Chapter 89: Tom Riddle's Conspiracy
In the teachers' lounge, Professor McGonagall is arranging the next task of organizing students to leave the school.
Dumbledore had left the school at this point, and no one knew where he went.
So now the work in the castle can only be coordinated by Professor McGonagall.
"Although the students have left, the patrol work in the castle will continue. Wait for Sprout, you and Filch to lead the students to the station, I, Filius, Snape, and Sherlock are here. Investigation in the castle..."
Just as she said this, the door of the teacher's lounge was suddenly pushed open from the outside.
All the professors looked at Harry, who was out of breath, and Snape frowned.
"You should be packing up and preparing to leave school right now. What are you doing here! What the hell!"
Harry didn't care about Snape's reprimand, he took a breath and said quickly.
"Neville is missing, Professor!"
Immediately, the entire lounge fell into a dead silence!
Before they could speak, Harry continued panting again.
"I also know where the entrance to the secret room is!"
In an instant, all the professors present stood up!
They stared wide-eyed and stared at Harry, Professor McGonagall's excited body trembling slightly.
"You knew already!"
"Myrtle's bathroom on the first floor! The monster in the secret room is a basilisk! It moves through the castle through the pipes in Hogwarts!"
Sherlock's inner shock was also very intense at this time, Dumbledore actually bet right!
He was also the quickest person to respond, speaking quickly.
"Now organize the students to leave the school immediately and let them get on the train first. When the students have left the castle, let's go to the secret room!"
Professor McGonagall also came to her senses at this time. She heard Sherlock's words and immediately made arrangements.
"Sprout and Filch, both of you will find the prefect right now, and organize the students and other staff to the station, remember to keep the train from driving, and wait for our news. Filius, Snape also With Sherlock, let's go to that bathroom first!"
After her voice fell, the professors immediately took action.
Harry and Ron also followed Sherlock and the others, and the four most capable professors of Hogwarts went to the bathroom together.
At first, Professor McGonagall wasn't going to bring them, but Harry explained that he had a talent for Parseltongue, and that he might be able to help, and finally she decided to bring them.
After arriving at Myrtle's bathroom, Sherlock and the others searched the entire bathroom.
Soon, they will find out!
Flitwick pointed to the side of a copper faucet on the sink and called the professors over.
There was a small snake carved on it.
"This faucet never comes out of water." Myrtle floating on the side said sadly, further verifying the problem of this faucet.
Sherlock stared at the little snake carved on the faucet and called Harry over.
"In your Parseltongue, say whatever you want to this faucet."
Harry stared intently at the carved little snake, trying to imagine it as a real snake, imagining that the flickering candlelight made the little snake move.
"Open."
An unpleasant hissing sound came out of his mouth, and the next moment, the dragon head emitted a dazzling white light and began to spin rapidly.
Then, the pool also moved, and they watched as the pool slowly disappeared from sight, revealing a very thick water pipe that could allow a person to drill into it.
The entrance to the secret room was opened like this!
Every professor present was very excited, and Harry and Ron also cheered excitedly.
But Sherlock and the others are very clear that opening the secret room is just the beginning, and they still have a tough battle to fight!
"We have to bring the rooster first to deal with the basilisk. The roar of the rooster is the best weapon!" Professor McGonagall said calmly.
Afterwards, Flitwick and Sherlock went to the Hogwarts greenhouse to catch roosters.
After Sherlock revealed that the monsters in the secret room were likely to be basilisks, even if Hagrid's roosters were strangled to death, Dumbledore specially instructed him to buy a lot of them from outside and keep them separately.
In an abandoned greenhouse managed by Professor Sprout, there are a few roosters.
Soon, the two of Sherlock carried the rooster over, and they waited until all the students at Hogwarts had been evacuated by the organization before entering the secret room.
Harry and Ron were ordered to wait outside, while Professor McGonagall was in charge of guarding them outside.
Professor Flitwick, as a former duel champion, coupled with his short stature, was the first to climb into the secret room with a **** in front of him.
Sherlock and Snape followed him and entered the secret room.
They had been climbing down for a long time, as if they had penetrated several miles underground, and finally climbed into a wide underground space from the tunnel.
"This should be under the Black Lake." Professor Flitwick said, looking at the dark and sticky walls around.
"Fluorescent flashes."
The sound of three spells sounded, and the three professors used lighting spells at the same time, lighting up this underground secret room as if it were daylight.
Only then did they realize that they were now in a wider tunnel, and they had to keep moving forward.
The three of them stepped on the wet ground with a clatter, making a loud noise.
The rooster clucked in Professor Flitwick's arms until they turned a corner and found a huge snakeskin!
