Chapter 193. Battle with the Basilisk
Just as the two of them were about to go and find Professor McGonagall—
A sharp cry exploded in Harry's head.
At once, Harry stopped in his tracks. "Wait!"
"What now?" Ron looked at Harry in puzzlement.
The same cry came again—like some kind of bird.
Harry frowned. He felt he had heard this sound somewhere before.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up.
A phoenix!
Yes, it had to be the phoenix called Fawkes that belonged to Dumbledore.
"I heard a phoenix," Harry said excitedly to Ron beside him. "That's Dumbledore's! We only need to find the phoenix—the phoenix can bring Professor Dumbledore to us."
"But Dumbledore's been dismissed," Ron reminded him. "He's not at Hogwarts now."
"Not necessarily," Harry said with certainty. "The phoenix is at the entrance to the Chamber right now. Come on, let's go find it."
Seeing Harry so insistent, Ron could only agree.
In truth, he hadn't the faintest idea what the "Chamber" Harry spoke of looked like.
After all, he'd never been there.
And there was something else that puzzled him.
Why could Harry always hear these strange sounds?
Why had he never heard them himself?
Harry led Ron all the way to the girls' bathroom on the second floor.
Ron felt a bit awkward. He stood at the door to the girls' bathroom and tugged at Harry's sleeve, hesitating. "Hang on, Harry, are you sure it's here? This is the girls' bathroom!"
Harry nodded and lowered his voice. "Yes, this is it. Moaning Myrtle's haunt—the entrance to the Chamber is under one of the sinks."
"Moaning Myrtle?"
Ron's expression grew even stranger.
He had seen that ghost at Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday party, always sobbing.
Just then, a sob sounded from within the bathroom.
Harry and Ron exchanged a look and tiptoed in.
The bathroom was just as Harry remembered it. Following the sound of sobbing, they found Moaning Myrtle curled up in a dim corner, sobbing without stop, translucent tears sliding down her transparent face.
"Moaning Myrtle?" Harry approached carefully. "Are you all right?"
Myrtle only trembled harder, completely ignoring Harry.
"What's wrong with her?" Ron asked Harry.
Harry shook his head. "Myrtle's always like this—only today she seems even stranger."
Myrtle still said nothing.
Seeing they could get nothing out of her, Harry pulled Ron over to the tap that concealed the entrance to the Chamber.
For now, the most important thing was to go into the Chamber and find Fawkes.
Harry stood before the tap engraved with a serpentine mark, took a deep breath, and hissed from his throat, "Open!"
At once, a pitch-black hole appeared before them.
"Come on, Ron." Harry pointed at the hole. "This is the entrance."
Ron involuntarily took two steps back. "Are we really going to crawl in there?"
"Don't be scared," Harry said with a nod. "I've already been in once—it's fine. And Fawkes is inside."
With that, Harry jumped into the hole first and vanished.
Ron swallowed and had no choice but to follow Harry down.
The pipe twisted and turned. After who knew how long, they reached the bottom.
They fell heavily onto the damp floor. Ron struggled up and found Harry standing in front of him, holding up his lit wand.
"This place looks awful," Ron said, glancing around.
Harry frowned slightly, but the phoenix's cry from ahead quickly caught his attention. "Listen! Fawkes is just up front!"
This time, Ron also heard the faint cry of a phoenix.
They followed the passage and soon came to a stone wall.
Harry stared at the coiling serpent relief on the wall and once again hissed that eerie sound from his throat: "Open."
Harry had grown quite practised at this sort of thing.
The stone wall responded at once; huge blocks of stone slowly parted.
Ron stared, dumbfounded, muttering under his breath, "Every time I hear you speak Parseltongue, I get the shivers..."
"Boom!"
Just as the stone wall fully opened, a deafening crash came from ahead to their left.
Harry and Ron looked over in horror and saw a gigantic snake thrashing violently; rubble and dust lay all around it.
Above the Basilisk, a flash of flaming red darted nimbly—it was Fawkes!
A moment ago, Fawkes had lured the Basilisk into smashing into a pillar; the creature's immense strength had even knocked a chunk off it.
Just then, Harry keenly noticed a dusty bundle hooked in Fawkes's talons.
"Hungry... hungry... I'll eat you..."
The voice kept echoing in Harry's ears, leaving him no mind for anything else.
By now the Basilisk was already struggling to lift its head.
"Close your eyes!"
Harry whipped round and shouted at Ron.
But it was already too late. Ron's eyes had met the Basilisk's enormous vertical pupils.
His body went rigid at once, terror frozen on his face, and he toppled straight backwards.
"Ron!"
Harry cried out in panic and ran to Ron's side, finding that although his body was stiff, he hadn't been fully Petrified—
He was even still breathing.
It seemed Adrian Wesson's protective amulet had had some effect.
Harry let out a breath of relief.
Perhaps drawn by the commotion on Harry's side, the Basilisk shifted its attention. Fawkes gave a piercing cry, and his sharp beak struck squarely into the Basilisk's left eye.
The Basilisk let out an ear-splitting roar.
Seizing the chance, Fawkes pecked at the Basilisk's right eye.
Harry didn't stop to think. He whipped out his wand and pointed it at Ron.
A Levitation Charm—Ron's rigid body lifted at once and was flung behind a distant pillar—in a crisis like this, Harry truly couldn't afford to be gentle.
Only after doing this did Harry turn to face the berserk Basilisk.
By now the Basilisk had hauled itself up from the ground, its eyes screwed tightly shut.
Harry didn't look straight at the Basilisk's eyes at first; only when Fawkes swooped to his side and drew his gaze to the creature did he see that its eyes had been put out.
This gave him a jolt of delight.
Everyone knew the Basilisk's greatest weapon was its eyes.
Without its eyes, it was just a long, serpentine monster!
Harry swung his wand at once; a red spell streaked towards the Basilisk.
However, the Basilisk merely tilted its head and Harry's spell glanced harmlessly aside.
Right—Basilisks were still far stronger than trolls.
His judgement had been a touch hasty.
Seeing that his first spell had no effect, Harry suddenly didn't know what magic to cast next.
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