Harry Potter: Westeros's Plant Life

Just as the two were preparing to go find Professor McGonagall, a sharp, piercing cry exploded in Harry's.

Harry immediately stopped in his tracks, his body tensing as if struck by lightning. "Wait!" He called out.

"What now?" Ron looked at Harry in confusion.

Just then, another identical cry rang out like some bird calling across vast distances.

Harry frowned, his green eyes narrowing in concentration.. He felt like he had heard this cry somewhere before.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up with recognition.

A phoenix!

Yes, this had to be the cry of Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes.

"I heard a phoenix cry," Harry said excitedly to Ron beside him. "That's Dumbledore's phoenix! We just need to find the phoenix, and it can bring Professor Dumbledore to us." His words tumbled out in a rush.

"But Dumbledore has been dismissed," Ron reminded him. "He's not at Hogwarts anymore."

"Not necessarily," Harry said with a certainty. "The phoenix is right now at the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Quick, let's go find it."

The mention of the Chamber sent a chill down Ron's spine, but seeing Harry's insistence, Ron could only nod and agree to his suggestion.

In fact, he had no idea what the mysterious "Chamber of Secrets" Harry mentioned actually looked like. After all, he had never been there.

And there was something else that puzzled him, something that had been nagging at the back of his mind for months now.

Why could Harry always hear these strange sounds? How come he never heard them?

Harry led Ron through the corridors and arrived at the girls' bathroom on the second floor.

Ron felt somewhat strange. Standing at the entrance to the girls' bathroom, he hesitantly tugged at Harry's sleeve. "Wait, Harry, are you sure it's here? This is the girls' bathroom!"

Harry nodded, lowering his voice to match Ron's tone. "That's right, this is it. Myrtle's territory—the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is hidden beneath one of the sinks."

"Myrtle?" Ron's expression became even stranger.

He had encountered that ghost at Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party while it was crying and wailing about her tragic fate.

Just then, a sob suddenly came from inside the bathroom.

Harry and Ron exchanged glances then without speaking, they tiptoed inside.

The bathroom was still the same as Harry remembered. Following the sound of sobbing, they found Myrtle huddled in a dark corner beside the furthest sink.

She was constantly sniffling, her shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs. Tears slid down her translucent face like liquid silver, disappearing into nothingness before they could reach the floor.

"Myrtle?" Harry approached carefully. He had learned from experience that the ghost required delicate handling. "Are you alright?"

However, Myrtle trembled even more violently at the sound of his voice. She pulled her knees up to her chest and completely ignored Harry.

"What's wrong with her?" Ron asked Harry in a low whisper.

Harry shook his head, his brow furrowed with worry. "Myrtle's always emotional, but she seems far stranger than usual today."

Myrtle still didn't speak, just continued her heartbroken weeping as if the world had ended.

Seeing they couldn't get anything coherent out of her, Harry reluctantly pulled Ron away from the distraught ghost toward the row of sinks along the far wall.

The most important thing now was still to go to the Chamber and find Fawkes. Everything else would have to wait.

Harry stood in front of the faucet that had been carved with a snake symbol. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the musty air, and made a low, hissing sound in his throat, "Open!"

Soon, with a grinding sound of stone against stone that echoed through the bathroom like thunder, a pitch-black hole appeared in front of them.

"Come on, Ron." Harry pointed to the hole. "This is the entrance."

Ron unconsciously stepped back two paces. The hole looked like the mouth of some enormous beast, ready to swallow them whole.

"Do we really have to crawl in there?" His voice cracked slightly, showing his fear despite his efforts to sound brave.

"Don't be afraid," Harry said, though his own heart was beating rapidly. He nodded with more confidence than he felt. "I've been in once before, it's fine. Besides, Fawkes is inside—"

With that, Harry braced himself and jumped into the hole first.

Ron swallowed hard and after a moment's hesitation, he closed his eyes and jumped.

The pipe was like a giant's intestine, twisting and turning. The walls were slippery with moisture and covered in a film that Ron preferred not to think about too closely. They slid down through the darkness for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes.

The two finally reached the bottom and crashed heavily onto the damp ground. Ron struggled to get up, his robes torn and dirty, and found Harry already standing in front of him, holding his glowing wand.

