From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 182 Doubt

The temperature in the Scottish Highlands always drops faster than anywhere else in the British Isles.

But Hagrid's cabin was always warm, and he had his fireplace burning brightly. Harry was sitting by the fire and drinking tea with his friends, both adults and children.

"It's been a rumor in the castle lately!" Ron told Hagrid vividly, "It's said that the recent bloody incidents are related to the Chamber of Secrets."

Hege rubbed his hands nervously and was interrupted by Ron just as he was about to speak.

"But we think they're all rumors." Ron's words undoubtedly made Hagrid feel relieved. "Maybe the Chamber of Secrets really does exist, but it's definitely not the real cause of recent events."

"W-why?" echoed Hagrid.

"Because of the heir!" Ron said proudly, "There couldn't be a more suitable heir to the Chamber of Secrets in the school than Ivy, but we all know that he disdains the pure-blood theory."

"And I guess the Chamber of Secrets might just be a place where Slytherin himself studies magic. There aren't any monsters in it that can be used to purify the castle." Hermione calmly pushed the rock cake in front of her a little further away.

Hagrid was finally relieved and gulped down a large cup of tea.

He stood up from the stool and called to his friends: "Don't talk about the secret room anymore, it's scary. I'll show you something interesting!"

"Interesting?" Harry got goosebumps all over his body. The last time Hagrid mentioned something interesting was a dragon, what would it be this time?
It's a group of moon-crazy beasts.

Lunar Beasts are XX-class magical creatures, meaning that the Ministry of Magic considers them harmless.

The fur of the moon beast is very smooth and light gray. There is almost no transition between its head and neck, which makes it look cute. The most eye-catching thing is its big eyes, which always stare at the moon. Therefore, the moon beast is a nocturnal creature and only comes out of its cave at night.

They have four thin legs and four large flat feet, which often make a "biu~biu~" sound when they move.

"They are so cute!" Hermione couldn't help but want to get closer, but the little animals immediately ran away like frightened ducks.

"Haha!" Hagrid laughed twice. "Moon Beasts are very shy creatures. They were one of the first magical animals introduced to the 'base'. They are mainly used to provide fertilizer for Professor Sprout's greenhouse."

"Normally, moonbeasts don't appear during the day. They dance in the moonlight, which is really interesting." Hagrid took out some feed and stuffed it into the hands of the three children.

"Hey! Look at it!" Harry pointed at a different creature. Its fur was white with dark grey patches, which looked like the pattern of a cow. "Why does it look different from its companions?"

"They're wild." Hagrid took out a brush from his pocket, took a look and replied, "I never knew there were so many Moonbeasts in the Forbidden Forest. A small number of them originally lived in the Forbidden Forest. One day when I came to collect feces, I suddenly found that their number had increased."

"Are we going to start studying them next semester?" Hermione fed all the food in her hand to a little one and turned around to ask, "This facility is really well built."

"You probably won't start until your third year," said Hagrid. "There aren't many magical creatures in the base right now, so Professor Keltborn and I can handle it. But next year, the care of magical creatures will become a compulsory course at Hogwarts! Dumbledore has been busy recruiting new professors lately!"

----

Ivy, maintaining the Disillusionment Charm, came to Myrtle's bathroom.

He had come here from time to time since Harry asked him about the Chamber of Secrets, because he thought it was unlikely that Harry would listen to him. After all, in the original book, most of Harry's adventures were because he had concealed some special circumstances from the professor and the headmaster.

For example, the pain of the scar in the first grade; the whispers of the basilisk as it moved through the wall in the second grade; and the fact that he hid the fact that he could see some images through his connection with Voldemort in the fifth grade...

Given these past experiences, Ivy didn't believe Harry would listen to him and stop investigating the Chamber of Secrets, so he went out on his own to keep track of their movements, and the Myrtle Bathroom, which was the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, was a place that needed special attention.

Ivy still remembers that Hermione made Polyjuice Potion here in the original book, but because cat hair was added to the potion, the transformation failed and she turned into a human-shaped cat.

Judging from the information currently available, at least they have not thought of using Polyjuice Potion to become Slytherin students.

