Chapter 465 - 16: Aftermath

Chapter 465: Chapter 16: Aftermath

Getting down into the Chamber of Secrets was easy. Going back up the same pipe they had slid through, however, was nearly impossible. The pipe was so steep it was almost vertical. Unless the owner of the Chamber could have the giant snake carry them out, the only other option was to prepare some way to fly back up.

Unfortunately for Lockhart, never mind a flying broom—Hermione had even confiscated his wand.

Fortunately, Yimi’s disappearance had only just become the first real sign confirming the Chamber and the giant snake. Lucius, who intended to use the diary to stir up trouble, had not yet had time to find a pretext to have Dumbledore temporarily removed from office.

"Right here. First that little girl, then three guys and a girl. The older one was actually rather handsome." Myrtle pointed at the faucet where they had disappeared.

Snape crossed the room in a few long strides and touched the engraved snake.

"If they found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, why would they not tell us first?" Professor McGonagall could not understand it.

The corner of Snape’s mouth moved. "Perhaps the arrogant Mr. Potter believed he deserved a little solo adventure. Or perhaps they simply placed great faith in their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Myrtle continued, "That boy made a hissing sound, and then the passage appeared."

"Albus." McGonagall looked at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore stepped forward, cleared his throat slightly, and imitated the Parseltongue syllable. ’Open...’

He was not a Parselmouth. He had merely studied Parseltongue enough to understand it. Speaking it was beyond him, but with only one short syllable, he could at least attempt to imitate the sound.

The passage opened, and Dumbledore went down.

A moment later, Lockhart heard three separate landing sounds from the pipe, followed by Snape saying, "Lumos."

"You’ve come, Albus." Lockhart straightened his robes and schooled his features with practiced ease, though in truth there was hardly any need for it.

"Why are you alone, Gilderoy? Where are the children?" McGonagall questioned him in a tone that came close to an interrogation, even as she held her wand and used a simple spell to staunch his bleeding.

"I’m very sorry, Minerva." Lockhart lowered his head and displayed exactly the right amount of shame. "I should have stopped Harry. He believed he could save the little girl. We encountered the Basilisk, and while I was trying to protect the panicking child, my wand was knocked away as well."

McGonagall seized Lockhart by the shoulder. "Where are they?!"

Lockhart lowered his head even further. "I’m sorry. I was the only one who escaped successfully... This is the greatest failure of my life. I will resign tomorrow."

"No..." McGonagall shook her head and took a step backward, her entire body seemingly trembling.

Snape listened to the whole story, then looked coldly at Lockhart. "Forgive me for asking, Professor Lockhart, but without a wand, how exactly did you escape a Basilisk’s eyes? Or did it happen to eat its fill and decide to spare you?"

Dumbledore held out a hand toward Snape. "Did you personally see the children come to harm, Gilderoy?"

"I..."

Lockhart had barely managed a syllable when a faint but impossible-to-ignore scraping sound emerged from the end of the passage. It sounded like something being dragged, yet in this setting it could just as easily have been a gigantic python slithering toward them.

"It’s coming." Lockhart unobtrusively retreated one step behind the other three.

Nobody had attention to spare for him now. The three professors drew their wands and aimed them into the dark passage as the faint scraping grew closer and clearer.

"You don’t understand how serious this is! That was an Unforgivable Curse! Using one on a person means life imprisonment in Azkaban!"

One flash of green light and a snake that huge had simply dropped dead, without a single visible wound. That was the Killing Curse, one of the three Unforgivable Curses.

Yimi’s wand had been right beside Hermione’s shoulder when it happened. Just remembering it left Hermione’s legs weak as she walked.

"Who got hurt here? We’re lucky we weren’t eaten! No... She could’ve beaten the Basilisk bare-handed anyway, couldn’t she? Is she even human?"

"I’m a cat."

"So you really weren’t bragging before? You actually planned to drag this thing back and eat it? That’s disgusting..."

"Forget all that for now. Can’t you put that thing—Professor McGonagall!" By the light of Snape’s spell, Hermione caught sight of her Head of House and immediately quickened her pace.

"Thank goodness, you’re all safe." McGonagall hugged her, visibly relaxing all at once.

Lockhart’s expression worsened. "Since everyone is safe, perhaps we should—"

"You’re here too? You miserable fraud!" Hermione gritted her teeth and aimed Lockhart’s own wand at him.

As she did, she caught Snape in the corner of her eye wearing a cold smile that was difficult to tell apart from amusement or mockery.

Lockhart leaned his head back and held both hands out flat. "Children, I had to go and bring reinforcements. Without my wand there was nothing I could do. Very good, I see you succeeded. I’m truly proud of you..."

"Oh, Merlin’s Gorgons! What are you dragging? Where did you get that kind of strength?" McGonagall hurried over, grabbed Yimi’s head, and rubbed her cat ears.

She had seen Yimi stick one little paw into the mouth of a gigantic python nearly fifty feet long and apparently drag it all the way here one-handed by gripping one of its teeth.

To make sure the Basilisk could not somehow kill people with its stare even after death, Ron had shut his eyes before they came and jabbed its eyeballs twice with his wand.

"I’m going home and tearing up every book with Gilderoy Lockhart’s name on it. Professor Dumbledore, this is a fraud!" Hermione looked up at Dumbledore and launched straight into her complaint.

