The Black Bloodline of Hogwarts

Hermione seized the opportunity and scrambled to Harry's side.

Lockhart, oblivious to everything, picked up his wand from the ground and began gesturing at the basilisk's corpse.

"One, two, three..." he counted carefully, "My goodness, this snake is 20 yards long."

"He...he's really gone mad?" Harry asked incredulously.

"This time it's for real," Julien put away his wand and let out a long sigh of relief. "I deliberately increased the power of the spell, even erasing his childhood memories of bedwetting."

"How could you have the Forgetfulness Charm?" Hermione asked in surprise, rubbing her neck which was red from being strangled. "Isn't that an OWL-level spell? And you used... an enhanced version?"

Julien smiled mysteriously: "It's all thanks to Professor Lockhart's excellent teaching. He just talks a lot in class, so after class I always have to find something to do—like flipping through his lesson plans. I must say, his notes on the Forgetfulness Spell are incredibly detailed, even though the handwriting is as messy as chicken claws."

What Julien didn't say was that his Oblivion Spell was mainly provided by the Magic Library, though ultimately Lockhart was to credit it.

"You stole his spell to fight him? That's impressive," Harry exclaimed breathlessly.

"I don't believe things are that simple. The Forgetfulness Charm isn't something just anyone can learn." Hermione's tone was somewhat doubtful. "By the way, what's that stone you're secretly hiding? Why did Lockhart want it earlier?"

"This..." Julien smiled awkwardly.

"Also, what's this Moonshadow Council you were talking about?"

"What are you talking about? I don't understand a word." Harry's expression turned strange. "Oh, I'm a little dizzy."

Hermione rushed over to check, "Harry, your arm is turning black. Julien, come quick, Harry's wound is bleeding black blood."

Julien quickly crouched down as well. Sure enough, a wound on Harry's shoulder was festering and oozing black liquid, and his entire arm was even turning black.

"This must be from when Harry was stabbing the basilisk; his arm was scratched by the other fangs. Don't worry, the phoenix's tears should heal the wound."

"Hey, where's Fox?"

Inside another passage in the underground labyrinth, a silver raven was pulling on the wings of Phoenix Fox, and the two were having a lively and friendly discussion about whether the basilisk's eyeballs were edible.

At this moment, Liria and Rozier carried Ginny, who was still unconscious, over and placed her next to Harry.

Harry glanced at Ginny, "Is Ginny alright?" Then his neck lolled to the side, his legs kicked, and he passed out.

"Harry, Harry, Ginny, Ginny," Hermione called out anxiously.

Julien saw that Liria was standing right behind Hermione and made a gesture to her. Liria looked at Julien in surprise, while Julien nodded seriously.

"Julien, what are you gesturing for? Uh..."

Lyria delivered a karate chop to Hermione's neck.

Hermione's neck lolled to the side, her legs kicked, and she fainted.

Julien raised his wand again, the tip pointing at Hermione...

"Hey, Julien, what are you doing?" Liria, unaware of what was going on, stepped forward to stop him. But Rozier didn't move.

"Don't be afraid, I won't hurt them. This only requires the three of them, Harry and his friends."

"Lyria, you don't need to worry about it. This was originally Dumbledore's test for Harry and the others. Our goal is the Fallen Star Shard, and the fewer people who know about it, the better," Rozier explained from the side.

"So what are you planning to do?" The kind-hearted Liria was still a little worried.

"Don't worry! My ancestor was a master at extracting memories."

The two books, "Civic Surgery: A Guide to Event-Based Memory Stripping Based on Anchoring Theory" and "The Mind Weaver: Removing the Threads of Pain from the Fabric of Fate," now lie in his memory library, beneath Murphy's body.

"Eximo Memoria!"

Julien's wand tip touched Hermione's temple precisely, then slowly withdrew in a spiral motion. A thin, silvery thread emerged from the tip.

Then he did the same thing to Harry.

---

When Harry and his friends received Dumbledore's commendation again for the Chamber of Secrets incident, and when Gryffindor won the House Cup again, Rosier asked Julien, "If you hadn't done that back then, these honors would have been yours."

"You know, there's an old saying in the East, 'After accomplishing the deed, one dusts off one's clothes and leaves, concealing one's identity and name,'" Julien said in a affected tone.

"What did you say?" Liria asked.

"You're not speaking Chinese, are you?" Rozier said.

Yes. It means:

Their work done, they depart with grace so light,

Their names and selves concealed from mortal sight."

"boring."

"By the way, you were too reckless back then," Rozier said softly, a barely perceptible lingering fear in his icy gray eyes. "If my shield had been even a second later..."

"But I won my bet," Julien said with a smile, "and I knew you'd be on time."

Rozier gave a soft hum and turned her face away, but the tips of her ears turned slightly red.

Liria looked at him curiously: "When did you learn to be completely detached from worldly affairs? Did you really just read Lockhart's notes?"

"Well," Julien said, taking a chocolate frog from his pocket—he didn't know when it had been stuffed in there—and breaking it into three pieces. "Some secrets are best left in the secret room."

---

When Fox rushed back to the crime scene, Hermione had already woken up, rubbing her neck, her head still a little fuzzy.

Lockhart, the former "Defense Against the Dark Arts Master," sat atop the basilisk's head, saying to her with a serious expression, "You know what? You really need braces. I know a really good dentist, at...at..." He scratched his head in confusion, "Where was he again?"

Foxy healed Harry's wound instantly with his tears.

"What's wrong with me?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"You just killed the basilisk with Gryffindor's sword, and then you were injured and passed out."

"Oh, right, I remember now. We entered the secret chamber, killed the basilisk, destroyed the notebook, and rescued Ginny. By the way, how's Ginny?"

"Harry," Ginny said, waking up at that moment. She looked around as if she remembered something. "I'm sorry, I opened the Chamber of Secrets. I was controlled by that book..."

"It's okay, Ginny..." Harry comforted Ginny.

"A notebook?" Hermione looked at the two people huddled together with a puzzled expression. "I don't remember anything about a notebook. I feel like I've missed something."

Lockhart: "Is this a phoenix? I thought phoenixes only existed in legends. Wow, this is amazing!"

At dawn, Myrtle poked her head out of the toilet and stretched. "Ugh! All that coming and going last night has been ruining my sleep! I'm going to complain to Professor McGonagall!"

"Does a ghost like you need sleep?" Pikachu suddenly appeared out of nowhere. As he spoke, he took one last look at the faucet leading to the secret room, its serpentine carving faintly visible in the morning light.