Chapter 158: Basilisk Slumbers
Harry lowered his voice to ask the Basilisk, feeling a bit guilty, while keeping an eye on the professor not far away, hissing and whispering like students signaling in class.
The entire conversation was halting and stumbling.
Although the Basilisk could communicate in Parseltongue, its mind was sluggish from years of slumber and it hadn’t spoken to other creatures in a long time, so it struggled with slightly complex long sentences; only simple yes-or-no questions got accurate answers.
The answers to these simple questions, when pieced together, confirmed Hermione’s earlier guesses.
Long before they began investigating Moaning Myrtle’s murder, Professor Levent had already been in contact with the Basilisk; over the past few months, the professor had been using Acromantulas as feed to feed the Basilisk at set times and places.
The night Harry heard the Basilisk murmuring in the dormitory, it was the professor who put spiders in the pipes to lure the Basilisk to wander around searching.
「Why didn’t your gaze kill us?」
「That guy cast magic on my eyes.」
Harry looked up directly into the Basilisk’s eyes and saw a thick nictitating membrane covering the snake eyes, solid like window glass.
The Basilisk’s answers, the information Dobby revealed, and these clues combined allowed Harry to slowly piece together the full picture of the matter:
Lucius Malfoy was in the know about the Chamber of Secrets incident that year and, for some reason, tried to use it to disrupt the school; his plan was overheard by his own house-elf, leading Dobby to approach Harry and cause a series of troubles.
On the other hand, Malfoy approached Professor Levent, and through contact at Borgin and Burkes, the professor also learned about the Chamber of Secrets; for certain reasons, he couldn’t directly reveal the truth, so he guided them in their investigation.
Many things were arranged by the professor, but there were also unexpected situations beyond the script.
Professor Levent restricted the Basilisk’s deadly gaze, but he didn’t expect that vain guy Lockhart to seek all the credit, tricking the entire Drama Club into the Chamber of Secrets, leading to the final group combat.
「Did the professor tell you not to hurt us?」
「I don’t understand human language, and he doesn’t understand my words.」
“……”
So the Basilisk nearly lost control, and the professor almost caused a disaster?
Harry suddenly felt a chill of fear.
Not far ahead, Melvin wandered between the stone pillars, checking overlooked corners for traces of the rat.
No results.
The stone slab floor, the stone pillars carved with Transfiguration, the dust and stone chips had long been cleaned up; the Repairing Charms and Cleaning Charms released by Dumbledore and him worked very well—no sign of the rat, not even their own footprints could be seen.
Yurm poked its head out from the fedora toward the man and snake over there, flicking its tongue, seemingly very interested in their Parseltongue conversation.
It can’t even speak human language, yet it’s learning Parseltongue?
Melvin silently pushed the young snake’s head back in, glanced at Hermione who was staring at him, and continued searching inside.
No matter how complex Parseltongue was, questioning a rat shouldn’t take this long; he had noticed something off about the conversation a few minutes ago but hadn’t interrupted, wanting Harry and the others to discover some truths themselves.
A sharp little wizard like Hermione had already noticed many suspicious points; such doubts couldn’t always be delayed or brushed off, or they might think all adventures were arranged and lose motivation to investigate the truth.
Peeking appropriately into some behind-the-scenes truths helps stimulate student interest.
Additionally, as the living Horcrux Harry was originally supposed to endure some cruel and difficult trials to cultivate the courage to face Voldemort and face death, but these two years’ adventures, with his interference, had become thrilling but harmless, failing to serve their proper tempering purpose.
Melvin walked a circle in the Chamber of Secrets, confirmed the time was about right, cleared his throat: “Done yet? Does questioning a rat take this long?”
“Almost… almost done!”
Harry felt guilty like a thief, a bit panicked, making excuses: “The Basilisk has eaten too many rats; I’m describing Scabbers’ features.”
“……”
Melvin suddenly laughed.
Since the Basilisk awoke, he had been the one feeding it; the food in the first few weeks was prey he got from Hagrid, and the Acromantulas eaten in the last two months had made its tastes pickier and pickier, even requiring them roasted before it would eat—how could it eat rats.
He didn’t call it out: “What did the Basilisk say?”
Harry finally started asking about Scabbers: 「Have you seen Scabbers, a rat that’s bald all over and missing a toe?」
「With roasted Acromantulas, who eats stinky rats…」
In the deep underground Chamber of Secrets, the light was dim, with only cloudy green light and the silver light of the Illumination Charm; the Basilisk hung its head, and Harry saw blatant disdain in those bright yellow snake eyes.
