Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 246 I knew you would come

The girls' restroom where Myrtle was located.

Harry and Ron were locked in a fierce battle, neither willing to back down.

"I also need to go!"

“No,” Harry shook his head and said, “It’s too dangerous. Voldemort could very well be down there!”

"So what? It's dangerous for me, and it's the same for you!"

"We are different!"

"What's the difference?"

"I can speak, so maybe there will be a place down there where they need me."

"Don't forget, it was Sherlock who said in the first place that thugs were needed!"

Besides, he just told us to follow him when he went down—Harry, we're already here, how could I possibly leave?

Harry looked at Ron.

Ron stared back defiantly at Harry.

The two remained deadlocked for several minutes, with Ron still refusing to back down.

At that moment, Harry knew he could no longer stop him.

"Alright, you're right, since Sherlock has said so..."

"That's right! Let's hurry down, Sherlock has been waiting for us down there for a long time."

The two agreed and were about to jump when Myrtle called out to Harry.

"Is there anything else?"

"You just mentioned Voldemort... so it's dangerous down there, right?"

"That's right, the basilisk that killed you is very likely down there."

"Oh, is that so..."

For some reason, Myrtle nervously clutched the hem of her dress, her face turning silvery-white with embarrassment.
"I've been thinking that if you die, you're welcome to share this toilet with me."

"..."

After a moment of silence, Harry simply said goodbye to Myrtle and climbed into the tube without looking back.

Ron suppressed a laugh and followed Harry down the tube.

Ironically, the feeling of sliding down the pipe was somewhat similar to the feeling of jumping off the trapdoor last year.

The difference this time is that it's like rushing down a dark, sticky, endless slide.

Harry and Ron could even see many other pipes branching off in all directions, but none of them were as thick as this one.

The pipe they were in was winding and twisting, with a very steep slope all the way down.

As time went on, both of them realized that they had fallen very, very deep underground into the school, even beyond the room where the Philosopher's Stone was stored last year.

Just as the two began to worry about what would happen next, the angle of the water pipe suddenly became horizontal.

Harry popped out of the tube and fell onto the damp ground with a thud.

He suddenly remembered something and quickly stood up and stood aside.

Sure enough, Ron also emerged from the tube.

If Harry hadn't dodged, Ron would have crashed into him hard.

Before them lay a dark stone tunnel, large enough for a person to stand inside.

“We must have gone several miles below the school.”

“Your judgment is correct, my dear Harry.”

Sherlock's voice came from the front of the dark tunnel:

"Judging from the angle of the pipes and the time just now, we are now located below the Hogwarts Castle dungeons. The legend of the Chamber of Secrets is indeed just a rumor."

When we get back this time, Professor Binns might consider changing his lecture content—to fluorescent flashing!

As Sherlock cast the Illumination Charm, Harry and Ron walked in his direction.

"This is just a transit point; the real secret chamber is yet to come, and you'll need to crawl and speak your way out there."

Sherlock looked at Ron and said, "I'm afraid you'll have to stay here for a while."

"Why?" Ron asked, puzzled. "Didn't you just say up there that we should all go together..."

“Sorry, that’s an outdated saying,” Sherlock said, turning his head. “Come with me.”

Harry and Ron exchanged a puzzled look and quickly followed Sherlock.

Soon, the light from Sherlock's wand shone on a huge, coiled creature.

Snake skin.

A huge snakeskin.

“The basilisk…” Sherlock said softly, “is even bigger than I imagined.”

Harry and Ron covered their mouths in surprise.

The huge snakeskin in front of us was a vibrant green, lying coiled on the tunnel floor, and it was hollow inside.

As Sherlock said, judging by the snakeskin alone, the animal beneath it must have been at least twenty feet long.

"My God."

Ron sighed helplessly.

They were clearly frightened by this scene.

"look here."

Just as Ron was sighing, Sherlock pointed his wand at the lower part of the path.

There was a line of text written there.

It's exactly the same as the one on the wall in the corridor.

[If you don't want anything to happen to your friend, come in alone.]

"This line of text was written after the one on the wall, and the handwriting is exactly the same. Professor Lockhart has been completely controlled."

"Who is he referring to as 'you alone,' Harry?"

"It's obvious."

“Are we really going to just stand by and watch Harry go to his death?” “No, Ron,” Sherlock looked at Ron, “you stay here and wait for our reinforcements.”

"Reinforcements? We still have reinforcements?"

"if not?"

