Chapter 96: Chapter 96
A few minutes later, a loud explosion occurred near him. The ghosts appeared in the location first to check what happened and then a few professors walked towards them.
Snape looked at the bloody baron, "What happened here?"
There was no response for a while but then, the ghost seemed to have decided to speak, "Looks like the successor is finally here…"
Snape took Filch away while the other professors looked at his back, frowning.
Flitwick walked to the wall that was damaged and inspected it, "A brilliant use of bombarda…. Maybe someone saw Filch but didn't want to show themselves?"
"Yes… that's the most probable thing. Mostly a student but is it really a recurrence of the incident that happened a few decades ago?"
No one replied but instead, turned towards the footsteps that were approaching them.
"It most probably is." Said Dumbledore as he stopped in front of the broken wall.
"Petrification… and it happened right in front of this lavatory again. Tell the students to not enter this area and lock this lavatory. Unfortunately, we have a lot of classes here so we cannot lock this whole floor."
All the professors nodded before going back to their chambers. They had been through the same thing once before and were unable to do a thing. This time was also no different in their minds.
Dumbledore stayed behind as he stared at the locked door.
*******
Alex ran as fast as he could with an unconscious cat in his arms. He placed it in a random corridor and shot a spell at it before he continued running. It was almost an hour past midnight when he reached his dormitory and fell asleep.
The coming morning, everyone was having their breakfasts when Professor McGonagall stood up and addressed the crowd. Everyone focused on her as they chewed their food.
"From today onwards, the second-floor Girls' lavatory should not be entered under any circumstances. Anyone who does will experience a fate worse than being expelled."
The students began muttering as they got a new subject to talk about.
"Hey, why do you think we're not allowed to enter?" Ron asked as he spread butter on his toast.
"Shouldn't matter since we are guys but honestly, I don't know."
"Ummm… tastes good." Ron said before continuing, "I reckon they're trying to kick moaning Myrtle off the toilets. I heard that she's a menace to anyone who goes in there. Also, I doubt it will affect the girls too… after all, no one used it until now."
Hermione and Neville looked at each other and shrugged before going back to eating their breakfast but Hermione paused before putting the piece of bread in her mouth.
She hurriedly looked at Neville who seemed like he didn't realize it yet but Harry who was sitting beside him was staring at the staff table, wide-eyed.
"Neville, we need to talk… away from people.", she whispered and Harry turned around. For a moment she froze but he seemed to be scanning the whole hall instead of looking at her so she relaxed.
Neville nodded and Harry turned back before hurriedly whispering to Ron.
Meanwhile in the Ravenclaw table: Alex frowned as he looked at the staff table, 'Where in the hell is Dumbledore….'
**********
In the headmaster's office, Dumbledore sat in his comfy chair as Snape walked in and placed a small vial on the table.
"You were a bit reckless last night."
"Thank you, Severus. I don't know what I would be doing without you. As for yesterday's event, it was just a sudden urge… oh and, do you know anything that can turn people into stone?"
Snape looked at him silently for a few seconds before opening his mouth but then closed it instead of answering.
"Speak your mind Severus. There is no one who can hear you here."
"A basilisk… but only when you make eye contact indirectly"
"Great. I saw one of its eyes yesterday. So, do you have any idea of where it came from?"
"You should already know all of it. I do not understand why you want me to say it to you."
"It's just to confirm things… just to confirm. I've been a Gryffindor all my life and I rarely heard about the secrets of the Slytherin house. House matters mostly do not spread out and as you might already know, especially the matters regarding the Slytherins."
Snape said nothing for a few seconds as if deciding on something but in the end, he opened his mouth slightly.
"Salazar Slytherin. There is a rumor that he left something for his heir. The chamber of secrets they call it… but he called it the Chamber of Salazars.… It is nothing but a plain old room now if my guess is right."
Dumbledore nodded and pulled out the cork that held the liquid inside before drinking it.
"By "he", you mean Voldemort.", he said and Snape nodded, knowing that it was not a question but a statement.
"…. So, he was an actual heir to Slytherin. Makes quite sense to me… Anyways, putting that aside, we have to learn how to enter this chamber. A basilisk is moving around in there and it is not safe for the students."
Snape nodded and took the empty vial that was placed on the table before standing up.
"I'll take my leave then. Do tell me how your legs feel tomorrow.", he said and left the place.
Dumbledore looked down at his legs which had completely turned into stone.
'I can't even feel it and it surely is surprising that only my legs froze. I wonder how long it will take. I shouldn't have panicked… merlin's beard, I'm getting old.', he thought, letting out a long, exhausted sigh. He recalled what had happened a few hours ago and chuckled.
He walked into the girls' lavatory and looked around but the moment he saw the reflection of an eye on the shiny ceramic sink, his heart shook. He felt his body going stiff but was yanked back out.
"Headmaster, are you all right?", he heard a voice behind him. he nodded but it was hard to even do that. It felt suffocating.
(A/N: Sorry guys, I have decided to not imitate his accent. Some readers find it hard to read accents so I had to make this decision so that they can also enjoy this fanfic.)
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