In the white light, the faucet spun, the sink slowly rose, revealing a gigantic pipe entrance.
Cold and damp air escaped from within, carrying a strange fishy smell.
Harry couldn't help but swallow nervously, "What's this place...?"
"Obviously, a secret chamber — finding such a place in Hogwarts, what's so surprising about it?"
Vid turned to look at the Phoenix:
"Please, Fox."
The Phoenix chirped softly, then turned into a golden flash, disappearing instantly from the hole.
"Fox?" Harry asked.
"The Basilisk's gaze cannot kill it, so we need it to peck out the Basilisk's eyes first," Dumbledore said calmly.
At this time, Harry hadn't experienced his classmates being petrified or himself being wrongfully accused; he hesitated and asked:
"Why is the Basilisk... hidden in Hogwarts?"
He actually wanted to ask — is this also the Mysterious Man's plot?
Dumbledore and Vid exchanged a glance, and then Vid said:
"There's a legend... Salazar Slytherin, before leaving the school, built a chamber beneath the castle and placed a special creature there. This creature, when needed, would purify the school by removing all Muggle-born students."
"That creature... is the Basilisk?" Harry whispered.
"Looks like it is."
Vid knocked the old pipe beside him with his magic wand, saying, "The Basilisk lived in the chamber for over a thousand years. Until fifty years ago, Slytherin's heir entered this school, awakened the Basilisk, and killed someone."
"He killed someone?" Harry asked in surprise, "Who did he kill?"
Just as he finished speaking, he realized — he had asked a really stupid question!
If the Basilisk crawled out from this pipe, the first person it would see, apart from the one who awakened it, would be a student coming here to use the bathroom.
That is...
Harry couldn't help turning around, only to see Moaning Myrtle still sneakily observing them with a face full of amusement, completely unaware that the deceased they were discussing might be her.
Harry gave Vid a questioning look, and Vid nodded affirmatively.
Suddenly, the boy felt strong sympathy and pity; he opened his mouth but found himself unable to speak.
— Will revealing the reason for her death cause her to be hurt a second time?
He thought and thought, then asked instead, "Who is the heir of Slytherin...?"
"It's Voldemort," Dumbledore said, "That is Tom Riddle, who once studied at Hogwarts just like you."
Harry froze for a moment and then found that he wasn't surprised at all.
Just a sense of shared pain.
That person... who killed his parents also killed Moaning Myrtle... when he was just a student...
How terrifying!
Even when Harry was beaten up like a punching bag by Dudley, when he was locked in the cupboard starving, he had only wished to escape from there, never thought about making the Dursley family die.
Let alone personally killing someone.
While Harry was dazed, a faint chirping sound came from the pipe.
"Looks like it's time for us to go down."
Vid pulled out his magic wand, rolled up his sleeves, took a deep breath, and looked at the dark pipe, saying, "I hate this environment."
Dumbledore, on the other hand, looked quite interested, saying, "One must traverse different places."
He carefully tucked his long beard into his collar and pulled the hood of his robe over his neatly groomed silver-white hair; Vid patiently waited for him to finish tidying.
Harry was puzzled, "… you are...?"
"Must ensure everyone's safety, right?" Vid said, "We will scout ahead, you wait for the other challengers to gather, then set off together."
"But..."
Harry had more to say but saw Dumbledore wave to him, saying, "See you later, Harry."
The headmaster crawled into the pipe and disappeared in an instant.
Then it was Vid; before going in, he turned back and said one more thing:
"Don't worry if you can't see us after coming down... If you don't encounter deadly danger, the headmaster won't intervene... of course, neither will I."
As soon as he finished speaking, Vid loosened his grip, letting his body slide down under the pull of gravity.
The pipe was not only very dark but also sticky, with many small pipes extending in different directions on the sides.
One of them might be the one Professor Kettleburn crawled into.
He held his breath, counting time silently in his heart, a long time passed before he felt the slope becoming gentler, and faint white light came from the entrance ahead.
Vid closed his eyes, feeling his body slide out suddenly and come to a stop.
After adapting to the sudden change in brightness, he opened his eyes and stood up.
Dumbledore was standing in front of him, holding his magic wand, its tip emitting a white light, illuminating the surroundings brightly.
This was a very spacious stone tunnel, close to three meters in height, very damp and cold.
Animal bones scattered on the ground looked almost like they were merging with the earth.
From a distance, there were terrible hissing and crashing sounds, like monstrous screams or mournful cries.
Once Vid was ready too, Dumbledore said, "Let's go, looks like we're not far anymore."
The sound echoed in the tunnel.
They walked along the tunnel, and soon, a gigantic object suddenly appeared before their eyes.
In the darkness, the coiling shadow seemed to be staring at them; even though Vid was prepared in his heart, seeing it suddenly still startled him.
Dumbledore's wand light expanded several times, illuminating the shadow in the dark.
It was a giant snake's shedding.
The green scales, shining vividly under the light, seemed almost capable of moving.
"Oh, it's a whole twenty feet long!" Dumbledore said happily, "Severus will be delighted."
Vid had no intention of keeping it for himself.
He already had enough Galleons. And with so many magic potion materials, Professor Snape can't use them all himself, surely he'll distribute some to the students.
Of course, students like Neville with poor skills shouldn't think about it. Given the preciousness of the millennial Basilisk, surely students in advanced classes or those talented in potion-making would get a chance to practice with it.
Vid was quite confident about this.
The two left the snake shedding for students coming later, as a surprise, and continued forward.
Suddenly, a red light shot over.
Accompanied by a huge rumbling ahead, Fox returned to Dumbledore's shoulder.