For days on end, the students talked about the attack on Lady Loris, without talking about anything else. Filch's performance made it impossible to forget. He often paced around the place where Lady Loris had been killed, as if thinking that the attackers would come back.

Charon saw him scrub the writing on the wall with the "Lady Skoll Brand All-Purpose Miracle Stain Remover", but in vain; The words still flickered so brightly on the stone walls. When Filch is not patrolling the crime scene, he glares at two red eyes, stealthily hides in the hallway, and then suddenly pounces on the unsuspecting students, trying to find excuses to keep them confined, such as their "gasping too loudly" or "grinning faces".

Ginny Weasley seems to be very upset by what happened to Lady Loris. According to Ron, she has always been very fond of cats.

"Actually, you don't know Lady Loris." Ron wanted to cheer her up, "Truth be told, we're more comfortable without it." ”

Ginny's lips began to tremble. "It doesn't happen very often at Hogwarts," Ron reassured her, "and they'll soon catch the madman who caused the trouble and get him out of here." I only hope he has time to petrify Filch before he is expelled. I'm just kidding—"

Ron saw that Ginny's face turned white, and quickly said another word.

The attack also had an impact on Hermione. Hermione began to spend quite a bit of time searching the library. Harry and Ron ask her what she's doing, and she ignores her. Until one day Charon finds her in the library.

"Several copies of Hogwarts, a history of the school have been borrowed," she said annoyedly, "and the queue for those to borrow has been in place for two weeks." Alas, I wish I hadn't left my one at home, but there were so many of Lockhart's thick books in the box that I couldn't fit it anymore. ”

"Why do you want to see it?" Charon asked.

"For the same reason that everyone else wants to see it," said Hermione, "look up the legends about the Chamber of Secrets." ”

"What is a secret room?"

"Here's the problem, I can't remember," Hermione said, biting her lip, "and I can't find this story anywhere else—"

The class bell rang. The four of them walked towards the history of magic class.

History of magic is the most boring course on their schedule. Of all their teachers, only Professor Binns, who taught the subject, was a ghost. The most exciting thing in his class was when he walked through the blackboard into the classroom. He was very old, and his flesh was wrinkled terribly.

Many people said he didn't notice that he was dead. When he was alive, he got up one day to go to class and accidentally left his body in an armchair in front of the fire in the faculty lounge. Since then, all his daily activities have not changed in the slightest.

Today, classes are still as boring as usual. Professor Binns opened his notes and read them in a dry, low, monotone voice like an old vacuum cleaner, and at last the class was groggy, occasionally coming back to their senses, copying out a name or date, and then falling back into a half-sleep. Half an hour after he spoke, something happened that had never happened before. Hermione held her hand up.

Professor Binns was giving a very boring lecture on the International Wizarding Convention of 1289, when he looked up in surprise. "You're—"

"I'm Granger, Professor. I don't know if you can tell us what's going on in the Chamber of Secrets. Hermione said in a clear voice. Dean had been staring out the window with his mouth open all the time, when he suddenly woke up from his trance; Lavender. Brown's head lifted from his arm; Neville's elbow dropped off the table.

Professor Binns blinked.

"My course is the history of magic," he said in that dry, breathless voice, "I study facts, Miss Granger, not myths and legends. He cleared his throat and made a soft sound like the breaking of chalk, and continued: "Just in October of that year, a special group of magicians from the island of Quitting—"

He stammered to a halt. Hermione raised her hand in the air and waved it again.

"Miss Granger?"

"I'd like to ask you, sir, legends have a certain factual basis, don't they?"

Professor Binns looked at her in amazement.

"Well," Professor Binns said slowly, "yes, I suppose you could say that." He looked at Hermione as if he had never looked at a student before. However, the legend you are talking about is a very sensational, even comical......"

Now, the class was listening intently to every word Professor Binns had to say. He looked at them with dazed eyes, and saw every face turn to him. It was so difficult for Mr. Binns that there was such an unusually strong interest.

