"What sound?"
Penelope stopped immediately, drawing her wand.
It was faint.
Extremely faint.
Like the hiss of a venomous snake sliding through empty corridors.
The sound seemed to come from everywhere at once—inside the walls, above the ceiling, beneath the floor.
The girls huddled together, their faces pale.
Penelope raised her wand and shone its light down the hallway.
The beam cut through the darkness.
But there was nothing there.
Only cold stone walls.
Yet the chilling presence suddenly intensified.
"Look! What's that?!"
One of the girls screamed and pointed toward a puddle on the floor.
Rainwater from an open window had formed a small pool.
Reflected in its surface—
A pair of huge, murky yellow eyes, filled with death and decay.
The scream stopped instantly.
Time seemed to freeze.
Penelope Clearwater and the three Ravenclaw girls behind her stiffened at the same moment.
Their expressions froze in absolute terror.
Color drained from their bodies.
Their skin turned gray and rigid like stone.
Then—
One by one—
They collapsed heavily onto the cold floor.
The second large-scale attack had begun.
Panic Engulfs Hogwarts
The news spread through Hogwarts like wildfire during dinner.
A Ravenclaw prefect and three students petrified at once.
But that was only the beginning.
More terrible news followed.
"Ernie Macmillan from Hufflepuff was petrified on his way to the greenhouses!"
"A first-year Slytherin student has gone missing! His wand was found outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom!"
"Even the ghost—the Fat Friar—was attacked! He's floating in the air, completely frozen!"
Within a single hour, the number of victims exceeded all previous attacks combined.
The so-called Heir of Slytherin was no longer playing games.
The attacks had turned into a reckless hunt.
That night, Hogwarts—the place once called the safest location in the wizarding world—
became a castle filled with invisible danger.
Fear flooded every corner.
Even the bravest Gryffindors began wondering if it was safe to remain.
The common rooms fell silent.
Students curled into corners, whispering nervously.
Pressure from Outside
The Daily Prophet published sensational headlines about the attacks.
Parents sent furious Howlers to the headmaster's office.
The Ministry of Magic finally intervened.
Minister Cornelius Fudge issued a formal ultimatum:
Hogwarts had 24 hours to find the culprit.
Otherwise, the Ministry would shut the school down.
Then came the final blow.
The Board of Governors, led by Lucius Malfoy, voted to remove Albus Dumbledore from his position as headmaster.
For the first time in fifty years—
Hogwarts faced the real possibility of closure.
McGonagall's Announcement
In the Great Hall, students sat silently before untouched food.
Professor McGonagall stepped onto the platform.
Her usually straight posture looked slightly bent.
Her voice trembled.
"Due to the recent… attacks…"
"The Ministry and the Board of Governors… have made a decision."
She paused.
Tears shimmered in her sharp green eyes.
"Headmaster Dumbledore… has been suspended."
"And if we cannot find the culprit by tomorrow…"
Her voice nearly broke.
"Hogwarts… will be closed."
The hall fell into stunned silence.
Then quiet sobbing spread through the tables.
Hogwarts—the place that felt like home—was about to disappear.
Tears slid down McGonagall's face.
Lucian's Decision
Yet one person sat completely calm.
Lucian Thornwick.
He sat quietly at the corner of the Gryffindor table, idly spinning a silver fork in his hand.
No panic.
No worries.
His gaze swept across the hall—students crying, teachers helpless, Harry and Ron pale with fear.
His eyes were cold.
Beneath that calm surface, irritation was building.
He had saved Hermione.
Instead of stopping, the attacker had become even more reckless.
As if deliberately provoking him.
Enough.
Lucian was finally tired of this childish game.
Adults knew the monster's species.
They even knew roughly where it lived.
Yet they were still powerless.
In Lucian's eyes—
It was ridiculous.
The fork clinked against the plate.
The sound cut through the quiet sobbing.
Harry and Ron looked up.
"Don't panic," Lucian said calmly.
Just two words.
Yet their racing hearts suddenly steadied.
"I'll deal with that."
Harry and Ron froze.
"Deal with it?" Ron stammered.
"That's a monster! We don't even know where it is!"
Lucian didn't answer.
He stood up.
His gaze swept across the Great Hall.
Then he looked toward the massive oak doors leading deeper into the castle.
"It's time to end this farce."
He walked out.
Harry and Ron exchanged glances—
then hurried after him.
The Entrance to the Chamber
Soon they arrived at Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
"This is the place," Harry whispered nervously.
"Myrtle said she saw the eyes here."
"But… where's the entrance?"
Ron scanned the broken sinks.
"I'll try," Harry said.
He searched the faucets carefully.
He remembered Myrtle mentioning a faucet carved with a snake.
Closing his eyes, he tried reproducing the strange hissing sounds he had once spoken during the dueling club.
Parseltongue.
He hissed awkwardly at the faucets.
Nothing happened.
"Didn't work?" Ron asked.
"I just need to find the right one…"
Harry examined the metal surfaces again and again.
Watching this, Lucian frowned slightly.
Too slow.
Depending on a special bloodline language to activate a mechanism was incredibly inefficient.
He stepped forward.
Spell Creation: Breaking the Mechanism
Heaven-Defying Comprehension — Activated
Research Topic:
How to bypass a magical lock that requires a specific bloodline language?
Solution:
Ignore the surface command system.
Directly infiltrate the mechanism's magical matrix.
Locate the core rune powering the lock.
Use superior magical authority to simulate the "open" command and seize control.
Spell Created:
[Universal Wardbreaker]
Lucian raised a finger and pointed at the sinks.
No incantation.
No wand movement.
Just a thought.
Suddenly—
The old faucet burst with brilliant emerald light.
The entire bathroom was bathed in eerie green.
A deep rumbling echoed beneath their feet.
The massive marble sinks began sliding apart automatically.
A huge black pipe appeared beneath them.
A dark tunnel descending deep into the earth.
Cold, rotten air rushed upward.
Ron shivered.
"Are we… actually going down there?"
Before Lucian could answer—
Footsteps approached from the corridor.
"Ah! Thank goodness you're here!"
Gilderoy Lockhart burst into the bathroom.
Under pressure from the teachers, the self-proclaimed expert had finally been forced out of his office.
"Children! You shouldn't be here! It's dangerous!"
He strode forward dramatically.
"Now follow me back to your common room. Leave this matter to a professional—"
He stopped mid-sentence.
Because he saw the open tunnel.
Lockhart's face turned white instantly.
"Merlin's beard…"
His legs trembled.
He had only come to pretend to help.
He never imagined the kids had actually found the entrance.
Facing a monster that could petrify people?
Impossible.
A desperate idea formed in his mind.
If these kids reported the entrance, everyone would force him—the "expert"—to go down there.
The solution was simple.
Make them forget everything.
He forced a shaky smile.
Quietly moving closer to Ron, he reached for Ron's broken wand.
"Well done, children…"
"You've made a great discovery."
"But unfortunately…"
"Your adventure ends here."
He raised the wand.
"Obliviate!"
But Ron's wand was broken.
The spell exploded backward.
A burst of blinding light filled the bathroom.
Then—
Lockhart's smile froze.
His eyes went blank.
The Memory Charm had rebounded onto himself.
Gilderoy Lockhart collapsed to the floor.
His entire mind had been wiped clean.
Ron stared.
"…Did he just erase his own brain?"
Lucian glanced at the unconscious professor with complete indifference.
"Self-inflicted consequences."
Then he turned toward the dark pipe.
"The obstacle is gone."
"Let's go."
~~--------------------------
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