Chapter 94: A Small Hint
After her conversation in Dumbledore's office, Orli had obediently kept her lips sealed about everything. She forced herself to stop obsessing over the diary and the Chamber of Secrets, channeling all her energy into practicing Occlumency. Since that talk, she had redeemed an intermediate-level Occlumency manual from the system and had been practicing relentlessly whenever she had free time.
Meanwhile, Hermione was flourishing in the library. It didn't take her long to uncover clues about Salazar Slytherin and the Chamber of Secrets in Hogwarts: A History. She also managed to learn quite a bit about the basilisk from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. (Of course, Orli wouldn't admit to anyone that she had cast a small charm on the relevant books to make them more noticeable for Hermione.)
After the first snowfall, the weather grew colder by the day.
Professor McGonagall distributed the Christmas holiday stay-over forms for everyone to sign. This year, Percy, the twins, and Ginny all decided to stay at school, as did the quartet. Hermione, in particular, chose not to return home because their investigation had made progress, and she wanted to use the holiday to gather more information.
Ron still thought all of this sounded like myth and legend, but Harry was starting to believe it. Although he hadn't heard the strange voices in the walls recently, the idea of a hidden chamber in the school containing a living basilisk was deeply unsettling.
# Harry
"Maybe the danger Dobby warned me about was this? If there were any obvious Dark Magic traps in the school, they would've been discovered and removed long ago. If something remains, it must be the most hidden and dangerous thing of all," Harry speculated.
# Ron
"But if what the books say is true, then the Chamber of Secrets has been around for more than a thousand years. It's never been opened before, so why would it suddenly be opened this year? And even if it has some sort of key, it's probably long lost by now," Ron said, maintaining his usual optimism.
# Hermione
"Wait! What did you just say?!" Hermione suddenly grabbed Ron by the shoulders, her eyes wide with urgency.
# Ron
"Hey!" Ron protested, struggling a bit, but Hermione's intense gaze scared him into quickly repeating himself.
# Ron
"I said, even if it has some sort of key, it's probably lost…"
# Hermione
"No, the sentence before that!" Hermione urged.
# Ron
"It's never been opened before…" Ron mumbled.
# Hermione
"Exactly! That's it! Why are we so sure it's never been opened before? Wait here!" Hermione exclaimed, striding over to a bookshelf. She pulled out a thick book with illustrations of various magical creatures on the cover and hurried back, her noisy footsteps earning her several glares from Madam Pince.
# Hermione
"Here it is!" Hermione spread open Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, quickly flipping to the section on basilisks. She ran her finger down the page, reading aloud in a low voice:
# Hermione
"…Its gaze is its most dangerous weapon: any creature that makes direct eye contact with it will die instantly, while those who see it indirectly (such as through a mirror) will be petrified… If someone had opened the Chamber of Secrets, I doubt it was just to let the basilisk out for fresh air. After all, Salazar Slytherin's original intent was for the basilisk to 'purge' the school."
# Harry
"You mean, if the basilisk really exists and the chamber has been opened, then someone at school would've been petrified—or even killed?!" Harry latched onto the key point.
# Hermione
"Exactly! It could've been a professor, but it's more likely to have been a student. Even though Hogwarts has been around for a thousand years, I imagine it's pretty rare for students to die at school, right?" Hermione's thoughts were becoming clearer.
# Ron
"But where would we even look for something like that? There's no book that keeps track of every student death," Ron pointed out.
## Orli
"Maybe… I know of a student who died at school," Orli decided to give them a small hint. This should've been an easy connection to make:
## Orli
"The crying ghost in the bathroom—Moaning Myrtle. She's wearing a school uniform, isn't she?"
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