A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

The next day, Felix went to the corridor where the attack had taken place the night before and, unsurprisingly, encountered Felch.

He had clearly cleaned the corridor thoroughly; the water on the floor had disappeared. An empty chair leaned against the wall bearing the words "The secret room has been opened."

At that moment, he was facing away from Felix, struggling to scrub the writing on the wall with cleaning agent, but it seemed to be in vain.

"Mr. Filch"

Filch turned around, his eyes bulging, his face flushed an unnatural red, and he was muttering to himself. But when he saw Felix, he still greeted him politely, "Professor Hyp."

"I'll come and check the scene; maybe I can find some clues left behind."

Felix didn't have much contact with Felch when he was in school, back when he didn't have Mrs. Lorris as an accomplice, and he himself was completely immune to Felch's threat thanks to his excellent Disillusionment Charm.

Filch gave up his seat and stood somewhat awkwardly to the side. He had just revealed his Squib identity yesterday, and he didn't want to stay a second longer in front of this genius professor.

"Well, then I'll be leaving now, Professor, I have something to attend to..."

"Go ahead and get busy," Felix replied. "Oh, by the way," he waved his wand, and the writing on the wall faded instantly.

"what?"

Somewhat surprised, he quickly moved closer to the wall, examining the writing from top to bottom. "It seems to be a kind of coercive magic, but not a permanent adhesive spell." Felix pointed at the wall with his wand, and soon the writing disappeared.

"Thank you, thank you." Filch blushed and said hastily before leaving quickly, without even taking his cleaning tools.

Felix began searching his surroundings, and soon he found a clue.

He squatted down, tapped the ring on his left hand with his wand, and a large magnifying glass appeared in his hand.

Felix examined the ground closely; there was a charred mark there.

"What is this? How did it appear?"

Felix looked up at the girls' restroom directly opposite him, and without thinking much, he quickly pushed open the brass handle and went inside.

It was a rather dark and damp place, with stains on the walls, waterlogged floors, and peeling tiles on a row of sinks. The only light source was a few dark candles.

Suppressing his discomfort, Felix's gaze darted around.

A voice suddenly came from the innermost cubicle, "Who's there?" Immediately, a ghost with a gloomy face rushed out, her pearl-colored glasses obscuring most of her face.

She looked at Felix and clearly recognized the professor.

The ghost stared in disbelief, glancing behind her. Yes, this was her territory—the girls' restroom…

"Teach, professor?"

"Hello, Myrtle." Felix's voice was quite calm. He was there to investigate a case, and he had a legitimate excuse, yes, that's it.

Mommy stared at him blankly for a few seconds, then suddenly let out a scream. The entire ghost flew back into the toilet, and he could even hear a crisp splash of water.

Felix: "..." Is it really that big of a deal? I just wanted to ask you a question, and I was barely holding back my embarrassment.

Felix said, "Myrtle, I know you're here. Did you see yesterday's attack...?"

"No! There's nothing at all!" Myrtle shouted from the cubicle.

Immediately, he heard footsteps not far away, and his heart skipped a beat. He quickly cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself, left the bathroom, and brushed past a red-haired girl.

Being discovered by a ghost isn't scary, but what if a student sees you...?

His lifelong reputation was ruined.

Over the next few days, when he wasn't in class, he worked with several professors to search the entire castle, but naturally they found nothing.

One day in the auditorium, Felix was still thinking about this while eating lunch.

"It all started with the Dark Lord's Horcruxes, but knowing that doesn't seem to help much... I don't know who the successor is, where the secret chamber is, or where the Horcruxes are hidden."

"The Chamber of Secrets, Slytherin, heir, petrification... these are clearly keywords. But how do you connect them?"

Felix always felt he was very close to the truth, but there was always a layer of mystery between him and the truth.

"Slytherin... a snake?"

He tried hard to recall, attempting to unearth long-buried memories. He seemed to see something: "Harry" fighting a giant snake. But the memory was quite hazy; he wasn't sure if he had mixed it up. In his recollection, "Harry" also seemed to have single-handedly dealt with a large group of Dementors.

How is that possible? Even a normal adult wizard couldn't do that!

Moreover, why would Dementors attack a school?

However, Felix quickly reminded himself that anything is possible in the world of magic, especially with the existence of a "protagonist."

"So, it's very likely true that a giant snake caused Lady Lorris's petrification." Felix continued to deduce from this conjecture.

But he encountered another problem.

What kind of snake possesses the power to petrify?

Felix could only think of Medusa, but that magical creature was extinct.

"It cannot be ruled out that Slytherin underwent bloodline grafting... Judging from his surviving notes, his research on magical bloodlines was very in-depth."

He still hadn't figured it out by the time he finished lunch. But he soon had a new idea: to collect all the rumors about the Chamber of Secrets from Hogwarts over the years and verify them one by one.

Perhaps the truth lies hidden within the rumors.

……

Three days later, Felix stood on the eighth floor of the castle opposite a tapestry depicting "The Giant Beats Barnabas," watching with a strange expression as a silver door slowly appeared.

So, you found it?

After a slight hesitation, he gently tapped his chest with his wand. A flash of light appeared on his wrists, ankles, and chest. Then he stepped inside.

This was a huge junkyard, piled high with all sorts of discarded items: broken quill pens, old books, damaged viewing mirrors... He also saw the Golden Snitch, missing half a wing.

He carefully walked around, but found no clues whatsoever.

"A hidden room?" He couldn't believe that the proud Slytherins would put the secret room here.

"However, this room is quite secluded. Its magic must be very interesting; I'll study it another day." Felix walked out of the room, glancing back with some reluctance as the silver door quietly disappeared.

On the other side—

The trio are also working hard to uncover the secrets of the Chamber of Secrets, with "working hard" mainly referring to Hermione Granger.

After several days of fruitless research and with the loan list for "Hogwarts: A History" already booked for two weeks, the Gryffindor witch finally raised her hand in a history of magic class, thus benefiting everyone and obtaining valuable information about the Chamber of Secrets.

Poor Professor Binns was forced to deviate from the course schedule and, under the expectant gaze of everyone, began to recount "myths and legends," much to his annoyance. After this interlude, his previously slow, dry voice quickened—making his lectures even more hypnotic than before.

The once energetic young wizards collapsed again, their faces quickly turning blank and dazed.