“From your expression, the answer isn’t optimistic. Hermione, Ron, you two search nearby properly.” Melvin approached carrying the fedora. “Harry, you stay; help me put the Basilisk back to sleep.”
Ron could only walk away disappointed, feeling sorrow for the missing Scabbers.
Hermione didn’t go too far, pacing absentmindedly nearby; she didn’t want to miss the scene of the Basilisk falling asleep.
“How to do it?” Harry’s expression turned serious.
“No rush for now; I want to talk to the Basilisk too—you translate for me.”
Melvin was quite relaxed: “Ask the Basilisk what command Slytherin left it with when he put it to sleep in the Chamber of Secrets awaiting the heir.”
Harry turned to look at the Basilisk, and man and snake hissed in conversation again.
Half a minute later, Harry scratched his head and translated: “No specific command, just to sleep here awaiting the heir’s awakening.”
“Besides the Basilisk, was there anything else in the Chamber of Secrets?”
“Some materials, but they were taken by the person who opened the Chamber of Secrets last time.”
“I see…” Melvin wasn’t surprised; it matched his expectations. “Ask it again if it recognizes this ring?”
Melvin removed a ring from his left ring finger; under the Levitation Charm, the ring floated up and hovered before the Basilisk’s eyes.
Gray-black, unknown metal material, with subtle ouroboros patterns on the surface; otherwise plain, with no magic power fluctuations. The reflected snake eyes made the vertical pupils contract slightly.
“It says it recognizes it—it’s the master’s… ornament on Slytherin’s wand.” Harry relayed the Basilisk’s words, his tone a bit odd. “It says, professor, you don’t speak Parseltongue; if not for this ring and the snake egg carrying Slytherin’s magic power aura, it would never have helped you hatch it.”
“I thought it was tamed by force.”
Melvin shook his head: “Tell it for me that the current headmaster worries it will harm students and can’t let it stay in the school without restrictions; now there are two choices. First, continue sleeping, moved to a new snake’s den, no deadline, and no knowing when it will wake next.
“Second, leave the school; I’ll find a suitable uninhabited wilderness for the Basilisk to live freely for the rest of its life.
“Ask which it chooses?”
Harry looked at the professor: “Didn’t you say we’d put it to sleep?”
“That was just to placate Dumbledore.” Melvin said indifferently. “He’s the president of the International Confederation of Wizards and has to lead by complying with international wizard law; I’m not a Confederation staff member.”
“But the Ministry of Magic has the Magical Creatures protection law…” Harry said weakly.
“I’m a foreign wizard; Ministry of Magic laws don’t apply to me.”
“The Ministry of Magic has them too, right?”
“I’m at Hogwarts, not in Ministry of Magic jurisdiction.”
“……”
Not far away, Hermione heard this lawless rogue’s statement and was shocked with her mouth agape, stunned silly.
Harry accepted it quickly, even thinking the professor made some sense; he told the Basilisk the two plans and relayed its choice: “The Basilisk says if it chooses sleep, Slytherin’s command was to wait in the school; it doesn’t want to leave.”
“But Slytherin will never return.”
“It still chooses sleep.”
Melvin sighed: “Then sleep it is; command it in Parseltongue.”
The Basilisk gradually began to move, coiling its body into a ring and burying its head in the central gap when it suddenly remembered something, turned its head to Melvin, snake eyes gleaming.
After some time together, Melvin was familiar with that gaze—it was the Basilisk’s begging-for-food look.
But today wasn’t feeding time, and Melvin hadn’t brought his pockets, so he shook his head: “Forget it, tomorrow—tomorrow you eat a full meal before sleeping.”
Harry translated faithfully.
The Basilisk looked disappointed, didn’t reply in Parseltongue, but shook its head at Melvin, buried its head in the coiled body’s central gap, using the action to show its choice.
The bright yellow snake eyes dimmed, with only faint light left in the vertical pupils; wave-like drowsiness enveloped the giant snake, like a blizzard burial. Starting from the neck, the Basilisk’s raised scales rippled, muscles relaxed, gradually spreading to the entire body.
A faint light flickered in the snake eyes’ centers, like weak candlelight extinguishing in the wind and snow.
The giant snake fell into slumber.
