0169 The Attack

"Who discovered it first?" Adrian's voice echoed through the anxious whispers that filled the stone corridor, his sharp gaze swept over the cluster of pale-faced students gathered together like frightened sheep.

A girl with honey-blonde hair tremblingly raised her hand. "It... it was me, Professor. Ernie and I just came back from the library, and then... then we..."

Her voice cracked, tears spilling down her cheeks as she gestured helplessly toward the horrifying scene in front of.

"All right, Miss Abbott, don't panic," Adrian said as he approached the trembling Hufflepuff. "I understand what happened. Mr. Finch-Fletchley has only been petrified—there's no serious harm."

Hannah Abbott's pale face finally regained some color, though her breathing remained shallow and quick.

"Everyone, pay attention!" Adrian stood up, his voice echoing through the corridor as he observed the crowd. "Where are the prefects? Are there any prefects here? Percy?"

A tall boy with red hair immediately pushed his way through the crowd of students. "I'm here, Professor!" Percy Weasley called out.

"Time is of the essence!" Adrian decisively ordered. "Percy, take the students to the Great Hall immediately. Then notify the other professors. Quickly!"

Percy nodded briskly, he naturally understood the urgency of the moment and the responsibility on his shoulders.

"Everyone, come here. Maintain order, don't panic," He began shouting loudly.

As it turned out, Percy did have considerable influence after all. Despite his sometimes pompous demeanor, the younger students respected his position and followed his lead without question.

Under his guidance, the students quickly went away down the corridor.

Adrian remained at the scene to stand guard, his eyes scanning every shadow and archway for signs of danger.

Soon, the steady click of approaching footsteps sounded Dumbledore's arrival accompanied by a group of professors.

Among them, the flamboyantly dressed Lockhart was particularly conspicuous in his peacock-blue robes with golden trim.

Dumbledore's blue eyes gazed solemnly at the crimson words scribbled across the floor.

Then his attention shifted to the frozen ghost Nearly Headless Nick and the unfortunate student Justin Finch-Fletchley. "It appears the culprit has revealed themselves," He said quietly.

"Ah, indeed! Headmaster!" Lockhart interjected puffing out his chest like a peacock and adjusting his cape. "But that's nothing serious—nothing I haven't encountered before in my travels! As a distinguished member of Hogwarts faculty and your esteemed professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, I shall personally take responsibility for capturing this scoundrel—just as I detailed in chapter twelve of my bestselling autobiography, 'Magical Me,' when I single-handedly defeated the Bandon Banshee..."

However, his boastful declarations fell on deaf ears as the other professors focused on the crisis at hand.

"How are they, Professor Westeros?" Professor McGonagall asked with concern, "Are they in any immediate danger?"

"It's only petrification," Adrian replied. He knelt beside Justin's body observing the expression of terror frozen on the boy's face. "Fortunately, there's still some of the Mandrake Draught left over from treating Lockhart."

Perhaps because no one was paying the slightest attention to his heroic tales, Lockhart's voice gradually trailed off, and he quietly retreated to lurk at the periphery of the group in a sulky posture.

"Professor Westeros," Dumbledore said gently, raising one hand in a gesture, "please attend to Mr. Finch-Fletchley first... and our dear Nearly Headless Nick as well. They have both suffered."

Adrian naturally intended to do precisely that purposeful as he reached for the vial of restorative potion.

Before Dumbledore's words had fully faded from the air, Adrian was already crouching down beside the petrified victims.

"This is the very last of the potion—the next batch won't be ready for another fortnight at minimum," Adrian explained as he carefully measured the liquid.

As Adrian spoke, he poured the potion over both Justin and Nearly Headless Nick.

Within moments, color began to return to Justin's pale complexion, and his stiff limbs started to show the first subtle signs of movement.

Justin was the first to return to his normal state.

His eyes snapped open wide with terror still fresh in their depths, and he sat up abruptly as if awakening from the worst nightmare imaginable. A terrified, heart-wrenching scream came from his throat as he trembled aggressively, his hands were flapping wildly in the air as if trying to ward off invisible attackers.

'This was the normal reaction,' Adrian noted grimly to himself.

"Calm down, Mr. Finch-Fletchley," Adrian said firmly but kindly, immediately placing his hands on the boy's shaking shoulders to ground him to reality. "You're completely safe now—surrounded by professors and protected. Can you tell us exactly what happened to you?"

"P-Professor..." Justin's teeth chattered uncontrollably as he struggled to speak clear words, his entire body was still wracking with lingering terror.

Bit by bit, he managed to describe the horrifying encounter: "I... I saw a pair of enormous eyes... then my whole body just froze solid... I couldn't move anything..."

Everyone instantly fell silent, listening to his description. Even Lockhart had the good sense to remain quiet during this crucial testimony.

Adrian helped the still-shivering Justin to his unsteady feet by providing one arm around the boy's shoulders as he continued his gentle interrogation: "Mr. Finch-Fletchley, I know this is difficult, but did you see anything else? Any other details?"

Perhaps drawing strength from being surrounded by so many protective adult figures, Justin gradually managed to compose his shattered nerves enough to provide more information.

