Sagres looked at Lockhart's forced smile and rolled his eyes.
"You said earlier that the Chamber of Secrets was opened once fifty years ago, and a student died because of it?" Sagres asked seriously, hearing this news for the first ti.
"Yes, her na was Myrtle Elizabeth Warren, and after she died, she beca a ghost and remained at Hogwarts." A glimr flashed in Dumbledore's half-moon glasses.
"Wait…" Sagres suddenly rembered sothing. "Are you saying… Moaning Myrtle, the one who cries all day in the girls' lavatory, was killed by Slytherin's Heir?"
"That's her…" Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and added, "That's the nickna the students gave her…"
Sagres's expression was complicated, his brows furrowed.
"Fifty years… you actually let a witness to the Chamber of Secrets incident float in a toilet for fifty years, and no one bothered to ask her what she saw back then…" His voice was full of disbelief.
No one responded. The infirmary fell into an awkward silence. Sagres narrowed his eyes and nodded.
"Alright. Then I think Potter can no longer keep anything hidden this ti. I want every useful detail."
His tone was calm and authoritative. "What do you say, Mr. Potter?"
The curtain on the adjacent bed trembled, then was pulled back by an invisible force, revealing Harry Potter, who had been eavesdropping behind it.
"Sorry, Professor, I didn't an to eavesdrop…" Harry had already woken up due to the Skele-Gro and had heard the entire discussion about tonight's attack—but at this mont, he wished he were still unconscious.
"It's alright, Potter…" Sagres made a stopping gesture. "I don't think anyone present will bla you, so long as you tell us what you discovered during the first attack."
"Nothing, Professor… nothing at all…" Harry said sowhat flustered. "We didn't find anything!"
Sagres frowned. He didn't know what Harry was hiding, but this matter needed to be clarified—it was likely the key to identifying the culprit and locating the Chamber of Secrets.
"Harry my boy…" Dumbledore's expression was kind as he gently patted the boy's head. "Don't worry, we're only asking."
"I'm afraid we're far past just asking."
Sagres was done with gas. What he needed now was to firmly grasp every clue, not waste ti on guesswork.
After all, no one could guarantee the students' safety with just a pair of glasses. The Basilisk didn't only kill with its gaze—its venom was also deadly.
"Tell , Potter…" Sagres said expressionlessly, "You may have the right to remain silent, but I also have the ability to make you talk."
Professor McGonagall imdiately stepped forward, placing herself in front of the bed. "Sagres, you cannot force or threaten a student like this."
"Of course I can, Professor McGonagall," Sagres replied calmly but firmly. "On this matter, I am clearer than any of you."
Dumbledore gently pressed McGonagall's shoulder and tried to diate. "Sagres, if Harry truly knows sothing, I believe he will tell us."
"And if he doesn't, Headmaster?" Sagres's gaze swept calmly over everyone's stunned faces, his voice steady and cold. "A student has already died at Hogwarts by Slytherin's heir. How many more bodies do you want to see?"
"What are you saying, Sagres? No one wants any harm to co to the students…"
"Then why are you protecting Mr. Potter when he clearly knows sothing?" Sagres's tone was sharp. "How many more lives must be lost before you grasp the gravity of the situation? Or do you simply not care, as long as the dead aren't those you personally value—so you can continue to ignore the obvious clues without batting an eye?"
Sotis, he truly couldn't understand these people's logic.
It was one thing for children to be naive—but how could a group of adults be so oblivious?
He looked at the silent crowd, his voice laced with sarcasm. "If soone else dies from the Basilisk's attack, then the responsibility won't lie solely with the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets—or the Basilisk."
Lockhart opened his mouth to speak, but Sagres glanced at him, and he imdiately shut it again, pretending nothing had happened.
"Mr. Potter, will you tell everything you know now? I'm not forcing you. I'm simply asking. You're free to refuse…"
Of course, I can also make it so you can't refuse! Sagres added silently.
"I… I'll talk…" Harry swallowed, his voice trembling slightly. "But I swear, I'm not the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets…"
"No one said you were the one who opened it," Sagres replied firmly.
Harry let out a breath of relief at that.
"Fuu~ Ok.. When the first attack happened, I heard so strange sounds," Harry began hesitantly. "The voice said it was really hungry, that it wanted to tear, to kill, to eat, and stuff like that. What's strange is that only I could hear it. Ron and Hermione said they didn't hear anything."
Everyone imdiately fell into deep thought upon hearing this.
"Hunger, killing, tearing… and others can't hear it…" Sagres murmured. "It sounds like the Basilisk itself was speaking. But if that's the case… then you must be a… Parselmouth."
He suddenly turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter, are you?"
"Wh-what's a Parselmouth?" Harry looked up in confusion, only to see the expressions of the professors instantly shift into solemnity.
Dumbledore's blue eyes behind his half-moon glasses grew unusually sharp. "It is the ability to understand the language of snakes—to speak to them and even command them."
"Oh!" Harry suddenly rembered. "Then I guess I am. I once talked to a python at the Muggle zoo…"
His voice trailed off as he noticed Professor McGonagall's face had gone pale, Snape's lips curled into a dangerous smirk, and even the always kind Professor Flitwick let out a startled gasp.
"This isn't… anything strange, right? I an… there are so many Wizards at Hogwarts. Surely others can do this too?"
"No, Harry," Dumbledore said gently, "Parselmouths are extrely rare. And more importantly… Salazar Slytherin himself was one. That's why the emblem of Slytherin House is a snake."
"But I really am not the Heir of Slytherin!" Harry sat up straight, speaking anxiously. "I didn't open the Chamber of Secrets, and I never controlled any Basilisk to attack people!"
"Calm down, Potter," Sagres interrupted, a thoughtful look in his eyes. "No one is accusing you of being the Heir. I just suddenly realized—perhaps the reason we've found no clues about the Chamber of Secrets is because it can only be opened by a Parselmouth."
Everyone's expressions instantly froze, as if an invisible current had passed through the air.
"A very reasonable deduction!" Professor Flitwick suddenly exclaid, his voice full of excitent. "Slytherin was a Parselmouth, so his so-called Heir must be one as well. Slytherin could control snakes—so there's a Basilisk in his Chamber of Secrets, serving him!"
"So if Harry isn't the one who opened the Chamber, then that ans there's another Parselmouth at school—the real culprit who opened the Chamber…"
"Which ans, the most crucial question is…"
Sagres's voice suddenly dropped, unusually deep and heavy. He stared directly into Dumbledore's clear blue eyes and asked, enunciating each word:
"Is Lord Voldemort… also a Parselmouth?"
The entire ward fell into dead silence.
Ti seed to stretch unbearably long before Dumbledore finally gave a slow nod.
"..Yes."
~~~~~~~~~
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