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Fifteen minutes later, led by Harry and his friends, all the Hogwarts teachers, even the rather ineffective Lockhart, gathered in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom on the third floor.
"This is indeed the entrance to the basilisk's lair!"
Snape stepped forward, picking up a palm-sized snake scale near the pipe opening, his face marked with grave concern.
Professor McGonagall drew her wand and declared resolutely, "Now that we've confirmed it's the basilisk's entrance, let's go down together and eliminate it. We can't let it continue harming the students."
"I-I don't think we all need to go down. Someone should stay here, maybe I could..." Lockhart stammered, eyeing the seemingly bottomless pipe with a shaky voice.
But before he could finish, Snape cut him off coldly.
"No, Lockhart. This is your time to shine. You'll go first."
"Exactly. We're eager to watch you handle the basilisk alone. Think about it—you could even write a new book about it," added Professor Sprout, the normally mild-mannered Hufflepuff head, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
"I, um... well..." Cold sweat beaded on Lockhart's face.
Professor Flitwick, the head of Ravenclaw, quickly chimed in, "Lockhart, didn't you just tell me yesterday that if you ever encountered a basilisk alone, you could dispatch it with a single spell?"
"I-I said that? I don't quite remember…"
Lockhart tried to play it off, but Snape wasn't having any of it.
"Oh, I remember. You said the whole situation had been mishandled and should have been left to you. Now's your chance to prove it."
"Yes, Lockhart," McGonagall concluded, "we'll leave it to you. Go down and take care of the basilisk. We'll await your good news."
Seeing that all the professors were watching him, Lockhart swallowed hard and replied, "All right... I'll just go to my office to gather a few things."
Going down to fight the basilisk was out of the question. He planned to grab his belongings and make a run for it, concocting some excuse later.
Unfortunately, Snape saw through his scheme immediately. Just as Lockhart turned to leave, Snape gave him a firm shove, sending him directly into the pipe.
"With such impressive skills, what could you possibly need to prepare for? Straight down you go."
"Ahhh!!!"
Hearing Lockhart's terrified scream echoing down the pipe, the teachers exchanged satisfied smiles.
"George, since you're good with flight spells, go to Hagrid and bring back as many roosters as you can find. Harry, come with me—we're heading down," Snape instructed.
As Lockhart's faint cries confirmed his safe landing below, Snape gave George a quick directive, then transformed into a shadow and flew down the pipe with Harry.
According to Ginny's account, another door inside would need to be opened with Parseltongue.
With confirmation that the creature in the Chamber was a basilisk, McGonagall had already sent Hagrid to procure roosters to place on each floor of Hogwarts as a precaution.
Hagrid had managed to gather a fair number by now, and George could bring some to help deal with the basilisk.
The basilisk's sole weakness was the crow of a rooster. With the roosters' help, killing the basilisk would become a much easier task.
"Go back to the common room, all three of you. We'll discuss everything after the basilisk is taken care of," Professor McGonagall instructed Ginny, Hermione, and Ron before jumping into the pipe with the other professors.
George gave the three a reassuring nod, then spread his wings and flew directly from the third floor to the main hall. Amid the astonished gasps of the younger students, who were being rounded up by the prefects to head back to their common rooms, he swiftly flew out of the castle.
"Hagrid, we've found the basilisk. Where are the roosters? The professors need them!" George called out as he landed at the door of Hagrid's hut, where Hagrid was busy mixing chicken feed.
Hagrid immediately sprang to his feet and dashed into his hut, almost tripping over Fang, his large boarhound, who yelped and scrambled aside.
"They're all in this box," Hagrid said, returning a moment later with a box containing over a hundred roosters.
The box, enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm, was large enough to hold thousands of roosters if necessary. It wasn't modified by Hagrid himself, but provided by the Ministry of Magic. Although Malfoy's influence had temporarily sidelined Dumbledore, the Ministry wasn't entirely unconcerned with the students' safety. Once they realized the monster in the Chamber was a basilisk, they authorized this box specifically for storing the roosters.
"Wow, that's a lot. The basilisk is in for a real treat," George muttered with a touch of sympathy for the basilisk. Even a thousand-year-old serpent would be traumatized by so many roosters—it might almost prefer Harry's sword.
With the box in hand, George flapped his wings and quickly returned to the third floor of the castle.
Yet, when he arrived, he found that Ron, Hermione, and Ginny hadn't gone back to the common room as instructed. Instead, they were still anxiously waiting at the entrance of the pipe.
True Gryffindors through and through.
"I'm heading down now. Don't worry, this should be over soon," George said, holding the box of a hundred roosters. After a quick word with the three of them, he jumped into the pipe and slid all the way to the bottom.
The end of the pipe led to a tunnel, and after walking along it for a while, he came across an enormous shed snake skin—a recent molt from the basilisk. Shortly after, he finally caught up with Professor Snape and the others.
"These are the roosters Hagrid prepared," George said, handing the box to Snape. Snape gave it a brief inspection before turning to Harry.
"Potter, it's time."
"George, once Harry opens the door, you and he should step back as far as possible. Don't look this way under any circumstances," McGonagall advised George with a serious look.
Harry muttered under his breath, "I'm a year older than George and a grade above him."
"But you're not as capable as he is," Snape retorted sharply from beside him. "This is no time for petty jealousy, you dunderhead. Get on with it."
"I am not jealous!" Harry huffed, but obediently turned to face the twin stone serpents carved on the wall and spoke in Parseltongue.
"Open!"
The emerald eyes of the stone snakes lit up with a green magical glow, and the wall cracked open to reveal a dimly lit chamber.
The chamber was massive, its ceiling soaring as high as a three-story building, and its large pillars were carved with coiled snake designs. At the far end of the room stood a gigantic statue of a wizard—Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts.
"George, get him back!" Snape called the moment the wall opened, swiftly pulling Harry behind him and gesturing to George.
(End of Chapter)