Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 204, Section 203: The Basilisk's Secret and Myrtle's Death
There weren't actually many professors who came; the others had already dispersed to various parts of the castle after receiving the message from the ghost, as they needed to ensure the students' safety.

Therefore, the only wizards who actually came with Professor McGonagall to provide support were Professor Flitwick and Professor Snape, who had some combat ability and experience... well, okay, and Lockhart, who insisted on coming along and kept babbling on and on.

If it weren't for the urgency of the situation, and the belief that even Lockhart could contribute, Professor McGonagall would not have been able to endure it.

Now, Dumbledore's blunt words unintentionally stirred Professor McGonagall's heart... not that kind of heart, of course. Professor McGonagall didn't feel that she, as the vice-principal, was finally going to become the headmaster. But all the professors, including her, noticed one thing: when Dumbledore said he wanted to retire, his gaze was actually fixed on Harry the whole time.

What does it mean?
A young headmaster, strong enough to protect Hogwarts.

This can't even be called a hint anymore; it's a blatant declaration—but isn't Harry a bit too young?!
Just as the group was in a state of confusion, a series of chaotic and intense running sounds rapidly approached from the distance of the corridor, reaching them in just a few seconds.

"Harry! Are you alright, Harry?!"

Before they arrived, their voices preceded them. Sirius shouted anxiously, followed by Hermione and Ron, who had already escaped.

“Don’t be afraid, Sirius, I’m alright.” Seeing Sirius rushing towards him in a panic, Harry had to give his godfather a hug to calm him down. “The enemy is dead.”

“After we got Neville to safety, we wanted to find someone to help you, but we ran into Sirius in the corridor,” Hermione explained quickly. “So this is the Basilisk? The monster that attacked us?”

"Basilisk!" Sirius exclaimed, his face contorted with rage at the mere mention of the word. "Why is there a basilisk at Hogwarts?! Dumbledore! Is this how you protect your students?!"

As a parent, Sirius Black certainly has the right to question the school principal.

“I’m sorry, Sirius,” Dumbledore said sincerely, bowing his head in apology. “I can’t defend myself in this matter; it is indeed my fault.”

“It’s none of Dumbledore’s business, Sirius,” Harry quickly pulled him back to prevent his godfather from doing something unforgivable in a fit of anger. “As a thousand-year-old castle, Hogwarts has too many secrets due to the effects of magic. Even Dumbledore couldn’t possibly monitor every part of the castle.”

Wizards' spells can conceal so many things.

"...monitoring every place" Sirius suddenly shuddered, seemingly thinking of something, but he did indeed appear to be deep in thought.

Without saying anything more, Harry simply gestured to Dumbledore with his eyes, and Dumbledore, understanding the situation, began to make arrangements for what to do next.

The underground classrooms in this area will be completely sealed off until they find out which room in the castle the basilisk is hiding in. Before the castle is confirmed to be completely safe, the students will not be allowed to move freely and will need to travel in groups wherever they go.

Dumbledore also arranged for professors to patrol, and at the same time, he had to hurry up and rebuild the classrooms, which were now in ruins... There was quite a lot to do, and Dumbledore had only made preliminary arrangements for the time being.

The professors who came to help were all sent away. Even Lockhart, who was the most unwilling, kept muttering to himself before being forcibly taken away by Professor McGonagall. Sirius was also unwillingly sent by Harry to take Ron and Hermione to the shaman's office.

Given the basilisk's obsession with attacking the three children during the previous battle, if it was indeed acting on someone's orders, then Harry really wouldn't dare leave his friends in this castle that seemed to hide some deep secrets... At least the Great Totem was built by Harry himself, so there was no need to worry about something like a basilisk suddenly appearing there.

Therefore, in the end, only Dumbledore, Harry, and Snape, who was dealing with the Basilisk's corpse, remained at the scene of the attack.

"How's it going? Can you still extract any useful material?" Harry asked, helping Snape.

It is indeed dangerous for a basilisk to lurk in the shadows and launch a sneak attack when people are not paying attention. Even Harry was caught off guard and fell victim to it. If it weren't for the warning from the ghosts that had turned into stone statues, he would probably have become a ghost and gone to keep James and Lily company by now, having looked directly at the enemy without any defense.

However, once the basilisk was fully exposed, this behemoth could only be described as a treasure waiting to be unearthed.

Snake bones, snake fangs, snake venom, scales... these are all good items that can be used to make armor or weapons, or they can be sold for money.

“There are some, but probably not many.” Snape put a intact scale into his bag and stood up, saying with some regret, “If that rumor is true, then this basilisk should have been left at Hogwarts by Salazar Slytherin before he broke with the other founders and left the school. In other words, it’s a thousand-year-old basilisk, far more powerful than an ordinary basilisk.”

After confirming that Harry was not in mortal danger and that his injuries could be healed, Snape's addiction as a Potions Master kicked in.

“I’m sure Slytherin made some special modifications to this basilisk, not only extending its lifespan but also increasing its magical defense and the thickness of its scales. However, your shamanic spells are still essentially physical damage, especially those lava balls, so the scales meant to protect against wizard spells haven’t worked as intended.”

"The scales that can be reused are less than half of the whole snake, but there are still many snake bones and the fangs are intact. It's just that the eyes that can cast curses were torn off by the phoenix, otherwise they could be used to make a very useful dark magic item... Of course, your safety is more important than these, Harry." Snape gave Harry a heavy look at the end.

