Chapter 135: In The Statue Cave, The Millennium Basilisk
Elegant medieval architecture, a hall with a ceiling nearly twenty meters high, as grand as the Roman Curia, exquisite coiled snake stone pillars supporting the dome, the top covered in glowing green cloudy vapor, the floor laid with deep black stone tiles, and the statue at the deepest part standing silently.
Melvin entered the Chamber of Secrets, slowly advancing along the arched passage of stone pillars. Even though he tried his best to lighten his footsteps, sounds still echoed continuously.
His gaze occasionally swept over the stone snake statues on both sides, lifelike statues where each one’s angle faced slightly differently. As he passed these stone pillars, Melvin had a slight illusion that the python statues’ eyes were emeralds, flashing with deep green light in the dark eye sockets, as if always watching those entering the Chamber of Secrets.
Although he knew it was an illusion created by angles and light and shadow, he still felt a bit uneasy deep down.
Melvin snapped his fingers, and dozens of blue flames suddenly burst forth in various places in the room, the clear and warm glow dispelling the dark and damp atmosphere.
No shadows could be seen in the Chamber of Secrets, it was empty of people, completely quiet.
The firelight also illuminated the full appearance of the Slytherin Statue, an unflattering old face with features crowded together, like a monkey or a viper, aged beyond recognition, a sparse beard hanging down to the hem of the wizard robe, no shoes on, and two large feet extremely bizarre.
Melvin did not immediately check inside the statue, but circled around the various places in the Chamber of Secrets. Besides the neatly arranged stone pillars and statues, there was nothing else in the room.
The floor was covered in dust, the walls completely bare, no treasure left by Slytherin as expected, no shady dark magic experimental materials, not even a curse warning intruders.
It was not impossible that Tom Riddle had taken everything.
Melvin returned to the statue, released silver mist of memory, and played the Parseltongue recorded by Harry.
“Hiss… hiss…”
『Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four』
The mist dispersed, eerie sounds came from all around, Melvin looked toward Slytherin’s mouth, the stone sealed for fifty years began to shift, huge friction sounds echoed inside the Chamber of Secrets, dust attached to the stone carving surface began to peel off, the stone-carved teeth making clicking sounds.
Melvin looked up, in the cavity untouched by firelight, the basilisk awakened in the darkness.
A massive giant snake poked its head out, so thick that three people hugging it couldn’t encircle it, eyes still closed, fifty years of sleep causing a white film shell to form on its scales’ surface, as statue-like muscle groups writhed, the scabbed thin films peeled off piece by piece.
A forked tongue probed from the gap in its mouth, breathing out, stirring up a foul wind that echoed in the Chamber of Secrets.
The thick neck bent, half the snake body emerging from Slytherin’s mouth, fifty feet long, scales dark green nearly black, reflecting the floating and sinking cloudy vapor above, the scene horrifying and bizarre.
Seeming to sense Melvin’s position, the basilisk slightly lowered its head, at this moment the scabs and scale shells on the eyelids finally cracked and peeled off, two yellowish orange ghostly lights burst forth, dimming the Chamber of Secrets’ fluorescence and firelight for an instant.
Melvin’s eyes narrowed slightly, meeting the pair of cold snake eyes, powerful magic power surging toward him through the gaze connection.
Magic power has characteristics; some is fiery and prone to explosion, some is serene and prone to freezing, some is cruel and deprives life. Wizards must study and use spells to control magic power to achieve desired results, but magical creatures are born with distinctly characteristic magic power: demiguise fur can hide at any time, occamy bodies can freely stretch and change size, fire dragon dragon flame can ignite steel…
And the basilisk’s gaze can petrify and kill the life it sees.
“Iron armor…” Melvin murmured softly.
Lava-like sharp flowing light splashed out.
A transparent bubble film instantly expanded, blocking the magic power released from the snake eyes, at the midpoint where Melvin’s and the basilisk’s gazes met, the intangible iron armor solid and reliable.
The basilisk seemed to encounter someone meeting its gaze for the first time, its already unclear mind even more confused, stunned for a moment, then hissing.
“…”
Melvin guessed this was some probing question, but he couldn’t understand it and couldn’t respond.
