https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-322-Not-Even-Dumbledore-Can-Save-You/12538515/
Chapter 323: The Big Four, A Conversation Spanning a Millennium
Chapter 323: The Big Four, A Conversation Spanning a Millennium
Kyle inspected the chamber. Not only had Riddle vanished, but even the trace of the Cutting Curse on the left pillar had disappeared.
It felt as if everything that had happened was an incredibly vivid dream. However, the pain in his thigh and the diary in his hand clearly told Kyle that it had all been real.
After walking around, Kyle finally looked up at the Slytherin statue. Although he didn't know what had happened, he decided to destroy the diary first, especially if the Basilisk was still inside.
"Talk to me..." Kyle spoke in Parseltongue, but the statue's mouth didn't open as before. Instead, the serpentine statues on the pillar came to life.
They slithered down like real snakes and gathered around Kyle. This familiar scene left Kyle in a state of disbelief.
He was sure of it; he must be dreaming! Perhaps he had been too gentle with the pinch earlier and hadn't woken himself up.
Just as Kyle was about to pinch himself again, a deep voice suddenly echoed from above the chamber.
"Well then, what do you want to say?"
"Who are you!" Kyle exclaimed, looking up.
As the voice spoke, the animated snake statues began to interconnect, quickly forming a large circular arch. A watery, soap bubble-like transparent veil appeared and filled the arch.
The veil shimmered a few times before revealing a middle-aged wizard wearing a green robe. He looked at Kyle expressionlessly and asked, "Weren't you about to speak to me?"
"You... I..." Kyle stammered, too astonished to speak.
He thought of a name, but the idea seemed too absurd.
"Salazar, I believe you should be more proactive. The boy doesn't know what's going on," said a plump witch who appeared in the arch, bearing a striking resemblance to the portrait of Helga Hufflepuff in the common room.
"I must be dreaming!" Kyle muttered.
"You're not, I assure you," said a wizard in a red cloak, the third person to appear in the arch, followed by a witch with a cold demeanor.
All four of them were now present.
It took Kyle a while to regain his composure. He ruffled his hair and said, "No, this can't be right..."
"I guess you know who we are then," said the cloaked wizard with a smile.
He even pushed the pointed hat on his head as if giving Kyle a hint.
"Yes... and I'm trying to convince myself to believe this absurdity," Kyle said, looking at the four figures in the arch. "In fact, in my understanding, you should all be people from over a thousand years ago... I mean, how is it possible for me to meet you?"
"Because of time," Salazar Slytherin said calmly. "You awakened the Basilisk but failed to put it back to sleep due to the lack of a specific password. This caused the Basilisk to instinctively destroy the special time turner in the statue."
He took out a golden pocket watch from his pocket. "There are two of them, one in the future and one in the past. If the one in the future is damaged, it will establish a connection with the one in the past."
Kyle nodded, only partially understanding.
What this meant was that the first time he summoned the Basilisk, Salazar Slytherin from a millennium ago would have already known about it.
Kyle had never heard of such an incredible concept, let alone experienced it.
This was like foretelling the future.
"But why didn't you appear then...?"
"Because he couldn't," Gryffindor laughed heartily. "He originally made that spell to protect his precious Basilisk from me. He never expected that it would lead him to discover you a thousand years later.
The time span is too great. The connection between the turners alone is not enough to support a direct conversation with you...
Unless you have altered time yourself, making your existence less 'stable'."
No wonder he had always felt that something was amiss; everything made sense now.
He didn't care about those certificates, yet he went against his usual behavior and chose twelve courses... and twice applied for a Time-Turner...
"It was you!" Kyle exclaimed, realizing, "So those voices I heard..."
"Consider them negligible side effects," Gryffindor said. "Salazar initially thought you intended to use the Basilisk for some nefarious purpose, so he took a rather aggressive approach.
However, it was mainly Rowena; she wanted to see how far you would go, so she used an intriguing spell... let's call it a Confundus Charm. It used the statues in the castle as a medium to make you subconsciously hide the existence of the Basilisk from others."
Rowena Ravenclaw glanced at him expressionlessly, neither confirming nor denying.
In that moment, Kyle felt his mind sharpen, and all his previous doubts were dispelled.
No wonder he had always hesitated whenever he thought about telling Dumbledore about the Basilisk; he never expected that the Four Founders were involved.
After learning the truth, Kyle had a myriad of questions he wanted to ask, but at that moment, the veil flickered, and the figures of the Four Founders became much blurrier.
"Our time is running short," Helga Hufflepuff stepped forward and pushed Gryffindor aside.
"Listen, child, I know you have many questions, but none of that matters now. What you need to do is find a way to get time back on the right track, or you might very well be trapped in this time loop forever."
"Here's some advice, kid," Gryffindor said. "Never touch a Time-Turner; it'll make you lose the protection of time."
"As compensation, I'll help smooth over the impact of this Time-Turner incident," Slytherin said indifferently as he glanced at Kyle. "You can also take the Basilisk with you. The password to make it fall asleep is... 'Sleep, and await tomorrow's glory.'"
"Your Occlumency is terrible," Rowena Ravenclaw said, speaking for the first time.
Her voice was calm. "This spell is not as simple as you think. Don't be complacent. When you find yourself stagnating, wear my diadem."
As soon as Ravenclaw finished speaking, the archway's image turned into thick pixels before completely vanishing.
The snakes that had formed the arch crawled back onto the pillar, and the Chamber of Secrets returned to its quiet state.
Kyle stood there, taking a moment to process everything that had just happened.
He had actually met the Four Founders from a millennium ago and even conversed with them face-to-face.
It defied science... but it was very magical.
Kyle wanted to sort out the incredible experience he had just gone through, but he soon remembered what Hufflepuff had said.
From what she implied, he wasn't in the original timeline, and there was a possibility that he could be trapped here forever.
Without hesitation, Kyle immediately ran out of the Chamber of Secrets.
Outside, he didn't find Professor McGonagall or Harry... Kyle ran all the way to the end of the passage and climbed back into the castle through the pipe.
The sounds of laughter and conversation echoed everywhere, and as far as Kyle could remember, such a lively atmosphere hadn't been present for a long time.
He walked along the corridor and soon found two students walking together.
"Hello," Kyle greeted them.
"Oh, I know you; you're Kyle from Hufflepuff," one of them said with a smile. "I'm Terry Boot from Ravenclaw."
"Sally-Anne Perks," the other girl said. "We're both second-years in Ravenclaw."
"Nice to meet you," Kyle replied. "May I ask where you're headed?"
"We're on our way to the Halloween feast, of course,"
Terry replied. "We heard that Headmaster Dumbledore invited a skeleton dance troupe. This year's Halloween feast is going to be amazing!"
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
