Chapter 47
Harry and Ron returned to the entrance of the common room in a daze, utterly shaken.
The portrait of the Fat Lady was nowhere to be seen at the moment, so no one could let them in. The two of them could only lean against the door and speak in extremely hushed voices.
"Hey, Harry, do you think what she said is true?"
"What?"
"You know, that thing! Is it really possible for someone to study magic day in and day out for seven whole years? The professor's story sounds exactly like a fairy tale to me—Merlin, it gave me goosebumps all over."
"What exactly, Ron? Don't scare me like this in the middle of the night!" Harry couldn't help glancing at the pitch-black corridor, suddenly feeling a twinge of unease in his heart.
"The Tales of Beedle the Bard—have you heard any of the stories in it? Oh, right, you grew up in the Muggle world, so you probably haven't.
"That book is pretty famous in the wizarding world. My mum used to read it to us as bedtime stories all the time."
"What are you trying to say? What does Professor Lucian have to do with fairy tales?"
"The Warlock's hairy heart! Harry, Professor Lucian, is very likely the warlock from that story!"
"The Warlock's hairy heart?" For some reason, just hearing the title made Harry's heart skip a beat.
In response to Harry's confusion, Ron put on an expression like he was about to devour a child and began to recount the tale in a spooky voice "Once upon a time, there was a warlock who was aloof and arrogant. While all his friends around him fell in love, he scorned it, thinking they had all become foolish because of love. So he vowed to remain single for life, and to ensure he would never be moved by anyone, he used dark magic to place his heart in the dungeon of his castle, locked inside a large chest. Many years passed like this, and he grew colder and colder. Even the death of his parents couldn't make him feel any heartache.
"But one day—he fell in love with a girl. the girl said to the wizard, 'Show me your heart. If it is smooth and bright, I will agree to marry you.' The warlock took the girl to the dungeon. But when he opened the chest, the girl immediately let out a terrified scream!
"It turned out that the warlock's heart, having been kept in the cold dungeon for so long—unable to hear beautiful music, feel the care of family, or receive a lover's caress—had become shrivelled, and was even covered in long black hairs!
"The girl begged the warlock to put the heart back into his body, so he did as she asked. She said she wanted to let this heart feel love again. But the warlock's heart had already become completely vicious, brutal, and dark. It dominated and controlled the wizard's body, driving him to lose all reason.
"When the warlock heard the girl's warm heartbeat and felt her smooth, delicate skin, he did something insane! He stabbed a dagger into the girl's chest, dug out her fresh, red, smooth heart, and tried to use magic to replace his own hairy one—but under the control of his heart, he couldn't do it.
"In the end, the warlock sliced open his own chest with the knife, dug out his own heart, and died tragically." Ron completed the story with menacing look and then looked at Harry adding "Don't you think the wizard in this story is a lot like Professor Lucian? The only difference is that one pursued magic, while the other pursued love."
"Merlin's pants! No wonder I felt something off about Professor Lucian from the very first time I saw him! He's basically a heartless, cold-blooded monster!" Ron said out loud, as if he'd finally connected all dots.
"H-How could that be? It's just a story, right?" Harry was starting to get scared by Ron's words. If it were really true, then when this monster finished learning all the magic in the world and returned to Hogwarts... wouldn't that be like the warlock putting his heart back into his body? Was it really Professor Lucian who opened the Chamber and released the basilisk? Did he plan to use the basilisk to kill everyone at Hogwarts?!
"Everyone thought the legend of the Chamber was just a story too, didn't they? And look what happened?" Ron was almost jumping to his feet. He clapped his hands excitedly and said "Now it all fits! It all fits perfectly! During his student days at Hogwarts, Professor Lucian sealed away his own heart in order to study magic.
"But after leaving Hogwarts, he wanted to get his heart back—so he returned to Hogwarts! Except his heart has already grown hairy, and putting it back would only drive him completely mad!" By this point, Ron's teeth were chattering uncontrollably.
"We have to tell Hermione about this right away. She can't keep going to Professor Lucian's study group—it's way too dangerous!" Harry's face was also filled with terror. Just as he was about to speak, a plump voice suddenly sounded behind them.
"Who's talking out here?"
"Ah!!!"
Harry and Ron were completely unprepared for the voice and screamed in unison.
"Eek!!!"
The Fat Lady's portrait screamed as well, then she saw Harry and Ron, who had seemingly appeared out of thin air "You two little troublemakers! How dare you scare me like that! Do you even want to get back in?"
"Sorry! Sorry! We didn't mean to!"
Harry and Ron apologised profusely, occasionally glancing nervously down the corridor—their screams had been so loud, Filch must have heard them!
They had to get back to the dormitory before Filch arrived!
Fortunately, the Fat Lady, who had just returned from visiting friends, seemed to be in a good mood and didn't hold it against them. She merely huffed and asked "No more next time! What's the password?"
"Banana Fritters."
As the door finally swung open, the two boys, who had been waiting desperately, quickly scrambled inside. Before leaving, Harry turned back for one last look at the dark corridor. Filch's figure hadn't appeared, nor had his faithful pet, Mrs. Norris... 'Oh, right, Mrs. Norris had been petrified.'
Thinking back to how terrified Filch had looked when he saw Professor Lucian that evening, combined with the story Ron had just told, Harry's heart began pounding wildly again.
For some reason, he had a feeling that for quite a long time to come, Filch probably wouldn't patrol the halls as diligently as he used to.
That night, Harry had a nightmare.
He dreamed he was in Professor Lucian's office. No one else was there—just the two of them, professor Lucian had his back to him, standing in front of a huge yellow chest, speaking in that unchanging, emotionless tone, but Harry couldn't make out the words.
Just as he instinctively wanted to step closer, Professor Lucian suddenly turned around. Harry looked in horror at his chest—it was a hollow cavity, pitch black inside, with nothing there!
"Password, Potter. Password." Professor Lucian's mouth didn't move, but the voice still rang out—from the empty cavity in his chest! Harry wanted to run, but found he couldn't move.
At that moment, the huge yellow chest began to shake violently. The chains clattered as they fell off on their own, and the lid burst open! inside was no heart—only an enormous serpent, its body a vivid, gleaming green. It slowly raised its head and fixed Harry with its deadly yellow eyes!
"Waaah!!!" Harry bolted upright in bed, his heart pounding frantically in his chest as if it were trying to escape.
He instinctively clutched the bedsheets, his gaze turning to the window—the sky was already light, sunlight streaming through and warming the dormitory floor.
His roommate Seamus grumbled unhappily, rolled over, and went back to sleep. The others weren't woken at all; at the moment everything seemed so peaceful and harmonious, yet it did nothing to dispel the chill that gripped Harry's body.
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