#809 - Collusion

"Don't try to scare us!"

Several young wizards, including Hermione, felt uneasy because of Draco's words.

"I'm just stating facts." Draco even put on a mysterious expression as he said this, "Legend has it that when the Chamber of Secrets is opened, a terrifying monster will emerge from it and purify the school, which means eliminating all Muggle-borns."

"Doesn't that sound like something your pure-blood supremacist families would do? Could it be that the so-called heir is you?"

Hermione glanced at Draco dismissively. Due to frequent cooperation in dungeons over the past two years, their relationship was no longer as tense as when they were freshmen. She could tell that Draco was joking.

"Don't pin that on me. I'm a pragmatist now!" Draco shook his head dismissively. "But don't dismiss my warning. If the Chamber of Secrets really appears, we'll all be in trouble."

"What's there to be afraid of!" Ron snorted. "We have Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Wilson at school. How much trouble can the so-called heir cause?"

Indeed, because of Anduin's presence, although the young wizards present were somewhat nervous about the Chamber of Secrets and the heir, they weren't really scared.

In fact, not only them, but even Draco, who had just been spreading alarmist rumors, didn't think that the Chamber of Secrets would pose much of a threat to them.

They even suspected that Anduin was behind all of this, as they had experienced similar 'boy who cried wolf' stories more than once.

Just as the group was chattering about the Chamber of Secrets, McGonagall and Snape arrived on the scene.

When they saw the words on the wall, their expressions tightened.

"Prefects of each house, quickly lead your people away from the scene." McGonagall called out loudly, dispersing the crowd, and then carefully took Mrs. Norris down from the torch.

"Professor, is the Chamber of Secrets mentioned above really real?" Hermione couldn't help but ask when she saw McGonagall's expression was wrong.

"The specific situation needs to be determined after investigation. Leave first and don't make trouble here, Miss Granger." McGonagall replied with a serious expression, obviously unsure herself.

After seeing the attitude of the professors, the Chamber of Secrets finally attracted everyone's attention. Could it be that the Chamber of Secrets really exists?

After driving all the young wizards away, McGonagall carefully checked Mrs. Norris's condition, and soon her face became increasingly ugly.

"Is the problem serious?" Snape stepped forward and asked in a deep voice.

"Yes, it's very advanced dark magic, something that young wizards can't do at all. Only advanced potions can undo it." McGonagall muttered, then looked at Snape in confusion, "Where's Anduin? Where did he run off to?"

Not only the young wizards, but even Professor McGonagall suspected Anduin the moment she encountered this sudden situation. That guy was always a worry.

"He said that Silver Flash Bank has urgent matters to deal with and left this morning." Snape raised an eyebrow. "Do you suspect him…"

"Otherwise?" McGonagall rolled her eyes. "Have you forgotten last year's Dark Mark? Or do you really believe in the Chamber of Secrets nonsense?"

After last year's 'Death Eater Invasion War', the professors, including McGonagall, developed a strong immunity to this unknown danger, or rather, everyone instinctively associated all bizarre events with Anduin.

Although she had heard of the legend of the Chamber of Secrets and knew it was true.

But McGonagall knew more inside information. Since Anduin joined the staff, he had upgraded Hogwarts' entire security system. If someone was causing trouble in the school, she would definitely receive a corresponding alarm.

It can be said that Hogwarts is now no worse than Azkaban and Gringotts. Even if Voldemort came, he would have to behave himself.

In this case, you say the monster in the Chamber of Secrets came out, how could she believe it?

"That's true…" Snape also nodded in agreement. "It's really too suspicious for a inexplicable Chamber of Secrets and heir to suddenly appear. I'll contact him and ask."

With that, Snape took out a communicator, a special prop given to him by Anduin, which could even break through the limitations of the magic network for ultra-long-distance communication. After a while, Anduin's face appeared in front of everyone.

In the picture, they could see that Anduin's background was actually daytime, which meant that the other party's location might be on the other side of the earth.

"What's wrong, Severus? I have important things to deal with here. Ultra-long-distance communication consumes a lot of magic power."

The signal for this kind of communication that exceeds the coverage of the magic network didn't seem to be good, and Anduin's voice was also erratic.

"Stop talking nonsense." Although Snape was a little curious about the other party's location, he went straight to the point. "The Chamber of Secrets and the so-called heir, is that your trick?"

"Ah? Did you guess it so easily? I clearly asked Hoggs to make it look more realistic." Anduin actually admitted it so directly without hesitation when he heard the words.

"What exactly are you messing around with again?" McGonagall couldn't help but put her head in front of the screen when she saw that it was as she expected. "Do you know how much chaos you've caused? Those young wizards are all suspicious now, and we were almost scared to death."

"Just suspicious?" Anduin didn't seem very satisfied with this result. "I thought I could make them believe it. The Chamber of Secrets is real after all."

"You found the Chamber of Secrets?" McGonagall seemed to hear the other party's subtext, and her expression changed immediately.

"Um…"

Anduin glanced left and right in the screen, making sure there was no one around.

Then he leaned to the screen and said in a low voice, "I caught a basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. I put it back before I came out. Although I don't know exactly what happened today, it should be what it did if nothing unexpected happened."

"What?" McGonagall was about to go crazy when she heard Anduin's words. "Do you know what you're talking about? How can you randomly put such a dangerous creature as a basilisk in the school? Aren't you afraid that something will happen to the young wizards? The basilisk's gaze is fatal."

"Don't be so nervous…" Anduin smiled nonchalantly. "Don't worry, that basilisk has been treated and is not fatal. At most, it will just petrify people, and Hoggs is watching from the side, so nothing major will happen."

