"What happened here? What happened?"
Filch, no doubt drawn to Malfoy's shouts, shouldered his way into the crowd. Then he saw Mrs. Norris and stumbled backward, clutching his face in horror.
"My cat! My cat! What happened to Mrs. Norris?" he screamed.
Then his bulging eye caught sight of Harry.
"You!" he shrieked. You killed my cat! You killed it! I want to kill you! I want-"
"Filch!"
Dumbledore arrived on the scene, followed by many other teachers. In the blink of an eye, he was past Harry, Ron, and Hermione, untying Mrs. Norris from the torch stand.
"Come with me, Filch," he said to Filch."And you, Mr. Potter, Mr. Foley, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Granger.”
Lockhart stepped forward eagerly.
"My office is nearest, Headmaster-it's downstairs-you can-"
"Thank you, Gilderoy." said Dumbledore.
The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart, looking very excited and swaggering, hurried after Dumbledore; Professor McGonagall and Snape followed.
As they entered Lockhart's dimly lit office, there was a sudden commotion on the wall. Bangs saw several photographs of Lockhart scurrying away, curling rollers still in their hair. The real Lockhart, meanwhile, lit the candles on the table and backed away. Dumbledore set Madam Lorrie down on the clean table and began to examine her closely. Bunce sat down first, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged glances as they settled themselves into chairs out of the candlelight and watched.
The tip of Dumbledore's long, hooked nose almost touched Mrs. Norris's fur. He studied it carefully through his half-moon eyes, his long fingers poking here and there. Professor McGonagall was bending over, her face almost touching the cat, squinting. Snape was standing behind them, half hidden in the shadows, looking ghastly. He had a very odd expression on his face, as if he were trying to keep himself from laughing. Lockhart hovered around them, offering advice.
"It must have been a curse that killed him-probably the Transfiguration Torturing Charm. I've seen it used many times, I'm sorry I wasn't there, I happen to know the antidote, I could have saved it."
Lockhart was interrupted by Filch's tearless sobs. Filch slumped into a chair beside the table, his face in his hands, not daring to look at Mrs. Norris.
At this point, Dumbledore muttered strange things and tapped Mrs. Norris with his wand, but nothing happened. Mrs. Norris was still lying there stiffly, like a freshly made specimen.
"I remember something very similar happening in Ouagadougou," said Lockhart."A series of attacks, which I've written about in my autobiography. At that time, I provided all kinds of amulets to the people and solved the problem at once."
As he spoke, the pictures of Lockhart on the walls nodded in agreement. One of them forgot to take off his hairnet.
At last Dumbledore straightened up.
"It's not dead, Filch," he said softly.
"Not dead?" sobbed Filch. peering through her fingers at Mrs. Norris."Then why is it all-all stiff, like it's frozen?”
"It's petrified," said Dumbledore. I think so too!" said Lockhart)."But I don't know what's going on."
"Ask him!" shrieked Filch, turning Ben's mottled, tear-stained face toward Harry.
"It's almost impossible for a second year to do it," said Dumbledore firmly."It requires the most profound Dark Magic-"
"He did it, he did it!" said Filch slobbering, his fat, saggy face turning purple. "You saw what he wrote on the wall! He found out-in my office-he knows I'm a-I'm a-"Filch's face twitched horribly. "He knows I'm a Squib!"
"I never touched Mrs. Norris!”said Harry loudly.
"Nonsense!" snarled Filch."He saw my Kwikspell letter!”
"Please allow me to say something, Headmaster.”said Snape from the shadows.
"Perhaps Potter and his friends were just not supposed to be in that place at that time," said Snape, his lips twisting in a sneer as though he were deeply suspicious."But we do run into a series of suspicious points. Why on earth were they going up the corridor? Why weren't they at the party?”
Harry, Ron, and Hermione scrambled to explain that they had gone to the Deathday Party.“... There's hundreds of them, they can prove we were there-"
"But after that, why didn't you come to the banquet?”said Snape, his dark eyes glittering in the candlelight. "Why did you go up the corridor?”