"This is what the snake shed." Snape muttered to himself, "Snake skin of nearly a thousand years, this is an extremely precious potion material."
"When you kill that snake, you can get a better one, don't think about this one, just keep going." Sherlock said.
They continued on until they reached the end of the tunnel, where a solid wall stood, carved with two intertwined snakes, with large, shining emeralds in their eyes.
Sherlock frowned as he looked at the two snakes on the wall.
"We still need to get Harry over."
Snape shook his head indifferently.
"No, I remember Potte's pronunciation."
Then, facing the wall, his throat wriggled, making the same "hiss" sound that Harry had just made at the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.
The two snakes separated, the stone wall cracked from the middle, and slowly slipped to the sides and disappeared.
Professor Flitwick praised excitedly.
"Nice job, Severus!"
Sherlock also looked at Snape unexpectedly. He didn't expect his talent in foreign languages to be so high.
After the door was opened, the three of them acted more cautiously.
This time they really entered the Slytherin's secret room.
In this secret room, which is almost half the size of the auditorium, there are many stone pillars carved with entangled snakes, towering and supporting the ceiling that dissolves in the darkness of the high place, casting long lines on the entire room filled with green glow and mystery. of eerie shadows.
Sherlock, Flitwick, and Snape stood in front of the huge statue.
It was an old, monkey-like face, a long, sparse beard that dragged almost all the way to the hem of the stone wizard's robe, and two large grey feet stood on the smooth floor of the room.
"Salazar Slytherin."
Snape whispered the name of the statue.
But there was nothing in the secret room except those stone pillars and statues.
Sherlock and the others searched this secret room carefully for a long time before they found a line of writing on the foot of the Slytherin statue.
[The glory of Slytherin will live with this castle forever! Even if his back room is no longer a secret. 】
Flitwick's face was gloomy.
"He ran away and took Longbottom with him!"
Snape's face was also very ugly. Although Sherlock's face was also very bad, he was thinking about something.
The three searched here for a while, and after confirming that nothing was found, they returned to the bathroom.
Professor McGonagall has been waiting here with Harry and Ron.
Neither the descendant of Slytherin nor the Basilisk were in the secret room. After she disappeared with Neville, she was in a trance and almost fell to the ground.
"How should I explain to the Longbottom family...how should I explain to his parents..."
Sherlock and the others were also silent, and Harry and Ron were even more unacceptable.
They thought that if they found the secret room, the matter would be completely resolved, Hogwarts would not be closed again, and Neville could be rescued.
But I didn't expect the result to be like this.
Professor McGonagall quickly recovered from the pain, she took a deep breath and said.
"Sherlock, take Harry and the others to the lounge to get their luggage and take them on the train first."
After Sherlock came out of the secret room, he kept frowning.
From the current point of view, Dumbledore's plan has failed. Tom is more cunning than he imagined, but he always feels that something is wrong.
But no matter what, the safest thing to do now is to send all the students away, and then conduct a full-scale search of the castle.
Harry and Ron followed Sherlock towards the Gryffindor lounge.
Their mood was very low, and no one wanted to speak.
Until Harry looked at Sherlock, a flash of lightning suddenly flashed across his mind!
He suddenly grabbed Sherlock's arm and asked in a trembling voice.
"Professor! You said before we left on the train~www.NovelMTL.com~ can we still find Neville and that diary?"
Sherlock and Ron were stunned at the same time, but Ron quickly reacted and guessed what Harry was going to do.
His eyes flickered, and he also looked at Sherlock nervously, waiting for his answer.
Sherlock sighed and shook his head.
"Hope is very slim. But let's leave the matter in the castle to the professor. You can take the car home today and wait for the news. The matter is resolved, and Dumbledore will inform you to return to school."
Both Harry and Ron looked surprised!
They almost jumped up on the spot, Sherlock looked at their behavior strangely, and didn't understand why this would make them excited.
Harry and Ron looked at each other, and both saw hope in each other's eyes!
They followed Sherlock to the tower where the Gryffindor lounge was located.
At this time, the common room was no longer guarded by the Fat Lady, because all the students got on the train, and only Harry and Ron had not passed.
The three of them climbed into the portrait passage, and when they entered the Gryffindor common room, they found a pale boy lying on the sofa in the lounge!
"Neville!" Harry and Ron exclaimed.
At the same time, Sherlock frowned, pursed his lips, and slowly drew out his wand.
Because he saw, sitting on a chair by the fireplace in the lounge, a tall boy with dark hair, with an indistinct body, like a ghost.
The portrait passage in the Gryffindor common room suddenly closed with a bang!
The boy named Tom Riddle looked at them with a smug smile on his face.