Dumbledore shook his head and said, "It's not over yet. Don't forget, we still don't know who ordered the Basilisk to attack the students."
It was only then that Arthur remembered—there was still a certain Tom something-or-other who had yet to show his hand.
He had no idea which poor little wizard had been bewitched by our dear senior Tom. Could it be Ginny?
But he had observed her before and hadn't noticed anything strange.
Lifting his head from his thoughts, Arthur saw Dumbledore staring at him.
He frowned. "Why are you looking at me? I don't know who did it either."
Seeing that Arthur didn't seem to be lying, Dumbledore was momentarily at a loss for where to begin the investigation.
"Sigh… if we can't find the real culprit, Hogwarts can't be considered safe."
"That's easy. Why don't we just lay a trap?"
"What do you mean?"
"We fix up all the damaged areas. The Heir of Slytherin will surely come back eventually. When that happens, we'll catch him like a rat in a jar."
Dumbledore found Arthur's suggestion quite reasonable. But then something else occurred to him.
"What about the Basilisk?"
Arthur thought for a moment and replied, "Hmm, the fangs are venomous, so we definitely have to take them. I can send some to Snape. The eyes need to be removed too—I want to study how they differ from the Petrification Curse. As for the skin, I haven't decided yet. Maybe I'll make a specimen? And the bones and meat… Well, how about we use it to improve the students' meals? It's getting cold. How about some Basilisk soup to warm everyone up?"
Dumbledore chuckled and shook his head—seemed like Arthur had everything planned out already.
"Alright then. It's your spoils of war. Do as you see fit."
Truth be told, he was also curious about what Basilisk meat would taste like.
Back when he discovered the twelve uses of dragon's blood, he'd also wondered if it could be eaten.
"But let's keep the fact that the Basilisk's been dealt with under wraps—for now, at least," Dumbledore reminded him. "We don't want to alert the enemy."
Arthur nodded, waving his hand dismissively. "Relax, I'm not exactly a blabbermouth."
"By the way, I'll leave the cleanup work to you. I'm heading back to sleep."
With that, Arthur waved his hand to store the Basilisk's corpse, hopped on his broomstick, and flew off.
What, stay behind to do hard labor? No thanks.
Dumbledore was still marveling that Arthur could store such a massive corpse. By the time he came to his senses, the boy had already vanished.
"Sigh… kids these days. No respect for their elders," he muttered.
He wasn't too puzzled about how Arthur was able to store so many things. The story Arthur had made up for Ranni's enrollment had been passed to him by Snape, and at first, Dumbledore hadn't believed it.
But after witnessing Arthur's capabilities firsthand today, he became certain: this boy really was the heir of some ancient and powerful Eastern clan.
The most compelling evidence? During his travels in the East, he had once personally seen their magical technique of "a mustard seed holding Mount Meru."
To be precise, in the East it was known as a technique, not a spell.
It was quite similar to the wizarding world's Extension Charm, but their craftsmanship was on another level—they could open up storage spaces in something as small as a ring.
He'd once tried to get his hands on one of those rings, but the Easterners were notoriously guarded and unwilling to share their secrets.
At the start of the school year, he'd noticed a new ring on Arthur's hand.
And it was with that very hand that Arthur had just stored the Basilisk's corpse.
That misunderstanding was enough to convince Dumbledore that Arthur's fabricated background was actually true.
Arthur, for his part, had no idea about any of this. He just thought working with Dumbledore this time had gone surprisingly smoothly.
He had no idea that the lie he had crafted had led to a few unexpected misunderstandings.
After leaving the Chamber of Secrets, Arthur didn't return directly to his dorm. Instead, he headed to where Filch usually rested.
A quick Alohomora, and the door to Filch's quarters creaked open, revealing a messy, chaotic room.
Clothes were haphazardly thrown over a rack, Filch's belongings were strewn all over the table, and the only clean area was a cozy corner where the cat bed sat.
Mrs. Norris was lying there quietly.
Well, petrified as she was, "quiet" was kind of a given.
Arthur's main reason for coming here was her.
Filch's attitude earlier had seriously ticked him off, so he'd decided to come and "kidnap" Filch's cat.
He picked up the cat and turned to leave, but as he passed by Filch's desk, a thought struck him—was the Marauder's Map still in one of these drawers?
The Marauder's Map was created by Harry's dad and his three best friends. They'd drawn an incredibly detailed map of Hogwarts on a piece of parchment, including all the secret passages they'd discovered.
Normally, the parchment looked blank. Only after saying a specific phrase would the ink appear, revealing the map.
The four of them had even embedded complex magic into it, allowing it to track the real-time movements of everyone in Hogwarts.
All that effort—for the sake of pranks.
Considering the level of magic involved, they must have been upperclassmen when they made it.
Even so, they were clearly still obsessed with pranks. Truly, boys will be boys.
Or maybe they were just boys at the time.
Anyway, the map had likely been confiscated by Filch after one of their pranks went too far and Snape reported them.
Filch, being a Squib, had no idea what the map truly was. He probably thought it was just another prank artifact and, after failing to figure it out, tossed it into a drawer and forgot about it.
Later, the Weasley twins found it and discovered its real use.
As lovers of mischief, they were the perfect successors to its legacy.
