Hogwarts starts with stealing power.

Chapter 279 Someone from the Ministry of Magic

The other little wizards who passed by looked at Lin Xia curiously, wondering how she had offended the old poisonous snake.

Snape left the classroom first, and Lin Xia and others left later.

As they walked and chatted, they were all guessing what Snape's intentions were.

Ron: "Maybe he wants you to do some research? Didn't he want you to be his Potions assistant in your first year?"

Lin Xia was a little surprised when she heard this: "How did you know?"

Ron said as a matter of course: "I heard it from my brother. George also complained that Professor Snape was stingy and wanted to get a potion genius with such a small amount of things."

Lin Xia: "Uh... I thought the terms of this contract would be relatively secretive, and the professor wouldn't take the initiative to reveal it."

At least after she received the terms, she did not disclose them.

Ron: "Because you are not the only one who was stopped. It seems that Snape did not recruit you. Later, he called a few students with outstanding talents in potions and asked them if they wanted to join his team.

One of them was a friend of my twin brother, so my brother knew about it. He went to ask other people who had received invitations and found out that Snape's chips were the same.

After a few rounds, they will know the price Snape offers you."

Hermione said at this time: "But I think the professor's visit to Lin Xia is not about this problem. This is all a first-year matter and it has long passed."

Harry and Draco nodded involuntarily. They had the same idea as Hermione.

Lin Xia was thoughtful.

She did have some guesses.

Snape had approached her alone before and asked her if she knew the location of the real Chamber of Secrets. When she used the magic circle to test it this time, she felt that Snape's gaze on her was also very fiery.

When Lin Xia entered the office and heard Professor Snape's straightforward speech, she was certain.

She was right.

As expected, it was because of the secret room.

The products launched from her laboratory were just to help young wizards protect themselves when they encountered a basilisk.

But this is not a long-term solution.

You can only commit a thief in a thousand days, but there is no way to prevent a thief in a thousand days.

Now the basilisk dares not show up, that's because the little wizard is still in high spirits and everyone has armed themselves.

But once time stretches out and days become calm, everyone will become lazy, and as long as there is a little wizard who doesn't wear magic glasses or bring a screaming chicken, something bad will happen.

The fact that the restricted area of ​​the Hogwarts library was lifted has been pushed to the forefront.

There must not be any accidents in the school, and no little wizard must be petrified.

Professor Snape said coldly: "You are an outstanding student at Hogwarts. You enjoy such good resources. Now it's not too much for you to do something for the school, right?"

Lin Xia nodded and said, "It's not too much. What does the professor want me to do?"

Snape stared at her sharply: "Find out where the Chamber of Secrets is."

Lin Xia said speechlessly: "It's useless for you to tell me about this. It's not me who hid the secret room."

Snape: "But you know Parseltongue, don't you? You can communicate with the basilisk, and if it appears, you can immediately find its location."

Lin Xia thought for a while. The matter of the secret room had been delayed for a long time, and she did know where the secret room was, so it would be better to solve it as soon as possible.

But she couldn't say it directly, wouldn't that arouse suspicion?

After all, she was not the heir of Slytherin.

After a while, she had an idea.

Lin Xia said calmly: "Professor, I will try my best to join the night patrol and do my part to protect Hogwarts. Although I can understand snake language, I cannot identify the location of the basilisk. You have found the wrong person."

Snape frowned: "Even you can't hear where the basilisk is at the first sight?"

Lin Xia nodded: "Yes, if it wants to hide from me, I can't hear it. Unless it attacks me, just like last time, and talks to me in front of me, I can hear it."

Snape glanced at her and said somewhat arrogantly, "You are not as useful as you think."

Lin Xia:......

Old man, what use are you to? Speaking of which, Harry’s green eyes are really beautiful.

However, Lin Xia only dared to complain in her heart, because at this time Lily was still Snape's forbidden area.

As for why she knew.

I saw all of this in Mikel's diary.

Although she couldn't identify the basilisk so keenly, Lin Xia still reminded him:

"Professor, I'm not the only one who can speak snake language. There are two others as well. I suggest you look for them all. Maybe they can be more perceptive than me."

