenly froze again.
"How do you know that?"
"Heh heh heh, I've always known."
"Who exactly are you?"
"Time's a-wasting. Now, do as I say."
Riddle's eyes darted towards the wand that Harry had dropped on the ground.
"Oh, you still can't manage wandless magic?"
"..."
Riddle gradually retreated towards Harry.
The newest novels are first released on [移除了无效网址]\!
Dylan just stood quietly in place.
"You actually looked quite normal when you were a nipper."
"What?"
Riddle was taken aback.
His brows furrowed, and he instantly rushed towards Harry behind him. "Harry Potter\! Get over here\!"
However, his figure was restricted in place, and his voice couldn't even carry.
Seeing this, Riddle was furious and raised his voice again. "Harry\!"
"Don't bother shouting. Even if you yell your lungs out, no one will come to your rescue."
Dylan sized up Riddle, a look of satisfaction in his eyes.
"Heh heh, after you became Voldemort, you were so hideous that I completely lost interest. But you're different. You're still so young, so vibrant."
"I am Voldemort\!"
A crack appeared in Riddle's expression.
The sudden turn of events was completely beyond his expectations.
He couldn't even sense what the other person was doing—that was the most terrifying thing.
"And what do you mean by that? I'm just a memory\! And—I'm only sixteen\!"
"Of course, I know."
The corner of Dylan's mouth lifted slightly in a sneer. "But it's precisely because you're young that your memory and soul are more valuable for experimentation."
"What?"
Dylan raised his wand. "Imperio\!"
"What? How can you..."
Before Riddle could even react,
He felt a sharp pain in his head.
The next moment, Dylan waved his wand again.
His figure dissipated, but the spell binding Riddle also vanished.
*Thump*
Riddle's body lightened, and he stumbled backward, finally landing on his backside.
Harry finally noticed Riddle.
Seeing him appear as if from thin air, he couldn't help but be a little stunned.
"You... you're Tom?"
Hearing the voice, Riddle finally came back to his senses. Looking at the scene before him, he instinctively felt like he was supposed to be doing something important, but he couldn't quite recall what had happened before.
However, a strange impulse was driving him.
His hand slowly reached for the diary in his pocket.
"Speak to me, Slytherin—greatest of the Hogwarts four founders."
Riddle muttered the words.
As his voice fell, a huge commotion came from the depths of the Chamber, and the ground began to tremble slightly.
On the wall beside them, the huge stone-carved face of Slytherin moved, its mouth opening wide, finally forming a terrifying black hole.
Something was moving inside the statue's mouth, making a rustling, slithering sound.
Harry quickly backed away, but soon he noticed his wand.
However, just as he reached for it, Riddle kicked it away.
"Don't count on that useless thing. Your spells can't threaten the Basilisk."
"Hiss hiss"
The sound of a forked tongue flicking came.
A huge Basilisk slowly slithered out.
Its scales shimmered with a cold light, and its blood-red vertical pupils exuded ferocity.
Seeing this, Harry's face changed drastically.
Now he was unarmed, how could he fight this thing?
"Fancy a wizard just dropping his own wand."
At this moment, Kalthas appeared from the shadows.
When Riddle saw him, his head started to throb again.
The Basilisk and Harry both looked towards him.
"You are..."
"Little tyke, a wizard as dim-witted as you doesn't deserve to know my name."
Dylan looked at the huge Basilisk, his eyes practically glowing.
What a robust and powerful specimen.
It should definitely be able to withstand his experiments\!
"Erebus Nexus\!"
Dylan's wand turned slightly.
The Basilisk couldn't sense its master's commands. Its instinct made it aware of the danger from this uninvited guest, and it couldn't help but hiss and bare its fangs.
A strange, ink-colored light bloomed from the tip of Dylan's wand.
The next moment, a faint sizzling sound rang out in the air.
Strands of swirling black gas poured out from under his feet, gradually surrounding him.
At the same time, eyes glowing with an eerie red light appeared out of nowhere.
These eyes were of different sizes, with no whites, only scarlet pupils. As soon as they appeared, they spun around Dylan.
In the mist, the dark red light of these eyes flickered more and more violently.
The Basilisk sensed a threat. Its originally raised head recoiled slightly, and its thick body writhed uneasily.
Its gaze fell on Riddle.
However, the latter just stood there blankly, giving it no reaction at all.
Basilisk: ?
—It hadn't petrified him\!
Unable to receive commands, the Basilisk couldn't directly abandon Riddle and leave. It had no choice but to writhe in place, its hard scales rubbing against each other, making rustling sounds.
It opened its mouth, a low roar rumbling in its throat, its eyes staring directly at the person in front of it, trying to kill this bloke with its magic.
However, when its gaze fell upon the blood-colored eyeballs floating around this human wizard,
It felt its already limited intelligence rapidly dissipating under this strange pressure.
Its movements became panicked and chaotic. Its head instantly dodged, no longer meeting Dylan's gaze, and instead, it cowered behind Riddle.
Its original ferocious aura vanished completely with its awkward, squirming movements.
Harry's eyes widened, his face filled with shock and fear.
Just a brief glance at this mysterious person made him feel as if countless needles were simultaneously piercing his brain.
