Chapter 154: Killing the Basilisk

The TARDIS stopped in the familiar Forbidden Forest again. Harry originally wanted to go out, but when his hand touched the door, he stopped.

"That's right." The Professor put his hand on his shoulder. "The past us just finished talking to Zhang Qiu and left; no need to rush out."

They waited for a long time, until Harry felt that his past self must have left long ago, before coming out of the TARDIS.

At this time, the Zhang Qiu who had just jumped here not long ago, because she accidentally killed the unicorn, had already left unhappily.

The Zhang Qiu who was sitting on the grass in Hanfu had just spent more than half a month eating and drinking at Tang Dun's place, and after stealing the word "open" from Parseltongue, she came here to convey the will of time to her past self and invited Neville to help kill the Basilisk, so that she could have a safe and secret place to stay at Hogwarts in the days to come.

And this Zhang Qiu is the one who handed the travel record to the Professor. She suggested that the past Harry participate in her journey, because she at that time had not experienced the conversation about the chess player and fate, and her heart was full of entanglement and confusion.

It is precisely because of this that when the future Harry followed Zhang Qiu to the last stop of this journey, what he said was not "Hello" or "See you again", but "I'm back".

"Ah, Harry." Zhang Qiu, who had experienced most of the summer vacation, looked much more lively. "Are you also here to help deal with the Basilisk?"

"If I can help, I'd be happy to." Harry also said with a smile.

"It's inconvenient for me to intervene, so I'll wait here." The Professor said, returned to the TARDIS, and gently closed the door.

"Now it's just the two of us again." Zhang Qiu blinked. She seemed to want to say something, but in the blink of an eye, a figure appeared on the open space not far away.

It was Neville, who had just returned to this moment using the Hyper-Ascension Spell.

"Harry?" Neville looked a bit surprised. This is understandable, because Harry hadn't met him directly in previous trips. If Li Ao hadn't said anything, he might not have realized that Harry was also traveling.

"The more helpers, the better, right?" Zhang Qiu shrugged casually. "Don't worry, Harry knows what we are doing."

Neville looked at the two of them meaningfully, and then said in a very natural tone: "Then Harry, did you bring your goggles?"

"It's ruined, I didn't bring them." Harry realized only after a pause that he had specially made single-sided glass goggles to deal with the Basilisk last year, but before this time travel started, he hadn't considered that he might have to fight the Basilisk during the trip, so naturally, he didn't bring them.

"Oh right, your reflective swimming goggles!" Zhang Qiu also remembered. Last year, the three of them went down to the Chamber of Secrets wearing this kind of glasses, which could effectively protect against the Basilisk's gaze.

"After all, we are going to fight the Basilisk, so I brought mine." Neville said. "And, I also borrowed his pair from the future Harry."

"This is a problem. There are three of us, but only two pairs of glasses." Neville looked at Harry and Zhang Qiu and blinked.

"Didn't you borrow Luo En's too?" Zhang Qiu asked.

"Luo En didn't have goggles; he directly modified his helmet visor." Harry said with some helplessness. "So what should we do now?"

"Let's say it first, I want to make up for the progress, so I must go down." Zhang Qiu looked at Harry, her tone firm. "And I don't have any other good way. Either you give me a pair of glasses, or I'll go down invisible with my eyes closed."

"Your original plan was really risky." Neville said helplessly. He took out two pairs of glasses from his robe. "Then Harry, do you want to go down instead of me?"

"Hmm..." Harry pondered. Reason told him that Neville, who was physically flexible, skilled in using the sword, and could also use the Ascension Spell, was obviously more useful than himself.

But emotionally, he wanted to fight side by side with his friends when they faced the Basilisk.

"We can discuss the plan first." Zhang Qiu called Harry over, and the three sat on the grass. "Let's see how to deal with this big monster."

"Can we blind its eyes first?" Neville said.

"No." Harry and Zhang Qiu denied this proposal in unison.

"When we saw the Basilisk's corpse, its eyes were still good." Zhang Qiu said. "In other words, if we blinded it, we would change history, which is more dangerous than keeping its eyes."

"And, the snake's vision is actually very poor; it mainly relies on vibration and smell to perceive the outside world." Harry added. "So with goggles, whether it's blinded or not is about the same."

"In other words, invisibility doesn't play much of a role, right?" Zhang Qiu said helplessly.

"But we can still sneak in invisibly." Harry suddenly had an idea. "Snakes perceive ground vibrations with their abdomen; as long as you float, it won't be able to find you."

"What about the smell?" Neville asked.

"Bubble-Head Charm, as long as it's adjusted slightly to wrap the whole body, the smell won't leak out." Harry said happily. "Then set up a huge heat source to interfere with its heat perception, and we are equivalent to being invisible."

"And snakes have no hearing, so we can communicate loudly." Harry added.

"Then, let me think." Zhang Qiu touched her chin. "You cast a Levitation Charm on me, let me fly quietly above the Basilisk, and then I pierce its head with a sword. This seems feasible."