In Ivy's spellbook, there is a 1st-level ritual spell called Alarm, which can mark an area. Once a creature enters, an alarm will sound to alert the caster. This alarm can be either an audible alarm or a mental alarm. As long as the caster does not leave the alarm point for more than one mile, he can continue to receive feedback from the alarm.

Compared to the wizard's alarm spell that Ivy cast on the basilisk, the advantage of this spell is that it is less likely to be discovered. After all, it is not as traceable as the wizard's spell. However, the disadvantages are also obvious. The range of the alarm spell is insufficient and the duration is only 8 hours. Even if the ring is used to cast the spell, there is no way to overcome its alarm distance problem.

However, before Christmas, Ivy could indeed place the Ring Alarm at the entrance of the Chamber of Secrets, because he had agreed with Dumbledore to go to Little Hangleton during the Christmas holidays to see if he could find anything.

Before that, Ivy would not leave Hogwarts, thus avoiding the possibility of the alarm failing.

Now that we are here, let's go to the secret room and take a look. By the way, we can grab some materials from the basilisk to use as raw materials for making strange objects.

----

Ever since he got his father's Invisibility Cloak, Harry has become fascinated with wandering around the castle at night.

That night he lay in bed unable to sleep, and suddenly remembered the three ghosts who talked to him in the armor. So he put on the invisibility cloak, avoided Filch and the professor on night patrol, and came to the third floor of the castle.

Carefully stepping over a puddle of water at the door of the girls' bathroom, Harry came to the front of the armor and looked around for a long time, but did not see any ghostly fluorescence.

Just as I was about to speak, I heard a strange voice coming from the girls' bathroom: "Open it."

Harry tiptoed up to the wooden door with the "Out of Order" sign on it and quietly opened it a crack.

Looking through the crack in the door, there was no one inside, but for some reason, there was a big hole where the sink should be.

"Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets!" Harry's mind was filled with the monster in the Chamber of Secrets.

After discussing with several friends, he no longer believed that there was really a monster in the Chamber of Secrets and that it could survive for a thousand years. But when he saw the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, Harry's heart was immediately filled with fear.

'I must tell a professor! Professor McGonagall... or Headmaster Dumbledore!' thought Harry.

"Wait...what if the heir of Slytherin is really Ivy?" Another question popped up in Harry's mind, "Maybe he is just studying magic...studying magic that requires a quiet environment...He is already over a hundred years old, he knows what he is doing..."

Before Harry could figure out the problem, he saw a mist floating out from the entrance of the Chamber of Secrets. The mist quickly gathered in the small bathroom and suddenly turned into a person.

Even though there was only a little candlelight in the bathroom, it was enough for Harry to see his face clearly. Harry kept thinking, "Ivy is actually the heir of Slytherin!"

He also felt that it was reasonable for Ivy to be Slytherin's heir. After all, he had saved Hogwarts from the goblins more than a hundred years ago, and he also knew magical ancient magic. If Salazar Slytherin himself were to be resurrected, it would be difficult for him to reject such an outstanding successor.

Ivy's face flashed in the dim candlelight and quickly disappeared.

Harry realized that this was some kind of invisibility spell, and quickly moved away from the door to avoid being hit by him.

The bathroom door opened and then closed again.

Harry knew Ivy had left, but he had no idea if he had been spotted.

Harry's mind was filled with so many thoughts that he didn't know how he made it across the corridor and up the stairs to his bed again.

…………

The next morning, Harry woke up to Wood shaking him vigorously.

Seeing Harry's horrified face, Wood explained: "No training today, but we are going to the Quidditch field - there is a match between Slytherin and Ravenclaw. We can study their tactics! Especially you, Harry, keep an eye on Slytherin's Seeker! Although Malfoy is a novice, the brooms under their buttocks are not easy to deal with."

Slytherin! Slytherin!
Slytherins everywhere!

Harry turned his eyes away from Malfoy's green Quidditch uniform. He couldn't help but think of Ivy.

