Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 137 Spider Warning Device

In the evening, Hufflepuff's common room was expanded several times its usual size, with rows of tables neatly arranged, each laden with a dazzling array of food. Students, still dressed in their casual clothes or pajamas, wandered freely among the long tables, helping themselves to their food or chatting in small groups.

Many students still looked worried, only taking a couple of perfunctory bites before falling silent. Fortunately, with the encouragement of their friends and the overall atmosphere of the banquet, their eyes gradually brightened, and they began to chat and laugh with those around them.

"...How enviable."

In the corner of the room, Baron sat on a high stool with a suitcase beside him. He sipped a cup of lemon tea and remarked to Avada beside him, "The Slytherin common room has been so quiet lately; it could easily be used as a library."

Why is that?

Avada was momentarily confused—theoretically speaking, shouldn't the Slytherin students, who are the safest and least likely to be targeted by the "Will of the Castle," be the most comfortable at this moment?

"Most of the students who are most fanatical about bloodlines walk around in the corridors, trying to show off their pure blood recognized by Hogwarts... I ran into a few when I arrived, all looking very arrogant."

Baron sighed, "There are quite a few people like that in Slytherin. If I didn't have decent grades and usually earn a lot of points for the house, I probably would have been targeted by them too. And now that they're gone, those left are basically all people dissatisfied with the status quo, so naturally, they're not in the mood for relaxing and chatting..."

"Alright, let's not talk about that anymore. Let me show you the good stuff I made... Let's move over a bit more. That stuff isn't really suitable to show in front of a bunch of students who are singing and dancing and enjoying a party."

He stood up, picked up his suitcase, and moved to a spot further to the side.

Avada followed with his tray, then glanced curiously at the suitcase—if he wasn't mistaken, there seemed to be a living creature inside, and just an ordinary animal, not a magical being with a magical structure…

Could it be that he found some strange creature in the Forbidden Forest? But what's so strange about it if it's just an ordinary animal?

"Are you still certain that what caused the students to turn to stone was a basilisk monster, and not some castle will?"

Baron leaned forward and asked Avada in a mysterious low voice.

"certainly."

Avada nodded, puzzled—after Snape confirmed it himself, he had no more doubts.

"That's good."

Baron nodded, a smug smile spreading across his face. "After learning about the basilisk from you, I went to the library to research a lot of information about it. I even got a permit from Professor Kettleburn to search the forbidden section, and I also wrote home to ask for some books on dangerous creatures from my collection..."

"During this process, I learned a peculiar fact: while basilisks pose an extremely deadly threat to almost all other creatures, there is a type of animal—not even a magical creature—that is particularly afraid of basilisks, to the point that they have evolved the ability to sense them. Once they detect a basilisk nearby, they will desperately try to escape..."

"spider!"

Avada was so excited he almost lost his voice—he knew what Baron had come up with!

Damn it, how come he didn't think of that before!

"That's right, it's a spider!"

Seeing Avada's excited expression, Baron couldn't help but smile, feeling a sense of satisfaction at having found a kindred spirit: "So, if we can utilize this characteristic of spiders, wouldn't we be able to create a precise basilisk warning device?"

"And spiders aren't hard to get. We can give one to every Muggle-born student, and have them close their eyes and run as soon as they see their spider making any unusual movements..."

"...You're a genius."

Avada exclaimed, "Your idea could save countless lives."

At this moment, his admiration for Baron was unprecedented—even after learning about the characteristics and weaknesses of the basilisk from him, he still tirelessly searched for information about the basilisk on his own, trying to find a way to save more people. In the end, he found a detail that even he, a transmigrator, had overlooked, and it was also the most suitable method to deal with the current situation!

The basilisk itself can be shielded from chicken noises by plugging its ears and wear an eye patch to ward off eye disease curses—but as long as it is alive, it cannot bypass the spider's perception!

Unless the Board of Trustees and the Diary wipe out all the spiders in the castle and the Forbidden Forest, much to Ron's delight, this weakness will always exist!

"Actually, at first, when Snape said that the petrifying students were the will of the castle, I also had my doubts for a while, after all, the rooster's crow did indeed stop working..."

He stopped trying to hide his smugness: "It wasn't until a classmate of mine who had a pet spider complained that his spider hadn't been doing well lately that I remembered that little detail. After investigating and finding that many people's pet spiders had experienced similar issues, I was certain that the culprit was the basilisk."

"Then go to the Forbidden Forest..."

"Catch spiders."

Baron shrugged. "Spiders aren't exactly plentiful, but they're not scarce either. You see tons of them all the time, but when you actually need to find one, you can't find a single one for ages... Then I remembered that back in first year we found a colony of giant eight-eyed spiders in the Forbidden Forest, right? So I decided to go there and catch some..."

"You ventured into the nest of the eight-eyed giant spider all by yourself?!" Avada looked at him strangely.

"How could that be? I don't want to feed myself to the spiders. I just wandered around the outskirts and caught a few small, lone giant eight-eyed spiders. These past few days I've been taking them around to scout for basilisks, and I've also dealt with some spiders that were half-dead from all the torment, so I have to go to the Forbidden Forest regularly to replenish my supplies... and that's how I got caught."

"Then why don't you tell the professor who arrested you that you're saving the school?"

"Because I still have a lot of problems to solve, which is why I came to you."

Baron's expression gradually softened, and his brows furrowed slightly. "Since the eight-eyed giant spiders I capture almost always resist violently, trying to escape at the first opportunity, I can't determine whether its violent reaction is due to sensing the basilisk or simply an attempt to escape from me. After all, I seem to pose a greater threat to them than the basilisk..."

"I've been trying to solve this problem for the past few days, but without much success."

"..."

(End of this chapter)