Chapter 163: Approval
Accompanied by a sharp, furious shout, dazzling red light erupted from the tip of Tamara's holly wand, tearing through the dim air of the Chamber of Secrets.
The speed of this Expelliarmus was astonishingly fast, even swifter than Harry's own.
Clang!
The red light struck Neville's sword wielding wrist with unerring precision.
The Sword of Gryffindor, entrusted with the mission of slaying evil, instantly flew from Neville's hand. It tumbled several times through the air before crashing heavily into the puddles a dozen yards away with a dull wail.
Losing his centre of gravity, Neville had no time to adjust his posture. Driven by the momentum of his charge, he fell flat on his face in a pathetic heap right before the massive Basilisk.
"Hiss?"
The Basilisk was startled by this sudden turn of events.
Its huge yellow eyes, shimmering with lethal poisonous light, looked somewhat innocently at the round faced boy lying at its feet, who was still spitting out muddy water.
Under normal circumstances, it would have swallowed this little snack that had dared to provoke it without hesitation.
But now...
It felt a terrifying killing intent erupting from the black haired girl nearby, making even this thousand year old cold blooded creature shudder.
Added to that were the intermittent, soothing Parseltongue commands Harry was still issuing.
The Basilisk very tactfully retracted its neck.
Ignoring Neville on the ground, it twisted its massive body like a startled giant loach and quickly slithered back into the open stone mouth of Salazar Slytherin.
Rumble.
With a dull sound of grinding stone, the massive stone mouth slammed shut, completely sealing off that bottomless black hole.
The Chamber of Secrets returned once more to deathly silence.
"..."
Everyone was stunned by Tamara's sudden display of combat prowess.
A few seconds ago, she had been so weak that even breathing seemed to take all her strength, and she had even been forced to let Ginny weigh down on her.
How had she changed so completely in the blink of an eye, springing up from the ground and knocking the sword away with a single Expelliarmus?
"I... I was just..."
Neville scrambled up from the mud.
He wiped the dirty water from his face, looked at his empty hands, then at the closed stone door, completely dazed.
He had thought he was coming to be a hero.
He had thought he would be like a knight of legend, brandishing a sword to slay a dragon and save his friends.
Instead, not only had he failed to cut anything, he had been disarmed by his own side and taken a tumble.
"I just... wanted to save you..." Neville stammered in defence.
Just as Tamara took a deep breath, preparing to scold this Gryffindor idiot who had nearly ruined her grand legacy into the ground, the electronic voice in her head, which had just finished rebooting, chimed cheerfully at the worst possible moment.
[Ding! Detected that the host is radiating strong negative emotions and aggressive intent!]
[Friendly reminder: Although this round faced little student messed up, he jumped down here with a pure heart of brave rescue!]
[As a future Paragon of Virtue dedicated to spreading love and peace, the host must show tolerance and magnanimity. Do not be too harsh on others! Influence him with the gentleness of a spring breeze!]
"..."
Tamara gave a cold laugh.
This idiot had just been brandishing a goblin forged Sword of Gryffindor, nearly sending Slytherin's legacy to the afterlife on the spot.
She was supposed to influence the culprit who had nearly killed her pet?
Go to hell, broken system.
Tamara directly blocked the chattering electronic voice in her mind by force.
She looked down at the mud covered, aggrieved Neville, the fury and bitterness in her eyes no longer able to be suppressed.
"Save us?"
Tamara let out a cold laugh that echoed through the vast Chamber of Secrets, carrying undisguised mockery and coldness.
Enduring the spasms in her body caused by overextending her magic, she straightened her back and walked toward Neville step by step.
"Who told you to come down here?"
She looked down at the mud caked Gryffindor, her gaze as sharp as a blade.
"You brainless idiot, do you realise you nearly got everyone killed just now?"
"But... that was a monster! It was going to eat you!" Neville retorted indignantly, pointing toward the statue.
"Utterly foolish!"
Tamara suddenly raised her voice, her aura overbearing as she seized complete control of the conversation.
