I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 93 The Plan is Underway

"Alright, all of you shut up." Professor McGonagall's cold gaze swept over all the young wizards present.

Especially Owen, and those troublesome kids in her own college.

"He's not dead, he's just been petrified," the professor said solemnly.

"Petrification?"

Professor McGonagall's words eased everyone's tension a little.

At that moment, an old man with a white beard squeezed through the crowd.

With Lockhart.

"My God! What is he...?" Lockhart's eyes widened in horror, and his expression changed rapidly within minutes.

He looked around and said in a mournful tone, "Oh, I'm so sorry."

The loss of a young life is always heartbreaking.

"It's a pity we weren't there. If I were—"

"That's you hanging up there!" Owen chimed in forcefully.

"Albus—" Professor McGonagall was too exhausted to argue with Owen or Lockhart anymore; the new red lettering on the wall stung her eyes.

This suddenly reminded her that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened many years ago. (In the old version, Professor McGonagall hadn't been born yet, but Rowling has clearly retconned the original, so this version uses the Fantastic Beasts setting.)

One student died, and Hogwarts almost had to close down.

Now, the secret room has been opened again—it's hard to imagine what will happen next.

"I know, Minerva," Professor Dumbledore said, his expression also somewhat stern. "Perhaps we should talk in your office, right there."

"Severus, take the child to Mrs. Bobby, she'll have a way."

After saying that, he turned and left, maintaining a cold and mysterious aura from beginning to end.

The young wizards all wore blank expressions on their faces.

Eventually, driven by several professors, they dispersed.

In the following days, Hogwarts seemed to return to calm.

The petrified wizard was also rescued.

However, he himself had no recollection of how he was attacked.

Professor Dumbledore said that he must have had part of his memory erased.

A portion of my memory has been erased!

That sounds even more sinister!

When the principal says such things, the danger signal he sends is absolutely top-notch.

Everyone became cautious, as if some wicked and insane wizard were truly hiding in this castle they knew so well.

Ahem—oh—sorry, but this is indeed true.

A week later, Halloween was approaching.

Hermione and her two little followers are searching for the library in vain.

With heavy steps, they made their way to Hagrid's cabin.

The castle has been too oppressive these days; they need to relax.

From a distance, they could see three people loudly plotting something in front of the hut.

As they drew closer, the figures of the three people gradually became clearer.

They are Snape, Professor Dumbledore, and Hagrid.

"The secret room was opened fifty years ago."

Snape stood in the empty wilderness, speaking in a sharp voice, his tone as always, full of sarcasm.

However, at this moment, Harry and his friends were quite relieved.

The group hid behind a giant pumpkin next to the hut, peeking out and watching quietly.

If Snape were the kind of person who speaks softly, they probably wouldn't have heard anything.

—After all, the autumn wind in October is a bit noisy.

"I didn't do it. I never opened any Slytherin Chamber of Secrets!" Hagrid roared angrily.

"I am a Gryffindor student!!!"

But amidst his anger, he also felt a sense of fear.

Because he knew who had opened the secret room last time.

He only learned this later, after the man revealed his lineage; it was he who had opened the secret room back then.

"A student died back then, and what about now?" Snape said in his standard sarcastic tone. "Since that Owen Sanchez came to the school, has there been a single day of peace in the last two years? I think your headmaster is nearing the end of his career, Dumbledore."

"We all know who that person was back then and last year, Severus." Dumbledore paused, then slowly began to recount the past: "Back then, I suspected he was the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets, but I had no proof."

"Because you were busy with your love-hate relationship with Grindelwald?" Snape sneered. "Perhaps you don't know how much your precious student, Owen, talked about you behind your back."

"Say bad things?" The old headmaster was taken aback. "What bad things?"

"Was that a bad thing you said?"

He sighed: "At the time, I did put all my energy into Gellert, and I didn't do enough for Tom."

"Alright, nobody wants to know your love history." Snape flicked his black robes, his hawk-like eyes quickly scanning the large pumpkin patch before him. "The question is, what should we do!"

"The news can't be suppressed; the Ministry of Magic will be coming to Hogwarts to investigate soon."

"Hagrid then—heh."

"They won't give you evidence."

Snape's cold face revealed a deep sense of mockery: "A Gryffindor as the heir to Slytherin? That's the funniest joke I've ever heard."

"Alright, all we can do now is face it calmly and inform the prefects that young wizards are prohibited from going out alone for the time being!" Dumbledore said helplessly, as if he had no idea what to do.

In an instant, he seemed to have aged several years.

After saying goodbye to Hagrid, the two turned and walked towards the castle.

Before leaving, Snape made a point of looking back at the pumpkin patch one last time.

Ron's ass is still out there getting soaked!

"It's hard to imagine that such a foolish plan would have come up with by the greatest wizard, Dumbledore," he said dismissively, expressing deep contempt for participating in this stupid game.

"But in fact, I think this plan is the most appropriate one." Professor Dumbledore had long since shed his serious facade, and a smile had returned to his face.

"There's no danger, and it'll be good training for the young wizards. It's just a pity that Owen will have to work hard for a while."

"Him?" Snape sneered. "He'd love to do this, it's a perfectly legitimate way to cause trouble."

"Perhaps, but the current crisis is still too small. A petrification spell plus a levitation spell, plus some illusion spells, won't be enough to control those naughty children."

"We need a stronger intensity."

"The current crisis is not enough to make them completely tense."

"What do you want to do?" Snape asked, turning to her.

"Isn't a Ministry of Magic official coming to the school to investigate tomorrow?" Dumbledore gazed at the mountains and fields, the cold wind whistling through the branches. The greenery had faded.

Even the Willow Tree, which escaped the calamity this year, has shed its green robe.

Winter is just around the corner.

Tonight is another day of overtime, probably until 11 pm. But having a backlog of drafts isn't a problem; the main issue is the transition between Chapter 1 and Chapter 3, specifically the second chapter. I was lazy this afternoon and while revising, I felt the idea in the second chapter wasn't impactful enough, so I came up with a new one. I just looked at it and realized this new idea is overdone and doesn't quite fit the overall tone of the book. Ugh, I'll rewrite it later. I'll post both the revised and unrevised versions of Chapter 2 later.

(End of this chapter)