Chapter 107: Chapter 107
On the night of meeting Lucius, Ethan came out of the Room of Requirement.
He had just sorted through the gifts Lucius had given him.
The old book "Nibelungen" was a bit strange. It didn't record any spells or profound knowledge. It was more like a collection of poems and sacrificial rituals. Ethan hadn't understood it yet.
In the gold-threaded bag, Ethan guessed correctly that it contained Galleons, and it was a huge amount—50,000. It was worthy of the generosity of a family with a thousand-year heritage.
After taking out the Marauder's Map, looking through it, and finding no problems, Ethan put it away and cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself.
Ethan's goal was clear: the abandoned girls' washroom on the second floor of Hogwarts. Even though it was abandoned, Ethan didn't want to be discovered there, so he was very careful. Ethan would never risk being seen.
Upon entering the abandoned washroom, the first thing he saw was a huge circular pool, surrounded by faucets and washbasins. The passage to the Chamber of Secrets was inside.
But it had to be opened before the passage could be revealed.
When he reached the pool, Ethan began feeling around the faucets. He remembered that the switch was a faucet with a snake mark.
Soon, Ethan found the target: a faucet with a snake tattoo on the side.
Judging by the pool and faucets, Ethan was sure that when Salazar Slytherin built the Chamber, this was already a washroom. Otherwise, why build so many basins? "One, two, three," he counted.
Still, Salazar Slytherin set the entrance here. Was there some unknown reason?
Or did he leave Hogwarts because he was socially dead after this eccentricity was discovered? Otherwise, why would a grown man set the entrance in a girls' bathroom? Who could believe he didn't have some ulterior motive?
But Ethan couldn't verify that.
Now, another problem awaited Ethan. Myrtle was still living in the toilet of this washroom.
To be precise, she haunted the toilet, which was quite inconvenient.
When the passage opened, he didn't know if she would notice, so it was better to scare her away beforehand.
Ethan took out a handful of stones from his pocket and scattered them on the ground.
The stones instantly transformed into large black rats as soon as they touched the ground.
Not counting the tails, each was about a foot long, with two large front teeth protruding.
Their eyes were scarlet.
Just their appearance was enough to cause alarm.
Ethan stood aside and directed the rats into the toilet, intending to scare Myrtle out.
Myrtle was quite timid. She would scream and cry over the smallest thing, making her a constant target of Peeves's bullying.
As expected, as soon as the rats entered the toilet, Myrtle burst out in panic, floating in the air and shrieking with her high-pitched voice.
When she realized the rats were still chasing her, one by one, Myrtle completely lost it, screaming as she fled.
The rats followed closely behind, their scarlet eyes fixed on her, as if they wouldn't stop until they tore her apart. This transformation would last for a while, unless Ethan chose to cancel it. Otherwise, it could continue for a full day.
Ethan wanted to make sure she wouldn't return too soon.
Although Myrtle's commotion might cause some noise, no one would care about her at this moment.
After the incident in the Chamber of Secrets, students wandering at night had become rare, and even those who did wouldn't meddle in other people's business.
As for Filch, he was still lying in the infirmary, petrified. No one was patrolling at night.
The mandrakes in Sprout's greenhouse weren't mature yet, so they couldn't be used to make the potion to reverse the petrification. As for why they didn't just buy mature mandrakes, Ethan didn't know.
"Hiss (Open!)"
The faucet with the snake pattern immediately emitted a burst of white light and began rotating rapidly. The pool also started moving.
The water in the pool drained completely, revealing a thick pipe—large enough for someone to crawl through.
"Lumos!"
A ball of light appeared in Ethan's hand, casting a steady white glow. He threw it into the pipe. It was a variant of the illumination spell.
Unfortunately, the pipe twisted too much, and the light ball quickly disappeared from sight.
Ethan cast the illumination spell again, fixing the light to his hand, and jumped directly into the pipe. Just like in the book, there shouldn't be any problems.
As soon as he entered, he slid rapidly down the pipe.
The whole pipe was sticky.
There were many smaller branching pipes along the way, showing how the basilisk could have traveled to various places in Hogwarts.
All the way down, Ethan had no idea how far he'd fallen. Suddenly, the pipe leveled out, and Ethan knew he had arrived.
As he exited, he quickly adjusted his stance and landed firmly on the ground.
If it weren't for his enhanced physical abilities, he wouldn't have managed such a landing and would have fallen.
Looking around, he saw a stone tunnel. The walls and floor were wet and sticky, quite humid.
Could it be that it leads to the bottom of the Black Lake?
Considering Slytherin's personality, it wouldn't be impossible.
"Tergeo"
A white light flashed, instantly cleaning the stains left by Ethan as he slid down the pipe.
After that, Ethan continued forward along the stone tunnel.
Crack!
A rat's skull was crushed under Ethan's foot.
Soon, Ethan encountered another large creature lying motionless at the other end of the tunnel.
Ethan knew there were snake monsters here, but he remained cautious and cast a repulsion spell.
The red light shot through the giant creature and disappeared deep into the tunnel.
After confirming it was safe, Ethan approached the snake monster and collected it. Although the basilisk itself hasn't proven useful yet, other snake monsters can be used as ingredients. If this XXXXX-level creature can't be used, it would be unreasonable.
