Hogwarts: Me? Fight Voldemort?

Ron fell silent; he still couldn't adapt to Draco's change, and that clear female voice no longer carried a trace of malice.

"I don't think Jimmy would care about something like that..."

Jimmy gave Neville a thumbs up, "Neville really understands me!"

The imminent threat seemed nonexistent, not affecting their laughter and chatter in the slightest. In their minds, they could even handle Quirrell when he was possessed by the Dark Lord in their first year, so how much trouble could Lockhart possibly cause?

The next day, Cornelius Fudge returned to Hogwarts, this time bringing with him a large group of Dementors.

The appearance of these monsters made the students realize that the seriousness of Lockhart's situation seemed to be beyond their imagination.

Cornelius Fudge never complains in front of the media, as this would affect his approval rating and threaten his position as Minister of Magic.

He didn't want to go to great lengths to bring the Dementors to the school, but he couldn't think of a better way.

Lockhart's only fear was Dementors, and Cornelius Fudge could not bear to see any student die because of a dark wizard.

If such a terrible thing were to happen, not only the students' parents, but even people within the Ministry of Magic could use this as a reason to impeach him.

Recently, there have been signs of a resurgence in the power of pure-blood families. The Malfoy family, in particular, has changed its low profile and become active again, using a lot of money to pave the way, and many people in the Ministry of Magic have secretly joined them.

Cornelius Fudge's visit to the school wasn't just to shift the pressure onto Dumbledore; after all... the headmaster didn't want Dementors to stay at Hogwarts forever, did he?

Inside the girls' dormitory, Hermione stood by the window, looking worriedly at the Dementors wandering outside. Recently, Jimmy had started secretly planning something again and often disappeared.

At noon, she asked Jimmy, but his answer was not very satisfactory.

"I don't want to lie to you, this is too dangerous for you, I can't let you know..."

He didn't lie to her, but that wasn't the answer she wanted.

Hermione didn't want to just watch Jimmy go on an adventure without doing anything.

“Hermione, are you still looking at those monsters?” Her roommate, Lavender Brown, saw that Hermione had been standing outside the window for a while and comforted her, “Don’t worry, Professor Dumbledore won’t let them in.”

Professor Dumbledore...

Hermione turned around and smiled at Lavender. "Thank you, I understand."

Judging from the choice of Lockhart, Professor Dumbledore's judgment can sometimes be wrong.

She wouldn't be harsh on a centenarian; in this school, they still have to rely on themselves!

The next day, April 12th, was less than a month away from the final exams.

The students then entered into an unprecedented triple pressure.

While worrying about Dementors trying to kiss her, guarding against Lockhart's attacks, and studying hard for her exams!

These three blessings tormented the young wizards to the point of ecstasy, but fortunately the professors saw the pressure and assigned extra homework at the end of the semester, which would solve the problem once they finished this period of study.

After finishing his homework in the library, Jimmy said goodbye to Harry, Draco, Neville, Ron, and Hermione, who had been dragged there to study with him, and went on to carry out his own plan.

The five who remained looked at each other, then all turned to Hermione.

Hermione squinted, staring at Jimmy's retreating figure with displeasure, then leaned down and said, "We need to find out what Jimmy is doing!"

“How am I supposed to figure this out? I can’t catch him even if I put on the Invisibility Cloak.” Harry had also tried to follow Jimmy, but he failed. Jimmy’s physique, which he developed from running every morning by the Black Lake, was something he couldn’t match.

Ron said, "We can't track him, right?"

“We can’t,” Hermione said with a sense of helplessness. “But think about it, what’s most abundant in the school? And what can help us find Jimmy’s whereabouts?”

Ron, Draco, and Neville all swallowed hard, their minds racing as they tried to come up with an answer.

Harry was the first to think of it, and he said hesitantly, "Could it be... a portrait?"

“Finally someone has thought of that…” Hermione said with a sigh of relief. “That’s right, there are portraits everywhere in the castle, and the people in those portraits can move around freely. We can find out where Jimmy has been from the portraits!”

