Hoare admired it for a moment before handing it back to Harry, knowing that Ron's eyes were fixed on him.

  "What are you doing here so te?" Hoare crossed his arms and asked curiously.

  "I..."

  Harry had just started speaking when Ron pulled him back.

  Hoare raised an eyebrow. A little secret?

  "I'm just asking casually," Hoare said with a polite smile, waving the book in his hand as he prepared to leave.

  "Henry!" Harry called softly to Hoare, "There's nothing you 't know. We're friends, and I trust you, just like Ron does."

  He tinued, "We're here to find information on Niel."

  Hoare didn't expect Harry to actually share the secret with him. Hearing the name Niel, he roughly uood—they were iigating the Philosopher's Stone.

  "I know Niel," Hoare said.

  "You know everything..." Ron muttered, fetting that the darkness amplified their hearing.

  "Five Galleons," Hoare extended his right hand.

  "Why don't you just live in a pile of money!" Ron excimed angrily.

  Seeing Hoare's outstretched hand, Harry was relieved he had brought money with him today. He pulled five Gold-Galleons from his pocket and pced them in Hoare's palm.

  Since Henry accepted the money, it meant he indeed had information.

  "Niel is a famous alchemist, best known for his creation of the Philosopher's Sto's said he's over six hundred years old," Hoare reyed the information he had found. "Third shelf over there, sed row, first book on the left."

  Harry and Ron exged a g the mention of the Philosopher's Stone, noddiedly before following Hoare's dires to find the book.

  Hoare had fihe book in his hand and tinued reading in order.

  He estimated that in about three days and nights, he could finish reading all the books on exorcism in the restricted se.

  "Henry, Henry..." Harry approached Hoare. "We've found the information we wanted. What are you looking for? Need any help?"

  Hoare shook his head. "I just like reading." He waved the colorful book in his hand. "Once you're done, you should go rest."

  Harry nodded, pulling Ron along as they doheir cloaks a.

  The books in the restricted se were peculiar, some cursed, some sealed, and some even bit.

  If Harry stayed to help, Ron would stay too. Although Ron had been a bit silly tely, he was still Hoare's brother.

  Hoare didn't want Ron to get hurt.

  After two more days, Hoare finally couldn't hold on any longer. He o go bad sleep on a soft bed, recharge, and then tinue his efforts.

  Although he hadn't found the exorcism spells yet, he had learned a bunch of random things. Some were quite iing, like how to deal with a Boggart, how to make a Portkey, and what dots were o apply for a Knight Bus driver's lise.

  It was around nine o'clock at night when Hoare, yawning, walked down the corridor. He had thought the energy potion would keep him awake for several days, but while his body felt energized, his mind was exhausted.

  He slowly made his way back to the dormitory.

  Then, at a er, he met a pair of emerald green eyes.

  "Meow~"

  "Mrs. Norris? Who did you see?"

  In the distance, Filch's footsteps came running, eg enthusiastically in the empty castle.

  Hoare looked at Mrs. Norris, who was sitting calmly in front of him, flig her fluffy tail. He quickly pulled out a piece of part to check for a passages nearby.

  Sure enough, behind a knight's armor, there was a hidden passage.

  H Mrs. Norris and slowly, slowly backed away.

  Mrs. Norris remained seated in the distance, her eyes fixed on Hoare as if to say, "Let's see what you're up to."

  Then Hoare accelerated, sprinting into the narrow passageway at an unpreted speed.

  Even though Filch had gained a bit of magic, he was still the unlikable caretaker.

  Hoare had heard that he retly attended a quick spell correspondence course and could occasionally wave a wand and cast a spell or two.

  The passage door closed quietly, as if it had never been opened.

  "Lumos."

  A faint light glowed from Hoare's wand, illuminating his path.

  The passage was exceptionally narrow, with nothing but a straight path ahead.

  Hoare proceeded cautiously, and after about five or six minutes, he arrived at a door.

  He gently pushed it open, and his eyes widened in surprise.

  Hoare found himself on the sed floor.

  The door he had just opened was actually a painting, and the knight in the painting gred at Hoare fiercely, shouting, "There's someone here!!!"

  Hoare looked around and realized he was in a pletely unfamiliar pce.

  His previous drowsiness vanished instantly, repced by intense curiosity.

  He curiously approached the source of a sound, which seemed to be a woman singing.

  Hogwarts was mysterious because you never knew if you would enter a person, a painting, host.

  At that moment, Hoare finally uood why he was unfamiliar with this pce.

  It erfectly normal—how could a boy be familiar with the girls' bathroom?

  Especially the infamous Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

  "Ahhh!!!"

  "Plop!"

  Hoare's appearance clearly startled the timid Moaning Myrtle, who dove bato the toilet, her sobs eg itently from within.

  Moaning Myrtle's—girls' bathroom.

  Clearly, Hoare had an idea.

  He said loudly, "Sorry, ma'am, I'm just borrowing the sink."

  Hoare approached the circur sink in the ter of the bathroom.

  Before the holidays, he had sidered expl the legendary Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, and now, by ce, he had stumbled upon it.

  Hoare's fingers brushed over the serpent-shaped carvings on the faucet. Even after a thousand years, the patterns were still vivid, as if they could bite his fingers off at any moment.

  It required Parseltoo open.

  Hoare had a pn in mind. First, he would go bad get a good night's sleep, then learn a phrase of Parseltongue from Harry tomorrow.

  Then he would return to open this mysterious chamber.

  "Oh, you're still here, haven't you washed your hands yet?" Moaning Myrtle's head peeked out from the door crack.

  Hoare preteo shake his hands. "Oh, I'm dohank you."

  "Oh! Someoually thanked poor Myrtle~" Moaning Myrtle blushed and couldn't help but float up.

  After politely bidding farewell, Hoare returo his dormitory.

  He suddenly realized that even if he learned Parselto might not be enough to get in, sidering the thousand-year-old Basilisk residing below.

  Hoare o e up with a pn to lure the Basilisk away.

  He thought of a "person" who might know, after all, he had seen the Basilisk's master, and he was his student.

  The Bloody Baron.

  0Niffler0