286 Secret room, children, them, wind and snow (4k)

286 Secret room, children, them, wind and snow (4k)

The auditorium in the castle was already filled with students. This was their last dinner at school before the Christmas vacation, and everyone was very excited.

"Man, are you really not going home?"

On the long Gryffindor table, James held a piece of pie in his hand. He asked Sirius: "This is Christmas. Are you really going to spend it in school?"

"There's nothing wrong with that." Sirius said lazily: "It's much better than facing irritable parents and annoying house elves."

"I didn't hear Regulus's name." Remus said abruptly: "Did you choose to stay in Hogwarts because of him?"

James looked at Sirius in surprise.

Sirius glanced at Remus faintly.

"Yes."

He admitted it directly, ignoring the slightly raised corners of Remus' mouth and James' unbridled laughter.

"Don't be so exaggerated, man, I'm not doing it all for him." Sirius said to James, who was still laughing loudly: "Because of the Regulus incident, the atmosphere in my house is very tense. I am not stupid. It will get them into trouble at a time like this.”

"I also hope they can recognize the truth as soon as possible - there is nothing good in Slytherin House, and the heir will even attack [eternally pure] like Regulus."

"Just say it, man." James said with a smirk, "You are just worried about Regulus. There is nothing embarrassing to admit. After all, you are biological brothers."

"If I had such a brother, even if he was a Slytherin, I would stay at Hogwarts to accompany him."

Remus also smiled faintly, and Peter laughed in agreement.

Finally, Sirius also showed an elegant smile.

"Regulus has always been cowardly. He never knew how to resist. He only knew how to obey my parents' orders blindly," he said.

"But do you still remember what happened some time ago?"

"You mean...that time at the entrance of the auditorium?" James said after thinking for a while: "[What you really look down on are guys who cause trouble everywhere and only fight against their parents?] I'm still number one This is the first time I have seen Regulus with such a tough attitude - although I have never seen him that often."

"I've definitely seen him enough times."

Sirius said, "But like you, this is the first time I've seen him resist."

"Although I was angry at the time, it has been so long, and...it also shows that he is not hopeless."

"I don't mind giving him a hand at a critical moment, and I hope that after he recovers, this experience can make his thoughts clearer, and he will stop blindly worshiping Slytherin, or... Mystery man."

"And even if he doesn't change, it's still better than hanging out with Sangster and the others."

It was obvious that Sirius cared about this matter very much, and the other three people all felt the change in his temperament.

"This is indeed difficult to deal with." James smiled evilly again: "I hope Regulus's resistance will not be used only on you, but he will fall to Sangster's camp and become a quarrel between you. traitor."

Faced with James' teasing, Sirius just raised his eyebrows slightly.

"I hope so."

"But the real traitor in the family has always been myself. Fortunately, I have long been accustomed to this."

He forked a piece of steak carelessly and turned to look at Remus who was looking around.

"What are you looking for?" he asked.

"Is the next target you want to bite and turn into a werewolf?"

James grinned: "Nice comeback!"

Sirius shrugged proudly, but he did not forget that the first person to name Regulus was Remus.

Remus glanced around nervously until he saw that no one had any reaction to this sentence before he calmed down again.

"Don't joke about such things!" he whispered.

"I'm just curious where Sangster is," Remus pointed in the direction of the Hufflepuff table: "And his two roommates are not here either."

James was startled for a moment. He quickly glanced around and even stood up. It was not until Sirius had to pull him down again that he said: "Evans is not here either."

Sirius frowned inadvertently.

"Looking at it like this, the guy from Slytherin should be gone too. They have been getting together a lot lately."

"Are we going to the Forbidden Forest again?" James said thoughtfully, "It's like last semester? Today happens to be the last day of vacation."

"Are you planning to go together?" Sirius asked directly.

Seeing the eager expressions of the two of them, Remus quickly advised: "Hey, don't do this - I mean, I haven't learned wandless magic yet."

He came up with this excuse just in time to save them from causing Dumbledore any more trouble.

"That's right." After pouring a basin of cold water on him, James became more awake: "I don't want to be hit by a rock again on the last day before the vacation."

"But we have to hurry up and learn Animagus." He then said: "This will make it difficult for others to recognize us. It will also allow us to go to the Shrieking Shack as soon as possible."

Remus looked at him gratefully, but Peter suddenly screamed.

"James, James,"

Peter pointed a finger in the direction of the auditorium door and said tremblingly: "I just saw a wooden stick suddenly float over. Could it be that the ghost in the Screaming Shack followed us out?"

"Where are the ghosts?" James waved his hand impatiently: "I've already told you..."

He looked at Remus, who looked nervous again, and finally said with a smile, "It's just a little furry problem."

Remus breathed a sigh of relief.

The dinner party in the auditorium is still going on. Unlike the excitement here, the underground passage is just damp and cold.

After jumping into the hole in the depression, the three of them quickly rushed down a dark, frozen and endless slide.They descended unknown distance in the darkness, and finally fell to a very deep place, even deeper than the underground classroom, and maybe they all fell to the bottom of the black lake in the school.

By the time they fell to the ground, all three of them had become disgraced.The darkness in front of them was no longer rough earth and rocks, but turned into a very thick water pipe, taller than any of them.

None of the three people paid attention to the scratches on their arms, and they stood up expressionlessly together.

The same happened to Voldemort who then landed next to them.

He walked barefoot on the hard soil and rocks and walked into the water pipe. The three of them followed him silently.

"It's really nostalgic."

