Near the end of the Christmas dinner, Tim Hortans had to admit that, although his mother's meals were delicious, house-elves were far superior in craftsmanship. The food at this grand banquet surpassed anything he'd had at some Michelin-starred restaurant with his parents.
After leaving the foyer, Tim quickly returned to his dormitory, read a book for half an hour, then set an alarm for two in the morning before going to bed. Fortunately, his roommates were home for the holidays, so the alarm wouldn't disturb anyone.
Despite his excitement, sleep did not come easily. However, his habitual practice of the Liam Inheritance method before bed helped calm his mind. After completing a full cycle, he finally drifted into a deep sleep.
At two in the morning, the alarm went off precisely on time. Tim got out of bed and dressed in his stealth gear. After ensuring he had everything he needed, he left his bedroom in his school uniform.
Hogwarts was eerily quiet on Christmas night. With most students away and those remaining exhausted, the corridors were deserted. The silence was only broken by the occasional flickering of torches.
Tim arrived at the girls' bathroom haunted by Myrtle, only to find that she wasn't there—probably off celebrating somewhere. At Sir Overton's Halloween party, he had learned that ghosts had their own forms of entertainment.
Walking to the sink, Tim examined the faucet with the snake engraving.
"This is it," he thought.
From his past life's knowledge, he recalled that the official Hogwarts website once stated that the school underwent renovations during the Victorian era. Members of the Starc family were involved, and it was they who modified the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, cleverly disguising it as a sink. After all, plumbing didn't exist when the school was first built, and even Slytherin himself wouldn't have been eccentric enough to place a secret entrance inside a girls' bathroom. This had to be a later modification.
Fortunately, thanks to his adventures in the world of Dr. Zombie Bruce, Tim had inherited the ability to speak Parseltongue. He whispered the command, and the sink began to glow with a bright white light. The faucet spun rapidly before vanishing into the floor, revealing a large pipe wide enough for an adult to enter.
Casting a cushioning spell on himself, Tim climbed into the pipe. It was one of the spells he had mastered thoroughly—if used well, it could mimic a leap of faith.
The descent was chaotic. The pipe twisted and turned erratically, sending him sliding down at an alarming speed. Along the way, he passed numerous smaller pipes branching off in different directions. He couldn't tell how far underground he had gone, but it was certainly deep.
Finally, the pipe leveled out, and with the aid of his spell, Tim landed smoothly at the bottom. He found himself in a vast stone tunnel with silt-covered floors. The damp air suggested that he was beneath the Black Pool Sand.
The tunnel was eerily silent. He took out a lantern grass plant, its soft glow illuminating the darkness. As he walked, the only sounds came from his footsteps crunching against something scattered across the ground.
Bringing the light closer, he saw what he had been stepping on—small animal bones. But these were too small to be the basilisk's leftovers. A creature of that size wouldn't waste energy chasing such insignificant prey.
After turning a corner, Tim spotted a long, coiled object lying motionless on the ground. Approaching carefully, he saw that it was a massive piece of shed snakeskin, measuring nearly seven meters in length. Its vibrant green hue made it clear that it belonged to a venomous species.
The skin was covered in a thin layer of dust—evidence that the basilisk had shed it long ago.
"This is too valuable to leave behind," he thought.
He opened the door to the Oval General Store and stored the snakeskin inside. Fortunately, it wasn't too heavy.
With that taken care of, Tim continued forward. The path twisted and turned repeatedly, as though designed to unsettle anyone venturing down it. The darkness only heightened the feeling that something could be lurking around the next corner.
After another turn, the black tunnel finally changed. At the end of the passage stood a massive stone wall carved with two intertwined serpents, their eyes set with enormous, glistening emeralds.
Tim studied the gems and quickly realized that they were part of a magical locking mechanism. Dislodging them wasn't an option.
"Open," he commanded in Parseltongue.
The twin snakes slithered apart, and the wall split down the middle. Slowly, the stone slabs slid aside, revealing a vast chamber.
Tim straightened his clothes, storing his cumbersome robe in his instrument bag before stepping cautiously inside.
The Chamber of Secrets stretched out before him—a long hall with towering stone pillars adorned with sculpted serpents. Shadows flickered along the walls, cast by an eerie green glow.
Unlike what he had expected, the chamber wasn't shrouded in total darkness. Instead, its ceiling was embedded with transparent crystals. Looking up, he could see the murky depths of the lake overhead. Luminescent aquatic plants illuminated the chamber through the crystals, casting a ghostly light.
"At least there's some visibility," Tim thought. The basilisk could rely on scent and sound, but Tim's own combat effectiveness would drop significantly if he couldn't see.
Advancing to the end of the chamber, he came face-to-face with an enormous statue. The ancient figure stood as tall as the chamber itself, its long beard cascading down to its feet.
Gazing up at the carved face, Tim could see the exhaustion etched into its features. The sculptor had captured a man who had grown old and weary.
"So, the stories were true," he mused.
History claimed that Slytherin had left Hogwarts after bitter conflicts with the other founders. Judging by this statue, he had not left in triumph but in despair.
But sentimentality aside, the basilisk was a real threat. Fifty years ago, it had claimed the life of a student.
Magical creatures were an essential part of the wizarding world, and hunting them indiscriminately was frowned upon. However, when a domesticated beast turned into a killer, it was a different matter altogether.
Tim had come here for one reason—to deal with the basilisk before it could harm anyone else.
From the space of the Oval General Store, he retrieved a sturdy cage filled with roosters. The birds clucked uneasily in the dim chamber, their presence part of his carefully laid plan.
Everything was ready. Now, all that remained was to summon the serpent and face the legendary monster of Slytherin.
Tim took a deep breath. The battle was about to begin.
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