My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 216, Section 213. Malfoy: I was wrong, I'll never do it again.

The basilisk is not a particularly difficult creature to deal with.

Lynn even thought that if he could find any professor at Hogwarts and prepare in advance, they could skin and dismember it, adding a whole snake feast to the young wizard's dinner.

The reason why this creature, which has obvious weaknesses and poses little threat to adult wizards, has caused such panic at Hogwarts twice in a row is that it always runs away after committing its crimes, and no one has been able to catch it after it escapes.

Now that Lynn knows where its lair is, he certainly won't let the thing escape again.

But before that, Lynn had to make sure she was perfectly prepared.

The most notable characteristics of the basilisk are that it is highly venomous, extremely strong, and that looking into its eyes will kill you instantly.

The first two are relatively easy to deal with. The basilisk's venom is only in its fangs, so unless it bites Lynn, the so-called deadly venom is useless. As for its strength, Lynn has never arm-wrestled with it, so he can't compare in terms of strength. However, Lynn thinks that even if he overestimates the basilisk's physical strength, it can't be much stronger than him, and at least it won't use this advantage to suppress him.

The most difficult thing to deal with is its third characteristic: if you make eye contact with it, you will be petrified and die instantly.

In the original story, no students died at Hogwarts this semester, but several young wizards were petrified. This was because, through various coincidences, these young wizards did not make direct eye contact with the basilisk, which reduced the petrification effect to the extreme.

Lynn never forgot that the basilisk's petrification effect was its most powerful weapon; anyone who made direct eye contact with it would die instantly, without exception.

Therefore, in response to the characteristics of the eyes, Lynn has been going to the library these days to collect a lot of spells and other methods that can damage the eyes, among which the most effective is the Eye Disease Spell.

This spell is very powerful, capable of directly destroying the enemy's eyesight. Moreover, magical creatures are relatively weak against this spell. In the future Triwizard Tournament, Viktor Krum, a warrior from Durmstrang Academy of Magic, used this spell to blind the fire dragon and pass the first test.

Even dragons, with their high resistance to magic, couldn't withstand this spell, so Lynn didn't think the basilisk's magic resistance was higher than that of a dragon.

There's also the crowing of roosters. According to relevant books, the crowing of roosters is deadly to basilisks. Even if the actual effect isn't as strong as the books say, it will definitely have a significant negative impact on them.

It was a rare sunny day over the weekend.

"I think I'm a magical failure, Lynn. Every time I show off my new magic to Ian and Cedric, they look at me with suspicion, as if I've been replaced, which is actually true."

Lynn and Umaru have now returned to their original forms and are lying on the grass outside the castle, basking in the sun.

"It's not your fault. I made you impersonate me and learn magic on your own. Others might not notice anything, but Ian and Cedric would definitely find out. But I don't plan to keep it from them forever. I'll just ask them to keep it a secret when they find out."

"That's not what I meant," Umaru said awkwardly.

"So what do you mean?"

"I mean, my magical talent is so poor, could you lower the difficulty of the exam a bit? Otherwise, I'm afraid I won't pass," Umaru said pitifully.

Lynn couldn't help but flick her forehead: "How can you be so unambitious? You've learned magic and all you want to do is play around. Haven't you ever thought about doing anything else important?"

"Playing is the most important thing in my life!" she said righteously.

This child is truly hopeless.

Umaru probably grew up alone and was bored out of her mind, so now she has an unparalleled obsession with playing. No matter what she does, her ultimate goal is to play.

"How many spells have you learned?" Regardless, as her parent, Lynn still wanted to know about her learning progress.

Umaru counted on her fingers: "There are only five in total: Levitation Charm, Lockpicking Charm, Cleansing Charm, Repelling Charm, and Wand Illumination Charm." She continued, feeling wronged, "Besides, I don't dare to ask other people questions under your identity, for fear of exposing you."

If I remember correctly, it's only the weekend of the second week of school, right? There are only five.

This was all achieved through her own self-study, with virtually no one to teach her!

Although he's far inferior to Lynn, who's practically a cheat code, if you were to say that someone with this kind of talent is a magical waste, then 99% of the students at Hogwarts would be so ashamed that they'd bury themselves!

