The dueling club continued for a while, with Hermione intentionally spilling water on Pansy during their battle in order to get close to her and successfully pulling her hair.
All the ingredients for their potion were now finished.
Then the three of them returned to the girls' bathroom. But Hermione wasn't as happy as she had thought she would be.
She seemed a little afraid to know the truth, while Harry and Ron were excited that they finally had an answer.
"But have you thought about it?" Hermione looked at the potion they were about to brew. "What if he isn't the one who opened the chamber?"
"It doesn't matter. He still knows some clues," said Ron, his excited expression turning stiff at the thought. But he still tried to be comforting.
"Okay," sighed Hermione helplessly. "So, how do you plan on getting back at Pansy? I don't want to come back suddenly when we're talking."
"You can rest assured that we have a plan, right Harry?" asked Ron, patting his chest confidently.
"Yeah," nodded Harry.
"What are you planning to do?" asked Hermione, afraid that they would do something that violated school rules.
"Uh, it's just a little accident. Harry and I just need to 'accidentally' spill something on her robe. Then she'll go to Snape to complain and it'll be enough to keep us occupied for most of the day," said Ron.
"And Snape won't be able to deduct any points from us during the holidays," added Harry with a laugh.
"Well, then you'll both be pitiful and stuck with Snape for Christmas," said Hermione sympathetically.
"It's not as bad as your sacrifice. Think about it, it's kind of disgusting to be someone else home," said Ron carelessly.
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After the dueling club, Malfoy had obtained what he needed - some pronunciations in snake language.
It seemed to be all about opening, unraveling, and the like, which gave him a little more confidence in opening the secret chamber.
Then came the extremely abnormal duel event, which couldn't even be explained by the abnormality.
Malfoy didn't believe that a straw bag who kept forgetting spells could really defeat Snape on its own, so the answer was straightforward. The prisoner was Lockhart, and the diary was in his hand.
Malfoy remembered the scene at the bookstore. When Lockhart went to persuade and returned without success, he walked past their father and son and also passed the bookshelf.
This way of thinking, combined with his "supernormal" performance in the dueling club, made him the biggest suspect.
"Not only that," continued Malfoy, recalling more details about Lockhart.
"The roar of the rooster is also his most hated screams, and I have to say that Riddle was more clever than Voldemort in some ways. During the period when Voldemort had no nose, he only believed in his own strength and was a bit extreme. And young Riddle would use other people's good feelings towards him to his advantage. He replaces some rude roaring letters with exquisite amulets, making it seem like he has a more suitable personality and not raising any suspicion. It's a perfect cover."
Thinking about it, Malfoy couldn't help but pat himself on the head with some remorse.
He realized that his thinking was broad enough, and even the protagonist had not let go of doubts. He had thought that Neville was actually tempted by a teacher.
"Lockhart, can you fight for his revenge?" he couldn't help but slander, and then began to think mischievously.
"If you can come back alive this time, you can really write a book about your own memory - 'The Years I Was Enchanted: Days with Diary.'"
But even knowing the truth didn't help. Malfoy's intuition told him that Lockhart might not have done well with little Ginny.
Ginny had noticed something was wrong and threw the diary away, but Malfoy doubted Lockhart, not the diary. It dropped a golden opportunity into his lap and he grabbed it.
"That seems to have been prepared early," thought Malfoy, as he began to formulate his own plan.
He took out a piece of paper and started writing and drawing on it.
The next day, news from Gryffindor's lounge shocked everyone.
Someone had been petrified again. This time the target wasn't a Muggle-born wizard or an animal. This time it was a pure-blood wizard and a ghost.
Ron was terrified as he saw the almost headless Nick.
The panic spread quickly throughout the colleges, but Slytherin was the most affected.
Most of them were purebloods, so after Professor Binns had told them about the rumor, they were even somewhat proud. "Look, only our House is the safest, and those muddy species should die."
But now this illusion had been shattered. T
he Basilisk doesn't just want to kill the mudbloods! It wants to kill purebloods too!
The Weasley brothers' roaring letters were in high demand again.
Before, Slytherin students had almost dismissed them because they thought they were safe.
Now that the situation was worse for them than for others, they had to buy them from their counterparts.
Even though Dean Thomas made some money, George and Fred didn't have a smile on their faces.Their younger brother was petrified.
Although they usually played tricks on Ron, family love runs deep. These were just ways to increase feelings and didn't cause harm, but the problem with the Basilisk directly endangered their lives, which made them worry.
In the ward, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione also visited Ron as soon as they had the time.
Even though he couldn't speak, his mouth was wide open as if he had seen something terrible.
"I should have gone back with you," Harry said to himself with remorse as he sat by Ron's bed.
At the time, Harry was going to take Professor McGonagall's transformation class with Ron, but Ron didn't bring his book.
Harry was originally going to return with Ron to get the book, but Ron stopped him and said, "Professor McGonagall's class isn't for a while. It's better for one person to go than two."
Then Ron rushed back to get the book.
This was the last sentence Ron said to him that day.
"Harry, it's not your fault," Hermione comforted him.
"Maybe you and he would have been petrified together? You can't take everything on your own."
"How long will it take for the recovery potion to be completely finished?" Harry suddenly raised his head and asked Hermione.
His eyes were blazing with anger. He was going to say the polyjuice potion, but he saw that Ginny was still there and forcibly changed his mouth.
"Christmas," Hermione also glanced at Ginny before saying. Her mood was more complicated.
One of her closest friends was petrified, which made her very frustrated, and she hoped to find out the truth soon, but she also hoped that the truth wouldn't come from that person.
This complex mentality made her look anxious.
She suspected that she would be nervous and speechless in front of Malfoy if everything was messed up.
"That's good," Harry waved his fist.
"If I find out who did it, I'll make them pay!"
At this time, the Slytherin Lounge was in turmoil. The large number of students looked worried.
Although Ron had the name of a pureblood in their eyes, he was still different from those mudbloods. They were shocked that even he was petrified.
This made the Slytherin students, who had been sitting back and worrying, unable to help but startle.
Even though they had taken a few roaring letters, they couldn't calm their minds. T
hey felt like they had to keep talking, as if it would alleviate their fear.
Malfoy felt that he had guessed the truth. It was simple.
Riddle was targeting Ron because his brother was selling letters, for simple reasons.
As for why Riddle didn't try to start against them, it was easy to guess that dealing with one person is always easier than two, not to mention that Ron's grades were still very low, making him easier to deal with and more deterrent.
Malfoy sighed silently, voldemort was trying to get Dumbledore out of the school.
Only the old man who was keen on fighting for power would be willing to do it. If Dumbledore left, how could Hogwarts be considered the safest place in the magical world in Europe? This is will become upside down!
If Dumbledore really left and Hogwarts became a unsafe place for students, it was estimated that the Voldemort would rampant. Even if Voldemort is still not his prome, who would be able to fight him?
Malfoy felt his head hurt again. He hadn't found a perfect plan yet.
All known methods of fighting the snake were always possible.