Chapter 8

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Edmund found it really hard to focus for the next few days. The memory of Iris kissing his cheek was still fresh in his mind and he had no plans of forgetting it any time soon.

"Get a hold of yourself Ed, there are more important things you need to focus on. All that can wait. I need to find out where the chamber is."

His expression hardened and his eyes were focused. Creating a bunch of shadow clones, he asked them to search every nook and cranny of the castle to find the entrance for the chamber. After a half-hour meditation session, he got into his bed and went to sleep, hoping no more students were targeted that night.

(ROTS)

Edmund was angry, not at Dumbledore or Lockhart or the rest of the student body. No, he was angry at himself. Talking to Myrtle was eye-opening. It was so simple, just ask the victim how she died. The taps on the basins had snakes engraved on them. He had searched everywhere to find a way open a doorway, but nothing happened.

The abuse Iris suffered had diminished to almost negligible ever since Granger was found petrified in the library, with a mirror in her hand. It felt so ridiculous at first, why would anyone take a handheld mirror to the library.

Then the realization hit him.

Every victim had one thing in the common. They had something reflective around them or they looking through something else when they got petrified. Filch's cat had water on the floor. Creevey was looking through his camera, the Hufflepuff boy was looking through Ser Nicholas and Granger had a mirror. They never looked at the attacker directly. A Gorgon's magic did not work that way. It could only be a Basilisk.

And so, he was sitting on the floor, glaring at the taps, think what else he could do to open the damn entrance. He could just punch the damn thing but that would be very risky. Any curious student could fall into it and die while he was in the chamber.

If only he was a purse mouth. He couldn't, in good conscience involve Iris in this. The girl had enough shit to deal with on her own. Just then, two figures came running towards the washroom. Edmund quickly henged into a rat and ran away to hide behind a stall, after quickly asking Myrtle to remain quiet about him.

To his utter surprise and worry, it was Iris herself, accompanied by the weasel and Lockhart.

She asked Myrtle about the night she died.

Iris then looked at the taps that Myrtle had pointed out and traced to snake engravings on them. Then, she hissed. The entrance to the chamber opened and they threw Lockhart down the slide. If he could, Edmund would have chuckled in amusement. Then they followed him down to the chamber. Quickly, Edmund jumped behind them as the entrance began to close.

Down in the chamber, he marvelled at the sixty feet long snakeskin that was shed by the Basilisk. He sped ahead of the three and reached a door with snakes radiating out of it.

Edmund sighed in defeat. Only Iris could open it. He waited for Iris when he heard the cave collapse. When he was about to rush in the direction of the cave, he saw Iris running towards him. He moved out of the way and let Iris open the door for him.

They entered the main chamber. It had numerous statues of snakes and a large face with flowing beard and hair carved into the wall opposite to the entrance. It was probably Salazar Slytherin himself. Then, he saw a young girl lying still on the floor, next to Iris who was trying to wake the girl up. To his surprise and annoyance, it was Ginerva bloody Weasley. The girl had been a complete pain in the rear. She acted so strange for the whole year and fangirled over Iris for most of her time at the castle.

Suddenly, a teenager in school clothes appeared out of thin air and picked up Iris' wand that was lying beside her. Edmund inwardly frowned. Who was this guy?

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