"We were going to tell you, but he said he was an expert. And then what happened? The moment we got into the Chamber, he tried to turn us into idiots so he wouldn’t have to go any farther while still looking heroic. Good thing Ron reacted quickly. Then when the Basilisk appeared, he ran faster than anyone! If the cat-girl hadn’t killed it, all of us would’ve died down there! Even the stories in his books didn’t happen to him!"

If Dumbledore had not been watching, Hermione absolutely would have kicked Lockhart viciously in the shin. If possible, she might even have put on high heels first. The more devoted a fan she had once been, the more violently that admiration had rebounded. All Hermione wanted now was for Lockhart to receive the punishment he deserved, such as an ordinary, thorough destruction of his reputation.

She felt drained by delayed fear. It was not only because the Killing Curse had been cast right beside her shoulder, but because she had been holding Yimi at the time and had almost been able to feel the Basilisk’s cold body approaching.

Lockhart gave an awkward laugh. "It appears the children were badly frightened. They’ve already started talking nonsense."

Yimi turned to look at him. "This is too big. Is there another way, to preserve it properly?"

The little kitty tossed the giant snake down in front of Lockhart, successfully frightening him into falling onto his backside.

"Yimi-chan killed the Basilisk? What happened?" McGonagall hugged Yimi and examined the hand she had just put inside the snake’s mouth. A Basilisk’s fangs secreted an extraordinarily deadly venom.

"Can we explain everything after we get back, Professor? We’re all pretty tired." Hermione lowered her voice. She was still thinking clearly. Under those circumstances, Yimi could reasonably be said to have used that curse for their sake.

Hermione would report it, but on one hand, she did not want Snape—who seemed rather harsh in their eyes—to hear about it. On the other, she did not want Lockhart knowing exactly what had happened.

At least in Hermione’s eyes, using Dark Magic was extremely serious, because that was what the books said. Most wizards needed powerful killing intent in their hearts to cast such magic at all.

"Don’t touch that thing again, you little troublemaker." McGonagall slapped away Yimi’s hand as she reached toward the snake again and carried her aside. "Why aren’t you usually this strong? You need to explain exactly what happened... Never mind. I’ll have Harry and the others tell me."

Yimi’s explanations were too vague.

"Mm..."

...

When Dumbledore and the other two professors came down, they had not put much thought into getting back out either. Fawkes currently looked like a plucked rooster and was in no condition to carry anyone, but the professors had several ways to leave. Even with a few children to look after, they could use a Summoning Charm to bring down several flying brooms for Harry and the others.

"Meow meow, meow meow~" Yimi bobbed her little head as she walked, humming a tune she had made up herself, though her voice was completely drowned out by another kind of noise.

On the staircase.

"Do you think there really is a Chamber of Secrets, Malfoy?" Goyle asked curiously. He was one of Malfoy’s two followers.

"My father has never mentioned anything like that to me, Goyle." Malfoy clearly did not want to discuss the subject. He led the other two down the stairs. "And don’t forget, the whole thing about a snake came from some little brat talking non—what’s that sound?"

He heard something scraping along the corridor floor and hurried down the remaining stairs to look.

The first thing he saw was the same little brat they had just been discussing running down the corridor on her short legs while dragging an enormous python behind her.

"Snake!" Malfoy stumbled backward several steps.

"Meow?" Yimi tilted her head and glanced at them, then ignored them and continued dragging the giant snake onward.

She dragged it all the way to the castle entrance. Everyone who saw her along the way swallowed hard and gave her a wide berth. Even the girls who usually tried to sneak a pat of Yimi’s head whenever they met her did not dare approach.

Grandma Cat had wanted absolutely nothing to do with Yimi bringing this thing upstairs, but Grandpa Flat-Nose had taken the initiative to help her haul the giant danger noodle up, so Yimi had not even needed to figure out a way herself.

Dumbledore would not let Yimi cook it yet, however. He only told her to leave it outside for the moment.

After all, this was evidence that could clear Hagrid of the crime he had never committed. Aside from Dumbledore, everyone had believed Myrtle’s death was caused by the spider Hagrid kept, and Hagrid had carried that accusation for more than fifty years.

The house-elves would probably have to work overtime first. Naturally, the pipes where the Basilisk lived were filthy. Yimi had dragged it all the way from there to the entrance, and after the body was brought out, all the mud covering it smeared across the corridor floor.

Elsewhere, at Dumbledore’s signal, Snape took Lockhart to the hospital wing. The three students who had gone into the Chamber naturally had to answer questions.

"It was the Killing Curse, Professor." Now that she was facing only Dumbledore and McGonagall, Hermione could finally say it without reservation. "The cat-girl used the Killing Curse on that snake. It died instantly."

After Hermione said that, she clearly saw Professor McGonagall’s hand tighten on her sleeve before she looked at Dumbledore.

"How did you sum all of that up as just ’the Killing Curse’? Did nobody see her slap that snake aside with one hand? She said she’d tied a bow on it too! Remember how much that Basilisk hated her? I’d bet she was the one who smashed the Chamber door to pieces as well," Ron added. Clearly, compared with the Killing Curse, that was what concerned him more.