The next afternoon, at the long Gryffindor table, Harry asked Ivan, who seemed distracted.
"Ivan, did you catch Dobby last night?"
"Of course, but Dobby lost that thing…" Ivan said, nodding.
Surprised, Harry put down his knife and fork and looked around. When no one was looking, he asked quietly, "So what do we do?"
"Don't worry, I'll find that person as soon as I can…" Ivan reassured her.
Harry was relieved to hear this.
In fact, Ivan was having a headache over it. With so many people in the school, and the Horcruxes being easy to hide, finding the person who obtained them would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
After dinner, Ivan refused Harry's offer to come along and went to the girls' bathroom alone.
Marka, who had been keeping watch for a long time, flew over as soon as Ivan arrived.
"Has anyone been in here before, Macha?" Ivan asked, and she shook her head.
Ivan breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed Tom would have a hard time charming someone, at least in a matter of days.
As early as the day the Horcrux disappeared, Ivan had his owl keep an eye on the corridor outside the girls' bathroom, and report back to him as soon as he saw or heard anyone enter.
One could still rely on the Disillusionment Charm to hide, but there was only one way into the Chamber of Secrets.
The entrance had to be opened in order to gain entry, and the commotion caused by the entrance could not have been hidden from a hearing owl.
Therefore, as long as they kept a close eye on this place, they would eventually catch the person who had taken the Horcrux…
Of course, he had to get rid of the Basilisk first before he could set up a trap!
Otherwise, he would have been attacked from both sides…
After all, Tom Riddle's control over the basilisk was much better than his control now…
This was very bad for him!
"Ssss ~ (open!) " Ivan hissed at the entrance mechanism, and with a jolt, the passageway slowly opened and they jumped in.
Ivan was familiar with the Chamber of Secrets.
Ivan, however, did not let his guard down. He was always on the lookout for any unforeseen circumstances, and only relaxed when he confirmed with his psionics that the basilisk was still in its lair.
"Speak to me, Slytherin—the greatest of the Hogwarts Four…" Ivan says, opening the door to the basilisk lair.
The basilisk quickly responded to Ivan's summons and slithered out of the statue's mouth, its serpentine head close to Ivan's face.
"Ssss ~ (Eating… an Acromantula…)"
Ivan didn't expect the basilisk to remember this, so he said, "Take me to the research lab first. I have to look at the information again, then I'll take you to eat the Acromantula…"
The basilisk nodded and agreed, leaning down to lead Ivan into the nest as it had done the last time.
"Can I take some of your blood if I need to study it?" Ivan asked suddenly.
The basilisk did not speak. Instead, it opened its fanged mouth and roared at Ivan for a while, its glowing eyes filled with killing intent…
Although the previous two controllers had extracted blood from it on more than one occasion, they had only done so because it could not resist.
The Parseltongue of the little wizard in front of him did not have the power to force him to listen.
Ivan fell silent. He had half-expected the basilisk to be a powerful addition to the team after fusing with its blood.
Unfortunately, the loss of the Horcrux caused the Basilisk to once again become a threat!
He had given the basilisk one last chance, but it was clear that it did not appreciate it.
Ivan could only say that he was sorry… His improved potion would be ready in three days, and today was the perfect day to draw blood!
"I hope those Acromantulas are a little bit more powerful… They're magical creatures, after all, and there's an entire nest of them… At the very least, they'll make the basilisk eat until it's full!" Ivan muttered to himself, then changed his expression and comforted the basilisk with his language, telling it to take him to the research lab first.
He needed to get some useful information out first…
In case I have to climb up next time…
…
Late at night, a long dark shadow swept across the surface of the lake at Hogwarts, sending water rippling as it fled in all directions…
A moment later, a large, flat head emerged from the water, and Ivan, lying on top of it, coughed painfully.
Yvonne jumped off the basilisk's head and looked around at the thick black woods. "It's just as I thought," she said wistfully. "There's always a pipe that leads straight in here, and the sewers smell a bit too bad."
"Hsssss~ (I smell them!)!" The basilisk began to stir as it caught a whiff of the alluring aroma again, in large numbers…
Ivan let the basilisk roam the Forbidden Forest and begin its hunt!
To avoid accidentally injuring Hagrid, who often came to the Forbidden Forest, or the centaurs who stayed there, Ivan chose to start in the early hours of the morning, when the vast majority of intelligent creatures were asleep.
Additionally, Ivan had previously deduced the location of Aragog's lair from the route taken by the school's spiders.
This minimised the possibility of being seen, and if any unlucky soul were to bump into this, Ivan would have to apologise.
It didn't take long for the basilisk to locate the lair of the Acromantula with its keen sense of smell.
The Acromantulas were obviously unaware of the basilisk's attack, or rather, they sensed it but did not have time to escape. The nest was suddenly filled with the sound of basilisks biting their prey.
Immediately after, countless small spiders emerged from the cave. They were all ordinary spiders that had crawled over to take refuge in the castle. They probably did not expect the basilisk to attack their nest.
However, due to their small size, they were unable to see the basilisk's eyes, and the basilisk had no interest in eating them.
Ivan stood guard outside the door, looking at the five buttons in his hand. He had to admit that the Level 5 Transfiguration Charm had achieved a preliminary complete transformation, so much so that he could easily change the five roosters into buttons and carry them with him.
"It should be about time…" After waiting for a long time, Ivan noticed that the activity inside was becoming quieter and quieter, so he slowly walked into the cave, while the Guardian God circled around him as his eyes.