"Oh, well, then," he said slowly, "let me think about it...... Chamber...... As you all know, Hogwarts was founded more than a thousand years ago? The exact date is uncertain – the founders were four of the greatest witches and wizards of the time. Four houses are named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. Together, they built the castle away from the prying eyes of Muggles, because at that time, the common people were afraid of magic and witches and witches were persecuted. ”

Professor Binns paused, looked around the classroom with a blurred vision, and continued, "For the first few years, several founders worked together in harmony, looking for young people who showed signs of magic, and bringing them to the castle to be cultivated. Slowly, however, a disagreement began between them. The rift between Slytherin and the others grew.

Slytherin wanted Hogwarts to be more selective when it came to recruiting students. He believed that magical education should be confined to purely magical families. He was reluctant to accept Muggle-born children, believing them to be unreliable. After a few days, Slytherin and Gryffindor had a heated argument over the issue, and Slytherin left the school. ”

Professor Binns paused again, pursed his lips, like a crumpled old turtle.

"Reliable historical sources tell us this," he said, "but these pure facts are obscured by strange legends about the secret chambers." The story goes that Slytherin built a secret room in the castle that the other founders knew nothing about.

According to this legend, Slytherin sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that no one could open it until his true heir came to the school. Only the heir can open the Chamber of Secrets, release the horrors inside, and let it purify the school and rid it of all those who don't deserve to learn magic. ”

When the story was finished, the class fell silent, but not the sleepy silence of Professor Binns's classroom. Everyone continued to stare at him, hoping that he would continue to speak, and the atmosphere was unsettling, and Professor Binns looked a little annoyed.

"Of course, the whole thing is nonsense," he said, "and the school has naturally investigated whether there is such a secret room, and has investigated many times, and invited the most learned witches and wizards." The Chamber of Secrets does not exist. It's just a story designed to scare simple-minded people. ”

Hermione's hand was in the air again. "Sir—what did you mean by the 'horrible stuff in the chamber'?"

"It is believed to be some kind of monster that only the heirs of Slytherin can control." Professor Binns said in his dry, thin voice.

The students exchanged nervous glances.

"I'll tell you, that thing doesn't exist." Professor Binns clumsily sorted through his notes and said, "There are no secret rooms, and there are no monsters. ”

"But, sir," said Seamus Finigan, "this chamber can only be opened by the true heir of Slytherin, and no one else may not find it, can it?"

"Nonsense, Auflye," said Professor Binns in an annoyed tone, "since so many successive principals and boys have not discovered that—"

"But, Professor," Palty Pettier said sharply, "it probably has to be opened with dark magic—"

"Just because a wizard doesn't use black magic doesn't mean he won't, Miss Penny Fizer." Professor Binns snapped, "I'll repeat, since Dumbledore's feint—"

"Perhaps, someone with a relationship with Slytherin has to open it, so Dumbledore can't-" Dean Thomas had not finished speaking before Mr. Binns became impatient.

"Enough," he said sternly, "it's a myth!" It doesn't exist at all! There is not the slightest evidence that Slytherin ever built such a secret broomstick shed or anything like that. I regret telling you this ridiculous story! If you will, let's go back to history, to the real, credible, reliable facts!"

Within five minutes, the students fell into that groggy sleepiness again.

"Salazar Slytherin", "Muggle discrimination and persecution", Charon unconsciously turned the quill in his hand, thinking thoughtfully: "It seems that Voldemort also graduated from Slytherin, and he also preached the cleansing of Muggle wizards, could it be that this matter has something to do with him?" ”。

"I knew Salazar Slytherin was a perverted old madman." Ron said to Harry and Hermione, "But I didn't know he came up with this pure-blood." Even if I was given money, I wouldn't go to his academy. Truth be told, if the Sorting Hat had put me in Slytherin, I wouldn't have said a word and would have taken the train home......"

As he spoke, he suddenly remembered Charon, and quickly shut up embarrassedly.