Instantly closing his eyes, Harry backed away.
Dylan stood in the black mist, and coupled with the eerie surroundings, he looked increasingly bizarre and terrifying.
Then, a special low voice echoed in the Chamber.
"Tom, embrace my Kalthas's embrace. You will become my finest test subject—along with this Basilisk."
"Avada Kedavra\!"
A dazzling white holy light erupted from the tip of Dylan's wand.
Accompanied by a high-pitched whistling sound, it struck Riddle.
"What the—?\!"
Riddle's body convulsed violently, and the dark aura around him was instantly shattered by the Unforgivable Curse.
However, since he wasn't a true living being after all,
Riddle didn't die, but his figure became even more ethereal.
And as his power waned, Ginny, who was lying unconscious on the ground, also changed.
Her originally paper-white face gradually regained its rosy color, her tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed, and the breath of life returned to her.
With a gentle tap of his wand, Dylan made Riddle and the diary vanish from the spot.
He then walked towards the Basilisk again.
The Basilisk felt Dylan approaching, its massive body trembling constantly, and it was forced to retreat backward.
Dylan's gaze fell upon it.
However, the Basilisk was so terrified that it tightly closed its eyes, completely unable to look directly at this terrifying human.
Standing in front of the Basilisk,
Dylan wasn't worried that this creature would suddenly open its mouth and swallow him whole.
Dylan's wand gently circled above the Basilisk's head.
"Reducio... Reducio..."
The Basilisk's body, which was supposed to be resistant to magic, was now constantly shrinking under Dylan's spell.
Until it shrank from a majestic Basilisk into a miniature snake, which Dylan then easily picked up in his hand.
Dylan held the black snake, tilted his head slightly, and then directly wrapped it around his wrist.
After doing all this, Dylan turned to look at Harry.
At this moment, he had his eyes tightly closed and his body was trembling.
Now was the perfect time to test whether his spells would rebound if cast on Harry.
—However, Dylan didn't really fancy trying.
What difference would it make anyway?
He couldn't exactly catch Harry and take him back to his trunk for research.
Looking at Harry's rapidly dropping sanity, a knowing smile played on Dylan's lips.
Then, with a flicker, his figure vanished from the Chamber of Secrets.
After waiting for a moment,
Harry didn't get any feedback.
—Everything was so quiet.
Harry kept his eyes tightly closed, not daring to even breathe loudly.
Every second after Dylan disappeared felt like an eternity.
The surroundings were terrifyingly silent, with only the sound of Harry's rapid heartbeat pounding in his ears.
Harry tried his best not to dwell on the appearance of the mysterious person from just now.
However, the more he tried not to remember, the more those horrifying images kept flashing in his mind.
Harry was terrified that if he opened his eyes, he would see a terrifying face or those eerie eyes, inches away, silently standing before him, staring intently at him.
But he waited and waited.
Apart from his own rapid breathing, there was no other sound.
Suddenly, a soft groan from Ginny broke the deathly silence.
Harry's heart tightened. After hesitating again and again, he finally couldn't resist and gritted his teeth, opening his eyes.
However, the scene before him completely stunned him.
He saw that the entire Chamber of Secrets was empty.
The pervasive mist, the giant Basilisk, Tom, and the mysterious black-robed man who called himself Kalthas.
They had all vanished without a trace, as if they had never been there.
Dim light shone on the ground.
Harry stood there blankly, his mind a complete void.
"Hmm..."
At this moment, another soft groan from Ginny brought him back to his senses.
"Ginny\!"
Harry didn't have time to worry about his doubts and stumbled quickly towards Ginny.
Just as he was about to reach Ginny, a whirring sound of wings came whistling from the other side of the Chamber's passage.
Harry instinctively turned his head to look.
He saw a phoenix radiating a soft golden light all over its body flying in at top speed.
The phoenix was also tightly clutching a tattered hat in its claws.
Harry recognized it at a glance—it was the Sorting Hat.
The phoenix flew to the center of the Chamber, let out a clear cry, and then swooped straight towards Harry.
—It was originally carrying Dumbledore's instructions to deliver something crucial to Harry.
But when it reached Harry, it couldn't help but flap its wings, suddenly stopping, its figure slightly suspended.
"Chirp?"
The Chamber was empty.
Apart from a shocked-looking Harry and a gradually awakening, still bewildered Ginny, there was no one else.
Fawkes slowly circled in the air, eventually flying to Harry's side.
"Blimey\! A surprised little boy and a bewildered little girl. You two look like you've swallowed a load of gillyweed."
"Oi, hurry up and put me down\! It's uncomfortable being held like this. You should tell Dumbledore to give his bird a manicure\!"
"Chirp\!"
Fawkes raised its claws and dropped the Sorting Hat into Harry's arms.
"Your movements are so clumsy\!"
The Sorting Hat, held by Harry, wobbled its tip.
"So, what's the state of play now? Dumbledore sent it to fetch me in a right hurry, but it looks like nothing's happened to you. I finally had a chance to yank that sword out of my insides."
"—You know what? Being constantly stabbed is really not on\! I'm just a hat\! Not a bloody sword sheath\!"
(End of Chapter)