0175 Another Attack

When Adrian reached the second-floor, his urgent momentum nearly sent him crashing into an unexpected figure emerging from the shadows—Gilderoy Lockhart, his appearance was disheveled and his usual confident demeanor was also replaced by obvious panic. Lockhart's perfectly styled golden hair was askew, and his robes were crooked on his body. blue eyes, usually sparkling with charm, now darted frantically around the corridor as if expecting danger to appear from every shadow. "What in Merlin's name happened?" Lockhart asked breathlessly, his hands reaching out to grasp Adrian's arm. His voice had an edge of barely controlled hysteria. "That scream—it was absolutely bone-chilling!" Clearly, he too had been shocked from whatever evening activity he'd been doing by that horrific cry of terror that had echoed through the castle. Adrian had neither time nor patience to engage in explanations with this unreliable professor. With a sharp movement, he shook off Lockhart's grip and continued his urgent sprint toward the source of the disturbance deeper within the second-floor corridor. After a moment's hesitation, Lockhart gathered his courage and hurried to follow Adrian's path. Finally, they reached their destination in a corridor. Right in front of the Transfiguration classroom's door, a still, gray figure lay rigidly on the stone floor like a thrown statue. Adrian's expression transformed into one of grave concern. Moving closer, he quickly confirmed his worst fears: this was indeed a petrified student. So, it really was the basilisk behind the scream! After confirming this news, Adrian immediately pressed his back against the nearest stone wall, his every sense straining for the slightest indication of the creature's presence. His breathing became shallow and controlled as he listened intently to the castle's ambient sounds, searching for any clue that might reveal the basilisk's current location. Judging by the timing of the attack and the still-warm magical residue lingering in the air, the Basilisk shouldn't have traveled far from this location yet. Sure enough, after casting a auditory enhancement charm that amplified the sounds within a radius, Adrian finally detected what he'd been searching for: the faint sound of something scraping against stone surfaces somewhere within the castle. "Found you!" Adrian breathed as he prepared for immediate action. He launched himself forward like an arrow released from a bowstring, his enhanced hearing guiding him through the maze of corridors. Each step brought him closer, and he could feel his heart pounding. The scraping sounds grew louder and more obvious as he crossed the familiar passages with determination. Finally, following the auditory trail to its source, Adrian came to an abrupt halt before what seemed to be nothing more than a blank stone wall. "Reducto!" Adrian shouted without hesitation, pointing his wand directly at the center of the wall with precision. A bright beam of red light erupted from his wand tip carrying with it all the focused power and determination he could muster. The spell struck the stones with tremendous force. "CRASH!" The impact was far more destructive than Adrian had anticipated. Stone fragments exploded like shrapnel from a detonated bomb, filling the air with a choking cloud of crushed plaster and centuries-old dust. When the swirling, pungent dust finally began to settle and visibility returned to the devastated corridor, Adrian discovered that the entire stone wall was now covered with an intricate spider web of deep cracks that spread out from the point of impact like frozen lightning. The structural damage was so wide that the wall couldn't support its own weight any longer. With a final, thunderous roar, the entire barrier collapsed completely, revealing an empty room behind it. Seeing the extent of destruction he had inadvertently caused, Adrian's face immediately showed an expression of embarrassment. He had anticipated that the walls inside Hogwarts would possess considerable magical reinforcement and structural integrity, so he had deliberately used what he considered appropriate force for creating a small opening. Now it seemed he had overestimated the defensive capabilities of this particular section, or perhaps underestimated the raw power of his own magical abilities. His original plan had been to create a small hole large enough to see through instead, he had completely demolished an entire wall. He hoped Dumbledore wouldn't blame him... Since the destruction was already done and irreversible, there was nothing to be gained from dwelling on regrets. Adrian shrugged and immediately stepped forward through the debris field, carefully crouching down to examine the broken wall's internal structure for clues about the basilisk's escape route. Among the scattered rubble and still-settling dust, the dark mouth of a massive pipe became clearly visible, obviously part of Hogwarts' plumbing infrastructure, but now became the basilisk's method of movement throughout the castle. The pipe's