That aura, a mixture of death and an ancient giant serpent, seemed to be seeping in from all directions of the Castle, making her restless, a worried low growl escaping her throat.
She followed Hermione step by step like a most loyal knight, the fur all over her body slightly bristling.
"Don't worry, Lia, I'm just going to verify a theory," Hermione sensed Lia's tension and soothed her in a low voice, but her pace did not stop.
They walked along the second-floor corridor where Madam Norris had been found.
It was deserted. The last rays of the setting sun cast long, eerie shadows from the high windows. The air was thick with a lingering chill.
Lia's unease reached its peak. She pressed tightly against Hermione's calf, the low growl in her throat almost uncontrollable.
Her "Soul Protection" talent allowed her to clearly perceive that a malice purely directed at life was nearby!
"Hiss..."
A faint sound came from inside the wall.
Hermione stopped immediately, her heart pounding. She raised the small mirror in her hand, nervously aiming it at the corner ahead.
Almost at the same instant, Lia felt it!
A deathly aura capable of freezing the soul, like a literal tsunami, rushed toward them from around the corner!
A massive head covered in dark green scales slid silently out from behind the corner.
It was thicker than a grown man, with a blood-red feathered crest fluttering atop its head.
The most terrifying part was those eyes.
A pair of huge, yellow, serpent-like eyes!
In the mirror in Hermione's hand, those eyes were clearly reflected.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
Her body suddenly stiffened, the expression on her face still frozen in tension and focus.
Her pupils dilated the moment she saw the image in the mirror, and the luster of life quickly faded from her eyes.
Hermione was petrified.
Her whole body remained in the posture of holding up the mirror, turning into a lifelike statue.
And Lia had been staring straight ahead from the beginning.
Her task was to protect Hermione, and all her attention was focused on the direction of the source of danger.
She had no mirror.
She did not look through any reflection.
Lia used her own eyes to directly, completely, and clearly see those giant yellow eyes containing ancient death magic.
Boom—!
An experience more terrifying than being hit by the Avada Kedavra Curse.
Her soul felt as if it were instantly ripped out and stuffed into a block of eternal ice.
No struggle, no suspense.
Lia's petite body stiffened instantly, the light in her deep blue eyes extinguished at a visible speed, turning completely into a deathly grayish-white.
The life aura within her drained away faster and more thoroughly than when she was hit by the Killing Curse.
In less than a second, her warm body became like Hermione's—cold and hard.
A perfect, pure white Cat-girl sculpture.
"Thud."
The petrified Hermione lost her balance and fell straight backward.
"Thud."
The dead Lia fell as well, landing beside her.
The piece of parchment with the truth written on it, which Hermione had been clutching, slipped from her stiff fingers and drifted lightly onto the cold stone floor.
The giant Basilisk's cold gaze swept over the human and the cat.
No signs of life.
It flicked its tongue, and its massive body silently slid back into the shadows of the wall, disappearing from sight.
In the empty corridor, only two "statues" remained lying on the ground, with a slip of paper recording the fatal truth lying quietly to the side.
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