As soon as Tom Riddle left, Professor McGonagall, who heard the noise, hurried over.
She stared at the classroom door that was broken by the basilisk in shock, and her eyes moved along the two shattered knight armors beside the door to the severely damaged tables and chairs.
There seems to be something inside
Professor McGonagall held her wand in her hand, ready to fight at any time.
As she stepped on the door and walked into the classroom, her pupils dilated slightly. She looked at the roosters running around in the classroom and murmured in disbelief, "What on earth is going on here!"
"An attack?"
Professor McGonagall looked at the group of roosters in the classroom again and said to herself: "No matter how you look at it, this matter is strange."
She raised her wand and whispered a spell, and three silver cats jumped out from the tip of the wand. The three patronuses ran forward swiftly and disappeared at the end of the corridor in the blink of an eye.
If Albert were here, he would probably be happy to discuss the advanced uses of the Patronus Charm with Professor McGonagall.
A few minutes later, Professor Snape arrived first. His face was a little pale. He quickly glanced at the messy classroom, then turned his gaze back to Professor McGonagall and said, "Did you notice that the heir of Slytherin left another line of words?"
"What did you find?"
Professor McGonagall had a bad feeling when she heard what Snape said.
"Just below the last paragraph, it says: Her body will remain in the Chamber of Secrets forever." Snape said hoarsely.
Professor McGonagall pursed her lips tightly, trying to look as strong as possible.
"Another attack. When I came, I saw the fat monk was petrified." Professor Sprout came in a hurry. She was stunned when she saw the mess in the classroom. She looked up at her two colleagues and asked: "What happened here? What happened to those roosters?"
"A student was abducted by the monster and taken directly into the Chamber of Secrets," Snape explained.
"Who is it?"
Professor Flitwick asked sharply, having just arrived and heard the bad news.
Snape noticed that the other professors were staring at him, so he had to repeat himself, "Under the last paragraph, it says: Her remains will remain in the Chamber of Secrets forever."
"Which student?" Professor Sprout covered his mouth to stop himself from crying.
"I don't know." Professor Snape shook his head.
"What's going on here?" Professor Flitwick asked, looking at the classroom.
"I heard a loud noise in the office just now, and it was like this when I rushed over." Professor McGonagall was still confused.
"All the roosters here are real, not magic!" screamed Professor Flitwick, who had just made the roosters in the classroom disappear, but found that the spell had failed.
"Hagrid's cock?"
"Probably not."
"There's something weird about this whole thing." Snape looked at the group of roosters in the classroom and felt that there must be some special reason why these roosters appeared here.
"No matter what, we must first find out who was abducted by the monster, and then... send all the remaining students home tomorrow." Professor McGonagall immediately made follow-up arrangements, "Severus, Filius, please go to the library and send all the students who are staying there back to their respective common rooms."
"It's better to notify Lockhart. A few days ago, he swore to me that he knew the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and what the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is. If any students are really abducted by the monster, I think we need his help now." Snape did not forget to remind Professor McGonagall of this.
"Okay, Severus, please go and inform Lockhart and tell him what happened here, so that Lockhart can let go and deal with the monster." Professor McGonagall tilted her head and said, "Pomona, go and inform the other professors. I will get the ghosts moving and make sure no students are left outside the dormitory. We must first find out if any students have really been abducted by the monster."
While the professors at Hogwarts were busy dealing with the attack, Albert, one of the culprits in the whole incident, had just come out of the Room of Requirement. He looked in a good mood.
Just a few minutes ago, Albert witnessed with his own eyes the ink spot marked with Ginny Weasley completely disappearing in the abandoned girls' bathroom on the second floor of the castle.
After Tom Riddle was forced to take Ginny Weasley into the Chamber of Secrets, Albert's previous preparations were mostly completed.
Kill the basilisk, destroy the diary, save Ginny Weasley
No, no, that was the mission of the savior Harry Potter, and had nothing to do with him, Albert Anderson.
Albert had been preparing for more than half a year, just to complete the large number of secret room-related tasks piled up in the task panel while ensuring his own safety.
Finding out the real culprit behind the attack is more for the sake of one's own safety. There is no reason to guard against thieves for a thousand days.
As for clearing Hagrid's grievances and restoring his reputation, it was just a side job.
After all, we are all good friends, so if we can help each other, we will.
Afterwards, you can get a lot of invisible benefits.
For example, in terms of the right to speak, no one will look down upon Albert’s words just because he is a minor. If he wants to fool people in the future... ahem, he will be able to better convince others and bring out his abilities as a charlatan... a prophet.
However, if you want to complete the panel task and get those benefits, you must first find out the real culprit and expose the cruel facts.
Albert never expected to be able to convince any professor of what he said.
