Simultaneously traversing: the pinnacle of all realms

Chapter 85 The Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin

The next day, the abandoned women's restroom on the second floor.

The door to the secret chamber was hidden behind the sink in the women's bathroom; Dumbledore had gotten the information from Voldemort in that diary.

After that, Dumbledore came to see it several times by himself. He found the bronze faucet with the snake relief and did indeed sense traces of magic, but he couldn't go inside.

If he had enough time, he might be able to find a way to break the deadlock, but time waits for no one. He had a premonition that darkness was gathering again.

Dumbledore and the four heads of the house were all present and stood at the entrance to the Baptismal Chamber.

The phoenix also perched on a nearby stone platform—this was to avoid any accidents—the phoenix's tears could neutralize the basilisk's poison, and the phoenix was also unaffected by the basilisk's gaze.

Several Aurors and senior officials from the Ministry of Magic were invited to witness the event. Cornelius Fudge himself was also present, clutching a top hat and constantly wiping the sweat from his brow.

Of course, there were also reporters, all of whom were trusted friends and former students of Dumbledore, carrying magically modified cameras. For safety reasons, they were seated in the back, but taking photos was permitted.

"Dumbledore, you say you've found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets?"

"This is all nonsense. The school has investigated whether such a secret room exists. They investigated many times, consulting their most learned wizards and sorcerers. The secret room doesn't exist! It's just a story, designed to scare simple-minded people."

Fudge's voice was somewhat shrill, and carried a bureaucratic air about it.

He didn't quite like these reporters; he remembered them because they often caused trouble for the Ministry of Magic.

"Isn't that just a legend? Many headmasters of Hogwarts, as well as many historians, have conducted thorough searches of the school in hopes of finding the Chamber of Secrets, but all have come up empty-handed. Just like Dippet fifty years ago, who searched for an entire semester without finding it."

"We didn't have Harry Potter fifty years ago."

"Dumbledore said calmly, then turned to Harry and gestured."

Harry walked up to the brass faucet under everyone's watchful eyes. Dumbledore pointed, and Harry bent down, staring at the rusty snake relief.

"Haishisa".

What came out of his mouth was not English, but a series of hoarse, hissing sounds that sent chills down your spine.

But this time he knew exactly what he was saying: "Open."

The small snake pattern on the brass faucet suddenly lit up, and then the entire sink began to vibrate.

The faucet emitted a dazzling white light and began to spin rapidly.

Then, the pool began to move. They watched as the pool slowly disappeared from sight, and the single washbasin with its serpentine relief slowly sank down, revealing a very thick water pipe. Inside, it was dark and clearly the entrance, big enough for an adult to slide in.

The inside of the pipe was covered with slimy moss, and a damp, musty smell rose from deep within.

Fudge gasped. Several Aurors instinctively placed their hands on their wands.

"Basilisk."

Dumbledore explained to those around him, his voice not loud, but everyone present could hear him clearly: "What Slytherin left in the Chamber of Secrets is a basilisk. Anyone who makes direct eye contact with it will die instantly, and anyone who makes indirect contact will be petrified. Fifty years ago, Myrtle Warren was the only victim to meet its gaze directly; she looked up in the bathroom and saw the basilisk's eyes, and died instantly."

He turned to Fudge.

"That's how she died. No spell could have caused that kind of damage—because it wasn't a spell at all."

17

Fudge's hat finally fell to the ground.

"We need to go down."

Fudge, pale-faced, took a half-step back, shielding everyone in front of him. Dumbledore, seeing this, told him to stay on top.

Dumbledore greeted the four heads of the department and Fawkes, and then called out the names of two more Aurors.

"Fluorescent lights!"

The group illuminated the cave entrance with their wands, and one of the Aurors peeked out and exclaimed, "Oh, this is really dirty!"

"Alright, let's go."

Dumbledore was the first to jump down, followed closely by the other heads of the household. Snape grabbed Harry's arm and was the last to slide into the tunnel.

The entrance pipe was winding and long; it took them almost ten seconds to slide down onto a pile of damp bones—the remains of small animals, so ancient they crumbled at the slightest step. These were scraps of food left over from the basilisk's meal.

Fox let out a cry and flew ahead to the depths of the nearby tunnel, its fiery tail feathers drawing a fleeting golden-red arc in the darkness.

They walked along the stone tunnel, stalactites hanging overhead, rocks scattered everywhere. The tunnel was long, winding and turning, and along the way were giant snake skins, coiled and covering the ground. Everyone gripped their wands nervously.

"What is this?" Harry asked in a low voice, genuinely unable to discern what those piles of things filling the underground caverns were.

"Don't you have any intelligence at all? Even trolls are smarter than you. This is the skin shed by a basilisk."

Snape's mocking voice came from behind him. He never missed an opportunity to ridicule Harry, no matter the occasion or who was around.

Professor McGonagall turned her head and frowned at Snape—Harry was a student at their Gryffindor house.

Harry ignored Snape's useless information and stared at the snakeskin in amazement: "Snakeskin! My God, that snake must be sixty feet long, maybe even longer."

At the end of the tunnel was a solid stone wall with two intertwined snakes carved on it, their eyes inlaid with large, glittering emeralds.

Dumbledore gestured for Harry to come forward.

"Haishisa".

Harry took a deep breath, composed himself, and said something to the stone wall.

The two relief snakes wriggle as if they came to life, and the stone wall splits in the middle, slowly sliding to both sides and disappearing. It can be seen that the stone wall is a full two feet thick.

The Chamber of Secrets was more sinister and larger than Harry had imagined.

Before them was a long, dimly lit room filled with a mysterious, emerald-green mist.

Inside, two rows of stone pillars carved with coiled and intertwined snakes stand tall, supporting the ceiling that melts into the darkness above, casting long, eerie shadows into the entire room, which is filled with a mysterious, verdant mist.

The stone pillars stretched all the way to the end, where at the far end of the secret chamber stood a full-body statue of Salazar Slytherin, almost as tall as the room itself, pressed against the dark wall behind it.

The wall behind the statue is covered with entangled serpentine reliefs, like a frozen mural of snakes.

The secret chamber was filled with water, which was quite deep and had risen to the head of the statue.

A foul, chilly stench filled the air. The group walked forward, their feet sinking into the puddles on the stone pavement. Each step was accompanied by the sound of water, and the echoes could be heard from afar.

The space was quiet, and Fox did not appear, indicating that the basilisk was still asleep.

The snake mouth can put the basilisk into a deep sleep, thus preventing it from continuing to grow and putting it into a state similar to suspended animation.

Salazar Slytherin's basilisk has lived in this Chamber of Secrets for nearly a thousand years, spending most of its time in slumber, only awakening when roused by Parseltongue.

That's why it's still alive after all this time.

Harry heard a faint sound. It was a heavy breathing sound coming from the direction of the Slytherin statue, slow and rhythmic like bellows.