"Is that what you call nothing major?" McGonagall glared at Anduin with some complaint. "That won't do. You quickly put that basilisk away, otherwise it will scare the young wizards to death."

"But I just want to scare them…" Anduin shrugged innocently. "Professor McGonagall, this is an exercise I specially prepared for this academic year. It's hard to find such a good subject at ordinary times."

"An exercise? Using a basilisk for an exercise? Isn't that too exaggerated?" McGonagall rolled her eyes, feeling ridiculous. "Besides, how do you guarantee that those young wizards will believe this absurd thing? They have been tricked by similar 'dangers' more than once."

"Then you need your cooperation, Professor McGonagall." Anduin smiled with squinted eyes. "As long as you show enough attention in the events that follow, they will definitely believe it."

"Ah? Why should we collude with you to fool those students?" McGonagall showed an unbelievable expression.

"Professor McGonagall…" Anduin lowered his voice and induced, "You should also be able to see that since experiencing the tempering of the dungeon, those young wizards have recently been a little… impetuous, or rather, conceited,"

"Isn't that what you caused?" McGonagall pouted dissatisfied.

"But you have to admit that their progress is very fast, isn't it?" Anduin grinned. "As far as I know, even the lower grades can now skillfully master the transfiguration skills of the higher grades."

McGonagall couldn't help but remain silent when she heard the words. The fact was as Anduin said, the growth rate of the students now could be described as rapid.

Especially the transfiguration she taught, because this flexible magic has an extremely important tactical position in the battlefield dungeon, and everyone's enthusiasm for learning transfiguration is extremely high now.

So strictly speaking, she also benefited a lot from Anduin.

"But fast progress can also easily produce negative effects, and complacency will arise if you're not careful." Speaking of this, Anduin also became serious. "So we have to find a way to suppress their arrogance and make the students behave, which is also conducive to future management, isn't it?"

"This… Severus, what's your opinion?"

McGonagall found that she couldn't seem to convince Anduin, or rather, she had gradually agreed with the other party's views deep in her heart, but she couldn't make up her mind immediately. Letting a basilisk in the school was no small matter, so she could only turn to Snape for help.

And Snape's eyes were actually shining at this time. "I've wanted to clean up those little devils for a long time. They're getting more and more presumptuous now and don't take the professors seriously at all."

Hey! Why do you look like you're looking forward to it? That's a basilisk! McGonagall glanced at Snape speechlessly, but in the end she could only shake her head helplessly.

"Okay, but you must figure out the measure." McGonagall knew that she couldn't stop it when she saw Snape's eager look.

"Don't worry, I've already talked to Headmaster Dumbledore."

"So he knew it all along." McGonagall was obviously a little dissatisfied that Dumbledore hadn't informed her in advance.

But soon she became serious again, "But what do you mean by asking us to cooperate?"

"It's very simple." Anduin smiled. "As long as you act seriously about the Chamber of Secrets, coupled with the occasional attacks, those young wizards will definitely be scared."

"Still attacking?" McGonagall frowned with some reluctance. "Isn't that a little too…"

"It won't do them any harm to suffer a little." Snape didn't have any burden on this, but sneered, "I'm already starting to look forward to the expressions of those little devils."

"Don't say so much, this matter won't last too long." Anduin also looked very calm. "I'll return to Hogwarts after Christmas. During this time, I'll have to rely on your performance."

After casually instructing a few words, Anduin hung up the communication, which made McGonagall feel quite helpless. What's going on? She was clearly prepared to question him, but now she has become an accomplice instead.

Just as McGonagall was secretly complaining, several prefects returned to the scene after escorting the students back to their respective common rooms. As assistants to the professors, they needed to be on standby at any time.

Of course, many of them also wanted to get some information from the professors because of the curiosity and instigation of their classmates.

"Professor McGonagall." Percy took the lead and pointed to the words on the wall. "How should these be dealt with? Also, has the perpetrator been found? Who exactly made this prank?"

"Cough cough…"

McGonagall quickly adjusted her state when she heard the words and put on a serious expression as if something was really wrong.

"Erase all these words on the wall and clean the corridor quickly. As for today's matter, don't ask too much, don't discuss it, understand?"

"Yes." Percy replied honestly, but seeing that Professor McGonagall didn't mention the perpetrator and was so nervous, he couldn't help but ask the doubts in his heart, "Professor, is the legendary Chamber of Secrets real? Could it be that similar things will happen later?"

"Sigh…" McGonagall sighed pretentiously. "Before Anduin comes back, we can't make a judgment. You guys should tell the students to pay attention recently and try not to act alone. In addition, the curfew time will be advanced by one hour as a whole. Later, I will assign you tasks to organize a patrol team to cooperate with the professors to thoroughly search the school."

"Is it that serious?" The prefects couldn't help but be shocked when they heard the words, and Percy asked anxiously, "Is Professor Wilson not in school?"

"He has important things to do and has to leave for a while." McGonagall frowned, looking worried. "Everyone, go away first. Remember to take care of the students in your respective houses, especially those who like to cause trouble."

"Yes, Professor." The prefects responded loudly, and then hurriedly left the scene.

As for whether the things McGonagall told them would reach the ears of those young wizards, the answer was definitely yes.

After confirming that everyone was gone, McGonagall looked at Snape with great interest, "How did I perform just now? They shouldn't be able to tell, right?"

"Uh… very good." Snape gave a speechless and awkward smile. "But did you get into it a little too quickly?"

Snape really didn't expect that Professor McGonagall, who was still hesitant, would get into the state so quickly, and how did he feel that she was looking forward to it more than herself?

Sure enough, Professor McGonagall's heart is also full of evil tastes…