The basilisk hissed to itself for a while without response, realizing it was deceived, the basilisk immediately became furious, squeezing a roar from its throat, then sliding down the statue, shield-sized scales scraping against the stone carving and floor, the ground trembling slightly.
As the monster guarding the Chamber of Secrets, it still upheld Slytherin’s command to expel all intruders except the heir.
The basilisk twisted its body and slithered closer, blue firelight and fluorescence shining on its scales, giving a metallic sheen.
This colossal beast approaching rapidly brought powerful pressure, even though Melvin felt no fear, his biological instincts made his heart race and breathing slightly rapid.
After lunging down the statue, the basilisk charged straight at Melvin’s position, its massive body and long sleep not affecting its speed, stirring foul winds in the Chamber of Secrets, baring teeth as if to treat Melvin as a snack.
But before touching Melvin’s body, the snake body was repelled by an invisible force, like crashing into a steel wall mid-charge, the snake body halting abruptly, a large patch of scales shattering instantly.
The transparent iron curtain halted the basilisk’s charge, pain in its snake eyes, several muscles tearing directly, black blood splattering out.
In an instant, Melvin saw the snake face distort, showing a pained expression, a low wail like wind through a tunnel surging from the snake’s mouth, the entire space humming and trembling faintly.
Fortunately, snake body structure dissipates force easily, hard to break bones no matter how bent, the basilisk though dizzy, vision blackening, twitching in pain, the injuries weren’t too severe.
He waved his hand, levitation charm enveloping the snake body, suspending it in mid-air, while taking out a glass jar, the overflowing snake blood as if held and drawn by invisible force, surging into the jar.
Precious animal materials, couldn’t waste them.
The basilisk lay limp on the ground, watching the wizard collect its blood, tail twitching continuously from intense pain.
The young professor stood in the detached pose of an observer, showing no expression of the instigator or killer, he pocketed the glass jar, reached out slightly, as if to stroke the basilisk’s ferocious face.
“Hiss!”
The basilisk arduously raised its head, baring poisoned fangs again, air rushing rapidly through its throat, the hiss fierce.
Melvin frowned slightly, sighed, waved his wand, a straight emerald green beam bursting forth, that was a powerful repelling charm infused and released with magic power.
The spell roared through the air, leaving emerald green afterimages, powerful impact force slamming into the basilisk, the nearly fifty-foot basilisk instantly flying backward, crashing into a coiled snake stone pillar, scales shattering all over its body.
Shattered scale fragments scattered and splashed, bubbles surging up in large quantities from the surrounding pool.
This time the basilisk was completely exhausted, long tail limp on the ground, unable to move.
But when Melvin approached, this basilisk still bared teeth and hissed, the fierce light in its eyes even more intense.
“…”
The instant Melvin’s eyes met the basilisk’s, he blanked for a moment, slight stinging at his brow, limbs slightly stiff, the basilisk’s eyes orange-yellow, flashing with violent green light deep in the crystalline pupils.
Worthy of Slytherin’s basilisk, unyielding even to death.
It seemed Parseltongue still needed to come personally.
Melvin wasn’t too hopeful but wanted to try, pointing his wand lightly, forcibly closing that foul-smelling gaping maw.
Then taking out a snake egg, dripping a drop of silver-white potion, mixing in a thread of pre-prepared memory.
Mist steamed into vapor, a little wizard’s figure appearing in the mist, eyes seeming somewhat puzzled, looking up to hear the professor’s request, nodding as if understanding, then hissing from his mouth.
『Hatch, help…』
Hearing the Parseltongue command, the basilisk suddenly widened its eyes, pale golden light filling the entire pupil, a trace of hesitation flowing in its depths, silent for a moment, he slowly extended his head, parting several adjacent scales on top, exposing gray-black skin, like revealing a weak point.
“Put the snake egg in there?” Melvin seemed to understand a bit.
Following the Parseltongue command, the basilisk had taken on the task of hatching the snake egg, no longer caring if this person was the true heir, no longer minding being beaten severely by him, or unable to mind.
The snake egg placed on the exposed flesh, scales closing, like some protective measure.
The basilisk shook its body trying to return to the nest, but any movement tugged the wound, black blood spurting.
Seeing this, Melvin felt a bit guilty; the basilisk had a fierce reputation, he planned to beat it into submission first, then use Parseltongue to make it fully cooperate.