It is necessary to let Tom Riddle come forward and prove that he is the real culprit of the attack.
Therefore, Albert spent a lot of time and energy gradually "guiding" Tom Riddle to carry out this thrilling attack and expose himself.
Of course, after spending so much energy, Albert not only completed the previously accumulated tasks, but also added two new tasks with rich rewards to the task panel.
They are "The Basilisk Must Die", which requires the killing of the Basilisk, and "Tom's Fury", which stirs up Tom's emotions. It is worth mentioning that "Tom's Fury" has been completed.
Albert was rewarded with the opportunity to freely choose a skill from Tom Riddle again, which made him feel very happy.
The rewards of "Tom's Fury" are richer than most mission rewards. Voldemort is a treasure boy with a lot of good things on him. Albert benefited a lot from the spell-casting techniques he got last time. He is looking forward to this harvest, and it would be best if he could master some skills.
As for Tom Riddle, who became the final loser, the most fundamental reason was that he underestimated the enemy and misjudged the situation, otherwise Albert would not have been able to achieve his goal so easily.
Especially after the basilisk made a noise in the classroom and Albert successfully slipped away right under his nose, Tom lost his pants without knowing it.
When Tom Riddle came to his senses from his anger, he would find that he had no better choice.
As a party to the attack, he did not kill or petrify Albert, which meant that it was no longer safe to stay in the castle.
After all, he could be identified at any time, even without evidence.
What the victim says is the best evidence.
What's more, does Albert really have no evidence
Of course he did, and he had a ton of evidence.
Therefore, for Tom, taking Ginny into the Chamber of Secrets and buying himself enough time was his last choice.
He needed time to inject all of Ginny's vitality into the diary, so that he could completely break away from the diary and "revive" again.
Tom's original plans were completely disrupted by this attack.
What made Tom even more upset was that all of this was the conspiracy of a Muggle wizard named Albert Anderson, but he let the other party slip away right under his nose, which was an unprecedented humiliation for Voldemort.
If Tom Riddle knew that he had done what Albert most hoped for, I wonder if he would be so angry that he would run out of the Chamber of Secrets and fight with Albert.
From the very beginning, Albert had no intention of capturing the heir of Slytherin. As long as the professors knew the cruel fact that "Ginny was abducted into the Chamber of Secrets by the monster", they would have to accept the "good news" that Albert would bring them next, instead of being unwilling to believe Albert's words or not taking his words seriously.
This is a kind of prejudice among wizards. Young wizards and witches will only be respected when they reach adulthood.
Rather than thinking they were being... naughty, or talking nonsense.
Albert knew this all too well.
Those old friends who were willing to communicate with him on an equal footing and invite him to academic gatherings, were all beaten up by Albert with the knowledge on the panel, and were forced to ignore Albert's age and acknowledge that Albert was already at the same level as them.
After leaving the Room of Requirement, Albert prepared to return to the common room. He had no intention of looking for Professor McGonagall and telling her what he knew.
Before it is confirmed that a student is missing, any explanation will only bring unnecessary suspicion.
To put it in the words of a movie in my previous life: Let the bullets fly for a while.
Albert was very calm, because he was not the one who was anxious.
By the way, the hatred he brought to Lockhart was really steady. Before entering the Chamber of Secrets, Tom Riddle actually went to the Defense Against the Dark Arts Office to cause trouble for Lockhart.
What surprised Albert the most was that after Tom Riddle left the Defense Against the Dark Arts Office, the ink spot representing Lockhart on the Marauder's Map did not disappear directly.
Tom didn't even draw his wand and directly gave Lockhart an Avada Kedavra.
Although he didn't know what Tom Riddle did in the ten seconds he entered Lockhart's office, Albert knew that Tom would never let Lockhart go easily.
well!
The curse of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is so terrible. I hope the Lockharts are okay.
Albert didn't feel the slightest burden at all for having tricked Lockhart. After all, Lockhart was alive. Even if his fate was tragic, he wouldn't lose all his memories and become a fool who couldn't take care of himself like in the original book.
"Why are you wandering around outside alone?" The Fat Lady saw Albert walking slowly towards her and immediately frowned and lectured him, "You should know that it is dangerous to be outside alone now."
"Eggs in eggs."
Albert didn't intend to continue listening to the Fat Lady's nagging, and immediately gave the command.
"Oh, well, come on in and stop running around on your own!" The Fat Lady's portrait swung forward, revealing a hole in the wall.
The Gryffindor common room was empty, with only a few people chatting and laughing in low voices.
Albert walked to where the kettle was placed, took out his wand and tapped it lightly, and a stream of steam suddenly spurted out of the spout.
Harry, who was playing wizard chess with Ron, cast a puzzled look at Albert.