However, Lynn knew that she needed to keep Xiaomai from becoming arrogant and complacent. Based on Lynn's understanding of her, if she were told that Xiaomai was actually a genius and not a good-for-nothing, she would immediately abandon her current diligence and return to her state of eating, drinking and having fun all day long, until the final exams were approaching, when she would cram a few bites of her textbooks at the last minute.

You can't praise her, but you can't criticize her either. Umaru is just a ten-year-old child. If you keep telling her that she's no good at this or that, she'll completely lose confidence in herself, and that would be the end of her.

"You're not exactly a magical failure," Lynn comforted you. "You're at least a bit stronger than most people, but not by much. Based on the talent I've seen in the first-year classes, you should be ranked in the upper-middle tier."

In fact, with the level of magic that Umaru has mastered, she is good enough to be the top student in the first year. However, she spends every day with the third-year students and has no idea of ​​her own level.

Upon hearing that she had actually ranked in the upper-middle range, Umaru's spirits immediately lifted.

"So, you're saying I only need to put in a little effort to pass your exam?"

"Stop dreaming." Lynn poured cold water on her. "Do you think I'd let you pass the exam so easily? If you really only put in a tiny bit of effort, then you might as well stay home all summer and watch TV. Forget about playing video games."

Little Burai rolled around on the grass.

"You're so heartless, Lynn. I'm still your sister, can't you be a little more lenient?"

Lynn ignored her whining and instead noticed that two groups of people seemed to be arguing in the direction of the Quidditch stadium entrance not far away.

Malfoy is extremely pleased with himself now.

Ever since Professor McGonagall discovered Harry's extraordinary Quidditch talent last semester and recruited him to the Gryffindor team, he has been extremely jealous.

This gave him the illusion that he was inferior to Harry, so not long after the start of his second year, he begged his father to help him get into the Slytherin Quidditch team.

Although Lucius Malfoy was one of the Hogwarts Board of Governors, he could not directly order Slytherin's Quidditch team to recruit Draco.

It's not that he lacks the power or ability, but rather that it's too shameful to use privileges so openly.

But faced with his only son's request, which was still so ambitious—to prove he was no less capable than Harry by joining the Quidditch team—Lucius gritted his teeth and ultimately donated a large sum of money to Slytherin's Quidditch team, giving them seven of the newly released flying brooms from the previous month.

These brooms, though not cheap, were nothing special for the Malfoy family in the past, but things are different now.

Recently, an aggressive German magic company has been making inroads into the British magic business market. The company is extremely powerful and has a ruthless spirit of inflicting heavy losses on both sides. Under its relentless suppression and market plunder, many pure-blood family businesses, including the Malfoy family, have been impacted.

Everyone is tightening their belts these days. Several family leaders have already taken the lead in negotiating with the other company's executives. After all, continuing this price war will only result in mutual losses. In business, it's best to prioritize harmony and discuss any terms that come your way.

Draco knew nothing of these things; all he knew was that his father had been in a bad mood lately, but in the end, he still helped get him into the Slytherin Quidditch team.

Today was Harry's first day on the team. Draco knew that Harry was training on the pitch, so he went to ask Snape to give Slytherin's team permission to use the pitch for training. He wanted to use the excuse of taking over the pitch to show Harry that he had also joined the Quidditch team in his second year and was not much worse than Harry. Moreover, everyone on their team had a brand new flying broom.

Harry was clearly disgusted by him, and Draco felt a strange sense of satisfaction looking at his expression.

Thinking back to when he extended a friendly hand to Harry, only to be rejected, and then turned around and held hands with Ron, as if they were all good friends, Draco suddenly felt a sense of vengeful pleasure, like the proverb "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river; never underestimate a young man's potential."

However, before he could enjoy his pleasure for long, the Gryffindor girl with dirty blood flowing through her body ruthlessly ripped off the cloth covering his face.

"At least none of the Gryffindor players had to pay to get in," Hermione said scathingly. "They got in entirely on merit."

Malfoy's smug expression froze. His face darkened, and he instinctively uttered the most offensive words he knew.

