Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 240 A Rooster Crows and the World Turns White
Even after leaving the headmaster's office with Sherlock, Harry still felt like he was in a dream.

Fifty years ago, Voldemort opened the Chamber of Secrets and framed his good friend Hagrid for it, causing Hagrid to be expelled from school.

Fifty years later, Voldemort used dark magic to control the poor Professor Lockhart to open the Chamber of Secrets, nearly killing his friend Cho Chang.

Harry clenched his fists at the thought of Cho Chang's terrified face.

Damn it! Voldemort, we've got another debt to settle.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but ask:
"Sherlock, you said we'd soon find out where the secret room is, is that true?"

"That's right—in fact, I already have a preliminary idea."

Sherlock's expression suddenly turned somewhat strange:
"However, if things are really as I imagine, then my opinion of our senior Tom will probably rise."

"Ah, why?"

"Let's talk about it later."

Sherlock chuckled and patted Harry on the shoulder:

"Don't worry, the mandrake will be ripe soon, and the petrified people will recover soon."

"Sherlock, how could you..."

"How would I know? My friend, your worry for Miss Zhang is practically written all over your face. Not to mention me, even Ron could see it!"

Harry: (；д｀)ゞ

Following this conversation with Dumbledore, Hogwarts sprang into action.

The entire campus is undergoing a major construction and renovation project.

Numerous silver mirrors have been installed in all corridor corners, classroom doors, washroom walls, and other areas prone to blind spots.

Each student was also provided with a portable mirror as required by the college.

Huge rooster statues—the kind that crow—have appeared at the entrances of the lounges, libraries, kitchens, and other areas where people tend to gather in the four colleges.

A group of roosters, who would occasionally crow, also appeared among the portraits in the corridor.

Some of the original soldiers' armor was also replaced with metal roosters.

When necessary, Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration professor, can bring them back to life.

Of course, this is just hearsay and should not be taken as fact.

Most people still believe that, given McGonagall's professorial personality, she wouldn't be able to motivate the sculptures and armor to move.

In any case, this change naturally aroused the curiosity and heated discussion of the young wizards.

Dean Thomas and his friend Simon Finigan had a heated discussion about the matter:

"What's going on? Is our school going to turn into a chicken farm?"

"Perhaps one of the board members has become obsessed with roosters. Look at those roosters, they're quite majestic and beautiful."

"That's ridiculous! Why don't you connect chickens and basketball?"

"Dean, are you kidding me?"

"You were the one who made the joke on me first."

Discussions like this are commonplace.

The younger wizards were simply curious.

But it's different for older students.

Because these measures are so obviously targeted.

There are many creatures that are countered by roosters, but there are almost none that are creatures that possess dark magic.

There were also numerous mirrors installed in the school, small mirrors distributed to students, and petrified students, ghosts, cats...

The murderer is about to be revealed!
A serpent monster that kills anyone it glares at!
Those who were attacked were petrified because they did not look the basilisk in the eye.

In addition to housing the rooster, the natural enemy of the basilisk, the school also placed a large number of mirrors, all for the sake of survival!
There are no impervious walls in the world.

After the older students found out, the middle and lower grade students quickly found out as well.

Panic spread quickly.

In this situation, Dumbledore, as the headmaster, bore enormous pressure.

Besides the Ministry of Magic, which had always been at odds with him, there were also increasing voices of opposition against him on the Board of Governors.

Of course, the largest number are students' parents.

By this point, Dumbledore was receiving more shouting letters every day than Lockhart was receiving fan mail.

However, he had already considered the outcome when he made this decision.

So aside from having the first letter utter "Old Dumbledore" on the first day, Dumbledore used his superb magical skills to prevent the sound from spreading.

Next, the screams and curses reached only his ears; no one else could hear them anymore.

Is it possible that he himself didn't listen?

Ron, while proudly showing off his chicken leg, watched as the red Roaring Letters, like snowflakes, flew towards Dumbledore's direction. He then turned to his friends and said...

“Ron, what nonsense are you talking about?” Hermione said, displeased. “How could Mr. Dumbledore be that kind of person?”

“It’s quite possible,” Sherlock said.

"what?"

Hermione looked at Sherlock in surprise: "Sherlock, how come even you..."

"I'm just stating the facts," Sherlock said calmly.
"In my opinion, there is no need to pay attention to those harshly worded letters. It is a waste of time to spend on them."

"That being said, but..."

"Let's not dwell on this, Miss Know-It-All. I do have a question I'd like to ask you."

Hermione looked at Ron with displeasure: "Speak."

"I understand why spiders are afraid of basilisks—but why are basilisks afraid of roosters?"
"It's so big, it could probably take down a whole chicken coop, let alone a rooster!"

“Ronald, this question really makes me wonder if you're the wizard born into a Muggle family.” “Why do you say that?”

"Because you are using Muggle thinking to analyze the relationships of restraint in the magical world."

"what?"

Seeing Ron's bewildered expression, Hermione sighed: "Then let me ask you, why do basilisks live so long?"

