The tunnel was as silent as a tomb.
Suddenly, they heard an unexpected sound.
"Click"
It turns out Ron crushed a rat skull under his feet.
Harry looked down at the ground and saw the bones of small animals everywhere. He tried desperately not to imagine what Ginny would be like when they found her.
Lockhart walked in front, his strides not large but the frequency of his legs never changing much. He led Harry and Ron around a dark bend in the tunnel.
"Harry, there's something over there..." Ron said hoarsely, grabbing Harry's shoulders.
The two of them stood still for a moment, staring nervously.
Harry saw the coiled outline of a huge thing lying motionless on the other side of the tunnel.
"That's the slough, the skin shed by the basilisk."
Lockhart raised his wand so that the light could shine farther.
The light shines on a huge snake skin, which is green and very bright. At first glance, it looks like the skin of a venomous snake. It lay coiled on the floor of the tunnel, empty inside.
Apparently the animal that had just shed this skin was at least twenty feet long.
"Oh my God!" Ron sighed feebly.
"Stay alert and keep moving forward," Lockhart said calmly.
The three of them turned one corner after another in the deep and dark tunnel.
Every nerve in Harry was trembling uncomfortably. He hoped to reach the end of the tunnel quickly, but at the same time he was a little afraid that the tunnel would really end.
Finally, he carefully turned another corner and finally found a solid wall standing in front of him, with two intertwined snakes carved on it, and their eyes were set with large, shining emeralds. .
"Mr. Potter, it's your turn again," Lockhart said.
Without Lockhart's words, Harry already guessed what he had to do.
He cleared his throat, his emerald eyes seeming to twinkle.
He no longer needed to imagine the two stone snakes as real, because their eyes looked exactly like they were alive.
"Open it," Harry said in a low, dark hiss.
The two snakes separated, and the stone wall cracked in the middle, slowly sliding to both sides and disappearing.
This is one side of a long, dimly lit room.
There are many thick stone pillars here, carved with various entangled snakes, towering up to support the ceiling that melts into the darkness above, casting long and strange shadows into the room that is filled with mystery.
Lockhart half-raised his wand and advanced slowly between the stone pillars coiled with giant snakes without saying a word.
At this time, Harry and Ron each took out their wands and followed him cautiously.
Every step they took created a hollow and dull echo among the ghostly walls.
In such a silent environment, any unnecessary noise makes people feel extremely uneasy.
When they reached the spot between the last pair of pillars, a huge statue as tall as the room itself loomed before them, clinging to the dark wall behind.
The slightly green stone gave it an eerie atmosphere.
They had to raise their necks hard to see the face of the statue clearly - it was an old, monkey-like face, with a sparse long beard that almost reached the hem of the wizard's robe carved in stone. Standing firmly on the smooth floor of the room.
"...Salazar Slytherin." Lockhart murmured, looking at the statue.
Between the statue's feet, face down, lay a small figure in black robes, her hair as red as flames.
"Ginny!"
Harry and Ron yelled, then hurried to her side and squatted down.
"Ginny! Oh—you don't want to die! Please—"
Ron dropped his wand and grabbed Ginny by the shoulders, trying to turn her over. Harry also put his wand aside and stepped to his aid.
At this moment, Ginny's face was like marble, cold and bloodless, but her eyes were closed tightly, so she was not petrified.
"Ginny, wake up—please—" Ron begged, shaking her desperately.
Ginny's head drooped lifelessly.
"She won't wake up," a voice said softly.
Ron ignored the sound and just kept shaking Ginny's body as if he couldn't hear anything else.
Harry turned his head sharply.
A tall boy with black hair was leaning against the nearest stone pillar, staring at him. The boy's outline was blurry and strange, as if he was looking at him through a foggy window.
"Who are you? What do you mean? You said she won't wake up?" Harry asked angrily. "She didn't - she didn't -"
"She's still alive," said the vague boy, "but not for much longer."
Harry froze on the spot, and Lockhart beside him just stood quietly without saying a word.
