Chapter 94: Return

Not long after June passed, Professor McGonagall announced a notice at breakfast with a smile on her face.

"Good news," she said, and at this moment, everyone in the Great Hall broke the silence and became noisy.

"Deng Buliduo is coming back!" Several people shouted happily.

"The exam is canceled!" Luo En prayed in a low voice.

"Be pragmatic." Na Wei shook his head, "It should be that the Mandrake has matured."

When the noise subsided, Professor McGonagall didn't speak, just tilted her head with a smile.

Harry then discovered that at some point, the white-bearded old man he was familiar with was sitting in the Headmaster's seat again.

"Children, I'm sorry for leaving the school because of some private matters before, but now I'm back." Deng Buliduo stood up from his seat, and in the joyful eyes of the children, he said loudly, "I want to announce a decision. To celebrate the resolution of the Chamber of Secrets incident, I announce that the exams for this semester are canceled!"

Luo En screamed happily, looking like a monkey that had just picked a banana.

"Of course, there is another thing worth being happy about." Professor McGonagall said, "The Mandrake has matured, and we can save the scared victims tonight."

"Fortunately, the exam was canceled." Luo En said excitedly, "If they heard that they had to take the exam as soon as they woke up, maybe they would be scared faint again."

"If Jia Siting and Penelope are saved." Harry said, "Maybe we can determine the truth of the Chamber of Secrets attacks based on their statements."

"Maybe they won't give more useful information." Na Wei said something disappointing again, "It's nothing more than being attacked by a basilisk. The problem is where the Chamber of Secrets is hidden in the castle, and who planned this series of attacks. We still don't know these questions."

Harry nodded and said with some regret: "Anyway, it's worth being happy that the victims recover their health."

That night, Harry couldn't suppress the curiosity in his heart, and with his two little partners, he put on the Invisibility Cloak and quietly slipped into the hospital from the side, wanting to get first-hand information.

When they walked into the inpatient department, they found that Jia Siting and Penelope had already woken up and were sitting by the bed resting. And Deng Buliduo and the deans of the four houses were all surrounding here, and the teachers seemed to be ready to listen to their testimony.

"I mean, I was scared to death." At Deng Buliduo's signal, Jia Siting opened his mouth, "That night when I was returning to the dormitory, the corridor was very dim, which was already scary enough, and then I saw myself!"

He said with a trembling voice, "I saw another myself, walking slowly toward me in the dark. I was so scared that I didn't dare to move, and then he suddenly changed. It was just a blink of an eye, and he turned into two huge yellow semicircles, and then I lost consciousness."

Just when Harry was puzzled by this testimony, Penelope opened her mouth.

"Mr. Fenli, you don't have to be afraid, because I saw this scene during the day. The so-called other self was just a mirror. I was still wondering who was so bored to move the mirror to the corridor." She said, "However, the next thing was similar to your situation. A yellow object suddenly reflected in the mirror, and then I lost consciousness. Of course, actually thinking about it now, that might be an eye."

"Don't worry, children." Deng Buliduo said, "Leave the rest to the professors, we will handle it."

The unease that had been lingering in Harry's heart reached its peak at this time. Now it was confirmed that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets was definitely not a spider, which showed that their cleverness only solved half of the problem.

"Well, but I want to know what to do about this year's exam, I hope I can apply for a deferred exam..." Penelope, as an excellent Ravenclaw student, the first thing she cared about after waking up was indeed the exam.

"The exam is canceled." Flitwick said.

"Why?" She still seemed reluctant.

"To celebrate the resolution of the Chamber of Secrets case." Deng Buliduo's eyes were very clear, and he chose to tell the truth, "Sorry, I mistakenly thought that the monster attacking students was the dark spider in the Forbidden Forest, so now many students think that the Chamber of Secrets case has been resolved."

"But it didn't look like a spider." Jia Siting said with lingering fear.

"Yes, the situation has changed again, I will continue to find a way." Deng Buliduo said, "I hope you don't tell anyone about this, okay? I don't want the children to fall into worry and panic again."

"I can understand, Professor." Penelope looked worried, "But I hope to catch the real murderer as soon as possible."

"I promise you." Deng Buliduo patted her hand with a smile, and then said to the professors, "Before the real murderer is caught, I hope the professors will continue to maintain patrols to avoid any more students being attacked."

Harry returned to the dormitory dejectedly. Na Wei didn't say anything, but he still felt a bit guilty.

"Well, it seems this is the worst situation." Luo En shrugged, "Just dealing with spiders is not enough, we still have to challenge the basilisk."

