Lucas confirmed that his own magical traces had been erased as well. A sharp sense of unease settled over him, and he quickly requested an additional exit.

A small wooden door opened near the mountain of blankets. Lucas pushed through it without hesitation.

A few steps was all it took to bring him back to the temporary dormitory. This space had always been part of the Room of Requirement, and if Lucas could use the shortcut, whatever was lurking in the shadows could too.

They still had no idea what it was. A magical object, a magical creature, or a dark wizard.

While washing up, Lucas discovered that the detection item left inside the Room of Requirement had been triggered.

Magical energy belonging to Dumbledore came flowing back through it.

One hair's breadth. That was how close Lucas had come to walking straight into the Headmaster.

Dumbledore's reaction speed was every bit as fast as expected. The dust hadn't gone unnoticed, and in the short time since, a target had already been locked on.

At that same moment, another spell Lucas had left behind elsewhere in the castle was triggered.

Lucas frowned.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS.

Surveillance charms had been planted inside the Chamber from the very beginning, all in anticipation of one person.

The Heir of Slytherin.

When Harry Potter was in second year, the Chamber of Secrets had been opened, and the story of the thousand-year-old Basilisk slain by the Chosen One was widely known. Going further back, the first time the Chamber was discovered and opened, Tom Riddle had reported classmates and received a Special Services Award for it.

So what had opened it this time.

Lucas confirmed Argos's location through their link and ordered Argos to return to school as quickly as possible.

This was an exceptional opportunity. Right now Lucas was in the shadows, and knew that one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes had already awakened inside the castle, something dangerous, and something with no defenses raised against Lucas whatsoever.

There was no reason not to seize this chance.

But one detail still needed to be carefully weighed.

Lucas had of course noticed that when encountering Walter earlier that evening, Walter had been carrying rooster feathers.

There were two possible explanations.

Walter was a vampire. Whether or not potions were used to suppress the appetite, fresh blood would need to be replenished regularly. And inside the castle, under the watchful eye of Headmaster Dumbledore, the only blood available would be from domestic poultry.

The other possibility: the Basilisk feared the crow of a rooster. Walter was one of Lord Voldemort's people, or hadn't been at one point, but was now under control.

Lucas added Walter to the list. If conflict broke out, there had to be enough in reserve to deal with Walter lurking in the shadows.

As for tonight, presumably no one else would be harmed.

Whoever had slipped into the Chamber of Secrets had left behind only one thing: an empty chamber with no traces of a struggle.

The Basilisk needed to hunt as well.

And when the sun rose tomorrow, Argos would arrive, and everything would become clear.

.

But no matter how carefully a plan was laid, the unexpected would always find a way in.

The next day was Sunday. At the breakfast table, the Ravenclaw students were murmuring among themselves, trading some kind of secret back and forth.

Marcus, who had a talent for sniffing out information, brought back the latest. "Have you heard? A second-year Ravenclaw girl has been hospitalized."

Marcus spoke while watching Lucas.

Young witches and wizards that age couldn't keep things to themselves. Marcus skipped right past any guessing game and announced the answer in a conspiratorial tone. "It's Alice Albert!"

Lucas looked over at Marcus.

Marcus was convinced of understanding exactly what Lucas was feeling. "I found it all out for you. Apparently she's badly hurt this time. The roommate found Alice in the shared bathroom — blood all over the floor."

Marcus tried to offer some comfort. "Once she's out of danger, you can go visit. Don't worry too much — Madam Pomfrey can fix anything."

Lucas set down the knife and fork and looked toward the staff table. On weekends, plenty of professors didn't come down to the Great Hall for meals.

Professor Snape and Professor Dumbledore were both absent. Professor Walter was absent as well.

Lucas pressed the anger down and set down the knife and fork.

Marcus flinched, reining in some of the spectator's curiosity, but Lucas only turned and said, "Give me some of those Honeydukes sweets you bought on the train."

One ought to bring something when visiting a classmate, after all.

.

By the time Lucas arrived at the Hospital Wing, a small cluster of Ravenclaw students was already gathered at the entrance.

Alice had a good reputation. Both older and younger students had come to visit.

Lucas glanced once and slipped past them.

But two older Ravenclaw students stood out from the rest, and their faces were memorized. The flash of guilt across them hadn't escaped notice.

