Chapter 157 Returning to the crime scene, even the female ghost...
Aaron looked at the clues laid out on the blackboard, pondered for a moment, then wrote down a few questions and his own incomplete guesses in his notebook.
First, the identity of the monster?
It might be some kind of magical creature, extremely long-lived, possessing very powerful petrifying abilities, and intricately linked to Harry Potter.
Second, who is the Heir of Slytherin?
It could be a first-year student, or it could be the person expelled from school fifty years ago.
Third, where is the Chamber of Secrets?
Unknown yet, but considering the water stains at the scene of the incident, it might be close to a water source.
A moment later, Aaron closed his notebook and wiped all the clues from the blackboard clean.
"This is all I can gather for now; there might still be some overlooked details," Aaron muttered to himself, then walked out of the classroom.
He planned to go to the crime scene, even though Filchmight have cleaned it up, there might still be some clues left.
Arriving in the corridor, Aaron couldn't help but roll his eyes, feeling utterly speechless.
"I must admit, you three really are... a surprise!"
"Aaron, what are you doing here?" Harry asked suspiciously, a flicker of doubt flashing in his eyes.
"What are you doing here?" Aaron retorted.
"Looking for clues," Hermione replied, "Many people at school are already treating Harry as the Heir of the Chamber of Secrets, and we don't want him to suffer an undeserved injustice."
"Not just Harry," Ron hesitated for a moment, "Also you. I noticed a few Gryffindors suspecting you're the Heir of the Chamber of Secrets during breakfast today."
Aaron:... "What does that have to do with me? I'm being framed."
"But you were here that night too, weren't you?" Hermionegave him a rather cutting reason, "However, fewer people suspect you than Harry, which is a blessing in disguise."
Aaron's mouth twitched, and his heart sank continuously.
Before, it was just for the system task; now he had to add another one: proving his innocence.
Feeling a strange sense of gloom emanating from Aaron, Hermione asked worriedly, "Are you alright? These are just rumors."
"I'm fine," Aaron waved his hand, "I'm not that fragile; I just feel a bit wronged.
You came first, have you found any clues?"
"We..." Hermione was about to speak when Harry and Ronboth turned their faces away, one with a slight frown, the other with a slight shake of his head, but their meaning was the same: don't tell him yet.
"We haven't found anything yet."
"Is that so?" Aaron didn't seem too suspicious. Instead, he looked around, finally fixing his gaze on the window, "I think I have a clue. Look over there."
The three of them jumped. They naturally knew what Aaron was talking about.
They had just noticed dozens of spiders scurrying frantically on the window.
They were crawling out of the window cracks one by one, dangling down on webs, as if trying to escape from here.
"Fear, they are afraid," Aaron muttered to himself, thinking it necessary to add a point to the monster's identity: it might be a natural enemy of spiders.
"Are you saying these spiders fear the monster in the Chamber of Secrets?" Hermione asked.
"I didn't say that, it's just a guess," Aaron chuckled awkwardly, looking at the clean floor, "It seems our caretaker has mopped the floor clean."
"Where did all that water come from?" Harry felt he had grasped the key point. Surely no one would be mopping outside during the Halloween feast!
Even if there was, they should be using a bucket, not pouring so much water on the floor.
"It must be that," Ron pointed to a door parallel to the corridor, with the words 'Out of Order' written on it.
"The lavatory, but we can't go in; it's the girls' lavatory."
"It's fine, no one goes there," Hermione smiled, "That's Moaning Myrtle's territory."
"That name..." Aaron frowned, "A ghost?"
"This ghost might be a bit temperamental and particularly fragile," Harry said with a bitter face, "At the Deathday Party, we only said a few harmless words, and we upset her.
Then she threw a big tantrum, but it seems Peeves scared her away."
"Compared to Peeves, Moaning Myrtle is quite nice," Hermione said, turning the brass spherical doorknob and opening the lavatory door, "Come in! Maybe she saw something."
This lavatory was not just old; describing it as dilapidated was an understatement.
It was dark, damp, covered in dust, with peeling cement on the walls and scratches on some of the stalls.
Even the mirror above the sink was stained and even had a few cracks.
"Tsk! This place probably hasn't been visited in decades, has it?!"
