Chapter 189: The Boundary Outside the Secret Room
Lockhart pursed his lips, seeing the meaningful looks from everyone, and quickly made a choice between his pride and his life.
If his pride was gone, he could earn it back; at worst, he would find another place to make a living. But if his life was gone, nothing would be left.
"I'm sorry, but I must refuse this time," Lockhart said seriously. "I don't want to stay here for another moment. I'm going back now."
"But you are the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts Class; this is your responsibility," Professor McGonagallsaid, displeased. Although she also felt that Lockhartwouldn't be much help, having a deserter in the team at this moment was not a good thing.
"You can't say that. This isn't my obligation," Lockhart said dismissively. "When I accepted this position, the job description didn't include this."
"Are you saying you're going to desert us?" Harry asked in disbelief.
Lockhart shrugged with a smile, not denying it.
"How can you run away?" Hermione was a bit upset. "You wrote so many amazing things about yourself in your books."
"Books can be deceiving," Lockhart grinned. "Those stories are true, but they just replaced the protagonists—ugly old Wizards, or disgusting old Witches with hairy chins and no fashion sense—with the glamorous Gilderoy Lockhart.
Only by making people believe I did those things could the books sell well."
"You, you, you're really… a liar," Hermione said, her chest heaving with anger, her words stumbling, her disappointment evident.
The others were also dumbfounded. They could all see that Lockhart was a clown, but they hadn't expected him to be even more despicable than they thought, his character utterly vile.
"How disgusting," Aaron said, though he had anticipated it. Such a brazen move from Lockhart was perfectly normal.
"Say what you will, at most, this is plagiarism, and it doesn't violate any laws, does it?" Lockhart said. Now that he had revealed his true colors, there was no need for him to pretend anymore.
Professor McGonagall directly cast a Petrificus Totalus at him, immobilizing him.
"Don't mind this scoundrel. After we rescue Ginny, I'll ask the Aurors to investigate."
Everyone composed themselves and continued forward through the winding tunnel, navigating around the dense snake skins.
At the end of the tunnel, a solid wall blocked their path. On the wall were two intertwined snakes, their eyes inlaid with sparkling emeralds, looking as if they were alive.
Abei jumped down from Aaron's arms, vigilantly watching the wall, its sharp claws slowly extending from its paws.
Aaron took a deep breath. "The Basilisk is inside. Get two roosters ready.
Also, if anything unexpected happens, remember not to look into its eyes. If possible, it's best to fight with your eyes closed."
Ron and Hermione instinctively hugged the roosters in their hands, which immediately let out loud crows, dispelling the heavy atmosphere in everyone's hearts.
"Harry Potter," Professor Snape said, looking at the wall with a meaningful expression. "It's time for you, the Parselmouth, to step up."
Harry cleared his throat and walked up to the wall, hissing in Parseltongue: "Open."
The two snakes slowly began to separate, coiling up on the left and right sides of the wall.
The wall slowly opened from the center, but what greeted everyone was not the Chamber of Secrets. The emeralds in the snakes' eyes emitted a green light, forming a grayish-white curtain that blocked the entrance.
"What is this?"
"Don't touch it, Harry," Professor McGonagall said, carefully reaching out a finger to touch it, but the next moment she was thrown back several steps.
Professor Flitwick took out his wand, and a bright white light struck the grayish-white curtain, forcefully creating a black crack in it.
But the crack soon healed, and powerful magic seeped from the wall, neutralizing Flitwick's spell.
"A barrier," Professor Flitwick exclaimed. "And not just any barrier. It's powered by two magic crystals and has been in place for at least a month."
"Can we break it?" Ron asked anxiously. "My sister is still inside!"
"I'm sorry, Ron Weasley.
This barrier was clearly meticulously prepared. Even if all of us tried to break it by brute force, it would take some time."
"How long?"
"At least twelve hours," Professor Flitwick said with a troubled expression. "That's the fastest. The person who set up this barrier is an absolute genius.
Unless he left some rules, there's only one way to break it: brute force."
As his voice fell, two lines of text appeared on the grayish-white curtain:
Aaron Gaius (this is the prerequisite); 1357.
"What?"
Aaron blinked blankly, and the others also looked at him with puzzled expressions.
"What's going on?" Aaron felt a giant 'danger' sign etched on his forehead, as if he was being pointed at by an Avada Kedavra.
"Clearly," Professor Snape said with a gloomy expression, "you've entered the sights of the Heir of Slytherin."
"But I've been low-key enough!" Aaron said, close to tears. "I haven't had any outstanding performances in these two semesters. How did he know about me?"
After speaking, Aaron seemed to remember something and turned to look at the three Gryffindors.
