"Restricted Section?" Lockhart's interest seemed piqued as he turned an amused gaze toward the trio.
"Surely you know that's against school rules?"
"But, Professor, if we have your permission, then it wouldn't be against the rules, right?" Hermione said quickly.
"Trying to be clever with me, are you?" Lockhart chuckled, though inwardly, he dismissed their words entirely. Just a few kids—did they really think they could find the culprit? And even if they could, he would never let them steal the credit!If he didn't still need to stay at Hogwarts, he'd have cast the Killing Curse on Harry Potter long ago!
"All right then. Tell me who your suspect is, and I'll handle the investigation myself. You three should head back and get some rest. Leave everything to me." He waved them off dismissively.
The trio instantly realized that tonight's trip had been a waste.
However, Hermione thought that if they couldn't borrow books, letting Lockhart investigate Malfoy might not be a bad idea.
"We suspect Malfoy!" she finally blurted out, startling Harry and Ron.
Lockhart nearly burst out laughing at the name. Malfoy? A Heir? Really?"Draco Malfoy? Him? Impossible!""You mean Malfoy? Oh please—he's miles away from that level! If he wants to evolve into an Heir, he needs a few more stages first!"
"Draco Malfoy says he wants to be the Heir of the Chamber of Secrets. Does he even have the ability? Wouldn't he be crushed the moment he tried? Heir? What a joke."
Lockhart launched into what sounded like a divine sermon, leaving the three young wizards momentarily speechless.
"The Heir of Slytherin—whether among Slytherin students or dark wizards—is someone truly wicked!" he continued. "The last time the Chamber was opened, a Muggle-born student was killed! The whole school nearly shut down! Does Malfoy have that kind of power? No way! That was the work of a truly evil wizard. Malfoy? He can't even count as a dark wizard yet. Look at Hermione—she knows far more spells than he does! Double what he knows, and he still couldn't match her. So tell me, does Malfoy even have the qualification? No!"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged glances—admittedly, Lockhart's logic sounded… pretty convincing.
Sure, Malfoy was a pure-blood and one of the top students in their year, but there were plenty of older, stronger students. What could Malfoy possibly do? Claim the title of Heir? He wasn't even close to qualified!
Yet, despite saying all that, Lockhart couldn't completely dismiss Harry's suspicion.
Thinking carefully, he did recall that the Dark Lord had once entrusted something to Lucius Malfoy's care—something faintly related to the Chamber.
Could it actually be Malfoy after all?
Lockhart frowned in thought.
Malfoy couldn't have opened the Chamber with his own power. If he possessed the key, that alone didn't explain it either.
Besides, the Malfoy family now worked for Charles Gold—would Lucius really hand over such a dangerous object to his son when Voldemort was supposedly "dead"?
That left only one possibility: Voldemort himself was controlling Malfoy to open the Chamber!
At that thought, Lockhart nearly leapt up, eager to confront Malfoy right away and expose the truth.
And in fact—that's exactly what he did!
"Good thing I stocked up on materials," he muttered to himself, pulling out a bottle of unused Polyjuice Potion. He decided he'd find a Slytherin student tomorrow, use a hair sample, and disguise himself to uncover the truth.
Meanwhile, after leaving Lockhart's office, the trio couldn't deny that much of what he said made sense.
"And Malfoy's dad already betrayed Voldemort," Ron mused. "I heard their family isn't even that against Muggle-borns anymore. Maybe it's really not him."
"Even if he's turned over a new leaf, he's still not what I'd call good," Harry admitted. Malfoy's attitude toward Hermione had improved—no more insults, not even that old look of disdain—but he was still as antagonistic as ever toward Harry.
That grudge was theirs to carry.
"Listen," Harry said suddenly, "maybe he didn't open the Chamber—but he definitely knows something! Otherwise, why was he on the Second-floor corridor? The Slytherin dorms are in the dungeon!"
As they walked and talked, they ran right into Neville, who bumped into Harry, nearly knocking him over.
"You okay, Harry?" Neville asked, coming from the clubroom where he'd been training his Pokémon. His Frogadier's level was already quite high—it had been practicing sword swings with him for weeks.
His Munchlax also showed great talent—though it ate a lot and was always hungry.
"I'm fine, Neville. But honestly, with your build, you could be a Quidditch Keeper or Beater!" Harry said, noticing how fit Neville had become. Professor Charles's physical training methods clearly worked wonders—Harry was even tempted to try them himself.
If he could grow a little taller, maybe Cho Chang would notice him instead of Cedric! Harry fumed at the thought.
"Wait—"
"Neville! You're Professor Charles's student!" Harry said suddenly, eyes lighting up.
"Uh, yeah? Good memory, Harry. But you're his student too—we all are," Neville said, confused, thinking Harry might be forgetting things again.
"Should I lend you my Remembrall?" Neville offered kindly. "I haven't used it in ages."
"I don't have memory issues! I mean, you're close to Professor Charles, right? He's basically your mentor, isn't he?"
Neville nodded.
"What are you planning?"