Now, the question was: had they taken it yet?
Arthur rifled through the drawers of Filch's desk, which were filled with prank items of all kinds.
Most of them looked incredibly familiar. A closer inspection confirmed it—these were all Weasley twins' products.
As expected, those two were practically prank-item moguls.
After rummaging through a few drawers, Arthur found an old piece of parchment.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!"
He whispered the activation phrase.
Lines of ink spread across the parchment, rapidly sketching out a detailed map of Hogwarts.
"Excellent. Mischief managed."
As soon as he said it, the map faded back into a blank sheet.
Arthur tucked the map away and left with Mrs. Norris in his arms.
Back in his dorm, Arthur entered the Zen Garden.
"My king, why did you bring this cat back with you too?" Ranni asked, approaching him and noticing the cat in his arms.
"Mm, mostly because I was annoyed with Filch. Thought I'd bring his cat back for a few days."
Ranni hadn't expected her king to be so petty—but honestly, it was kind of cute.
Arthur pulled out some ingredients and began brewing a potion to reverse petrification.
Seeing he was busy, Ranni quietly went back to her room.
Soon after, Arthur finished brewing the potion.
He poured the antidote over Mrs. Norris. Before long, her body softened, and she began to stir.
The newly-awakened Mrs. Norris looked around and meowed loudly.
Arthur reached out with his spiritual power and linked with her, hearing her thoughts clearly.
'Where… where am I? This place is so beautiful. I remember… I saw a pair of terrifying eyes… I'm so hungry. Is there any food?'
'You're in my garden,' Arthur replied mentally.
'Who's speaking?' Mrs. Norris lifted her head and saw Arthur. 'Oh, it's you! I recognize you. You're the one who always brought me those tasty fish snacks.'
'That's right. My name is Arthur.'
'Nice to meet you, Arthur. You can just call me Norris. By the way, do you have any food? I'm starving!'
At her words, Arthur gave a mental command. Two fish flew up from the pond in the Zen Garden and floated down in front of her.
'They're raw for now. I hope that's alright.'
'That's fine, I don't mind at all. But say, why didn't you ever talk to me like this before?'
'This is a new ability I recently discovered. I didn't know I could do it before.'
'I see. Then excuse me while I eat first.'
'Go ahead.'
As he watched Norris feast, Arthur began to ponder.
Through their conversation, he realized Norris was no ordinary animal.
Most animals didn't have such structured and coherent thoughts. With them, he could only manage simple communication, often having to interpret their intent over time.
So far, only two animals he could communicate with normally: his owl Errol and Mrs. Norris.
Errol was understandable—she was a wizard-trained owl and had a certain level of intelligence.
But why Norris?
He recalled that when he used the Marauder's Map earlier, he had even seen Norris's name appear on it.
That led to two possibilities.
One, the Marauders had specifically added her to the map to avoid her while sneaking around.
Two… Norris herself was special.
Could she be a cursed beast like Nagini? Or perhaps she carried the blood of a magical creature?
'Whew, I'm full. Thank you so much!'
Her voice snapped Arthur out of his thoughts.
'You're welcome. May I ask you a few questions?'
'Of course.'
'Have you ever noticed how intelligence seems… a bit above normal for a cat?'
'Yes, when I talk with other cats, I usually have to spend a while interpreting their meows.'
'Do you know what caused it?'
'Hmm… to be honest, I don't really know. One day I just woke up, and the world felt different. Over time, I learned your human language.'
Her answer led Arthur to a new theory: perhaps a bloodline reawakening.
'I heard from some students that you and Filch share a sort of telepathic bond. That you can tell him where students are sneaking around?'
'Oh, that? That's another ability that showed up after my awakening. Actually, I can communicate with anyone, as long as they're open to me. But most students dislike me because I help Filch catch them during their night strolls.'
'Why help him, then?'
'Well, life as a cat isn't easy. Gotta have a skill, make a living somehow, right?'
At this point, Arthur more or less understood why Norris was so special.
Most likely, her bloodline had undergone reversion, awakening a trace of magical beast heritage.
Probably even a mental-type bloodline at that—otherwise, she wouldn't be able to communicate this well.
'So, do you have any plans for the future?'
'Me? Hmm…' Norris glanced around at her surroundings. 'Would it be possible for me to stay here?'
Arthur was taken aback. He hadn't even gotten around to persuading her to stay, and here she was volunteering?
'You're not going back to Filch?'
'Nope. I've been with him for over a decade—already an old lady by cat standards. And he has no clue how to take care of a cat. Dragging me out at night for patrols… sure, we're nocturnal, but that doesn't mean I don't need sleep! Then during the day, he carts me all around again—no rest at all!
And on top of that, he treats me like a human! I've been living alone too long, I guess. He even feeds me human food! Luckily, ever since my mind awakened, my body's become more adaptable. Otherwise, I'd probably be dead by now.'
Finally able to vent to someone who understood her, Norris let loose a flood of complaints about Filch.
She finished with a solemn request: 'I'm already an old cat… please let me retire here in peace.'
Arthur looked down at her. A Birman cat, with once-fluffy fur and a graceful frame—now reduced to a scrawny figure.
Hard to imagine how Filch had been taking care of her all this time.
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