Chapter 108: The Secret Chamber Comes to an End

“Fluorescent flicker.”

Kane motioned with his finger, and in the next moment, the chamber suddenly brightened as if a small sun had appeared within; his magic was so immense that the spells he cast were far more powerful than those of ordinary wizards.

He could absorb natural energy and convert it into magic power. Every day, Kane sent a shadow clone to absorb natural energy, so even he wasn’t entirely certain just how vast his magical reserves were. Yet, he had not reached his limit—or perhaps, he simply had no limit at all.

Guided by the glow, Kane arrived before a locked pipe. He tried an unlocking spell but failed. At that moment, Kane regretted not bringing Harry along; Harry could have opened this door and then escorted him further inside.

“Splinching!”

Impatient, Kane used a shatter curse to blast open a hole in the stone wall beside the pipe. With the sheer depth of his magic, the spell he casually cast was equivalent to five or six sticks of C4 explosives.

After creating an entrance, Kane walked through the long pipe and finally reached the legendary chamber built by Slytherin.

Near the Slytherin statue on the far side, two figures appeared—one tall and slender, clad in Hogwarts wizard robes; the other curled up on the floor, hair damp and disheveled over pale shoulders, face ashen.

“Tom, it seems my mercy gave you many illusions, leading you to believe you could resist me by involving my goddaughter. What means did you use to control her?”

Kane spoke to Tom while casting a levitation charm on Hermione, causing her to float toward him.

Throughout the process, Tom did not intervene—either because he was unable or because his life was now linked to Hermione’s, preventing him from casting magic on her.

Yet Tom’s face twisted with fury as he shouted at Kane, “Mercy? Every day, every single day, I was scorched by fierce flames; no matter how I begged, it was useless. Only when I feigned near death did you lessen the burning! Mercy?!”

His last words erupted like a roar, venting the grievances he had suffered under Kane’s torment.

“I’ve decided—I’ll kill her first, then you. No one can save you both, I swear it!”

As he spoke, Tom inhaled sharply, recalling his miserable days within the diary. But now, he could be resurrected and freed.

Kane ignored Tom’s impotent rage. When Hermione floated over, he caught her gently and examined her condition. “Hermione, are you alright?”

“Godfather,” she whispered weakly before her eyes glazed over, speechless.

“You can’t save her. This magic is irreversible. Now she serves only as nourishment for my resurrection.”

Tom gloated. To watch the one who tormented him see his goddaughter die and then be devoured by the Slytherin basilisk as the Dark Lord’s revival was the ultimate offering.

“Want to know why she’s under my control? It’s laughable—I thought she was lost.”

“Tom, I don’t know where you get the confidence to expose your weaknesses and lecture me seriously, but you are the one who’s ridiculous.”

After Kane’s words, the diary beside Tom flew toward him.

“No! The diary’s coming!”

Panic surged through Tom. His magic was incomplete; he hadn’t fully revived. His summoning spell failed—his power still depended on a second-year Gryffindor, hardly a match for Kane.

“Diary’s coming! Get out! Kill that man!”

Tom tried the summoning spell again, failed, then began conjuring the basilisk. After two failed summoning spells, he remembered that the man tormenting him was a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who specialized in dark magic.

As Tom invoked the serpent’s tongue to summon the basilisk, the Slytherin statue erupted with a loud rumble; its mouth opened, and the sound of the basilisk slithering forth echoed.

But by then, the diary was in Kane’s hand. Shaking his head, Kane said, “Tom, if you’d behaved, you might have lived longer. Now, you’re no longer even of use.”

Boom!

At Kane’s words, his hand holding the diary suddenly ignited with a wild, fierce flame. The fire started bright yellow but gradually darkened to a blood-red hue, emitting an eerie, ominous glow.

“Ah! Aaaah!”

The fire’s power was terrifying, especially with Kane’s phoenix and fire-dragon bloodline fueling it. The diary, a Horcrux, instantly began to disintegrate. At the same moment, Tom’s nearly resurrected body also showed signs of damage.

No matter how loudly he screamed, it couldn’t prevent the diary’s destruction.

When Tom vanished completely, Kane extinguished the flames. Hermione, cradled in his arms, regained her strength, and memories of the past days played before her like a nightmare slideshow, frame by frame.

“Godfather… I’m sorry.”

Kane ruffled her tousled hair and cast a clearing spell, saying, “Apologize when we get out of here. This isn’t your fault; it’s all Tom’s—this evil man.”

“By the way, there’s the basilisk, Godfather. We should go—he just appeared.”

“I know. I’m quite interested in the basilisk, and it’s already out.”

Seeing Hermione about to look back, Kane gently pressed her head down. Facing the basilisk was like throwing oneself into an Avada Kedavra curse with a bare body; even Kane had to rely on listening carefully to locate it.

