Hogwarts: From Luna's House to Godhood Through Intense Competition

Looking at Pansy, who had become like a statue, Professor McGonagall put away her wand, adjusted her glasses, and asked, "What... is going on?"

“If it were just a simple spell, perhaps nothing would have happened…” Vizette said, taking the notebook from Pansy’s hand. “Unfortunately, her malice was too overwhelming…”

Dumbledore stroked his beard. "Minerva, it's just some little magic unique to him. Don't worry about it too much."

……

“Clear water like a spring!” Vizet opened the notebook, cast a water-making spell to summon a stream of ink, and poured it onto the notebook.

Similar to the previous situation, the notebook was not stained black by the ink; instead, it absorbed it completely, revealing two lines of text.

[Possess the notebook, and it will guide you to become the successor to the great Salazar Slytherin.]

[Offer your blood, and the notebook will guide you to the Chamber of Secrets to continue Salazar Slytherin's unfinished great work.]

Vizette continued turning the pages and found that the next pages were continuous rough maps, showing routes from the Slytherin common room to the abandoned washroom.

As he turned to the page about the abandoned washroom, a new string of words appeared where the diagram of the washbasin was.

[Look for the snake-shaped symbol at the sink, pick up the notebook, and say to the snake-shaped symbol: Open.]

The same inscription is also found in the Chamber of Secrets: "Hold the notebook, close your eyes, and speak to the statue of the great Salazar Slytherin with the utmost respect: Speak to me, Slytherin! The greatest of the four great masters of Hogwarts!"

……

Vizette used her Magic Eye, combined with her knowledge of alchemy and magical item crafting, to test and examine the notebook, determining its specific purpose.

After a while, he handed the notebook to Dumbledore. “Headmaster Dumbledore, it contains ungraphable magic…that’s why we haven’t been able to find Pansy Parkinson.”

"In addition, the notebook uses a unique magical technique to imprison a snake inside... I think Pansy Parkinson's ability to speak Parsley is related to this."

"Perhaps that's why the basilisk doesn't completely obey Pansy Parkinson's orders... But it's too much of a coincidence, why does it have to be a rune serpent?"

“Headmaster Dumbledore, could this notebook and Pansy Parkinson’s… just be a scapegoat? Of course, this is just speculation… after all, I don’t have sufficient evidence.”

Dumbledore took the notebook and, while listening to Vizet speak, waved his wand to examine it.

As Vizette finished speaking, Dumbledore also put down his wand. "That's all I can come up with in such a short time."

"The notes and Miss Parkinson's are just scapegoats? That's an interesting guess... but these are things we should consider."

He looked up at the statue of Salazar Slytherin. "Want to go inside the statue? See if there's anything else there besides the Basilisk?"

Vizette said to the basilisk, "We'll go inside and take a look, then we'll take you to Headmaster Slytherin."

"Okay... hurry up..."

Vizette turned to the statue of Salazar Slytherin. "Speak to me, Slytherin! The greatest of the four great masters of Hogwarts!"

Salazar Slytherin's statue came to life, its mouth opening wider and wider until it became a dark cave.

Dumbledore waved his wand, gathering the bones together to form a wide bone ladder that spanned the dark cave.

Professor McGonagall moved swiftly, having already transformed into her tabby cat form, and leaped down the bone ladder into the cave first...

Chapter 196 You want me to go find Lucius? What a coincidence!

Whether it was a misperception or not, Wizette sensed a hint of excitement and eagerness in the tabby cat's jumping movements.

Professor McGonagall is usually quite composed, so it's rather rare for her to display such Gryffindor flair.

The cave entrance is quite spacious; even if two serpent monsters passed through at the same time, there shouldn't be any problem.

Go down the stone steps from the cave entrance, and you'll see a stone chamber in the distance.

The stone chamber was in chaos, as if it had been ravaged by a fire, covered with mottled black scorch marks.

Perhaps because of the basilisk's crawling, the ground was relatively clean, with only the walls showing a thick layer of ash.

Professor McGonagall sighed, "The stone chamber needs to be destroyed in this way... Perhaps there is some secret here."

Upon hearing Professor McGonagall's words, Wizette frowned slightly.

Some kind of secret?

It's probably a command spell...

Since Voldemort opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago, it is indeed possible that he would have burned it to the ground in order to keep its secrets for himself.

“I must say…it suits his character perfectly. What a pity!” Dumbledore’s remark indirectly confirmed Vizet’s guess.

Everything inside the stone chamber was destroyed. Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall carefully examined the chamber and determined that the damage was beyond repair.

While they were inspecting the stone chamber, Vizette still gathered up the ashes, intending to take them, along with the basilisk, to Salazar Slytherin.

