Ron, Hermione, and Neville all stared at their feet. Hermione walked at the front, the small glass lamp she held in her hand burning and swaying with hyacinth-colored flames - warm and able to illuminate the path under her feet. But not too dazzling and exposing their own coordinates.
There was a lot of water on the road, and Ron often stepped on it and his feet were soaked. When he complained about this, Hermione reminded him in a very low voice: "Keep your voice down - don't complain, this place is already occupied by ma - —It’s been cleaned up! It was much scarier before than now! Do you want to see those strange animal bones?”
They had just experienced a crazy escape: they were forced to get in through a water pipe, slid through some winding pipes and then fell down. However, Hermione reacted quickly. She had been to this place before, and when she landed, she Neville immediately jumped up and asked the two boys to point their wands at the mouth of the water pipe. Neville made a seed grow rapidly, and a group of vines sealed the place, but it was a very ordinary kind of magical vine. If you use fire to burn it, it will be completely burned quickly. However, it must be said that this move forced the people who forced them to temporarily lose their freedom after sliding down.
"Follow me," Hermione said then.
They temporarily blocked the man there, but no one thought this could last long. Hermione immediately led them down a tunnel in small steps.
"Listen, I know this way, and if we're lucky, we can get out the other way," she told the two boys. "But my request is that no one else knows this."
"I know." Neville nodded without asking any more questions. Ron seemed to have a lot to ask, but Hermione didn't intend to answer him, and the two boys kept following her.
"This must be a few miles below the school. How did you find this place?" Ron stepped on the water and wet moss with one foot deep and one foot shallow. The ground was cold and cold. He had to hold his arms and the tip of his nose was red. Red, "I've never heard of such a place, and, Hermione, why did you extinguish those stones?"
The entire tunnel is made of stone, with no torches or windows. The entire space is filled with the smell of moisture. It is so silent that if they don't speak, there will only be the sound of dripping water except for the sound of footsteps. There were originally some luminous stones embedded in the walls. The lighting helped a little, but Ron and Neville watched as Hermione waved her wand and said a command to extinguish them all. Now they relied solely on the lamp in Hermione's hand to light the way under their feet.
"He can't see our direction clearly and his pace will slow down," explained Hermione, "so we can't use too dazzling lighting."
All three of them were a little sore from falling from the pipe, and Ron even had a cramp in his feet, but they were walking in a hurry, and no one dared to stop and say he was tired. They knew what would happen if they stopped - not forgetting everything. Empty, it means I don’t know what level of torture it is. Even though the person who was questioning them had not used any spells once during the whole semester, both Hermione and Neville believed that it was unwise to fight an adult wizard head-on.
"If there was Harry's invisibility cloak," Hermione couldn't help but think to herself, "we wouldn't have to be so careful."
Unfortunately, Harry is having his own troubles at the moment——
Thinking that one of her best friends still didn't know what was going on, Hermione had to grit her teeth and swallow the tears in her eyes.
This is not your time to be weak, Hermione Granger, Hermione said to herself. Even that Malfoy took risks just because of the crisis, you can't even survive such a small predicament! You are more familiar with this road than anyone else, and Harry also spoke the language of snakes in front of you. You will definitely be able to lead Ron and Neville to find the secret passage and escape first! You need to calm down!
This tunnel was originally very long, and the three people went around one bend after another. Every time they were sure that they were going to the end, what they were shown was another long road, which was eerie and made them afraid of reaching the end. , for fear of seeing a wall at the end that I can't get out of.
"Don't be afraid, Hermione," even though Ron felt uncomfortable in this hellish place, he still said to her when he saw Hermione's hand holding the lamp shaking, "You know this road better than us - even if ——I mean, even if we are caught, maybe we can still make a comeback. He also said it himself, except for forgetfulness, he is not good at other spells..."
"We - can't - just believe whatever he says." Hermione said word by word, "If he has a secret spell that we don't know about..."