As the hissing grew louder, Kane looked up and expelled a massive blast of fire from his mouth. The flames instantly shaped into a phoenix, and with Kane’s continuous fire magic, even the surrounding pools vaporized under the intense heat.

“Hiss~ hisss!”

The basilisk’s hissing carried a note of panic. It had lived for thousands of years, grown from a small serpent into a creature tens of meters long. But now, facing a fire phoenix twice its size, it cowered in fear.

Before it could turn away, a fiery dragon statue emerged near the Slytherin statue’s passage, surrounded by a flaming barrier that trapped the basilisk.

Now truly afraid, the basilisk curled its massive body and howled weakly.

The fiery barrier suddenly parted, and Kane’s shadow clone approached, speaking, “I know you understand human speech. Turn over and submit, or prepare to be burned alive.”

Having lived for millennia and possessing its own mind, the basilisk likely comprehended human language. If it didn’t respond or understand, Kane would have to settle for its corpse.

Fortunately, moments after Kane’s words, the basilisk flipped onto its back, exposing its belly.

“Smart choice. Now shrink.”

Kane smiled and cast a shrinking charm on the basilisk, then extinguished the surrounding flames.

The basilisk shrank to just over ten centimeters long. Kane coiled it into a circle, then cast petrification and cleaning spells before wearing it like a bracelet on his wrist.

“Now, tell me your story, Miss Granger. Why would you take a diary you knew was dark magic?”

Kane gently set Hermione down. Hearing the question, she lowered her head.

After a pause, she spoke, “I heard a voice… like a dream. It said things I often thought. The voice was broken and faint. At that moment, I just wanted to talk to him a little longer.”

“When we get back, start practicing mind-blocking and memory charms. Don’t say anything reckless—leave everything to me.”

Kane patted Hermione’s head, reminding her. He had initially planned to sneak into the chamber and take the basilisk away, but fortunately, no great damage occurred. Even such a crisis could be turned to advantage.

With the basilisk subdued, the chamber’s only remaining purpose was as a conduit to various floors—something Dumbledore could handle.

Kane and Hermione headed out, only to encounter Harry, Dumbledore, and several other professors arriving at the girls’ restroom sink, where Kane had just used the levitation charm.

“Professor Fent…”

“The situation is resolved, Headmaster. Hermione was controlled but I rescued her. The dark wizard controlling her and the basilisk in the chamber have been eliminated.”

Mid-sentence, Kane noticed Snape eyeing his wrist. Looking down, he saw the basilisk bracelet slipping, so he adjusted it upward.

“How are the attacked students?”

Dumbledore, pretending not to notice the bracelet, replied, “Fortunately, only petrification occurred. Percy never directly met the basilisk’s gaze. However, recovery depends on Professor Sprout’s Mandrake reaching maturity.”

“I’ll have some sent over. There should be plenty of Mandrake,” Kane offered.

“Professor Snape will surely brew a perfect antidote, Professor Fent.”

Hearing Percy’s name made Hermione tremble—that was the senior who had a falling out with her because she refused to introduce her godfather, harboring a subconscious resentment that led her to control the basilisk in revenge.

Just as Hermione tried to speak, Kane gently pressed her head down.

“Headmaster Dumbledore, I need to discuss something regarding this diary.”

Dumbledore glanced at the charred book in Kane’s hand, barely recognizing it as a diary. “Come to my office, Professor Fent.”

Kane left Hermione in the office and followed Dumbledore to his study.

As he entered, a fiery red phoenix flew toward him. Kane sensed its thoughts—curiosity and joy, no malice. The phoenix landed on his shoulder, peering at him inquisitively.

“Fawkes looks like he’s found a friend,” Dumbledore remarked, offering some candy. Seeing Kane uninterested, he peeled a honey drop for himself. “Professor Fent, what would you like to tell me?”

“This diary is a Horcrux of Tom Riddle. He influenced Hermione to open the chamber and release the basilisk. By the way, he was also the one who opened the chamber fifty years ago.”

“An astonishing revelation. Is that basilisk the same as the one from fifty years ago?”

“Not quite, but that’s unimportant. What matters is that Tom Riddle had more than one Horcrux—possibly seven.”

Dumbledore’s expression darkened. Tom Riddle was once his student, now the Dark Lord.

“I see, Professor Fent. Thank you for the information. But what about the basilisk?”

“I’ve tamed it, Mr. Dumbledore. It’s pledged allegiance to me now.”

Kane made it clear that, though the basilisk was Slytherin’s pet, it had abandoned its master and now served him.

Dumbledore waved a hand. “Of course, I have no objections about the basilisk’s allegiance. However, Hagrid will need proof, Professor Fent.”

(End of chapter)