A Professor of Magic at Hogwarts

On the other side, Ron, Hermione, and Justin each searched for the professor's trail. After seven o'clock, the young wizards returned to their respective common rooms under the guidance of their house prefects, leaving the entire castle empty.

A few minutes later, Ron encountered a professor first. He ran over in excitement, only to show a look of despair—it was Lockhart.

Lockhart was also one of the patrollers today.

"Ha! Look what I've caught? A wandering young wizard out after hours! What's your name?" Lockhart's face lit up with surprise as he walked over, grabbing Ron's arm. "Come along, child. You must be a Gryffindor, right? Professor McGonagall won't be pleased... Anyway, come with me to my office."

"No! Let go of me, Harry's in danger, we've encountered a snake monster!" Ron struggled against his grip.

"A snake monster?"

"The creature in the Chamber of Secrets!" Ron roared, his anger flaring.

"The Chamber of Secrets... Snake monster..." Lockhart became nervous, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a magenta-colored handkerchief he pulled from his pocket. "What are you talking about? Don't expect to deceive me with lies..."

"I'm not lying!" Ron nearly lost his temper. He pushed hard and pulled a wand out of Lockhart's chest pocket in the process.

"Hey!" Lockhart tumbled to the ground. "My wand!"

Their argument quickly attracted another free presence within the castle—Peeves, who passed through a wall and witnessed Ron and Lockhart's struggle.

"Students and a professor fighting! Students and a professor fighting!" Peeves gleefully shouted.

"Clang, clang." The footsteps of Filch approached from a distance.

Ron didn't look back and ran off. In his panic, he found himself in a familiar corridor.

The Moaning Myrtle's girls' lavatory—where they had brewed Polyjuice Potion for a while, although they had since moved to the abandoned classroom underground.

Ron swallowed nervously, carefully turning the handle of the lavatory door.

Learning from Moaning Myrtle's experience, he dreaded seeing a pair of yellow eyes behind the door.

With his eyes shut, Ron pushed the door open. "Is anyone here? Harry?"

"He's not here. Oh, poor little thing!" a strangely peculiar voice said. Ron recognized it as Moaning Myrtle's tone. He opened his eyes.

A silver, translucent ghost floated in midair.

"Harry was here, where is he?" Ron wanted to inquire further, but the scene before him widened his eyes. In the center of the lavatory, the basin had vanished into thin air, replaced by a deep black hole.

He approached, giving a rather disdainful look at the bottomless, grimy pipe, and asked, "Myrtle, did Harry jump in?"

"Yeah, it was so sudden, I was just about to talk to him..." Moaning Myrtle said in a rather mournful tone. "His things are still here!"

Only then did Ron notice that one of the sinks had Harry's bag haphazardly piled on the ground beneath it.

"Oh, Merlin!" Ron prayed inwardly. He opened Harry's bag—a magical puppet with ice-blue hair lay quietly inside.

Ron let out a cry of despair.

"What's wrong?" Moaning Myrtle floated over to his side and looked at the contents of the bag with keen interest. She pointed to the magical puppet and asked, "What's this? A new trendy doll in the castle?"

"Harry's in danger..." Ron muttered softly.

"What?"

"I said, Harry's in danger!" Ron took a deep breath and, gripping the magical puppet, walked a few steps toward the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

A few seconds later, he turned to Moaning Myrtle with a pitiful look and said, "Could you give me a little push?"

Before she could respond, Ron jumped into the entrance, facing what he believed to be his demise.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" His exaggerated scream echoed from within the pipes.

On the other side, Justin found Professor Snape, almost simultaneously, Hermione found Professor Harp.

When Felix and Hermione arrived at the girls' lavatory, they saw Peeves chasing a weeping Moaning Myrtle with a box of rotten bread.

What's going on?

"Hit the stomach, ten points! Hit the head, fifty points! Very good, hahaha, hahaha!"

In the small lavatory, the laughter of Peeves echoed along with the tears of Moaning Myrtle.

"Oh, dear, poor Moaning Myrtle, Peeves, stop it." Hermione looked on with sorrow.

Felix waved his wand, freezing the airborne bread in midair.

Only then did Peeves notice the two newcomers. "Professor, hello," he adjusted his hat, greeting.

"Peeves, leave this place," Felix said calmly.

"As you wish." The figure of Peeves disappeared.

"Professor, look!" Hermione pointed at the entrance to the Chamber.

"I see." Felix turned to the other presence in the room, asking, "Moaning Myrtle, did Harry jump down?"

Moaning Myrtle's face was adorned with silvery tears, but she still answered, "Yes, and a red-haired boy too, with lots of freckles on his face."

"It's Ron!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Indeed, you three were still here—"

"Shut up, Moaning Myrtle!" Hermione hurriedly stopped her words, not wanting Professor Harp to discover their secret of secretly brewing Polyjuice Potion. Then she cast a careful look at Felix.

Moaning Myrtle whimpered and quickly flew into the innermost stall, not coming out again.

The young witch felt a bit ashamed, apologizing to the poor ghost in her heart.

Just then, a clear chirp sounded. Felix looked in the direction of the sound, and the figure of Dumbledore appeared abruptly. He was wearing gray pajamas with polka dots, and his usually neatly kept beard was disheveled—unlike how he usually tied it.

Apparition or...? Felix's gaze fell on the phoenix on Dumbledore's shoulder.

It was quite an odd sight—a silver and translucent phoenix perched on Dumbledore's shoulder, like a guardian.

No, a guardian indeed!

Except, within the silver and translucent guardian, nestled a tiny, palm-sized bird.

This was the true phoenix...

"Fawkes has just undergone rebirth not long ago. Its power is still weak, so I had to use a guardian to protect it," Dumbledore explained.

So, a young phoenix wearing the cloak of a guardian?

Felix nodded. "Headmaster Dumbledore, Potter, Weasley, and Granger encountered an attacking snake creature in the corridor. They saved Justin and later, Potter voluntarily guarded the entrance to the Chamber, while the other three sought help from professors."

"However, for some reason, both Potter and Weasley went in."

"At present, it's unclear whether they've encountered any danger."

"Very well, Felix." Dumbledore fell into thought. But within seconds, he lifted his head and addressed Fawkes on his shoulder, "Fawkes, you've done well."

The phoenix, draped in a silver cloak (similar to this one), emitted a soft trill.

"Remember, the snake creature's greatest threat is its eyes."

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