My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 275, Section 272: Who is the murderer?

"And also, did you just cast a curse on the students of my academy?"

Snape looked at Lynn with a cold expression. He was the most protective of his own, and he was extremely protective of Slytherin students.

"He called people 'mudbloods'," Lynn said expressionlessly. "I'm being lenient by not deducting points from Slytherin."

Snape was speechless. Lynn was right. Just for Malfoy saying those words, it wouldn't be an exaggeration for him to deduct points and curse him.

But Snape still wanted to get Lynn to explain why he hadn't attended the Halloween party that night, but couldn't explain where he had gone.

It wasn't that Snape had any personal grudge against Lockhart; he simply disliked all the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors.

"Alright, Severus," Dumbledore said, stopping Snape from asking further questions. "You all go back now. Gilderoy and I need to talk alone."

Snape was somewhat unwilling, but Dumbledore's authority was undeniable, so he could only leave Lynn's office with Professor McGonagall. Harry and the others also secretly glanced at Lynn and Dumbledore before leaving together.

Only Lynn and Dumbledore remained in the office. Lynn no longer needed to pretend, so he pulled up a chair and sat down opposite Dumbledore.

"Was it done by the basilisk?"

Dumbledore nodded: "Only the eyes of a basilisk could produce such a petrifying effect, but Finley didn't die from it. This is obviously because he didn't look directly into the eyes of the basilisk, but rather through some kind of refraction."

Dumbledore easily figured out how Finley was petrified.

Why didn't you go to the Halloween party tonight?

There was nothing to hide from Dumbledore Lynn.

"I went to Nick's death anniversary dinner with Hermione and the others after I changed back to my original identity. I didn't expect something like this to happen tonight."

Lynn really hadn't expected this.

In the original story, the first attack by the Basilisk did indeed occur that night, and the victim was Filch's cat—Mrs. Loris.

However, because the current situation has changed significantly compared to the original story, he relaxed his vigilance, thinking that no more accidents would happen tonight.

Unexpectedly, the cat wasn't petrified, but a Hufflepuff student was.

Dumbledore placed his hands on the table with his fingers interlaced, his two thumbs rubbing together gently.

"What was its purpose in attacking this student? And what is the purpose of its blatant claim that the secret room was opened?"

Dumbledore's question was crucial, Lynn thought for a while, and then spoke.

"There are two possibilities. The first possibility is that the person controlling the basilisk really wants to fulfill Slytherin's last wish and use the basilisk to carry out a bloodline cleansing of Hogwarts. The second possibility is that his actions this time are simply aimed at me and he wants to frame me for this."

After listening to Lynn's explanation, Dumbledore added another guess.

"It's also possible that this was just an accident. If it's one of those two possibilities you're guessing, then there's no reason for him to let Fenrir still be alive. Maybe when the basilisk was active in the castle, Fenrir discovered it through some kind of refraction."

Dumbledore's guess made sense, but it was no use just guessing the reason for the basilisk's attack; they had to find out the reason to end this.

"Professor, do you have any way to find signs that the basilisk is active in the castle?"

Dumbledore nodded and said, "We'll have to go to my office now; those portraits might hold some clues."

They got up and left Lynn's office, heading towards Dumbledore's headmaster's office.

"Who do you think is more likely to be the killer?"

On their way to the lounge, Harry and his two friends were discussing what had just happened.

Upon hearing Harry's question, Ron replied without hesitation, "I think Malfoy is more like it. It's said that only a descendant of Slytherin can open the Chamber of Secrets, and there's no pure-blood descendant in the world worse than Malfoy. He's very much like a descendant of Slytherin."

Harry nodded in agreement. He shared Ron's opinion on this point, since Malfoy was the person they usually clashed with the most, so it was understandable that they suspected him first.

Hermione shook her head with a serious expression.

"Malfoy is nothing like him. Just think about his behavior today. If Slytherin's successor were like this, Salazar Slytherin would probably jump out of his coffin in anger."

Harry and Ron both looked at her: "So who do you think it is?"

"In comparison, Professor Lockhart is more suspicious."

Harry and Ron's eyes widened upon hearing Hermione's words.

"He just taught Malfoy a lesson for us!" Ron shouted.

Harry echoed the denial, saying, "Professor Lockhart is half-blood; he couldn't possibly be a Slytherin descendant."

Hermione calmly pointed out that their argument was invalid.

"Professor Lockhart just taught Malfoy a lesson for us, but that doesn't prove anything. His anger might be feigned, because only in this way can he appear to hate discrimination against non-pure-bloods and make him less suspicious."

As for what Harry said, no one has ever said that Slytherin descendants are necessarily pure-blooded. There have been so many pure-blood families, but most of them later chose to marry Muggles in order to continue their lineage. The Slytherin family may well be one of them, so this cannot be used as evidence to clear Professor Lockhart of suspicion.

Most importantly, according to Professor Lockhart himself, he arrived only half a minute earlier than us, but he was so calm that it was as if he had predicted all of this would happen.

And even in his office, he couldn't answer Snape's question about where he'd been that evening.

Her analysis was reasonable and well-founded, but Lynn's recent reprimand of Malfoy had earned her a lot of goodwill from Harry and his companion, so neither of them wanted to believe that the murderer was Professor Lockhart.

"We can verify this," Hermione said after a moment's thought.

"Verify what?"

"Since you believe the murderer is Malfoy, then let's find out if it really is him."

Harry and Ron looked at Hermione with concern, as if they wondered if she had lost her mind.

"How could Malfoy possibly tell us something like this?"

"Perhaps there is a way," Hermione said slowly, glancing quickly around before lowering her voice even further. "Of course, it's not easy to do, and it's dangerous, very dangerous. We'd probably have to break fifty rules."

Suddenly, Harry and his friends acted as if they were meeting Hermione for the first time.

(End of this chapter)