Not long after, Ethan reached a solid wall with a large bronze manhole cover. Small snake sculptures were engraved on the cover, and their eyes were adorned with sparkling emeralds.
It was yet another alchemical creation, and the material was quite substantial. Breaking through it by force wouldn't be easy.
Salazar Slytherin really favored his own lineage. These two doors could not be opened by just any wizard from Slytherin's house—they required a Parselmouth. In Great Britain, only Slytherin's descendants could speak Parseltongue, or there was a small chance of acquiring it by marrying into his family.
It was clearly designed for his descendants. Unfortunately, Voldemort found it.
"Hiss (Open!)"
The snake sculptures began to move and slither, and the heads of the other snakes retracted one by one until the thick door finally opened.
Another pipe was revealed behind the door, but Ethan didn't rush in.
Instead, he dismantled the door, taking the valuable materials. The emeralds contained good magic and could be used to craft excellent alchemical tools.
Additionally, there was a fair amount of goblin-made mithril mixed into the door, which was the real prize. How could Ethan pass that up?
Only after disassembling the entire door and storing it away did Ethan enter the pipe, arriving at Slytherin's secret chamber.
The room was dimly lit. On either side were pools of water, with rows of stone pillars carved with intertwining snakes. These pillars stretched upward, supporting the ceiling in the shadows.
Despite being underground, there was indeed light. No doubt another of Slytherin's masterpieces.
At the front stood a massive statue of an ancient figure with a gaunt, monkey-like face, and a sparse, long beard that nearly touched the hem of its robe.
"Hiss! (Heir!)"
As Ethan prepared to inspect the statue, a hissing sound came from the mouth of Salazar Slytherin's likeness.
This put Ethan on guard, and he quickly closed his eyes.
He wasn't sure if the heir mentioned was Tom Riddle, or if anyone who entered the secret chamber was considered an heir...
"Hiss! (Am I the heir?)"
Ethan didn't sense any hostility, and the basilisk didn't approach him, so he spoke in Parseltongue.
"Hiss! (Yes!)"
"Hiss! (Did someone come here a few days ago? Did they release you and hurt someone?)"
"Hiss! (A red-haired heir came! I obeyed his orders and left the chamber.)"
"Hiss! (Both of us are heirs! Whom do you serve?)"
According to the basilisk, anyone who could enter the secret chamber and speak Parseltongue was considered an heir.
But in the original story, Tom Riddle controlled the basilisk and had Harry on the run with no escape.
Perhaps the basilisk obeyed whoever awoke it. When no new orders were given, it followed the commands of other heirs, albeit with lower authority than the one who awoke it.
In any case, it seems that the basilisk would favor whichever heir it had a better relationship with.
"Hiss! (I serve you; you seem more like the master.)"
It appeared the second theory was correct. Among heirs, the basilisk would listen to whoever it liked more.
Since it had chosen him without hesitation, it was probably due to Ethan's natural affinity with animals.
"Hiss! (Will you agree to come with me? You'll be well fed!)"
Now that Ethan was sure the basilisk would listen to him, he wasn't going to let it stay. Feeding it wouldn't be an issue either, as food was easy to come by.
Buying food in the Muggle world would be even simpler. Just pay a farmer to deliver it to a designated spot.
"Hiss! (I'll go with you!)"
This time, the basilisk's voice was more urgent, as though it had been starving. Who wouldn't leave if they could get food and shelter after being imprisoned here?
Ethan expanded a box using the traceless extension spell, pulling out a wild boar and throwing it in front of the basilisk. The boar weighed over 500 kilograms, more than enough to satisfy its hunger.
The boar had been dropped off by Swooping Evil two days ago, but Onyxia didn't like it.
"Hiss! (Can you control the petrifying power of your eyes?)"
After a while, Ethan asked.
"Hiss! (Yes!)"
Hearing this, Ethan dared to open his eyes. By now, the basilisk's belly was slightly swollen, and its head was resting on the ground, looking content.
"Hiss! (What instructions did the red-haired heir give you when you went to the castle?)"
"Hiss! (Non-lethal petrification!)"
It seemed that young Tom wasn't trying to kill anyone, just spread fear.
He probably knew that if anyone died, Dumbledore would send the students home.
He and the other professors were focused on addressing the castle's hidden dangers.
It wasn't easy to frame someone now.
Not everyone was as dimwitted as Hagrid.
After clarifying everything, Ethan commanded the basilisk to slither into the box created by the traceless extension spell.
Once that was done, Ethan walked into the mouth of Slytherin's statue.
Another tunnel, but this one was short.
Soon, Ethan arrived in a larger chamber.
As he entered, he covered his nose.
A strong musty and fishy smell filled the air.
This was clearly the basilisk's lair.
After searching for a while, Ethan found a bronze statue of a basilisk in a corner, resembling a smaller version of the creature.
"Hiss! (Open!)"
The bronze snake emitted a burst of white light, and the wall began to tremble until a door appeared.
Ethan stepped inside.
The room was spacious.
There were bookshelves, a desk, and tools for alchemy and potion-making, but nothing else.
It was clear that Tom had looted the place.
Tom didn't want any newcomers discovering Slytherin's treasures here.
Not to be outdone, Ethan began dismantling anything related to alchemy, especially the eyes on the snake-like statues outside, and he scraped off several magic patterns.
Slytherin had clearly left a lot of material behind.
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