Although Jon had dropped several hints, Professor Sprout still didn't seem to realize that the creature behind the three attacks was a Basilisk.
At the very least, Hogwarts hadn't taken any overt measures against it—no issuing snake repellent to students and staff, nor having Hagrid raise a bunch of honey badgers.
Fortunately, just as expected, Hogwarts seemed to return to its usual calm after the Christmas break.
The only exception was Hermione Granger, who had been missing for a few weeks. Many students speculated that she had been attacked, but Madam Pomfrey assured everyone that Miss Granger had simply suffered a Transfiguration mishap—not an attack—and would recover soon.
Now, it felt like the sun had risen once again over Hogwarts.
Inside the castle, the atmosphere was becoming more optimistic... Ever since the attacks on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, there hadn't been any further incidents.
And there was good news from Professor Sprout as well: the mandrakes were growing nicely and would soon be mature enough to help restore the petrified victims.
During a Herbology class, Jon overheard her telling Filch, "Once their spots mature, they can be replanted. Then, before long, Professor Snape can brew the antidote, and your Mrs. Norris will be back in no time."
Everything seemed to be moving in the right direction.
Jon understood why. According to the original plot, Ginny Weasley had thrown away—and even tried to destroy—Tom Riddle's diary. No longer under the influence of the Horcrux, there were no more attacks.
And since the diary was now in Harry Potter's hands, and he hadn't figured out how to use it yet, Hogwarts was guaranteed to be safe for the next couple of months... Tom Riddle could no longer use Ginny to open the Chamber of Secrets, so the Basilisk wouldn't be wandering the school.
After half a year of tension, Jon could finally relax a bit.
Gilderoy Lockhart, on the other hand, thought the peace was thanks to him.
"I don't think we'll have any more trouble, Minerva," Jon overheard him say in a conversation. "I'm sure the Chamber won't open again. The culprits must know I'm here. Sooner or later, I'll catch them!"
For some reason, Jon always found Professor Lockhart a bit strange.
...
During this time, Jon spent most of his free hours in the Room of Requirement... trying to make up for the more than two weeks during Christmas when he couldn't practice magic.
And since he knew from the original storyline that this period was safe, he no longer bothered to control his comings and goings from the Hufflepuff common room—as long as he didn't break any school rules, it was fine.
At this moment, in the Room of Requirement—
An Eastern European man, not particularly tall but incredibly agile, was dodging attacks from several moving dummies.
He was strong—strong enough to shatter a stone dummy with a single punch.
He was fast too, able to run 100 meters in under 12 seconds with ease.
Even more impressive was his sharp hearing—he could locate enemies even with his eyes closed.
Sergei Pavlov—undeniably the top member of a prestigious Eastern European training facility and a decorated agent. His body seemed built for combat—a natural-born fighter
Jon had spent nearly four hours transformed into him and could now fully control this body.
He had practiced quite a bit with the less powerful of the two pistols. Even in the body of a twelve-year-old, he could now hit close-range targets with decent accuracy. (The PSM pistol was originally designed for civilian personnel and female agents.)
He hadn't tried the more powerful pistol yet—mostly because he wasn't sure how soundproof the Room of Requirement was. A gunshot drawing a crowd would be a problem.
Suddenly, the Eastern European man collapsed to the floor, convulsing violently.
His body began to shrink, eventually transforming back into Jon Hart, first-year Hufflepuff student.
Taking Polyjuice Potion was truly unpleasant—having your body warp and twist like a rubber doll was sheer agony... Jon marveled at how Barty Crouch Jr. had endured this torment for an entire year as Mad-Eye Moody
After resting for a few minutes, Jon changed his clothes and picked up his wand.
He aimed it at a moving dummy and chanted a spell. An orange-yellow light shot toward the dummy's eyes.
After nearly six months of rigorous practice, he had nearly mastered the Conjunctivitis Curse—a spell that didn't rely on emotional state.
Even if a dragon stood before him, he was sure the Conjunctivitis Curse could make it howl in pain. Of course, getting stomped into a pancake by a crazed dragon wasn't something he intended to test.
However, compared to the Conjunctivitis Curse, his progress in another area hadn't been as smooth.
He had already returned the book Close Your Mind, which detailed how to perform Occlumency, to the library—but he had memorized everything in it.
For the past six months, he had followed its instructions as best he could, training his mind every morning, every night, and during spare moments throughout the day.
He could feel he'd made some progress, but not much.
And the old problem remained: no matter how hard he tried, there was no way to tell how far he had come. After all, it's not like he could ask a powerful wizard to cast Legilimens on him to test it.
Jon sat solemnly on the sofa in the Room of Requirement... Occlumency was the thing he needed to master most urgently.
Suddenly, he stood up.
He had an idea:
Occlumency wasn't standard magic. It didn't require a wand or an incantation.
It was purely intuition—a conditioned reflex.
And intuition could be copied using Polyjuice Potion. Like Sergei's combat instincts—after transforming into him, Jon could instinctively control those reflexes.
So, what if he transformed into a skilled Occlumens? Would that help him understand Occlumency?
A jolt of excitement shot through Jon.
As it happened, Hogwarts had just such a master of Occlumency.
"Severus Snape!"
Polyjuice Potion required a strand of the target's hair—and pulling one from Snape would be like stealing from a dragon's hoard.
The risk was huge, and the chances of failure weren't small... but the potential gain was enormous.
It might just be worth the try.