previously in chapter 22
Inside the Gryffindor common room, Gray could be seen sitting on his bed, reading. He looked well and happy, like he had been soaking in the sunlight on a tropical island. "Which reminds me, this summer I should probably go and visit another uncharted island, that would be good," he thought, smiling even more. A bunch of Gryffindor students flooded in. They were first creeped out by Gray's smile and seemed stunned for a second, but seeing that he was in a good mood, they decided to mind their own business, except for Jamal, who yelled, "Gray, did you hear? Filch's cat got petrified. You should have seen it; it looked hilarious!" One of his friends tried to pull him back from Gray, who placed his book down to look at Jamal.
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Chapter 23
Jamal immediately had a surprised look and said, "Wow, did you do something to your skin? It—" Before he could continue, his friend, who was more afraid for his life, grabbed Jamal and ran away. But what Jamal said stuck with Gray as he thought, "Petrification?" He pondered for a bit, then got up and secretly entered his suitcase. He began researching in his little library, especially in the books he had on curses, and it didn't take long for him to come up with an answer. "Hmm, there are only two known ways someone can get petrified, either a transfiguration spell gone wrong, whether accidental or purposeful for torturing purposes," he paused as he looked at the second way, which showed an image of a large snake on his "monsters to hunt" list.
"The other way is a basilisk, but a basilisk's gaze is fatal unless someone sees it through a reflection," this immediately got Gray's gears spinning as he thought, "It's highly likely that it's some student who hates Filch, but everybody hated Filch," which was how Gray dismissed it. Yet, there was this nagging feeling in the back of his head constantly saying, "What if?" and That voice won as Gray, the "deadboy," was back. He spent days working on a potion to counteract the basilisk's fatal gaze and petrification, going on without sleep, which was made possible by his consumption of a permanent sleepless potion.
Of course, he exceeded his limit, staying awake for more than 24 hours at a time, gaining his signature dark circles underneath his eyes. And this was just for the recipe, mind you—just the recipe, and boy, was the experiment expensive. He went through several materials and ordered others, which he had to make sure the school wouldn't want him to have, and they rejected a lot, making Gray flustered.
Then he turned his attention to the plants he got from the island Yamatai, especially the ones from the tomb of Himiko. Since they were related to death, Gray used them to create the potion—a low-grade version of it, with the horrendous side effects of elongating his tongue and growing scales on his body. But he achieved the second step; all he had to do was perfect his design.
Why was he going through all this trouble? Very simple. Although Gray told himself he wanted to make the school a safer place, in his mind, if this was a basilisk, he wanted the creature for himself. If he could counter its two deadliest weapons, all that would be left is a giant venomous snake, which, combined with his spells and potions, shouldn't be too much trouble. "Please be a basilisk," he chanted as he headed for Transfiguration class. He was excited, although he was dragging his body like a zombie, and all the students on his way parted to make way for him.
In Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall stood at the front of the room and called for everyone's attention. "Could I have your attention, please?" she said, waiting until the class settled. "Now, today, we will be transforming animals into water goblets." Draco shrugged indifferently as she demonstrated, turning to a bird resting nearby. "Like so," she continued, tapping the bird with her wand. "One, two, three, Vera Verto." A stream of magic emitted from her wand, transforming the bird into a goblet. The students watched in awe, expressions of amazement spreading across their faces. "Now it's your turn. Who would like to go first?" she asked, stepping towards Ron. "Ah! Mr. Weasley. One, two, three, Vera Verto." Ron, a little nervous, tapped his wand three times towards Scabbers, his pet rat. "Vera Verto," he muttered, and the result was a furry goblet with a tail that twitched and squeaked. Harry and some of the other students couldn't help but laugh.
Professor McGonagall, with a touch of amusement, said, "That wand needs replacing, Mr. Weasley." At that moment, Hermione raised her hand. "Yes, Ms. Granger?" McGonagall inquired. "Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets," Hermione asked, causing Draco to give her a surprised look. Professor McGonagall glanced around the room, noticing the growing interest of the students. "Very well," she began, "Well, you all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. Now, three of the founders coexisted quite harmoniously. One did not." Ron leaned over to Harry and whispered, "Three guesses who."
Professor McGonagall continued, "Salazar Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. In other words, pure-bloods." Hermione and Draco exchanged sharp glares at this. "Unable to sway the others, he decided to leave the school. Now, according to legend, Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in this castle, known as the Chamber of Secrets. Well, shortly before departing, he sealed it until that time when his own true heir returned to the school. The Heir alone would be able to open the Chamber and unleash the horror within, and by so doing, purge the school of all those who, in Slytherin's view, were unworthy to study magic." Hermione, her voice tense, whispered, "Muggle-borns." Professor McGonagall pointed her wand at Hermione in a gesture of affirmation.
McGonagall went on, "Well, naturally the school has been searched many times. No such Chamber has been found." She turned and walked back to her desk, but Hermione wasn't done. "Professor," she called, prompting McGonagall to turn back around. "What exactly does legend tell us lies within the Chamber?" she asked with a serious tone. McGonagall answered, "Well, the Chamber is said to be home to something that only the Heir of Slytherin can control. It is said to be the home of a monster." This made Gray chuckle involuntarily for a second as he thought, "I bet it's a Basilisk, it has to be." This excited him to no end, as he thought, "All those sleepless weeks have not gone to waste, I am really going to have Basilisk scales and blood and eyes." The eyes are what excited him the most about the Basilisk.
That is when Gray noticed the whole class was staring at him, especially McGonagall, who said, "Mr. Knight, may I suggest taking some hours off from whatever it is that you do, and get some sleep." Some of the students chuckled, only to get a look from Gray, which made them quiet, as the class ended. After that, Gray went to the library to borrow some books on Occlumency and Legilimency, especially on Occlumency, which is a protection spell that protects the mind from Legilimency, a mind-reading spell.
Occlumency also stops a wizard's emotions from being influenced. "I cannot believe that I didn't look for this spell sooner; it should have been the first or second spell that I learned," he thought regretfully, since Gray had so many secrets. Although the system protects any information related to it, it was also good to have protection against any attempts.
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A/N don't worry, I know that the basilisk is resistant to spells so i wont even try.