The Return to Hogwarts

That's all Amosta could say.

Finally, they arrived at the old statue of Salazar Slytherin.

Compared to the statue in the Chamber of Secrets, the one Newt made is only about a third the height of the original. Moreover, Slytherin's image is far less lifelike than the one in the Chamber of Secrets, exuding a rigid and dull quality.

Amostella looked up at the statue and saw her long-lost friend curled up asleep on Slytherin's shoulder. To be honest, Newt had taken good care of it. Compared to the image, the basilisk was a bit fatter, and its green scales shimmered with a luster it didn't have back then. Of course, it was still blind, thanks to Fawkes.

"Wright sleeps most of the time."

Newt whispered,

"This is how it passes the time, and I suspect it's also how it resists aging. You know, a normal basilisk can only live for a few hundred years, but Wright has survived from the era of the Four Greats to the present day, which is at least a thousand years."

Do you think Slytherin ever modified it?

"That's obvious."

Newt said seriously,

“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a basilisk, Amostra, but Wright is much stronger than the one I’ve ever seen. I found some strange substances in its blood, which are clearly the result of some dark magical experiments. Also, I think—oh, this is just my feeling—that Wright’s soul is also quite extraordinary. It seems that Slytherin’s modifications to Wright were not limited to its body.”

Amostah remained silent, his penetrating gaze piercing through the basilisk's body, looking directly into something deeper.

The soul was indeed there. Although it was still impossible to directly detect the basilisk's soul, Amosta did vaguely sense that the basilisk's soul activity seemed to be relatively low.

Like a wizard struck by a poorly applied petrification spell, he can move, but very slowly.

Because of its low activity level, the soul ages more slowly, allowing it to withstand the erosion of thousands of years.

Wow.

Seemingly sensing something amiss in the air, the sleeping basilisk became somewhat restless. Its thick body slowly coiled, and a layer of lime worn away from its hard scales fell off in a soft rustling sound.

“It smells your scent,” Newt said.

Amosta nodded.

The basilisk coiled faster and faster, its eyes still tightly closed, but driven by instinct, it hissed and flicked its tongue to more clearly detect the strange scent in the air.

"Oh!"

Newt called out, looking at Amostella in surprise.

"It's angry. What's wrong, Amosta? I thought it would be happy to see you!"

"Maybe it's angry that I haven't visited it in so long."

Amosta said without batting an eye.

The basilisk finally fully awoke, its body arching tens of feet in the air, its ferocious head shaking, revealing thin, long, venomous fangs like sabers.

hiss--

Newt, standing next to Amosta, hissed, which surprised Amosta. He hadn't expected Newt to know Parseltongue; he wondered if it was innate or learned.

As if summoned, the basilisk crouched slightly, hesitated for a moment, and then swam down along Slytherin's right hand.

boom!

When it reached knee level, the basilisk leaped up, its massive body soaring into the air before plummeting back down under the force of gravity, crashing to the ground like a boulder.

The diffuse smoke and dust interfered with the basilisk's sense of smell to some extent, and being startled awake from its sleep made it even more drowsy. It shook its head and swayed to disperse the dust, its massive body constantly crushing the debris on the ground.

Hiss. Hiss! (I brought you an old friend, Wright!)

Hiss! "Slaughter, bloodshed, old friend. Descendant of Salazar."

Amosta smiled faintly and raised his hand to wave at the basilisk.

"So, your name is Wright now, right? It's been a long time, Wright. I wonder if you still remember me?"

The gust of wind stirred up by the massive body swaying in the air suddenly stopped, and the basilisk's raised head froze instantly. Its two blood-stained, lantern-sized eyes widened to their maximum size, and even its forked tongue remained in its mouth, forgotten to be retracted.

As time seemed to slow down, the basilisk's body gradually lowered until it was close to the ground.

Amosta raised an eyebrow slightly.

"how"

boom!

Suddenly, the basilisk turned around and swam away rapidly, catching the monster off guard, and rammed its head into the leg of the Slytherin statue!

Chapter 911 Another Slytherin Relic

2024-05-11

A tremendous roar echoed through the Dark Chamber, the heavy impact causing the entire room to tremble. Even more devastatingly, in the Basilisk's frantic rampage, Salazar Slytherin's leg snapped off at the knee, and the massive stone pillar crashed down, striking Amostall and Newt squarely.

This sudden change stunned Newt so much that he didn't react at all. Amosta had to grab Newt's arm and drag the legendary magical creature expert a few steps to the side to prevent him from dying in such a humiliating way.

Boom! ! !

The pillar-like stone legs crashed down, the powerful tremor throwing Amosta and Newt off the ground. The entire stone chamber shook in the aftershocks, and dust fell from the sky like a fine rain. Fortunately, Amosta reacted quickly and held up the milky white barrier, preventing the two from getting even more disoriented.