"You don't mean—"
Ron and Hermione looked at Harry expectantly.
"Exactly! If Lockhart won't sign our note, there's only one person who might—Professor Charles!"
"But what about Professor Lupin?" Hermione asked.
"He'd never let me take that kind of risk," Harry said firmly. "Remember? Professor Charles is the only one who's never treated us like helpless children. When Voldemort tried to steal the Philosopher's Stone last year, he trusted us—and this time, if we explain things clearly, he might help us again."
"This sounds a bit crazy," Ron muttered, unconvinced.
But Harry pressed on, "If Neville and I go together, I'm sure he'll agree. We're wizards and Pokémon Trainers! Strength and courage don't depend on age!"
"Uh… what are you guys even talking about?" Neville interrupted.
"I really don't want to bother the Professor over something weird," he said, looking conflicted. "He's already been too kind to me."
"Listen, Neville—we're trying to find the real culprit," Harry said gravely.
"You mean—the Heir of Slytherin?"
"Exactly!" Harry was glad Neville acknowledged the Chamber's existence.
In truth, many students had stopped worrying after realizing there were two immensely powerful wizards at Hogwarts. So what if the Heir of Slytherin was back?The school housed both the greatest wizard of the past and the strongest of the present—who would dare act recklessly?
Petrifying a cat was one thing; this wasn't like fifty years ago when a student had died.
Most students treated it like a prank—Fred and George even joked it was "doing the school a favor" to petrify Filch's nasty cat!
But now that Filch had his new companion, a Patrat named Scouty, sneaking out at night had become much harder.
Even if it wasn't a prank, everyone believed the Heir wouldn't dare strike again. Some even bragged that if the monster appeared, they'd battle it with their Pokémon!
"The Professor did say the Chamber's been opened," Neville nodded. "The creature inside is terrifying—immense magical power. If your Pokémon's Special Defense isn't strong enough, it could die. You really want to investigate that? It's too dangerous!"
"But if we don't, we'll never know who's behind it! Do you want to see more people die?" Harry said passionately.
Neville hesitated, then clenched his fists.
"All right, you've got a point. I'll help you—but on one condition."
"What's that?"
"You take me with you!" Neville declared.
The trio agreed immediately.
This Neville wasn't the clumsy forgetful boy of old—he was capable, confident, and strong, both in magic and Pokémon training.
"With you on board, this'll be easier," Harry said, explaining their plan.
"We suspected Malfoy, but maybe he's not the culprit—just someone who knows something," Harry said. "Hermione's going to brew Polyjuice Potion so we can sneak into Slytherin and gather intel! But the recipe's in the Restricted Section, so we need a signed note from the Professor."
Neville suddenly looked enlightened. "That explains it! Professor Charles gave me a note with his signature today. I bet he already guessed you'd need it for the Restricted Section."
At that, the trio's faces lit up with joy.
"I knew he'd help us!"
"Then what are we waiting for? To the library!" Hermione exclaimed, more excited than anyone. She grabbed the note from Neville and bolted upstairs—Ron suspected she was just thrilled to read something new.
Finally, under Madam Pince's suspicious stare, Hermione triumphantly obtained Moste Potente Potions.
"This is the most complicated potion I've ever seen," she said as they examined the recipe. "Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, and knotgrass…" She traced each ingredient with her finger. "Those are easy enough—students have them in storage. Oh, look—powdered bicorn horn… no idea where to get that… and shredded skin of an African tree snake… also rare… and of course, a piece of the person we want to become."
"Wait, excuse me?" Ron said sharply. "What do you mean by 'a piece of the person'? If Crabbe's toenail ends up in my potion, I'm not drinking it!"
Hermione ignored him and went on, "We don't need to worry about that yet—it's the last step anyway…"
Ron turned to Harry, speechless, but Harry had another concern.
"Do you realize how much we'll have to steal, Hermione? African tree snake skin isn't in the student cupboards. Are we really going to break into Snape's private stores? That's… probably not smart…"
"There's no way we could steal from Professor Snape!" Neville said, horrified. "He'd probably sic his Golbat on us!"
Hermione snapped the book shut.
"Fine. If you're too scared to go through with it, that's your choice." Her cheeks flushed red, and her eyes shone with fierce determination. "But threatening Muggle-borns is far worse than breaking a few rules! If you don't care about finding out whether it's Malfoy, I'll just return the book to Madam Pince right now."
"I never thought I'd see the day you encourage breaking rules," Ron muttered. "All right, I'm in—but no toenails, please."
"How long will this potion take to brew?" Harry asked as Hermione reopened the book, her irritation fading.
"Well, the fluxweed must be picked during the full moon, and the lacewing flies need to stew for twenty-one days… If we gather everything quickly, we could be done in about a month."
"A month?" Ron groaned. "By then, Malfoy might've petrified half the school's Muggle-borns!" Seeing Hermione's eyes narrow, he quickly added, "But hey, it's the best plan we've got! Let's get moving."
"Wait—it might not be the only plan," Neville suddenly said, eyes brightening.
"Ditto!"
(End of Chapter)