Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 136 The Secret Room That Was Targeted
"Hermione, how long is the homework for Potions class? Two feet? Or three feet again?"

“It’s five feet,” Hermione said without looking up.

Xilun held the quill pen, feeling his wrist ache even more.

The most unavoidable thing about the Easter holiday is the mountain of homework that can pile up when put together.

During the two-week break, Xiren spent at least eight hours a day in the library, broke three quill pens, and used up two bottles of ink... Even so, he still had an eight-foot-long paper to write on the day before school started.

Compared to him, Harry and Ron had it much easier. With Hermione's half-hearted help, they only needed to sit in the library for five hours each day to complete their daily tasks.

After that, they would leave the library mysteriously, and no one knew what they were doing.

“I can’t finish writing, I can’t finish writing at all…” Neville spilled the ink again and looked at the soaked parchment with some despair.

He spends more time in the library than Xilun does every day, but he still has more homework left... about a third of it, which is basically impossible to finish by the time school starts the next day.

"I suggest you do your Potions homework first. Just find a few books and copy the contents directly from them. Anyway, just get Snape out of there first; he's unlikely to look at your homework," Siren suggested.

Snape's attitude toward Neville changed after his cauldron and potion disappeared with the Cleansing Charm.

Previously, they mocked and ridiculed him, but now they simply ignore him. It seems that as long as Neville can live and attend classes, he is considered a success.

Therefore, Snape most likely won't waste time looking at Neville's potions homework; as long as he hands it in, there's at least a 50% chance he'll get away with it.

“Then you can copy your Potions homework, change the name to History of Magic homework,” Celen continued. “That way you can finish two subjects at once.”

“No, no way…” Neville said with a mournful face.

“It’s okay, everyone does it this way,” Celen said. “Do you expect a ghost to grade your homework?”

At Hogwarts, only Peeves can touch things; the other ghosts can't even pick up parchment, let alone grade homework.

“No,” Neville looked even more distressed, “I, the first thing I did was the History of Magic assignment, and I finished it all.”

Now Xilun didn't know what to say, so he could only pat him on the shoulder and give him an encouraging smile.

……

Around noon, sunlight streamed into the library through the windows, and Xilun couldn't help but look outside.

Hogwarts seemed to become more vibrant in the summer. The Willow of the Hounds had sprouted tender green leaves again, and the sky and the lake had turned into a light blue with a purplish glow.

Celen also spotted Hagrid, who was striding across the field with Tooth, and Celen immediately recognized the iconic red hair of the two people following him.

There are quite a few red-haired Weasleys at Hogwarts, but the one with black hair next to him is definitely Harry and Ron.

They seemed to be talking to Hagrid, and no one knew what they were saying, but Hagrid suddenly quickened his pace. Toothpick couldn't keep up and had to jog.

That's strange. Hagrid actually wants to shake them off?

After a brief lapse in concentration, Celen resumed his homework and finally managed to write five feet before evening.

He spread out the parchment, measured it again with a ruler, and only after confirming that the length was correct did Siron nod and roll the parchment up again.

That's terrible. One paper assignment used up an entire roll of parchment. If this happened every day, he probably wouldn't have time to do anything else.

After dinner, back in the common room, Siren saw Harry and the other two huddled together again, whispering and discussing something.

This made him subconsciously think of the scene he had witnessed at noon.

However, when Xiren walked over, the three of them immediately shut their mouths, pretending that the weather was nice and nothing had happened.

They didn't want to talk about it, and Xilun didn't press them. And at that moment, the last rays of sunlight faded, the sun disappeared completely from sight, leaving only the moon hanging high in the sky.

Is the sun setting?
"Oh no..." Siren suddenly realized something, stopped talking to Harry and the others, and immediately ran back to the dormitory.

“Sirlen, you…” Harry wanted to say something, but Sirlen had already gone upstairs and could no longer hear her voice.

"Is Siren angry?" Harry glanced nervously upstairs.

“Perhaps we shouldn’t keep it from him,” Hermione said. “Sirlen definitely knows a lot about the Chamber of Secrets; don’t forget that article in the Daily Prophet.” “Forget about that,” Ron said. “Fred and George already said that article in the Daily Prophet was a joke; they don’t even know where the Chamber of Secrets is.”

“He knows,” Harry said. “Shillon told me that he knows the location of the Chamber of Secrets, and the other professors know it too, but none of them can get in.”

"Really?" Hermione sat up straight immediately.

Harry nodded and said, "That's what he said."

"Perhaps we can ask him directly."

“Don’t even think about it. Like the professors, he won’t tell us.” Ron sighed. “He’s much tighter-lipped than Hagrid.”

“But this time it’s different,” Harry said. “Lockhart wants to open the Chamber of Secrets and create a big event that will make headlines. We have to stop him.”

“Are you sure you didn’t hear wrong?” Hermione frowned. “Professor Lockhart… how could he do such a thing?”

“It’s true, Hermione,” Harry said seriously. “I swear, I heard it with my own ears, right in his office.”

"But……"

“If you still don’t believe me, we can investigate ourselves,” Ron said bluntly.

"I..." Hermione looked conflicted.

She wanted to believe Professor Lockhart, but to be honest, he did seem to have changed since returning to the school.

The three of them fell silent. Seeing the atmosphere growing increasingly tense, Harry quickly changed the subject, saying, "How about we tell Siron about this?"

"Do you think he'll believe you overheard Lockhart planning something big?" Ron asked. "Don't forget we went to Professor McGonagall yesterday, and she didn't believe us, saying the magic the headmaster had set up was indestructible."

“Right, Siren said something similar.” Harry tried to recall their last conversation. “He seemed to have said that only Salazar Slytherin’s special abilities could open the Chamber of Secrets.”

“So he must think the Chamber of Secrets is safe now, just like Professor McGonagall,” Ron muttered. “Last year they said the security measures for the Philosopher’s Stone were foolproof, but Quirrell still got through.”

Hermione ignored him and just stared at Harry. "Why are you only telling me now that it's such important news?"

“I just remembered that too.” Harry scratched his head a little embarrassedly. “Besides, we don’t even know where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is. Even if we knew, it wouldn’t be of any use.”

"It's always good to be prepared." Hermione stood up and prepared to leave.

"Where are you going?"

“The library,” Hermione said. “There are still two hours until curfew. I need to find out what Salazar Slytherin’s special abilities are.”

She was conflicted; she didn't want to believe Lockhart would do anything that could harm the students, but she also felt that Harry wasn't lying.

So she desperately needed to find something else to do, and looking up information about Salazar Slytherin was a good way to distract herself.

Moreover, even if you don't use the information you find later, it's always good to learn more about the deeds of famous wizards.

When Hermione reached the door, she suddenly turned back and said to Harry, "If you're free these next few days, you can go to Professor Lockhart's office a few more times."

How can you still believe him?

“Because Professor Lockhart was also attacked,” Hermione said irritably. “We need to find out the truth, instead of suspecting a professor without any basis!”

Ron moved his lips, but said nothing more.

Harry didn't actually want to go to Lockhart's office; he had only gone back because he forgot his things last time.

It was during this trip that he inadvertently learned of Lockhart's next plan... to open the secret room, release the monster inside to create chaos, and then step in to deal with the monster.

Based on his performance at the Duel Club last time, Harry didn't think Lockhart had the ability, but he seemed very confident that he could definitely solve the problem in the Chamber of Secrets.

……

(End of this chapter)