Countless long spears had completely pinned the Basilisk to the floor of the Common Room.Black, filthy blood was splattered everywhere, and Harry, Ron, Neville, and Fawkes, who had landed nearby, all looked incredibly disheveled.
After slaughtering the Basilisk, Cavendish could clearly feel that omnipotent power gradually fading away.
A sense of powerlessness, originating from the depths of his soul, made his legs go weak, and he nearly collapsed to the ground; in the end, it was Harry who noticed his condition was off and ran over to help him up.
By this time, the massive commotion in the Gryffindor Common Room had finally attracted Professor McGonagall and the others.
They scrambled into the Common Room, staring in shock at the mess before them.
"What is going on here?" Professor McGonagall asked incredulously.
Supported by Harry, Cavendish slumped weakly onto a sofa stained with blood and spoke in an extremely faint voice.
"Never mind that for now, quickly bring the students back from the train. Also, do you have anything to eat? Even Hagrid's rock cakes will do, I'm starving right now!"
Professor McGonagall did not leave Cavendish lying in that filth.
She and Snape worked together to carry him to the Hogwarts Hospital Wing, while Flitwick and Harry carried the unconscious Ron to the Hospital Wing as well, followed by Neville, who was limping along while leaning on his sword.
Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse, had not left Hogwarts Castle; after sending the petrified students to St Mungo's, she had remained there.
She helped examine Cavendish's injuries.
"He hasn't suffered any very serious injuries; apart from some internal bleeding, it's just that he has exhausted too much energy and needs to consume something to replenish it."
She took a large piece of chocolate from her drawer—this high-calorie food would help Cavendish recover his strength quickly—and also left him a potion, instructing Professor McGonagall to supervise him while he drank it.
After Madam Pomfrey finished examining Cavendish, she went to tend to Harry and the other two children.
Judging by the injuries sustained, they were significantly worse off than Cavendish.
Professor McGonagall watched as Cavendish drank the potion, then asked with a deep frown.
"What exactly happened?"
Cavendish devoured the large piece of chocolate Madam Pomfrey had left for him in a few bites; normally, eating too much of this would make him feel cloyingly sweet, but now he only felt a sense of satisfaction.
"We were tricked. After the Heir of Slytherin kidnapped Neville, he didn't stay in the Chamber of Secrets, but returned to the Gryffindor Common Room to wait for Harry to return, and then the three children and I worked together to take him and the Basilisk down."
Cavendish's recounting was very brief, but Professor McGonagall knew the turn of events were far more dangerous than he had described.
She noticed Cavendish's exhaustion and did not continue to disturb his rest, but before she left, Cavendish forced himself to perk up and called her back.
"Please keep the Basilisk's corpse for me. If Snape wants it, absolutely do not give it to him; tell him that we risked our lives to kill it, and if he wants it, he must pay in hard cash."
Seeing Cavendish acting so stingy, Professor McGonagall couldn't help but smile.
"I feel like you've become a bit different from before, Cavendish."
Now too lazy to keep up appearances and having completely returned to his true nature, Cavendish said weakly.
"I really felt like I was going to die just now, and now that I've survived, I feel like there's nothing I can't come to terms with."
Professor McGonagall's smile was incredibly gentle, and her eyes seemed to be brimming with tears.
"That is a good thing. After experiencing life and death, people always come to understand certain things."
"I suppose so," Cavendish murmured weakly, "I'm going to take a nap, Professor McGonagall, good night."
Professor McGonagall pulled the curtains in the ward for him, blocking out the sun that had just risen outside.
"Good night."
...
The students had boarded the Hogwarts Express early in the morning, but the train had remained at the station without departing, waiting for news from Hogwarts.
Soon, Professor Flitwick hurried to the train and told Professor Sprout, who was guarding it, that the Heir of Slytherin had been captured, the monster had been killed, and the crisis in the Castle had been resolved.
Inside the carriages, all the students cheered; they shouted and screamed, running off the train in excitement, some even forgetting to take their luggage.
They returned to the Castle; at this time, the Gryffindor Common Room had not yet been restored to its original state, and many people saw the Basilisk that had been pinned down by countless long spears.
Snape, who had been left behind to handle the aftermath, was frowning as he looked at the Basilisk's corpse.
His spells were actually unable to undo the magic on these spears.
Even though his primary identity was Potions Master, having been able to create such powerful Dark Arts as Sectumsempra during his school days, Snape's attainments in charms and Transfiguration were not low at all.
He could naturally see that these spears pinning the Basilisk were Transfigured from fragments of desks and chairs, but it was a bit excessive that he had no way to reverse the Transfiguration within them.
The magic that caused these fragments to Transfigure seemed a bit too powerful; Snape felt that the magic attached to them would not fade even after thousands of years.
These spears would never turn back into their original wooden fragment form.
Snape studied them for a long time only to reach this conclusion; in the end, having no choice, since he could not change these spears back, he simply snapped them, then used magic to drag the Basilisk's corpse out and temporarily threw it into Myrtle's bathroom.
Among Harry, Ron, and Neville, Harry and Ron had the lightest injuries; they only stayed in the Hospital Wing for one morning before coming out.
Neville was not so lucky; he had had a significant amount of his energy drained by Tom and needed to be under Madam Pomfrey's care, recuperating for a period of time before he could fully recover.
As soon as Harry and Ron came out of the Hospital Wing, they were surrounded by students.
Professor McGonagall had not ordered them not to talk about what happened today.
Consequently, after just one afternoon, the whole school knew what had happened in the Gryffindor Common Room.
Dumbledore did not return until evening.
By the time he returned to the Castle, Cavendish had already woken up; a celebratory feast was being prepared in the Castle for that evening, and before the feast began, Cavendish went to Dumbledore's office.
Dumbledore watched Cavendish walk in, stretching and yawning without any inhibition, and raised an eyebrow with a smile.
"I feel that even though less than a day has passed, you have become somewhat different from before."
Cavendish slumped lazily into a chair.
"I nearly died today, Professor."