"Don't mention that name to me!" The boy said gloomily, "That damn mudblood! How dare he hurt the Serpent King that the great Salazar Slytherin left me! And twice in a row! ”

"Maca? Hurt the basilisk? Harry said in surprise.

"The first time, I was there...... And Miss Granger. "Unfortunately, I didn't have time to save her." ”

"Oh-Professor, so you already knew-" Harry's eyes widened.

"Humph! So what? The boy snorted coldly and said, "One stinky mudblood wants to save another mudblood?" Amusing! ”

He paused, then sneered and said, "What's even more ridiculous is that this mud species didn't save one of them, and he actually wanted to save the next...... Harry Potter, it's a shame you didn't—Miss Weasley struggled desperately, crying and making a fuss, and the Mudblood could only lean against the wall, clutching her injured arm, and watch her be taken away by the Serpent King—"

"Oh, by the way, he can't see—because he didn't have the courage to open his eyes and look at it even a glance from the beginning to the end—that's a good joke, isn't it?"

Harry clenched his fists and stared at him resentfully.

Ron, who was standing on the side holding Ginny, had been hanging his head since just now, looking at Ginny's face and not knowing what he was thinking.

"We do blame Maca...... Harry angrily, "and you're the fault for all of this!" ”

"Don't say that...... I've been waiting for you since Ginny and I got here, and I knew you would. I have a lot of questions for you! Harry Potter. ”

"What's the problem?" Harry snapped, his fists still clenched.

"For example," said the boy, with a happy smile on his face, "a baby, who doesn't have any special magical spells, how did he defeat the greatest wizard of all time?" How can you escape unharmed, leaving only a scar and Voldemort's power destroyed? ”

Now, his wolf-hungry eyes glowed with a strange red glow.

"Why do you care how I escaped?" Harry exclaimed, "What does this have to do with you! ”

"Of course! Of course it is! Just because my name is Tom Riddle. ”

Harry immediately thought of the name in his diary, but he had no clue what was the point.

But before Harry could wonder, Riddle gave a direct explanation.

"Voldemort," Riddle whispered, "is my past, present, and future, Harry Potter...... It only takes one move of the letters and you'll understand, in fact—"

"In fact, he was Lord Voldemort, Voldemort at the age of sixteen." Lockhart said.

"He's ...... Voldemort? Harry was taken aback.

"Do you think I'm going to use my filthy Muggle father's name for the rest of my life? You know, in my veins flows the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, which was passed down to me through his daughter! Am I going to keep that disgusting generic Muggle name? ”

"He abandoned me before I was even born because he found out that his wife was a witch! No, Harry. I came up with a new name for myself, and I knew that one day, when I became the greatest magician in the world, wizards everywhere would not dare to say that name easily! ”

Riddle's tone grew more intense, and his voice grew louder.

At this moment, Lockhart took a big step forward abruptly.

"The greatest magician?" He looked at Riddle with a strange look, "Do you really think that the person who did such a thing would be a great magician?" ”

Lockhart asked, pointing to the journal at the foot of the Slytherin statue.

"You know what it is!"

Hearing the deep meaning of Lockhart's words, he immediately showed surprise.

Riddle immediately gave up on his original plan, and was no longer in the mood to continue talking nonsense with Harry, but decisively turned to the Slytherin statue and opened his mouth, making a hissing sound - only Harry understood what he said.

"Speak to me, Slytherin, the greatest of the Hogwarts Four!"

The Slytherin's massive stone face moved, its mouth opening wider and wider, and finally forming a large black hole.

Something seemed to be moving in the statue's mouth, and it was sliding upwards from the depths of the statue.

"Close your eyes! Go back! Lockhart shouted.

Harry and Ron dragged Ginny back with them, crashing into the dark walls of the chamber almost simultaneously, their eyes closed.

A behemoth slammed down on the stone floor, and everyone felt the chamber tremble.

They all knew what was going on, and they could feel the serpent unfurling its coiled body from Slytherin's mouth.

Then Harry heard Riddle's hissing voice.

"Kill him!"

But what Riddle didn't expect was that the man in front of him, who looked like a soft egg, reacted extremely quickly.

