The next day, Victor continued quietly doing what he privately considered the work of the "chosen one."
That evening he separated his astral form from his body again and drifted through the castle until he reached the second floor.
The girls' bathroom.
The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.
Victor passed through the door and floated into the gloomy bathroom.
He had barely entered when Moaning Myrtle suddenly turned in midair.
Her eyes widened.
"Wow! A new ghost!" she said excitedly, flying closer. "And such a handsome one too!"
She floated directly in front of him, staring with interest.
Victor paused, slightly surprised.
Until now he had assumed no one could see his astral form.
Apparently ghosts could.
He looked at Myrtle calmly.
"I'm not dead," he said.
Myrtle blinked.
"Oh," she said, sounding slightly disappointed.
"But if you're not dead, then how did you become a ghost?" she asked, tilting her head curiously. "Did you come here to see me?"
Victor looked at her with a deadpan expression. It seemed Myrtle's imagination was just as wild as the stories suggested. She also appeared very susceptible to anyone she considered attractive.
"No," Victor said simply.
Myrtle's expression immediately collapsed.
"Of course," she sniffed miserably. "No one ever comes here to see me."
Her voice wavered, and a moment later she started crying again, loud watery sobs echoing around the bathroom.
Victor watched her for a second.
He didn't try to comfort her.
Instead, his attention shifted to the row of sinks.
He drifted closer, examined the one with the tiny snake engraving, and without hesitation moved straight into it, his astral form slipping down through the plumbing toward the hidden passage below.
Myrtle's crying slowed.
She sniffed loudly and wiped her eyes, waiting for the usual reaction — someone trying to comfort her, someone apologizing, someone at least pretending to care.
But nothing happened.
The silence felt strange.
Confused, Myrtle looked around the bathroom.
The handsome new ghost she had been talking to a moment ago was gone.
Her eyes widened.
"What—?"
She floated quickly around the sinks, looking behind the stalls and mirrors as if he might still be there.
But the bathroom was empty.
Myrtle's expression shifted from confusion to irritation.
"Idiot!" she shouted loudly at the empty room.
***
Victor's astral form slid down the long vertical pipe like a drifting shadow.
For several seconds there was only darkness and the hollow echo of the ancient plumbing system rushing past him. The passage widened suddenly, and he emerged into a vast stone chamber far beneath Hogwarts.
The Chamber of Secrets stretched before him exactly as in the movie.
A long stone walkway ran through the center of the chamber, damp with centuries of moisture. On both sides of the path stood massive stone pillars carved into the shapes of enormous serpents.
Their stone heads arched inward above the walkway like guardians watching anyone who dared enter.
The chamber was silent except for the faint echo of dripping water.
At the far end rose the colossal statue of Salazar Slytherin, its stone face towering over the entire chamber.
The statue's hollow mouth formed a wide circular opening — the passage from which the monster of the chamber would emerge when summoned.
Victor moved slowly across the chamber, and then he saw it. Coiled inside the mouth, partly hidden in the shadows, lay the creature itself—the basilisk.
Even curled up, it was enormous—far larger than any snake that should exist, though still smaller than his Animagus form. Compared to his majestic form, the basilisk seemed small.
"Hm," Victor murmured quietly.
"If I kill this thing now, the entire Chamber incident ends before it even begins."
No basilisk.
No petrified students.
No monster roaming the castle.
A clean solution.
Victor floated closer, examining the creature more carefully.
But there was a problem.
In his astral form he couldn't use strong magic. Most spells required a physical wand and a living body to channel properly. Even if he could cast something, it wouldn't be powerful enough to kill a creature like this.
And he didn't know the Killing Curse anyway.
Which left only one real option.
Victor's gaze returned to the sleeping basilisk.
"To kill you," he muttered calmly, "I'll have to come back in person."
If he came here physically, he could transform into his basilisk form and kill this thing. A basilisk might be powerful—but it was still just a magical beast, and he was a wizard in Animagus form.
But there was one obstacle.
The entrance.
To open the Chamber of Secrets, one had to speak Parseltongue, the language of snakes.
Victor crossed his arms thoughtfully.
"Though," he said after a moment, "that might not be as difficult as it sounds."
Parseltongue was simply sound patterns.
If he listened carefully enough, he could mimic it..
Victor only needed to reproduce the same effect.
"Learn a few sounds," he murmured. "Practice the pronunciation."
Then return.
Open the entrance properly.
Come down here with his real body.
And kill the basilisk before anyone else even realized the Chamber had been opened.
As for the diary…
The diary's power—well, it wouldn't be that dangerous. Once he was done with the basilisk, the diary would be next.
"Yes," he said quietly.
"This is the simplest solution."
Then his astral form turned and drifted back toward the pipe leading up to the castle.
The basilisk continued sleeping.
Completely unaware that someone had just come very close to ending its thousand-year watch beneath Hogwarts.
*****
A/N : 🔥 On Patreon, the story has already been updated up to Chapter 82🔥
⚡ A 15-chapter early access is available for those who want to read ahead ⚡
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