interior walls had fresh scratches that were clearly recent, providing decisive evidence that the Basilisk had indeed passed through this route within the past few minutes. What further confirmed Adrian's successful tracking was the presence of green liquid scattered around the pipe's entrance that emitted a foul, fishy odor like that of ancient swamps and decay. This biological evidence meant that Adrian's Reductor Curse had actually struck the basilisk during its escape attempt and had inflicted at least some damage. Unfortunately, despite his successful attack, the basilisk had still managed to escape through the pipe system. Adrian stared thoughtfully into the seemingly bottomless depths of the dark pipe, his mind quickly calculating the risks and benefits of immediate pursuit. After a moment's consideration, he wisely abandoned any idea of following the creature. Going into those narrow spaces would be equal to suicide—it would be absolutely catastrophic if the basilisk was lying in wait with its massive jaws open at some point along the pipe's route, ready to devour any pursuer who dared to follow. "Merlin's sacred beard!" Lockhart's voice rang out as he finally managed to catch up with Adrian, his breath coming in heavy gasps. When his eyes took in the scene of destruction in front of him, he appeared somewhat thunderstruck by the scale of the damage. "Oh my... what in the name of all that's magical have you done?" He finally managed to stammer, his voice rising higher with each word. "If your intention was to attract attention to our location, I certainly wouldn't recommend this method of accomplishing that goal..." "Believe me, I didn't intend for things to escalate quite like this," Adrian replied with a casual shrug, turning around to face the flustered professor while gesturing toward the destruction with resigned acceptance. "How is the injured student? Have you assessed their condition?" "Ah, don't worry about the student," Lockhart came to his senses and puffed out his chest, saying, " With my expertise and experience handling such situations, I can assure you that no one will be in any mortal danger while I'm present to provide assistance." Since this assurance came from Lockhart whose reputation for competence was questionable at best, Adrian naturally didn't place any faith whatsoever in his confident statement. He had only been asking out of polite concern and hadn't genuinely expected Lockhart to provide accurate or useful information about the victim's medical status or prognosis. Therefore, Adrian immediately abandoned any further conversation with the unreliable Defense professor and returned to the actual scene of the incident to conduct his own assessment of the situation. This time, he was able to make a more thorough examination of the petrified victim—a third-year Ravenclaw girl whose face he recognized because she had chosen his Care of Magical Creatures classes. The attacked student lay completely motionless on the floor. Most importantly, her right hand still clutched the broken fragments of what had once been a small, handheld mirror. The evidence was clear: she must have glimpsed the basilisk's eyes through the mirror's reflection, which explained why she had been petrified rather than killed directly. Adrian breathed a small sigh of relief at this realization. Since she hadn't looked directly into the creature's eyes, she was naturally not in any immediate mortal danger. However, Adrian's mind immediately turned to the concerns about treatment options. He had exhausted his supply of the antidote, and his greenhouse contained no mature mandrakes that could be harvested for potion-making. Fortunately, he remembered that Professor Sprout had planted mandrakes at the beginning of the school year. Calculating the time, they should be about ready for harvest. Just as Adrian was completing his assessment of the victim and thinking preliminary treatment plans, the sound of rapid footsteps echoed through the corridor, growing louder as they approached the scene. Professor McGonagall appeared around the corner, carrying a stack of papers under one arm—likely student assignments or administrative documents that she had been reviewing in her office when the disturbance occurred. "I heard an extremely loud commotion coming from this area," she said as she approached, her eyes immediately scanning the scene for signs of trouble. "What exactly has happened here?" As she drew closer and her gaze fell upon the motionless student lying on the floor, her expression immediately transformed from curiosity to grave concern. "Another petrification incident," Adrian explained concisely. "The attack occurred just minutes ago." Professor McGonagall immediately hurried forward dropping to one knee beside the victim to conduct her own rapid medical assessment. After confirming that this was indeed a genuine attack and not some prank or misunderstanding, she abruptly thrust the entire stack of papers she had been carrying into Lockhart's arms. "Help me Hold these," She said gravely "I