"As a house-elf of the Malfoy family, Dobby was plotting against his own masters behind their backs, secretly helping Harry...although he was causing trouble too... But you should know that no leader would tolerate an unfaithful and disobedient subordinate staying by their side."
Lynn stopped walking and looked at Irina by his side. His dark red eyes seemed devoid of any emotion.
Seeing that Irina appeared deep in thought, Lynn continued, "Admittedly, I take very good care of our family's house-elf Gale, giving him the cleanest pillowcases and ample rest time. But you must understand that even if I treated Gale like the Malfoys treat Dobby, he would still do his utmost to fulfill his duties and would never do anything to harm the Rowle family."
"I don't know what others think, but the Rowle family cannot tolerate a house-elf like Dobby. Perhaps being unfettered but homeless is the most suitable choice for him."
Lynn said this.
Irina remained silent, following Lynn quietly.
Putting herself in the same situation, if Dobby was the butler of her family and revealed their business secrets to their competitor, who was known as the 'Savior,' leading to the failure of their business plan, Irina would feel aggrieved too.
After all, she hadn't done anything wrong; the only mistake was trusting the wrong person and entrusting her family's affairs to an untrustworthy butler.
...
While Lynn and Irina were lurking in the hospital wing, in another corridor of Hogwarts castle, Colin Creevey, wearing alchemical goggles, was happily walking around carrying his camera and a bunch of grapes he planned to give Harry when visiting him.
During today's Quidditch match, he had taken many pictures of Harry, which delighted this little fan of Harry's.
Colin kept flipping through the pictures of Harry in his camera, including the one where Harry's arm bones had been removed.
Hssssss...
Suddenly, Colin heard an eerie snake-like hissing sound coming from not far ahead of him, and he instinctively looked up.
A pair of yellow vertical pupils appeared dozens of meters away, staring straight at him! The pupils seemed as large as basketballs, making Colin shudder to think how massive the hidden creature must be.
"Aaaahhhh! Monster aaaahhhhh!"
Colin screamed and ran for his life in the direction he had come from.
What Colin had seen was naturally the Basilisk. After spotting Colin, it tried to kill him with its deadly gaze as it had done before.
However, to the Basilisk's surprise, instead of dying after making eye contact, Colin seemed unaffected and merely fled in terror.
This caught the Basilisk off guard, as its gaze had always proven lethal before. It wanted to chase after Colin but realized he had already disappeared from sight by the time it reacted.
"Useless!"
At that moment, a young girl wearing Gryffindor robes slowly emerged from the shadows behind the Basilisk, hissing viciously in Parseltongue.
If anyone else heard the girl speak, they would be horrified to realize the sounds coming from her mouth were unmistakable snake hisses.
"It seems we've been discovered. Let's go back..."
The girl in Gryffindor robes raised her wand, as if to punish the Basilisk for its failure, but she seemed to consider something and ultimately lowered it again.
Meanwhile, after escaping the Basilisk, Colin Creevey ran frantically to Professor McGonagall's office and pounded on the door desperately.
"Colin? What's happened?" McGonagall opened the office door to find the sweat-drenched Colin.
Colin was shaking with urgency as he stuttered, "Yellow...vertical pupils...monster...help me..."
Hearing Colin's words, Professor McGonagall's expression turned serious. As the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts and Head of Gryffindor House, she would not tolerate any monster threatening the lives of her students within the castle walls!
"Calm down and tell me slowly!" McGonagall poured Colin a cup of tea and gently patted his back.
Colin drank the tea with trembling hands, spilling half of it on himself.
Looking into McGonagall's kind yet stern gaze, Colin gradually calmed down.
Colin recounted to McGonagall everything that had happened in the corridor.
"How could this be... Colin, come with me!"
McGonagall's tone grew increasingly grave as she took Colin by the hand and headed towards the Headmaster's office.
After giving the password "Lemon drop" to the guardian statue, McGonagall hurriedly brought Colin into the Headmaster's office.
"Albus! There's been an incident in the castle!"
McGonagall said sternly to Dumbledore, who was seated eating Bogey-flavored Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.
Dumbledore adjusted his half-moon spectacles and said, "Calm down, Minerva! Tell me slowly!"
McGonagall took a deep breath and had Colin recount what he had seen once more.
"Albus, you heard him. The monster Colin described sounds very much like the legendary Basilisk from the accounts, but he looked into its eyes and yet... Albus, I'm worried..."
McGonagall seemed flustered as she spoke.
In the magical world, the only creature matching Colin's description of the monster's appearance and voice was the Basilisk. But Colin had made direct eye contact with it and escaped unharmed.
After hearing Colin's story, Dumbledore's expression also turned grave. He gently addressed Colin, "Colin, if we are not mistaken, the monster you saw was a magical creature called a Basilisk. A Basilisk's gaze is fatal - anyone who looks into its eyes dies instantly. Yet you saw it and survived..."
Hearing this, Colin froze for a moment, then seemed to remember something. "Oh yes, Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall! Today, Irina gave me these goggles that she said could block some nasty magic. Could that be why I'm alright?" he asked, removing the alchemical goggles and handing them to Dumbledore.
He had promised Irina to wear them at all times, but surely just showing Dumbledore wouldn't count as breaking that promise?
"These goggles..."
Dumbledore examined the alchemical goggles carefully.
As a powerful alchemist himself, Dumbledore could discern the high craftsmanship of the goggles and their special properties for resisting dark magic and curses.
Knowing they came from Irina, and recalling her recent close association with the alchemist Lynn Rowle, Dumbledore immediately realized who must have created these remarkable goggles.
(End of chapter)