Chapter 155 Jimmy's Whitewashing Plan

After leaving the library, Jimmy headed straight for the girls' restroom on the second floor.

With practiced touch, the faucet with its snake-patterned design slowly moved aside, revealing a deep, dark opening beneath.

The place he came to was the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin. If Hagrid wanted to become the professor of Magical Creatures Protection in his third year, he would first need to clear his identity.

Jimmy's current plan to lure Lockhart out is primarily a backup plan in case the Aurors fail to capture him and allow him to escape into the castle, while Dumbledore stubbornly continues to carry out his training program.

For the past few days, he has been trying to crack this alchemical washbasin. Perhaps the person who set it up was too confident that it would not be discovered, because there are no anti-crack measures in place.

Jimmy cracked the first barrier of the secret room in just two days. The second barrier, the gate that could only be opened with the Parseltongue, was a bit more troublesome and took one deduction opportunity to solve.

Finally, there was the main hall with the giant Slytherin face carved on it. Jimmy had placed several large roosters he bought from Hagrid here and temporarily silenced them with a whistle charm.

Add a sturdy gate to all the entrances and exits of the Great Hall, and if Lockhart really comes, he will blow up the Slytherin statue.

Let the basilisk inside clash with Lockhart and see who is stronger.

If Lockhart is really powerful enough to kill even the Basilisk, then trap him with at least ten gates, and then Jimmy can run out and have Hagrid call the professor to handle it.

At that time, the fact that there is a basilisk in Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets will be made public, at least half of the truth about Myrtle's death fifty years ago will be solved, and Hagrid's innocence will be cleared.

Happy to everyone!

Even if Lockhart fails to enter Hogwarts, it's still fine. Jimmy can simply reveal the secret of the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin, which will clear Hagrid's name completely.

Next year, I can take Hagrid's Magical Creatures Conservation course to earn credits, and also let Hagrid get some rare and valuable items so he can collect some expensive animal materials.

Today's earthwork is finished. Jimmy fed the roosters in the coop a big bowl of mixed grains and insects. His safety depends on these roosters, so he has to feed them something good.

When Jimmy returned via the same route after finishing his work, he also had to clean and reinforce the tunnel areas that were prone to collapse, in order to prevent rocks from falling and blocking the road again.

Having done everything, he reappeared in the girls' restroom on the second floor, riding a second-hand flying broom.

After observing his surroundings and seeing that there was only one ghost besides Myrtle, he crawled out from inside.

"Myrtle, has no one been to the washroom?"

The plump myrtle floated in mid-air. Today, she was unusually calm, but she pouted and said resentfully, "Who would like to stay in a washroom with a weeping myrtle?"

“That puts my mind at ease,” Jimmy said, putting the broom back in his pocket. “Don’t worry, you’ll soon find out who killed you.”

Jimmy hires Myrtle to help drive away the curious young wizards in exchange for helping her find her killer.

When death is mentioned, every ghost becomes sentimental, and Myrtle was no exception. She began to sob again, “Of course I know. Who killed me? Oliver Humbey. He killed me, and then my body died with him.”

After crying for a while, she suddenly stopped crying, floated in front of Jimmy, and smiled foolishly at him, saying, "If you die, I can share a toilet with you. I like handsome men... or boys."

Before Myrtle could get close, Jimmy escaped the girls' washroom and headed to the Owl's Hut to deliver a new materials list to Billy, Blaine's potions buyer, who was outside.

To create a sturdy iron gate that can fill any gap requires a large amount of steel, as well as some special magical materials.

Shortly after Jimmy left the second-floor bathroom, Hermione led Harry and the others here, asking about various portraits along the way.

They also invited a kind-hearted portrait artist, Sir Cadogan, to the eighth-floor platform. He was very willing to help those who bravely pursued the truth, despite his somewhat noisy manner.

"Yes, I'm sure your companion stayed here. I heard him looking for a monster that killed the poor girl!"

On the wall near the girls' restroom on the second floor, what should have been a painting of sheep grazing has been replaced by a knight in armor.

