Study Days at Hogwarts

  Chapter 576 What Tom Knows

   Colin Creevey just left the Gryffindor common room with his front foot, and Albert came down from his dormitory with his back foot.

  Tonight, he added some ingredients to the milk tea of ​​his roommates, and asked them to go back to rest after supper and milk tea.

  Fred, George, and Lee Jordan all slept soundly. They would not wake up in the middle of the night, let alone realize that their roommates suddenly disappeared in the middle of the night.

   When Albert left the common room, he did not forget to raise his wand and look at the portrait of the Fat Lady. The lady in charge of the gate had gone out to visit.

   "So that's what he meant." Albert grunted, turned and walked quickly forward, disappearing into the deep darkness at the end of the corridor.

   A few minutes later, Albert pushed open the door of the Room of Requirement, sat in the brightly lit room, spread the Marauder's Map on the table, and stared at Colin's position.

  Colin Creevey walked very slowly, probably because of his first night tour, every step he took was trembling, and he had just reached the seventh floor of the castle.

Albert believed that Tom Riddle was hiding in the secret room at this time, using the Human Tracking Charm to monitor the entire castle to determine the location of the Mudblood, and also to prevent him from bumping into the professor who was patrolling the castle when he released the basilisk. .

  From a certain point of view, Tom's approach is quite perfect, almost at the same time as completing the attack, he perfectly hides the giant monster of the basilisk.

  However, Tom never imagined that such a perfect attack was completely seen through by Albert from the very beginning.

   Travelers can really do whatever they want sometimes.

  When Albert came down from the dormitory, he had already used a strong shielding spell on himself.

That was the result of his continuous efforts in the past half month. With the blessing of panel skills and his own continuous efforts, Albert finally managed to complete the second attack before Tom Riddle controlled Ginny Weasley. Use the shielding spell to shield his own existence, so that his name and footprints will not appear on the map with the human traces spell.

  Yes, Tom Riddle knew nothing about this. He regarded Albert as the prey, but he didn't know that the other party had already regarded him as the prey.

  At this moment, the heir of Slytherin was staying in the underground pipeline with Ginny Weasley under his control, monitoring the movement of the mudblood through the map presented in the diary.

  Not long ago, when Tom learned from Ginny that a mudblood named Colin was going to visit Harry in the middle of the night and invited her to go with him, Tom had already decided to attack that annoying mudblood.

   This is a rare good opportunity, Tom knew the cat that attacked the Squib last time, and did not let the students in the school realize that the Chamber of Secrets had been reopened and the Heir of Slytherin had returned.

  That's when Tom realized that he had to let the basilisk kill a Mudblood or two, so that the whole school of Mudbloods could feel the fear of being dominated by the heir of Slytherin again.

   Ginny Weasley made a hissing sound from his mouth, soothing the anxious basilisk behind him.

  Since being awakened from hibernation by Tom, the Basilisk has been very violent.

   It's hungry.

  The rats in the underground pipes can't make it full. Tom couldn't control Ginny to get food for the basilisk, and it wasn't necessary. For him, the basilisk was just a tool to achieve his goal.

  Tom Riddle's Parseltongue can make the grumpy basilisk obediently obey his commands.

   On the map in the diary, the footprints of the mudblood are marked, and they are already heading towards the school hospital on the second floor of the castle.

   And, Squib Manager Filch?

  Before entering the secret room, Tom had already visited the other party. Filch is now lying on the bed and sleeping soundly, and he won't wake up for six or seven hours.

  When Colin Creevey approached the school hospital, Tom controlled the basilisk to leave the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets and started tonight's hunting operation.

  He was looking forward to it, looking forward to the reaction of the group of Mudbloods in Hogwarts College after tonight's attack.

  At this moment, Colin Creevey didn't realize that he was being targeted. The reason for his rapid heartbeat was more because the surrounding darkness and the cold air made him feel uncomfortable, but the lantern in his hand failed to bring him a sense of security.

   Moreover, Colin was still a little worried, worried that he would wander around the castle in the middle of the night, be caught by the professors and deduct a lot of points, and make all Harry's efforts on the court in vain.

  When Colin was about to walk through the stairs at the end of the transformation classroom corridor and head towards the school hospital, he suddenly heard a rustling sound behind him.

  What's that sound?

  Perhaps, it was the courage of the students of Gryffindor College that kept Colin from turning around and running away immediately.

  In Colin's impression, there is no danger in Hogwarts Castle. If there is danger, can it still be called a school?

   If you don’t sleep at night and wander around the castle, at most you will be caught by the professors, and you will be sentenced to confinement with points deducted.

  However, that rustling sound was obviously not the footsteps of the professors.

Colin did not leave, but waited for the sound to approach. He had heard some senior students say that Hogwarts has many interesting things, such as getting up at night and going out at night, and there is a chance to encounter knights in armor patrolling the corridors. .

  Maybe, today is his lucky day.

  I really encountered something incredible at Hogwarts.

  Colin suddenly became a little excited. He put the lantern in his hand on the ground, took off the camera from his neck, and prepared to take a picture of this scene.

  The rustling sound was getting closer.

  At the moment when the owner of the voice passed the corner, Colin quickly pressed the camera button, and the flash of the camera lit up in the dark corridor, and what came into view was an extremely large snake.

"ah!"

  Colin's eyes widened involuntarily, the stunned expression completely froze on his face, and his voice stopped abruptly at the first moment.

  Colin Creevey was petrified by the basilisk.

   In a way, Colin Creevey was lucky.

  Because the eyes of the basilisk were seen through the camera, he was not directly killed by the eyes of the basilisk, but only petrified.

  His body falls backwards, hitting the steps behind him.

  In Professor McGonagall's office not far from here, Professor McGonagall, who had just finished correcting students' homework and lay down to rest, got up from the bed immediately after hearing the call.

  At this moment, Professor McGonagall's complexion was very ugly. Obviously, there was a student wandering around the castle without sleeping in the middle of the night.

  She quickly put on her cloak, picked up her wand, and when she hurried out of the office, she heard a strange rustling sound from the end of the corridor, as if something was dragging on the ground.

   "What's that sound?"

  Professor McGonagall immediately became vigilant and walked forward. She soon found Colin Creevey who was lying on the ground stiff, and couldn't help feeling a chill. Professor McGonagall immediately raised his wand, looking warily at the end of the corridor.

  The voice just now is most likely the monster in the secret room.

  She hesitated for a moment, then quickly followed in the direction of the sound. When she passed the first corner, a familiar voice suddenly sounded.

   "What's going on, Minerva, I heard a cry just now."

  Dumbledore in pajamas appeared in front of Professor McGonagall without warning.

  (end of this chapter)