"Lord Voldemort," Tom said softly, "is my past, present, and future, Harry Potter..."
"But unfortunately, there is one thing you said that is not quite right, Riddle." Sherlock interrupted him coldly.
Tom stared at him with eyes that were gradually solidifying, listening as he continued.
"The greatest Wizard of all time? I have never heard anyone in the Wizarding World call you that." Sherlock smiled mockingly. "Only Dumbledore has ever been praised with such a title in the entire Wizarding World, while you are merely what people call the Dark Lord."
The smile on Riddle's face vanished, replaced by a very ugly expression, and he snapped,
"What is Dumbledore worth! I only needed a single memory to lock down the entire Hogwarts, force him to flee the Castle like a stray dog, and ruin his reputation throughout the entire Wizarding World!"
Just as his emotions were stirred up, Sherlock finally made a move!
He chanted the spell coldly.
"Alohomora!"
The portrait passage his wand was pointed at was suddenly opened by magic!
Cold wind blew in from outside, and Sherlock forcefully pushed Harry and Ron out.
"Go! Both of you get out first! Go find the other Professors!"
However, before Harry and Ron could turn and crawl into the passage, a thick, long, entirely emerald-green figure suddenly slithered in from outside the passage!
Harry and Ron were both frightened back, and Sherlock immediately pulled them away from the entrance to the Common Room, quickly instructing them,
"Close your eyes! Do not look directly at the Basilisk!"
Tom's sinister laughter echoed through the Common Room.
"So what, Professor Cavendish? When facing me, is running away the only thing you can think of? How will that greatest Wizard in history you spoke of come to help you?"
After settling Harry and Ron, Sherlock didn't hesitate to pull off the third button from the bottom of his robes!
"Do you really think everything is according to your plan, and I am completely unprepared?"
He sneered and threw the button out.
Harry and Ron, who were protected behind him, stiffened.
"Professor! Please don't say anything reckless at a time like this!" Harry begged in agony.
Sherlock ignored Harry's nonsensical words; the button he had thrown landed on the ground and had already transformed into a rooster.
When he and Professor Flitwick went to the greenhouse to get the rooster, he had specifically left a backup plan, temporarily transforming a rooster into a button to carry with him just in case, and now it had indeed come in handy!
As soon as the rooster landed, it couldn't wait to crow.
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"
Hope rekindled on Harry and Ron's faces; perhaps this time it was a high-probability event that couldn't be affected by the jinx!
However, after the crowing, the Basilisk blocking the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room was completely unaffected.
Instead, it attacked the rooster viciously, opening its blood-red maw and swallowing the entire rooster in one bite!
Tom's leisurely voice echoed through the Common Room.
"Did you think I didn't know what preparations you had made in the Castle? The crowing of a rooster is indeed fatal to a Basilisk, but I had already destroyed its hearing in advance; it no longer has this fatal weakness."
Sherlock looked at the rooster, which was now completely gone, and his expression darkened.
"This is tricky now."
Hearing him say this, Harry and Ron actually showed expressions of surprise and joy.
"Yes! Exactly! Professor! You should think and say exactly that!"
Sherlock knocked them on the heads in annoyance.
"What nonsense are you talking about!"
The Basilisk slithered and coiled through the Common Room, which was incredibly cramped for it, with surrounding bookshelves and furniture thrown into disarray. At the same time, it prepared to launch an attack on Sherlock and the others!
"Fawkes!"
Sherlock called out the name of Dumbledore's Phoenix, and the next second, a distant song echoed through the Common Room. Golden light illuminated the entire space, forcing the Basilisk to recoil.
The fiery-red Phoenix appeared, singing an ethereal and mysterious song, with a tattered hat clutched in its talons, and landed on Sherlock's shoulder.
A ferocious smile appeared on Tom's face.
"Is this the aid Dumbledore has given you? How can a single Phoenix resist the King of Serpents!"
The Basilisk's massive body slid through the Common Room. It clearly sensed a threat, its cold yellow eyes fixed on Fawkes, who had just appeared there, but that hopeless and lethal magic had no effect on Fawkes.
Phoenixes are immortal, and any lethal magic, whether it was the Basilisk's gaze or the Killing Curse, had no effect on it at all!
Sherlock took the Sorting Hat from Fawkes's talons and tossed it to Harry, following Dumbledore's instructions.
"Study it yourself; there is something inside this hat. Take it out!"
Fawkes spread its wings and rose from Sherlock's shoulder. A piercing screech rang out as it charged fearlessly toward the Basilisk!
Sherlock did not stand there idly either; he raised his wand and aimed it at Tom, whose body was becoming increasingly solid.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
The red spell transformed into a dazzling beam of light and shot straight toward Tom!
However, Tom still stood calmly in place, allowing the spell to pass through his body.
"It's useless, Professor Cavendish; all your spells are ineffective against me," he said with a triumphant smile.
In the middle of the Common Room, Fawkes was engaged in a fierce struggle with the Basilisk. The Phoenix's ability to fly and its agile movements gave it a distinct advantage in fighting within the cramped space.
Soon, a painful hiss erupted!
Fawkes dove down fiercely, its long golden beak stabbing into the Basilisk's head. Instantly, a spray of black blood splashed onto the ground like a rain shower.
The Basilisk's eyes had been gouged out by it!
"Well done, Fawkes! It's settled now!"
Sherlock was greatly encouraged. He brandished his wand, no longer struggling with how to deal with Tom, but intending to join Fawkes in finishing off the Basilisk first.
Harry and Ron had originally been excited too, but after hearing Sherlock's words, their hearts sank again!
"Didn't we tell you not to speak recklessly, Professor! Please, just shut up! Wuwuwu..."
Harry cried out in agony, while Ron looked ashen, completely stunned.
But having its eyes gouged out only further incited the Basilisk's brutality. It struggled frantically in the Common Room. Before Sherlock could cast his spell, its tail swept across violently, knocking him against the nearby wall!