Chapter 89: Tom Riddles Plan

In the lounge, Professor McGonagall is doing her task by preparing the stuff for students to leave the school. Dumbledore had left the school at this point, and no one knew where he went.

Now, everything in the castle can only be coordinated by Professor McGonagall.

“Although the students have left, the patrol work in the castle will continue. Let’s wait for Sprout, you, and Filch to lead the students to the station. Me, Filius, Snape, and Sherlock will be here to investigate the castle.” Just as she said this, the door of the teacher’s lounge was pushed open from the outside.

All the professors looked at Harry, and Snape frowned, “You should be packing up and preparing to leave school right now. What are you doing here?”

Harry didn’t care about Snape’s scolding and said quickly, “Neville is missing, Professor!”

The entire lounge fell into a dead silence.

Before they could speak, Harry continued, “I also know where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is!”

In an instant, all the professors stood up. They stared at Harry, Professor McGonagall’s body trembling slightly.

“You knew it?”

“It’s where Myrtle was located. The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a basilisk, and it moves through the castle through the pipe system!”

Sherlock was shocked this time. Dumbledore’s best is pretty bold.

He was the quickest to respond to the information, “Organize the students to leave the school immediately and let them get on the train first. When the students have left the castle, let’s go to that place immediately.”

Professor McGonagall came to her senses. She heard Sherlock’s words and immediately made some arrangements.

“Sprout and Filch. Find the prefects right now and organize the students to go to the station. Remember to keep the train from driving away, and wait for our news. Filius, Snape, and I will go with Sherlock to the bathroom.”

The professors immediately took action. Harry and Ron followed Sherlock and the others, and the professors went to the bathroom together. At first, Professor McGonagall wasn’t going to bring them, but Harry explained that he had a talent for Parseltongue and he might be able to help, so she decided to bring them.

After arriving at the bathroom, Sherlock and the others searched the entire bathroom. Soon, they found out something. Flitwick pointed to the side of a copper faucet on the sink and called the professors over.

There was a snake carved on it.

“Water never came out from that faucet.” Myrtle said sadly, further verifying the problem with this faucet.

Sherlock stared at the snake carved on the faucet and called Harry over, “Say something in Parseltongue.”

Harry stared at the carved snake, trying to imagine it as a real snake.

“Open.” A hissing sound came out of his mouth, and the next moment, the snake faucet emitted a dazzling white light and began to spin rapidly.

The sink also moved. They watched as the sink slowly disappeared, revealing a water pipe system that could allow a person to move into it.

This is the entrance of the Chamber of Secrets.

Every professor present was excited, and Harry and Ron also cheered. But Sherlock and the others know that opening the Chamber of Secrets is just the beginning, and they still have to deal with the real problem.

“We have to bring the rooster first to deal with the Basilisk. The voice of the rooster is the best weapon against it.” Professor McGonagall said calmly.

Afterward, Flitwick and Sherlock went to the Hogwarts pen to get some roosters. After Sherlock revealed that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets was likely to be a Basilisk and Hagrid’s roosters had been strangled to death before, Dumbledore specially instructed him to buy a lot of them from outside and keep them separately.

In an abandoned greenhouse managed by Professor Sprout, there are a few roosters ready to use.

Soon, Sherlock carried a rooster over and waited until all the students at Hogwarts had been evacuated before entering the Chamber of Secrets. Harry and Ron were ordered to wait outside, while Professor McGonagall was in charge of guarding them outside.

Professor Flitwick was the first to climb down into the Chamber of Secrets with a rooster. Sherlock and Snape followed him and entered. They had been climbing down for a long time, as if they had walked several miles underground, and came to a wide underground tunnel.

“This should be under the Black Lake.” Professor Flitwick said, looking at the dark and sticky walls around.

“Lumos.”

The sound of spells sounded, lighting up this underground secret room as if it were daylight. Only then did they realize that they were now in a wider tunnel, and they had to keep moving forward.

They stepped on the wet ground and made a loud noise. The rooster in Professor Flitwick’s arms moved until they turned a corner and found a huge snakeskin.

“This is what a snake would shed.” Snape muttered to himself, “This skin is about a thousand years old. This is an extremely precious potion material.”

