"A Basilisk? But its true power lies in the fact that anyone who looks at it dies instantly on the spot, rather than being petrified?"
Professor McGonagall said this in confusion after hearing Sherlock's words.
Sherlock pointed to the camera in Dumbledore's hand, which was now completely burnt out.
"The students who were attacked probably didn't look directly into its eyes, but rather through something. For instance, Colin looked through his camera, and Justin, who was attacked before him, saw it through the reflection of a puddle on the floor."
Dumbledore looked at him with praise in his eyes.
"Very keen observation, Sherlock. I'm now a bit puzzled as to why those people said you weren't suited for a combat department when you joined the Aurors."
He looked at the camera in his hand and spoke softly.
"There is a high probability that the attacking creature is a Basilisk, but the key issue isn't what the attacker is, but who opened it..."
His last sentence was spoken in a low voice, and Sherlock and Professor McGonagall did not hear it clearly.
Then Dumbledore shook his head.
"If it really is a Basilisk, then the method to defeat it is also very simple. The crow of a rooster is fatal to it. I remember Hagrid keeps quite a few roosters; we can use them as a defensive preparation."
However, things were not that simple.
Last night, all the roosters Hagrid kept had been strangled to death by someone.
Clearly, the person who released the Basilisk was well-prepared for these natural enemies.
But in any case, with Sherlock's reminder, Dumbledore and the school's professors were able to prepare in advance.
Roosters are not rare creatures; they can be bought anywhere outside. A known danger is much easier to deal with than an unknown one, giving the informed professors a sense of confidence.
But the students did not have that confidence.
For the sake of not frightening them, the professors did not inform any students that the creature attacking them was a Basilisk.
So the students were still living in fear of the unknown danger.
All the students from Muggle families were in a state of panic. Even the usually timid Neville's face grew paler by the day, the horror and fear in his eyes impossible to hide.
"What are you afraid of, Neville? You're a pure-blood; the monster in the Chamber of Secrets won't target you."
Ron comforted him after seeing his expression in the Gryffindor common room.
But his attempt had no effect. Neville left the common room looking distraught, heading toward the library.
"He's always been this cowardly. Ignore him for now," Harry said preoccupiedly; he was in no mood to suspect Neville's unusual reaction. (TN: What kind of Harry is this?)
"Professor Cavendish just blessed Colin yesterday, and then Colin had an accident today. This is definitely not a coincidence!" (TN: Blessed?)
Hermione also looked completely puzzled.
"But Professor Cavendish couldn't possibly be the culprit. We discussed this before; he's a half-blood. The Heir of Slytherin must be of pure-blood descent, right?"
"That's not necessarily true," Ron said solemnly. "Remember what I told you before? There are very, very few wizarding families left that can still be called pure-blood. If they didn't intermarry with Muggles, wizards might have gone extinct long ago. The family descended from Slytherin might have long since forgotten their ancestral identity. After all, none of the surviving pure-blood families are known to have any connection to Slytherin."
The evidence that previously proved Sherlock's innocence was now overturned by Ron. At this moment, Hermione was shocked to find that, based on the current evidence, Professor Cavendish's likelihood of being the Heir was actually no lower than Malfoy's.
She stammered,
"But... but I still don't believe it. If Professor Cavendish really is the culprit, and he truly hates Muggle-born wizards that much, then why is he so willing to answer my questions? Although his tone is cold and his attitude toward people is average, we all know that Professor Cavendish is actually a very good person. Back in Diagon Alley, he even got into a fight with Malfoy's father to help Mr. Weasley."
Hermione's words left both Ron and Harry with heavy hearts.
When they first met Sherlock, they didn't have a very good impression of him because of his cold way of speaking.
But in their later interactions, they found that the real Sherlock was not as indifferent as he appeared on the surface.
The real Sherlock was gentle and elegant. He never spoke harshly even to students who weren't very bright. His classes were humorous and interesting. To get them interested in Defence Against the Dark Arts, he even found a way to conjure characters from cartoons to act as teaching assistants.
After nearly half a semester of studying and getting along, Harry and the others had truly accepted this professor. They couldn't imagine Sherlock really being that cold-blooded killer who wanted to "purge" the entire school.
After a long silence, Harry suddenly spoke up.
"Do you think it's possible that Professor Sherlock isn't the culprit, but that he's simply a jinx?"
Hermione and Ron were stunned by this hypothesis, which was neither magical nor scientific.
"Harry, I know you don't want Professor Cavendish to be the culprit—none of us do—but you can't use such groundless claims to dismiss his suspicion. That's irresponsible to everyone else..."
"I'm not dismissing it, I'm serious!"
Harry interrupted Ron solemnly and began to analyze it step by step.
"Do you remember the first day of school when we came in the flying car and ended up crashing into the Whomping Willow and getting injured?"
Ron was taken aback for a moment, then nodded.
"Of course I remember. That willow tree was like it suddenly went mad and wanted to kill us."
"Then we went to Madam Pomfrey for treatment, and on the way back to the Gryffindor common room, we ran into Professor Forrest. Do you remember what he said to us?"
"He said... he didn't want anyone taking leave from his first class."
Ron only remembered this clearly because he and Harry had been discussing making an excuse to skip class the next day and were caught by Sherlock.
Harry shook his head.
"Not that one. What he said after seeing us was, 'I thought you would eventually be able to land safely.'"
Ron and Hermione looked bewildered.
"What kind of evidence is that? Professor Cavendish might have just said it casually at the time. Our injury was just a coincidence."