"What's wrong, Ron?"
Harry saw that his good friend seemed to want to say something, but no sound came out after opening his mouth several times, so he couldn't help but take the initiative to ask.
"Well, actually that day -" Ron was struggling, but he couldn't say anything in the middle of the sentence.
To be honest, Ron is a boy who values friendship, and Maka is indeed a close friend who doesn't talk much but is worth making.
After all, being able to copy homework for him is really a big deal! He didn't want to doubt Maka at all.
Although he did see Maka's leaving figure at that corner that day. It only lasted a moment, but he was so familiar with Maka's robe that always concealed many things, that there was no way he could admit it.
"... No, it's nothing. I just think that they can believe anything! They would actually doubt you, Harry." Ron paused and changed his dull tone.
The crowd thinned out and they were finally able to ascend the stairs effortlessly.
"Do you really think there is a Chamber of Secrets?" Ron turned his head and asked Hermione.
"I don't know," she said, frowning. "Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs. Norris, which makes me think that the guy who attacked it was probably not—well—not human."
As they talked, they walked around the corner and found themselves in the corridor where the attack occurred.
Immediately, they saw about twenty spiders crawling on the windowsill in a panic, as if they were eager to get out through a small crack in the glass. A long silver thread hangs down like a rope. It seems that they hurriedly climbed up through this thread and fled towards the window.
Ron was startled. He always hated spiders, especially the way they crawled quickly.
Hermione chuckled.
"What's so funny," Ron said angrily, "you know, when I was three, Fred turned my - my teddy bear into an ugly teddy bear because I broke his toy broom. Big spiders! You won’t like them if you’ve ever had the experience I did, where you’re holding your teddy bear and all of a sudden it has legs sprouting out and…”
He shuddered and couldn't continue, but Hermione was obviously still holding back her laughter.
Harry thought it was best for them not to talk about this topic, so he hurriedly said, "Do you remember that puddle of water on the ground? Where did it come from? Someone mopped the floor."
They walked over, looked at the ground, and then at the door next to them.
"You can't go in." Ron's hand was burned by the door handle, "It's the girls' bathroom."
"Oh, Ron, there won't be anyone in there," said Hermione. She stood up straight and walked over, "This is Moaning Myrtle's territory. Come on, let's go in and take a look."
She ignored the big sign that said "Out of Order" and pushed open the door.
Myrtle is a ghost, and not very likeable. She had a bad temper. She always hid in the bathroom and cried. She also poured cold water on girls who accidentally walked in.
But in general, it's just because of an inexplicable inferiority complex.
Harry and the others went in and asked a few questions, but Myrtle obviously didn't want to talk any more. After answering all the questions, she hid in the toilet and splashed water all over them.
Unfortunately, just as they exited the girls' bathroom, they bumped into Ron's brother Percy.
Unlike Ron, Percy excelled academically and always liked to show off his prefect badge to his brothers. In school, he was always serious - he believed that he should not care about personal affairs.
For example, he deducted 5 points from Gryffindor.
That evening in the common room, Harry, Ron and Hermione sat as far away from Percy as possible. Ron has been in a bad mood recently. When doing magic class homework, he always spills ink on the paper.
When he absent-mindedly took out the magic wand to remove the stains, he accidentally set the parchment on fire. Ron was so angry that there was a fire in his heart, and he closed the "Standard Spell Level 2" with a snap.
But to Harry's surprise, Hermione also closed the book with force.
"But who could it be?" she whispered. "Who wants to drive Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?"
"Maybe it's Malfoy!" Ron said casually.
He lowered his head so that no one could see his eyes clearly. Hermione looked at him with doubt on her face, but there was some faint agreement in her heart.
"You mean-"
"Of course it's him!" Ron spoke more and more enthusiastically, and suddenly raised his head to look at Hermione, "You heard him say, 'You are next, Mudbloods!'. In fact, you only need to look at his With his ugly rat face, you’ll know it’s him—”
Hearing this, Harry also closed the book.
"Look at their family! Their whole family is in Slytherin, and he often shows off this to others - they are probably descendants of Slytherin. His father is evil enough..."
