Harris Raymons had no room to stop and think, but the miserable surroundings left him no choice.
And by miserable surroundings, he did not just mean the filth everywhere. No matter how grand and spotless Hogwarts looked on the surface, people still had to relieve themselves. Wizards were no exception.
What was even worse for Harris Raymons was the layout of the pipes themselves, narrow, dark, and with hardly any room to maneuver.
In a cramped place like this, running into a creature like a Basilisk would be an absolute nightmare. If it were an Occamy, that would be one thing. The limited space would restrict its destructive power. But if it really was a Basilisk, then in a place like this, avoiding its line of sight would be almost impossible.
At that point, the only thing he could do would be run. There would be no chance to fight back.
And if he wanted to escape, he would have to ride the sewage rushing through the pipes.
Just imagining himself fleeing while surfing on excrement was enough to make him despair.
"No, probably not. A Basilisk's lifespan is around nine hundred years. It's already been over a thousand years since Salazar Slytherin left Hogwarts, so there's no way a Basilisk could still be alive. And Basilisks can't reproduce normally anyway. They can only be bred artificially by wizards. So it probably isn't a Basilisk."
As he spoke, Harris Raymons cast a spell on himself to deflect direct gazes. The spell had no effect other than subtly shifting others' line of sight away from him, creating a kind of limited concealment. It sounded useless, but against something like a Basilisk, it became extraordinarily useful.
Even while insisting it could not be a Basilisk, Harris Raymons still prepared himself for the possibility.
After all, he only had one life.
"I wonder how Leonard William is doing right now. That guy really can run... But he isn't a Parselmouth. He shouldn't be able to open the Chamber."
With that thought, Harris Raymons quickened his pace.
Illusory feathers drifted off his body, making him lighter, quicker, and far more agile. Even in the narrow pipes, he moved as though running on level ground.
This was the result of Harris Raymons fusing with the raven Star. As the most important and core magical creation of Raven, Star could not only help channel ancient magic through its semi-magical nature, but could also merge with a person to increase magic resistance and bodily agility.
And those half-illusory feathers could sense vibrations in the air and surrounding magic just like real feathers, allowing him to detect magical fluctuations and enemy movement.
Inside Raven, this form was jokingly called a Ravenman.
In the Muggle world, the few Muggles who had seen Ravenmen had described them as dark and evil creatures, but in truth, aside from being black in color, they had absolutely nothing to do with dark magic.
Muggles liked to slap preconceived judgments onto unfamiliar things based on appearance, but in reality, Ravenman was an entirely proper form of ordinary magic, originally developed for wizard dueling.
Greater magic resistance, greater agility, sharper perception, all of those made a wizard much more formidable.
And then, in his Ravenman form, Harris Raymons suddenly felt every feather on his body bristle. An indescribable terror rose in his chest.
Something was coming.
A powerful vibration suddenly shook the pipe beneath his feet, and from deeper within came the piercing sound of scales scraping against stone.
Harris Raymons's expression changed. That sound, and that skin-crawling sense of dread... this was not good. It looked very much like the worst possible outcome.
Through the vibrations moving through the cramped air, a huge serpent-headed monster appeared in Harris Raymons's perception.
It really was a damn Basilisk.
He did not hesitate for a second. He turned and slid away down the pipe. At the same time, he drew his wand and cast Aguamenti around himself.
A torrent of clean water flushed through the pipe, giving Harris Raymons enough lubrication to ride the current toward the end of the pipe system.
This was the fastest way to escape without using Star's transfer magic.
Transfer magic was useful for instantly getting out of the Basilisk's line of sight, but it also meant the Basilisk would leave his own field of awareness. Then he would have no way to be sure whether the creature's eyes might meet his the next instant, or whether it would continue chasing him.
A Basilisk was not some brainless beast. If its prey suddenly vanished, it would definitely grow wary, and with the pipe system branching through Hogwarts in every direction, it could easily start roaming through the castle itself.
Leaving a monster like that loose inside Hogwarts would be irresponsibly dangerous to every student and teacher in the castle.
The Basilisk's appearance was largely his fault. Harris Raymons's sense of morality would not allow him to let it escape right in front of him.
He had to kill it.
Driven along by the torrent of water, Harris Raymons shot toward the far end of the pipe at astonishing speed. Ahead, the exit glowed with the harsh light of dusk.
The current carried all kinds of filth with it, but Harris Raymons had no spare attention for any of that now.
He would not get many chances. Facing a Basilisk alone, the one real opportunity he had to deal it a serious blow would be the instant he emerged from the pipe while the Basilisk was just beginning to come out behind him.
At that moment, the Basilisk would be forced to pass through the narrow pipe mouth, and he would have a clear target.
For a wizard, the hardest part of fighting a Basilisk was aiming. Short of exploiting the terrain, the only other option was throwing lives at the problem.
And a pipe was the perfect terrain.
At the outlet of a pipe beneath the cliff on the northeastern side of Hogwarts Castle, a surge of foul, filthy water blasted outward. Harris Raymons emerged with a dark expression, dismissed his Ravenman form, and grabbed Star the instant it appeared at his side.
At a moment like this, ordinary magic simply was not reliable enough. If he wanted to solve the Basilisk problem in one strike, he had to use the most powerful ancient magic he could wield.
Star let out a shrill scream. Cracks spread across its black body like fractures in porcelain, and dazzling silver light burst out from within, shining together with the light of dusk.
The pipe trembled. From inside came the Basilisk's unmistakable hiss.
A sharp glint flashed through Harris Raymons's eyes. He crushed Star in his hand.
The scattered silver light wove together into a long spear twisted like braided vines, blazing with silver radiance like lightning.
Harris Raymons gripped the spear, his face twisted in pain. Silver lightning began eating into his skin and muscles, bright silver lines crawling all the way up to his face, while his eyes filled with silver light.
Grinding his teeth, Harris Raymons forced his arm forward. The silver spear tore through the air and shot straight at the pipe's mouth.
At that very instant, the Basilisk's head emerged from the pipe.