A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

Felix didn't come; he just stood outside the tower and glanced at it from afar.

He had little interest in Quidditch, not because he failed his first-year flying class, and there was no causal relationship between the two.

He simply prefers quiet to activity and doesn't like overly noisy places.

However, Felix still wanted to complain about Hogwarts' course schedule. Why was flying class only offered in the first year? This left him with no chance to improve his grades.

He's flying very steadily now, okay?

That afternoon, he heard some big news: Harry Potter had been injured on the field, suffering a comminuted fracture of his arm, the kind that's shattered into pieces.

Thanks to Professor Lockhart's composure in the face of danger, he used powerful magic to remove the broken bone fragments from Harry's arm, thus saving the career of the Gryffindor prodigy Seeker.

"That's all nonsense!"

In the evening, Hermione said indignantly that this incident had completely shattered her fan filter, and Lockhart would be a hater for life from then on.

The truth is that Harry simply broke his arm, something that could have been fixed with a healing spell, but thanks to Lockhart's "helpful assistance," he had to stay at the school hospital and take "bone-regenerating medicine" to make his bone grow back.

The thought of the sewer smell of the bone-building supplement sent a chill down Felix's spine.

That evening, Felix saw the little witch off and prepared to watch a movie to soothe his soul, when Dumbledore's phoenix guardian flew in through the window.

The Patronus appeared before him, speaking in Dumbledore's solemn voice.

"Felix, come to the professor's common room immediately, there's an emergency."

When Felix arrived quickly, the office was already filled with professors, who had clearly come in a hurry; some were even still in their pajamas.

Dumbledore sat solemnly at the table, his eyes half-closed, while Professor McGonagall rubbed her hands together incessantly.

"What happened?" Felix moved closer to Snape and asked in a low voice.

Snape glanced at him first, then said softly, "The attack has happened again, the second attack."

Felix's expression hardened.

"who is it?"

"Colin Creevey, that Potter fanatic."

Felix had absolutely no recollection of him. Professor McGonagall, standing nearby, said sadly, "He just enrolled this year and has always idolized Harry... Yes, he always carried a camera with him. I remember him very well... I heard he's already mailed three photo albums home. Oh, my goodness!"

Felix picked up the broken camera on the table, and a strong smell of burning wafted out.

Another ten minutes or so passed, and a cheerful, pleasant voice pushed open the door, "Did I miss something?"

Lockhart, dressed in gold pajamas, walked into the room, slightly surprised. "So many people!" But his next words drew angry glares from the professors: "Are we having a pajama party?"

“I’m an expert at this, I have a lot of experience with it!” Lockhart winked and flashed his signature toothy grin.

Chapter 43 Meeting

Felix found it difficult to understand Professor Lockhart.

He had seen through this man's true nature—a businessman who sold books by fabricating stories and self-promotion.

As for magical abilities, I returned them to my teacher long ago upon graduation.

This author's tactic is to name the protagonist of the story after himself and shamelessly use the "autobiography" label to make money.

This kind of thing isn't uncommon in the Muggle world, but the wizarding world isn't so open-minded; in some ways, it could even be described as quite naive. If you claim in a book that it's your own adventure, everyone will choose to believe you—and that constitutes fraud, which, once exposed, will almost certainly lead to your complete disgrace.

Didn't he know this himself? If he did, why was he acting so arrogantly? And why was he performing in front of some of the most outstanding wizards in the British wizarding world?

To be honest, Felix didn't understand at all.

He and Lockhart are completely different kinds of people.

"Silence." With Lockhart's arrival, Dumbledore presided over the meeting.

“A second attack occurred just an hour ago, and the victim was petrified, just like Mrs. Norris,” Dumbledore said, his voice heavy.

“But this time the nature of the crime is completely different. The victim is a young wizard, a first-year student, which means—” His deep blue eyes swept around with an extremely oppressive look, “the secret chamber has really been opened.”

"Hogwarts is facing a crisis!"

All the professors became solemn.

Next, Professor McGonagall recounted the information about the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened. She pursed her lips and began to tell the story: "The Chamber of Secrets was opened once, fifty years ago."

"A student died as a result; her name was Myrtle Elizabeth Warren, and yes, she remains at Hogwarts to this day as a ghost of the school."

"However, the secret chamber has been closed since then, and it remains closed to this day—"

“So, that means the attacks are over? I mean, one student has already been affected, hasn’t he? I’ve seen quite a few similar cases, like the Morgan Lake Monster, which appears every thirty years, and ever since I gave the residents there my homemade amulets, they haven’t been bothered by it anymore…”

Professor McGonagall pressed her lips together even tighter, and said in a very unusually loud voice, "I must remind you, Professor Lockhart! Colin Crevy is only petrified; he has not lost his life."

Dumbledore echoed McGonagall's words: "That's right, none of us know if the monster will launch another attack, or if the consequences will be merely petrification. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to offer them."

Professor McGonagall said, "I have arranged for prefects to patrol the area and strictly prohibit young wizards from going to secluded places. For first and second year wizards, they must line up to go to and from get out of class and try to minimize their solo activities."

“Very good, Minerva,” Dumbledore said approvingly.

“Headmaster Dumbledore,” Felix felt it necessary to share the information he possessed, “my focus has always been on the Chamber of Secrets. There are three key words surrounding the Chamber of Secrets—”

He glanced at the crowd. "Unknown monster, the heir of Slytherin, the location of the Chamber of Secrets."

