[HP] Being a problem student at Hogwarts

But slipping away from Lockhart's office does not mean that you can leave the topic of "Lockhart".

Hermione hadn't read a book in the past few days, searching absentmindedly for something. She bit her lip and asked Tom: "Have you ever asked Professor Lockhart, what does 'the chamber of secrets has been opened, and those who are enemies of the heir, be on guard' mean?"

Tom asked alertly: "Why do you think Professor Lockhart knows?"

"He has written so many books and visited so many places," Hermione said. "A great wizard like him must know what Chamber of Secrets he is talking about. I seem to have read about the Chamber of Secrets somewhere, but I can't remember clearly. And it can’t be found anywhere else——”

"When will you believe that Lockhart is just a beautiful big straw bag?" Ron asked while taking a ruler to measure the length of his paper.

"Everyone has borrowed all of Hogwarts: A History," Hermione said, pretending not to hear Ron's complaint. "Oh, I really wish I hadn't left my copy at home. But there is Professor Lockhart in the box." After so many thick books, I just can’t fit them in anymore.”

"Do you think I should ask Professor Lockhart personally?" Hermione's face turned red.

"Lockhart, Lockhart, Lockhart everywhere," said Ron loudly. "I bet any professor in the school knows more."

Hermione gave him a hard look.

"For example, Professor Binns." Ron held up his scrawled paper "A Brief Discussion of European Wizards in the Middle Ages." "He stayed at Hogwarts longer than Dumbledore. If you really want to know why Why don’t you ask him?”

"Just ask," said the little witch.

The bell rang, and Ron and Hermione argued all the way towards the History of Magic classroom. So when Professor Binns read his notes in a dry voice as usual, Hermione raised her hand high.

"Are you -" the surprised Professor Binns asked slowly.

"I'm Granger." Hermione stood up and asked in a clear voice, "Professor, can you tell us what the Chamber of Secrets is about?"

Ron sat on the edge with his mouth wide open and murmured: "I thought you were just talking..."

"My course is the History of Magic," Professor Binns said slowly. "I study facts, not myths and legends -"

"Professor, legends are also based on certain facts, aren't they?" Hermione asked.

Professor Binns seemed to wake up from his sleep. He looked at this bold student with wide eyes, as if he was looking at her seriously for the first time.

"Okay," he said calmly, "Yeah, I guess... you can say that. But, the legend you mentioned... emmmm is very sensational, and... well, ridiculous."

Now all the students were excited. It seems that even in the wizarding world, students are more interested in non-textbook content. But such an unusual interest made Professor Binns look very embarrassed.

"The Chamber of Secrets... Let's start from the very beginning. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was founded more than a thousand years ago by four great wizards, and the four colleges are named after them: Godric Grant. Findor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin."

"They built this castle together to stay away from the prying eyes of Muggles and to protect underage wizards who were persecuted by Muggles. In the first few years, the founders worked together harmoniously, looking for young people who showed signs of magic. Take them back to the castle and train them well.”

"But slowly, like many entrepreneurial stories, they went from being in the same boat to being in the same room -"

"The rift between Slytherin and others is getting bigger and bigger. He hopes that magical education will be limited to pure magical families, and believes that recruiting Muggle-born children is extremely risky. Finally, after a meeting with Gryffindor After an irreparable quarrel, Slytherin left the school alone and never came back."

"Reliable historical data only tells us so much." Professor Binns said vaguely, "But these pure facts are covered up by the weird legends about the secret room. Of course, those ordinary little minds will always pay more attention to the explosive rumors. Facts that are not boring—"

"The legend says that Slytherin built a secret room in the castle, and the other founders knew nothing about it - this place is ridiculous. Every part of the Magic Castle has strict and systematic protection. It was impossible for Slytherin to build the Chamber of Secrets behind the back of the other founders, as that would cause disharmony in the entire magic defense system. In that dangerous era, loopholes had to be filled with bloodshed and sacrifice. As the founder of the school, Slytherin was cautious. If you don't even want to recruit Muggle-born wizards, how can you joke in a place like this?" Professor Binns said with a little annoyance.