"If there are any more unknown events like this, I would prefer that you prioritize your own safety, take cover first, and wait for others—wait for my support—before reacting."

“I will,” Harry nodded and said.

For some reason, Snape, who didn't use harsh words to satirize or attack others, but instead spoke to him in a serious and reasonable manner—honestly, although Sirius would probably be furious if he knew, Harry really felt that this version of Snape was more like a proper godfather than Sirius.

“Speaking of which, what should we do with these ghosts?” Turning his head, Harry saw ghost statues lying all over the ground. They seemed petrified after seeing the basilisk’s eyes. As beings that were already dead, Harry thought this made sense. “Even Nick, the party organizer, has turned to stone… He can’t even grieve for the attack on his own death anniversary party.” Harry had already cast dispelling curses on each of these ghosts, but whether it was because the ghosts’ bodies were different from humans or simply because of the different types of magic, the damage indirectly caused by the basilisk’s gaze, including on Harry himself, had not been completely dispelled and still required further treatment.

“Don’t worry, Harry,” Dumbledore, who had been examining and pondering the wall where the basilisk had emerged, walked over and said with a smile, “As far as I know, Professor Sprout’s lesson for you this year is to care for mandrake. Although the cry of this herb is deadly, it is a very good antidote for dark magic after special treatment. Nick and the others will recover… well, hopefully they won’t be traumatized.”

“They won’t die anyway, these ghosts will probably just be excited about experiencing something new,” Snape scoffed.

“In any case, they came to Hogwarts because of Nick’s invitation… I hope they won’t develop any ill will towards Nick because of it,” Dumbledore said, shaking his head. “I think I’ve probably found out where the Basilisk is hiding, Harry.”

"It's moving through those pipes buried in the castle, isn't it?" Harry gestured towards the broken wall and the dripping, broken pipes. "We just need to follow the pipes."

Two translucent ghosts suddenly passed through the wall and arrived here.

"The person you want is Dumbledore."

Leading the group was Barrow, the Blood Man ghost from Slytherin, followed by the soul of a little girl.

“Thank you, Barrow,” Dumbledore nodded. “This has saved us a lot of trouble.”

After saying "You're welcome," Blood Man Barrow took a deep look at the basilisk's corpse and then passed through the wall again.

“Myrtle?” Harry asked the little girl’s spirit. This was the first time he had met the girl who died at Hogwarts during her school years; he had only heard about her from Ron before.

“Oh, Harry, it’s a pleasure to see you—I mean, Headmaster Dumbledore, what can I do for you?”

Myrtle looked very nervous.

"I did come to Nick's death anniversary party tonight. He invited me and every ghost in the castle, but I don't know why things suddenly turned out this way. The moment this monster appeared, I ran through the ceiling and didn't dare to look back!"

She wore thick glasses, and her straight, greasy hair was no different from Snape's in the past, giving off a very gloomy feeling at first glance.

“Don’t get agitated, child,” Dumbledore said gently. “I’ve called you here only to ask you some questions—do you remember how you died?”

The basilisk is hiding in Hogwarts, and according to the records that Dumbledore specifically researched, only one student died in an accident during the hundreds of years of Hogwarts' history, and that was Moaning Myrtle.

Most importantly, Myrtle died in a washroom on the second floor. Knowing that the Basilisk could move in the pipes, Dumbledore boldly connected this to the student's death and thus, with the authority of the headmaster, ordered Barrow the Blood Man to bring Myrtle over.

"How did I die?!"

Myrtle's voice suddenly became high-pitched. She seemed to want to find somewhere to disappear or vent something, but she quickly calmed down after seeing Dumbledore and Snape in front of her.

“Olive Humbell said I was a crybaby, so I hid in the bathroom…and then I heard a boy’s voice, it was very noisy,” Myrtle said sadly. “I opened the door to make him go away, and then I died.”

"Opened the door, and then died?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "That's all?"

“Pretty much,” Myrtle frowned as she recalled, “I remember seeing a pair of huge yellow eyes, and then I floated up—and then I died, then I left, then I came back—I decided to stick with Oliver Humbell, because she made fun of my glasses!”

Myrtle continued to recount the events that had happened to her, but Harry and the others had already turned their attention to the enormous snake head—the eyes that Fawkes had gouged out.

Harry remembered clearly that it was after he saw the Basilisk's big, yellow eyes through the Visions spell that his soul was cursed. If he hadn't dispelled it quickly enough, he might have turned into a stone statue by now.

“I think it’s pretty clear now,” Snape said slowly. “Myrtle was killed years ago because she saw the eyes of the basilisk. Looking directly into the eyes of the basilisk will kill you instantly, but looking indirectly into the eyes of the basilisk will curse your soul with dark magic. As for these ghosts, they are already dead, so they can’t die a second time, and thus they have turned into stone statues.”

"A basilisk?" Myrtle tilted her head and said, "Is this the corpse on the ground? Did it kill me back then?"

“I’m afraid that’s the only conclusion we can draw for now. Thank you for your cooperation, Myrtle,” Dumbledore said with a smile. “You’ve helped us resolve a doubt.”

“Oh, you’re welcome, Headmaster,” Myrtle said cheerfully. “It’s quite interesting to talk about this again… Now that you’re all done, I’ll be going.”

"of course can."

After receiving Dumbledore's permission, Myrtle passed through the wall as quickly as possible and left... She didn't even express any contempt for the murderer who had taken her life.

(End of this chapter)