Ron looked completely at ease: "Because it's a special magical creature! There are plenty of long-lived magical creatures in the magical world, even wizards..."

"Wrong. Although wizards generally live longer than Muggles, very few live past 200."

The fact that Nicolas Flamel and his wife lived for centuries was purely due to the Philosopher's Stone.

As for magical creatures, very few possess a lifespan of a thousand years like the basilisk.

"I'm finding you're becoming more and more like Sherlock Holmes—stop asking me and just tell me why!"

"Ron, solving puzzles and exploring knowledge is actually a very interesting thing."

That's why I said you two are very similar!

Ron looked at Sherlock with a helpless expression: "Please, whoever it is, just tell me the answer already!"
I asked why the basilisk was afraid of roosters, not why it had such a long lifespan.

This is so troublesome…

Seeing Ron's grumbling, Hermione said irritably:

"Of course I'm saying this because it's related!"

For the basilisk, time is forever frozen on the day of its birth.

In other words, it lives forever in the past—that's why it's so long-lived.

However, the rooster's crowing signifies the arrival of a new day, so whenever the basilisk hears the rooster's crow, it will convulse and die.

"Is that so!" Ron immediately exclaimed in realization. "That's amazing!"

Hermione: (_)
Harry, on the other hand, looked thoughtful: "So, the basilisk isn't afraid of the rooster itself, but rather its crowing."

"In short, as long as there are roosters in the school, the basilisk will no longer be able to harm anyone!"

Hermione gave a happy smile while secretly glancing at Sherlock.

She remembered the time Sherlock had borrowed money from her.

This is a secret between the two of them, and it will come in handy when they actually encounter the basilisk!
Time is like the silvery light that cannot be grasped in the Pensieve, quietly slipping through one's fingers without one noticing.

Nearly four months have passed since the third attack.

It's unclear whether Hogwarts's defenses were truly effective, or whether the heir to the Chamber of Secrets was simply intimidated by Chicken Bro's formidable defenses.

In short, Harry never heard the Basilisk's voice again after that, and there were no more attacks at the school.

In this situation, almost everyone assumed that the attacker had given up forever.

Even Pippi the Pooh got tired of singing his song "Oh, Potter, you rascal".

One day during a herbal medicine class, Professor Sprout was very happy to announce some good news to everyone—that in March, several mandrake plants had a lively and noisy dance party in the third greenhouse.

"This means they're getting bigger, and we'll know they're fully mature when they want to be moved to someone else's pot."

Professor Sprout addressed all the young wizards in class:

"We will soon be able to bring those poor people in the hospital wards back to life."

Everyone cheered.

Near the end of get out of class, Ernie even politely asked Harry to hand him a small bucket of jumping mushrooms.

“He’s trying to curry favor with you,” Ron said with a displeased look. “He and Peeves have been the most enthusiastic ones lately. If I were you, I wouldn’t give him the time of day.”

"Don't say that, Ron. He's just someone who doesn't know the truth."

Does accusation against someone mean you can't know the truth?

Harry sighed and looked to the side: "Sherlock, isn't Mr. Dumbledore planning to leave yet?"

"He was still not at ease and said he wanted to make some more arrangements to ensure that nothing went wrong."

Sherlock put down the Chinese cabbage he was holding, shook his head slightly, and seemed somewhat disapproving of Dumbledore's approach.

He increasingly felt that Hogwarts was like a prison for Dumbledore.

He locked himself up here, becoming both a prisoner and his own jailer.

"We've already found the secret room, but we can't go in and take a look. It's really..."

Ron couldn't help but complain.

"Shh!"

As soon as Hermione heard Ron mention the word "Chamber of Secrets," she quickly reminded him to keep quiet.

During this time, she used the same tenacity she had shown when questioning Professor Binns, relentlessly pursuing Myrtle's questions until she finally learned the cause of her death.

Myrtle was born around 1930. Like Hermione, she was a Muggle-born witch.

After entering Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she was sorted into Ravenclaw House.

However, she didn't have Hermione's academic talent, which resulted in her not only failing to make friends like Hermione in her early days, but also being frequently ridiculed and bullied because of her glasses and teenage acne.

On the last day of her life, Myrtle was mocked by a classmate who said her glasses were ridiculous, which made Myrtle very sad.

So she ran to a stall in the bathroom and cried, and just then she heard a boy's voice talking.

Myrtle, who was already very upset, was furious when she heard that a boy had run into the women's restroom. So she opened the stall door and tried to tell the boy to go back to the men's restroom.

Just then, she saw a pair of frighteningly large yellow eyes and felt as if her whole body was being grabbed.

It was obvious that she had truly made eye contact with the basilisk without any cover, which is why she died on the spot.

"Wait, you just said Myrtle wore glasses... then why did she die so suddenly? Shouldn't she have been petrified?"

　Thank you Sherlock for the 100 Qidian Coins, and thank you Wang Jiantao for the 100 Reading Coins! Your support is my motivation to update! ヾ(o)ヾ
　　
　
(End of this chapter)