"Once we know any one point, we can figure out the truth."

Dumbledore closed his long fingers, seemingly in thought. "Please continue, Felix."

“An unknown monster? Why don’t we connect it to Slytherin? The symbol of Slytherin is a snake, so perhaps this monster is also a snake. That would solve the question of how it got into the castle—through the pipes that are all over Hogwarts.”

As everyone pondered, Snape spoke, in his usual lukewarm and indifferent tone: "Felix, the symbol of Slytherin may be the snake, but that's only because he speaks Parsley. If you study him even slightly, you'll find that he's a master of bloodlines, and the magical bloodlines he studies are beyond your imagination."

"But we can't rule that out, can we?"

“Ha! That unknown monster murdered a witch fifty years ago, and fifty years later, all it did was petrify…” Snape stared at Felix with his stone-like eyes. “If I’m not mistaken, Felix, it’s not the same monster?”

Felix shook his head. "I can't explain it either, so my opinion is just for your reference."

He continued, "As for the heir to Slytherin, I can think of two possibilities: active and passive."

"Perhaps this heir is lucid and knows what he is doing, such as inheriting Slytherin's will and expelling the young wizards from Muggle families. But it is also possible that he accidentally obtained Slytherin's relics and was controlled by them."

Dumbledore looked up. "A very insightful observation. You've broadened our perspective."

He seemed thoughtful, "We have neglected this point in the past. It seems we need to strengthen the ideological education of our students."

Felix's "manipulation theory" sparked a discussion among the professors. He paused briefly before continuing, "As for the location of the secret chamber, I have no idea. Perhaps we could inquire with the portraits and ghosts in the castle?"

After a long silence, an elderly professor spoke hesitantly, "I shouldn't have said this, but I think Hogwarts is at a crucial juncture, and every clue is important..."

Felix looked at the old professor, Silvanus Kettleburn, who had been his teacher in the Conservation of Magical Creatures class when he was in school, though he was said to be planning to retire.

This professor was known for his love of studying and caring for dangerous creatures, and he set an unprecedented record by serving as a probationary officer 62 times during his tenure at the university.

If Felix were to comment, he'd be just another version of Hagrid.

At that moment, Kettleburn said, “That boy is definitely not a bad person, but if you ask me, if he made a mistake out of curiosity like I did…” He paused and said a name: “Rupert Hagrid.”

“It wasn’t him, Silva,” Dumbledore said firmly. “I was the Transfiguration professor at the school back then, and I know he’s innocent, but there’s no evidence… Under pressure, Headmaster Depp fired him.”

"This was a serious mistake; we failed to catch the real culprit."

After the meeting, Dumbledore assigned a series of tasks. For now, the focus should be on prevention. In addition to daily patrols, they also need to urge the young wizards in the classroom not to believe any nonsense about magical items.

When Felix went outside, he saw Lockhart talking to Dumbledore.

The principal's expression was quite intriguing.

Chapter 44 Influence

By the second day of the weekend, news of Colin Creevey's attack had spread throughout Hogwarts.

This time is different from the last one; that was just a cat, but this time it's a student. If it weren't for the fact that it could be saved, it would probably have caused widespread panic.

On the other hand, the regular visits by professors and class leaders also exacerbated everyone's anxiety, even though it was a necessary measure.

After the evening spellbook lesson.

Felix and Hermione briefly shared some information they could: "The Hogwarts professors will ensure the safety of the young wizards; you can spread the word to them."

Hermione happily agreed.

"But Professor, why do you guess the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a snake?" Hermione asked cautiously.

Felix, of course, wouldn't tell the truth; he could only recount the untold stories about Slytherin and the snake.

"Slytherin manipulates snakes to serve him?"

“Of course, after all, he is the most famous Parsleyan speaker known to all,” Felix replied.

From the few words left by Ravenclaw, it can be seen that Slytherin was always accompanied by various snakes, which were at his beck and call, making him very famous at the time.

Hermione gasped, “Professor! You mean… Parseltongue can control snakes?” Her heart pounded.

"I'm just speculating, after all, Parsleyan is so rare that there aren't many samples for research. But since this ability can be inherited, it means it's not just a simple foreign language, but contains magic..."

……

In a corner of the common room, the trio were engaged in a fierce conflict.

“Harry, I think you should tell Dumbledore or Professor Hyp that you have Parsleyan speech.”

“Don’t say it,” Ron retorted without hesitation.

“Ron! You don’t understand how serious this is.” Hermione glared at him angrily.

Ron lowered his head and whispered, "Harry, what I mean is, don't reveal this secret. If you reveal Parsley in public, you're finished. You'll definitely be considered the heir to Slytherin."

“We can just tell Headmaster Dumbledore and ask him to keep it a secret,” Hermione argued.

Harry rubbed his forehead. "But that doesn't really make much sense, does it? You know I wasn't the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets, which means there's a Parseltongue hiding in the school."

“If I expose myself, he will only hide himself even better.”

Harry didn't want to reveal his secret, not only because of Parseltongue's bad reputation, but also because of a hidden resistance in his heart. When he was sorted into his first house, the Sorting Hat strongly invited him to Slytherin.

Does this foreshadow anything?

Did the Sorting Hat see through his true nature?