"Dealing with spiders is actually effective, now Deng Buliduo is back." Harry said, "If we really find the basilisk, we just need to report it to Deng Buliduo."

"By the way, what is the basilisk afraid of?" Luo En said, "And, how do we survive in front of its murderous gaze?"

"You didn't consider Deng Buliduo at all? Actually, we just need to close our eyes and shout his name." Harry said helplessly, "However, if you really want to challenge the basilisk yourself, then I have an idea."

"The book says that the basilisk is afraid of roosters." Harry pointed out the basilisk's weakness, "And, the basilisk killing people is not by gaze, but 'eye contact.' You must be able to see each other's eyes for its magic to take effect."

"Roosters?" Na Wei frowned, "Originally Haige raised quite a few chickens, but now there are none left, because a few little bad guys go to steal chickens to eat every week."

"I don't know if they were intentional, Cui Ge said it might be Tang Mu's instigation." A chill ran into Harry's heart, but it was ignored in a flash, "However, roosters are not precious magical creatures, they can be bought anywhere."

"You'd better talk about how to avoid the deadly gaze." Luo En asked.

"This is very simple. You might not know that there is something called a two-way mirror, also known as one-way perspective glass, which is made by applying a layer of aluminum film on ordinary glass using vacuum coating. This kind of glass can reflect most of the projected light back." Harry talked about Muggle knowledge that Luo En didn't understand.

"Simply put, you can see the scene reflected by the other mirror through the back of the glass, while the basilisk can only see its own reflection from the front of the glass and cannot see you behind the glass." Harry gestured the reflection of light, "My idea is to install this kind of glass in your knight's visor, and then you can fight the basilisk head-on."

"A knight challenging a basilisk, too cool, do you know who this reminds me of?" Luo En gestured his muscles excitedly, "Lannister always pays his debts!"

"Who is that?" Harry had never heard this story at all.

"Oh, the American knight Tang Nade mentioned, he challenged a dragon single-handedly—"

"Two-way mirror!" Na Wei exclaimed, directly interrupting Luo En's narration, "The attacker used a two-way mirror!"

In Harry's puzzled eyes, Na Wei explained, "There are also two-way mirrors in the magic world. I mean, they are two completely identical mirrors. You can see the scene reflected by the other mirror from this mirror."

"I can understand." Harry thought to himself, that is similar to live television.

"The attacker set up one of the mirrors in the Chamber of Secrets, facing the basilisk's eyes." Na Wei said, "And placed the other mirror in the corridor, waiting for the victim to appear."

"Is that so?" Harry was a bit surprised.

"Because two-way mirrors must be cast to connect, otherwise they are ordinary mirrors." Na Wei continued, "So when Jia Siting and Penelope were focused on looking at themselves in the mirror, the attacker suddenly cast a spell to connect the two-way mirrors, so they would suddenly make eye contact with the basilisk without any preparation."

"So that's it, but why did he have to go to such great lengths?" Harry pondered, "Is it to cover up the existence of the basilisk?"

"It's possible." Na Wei said, "And the basilisk might be very huge, it's hard not to be discovered when walking in the castle, but mirrors are different. They can be easily disguised as small things that are easy to carry with magic."

"And if we hadn't known in advance that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets was likely a basilisk, it would be difficult to think of the existence of a basilisk with just a little testimony." He added.

But if that's the case, the first person to propose the concept of a basilisk was Jin Ni. Harry felt a bit uneasy. He didn't say this information, he was afraid Luo En would worry.

"Then, since it is a basilisk, we might need to make some preparations." Harry said, "I will write a letter to ask Carson to help buy a few one-way glasses, as for the rooster, let Haige help solve it."

"I believe this is necessary, because Deng Buliduo might still entrust the task of eliminating the basilisk to us." Na Wei showed an unyielding momentum, Luo En also looked eager to try, Harry smiled helplessly, he could only do the preparation work more fully.

The next day, taking advantage of breakfast, Harry found Jin Ni.

"I want to know, Jin Ni, how did you determine it was a basilisk?" Harry asked.

"The Chamber of Secrets left by Slytherin, it's normal for there to be snakes inside, right?" Jin Ni was stunned for a moment, "We checked the monsters related to snakes and felt that a basilisk might be the most likely."

Indeed, Harry felt that there was nothing wrong with this. Although Ma Erfu was determined to suspect Jin Ni, Harry now felt that Jin Ni might be innocent, or it was possible that the diary was also innocent. ===== CHAPTER 95 =====