Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 125 Avada's Countermeasures

"I see……"

Baron nodded thoughtfully. "I think I understand."

"So what are you planning to do? Find a way to eliminate that basilisk? Now that we know its characteristics and that it's roaming in the abandoned pipes, we certainly have a significant advantage. Plus, with the professors' help..."

"Not yet."

Avada shook his head, and amidst the astonished gazes, slowly explained, "The narrow, dark environment of the pipes is practically the basilisk's domain. Coupled with the basilisk's inherent lethality, it would be far too dangerous for just a few professors to deal with them. And given the current situation, it's impossible to organize a large force to sweep them away..."

"Why? If something like this happens, the school board and the Ministry of Magic won't just stand by and do nothing, otherwise how will they explain it to the outside world?"

Cedric asked, frowning.

"Do you remember how Professor Snape became the headmaster?"

Avada didn't answer directly, but instead asked a seemingly unrelated question. Then, without waiting for anyone else to speak, he began to answer his own question: "He skipped over Vice Principal Professor McGonagall and was unanimously appointed as the new principal by the Board of Trustees."

"That is indeed very unusual."

Baron nodded. "But what does this have to do with the basilisk?"

"...Snape knew about the Basilisk."

"What?!"

"On the day Filch was attacked, I went to Professor Snape and told him what had happened. I also planned to bring up my theory about the Basilisk so he could prepare in advance... and guess what happened?"

"The moment he heard the name 'basilisk,' he flew into a rage and threw me out of the office, deliberately showing me his arm with several fine burn marks on it..."

Baron and Cedric turned pale.

"If I'm not mistaken,"

Avada took a deep breath and remained silent for a moment before revealing the cruel truth: "...It was the mark of an unbreakable oath, an oath that would result in immediate death if broken."

"..."

"Dumbledore told me this before he left."

After a long silence, Avada continued with difficulty: "He said that Professor Snape would do everything he could to protect the students' safety, and that they could trust him in times of crisis."

"At the crucial moment..."

Hermione lowered her head sadly: "Does this mean Snape deserves to break his vow and die for it?"

"We need to find out what oath he made."

Haliten stood up: "At least we have to make sure he doesn't break that oath... We have to save him!"

"Um."

Ron, his face grim, nodded heavily. Even Cedric and Cho, standing nearby, wore expressions of indignation…

"Don't rush, Harry, be careful with oaths of this level."

Baron's calm voice came through: "A hasty attempt to probe could very well backfire, and might even get you into trouble... Let's hear what Ken has to say first. And don't forget, Dumbledore is here too."

After being persuaded by Baron, the group managed to regain their composure and looked at the still silent Avada with even more anxious eyes.

"You don't need to worry about the oath. Professor Dumbledore will definitely find a way to handle it. Since he could stand by and watch Professor Snape make the oath, he must have a solution..."

He spoke, his voice finally softening, though it was unclear whether he was trying to comfort Harry and the others or himself: "What I'm saying is that we can't directly confront the Basilisk just yet. On one hand, we don't have any established power to guarantee its destruction; on the other hand, the Basilisk is merely a tool that petrifies people, not the culprit itself. Rushing to destroy it would only alert the real killer and allow it to go into hiding... Catching the one controlling the Basilisk is the fundamental way to resolve this crisis."

"And what we can do now is what I'm asking you to do today..."

He pulled a bag from his pocket, placed it on the table, and opened it to reveal a pile of neatly arranged small boxes: "It's to let more students know about the Basilisk and teach them how to protect themselves."

"The basilisk has an easy weakness to exploit: it's afraid of the crowing of roosters, which can be fatal to it..."

"So there were a lot of roosters in the oil paintings when school first started!"

Harry exclaimed in surprise, echoing the thoughts of the others: "Professor Dumbledore already knew about the Basilisk?"

"Um."

Avada didn't explain much, but instead took out the small boxes from his pocket one by one, and continued, "Although I don't know why, the basilisk hasn't killed anyone yet, I'm worried that day will come soon, just like the misfortune that befell Myrtle. So I plan to distribute these things to the students while spreading the news about the basilisk..."

He opened a box containing a pair of glasses: "These can save your life under the gaze of a basilisk. They're mainly given to lower-grade students, since anyone with a little knowledge of Transfiguration can conjure up a pair of glasses to wear."

As he spoke, he took out another box, opened it, and took out a small badge: "This contains the sound of a rooster crowing. Just press it to activate it, like this..."

He took the badge in his hand and squeezed it hard. Immediately, a not-so-loud but very clear rooster crowing sound came from it: "Wearing this while walking around might help ward off the basilisk. Although it may seem a bit crazy, it makes perfect sense since everyone knows that the basilisk is afraid of roosters."

"I would like to ask you to persuade the people around you to wear the glasses and badges, and to spread the news of the Basilisk as much as possible. You come from four different houses, so if you work together, the news should spread very quickly... This is the only thing we can do to protect the students' safety to the greatest extent possible."

"I've already asked my roommates, Shapi and the others, to do the same thing, but we're not very familiar with the upperclassmen yet, so Cedric, I'll leave this to you."

"Um."

Cedric nodded firmly and stuffed several boxes containing a large stack of badges into his pocket.

"We could also invite Myrtle over to educate the students on how terrifying the basilisk's gaze is... I just don't know if she herself would find it offensive."

As Qiu picked up the boxes, she racked her brains for ideas.

"I can also show off my Parseltongue and tell everyone I can hear the Basilisk's voice... Oh, and I can also constantly warn those around me to close their eyes and run as soon as I hear the voice!" Harry said excitedly—he found that his role seemed to be more significant than he had imagined.

"...Thank you, everyone."

Watching people from different houses exchange ideas without any barriers, discussing how to protect Hogwarts, Avada inexplicably felt his mood improve and smiled with relief: "I hope our efforts can protect more students from harm."

"As for the rest, leave it to Dumbledore."

"Yes!" The people from the four colleges nodded in unison.

"Of course, there's me too."

He kept those words to himself, never uttering them aloud.

(End of this chapter)