Chapter 75

Harry had found a new direction for his investigation, but he was not so free now to look into that impostor. A more urgent matter was that he and Neville needed to spend the afternoon mimicking Crabbe and Gao Er's usual behavior as much as possible to avoid any slip-ups in the evening's plan.

At dinner, Harry and Neville quickly filled their stomachs, then began to observe Crabbe and Gao Er, who were stuffing themselves at the Slytherin table. Harry even worried they wouldn't have the appetite to keep eating the cakes later.

Seeing them prepare to leave, Harry hurriedly placed the cakes on the corridor railing. Then, he hid behind an archway, quietly observing the situation.

"Huh? Whose are these?" As soon as Gao Er walked out, he noticed the two cakes.

"If nobody wants them, they're mine." Crabbe said with a wicked grin, grabbing a large piece of cake and stuffing the whole thing into his mouth. Gao Er also took the other piece, and the two greedily chewed for a while, wearing victorious smiles on their faces. Then, their expressions remained unchanged as they collapsed limply to the ground.

Next, Harry and Neville quietly transported the two in a wooden barrel to the broom cupboard and hid them inside. Harry yanked a hair from Gao Er's forehead, and Neville pulled a few from Crabbe's. Then, the two added the hairs to the bottle of pumpkin juice filled with Polyjuice Potion and found a nearby restroom to prepare to take it.

Harry pinched his nose and gulped down a large mouthful; Gao Er's taste was truly unbearable, like overcooked cabbage. After a painful transformation process, he gently put away his glasses and looked at the mirror to the side.

The current Harry was almost indistinguishable from Gao Er, only his expression looked a bit too intelligent. Harry mimicked Gao Er's original movements, imagining himself as a dim-witted brute, which helped him nail the temperament as well.

"Crabbe?" Harry cleared his throat, pretending he was already Gao Er.

"I'm here." Crabbe's low voice came from the side; it looked like Neville had finished his transformation too.

"Next, we're going to the Slytherin common room. Do you know the way?" Harry asked.

"Cui Ge told Hermione, I think I can find it." Neville said confidently, but because it was Crabbe's voice, Harry instinctively felt it wasn't very credible.

"Do you remember the password?" Harry asked.

"Solid as a rock." Neville said, lifting his feet and walking stiffly toward the basement.

However, they never managed to find the common room, and Harry couldn't help but ask: "Can you really find it?"

Answering him was Crabbe's intelligent tone: "Of course."

Hogwarts' basement was much more complex than they had imagined, or perhaps the Polyjuice Potion had perfectly restored every trait of Crabbe and Gao Er—including their brain capacity.

Harry only felt his thinking was very sluggish; the thousand-layer game he had constructed in his mind was basically not remembered at all. He followed behind Neville unhurriedly, with only one thought remaining: to attend the seven o'clock meeting.

They wandered around the corridor several times, and Harry felt Neville must have been completely lost. Just as he couldn't help but want to say a few words, the two luckily encountered Ma Erfu, who was walking toward the main building with Pan Xi.

"What are you two doing here? Don't you know the meeting is about to start?" Ma Erfu said with a suspicious look.

"Oh, we originally planned to go back for a bit." Neville said.

"But it seems a bit too late." Harry added.

"Sometimes I really doubt if the two of you combined can even make up half a brain." He sighed, "Follow behind me, we're going straight to the meeting."

Harry gently tugged at Neville's sleeve and whispered to him: "We have to find a way to know if Ma Erfu is..."

"Received." Neville signaled that he didn't need to say more, "Understood."

"Can you two hurry up?" Seeing the two dawdling behind, Ma Erfu couldn't help but be a bit displeased.

"I'm already moving at full speed." Harry blurted out without thinking; Gao Er's legs didn't seem to cooperate with his own pants, feeling very awkward.

Before Ma Erfu could get angry, they successfully walked to the classroom Harry knew well. Harry subconsciously glanced at the place where he used to hide, and it looked like there were no problems.

"Alright, let's start today's meeting." After everyone was seated, Ma Erfu began to preside, "The time was changed temporarily today because the Christmas break is coming soon, and I don't want to delay everyone from going home."

Really nice, Harry thought to himself; Ma Erfu was very considerate. If he were to go home... no, if he were just listening in, he couldn't pick out any faults either.

Harry suspected the Polyjuice Potion might have really copied their IQs. His thinking now was like being stuck in a quagmire; conclusions that could be easily reached in the past now required a long time to ponder.

"I want to talk about the latest news we've obtained first: there might be more than one heir of Slytherin." Ma Erfu said, "At the dueling club on Thursday, Harry Potter revealed that he is a natural Parseltongue, which shows he very likely has Slytherin blood."

