From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"They're gone!" Percy exclaimed breathlessly. "We found out Ron and the others were missing when we checked who was in bed."

"Ron and the others?"

"Yes, my three brothers, and Harry and Hermione!"

Percy couldn't hide his anxiety. "I've asked around, and they've been missing since before dinner!"

Everyone turned to look at the entrance to the secret room. William took a deep breath to calm himself down and began to examine the footprints—this was not easy, after all, he had not been professionally trained.

"Although the footprints behind them were erased by magic, only two people should have gone down there, one of whom should be Professor Lockhart..."

"Down?" Percy paused, then realized what was happening—he collapsed onto the blood-soaked floor as if his spine had been ripped out. "You mean... the secret room..."

"Notify the students to take a headcount!"

Professor McGonagall's face turned ashen. "Professor William, are you sure only one of you is going down with him?"

“Yes,” William took a breath and tried to respond calmly.

“We need to find someone else,” Professor McGonagall said through gritted teeth. “Dumbledore will need at least some time to get the news, and I need to keep an eye on the rest of the students.”

“Well, Professor,” William said, looking at Percy, “Percy, could you help me guard the entrance to the secret chamber?”

“Yes, Professor,” Percy said, having regained some of his strength. “I will.”

“We’ll guard the secret chamber,” William said to Professor McGonagall, his eyes extremely serious. “I’ll wait here for Hagrid and the others. I guarantee there won’t be any loopholes until Hagrid arrives.”

He didn't believe Lockhart was a fool to rashly open the secret room and commit suicide—which meant Lockhart must have a trump card to turn the tide after opening the secret room.

That's the Chamber of Secrets left by Slytherin; heaven knows what else is inside besides that basilisk.

Although it sounds arrogant, he was capable of striking anything in the Chamber of Secrets—and if his spell failed, even Professor McGonagall and the others wouldn't be of much use.

'By the time Dumbledore returns, everyone below will probably be dead…'

"Creating the exam questions was quite enjoyable, but after the exam, it felt like I wasn't the only one who took it..."

'We can't all die, otherwise there really won't be anyone to protect those students.'

'As for Percy, five people are missing, three of whom are your relatives. This is your responsibility…'

-

After persuading Professor Taylor to leave and Professors McGonagall and Frievy to organize the students, William turned to look at Percy.

"Are you scared? I remember you're an adult?"

"Yes, Professor."

“That’s good,” William said, pulling two chocolates from his pocket and tossing one to Percy. “Here you go.”

Myrtle, are you there?

William called out for potential reinforcements, then silently glanced at his deck—[The True Reporter Xenophilius (SR)]

Tear Effect: Tear this card to destroy all concealment spells and traps in front of you. The area of ​​effect is related to the amount of magic power.

Previously, the reason for not using the locked room was that the killer couldn't be caught because the locked room was destroyed, but now that the killer understands, it's too late to open it.

'How ironic.'

"Professor William, how did you find me?"

Myrtle suddenly appeared.

"I'm just guessing. Did you see the people who went in this time?"

“Yes, it was Professor Lockhart.” Myrtle nodded. “He made a very strange sound.”

As Myrtle floated over, she spoke, "That's it—hiss!"

As the strange sound rang out, the door to the secret room opened…

Chapter 216 Driving a Tiger to Devour a Wolf

"Keep going, Harry, be careful, don't mess things up."

Lockhart's voice came from behind, reminding Harry that he was in danger.

'We can't act rashly! Hermione and Ron are being controlled; Lockhart will kill them without hesitation!'

Such thoughts would pop into Harry's mind from time to time, making him hesitant to make any rash moves. He could only use the least noticeable method of slowing down to deal with the people behind him.

"Hurry up, Harry," came the urging voice from behind, Lockhart clearly disapproving of his actions.

"It's too dark ahead, and there are bones, so I can't walk fast."

'If Lockhart wants to walk faster, he'll deliberately twist his ankle and slow down.'

Harry called out to those behind him with that thought in mind.

But he was instantly struck by a spell, and then his entire body was bound by bandages, floating in the air.

