Professor of Gemology at Hogwarts

Gray and Dumbledore came to the second floor of the castle and looked at the empty corridors. He needed to figure out how Hermione was petrified.

"That's it, Gray." Dumbledore stopped. "I was going downstairs to get a cup of hot chocolate, and I ran into this kid."

Gray looked around. He approached the silver candlestick at the corner of the corridor, and his face was reflected in it.

Fortunately in misfortune.

Filch must have been too diligent a while ago and polished the candlestick until it was reflective.And Hermione happened to be around the corner and saw the image of the basilisk reflected in the candlestick.

"I see, Headmaster."

"Tell me."

"It's a basilisk. Now I'm basically sure that it's a basilisk that was released from the secret room."

"Basilisk?" Dumbledore looked grave.

"You should know that looking at a basilisk will result in death... However, I speculate that looking directly at a basilisk will result in petrification."

"So... how did Hermione and Mrs. Norris indirectly look at the basilisk?"

"When Mrs. Norris was attacked, there was a pool of water on the ground. She must have seen the reflection of the basilisk in the water. Miss Granger was attacked probably because she saw the reflection of the basilisk in the candlestick."

Gray pointed to the polished silver candlestick in the corner.

"There is some truth to this speculation, but Gray, have you ever thought about how, if it is a basilisk, it can move freely in the castle?"

Gray considered it.

"I don't know. But you should know what happened 50 years ago, right? Principal."

Dumbledore closed his eyes and was silent for a few seconds: "It seems that you have heard some rumors. Are you doubting Hagrid?"

"No, I don't think it's Hagrid, nor the murderer 50 years ago." Gray thought over the words in his head, "Myrtle was the victim of that accident. Since this matter is related to the Chamber of Secrets, I think we should ask Ask her what she saw before she died."

"It makes sense, Gray." Dumbledore lowered his head as if thinking about something. "Fifty years ago, the Chamber of Secrets was opened. At that time, Myrtle was killed and Hagrid was expelled. But I hold the same view as you. Hagrid is not the murderer. But I found no strong evidence, and I didn’t see any monsters... Moreover, after Hagrid was expelled, the attacks subsided, and all signs led everyone to believe that he was the murderer."

"And now, 50 years later, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened again, and we need to find the real murderer. It is rumored that the opening of the Chamber of Secrets requires someone to be the heir of Slytherin. Maybe he needs to know Parseltongue? After all, Parseltongue is Slytherin. A sign of an heir.”

"You mean Harry?" Dumbledore raised his eyes and looked at Gray through the lenses, seeming to be thinking about something.

"Although the murderer 50 years ago was not Potter...but 50 years later...why don't we call Potter and ask him?"

Dumbledore stopped talking. He was silent for a moment, and finally agreed to Gray's proposal.

"Gray, I'm curious about something. No one should know easily. At least few people will tell the younger generation about the fact that the secret room was opened 50 years ago and a female student died. How did you know? of?"

"..." Gray was stunned for a moment, "When I was sorting out files on accidents in the past years at the Ministry of Magic, I heard some mentions from an old colleague who was about to retire."

"It seems that people from the Ministry of Magic like to share old stories."

……

Principal's office:

Gray reiterated his previous inference to those present.

When Gray just mentioned Myrtle.

"I...I asked Myrtle something!" Harry said hurriedly.

"Really, it seems to have saved us a lot of time." Dumbledore looked at Harry calmly, "Can you tell us what Myrtle said?"

"I asked Myrtle how she died, and she said she was in the bathroom and heard a boy's voice speaking a strange language. Myrtle tried to drive him away, but when she opened the partition When I opened the door of the room, I saw a pair of yellow eyes, and then died..."

Dumbledore glanced at Gray, as if to indicate that the yellow eyes were indeed consistent with the characteristics of the basilisk that Gray suspected.

"I asked her where she died. She said it was in the women's bathroom." Harry lowered his head, "So Ron, Hermione, I, and I all felt that there was something fishy about this bathroom. Maybe the entrance to the secret room was there. over there."

"It seems that the girls' bathroom may contain the entrance to the secret room, but this is not 100% certain. It is just speculation. But principal, we still have to go and take a look, don't we?"

"You're right, Gray." Dumbledore nodded.

"Yesterday - after yesterday's Duel Club, they said I was a Parselmouth. Hermione ran to the library as if she knew something... Maybe she knew more than us after going to the library to check the information... ...But I would have rather stopped her!" Harry lowered his head, feeling sad that Hermione had been attacked.

"She may know that you are a Parseltongue, which is related to this matter. Potter, have you heard any strange noises in your daily life?" Gray tried to guide the conversation.

Harry lowered his head and was silent for a moment, then seemed to make up his mind: "Actually, I've heard it before, but I didn't know I was a Parselmouth at the time. I've heard 'tear...blood...' The sound, but I don’t know where it comes from…”

"This is also the reason why I appeared on the second floor on Halloween——"

Gray glared hard at Harry.

"If I remember correctly, you said you were going to Professor Morris's office that day, right? Potter." Snape said suddenly.

"Yes! I was going to Professor Morris! But I did hear a sound!" Harry realized that he had let slip.

"This is not the point now, Professor Snape." Gray quickly changed the subject, "Well, Potter, so when the basilisk was moving, you heard his voice, but you couldn't see its shadow, right?"

"If he had seen it, if he was lucky, he would be lying in the school hospital now." McGonagall reminded Gray.

"Yes - yes, Professor McGonagall. So, without further ado, we should go to the women's bathroom first and have a look. The opening of the secret room is probably related to Parseltongue. We need to bring Potter with us. He might be able to open it. The secret room." Gray said hurriedly.

"I didn't! I didn't open the Chamber of Secrets!" Harry shouted, "I didn't open it!"

"Obviously, the heir of Slytherin can open the Chamber of Secrets. One of his symbols is Parseltongue. Parseltongue is obviously the key to opening the Chamber of Secrets. And you are, Potter." Snape gave Harry a very Ugly smile.

"I didn't! How could I hurt Hermione! She is my good friend!" Harry glared at Snape.

"I can take it that this is your move to clear yourself of suspicion at all costs." He said in a mocking tone, but his eyes were fixed on Harry.

"You are innocent until proven guilty, Severus," Dumbledore said. "I told you so during the previous attack."

"You can't just go after Potter!" Snape was angry. "Besides him, is there another Parseltongue?"

"Nothing is impossible. If there hadn't been a dueling club last night, I think everyone would have thought it impossible that Harry was a Parseltongue."

"Not me," Harry muttered.

Gray was silent. If he just pushed Ginny Weasley out, he would be too suspicious.