Chapter 123: The Professors' Strength
"Harry, let's step back!"
George did not enter with the professors but obediently led Harry away from the door.
At this moment, all they needed to do was wait quietly for the outcome.
Shortly after, a cacophony of sounds erupted from the distant room: the crowing of a rooster, the terrified hissing of the basilisk, and the incantations of various professors.
"Close your eyes!"
"Sectumsempra!"
"Bombarda!"
"Protego Maxima!"
"The Conjunctivitus Curse seals the basilisk's strongest ability, the Exploding Charm sends it flying, Sectumsempra delivers the final blow, and the Super Shield Charm protects everyone from the basilisk's counterattack. Even without the rooster, the basilisk would be no match for the professors!"
Listening to the commotion inside the room, George couldn't help but marvel.
Apart from frauds like Lockhart, the wizards in Hogwarts' teaching staff were among the most elite in the entire wizarding world.
Even the Divination professor, Sybill Trelawney, who often seemed eccentric and only gave nonsensical lessons, was the great-great-granddaughter of the true seer Cassandra Trelawney.
When the noise from the room subsided, George led Harry over.
The massive body of the basilisk lay shattered on the ground, clearly dead beyond any doubt.
The professors, unharmed, were using magic to gather the scattered roosters and place them back into a box.
"Professor, I'm very interested in magical creatures and have been learning about them from Hagrid recently. Could I collect a few of its teeth as a memento?"
Seeing that the situation had settled, George quickly turned to Snape with a request.
Basilisk fangs were rare items capable of destroying Voldemort's Horcruxes. Securing a few could be useful in the future.
"Thanks to the roosters you brought, we were able to deal with the basilisk so easily. Be careful, though; the fangs are poisonous."
Snape agreed without hesitation.
George immediately stepped forward and pulled out several of the basilisk's fangs, placing them in the box with the roosters.
With the basilisk defeated, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
However, as they turned to leave the room, Lockhart, who was at the back, quietly drew his wand.
During the fight with the basilisk, he had been cowering in a corner, trembling with fear. If the professors left now, the facade he had built would crumble, and he would be exposed as the greatest fraud of all.
So, he planned to take advantage of everyone's relaxed guard and cast a mass Memory Charm to erase their memories, replacing them with a version where he alone had defeated the basilisk and saved Hogwarts.
"Professor Lockhart, what are you doing? Expelliarmus!"
George, who had been keeping an eye on Lockhart, saw him draw his wand and immediately cast a Disarming Charm, successfully knocking Lockhart back and disarming him.
"George, what's going on?"
McGonagall and the other professors looked puzzled.
George pointed at Lockhart and explained:
"I just saw Professor Lockhart at the back, preparing to cast a spell against all the professors."
"No, I wasn't doing that! George, how could you attack a teacher?"
Lockhart quickly denied the accusation as he got up, but Snape stepped forward:
"Legilimens!"
Compared to Lockhart, he certainly trusted George more.
After a moment, Snape's expression turned grim:
"This man was planning to cast a Memory Charm on us and then take credit for defeating the basilisk, just as he had done before by writing books about other wizards' stories and then erasing their memories."
"This fraud! I always knew he was a fraud."
Upon hearing Snape's words, the professors immediately began to berate Lockhart.
Lockhart, now fully awake, continued to protest:
"You can't slander me out of jealousy. I didn't do that."
"Incarcerous!"
Snape pointed his wand at Lockhart, and a rope appeared out of thin air, coiling around Lockhart like a snake and binding him tightly.
"You can save those words for the Aurors at the Ministry. If you still refuse to admit it, I'll kindly provide them with a few drops of Veritaserum."
"Sorry, Lockhart, even though you've signed many of my permits, I can't let you erase our memories."
George thought to himself as he saw the despair on Lockhart's face.
If Lockhart hadn't tried to erase everyone's memories, George might have let him be, given that Lockhart often signed his permits. What Lockhart did to other wizards, stealing their memories and publishing their stories as his own, was none of George's concern.
Keeping Lockhart around would have allowed George to continue using his permits to access the Restricted Section.
Unfortunately, Lockhart had chosen to try and erase everyone's memories, including George's, so George had no choice but to intervene.
Fortunately, George had already copied most of the valuable materials from the Restricted Section, so not being able to return wasn't a big loss.
In the afternoon, with the Chamber of Secrets discovered and the basilisk slain, Dumbledore naturally returned to the school.
Upon his return, Dumbledore immediately summoned George, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny to his office to inquire about the details of the incident.
George naturally shared what was necessary and kept the rest to himself.
In truth, apart from encouraging Ginny to confess the truth and later helping to transport the roosters, George hadn't been visibly involved much. Most of the questions were directed at Harry and Ginny.
Dumbledore was particularly interested in the details of the night Ginny's diary was stolen, clearly concerned about the whereabouts of Voldemort's diary.
However, no useful clues were uncovered.
Interestingly, Ginny, in her account, didn't mention the butterfly bookmark she had placed in the diary. George figured she might have forgotten that small detail.
Even if she had mentioned it, it wouldn't have mattered. Who would have thought that George could locate the bookmark using magnetism, a power outside the wizarding system, much like the forces of science?
As long as Dumbledore didn't use a Time-Turner, there would be no way to detect any anomalies, and by now, more than five hours had passed.
Besides, if George hadn't encouraged Ginny, she might not have had the courage to confess everything. He was, after all, a hero in this matter.
After the questioning, George returned to his dormitory without issue. He had no interest in the private conversation that followed between Dumbledore and Harry.
That evening, the school bulletin board announced the death of the basilisk at the hands of the professors, much to the delight of the students.
Afterward, the school resumed normal classes, Quidditch matches continued as scheduled, and the end-of-term exams proceeded as usual, with no sign of the good news from the original story about the exams being canceled.
(End of Chapter)