He took serpentwood branches and leaves from his pocket, squeezed out juice to drip on its wounds, and offered several clusters to the basilisk’s mouth, gesturing for it to open and take the medicine.
The basilisk paused, swallowed the branches and leaves, wounds quickly scabbing and healing.
Seeming to remember the magic power contained in serpentwood, it stayed stunned in place for a long time, slowly moving its head to Melvin’s front, the gold in its eyes fading, revealing an ambiguous gaze with humanized color, suddenly hissing, like conversing.
Melvin guessed blindly, tentatively nodding in response: “Mm, you focus on incubating the egg for me, I’ll regularly bring you food, and bring these serpentwood branches too.”
“…”
The basilisk too lazy to say more, tail circling back sliding, movements agile as a bird, climbing via the stone carving’s staff onto the arm and shoulder, returning to Slytherin’s mouth.
Melvin watched the basilisk gradually disappear into the darkness, only blue firelight and glowing green cloudy vapor left in the Chamber of Secrets, suddenly feeling familiar; back at Ilvermorny, it was the same watching the horned serpent disappear into the stream.
He shook his head, turned to walk back, a smile appearing.
……
In the blink of an eye, it was Friday again.
The bell rang, Harry, Ron, and Hermione who earned 15 points for Gryffindor left the classroom, moods fairly pleasant, while discussing going to Hagrid’s that evening to gather intel.
“We’ve asked all the professors at school!” Harry sighed, “Dumbledore was a transfiguration professor assistant teacher back then, even Dumbledore doesn’t know the truth, let alone others.”
“Must ask the firsthand witnesses of the event.” Hermione confirmed the investigation direction again, muttering softly, “Moaning Myrtle said the monster that killed her had two yellow eyes, Hagrid confirmed it wasn’t Aragog, who else can we ask?”
“Aragog…” Ron repeated, shuddering, “Who names an acromantula Aragog, and says it acted abnormally then, always hiding in the cabinet not daring to go out, those who don’t know would think it’s some timid cute little pet.”
Hermione’s eyes lit up: “Right! There’s also Aragog!”
Harry quickly got her idea: “You mean Aragog is also a firsthand witness?”
Hermione nodded emphatically: “Before Moaning Myrtle was attacked, no one at school knew about the Chamber of Secrets monster, its abnormal behavior proves it definitely sensed something, we go to the acromantula’s nest and ask it!”
Ron looked terrified: “Are you crazy, offering ourselves as little snacks?”
“Come on, come on, we’ll call Hagrid to go together!”
Harry and Hermione each dragged a sleeve, pulling him toward the Forbidden Forest.
“Let go! I still have to go to drama club auditions! I’m not going to the spider nest!”
“Help! Murder!”
“You two murderers, I won’t let you go even if I die!”
……
Finally time for drama club selections.
The past few days had been quite heated, houses discovering Marietta fully responsible for picking members always trying to flatter and bribe her, some wanting fame and fortune via the projection mirror, some just wanting to show off.
For a socially anxious and indecisive little wizard, this was huge trouble; Marietta had been overwhelmed lately.
But these days she had learned to cope forcibly.
“I’m only handling initial selections, final members still need Professor Levent’s approval.”
“Very sorry, audition questions can’t be revealed for now.”
“Also, I don’t like chocolate frogs.”
Before selection auditions began, Marietta had rejected classmates countless times, these lines memorized, tone flat and mechanical, like an emotionless line machine.
Cho beside her saw her handling proficiently, couldn’t help laughing, teasing: “Hard to believe, little kitten Marietta has matured, like Professor McGonagall.”
Marietta sighed: “Hope this job ends soon, Professor Levent lets me go soon.”
“I think you’re doing great like this.”
The two walked shoulder to shoulder into the Muggle Studies classroom.
Standing in front of the podium, facing the many gazes waiting early, many familiar faces: besides her house classmates, front row Hufflepuff’s Cedric with a friendly smile, really so handsome; next to him Gryffindor’s Percy nodding at her, no one doubted he’d become a Ministry of Magic bigshot; Slytherin’s Marcus with a fierce face…
Usually she silently watched these people from below the stage, now positions swapped.
Marietta felt her calves trembling, breathing trembling, she took a deep breath, controlling her quivering voice:
“Drama club selections, starting now!”
