Chapter 318: Tension

"All students must return to the common room of their college before 6pm, and no student may leave after this time.

You will be escorted by a professor every time you attend class. You are not allowed to wander around the castle alone before the professor comes.

Quidditch training and competitions are postponed, and no activities will be held in the evening..."

All students sat at the long dining table in the hall and listened to Professor McGonagall's speech silently.

Professor McGonagall was really scared.

Before the holiday, the Ministry of Magic paid close attention to the situation in Hogwarts.

After Professor Charity Burbage of Muggle Studies was attacked, some people even proposed to temporarily close Hogwarts and search for the Chamber of Secrets.

Although this proposal was later rejected by more people, as more and more attacks occurred, this idea was raised again a few days before Christmas.

And that time, the number of people who voted against it was obviously much less.

The reason why the Ministry of Magic was so quiet, in addition to Dumbledore's reasons, was that the students were not hurt.

But this kind of luck cannot last forever.

The calm before us is only temporary. The previous attacks are like piled-up barrels of explosives that could explode at any time.

In secret, some people have already been ready to move.

Professor McGonagall is sure that once a student is attacked or the number of attacks increases to a certain number, they will take advantage of the situation and detonate all the barrels of explosives.

No one knows what will happen at that time.

In addition, Professor McGonagall does not want to see any students get hurt.

Now is the most critical time.

The mandrake is about to mature. When those petrified people or ghosts wake up, they will be able to learn about the secret room and the monster from them.

I believe that the successor of the secret room must also know this. In order to protect himself and hide those secrets, he will either stop here or become more crazy.

The petrified dwarf proves that the man did not choose the former...

Professor McGonagall took a deep breath, and the expression on his face was more serious than ever.

Although all the people who have been attacked so far have been petrified, this does not mean that the monster in the secret room will only petrify others.

After all, fifty years ago, when the Chamber of Secrets was first opened, some students died for unknown reasons.

This kind of thing must not happen again.

She looked at everyone and said in a choked voice: "I hope each of you can abide by the rules, even for your own safety!

Anyone who violates the rules will have all the house points deducted and the house will be directly disqualified from participating in the Quidditch game."

"In addition, I urge everyone who thinks they know something to come forward.

Now every clue, no matter how insignificant, may help us find the criminal who planned these attacks."

Professor McGonagall left in a hurry after she finished speaking.

As soon as she left, there was a burst of chatter in the hall.

Deducting all the house points and disqualifying from participating in Quidditch has never been such a severe punishment before.

"Fortunately, Professor McGonagall only postponed the Quidditch game..." Harry said with some relief.

"You..." Ron looked at Fred and George hesitantly.

How could the two not guess what he was thinking.

"We will definitely not be discovered, even for Quidditch," said Fred.

"You are the one," said George with a smile, "don't think about catching bad guys and being a hero like last year, that's not what you should do."

"We don't want to be heroes!" said Ron, stiffening his neck.

Beside him, Harry and Hermione were eating with their heads down, not talking.

At the Hufflepuff table, Kyle was also silent.

Everyone around was discussing who the heir was, and every time they said a name, Kyle would observe the person's expression.

But everyone looked normal, the only strange one was Lockhart.

He acted very quietly, didn't show off how many greeting cards he received, and didn't brag about the achievements he had said countless times.

He, who attached great importance to his image, didn't even take care of his hair. With a messy head of blonde hair, he drank one glass of wine after another, which was completely different from the high-spirited look at noon.

Half an hour later, dinner time was over.

Professor McGonagall walked into the hall again, and she was accompanied by the other three deans.

Professor Sprout came over and sent the Hufflepuff students back to the common room.

"Unless you go to class, you must stay here and not go anywhere."

She counted the number of people and did not leave until everyone passed through the barrel door.

"Doesn't Professor Lockhart already know who the heir is?"

As soon as Professor Sprout left, someone couldn't wait to say, "Why can't the professors just arrest that guy!"

"Don't you understand yet?" Someone said disdainfully, "He is just bragging. In fact, he knows nothing and doesn't know anything, just like he showed in the dueling club."

"Nonsense!" Someone retorted, "You have all read his books... Think about the amazing things he has done."

"He just said that he did it."

...

The people in the common room quickly split into two factions, arguing fiercely about Lockhart.

Kyle, Connor, and Cedric didn't participate in the pointless argument. They walked around the crowd and sat on a few sofas in the corner.

"Kyle, did you find anything?" Cedric asked.

"No." Kyle shook his head.

"That person was very well hidden." Kangna sighed. "Every time an attack occurs, no one sees it. It's like it happens out of thin air... Could it be that the monster in the secret room is someone who can roam around in the castle at will?" A walking ghost?"

"Ghosts can't petrify others, they just look scary." Cedric looked at Kyle again, "Where did you find the golden chain you had before?"

"A... very hidden place." Kyle hesitated for a moment, but still did not reveal the secret room.

It wasn't like he hadn't thought about telling Professor Dumbledore the location of the secret room and the news about Riddle.

In fact, when the diary disappeared mysteriously and attacks occurred frequently, he had this idea, but he never made up his mind.

Maybe it’s because he can’t bear to part with the basilisk... Kyle always subconsciously avoids this idea.

Thinking about it now, he always felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it... After all, the basilisk was indeed valuable. It could be piled up into a mountain in galleons, so it was normal to be reluctant to part with it.

Kyle rubbed his forehead, feeling inexplicably irritable.

"Speaking of clues, Kyle, do you remember that thing you gave me for Christmas?" At this time, Cedric suddenly stood up and trotted to the dormitory.

"wait for me a while."

After about a minute, he came back with a stack of parchment in his hand.