Days at Hogwarts

I really liked a line Loren said in Chapter 175: Ah?

Coming to his senses, Loren found that the two serpentine stone sculptures were still in the same pose, their eyes facing each other, their tails coiled and intertwined. The snake-swallowing-snake scene he had just witnessed was nowhere to be seen; it seemed like an illusion.

The emerald with snake eyes still radiated a green mineral glow. Loren carefully examined the snake's head, looking at the rough texture of the stone-carved scales and the grit on the surface of the fangs. It was the same as before, yet it seemed different.

His mind was filled with questions: Why were images from the Book of Abraham found in Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets?

Which came earlier, Slytherin building the Chamber of Secrets or Abraham writing his book?

Did Slytherin read the Book of Abraham, or did Abraham never see Slytherin's remains?

Or perhaps neither, but rather that two mysterious wizards witnessed the same scene and left the same record.

No one could answer Loren's questions. As for the contents of the Book of Abraham, he couldn't even ask Dumbledore for confirmation, so he could only keep all his questions to himself.

Dumbledore looked at the door to the Chamber of Secrets with a complicated expression for a while, then sighed inexplicably.

He used the bones on the ground to transform into a snow-white python with translucent scales, which coiled in front of the door, stood upright facing the two snake-shaped stone sculptures, and uttered a snake-like language.

"Hiss~ Hiss! (Opens)"

Upon hearing the command, the two snakes on the stone wall blinked their emerald eyes, untied their intertwined tails, and retreated to one side, using the crack in the stone as a boundary. The stone wall split open in the middle, revealing the passage behind.

Stepping inside, Loren and Dumbledore looked around the room.

A long corridor leads into the darkness that seems to have no end, with countless stone pillars carved with coiled serpents standing on both sides.

Several orbs of light, floating in the air without a landing point, entered the room and immediately drifted towards the tops of the stone pillars on both sides, landing on the candlesticks shaped like snakes spitting pearls. However, compared to the vast room, these lights were merely faint specks of light, and most of the stone pillars and passageways remained in darkness.

Occasionally, a faint, mysterious, greenish light would emanate from the ceiling, offering glimpses of the secret room. The room, dominated by black and gray tones and possessing a somber atmosphere, exuded an air of mystery and antiquity.

"Loren, do you know the story behind the Chamber of Secrets?" Dumbledore asked, his aged voice sounding particularly melodious in the enclosed, spacious room.

"I've heard some of it."

"Let this old man tell you about it."

Dumbledore led Loren deeper into the Chamber of Secrets. "The exact time is unknown, but it was probably over a thousand years ago. The four greatest wizards of that time—Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin—built this castle together to provide a sanctuary for young wizards and teach them how to protect themselves."

"In the first few years, the four founders worked together harmoniously, searching for children who showed magical talent, taking them in, and teaching them. Everything was developing in the best direction, just as envisioned when the school was built."

"However, disagreements gradually arose between them. Slytherin believed that magical education should only be for children from pure wizarding families, and he was unwilling to accept young wizards from Muggle families, believing them to be unreliable. The former best friends, Gryffindor and Slytherin, had a fierce argument over this issue, and Slytherin subsequently left the school."

The old headmaster paused here, his mind far from calm. From his youth, the conflict between wizards and Muggles had been like a hurricane, destroying his family, or rather, destroying the wonderful life Albus Dumbledore could have had.

Even so, he didn't hate Muggles, nor did he hate all Muggle-born wizards, but not everyone was like him. He had seen people with lofty ideals who disregarded life, people who intended to conquer the world with power and fear, and fanatics of war…

Having seen so many Dumbledores, I still felt a pang of sadness upon learning that yet another Slytherin student had joined Voldemort's side.

"Legend has it that Slytherin secretly built a sealed chamber in the castle, without the knowledge of its three founders. Only its true heir can open the chamber, release the terrifying things within, purify the school, and eliminate all those unworthy to learn magic."

Loren considered his wording for a moment: "It doesn't sound like it involves killing Muggle wizards. Besides, I don't think such a massive project could be kept secret from the other founders, at least not from someone as intelligent as Ravenclaw. What do you think?"

"Ha, I think so too. It's just that, Loren, some smart people just can't see through things; they always think they're the smartest one."

Loren suddenly veered off-topic: "Who's smarter, Slytherin or Ravenclaw?"