"This basically matches our previous guesses. The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is very likely related to snakes, and the special thing about Slytherin's heir is that he can communicate with snakes." Pan Xi said, "Of course, I think we still can't rule out the suspicion of Haige and the spiders; after all, there have been precedents."

"I think it's basically confirmed." Cui Ge said, "Either Haige didn't manage his pet well, or Harry opened the Chamber of Secrets. However, I believe Harry isn't the type to deliberately attack others; it's possible the Gorgon in the Chamber of Secrets acted on its own."

"But Harry is Harry, and we are we." Lu Na said with a frown, "Just because Harry said a few words in Parseltongue, making him look more like Slytherin's heir, can we conclude the opener of the Chamber of Secrets isn't among us? My father told me Parseltongue can also be learned later; some people with good language talent can learn it quite well after hearing it once."

"I think we can just change our thinking; it should be Zhang Qiu who opened the Chamber of Secrets." Jin Ni was still as hostile as ever toward Zhang Qiu, "She can easily learn a sentence or two of Parseltongue from Harry, and whether it's teaching Filch or Colin a lesson, I think it's something she would very likely do on her own."

"Lu Na, you have to think this way: focus on the credibility of the information." Yi Fu said, "Harry is born with Parseltongue, and Tang Mu is just a middle name that happens to share the same name as someone from the Gaunt family. From any angle, Harry looks more like Slytherin's heir. But this only proves he is the most capable of opening the Chamber of Secrets, not that he completed the attacks."

"Uh, oh, my turn." After a period of silence, Neville realized it was Crabbe's turn to speak, and he hurriedly said: "Actually, Pan Xi is right. I think we shouldn't think of everyone so badly. It's possible it was just an accidental event caused by Haige's spiders."

"As for the blood words we saw during the first attack." Harry tried his best to make up for his statement, "We think it's possible someone boredly painted a bit of a prank. Actually, that was just red paint, right? It's not necessarily real blood. If it were blood, whose blood would it be?"

"Very good thinking, Gao Er, so good that I almost suspect you aren't Gao Er." Ma Erfu praised, "The only thing we can know for sure now is that the first blood words were really blood; Sineipu told me. And the victims were petrified, so we just need to investigate who was injured around Wan Shengjie, or who has been to the kitchen."

Cui Ge stared straight at Harry, making him feel a bit uneasy. Harry worried if he had discovered he was disguised.

"I'm not sure if this is a coincidence." Cui Ge said, "As far as I know, just the day before Wan Shengjie, Crabbe and Gao Er had just stolen a chicken from Haige."

"We eat two chickens a week." Neville still remembered what Cui Ge had said, and he subconsciously defended himself, "This is meaningless; let's continue discussing Harry and Haige."

"Actually, I've suspected Harry for a long time." Ma Erfu said, "If the Chamber of Secrets attacks never catch the culprit, who is the biggest beneficiary? Let's think about it this way: with Deng Buliduo's personality, if he intends to let the matter go, he will definitely push it onto the Dark Lord. In this way, Harry Potter, who defeated the Dark Lord, will become famous once again. So, I think this whole event is very likely Deng Buliduo building momentum for Harry."

"But, why would Deng Buliduo build momentum for Harry?" Jin Ni said, a bit confused.

"To cultivate confidants and foster his own power." Ma Erfu said, "If Deng Buliduo turns to become the Minister of Magic, then who will be the Headmaster of Hogwarts? McGonagall might be able to watch over it for him for a while, but in the long run, he needs someone young and prestigious enough to take over, and that person had better be firmly on his side."

"Deng Buliduo might not be that kind of person." Harry said eagerly, "If he wanted to touch power, with his magical level, he would have become the Minister of Magic long ago."

"Who knows, perhaps he has changed his mind now, or perhaps he needs to bypass some Unbreakable Vow." Ma Erfu said nonchalantly, "In short, if we suspect Haige, this is just a simple accidental event; and if we suspect Harry, then it's Deng Buliduo's political means."

"Disgusting." Pan Xi said, "To fight for power and profit, using innocent children as bargaining chips."

She was just showing fake mercy, Harry thought to himself. These nobles have always looked down on Muggle-borns, so why would they care if they were sacrificed?

Suddenly, Harry noticed one thing: could this be the part Ma Erfu let slip? If the truth of the matter was the power struggle within the Board of Governors, then was it Deng Buliduo who cared less about innocent students, or those pure-blood nobles who cared less about Muggle-borns?

Even with Gao Er's sluggish brain, Harry could make this judgment.