Madam Pomfrey saw it was Lucas and stepped aside to let Lucas through.

The Ravenclaw students grumbled a few words of dissatisfaction but still didn't dare challenge the healer's authority.

The Hospital Wing currently held two seriously ill patients, and for ordinary things like student colds, Madam Pomfrey was handing out medicine and sending people away.

Madam Pomfrey led Lucas to the door of a small room, having slightly misread the reason for the visit. "Professor Snape is inside. If you can take some of the work off his hands, that would be ideal — he's been at it all night without sleep."

Without waiting for a response, Madam Pomfrey pushed the door open.

Professor Snape looked exactly the same as the night before, except that the complexion had gone even more sallow from the sleepless night.

The healthy color built up through a regular summer routine was completely gone.

Lucas furrowed his brow slightly, set aside the original reason for coming, and walked quickly to Snape's side, rolling up both sleeves.

"Professor, I'm here to see what I can help with." Lucas was already scanning the materials laid out on the table. The combination of potions was entirely unfamiliar, nothing encountered in any book before.

It looked more like a customized solution designed for a specific situation.

Replenishing blood. Restoring vitality. Suppressing a curse.

Snape glanced at Lucas and pointed to a pile of roots and stems that hadn't been cut yet. "Move quickly. Two-centimeter-thick slices."

Lucas moved to Snape's side. Once the ingredients were cut, a glance went to the cauldron.

Nearly 10 in the morning.

Lucas ventured carefully: "Professor, have you had breakfast?"

Silence.

Lucas frowned slightly. "This potion is in a stable phase right now. I can keep watch over it while you eat something nearby."

What answered was a second cauldron being set up. Snape's tone was sardonic, not directed at Lucas.

"You're here to visit your friend, aren't you. She just came out of danger."

Lucas paused, puzzled, studying the ingredients going into the second cauldron. There was a large overlap with the first.

"Then who is this one being prepared for?"

"I want to hear your thinking, not have you ask questions the moment something comes up." Snape's tone was sharp.

Lucas studied the cauldron and the materials for a moment. Then something clicked.

"Is this one being prepared for Professor Walter?"

➤ Next: Waiting on Both Sides

Chapter 213 - Waiting on Both Sides

Snape turned to Lucas, his tone edged with surprise. "How did you know?"

"I ran into Alice twice yesterday. She seemed to have something to say to me, but both times Professor Walter interrupted her."

Lucas didn't even notice how much he sounded like he was tattling.

He laid it out in detail, every instance of Walter appearing at the exact moment Alice had wanted to confide in someone.

If Walter hadn't kept interfering, Lucas would already know Alice's secret, and would certainly have worked out with the professor how to handle it. It wouldn't have been necessary to trouble Snape into brewing potions at all.

Lucas moved on to his own conjecture. "Professor Walter is a vampire, but Professor Dumbledore still permits them to teach at the school. I suspect there's more between them than a verbal agreement — perhaps a magical contract, or some other means I'm not aware of."

"So Professor Walter must be strictly forbidden from harming students. What they did yesterday — the magic may have interpreted it as reducing Alice's chances of being saved. Failing to protect a student."

Lucas bristled on Snape's behalf. "That vampire is an absolute menace."

Snape said nothing, because Lucas had guessed correctly on every single point.

Earlier that morning, after Alice, Walter had been found unconscious in the Great Hall by students and carried to the Hospital Wing. Walter's body was covered in charred, blackened wounds, and because of a vampire's superior regenerative ability, the injuries kept sealing and reopening in a constant cycle.

Dumbledore had been deeply alarmed when they saw those wounds. After investigation, the conclusion they reached matched Lucas's exactly.

No one had yet figured out why Walter had interrupted Alice twice. That answer would have to wait until Walter woke up.

Snape still hadn't spoken. Lucas took it upon himself to snap his fingers, and a House-elf appeared in the Hospital Wing.

"Please bring me a sandwich and a latte — coffee with regular milk and sugar."

The cauldron bubbled steadily. Lucas had noticed that Snape looked worn down, and the brew in front of him still couldn't be left unattended.

Lucas thought for a moment, then dug into his pocket and pulled out a Honeydukes sweet, pressing it into Snape's hand.