"Because-because-" said Harry,"because we're tired and want to go to bed early.”he said.
"Not eating dinner?" said Snape, a smug smile flashing across his gaunt face."I don't think the food ghosts serve at parties is very suitable for the living.”
"We're not hungry." said Ron loudly, as his stomach rumbled.
Snape's ugly smile grew wider.
"My opinion is, Headmaster, that Potter is not telling the whole truth.”he said." Perhaps we should take away some of his privileges until he tells us everything. Personally, I think it's best to take him off the Gryffindor Quidditch team until he's honest.”
"Really, Severus," said Professor McGonagall sharply,"I see no reason why the boy shouldn't play. It wasn't like the cat had been hit in the head by a broom. And there was no evidence that Potter had done anything wrong.”
Dumbledore gave Bunce an inquisitive look. Bunce smiled at the stare of his bright blue eyes.
"As long as you're not proven guilty, you're innocent, Severus.”he said firmly.
Snape looked furious. So did Filch.
"My cat has been petrified!" he screamed, his eyes bulging. "I want to see someone punished!”
"We can fix it, Filch.”said Dumbledore patiently."Mrs. Sprout has recently acquired some Mandrakes. Once they're fully grown, I'll have a potion that will bring Mrs. Norris back to life.”
"I'll make it," interrupted Lockhart."I must've made it a hundred times, I can dream about making the Mandrake Resurrection Potion-"
"Forgive me," said Snape coldly,"but I think I'm the Potions teacher of this school.”
There was an awkward silence.
"If you have anything to say, come to my office, Mr. Foley. The password was lemon ice cream. Now, you can leave." Dumbledore said to Bunce.
They walked as fast as they could and almost ran. Upstairs from Lockhart's office, they slipped into an empty classroom and closed the door quietly behind them.
"Do you think I should tell them about the voice I heard?”asked Harry.
"Don't tell me," said Ron, without thinking."Hearing others but not hearing is a bad sign, even in the Wizarding world.”
"You're always coming up with ideas, Ron.”Bangs said, leaning against the wall.
"Then what do you think we should do?" said Ron defiantly.
"That's Harry's business, it's up to him to choose.”Bance said.
"You believe me, right?”Harry demanded.
"Of course I do," said Ron quickly,"but-you've got to admit it's bizarre."
"It's not bizarre, it's your ignorance.”Bance said.
"Why are you always making things difficult for me?”said Ron.
"I'm not targeting you. I'm just telling the truth.”Bangsi said," It's getting late. I'm going to sleep.”
"He's always so secretive, I bet he knows something.”Ron muttered to Harry from behind.
For several days the students talked of nothing else but the attack on Mrs. Norris. Filch's performance was a constant reminder of it: He often walked up and down the place where Mrs. Norris had been killed, as though expecting the attackers to come again.
Ginny Weasley seemed very uneasy about what had happened to Mrs. Norris. According to Ron, she had always been very fond of cats.
"You don't really know Mrs. Norris.”Ron tried to cheer her up."Honestly, we're more comfortable without it.”Ginny's lips began to tremble. "This doesn't happen very often at Hogwarts," said Ron soothingly."They'll catch the lunatic who did it and throw him out of here soon enough. I just hope he has time to petrify Filch before he gets expelled. I was just kidding-"added Ron quickly, seeing Ginny's face go white.
The attack had also affected Hermione. Hermione, who usually spent a lot of time reading, was doing almost nothing all day. Harry asked her if she was doing it, but she ignored him until the next Wednesday.
At the back of the library, Ron was measuring his History of Magic homework with a ruler when Bunce saw Harry approach.
"I can't believe it, I'm eight inches short," Ron grumbled to Harry, letting go of the parchment, which rolled up again at once."Hermione wrote four feet seven inches, and she wrote very, very little. Even Bunce wrote a little more than three feet.”
"Where is she?" asked Harry.
"Right there, the one with his eyes closed next to the pile of books.”said Ron without looking up.
