"Tsk* Couldn't find it."
Daphne searched everywhere but came up empty-handed.
John frowned and looked at Pansy.
"Haha... the game has begun."
Pansy suddenly burst into hysterical laughter, her expression filled with madness.
Then, her voice dropped to a low, menacing tone: "John Wick, use all your knowledge—try it!"
With that, Pansy somehow found the strength to throw off the two people holding her down.
She pulled a bottle out of her pocket and drank from it.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
The sudden turn of events shocked everyone, but John quickly intervened, casting a spell that hit Pansy, rendering her immobile and causing her to collapse.
But it was too late; Pansy had already consumed half of the potion.
John stepped forward to check on her. Pansy's wide eyes were locked on him, her body unable to move. Black veins appeared on her neck and cheeks.
In those eyes, it seemed as though another pair of eyes was hidden within.
"She's been cursed ....the Imperius Curse...?"
Pansy had been controlled by someone—John knew this feeling all too well, having been hit by the Imperius Curse himself back in his first year.
Malfoy, experiencing this kind of situation for the first time, looked at John helplessly. "What do we do now? Is Pansy going to die? What should we do!?"
"Calm down, we need to get her to the hospital wing quickly."
John snapped at Malfoy to steady him. With a serious expression, he took out an antidote and administered it to Pansy.
The only person capable of using the Imperius Curse to control Pansy that John could think of was Riddle.
"But wait, Ginny said she was controlled unintentionally—how is he able to use the Imperius Curse?"
The more John thought about it, the more wrong it seemed. The group hurriedly took Pansy to the hospital wing.
He had a vague feeling that the situation was spiraling out of control.
In the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey worked on Pansy with urgency, while Malfoy, at a loss, was shooed out. Daphne sat outside, her head lowered.
'Riddle, this is a declaration of war.'
A cold light flashed in John's eyes—this time, he was truly angry.
Previously, he could tolerate it as long as his friends weren't harmed, but now, Pansy had been controlled right in front of him.
This was nothing short of a direct challenge to John.
"I need to find that diary."
"She used to keep that diary under her pillow right?"
With Pansy lying in the hospital wing, a sudden idea struck John's mind.
After returning to the Slytherin dungeon, John released Tom.
"Hey, buddy~ memorize this scent."
"Woof!"
Holding Pansy's pillow, John let Tom memorize its scent.
"Good boy! Now Go find the diary."
"Woof!"
With that command, Tom began running around Hogwarts.
His short legs moved with great determination, and John followed closely behind.
Tom would occasionally stop to sniff around, then continue running after a few seconds.
Voldemort probably never imagined that John would use a Muggle method to track someone down.
As a Beagle, Tom's sense of smell was among the best in the canine world.
A peculiar scene unfolded at Hogwarts—a dog leading the way, with John following closely behind.
Meanwhile, Malfoy went to confront Harry. This time, John was determined not to let Voldemort slip away.
After some time searching, John found himself in the Trophy Room.
"Woof!"
There, Tom stopped, and John knew the diary was somewhere inside.
He walked inside, finding that the layout of the Trophy Room had remained largely unchanged.
At the far end, the plaque with Tom Riddle's name was still in its place.
Beneath the plaque, an old, worn diary lay quietly.
"It seems we've finally met, Riddle."
John picked up the diary, his cold expression filled with icy resolve.
...
Taking the diary to the Room of Requirement, John opened it to the first page, where a message was written.
"I've been waiting for you, John Wick."
The diary greeted him with provocative words.
"How can you know it's me without me writing anything?"
John grew more cautious. He pulled out his wand and conjured two silver chains, binding the diary.
In a cold voice, he said, "Doesn't matter! You're captured now, Riddle."
The words on the page vanished, replaced by a new message seeping through the paper: "Captured? No, no, no, you're mistaken."
"I've been waiting for you. You should have known me through that Weasley girl."
The confidence of the writing made John even more wary. He stared at the diary with his magical sense, sensing that it had grown stronger.
"John Wick, you're very clever. Whether it's the basilisk or finding me, you've done well."
"Unfortunately, you're still too late. The Chamber has already been opened."
John froze upon seeing the words in the diary, then quickly realized something.
"The Chamber can only be opened by Parseltongue, and you're in my hands."
"Who said... there's only one Parseltongue?"
Riddle's writing in the diary shifted to a red color as he revealed a sinister smile.
"Now, do your best."
The crimson words looked as if they were written in blood, causing John's expression to change drastically as he recalled another Parseltongue.
"Harry..."
John cast a binding spell on the diary, causing two silver chains to cross over and lock it tightly.
He grabbed the diary and sprinted out of the Room of Requirement, rushing down to the second floor.
When he burst into the girls' bathroom, John saw that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was already open.
"Damn it!"
Cursing under his breath, John shouted at the diary, "What have you done?"
"Just a little suggestion. That boy has been overshadowed by your brilliance; he longs to be a hero."
