The Black Bloodline of Hogwarts

Hermione whirled around and nearly bumped into the bookshelf behind her.

Julien Black stood two steps away, holding a book titled "Ancient Runes and Runes: A Guide to Deciphering Runes," his emerald green eyes holding a knowing smile.

"Julien!" Hermione whispered, "You scared me to death!"

"Excuse me," Julien took a few steps closer, his gaze falling on the book in her arms—"The Fatal Weakness of Magical Creatures"? He raised an eyebrow slightly. "Hermione, it seems you've uncovered some truth?"

Hermione's heart skipped a beat. She stared into Julien's eyes, trying to find a hint of mockery or insincerity, but saw only a deep, weary seriousness.

"I did think of something. Harry and I noticed that the spiders in the castle are all running out; and Hagrid just said that all his chickens have been killed, look at this..."

At this point, Hermione noticed that Julien didn't seem surprised at all.

"Julien, do you know something?" This is not a question.

"You weren't surprised that Harry spoke Parseltongue at the Dueling Club that day, and you even joked that I should learn a few words of Parseltongue or something. Do you even know what the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is?"

Julien did not deny it. He put the book back on the shelf, his movements slow, as if he were carefully considering each word.

"I do have some suspicions," he finally said, "but not all. Hermione, have you ever considered that some things... knowing too much can be dangerous?"

"Don't play games with me!" Hermione's voice trembled slightly with suppressed anger. "Another one's been petrified! Penelope Crivart, your Ravenclaw prefect! If we knew the truth, maybe we could—"

"What can you do?" Julien interrupted her, his voice still calm. "Go and fight a monster alone? Hermione, you're smart, smarter than most people. But smart doesn't equal reckless."

He took a step forward, getting so close that Hermione could smell the faint scent of ink and a colder aura emanating from him—like pine needles after a snowfall, or like ancient stones buried deep underground.

"You just asked what spiders are most afraid of," Julien said, "and then you said they're most afraid of chickens. You've already gone this far, why ask me again?"

Hermione's breath caught in her throat for a moment.

In her mind, fragmented clues suddenly pieced together a complete picture: the spider fleeing in panic, Hagrid's murdered chicken, the location of Myrtle's death (the girls' restroom, a damp and dark place), the Chamber of Secrets opened and closed fifty years ago, and the symbols of Slytherin—

"A snake, yes, a snake," she said softly, almost inaudibly, "but what kind of snake could Slytherin have kept hidden in the Chamber of Secrets for so many years?"

As Hermione spoke, a thought flashed through her mind, and she turned around and ran back to the row of books. The book "The Creature You Don't Want to See - The Basilisk" came into view.

"It's a basilisk! The monster in Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets is a basilisk! It's afraid of roosters crowing, so Hagrid's rooster was killed... It eats spiders, so all the spiders in the castle are running away..."

She couldn't continue, and her face turned deathly pale.

"Why didn't you say so sooner?" she asked, her voice tinged with hurt.

"Because I only just thought of that after you told me..." Julien's gaze passed over her and fell on the dark night sky outside the window. "Besides, some things are not as profound as the truth that others tell you is as deep as the truth that you deduce yourself."

"That's it?" Hermione thought the reasoning was utterly absurd. "What could be more important than saving lives or resolving a crisis at the school?"

"Also because..." Julien paused, "...because I'm afraid to gamble..."

"What?"

"I don't dare to gamble on whether things will go as planned; I still have my own tasks to complete."

"I'm getting more and more confused by you! What are you talking about?!"

Hermione wanted to ask more questions, but Mrs. Pince's signature voice came from deep within the library, "No loud noise allowed! It's time to close."

Julien took a step back and picked up the book "Ancient Runes and Runes" again, as if the conversation had never happened.

He turned and left, his figure quickly disappearing into the labyrinth of bookshelves. Hermione stood alone, the books in her arms suddenly feeling incredibly heavy.

Outside the window, an owl swept across the dark night sky, flying off into the unknown.

In a corner of the castle, Ginny Weasley clutched the black notebook tightly, whispering to an ancient and evil being in a dream unknown to anyone.

The door to the secret room is slowly opening.

-----------------

Hermione clutched the book, "The Creature You Don't Want to See - The Basilisk," its thick parchment cover pressed against her chest like a cold stone.

She had long since left the candlelight of the library behind; only the sound of her footsteps echoed in the corridor, hollow and lonely.

Her mind was still racing. The Basilisk—the monster left behind by Slytherin, a giant serpent that had lived for thousands of years—how could it appear and disappear mysteriously in the castle without being discovered by the students?

"Hiss... rustle..." A faint sound, like scales rubbing against a stone wall, came from inside the wall on the left.

Hermione stopped abruptly. Her blood seemed to freeze instantly, and the book in her arms almost slipped to the ground.

The sound was very soft, like someone gently scraping the inside of a wall with their fingernail, or like something huge and soft wriggling forward in a narrow pipe.

By the way, snakes can move inside tubes.

The walls of Hogwarts contain thousands of pipes for water supply, drainage, and heating, forming a complex maze-like network.

If the basilisk is lurking in these pipes, then it could indeed appear in any corner of the castle without being noticed.

This realization sent chills down her spine. The thought of that thing being right there in the wall beside her, separated only by a thin layer of bricks, sent shivers down her spine.

Hermione bit her lower lip hard, forcing herself to take a step forward with trembling legs. There was a corner in the corridor ahead, and the rustling sound seemed to grow clearer and more urgent.

It was as if something was rapidly swimming out from the depths of the pipe, heading directly toward this fork in the road.

She mustn't look directly into its eyes. Hermione suddenly remembered the warning in the book.

Trembling, she tucked the book under her arm and frantically pulled a small mirror from her bag—her personal item for grooming, with intricate silver patterns engraved on the frame.

She took a deep breath, slowly raised the mirror above her head, stretched it forward, and tilted it to face the corner in front of her, trying to observe the situation on the other side of the wall through the reflection.

The mirror reflected the dimly lit corridor, the torchlight casting flickering shadows on the stone walls. She saw the shadows of the pipes, the dusty corners of the walls, and then the stone wall in the corner seemed to move—

A pale hand suddenly reached out from behind and tightly covered her mouth, while a force grabbed the back of her collar and dragged her backward.

"Ugh—!"