Chapter 143: Return
By six thirty, everyone had finished dinner and gathered in the Great Hall, waiting for Dumbledore to announce the findings about the two recent attacks.
The Great Hall had been rearranged. A large open space had been cleared between the four long tables and the staff table.
At seven o'clock sharp, Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat. "I can see you're all waiting for this old man to explain exactly what's happened recently."
The students who had been chattering just moments ago quieted instantly. The entire Great Hall fell silent. Only Dumbledore's voice echoed through the room.
"First, I wish to clear the names of Mr. Potter and Miss Riddle."
"It is common knowledge that both are rare Parselmouths. Consequently, many of you have blamed recent events on them, particularly Mr. Potter, who was the first to discover that Mrs. Norris had been petrified."
"However, this ability is not actually rare. It's simply that in Britain, Salazar Slytherin, one of our founders, is the most famous example, leading everyone to believe that all Parselmouths are his descendants."
"Ssss..." Dumbledore uttered a few phrases in Parseltongue.
Gasps of surprise rippled through the students below.
The old man demonstrated it himself, shattering everyone's assumptions. "You see, I also know the language of snakes, yet I am not a Dark Wizard, am I?"
"Furthermore, when the first attack occurred, Miss Riddle was attending the Halloween feast, so she cannot be responsible for the attack.
"And when the second attack occurred, Mr. Potter was in the dormitory, so he cannot be responsible for that either. I hope this clears up any misunderstandings about these two students."
Dumbledore's words proved somewhat effective.
Ever since the club disbanded on Friday night, everyone except a few roommates had avoided Nancy. Harry was even more miserable. Several roommates looked at him warily, afraid they would be the next victim.
At the very least, they believed Dumbledore would not deceive them, and they could trust the pair once more.
The second matter concerned the culprit behind these incidents.
However, before they could dwell on who the true Heir might be if not those two, Dumbledore pulled out a bag, aimed it at the empty space before him, and upended it forcefully.
A massive carcass, long dead and no longer bleeding, crashed to the ground.
Screams erupted as they caught sight of the colossal green serpent's corpse. Those nearest scrambled to their feet and drew back in alarm.
"Silence. It is dead. There is nothing to fear," the old man shouted, restoring order.
Once everyone had settled down, the old man continued. "This is the monster from the Chamber, the Basilisk. It was responsible for petrifying a student and a cat. I have slain it. No one else will be harmed."
"Who did this? Who opened the Chamber and unleashed this monster?" someone at one of the long tables shouted, realizing the gravity of the situation.
The Headmaster spread his arms. "As for this mysterious heir, I regret to say I have not found them. However, if anyone has any clues, I encourage you to speak with your professors. They will bring the information to me."
After everyone had seen the creature, Dumbledore vanished the Basilisk.
"That is all I wanted to say. You are dismissed."
While the outcome wasn't what many had hoped, most students breathed a sigh of relief. At the very least, they no longer had to fear for their lives.
Students left the Great Hall in groups. Harry and Nancy, who had been the focus of rumors for the past two days, were immediately surrounded by a crowd.
Ethan remained behind. Dumbledore had promised he could help Snape harvest the Basilisk for rare materials.
The other professors hadn't left either. As Ethan made his way against the flow of students toward the staff table, he heard Lockhart bragging to Professor Sinistra, who taught Astronomy.
"I actually knew the Chamber held a basilisk all along. When I saw that the cat had been petrified, I figured as much."
The Astronomy professor looked distinctly unimpressed.
Seeing Ethan, Dumbledore summoned Snape from beside Professor McGonagall. "Severus, Ethan is here. I need you to process this basilisk with him."
"Very well." Glancing at his apprentice, Snape took the package the old man had left on the table for him, winked at Ethan, and rose.
Sinistra had already turned to chat with Professor Sprout.
Lockhart felt his opportunity to brag slipping away. Desperate to interject, he spoke up. "You intend to process the basilisk? I believe I can be of assistance. During my adventures in South America, I once encountered a young basilisk attacking a village. I drove it off, saving the villagers from a terrible fate."
Snape ignored him completely and led Ethan straight to his office.
"Which parts do you need, and how much?" Snape asked bluntly.
"I'd like some of the skin and meat. I also want thirty percent of the venom, the fangs, some snake blood, and one eye. As for the internal organs, I only need the gallbladder."
Dumbledore hadn't specified how much of the basilisk he could request, so he looked at Snape, made an excessive demand, and waited to bargain.
Snape had processed only the basilisk blood for Dumbledore earlier, but the Headmaster hadn't clarified exactly how much of the other materials he had promised him.