Although Lockhart's eyes were closed at this time, he aimed his wand at the stone pillar beside him as if he could see his surroundings.

"Divided!"

Under the effect of the cutting spell, part of the stone pillar fell to the ground with a bang, breaking into several pieces.

Immediately, Lockhart waved his wand again, and one of the rocks quickly turned into a large rooster.

"Damn it!"

Riddle immediately sensed that something was wrong, but he couldn't interfere effectively without a wand in his hand.

He waved his hand at Lockhart, and a thrust of magic suddenly slammed into the rooster, only to be easily defused by Lockhart with a wave of his wand.

The rooster crowed, and the effect of the rooster was so effective that the basilisk immediately swam around in a panic. For a while, several stone pillars were knocked apart, and dust flew everywhere, and the scene was quite chaotic.

Lockhart took advantage of this opportunity to quickly run to the foot of the stone statue under the cover of the dust.

On the other hand, Riddle obviously intended the same, and I don't know if it was because of the difference in the form of existence, the vague Riddle was faster than Lockhart!

But when Riddle overtook Lockhart, he didn't notice that Lockhart immediately stopped running.

With a swift and decisive flick of his wand, a black mist skull the size of a human head suddenly burst out of the tip of the wand and flew forward like a ghost, landing behind Riddle's vague figure without any tricks.

"Ahh

Withstanding the sudden impact of the Black Mist Skull, Riddle's figure became even more blurred, as if he couldn't control his form, and he couldn't stop twisting it.

It didn't take long for the figure to split into two virtual shadows, large and small. The larger one went straight for the journal, while the smaller one arced through the air and landed exactly on Ginny.

After the large phantom gradually melted into the diary, Lockhart summoned the journal back to his hands with a wave of his wand.

In fact, he could have done this just now, and the act of suddenly running over was just for Riddle to see.

The sequence of actions was completed almost in a matter of seconds, and he was caught off guard, leaving Riddle with little chance to react.

After finishing Riddle, Lockhart closed his eyes again and once again covered his head and rushed into the dust that had not yet settled.

After a while, a loud hiss was heard from a corner of the chamber, followed by a heavy landing.

In the opposite corner, obscured in the dust, Lockhart was standing beside the basilisk's massive head. His eyes were not on the basilisk's scales or fangs, but more on the inconspicuous horn on its head.

That's actually the most precious part of the basilisk!

Legend has it that Salazar Slytherin used it as the core of his wand, and its power was quite amazing.

"Come out! What to do next, I think you should understand. Lockhart, or rather, Maca who has turned into Lockhart, said.

"Of course! It doesn't get any easier than that! ”

As he spoke, a figure suddenly appeared not far away—it was the real Lockhart himself. He handed over a suitcase in his hand.

"Take them out of here, I'll take care of it."

"Of course, it's a pleasure to work with, Mr. McLean."

……

When the real Lockhart hurried to Harry's side, a soft moan sounded faintly - Ginny had woken up.

Her blank gaze looked left and right, then at Ron, who had been holding her, and finally fell on Harry, who was a little embarrassed.

Immediately, her tears flowed down her cheeks.

"Oh-Harry, I wanted to tell you at breakfast, but I didn't ...... in front of Percy I can't say I did it, Harry, but I ...... I swear, not intentionally, it was Riddle who forced me, he controlled me! Oh – Riddle is in ...... Where is it? All I remember in the end is that he came out of his diary—"

"Don't worry, it's okay! I've already killed them! You see—" Lockhart looked elated, pointing to the huge corpse in the depths of the chamber.

But Ginny didn't seem to feel much relieved by that.

"I'm going to be fired!" As Ron helped her to her staggering back to her feet without saying a word, Ginny wept and said, "Since the ...... I've been looking forward to coming to Hogwarts since Bill came, and now that I have to leave, what will happen to Mom and Dad...... How so? ”

At Lockhart's urging, they made their way through the dark, empty, echoing room back into the tunnel. But they didn't notice that the stone gate behind them didn't close because they left.

Of course, even if they noticed, they would never have thought that there was someone who was dismantling the basilisk's corpse at this moment!