Dumbledore paused for a moment, then chuckled easily. "It should be Lady Ravenclaw."

Why?

"I don't know, this is just my personal opinion."

"Can I borrow the Sapphire? Let me experience Ravenclaw's intelligence."

"Not at least not now."

"Boring."

……

The two walked along the passage, past one stone pillar after another, in complete silence, with only the sound of their footsteps echoing in the empty room. Reaching the end of the corridor, their attention was drawn to something behind the last pair of stone pillars.

It was a towering, colossal stone sculpture, almost as tall as some of the towers outside the castle. The sculpture depicted a strange, aged wizard with a monkey-like face, disdainful eyes, and an arrogant demeanor. His sparse, long beard stretched almost to the hem of his stone-carved wizard's robe.

The stone statue was pressed against the dark stone wall behind it.

For some reason, as soon as the statue sat there, Loren and Dumbledore thought of his name: Salazar Slytherin.

"Slytherin was a great wizard with a long-term vision, the most mysterious of the four. I don't understand why he insisted on pure-blood theory so much."

Dumbledore gazed up at the founder of Hogwarts, his eyes shining with unwavering resolve: "I do not believe that he left the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk so that someone might use them to kill Hogwarts students centuries later. I will not allow such a thing to happen."

Loren looked at Dumbledore and felt that he should be hoping and looking forward to facing the real Salazar Slytherin.

Then, ask him a question!

The old wizard waved his wand, and a light breeze suddenly swept through the space. The light source falling on the stone pillar swayed slightly in the direction of the air flow, and the dust that had accumulated on the ground for thousands of years was blown away. A transparent giant serpent condensed from the air in front of the Slytherin statue.

The giant python flicked its tongue, uttering the longest hissing sound Loren had ever heard: "Hiss—hiss hiss...hiss~"

"Speak to me, Slytherin—the greatest of the four great masters of Hogwarts."

Loren looked up at the transparent python and sincerely admired Dumbledore's brilliant Transfiguration.

While conventional Transfiguration involves the transformation of matter and changes in appearance, most transformations follow the same pattern: fluid to fluid, solid to solid, water to wine, and a beetle to a button. Dumbledore, however, transforms shapeless air into a solid, tangible giant python.

This was the first time he had ever seen such profound transformation magic, which disregarded rules and characteristics and could change the properties of matter at will.

Loren longed for the day when he could achieve that.

The enormous face of the Slytherin stone sculpture gradually opened its mouth, growing larger and larger, its cheeks elongating until it formed a huge black hole, revealing two sharp lower jaw teeth.

A magnificent, emerald-green magical light shone from the giant mouth of the stone statue, as if the statue were holding some magnificent treasure.

"call--"

"call--"

"call--"

A slow but powerful stream of air escaped from the cavity, making a soft hiss as it passed through the statue.

Dumbledore tapped Loren's shoulder with his wand again, and he felt that light, floating sensation once more, as if an invisible hand were lifting him up.

The two bodies floated up and drifted silently into the statue's mouth like feathers.

Dumbledore pulled Loren down to land directly in front of the snake's head; the tiny gap left by the coiled snake's body was enough for the two of them to fit inside.

Despite knowing that the basilisk was still asleep and that Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard of the century, was right beside him, Loren still held his breath when he saw the basilisk, which was nearly fifty meters long and thicker than himself when he lay sideways.

Its thick, long torso and tail curled up on the outer edge, protecting the lizard-shaped snake head in the center. The dark green scales reflected a metallic sheen, especially the thick scales on the tail, which could almost shatter metal and stone.

"call--"

A powerful gust of air shot out from the pores at the tip of the snake's head; the sound of wind they had just heard was the slow breathing of the basilisk as it slept.

An inexplicable stench instantly enveloped the two of them, and Loren swayed slightly, his head spinning.

He pinched his nose and muttered, "Is the basilisk's breath poisonous too? I think I'm poisoned."

"The basilisk's venom isn't in its nose." Dumbledore smiled, pointed his wand at Loren's head, and with a soft "pop," a transparent bubble covered his head, blocking out the foul-smelling snake breath.

Dumbledore began to explain the Basilisk to Loren: "The first Basilisk was bred and hatched by the despicable Helbo. As a dangerous creature of such a level, it is in most cases impossible to tame or subdue."

"The basilisk's gaze can kill any life before it." With that, he extended his wand and used magic to pry open the basilisk's eyes a crack from a distance.