Voldemort's words dripped with mockery, as if he couldn't believe that in his old age, he would be defeated by such a so-called savior.
"This motherfucker..."
John's face was dark and serious as he cast a heightened sensory charm on the passage, allowing him to perceive the situation within.
"John, what's going on?"
Malfoy, who hadn't managed to intercept Harry, saw John rushing into the girls' bathroom.
There was no time to explain. After locking the diary again, John threw it to Malfoy.
"Draco, go find Professor Snape. Don't interact with it and don't let anyone touch this diary!"
Without another word, John jumped straight into the passage.
Malfoy considered following him, but upon seeing the pitch-black tunnel, he swallowed nervously and muttered to himself, "I'd better find Professor Snape."
"Goyle, Crabbe, let's go."
He took his two cronies with him.
Meanwhile, John was once again experiencing the sensation of free fall. Before hitting the bottom, he activated his flying boots.
Upon landing, John looked towards another tunnel.
"Where did Harry go?"
Upon arrival, he saw that the Chamber's door, which should have been a solid wall, had been opened.
John cautiously stepped inside, while the system notified him that he had completed the quest to go inside Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets.
He moved forward carefully, every step deliberate and measured.
It was a long, dimly lit room on one side.
Numerous stone pillars, intricately carved with entwining serpents, stood tall, supporting a ceiling that disappeared into the darkness above.
The room was filled with an eerie, greenish mist, casting long, ominous shadows that stretched across the floor.
John walked inside, calling out loudly, "Harry, where are you?"
His voice echoed through the silence, reverberating in the vast chamber.
With the blessing of the snake catcher, John was ready to fight and kill the basilisk.
He reached up to touch the pendant necklace he wore and opened the vial of Felix Felicis.
Gulp! Gulp!
John took a deep drink.
In an instant, a profound and mystical sensation filled his mind.
Everything before John's eyes seemed to become sharper, his vision intensely focused.
In the room, there was a statue that matched the height of the chamber itself.
The statue had the face of an old man, almost monkey-like, with a long, scraggly beard that nearly reached the hem of the stone-carved wizard's robe.
This was the Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, so the identity of the statue's owner was clear.
"Salazar Slytherin."
John seemed to feel something as he looked up at the enormous stone face.
The mouth of the statue was open, revealing a dark passage that seemed to stretch far into the distance.
"They left through here, Riddle. What exactly are you trying to do?"
With the luck-enhancing effects of the Felix Felicis coursing through him, John's instincts led him forward into the passage.
The walls of the passage were smooth, as if worn down by years of something slithering through.
John used his flying boots to glide along the passage.
As he continued, he saw many hidden aspects within the Slytherin statue.
Moving forward, a light appeared ahead of him.
Accelerating, John leaped out, finding himself surrounded by trees.
"This is... the Forbidden Forest?"
It was unexpected to find that the Chamber of Secrets had a connection to the deepest part of the Forbidden Forest, which explained how the basilisk could stay hidden for nearly a thousand years.
Bones were scattered on the ground, exposed to the elements, and John quickly picked a direction to follow.
The trail of crushed bones extended along the ground, leading him to Harry.
At that moment, Harry seemed to be regaining some of his senses.
The basilisk, now with one blinded eye, continued to slide forward, with Harry perched atop, too afraid to move.
"This is the deepest part of the Forbidden Forest, filled with danger. I can't let it go any further," John thought.
John drew his wand, and a Blasting Curse turned into a white light sphere that struck the basilisk.
*Crrri!*
The basilisk hissed in pain, throwing Harry off its back.
John took out his sword, his eyes transforming into slit pupils as he whispered in the language of dragons.
"Ego Sum Draco."
Flames ignited along the blade, and wings sprouted from his flying boots, flapping.
Descending from the sky, John plunged the sword into the basilisk's other eye.
Twisting the blade, flames poured through the eye socket into the creature's body, causing the basilisk to thrash in agony.
John continued to wield his wand, casting Transfiguration to conjure chains that tightly bound the basilisk.
Pressing his wand against the basilisk's head, he released a point-blank Blasting Curse.
The basilisk's head slammed into the ground from the impact.
John seized the opportunity to finish the creature off but found the basilisk rolling over, forcing him to withdraw the sword.
He spun around, and with a powerful strike, the Ironwick Sword slashed down.
The blade vibrated, but only a few scales cracked.
John retreated from the basilisk's reach, muttering under his breath, "Looks like the quality still isn't enough."
The basilisk's magical resistance was too high. With his current level of spells, John realized that killing it would require using Fiendfyre.
But... John glanced at Harry. He didn't want to reveal his dark magic.
Caught in a dilemma, he suddenly heard the sound of something cutting through the air.
A bright light swiftly descended from the sky, landing not far away.
Seeing the object clearly, John exclaimed in surprise, "The.. The Sword of Gryffindor?"
_________
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