The duel club continued for a while. Hermione purposely went easy on Pan Xi so that she could get close to her. She managed to pull a few strands of Pan Xi's hair, and with that, all the ingredients for the compound decoction were complete.
After that, the three of them returned to the female washroom.
However, Hermione was not as happy as she thought she would be. She seemed a little afraid of knowing the truth, but Harry and Ron were very excited. They felt that the mystery was finally going to be solved.
"But have you thought about it?" Hermione looked at the compound decoction that was almost ready, "What if he's not the one who opened the secret room?"
"No matter what, he'll know something." Ron's excited expression froze when he heard this, but he still comforted himself.
"Alright." Hermione sighed helplessly. "Then have you thought about how to send Pan Xi away? I don't want her to suddenly come back while I'm trying to get information. "
"Don't worry about that. We have a way, don't we, Harry?" Ron patted his chest, looking confident.
"Mm." Harry nodded.
"What are you going to do?" Hermione was afraid that they were going to do something against the school rules.
"Uh, it's just a small accident. Harry and I just need to 'accidentally' dirty her robe, then she'll complain to Snape. That's enough to deal with us for half a day."
"And during the holidays, Snape shouldn't be able to deduct our marks." Harry smiled as he thought of this.
"Alright, then you guys are really pitiful. You even have to be lectured by Snape during Christmas." Hermione looked at them sympathetically.
"It's not as big as your sacrifice." Ron said casually. "Thinking about it, it's a little disgusting to become another person."
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After the duel club, Malfoy obtained what he needed — — some pronunciations of the Snake language, and most of them meant something like 'open' or 'unlock'. This gave him more confidence in opening the secret room.
Then there was the extremely abnormal duel. It could no longer be explained as abnormal. Malfoy did not believe that an idiot who only knew the Amnesia Curse could defeat Snape by himself. The answer was obvious.
The prisoner was Lockhart, and the diary was in his hands.
Malfoy recalled the scene when he was in the bookstore. When Lockhart went to stop the fight but failed, he passed by the father and son duo, as well as the bookshelf. Malfoy thought about it, and with his' extraordinary 'performance in the dueling club, he should be the biggest suspect.
"That's not all." Malfoy continued to recall more details about him. "He also hates the sound of roosters roaring the most!" He shuddered. It had to be said that the young Liddell was more powerful than Voldemort in certain aspects. When Voldemort had lost his nose, he only believed in his own power and was a little extreme. And the young Liddell would take advantage of other people's good opinion of him.
Using an exquisite amulet to replace the somewhat boorish shouting letter, in the eyes of others, it was the most suitable for his personality. It would not arouse the slightest bit of suspicion, the perfect cover.
Thinking up to this point, Malfoy patted his head in self-reproach. He felt that his mind was already open enough. He did not even let go of the main character's suspicions. Who would have thought that the little black book would tempt a teacher?
"Lockhart, can you buck up a little?" Malfoy could not help but scold him in his heart. Then, he started to think mischievously. "This time, if you can come back alive, you can really rely on your own memory to write a book — 'The Years I Was Bewitched: The Days With the Diary'."
But even if he knew, it would be useless. Malfoy's intuition told him that Lockhart might not have done as well as Jenny. Jenny really did throw away the diary when she sensed something was wrong in the original novel. Malfoy suspected that Lockhart didn't suspect the diary at all, and directly treated it as if a golden thigh had fallen from the sky for him to hug.
"Then it seems that I have to prepare early." Malfoy collected his thoughts and began to formulate his own plan. He took out a piece of paper and started to write and draw on it.
The next day, a piece of shocking news came from Gryffindor's lounge.
Another person had been petrified. This time, it was not a Muggle Wizard, nor an animal. This time, it was a pure-blooded Wizard and a ghost.
Ron was petrified, and so was Nick, who almost lost his head.
Panic spread in all the academies almost instantly. The Slythrin Academy suffered the most. Most of them were pure-blooded. Hence, when Professor Binns told them about the rumor, they were even somewhat proud. "Look, only our academy is the safest. Those mudbloods should die." But now, this misconception had been mercilessly corrected.
The Basilisk did not only want to kill mudbloods! It wanted to kill pure-bloods as well!
Thus, the Weasley brothers' rooster cries were once again sold out. Previously, the Slythrin students felt that they were very safe and didn't care about them at all. But now that the situation was stronger than them, they had no choice but to buy from their enemies.
Even though they had made a lot of money, George and Fred didn't smile. Their younger brother had been petrified. Although they would occasionally play pranks on Ron, the affection between family members was very deep. These were just means to increase their relationship, it was harmless. But the problem of the Basilisk directly endangered their lives, which made them worried.
In the ward, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione also ran over to visit Ron whenever they had time. Even though he could not say anything, his mouth was wide open as if he had seen something terrifying.
"I should have gone back with you," Harry said to Ron, who was lying on the sickbed, in self-reproach.
At that time, Harry was about to go to Professor Mag's transfiguration class with Ron, but Ron did not bring his book. Harry wanted to go back with Ron to get his book, but Ron stopped him. "It's not good to be late for Professor Mag's class. It's better to deduct one's points than two." Then, Ron left Harry and hurried back to get his book.
This was the last thing Ron said to him that day.
"Harry, it's not your fault," Hermione comforted him. "Maybe you were petrified when you were with him? You can't take everything on yourself. "
"Fu — How long will it take for that medicine to be completed?" Harry suddenly raised his head and asked Hermione. His eyes were shockingly hot, the flames of anger. He was about to say the compound soup, but when he saw Ginny next to him, he forced himself to change his words.
"Christmas." Hermione also glanced at Ginny and thought for a moment before saying. Her feelings were even more complicated. One of her closest friends had also been petrified. This made her very depressed. She wanted to know the truth as soon as possible, but she also hoped that the truth did not come from that person's mouth. This complicated feeling made her look very anxious. She suspected that she would be too nervous to speak in front of Malfoy and ruin everything.
"That's good." Harry waved his fist. "If I find out who did it, I'll definitely make them pay the price!"
At this time, the Slythrin Lounge could be described as jittery and paranoid. A large number of students had worried expressions. Although Ron was a disgrace to the pure-blooded in their eyes, he should be different from those mudbloods. They did not expect that even he would be petrified. This made the previously carefree Slythrin students panic. Even if each of them had a few rooster cries, they could not calm their turbulent emotions. They felt that they had to keep discussing, as if this could alleviate their fear.
Malfoy felt that he had already guessed the truth. It was very simple. Liddell was targeting Ron because his brother was selling the letter. It was a very simple reason. As for why he did not try to attack them personally, it was also very easy to guess. Dealing with one person was always easier than dealing with two. Moreover, Ron was still very young, so he was easier to deal with and had more deterrence.
Malfoy sighed silently. Only his father, who was passionate about fighting for power, would be willing to chase Dumbledore out of the school. If Dumbledore was no longer there, how could Hogwarts be called the safest place in Europe's magic world? This was putting the cart before the horse!
If Dumbledore really left, and Hogwarts was a listed company, the stock price would probably fall in an instant. Lucius would be the first to suffer losses.
Malfoy felt his head hurt again. He had not yet found a perfect plan. All the known methods could always alert the enemy.