The snake's eyes beneath its eyelids were faintly visible, a terrifying cold yellow, with a ghastly green magical light bursting forth from the slits, accompanied by surging and rampant magic.

This was the first time Loren had ever seen such a vast magical power imbued with a chilling aura of death; its verdant hue carried an absolute malice towards life. If any will resided within this ghastly green magic, it was the complete stripping away of life.

Before the magic took effect, Dumbledore took out the Deluminator and popped open the top cover.

All the basilisk's gaze and magic that leaked out were strangely drawn to the Deluminator, and restrained by the magic runes inscribed on the outer wall of the Deluminator, preventing any leakage.

He stared intently at the magic array and runes on the lampshade, but with Loren's current alchemical skills, he couldn't understand anything. He could only tell that the lampshade had a complex structure and that the magic array was intricately linked.

Dumbledore crouched down and held the Deluminator in front of Loren's eyes, pinching it between his thumb and forefinger while spreading out the rest of his fingers to show it more clearly: "This is a push-pull switch on the side. I referenced the casings of Muggle lighters and flashlights. To use it, simply push open the top cover, aim it at the light source you want to turn off, and shake the Deluminator."

Loren nodded, his heart pounding with excitement.

The main body of the Deluminator was held in Dumbledore's hand, while the other end was drawn to the immense and dangerous magic of the Basilisk.

Dumbledore began shaking the Deluminator at a strange frequency, causing the magic gathered at its top to sway. The pale green magic began to separate into three colors of magical threads: a crystalline dark green thread, a yellow thread matching the snake's eyes, and a dull gray thread that did not emit light.

Similar to the magic threads extracted from the eyes of the eight-eyed giant spider that Loren had seen during the day, but compared to the mottled and mixed magic threads of the eight-eyed giant spider, the threads drawn from the eyes of the basilisk were purer in color, seemingly of a higher grade, with fewer impurities.

Dumbledore spoke up at the opportune moment: "The basilisk's gaze can kill any creature it sees instantly, but once reflected, the green magic representing death is blocked and cannot take effect. The gray threads, however, can be reflected and will cause—petrification. Only a potion made from mandrake can revive the victim."

"What's that yellow thing?" Loren asked curiously.

"The yellow threads represent the gaze of the snake's eyes; they are the carriers of two kinds of magic."

Dumbledore reached out and fiddled with the Deluminator. A powerful yet silent suction force appeared, pulling the green magical threads representing death from the snake's eyes and drawing them continuously into the Deluminator.

The entire process lasted only two or three seconds before the green magic threads completely disappeared, and the death magic in the right snake eye was completely drained, turning into a pale green orb radiating a dangerous aura in the de-escalator.

Dumbledore flipped down the switch of the Deluminator, closed the top cover, and the gray thread representing petrification and the yellow thread representing the carrier of the gaze broke apart, returning to the snake's eye through the gap in the eyelid.

"So the basilisk's eye can only petrify, not kill?" Loren exclaimed in surprise.

Handing him the Deluminator, Dumbledore's eyes held an encouraging look: "Try the other eye."

"This isn't a good idea." Loren couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth into a shy smile as he deftly took the light switch.

Although he was a little embarrassed, it was his first time handling such a high-level alchemical artifact, so he couldn't help but fiddle with the light switch between his hands and touch it a few more times.

"If you can't control the basilisk's gaze immediately, you can turn on the Deluminator first, and then open the basilisk's eyes," Dumbledore instructed from the side.

Loren readily followed the headmaster's instructions and used the Deluminator to connect to the snake's eyes... but his control over magic was not as refined as Dumbledore's, and he got stuck at the step of separating the magic threads by color.

"If you can't get the right frequency for the magic threads to sway in layers right away, just keep swaying them for a while, and you'll gradually get the hang of it," Dumbledore said patiently.

Shake it for a while until the magic threads separate into three colors. Control the lamp to only absorb the green threads, then close the snake's eyelids and close the lamp's top cover.

"It wasn't as difficult as I thought!" Loren gave himself an 82 out of 100 for his performance, leaving the 666 for himself so others wouldn't think he wasn't humble enough.

Dumbledore smiled broadly: "Then the Deluminator is yours. From now on, I'll ask you to keep the Basilisk's gaze at bay every month."

"what?"

"ah!?"

"ah!!!"

"That's a basilisk!"

(End of this chapter)