Snape said noncommittally: "They are all rubbish. The best one can't tell them apart. The other two probably don't have the ability to do so either."

Lin Xia was speechless.

What can she do if you don't take the clues that are delivered to her door for free?
Lin Xia said calmly: "Professor Snape, although we are young, we all have unlimited possibilities. Whether it is Harry or Grace, they know snake language, which is a great talent.

They may not be as good as me in other areas, but that doesn’t mean they are worse than me. Even I often feel inadequate.”

After saying that, Lin Xia nodded to Professor Snape and left the office.

The office was quiet for a while.

Suddenly a male voice came: "How's the test going?"

Another female voice said, "It turned out that I didn't lie."

Snape turned and looked behind him, and saw two wizards breaking free from the invisibility spell and revealing their bodies.

Both of these wizards are excellent Aurors.

Under the orders of the Ministry of Magic, come to investigate Hogwarts, find the Chamber of Secrets as soon as possible, and destroy the basilisk.

The original intention of these two Aurors was to investigate all three wizards who could speak serpent language.

Because they are the most likely to become the heir of Slytherin.

Lin Xia was the first to investigate, and they didn't expect that Lin Xia would dare to speak to Professor Snape like that.

This sinister old man is not so easy to deal with.

And Snape didn't look angry at all.

This made the two Aurors think a lot. Could it be that they were used to being confronted so often?

Professor Snape stared coldly at the machine the two men were fiddling with. It was said that this was called a lie detector, invented by Muggles, and it was quite useful. Several death row prisoners had been caught with this machine.

But Professor Snape did not approve of this kind of thing.

For clever wizards, there are many ways to ensure that their heart rate is steady and their expressions are correct.

In order to prevent the little wizards from being on guard, the Aurors hid in the dark and let Snape talk to the little wizards.

Snape said disdainfully: "This bulky lie detector machine is not as convenient as the truth serum."

The male Auror smiled and said, "Then make us three bottles of Veritaserum, and we will ask them one by one."

Snape raised his chin and said, "Pay first."

The female Auror said helplessly: "No money."

Snape kicked them out with a nasty look on his face, "No money, no deal!"

As a potion master, he was always asked by others to make potions, and he never gave credit to anyone, especially to the Ministry of Magic.

He never got his money back from Dumbledore.
-
After Lin Xia came out, Ron and others surrounded her and asked Snape why he called her.

Lin Xia said, "It's nothing serious. He just asked me a few questions about the secret room." Ron's eyes widened: "Do you know where the secret room is?"

Lin Xia asked back: "If I knew, would I still hide it and not tell the professor? I would definitely lead the professor in immediately to destroy the basilisk."

Ron touched his nose and said, "That's true."

Among this group of friends, only Lin Xia and Hermione are girls, and both of them are quite upright.

There is no need to talk about Hermione, she is very stubborn when it comes to things she makes up her mind.

Lin Xia seems to be easier to talk to, but she is very principled. She always keeps her word and makes sure that the assigned tasks are completed on time.

Although she didn't say what would happen if it couldn't be completed.

But whenever they were supervised by Lin Xia, he and Harry felt nervous.

None of them would be so nervous around Hermione.

Maybe they knew that Hermione was just talking and wouldn't do anything to them, but Lin Xia was different. No matter how approachable Lin Xia was, her aura was still a bit oppressive.

This may be the power of publishing a paper in the first year and becoming an excellent student.

Harry, on the other hand, changed his expression slightly after hearing this, and asked in a low voice: "Lin Xia, if you really know where the secret room is, will you tell it?"

Lin Xia said without hesitation: "Of course!"

She asked back, "Why not say it out? The basilisk is so aggressive that it can turn people to stone if they look at it. If you accidentally break the statue, that person will die completely. That's terrible.

Unfortunately, I don’t know where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is. Professor Snape thinks I can find it since I can speak Parseltongue, but I don’t know.

Unless the basilisk appears in front of me personally, I can communicate with it, and I know nothing about its actions in secret."

Harry was a little nervous and felt his palms sweating.

Lin Xia didn’t know where the basilisk appeared, and he didn’t know either, but he could hear the sound of the basilisk every time it appeared!

