Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 206, Section 205: Hagrid's Exoneration and Lockhart's Unexpected Transformation

Unexpectedly quiet.

There was no sudden attack from a second basilisk, no flashes of magical light or any other unexpected events. As Harry and his companions walked along the long stone path, they reached the last pair of pillars and saw a statue as tall as the room itself.

He was old, with wrinkles all over his face, and a sparse, long beard that almost dragged on the ground.

"Is this Slytherin?" Harry frowned. "Would anyone erect such an ugly statue of themselves?"

“Hmm… As far as I know, Slytherin wasn’t this old when he left Hogwarts. Considering the average age of wizards, he should be considered a middle-aged wizard,” Dumbledore pondered.

“Given the mindset of pure-blood nobles, even if they erected a statue of themselves, they would only record their most elegant and perfect image,” Snape said. “I don’t think this is a Slytherin statue.”

“Check it out,” Harry said seriously. “Be careful.”

From every stone pillar to the pool in the room, including the statue, Harry, Harry, and their companions conducted a meticulous inspection.

After finding nothing else in the room, and considering that none of the three of them knew Parseltongue, Harry simply destroyed the statue. A hole large enough to accommodate the Basilisk's massive body appeared where the statue's head connected to the wall.

After Harry used Transfiguration to create a rat to go in and check if it was safe, he crawled into the hole—this was probably the basilisk's real lair, with two remaining snake skins and bones scattered all over the ground.

There were no human remains, only the skeletons of small animals or quadrupeds, likely unfortunate creatures from the Forbidden Forest.

The basilisk emerged from the Black Lake through a secret passage, preying on the fish in the lake and the creatures in the Forbidden Forest, sleeping and shedding its skin, living intermittently until now.

Although the secret chamber had been used as a lair by the basilisk, Dumbledore found traces of human habitation there.

There wasn't a single book on the bookshelves in the cubicle, not even a speck of dust left on the parchment by the decay of time, as if someone had known they were coming and had taken everything of value away beforehand.

Aside from the fact that this basilisk was indeed an experiment created by Slytherin a thousand years ago, Harry and his friends didn't get much information here—nor were they attacked or subjected to any traps.

In the end, Dumbledore simply used his authority as headmaster and magic to seal the secret room, and then Fawkes took the group back to the surface.

Hogwarts became lively once again.

Those ghosts who had escaped and come to Hogwarts at Nick's invitation recounted everything that happened on Halloween night, and would enthusiastically embellish the story whenever a student asked.

In reality, it was impossible to hide it, since there were as many as thirty or forty petrified ghosts neatly piled up in an empty classroom next to the infirmary. Given the students' curiosity and resourcefulness, it would be difficult to conceal them.

So, in less than a day, the students already knew that Harry had been attacked by monsters while attending Nick's death anniversary party, and that at least two or three underground classrooms had been destroyed.

The day after the professors stopped patrolling and on guard, everyone learned that the monster that attacked Harry was actually a thousand-year-old basilisk!
This was also Dumbledore's consideration. Rather than letting the students spend their days speculating without knowing anything, it was better to give them a definite answer to reassure them. He even placed the basilisk's corpse directly in the Great Hall, preserved it with magic, and displayed it to the students.

Dumbledore even invited people from the Ministry of Magic and Wizengamor to witness the existence of the Basilisk and the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin. Many students were seeing Fudge, the Minister of Magic, for the first time.

Without a doubt, Rita conducted relevant interviews and released special reports immediately. In an instant, the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin and the existence of the Basilisk became the new topic of discussion in the entire magical community.

Almost all British wizards graduated from Hogwarts, but none of them could have imagined that they would live with a basilisk in the school for seven years—most importantly, that basilisk had been killed by the youngest professor in Hogwarts history, the great savior Harry Potter.

There is a clear power gap among wizards. For wizards like Dumbledore, Voldemort, and even Snape, the existence of a thousand-year-old basilisk is at most a bit troublesome, but it is not difficult to deal with. It is easy to kill... well, it might be a bit difficult for Snape.

But this only applies to wizards of Dumbledore's caliber.

For the vast majority of wizards in the magical world, or even 99 percent of them, a thousand-year-old basilisk is an opponent they simply cannot defeat. They don't even need the basilisk's most powerful weapon, its cursed eyes, to come into play; its strong body and scales alone are enough to ignore all the spells of ordinary wizards and kill them.

As for snake fangs and snake venom, that goes without saying.

It is an extremely deadly danger, and also the embodiment of the most dangerous thing that an ordinary wizard can imagine.

It was precisely because of this that these wizards realized for the first time so clearly that Harry Potter had actually acquired such great power.

Especially after seeing the photos Rita had attached to the newspaper, the image of the basilisk's body, severed into three pieces with a gruesome cross-section, only reinforced this idea.

Now, no one sees Harry as a young wizard who has only been in the wizarding world for two years. Even the Ministry of Magic no longer sees this child, who is not even as tall as their chest, as a wizard with powerful magic.

The most direct manifestation of this is that when people mention Harry, they no longer say that he is the next Dumbledore, or that Harry will eventually become as powerful as Dumbledore—instead, they directly put Harry and Dumbledore together, and occasionally discuss in casual conversation who is more powerful now.