“Professor William’s method is quite good. To be honest, I’ve learned a lot of useful things from him—” Lockhart walked over quickly, “although he’s just as annoying as that damned book.”

"Hate?"

After his slow-down strategy failed, Harry decided to say something more to buy more time—though he didn’t know what good it would do.

“Of course I hate it,” Lockhart said, flicking his wand to pull Harry Mummy Potter up. “I’m the professor of self-defense magic, and that bastard William who’s never read a book has gotten the same position as me.”

"Of course, you're annoying too, Potter."

Once she started talking, she couldn't stop. "I worked so hard to earn these honors, but what about you—"

"I--"

“Shut up, Potter,” Lockhart waved his wand, “just listen to me.”

-

"Myrtle, could you lead the way?"

"Of course, Professor."

Myrtle charged ahead first, and Percy wanted to follow, but William stopped him, saying, "Behind me, Percy."

William cast the Bubble Charm and the Ironclad Charm on himself before cautiously stepping into the pipe. He held his wand in one hand and used the cheap shield he had made with rope and Transfiguration in the other—it could quickly transform and stick to the pipe to slow it down if anything went wrong.

"Theoretically, there shouldn't be any traps on this road, but we still need to be careful and control our speed!"

William shouted one last time at Percy, and then slid down very quickly.

-

"We've arrived, Potter."

Lockhart threw Harry to the ground and began to examine the wall in front of him.

'The book says that when the Slytherin rites are performed here, the name is recorded—will it still be in this room?'

He began to look around, but found no other places that resembled secret passages.

'On the statue? On some stone carving? Or somewhere else?'

'Forget it, let's not look anymore. Let's just use that snake to destroy the Chamber of Secrets—we're going to make it look like Harry Potter opened the Chamber but the inheritance failed anyway. Even the most miraculous inheritance is destroyed if the foundation is torn down.'

He abandoned the inquiry and prepared to open the door.

"Open."

This time he was quite skilled—he couldn't possibly make that kind of silly mistake again.

“That is, cough cough, what?” Harry struggled to speak, making a last-ditch effort—the bandage that had been used to gag him had come loose.

“You mean that kind of sound?” Lockhart’s smile became unrestrained. “That’s a special language, my pride—I’m a language master, Potter.”

“I’m good at finding news from all sorts of places, just like I told you on the way,” Lockhart said, getting Harry up again. “But not everyone can understand those stories. You can’t even imagine how heavy the old witch Wanren’s accent was, or how difficult the old Armenian wizard’s Russian and Armenian were to understand.”

"Of course, compared to his terrible English, the other two are nothing; his English is a disaster!"

"And that old American wizard—what slang he used!"

"If I weren't a language master, I wouldn't understand those stories at all!"

"So, Potter, you should know how much effort Lockhart put in to become a big shot—let's go!"

-

"No traps, is this really the passage Lockhart used?"

William looked up, his face full of suspicion, wondering if he had taken the wrong path.

“Be careful from now on,” William continued, “Don’t make any unnecessary noise. This is Slytherin’s Chamber of Secrets; who knows how many traps there are!”

-

"We searched again, but it seems we haven't found anything."

Lockhart shook his head, threw Harry to the ground, and then tossed a book at him.

“You’ll lose your memory too, Potter,” Lockhart said calmly, holding his wand. “Although it’s supposed to happen now, I don’t mind showing you what kind of power I have.”

“Speak to me, Slytherin—the greatest of the four great masters of Hogwarts.”

It was that strange hissing sound again, but Harry could tell it quite clearly. He even had the illusion that he could say it himself.

Because he was bound so tightly with bandages, he couldn't even see his surroundings; he could only hear something being opened over there.

Then Harry heard something rustling and sliding up from somewhere deep inside—that must be the Basilisk.

'That's right, the snake!'

Harry suddenly remembered what had happened to him earlier at his cousin Dudley's birthday party—when he had talked to a snake.

'Is the basilisk also controlled by Parseltongue?'

'Perhaps I can give it a try.'

He told himself to stay calm.

"Close your eyes."

"Climb over here."

"Attack that side."