Chapter 163. Open the Entrance
At the door of the girls' bathroom on the first floor, Adrian Wesson pushed it open and went in first.
"Mm…" Albus Dumbledore followed, looked around, and said to Wesson, "No wonder I couldn't find the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."
After all, men weren't supposed to be in here.
"As a matter of fact, this place has been abandoned for a long time, because—"
Before Wesson could finish, a hazy figure drifted out from the last cubicle.
It was Moaning Myrtle.
Myrtle emerged dabbing at her tears; Wesson had no idea why this ghost was always crying.
But when she saw the group with Wesson, she suddenly fell quiet and hovered before them.
Wesson glanced at Dumbledore and saw a complicated look on his face before he let out a soft sigh.
Myrtle had been only fourteen when she died. At the time, the Headmaster of Hogwarts was Armando Dippet, and Dumbledore was Professor of Transfiguration.
It had been Lord Voldemort who took that young life.
Although Dumbledore had all but confirmed it back then, he had lacked proof; in the end the matter was left unsettled, and Hagrid took the blame.
It was something Dumbledore regretted.
Wesson tentatively asked Myrtle, "Myrtle, has anyone been here in the last two days?"
"Who would come to see ugly, short Moaning Myrtle? No one comes here," Myrtle said resentfully, then drifted silently back into the last cubicle.
"I think we shouldn't disturb her for now," Wesson shrugged. "She might be in a bad mood."
Dumbledore nodded, his gaze sweeping slowly around the bathroom. "Then the entrance to the Chamber is nearby?"
"Yes."
Wesson walked up to a tap with a small snake engraved on its side and explained, "If I'm not mistaken, this is the entrance."
Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore stepped forward at once to examine the tap closely.
Wesson, meanwhile, set his hand by a crack in the wall; on his last visit here, he had shrunk a Chinese Chomping Cabbage and stationed it there as a lookout.
The Chinese Chomping Cabbage wriggled out of the crack and scampered into Wesson's hand.
"How is it?" Wesson asked quietly. "Did anything happen?"
The Chinese Chomping Cabbage wobbled. It seemed nothing at all had occurred.
Then how had the Basilisk gotten out? Could there be another exit?
At that moment, Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully at the tap. "A remarkable discovery! Very well hidden, but if you look closely, you can see it's different."
Harry also stepped up, curious, and peered at it.
The little snake was extremely unobtrusive—impossible to spot without careful scrutiny.
Still, Slytherin's emblem was a serpent.
This tap was distinctly Slytherin.
Professor McGonagall rubbed at her brow and looked at Wesson. "Then… how are we supposed to get in?"
Wesson tucked the Chinese Chomping Cabbage against himself, then smiled slightly and beckoned to Harry. "Harry, come here a moment."
All eyes turned to Harry.
Harry looked up in surprise. There was a flicker of confusion in his eyes as he glanced at Wesson, a little at a loss, but in the end he obediently stepped forward.
"Only Parseltongue can open the entrance to the Chamber," Wesson said, setting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "And Harry is a Parselmouth."
"Parselmouth?"
"Parselmouth?"
Professor McGonagall and Harry exclaimed at the same time.
Harry asked, puzzled, "What's that?"
"A gift," Wesson said. "The ability to understand snakes and speak to them in Parseltongue. Salazar Slytherin himself was a renowned Parselmouth; he used that very ability to hide the Chamber's entrance and set a mechanism that only a Parselmouth can open."
Professor McGonagall nodded lightly and followed Wesson's explanation. "This ability is exceedingly rare. Apart from Slytherin himself and You-Know-Who, we don't currently know who else possesses it."
"I never knew I had this… gift…"
Harry's voice trailed off.
He thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered what had happened before he ever came to Hogwarts.
Once, when he'd gone to the zoo with his Muggle cousin, he had, apparently, chatted with a snake.
He had even caused a burst of accidental magic then—making an entire pane of glass at the zoo vanish—causing quite a stir.
Could that be what Wesson meant by Parseltongue?
Dumbledore's brow furrowed slightly, as though he had realised something.
"All right, I might really have this gift," Harry went on, "but I don't actually know how to use it—"
"Very simple," Wesson encouraged him with a pat on the shoulder. "Speak Parseltongue to this tap and say 'Open.' Try it—imagine you're talking to a real snake, and then let it come naturally."
Harry nodded and, following Wesson's guidance, said, "Open."
However, that was human speech, not the imagined hissing.
"Ah, looks like you need a little help," Wesson said when he saw this. He drew his wand and flicked it. "Serpensortia!"
A little snake shot from the tip of Wesson's wand and plopped into the basin beneath the tap.
After the snake landed in the basin, it slowly lifted its head, flicking its tongue as it looked toward Harry.
"Hiss hiss—hiss hiss hiss…"
Harry blinked, realising he was unconsciously producing similar sounds.
The small snake beneath the tap raised its head, gave a slight nod in response, and then slowly coiled itself.
"Try again," Wesson said.
Harry nodded and said, "Open."
This time, what came from his mouth was no longer human speech.
No sooner had he spoken than the tap flared white and began to twist and turn, finally revealing a very large pipe,
large enough for several people to enter.
"I actually did it?" Harry stared at himself in disbelief.
Professor McGonagall looked on in astonishment, and Dumbledore grew thoughtful again.
It seemed Harry truly possessed the gift of Parseltongue—just like Voldemort.
How strange, Professor McGonagall thought, puzzled. After all, Harry was a Gryffindor student, with no connection to Slytherin.
"Are we going down, Professor?" Harry looked at the gaping black mouth of the pipe and couldn't help turning to Wesson.
"Of course," Wesson nodded. "That's why we came."
Professor McGonagall frowned, glanced between Harry and the entrance, and said firmly, "No, Harry. You cannot go down. It's too dangerous."
"Let him come with us, Minerva. We may still need Harry's Parseltongue below," Dumbledore said. "I'll go first, and the rest of you follow."
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