Hermione had been Petrified, and Amanda felt waves of sharp pain in her brain.
The mention of Petrification easily brought the Basilisk to mind. The location where she had previously escaped the Basilisk with Ginny was the corridor outside Gryffindor Tower.
Thus, it was highly likely that Hermione had encountered the retreating Basilisk at that time and was subsequently Petrified.
Hermione had encountered the Basilisk that had attacked her and was Petrified; this was all because her skills were insufficient. She hadn't eliminated the danger of the Basilisk while protecting herself and Ginny.
Furthermore, Hermione had clearly already reached the Gryffindor Common Room, so why did she come back out?
Amanda's mind instinctively muddled through the thoughts. It was because she... because she hadn't returned to Ravenclaw in time to let Hermione know she was safe. So Hermione, worried about her, ran out to find her and encountered the Basilisk.
Amanda's face didn't show any change despite her thoughts, but her mind was currently a mess, like stirred concrete.
It was all her fault... all because her skills were lacking, causing Hermione to be Petrified by the Basilisk.
She should be punished... because her mistake had brought harm to Hermione.
But Hermione wouldn't let her punish herself, yet Hermione was Petrified because of her mistake.
The two different ideas clashed violently, making Amanda feel as if her brain was about to be torn in half.
"Child, child, are you alright?"
A gentle voice sounded in her ear, and Amanda snapped back to her senses. The surrounding scene had completely changed.
She was sitting in the Hospital Wing. The injuries on her right arm, right shoulder, right leg, and side had already been treated by Madam Pomfrey.
Now she was sitting on the hospital bed wearing only her innermost shirt, surrounded by Cho Chang, Marietta Eckmore, and Penelope.
The three males—Harry, Ron, and Headmaster Dumbledore—were blocked outside by a curtain.
"I'm fine, thank you, Madam Pomfrey," Amanda spoke mechanically.
Her eyes were filled with dead silence and indifference. Slowly closing her eyes, Amanda couldn't stop thinking about Hermione.
She should be on a hospital bed near her right now, turned into a stone statue, only able to be saved once the Mandrakes matured.
Even though she could be saved, how scared must she have been when she encountered the Basilisk?
How much fear did she feel as she sensed herself being Petrified bit by bit?
It was all because of her... because she didn't do well enough. If she could have defeated the Basilisk while protecting herself and Ginny, if she could have returned to the Ravenclaw Common Room on time to tell Hermione she was safe, if... "Amanda, relax," Cho Chang reached out and gently stroked Amanda's forehead. "Get some good sleep, don't think about anything else. You've already done great."
Looking into Amanda's deep, soulless eyes, the four young witches present, including Madam Pomfrey, felt a pang in their hearts.
Cho Chang and the other two, who knew Amanda deeply, could guess that this young girl—who cared for others and the majority to her very core—was absolutely condemning herself in her heart.
She was reflecting on herself, but this clearly wasn't her fault.
Reaching out to pull the covers up for Amanda, the curtain was opened, and Harry and Ron walked in cautiously.
Just now, the two of them had been too eager to find Headmaster Dumbledore to explain the situation, and they hadn't noticed the injured Amanda floating nearby.
By the time they noticed, their words had already slipped out. The two boys had felt a vague sense of dread at the time, wishing they could slap themselves twice across the mouth.
Now, looking at Amanda lying on the hospital bed without any expression, appearing no different from usual...
They felt an inexplicable sense of unease.
"Amanda, don't think too much," Harry said to her, choosing his words carefully. "You need to take care of yourself, recover well."
"Yeah," Ron forced a small smile nearby, trying to joke and lighten the atmosphere. "You have to recover as soon as possible. We still want to see you break your house point record from last year."
Harry pursed his lips, reached into his robe pocket, took out a wand, and placed it on the nightstand next to Amanda's bed.
"This is what we found in the corridor. It isn't damaged at all."
Amanda's eyes shifted slightly toward her wand, and she then nodded to Harry and Ron. "Thank you, sorry for the trouble."
Penelope and Marietta Eckmore each held one of Amanda's hands, gently rubbing them with the heartache of seniors for their junior.
Ginny carefully wiped the fine sweat from Amanda's forehead, the self-reproach in her eyes not fading one bit.