“When we kill that snake, we can get it later. Let’s keep going for now.” Sherlock said.

They continued on until they reached the end of the tunnel, where a wall stood, carved with two intertwined snakes with large, shining emeralds in their eyes. Sherlock frowned as he looked at the two snakes on the wall.

“We need Harry here.”

Snape shook his head, “No need, I remember Potter’s pronunciation.”

Facing the wall, his throat wriggled, making the same sound that Harry had just made before. The two snakes moved; the wall cracked from the middle slowly moved to the sides, and disappeared.

Professor Flitwick praised, “Good job, Severus.”

Sherlock also looked at Snape unexpectedly. He didn’t expect his talent in Parselmouth ​​to be so high.

After the door was opened, they moved more cautiously. This time, they really entered the Slytherin’s Chamber of Secrets.

This chamber was half the size of the Great Hall, and there were many stone pillars carved with snakes, towering and supporting the ceiling. Several long lines on the entire room filled with a green glow and a feeling of eerieness.

Sherlock, Flitwick, and Snape stood in front of the huge statue.

It was an old face with a long beard that dragged almost all the way to the wizard’s robe.

“Salazar Slytherin.” Snape whispered the name of the statue.

But there was nothing in the chamber except those stone pillars and statues. Sherlock and the others searched this chamber carefully for a long time before they found a line of writing on the foot of Slytherin’s statue.

[The glory of Slytherin will live in this castle forever, even if his Chamber of Secrets is no longer a secret.]

Flitwick’s face was gloomy, “He ran away and took Longbottom with him!”

Snape’s face was also gloomy. Although Sherlock’s face was sour, he was thinking about something. The three searched here for a while, and after confirming there was nothing, they returned to the bathroom.

Professor McGonagall had been waiting here with Harry and Ron. Neither the heir of Slytherin nor the Basilisk were in that chamber.

After she had heard the news about Neville, she was in a daze and almost fell to the ground. “How should I explain this situation to the Longbottoms?”

Sherlock and the others were silent, and Harry and Ron were even more confused. They thought that if they found the Chamber of Secrets, the problem would be completely resolved. Hogwarts would not be closed again, and Neville could be rescued.

But they didn’t expect the result to be like this.

Professor McGonagall quickly recovered, took a deep breath, and said, “Sherlock, take Harry and Ron to the common to get their luggage and take them on the train.”

After Sherlock came out, he kept frowning. From his current point of view, Dumbledore’s plan has failed. Tom is more cunning than he imagined, but he always feels that something is wrong.

No matter what, the safest thing to do now is to send all the students away from here and conduct a full-scale investigation of the castle.

Harry and Ron followed Sherlock towards the Gryffindor common room. Their mood was low, and they didn’t speak anything.

Harry looked at Sherlock, and a thought flashed across his mind.

He suddenly grabbed Sherlock’s arm and asked, “Professor, you said before we should go on the train. But can we still find Neville and the diary?”

Sherlock and Ron were stunned at the same time, but Ron quickly reacted and guessed what Harry was going to do. He also looked at Sherlock nervously, waiting for his answer.

Sherlock sighed and shook his head, “The chances are very slim. But let’s leave the matter in the castle to the professors. All you need to do is to go to the train and wait for the news. Once the matter is dealt with, Dumbledore will inform you to return to school.”

Both Harry and Ron looked surprised. They almost jumped up on the spot; Sherlock looked at their behavior strangely and didn’t understand why this would make them excited.

Harry and Ron looked at each other, and both saw hope in each other’s eyes. They followed Sherlock to the tower where the Gryffindor common room was located.

At this time, the common room was no longer guarded by the portrait. Because all the students got on the train, and only Harry and Ron were left. The three of them walked into the portrait, and when they entered the Gryffindor common room, they found a pale boy lying on the sofa.

“Neville!” Harry and Ron exclaimed.

At the same time, Sherlock frowned and slowly drew out his wand because he saw a tall boy with dark hair sitting on a chair by the fireplace in the common room.

The portrait in the Gryffindor common room suddenly closed with a bang. The boy named Tom Riddle looked at them with a smile on his face.