"All students must return to their respective house common rooms by six in the evening, and no student is allowed to leave after this time.
You will be escorted to each class by a professor, and until the professor arrives, do not wander the castle alone.
Quidditch practices and matches are postponed, and no activities will be conducted at night..."
All the students sat by the long dining tables in the auditorium, listening silently to Professor McGonagall's speech.
Professor McGonagall was truly scared.
Even before the vacation, the Ministry of Magic was highly concerned about the situation at Hogwarts.
After the attack on Professor Charity Burbage of Muggle Studies, some even proposed temporarily closing Hogwarts to focus on finding the Chamber of Secrets.
Although this proposal was later rejected by many, as the attacks increased in number, this idea was brought up again a few days before Christmas.
And that time, there were noticeably fewer people voting against it.
The Ministry of Magic was so quiet, not only because of Dumbledore's influence but also because the students hadn't been harmed.
But this streak of luck couldn't possibly continue forever.
The current calm is only temporary. The previous attacks are like a powder keg waiting to explode at any moment.
In the dark, some people were already restless and impatient.
Professor McGonagall was certain that once a student were attacked or the number of attacks reached a certain threshold, they would seize the opportunity to ignite the powder keg.
What would happen then, no one knew.
Moreover, Professor McGonagall also didn't want to see any student get hurt.
Right now is a critical time.
The Mandrakes are about to mature, and once those petrified wake up, either people or ghosts, they can tell us about the Chamber of Secrets and the creature.
The heir to the Chamber of Secrets surely knows this as well, and to protect themselves and hide those secrets, they will either stop or become more desperate.
And the petrified gnome proves that the person hasn't chosen the former...
Professor McGonagall took a deep breath, her expression more serious than ever.
Although so far, all attacked have been petrified, it doesn't mean that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets can only petrify people.
After all, fifty years ago, when the Chamber of Secrets was first opened, a student mysteriously died.
This kind of thing must never happen a second time.
She looked at everyone, and in a somewhat suffocating voice, said, "I hope each of you will abide by the rules, even if only for your own life safety!
Anyone who breaks the rules will lose all their house points, and their house will be disqualified from the Quidditch matches."
"Additionally, I urge anyone who believes they know something to come forward.
Every clue, no matter how insignificant, could help us find the perpetrator behind these attacks."
With that said, Professor McGonagall quickly left.
Once she was gone, the auditorium was filled with whispers and chatter.
Losing all house points and disqualification from Quidditch, such severe punishment had never been seen before.
"Luckily, Professor McGonagall only postponed the Quidditch matches..." Harry said with some relief.
"You..." Ron hesitated, glancing at Fred and George.
The two could easily guess what he was thinking.
"We definitely won't get caught, even if it's for Quidditch," Fred said.
"But you," George chuckled, "Don't try to catch bad guys and be heroes like last year. That's not something you should do."
"We're not trying to be heroes!" Ron said, sticking out his neck.
Beside him, Harry and Hermione were both eating in silence, not saying a word.
At the Hufflepuff table, Kael was also silent.
Everyone around was discussing who the heir might be. Every time a name was mentioned, Kael would watch that person's expression.
But everyone appeared normal; the only odd one was Lockhart.
He was unusually quiet, neither boasting about the number of cards he received nor bragging about his oft-repeated achievements.
Even though he was usually the most image-conscious, he had not even taken care of his hair, which was now a messy jumble of blonde locks, drinking one cup after another, looking like a completely different person from his spirited self at noon.
Half an hour later, dinner time was over.
Professor McGonagall re-entered the auditorium, accompanied by the other three heads of houses.
Professor Sprout came over to escort the Hufflepuff students back to their common room.
"Unless you're going to class, you need to stay here and not go anywhere."
She counted them, and only after everyone passed through the barrel door did she leave.
"Didn't Professor Lockhart already know who the heir was?"
As soon as Professor Sprout left, someone couldn't resist asking, "Why can't the professors just catch that person!"
"Don't you get it yet?" someone said disdainfully. "He's just bragging. In fact, he knows nothing at all, just like how he performed in the Dueling Club."
"Nonsense!" someone retorted. "You've all read his books... think about the amazing things he's done."
"Just because he said he did them."
...
The people in the common room quickly divided into two camps, arguing endlessly over Lockhart.
Kael, Conna, and Cedric didn't participate in such a pointless argument. They bypassed the crowd and sat on a few sofas in the corner.
"Kael, have you discovered anything?" Cedric asked.
"No," Kael shook his head.
"The person is hiding too well," Conna sighed. "Every time there's an attack, no one sees anything. It's as if it happened out of thin air... Could it be that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a ghost that can move freely around the castle?"
"Ghosts can't petrify people; they just look scary," Cedric said, looking at Kael again, "Where did you find that golden chain you had?"
"A... very hidden place," Kael hesitated for a moment, and still didn't mention the Chamber of Secrets.
He hadn't thought about telling Professor Dumbledore the location of the Chamber of Secrets and Riddle's message.
In fact, when the diary mysteriously disappeared and the attacks were frequent, he had the idea, but he had never made up his mind, or rather, the thought would inexplicably vanish as soon as it appeared.
It felt like walking into the range of a Repelling Spell as a Muggle, always being distracted by other things.
But Kael himself had no awareness of this; he just felt something was amiss but couldn't pinpoint what, ultimately concluding he couldn't bear to part with the Basilisk... After all, the Basilisk was indeed valuable, enough Galleons could be exchanged to pile up a small mountain, so it was reasonable to feel reluctant.
Kael rubbed his forehead, feeling inexplicably agitated.
"Speaking of clues, Kael, do you remember what you gave me for Christmas?" Cedric suddenly stood, jogging back to the dormitory.
"Wait for me a moment."
After about a minute, he returned, with an extra stack of parchment in his hands.