"Rest well, Miss Amanda. Have a sleep. Miss Granger's Petrification can be treated as soon as the Mandrakes mature at the end of the school year."
Headmaster Dumbledore softened his voice, sounding like a Principal and also like a kind elder of the family.
"Alright everyone, Amanda needs to rest now. Out you go, out."
Madam Pomfrey waved her hands at the people gathered around the bed, signaling for them all to leave the Hospital Wing.
Disturbing patients was strictly forbidden in the Hospital Wing; this was an ironclad rule that everyone had to follow.
"Goodnight, sleep well."
The three seniors—Cho Chang, Marietta Eckmore, and Penelope—each gave Amanda a goodnight kiss on the forehead.
Amanda nodded to the three seniors and said to everyone, "Goodnight."
Everyone gradually backed away from the bed, and the curtain was pulled shut again by Madam Pomfrey.
Amanda closed her eyes, listening to their footsteps. She heard everyone stop in front of a hospital bed not far from her.
They were likely looking at Hermione. A short while later, after a few whispered exchanges, Amanda heard the sound of the Hospital Wing door opening and then closing.
Headmaster Dumbledore, Senior Cho Chang, and the others had all left.
One last set of footsteps passed Amanda's bed, then disappeared into the innermost part of the Hospital Wing.
Madam Pomfrey had also returned to her office. Amanda propped herself up and sat up.
Her mind was still dwelling on the fact that Hermione had been Petrified because of her.
Curling up her legs, Amanda raised her hands to cover her head, closing her eyes as her whole body trembled uncontrollably.
In a distant memory, six-year-old little Amanda was curled up in the same posture, crying on the floor, while her parents stood on either side, repeatedly striking her with wooden sticks.
"It's all because of you. Because you aren't a genius, not a good student, we still have to be cramped in this apartment."
"Living in an apartment like this, do you know how much face we lose?"
"Ugh... it hurts, Daddy, Mommy, please stop hitting me, I'll study harder... waaaah."
Young Amanda was in unstoppable pain, with obvious dark circles under her eyes.
She didn't understand. She didn't understand why, even though she studied until one or two in the morning and her grades were in the top third, they still weren't the 'good grades' that could satisfy her parents.
She also didn't understand why her parents called it 'cramped' when they clearly lived in an apartment nearly two hundred square meters in size.
The past pain seemed to travel through time and space to Amanda's body, and the past accusations shifted from her parents' mouths into Amanda's mind.
It was all because of herself... all because of herself. Thinking of those words, Amanda couldn't help but grit her teeth fiercely.
Because she bit down so hard, traces of blood seeped from her gums.
Her right hand trembled as she reached out to grasp the wand on the nightstand. Amanda slowly turned the tip of the wand and pointed it at her own chest.
Curling her body, Amanda's voice was calm yet trembling, "Cruciatus Curse."
Every inch of bone was being ground down, every bit of flesh was being melted, her heart was being pierced, and her brain was being torn apart.
The feeling of the Cruciatus Curse this time was even stronger than the one Voldemort had inflicted upon Amanda before.
This spell, which used hatred as its source of power, ultimately exerted a much more powerful force when Amanda directed it at herself than when used by others.
"Crucio."
Without waiting for the pain to fade, Amanda cast the spell again. Her throat was already hoarse beyond recognition, but her mind was unexpectedly clear; the pain failed to affect its ability to remain lucid.
It was as if it knew its master needed it to stay clear right now.
"Crucio."
Hermione had told her not to punish herself anymore, saying that everyone would worry about her, and she would worry even more.
"Crucio."
But Hermione was now Petrified, and it was because of her.
"Crucio."
So punishing herself... was very right, wasn't it?
After finishing the fifth incantation, Amanda's wand slipped from her hand and fell onto the bed. Her curled body shook violently, even causing the bed to rattle.
However, she still didn't let out a single cry of pain, and the expression on her face didn't change at all.
She only whispered "It hurts..." as she used her twitching, numb right hand to pick up the wand.
Picking up the wand, Amanda struggled to move her body and stepped onto the floor barefoot. A burst of sharp pain, mixed with a soft sensation like stepping on cotton, came from her feet.
She couldn't help but stagger a step before stabilizing herself. It wasn't that the punishment just now was enough.
Rather, she understood that if she wanted to ensure the success of what came next, she could only endure this much.
