Hogwarts Study Panel

Chapter 308: The Mystery

Harry found himself in a strange place, completely bewildered.

Everything here was a vast expanse of white, with occasional bizarre and fantastical fog that always seemed to try to get into his head.

He dodged one cloud of fog after another—his intuition told him that these were not good things.

He kept hiding and walking until he came to a huge, dilapidated house.

There, there was a black cat with jet-black fur.

Harry had never had such a vivid dream before, and it wasn't until the black cat appeared that he realized this place wasn't real.

After all, it was a black cat that only existed in the castle's cat club, and Harry had never seen it before.

"Mr. Castle Cat?"

Harry tried to say hello, when a wisp of mist entered his head.

His vision blurred... He saw a basilisk that blotted out the sky, swallowing Ron whole. At the basilisk's feet lay a petrified Sheen and the broken Gryffindor sword... And after killing Ron, the enormous basilisk looked at him again, and he saw those yellow eyes, and then, and then...

“Wake up from your fear, Harry.”

A familiar voice sounded.

"what--"

Harry was deathly pale, as if he had been pulled out of the water, covered in sweat, and breathing heavily.

He stared in shock at the black cat in front of him, which moved its head away with its paw, and the mist drifted away through his head.

"Thank you, Mr. Castle Cat... You know me? No, you know... no, no, do you know where the basilisk came from?"

Driven by some inexplicable desire, Harry asked the question he most wanted to ask.

"It was cultivated by Slytherin and has existed in the Chamber of Secrets for thousands of years... The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is in the girls' washroom on the second floor."

The black cat stared at him with its emerald green eyes, seemingly quite satisfied with his question.

Harry was so excited he was trembling all over; he felt like he had stumbled into some incredible place.

The legend of the castle cat is true; it guards the entire castle... perhaps it is the consciousness of Hogwarts Castle itself.

Imagine, in the magical world, owls get angry, magical cars get angry, mandrakes get angry, and so do curtains, statues, and so on.

They all seem to have their own consciousness, so it makes perfect sense that Hogwarts Castle is also conscious.

"May I ask you another question..."

Harry pondered, recalling the contents of the book:

[The Parseltongue can put the basilisk into a deep sleep, thus preventing it from growing further and putting it into a state similar to suspended animation...]

It must have been the Parseltongue that put the basilisk into a deep sleep, but who woke it up?
What does the person who woke him up want to do?
Could it really be Lockhart...?

"Mr. Castle Cat, who awakened the basilisk? My companions have been fighting the basilisk fiercely these days. How can I help them?"

Harry's face was almost pleading.

The black cat tilted its head slightly.

Who is Harry talking about? Is anyone still in the Chamber of Secrets these days?

Could it be him...?

“Tom Riddle, Harry. You need to get Tom Riddle’s diary from Ginny, and then quickly destroy it using the Basilisk’s Fang.”

"The black cat said."

"Who is Tom Riddle? What is this diary? Where do I find the basilisk's fangs?"

Harry asked eagerly.

The black cat simply raised its head, and the mist rose.

This dream didn't last long; it seemed to be the work of that wisp of mist that drifted into Harry's head.

But Sheen didn't pay much attention to it. After pointing out the key point about the diary, the matter was resolved.

...As night fell over Hogwarts, a commotion suddenly broke out in the girls' washroom on the second floor.

It looks like... something is trying to crawl out.

In the dim light, you could see that it was a long creature with its eyes closed and wearing comical glasses.

Before the basilisk closed its eyes, the alchemical frog, having lost its glasses, had already been petrified and landed in the sink in the girls' restroom.

A moment later, the basilisk also suddenly disappeared.

Forbidden forest.

Beneath the dense canopy of trees, various bottles and jars were laid out. With the power of the potions, Sheen could make the basilisk sleep for a week straight in the Forbidden Forest.

It was now clearly at rest. With a tap of his wand, Sheen caused the earth to surge and bury it in the ground, especially the area around its head and eyes, which was then wrapped up in layers.

The deformed rooster of Baiyi stood on its head, strutting proudly over each ancient tree.

Sheen was also there, holding a map of the plan, waiting for Harry to appear in the Chamber of Secrets.

He, on the other hand, needed to ensure that the basilisk would not cause any problems.

Hogwarts Castle gradually awoke to the sound of birdsong.

hall.

Everyone is talking about the upcoming Halloween. During the Halloween holiday, students in the third grade and above can also visit Hogsmeade Village on the Saturday before the holiday.

The atmosphere was completely the opposite for Harry and his friends.

"You mean, you dreamt of the castle cat, and it told you that the basilisk was in a secret room, controlled by a man named 'Tom Riddle,' and you were going to use the basilisk's fangs to destroy the diary?"

Ron swallowed hard and asked.

"That's it."

After he said it, Harry realized how hard it was to believe.

“I’ve never heard of such magic before, dream magic… First Ginny, then you…”

Hermes was filled with curiosity, but also very confused. So, the black cat in the dream wasn't Sheen?

Does anyone know why Tom wanted to control the Basilisk?

Ron paused, his hand nervously pressing on his magic history homework. It was a three-foot-long essay on "Meetings of Wizards in Medieval Europe."

The school bell rang.

Today, the history of magic class was as boring as usual.

Professor Binns opened his notes and read in a dry, low, monotonous voice, like an old vacuum cleaner, and finally the whole class fell into a drowsy state, occasionally coming to their senses, writing down a name or a date, and then falling into a semi-sleep again.

Half an hour after he finished speaking, something that had never happened before occurred.

Hermione raised her hand. Professor Binns, who was giving a very dry lecture on the International Wizarding Convention of 1289, looked up, looking quite surprised.

"You are--"

“I am Granger, Professor. I wonder if you could tell us what the locked room is all about.”

Hermione said in a clear voice.

What is a locked room?

Dean had been staring blankly out the window with his mouth agape, but suddenly snapped out of his daze.

"Where did Miss Know-It-All acquire such profound knowledge?"

Ernie's head lifted from his arm.

Professor Binns blinked.

"My course is the history of magic,"

He spoke in that dry, panting voice,
“I study facts, Miss Granger, not myths and legends.”

(End of this chapter)