Chapter 87: Harrys Discovery

Neither Harry nor Ron knew how they would go for tonight. Sherlock didn’t give them any punishment. Hogwarts was about to shut down. Whether it was the deduction of points or punishment, they will have to face it sooner or later.

Harry and Ron were led back into the Gryffindor common room, but the guilt in their hearts still kept them awake all night by the next morning when they went to the Hall for breakfast, and Dumbledore also came into the Hall.

He announced the closure of the school in front of all the students. This caused a commotion in the Hall; some students were rejoicing, some students looked in disbelief, and some people shouted that Hogwarts shouldn’t be shut down.

But they didn’t have the right to call the decision. After Dumbledore announced that Hogwarts would be closed and the Hogwarts Express would send them home tomorrow, he left the Hall.

This gave a lot of students a feeling of despair.

After he left, the students continued to create a commotion; the Gryffindors blamed the Slytherins, saying that the Chamber of Secrets was their doing, and the two houses almost fought in the Hall.

In the end, under the intervention of Professor McGonagall and Snape, the two houses returned to their common room to pack their things.

Naturally, there will be no class today. After breakfast, every student was ordered to stay in the common room and not to go out at will.

In Harry’s room, Dean is chatting with Seamus about what he is going to do when he gets home, Neville is sitting on the bed in a daze, and Harry is discussing with Ron before leaving Hogwarts; they need to see Hermione again.

“I heard Percy say that the petrified students will be sent to St. Mungo’s Hospital to wait for the mandrakes to mature. I don’t know if the professor will notify Hermione’s family.” Ron said sullenly.

Harry got off the bed, “Let’s go to Professor McGonagall and talk to her. We might be able to see Hermione this time.”

Ron glared at him, “Are you crazy? Professor McGonagall definitely won’t allow us.”

He looked at Dean and the others and said in a low voice, “If you really want to go, we can sneak in the invisibility cloak in the middle of the night.”

Harry shook his head in rejection, “No, I don’t want to bother the professors like that anymore, Ron. If we had just told the school everything in the first place, Hermione wouldn’t have had to go through this. Let’s just go to Professor McGonagall and ask her to allow us to visit her.”

Ron finally sighed, “I hope Professor McGonagall will agree.”

They left the dormitory together. Professor McGonagall was in the Gryffindor common room. The head of the house of each house guarded the students in their common room to prevent anyone from sneaking away.

“We want to see Hermione, Professor.” Harry lowered his head, “After Hogwarts was closed, we probably won’t see her for a long time later. We just want to see her before leaving school tomorrow. Is that okay?”

Ron also pleaded, “Please, professor, we just want to see Hermione.”

Professor McGonagall stared at them. She didn’t get angry or send them away.

“Okay.” She looked at Harry with tears in her eyes, “I can understand how you feel as a friend. If you want to go, I can let you go to the school infirmary and tell Madam Pomfrey that I let you be there.”

Harry and Ron had surprised looks in their eyes. They didn’t expect that Professor McGonagall did not stop them. They left the Gryffindor lounge, walked to the school infirmary, and told Madam Pomfrey that Professor McGonagall had given them permission to visit Hermione.

Madam Pomfrey let them in but said reluctantly, “She can’t move her body now, nor can’t hear you. It’s pointless to visit her.”

She was right. Looking at Hermione, Ron’s mood was very low, “If we had listened to her earlier, she wouldn’t be lying here now, and Hogwarts wouldn’t be closed tomorrow.”

Although Harry was in a bad mood, he focused on Hermione’s clenched right hand. There was something there, and Harry leaned in only to find that she was holding a ball of paper in her hand.

He patted Ron’s arm.

“We’re going to take it out.” Ron whispered.

He deliberately moved the chair to block Madam Pomfrey’s sight, allowing Harry to move more easily. This process took him several minutes, and he finally took it out of Hermione’s hands without tearing the note.

They spread out the note and saw its contents. This is a note with two vague words written on it.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Basilisk, Pipe.”

Ron looked at these two words at a loss, but Harry had a vision. He grabbed Ron’s arm suddenly.

“Here’s a clue that Hermione left us!” said Harry excitedly, “The is a Basilisk. It’s no wonder I hear a strange noise every time someone is attacked. Because I’m a Parselmouth, and I can understand them. It’s moving through pipes in the castle, and that’s why no one noticed it when it attacked!”

Ron was also excited, but when the two were discussing and preparing to tell the professors everything they had discovered, they calmed down. After knowing the true identity of the monster and the way it moves in the castle, it still doesn’t help the current situation in the slightest.

Because through these, they have no way to find the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

Hogwarts is so huge that it can accommodate students in the next seven years, and there would still be more space. There are a lot of pipe systems connecting all over the place. It is undoubtedly a huge effort to investigate all of the pipe systems.

But even if it was a small discovery, Harry and Ron planned to report it. Last night, Sherlock’s words could be regarded as a wake-up call for them. Their naivety will only harm everyone.

Harry and Ron hurriedly left the school infirmary and returned to the Gryffindor common room to tell Professor McGonagall what they found. However, it was found that Professor McGonagall had left the common room, and the person in charge of guarding the room was their prefect.

Percy definitely wouldn’t let Harry and Ron go out again.

Before he left, Professor McGonagall explained to him that no one should leave the common room before leaving school tomorrow morning.