How could someone else have suddenly appeared in the Chamber of Secrets?
Voldemort's heart skipped a beat. To open the Chamber, one had to speak the proper password in Parseltongue. He himself had only learned the password and the location from a diary left by the Gaunt family, so what was Leonard doing here?
"Leonard..." Voldemort repeated the name in his mind. Through his puppet Ron Weasley, he had heard of him before, a rather capable Hufflepuff student.
But no matter how capable he was, he was still just an underage brat. He should not have known the password. He was only a useless Hufflepuff.
"So, you're Leonard?" Voldemort's voice was thick with killing intent. "Now tell me how you got in here."
He intended to get some answers first, then kill Leonard.
He had already looted all the valuable things in the Chamber, but this was still Slytherin's Chamber. No one except the noble heirs of Slytherin had the right to set foot here.
"What the hell does it have to do with you?" Leonard said bluntly as he pulled out his wand.
As he did, he kept his gaze lowered, careful not to meet the Basilisk's eyes.
Voldemort noticed that at once, and a mocking laugh escaped him. "What are you taking out your wand for? Don't tell me you actually think you can beat me."
"How would I know if I don't try?" Leonard said calmly, then suddenly raised his wand.
"Stupefy."
A surge of immense magic burst out. Voldemort was startled by the force of it and instinctively raised a hand, making the shadow at his feet rise up in front of him as a shield.
But to Voldemort's surprise, he felt no attack.
Two streaks of red light from the Stunning Spell cut across the Chamber. One hit Harry, who was sprawled on the ground. The other flew right past Voldemort and the Basilisk and struck the bound Hermione with perfect accuracy.
Neither of them could possibly withstand Leonard's spell. Their eyes rolled back and they immediately passed out. Fortunately, Leonard had deliberately reduced the power behind it. Otherwise, that one spell might have taken half their lives.
Voldemort froze. He looked at Leonard, then at the unconscious Harry Potter and the hostage off to the side, and asked instinctively, "What are you doing?"
"Nothing much. I just figured what comes next isn't really suitable for children." Leonard spoke at an unhurried pace and put his wand away.
"Oh?" Voldemort sneered. "Planning to surrender? If you tell me how you entered the Chamber of Secrets, I might even spare your life."
"There's no need," Leonard said flatly.
"What do you mean?" Voldemort frowned.
"It's simple." Leonard closed his eyes, and two seeds dropped from his fingertips.
"Because the one who's going to die is you."
Thick green vines shot upward like a giant emerald serpent rampaging through the Chamber. Countless offshoots climbed and spread in all directions, and in the blink of an eye, half the Chamber had turned into a sea of plants.
Every vine was covered in vicious barbs. Blood-red patterns ran through them like veins, and among them hung clusters of tiny crimson grapes that gave off a seductive scent, adding a strange kind of beauty to the monstrous plant.
A high-risk magical plant. Blood grapes.
"Now you can start running for your life." Leonard slowly rose on a platform of vines beneath his feet. He pointed at Voldemort, and at once a tidal wave of green vines surged toward Voldemort and the Basilisk.
"Run for my life? What a joke." The shadow under Voldemort swelled and transformed into a gigantic serpent lunging toward Leonard. At the same time, he hissed an order to the Basilisk. "Kill him."
In Voldemort's eyes, it did not matter what kind of power allowed Leonard to grow an entire field of blood grapes in an instant and force them into explosive growth. Plants were still plants in the end. Even blood grapes, deadly to wizards, could never pierce Basilisk scales.
The Basilisk slithered toward Leonard, its yellow eyes fixed on his face. As it moved, it deliberately knocked over the statues lining the stone path, creating a tremendous racket.
The Basilisk was not stupid. It did this on purpose, trying to lure Leonard into looking at it so it could kill him instantly with its natural ability.
That was how the Basilisk hunted. It created a growing sense of danger until its prey panicked, lost their composure, and looked straight into its eyes.
But to the Basilisk's confusion and anger, no matter how much noise it made, Leonard never opened his eyes. It was as if he did not know what fear was.
What it did not know was Leonard's gift. Once the Chamber was flooded with plant life, Leonard had already gained complete battlefield vision. Compared with that, his own eyesight would only have been a liability. So he shut his eyes and observed the battle through the plants instead.
It was the perfect counter to a Basilisk.
Its proudest talent had just been rendered useless.
That infuriated the Basilisk. It let out a menacing hiss and lunged at Leonard together with the giant shadow serpent released by Voldemort.
The Basilisk's instant-death gaze was not its only weapon. Its enormous body, terrifying physical strength, and powerful magic resistance were just as deadly.
Both the Basilisk and Voldemort were certain that as long as it got close, then no matter what ridiculous magical talent Leonard possessed, he would be crushed and swallowed whole.
The green plants kept spreading. Before long, the charging Basilisk and shadow serpent crashed into the sea of vines.
Then the change came.
Endless roots covered in vicious barbs burst out from the life-filled vines and swarmed over both the Basilisk and the shadow serpent.
But without exception, those roots were no match for the Basilisk. As it kept charging, every root that managed to wrap around its body snapped apart one after another. They could not stop it at all.
"Hahaha! Useless. Your pathetic plants can't stop the Basilisk's advance. And you thought these things were enough to kill me? Don't make me laugh."
Voldemort threw back his head and laughed. His eyes widened as he stared at Leonard, eager to watch him be crushed beneath the Basilisk and see whether this arrogant fool's body was made of iron to be this confident.
Then he noticed something wrong.
The giant shadow serpent he had summoned to assist the Basilisk's attack seemed to have been swallowed up by the plants.
That alone was not the issue. The shadow serpent was only support. If it was destroyed, it would not matter much.
But then Voldemort suddenly realized that the roots bursting out from those plants were carrying a power he recognized.
"There's something wrong with those plants!" Voldemort's expression stiffened.
At that very moment, the Basilisk had already charged to within five meters of Leonard, close enough that one snap of its head could crush him to pulp.
And that was exactly what it tried to do. With a furious roar, it lunged to smash Leonard to death, unwilling to let him simply die obediently beneath its stare.
At the critical moment, the roots beneath Leonard's feet burst upward. They fused together in midair and transformed into a massive black shadow serpent, which slammed into the Basilisk with full force and knocked it aside.
"What!" Far off in the distance, Voldemort stared wide-eyed at the scene before him.
Why had his power been stolen?