"Nobody's asking you, you stinky little mud-blood."

His words stunned everyone present!

Aside from Hermione and Harry, who didn't know what the word meant, everyone else in Gryffindor was furious!

Just as Ron, the only one among Harry's three who knew what the word meant, was angrily preparing to raise his wand to cast a curse on Draco, a cold voice suddenly rang out.

"What did you just say to her?"

The voice was cold, so cold it seemed to freeze the surrounding air, causing everyone present to involuntarily shiver.

Everyone present turned to look at the source of the voice.

Lynn stared at Draco expressionlessly and repeated his question once again without any emotion.

"Tell me, what did you just say to her?"

"Lynn." Hermione ran to Lynn and grabbed his arm with a worried look on her face. She hadn't yet realized what had happened, but she had never seen Lynn so angry.

"Belok, Malfoy just said it without thinking. Besides, we're all from the same house, there's no need for this..." A Slytherin player who knew Lynn tried to persuade him, but before he could finish his advice, he was stopped by someone next to him.

The person who stopped him was Hubert McLean, Lynn's roommate from freshman year.

He's the Slytherin who called Lynn a Mudblood in the dorm when school started, got beaten up by Lynn, tried to poison him as revenge, but Kira discovered his plan and tortured him with the Crucifixion Curse to erase his memory. He's now a member of the Slytherin team.

"Don't speak, Flint," Hubert said nervously, pulling his companion back.

He spent half a semester at St. Mungo's Hospital during his first year because of Kira's Cruciatus Curse and Oblivion Curse. Although he no longer remembered who had tortured him, he remembered the name Lynn.

This is a name that makes his hands and feet turn cold and his whole body tremble whenever he thinks of it.

Draco looked into Lynn's cold eyes and subconsciously swallowed. Not only Lynn, he even felt that the hamster perched on Lynn's head was looking at him with indifferent eyes.

He knew Lynn, the brilliant wizard of Slytherin and Snape's prized student.

The two belonged to the same house, but because they were a year apart, they didn't have much interaction. He didn't know about Lynn and Hermione's relationship, nor did he understand why Lynn, a Slytherin, would be angry over a Gryffindor.

Despite Lynn's lack of notable achievements at school, which aside from his excellent academic performance, the man and the rat brought Draco immense pressure. Draco hid his trembling hands behind his back, unable to understand why this guy, only a year older than him, could frighten him so much.

Draco gritted his teeth and forced himself to speak.

"Am I wrong? She's nothing but a stinking lump of mud."

Before he could finish speaking, a hand as strong as an iron clamp suddenly grabbed his neck!

Lynn appeared in front of him at some point, and he slowly raised his arm and said calmly.

"You can ask around in Slytherin when you have time, and see what happened to the two people who uttered that word in front of me. Oh, sorry, but you don't really need to ask, because you'll experience it for yourself soon enough."

His expression was terrifyingly calm, and everyone around him, whether Gryffindor or Slytherin, fell silent, no one daring to speak.

Only Hermione held onto Lynn's hand the whole time, her voice trembling with tears as she tried to persuade him.

"Don't fight, Lynn. You'll be punished because people like that aren't worth it."

"You don't understand how awful the word he just used on you, Hermione. Don't worry about me being punished. If Professor Snape finds out about this, he might not only not punish me, but he might even give me extra points," Lynn reassured Hermione.

Draco was being gripped by the neck, his feet off the ground, his face turning a liverish color from the inability to breathe. He pounded on Lynn's arms with both hands and kicked wildly with his legs off the ground, but he couldn't break free from Lynn's clutches.

"I played a game with a senior student before, and I thought it was a really good game, Malfoy. We can even come up with more variations, because I know a lot more evil spells now." Lynn released his neck, grabbed his robe collar with his other hand, and raised his wand with a cold smile.

"Cry! If you don't cry by the time I count down five seconds, then I'll..."

"Waaaaah, I was wrong, I'll never do it again."

Draco wiped away tears like a little girl, feeling wronged.

Before Lynn could finish his harsh words or the countdown had even started, he was already crying and apologizing.

(End of this chapter)