Snape raised an eyebrow. The look asked a question without words.

Lucas didn't quite know how to explain it. He'd simply wanted to give the professor a sweet.

"Since Professor Dumbledore has already started dealing with all of this," Lucas offered, a little stiffly, "I'm sure everyone will be all right."

.

Sunday afternoon, the Chamber of Secrets was opened once more.

A figure walked to the statue of Salazar Slytherin and spoke in Parseltongue.

The long-sealed stone door ground open slowly. A moment later, a massive Basilisk crawled through the gap in heavy, deliberate movements.

The figure issued another command. The Basilisk respectfully closed its eyes and waited for its master's instructions.

At noon, Snape had dismissed Lucas to go and eat, citing the short gap between breakfast and lunch as reason enough to skip a proper break.

Using the excuse of retrieving something from the dormitory, Lucas finally saw clearly through Argos's eyes, the person the Horcrux had latched onto.

He recognized them. He had seen this person before, outside Alice's ward.

A seventh-year Ravenclaw.

The student's face was pale, their expression blank. They wore ordinary school robes, but one thing made them impossible to ignore: a lady's diadem perched on top of their head, its blue gemstones blazing with cold light.

The student paced in front of the Basilisk with visible satisfaction, then said sharply: "Who's hiding back there, come out at once!"

From behind a water-spouting statue stepped a black-robed wizard in a hood. A Confundus Charm had been applied to their face, blurring their features into a smear.

The Diadem raised an eyebrow, mildly surprised.

It had only been a bluff, a precaution against ambush. This person had hidden themselves well. The Diadem hadn't detected them at all until now.

But they'd broken cover. Either their nerves had failed them, or they knew exactly who they were facing.

The Diadem let none of this show.

"Are you one of Dumbledore's people?" the Diadem asked coolly.

The black-robed wizard shook their head.

"I'm not. I answer only to myself. But we are in Hogwarts right now, shouldn't you give some thought to the Headmaster?"

The Diadem shook their head. They were so pleased with what they'd accomplished that they couldn't help boasting to a complete stranger. "Dumbledore has other pressing matters to deal with right now. There's nothing they can do about me. And besides, who would think to look inside the school for a Basilisk?"

The black-robed wizard said nothing.

They just stood there, and the Diadem's one unanswered question hung in the air between them: how had this person known about the Chamber of Secrets?

At that same moment, a sharp crash of wood rang out from the Ravenclaw dormitory.

Several spells punched through the hole blown in the wooden door, chasing a dark shape that had already bolted through it. But the thing was small and fast, weaving through the air, dodging every curse behind it.

By the time the students inside gave chase, it had already whipped around a corner and vanished into the Ravenclaw common room.

There were plenty of students reading there that afternoon. Small groups had settled on sofas and at desks with their books, their conversation drifting back, as it often did that day, to Alice and how she'd been hurt.

Then everyone saw it.

The dark shape tore through the room like a tiny whirlwind, and a Ravenclaw student stepped directly into its path. Blood misted from their body in a sudden burst, leaving several deep gashes, the unmistakable marks of claws.

People finally got a clear look at the thing.

It resembled a Cornish Pixie, the kind every Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher brought up in first and second year. But this one wasn't blue. It was black, the black of something that had dragged itself out of a swamp. With its flight blocked, it turned and bared razor-sharp fangs at the wizard in its way.

More spells flew at it. It darted past every one.

The common room door swung open from outside at exactly the wrong moment. An unlucky student had no time to react. The creature hit them head-on, seized their face, and raked at it furiously before bolting out the door, leaving only the screaming student behind, both hands pressed to their face.

The professors brought the situation under control quickly enough.

This was not a known magical creature. But it wasn't a newly discovered species either. To be precise, this sort of thing happened from time to time in the wizarding world. Every few years, some arrogant and ignorant wizard decided to alter the nature of a species and create something entirely new. This creature was without question the product of a failed experiment.

A Ravenclaw student had been conducting dangerous research in the dormitory, and it had caused harm to Alice, a second-year student.

One truth had come fully to light. And Snape, already brewing in the Hospital Wing, now had yet another task added to the list.

The creature's claws were venomous. A scratch was enough to make a wizard's wound bleed without stopping.

➤ Next: Cauldrons Multiplied