"They may have held the key to the secret chamber for centuries!" Seeing Harry agreeing, Ron's eyes flickered, but his tone became firmer, "It is passed down from generation to generation, from father to son..."
"Yeah," Hermione said cautiously, "I think it's possible..."
"Then how do we prove it?" Harry said pessimistically.
"Maybe there is a way," Hermione said slowly, glancing quickly at Percy across the room, and lowering her voice, "Of course, it's not easy to do, and it's dangerous, very dangerous! We It probably violates fifty school rules."
"Come on! What is it?" Ron asked impatiently.
"Well, it doesn't hurt to tell you now," Hermione said calmly, "What we need to do is go into the Slytherin common room and ask Malfoy a few questions without him recognizing us."
"That's impossible," Harry said, and Ron looked annoyed.
"No, it's possible," Hermione said, "We just need some Polyjuice Potion."
"What is that?" Ron and Harry asked in unison.
"Snape mentioned in class a few weeks ago—"
Hermione said, hesitated for a moment, and then continued: "Earlier than that, in last semester... I saw it in Maka's Potions Notes... "
Her voice became quieter and quieter until she was almost inaudible.
"Oh, Maka..." Ron repeated, but said nothing.
Harry said cautiously: "Really... I mean, don't you really want to ask Maka? Let's not talk about the Chamber of Secrets first, let's talk about this - um - Polyjuice Potion, it would be better to ask Maka, right? "
He waited for a while and saw that the two of them were silent the whole time, and the look of confusion on their faces became even worse.
"You... what happened to Maka?" Harry couldn't help it and asked directly.
"No, it's nothing, I just think... Maka has been a little too withdrawn recently..." Ron said hesitantly.
Hermione pursed her lips, glanced at Ron, and muttered: "Harry, don't ask anymore. I'll go find Maka and ask about the Polyjuice Potion tomorrow..."
But in the next few days, Hermione never found a chance—she rarely even saw Maka.
Eventually, they had to go to Lockhart to get a signed note for borrowing books from the Restricted Section—in fact, Lockhart was willing to sign his name anywhere.
"So, Harry," Lockhart said as Hermione folded the note awkwardly and put it into her bag, "tomorrow is the first Quidditch match of the season, right? Gryffin Multiple teams versus Slytherin, right?”
"I heard you performed very well in training - I was also a Seeker back then. They want me to run for the national team, but I would rather devote my life to destroying the evil forces... However, if you feel the need to exaggerate, Feel free to come to me. I'm always happy to pass on my experience to less capable players!"
Harry mumbled something vaguely in his throat and hurried away with Ron and Hermione.
"I can't believe it," Harry said as the three of them studied the signatures on the note, "he didn't even look at the book we wanted!"
"Because he's a brainless idiot," Ron said. "Whatever! We already have what we want."
"He's not a brainless idiot," Hermione said with a frown as they jogged towards the library.
If it weren't for Maka, Hermione's attitude at this moment would be far more than this, perhaps even more fanatical. After all, she was one of Lockhart's supporters. But right now, she really didn't have time to care about so much, so she just said a word and forget it.
There are so many things to worry about lately!
Soon, they ran to the library and borrowed a book called "Powerful Potion", and then hurried to Myrtle's women's bathroom.
…
At eleven o'clock on Saturday, the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin began.
At this time, Maka was also sitting in the viewing gallery. He didn't want to come originally, but Luna seemed to be very interested in Quidditch - she just dragged Maka to the Ravenclaw viewing gallery.
He looked at Luna's enthusiastic look, and in his heart, which had no remaining emotion at all, he felt that it would be nice to accompany her for once.
It was a hot and humid day, and there was a faint thunder in the sky, making everyone feel that it would definitely rain soon.
Before long, the game started.
Malfoy straddled his brand new Nimbus 2001 and shuttled back and forth under Harry, seeming to show off the speed of the broom.
But not long after, a heavy black Bludger suddenly flew towards him!
Harry barely dodged it by a hair, and he even felt the ball ruffling his hair as it passed by.
Maka took out her wand, pointed it at her eyes, and whispered a few words. Suddenly, the perspective was quickly zoomed in, and he could clearly see the situation Harry was facing at this time.
"Is it... that house elf?" Maka secretly asked.