must find Professor Dumbledore immediately and inform him of this." "Oh—certainly, of course," Lockhart fumbled awkwardly as he attempted to catch the papers without dropping them, clearly caught off-guard by the sudden task. Professor McGonagall left the scene like a whirlwind as she moved with rapid speed and determination. Adrian and the helpless Lockhart found themselves alone at the scene, responsible for maintaining security and order. Soon, passing students noticed the abnormality and gathered around curiously. Adrian made the decision not to disperse them immediately, after careful consideration, he decided that there was no need to hide the reality of what had occurred from the students. Rather than attempting to cover up the incident and potentially causing even greater panic through rumors and speculation, it seemed wiser to allow everyone to witness the truth with their own eyes. Besides, having the students remain in this location had an additional purpose, at least while they were gathered here, he could ensure their protection and monitor their safety. When the crowd of curious onlookers had grown to a considerable size and the conversations had reached a noticeable volume, Headmaster Dumbledore finally arrived at the scene, accompanied by the returning Professor McGonagall. "All students must return to your dormitories immediately!" Dumbledore announced in a voice that rang clearly throughout the corridor. Dumbledore's words naturally carried tremendous weight among the students, and the gathered crowd quickly began to disperse from the scene. Within minutes, the area had been cleared of students, leaving only the essential faculty members to deal with the crisis at hand. After ensuring that the corridor was secure and private, Adrian provided Dumbledore with a concise report of the entire incident, from the initial scream that had alerted him to the discovery of the hidden pipe system that the basilisk was using for transportation. "You said, you have injured the creature during your pursuit?" Dumbledore immediately focused on what he recognized as the most key development after listening carefully to Adrian's explanation. "Can you show me the location where this happened?" Adrian nodded and led the group of faculty members through the corridor to the site where an entire wall had previously stood and was now replaced by a large hole surrounded by scattered debris and settling dust. Upon seeing that a complete section of castle wall had simply vanished, Dumbledore's eyebrows rose slightly and he blinked several times in obvious surprise. The extent of the destruction was clearly beyond what he had anticipated based on Adrian's initial report. After taking a moment to fully absorb the scene in front of him, he released a long, thoughtful sigh. "This is truly... unexpected," "Repairing this section of wall will require considerable time and effort," Professor McGonagall said with surprise as she stepped forward to examine the damage more closely. Adrian awkwardly touched the back of his head in a gesture of embarrassment. He really hadn't done it on purpose. In fact, Adrian was well aware that Hogwarts castle walls were far from ordinary construction materials. They had been enhanced over the centuries with numerous layers of defensive magical protections, structural reinforcement charms, and architectural preservation spells that made them remarkably resistant to damage. Under normal circumstances, causing significant harm to these magically protected barriers would require substantial effort and specialized techniques, let alone completely demolishing an entire wall section. He had clearly overestimated the defensive capabilities of this particular wall, or, he had severely underestimated the destructive power of his own magical abilities. Correspondingly, the process of repairing such magically complex architecture would be equally challenging and time-consuming, requiring expertise in both structural magic and historical preservation techniques. This consideration was precisely one of the main reasons why students were strictly prohibited from using magic in the corridors during normal circumstances. Despite the extent of damage, Dumbledore quickly discovered the massive passage hidden within the wall structure. His mind immediately grasped the crucial point: the basilisk had been moving throughout Hogwarts using the castle's own infrastructure system, traveling through pipes that no one had thought to investigate. No wonder they had searched for so long without finding any trace of the basilisk. Who would pay attention to those hidden pipes? "We must take decisive action, Albus," Professor McGonagall said with grave determination as she also grasped the implications of this discovery. "With this new information about the creature's methods, we know that more students will inevitably be attacked unless we can locate and neutralize the threat." "I will personally handle this matter, Minerva" Dumbledore replied softly ________________ You can read more chapters on: /IamLuis