"Don't tell me you told him."
Hermione and Ron immediately shook their heads; they had kept their mouths shut.
Harry, however, weakly raised his right hand and said shamefully, "It might have been me.
Tom Riddle took me back into his memory, and I told him Hagrid wasn't the culprit, and then I told him the clues you investigated.
He was very interested in you, so he…"
Upon hearing this, Aaron's mind went blank, and his heart was on the verge of collapse.
"Didn't I tell you not to tell anyone?
You also promised me. Is this your promise?"
"Sorry," Harry said awkwardly, too guilty to look Aaron directly in the eye.
He had thought at the time that Riddle's diary wouldn't reveal secrets, so he didn't take it seriously, but he hadn't expected it to become such a big deal.
"Heh heh! You think an apology is enough?" Aaron sneered, pointing at the curtain. "Look closely, my name is written on it!
I worked so hard precisely because I didn't want to be targeted by the big BOSS behind the scenes, and you, you just cleanly and thoroughly sold me out."
"I… I really didn't mean to."
"You'd better not have meant to, or I'll definitely strangle you," Aaron said, gritting his back teeth, grabbing Harry's collar. "Do you know I never wanted to take risks myself, never.
I'm a Slytherin who knows how to protect himself. Why would you do this to me? Did I offend you somewhere?"
Harry shook his head blankly, wanting to say something, but swallowed the words back. It seemed that anything he said now would be wrong. This was no longer just dragging his feet; this was directly dragging Aaron into the abyss, so it would be strange if he was in a good mood.
Harry could only cast a pleading look at Professor McGonagall, hoping she would say a few good words, at least to get Aaron to let go of him first.
"Sigh!" Professor McGonagall said helplessly, "Time is short now. Let's think about how to rescue Ginny first!"
"There's no other way," Aaron sighed. "Now, only I can go."
"No, I disagree," Professor Snape sharply interjected. "No one knows what the situation is like inside. Besides the Basilisk, there might be other dangers.
You don't need to risk yourself for Ginny Weasley, and we have no reason to let you, a student, take such a risk."
"Heh heh! Professor, I just said I never wanted to take risks either.
But thanks to the famous Savior, I'm forced into this situation now. The other party is coming for me." Aaron gradually calmed down. "There's only a thousand days to be a thief, but no thousand days to guard against one, right?
There's a saying in my family's ancestral teachings: 'If I don't kill him today, he will definitely find a way to kill me tomorrow.'
Since I've been targeted, I can only take action and eliminate him, otherwise, I won't sleep soundly in the future."
"That… Gaius," Professor Sprout frowned. "Your idea is good, but your strength is too weak right now. We can think of other ways."
"No time."
Professor Sprout was also speechless upon hearing this.
If they could break this barrier, it wouldn't be so troublesome, but they couldn't break it!
"What does the second line mean?" Hermione looked at the numbers on the curtain, her brows furrowed. "One, three, five, seven—these are all odd numbers. Do they represent years or a code? Or…"
"It's not that complicated," Aaron rolled his eyes. "The four numbers add up to sixteen, meaning people under sixteen can pass through the curtain.
Riddle might already have the ability to leave the diary. He is very confident, so confident that he doesn't put any of his peers in his eyes."
"We can go in and help you," Harry said, mustering his courage. "We're all under sixteen. Four of us together might not be no match for Tom Riddle."
"No, please, I beg you, don't drag your feet again," Aaron said, clearly resistant. He had a very clear understanding of the abilities of these three Gryffindors.
Only Hermione had some ability, but this wasn't an exam, and she couldn't help much either.
As for Harry and Ron… it was truly hard to describe!
If either of those two were a bit more reliable, he could have just laid back and won behind the Professors, without having to take such a big risk.
"But my sister is in there," Ron said, unconvinced.
"Then for your sister's sake, stay put outside," Aaron said with some impatience. "If Ginny is still alive, I will do my best to save her. If she unfortunately dies, I will also do my best to bring her body out intact."
"Ginny must still be alive," Ron said loudly, but he also felt a bit uncertain, as there were indeed many bones they had seen along the way.
"Let's hope so!"
Aaron sighed and walked towards the curtain.
"Wait, Gaius," Professor McGonagall stopped him and said, "You forgot to bring the roosters."
"It's no use, Riddle has made all his preparations," Aaron said regretfully. "This barrier is for living people; roosters can't get through."
Hearing this, Abei couldn't sit still. It wasn't at ease with its owner leaving it behind to venture alone. It spread its wings and flew towards the barrier.
Its sharp claws tore sparks into the curtain again and again, but the damage to the barrier was limited and always returned to its original state the next second.