In the dimly lit passage, Snape stood silently behind Dumbledore.
The two of them stood without a word until the former completely lost his patience.
"Headmaster," Snape's face showed clear impatience, as there was no one else there apart from them, "I need a reason, not to stand here like a fool with you for a full fifteen minutes! Staring at a wall with no special features—"
"Severus, you should have a little patience." Dumbledore shook his head, "I haven't blocked your way out, you always have a choice—of course, this is not just any wall, this is…"
"Buzz—"
The sound of heavy friction rang out as the originally seamless wall suddenly shimmered with light, and then the gray bricks cracked open layer by layer. Snape watched this scene somewhat bewilderedly—
After being Head of Slytherin for so many years, he had no idea there was such a place in the Slytherin dungeon.
"…just cleaning up the remains… Oh, Professor Snape, good morning."
William walked out from the cracked brick wall, stepped aside, signaling for Dumbledore to go in, and then he noticed Snape following the old man and greeted him in a relaxed tone.
"..."
Snape did not respond; he only scrutinized William from head to toe—the man in front of him could be described as disheveled, with messy black hair, a face covered as if he had been struck by a handful of ash, and large dark stains on his brown workwear.
Only those annoying blue eyes continued to shine brightly.
"William, do you know? You almost blew up the Slytherin Common Room—and it's already afternoon."
Dumbledore's voice sounded somewhat weary. He didn't continue to stand foolishly, speaking as he walked through the wall. Snape seemed hesitant, staring distrustfully into the dark passage behind William for a long time.
"Are you coming in or not?"
William asked somewhat impatiently.
"You go ahead. Please."
Snape was very cautious, evidently not wanting to walk behind William, giving him an opportunity to attack. To avoid complaints, he even added the word "please." At the same time, he had already gripped the magic wand in his pocket.
"Tsk."
William turned around disgruntledly; of course, whether he was truly displeased with Snape's caution or because he couldn't carry out some "plan" remained unknown.
So, the bricks sealed up behind the three of them, and Snape blinked, adjusting to the darkness ahead.
"So, what exactly are you up to?"
Dumbledore, walking at the front, had initially looked around curiously, but it was clearly just a simple corridor with no anomaly—at least, not at the moment, so Dumbledore soon stopped observing and began chatting with William beside him.
"Just a little experiment—did I blow up the Slytherin Common Room?"
William scratched his hair, then his neck, and finally his pocket, from which he extracted two Nifflers, casually tossing them aside and yawning, "Is it serious? Did any Little Wizard get hurt? Actually, I can…"
"What's the point of asking now…"
Seeing William's apparently indifferent demeanor, Snape instinctively began to speak.
"…donate some Galleons to renovate the facilities and improve that damp environment in the Common Room."
William's latter words successfully made Snape swallow his own.
"Ha, would Dumbledore have that expression if something had happened?"
Upon seeing Snape quietly shut his mouth, William chuckled. Certainly, the Slytherin Common Room couldn't collapse. After all, a hundred years ago, when Hogwarts' underground had exploded, even the Goblins' shield machine nearly hollowed out the underground, yet the Slytherin Common Room still stood firm.
At that time, according to the Slytherin students, it was the giant squid that had saved them.
"How much do you plan to donate?"
When it came to funding, Snape shamelessly tried to turn the initial suggestion into fact.
"An itsy bitsy amount."
But William didn't care, he had so much money he couldn't spend it all—enjoying such a blue ocean, no one could compete with him. After all, he had achieved complete technical dominance—donating some Galleons to his alma mater, if willing, he could donate enough to build two more Hogwarts.
Amidst their conversation, the three had crossed the corridor, and William stretched out his hand and pushed open the door to the Map Chamber ahead.
Then, the silence of the darkness completely vanished at that moment; an enormous shadow hung down from the ceiling, its poisonous green serpent eyes were covered with an eye mask, and it flicked its tongue, seemingly identifying the people entering the room.
"Eh, weren't you going into hibernation… hiss, was there really that much noise just now?"
Looking at the Poisonous Snake Green Pepper that had been missing for days, William blinked in surprise—because he was using Muffliato during the experiment, he hadn't felt the explosive commotion he just caused, but it seemed substantial now.
This creature, capable of sleeping for decades, had been woken up by the explosion.
"...What, what is this?"
While William reflected on himself, and Dumbledore tried to reach out to touch the serpent's head—
Snape was already too shocked to speak, recognizing the identity of the colossal beast before him—a Basilisk, the legendary creature whose gaze kills. Many Black Wizards had aspired to keep a Basilisk as a pet, but the chance of it not turning on its master was even lower than Neville Longbottom smoothly passing the Potions Class final exam.