New chapter! Thanks for all the support!
x
This was the very instant Dudley had been waiting for, the moment Voldemort became distracted.
A red glow flashed over the backs of Dudley's hands. Countless arms made of stone appeared out of nowhere, grabbing every part of Audrina's body, currently controlled by Voldemort, and fixing it in place. Most importantly, the wand was taken away.
"Senior Tom, it seems I have won."
Dudley's voice sounded by his ear, and his figure appeared in front of Audrina, or rather Voldemort.
"No!"
Amid Audrina's scream, or rather Voldemort's, Dudley removed the diadem from her head.
The moment the diadem was removed, Audrina's skin gradually changed from its normal color to grayish white. She began aging at an astonishing speed. Her skin wrinkled and shriveled, countless lines appeared on her face, and her long golden hair began turning gray.
This was the phenomenon that occurred after life force was taken away.
If blame had to be assigned, then she could blame herself for believing a Horcrux's nonsense. If she had learned from Madison, there would not have been so many problems.
Never trust anything that can think for itself if you cannot see where it keeps its brain. That was Arthur Weasley's important principle for surviving in the magical world.
The diadem in Dudley's hand gradually grew hot and scalding, vibrating constantly as it tried to escape his palm. At the same time, countless whispering voices sounded by his ear.
They seemed both tempting and threatening.
Right now, it was trying to control Dudley.
If a Horcrux wanted to revive completely, the life force of a single young wizard was certainly not enough. It would need at least a dozen.
Voldemort, or the diadem, had planned well. First, he would kill Dudley alone, then use the basilisk to kill many students. After that, amid the chaos, he would secretly absorb their life force until he revived completely.
Unfortunately, the plan was beautiful, but plans could never keep up with changes.
It had failed on the very first step.
The noisy voices by his ear made Dudley unconsciously dig at his ear. In the next moment, golden light covered his entire arm.
Under the golden light, the diadem released a shrill sound, accompanied by bursts of black smoke.
Hamon Energy was the bane of all dark creatures.
Horcruxes happened to fall into that category as well.
Unfortunately, Voldemort's soul fragment had completely fused with the diadem. Trying to remove the soul fragment alone was basically impossible.
A perfectly good magical object had been polluted into this ghastly state.
What a waste.
To be fair, Voldemort was truly the number one squanderer in the wizarding world. Look at his Horcruxes. They were either items passed down from the founders of the four houses, such as the diadem, locket, and cup, or a Deathly Hallow, the Resurrection Stone.
"What a pity."
Dudley found a box in his pocket and placed the diadem inside, then quickly left the Chamber of Secrets.
There was something more urgent to do now.
Deal with that thousand-year-old basilisk.
When Dudley arrived, Fawkes was using agile movements to fight it in the narrow corridor. Beside him, Pixie kept snapping her fingers to support him. The students had all been evacuated in advance.
As a top-tier magical creature, the phoenix was not much inferior to the basilisk. Moreover, because this basilisk had slept for a thousand years and had not eaten for a long time, its condition was not good.
Incidentally, this basilisk had a tuft of scarlet crest feathers on its head, representing that it was a male basilisk. The one in the Chamber of Secrets did not have that.
Pixie's magic was still fairly useful against small creatures, such as house-elves. But against magical creatures with enormous bodies and outstanding magic resistance, such as basilisks and dragons, its effect was greatly reduced.
It could only harass. The main force fighting the basilisk was still Fawkes.
"Stop. The command has been lifted."
"The heir no longer exists."
Perhaps Dudley's Parseltongue had an effect. In any case, after the basilisk heard it, its movements slowed slightly.
"Hungry!"
"Eat!"
"Stupid bird!"
Three sentences in total.
This was the first time Dudley had heard the basilisk's voice. It was hoarse, as if its throat had been cut open.
Since the moment the Chamber of Secrets was closed, the basilisk had basically remained inside, sleeping. As a result, it had slept for a thousand years. If Senior Tom had not awakened it fifty years ago, it probably would have slept until it died.
Even after waking it, Senior Tom had not fulfilled his duty to feed it. Instead, he had locked it up for another fifty years.
If not for the basilisk's extraordinary talent, it would have starved to death long ago.
Right now, it was almost mad from hunger.
"I can give you food, but you need to stop first."
"Eat!"
"Stupid bird!"
The basilisk did not want to pay attention to this tiny thing called Dudley. Right now, it only wanted to eat Fawkes first to fill its stomach, even though Dudley was also using Parseltongue.
It had already decided that it would never listen to any heir's nonsense again. It would eat this stupid bird and then leave.
In any case, with the death of the previous heir, the contract on its body had already lost effect.
Listening to an heir's orders? What a scam. Hungry every day, missing every meal.
It wanted freedom.
It wanted to be full.
The basilisk would never be a slave!
Suddenly, the basilisk felt its tail tighten, as if something had fixed it in place. Before it could turn its head to look, it felt an unmatched force surge toward it.
In the next moment, it flew.
Boom.
The basilisk's enormous body smashed hard into one side of the castle corridor, crushing part of the surrounding wall.
Ancient Hogwarts Castle: -10 HP.
Fortunately, Repairing Charms existed. Otherwise, Dudley would at least have been charged with damaging an ancient building.
'So painful!'
'Whoever it is, I am going to eat them!'
The stomach acid churning in its belly had already pushed the basilisk's patience close to its limit.
People who had never been hungry would never understand that feeling.
Suddenly, it smelled a strange aroma, one it had never smelled in its thousand years.
Following the scent, it saw a bag of unknown things.
Pellets.
Magical-creature feed, snake-exclusive formula.
"Smells good."
Right now, the basilisk only had that bag in its eyes. It even ignored Fawkes in the sky and impatiently charged forward, swallowing the bag along with the food inside in one gulp.
Delicious. Truly delicious.
A wonderful flavor spread through its mouth, making the basilisk so comfortable that its eyes almost narrowed.
After eating only a little, it could no longer forget that taste.
Too delicious.
"Do you want more?"
A voice sounded by the basilisk's ear.
At some point, a person had appeared on its head.
Dudley rode steadily atop the basilisk's head. This way, he did not need to see the basilisk's eyes, and he could still talk to it.
"Want!"
The basilisk answered without even thinking. Its intelligence was not low. At the very least, it was not much worse than a phoenix's.
"Then become my companion, just as you were with Slytherin."
'Impossible. You are not the heir. The heir is already dead. I am free!'
"I can speak Parseltongue too."
'But I am free now! I will absolutely never accept that kind of restraint again!'
Right now, the basilisk only wanted to live its own life.
It seemed to have already seen the future it dreamed of.
Freedom. Unrestrained. Going wherever it wanted.
"I will provide you with that food from earlier. As much as you can eat."
One sentence made the basilisk freeze on the spot.
Provide that food from earlier.
As much as it could eat?
Those words kept drifting through the basilisk's mind.
To hell with freedom.
The basilisk would never be a slave, unless food and lodging were included.
x
x
x
If you're enjoying the story so far, consider supporting me on Patreon ❤️
You'll get weekly early access to chapters, along with some exclusive content:
https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheDevotedReader