The days at Hogwarts

Dean looked at Seamus, who was laughing like a goose, in confusion, and wondered whether he should take him to the school infirmary and let Madam Pomfrey check his brain.

The Transfiguration Club's classes were connected with the activities of the lower grade branch of the Charms Club. As soon as Professor McGonagall announced the end of get out of class, everyone rushed to the place where they would practice spells.

Professor Flitwick would personally guide them in practicing spells and give suggestions based on each person's situation, so the young wizards in the lower grades were very active. When they arrived, the training ground converted from a classroom was already full of people, and the group hurried in to find a seat.

In an inconspicuous corner of the training ground, the young wizards of Slytherin gathered together, practicing spells.

Crabbe, with a pale face, looked at Harry and others in the crowd with resentment. He suppressed his inner irritability and asked fiercely to the empty right side as if talking to himself: "Why, didn't you say you could make me stronger? Why can't I pass the Transfiguration test?"

He took part in the Transfiguration Club's selection test, but was rejected because he did not learn the basic knowledge of the first grade very well. After learning that the Transfiguration Club would teach Animagus content, all his jealousy turned into resentment towards Harry and his group.

Although there was no one around him, a gloomy and chilling reply rang out in the air: "I have improved your magic power and made you smarter, but you still need to learn the knowledge by yourself."

Crabbe asked impatiently, "Is there any magic that can directly input knowledge into my brain?"

The black-scaled snake curled up in the clothes was spitting out its tongue, and a murderous light flashed in its vertical pupils.

How dare a weak scum speak to the Dark Lord like that? Even his father, old Crabbe, wouldn't dare to be so rude.

Voldemort showed no anger or annoyance. He manipulated his snake body to speak: "Of course, but you will have to pay a small price."

……

The corridors of Hogwarts are always deserted at night, and this desolation is even more obvious when there is a cold wind and rain outside. The hard-soled shoes stepping on the floor startled an echo in the narrow corridor.

Pushing the switch of the lights-off device, the top cover popped open with a crisp sound, and a pleasant metallic vibration echoed in the empty corridor.

If we use a metal lighter as an analogy, there are probably several light sources of different colors floating above the fire outlet. The most eye-catching one is a group of pale green light, which is emitting a dangerous aura.

Nearly a month has passed since Loren obtained the Lights Putter and its structural drawings, but his progress in disassembling the alchemy array is pitifully slow. The Lights Putter is not only complex in its array, but its internal mechanical structure is also very sophisticated.

Dumbledore cleverly combined the mechanical mechanism and the magic circle. When the switch is pushed forward, the internal buckle will be embedded in the groove on the upper part, and the magic circle on the buckle will be connected with the magic circle on the upper part to form a whole, forming a magic circle that collects light sources.

When the switch is pushed backwards, the buckle will be embedded in the groove at the rear end, and the function of the magic circle will be transformed into containing and sealing the light source.

Feeling the deadly magic power drawn from the basilisk's eyes, Loren couldn't help but confirm again with Flamel floating beside him: "Can I really deal with the basilisk now?"

It had been almost a month since the last time he dealt with the basilisk. He had fallen into Dumbledore's trap and had to find a way to test the eyesight of the awakened basilisk. Loren was really unsure, so he had to ask Flamel for help.

He originally thought that he would get some roundabout and involved solutions, but after Flamel heard the situation from him, he actually asked him to just go ahead and fight the basilisk head-on!

"As you said, the basilisk has been dormant for the past thousand years, and it only woke up once fifty years ago. It needs some time to recover, so that the blood in its body can flow and the stiff bones and muscles can stretch. Besides, Albus has helped you to restrain the basilisk's most deadly gaze. What else is there to worry about?"

Flamel leisurely inspected the interior of Hogwarts Castle. Because of the uniqueness of his visible body, he didn't have to worry about being discovered by anyone. "Compared to magical animals that can't think, the most powerful thing about wizards is not just magic, but also their brains."

If referring to the duel exercises in the fantasy book, Loren's current strength is more than enough to deal with the weak basilisk. However, there is an unfathomable boundary between reality and virtuality, and virtual battles can never replace real battles.

Not all battles would be simulated, so Flamel hadn't used the Book of Fantasy to construct a virtual basilisk for him to practice with.

Loren held the suitcase he was carrying, which contained the things he had prepared to deal with the basilisk. The weight, reduced by the Traceless Extension Spell, gave him a sense of security.

Chapter 187 Night Battle with the Basilisk

Seeing that Loren was still a little nervous, Flamel temporarily stopped observing Hogwarts Castle and spoke to divert his attention: "Tell me, why do you infer that the basilisk is hiding on the third floor?"

Speaking of deducing the traces of the basilisk, Loren smiled slightly. This was all thanks to Harry and his team's investigation of Lockhart. "The castle's caretaker, Mr. Filch, has recently been investigating whether any animals from the Forbidden Forest have sneaked into the castle, because every morning, there are always some rat remains and bloodstains on the third floor."

"The most important thing is the reaction of the spiders in the castle. Little wizards have witnessed spiders moving out of the castle in groups on every floor, except the third floor. I think this is because the spiders on the third floor were the first to flee this floor."

Almost all of Loren's mental pressure came from his imagination. As he slowly sorted out his thoughts, he gradually calmed down.

Flamel felt that Loren was getting into the mood, so he felt relieved and continued to check the castle walls.

The walls and floors of Hogwarts have unique defenses that combine alchemy and ancient magic to protect against most spells, but provide little protection against physical damage.

He observed the magic circle inside through the wall with interest: "You know what? Compared with defending against external enemies, the internal defense is more like preventing naughty little wizards from blowing up the castle."

"Haha, the castle really does limit the performance of George and Fred."

Walked all over the third floor, leaving only the last corner.They came to the end of the aisle, where little wizards would normally pass by, it was empty, except for a puddle of water on the floor.It could be the rain blowing in from the window, or it could be the tap water from the nearby bathroom.

Loren shook off his chaotic thoughts and let out a long breath: "Come to see if Mr. Basilisk is home?"

He raised his right hand in front of his eyes, tapped lightly on his brow with his index finger, and suddenly a crystal blue light burst out from his eyes.

Everything within sight faded in color, leaving only outlines of varying depths. Ignoring the light from the castle's defensive formation, the stone walls became transparent, revealing buried pipes, which revealed their hollow interiors.

Inside the hollow tube, a huge creature seemed to sense the unusual sight and slowly raised its terrifying snake head, looking at him through numerous barriers.

The basilisk's scales have a thick black-green magical luster. There is no doubt that they are thicker than the troll's stone skin, have stronger defense, and are more difficult for spells to penetrate.

The yellow snake pupils exude a terrifyingly cold gaze, revealing a dangerous aura.

Filch had finished his last rounds, so there was no need to worry about anyone passing by.

Loren raised his wand towards the location of the basilisk. Invisible magic power spread up along the tip of the wand, making the wizard's thoughts act on tangible matter.

Under the influence of the transfiguration, the cast iron pipe began to soften and coil, like a soft plant vine, and began to wrap around the basilisk, trying to restrain it.

"Hiss!" The basilisk opened its huge mouth and roared. Its huge body struggled hard, trying to get out of the pipe, pass through the vent on the ceiling, and land on the corridor floor.

Driven by the snake's muscles, the hard green scales easily squeezed the cast iron pipe into countless pieces. The huge body fell on the corridor, but it was so gentle that no sound was made.

Countless debris fell on the corridor, and rust and slag piled up into small mounds. In the ancient and mysterious magic castle, a huge snake monster as big as a mountain stopped in front of the boy, and the monster's breath formed a strong wind in the corridor.

Loren held the Philosopher's Stone in his left hand, activating the surging magic power contained in the Philosopher's Stone. The tremendous power instantly flowed through his body, and the crystal blue light in his eyes became brighter.

Flamel looked at this scene deeply, his eyes deep and far-reaching, and at a certain moment he seemed to see another person through Loren, the one who was struggling to find the truth of death in the blood and vomit of the plague.

Even Loren himself didn't realize that compared to the summer vacation, he has gradually mastered the power of the Philosopher's Stone. This is his growth, and it is also the choice of the Philosopher's Stone...

Although it seemed that he would not get hurt by looking into the eyes of the basilisk, Loren did not try. He half-closed his eyelids to avoid the basilisk's sight and let the foul-smelling air flow to blow his black curly hair.

The muscles of the basilisk were wriggling, the dust was splashed by the falling rocks, and all the tiny things became extremely clear. Most importantly, Loren felt that he was calmer than ever before. The abundant magic power brought a sense of omnipotence and control. Loren felt that if he used the Divine Edge Shadowless Spell with all his strength now, he would definitely be able to lift off the hard scales on the surface and cut the basilisk in half.

He came here today to test the basilisk's eyesight, not to kill it. Loren recalled the Transfiguration spell that Dumbledore had used in the Chamber of Secrets and waved his wand.

The magic of Transfiguration enveloped all the rubble, dirt, rust and pipe fragments ahead.

The rubble turned into pit vipers with gray stripes; the dirt and rust mixed together and turned into pythons with red stripes; and the pipe fragments turned into the largest giant anaconda with flaky stripes.

All kinds of snakes on the ground rushed towards the basilisk without hesitation, climbing up the basilisk's body along all the places they could touch and use as leverage, and drilling into its scales, hindering any movement of the basilisk. Then they were pressed back to their original form by the huge force, turning into rubble and dirt. Under the effect of Transfiguration, the rubble and dirt condensed into blocks and attached to the basilisk's body, hindering its movement.