Voldemort said in a cold voice, which echoed in the empty water pipes.

Although it was very dark here, Voldemort seemed to be able to see all the roads clearly. His face turned around as if burned by fire, his fingertips inadvertently touched the cold pipe wall, and his bright red eyes narrowed slightly.

"Here I am again," he said.

"Arrived at Hogwarts, came to the passage leading to the Chamber of Secrets."

"You can't even imagine what I have prepared for this and how long I have been waiting for it."

"Not even Dumbledore can."

The coldness of the ground penetrated the soles of the shoes, and the three people following them exhaled large clouds of white air, but it was not as cold as Voldemort's tone.

"The last time I came here was when I returned to Hogwarts to apply for a job."

"Dumbledore rejected me. He gave up his pursuit of magical supremacy and continued to insist on his stupid point of view: love is more powerful than my kind of magic."

"It's just ridiculous!"

Angry roars echoed in the tunnel, and the three of them followed Voldemort around a corner and continued walking on the cold ground.

"Love......"

Voldemort murmured in a low voice and let out a disdainful sneer.

"If love is so powerful, let Dumbledore stop me."

"If he can do it."

"If he can save you and the students in the castle."

Voldemort's sneer became even more shrill.

Then they stopped together in the darkness.

There seemed to be some huge thing crawling in front of him, motionless.

A ball of light suddenly appeared out of thin air in front of Voldemort, floating in the air and above the giant creature.

The light shines on a huge snake skin, which is green and very bright. At first glance, it looks like the skin of a venomous snake, lying coiled on the ground of the tunnel, and it is empty inside.Apparently the animal that had just shed this skin was at least twenty feet long.

"Good boy..."

Voldemort said suddenly. He patted the shed skin gently and traced the smooth scales with his fingertips.

"Good boy."

The light group disappeared, and the surroundings fell into darkness again.

They bypassed this layer of molting and continued walking deeper into the tunnel.

"The chamber of secrets."

Voldemort said softly, as if talking to himself.

"It took me five full years to find the Chamber of Secrets, even though I knew I would be the heir of Slytherin long before that."

"But all this was ruined by Dumbledore. He never gave up monitoring me and made me be cautious in all my actions."

"Only that vacation and when I came back to apply for a job gave me more time to discover the secrets here and made more preparations."

He took a deep breath, seeming to taste the familiar smell in the air.

"It was not an easy vacation," he said.

"It's not easy to penetrate this entire passage, not to mention that I have made a lot of preparations secretly."

"I have to be patient and wait patiently to have a chance to make Hogwarts pure again."

"You will see it, you will all see it..."

They turned one corner after another in the tunnel, and finally stopped in front of a solid wall.

It is engraved with two intertwined snakes, and their eyes are set with large, shining emeralds.

Voldemort let out a low, hoarse hiss again.

"Open."

The two snakes separated, and the stone wall cracked in the middle and slowly slid to both sides.

At the same time, Voldemort's cold voice continued to sound.

"The monster cannot be released from the castle. It, like me, has to wait."

"Only in this way can it have a chance to complete the mission of the successor and drive out the Muggles."

"But that's not important, at least not the most important thing."

Voldemort opened his arms and danced with the sound of the stone wall sliding, as if he was manipulating musical notes.

"Waiting doesn't mean you need to hide."

"This is also an opportunity - a chance to create more monsters."

Eventually, the stone wall disappeared.

The scene inside was displayed before their eyes without restraint.

They stood at one side of a long, dimly lit room.

Many stone pillars engraved with coiled and entangled snakes stand tall and support the ceiling that melts in the darkness of the heights, casting long and treacherous black shadows on the entire room filled with green and mysterious atmosphere.

Voldemort took a step forward and walked in.

The three of them continued to follow him silently, weaving between the stone pillars surrounded by huge rocks, and moving forward slowly.

Every step they took created a hollow, loud echo among the ghostly walls.

and an inexplicable agitation sound.

It's like the heart is beating.

Voldemort stood between the stone pillars. He looked around at the big snake carved on it, and once again made an obscure hissing sound in his mouth.

"Kids, wake up," he said.

The sculptures began to move inexplicably. They were slowly squirming, as if a layer of solid ice had formed on their bodies and was slowly breaking into pieces.

This is the basilisk.

A whole group of basilisks.

Weird clicking sounds sounded one after another in the secret room, mixed with the coldness and darkness in the air, making people's hair stand on end.

The face that looked like a melting candle twitched the corners of its mouth, as if it was smiling, or mocking Dumbledore's ignorance.

"It will take some time to wake up after molting," he said.

"Before the dinner officially begins, we might as well go and take a look at my masterpiece when I returned to Hogwarts to apply for a job."

"There, desserts are ready."

"It's both yours and theirs."

On the other side, outside the gates of Hogwarts.

Dumbledore finally arrived, and the chains on the door were automatically untied.

He silently looked at Hogwarts Castle, his light blue eyes showing sharp gaze.

Even far away from the gate, he seemed to be able to hear the laughter coming from the auditorium.

Suddenly, snowflakes fell from the sky.

Dumbledore looked at the castle gate that opened and closed inexplicably, and his eyes followed a short stick that moved quickly in mid-air.

It was the handle of a flying broomstick, and the person riding it seemed very unskilled. From time to time, the soles under the invisibility cloak would be exposed in mid-air.

Dumbledore took one last look at Hogwarts Castle. He did not notify anyone in advance, but just walked towards the Forbidden Forest in the swaying snow like the handle.