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Chapter 143
The moment George stepped into the room, he immediately sensed something wrong.
"Armor Protection."
Almost instantly, protective spells appeared around both him and Harry. Harry had never realized anyone could cast magic that quickly.
After a few seconds of silence, George asked, "No other enemies around… Harry, what happened here?"
He strode to Harry's bedside and looked down at the house-elf lying on the floor with a candlestick driven through its skull.
"That's the elf that attacked me at Uncle Vernon's house—the servant of Voldemort's side," Harry explained immediately. "It was also controlling the rogue Bludger today and trying to kill me."
He continued, "Back at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, it sealed the barrier and tried to keep me out of school. Tonight it threatened me again, and I took the chance to kill it."
George reached out and patted Harry on the shoulder.
"You did well. You made the right decision. You protected yourself, and you avenged Ron and everyone else on that field. Surviving an attack like that and still fighting back takes courage. A lot of people couldn't have done it."
George looked at the candlestick piercing the elf's temple and mentally reconstructed the scene.
Harry had been injured and unarmed. The elf had arrogantly threatened him, and Harry had used a hidden candlestick to pierce its skull.
For a twelve-year-old, that was astonishing.
A second-tier wizard without a wand had still managed to remain calm, think clearly, and use everything available to defeat a deadly assassin. It was genuinely impressive.
Harry scratched the back of his head awkwardly with his good hand.
"It wasn't that amazing. Just… stupid and crazy, I guess. I saw an opening and took it. Meditation helps me stay strangely calm in dangerous situations."
"Whether it was reckless or crazy, a murderous house-elf isn't easy to deal with," George replied seriously. "You handled it better than many adult wizards would have."
He waved his hand. A bedsheet floated over, wrapped around the elf's corpse and the blood on the floor, and even cleaned the candlestick along the way. Harry would probably still be sleeping there tonight, so the room needed to be cleaned up.
Looking at the tightly wrapped body and the bloodstained sheet, George's anger suddenly flared.
"This school has become unbelievably ridiculous. First a Basilisk appears for the first time in a thousand years, and now there are house-elf assassins running around. Dumbledore really is playing with fire."
After thinking for a moment, he turned to Harry.
"I'm taking you back to the dormitory. From now on, don't ever leave your wand behind again."
Harry considered it briefly. He no longer wanted to stay in such a dangerous place, so he got up and followed George.
Just then, heavy footsteps echoed from the corridor outside.
Dumbledore entered the hospital wing wearing thick nightclothes and a sleeping cap, holding one end of something in his hands. Professor McGonagall entered behind him holding the other end, and together they carefully laid it on a bed.
"What happened here?" Dumbledore asked sternly, immediately noticing the traces of defensive magic.
"The school's security is a complete joke," George replied coldly. "There was another attack tonight. And now even Voldemort's assassins are showing up."
"When I arrived, I found a house-elf attacking Harry, so I killed it."
Compared to the truth—that Harry had stabbed the assassin to death with a candlestick—George's explanation was far more believable and avoided unnecessary complications.
Dumbledore looked at the dead Dobby, then at the petrified figure lying nearby.
Finally, he said to George and Harry, "Return to your dormitory. Be careful on the way."
Then he turned to McGonagall.
"Please fetch Madam Pomfrey."
Harry slowly followed George out of the hospital wing. As he passed the bed, he turned slightly and looked at the petrified figure lying there.
Cold moonlight illuminated a frozen face filled with shock.
Harry's stomach twisted.
It was Colin Creevey.
His eyes were wide open, his arms clutched tightly against his chest, and his camera still hung in his hands.
After leaving the hospital wing, Harry quietly said to George,
"I think he came to visit me too."
George comforted him gently.
"Professor Sprout's Mandrakes are almost fully grown. He'll recover soon."
"I hope so," Harry said quietly.
But his heart still felt cold.
Hogwarts was no longer a safe place.
Early Sunday morning, Harry woke up before dawn.
After everything that had happened yesterday, he became even more determined to solve the Basilisk problem as quickly as possible.
The three of them headed straight for Moaning Myrtle's bathroom to continue brewing the Polyjuice Potion.
If they finished it quickly, they could finally discover who in Slytherin House was controlling the Basilisk. Hopefully it was Malfoy—then they could solve everything at once.
"Thanks to Harry beating Slytherin, Gryffindor is now leading the House Cup by fifty points," Ron said as he placed the cauldron on top of a toilet.
"What a barbaric game," Hermione said disdainfully.
She conjured a waterproof magical flame beneath the cauldron and carefully continued brewing the potion ingredients.
"I still can't believe Colin was attacked too. I thought the roosters would keep the Basilisk away."
Her voice carried clear frustration.
"We need to find the culprit as soon as possible."
"Roosters need sleep too," Ron replied. "And Hogwarts is huge. The Basilisk can always find somewhere to hide unless we turn the whole school into a giant chicken farm."
He paused and grinned.
"Honestly, I think that sounds pretty good."
Then his expression darkened again.
"But the professors would never allow it. We'll just have to get Malfoy to confess who's controlling the Basilisk. I bet it's him. He just lost the match, so now he probably wants someone to take it out on."
After hesitating for a moment, Harry finally spoke.
"Besides Colin… I killed an assassin yesterday."
Then he told Ron and Hermione everything that had happened with Dobby.
"I can't believe this school is so dangerous," Hermione said in shock. She was stunned not only by the lack of safety at Hogwarts, but also by the fact that Harry had managed to kill an assassin using only a candlestick.
"That's amazing!" Ron exclaimed excitedly. "It's just like a hero in a story—unarmed, but still killing an assassin with nothing except a candlestick and his bare hands."
He looked at Harry with obvious admiration.
Harry was starting to feel more and more like the hero from an adventure novel.
(To be continued.)