Many people feel anxious, irritable, and uneasy in narrow, confined spaces.
Some even suffer from claustrophobia, which can lead to shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, flushed skin, and sweating — in severe cases, even suffocation, dizziness, and a sense of impending death.
Eda didn't like the oppressive water pipe, but she didn't have claustrophobia either — she was just a little bit agitated. She vented her frustration with a sharp kick against the wall, then resigned herself to feeling along the filthy inner surface of the pipe.
The water pipe was pitch-black, and there was no one else around. Whatever strange expression appeared on Eda's face, no one would see it — her beauty wouldn't suffer for it.
Still, the grimace she wore as she forced herself to touch the slimy pipe wall made her look very much like an old man squinting at his phone on the subway.
Fortunately, heaven never seals off all paths. After groping along the wall for a long while, she finally found a carved indentation. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be two small snakes coiled around each other.
Eda ran her fingers over the twin snakes, cleared her throat, and began to mimic the hissing sound Harry had made earlier. The first attempt was clumsy — the two little snakes didn't react at all.
But Eda didn't get discouraged. She kept adjusting her pronunciation, and after several tries, she finally managed to reproduce a hiss identical to Harry's.
All of a sudden, a light flashed in the pitch-dark pipe. The two entwined snakes separated and began to slither along the wall. A moment later, a hole appeared in the wall — large enough for a person to pass through.
What the fuck.. don't tell me it really worked!
Eda flicked her wand, sending a beam of light into the hole. By the glow of the Lumos spell, she could see what was inside — just an empty room.
After confirming it was safe, Eda crawled through the opening and entered the hidden chamber. The room was sparsely furnished: a desk, a chair, a few empty bookshelves, an overturned chest in the corner, and a motionless portrait of Salazar Slytherin hanging on the wall.
The room was covered in dust, yet there wasn't a single spiderweb in sight. It looked as though it hadn't been used for a very long time — or perhaps no living person had set foot in it for centuries. When Eda brushed the dust off the chair and sat down, a sudden illusion appeared within the room.
In the vision, Eda saw the chamber as it had once been. The flickering light of candles illuminated the room; strange vessels she had never seen before sat upon the desk, thick tomes were neatly lined up across the shelves, and the chest in the corner was filled with magical artifacts.
Then, across the river of time, the figure of Salazar Slytherin appeared within the chamber, standing in the very same spot a thousand years in the past.
He paced slowly across the room, hissing softly under his breath. Coiled around his body was a venomous snake that shimmered with dazzling light, hissing back in response to its master.
At that moment, a crisp ding echoed in Eda's mind — the task was complete.
[Ding!]
[Mission Complete!]
The host has discovered the secrets of the Chamber and pierced through illusion to find the true Chamber of Salazar Slytherin.
Reward issued:"Try Lying to Me"
Special Reward issued:"Serpent Speaker"
A sudden, stabbing pain shot through Eda's head like needles. When it subsided, she realized she could now understand the "hissing" sounds coming from Slytherin's mouth.
"You think," Slytherin said softly, "my heir in the future will one day find this true Chamber?"
"Yes, my master, they surely will," replied the green serpent reverently. "Your heir will be as great as you are. I shall guard your Chamber and wait for your heir's arrival!"
"I only hope," Slytherin continued, "that he will not be blinded by your beautiful appearance, nor clouded by the lure of power. Only when he reaches this place can he truly be called my heir — for this is where my true legacy lies."
Slytherin reached out and gently brushed his hand across the books on the shelf, murmuring softly, "I have left enough knowledge here for him — knowledge about the meaning of life."
Sitting in the chair, Eda looked at Slytherin's back and thought to herself:
So that's it… Slytherin didn't create the Chamber and leave behind the basilisk just to purge Muggle-born wizards. It was also meant to guard his treasure — a trial for his heir.