……

Vizette removed the petrification effect from Pansy and led the basilisk out of the secret chamber first.

Watching the man and snake leave, Professor McGonagall finally spoke, "Albus, Wizette is right... Miss Parkinson is very likely a scapegoat."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement. "Of course... very much in line with Voldemort's usual tactics... at least when he was still a student."

"Back then, he also used Hagrid to exonerate himself and continue his studies at Hogwarts. What new tricks has he come up with this time?"

Professor McGonagall asked, "Should we conduct another search? Miss Parkinson belongs to Slytherin; perhaps we should start with Slytherin House..."

“I’ll have to trouble Severus again,” Dumbledore said. “I need to try to piece together the clues, determine where Miss Parkinson has been, and see if there are any new discoveries.”

……

Dumbledore inquired about several portraits to determine Pansy's route before returning to the headmaster's office.

Seeing Snape already waiting in the headmaster's office, Dumbledore smiled and asked, "How did it go? Did it go smoothly?"

"What did you do to Dobby?" Snape demanded, raising his eyebrows. "Why is there an image of Voldemort in Dobby's memory... and why does it overlap with the image of Vizzet?"

Dumbledore sat down in his seat and asked with interest, "I'm more curious about Mr. Malfoy's reaction."

"He fainted while using the Pensieve." Snape's expression was strange. "It was when the Vizet in Dobby's memory said he wanted to torture Dobby with the Cruciatus Curse to learn the secret of house-elves' free Apparition..."

Dumbledore interlaced his fingers. "It seems he has a vivid memory of this image of Voldemort?"

Snape recalled, "The Cruciatus Curse...they often used it for amusement."

"Taking pleasure in this? It seems Mr. Malfoy knows... the Cruciatus Curse isn't pleasant." Dumbledore murmured. "So what's his next plan? What does he intend to do?"

“Give Dobby to Vizet as a gift so he can torture him…” Snape narrowed his eyes. “That’s what you’d want to see… right?”

"That's one reason," Dumbledore nodded. "Also, I have some good news to share with you."

“We’ve caught the ‘heir.’ Unfortunately… she’s a Slytherin named Pansy Parkinson.”

"What a coincidence." Snape crossed his arms, his eyes full of skepticism. "Let me guess the exact time we caught her... It was when you told me to take Dobby away, wasn't it?"

“Yes, that was the time! Now that you mention it, it is indeed a coincidence!” Dumbledore smiled slightly. “Besides discovering the notebook that commanded the basilisk, I also took care of the basilisk in the process.”

"That easy?" Snape narrowed his eyes slightly. "Where's the notebook?"

Dumbledore said, "That notebook is a magical artifact, and Vizet wanted to take it back to study it, so I gave it to him."

"Actually, the principle is not complicated. It uses magic such as unmarkable spells to avoid detection by certain spells."

"It was able to open the secret chamber and communicate with the basilisk because a mongoose was imprisoned inside."

“What a coincidence!” Snape said again. “How logical! I don’t think Pansy Parkinson did a good job with the notebook…”

"She should change the materials she uses to make the notebook, preferably chocolate and honey, which might be more harmful to you."

Dumbledore waved his hand. “We have experienced healers and a brilliant Potions Master… I think it shouldn’t be too dangerous.”

Snape curled his lip. "Since Pansy Parkinson is in possession of the notebook, I'll investigate Slytherin to see if there's anything amiss."

“I also prepared a route map.” Dumbledore took a piece of parchment from his pocket. “This shows most of the places she passed through before entering the abandoned washroom.”

Snape glanced at the map briefly, then immediately stood up. "I'll go investigate right away!"

……

Along the way, Snape checked many places, following the directions on the map.

Unfortunately, nothing unusual was found in these places. There were no traces of black magic, and even the traces of ordinary magic... were only some prank props.

Snape looked at the next location, a look of disgust on his face, "Gilderoy Lockhart's office..."

Boom!

Lockhart, his head full of curlers, opened the door and exclaimed in a high-pitched, exaggerated voice, "Aha, let me see who it is? It's West..."

Before Lockhart could even call out his name, Snape had already raised his wand and pointed it at Lockhart's throat.

Lockhart was immediately speechless, one hand covering his throat, his eyes filled with panic.

He frantically waved his other hand, trying to stop Snape from entering the room.

"Get out of the way!" Snape said with disgust, shoving Lockhart aside and barging in.

The trio of Harry and Meghan happened to witness this scene from outside the corridor.

With a loud slam of the door, Harry gasped. "Hiss... Snape and Lockhart are at odds! Will they duel?"

"I don't think so?" Hermione said with a worried look.

“It’s such a tough choice…” Ron scratched his head. “Do you think… is there a possibility that they might both suffer heavy losses?”