The basilisk was unable to move forward due to the endless consumption and entanglement, and its struggle became slower and slower. The rubble and dirt piled up on its body became more and more, and its body became heavier and heavier. Before it was completely buried by the dirt, it suddenly seemed to be enraged, and twisted its body with all its strength, shaking off a pile of dust, and almost struggled out.

But what came in return was more snakes charging forward one after another, and then becoming a heavy obstacle on the basilisk's body.

As Flamel deduced, the basilisk was in the recovery period after just waking up. It hid in the pipe system of Hogwarts Castle and accumulated strength by hunting mice. It would take at least a few years to fully recover.

The basilisk struggled hard for several times, and finally calmed down. The dirt on its body had solidified into a complete piece. From a distance, it looked like a wild snake that fell into cement and could not move after being poured.

Loren overturned the storage box, and the water that filled the storage space instantly poured out, turning into transparent little snakes that rushed into the mouth and nose of the basilisk.

Potion of the Living Hell - Teaching content of the sixth grade Potions class.

A powerful sleeping pill, also known as the water of life and death, which can make the user sleep like death. It is just an exercise work of a sixth-grade student, the quality varies, and there may be other surprise functions.

It would usually be disposed of as garbage by Snape, but it was perfect for dealing with the basilisk, so Loren asked for it.

A feeling of laziness and sleepiness enveloped the basilisk, making it not want to exert any more effort, and it even ignored the annoying little wizard in front of it.

Most of its memories were in sleep, so it didn't have much combat experience, nor did it have any violent desire to kill. When it followed Slytherin a thousand years ago, it spent most of its time doing research, or being researched, eating well, drinking well, and sleeping well.

After that, it fell into a long sleep. When it woke up last time, its old master was nowhere to be found. Instead, a young wizard gave it commands in Parseltongue. The basilisk's brain did not support any extra ideas, so it could only follow its instincts and listen to Parseltongue's commands.

Then, he fell asleep again.

I don't know how long it took, but another little wizard used Parseltongue to wake it up. This little wizard had the familiar smell from fifty years ago. The basilisk didn't think too much and just followed orders.

But its stomach is empty, it is so hungry, the mouse spider in the pipe can't eat enough. It can't go to the nearby forest to find food, so it can only rely on eating mice to accumulate energy.

I’m so sleepy. I want to sleep again.

The basilisk slowly fell into a deep sleep, and soon it stopped struggling and lay on the ground, its body covered by thick and clumping soil and rocks, motionless. The completely black eye film drooped down to cover half of its pupils.

Flamel floated above the basilisk, circling around its head. "Let me tell you, the basilisk, which has just woken up from its slumber and hasn't fully recovered, doesn't have half the strength of its prime. Any professor from Hogwarts could easily deal with it."

Having said that, Flamel also understood that this battle was not as simple as it appeared.

Controlling the magic stone to repeatedly perform transformations, switching between various snakes and slag, requires tremendous magic power and a strong soul. There is also the free living hell soup, and the basilisk itself is physically exhausted. All of the above are factors in winning this battle.

"At least Lockhart certainly can't do it, and Professor Trelawney of Divination."

Loren teased the two professors and took a few tentative steps forward. After confirming that the basilisk had no reaction, he stepped forward and stepped on the basilisk's scales and soil to reach the snake's pupil.

The basilisk seemed to be anesthetized, losing consciousness, and the membrane on its pupils was half open and half closed. Loren skillfully took out the light extinguisher, attracted the basilisk's gaze, and gently shook it, distinguishing the gray, yellow and pale green magic threads, separating the pale green light ball with lethal magic.

Flamel observed this scene carefully and found it quite novel.

At the position of the fire core of the extinguisher, the pale green light ball that had just been collected merged with the original light ball without any obstruction, forming a larger light ball.

Loren watched this scene, turned his head and looked at Flamel, and suddenly asked, "Can the magic light ball in the Deluminator be used against the enemy?"

Flamel did not answer immediately, but thought for a moment: "It shouldn't be possible. As you can see, there are three colors of magic threads in the basilisk's eyes, gray representing petrification, yellow representing the carrier, and green representing death. The carrier is indispensable. It represents the most essential function of the snake pupil, which carries both magic and vision. The magic in the Deluminator also needs a carrier to work."

"Can alchemy be used to create it?" Loren refused to give up.

If this magical power could be utilized, it would be like the sword of Gryffindor, able to absorb other powers and qualities and become a weapon that could continue to grow.

Flamel was very interested in this new alchemical subject. He moved closer to the snake pupil and put his entire head close to observe it.