Of course, that made sense. The old madman wasn't truly insane. Did he really think a single basilisk could "cleanse" the world? How ridiculous. The creature might be powerful and fierce, but in front of many great wizards, it was just a venomous little cutie — not nearly enough to cause any real storm.
"Ah… a watcher from the future? How interesting," Slytherin suddenly said, now speaking in human language. "Your world must already be ruled by my heir, isn't it?"
"Master, what are you talking about? I can't see anything!" hissed the green serpent. It lifted its head from Slytherin's shoulders, turning toward where Eda sat. Its tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open — and in its yellow pupils, murderous intent flashed!
The illusion vanished. Silence returned to the room.
But Slytherin's words — and the deadly gaze of that serpent — had startled Eda badly. Cold sweat ran down her back.
She stood and walked toward the empty bookshelf. There was nothing left on it; everything must have been taken away long ago. Perhaps by Voldemort, or maybe one of his ancestors. Whatever treasures Slytherin had left behind clearly had nothing to do with her.
On the bottom shelf, however, lay a tattered diary. Eda picked it up and flipped through it.
The yellowed pages bore the name T. M. Riddle. On the back cover was stamped the name of a newspaper dealer from Vauxhall Road, London.
"Found you, Tom," Eda murmured under her breath.
After carefully tucking the diary away, she turned to leave — it was time to finish this once and for all and deal with Tom Riddle.
In the long, dimly lit chamber, Professor Flitwick's relentless "scraping attack" continued, and the basilisk's black blood had already covered the floor.
The massive serpents carved into the stone pillars suddenly came alive. Under Dumbledore's command, they surged toward the basilisk, replacing the water sphere and pressing the great monster firmly to the ground.
The emerald-scaled basilisk thrashed unwillingly. Its scales were scraped off by its own writhing body, and as it rolled and twisted, more and more of that dark blood poured out.
It opened its enormous maw wide, revealing thin, dagger-like fangs, and bit down on the stone serpents restraining it. But it was all in vain — before Dumbledore, even a creature that had lived a thousand years was nothing to boast about.
Not to mention, by Dumbledore's side was Professor Flitwick, the small but formidable dueling champion, who had never stopped his barrage. The deep, gaping wounds on the basilisk's soft underbelly were all his work.
At last, the basilisk collapsed heavily to the ground. The stone serpents retreated one by one, returning to the pillars.
The fallen creature let out a final, pitiful hiss… then moved no more.
The thousand-year-old basilisk had died such a miserable death — exhausted and crushed, drained of life.
If Eda had been there, she would have heard the basilisk's dying words:
"Great Salazar Slytherin… my great master… forgive me… I have failed to protect your heir…"
Tom Riddle's expression changed drastically.
Dumbledore could not understand the serpent's final words — but Riddle could.
He had always believed that he was the basilisk's true master — that the creature had always been loyal to him.
Yet now, he realized the thousand-year-old serpent had, from beginning to end, acknowledged only one master: Salazar Slytherin!
Even if that loyalty had been to his own ancestor, such "betrayal" was still something Tom Riddle could not tolerate.
"Enough, Tom," Dumbledore said calmly, taking slow, steady steps toward him. "Now it's your turn."
"Killing a foolish beast—do you really think that means you can defeat me?" Tom Riddle sneered. "On the path to immortality, I've walked farther than anyone else."
He clenched his fists, unwilling to accept this outcome. If he had just one more month, he would have been fully reborn!
But when Ginny had opened the diary again, everything changed. The rapid developments at Hogwarts told him that Dumbledore had already discovered the Chamber of Secrets.
He was still too weak—unable to take Ginny Weasley and escape the school.
With no other choice, Tom had brought her into the Chamber itself, ready to stake everything on one final gamble.
As long as he could stall Dumbledore, as long as the diary remained hidden, victory might still be his.
"Tom," Dumbledore said lightly, "confidence is a virtue. But too much of it turns into arrogance—and arrogance, as you should know, is the seed of ruin."
He smiled faintly. "Haven't you noticed? That girl you looked down on… has already come back here."
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