"According to this boring legend, Slytherin sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that no one could open it until his true heir came to the school. Only that heir could open the Chamber, release the horrors within, and purify it School, purge all those who are not worthy of learning magic.”

After the story was told, the whole class fell silent. But instead of the usual sleepy tranquility in a History of Magic class, everyone was holding their breath, waiting for Professor Binns to continue.

There is an uneasy air floating in the classroom. Professor Binns was very uncomfortable with this kind of gaze. He lowered his head to organize his notes and said, "Of course, the whole story is made up. The school has naturally investigated whether there is such a secret room and investigated it many times. , the most knowledgeable wizards and witches at that time were invited. The conclusion is that the secret room does not exist. This is just a story, specially designed to scare simple-minded people."

"If the whole story is as implausible as you say," Tom asked, "then why did the school investigate it, so many times?"

Professor Binns' floating figure froze at the edge of the podium.

"Because... fear and prejudice." Professor Binns said in a dry and thin voice, "Slytherin was the most famous dark wizard at that time. Slytherin's fame was built on blood and bones, and no one believed it. Such a dark wizard would choose to give in without doing anything."

"They would rather believe that Slytherin really did something in the school - this kind of prejudice without evidence is a complete slander against the founder."

"There are still more stupid people in this world who cover their eyes with prejudice and refuse to face the real, credible and reliable facts - the fact is that the secret room does not exist at all."

"But, Professor," Seamus said, "since this secret room can only be opened by the true heir of Slytherin, others may not be able to discover it at all, right?"

"Nonsense." Professor Binns said breathlessly, "What do you think? So many previous presidents have not discovered that-"

Parti Patil screamed: "Probably because it must be opened with black magic -"

"Just because a wizard doesn't use dark magic doesn't mean he doesn't know how to use it!" Professor Binns snapped. "I repeat, since someone like Dumbledore -"

"Headmaster Dumbledore has nothing to do with Slytherin," Dean interrupted, "Maybe he must have something to do with Slytherin——"

"Enough! Enough!" Professor Binns' patience ran out. "I really regret telling you this ridiculous story! I have said it repeatedly that there is no evidence that Slytherin built a secret base in the school. Open Open your eyes and come back to the real and reliable facts.”

He refused to answer the student's conjectures and began to read again in a low and monotonous voice. Within five minutes, the students lost interest and fell asleep.

"So what is the horror in the Chamber of Secrets?" Hermione said angrily, "I haven't finished asking yet. They are talking nonsense and Professor Binns is so angry that he refuses to continue."

"Can it also identify one's origin - a DNA tester?" Tom guessed, "After all these years, how can you tell if you are a pure wizard? Do you follow the 'one drop of blood principle'? Even if there is a drop of Muggle blood, you are still considered a Muggle. Origin? Then I’m afraid there won’t be many people left in the school.”

"This is discrimination." Hermione said angrily, "Why don't you recruit Muggle-born students?"

"You have to consider the era." Tom said, "At that time, how could you tell whether a Muggle wizard would be a traitor or assassin sent by the Holy See or Muggle authorities? Even if it was good when he first entered school, if he was betrayed by a Muggle family It’s normal to waver after a few words of persuasion.”

"It's not a bad thing to be cautious in times of crisis." Tom said, "I can understand Slytherin's concerns. But if it only recruits students from pure wizarding families, the significance of the establishment of the school will be very limited. The wizarding population is not counted in the first place. The branches are lush and leafy. If you still pick and choose what you don't want and what you don't want when life and death are at stake, it will further weaken yourself. What's more, the rejected little wizard may also be used by the enemy to increase the opponent's power. So it cannot be For the sake of some possibilities, resolutely reject them all.”

"Those times were not easy," Tom said. "Gryffindor was not wrong, and Slytherin was not wrong - everyone's ideas were not wrong. This is the source of the tragedy. So what if we reconcile, The contradiction stays there, and falling apart is the inevitable outcome.”