"Then who are you? Are you a ghost?" Harry asked uncertainly.
"It's a memory," Riddle said quietly, "kept in a diary for fifty years."
He pointed towards the statue's big toe, where lay the diary Harry had found in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
Harry wondered for a moment how it had gotten there, since he had obviously left it in his dormitory - but he had more pressing matters to attend to.
Harry stopped talking to him, but with great effort, helped Ron half-lift Ginny from the ground.
Then he leaned over to pick up his wand, but it was gone.
"Did you see-"
"For every wizard, the wand is a lifelong companion... hold it."
Beside Harry, Lockhart handed Harry his wand, but his eyes were always fixed on the blurry figure.
"Oh—Professor, thank you—but what's wrong?"
"He wants to take away your wand." Lockhart raised his head and pointed over there with his chin.
The tall boy stared at Lockhart for a moment, but then looked back at Harry.
"Harry Potter, I've been waiting a long time," he said, "for a chance to see you and talk to you."
"Oops," Harry said, gradually losing his patience, "You probably don't understand what I mean. We are in the secret room now. We might as well talk about it later."
"We have to talk now," the boy said, still with the obvious smile on his face.
"What's there to talk about! We have to go back right now, we have to save Ginny!"
Ron suddenly broke out, and his angry shouts echoed in this huge room, and the echoes overlapped, making the sound even more irritating.
"Let's talk about it," Lockhart suddenly spoke again, "I think we must know, how did Ginny become like this?"
"Yeah, why did Ginny become like this?" Harry couldn't help but ask after hearing this.
Ron, who was half holding Ginny with Harry, couldn't help but calm down. After all, this issue was indeed critical.
"Oh, this is an interesting question," the boy said happily, "It's a long story! Let me see, the real reason why Ginny Weasley became like this is that she turned to an invisible person. The stranger opened up and revealed all his secrets.”
"What are you talking about?" Harry said.
"The diary," said the boy, "my diary. For months, little Ginny has been writing in it, telling me her heart-wrenching troubles and sorrows—how she was teased by her brothers, how she was not allowed to Not coming to school wearing old robes and carrying old books... And, she thinks—"
The boy's eyes flickered cunningly, "She thought that the famous, kind, and great Harry Potter would never like her..."
As he spoke, his eyes never left Harry's face, as if he had no interest in anyone else's presence.
There was an almost greedy look hidden in his eyes.
"It's so boring, listening to an eleven-year-old girl talk about her childish worries," he continued, "but I had the patience to write something back to her. I'm kind and understanding - Kim Nee is just in love with me. Oh, Tom, no one understands me like you do... I'm so glad I got this diary to confide in you, it's like having a friend you can carry around in your pocket!"
The boy let out a cold, piercing laugh that didn't sound like it came from a sixteen-year-old child—it made the hairs on the back of Harry's neck stand up.
"I'm not bragging... Harry, I've always been able to confuse people at will. So, Ginny opened her whole soul to me." The boy said with a sly smile, "And her soul happens to be mine. What was needed - I devoured her deepest fears, her deepest secrets with an ever-increasing appetite... I grew stronger, much stronger than little Miss Weasley. Strong enough to challenge Miss Weasley Revealing a few of my secrets, beginning to open a small part of my soul to her..."
"What did you say!" Ron couldn't help shouting, but the other party didn't even have the interest to glance at him.
"Can't you guess, Harry Potter?" he said softly, "It was Ginny Weasley who opened the Chamber of Secrets; it was she who strangled the school cock and smeared it on the wall Those scary words; she unleashed the Slytherin basilisk and attacked the four mudbloods, and the skinny cat who was a squib."
"Oh - no! Impossible!" The expression on Ron's face was distorted, "This is absolutely impossible! You are lying! The one who opened the secret room was Maka! Maka McClain!"
"...Maka McClain." Upon hearing the name, the smile on the boy's face immediately disappeared, and there was obvious anger in his eyes.
"Don't mention this name to me!" His voice suddenly became deeper.