The knight didn't ride a horse, but instead rode on the back of a sheep, which frightened the sheep into bleating.

"Oh, damned beast! I will subdue you!"

Sir Cadogan struggled to grab the sheep by its ears, but the frightened sheep jumped off and then trampled on the knight's body with its hooves.

Looking at the knight's comical appearance in the portrait, Ron asked in a low voice, "Is he really reliable?"

Everyone else looked on with distrust, but Hermione was willing to believe this kind-hearted knight. She walked toward the girls' washroom and said, "Let's go in and ask Myrtle. She's always here."

“Myrtle?” Harry, Ron, and Draco were reminded of bad memories, but they had no choice but to follow Hermione into the girls’ washroom.

Draco has now gotten used to going into the girls' lavatory, and her transformation has gradually been accepted by more and more people over time. In fact, many people in Slytherin treat her with great respect.

Their reasons for being respectful varied, but in any case, it was a good thing...

The five people filed in and happened to see Myrtle lying in mid-air yawning.

Seeing so many people in the restroom, she looked up in surprise. "Wow! There are so many people here today, two girls and three boys. So, are you all going to use the restroom together?"

Hermione asked cautiously, "No offense, Myrtle, did you see my friend Jimmy Blaine just now? Was he here?"

Harry, Ron, and Draco, having experienced Myrtle's power firsthand, all kept their mouths shut. Neville, seeing that the three of them were silent, also remained silent.

Myrtle exclaimed "Ah!" and feigned sudden realization, "So you've come to see Jimmy. Hmm, that's for sure, after all, who would come looking for a nobody like Myrtle? Hmph!"

She looked like she was about to cry again, but Hermione asked with surprise, "You know Jimmy, so he really was here, right?"

"Yes, yes! You all just treat me as a mouthpiece. Nobody cares about poor Myrtle. You're all probably thinking, 'I wish I knew what I wanted to know so I wouldn't have to face that ugly Myrtle,' right?!"

No one knows which sentence touched Myrtle's sensitive heart again, but she suddenly flew to the top of the five people's heads and burst into tears.

The piercing sound brought back the terrible scene from the death anniversary party for Harry and his friends.

The person who was covering their ears suddenly noticed some clues and walked to a few water stains by the sink, saying, "Look here, there are footprints here, they must be Jimmy's."

Chapter 156 Hagrid, you didn't want this either...

Several people gathered around the footprints. There were more than just the one Neville had seen on the ground. They squatted down and carefully examined the footprints, discovering even more.

Judging from the depth and the marks, Hermione said with certainty, "These are Jimmy's footprints. He was here."

Myrtle, floating above their heads, stopped crying. "You all discovered this yourselves; I didn't expose you."

"Jimmy was here, and he asked you to cover it up?" Neville asked, looking up.

Myrtle smiled slyly. "That's right! He's helping me find the thing that will kill me, and I'll help him drive away everyone who comes in here! And I'll also get the right to share a toilet with him after he dies."

"The thing that killed you?"

Hermione and the others exchanged bewildered glances. It seemed they had never considered what had killed Myrtle, simply taking her existence for granted.

“Oh yeah~! Yeah, I remember that time, I opened the door and saw a yellow eye, and then…” Myrtle made a closed-eye, pouting expression, “…died. Jimmy was helping me find that thing.”

Neville swallowed hard and asked nervously, "What kind of thing can kill someone with just a glance?"

This description felt strangely familiar to Hermione. She drew her wand and pointed it at her head. "Unforgettable!"

The memory-restoring spell awakened fragments of memories she had seen before, and she finally found a monster with corresponding characteristics. She hesitated and said, "Could it be... a basilisk? A basilisk is a monster that hatches from an egg from a toad and can usually reach 50 feet in length."

The first person to cultivate the basilisk was the despicable Helbo, whose eyes possessed terrifying power; any creature that looked into its eyes would instantly die. It was also the natural enemy of spiders.

Hermione recited the information about the Basilisk in great detail, sending chills down the spines of everyone present.