"What's wrong?" Ron followed Harry's gaze, his eyes full of confusion.
"Why did he come back alone?" Harry frowned.
"Fred once secretly told me that as long as we are not discovered, it is not considered a violation of school rules." Ron disagreed. He knew that Albert and the others did not take those rules seriously at all.
"Where are Fred and George?" Harry still felt something was wrong and asked.
"They are still in the library. They will be back soon." Albert went upstairs to get a cup and prepared to make himself a cup of milk tea. He has been busy since just now and has not had time to drink a sip of water.
Before Harry could say anything else, the entrance to the common room was opened again, and Professor Flitwick sent back all the Gryffindor students who remained in the library.
As soon as everyone entered the common room, they began to discuss who was kidnapped by the monster.
"I'm so glad you're okay. We thought you were kidnapped by a monster."
Fred, George and Lee Jordan, who had just entered the common room, saw Albert sitting in an armchair drinking milk tea. They couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and quickly walked over to Albert and gave him a big hug.
no way.
As soon as Albert left, they were informed that something had happened.
The three of them were naturally worried that something might happen to Albert.
"Why would the Slytherin monster kidnap me?" Albert glanced at the overturned cup and sighed before he could take the second sip.
"Has anyone been abducted by Slytherin's monster?" Harry asked warily.
"Yes, just now, Professor Flitwick said that it seemed that a student was kidnapped." Lee Jordan quickly told Harry and the other students who remained in the common room the news he knew.
"Everyone gather here. Please call down the girls in the dormitory. I need to count the number of people." Percy began to fulfill his responsibilities as a class leader and make sure that all the students who stayed behind were here.
Ten minutes later, Percy's face darkened as he discovered his sister was missing.
"Has any of you seen Ginny?" Percy immediately asked his brother.
Seeing the three of them shaking their heads, Percy's expression became even gloomier. He asked two girls he knew to go to Ginny's room to look for her, but they found nothing.
Ginny is missing.
She is most likely the student who was abducted by the monster.
Percy's hands were shaking as he held the parchment at the thought.
Fred and George looked at Albert uneasily. Just as they were about to speak, the door of the common room was opened again and Professor McGonagall hurried in.
"Professor, my sister is missing." Percy's voice was hoarse, as if something was blocking his throat.
"This is the end of Hogwarts." Professor McGonagall looked around at the students in the common room and said in a hoarse voice, "The Hogwarts Express will take you home early tomorrow morning. Stay in the common room until then."
"Professor, I want to send a letter home." Percy's mind was in a mess, and he didn't even know how to face his family.
"Be safe," Professor McGonagall agreed.
After Professor McGonagall turned and left, Albert noticed that Fred and George were staring at him.
"Where is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets?"
Fred asked impatiently after pulling Albert back to the dormitory.
"You must know, tell us, please." George said loudly, "Ginny is our sister, we can't let anything happen to her."
"The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is in the girls' bathroom on the second floor of the castle." Albert looked at the anxious twins and explained in a low voice, "The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets requires Parseltongue to open."
"Parseltongue?"
"Parseltongue is the symbol of Slytherin."
Albert glanced at Harry and Ron who were eavesdropping on their conversation outside the door, and comforted them, "Don't worry, Ginny should still be alive. She's fine for now. Only Dumbledore can save Ginny now."
"But Dumbledore is not in school right now."
"He will be back, at the latest tonight. There's no point in worrying now." Albert drew out his wand and waved it lightly, knocking down Fred and George who were pulling Harry to leave.
"What are you doing?"
Several people looked at Albert in shock.
"I can understand their feelings, but impulse can't solve any problems." Albert's tone was extremely calm, "I can't just watch them die."
"Well, I think you know what you are doing." Lee Jordan glanced at Albert, used magic to float Fred and George, and moved them to his beds.
"I can open the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry stared at Albert, as if trying to confirm the truth of his words. "You must know what's going on, right?"
"Yes, I'm going to talk to Professor McGonagall now. You just stay here and wait." Albert said seriously, "When Professor Dumbledore returns to school, he will definitely ask you to help open the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."
"Why not save Ginny now?" Ron couldn't help but ask.
This concerns his sister's life safety, and he doesn't want to wait even a moment.
"Entering the Chamber of Secrets now is like committing suicide. Any professor who enters may die in the Chamber of Secrets. Only the headmaster can kill the basilisk and the heir of Slytherin." Albert said in a soothing voice, "Don't worry, Ginny will be fine for the time being."
"Ginny is not your sister, so you are not in a hurry at all." Ron almost shouted.
"I'm sorry, but I think you may need to calm down." Albert waved his wand and knocked Ron down. "I know Ron is sad, but impulse won't solve the problem. It's best to let them sleep for a while. When they wake up, everything will be solved."
