From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 184 Hermione's Indecision

"…The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a terrifying giant snake that can kill all the teachers and students in the school. It has many heads and tails. The reason it can live for a thousand years is that it often goes into hibernation. Its usual food is fish from the Black Lake, because it lives under the Black Lake. Only the heir of Slytherin can wake it from its sleep…"

Ron finished writing the last stroke, put the quill back into the ink bottle, and cheered: "I have completed all the Defense Against the Dark Arts homework for this semester!"

Ron was delighted at the thought of not having to do any more Defence Against the Dark Arts homework after the Christmas holidays, and perhaps for the first time he felt the joy of learning, rushing into the library as soon as get out of class was over to start completing the extra homework Lockhart had given them.

He wrote down all the rumors he knew about the secret room, mixed in with many unfounded speculations.

Perhaps it is not groundless.

"Because the emblem of Slytherin is a snake, do you think the monster in the Chamber of Secrets might be a snake?" Harry asked, referring to Ron's paper, "Then why does it have so many heads and tails?"

"Because it wants to kill everyone in the school!" Ron said as a matter of course. "Without so many heads and tails, how could it possibly make it in time? There are so many people in the school, it would be overwhelmed to death! Besides, monsters with many heads are usually very powerful, like Hydra or something like that."

"That makes sense!" Harry nodded. "Then I'll write 'There's a Hydra hidden in Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. Its venom can easily kill all the teachers and students in the school because it lives at the source of the water pipes...' How about that, Ron?"

"Cool! Death by poisoning sounds a lot better than being eaten by a weird snake with many heads!" Ron grinned and high-fived Harry. "If I hadn't already written it, I'd definitely polish it up!"

Hermione slammed a pile of books on the table and glared at the two of them angrily: "You two are going to hand in this kind of garbage full of fabricated legends and imaginary things as a thesis to Professor Lockhart?"

Ron's eyes widened. "This 'rubbish' is all my Defense Against the Dark Arts homework for next term! I won't allow you to insult it! It took me a lot of work!"

Ron was obviously not really angry. Not having to do homework would make him happy for the rest of his life!
Hermione sneered, shook her head and stopped talking, while looking over the "rubbish" they had both written.

"Snakes... Well, it seems you did put in some effort." Hermione was no longer so harsh, "I also think that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is most likely related to snakes. After all, Salazar Slytherin is a well-known Parseltongue."

Harry suddenly remembered that he could talk to snakes, and he had discussed with his friends last semester the possibility that he was a descendant of Slytherin. At first, he thought Slytherin was an old lunatic, and Slytherin College was also a college that specialized in producing dark wizards, but Ivy told him that there was no distinction between colleges, and that a person could not be labeled a dark wizard simply based on his origins.

He felt that what Ivy said was right, but there was indeed a very annoying student in Slytherin House, his old enemy Malfoy. Even though Harry had saved Malfoy's life at the end of last semester, he didn't think he would like this person. The same was true for Malfoy, the hostile relationship between the two had not changed.

"Harry is a Parseltongue, maybe he is the heir of Slytherin!" Ron joked.

"Parseltongue is a magical power. If Slytherin linked the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets with Parseltongue, it would not be surprising. If the heir relied on the power of Parseltongue to open the Chamber of Secrets, then Harry could do it too." Hermione shrugged, obviously not taking this speculation to heart. "But Parseltongue is not a rare ability. The very famous pure-blood wizard family, the Gaunt family, is the recognized descendant of Slytherin in the wizarding world. There are several Parseltongues in each generation of their family! If the heir of Slytherin was really selected based on whether he knew Parseltongue, I'm afraid Hogwarts would have been closed long ago."

"The Gaunt family? I've heard of their story. Because of their inbreeding, they have created many mentally retarded and disabled people, and they are very crazy. They completely disappeared from the wizarding world many years ago." Ron, who lives in a wizard family, also talked about what he had seen.

"Wizards who can speak Parseltongue can command many kinds of snakes with magical powers, including three-headed Runespoors, sea snakes that can grow to more than 100 feet long, and even the most terrifying basilisk." Hermione continued to share her insights, "A basilisk can kill people just by staring at them, not to mention that it has very scary fangs. If the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a basilisk, I'm afraid it really has the ability to eliminate all those in the castle who are not worthy of learning magic."

Harry heard Ron gasp: "Just by looking at each other?"

"Yes, the basilisk is the mortal enemy of spiders, because spiders have eight eyes, and they can't close them." Hermione spread out a very old library book, the title on the cover had been worn out and could not be seen, "So where the basilisk appears, spiders will quickly flee."

"The spider's mortal enemy..." Ron muttered, "Hmph... I'm starting to like it a little. If the basilisk's gaze wouldn't kill wizards as well, maybe I'd raise one."

"You're afraid of spiders? I've never heard of that." Hermione laughed. "You've used spiders as ingredients so many times in Potions class..."

"I don't care about dead spiders," Ron pouted, "I just don't like the way they move - all those hairy legs..."

Hermione laughed even louder.

"That's not funny!" said Ron angrily. "When I was three, Fred turned my - my teddy bear into a giant ugly spider because I broke his toy broom. If you've ever had that experience, you wouldn't like it either. If you're holding your teddy bear and all of a sudden it grows legs and -"

Ron shuddered and couldn't continue.

"Okay, okay." Hermione stopped laughing, "But the monster in the Chamber of Secrets can't be a basilisk. Because it doesn't match up with the recent events in the castle, and we didn't see spiders escaping from the school. Either the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is not a basilisk, or..."

Harry could guess what Hermione was not saying.