Walking out from the curtain with bare, trembling feet, Amanda's gaze fixed on another hospital bed obscured by a curtain.
Hermione... Amanda withdrew her gaze, lowered her head in guilt, and walked step by step toward the Hospital Wing entrance with great effort.
The night breeze blew into the Hospital Wing, and the curtains around Hermione's bed were gently lifted.
The eyes of her Petrified self happened to be facing Amanda as she struggled toward the Hospital Wing entrance.
Silently opening the Hospital Wing door, Amanda, dressed in hospital pajamas, walked out barefoot.
To save her strength, Amanda even skipped the motion of waving her wand, using a wandless and silent Levitation Charm.
She slowly rose into the air and headed toward the girls' washroom on the second floor of Hogwarts.
Arriving at the entrance of the girls' washroom, the heavy wooden door was torn off with a "crack" by Amanda's controlled Levitation Charm.
Floating into the girls' washroom, the ghost who always "guarded" this place, Moaning Myrtle, emerged from a toilet.
"Hey! Why did you tear the door off?"
"Wait, are those hospital pajamas you're wearing?"
Hearing Myrtle's words, Amanda looked up at her and opened her mouth to answer, but she couldn't make a sound.
Closing her mouth again, Amanda apologized to her in her heart.'Sorry, although I should answer your question to be polite, I don't seem to be able to speak right now.'
Two streams of bright red blood gushed from Amanda's nostrils. The damage to her body from five consecutive Cruciatus Curses was obvious.
Amanda's face remained expressionless, ignoring the nosebleed she was having.
As she blinked slightly, the entire girls' washroom emitted a faint cracking sound.
Myrtle's eyes widened in shock as she floated in front of Amanda.
"What are you doing? Are you going to tear this place apart?! Have you gone mad?"
Crack, crack... Bang!
Water gushed from the washroom pipes, and everything in this washroom was levitated by Amanda.
The central sinks, the wooden stalls, even the floor and the walls couldn't escape.
Seeing the massive opening revealed after the sinks were levitated, Amanda withdrew the Levitation Charm, and the surrounding floating objects fell to the ground with a crashing sound.
"Merlin, you really are mad, but... you really are amazing."
Myrtle blinked as she watched Amanda, unable to help herself from speaking when she saw Amanda controlling herself to float above that massive opening.
"Are you really going down?"
Amanda turned her head toward Myrtle, her eyes looking at her like inorganic objects.
Myrtle floated back a bit. "Alright, I hope you can still come back up."
Amanda nodded stiffly, then suddenly plummeted downward.
With the help of the Levitation Charm, Amanda easily navigated the extremely long tunnel to reach the deep underground of Hogwarts.
Looking at the countless bones of small rodents below, Amanda quickly judged that she hadn't come to the wrong place; the Basilisk was here.
A trace of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, and the trembling in Amanda's body grew more severe.
She closed her eyes, accelerating her floating speed, the sound of whistling wind constant in her ears.
Her soulless eyes constantly scanned the conditions inside the tunnel. She didn't slow down even when she saw a massive coiled object ahead.
Instead, she rushed straight past it. That object didn't have even the slightest rise and fall of breath.
It was a shed skin.
Making the judgment without even needing to think, Amanda sped past the shed skin and finally stopped in front of a door carved with several lifelike snakes.
She raised her right arm, holding her wand as if the continuous pain throughout her body didn't affect her at all.
A purple beam of magic shot out violently. A powerful Impediment Jinx directly blasted a dent into the door.
There was protective magic on the door, Amanda's brain quickly concluded, and she fired another purple beam of magic.
Boom!
With a loud crash, the door flew backward into the Chamber of Secrets, then slammed heavily onto the ground.
Amanda floated inside, her eyes quickly scanning the entire chamber, performing a detailed analysis of every area.
The pools on both sides were too shallow to hide a Basilisk, and the other areas were very open, containing only the pillars supporting the chamber.
Therefore, the only place that could hide the Basilisk... Amanda locked her gaze onto the statue of Salazar Slytherin at the other end of the chamber.
Modeling and analyzing the entire statue in her mind, Amanda finally raised her wand and aimed it at the mouth of the Salazar Slytherin statue.
This was the most likely result: the Basilisk entered and exited from here.
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