For several days in a row, the topic in the castle was surprisingly consistent, with students discussing nothing else but the attack on Filch.
Filch was sent to the Hospital Wing, accompanied by Mrs Norris, who stayed by his side.
Some students initially thought that without this annoying duo, the following days would be much easier.
For example, they could chat loudly in the corridors and play around without worrying about someone suddenly jumping out from a corner, screaming about detentions.
However, that was not the case at all, and they soon realized they had overestimated their freedom.
The professors took over Filch's duties, patrolling the castle in turns, handing out point deductions and detentions just the same for any violations of school rules.
Moreover, they were harder to deal with, and the little tricks that worked on Filch were useless against the professors.
In merely a few days, the house point hourglasses had dropped significantly.
Even worse, the task of cleaning the castle now fell upon those who broke school rules... and they couldn't use magic.
A few days ago, Kael saw Fred and George carrying a heap of tools, struggling to scrub the writings off the walls on the third floor.
From their conversation, it seemed they even missed Filch.
The Chamber of Secrets was also a hot topic at the moment.
All the copies of "Hogwarts: A History" in the library had been checked out.
"They're just wasting their time."
In the Auditorium, Cedric confidently stated while watching the young wizards around him eagerly flipping through the pages of the book, "I clearly remember that there is no information about the Chamber of Secrets in that book."
"You memorized such a thick book?" Mikel asked incredulously.
"Of course not, that's impossible," Cedric shook his head, "but I have a general impression, and I don't recall any mention of the so-called Chamber of Secrets... not at all."
"Oh, I was thinking of borrowing it from Millicent after she's done," Mikel sighed, seemingly equally interested in the Chamber of Secrets.
After breakfast, they walked out of the castle and headed towards the third greenhouse.
Professor Sprout was a kind-hearted witch, always smiling, and her Herbology class was one of the most popular subjects at Hogwarts.
Today, they were going to learn how to extract the beans from a Puffapod.
It was much harder than they expected; if they used too little force, the beans wouldn't come out, but too much force would immediately make the beans burst into flowers.
The right amount of force was tricky to master.
"You must not rush; you need to gradually increase the force, it takes a process, and also, don't touch those leaves and tender branches, or they'll get upset."
Just as Professor Sprout was guiding them on how to proceed, a young Hufflepuff wizard suddenly raised their hand.
"Miss Bird, do you have a question?" Professor Sprout asked with a smile.
"Professor, can you tell us about the Chamber of Secrets? And who is the heir?"
This made everyone look up.
Mikel, in his excitement, nearly yanked the Puffapod out of the pot.
The angry Puffapod sprayed a series of pink beans onto Mikel's face, making him cry out in pain.
Professor Sprout blinked.
"Miss Bird, you're not the first to ask me this," she said softly, "Recently, students have asked this question in every class."
Professor Sprout pondered for a moment, "Let's do this, if you can complete the task ahead of schedule this class, then with the remaining time, I can tell you some of the rumors I know."
At this, everyone lowered their heads. The chatter stopped, and those busy with Dragon Dung put the bags aside and started focusing intently on the Puffapods in front of them.
...
With ten minutes left before the class ended, the last person finally completed the task.
"Oh, well then," Professor Sprout looked at the large spread of flowers in the greenhouse, a slight curve at the corner of her mouth.
Although the students' error rate was a bit high, everyone had succeeded at least once, and there were no intentional failures.
So, she decided to keep her promise, "Of course, this is just a legend, even quite ridiculous."
"Let me think... the Chamber of Secrets... this goes back to when Hogwarts was founded a thousand years ago..."
In the next ten minutes, Professor Sprout detailed how Hogwarts was established to everyone.
And the growing conflicts between the four founders... their standards for selecting students.
"...After a heated argument, Salazar Slytherin left the school."
Here, Professor Sprout paused.
"That's all that's recorded, and 'Hogwarts: A History' also mentioned it. You can check it out if you're interested."
"As for the Chamber of Secrets... it falls under strange legends," she continued, "It's said that Slytherin built a secret room in the castle, unknown to the other founders.
Only his heir can open the Chamber of Secrets to release the monster inside, and let it cleanse the school of all those unworthy of studying magic."
The class bell rang, but the greenhouse was silent, and no one intended to leave. Everyone fixed their eyes on Professor Sprout, hoping she would continue.
"Alright, hurry back to the castle, that's all I know."
Professor Sprout opened the greenhouse door.
"But in my view, this legend is sheer nonsense, Salazar Slytherin may have managed to build a secret room in the castle unbeknownst to the other two founders, but he couldn't have deceived Rowena Ravenclaw.
And most importantly... even at his angriest, Slytherin merely wanted to drive those children out of the castle, not kill them."
At her urging, the students left the greenhouse.
...
"I knew it, the Chamber of Secrets must be related to Slytherin."
Ryan remarked to Kael and Conna, "That second-year student named Malfoy was extremely smug at the time... and so was Flint, I'm sure they knew about the Chamber of Secrets long ago."
"It's a pity he won't tell us," Mikel said regretfully, "If only we could sneak into the Slytherin common room, we might hear some secret information."
"If you really think that..." Kael said with a smile, "I have a Slytherin scarf and decorations here. You can dress up, cover your face, and maybe you can sneak in."
"I could try..." Mikel pondered seriously for a moment, "But I don't know their password."
"That's simple," Kael said casually, "It's just things like Pure-Blood, Glory, Eternity, Power, and the like. You can try a few times.
Or you could follow others in after breakfast on the weekend when there are the most people; adding one more won't be noticed."
"That makes sense, I don't need to know the password at all," Mikel's eyes lit up.
He touched his own red and swollen face... which was hit by the Puffapod.
He was originally thinking about getting some swelling ointment, but now it seems unnecessary.
In his current state, even some Hufflepuffs couldn't recognize him, let alone people from Slytherin.
This is a rare opportunity...