Either that or Professor Lockhart is lying.

But Hermione would rather believe that she was wrong than believe that Professor Lockhart would lie.

Professor Lockhart had exempted Harry from half a semester's homework, so Harry was reluctant to say anything bad about him. If he could stop Harry from always playing the clown in class, perhaps Harry would like him a little more.

"In short, the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is indeed extremely dangerous. Just look at the injuries on Professor Lockhart's body." Hermione sighed, as if she had already been overwhelmed by Lockhart's heroic figure. "A master of Defense Against the Dark Arts like him is in such a state of disgrace. I really don't know what the truth of the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is."

"I think a basilisk controlled by a wizard who can speak Parseltongue is pretty good. Professor Lockhart will definitely give you high marks." Ron expressed his thoughts.

"Don't be silly!" Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "We all know that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets can't be a basilisk. There must be some clues that I haven't found. I won't hand him such an incorrect paper."

"Whatever you say." Ron and Harry gathered their things and stood up from the table.

————"I really don't understand! Why does he have to do this kind of grandstanding trick!" Harry had just finished a role-playing game and was sitting in his seat feeling indignant. The little bit of good impression he had for Lockhart because he didn't have to do his homework almost disappeared.

Fortunately, the bell rang soon, and Harry was able to quickly end this day's torture.

"Harry, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Granger, please wait a moment!" Lockhart on the podium stopped the three people who were about to leave the classroom.

After everyone else left, Lockhart sat on the table and spoke, "I've read your paper. It's really brilliant! Nine-headed Hydra? What a bold and beautiful guess. But I still have to say that although you are very close to the truth, you are still a little short of it. As I promised before, you don't have to hand in your Defense Against the Dark Arts homework!"

"Wuhu!" Harry and Ron cheered, and their impression of Lockhart improved a lot.

"But I noticed that Miss Granger didn't seem to have handed in her paper?" Lockhart asked with a smile.

Hermione bit her lip: "I'm not done yet..."

"Hermione has already written at least five feet long!" Ron's expression was exaggerated, as if he had witnessed something that would never happen to him, "but she's still not satisfied!"

"She almost immersed herself in the library." Harry also confirmed it.

Lockhart was also surprised: "I think that's enough, Miss Granger. I can't wait to see your masterpiece."

"No!" Hermione screamed, and then immediately realized her mistake, "I'm sorry! Professor Lockhart... but... please give me a few more days, okay? Before Christmas... No, I will give it to you after Christmas..."

After saying this, Hermione grabbed her bag and hurried out of the classroom.

"Forgive me..." Harry felt the need to defend his friend, "Hermione has always taken her homework seriously. If anyone can find the Chamber of Secrets on their own, I believe it can only be her..."

"Yes!" Ron agreed quickly, "We know her!"

"If you don't mind, we're going to have Transfiguration class!" Harry said, and quickly dragged Ron out of the classroom.

In the corridor, the two were still discussing Hermione's recent gaffe.

"Why is she as anxious as she was last semester when the exams were approaching?" Ron asked in confusion.

"Not quite the same, at least she didn't try to cram textbooks into our heads." Harry spread his hands.

----

"Dark magic is not a goal, but a means." Ivy was explaining his views on dark magic to his warlock. "Compared to ordinary spells, dark magic is more effective in some aspects, especially when you want to torture your enemies. But remember, dark magic is just a means to achieve your goals, and you can't treat it as a goal."

Ivy repeated his words again.

"Long-term indulgence in dark magic will indeed change a wizard's mind to a certain extent, but a true master of dark magic can control this dangerous power instead of becoming its slave." Ivy stared into Cassandra's bright emerald eyes. "I have high expectations for you. Don't fall into the abyss of dark magic."

"I see." Cassandra nodded.

"Perhaps you have noticed that students living in this castle use some spells as jokes. People call these prank spells Jinx, which are the mildest of all black magic. But even so, they are also black magic, and they have all the characteristics of all other black spells." Ivy continued, "You can start with these Jinx, disassemble their principles, and figure out how black magic works. This will help you understand the nature of black magic and not be too obsessed with or afraid of it. You must not only understand how these curses are released, but also why they work."

"And I can tell you that the boundaries between black magic are actually very vague. Strictly speaking, there is no essential difference between poison spells, evil spells and curses. For example, I can use a prank spell like the Leg-Locking Curse to permanently turn a person's legs into a whole, and they cannot be separated until death. I still say that whether it is black magic or white magic, they are just ordinary powers. Be the master of the power, not its slave." Ivy stopped and looked at the corner of the clock tower.

The clock tower is located at the back door of the castle, and generally no one comes here. So Ivy chose to teach his contract warlock some magic here.

"Come out. I see you." Ivy said loudly.

"I, I didn't mean to eavesdrop..." A witch with messy hair turned around the corner. It was Hermione.

After leaving the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Hermione wandered around the library for a long time holding her thesis, like a young animal trapped in a trap, but couldn't find a way out.

Later she decided to seek help, and the first person she thought of was Ivy.

After finally finding someone in the clock tower, she heard the two of them discussing the dark arts, so Hermione had to hide. Now that Ivy pointed it out, she came out hesitantly: "I want to ask you something, Ivy... It's about the Chamber of Secrets..."

"Come here, Hermione." Ivy could see that the little witch was not in a good state. She was like this at the end of last semester. Maybe it was similar to the test anxiety of college students?

But it's about the Chamber of Secrets again...

First Harry and then Hermione, it won't be long before they find the entrance to the secret room in the bathroom on the third floor.

(End of this chapter)