The last time Dumbledore questioned him alone, he had a lot of things in mind, but he was afraid, so he didn't say it.

If I give him a chance this time...

Harry hesitated and thought, I suppose he would.

He held a glimmer of hope in his heart. Now that the little wizards were fully armed, maybe the basilisk was too scared to come out?
If the basilisk didn't come out, it wouldn't matter if he could hear the sound of the basilisk coming out.

But things always do not allow others to consider slowly.

In the afternoon.

The weather was clear and the azure blue sky was covered with white clouds, like a fluffy white carpet that seemed to fill the entire sky.

It's a nice day today and the Gryffindor team decided to have special training.

Harry had no classes in the afternoon and stayed on the Quidditch pitch.

Suddenly, Wade called him: "Harry, go to Professor McGonagall's office. The dean wants to see you."

Harry wondered, "What does the Dean want me to do?"

The Weasley twins watched the show.

George: “Maybe there’s something good.”

Fred: “I want to follow and see.”

George: "Dear Harry, you look distressed. Do you want us to accompany you and give you some courage?"

Fred: "Oh, man, this is definitely not about getting out of training."

Facing Wood's stinky look, Harry quickly said, "No, no, you guys train, I'll be back soon."

He flew directly to the castle gate on his broomstick and then got off to walk.

After a while, there was a knock on Professor McGonagall's office.

"Please come in."

Harry walked in and smelled a strong smell of ink mixed with the scent of a bunch of books.

Professor McGonagall was wearing glasses and busy marking students' assignments with an automatic quill.

Her office is very organized, just like her.

The look that McGonagall gave him with her head slightly lowered startled Harry. It was very sharp, as if she could guess all his thoughts.

"Professor, what do you want from me?" Harry asked.

Professor McGonagall waved her wand, and the tea set started automatically, making a cup of steaming hot black tea for Harry.

The automatic quill was still moving busily beside her. It was not difficult for a senior wizard to do several things at once.

After all, the most precious thing for a wizard is time.

The chores only took up an hour or two of their day.

McGonagall nodded and said, "Harry, I came to you because I wanted to talk to you about Parseltongue."

Harry's heart tightened slightly. Here it comes!
He had a premonition.

"Professor, isn't Parseltongue bad?"

McGonagall: "No? No, no, no, Parseltongue is a very enviable talent. Many wizards want to understand the language of snakes throughout their lives and chase after the traces of Slytherin, but not every wizard can do it.

You can speak Parseltongue, and you are already halfway to Slytherin's treasure."

"What's the other half of the threshold?" Harry asked nervously.

Mag smiled and said, "Everyone has different standards for their significant other. If you really want me to answer, I think it is a strong desire for knowledge.

Always be curious about the world and never stop pursuing magic, and you will be able to obtain all the treasures of Slytherin."

Harry didn't quite understand: "I thought there was a real treasure in this treasure."

McGonagall nodded: "Legend has it that Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets contains treasures left for the heir. If the heir can find the Chamber of Secrets, he can get everything he wants."

She changed the subject, "But this is only a treasure in words, the real spirit is the spirit of Slytherin's study of magic.

The threshold for studying magic in Slytherin is relatively high, and it requires a lot of talent. You can speak Parseltongue, which means you have already stepped into the threshold. As for the rest, you can figure it out slowly on your own. You will understand what I mean in the future."

Harry nodded and decided to record this conversation when he got back.

Professor McGonagall smiled and said, "I came to you this time to ask you, do you know where the Chamber of Secrets is?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know."

Mag: "Then can you contact and communicate with the basilisk?"

Harry said hesitantly, "Hearing its voice and talking to it, this should be something that every Parseltongue can do."

Mag nodded again, "Yes, every Parseltongue can do it. What I want to ask is, if a basilisk appears, can you spot it immediately?"

Harry hesitated.

He hesitated.

Should he reveal that he could hear the basilisk's movements every time?
Will the professor hold him accountable for not speaking out before?

Harry finally said no.

After he left, two invisible men also appeared in Professor McGonagall's office.

It was still the same two Aurors, a man and a woman, the same group of people who were in Snape's office before.

The female Auror spoke first: "He is lying."

The male Auror added: "On the last question."

(End of this chapter)