After a while, Flamel said, "Using magic runes and magic circles is not a solution for now. The best carrier is these eyes."

He rubbed his fingers non-stop, eager to try: "You don't even need a Deluminator. Just remove the basilisk's eyeball and transform it with alchemy. Then you can transform your magic power into magic with basilisk characteristics."

"Not now. Headmaster Dumbledore may need it." Loren rejected the proposal that made him very excited.

Flamel was quite regretful: "The whole body of the basilisk is made of materials, not just the eyes. If you take off these scales, each one is stronger than the protective pendant you mentioned before."

Loren was even more excited, but he couldn't use either the basilisk in front of him or the snake skin in the secret room, otherwise he would scare Voldemort by hitting the snake.

He sighed: "Let's talk about the carrier of magic power. Is there any other way without taking away the basilisk's eyes?"

"Other magical eyes can also work, but the effect may be worse." Flamel said.

Other eyes with magical powers... Loren nodded thoughtfully.

It took some effort to deal with the battlefield, but fortunately there was no black magic like the Shadowless Spell throughout the entire battle, and all damage caused by physical collisions and transfiguration could be repaired.

Loren waved his wand, and the soil and rocks covering the basilisk's body fell off, loosening the basilisk's restraints. The levitation spell moved the basilisk's body, swaying back into the pipe.

"Restore to original state." Loren held the Philosopher's Stone and cast a repair spell to cover the area.

It was different from the trivial changes of repairing tables, chairs, benches, glasses, and coins. After Loren finished reciting the spell, pieces of cast iron fragments in the corridor on the third floor of Hogwarts Castle flew up from the dust and reorganized into pipes, and pieces of rubble turned into neat stone walls.

An invisible whirlwind rolled up a vortex, and powder-like dust and rust spiraled upward along the vortex, melting into the walls and pipes and disappearing.

The corridor returned to its original state not long ago, even the puddles on the ground were back to their original state.

Loren put away the box, turned around and smiled at Flamel: "Let's go, I want to learn about pupils and carriers tonight."

The footsteps stepped on the puddles, and the sound of splashing water echoed with the sound of heavy rain raging outside the castle, bringing all the legendary stories that happened tonight into the wind and blowing them away in the thick fog of the night.

Not long after Loren left, the door of the bathroom not far away, which had been closed all the time, was pushed open, and an old man with a white beard and wearing pajamas embroidered with cartoon star and moon patterns came out holding a cup.

Dumbledore complained as Loren walked away, "That's the downside of having too sharp eyes. I'm a man over a hundred years old, and I have to hide. I wonder if the hot cocoa from the bathroom will taste bad."

As he spoke, he pursed his lips and took a sip of the hot cocoa. It had no peculiar smell and was slightly hot, just the right temperature, so the old man smiled comfortably.

He waved his wand at the basilisk, turned and walked away muttering:

"What if the basilisk falls into an eternal sleep again after drinking so much water of life and death?"

"Haha, because the Water of Life and Death fell into a deep sleep and needed to be awakened by others, it sounds like the story of Leticia Somnolen. Fortunately, the basilisk is not a princess, so I don't have to kiss it gently..."

Leticia Somnolen was a dominatrix who lived in the Middle Ages. She was jealous of the beauty of the local king's daughter, so she smeared a potion of living hell on a spindle. She lured the young princess to touch the spindle, which put her into a long sleep. However, Somnolen's plan did not succeed, because a wizard smeared a stimulating potion on his lips and kissed the princess to wake her up.

Chapter 188 Death Anniversary Party

The next day, morning.

The heavy rain that had lasted for more than ten days finally stopped. The air was damp and cold, but very fresh, making it easy to breathe. The sky after the rain seemed to have been washed by a cleansing spell, presenting a clear blue color like the forget-me-not flower.

Recently, the Gryffindor Quidditch team's training volume has increased to a terrifying level, and training in the rain has become the norm. Every time Harry and Ron come back, they are covered in mud, and when they drip on the ground, there are spots of mud. Filch has scolded them many times when he was cleaning the corridor.

The twins both said that if they were caught red-handed, they would be hung in the corridor and whipped by Filch.

Inspired by the game of Go, Ron designed several tactics targeting Slytherin's speed advantage, and he hit it off with Wood. He became the team's recognized reserve, commanding the team off the field during every training session and shouldering the responsibility of monitoring Colin.

Colin Creevey, Harry's biggest fanatic, would come to watch Harry's training even in the heavy rain. Wood didn't believe this and seriously suspected that he was a spy sent by Slytherin to spy on Harry's tactics, so he asked Ron to keep a close eye on him.

In short, the little wizards lived an ordinary and busy life until late October.

In the dormitory, Harry, Ron, Seamus and Neville were still sleeping.