On the one hand, he thought he should tell the professor that Ivy was the heir of Slytherin, but on the other hand, he felt that he should not betray his friend. He was also worried that there would be more bloodshed in the castle, and he was afraid that he had actually misunderstood Ivy - that was not Slytherin's secret room at all, but another secret passage in the castle.

Harry's good brother Ron complained to him more than once about his twin brothers, saying that they knew all the secret passages in the castle but never revealed any of them to Ron.

If what Harry saw last night was not the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets at all, but a secret passage...

Harry watched the entire game in a daze, and then immediately found his two good friends - Hermione and Ron.

"Is Ivy really the heir of Slytherin?" Ron looked as if he had known this for a long time. "Except for him, no one else in Slytherin is more suitable."

"No, that's just my guess..." Harry corrected, "I mean, I saw him walk into a passage..."

"In the girls' bathroom?" Hermione asked her own question. "Did you see the monster?"

"What? No…" Harry shook his head.

"How wide is the passage? Is it about the same size as the gap in the dungeon wall that was punched through by the monster on Halloween?" Hermione continued.

"Oh... I'm afraid it can't be entered. There's only enough space for one person at most... It's like a water pipe or something..." Harry frowned as he recalled.

"It is highly likely that Ivy has nothing to do with the previous incident in the castle. We all know how big the beast that appeared in the dungeon was." Hermione analyzed calmly, "Maybe he just went there to do some magic research. As you know, he is always mysterious and often goes in and out of the restricted area of the library. I asked Madam Pince, and she said that it was Professor Dumbledore who gave Ivy a note allowing him to borrow every book in the restricted area."

"I know what Ivy is doing there!" Ron suddenly shouted, "Raising a dragon! Do you remember? Ivy once told us that he kept Hagrid's dragon in the castle! At first I was worried that it would burn down the castle!"

"Yeah!" Harry also became happy. "It's been so long, I forgot about it. Now it makes perfect sense! Hagrid didn't want to send the dragon away, and Ivy happened to know about a Chamber of Secrets, so they kept the dragon in it! I can't believe Hagrid never told us about this!"

"Maybe even Hagrid doesn't know where the dragon is hiding." Hermione said seriously, "Hagrid can't hide anything at all. Think of Nicolas Flamel last year."

Harry and Ron had to admit that Hermione was right.

In the days that followed, they never worried about the secret room and Ivy again.

Especially for Harry, Quidditch training almost took up all his spare time. Wood became more and more crazy, making them fly in the storm, and sometimes there was even lightning in the sky.

But the hard training obviously paid off. In the match against Slytherin, they miraculously won a big victory. Within five minutes of the start, Harry had caught the Golden Snitch before Malfoy even had time to see where it was.

This victory gave Gryffindor a big boost in points, especially since the Weasley twins were particularly well behaved this year.

This allowed Gryffindor to reach the top spot in the House Cup rankings for the first time.

"It's only temporary!" Malfoy said angrily at the hourglass on the house cup.

Harry walked past him happily: "If it weren't for your encouragement, I'm afraid I wouldn't have caught the Golden Snitch."

"You! Don't be too happy too soon! Potter!"

Harry couldn't help laughing at the sight of Malfoy's twisted face.

He began to understand why Malfoy always liked to bully others. Sometimes it really felt satisfying.

Harry's good mood lasted for about a week, until Professor McGonagall came to collect the names of the students who would stay over Christmas.

He, Ron, and Hermione all signed it, and then they walked through the entrance hall and saw a group of people gathered around the notice board in the Great Hall.

"Lockhart wants to start a duelling club!" Seamus said. "Can he really do it? Even Professor Victor didn't do that. And he's such a great duellist!"

"I'm afraid I can't do it, boys." Lockhart's voice came from the doorway, and everyone turned around and started.

Lockhart had never been seen in such a miserable state. His usually shining robes had become tattered, his body and face were covered in blood, and his golden hair was like a bird's nest. Harry noticed a particularly scary wound on his arm, with the flesh turned inside out!
Perhaps the only thing that hasn't changed is his eight shiny white teeth. "Can you take me to the school hospital?"

After saying that, he fell down.

(End of this chapter)