Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 123 Snape Bound

"Basilisk..."

Avada felt a sudden darkness engulf him, and he almost collapsed to the ground.

This was an incredibly meticulously planned attack—first, someone altered Myrtle's memories at the beginning of the school year and changed the password to open the Chamber of Secrets, making her believe that the Chamber no longer existed; then, the so-called Wicked Bird attack removed the powerful Dumbledore and made the chickens in the paintings disappear...

Only after all this was accomplished was the basilisk allowed to begin its actions openly and legitimately.

Moreover, this time only one person was petrified, without leaving any trace of "the secret room has been opened," leaving a crucial clue missing and plunging the school's teachers and students into even greater panic. His explanation would only be dismissed as baseless speculation; until he actually cracked the secret room, no one would fully believe his side of the story.

Now, the two statues stood silently before Avada, as if mocking him in silence: all your actions are meaningless before me.

Suddenly, a series of hurried and chaotic footsteps broke the silence of the corridor. Avada instinctively drew his wand and looked up, only to see three familiar figures running quickly towards him…

"Ken?!"

Harry stopped first, recognizing Avada's face with surprise, followed closely by Ron and Hermione. The next moment, they noticed an even more familiar figure beside Avada: "Filch?"

"Wait, something seems off about him..."

"It's no longer a question of whether it's right or wrong."

Avada nearly jumped back in surprise as he spoke, not expecting his voice to become so hoarse: "I discovered it too late, Filch has already been attacked..."

"Attacked?!"

The three of them were startled and involuntarily took two steps back: "What on earth happened?"

"He's probably been petrified... By the way, why did you guys come here?"

"Oh, it's Harry."

Ron glanced at Filch's statue with lingering fear, then turned to Avada and explained, "He's been saying for days that he's been hearing strange noises. Just now, during the banquet in the Great Hall, he said he heard those noises again, and then he rushed out, so Hermione and I had no choice but to follow him..."

"A sound? What did you hear?"

"A cold, murderous voice..."

Harry shuddered involuntarily and said nervously, "But the voice never uttered a complete sentence, just mumbled something, but I could still vaguely make out words like 'hunger' and 'kill'..."

"But neither Ron nor I heard it," Hermione added.

"……I see."

Avada sighed. "The sound you heard is very likely from a dangerous monster that's roaming somewhere in Hogwarts... Don't chase after that sound like you did today; it's too dangerous. If you hear that sound again, the best thing you should do is run away as fast as you can, to a crowded place, or to be near a professor."

"Hogwarts...is there a monster?"

The three looked at each other for a long time, and finally Hermione asked hesitantly, "But what kind of monster can both hide in the castle and silently turn people to stone? I've memorized the whole book of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but I don't remember it mentioning such a creature at all?"

That's because...

Avada was about to explain what he knew when he suddenly paused—

There's no standing water or reflective objects around here, and Filch isn't wearing his glasses...

So why was he only petrified and not killed outright?

Moreover, Harry previously described the sound he heard as a "muffled roar," which is not how the basilisk is described in the original books!

Could it be that some unknown change has also occurred to the basilisk?

"Well... I'm not really sure either."

In the end, he could only shake his head and say with some helplessness, "I only made this speculation because I learned some things from Hagrid. If you want to know, you can ask him directly. He will definitely explain it to you more clearly than I do."

"Alright, let's not just stand here chatting. Filch is still petrified..."

A low murmur, like distant thunder, announced the end of the banquet. From the end of the corridor came the sound of hundreds of feet climbing the stairs, and the cheerful laughter of people finishing their meal. Avada shook his head, not intending to dwell on the matter any longer: "I need to go see Professor Snape and tell him what happened here. You'd better leave too—you don't want to get involved in this nonsense, do you?"

"Snape? But..."

Harry wanted to say something more, but the footsteps in the distance were getting closer and closer, so he had no choice but to quickly leave the corridor with his two companions: "Then I'll go find Professor McGonagall too!"

"it is good."

Avada nodded, said goodbye to Harry and the others, and quickly left the corridor. He walked through a deserted stairwell and headed straight for the Slytherin Headmaster's office on the ground floor. Knowing Snape as he did, he knew that guy would never stay and enjoy himself with the students until the end of the banquet; he would probably come back to do his own thing halfway through the meal.

"...Professor, are you there?"

Shortly after Avada knocked, the black wooden door was quickly flung open, the gust of wind whipping his hair. He then saw Snape's somber face behind the door.

"Ken?"

He frowned, seemingly in a bad mood: "I thought you should be at a Halloween party at this time."

"That's how it should be, Professor, but... uh, may I go inside and talk?"

Snape raised an eyebrow in surprise, but still stepped aside to let him in. Avada went in and closed the door behind him before lowering his voice and saying solemnly, "Professor, Mr. Filch has been petrified, just now, in the third-floor corridor."

Snape's body trembled violently.

"I see."

He remained silent for a while before speaking again: "I will handle this matter. Thank you for the information, Mr. Ken..."

"Wait, Professor, I haven't finished. I suspect that what caused Mr. Filch to turn to stone was a snake..."

"That's enough!"

Snape suddenly became angry: "I've already said I'll handle this. Please stop disrupting the order..."

Avada frowned and scanned his surroundings with his magical senses—there was no one else in the office besides him and Snape, no listening devices, and no one was eavesdropping outside…

"Professor, I know you..."

"Stop wasting my time!"

Snape abruptly stood up from his seat and said sternly, even rolling up his sleeves as if to punch him if he didn't leave, seemingly forgetting he was a wizard: "I have to deal with Mr. Filch's matter. I don't have time to listen to your ridiculous speculations... Get out of my office, now, immediately!"

Avada's pupils contracted the moment he saw him roll up his sleeves. After receiving a stern reprimand, he said nothing and immediately left the office as instructed.

"professor……"

He could clearly see that there were several thin burn marks wrapped around Snape's arm—the mark of the Unbreakable Oath.

He finally understood how Snape had gained the trust of the Board of Governors.

He finally understood why Dumbledore had said that Snape should only be trusted in "critical moments."

(End of this chapter)