"Ken, I'm here."
Two days had passed since the Halloween feast. Avada was sitting in the corner of an empty classroom, chin propped on his hand. Bathed in the morning light, his eyes were half-closed and his brow tightly furrowed, deep in thought.
A moment later, the tightly shut wooden door creaked open on its aging hinges. Baron entered with an equally grave expression. He paused, glanced around twice, then finally spotted Avada tucked away in the corner and raised a hand in greeting.
"Harry and the others aren't here yet?"
"Not yet. He's young—needs more sleep."
"I see. Never thought the difference in sleep quality between twelve and thirteen could be this big."
Baron nodded solemnly as he picked up the joke, finally easing the almost solidified tension in the room. He then found a seat by the window, pulled out a chair, and sat down, leaning against the wall while staring straight at the door that might open at any moment.
"Ken. Baron."
A few minutes later, the door opened again. This time it was Cedric and Cho.
"Harry's not here yet?"
"Lots of sleep. Youth privilege."
"Oh."
Cedric nodded. "I really envy their energy. Back when I was in second year, I could sleep all day without a care in the world. Not like now—my head's full of next year's O.W.L.s…"
"..."
Cho felt like something about that sentence was off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
"Anyway," Cedric continued, "why did you suddenly call us all here today? You were acting all mysterious yesterday, even used a mental link to pass the message."
Cedric and Cho sat down at the same desk. Seeing that Harry would probably take a while longer, they started chatting first.
"There's something I need to ask of you," Avada said, his expression turning serious again. "Let's wait until everyone's here. It's… complicated. And it might be a little frightening."
"But don't worry. What I'm asking you to do isn't dangerous—otherwise I wouldn't have called you all here like this."
"Honestly, I didn't want to drag you into this at all," he continued quietly. "But I'm starting to feel stretched too thin. And this matter is simply too important—it concerns the safety of every student at Hogwarts."
"What?"
Everyone in the room stiffened. Baron reacted first.
"You're planning to investigate the recent petrification incidents yourself?"
That was right. Ever since Filch and Mrs. Norris were discovered petrified in a corridor on the night of the Halloween feast, another student had been petrified each day over the past two days. The number of victims had already reached four.
At first, people thought it might be some sort of prank. It wasn't until Professor McGonagall personally confirmed that she couldn't undo the magic that panic truly began to spread.
And as for Headmaster Snape—aside from inspecting the scene on the day Filch was attacked, he hadn't appeared again, nor taken any concrete action. If reminding students not to wander at night and to travel in groups counted, that was all he'd done.
"Actually… there's no need to investigate anymore."
Avada gave a bitter smile and was about to stop them when the door creaked open once more.
"Ken, Baron, Cedric, Cho? You're here early."
"Sorry to keep you waiting…"
"Ken, what's going on? Is this about that voice again?"
Harry, Hermione, and Ron entered together.
"Good. Now everyone's here."
Avada stood up and walked to the center of the classroom. He pulled out his wand and cast several soundproofing spells on the doors and windows.
"Good thing my connections are decent—I managed to gather people from all four houses. Otherwise, this would've been very hard to pull off…"
He put his wand away, cleared his throat out of habit, and swept his gaze across the faces watching him. His voice dropped suddenly.
"Everyone… I think I know the root cause of the recent petrification incidents."
"What? You know—"
"Let me finish."
Avada made a calming gesture, stopping Harry and Ron from speaking before continuing.
"If my guess is correct, the culprit behind the petrifications is a basilisk."
"It's an extremely dangerous magical creature, rated XXXXX. Its body is roughly fifty feet long—basically a giant python. But it has two lethal traits."
"First, its venom is instant death upon contact."
"Second, its eyes. Anyone who makes direct eye contact with it dies instantly. However, if there's a medium in between—like glass—or if you see its eyes indirectly, through a mirror or a reflection on water, you can avoid death… but you'll still be attacked."
"And that attack manifests as petrification—the exact condition affecting the students and Filch right now."
"But—"
Hermione frowned and raised her hand.
"If it's really a fifty-foot-long snake, how could it hide in the castle without being discovered? Fifty feet—that's terrifying. It could almost fill an entire corridor!"
"It moves through the abandoned pipes."
At the mention of this, Avada ground his teeth.
"Yes. The very same abandoned pipeline that was supposedly 'invaded by Banshees' and then 'handled' by the investigation team. That was actually deliberate cover—meant to ensure it would never be suspected again."
"You're saying… the Board of Governors planned these attacks?! Not just this time—even the earlier coma incidents were their doing?!"
Cedric exclaimed. The others looked equally horrified. None of them had expected Avada to drop a bombshell like this.
"The coma incidents can almost certainly be attributed to the Board," Avada said. "But the basilisk—I can't be completely sure yet. It might be one of the governors… or it might be something far more hidden, using the Board as cover."
"How can you be so sure?"
Cho asked worriedly.
"I don't mean to doubt you, Ken, but what you're saying is… shocking. And honestly, it does feel a bit—well—unsupported?"
"There are many spells that can petrify someone. What makes you so certain the culprit is a basilisk?"
"Two sources. One is Harry. The other is the ghost known as Moaning Myrtle."
"Me?"
Harry stared, pointing at himself.
Avada ignored Harry for the moment and continued.
"Myrtle was a student who died at Hogwarts over fifty years ago—a case that directly led to Hagrid's expulsion. And the cause of her death was seeing a pair of enormous eyes in the instant before she died."
"Moreover, her memory of that event had been tampered with. That's why when Harry and I investigated before, we didn't uncover the truth. It took me a great deal of effort afterward to piece it together."
"As for Harry…" Avada paused. "He doesn't even seem to realize this himself."
"Harry, you're a Parselmouth. The cold voices you've been hearing are the basilisk speaking."
"A Parselmouth?"
"A Parselmouth?!"
Hermione, Baron, Cedric, and Cho all reacted in shock. Ron nearly fell out of his chair.
"You can talk to snakes?!"
"Well… yeah, I can," Harry said hesitantly. "That's what being a Parselmouth means? I thought that was kind of common…"
"That's not common at all, Harry," Hermione said quietly. "Very few wizards can speak to snakes. And the most famous among them was Salazar Slytherin himself…"
"Exactly."
Avada nodded.
"Harry heard that strange voice just moments before Filch was petrified, and he followed it straight to the scene of the attack."
(End of Chapter)