[...The seven years I spent at Hogwarts were the best seven years of my life, but what I could never have imagined was that such a dangerous and deadly dark magic creature lurked in that place I considered home...] [...Like those petrified ghosts, if they weren't already dead, perhaps on the day the basilisk broke through the walls of the underground classrooms, we would have sadly seen thirty or forty corpses lying before us...]

[...We all know the legend of the Chamber of Secrets, and many of us even tried to find them during our school years but to no avail. Now, I'm actually glad we didn't find them. Otherwise, what an unfortunate accident it would have been if a young wizard had unexpectedly made eye contact with a basilisk...]

[The author cannot understand why Salazar Slytherin would leave such a secret room in a school meant to protect young wizards, nor can he imagine why he would leave such a basilisk in the secret room.]

Some might say that it was Slytherin's last line of defense for Hogwarts, meant to protect the school—but was it truly protection?

[If it was for protection, why did the basilisk break through the wall and attack our professor and students when there was no danger? Furthermore, according to my in-depth investigation, the secret room was actually opened decades ago, and a student died as a result! The following is an interview with Myrtle, one of the victims:…]

Fudge was in a rather unfortunate situation. When the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin and the existence of the Basilisk were revealed, it diverted some attention from the Ministry of Magic's movements and oversights, allowing him to finally breathe a sigh of relief. However, this relief was short-lived, as the situation suddenly shifted to the Basilisk murder case from decades ago and the Ministry of Magic's hasty conviction of Hagrid and subsequent closure of the case.

If it weren't for the fact that something happened decades ago and it's not Fudge's fault, this man would really want to commit suicide to prove his innocence.

Rita did do a good thing; she cleared Hagrid's name, and as a result, the Ministry of Magic immediately lifted the ban on the use of wands and magic. From then on, he could openly equip himself with a wand and cast spells, instead of carefully hiding it in his umbrella.

[...Given the sins committed by this thousand-year-old basilisk and the danger it posed to the students, I believe Professor Potter undoubtedly protected the future of the British wizarding world and completely eradicated the scourge lurking in the school. His heroic act, given his contribution, undoubtedly deserves a Merlin Medal as a reward...]

Wow!

The newspaper, which was originally brand new, straight, and still smelled of fresh ink, was suddenly crumpled into a ball and thrown to the ground in its owner's anger.

"The Order of Merlin!!" Lockhart slammed his fist on the table, his furious voice echoing through the office. "Why?! Just because of a basilisk?!"

"It might be a first-class medal, or it might be a second-class medal—but in any case, it won't be the kind of medal that you can get by swindling money and some insignificant, hyped-up fame—a pathetic third-class medal."

The empty Defense Against the Dark Arts office should have been occupied only by Lockhart, but after his angry voice fell, a second voice strangely rang out—not Lockhart's voice, but a deep, somewhat hoarse male voice.

"A pathetic third-class medal?!" Lockhart was even more furious. "That medal was something I painstakingly donated!"

"See? Don't you know the reason yourself?" the voice continued, its tone full of mockery. "You worked so hard, and you even donated it? Everyone knows how you got that medal, and what happened, so how could anyone possibly respect you? You think you can fool Dumbledore? You've said it countless times, and now even you believe it yourself?"

"Enough! Shut up!!!"

Enraged to the point of losing his mind, Lockhart slammed his fist into his face—a mouth suddenly split open on his cheek, from which the words were uttered.

"Ha! Weak and powerless!" The mouth continued to mock, "Have you forgotten? I am you, and you are me. I am a part of your soul, and also a part of your body, the dark side of your soul, your last shred of conscience—no one understands you better than me, just like your limp fist. You simply cannot bring yourself to punish yourself, because you know that what I say is true!"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!!!"

Enraged, Lockhart swept everything off his desk, completely losing his mind. He thrashed about on the floor, stomping on the latest Daily Prophet as if he were stepping on Harry and Dumbledore's faces.

"It's just a mere basilisk! These ignorant fools! Have they ever seen a female ghost?! Have they ever seen a vampire?! Have they ever traveled with a she-devil?! Or a werewolf?! A Tibetan Yeti?! They know nothing!!"

Lockhart was so angry he was trembling all over.

"I don't know if they've seen it or not, but I know you certainly haven't, you filthy wretched worm," the voice mocked again. "A lowly, vile insect, cautiously approaching those masters who actually did these things, inquiring about their stories, then ambushing them when they're off guard, making them forget everything—and finally claiming all of it as his own, ha! Lockhart, admit it, you're just an incompetent fool, you're utterly worthless compared to Harry Potter! A mere clown!"

boom! !

Lockhart wanted to punch his own mouth again, but he was too afraid of the pain to do so. In a fit of anger, he pulled out his wand and blew up his own table.

The voice was laughing wildly, mocking Lockhart's impotent rage.

Only when Lockhart had futilely exhausted all his strength and could only slump back in his chair did his mouth finally stop its irritating laughter.

"Why be angry?" its voice suddenly softened. "Why feel jealous?"

“No one knows you better than me… I, Lockhart… I care too much about that medal…”

"I painstakingly spent almost all the Galleons I earned from writing the book to obtain the Order of Merlin, and that despicable boy got it so easily without doing anything..."

"That's not fair."

(End of this chapter)