As Draco, lost in thought, stood around the large snakeskin with Harry and Ron in a daze, Lockhart quietly slipped out of their sight and disappeared into the open space behind them.
"Children! Your adventure ends here!" When they turned around at the sound of his voice, they were surprised to find Lockhart holding up the wand Ron had kept tucked in his pocket—that crooked wand—and smiling at them with a hint of threat in his voice. "No, no, no, Malfoy, do not try to raise your wand. I know your Disarming Charm is powerful. Do not point your wand at me, or I will cast a spell right away, and you will not like it!"
What kind of spells could that bum Lockhart possibly cast? Draco thought dismissively.
He did not act immediately. Instead, he gripped his wand tightly, tip lowered, and stared expressionlessly at Lockhart's wand tip, wondering what this biggest idiot in all of Hogwarts was planning to do.
"Very good, I always like obedient students." Lockhart saw that Draco had acted as he had said, and a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.
He excitedly announced to them, "That is the end of it! I am going to take this snakeskin to the school and tell them I was too late to save the girl—"
Ron, who was standing to the side, was furious.
That is his sister! That irresponsible Lockhart does not deserve to be a professor!
Ron glared at Lockhart and yelled, "You stupid thing—"
Lockhart ignored Ron's insults and continued to smile as he recounted his perfectly planned scenario, "—You all lost your minds the moment you saw her corpse!"
"You good-for-nothing!" Ron cursed.
"You should have been nicer to me, Weasley! How can a student insult a professor?" With that, he turned the tip of his wand towards Ron, preparing to attack the unarmed, unfortunate boy.
"What the hell?" Draco cursed, quickly grabbing the defenceless Ron and trying to pull him behind himself to avoid Lockhart's attack.
It was only then that he realised more deeply that the seemingly mild-mannered Lockhart was actually incredibly treacherous and ruthless, and that no one should underestimate him. He should have disarmed him immediately.
Draco, whilst pulling Ron along, angrily shouted at Lockhart across from him, "You are a Hogwarts professor! How dare you raise your wand at a second-year student—"
"Obliviate!" Lockhart flashed a standard eight-tooth fake smile, his eyes gleaming with malice.
Bang! The wand exploded.
Everyone scattered to avoid the falling debris from the tunnel, caused by the exploding wand.
When the vibrations stopped, Draco was covered in rubble and dust, which made him sneeze several times and his eyes welled up with tears.
He had to give himself a thorough "Scourgify" before he finally felt a little better.
At this moment, Draco realised a cruel truth: a thick wall of rubble blocked the way to the Chamber of Secrets.
Merlin!
This is bad; the path to the Chamber is blocked.
How could Ron's sister be saved? Draco stared blankly at the rubble wall amidst the floating dust.
Just then, Harry's voice came from the other side of the stone wall: "Ron? Draco? Are you all right?"
"We are fine!" came Ron's shout from behind.
Draco turned around and saw Ron emerging from a corner of the ruins, whilst Lockhart lay in another corner, seemingly no longer fully conscious.
Ron's clothes were covered in dust, and he looked dishevelled, but fortunately, he was not injured.
He walked up to Lockhart, who was sprawled out on the ground, and kicked his calf dismissively, yelling at Harry on the other side of the stone wall, "Lockhart is not doing so well, he got hit by a wand!"
Harry's voice came from the other side of the wall: "You wait here! I am moving on, and if I am not back in an hour—"
It seems that Harry is preparing to go find Ron's sister on his own.
The key question is—did Harry also face this kind of isolated and helpless situation in his previous life?
Draco was extremely worried about this. He did not know the specific details of what happened after Harry entered the Chamber of Secrets in his previous life.
If it were because of him, like a butterfly flapping its wings, that the course of events changed and Harry ended up in danger due to a lack of help, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Harry is someone who is supposed to fight the Dark Lord, how can we just casually throw his life away in the bottomless depths of Hogwarts?
"Wait—I will try to make a hole in this wall!" Draco shouted, determined, towards the rubble wall.
Ron ran back and shouted to Harry on the other side of the stone wall, "Harry, wait a minute!"
Harry did not listen to them.
He seemed very anxious, and said in a trembling voice from the other side of the wall, "See you later."
Draco understood what was urging him.
Every minute that passes means the life of the red-haired girl who was captured is slipping away—she may have been Petrified, or she may be heading into some other, more dangerous situation.
Draco could not guarantee how long it would take him to open the stone wall.
"Be careful, not only the Basilisk, but also the diary! You know whose diary it is! It is very dangerous! Do not trust anyone—do not let go of your wand!" Draco shouted desperately towards the wall, hoping Harry would remember something, or at least change some of his fatal bad habits.
But there was no response from the other side of the wall.
"He must have gone there first," Ron said to Draco, his face contorted with worry.
"Oh, I remember someone said they were going to cut ties with me," Draco glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "Now, why are you talking to me again?"
"You were just trying to protect me, were you not?" Ron's face suddenly flushed red, the same colour as his red hair. "Lockhart was pointing his wand at me—you could have ignored it."
"I just did not expect him to actually dare to lay a hand on a student." Draco's expression revealed a hint of arrogance.
A Slytherin should be more cautious; he would never admit that he had just panicked.
"Say what you want," Ron said quickly and quietly. "I have unilaterally decided to forgive you."
"Whatever," Draco said with a straight face.
This topic clearly made both of them uncomfortable.
So Draco changed the subject and asked something else: "What just happened? Why did your wand explode?"
"My wand broke when it fell to the ground!" Ron said embarrassedly. "It was an old wand, and it was already worn out and not very good to begin with."
"I have to thank it for being an old wand, and thank it for breaking, otherwise, we might have lost our memories." Draco's expression was indifferent, but he felt a chill of fear in his heart.
He told himself that he still needed to be more cautious, more careful, and less conspicuous.
Never let someone treat you like that with a wand again.
His memories cannot be easily discarded—those secrets are too important.
"Now, we can only rely on your wand," Ron said uneasily.
Feeling somewhat helpless because he had no wand, he could only place his hopes on Draco in front of him. "Do you know what spell can move stones?"
Draco said slowly and deliberately, "I can give it a try."
He cast a "Scourgify" spell on the pile of stones, but it clearly did not work.
Only a little dust disappeared; the large stones remained in place.
Of course, how could such a simple spell possibly work? Draco thought silently.
To be honest, he did not want to reveal too much of his abilities to others.
If a fifth-year can use the N.E.W.T. test content that is used in seventh year with ease, he might be regarded as a genius; if a second-year can use this knowledge skilfully, he will most likely be regarded as a monster.
But now, there is no other good way.
Draco sighed and said to Ron, "All right, let us try them one by one. Ron, take that idiot Lockhart and get away. I am going to try and blow it up."