After that, the school was peaceful for a while. Everyone seemed to have forgotten about that poor cat, as if nothing had ever happened. However, when Harry and the others had asked Hagrid about it earlier, the death of the roosters still cast a shadow over the matter, making the truth difficult to discern.
They remained suspicious. If the Basilisk truly existed, was it living in that Chamber of Secrets? The writing on the wall seemed to have been ignored by everyone.
But Hermione had not. During History of Magic, she asked Professor Binns about the Chamber of Secrets, and Professor Binns looked at her with great displeasure.
As a stiff and fastidious ghost, Binns did not like myths and legends; he liked facts, real and reliable facts. However, his teaching ability was not high; he only knew how to read from the book in his dry, low, and monotonous voice, like an old, worn-out vacuum cleaner. In the end, the whole class would become drowsy, occasionally snapping back to reality to copy down a name or date, before falling back into a semi-sleep state.
However, today's lesson might have been the one the students listened to most attentively in his entire teaching career. Unable to resist the students' unusually strong interest, he finally told the legend of the Chamber of Secrets.
"Is the Basilisk the terrifying thing inside the Chamber of Secrets?" Hermione continued to ask, but before Professor Binns could answer, she began to reason to herself: "The symbol of Slytherin is also a snake; this possibility is too great." She then sat down, immersed in her own deductions, occasionally murmuring.
"I truly regret telling you this ridiculous story," Professor Binns scolded the students sharply, because they had started discussing it directly, treating him as if he were not there. He coughed once, finally drawing everyone's attention back.
Within five minutes, the students had fallen back into that drowsy state of sleepiness.
After class, the trio began to discuss the information they had just heard about the Chamber of Secrets.
"I've long known that Salazar Slytherin was a perverted old lunatic," Ron said to Harry and Hermione. "But I didn't know he was the one who came up with this pure-blood nonsense. Even if you paid me, I wouldn't enter his house. To be honest, if the Sorting Hat had put me in Slytherin, I wouldn't say a word; I would just take the train home."
Hermione nodded reluctantly, though in her heart she still felt that one should not judge a person's character based on their house.
As for Harry, his feelings were even more complicated because the Sorting Hat had once seriously considered putting him in Slytherin. He clearly remembered that small voice speaking in his ear when he put the hat on his head a year ago; it all felt as if it had happened yesterday.
"You will be very successful, you know, it's all hidden in your head. Slytherin will help you achieve success; there is no doubt about that."
If Slytherin represented evil, did his own character or essence also contain something evil?
They subsequently went to the corridor where the attack had occurred, hoping to find some clues. As they searched, they walked to the girls' bathroom. Just as they were about to ask Myrtle about what happened on Halloween, Percy—Ron's Prefect brother—discovered them. After deducting five points from them, he drove them out, though in truth, he had no right to deduct points.
That night in the common room, Harry, Ron, and Hermione tried to sit as far away from Percy as possible. Ron's mood was still very bad. While doing his magic homework, he kept spilling ink on his parchment. When he absentmindedly took out his wand, intending to clear away the stains, he accidentally set the parchment on fire. Ron was so angry that flames also flared up in his heart, and he slammed his copy of the Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 shut. To Harry's surprise, Hermione also slammed her book shut.
"Tell me, who exactly could be the heir of Slytherin?" Ron asked, fiddling with his broken wand.
"I don't know." Harry shook his head.
"Me neither." Hermione sensed that Ron was about to say a name she did not want to hear, but she still shook her head.
"If I were Salazar Slytherin," Ron lowered his voice and looked around. Finding no one looking their way, he continued, "I would definitely look for an absolutely excellent heir, someone who is pure-blood themselves and willing to deal with Muggles and Muggle-born witches and wizards."
"Are you talking about Draco?" The name slipped out of Harry's mouth.
Neither of them noticed Hermione's lips tighten.
"Who else could it be?" Ron's voice dropped even lower. "Think about it. Although we don't want to admit it, he is indeed very talented in magic. I feel like even those sixth- or seventh-year students aren't as good as him." As if remembering what happened in Hagrid's hut in his first year, Ron took a deep breath and continued, "You can't possibly imagine Crabbe and Goyle being the heir of the Chamber of Secrets, right?"
At this, Harry could not help but laugh out loud. Those two did not fit the bill of an heir at all. If Salazar knew that his heir was of such calibre, perhaps the first thing the Basilisk would kill would not be a Muggle, but those two idiots.
"Think about it again, the rumours about him earlier, using a spell to torture a Muggle, resulting in his wand being confiscated," Ron continued.
Harry also remembered his experience that day; even now, thinking about it made him shudder. He had almost been transported to Draco's house along with that cabinet. That day, he had heard many things about Lucius, seemingly dealing with some items related to the Dark Arts. Then later, when they met again at Flourish and Blotts, the atmosphere between the Weasley and Draco families was even more tense. Whether in terms of feeling or reason, Harry stood on Ron's side.
"But these are all speculations," Hermione said hesitantly. She was somewhat reluctant to speak up for him, because even she did not know whom to believe. "What you said makes a lot of sense; he is indeed the most suspicious, but we don't have any evidence," she said helplessly.
"Yeah, we can't just walk up to him and point at him and ask, 'Hey, Draco, did you open the Chamber of Secrets?' That would be too stupid. If he were to answer us, he'd be even stupider." Ron also shrugged.
"Perhaps I have a way." Hermione hurriedly cast her gaze toward Percy at the other end of the room and lowered her voice even further. "Of course, it's not easy to do, and it's dangerous, very dangerous. We would probably have to break fifty school rules."
"In about a month, if you're willing to tell us, then you'll tell us, right?" Ron said impatiently.
"We could turn into someone he is familiar with and go ask him directly." Hermione did not know how she had come up with this suggestion.
"Are you joking?" Harry and Ron laughed out loud, looking at Hermione in disbelief.
"I'm not." Hermione shook her head and said, "Although Snape is very annoying, the knowledge in his class is indeed very useful. A few weeks ago, when he was teaching, he mentioned a potion — Polyjuice Potion."
"What is that?" Ron and Harry asked in unison.
"This potion can turn you into another person," Hermione said slowly. "Of course, it has a time limit; after the time is up, you will change back."
Suddenly, Hermione noticed that Harry and Ron were both looking at her in silence, not speaking.
It only then occurred to Hermione that Crabbe and Goyle were only Draco's nominal followers. In reality, Draco did not often hang out with them; they were not very close. So, besides them, who else could it be?
Pansy.
Ron and Harry would not be willing to turn into girls, even for an extremely short period of time.
Hermione felt her stomach begin to cramp; she had dug a hole for herself.
"Hermione, the safety of the entire school depends on you." Ron looked at her with an expectant face.
Harry nodded heavily.
"But the recipe is very hard to get," Hermione said, feeling somewhat reluctant and wanting to find an excuse to back out. "Snape said it's in a book called Powerful Potions, and it must be in the Restricted Section of the library."
To borrow books from the Restricted Section, there was only one way: to get a slip signed by a teacher.
"I've thought of a good candidate," Harry said.
"Me too." Ron also laughed.
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