By the time Tver rushed back to the office, Harry was already gone.
Only Ron, Snape, and Hermione were there.
Snape and Hermione lay stiff and side-by-side on the floor, an unnervingly eerie sight in the dim light. If Tver hadn't known they'd been petrified, the shock alone might have stopped his heart.
And the one fussing over them was clearly Ron, newly awakened.
His steps were still shaky, and as he moved, the broken remains of his own wand could be seen tucked at his waist. But he now clutched two intact wands, one in each hand—likely Snape's and Hermione's.
He scanned the room with tense alertness, keeping watch over the two unconscious figures.
When he heard footsteps, he initially recoiled in fear, but once he recognized Tver, he staggered back in relief.
"Professor!" Ron managed to steady himself, his voice bursting with excitement. "We finally found you!"
Tver lifted his hands slightly to calm him and then looked over the two lying on the ground.
"No need to panic. I already know what happened here. But how did you and Harry end up in this area?"
He really hadn't been paying much attention to the trio lately. According to the "plot," the worst they should've done was run into the Forbidden Forest to fight spiders—which had nothing to do with his plans.
Hermione showing up near his office in that strange disguise was unexpected enough. But then Harry and Ron decided to join the chaos?
What kind of development was this?
Ron froze for a moment. He snuck a nervous glance at the professor before answering hesitantly.
They had split up earlier that night.
Hermione had taken the leftover Polyjuice Potion from Christmas to come investigate Tver.
Meanwhile, Harry and Ron had teamed up to trace the spiders deeper into the Forbidden Forest. There, Aragog the Acromantula confirmed that Hagrid was innocent—and that the creature in the Chamber of Secrets was the Basilisk.
But when the boys tried to leave, they ended up clashing with the Acromantulas.
Barely escaping with their lives, they returned to search for Hermione, only to run straight into the Basilisk on its nighttime patrol.
Tver stared at Ron, who had hunched his shoulders like a scolded turtle.
He was just trying to teach. How did he suddenly inherit Snape's habit of becoming everyone's scapegoat?
Even Ginny rolled her eyes at her brother.
"How could you even suspect the professor?! Percy is clearly the one being controlled by the diary!"
Ron's head dropped even lower—until he suddenly snapped upright in panic.
"Percy!" His trembling finger pointed toward the girls' bathroom. "For some reason, Percy followed the Basilisk into that bathroom!"
"And Harry went in after him to save him. Neither of them has come out yet!"
Ginny instantly turned pale. She knew far too well what that helplessness felt like. She had come to find the professor tonight precisely because the diary had ended up with Percy. She didn't want her brother to suffer as she had.
"Professor..." she whispered, pleading.
Tver met her gaze with a gentle smile.
"Leave the rest to me," he said softly.
He was surprised Percy had been the one to find the diary, but in the end, it was only a minor Horcrux and a Basilisk. For him, dealing with them was far easier than teaching students.
Ron and Ginny relaxed almost instantly, watching Tver with hope.
"You two stay here and watch over them," Tver said, nodding toward the petrified pair. "If you can alert another professor, even better. I mean—one who's actually capable."
The siblings couldn't help laughing.
In the entire castle, there was only one truly incapable professor: Lockhart.
His office wasn't far from here, and with all the commotion, he should've noticed something by now. Yet there was still no sign of him.
Probably scared stiff by the Basilisk, Ron thought with disdain.
Tver didn't waste another moment. After giving his instructions, he strode toward the bathroom.
The Basilisk's blood streaked the floor, forming a trail that led straight inside.
True, nothing disastrous had happened in the original storyline, and Dumbledore had his own safeguards in place. But Percy was a promising student, and Harry was someone Dumbledore relied on.
To put it bluntly, anyone else in the castle could get hurt—but not those two.
The bathroom door hung wide open, half shattered from the Basilisk's impact.
And at the blood-stained faucet near the entrance, a deep, dark pipe yawned open before him...
"Percy and Harry both went in, and so did that monster."
Moaning Myrtle drifted out at some point, staring at the pipe with a tangled expression.
"Are you going down too, Professor?"
"You do realize the Basilisk was the one that killed you, don't you? What, you don't want me to avenge you?"
Myrtle blinked, startled.
"I don't really know how to say it… My death was unavoidable. But if everyone else could avoid ending up like me, I think that would make me happier."
"You're kind," Tver said as he climbed onto the edge of the pipe without hesitation.
"Or maybe, deep down, I want all of you to die and turn into ghosts to keep me company?" Myrtle added with a mischievous grin.
Tver pushed off and slid in.
"That might disappoint you…"
The pipe was incredibly slick, sending him shooting downward with no time to slow himself.
Countless side tunnels branched off along the way—likely the routes the Basilisk used to roam the castle.
But the pipe he was in was the main passage. He tossed a glowing orb of light ahead and let gravity carry him.
The no-Apparition rule at Hogwarts was truly annoying. With power like his, he still had to slide down like a kid on a playground.
Fortunately, he didn't have long to complain before the exit came into view below.
He slowed his fall with a Levitation Charm and landed on solid ground.
The floor was damp, and the smell was awful.
With a grimace, Tver cast a Bubble-Head Charm, then used Lumos to look around.
Only one passage lay ahead, though it split off into several branching paths. Without a way to navigate, he might have had to search each one.
Not wasting a second, he headed forward.
A cluster of little ghosts drifted ahead of him, glowing faintly as they scouted the path and pointed out every correct turn.
Following them, Tver soon came across a massive snakeskin.
The Basilisk must have shed it recently; under the pale light it gleamed a slick, oily green.
He also noted the serpent's thick hide and its strong resistance to magic. With ordinary spells, a Basilisk really wasn't easy to handle.
Which also confirmed that Snape's Sectumsempra packed serious power. Best to avoid provoking him in the future.
After studying it briefly, Tver continued on. Before long, the sprites ahead sent back their signal—they had reached the end of the path.
It wasn't a dead end at all, but the entrance he'd been looking for...