Lia's eyes were cold, her disdain for Gilderoy Lockhart evident as if she were looking at a clown.
Lockhart's smile froze. The flashbulbs brought him back to his senses, and he immediately squeezed out a compassionate expression, reaching out to touch Lia's head: "Oh, you poor child..."
"Get lost."
Lia's voice was soft, but Lockhart's hand seemed frozen in mid-air.
She held Hermione's cold body, one hand baring her claws at Lockhart.
"Professor Lockhart," Dumbledore's voice rang out, "I believe the children need some peace." He turned to the reporter, "If you don't want tomorrow's headline to be about trespassing in the Hospital Wing, leave now."
The two of them slunk away.
"Hermione!" Harry and Ron rushed in. Seeing the two people side-by-side on the hospital bed, Ron's face turned pale.
"She's fine," Madam Pomfrey said after checking Lia, her tone filled with shock. "Miss Granger is also just... asleep."
"Because Lia saved her." Professor McGonagall looked at the Cat-girl, who was like a beast protecting its young, with a complex expression.
Just as the two were about to leave after their visit, Ron's foot kicked a piece of parchment under the bed. He picked it up: "Hermione's handwriting!"
Harry leaned in. A giant snake was drawn on the paper, with one word heavily circled next to it—"Pipes"!
"Pipes..." Harry murmured to himself. "The voice was coming from inside the walls..."
"It's it." Lia suddenly spoke, her voice sounding like sandpaper. "I'saw' it. That magic... it crawled out of the walls and finally disappeared into Moaning Myrtles Lavatory."
Everything became clear!
"Let's go!" Harry grabbed Ron and rushed out; they had to tell Dumbledore immediately.
Silence returned to the Hospital Wing.
The smell of disinfectant was nauseating. Lia curled up by Hermione's pillow. Although she had consumed the magic that petrified Hermione, the brief contact still required time for Hermione to repair the damaged parts.
The [Eye of Truth] allowed Lia to see something different.
Hermione's life force hadn't dissipated; it was just that a corner of it had been damaged by the petrification magic. She needed to slowly complete it herself before she could wake up.
She was still alive.
This realization was the last straw maintaining her sanity.
Just then, her cat ears twitched violently.
The [Eye of Truth] penetrated the floor and rocks, sensing a familiar life aura rapidly fading deep beneath Hogwarts—Ginny Weasley.
And next to Ginny, a dark magic that made her soul scream was coiled.
Massive, cold, and evil.
The Basilisk!
No, there was also something else that felt somewhat familiar.
That's it! It was this magic that turned Hermione into this!
Buzz—
Escape! Every cell in her body was convulsing, screaming orders for her to run away.
But as soon as she turned her head, she saw Hermione's pale and stiff sleeping face.
If... Hermione never woke up again... This possibility was like a red-hot iron, searing her most fragile nerves.
A scalding, unfamiliar emotion surged from her heart, burning her internal organs. It was the hatred unique to a beast whose only treasure had been stolen.
It was the one that hurt Hermione.
Then... kill it.
The coldness of fear was forcibly melted by this magma, a process so painful it made her whole body tremble.
In Lia's azure eyes, cowardice was burned away, leaving only boiling killing intent.
She silently jumped off the bed, transforming in mid-air to land on all fours, her body low as she slipped out of the Hospital Wing like a white shadow.
Leaving only the tinkling sound from her neck fading into the distance.
The [Eye of Truth] locked onto the source of the evil magic, mapping out the shortest route to avoid everyone.
Moaning Myrtles Lavatory.
Lia walked straight to the brass tap engraved with a small snake and closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, the world was completely decomposed in her eyes.
The tap was no longer metal, but a complex rune "lock cylinder" composed of magic. It was waiting for a magic "key" of a specific frequency.
I see. Parseltongue isn't a language; it's... authorization.
Lia concentrated, mobilizing the magic within her body. Following the structure of the "lock cylinder," she emitted a dry magic vibration from her throat.
"§Open§!"
Click, click. The sink descended, revealing a pitch-black pipe entrance.
Lia leaped into the darkness.
The inner walls of the pipes were slimy and cold. Her [Danger Intuition] predicted every loose stone, and her feline instincts allowed her to silently use the stone walls for leverage as she plummeted down.
When she landed, she stepped onto a pile of skeletons.
Ahead was a circular stone door. Lia's [Eye of Truth] once again saw through the seven coiled stone snake lock cylinders and issued the command in the same way.
The stone door rumbled open.
In the green-lit Chamber of Secrets, a handsome young phantom was standing beside the unconscious Ginny.
In mid-air, a Black Diary was greedily absorbing the girl's life.
"Oh?" Tom Riddle turned around, a smile on his lips, but his eyes were like those of someone dissecting a novel animal. "Not Potter... an interesting immortality, and those eyes that can see through magic. Your body would make a perfect collectible."
"And there seems to be something very familiar about you."
Lia ignored him. Her [Eye of Truth] had already locked onto the massive shadow behind him—a gargantuan creature was sliding out from behind the statue, its yellow vertical pupils the size of car headlights, filled with killing intent.
Harry would need to close his eyes, but Lia didn't.
Her eyes were immune to petrification!
"Hiss—!" Riddle issued a command.