Still, Snape felt the request was excessive. He negotiated the amount down, his expression blank.
"No."
"The skin and meat are no problem. I can give you some snake blood, too. But for the snake's eye and gallbladder, the venom, and the fangs, I can only give you fifteen percent."
"Fine." He accepted the reduced amount. He hesitated, but he didn't really know what snake venom could do anyway. Remembering the effectiveness of a snake's gallbladder in Eastern legends, he felt this wasn't a bad deal, so he agreed.
"Head back for now. I'll find you when I've finished processing the materials." Snape wanted to get rid of him.
"Professor, I want to learn how to process a Basilisk. After all, this creature is rarer than dragons," Ethan said hurriedly. He certainly didn't want to leave empty-handed.
Snape glanced at him but said nothing, walking toward his workbench.
Ethan took this as permission and followed him in silence.
Snape cast an Undetectable Extension Charm, expanding the cramped workspace until it was large enough to accommodate the massive Basilisk.
Apparently unsatisfied, he cast the spell again, waiting until the space could comfortably hold two Basilisks before nodding.
Snape tipped the Basilisk onto the floor, then took a dragon-hide protective suit from a nearby shelf and pulled it on.
Ethan noticed another suit sitting there, unused, and put it on as well.
Snape had clearly given considerable thought to how he would process the corpse.
He picked up a small knife from the workbench, its blade glinting silver. It looked razor-sharp. He inserted it beneath the lower jaw and sliced toward the tail.
The movement was fluid and effortless. With the aid of a wandless Levitation Charm, he slit the Basilisk's skin open along the abdomen.
"Is this goblin-wrought silver? It's incredibly sharp." Ethan checked the records. Basilisk scales were nearly impervious; ordinary weapons couldn't scratch them.
They were also highly resistant to magic, much like dragons.
With such physical and magical defenses, plus deadly eyes and a mouth full of fangs, they were classified as XXXXX-level dangerous creatures.
"Mm," Snape replied tersely, carefully separating the skin from the flesh along the incision.
Soon, he peeled away a large, nearly intact sheet of snake skin, save for some damage around the head.
The green hide lay in a pile nearby, while a trickle of black blood pooled on the floor.
Snape glanced at it. "Dispose of the blood," he ordered casually.
"Yes, sir." Ethan drew his wand, using a Levitation Charm to transfer the blood from the floor into an empty reagent bottle, then cast Scourgify to clean the remaining stains.
Since the meat was still bloody, Ethan kept casting, collecting the blood while cleaning the floor.
In less than an hour, the roughly processed Basilisk had been sorted into piles by type: skin, meat, bones, and other parts.
Snape carefully placed the venom glands, gallbladder, liver, and other organs into large jars one by one.
He also divided the collected venom into two portions.
"Here." Snape pointed to the venom in a small bottle, the gall and a single eye in separate bottles, and several fangs in another.
"Alright." Ethan packed them deftly into his small bag.
He also slipped the blood he'd collected from the floor into his pocket. Since Snape had claimed the majority of the snake's blood, Ethan didn't worry about the contaminated blood.
"Bring the snake meat and skin to me after processing." Looking at the mountain of skin and meat, Ethan struggled to imagine how he would handle it all.
"Mm."
Before leaving, Ethan plucked a scale from the tattered skin still clinging to the snake's head, intending to compare it with the shed skin he'd collected earlier.
The Slytherin common room would likely be abuzz tonight with talk of the Basilisk and the elusive Heir of Slytherin. Presumably, the other three houses would be much the same.
Once his roommates fell asleep, Ethan climbed quietly out of bed. He passed through the empty common room and approached the entrance to the abandoned bathroom.
He first slipped in unseen to confirm that Myrtle wasn't there, then opened the passage leading to the Chamber of Secrets.
As he slid down the pipe he had traveled earlier that day, Ethan kept his magical senses alert, watching for any sign of the diary.
*Not in the pipe.* Before climbing out, Ethan cast the flight spell. Since he didn't land this time, he didn't have to worry about dirtying his robes.
He walked all the way to the Chamber entrance but found no trace of soul fragments.
Eyeing the emerald Horcrux, he went over to see if he could pry it loose.
*Forget it. It's stuck too tight. I'll think of a solution after Christmas.*
*Perfect timing. I also need to go home and find a similar emerald to use as a replacement. There should be one in the vault. I'll look for it then.*
*Dumbledore mimicked Parseltongue too well. If he ever acts on impulse and decides to investigate the Chamber, the deception would be exposed.*
Although Ethan wanted to take the Horcrux with him to study it right away, he feared getting caught, so he left it for now.
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