"Don't say that, at least a ghost lives here," Hermione rolled her eyes at Aaron, then looked at one of the stalls, "Myrtle, are you in there?"
A female ghost with glasses and pigtails emerged from behind the stall. Her Wizard robe bore the Ravenclaw crest.
"This is the girls' lavatory," Myrtle briefly glanced at the three people behind Hermione, "They are not girls."
"Of course they're not girls, I just brought them here to see," Hermione gave a forced smile, "how beautiful this place is."
"You have some misunderstanding of the word 'beautiful,'" Aaron said with a twitching mouth, "These days, even beggars look for a clean spot to beg, but this place... it's hard to describe!"
Hermione gave Aaron a meaningful look: Moaning Myrtle is a bit melancholic, don't provoke her.
Myrtle flew in front of Aaron, and just as she was about to glare at him, she saw Aaron's face clearly, and the words she wanted to curse him with were immediately swallowed back.
"Hello, what's your name?" Myrtle slowly floated to the ground, her two index fingers gently touching each other, and she said shyly, "My name is Myrtle Elizabeth Warren. If you don't mind, we can get to know each other."
Rumble!
A muffled thunder suddenly struck in Aaron's heart, a bolt from the blue, and he was completely stunned.
Holy cow! So being handsome really is a sin.
He didn't mind having a ghost friend, but the relationship definitely couldn't go beyond normal friendship, and Myrtlewas completely outside his aesthetic preferences.
However, before he could refuse, a figure stood in front of him. Hermione looked angrily at Myrtle, "Aaron is not a ghost."
"I just wanted to get to know him, nothing else."
Harry and Ron let out an ungracious laugh, a soft laugh, but in this lavatory, it sounded particularly grating.
"Is it that funny?" Aaron asked with a grim face.
"No, absolutely not," Ron immediately waved his hand, "We're just simply envious."
"Exactly, you're amazing, even a female ghost like Myrtle..."
Harry's words stopped abruptly halfway through, because Myrtle flew in front of him, almost touching his face.
"Go on, keep talking, what about a female ghost?"
Harry took a few steps back, a polite but awkward smile on his face.
"Hmph! Don't think I don't know what you're thinking," Myrtle flew into the air and glared fiercely at Harry and Ron, "You're definitely mocking me, aren't you?
Even though I'm dead, I still have feelings."
"No," Harry immediately said, "We, we just wanted to ask you some questions."
"That's a joke, you just want to make me sad.
And who would sympathize with an ugly, pathetic, gloomy Moaning Myrtle?"
"Uh..." Hermione said, "We really just wanted to ask if you've seen anything interesting recently?"
"What do you mean?"
"Halloween night," Ron said, "A cat was attacked outside the main door. Did you see who the culprit was?"
Myrtle looked at the ceiling, appearing as if she didn't want to say anything, but her eyes occasionally darted towards Aaron.
Harry and the others understood the hint and looked at Aaron, wanting to speak but holding back.
Judging by Myrtle's demeanor, she would only answer questions if someone else asked her.
"Heh heh!" Aaron sneered, "Goodbye."
"No, wait!" Ron grabbed him, laughing nervously, "How about you sacrifice yourself this one time?"
"Abey," Aaron called out impatiently. The Holy Dragon who had been squatting nearby quickly ran to Aaron, roared at Ron, and bared its claws and teeth.
A cute pet turned into a battle pet, are you scared or not?
"Don't misunderstand, please don't misunderstand," Ronimmediately let go. He didn't want to be swatted by Abey. "I'm also thinking for the greater good. You don't want to be wrongly accused, do you?"
Aaron rolled his eyes in disgust, then looked at Myrtle and asked, "Did you see anything that night?
I'm only asking this once. No matter how you answer, I'm leaving here once you're done."
Hearing this, Myrtle began to sob tearfully, "Actually, I didn't notice anything that day.
Peeves scared me, and I wanted to find a place to kill myself, but then I remembered I was already dead."
Aaron nodded, said nothing, and walked out the door with Abey.
"Is he angry?"
The three of them looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
They didn't know if Aaron was angry, but anyone would want to keep their distance if a ghost took a liking to them, right?
Seeing the three of them remain silent, Myrtle seemed to ponder, then let out a sorrowful sob and plunged headfirst into a water tank, splashing a large amount of water.