"That is an ancient creature that has lived for thousands of years! Did you think you could chop it to pieces with a bit of scrap metal in your hand?"
She pointed unyieldingly at Neville's nose, her tone full of lofty reprimand.
"Its scales are tougher than dragon hide. If its venom splashes out, if even a single drop touches you, no one here survives."
"Potter finally managed to soothe it with Parseltongue and get it to return obediently to its nest. And you?"
Tamara stepped closer, the pressure of Slytherin forcing Neville back two steps.
"You actually charged in like a madman trying to provoke it?"
"If that snake had been provoked by you just now and launched a frantic counterattack, do you think your sword could have protected everyone present?"
This verbal lashing left Neville completely stunned.
He stood there blankly, his lips trembling and tears welling in his eyes, yet he could not utter a single word of rebuttal.
Because what Tamara said made far too much sense.
Even the system expressed its agreement.
[Ding! The system detects that the host's linguistic skills have reached perfection!]
[To be able to package your true motives so righteously and grandly! Truly impressive, Host! Worthy of being a future Paragon of Virtue. Even your criticism is so well reasoned and full of concern for your companions' safety!]
Harry and Ron, who had initially harboured some doubts, also nodded repeatedly in deep agreement after hearing this.
Although Tamara's words were indeed harsh...
It really had been dangerous just now.
The Basilisk had clearly intended to leave. If it had truly been provoked by Neville, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
They even felt a flicker of gratitude and admiration for Tamara's decisive Expelliarmus.
Even in such a weakened state, she could still maintain absolute calm and make the correct judgment.
If she had not stopped Neville in time, they might really have died here.
Harry sighed inwardly.
Truly worthy of Tamara...
Of course, they did not realise that Tamara's righteous speech about everyone's safety was entirely a cover for her possessive selfishness.
She simply did not want to see her property damaged.
As for whether the others lived or died?
What did that have to do with her?
Of course, if that provoked Basilisk could have swallowed Potter in passing, she would have been more than happy to stand aside and applaud.
But anyone with even a troll's brain knew that if Potter truly fell into mortal danger, that nauseating system in her head would immediately sound the alarm.
Then it would use various restrictions or punishments to force her to save that damned idiot.
By then, she would not only lose the precious little pet left by Slytherin forever, but she would also have to hold her nose and risk her life to save her fated enemy.
"I... I'm sorry..."
Neville lowered his head, muttering with a hint of a sob.
"I... I messed things up..."
"Don't say that, Neville."
Harry looked at Neville, who seemed about to bury his head in the ground, and finally could not bear it anymore.
"Think on the bright side. You didn't actually have time to mess things up. The most damage you did was taking a tumble."
Neville sniffled and looked up at him through teary eyes.
"Besides, you jumped into this pipe alone when even we were scared to death."
Harry pointed to the pitch black opening above, his eyes filled with sincere respect.
"When you thought we were in danger, you didn't run away. You grabbed a sword without hesitation and charged at a thousand year old monster that could kill with a look. That takes immense Courage."
Ron also limped over.
Although he had been knocked into a puddle and was now soaking wet and shivering from the cold, he still roughly slung an arm around Neville's other shoulder.
"Exactly, mate! That was a Basilisk! I almost wet myself when it charged!" Ron comforted him with a grin.
"Even though Tamara is right and charging it directly was dangerous... Merlin's beard, the way you came out waving that sword and shouting For Gryffindor was absolutely brilliant!"
"Re... really?" Neville looked at his two friends, somewhat disbelieving.
"Of course it's true. You're a true Gryffindor, Neville," Harry nodded firmly.
Hearing this, the tears welling in Neville's eyes were finally held back.
He wiped his face haphazardly with the back of a muddy hand, and though he still looked a mess, he finally managed a smile.
A few steps away, Tamara watched these three idiots huddling together for warmth and rolled her eyes without reservation.
A foolish and reckless act had been brushed aside with just two light phrases like you have Courage and you looked brilliant?
They were even putting on a touching display of House brotherhood here.
The Gryffindor thought process was truly made of some hopeless single celled organism.
"A bunch of morons."
.....
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