Hogwarts: Hermione and I switched identities!

Meanwhile, Isabel, like a cat with its fur standing on end, rushed over to Hermione's side and hugged her arm tightly: "Tom, you haven't been back to school for a long time. Today... let's go play."

I heard you went to Hogsmeade Village over the weekend. How about we go there too? I'll help you deal with Ranier tonight.

"That Lanier guy, he kept telling people at school that he was going to get you someday, she wants to beat you up!"

Tom, who was using Hermione's body, remained silent.

His brain suddenly changed: "Miss Isabel, you may have misunderstood. The 'take' in Lanier's mouth does not mean to beat Tom, but..."

"What is it?" Isabel pressed.

"In this situation, Raniere means she wants to marry Tom, and you know what kind of person Raniere is, right? She'll take a huge amount of Galleons from Tom!"

How much is it... Let me think, this Galleon is enough for Tom to buy you a big house, a big house big enough for the three of you to live in together.

I can also buy you lots and lots of snacks every day, so many that you can't possibly eat them all!

But if Lanier and Tom get married, the Galleons will no longer belong to you.

Miss Isabel, I'm not one to stir up trouble, but is this what you want to see? Try to imagine that in the future, your brother Tom will bring home a girl you all hate, a girl who will oppress you and steal your food and Gallon.

Even in the end, Lanier might kick you out of the house because she and Tom have a child of their own.

"Tom, you can't do this!!!" Isabel instantly became agitated, grabbing Hermione's arm and shaking it back and forth. "I don't want you to marry Raniere, you can't marry such a wicked woman!"

"I won't get married..." Hermione's voice was so soft that she could barely hear it herself.

"It's decided, I'm going to take out Ranier tonight."

Hermione: "?"

How come this child's thinking is similar to Tom's?

Just how much influence did Tom have on those two? They were always fighting and killing each other.

"No...you can't hurt others." Hermione pulled Isabel along. "Misha, you come here too. I want to see what's been going on in your heads these days!"

Seeing that the three of them were getting along fairly well, and Hermione hadn't revealed her identity, Tom left with a smile, holding the back of his head.

But after taking only two steps, Tom suddenly heard a voice in his ear.

"Little Tom!"

The voice pierced Tom's mind.

For a moment, Tom was on the verge of collapse.

because……

The voice belonged to the Mirror of Eris.

“No, how dare you speak to me like that? The earring is on Hermione’s ear, isn’t it?” Tom questioned. “Won’t Hermione notice if you talk to me like that?”

"No, don't worry. I told you before, as long as we live in the same world, we can communicate like this."

I am the Mirror of Erised, at your beck and call. You can command me as you please, but I cannot bear your children like Hermione and Misha did.

Tom: "?"

"I think your teacher has shown you a lot of books you shouldn't have read, at least not books that you should be reading at your age. I guess I'll have to talk to your teacher and see if I can erase your memories."

"No to that kind of thing!" the Mirror of Eris cried out to Tom in despair. "But little Tom, I'm much older than you. If you can know it, why can't I?"

"Put those things aside, Tom, do you know... there's a basilisk lurking beneath this school?"

Tom nodded. "Of course I know."

"Do you know that the basilisk has awakened, and that two little ones are planning to go and find it?"

I know those two little guys, and you know them too. One of them is Harry; he once looked in the mirror in front of me, and I remember him very well.

"Hmm, do you know where they are right now?"

As soon as Tom finished speaking, the voice in his mind disappeared.

Less than five minutes later, the voice of the Mirror of Eris came again.

"My master just called me, so I went back."

The master said that if you want to kill the basilisk, you can directly stab it in the body with the sword in the stone.

If you have other ideas... such as keeping the basilisk as a pet, all you need to do is show it your bright blue eyes.

"Will the teacher help me?"

The Mirror of Eris chuckled: "There's no need for the master to intervene, little Tom. You don't yet realize just how powerful the teacher's reputation is. Although it may not be relevant in this era, anyone who has lived a few years will know its power!"

Chapter 139 I'll go give him a multiple-choice question

The cold stone walls cast distorted shadows in the flickering torchlight, and the air was filled with a musty smell of dust and dampness.

Hermione Granger—or rather, Tom Riddle, who was currently inhabiting this body—walked casually through the dimly lit corridors of the lower levels of Hogwarts Castle.

He frowned slightly, and the newly acquired azure earring on his left earlobe made a sound:

"Wow, that's really remote, but your body is much stronger than Miss Hermione's. At least your lungs don't feel like broken bellows when you run."

“I think so too,” Tom shrugged. “She should keep exercising.”

"Perhaps you can help her exercise. Also, those two reckless little lions are just at the end of the corridor ahead, turn left, in that dead end right next to the abandoned girls' restroom."

"What lousy confusion and soundproofing spells they used, tsk tsk, they wouldn't even fool Filch."

Tom sighed.

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, two typical Gryffindors, are commendable in their courage but lacking in caution. They always seem to have a foolish streak of knowingly venturing into dangerous territory.

They were already manipulating Voldemort; they didn't need to provoke the Basilisk at all.

Tom slowed his pace, his control over his body and magic exquisite, his footsteps landing on the edge of the carpet where they would make the least noise, as if he were blending into the shadows of the corner.

He heard a deliberately hushed, anxious argument ahead.

"...Ron, are you sure this is the place?" Harry's voice came through, tinged with uncertainty and panting. "The map says the entrance should be around here, but..."