"Hermione is right," Neville said, "but I...I don't think what Ron said is completely wrong," he reached out and took the lamp from Hermione's hand. His round face, which was much thinner than in the first grade, looked different than before. The resolute expression that would appear, "I-I'm walking in front," he said trying not to stutter so much, "Hermione is a girl, she should walk in the middle, the middle is the-safest."
"Oh, Neville is right," Ron quickly put himself and Neville in tandem, sandwiching the only girl in the middle. He felt embarrassed, "Although Hermione is the most powerful one among us."
"But - but I still have to show you the way." Hermione felt a subtle joy at this unexpected treatment, but the uneasiness still did not disappear from her heart. She always wanted to lead the way by herself, trying to confirm her There is no wrong way.
"There is only one road here," Neville said in a low voice, holding the lamp and pointing his wand hand towards the front, "We can only go to the end."
At this time, tiny footsteps came from behind, sounding urgent and angry. Hermione quickly urged: "Quick, quick, let's go!"
They failed because their steps were far less fast than adults and not as fast as magic items - just when Hermione saw the door with two snakes coiled around it, a rope that could move on its own came from behind. It crawled on the ground, quickly grabbed Ron's ankle, circled it in a circle and quickly tied it, and the person using it let out a "ha" sound in the darkness behind the children, as if he was very proud of it. As if arrogant, the person pulled hard from behind, Ron fell down with a cry, and rushed forward with Hermione in front of her. If Neville hadn't reacted quickly enough and turned around to catch her in time, this would have happened. The three children were probably thrown into a row on the ground.
Neville was silent, but acted very reliable at this moment. Hermione was a little surprised as she watched him take out a dagger from his bag, and the blade of the knife was directed at the rope on Ron's feet.
Ron made a strange cry: "Knife! Didn't you say you wouldn't wear the weapon your uncle gave you?"
Neville had no time to answer Ron, because he was trying hard to cut the rope. But soon, Neville showed a struggling expression, cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and his daily panic expression gradually emerged. Because that sharp-looking dagger couldn't move the rope at all. The edge of the knife felt like it was touching a stone brick on the rope, making a harsh and unpleasant sound. No matter how Neville used the edge of the knife to cut or grind it, it could not wear the rope.
"Aha!"
The man came from behind them, clapping his hands. He was out of breath, not even well-dressed, and had a very fake smile on his face. In his two hands, one held a glowing bead, and the other held the wand and the rope at the same time, making him look like he was holding a pearl of wisdom. And when his eyes saw the door with two snake statues hovering not far away, his eyes emitted a light that could be detected in the dark night.
"Aha!" He clapped his hands again, "What did I say?"
He shook the rope, and the rope seemed to have eyes, tying the three people together at once. Then he took a few steps forward, walked around in front of the three children, and walked to the door.
"Yes, that's why I came here to serve." He stroked the two statues, his eyes shining with greed, "New adventure stories, new treasures... According to legend, Slytherin came from a wealthy lord family. , he also left considerable wealth in this castle before he disappeared..."
"There is a man-eating basilisk in the legend," Hermione couldn't help it. This girl, who was usually considered by many to be a sharp-tongued girl, said mockingly, "If you think you If you can get any treasure from behind this door and avoid being killed by the basilisk, then you are delusional - that is too stupid."
"Although I don't usually like to be lectured by Hermione," Ron muttered, "but I have to say it's quite refreshing to hear her lecture others like this."
Neville said nothing, even though his arms were tied, he slipped something out of his sleeve into his palm, and then secretly threw it out. In an instant, the vines that had blocked the entrance suddenly grew, but the rope was not broken as he expected.
"Why-why?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Don't waste your efforts, kids," the man said proudly, "This thing was taken from Felton's office. I have to say that although he disappeared, what he left behind are all good things. A good thing for my use -" After saying that, he turned his back to the door and clicked his tongue a few times in front of the children, "You really shouldn't have stolen that bottle of unicorn blood from me, otherwise, you still You're fine in the lounge."
"Thief!" Ron scolded without hesitation, "That was what Professor Felton left for Harry! You stole it!"
