https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-267-You-Must-First-Know-What-You-re-Facing/13685161/
Chapter 268: This Is the Girls' Restroom!
“What is this?” Harry couldn’t help but squeak, his voice high-pitched and trembling. He knew he sounded like a frightened little girl—but he couldn’t help it.
“SerpentStrange,” Professor Kettleburn murmured, entranced, his eyes fixed on the lifelike portrait on the wall. His finger trailed slowly over the vivid, almost breathing emerald scales. “If a chicken’s egg is hatched by a toad, it may produce a SerpentStrange. They grow to be enormous—up to fifty feet long. Their fangs carry a deadly venom, but the most dangerous thing about them… is their eyes.”
“The eyes?” Harry repeated, glancing again at those menacing yellow orbs.
“Anyone who locks eyes with it dies instantly,” Professor Kettleburn said casually. “This SerpentStrange has been living in Hogwarts for over a thousand years… meaning it’s been sharing our lives every single day.”
Harry imagined it—creeping through the shadows while he and his classmates ate, studied, or sat in class. A killing creature lurking just out of sight. A chill ran down his spine.
“Then how come no one’s ever seen it?” he asked, still shivering.
“It moves through the pipes,” Professor Kettleburn smiled. “Dumbledore confirmed it. And look—” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a massive scale. “This one I retrieved myself, by sneaking into the tunnels.”
He ran his fingers over the scale with a dreamy expression. “Thanks to my missing arm and half a leg, I can get into places others can’t.”
Harry glanced at the professor’s mangled limbs. Sympathy welled up in him—but beneath it, a strange, creeping fear.
Then he noticed the way Professor Kettleburn was eyeing him, like a butcher assessing meat.
“Funny,” the professor mused. “You’re small and wiry, with nimble limbs. You’d fit right through the pipes. Maybe that’s why Dumbledore chose you—why he picked you and the other students for this task.”
Harry flinched. But then he thought of Dumbledore.
Impossible. Dumbledore wasn’t like that.
Besides, he had the Serpent Tongue. Everyone said it was the language that could command serpents.
The SerpentStrange was terrifying—but Harry realized: if he didn’t go, someone else might die. But if he did… maybe the Serpent Tongue could help.
With that thought, when Professor Kettleburn asked again if he wanted to back out, Harry clenched his jaw and shook his head fiercely.
“Well then… good luck, lad,” the professor said, his tone tinged with sympathy. “Come back alive.”
The words sent a jolt through Harry’s chest. But there was no turning back. He swallowed hard and stepped through the door.
Then—unexpectedly—he saw Michael.
“…Michael?” Harry called out.
“Surprised?” Michael grinned.
“I thought it was another professor,” Harry admitted. “Everyone else saw professors. I’m the one he’s waiting for,” Michael said, signaling for Harry to follow. “Wade needs your help.”
Harry didn’t hesitate. He hurried after Michael through the door, and found himself in a long, empty corridor.
He paused, cautious. “Michael… I still have to face the challenge…”
“It’s about the challenge,” Michael said. “Without you, the event can’t go forward.”
“Why?” Harry pressed.
“The entrance’s blocked,” Michael repeated, quoting Wade. “The magical passage is too narrow. Too dangerous. We need a wider tunnel.”
What? Harry thought, Wade couldn’t open any door himself? So he needs me to help?
He didn’t understand. But Michael was moving fast, clearly anxious. Harry had no choice but to follow.
Then he noticed the corridor growing more familiar. The next bend… it was unmistakable.
The boys’ restricted area—the Girls’ Restroom.
“Wait—wait!” Harry’s face went pale as he grabbed Michael’s arm. “Are we going in?”
He emphasized it: “This is the Girls’ Restroom!”
Michael laughed. “Don’t worry. No one’s inside. Just Moaning Myrtle.”
“Who?” Harry asked.
As a boy, he’d never dared approach a girls’ bathroom, so he had no idea who Moaning Myrtle was.
“A ghost,” Michael explained simply. “She’s always in there. Because she’s so loud and dramatic, no one ever comes. That’s why Wade’s waiting for you here.”
“…Wade?” Harry’s voice cracked.
He’d been shocked too many times already—his mind was numb. But the thought of Wade being in the girls’ restroom sent a fresh jolt through him.
Before he could react, Michael pushed open the bathroom door.
Harry saw Wade at once—and his shock deepened when he noticed Dumbledore standing beside him.
Two people who had no business being in a girls’ bathroom together, yet there they were.
Harry’s awkwardness and tension melted away.
Dumbledore and Wade stood side by side, bent over a faucet. The golden-red Phoenix perched atop the headmaster’s shoulders, glowing like a living crown.
Beside them stood a short, plump female ghost—still looking like a student, wearing thick glasses, her face plain and her expression gloomy. Harry guessed this was Moaning Myrtle.
She hovered near a cubicle, half-hidden, watching them with quiet intensity.
What a strange combination, Harry thought.
He tried hard to ignore the eerie, bluish eyes peering down from the cubicle above.
“Good evening, Professor Dumbledore, Wade,” he said, forcing calm.
“You’re here, Harry,” Wade said, stepping aside slightly. “Come take a look.”
Harry hurried over. Michael followed, curious.
Then they saw it—the copper faucet, its side carved with a tiny serpent.
“Uh… what’s special about this?” Harry asked.
“Look at it,” Wade said. “Try saying ‘Open’ in Serpent Tongue.”
“Serpent Tongue?” Harry instinctively glanced at Dumbledore, then blinked. “You’re not still learning it, are you?”
After Harry revealed he could speak the language, the SSC members had all picked up a few phrases. Most gave up quickly—there was no difference between the “hiss-hiss-hiss” of a beginner and the real thing. Only Hermione and Wade had mastered it.
“Open” was simple. Wade had known it for ages.
“I do know it,” Wade sighed. “But this entrance… it doesn’t recognize the fake version. Not even the real one, apparently.”
He remembered that in the original story, Ron had opened the Chamber of Secrets with Serpent Tongue—but the same method failed here.
Wade had to consider: the magic left by Slytherin was far more refined than Voldemort’s. And when the SerpentStrange was alive, it didn’t just need the language—it needed the true Serpent Tongue.
Harry’s mind flashed back to the portrait—those cold, deadly eyes.
[Open.]
He hissed the word.
The faucet flared with a blinding white light.
(End of Chapter)
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