"I wasn't asking Bunce, I was asking her.”said Harry, seizing the tape measure.
"looking for books again, she probably wants to finish all the books before Christmas.”said Ron, pointing at the rows of bookshelves.
Hermione emerged from between the bookshelves. She looked very annoyed, but at last she spoke.
"The copies of Hogwarts: A History have all been borrowed," she said, sitting down next to Harry and Ron."There's a queue for two weeks. Well, I wish I hadn't left mine at home, but there's no room for it in the trunk with all the Lockhart books.”
"Why do you want to see it?" asked Harry.
"For the same reason everyone else wants to see it," said Hermione."Look up the legend of the Chamber of Secrets.”
"What's a secret chamber?" said Harry quickly.
"That's the problem, I can't remember," said Hermione, biting her lip."And I can't find the story anywhere else-"
"Ask Bunce, I think he knows.”said Ron conjectured.
"Him? That's impossible." Hermione said, shaking her head.
"What is impossible?" asked Bunce as he sat down beside them.
"She said you couldn't have known about the Chamber of Secrets.”said Harry.
"Do you really want to know?" Bance said.
"Yes." The three of them said in unison.
"Oh, alright then." Bangs said slowly.
"As all of you must know, Hogwarts was founded more than a thousand years ago-the exact date is uncertain-by the four greatest witches and wizards of the time. The four academies were named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin. They had built the castle together, away from the prying eyes of the Muggles, who were afraid of magic in those days, and witches and wizards were persecuted.”
Bons paused for a moment, looked at the three eager eyes, and continued,"In the first few years, the founders worked together to find young people who showed signs of magic and brought them to the castle to be nurtured. However, slowly, there were differences between them. The rift between Slytherin and the others was growing. Slytherin wanted Hogwarts to be more picky about its student intake. He believed that magical education should be limited to purely magical families. He didn't like Muggle-born children, he thought they were unreliable. A few days later, Slytherin and Gryffindor had a fierce fight over the issue, and Slytherin left the school.”
"According to this legend, Slytherin sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that no one could open it and know that his true heir had arrived at the school. Only the heir could open the Chamber of Secrets and release the horrible thing inside, so that it could cleanse the school of all those who were unworthy of learning magic.”Bangs added.
"Then what's the terrifying thing inside?”asked Hermione.
"something only the Heir of Slytherin could control.”Bangs reminded.
"I knew Salazar Slytherin was a sick old lunatic.”said Ron."But I didn't know he was the one who came up with this pure-blood bullshit. Even if he gave me money, I wouldn't enter his academy. To tell you the truth, if the Sorting Hat had put me in Slytherin, I'd have taken the train home without a word."
Hermione nodded in agreement. Harry said nothing.
"Don't think too much about it, Harry," Bangs stood up and said.
"Oh, damn it. We forgot to go to History of Magic.”called Hermione, standing up suddenly.
"Ah, I don't have to hand in my homework.”said Ron happily.
"You're happy now." Bance said.
"I hope Professor Binns won't blame us.”said Hermione, praying.
"Don't worry, Binns's cauldron memory won't even tell him who we are.”said Ron.
"Indeed." Bangsi said firmly.
September Book Friends Group's recommended works: Yang God Nine Cauldrons Battle Medicine Douluo Continent Mixed World Small Farmer Big Demon King Realm King Mortal Immortal Cultivation Legend Class Flower Longevity World Dual Cultivation 2 Battle Breaking the Heavens Rebirth Official Road Business Road Rogue Expert II The World's First Ding Xiao Xing Ji Other World Shaolin Magic Pattern Master Small Man Big Wife City Ancient Martial Arts Casanova Close Bodyguard One Lak Wind Cloud Demon Beast Lord Very Pure Very Ambiguous Thief Bimeng Legend Supreme Immortal Dao Other World Rogue King Cang Immortal Police Immortal Dao Seeking Demon Hunting Hand Destruction Time and Space Three Palaces Six Courts Seventy-two Concubines 2
Top! bookmark
My Book Bar-Massive TLV novel free download-
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]