"So this Professor Lockhart has been possessed?"
Releasing the Levitation Charm and watching Lockhart fall to the ground, glaring at them with furious ghastly green eyes, Professor Flitwick's face showed satisfaction.
Although Lockhart was currently possessed, dropping him like that was immensely satisfying.
After all, he'd been pestered by Professor Lockhart for months—coming every day to discuss dueling and spell techniques, yet unable to provide any useful insights. Flitwick still had to maintain a pleasant expression to avoid conflicts between colleagues.
These past few months had been exhausting!
"Yes, and the one possessing him is quite the celebrity."
Glancing at Lockhart on the ground, his face contorted with rage, Evans turned back to look at Umbridge lying not far away. Well, he couldn't really call her Umbridge anymore.
Perhaps from not taking Polyjuice Potion for so long, Umbridge's face was slowly transforming. Wrinkles were appearing on her toad-like face, and the hair was gradually shortening, changing from brownish to gray-white.
But waiting for the complete transformation would probably take several more minutes.
That was fine though—before interrogation, he could check on Harry's condition first.
After all, that child had been chased out by the basilisk. Although Dumbledore should be constantly watching Harry, who could guarantee he wouldn't make mistakes?
Closing his eyes slightly, a blurry map gradually appeared in Evans's mind. Somewhere on the map, a silver-white mark was flashing brightly.
The mark was currently directly below the Black Lake, even lower than Slytherin's common room. In his memory of the school, there was no place related to this location.
Was this the so-called Chamber?
Something strange flashed in his eyes, as Evans couldn't help but think.
So that child planned to lure the basilisk back to its Chamber, then duel it there alone?
Should he say this kid was too reckless or had too much sense of responsibility?
If it were him in second year with a basilisk chasing behind, he would definitely rush straight to the Headmaster's office. If that didn't work, he'd charge toward the greasy bat's office.
After all, back then he didn't have that thick teacher-student bond with the greasy bat that developed later. Whether the basilisk or Snape died, neither would be a loss for him.
But regardless, at times like this, you should definitely call for backup, right? How could you think of facing it alone?
Or was this Dumbledore's original intention?
Shaking his head, Evans focused and pulled the mark's view wider. His expression became increasingly strange.
Wait, why were there so many people on the second floor late at night?
Looking at the blurry outlines in a certain bathroom on the school's second floor, Evans rubbed his chin. After pondering briefly, his eyes suddenly brightened as he looked at the back of his hand.
He suddenly had a good idea.
On the back of his hand, pale silver marks gradually appeared and disappeared, finally leaving only one symbol different from the others.
It was a symbol depicting countless miniature animal heads, with F, B, C written in ornate letters beside it.
After the mark fully lit up, Evans drew a string of characters in mid-air with his wand, then showed a satisfied smile.
Although he didn't know how many advantages Dumbledore would give Harry to defeat the basilisk, since help was already being used, him assisting a bit more wouldn't matter.
After all, it's more fun to adventure with good friends, isn't it?
[Emergency situation, badge temporarily activating communication function, target: second floor bathroom]
The characters were slowly piecing together. Looking down at his badge, Harry anxiously waited for the text to fully appear. But before he could read everything, a voice sounded ahead.
"Hiss... delicious food... I'm coming—"
Hearing this voice, Harry's chest tightened. He immediately abandoned observing the badge and instead focused on the floor.
This room wasn't as dim as the previous corridor but had some faint illumination. By this light, he could see the shadow on the floor, and since the floor wasn't very smooth, he wouldn't be petrified by reflected eyes.
The sound of a giant beast sliding gradually reached his ears. The basilisk seemed to be passing through the corridor—no wait, it was already here!
Seeing the shadow suddenly appear in his view, Harry's heart leaped, and he instantly dove to the side.
BOOM!
The sound of the basilisk's body crashing on the ground reached his ears, causing violent tremors.
This was beyond Hogwarts' range—the castle's protective magic couldn't extend here. But this information didn't give him any advantage.
Getting up from the ground, Harry grabbed his wand and aimed at the basilisk.
"Stupefy!"
"Expelliarmus!"
"Impedimenta! Damn it!"
Spell after spell flew from his wand tip, but the basilisk completely ignored them, instead rising up again and crashing toward Harry.
Rolling frantically to the side, Harry's heart sank.
No good—his attacks had absolutely no effect on this basilisk. Whether Disarming Charm or Stunning Spell, none could even pierce its scales.
Yet this basilisk, even without using those killing eyes or its fangs, could kill him just by ramming with its body.
But this was actually normal. After all, this was an XXXXX-level dark creature, not some inferior product like Acromantulas. With his current abilities, trying to defeat it was far too difficult.
The sheer power difference overwhelmed him, and despair gradually crept into Harry's chest.
Should he just raise his head and let it petrify him?
At least that way, there'd be a slim chance of survival.
But just as Harry was sinking deeper into despair, a somewhat noisy voice suddenly rang from his chest.
Hearing that voice, Harry's heart leapt with hope.
That was Fred's voice.
"Hey Percy, are you sure it's here?"
"Should be right. This faucet has a small snake drawn beside it—right here, see?" This voice carried steadiness—clearly Percy.
"Then no problem, everyone stand back!" This was an urgent female voice, sounding like Hermione?
The sounds gradually became clearer. The next moment, Harry heard Hermione shout a spell in a voice he'd never heard her use before.
"Bombarda!"
BOOM!
A deafening explosion came simultaneously from overhead and the badge. After the noise, cheers erupted through the badge.
"It opened! It opened!"
"By the way, I just heard several sounds—this badge really can transmit sound?"
"Then in that case—" A bright voice came through the badge, seemingly able to warm hearts. "Hold on, Harry, we're coming right away!"