"How do I open the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry hurriedly supported the unconscious Ron to prevent him from falling to the ground.
"The snake mark. If you point to the snake-related mark in the girls' bathroom and say "open" in Parseltongue, you can probably open the Chamber of Secrets." Albert reached out and patted Harry on the shoulder. "Don't act on your own. Wait for my good news, okay?"
"Okay!" Harry knew he had no other choice, he could only trust Albert now.
Albert knew that Harry would not wait here obediently for the result, but he did not care about the other party's unauthorized actions. With the reminder of the Felicity Potion (intuition), he knocked down Fred, George and Ron to give Harry the opportunity to face Tom Riddle alone.
As for whether the savior would die in the secret room, that was not something Albert should be concerned about.
When Albert found Professor McGonagall, the vice-president had just come out of the principal's office. She had just asked the portraits of past principals in the principal's office to inform the board of directors of what had happened in the school.
"Professor." Albert called Professor McGonagall.
"Mr. Anderson, what are you doing here?" Professor McGonagall stared at Albert with a stern look.
"I know where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is, what the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is, who the heir of Slytherin is, and what happened in the classroom on the third floor." Albert finished his words in one breath like a machine gun.
"What did you say!" Professor McGonagall stared at Albert in amazement, unable to believe her ears.
Looking at the wonderful expression on Professor McGonagall's face, Albert felt happy, knowing that the other party would definitely be willing to listen to what he said patiently.
"The heir of Slytherin, um, should I say Ginny. She was probably controlled by something, and she attacked me not long ago, but failed." Albert said lightly: "So, you should have seen the classroom on the third floor. It was created when he let the basilisk attack me."
"Were you really attacked?" stammered Professor McGonagall.
"Don't look at me with such suspicion. I created those roosters because the basilisk is afraid of the crowing of roosters."
"The Basilisk," Professor McGonagall repeated uneasily.
"The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is the basilisk."
"You knew it from the beginning," Professor McGonagall asked incredulously.
"I guess so. I've been investigating this matter for a while, and I know most of the things." Albert said calmly.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"Now that this has happened, you are reluctant to believe me, let alone before it happens. Even if I told you, you would probably think..." Albert didn't finish, but his meaning was already very clear.
Albert's words left Professor McGonagall speechless.
"I think Ginny should still be alive. We should rescue her from the Chamber of Secrets first." Albert reminded.
"Yes, where is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets?" Professor McGonagall suddenly realized and asked quickly.
"The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is in the abandoned bathroom on the second floor, but you need Parseltongue to open it. Well, Parseltongue is one of the signs of the Slytherin heir. Don't look at me like that. Without Parseltongue, you can't control the Basilisk at all."
"The Chamber of Secrets is in the abandoned girls' bathroom on the second floor?" Professor McGonagall repeated incredulously.
"Yes, but it's best to let Professor Dumbledore handle this matter. To be honest, I don't recommend other professors to rush into the Chamber of Secrets. They may die in the Chamber of Secrets. The basilisk is very dangerous, especially its eyes. Once you look into its eyes, you will die directly." Albert looked at Professor McGonagall and reminded softly, "Of course, I don't recommend you to bring my roosters into the Chamber of Secrets. The heir of Slytherin has suffered a loss once, and there will be no such good thing a second time, so you'd better not hold any luck, because the heir of Slytherin is also very dangerous. It would be very unprofitable to die there again."
"The heir of Slytherin?" Professor McGonagall asked doubtfully, "Isn't it Ginny Weasley?"
"If I'm guessing correctly, it should be the one who killed Professor Quirrell last year." Albert said softly.
Professor McGonagall couldn't help but shudder, and asked curiously: "How did you escape the attack?"
"It's very simple." Albert took out the time converter from his pocket, looked at Professor McGonagall's shocked eyes, and laughed triumphantly, "He let the basilisk chase me for two corridors, and finally I had to go back in time to shake off the basilisk's pursuit."
"Why didn't you ask for help?"
Professor McGonagall asked her last question.
"If he encounters a basilisk without any precautions, even Professor Dumbledore will be killed immediately by the basilisk's eyes." Albert reminded, "It's not that I don't trust the professors' abilities, but I can't let them take risks."
Professor McGonagall shuddered.
It’s not hard to imagine what the outcome would be if this actually happened.
All this is really thanks to Albert, otherwise I don’t know what would have become of the whole school.
"Come with me, Mr. Anderson. I think Professor Dumbledore will be back at school soon. Then you can tell him what you know."
Professor McGonagall's tone became gentle. She knew that Albert might be hiding something else, but it didn't matter anymore.
Now, the most important thing is to solve the problem first.