My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 276, Section 273: The Intruder

"Even if such a method existed, would you tell us about it?"

"If you don't want to hear it, then I won't say anything." Hermione looked at them with displeasure. If she hadn't wanted to help Lynn find out who was behind the Basilisk, she wouldn't have been prepared to do something that seriously violated school rules.

"No, no, no, of course we want to hear it! Tell us, Hermione!" Harry and Ron pleaded together.

Hermione calmly said, "What we need to do is get into the Slytherin common room, ask Malfoy a few questions, and do it without him recognizing us."

"That's impossible," Harry said, and Ron laughed out loud, thinking Hermione was joking.

“No, that’s possible,” Hermione said. “We just need some compound decoction.”

Ron and Harry looked at her without saying anything, but their bewildered expressions showed that they didn't know what it was.

"A few weeks ago, Snape mentioned it in class—"

"Don't you have anything more interesting to do in Potions class than listen to Snape's lectures?" Ron muttered.

Hermione ignored him and continued speaking.

"The effect of this potion is simple: it can turn you into another person. If the murderer really is Malfoy, given his personality, he certainly wouldn't hide his origins. We could easily become three Slytherin students, and no one would know it was us. Malfoy might tell us everything."

"I think this kind of compound drug is a bit risky," Ron said, frowning. "What if we turn into three Slytherins and can never turn back?"

"The effects will wear off after a while," Hermione said impatiently, waving her hand. "But the recipe is hard to come by. Snape said it's in a book called 'Powerful Potions,' which is definitely in the restricted section of the library."

"The forbidden section? You need a professor's permission to borrow books from there, we have no reason to borrow this book." Harry shook his head.

Hermione glared at them with exasperation: "Solutions can be found by thinking of them. Can't you use your brains and come up with something?"

Harry and Ron stood there, racking their brains, but they still couldn't come up with a solution.

Hermione could only reveal her own thoughts in the end.

"Can we ask Professor Lockhart for a note?"

Harry and Ron stared at her in disbelief: "But you just said you suspected Professor Lockhart was the real killer?"

"What does this have to do with us going to him for a note?" Hermione said. "Among the current professors, Professor Lockhart writes the most notes for students because he assigns so much homework and also has to look up a lot of information, much of which is from the restricted section. I've heard Mrs. Pince, the librarian, complain about this many times."

"But we're borrowing the book 'Powerful Potions,' which has absolutely nothing to do with Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Have you been paying attention in class lately? What did Professor Lockhart teach us in our last Defense Against the Dark Arts class?"

Although Harry and Ron weren't paying much attention in class, they still understood what was being taught.

"The habits, dangers, and countermeasures of magical ghouls."

"So how do we deal with the ghouls' chronic virus? What's the simplest way to cure it? What specific materials are needed to prepare the antidote? Do you know these things?"

Harry and Ron weren't entirely stupid; they understood what Hermione meant.

"You mean we'll use that as a reason to ask Professor Lockhart for permission to borrow books?" Harry said.

Ron, however, was pessimistic: "I don't think Professor Lockhart seems that stupid."

"How do you know you won't succeed if you don't try? Even if we fail, we won't lose anything," Hermione said.

They discussed it for a long time on the way and finally decided to try Hermione's method.

Afterwards, they returned to the Gryffindor common room, which was filled with Gryffindor students, all talking at once about what would happen that night. When Harry and his friends entered, the entire common room fell silent, and everyone's eyes turned to them.

The next moment, the lion cubs swarmed around them like locusts, bombarding them with questions about what happened that night.

Harry and his two companions felt like everyone around them was talking, but they couldn't hear anything clearly. They could only struggle to squeeze out of the crowd and return to their respective dorm rooms.

Meanwhile, Lynn was on his way to the headmaster's office with Dumbledore.

"The basilisk is not difficult to deal with. Its most powerful feature is its eyes. However, Fox is an immortal phoenix who can help us peck out the basilisk's eyes. After that, any professor in the school can deal with it."

Dumbledore nodded, agreeing with Lynn's statement: "That is indeed the case. For some reason, the Basilisk did not kill the students this time, but we cannot place all our hopes on the enemy's mercy. Who knows if it will strike again next time? Therefore, for the safety of the students, we must capture it as soon as possible."

They had already arrived at the entrance to the principal's office when they started talking.

As soon as they arrived, Lynn and Dumbledore both realized something was wrong!

The stone monster guarding the entrance seemed to have been violently repositioned, leaving a long trail on the corridor floor. The stone monster had also lost consciousness and remained motionless more than two meters away from the entrance.

Lynn and Dumbledore's expressions immediately changed!

These signs clearly indicate that the principal's office has been violently broken into!

Lynn instinctively wanted to run into the headmaster's office to check if anything had been stolen, but Dumbledore stopped him with a serious expression and stopped Lynn from asking the question that was about to come out.

Dumbledore walked up to the stone golem that had been faithfully guarding the headmaster's office, took out the Elder Wand, tapped it gently, and whispered a spell.

Soon, the stone monster seemed to wake up, and Dumbledore visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Someone has violently entered the Headmaster's office, Headmaster Dumbledore," the Stone Monster said in a muffled voice.

"Did you see who he was?" Dumbledore asked in a deep voice.

"No, he didn't show himself. He just cast an extremely powerful Confusion Spell on me, and then had a giant snake drag me away."

The stone monster didn't provide them with any useful information, but that alone was enough for them to guess the real reason for tonight's attack.

(End of this chapter)