“Of course it’s here! The Marauder’s Map never misses a beat!” Ron’s voice sounded a little irritated, mixed with the rustling of papers turning. “Look, ‘Nott’! It’s behind this wall! But it requires a specific way to open it… The book says…”

"The book says you need a Parseltongue! Harry!" Ron's voice suddenly rose a little, then abruptly fell back down. "You're a Parseltongue! You try it!"

A brief silence followed. Tom could almost picture Harry taking a deep breath and trying to peer at the cold stone wall. He cautiously peeked out, using the cover of an extinguished torch stand at the end of the corridor.

Sure enough, two figures in Gryffindor robes were pressed against a stained, seemingly unremarkable wall. Harry was staring intently at the wall, his lips moving silently, clearly trying to make that hissing sound.

Ron looked around nervously, clutching a tattered piece of parchment—the Marauder's Map—in one hand, and his wand in the other, its tip trembling nervously as it pointed at the ground in front of him and Harry.

Several books were scattered at their feet, one of which was open.

A chapter from *Hogwarts: A History*, next to which is an open copy of *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them* with its flamboyant cover, and... Lockhart's *Walking with Trolls*...

Tom's lips twitched. What use could Lockhart's book be here? To teach trolls to dance to attract the basilisk's attention?

"Hahahaha!" The magic mirror inside the earring let out a silent laugh without any politeness. "Using 'Walking with Trolls' to study basilisks? I'll tell my master about this when I get back."

“No, let me speak.” Tom couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

His gaze swept across the wall, and he caught a cold, slippery magical fluctuation seeping from its depths, carrying a chilling and dark aura—the aura of a basilisk.

The basilisk is down there, but it should still be asleep, waiting for these two people to come and deliver a breakfast after it wakes up.

……

Harry's hissing seemed to have no effect; the wall remained unmoved. He scratched his already messy black hair in frustration.

"No, Ron. It's not responding. Is the password wrong? Or do you need a specific word?"

"The book says that Parsleyan is needed to open the Chamber of Secrets..." Ron grabbed "Hogwarts: A History" and flipped through it quickly. "It doesn't say exactly what it's about... Merlin's mustache, it's too vague! We can't just say 'Open Sesame,' can we?"

“Perhaps… a stronger emotion is needed?” Harry guessed, a hint of unease flickering in his green eyes. “Or… an older Parseltongue command? I can only speak instinctively…”

Just then, a cold wind suddenly blew in from the other end of the corridor, stirring up dust on the ground and causing the torch flames to flicker wildly, almost extinguishing them. Ron shivered violently, nearly dropping his wand.

"Can you feel it, Harry? It's suddenly gotten cold..."

Harry's face turned pale. He instinctively gripped his wand tighter and looked warily in the direction the wind was blowing. "Something's not right..."

Tom raised an eyebrow.

That wasn't the wind; the chilling aura wasn't coming from the vents, but from below! The basilisk's presence suddenly became clear; it seemed to be drawn to the two living beings on the ground, especially some quality in Harry, and was awakening.

"Those two are in for it! Little Tom, should I remind your two roommates to come watch the show? Or should I notify Dumbledore?"

"Go ahead, and then Professor Dumbledore will arrest us as outcasts and dissect us for research," Tom joked casually at this point.

He wasn't worried about the basilisk at all.

Suddenly, an unexpected voice joined in—it was choked with sobs, wavering, and filled with melancholy.

"Oh...trying to open that horrible place again?" The transparent figure of Weeping Myrtle suddenly emerged from the wall, floating above Harry and Ron, looking at them sadly with her swollen eyes:

“Fifty years ago…that handsome boy…he opened it right here…and then I died…” She began to sob, large, pearl-like tears dripping down Ron’s shoulders and onto the ground.

“Myrtle!” Harry exclaimed, both surprised and delighted, as if he had grasped a lifeline. “You know how to open it, don’t you? You’ve seen it before?”

“Saw it? Oh, yes, my dear…” Myrtle stopped crying, floated lower, almost touching Harry’s ear, her voice carrying a morbid sweetness, “That handsome boy… he was talking to that ugly little snake faucet… hissing, so charming… and then… whoosh! The wall opened…”

A tap? Harry's gaze swept across the wall.

In the area covered by grime, a brass snake relief serves as a water outlet decoration, embedded in the stone bricks of the wall, almost impossible to spot without Myrtle's reminder.

"The snake faucet!" Harry immediately realized, following Myrtle's gaze, and then excitedly growled, "Ron! There he is!"

The two immediately lunged to the corner, Ron vigorously wiping the grime off the faucet with his sleeve. Harry took another deep breath, focused all his attention on the small bronze snake, and hissed a longer, more coherent, and commanding sound.

This time, something unexpected happened!

A heavy, loud grinding sound came from inside the wall, and a crack appeared in the stone wall that had seemed to be a single, solid piece, starting from the location of the snake-shaped faucet in the center!

The crevice rapidly widened, sliding open to reveal a huge, dark cave entrance reeking of a strong, pungent stench and a chilling aura. A powerful gust of wind carrying the smell of decay blasted out of the cave, nearly knocking Harry and Ron to the ground. The rocks along the edge of the cave entrance were covered with slippery moss and an unidentified slime.

“Merlin…” Ron held up his wand, the beam of the Illumination Charm probing into the cave entrance, illuminating only a few steps at the entrance. “This…this is the entrance? Shall we go down?” His voice carried a distinct excitement—despite their current precarious situation.

Harry stared at the bottomless entrance, his Adam's apple bobbing, his green eyes filled with struggle. The fear was real, but the sense of responsibility and the desire for the truth were equally intense.

However, in the instant Harry hesitated, another change occurred!

"Hiss hiss hiss—!!!"