But something even more serious happened!

The massive statue, missing a leg, was shaken by the chain reaction caused by the tremor. The statue, which was tens of feet tall, lost its stability and tilted to one side. The impact of such a large stone block falling to the ground would surely crush the converted cellar.

Even Amosta frowned.

He suddenly raised his index finger, and a small golden flame appeared on his fingertip. Then, he flicked his finger, and the flame immediately left his fingertip, growing larger in the air. By the time it landed on the statue, it had become an overwhelming golden curtain of fire, covering Slytherin's face, which was clearly deformed by some magical experiments in his old age!

Magical creations are more easily dissolved.

Like snow meeting the spring sun, the enormous Slytherin sculpture melted rapidly from head to toe. Before the body could even tilt slightly, the huge statue vanished from Newt's sight as if it had been erased.

call!

Amosta waved his sleeve, creating a gust of evil wind that swept away the smoke and dust that hadn't yet spread, while the flames that had consumed the statue flew into the sky, transforming into dazzling stars, and for a moment, the dark room was as bright as day.

After doing all this, Amosta finally had time to look at the basilisk that had caused the trouble, and upon seeing it, he was immediately speechless.

The basilisk's massive body was mostly embedded deep in the wall, with only half of its tail exposed in the air, thrashing wildly. It probably intended to squeeze through the wall to escape, but it had already reached the spatial limit sealed by the Traceless Stretch Spell, and no matter how hard it tried, it could not make any progress!

Crash, crash, crash!

But the basilisk was unaware of this; it continued to writhe wildly, shattering large chunks of rock!

Newt stared in astonishment and confusion at the basilisk that seemed to have transformed into a burrowing earthworm. After a long pause, his wrinkled face trembled slightly as he looked at Amostella.

What have you done to it?

"It's nothing, really."

Amostella frowned and pondered for a moment. "The last time I saw it, it was trying to kill a few junior wizards, so... well, I scared it a little?"

After saying that, Amosta responded 'innocently' to Newt's glare.

Actually, he omitted one point: at that time, he dismantled the Horcrux of Salazar Slytherin's descendant in front of the Basilisk.

The basilisk was still causing endless trouble, which was quite annoying. Amostah raised his hand and moved his fingers. One of the stars that illuminated the ceiling fell down and transformed into a huge flaming sword on the basilisk that had crawled into the wall, poised to strike.

The snake's throbbing tail suddenly straightened.

Amosta walked over slowly and said calmly,

"come out."

rustling—

The basilisk coiled its tail and began to writhe again, but this time it didn't try to escape forward. Instead, it retreated backward. After another struggle, with a thud, the basilisk returned to the cellar, lying disheveled and covered in dirt in front of Amosta.

The flaming sword that had been lying above the basilisk lost its sword form and softened into a rope, falling to lasso the basilisk's massive head and forming a suspended collar. Throughout the entire process, the basilisk remained obediently still. It still remembered being burned by these flames, the destructive aura contained within them making it tremble.

"I thought it could only understand snake language."

Amosta turned to look at Newt, a hint of delight in his voice, but he was certain that Newt's face darkened upon hearing his words, before he finally sighed in resignation.

“Perhaps violence can subdue the magical creatures temporarily, Amosta, but you can never win their hearts, and you can never be friends.”

Amosta nodded knowingly, then looked at the basilisk's blind eye and said calmly and coldly,

"Open your mouth."

The basilisk flicked out a small piece of its tongue, seemingly a little resentful and aggrieved. What could it do? The wizard in front of it seemed even more ferocious and powerful than before. It could only obey, slowly opening its mouth to reveal two rows of fangs that were ferocious, terrifying, and filled with a strong, fishy smell.

Amosta glanced around and quickly spotted the basilisk's lower jaw, with two empty spaces among a row of fangs.

"Dumbledore took one of the fangs?"

The basilisk's cooperation momentarily stunned Newt. He took a deep breath and walked to Amostella's side.

"That's right--"

Newt said,

"Not long after Wright sent me here, Albus wrote to me saying he wanted one of Wright's fangs for research. So, while I was examining Wright's teeth, I pulled one out and sent it to Albus."

Newt paused, then bent down and pointed to another empty seat, saying...

"Around October last year, Wright became very agitated for a while. I talked to him for a long time before he finally told me that one of his teeth was uncomfortable. I guess it was the loss of his fang that caused him psychological trauma."

In short, I examined its teeth again and found that the root of the venomous fang, embedded in its gum, was severely corroded and loose. So, I convinced Wright to let me remove the fang. To my surprise, after I pulled out the rotten tooth, I discovered that it was hollow, containing inside a Slytherin family crest made of mithril and gold, adorned with emeralds.

Seeing that Amostella was listening intently with her eyes half-closed, Newt took a breath and continued,