As soon as the hissing stopped, the door seemed to activate a switch.
The tentacles on the door slotted themselves into the empty spaces below.
After several back-and-forth movements, the mechanism finally stilled, yet the door remained closed, leaving Harry Potter and Hermione Granger bewildered.
It felt like they had reached the final step, only to realize they had taken the wrong path.
Just as they stood there stunned, the door moved again.
This time, it was not the mechanism shifting.
The entire door began to move.
With a loud clang, the massive stone door slowly opened, kicking up a thick cloud of dust as if time itself had been disturbed.
"Cough, cough!"
Standing too close, both of them immediately burst into coughing.
After the dust settled, their eyes turned toward the open doorway.
Inside was complete darkness, nothing visible at all.
They exchanged a glance, neither hesitating for long. Harry decided to go in briefly and leave immediately if anything seemed dangerous.
Hermione raised her wand and cast Lumos, guiding the floating orb of light ahead of them.
If anything went wrong, the glowing orb would be the first thing to draw attention, not the two of them behind it.
They stepped through the doorway, passing through a layer of darkness.
Suddenly, their vision cleared.
What lay before them was a vast, open hall, with several enormous passageways branching off into darkness on all sides.
Harry turned around to confirm his suspicion.
Behind them was yet another massive passageway, where one step led into darkness and the next into light.
Hermione followed his gaze, but at that moment, a strange sound echoed through the empty hall.
She instinctively moved closer, gripping Harry's arm tightly while pointing her wand toward the hall ahead rather than the passage behind.
Harry stared forward.
Two rows of damp stone pillars lined the chamber, each carved with coiling serpents that stretched upward into a ceiling lost in darkness.
A faint green mist filled the entire space.
The atmosphere was sinister, eerie, and cold.
It felt as though no one had entered this place for a very long time.
At the far end of the chamber stood a massive statue of Salazar Slytherin, towering as high as the chamber itself and pressed against the back wall.
Its mouth was wide open, revealing a pitch-black abyss inside.
The sound they had heard came from within that mouth.
Hermione's unease intensified.
She began recalling everything about the previous attacks, Filch's cat and Myrtle, searching for similarities and differences.
She did not know why she was thinking this way, but it felt like a sudden realization, the only thing keeping her fear from overwhelming her.
Harry remained focused on the statue.
A deep instinct told him that something terrifying was hidden inside.
Fragments of memory flashed through his mind, and a sharp pain shot through his lightning-shaped scar.
"Ah…"
He bent forward, clutching his forehead.
"Harry, what's wrong? Harry?"
Hermione quickly supported him, her voice filled with worry.
As Harry steadied himself, Hermione's thoughts suddenly connected.
Filch's cat had been petrified while looking at a puddle on the floor.
Myrtle had also been petrified instantly, the fear frozen clearly on her face.
Hermione had noticed earlier that Myrtle had been looking at a mirror.
A puddle and a mirror had nothing in common except one thing.
They both reflected images.
In that moment, Hermione understood.
What petrified them was not a direct attack of Dark Magic.
It was what they saw.
Harry slowly recovered, the pain fading, and reassured her.
"I'm fine, Hermione, but be careful of the statue's mouth ahead because there is a huge snake hidden inside."
Hermione instinctively looked toward the statue.
A shadow flickered deep within its mouth, clearly visible even in the dim light.
But the moment she stared at it, her unease surged to its peak.
It felt dangerous to keep looking.
She quickly lowered her gaze and turned back to Harry.
"Harry, don't look at it."
"What?"
"Do you remember Filch's cat and Myrtle, and have you wondered why they turned into statues?"
"I remember, but what does that have to do with not looking?"
"It does because I think if we look directly at it, we might end up like them or even die here in the Chamber of Secrets, so we need to leave now."
Her voice trembled with urgency.
Harry had never seen Hermione this shaken before.
She was always calm and composed.
But now, the danger clearly exceeded anything they had imagined.
From the statue's mouth, faint sounds continued to echo.
And Harry knew exactly what kind of monster they were facing.
That terrifying creature.
...
📢 Author's Note
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