"This place looks terrible," Ron said looking around.

Harry frowned slightly, his senses alert for any sign of danger, but was soon distracted by the phoenix cry that came echoing from somewhere in the distance. "Listen! Fawkes is up ahead!"

This time, Ron also heard the phoenix's faint voice.

The two followed the narrow passage forward. The walls seemed to press in on them, and Harry couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched by hidden eyes.

Soon they reached a massive stone wall that blocked their path completely. The surface was covered in carvings that seemed to move in the shifting light of Harry's wand.

Harry stared at the coiled snake relief carved into the stone wall, and took another deep breath and made that strange hissing sound in his throat again: "Open."

Harry was already well-practiced at this sort of thing, though it still felt unnatural each time he did it.

The stone wall responded to his command with a rumble and the massive stone blocks began to slowly separate.

Ron watched this incredible scene in amazement. He was muttering quietly, "Every time I hear you use Parseltongue, I get goosebumps..."

"CRASH!"

The moment the stone wall fully opened a deafening noise erupted from their left front.

Harry and Ron looked over in horror, their faces draining of color as they took in the in front of before them. A massive basilisk was violently twisting its enormous body that was surrounded by rubble and choking clouds of dust.

Above the basilisk, a flash of brilliant fiery red dodged with incredible nimbleness—it was Fawkes!

Just moments ago, Fawkes had apparently led the basilisk to crash into a pillar, and the basilisk's enormous strength had even knocked off a chunk of the pillar.

At this moment, Harry's eyes noticed that Fawkes had a grayish bundle clutched in its claws.

"Hungry... so hungry... eat you... tear you... kill you..."

The voice kept entering Harry's ears, leaving him no time to think of anything else. The basilisk was already struggling to raise its head.

"Close your eyes!" Harry shouted desperately, spinning around to face Ron.

However, it was already too late. Ron's wide eyes had already met the basilisk's huge vertical pupils.

His body instantly stiffened, every muscle freezing as if turned to stone. His face showed a terrified expression, mouth open in a silent scream, and his whole body fell straight backward like a toppled statue.

"Ron!" Harry cried out in horror.

He ran to Ron's side and dropping to his knees, he found that although Ron's body was rigid, he hadn't been completely petrified. His chest still rose and fell with shallow breaths.

It seemed Professor Westeros' protective charm had had worked. Harry immediately felt relieved.

The basilisk was probably also attracted by the commotion on Harry's side. Fawkes let out a sharp cry and struck the basilisk's left eye solidly with its sharp beak.

The basilisk let out a deafening hiss of pain and rage.

Taking advantage of this moment of distraction, Fawkes pulled back and struck again, this time pecking at the basilisk's right eye with the same deadly accuracy.

Harry's mind raced as he processed the scene in front of him. He couldn't think clearly with the basilisk's voice still echoing in his head, but he knew he had to act fast. He quickly drew his wand, his fingers trembling as he pointed it at Ron.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted, pouring all his concentration into the spell.

With the Levitation Charm, Ron's stiff body quickly floated up into the air, rising like a balloon filled with helium. Harry guided him with careful wand movements, sent him floating behind a far stone pillar that would provide some protection from the battle to come.

In such a crisis, Harry really couldn't afford to be gentle with his best friend.

After ensuring Ron's safety, Harry turned to face the raging basilisk.

The basilisk had now fully emerged from the rubble. Its head swayed back and forth like a snake preparing to strike, but its eyes remained tightly closed.

Harry hadn't dared to look directly at the basilisk's eyes at first, but when Fawkes flew to his side and directed his gaze toward their enemy, he discovered that the Basilisk had been blinded.

This realization filled him with cautious excitement.

You see, the basilisk's most terrifying ability was its killing stare, the power to end a life with nothing more than eye contact.

Without its eyes, it was just an oversized Troll!

Harry immediately raised his wand and A red spell shot rapidly toward the basilisk.

However, the basilisk's other senses were clearly still sharp. It tilted its massive head slightly and Harry's spell deflected harmlessly off its scales to explode against the chamber wall.

Well, the basilisk was still considerably stronger than a troll.

His assessment had been rather overly optimistic.

Seeing that his first spell had no effect at all, Harry didn't know what magic to cast for a moment.

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