The Basilisk hissed and lunged at Lia! A foul wind blew in her face!
Lia leaped to the side. The massive snake head crashed into where she had just been, the stone slabs shattering!
"Nice reaction," Riddle chuckled. "But how many times can you dodge?"
The snake's tail swept across with a crushing force that could pulverize anything! Lia leaped again, but the tip of the tail still grazed her side!
Intense pain flared as she was sent flying by the massive force, slamming hard against a stone pillar! The sound of bones breaking came from within her.
In the next second, [Super-speed Regeneration] allowed her body to recover rapidly. Bones twisted and reset under her skin, and torn flesh writhed and healed. The agonizing pain of flesh being ripped apart and then forcibly reattached made a half-stifled whimper escape Lia's throat.
"What an interesting ability." Greed flashed in Riddle's eyes. "However, my pet has more than just brute strength."
The Basilisk opened its bloody maw again, two fangs a meter long gleaming with a faint light. [Danger Intuition] screamed frantically! She wanted to dodge, but her forcibly reconstructed body was slightly stiff.
"Squelch—"
The fangs grazed her shoulder, leaving two deep wounds that exposed the bone. The blackish-purple venom spread instantly!
"Ah—!"
Lia screamed in pain. Two dark red bloodstains appeared on her Gryffindor uniform; it felt as if her soul was being scorched and dissolved by the venom!
[Super-speed Regeneration] was frantically fighting the toxins. Every repair was accompanied by doubled pain. She felt as if she had returned to that day she was tortured and killed by the Dark Wizards.
"Yes, that's the expression." Riddle admired it with intoxication. "Tremble in fear!"
At the peak of the intense pain, Lia's [Eye of Truth] became clearer than ever before.
Inside the Basilisk, she saw a network composed of magic. Inside its head, she saw the brightest core of magic—the brain.
A strategy formed instantly.
Lia endured the dizziness and deliberately stumbled, appearing exhausted.
Seeing this, the Basilisk let out a triumphant hiss, its massive head rearing high, preparing to deliver the final blow!
At the moment the Basilisk dived, Lia used all her strength to roll toward the base of the Salazar Slytherin statue!
"Boom—!"
The Basilisk's head slammed solidly into the stone base of the statue. It shook its head in pain, a sharp broken fang loosened by the impact stuck firmly in the hard stone base.
That was Lia's target!
She dodged the Basilisk's head, which was thrashing in pain, and lunged to the stone base. Her claws dug into the gaps around the broken fang, and she pulled with all her might!
The broken fang didn't budge!
The Basilisk had already begun to recover, its massive shadow looming over her once more!
Lia let out a beast-like low growl, pressing her entire body weight down and prying hard at a tricky angle!
"Creeeak—"
The broken fang was finally pulled out of the stone by her!
Just as the Basilisk opened its mouth to bite again, Lia grabbed the broken fang, which was longer than her arm, and kicked off its nose with all her strength. She leaped up like white lightning and climbed directly onto its massive head!
Target—the crown of its head!
She poured all her strength, her protection of Hermione, and her hatred of death into her arm, and slammed the venom-coated broken fang hard into the brightest point inside the head locked by the [Eye of Truth]!
"Pfft—!!!"
The broken fang pierced through the hard scales without resistance, sinking deep into its brain!
"Roar—!!!"
The Basilisk let out an unprecedentedly shrill scream. It writhed frantically in its death throes, repeatedly slamming Lia, who was still hanging onto its head, against the stone walls!
Bang!
Lia felt as if she had been completely shattered. But she didn't let go. She gripped the broken fang tightly, letting her bones shatter and internal organs rupture. [Super-speed Regeneration] was operating at its limit; the pain had become numb.
Finally, the Basilisk crashed to the ground, lifeless.
Lia slid off the Basilisk's head, collapsing into a pool of blood.
"Very good," a smile appeared on Riddle's face, his figure beginning to flicker. "You will become my new pet. We will meet again."
Lia looked up, using her last bit of strength to give him a defiant, blood-stained smile.
Dragging her broken body, she crawled toward the fallen diary. She picked up the broken fang coated in the Basilisk's venom and held it high.
"We will meet again,"
Amidst Riddle's certain and calm words, Lia suddenly stabbed the venomous fang into the diary!
Black ink gushed out, and a shrill soul-shattering scream echoed through the Chamber of Secrets.
But just a second before Riddle's soul dissipated, a sliver of soul fragment, thinner than a needle's point and condensed with all his malice, suddenly shot out from the diary!
It ignored Harry and Ron, who had just slid down the pipe and rushed into the Chamber; its only target was the Cat-girl who had killed it twice!
"Swish!"
Before anyone could react, that poisoned Soul Ice Needle shot straight at Lia, who had collapsed from exhaustion, and instantly vanished into her brow!
Lia's entire body stiffened. Deep in her soul, it felt as if a cold nail carrying eternal malice had been driven in.
A cold voice flashed through the depths of her mind.
"...Got you."
---------------------------------
I hope you enjoy this fanfiction! If you're having fun and want to read 30 chapters in advance, feel free to check out my Patreon: patreon.com/TLScarlet
Your support means a lot so if you like the story, don't forget to drop a Power Stone.