Sherlock laughed, "If I weren't worried that he might do something desperate and hurt Hermione and Lockhart, I would have already stormed in with the Hogwarts contingent. Who would want to play the lone hero with him after finding the Chamber of Secrets?"

"But...but he said Harry should go alone, and if you go too..."

“Ron, I have great confidence in my ability to infiltrate.”

"I-I know."

Ron was eventually persuaded.

Ron didn't care about Lockhart's safety, but Hermione was their good friend.

Sherlock has made it very clear that he and Harry went there to buy time and wait for reinforcements, so the risk was not high.

I don't have Sherlock's stealth abilities, and going with him would only be a hindrance.

After persuading Ron, Sherlock and Harry continued on their way.

The tunnel twisted and turned, and Ron's little noise soon faded away.

"Sherlock, if there's any noise, shouldn't we close our eyes immediately?"

“There’s no need for that,” Sherlock shook his head. “We still don’t know what the dark magic items Voldemort left behind are.”

But based on his current performance, he has now completely taken control of Lockhart.

The words in the hallway and the words we just saw were both left by him—which shows that he was eager to see you.

He wouldn't hurt you before that.

Harry nodded, and the two turned one bend after another until they finally found a solid wall standing in front of them.

On the wall were carved two intertwined snakes, their eyes inlaid with large, glittering emeralds.

This time, Harry felt he no longer needed to imagine the two stone snakes as real, because their eyes looked exactly like those of a living snake.

"Wait a minute," Sherlock stopped Harry from speaking, "put on the Invisibility Cloak first."

"Me? But didn't he tell me to go alone?"

Why should we listen to him?

"what?"

"As I just said, I would never have compromised with him if it weren't for Hermione and Lockhart's safety."

He said he wanted to go alone, so I'll go alone then.

Even Voldemort himself didn't notice you wearing the Invisibility Cloak. I don't think Lockhart, controlled by a Dark Magic item, could have done that.

"But……"

“Harry, I think I’m a bit better than you at dealing with men.”

"..."

In the end, Harry, just like Ron before him, was unsurprisingly persuaded by Sherlock.

He put his invisibility cloak back on and, in a low, hoarse voice, said to the wall, "Open."

The two snakes separated, and the stone wall split in the middle, slowly sliding to both sides and disappearing.

Sherlock smiled slightly and strode inside.

Harry, wearing an invisibility cloak, followed closely behind.

Behind this wall is a long room.

Sherlock stood on one side of the room, his gaze sweeping across the entire space. He noticed towering stone pillars, each carved with a coiled, intertwined serpent, supporting the ceiling that seemed to melt into the darkness above.

"As far as the architectural style is concerned, it is passable."

Sherlock said something and then walked to the other end of the room.

When he walked to a position parallel to the last pair of stone pillars, a statue as tall as the room itself suddenly appeared before him, pressed against the dark wall behind it.

Sherlock looked up and saw the enormous face clearly.

An old, monkey-like face, a sparse, long beard that almost reached the hem of a wizard's robe carved from stone, and two large, gray feet standing on the smooth floor of the room.

A statue of Salazar Slytherin.

Sherlock glanced at it once and then looked away.

His gaze fell between the two feet of the colossal statue of Salazar Slytherin.

There lay face down a figure dressed in a black robe.

But her fluffy brown hair and familiar body structure made Sherlock recognize her immediately.

Hermione Granger.

Sherlock didn't rush forward, but instead drew his wand and pointed it in Hermione's direction:
"The water is as clear as a spring!"

When Sherlock visited Knockturn Alley last year, he carried a water jug with him in search of the room where Baskerville was imprisoned.

At that time, he was already thinking about learning how to create water spells so that he wouldn't have to carry a water bottle when he needed it in the future.

Now that time has passed, it has indeed come in handy.

Sherlock did this for a very simple reason.

Courage is not the same as recklessness.

Although he had just told Harry that Tom Riddle wouldn't hurt them the moment they met.

But if he actually does that, the first one to suffer will be himself, who is openly and legitimately appearing in the secret room.

The spell caused water to appear out of thin air and be poured directly onto Hermione's face.

Hermione, who was originally unconscious, was jolted awake by the water.

She sat up blankly and looked around.

Soon, he spotted the person holding the magic wand pointed at him.

"Sherlock!"

Hermione jumped up excitedly and immediately ran towards Sherlock.

Just as she was about to reach Sherlock, she pounced and threw herself tightly into his arms:
"I knew you would come to save me!"