In the corridor where Kyle had first battled the Basilisk, a large group of Hogwarts professors had already gathered.
They had all been drawn there by the thunderous roar of the Explosive Tags detonating just moments ago.
The only one missing was Gilderoy Lockhart. Ever since the last time he had been thoroughly rebuked by Kyle in his own office, he had become significantly more low-profile.
Dumbledore was currently kneeling by a massive breach in the wall, heedless of the icy wind blowing in from outside the castle, as he carefully examined the marks on the ground. He reached out and touched a charred, blackened scorch mark.
This is... the aura of the Dark Arts...
Had that boy, Kyle, already delved this far into the Dark Arts?
Dumbledore then glanced at the bloodstains on the floor. Without a doubt, they had all been left behind by the Basilisk.
At that moment, Kyle walked over, accompanied by Hannah.
"Professors," Kyle said, giving the assembled staff a slight nod.
Dumbledore's bright blue eyes locked onto Kyle. "Was it you who just fought the Basilisk?"
Professor McGonagall stepped forward anxiously, her eyes scanning Kyle from head to toe. "You aren't hurt, are you?"
Kyle shook his head. "I'm fine, Professor McGonagall."
He then turned back to Dumbledore and spread his hands helplessly. "The Basilisk escaped. I didn't see who the Heir of Slytherin was."
"The monster in the Chamber is truly a Basilisk?" Professor McGonagall's face turned pale instantly. "Albus, I believe we need to evacuate the students until the Basilisk is destroyed."
"Minerva, it hasn't come to that yet. The urgent priority now is to find the entrance to the Chamber."
Snape, who had remained silent until now, suddenly spoke up. "Potter mentioned previously that he could hear strange voices. Perhaps he can help us find where the entrance is located."
"Potter... if I am not mistaken, he is a Parselmouth," Snape added slowly.
"What?" Professor McGonagall turned her head in surprise.
When Voldemort had attempted to kill Harry years ago, the rebound of the Killing Curse caused a fragment of his soul to attach itself to the nearest living thing—Harry himself. This was something the Heads of Houses at Hogwarts were aware of. However, what they hadn't known was that this soul fragment granted Harry some of Voldemort's traits—such as the ability to speak Parseltongue.
This was a deduction Snape had only just made.
"I noticed while tracking the Basilisk just now that it moves through the walls." Kyle gazed at the adjacent wall and slowly drew his wand. "Confringo!"
The wall was blasted to smithereens, revealing the pipes hidden behind it.
"Drainage pipes... that explains everything," Dumbledore murmured to himself.
By using Hogwarts' intricate plumbing system, the Basilisk was able to move through the castle silently and disappear just as quickly. This was also why a massive puddle of water had been found at the scene when Mrs. Norris was attacked.
But this presented a new problem. Where would the Basilisk hide within the plumbing system?
The drainage system of Hogwarts had been constructed over two hundred years ago, and the design blueprints had long since been lost to history. For some reason, the original designers had intentionally made the pipes extremely complex. Even if the professors inspected them section by section, it would take a very long time.
Furthermore, encountering a Basilisk within the cramped, subterranean confines of the pipes would be extremely dangerous, even for a professor.
One shouldn't assume the Basilisk was weak just because it had been battered by Kyle's combo of attacks and forced to flee in disgrace. The Basilisk was still ranked as one of the most dangerous creatures on the Ministry of Magic's Classification of Fantastic Beasts.
Kyle had only succeeded just now by relying on a preemptive ambush to catch the creature off guard, combined with his "asymmetric warfare" tactics to force its retreat. Had he encountered the Basilisk suddenly without preparation, the best-case scenario would have been petrification. In the worst-case scenario, one accidental look into its eyes and he would have dropped dead instantly.
"You two should head back for now," Dumbledore said, waving a tired hand toward Kyle and Hannah, who had been trying to act like a "small transparent" (invisible) observer the whole time.
He then flicked his wand, restoring the damaged wall to its original state. However, when he turned back, he found that Kyle had not left.
"Professor, I have a proposal."
"Go on," Dumbledore replied succinctly.
Kyle reached into his ninja tool pouch and pulled out several... crystal balls on stands?
"These are alchemical tools I created based on Muggle surveillance cameras. They can record the surrounding scenery from every angle and store it for a period of time."
To be precise, the inspiration for this surveillance system came from a certain lecherous old man—the Third Hokage—and his "Telescope Technique." Kyle had started working on them the moment they suspected the monster in the Chamber was a Basilisk.
Now was the perfect time for them to be put to use.
He only hoped Dumbledore wouldn't use them to peek into the girls' lavatories or anything of the sort. Considering Dumbledore's preferences, Kyle felt the boys' lavatories might actually be in more danger.
Whatever, forget it.
In any case, Kyle didn't use the public baths. Aside from the Prefects, who had their own private bathrooms, other students had to bathe in a communal facility similar to a large bathhouse. Having been a Southerner in his previous life, Kyle would rather die than use a communal bath.
His "Bag End"... well, it was the "Akina Villa" now... had its own bathing facilities and a luxury bathtub. Why would he go to a public bath to be "honest and open" with everyone else?
Cough, I'm getting off track.
Kyle pressed a crystal ball that was significantly larger than the others into Dumbledore's hand.
"This crystal ball is the core of the surveillance system. It allows you to view the footage from the other crystal balls in real-time, and you can also playback specific timeframes that have been saved."
What Kyle didn't tell Dumbledore was that there could be more than one "Core Crystal Ball." He could create another one and link it to the system in a matter of minutes.
And looking at Dumbledore now, in his eagerness to track the Basilisk, it seemed he wanted to install these surveillance crystals in every corner of Hogwarts—including the lavatories?
This meant that if Kyle wanted to, he could eventually start writing his own version of Icha Icha Hogwarts.
After installing one of the surveillance crystals onto the ceiling of the corridor, Kyle gave Dumbledore a brief demonstration of the system. Dumbledore was amazed as he looked at the surveillance feed, which was complete with timestamps and camera location information.
In addition to displaying the recorded footage, Kyle had also added audio recording and broadcasting functions. In the future, if there was an emergency requiring Dumbledore to notify the other professors, he wouldn't need to rely on the relatively inefficient method of sending Patronuses. He could simply make an announcement through this "Campus Broadcast System."
"You always manage to come up with new tricks for me," Dumbledore said, patting Kyle on the shoulder appreciatively.
With this system in place, the next time the Heir of Slytherin opened the Chamber, they would certainly not escape surveillance.
"I'll leave the rest to you then. Please extend the coverage of this surveillance system to the entire school as soon as possible," Dumbledore said solemnly.
Kyle nodded. "No problem. I'll need about a week."
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