"No, no, no," the man shook his finger and raised his wand towards the children, "As long as you don't say anything - just like those people in the past who couldn't speak out about their past memories, then these things are mine Yes, don’t be afraid, it’s just a forgotten thing, it doesn’t hurt at all. I will tell everyone then that I discovered the secret room!! And the evil, ah, evil Slytherin’s heir took these away Children, control them, I saved them. As for that evil boy, I was defeated miserably at the hands of the dark wizard who raised him, so I can only bring you back——"
Suddenly, the rope loosened instantly, and Ron didn't stop for a moment, jumping up and hitting him in the abdomen, knocking him backwards.
"Ron, be careful!!" Hermione watched with sharp eyes as the man also took out a dagger - a dagger with an unknown black energy flowing on it - and stabbed Ron, "-No-"
Neville rushed over there without stopping, holding a handful of seeds and his wand in his hand. Even though the black energy was getting less and less for some reason, the damage caused by the dagger was still something Ron couldn't bear.
But his pitiful screams stopped abruptly.
However, very suddenly, the man rolled his eyes, swayed and fell down, foaming at the mouth, and the back of his head hit the ground.
Ron quickly rolled away from the man.
A foot kicked the man aside with disgust, and the ground became strangely cold. Then the man's feet were frozen on the ground, and his back was embedded in the wall, making him unable to move.
And a face that could be regarded as the enemy of most Gryffindor juniors appeared in the space vacated after the man fell.
Only then did Neville notice that at some point on the door with the two-headed snake coiled around it, a light-like circle that was large enough for one person to pass through quietly appeared, and Draco Malfoy was stepping out of it.
"Then, then, what is that?!" Ron pointed at the door with trembling fingers.
After Draco stepped out of the door, he glanced at the frozen face of the unfortunate guy, and then turned to Hermione expressionlessly.
"Gilderoy Lockhart?! Are you 'threatened' by this kind of thing? Do you feel that you have encountered not enough ridiculous things recently?" He said in a very casual tone. Of course, compared to world destruction and god-like mutants, the threat of Gilderoy Lockhart is of course very casual.
"He - stole a lot of Professor Felton's things," Neville may have had a psychological shadow. When he saw him, the courage and momentum he had just burst out to save Ron were short of the boss. At this moment, he was trying to defend himself, "Then They are all very rare and rare magic items, I have never seen them before.”
The corners of Draco's mouth moved strangely. He reached out and took the rope, as well as the beads and dagger in the man's hand, Lockhart, and found something else from the man's pocket. After confirming that it was a rare magic item, Put them all in his pocket.
"Although you are suspected of saving us - but what are you doing?" Ron said, "Those are Felton's things, do you want to keep them for yourself!"
"This doesn't mean taking it for yourself, it means returning it to its original owner," Draco said rudely, "What's his is mine - if you have to ask, then I have to say it's his own." I told you to give them all to me."
"Where's Harry? Where is Harry?" Hermione grabbed Draco's sleeve, nervous and expecting, "He-he's here, right?"
"Who do you think knocked Lockhart unconscious?"
Draco pointed behind the door, and a look of 'this unfortunate guy' appeared on his face, "But he seems to be a little out of control, and he doesn't dare to come over for the time being."
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, completely, while Neville asked: "Out of control?"
He noticed that although his expression was still unkind, Malfoy's attitude was a little better than before, probably because of the bottle of unicorn blood, so he dared to ask directly.
Draco didn't speak, walked up to Lockhart, kicked his arms and legs, made sure they were all weirdly soft, and curled his lips.
"This is losing control." Draco nuzzled at Lockhart, "When he said that Harry's family were all dark wizards, we happened to be behind this door. After Harry heard it, he accidentally used too much force. "He kicked Lockhart harder, "He might have some magic riot now, look--"
He called the others to pay attention to Lockhart's limp, rubbery limbs.
"This unlucky guy who talks a lot has almost all the bones in his body removed by Harry's magic." He said gloatingly, "If there was no Bone Spirit, he would have been paralyzed to death."
