Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 139 The Legend of the Locked Room Spreads

Two days later, the day before the Christmas holidays, a time when most students are least interested in studying, a rumor quietly began to circulate among students, especially Muggle-born students:

"Have you heard? Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets has been opened!"

"The Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin? What's that?"

"Let me tell you, legend has it that Salazar Slytherin was a staunch opponent of Muggle-born wizards entering the school, so he had a huge argument with the other three founders and left the school... Before he left, he secretly built a secret chamber and kept a basilisk in it, all so that one day his successor could return to the school, reopen the chamber, release the basilisk, and wipe out all Muggle-borns!"

"That sounds too mystical. Besides, didn't everyone say the basilisk was afraid of chickens crowing? In the end, it didn't work, did it?"

"Someone asked Professor Binns, and the rumor is true! The Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago, and Myrtle was killed by the Basilisk at that time! So there was no such thing as an angry will of the castle; someone simply released the Basilisk kept by Slytherin! And that Slytherin heir must have cooperated with the Board of Governors, jointly modifying the Basilisk to make it no longer afraid of the crowing of chickens, and fabricating lies to pin everything on the will of the castle..."

"Are you sure? Slytherin was from a thousand years ago, wasn't he? How could his basilisk be alive today?"

"I've checked the information; it says that basilisks have extremely long lifespans, easily exceeding a thousand years..."

"That makes some sense... but I remember you're Muggle-born, right? Aren't you worried about being attacked by the Basilisk at any moment?"

"Hehe, someone found another weakness of the basilisk: it can be sensed by spiders from a distance, causing the spiders to react... I checked, it's true. And some genius has developed a basilisk warning device, which is now being distributed according to the Muggle-born list. I got one too, take a look..."

"Holy crap! Get away from me! I'm scared of spiders!!"

……

Indeed, to further increase the credibility of the Basilisk news, Avada and his companions released the entire legend of the Chamber of Secrets—a legend that had been circulating in the school for a long time, and related events had occurred fifty years ago. It could be verified by many old professors, making the whole story much more credible.

Although the initial version of the rumor did not specify that the monster in the secret room was a basilisk, the previous testimony of Moghan, a victim, coupled with Avada Kedavra and his companions deliberately spreading information about the basilisk and explaining why the basilisk was not afraid of rooster crowing in a near-conspiracy theory way, perfectly blended the information about the basilisk with the secret room legend, making many people believe in the existence of the basilisk again.

In the process, the Basilisk warning device that Baron, Avada, Professor Kettleburn, and Hagrid had developed together spread along with the rumors.

Moreover, in order to protect the safety of the participants and prevent the Horcrux Diary from directly causing a rift, Avada Kedavra and his companions deliberately obscured the source of the rumors during the dissemination process. The Weasley twins were the main contributors in this regard; with their connections and ability to create drama, it would be incredibly easy for them to spread rumors quietly.

The Basilisk warning devices were distributed directly to the common rooms of each house by Avada using the Boundless Charm, with instructions that Muggle-born students staying on campus for Christmas could pick them up themselves. Within a day or two, most of them had been distributed.

Unfortunately, the basilisk seems to have fallen silent recently. Since the warning devices were issued, not a single alarm has sounded to help students escape from it. Otherwise, the publicity efforts could have been several times greater.

……

"Aren't you going back, Ken?"

On the eve of the Christmas holidays, the school compiles a list of students staying on campus for Christmas. Even with this year's exceptional circumstances, the school couldn't break with its millennia-old tradition of expelling all students from Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays like summer vacation. After Avada signed his name on the list, he received surprised looks from his fellow students—in the current situation, very few Muggle-born students were willing to stay on campus.

"Didn't I stay at school for Christmas in the past? And staying now is a good way to show my support for Muggle-born resistance."

Avada chuckled nonchalantly, "Besides, I also got one of those early warning devices with the spider inside. Even if the basilisk comes, I won't be afraid!"

"yes."

Then someone suddenly remembered: "Speaking of which, weren't you the first to suggest that the killer was the basilisk? You were also the one who came up with those rooster-crowing badges... This device is exactly what you were thinking."

"A coincidence..."

Shabi curled her lip: "It's not just a matter of coincidence anymore, I suspect this thing was made by Ken—this mysterious style of suddenly pulling something out is exactly the same as Ken's."

Am I right?

Avada: "..."

As expected of my roommate of three years, even though we haven't been involved in any major events together, I know him quite well.

"Alright, I knew I couldn't hide it from you."

He smiled somewhat helplessly and explained, "Actually, this idea came from Baronti. I just improved it a bit. This batch of devices was rushed out in the last couple of days..."

"By the way, don't tell anyone."

He then reminded his roommates with some unease, "The heir to Slytherin could very well exist, and could be anyone... so we have to be careful."

"Um."

They all nodded in deep agreement.

"However, since they've actually developed this device, we can use it without worry."

Summers looked quite pleased as he pulled a small, delicate glass device from his pocket. Inside was a small black spider lying quietly. He was also a Muggle-born student. Although he didn't plan to stay at school, Avada had naturally left him a device as his roommate, and had also given him one when he "received" his own.

"Then I absolutely cannot let you down."

Avada chuckled, "This Christmas I plan to make all the warning devices for Muggle enrollment quotas in the entire school. That way, after school starts, the Basilisk threat will be completely eliminated, and the so-called Castle Will deception will fall apart on its own—wouldn't that be considered vindicating Hogwarts?"

"...It must have been really tough."

Stebbins sighed, "For the past three years, almost every time the school has faced a crisis, you've had to take huge risks to handle it yourself... while we mediocre guys haven't been able to help you much."

"I can only cheer you on from behind," Shabi said.

"Maybe there's also the guarantee of food?" Summers shrugged.

"Alright, alright."

Avada chuckled at them, "It's lucky we weren't involved in something that shouldn't have happened in the first place... But once this is resolved and Dumbledore returns, there shouldn't be any more messy things, right?"

"I hope so..."

(End of this chapter)