"A very large monster," He whispered, another shudder running through his body. "Massive—its eyes were absolutely terrifying...."

At that moment, Nearly Headless Nick also completed his restoration to normal ghostly consciousness.

Perhaps because he had already experienced death once in his past, the ghost appeared remarkably more composed than the traumatized student, though his nearly severed head wobbled on its thin connecting tissue.

"The boy's right," Nick said as he floated over to join the group. "I saw the creature as well—it was indeed an enormous serpent. Oh, I'm utterly baffled as to why such a beast could affect even a ghost like myself, but what I'm more concerned about is—do you think it might be persuaded to help bite my head off completely? It would solve such an old personal problem..."

"I'm afraid not, Sir Nicholas," Adrian replied regretfully.

Nick shook his head with disappointment.

"This is no time for such jokes," Professor McGonagall interjected sternly. Her lips were pressed into a thin line of worry. "If a basilisk is definitely hiding somewhere right now..."

However, even knowing that the basilisk was indeed lurking somewhere within Hogwarts' passages, the professors were powerless to locate and capture such an elusive and deadly creature.

Adrian turned his gaze toward Dumbledore, who wore a thoughtful expression.

In the aftermath of this terrifying incident, Professor McGonagall efficiently organized the frightened students who had been in the Great Hall, directing them back to their respective dormitories under heavy escort, and made the decision to suspend all classes for the remainder of the day.

The professors then began an exhaustive search of every nook and cranny within Hogwarts'.

Of course, this effort yielded absolutely no results beyond making the already terrified student body even more panicked about their safety.

The news of this latest attack incident quickly spread through the student.

After all, those ominous words—"The Chamber has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware!"—remained on the stone floor visible to anyone who passed by that corridor.

This seemed to be some kind of special magical paint that couldn't be wiped away at all.

Naturally, no student could simply ignore such a blatant and terrifying threat.

Combined with Justin's unintentional revealing of certain details about his petrification, the news that there was an enormous, deadly serpent capable of turning people to stone prowling freely within Hogwarts' corridors spread throughout the entire school.

Everyone began speculating wildly about the identity of this mysterious "heir" mentioned in the threatening message, with theories ranging from the plausible to the utterly ridiculous.

Moreover, the students' information-gathering abilities and deductive reasoning skills proved to be far more sophisticated and thorough than Adrian had anticipated.

Within just a few short days, numerous versions of stories about "Slytherin's heir" and "the ancient legend of the Chamber of Secrets" were circulating around campus.

All the students began to fall into panic, especially the Muggle-born students.

According to the dark legends, the monster imprisoned within the Chamber of Secrets had been placed there specifically to purge "those unworthy of studying magic"—a phrase that clearly referred to Muggle-born witches and wizards.

Days passed one by one, each one bringing fresh rumors and rising anxiety.

Perhaps due to the gradual approach of Valentine's Day, the oppressive atmosphere of panic that had settled over the school began to lift somewhat, replaced by a different kind of anticipation.

Honestly, Adrian found himself genuinely curious about what sort of naturally outrageous performance Lockhart would inevitably stage on this most romantic of holidays.

Based on Adrian's unfortunate experience with Lockhart's personality during their time at Hogwarts, he felt certain that the peacock-like professor would orchestrate something truly spectacular and probably embarrassing on this particular holiday.

During their student days, Lockhart had consistently caused various ridiculous and memorable incidents every single Valentine's Day.

This year would almost certainly be no exception.

Just a few days ago, Adrian had inadvertently overheard a conversation between Lockhart and the increasingly exasperated Professor McGonagall in one of the castle's corridors.

"Ah, Minerva! I truly think we don't need to worry ourselves overmuch about this heir fellow's attacks—you see, I've been conducting my own thorough investigation and search for that cowardly villain. The moment he dares to show his face again, I'll be ready to capture him single-handedly! He must be cowering in some dark, forgotten corner right now, terrified of my reputation!"

By the way! Perhaps I could organize some special activities to help our poor students relax and forget their troubles? What do you think about a Valentine's Day celebration? I already have an absolutely magnificent and detailed plan worked out..."

Those had been Lockhart's exact words, delivered with such conviction and self-importance that Adrian had to suppress a groan of anticipated embarrassment.

Therefore, Adrian felt even more certain that this approaching Valentine's Day would definitely not pass by quietly or uneventfully.

On the morning of Valentine's Day, Adrian arrived at the Great Hall considerably earlier than usual, driven by curiosity about what decorative horrors awaited.

He knew that Lockhart would have tampered with the Great Hall's traditional decorations.

Sure enough, when Adrian pushed open the doors and stepped across the threshold into the Great Hall, he felt as if he had been transported directly into the heart of a sickeningly sweet pink ocean.

On the floor, along the walls adorned with centuries-old tapestries, across every wooden table surface... absolutely everywhere his eyes could see was filled to overflowing with pink flowers of every conceivable variety.

Meanwhile, countless heart-shaped confetti pieces in various shades of red and pink were falling continuously from the enchanted ceiling like a never-ending romantic snowstorm.

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