"Oh, indeed." Neville scratched his head. "Sounds easier to succeed than the fierce battle I originally envisioned."

"Zhang Qiu's Return-to-Nest Sword Technique should be enough to kill the Basilisk." Harry continued to calculate. "This also matches what we saw later."

"That's a sword move, not a spell." Zhang Qiu corrected.

"Alright, in short, the plan is like this." Harry said. "First, we take advantage of the fact that the Basilisk's room door hasn't been opened—or even if it has, we should be able to close it with Parseltongue—and light a huge bonfire in advance to interfere with its heat perception."

"Then Zhang Qiu and Neville go in with goggles. Neville, you attract its attention, while I hide near the bonfire and cast a Levitation Charm on Zhang Qiu, and Zhang Qiu can command the direction loudly until she finds a suitable angle and casts the sword move to kill it with one blow."

"Can." "I agree." The two little partners agreed to this plan.

"Then, let's do it. First, go to the woods to collect some dead branches for fire." Harry stood up, patting his robe, and naturally took on the role of the leader.

Soon, they collected enough materials to light a bonfire and hid them in Zhang Qiu's storage bag, sneaking them into the school. The three slipped into the abandoned bathroom quietly. Moaning Myrtle was still crying in the stall, completely unaware that three young wizards had opened the Chamber of Secrets and slipped in.

Harry demonstrated Parseltongue clearly again, which provided no small convenience for the two to enter and exit the Chamber of Secrets in the future.

The three went down to the bottom of the tunnel, bypassed the snake skin, and walked all the way to the end of the Chamber of Secrets. Unlike the huge stone room seen before, this was their "first time" truly coming to the Chamber of Secrets. At the end of the corridor was a wall, on which two intertwined snakes were carved, and the snake eyes were inlaid with shining huge green gemstones.

"This place really needs to be opened with Parseltongue." Harry nodded. "Let's light the fire first."

The three piled the dead branches picked up from the Forbidden Forest in front of the wall, and soon piled up a bonfire nearly one person high. Then Harry ignited it with a Fire-Making Spell. The ventilation system of the Chamber of Secrets was unexpectedly good, and the smoke drifted away along some dark holes, and the children were not smoked.

"Now I'm going to open the stone door; you guys put on your goggles." Harry said nervously, while he himself was wearing the Invisibility Cloak, ready to close his eyes at any time.

With a hiss of a whisper, the huge wall split open and retracted to the left and right. Under the illumination of the fire, Harry saw the familiar huge stone room. However, to the surprise of the three, there was no Basilisk in the stone room; what came into view were still huge stone pillars and dim sculptures.

"Where did the Basilisk go? Can't see it." Neville said in a low voice.

"It shouldn't be that we still have to invite it." Zhang Qiu said casually in an Oriental slang.

"It shouldn't be," a strange thought popped into Harry's mind, "that I really have to invite it."

Harry walked forward a few steps, trying to imagine the appearance of a snake, and then imitated Snape's cold tone and said loudly: "Come out."

He was sure that what came out of his mouth was a hiss.

"What are your orders?" A terrible and low voice went directly into Harry's mind. Immediately after, a large snake with its eyes closed swam out from the dark corner of the stone hall. Zhang Qiu and Neville both tightened their weapons unconsciously.

"Wait, I seem to be able to command it." Harry said uncertainly.

"Then try it." Zhang Qiu also noticed that the Basilisk had its eyes closed; perhaps it regarded Harry as its master.

"Wait there." Harry said in Parseltongue. "Wait for my order."

The Basilisk swam to the wall and coiled its body. The huge and ugly head rested on the slippery snake body, looking like it was resting.

"It looks exactly the same as when it died. I think this is the truth of the Basilisk's death." Zhang Qiu said in a low voice, sticking an Invisibility Talisman on herself. "Float me up."

Harry cast a Levitation Charm, letting Zhang Qiu rise into the air, while Neville added a giant Bubble-Head Charm to her. Actually, Harry had also learned the Bubble-Head Charm, but this might make Neville feel more involved.

The Basilisk, which was resting with its eyes closed, didn't notice at all that a huge soap bubble was quietly floating above it, and Zhang Qiu inside the bubble was brewing a fatal blow.

Zhang Qiu gripped her Dharma sword, calmed her emotions, and cast her most proficient sword move from top to bottom. With the addition of magic power, the sharp Dharma sword pierced the Basilisk's skull, and the energy emitted by the Dharma sword destroyed the Basilisk's brain in almost an instant.

The Basilisk, which hadn't had time to open its eyes, no longer needed to open them. It lay quietly by the wall, just as the children saw at the end of the second year.

"Killing the Basilisk should be at the end of the second year, and now the first year hasn't ended yet. We are much earlier." Zhang Qiu said with a smile when leaving.

"To be precise, the third year has already ended now." Neville's figure was fading; he was preparing to return. "We came a bit late." ===== CHAPTER 155 =====