My name is Sasuke, from being the richest man in Naruto to dominating the world

Chapter 598: Sending Lockart Away and Looking for the Snake Monster
When Zhou Ming followed Hermione to the crime scene, all the students who were watching had been sent back, including the parties involved, Harry and Ron.

The attacked student Justin and the headless Nick were also sent to the medical room.

Only Dumbledore and a few professors were left at the scene. Hermione saw them from afar and subconsciously wanted to pull Zhou Ming away.

"Please wait a moment, Zhou Ming and Granger, come over here, I have some questions for you."

Dumbledore's voice suddenly rang out, and the other professors all looked over at them.

Professor McGonagall's gaze was the most severe, stabbing back and forth between the two of them like a knife, especially Hermione, who became her main target.

It's no wonder that Professor McGonagall was angry. First of all, she was the deputy headmaster of Hogwarts, and the discipline and life of the students were her main responsibilities. Secondly, she was the head of Gryffindor. The issue between Harry and Ron had not been resolved yet, and now there was Hermione Granger.

The trio often appeared together. McGonagall was originally curious about where Hermione had gone, but now she knew that she had gone to get help.

The other professor in question was Flitwick, Zhou Ming's dean. Since Zhou Ming was here, he should have paid attention to him. But the problem was that he trusted his students very much, and he was a good person. As long as the fault was not on Zhou Ming, he would not say anything.

As for other professors, Snape had no opinion about Zhou Ming except that his attitude towards Hermione might be a little worse. He even liked this smart student very much. However, he had some opinions about the two of them being so close.

But this scene gave him an extremely strong sense of déjà vu, so much so that Snape couldn't tell whether he should be angry or happy.

Professor Sprout was just a bystander. What she was more worried about now was the students of her own college. After all, the victims of this attack were her family members.

Oh, by the way, Snape cannot be completely considered an irrelevant person, because students are frequently attacked now, and the most likely murderer and the person everyone suspects the most, besides Harry, is the Slytherin student.

After all, these attacks were all related to the heirs, and in Hogwarts, Slytherin students were most likely to be related to the "heirs".

So several professors present, even Professor Flitwick, who originally had little to do with the matter, were dragged into the matter because of Zhou Ming's sudden appearance. Only Professor Lockhart acted as if nothing had happened and greeted Zhou Ming with a smile.

Since the first dueling class, Zhou Ming no longer took Lockhart seriously. In every Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Zhou Ming was already giving Lockhart the greatest face by not skipping classes.

Now, even if he skipped classes, Lockhart would not be able to say anything. Even if he reported it to Dumbledore, Dumbledore would most likely make a big deal out of a small matter and let it go.

It can be said that Zhou Ming no longer regards Lockhart as a professor, of course he was the same before.

But Lockhart was not angry - he had no right and dared not to be angry - on the contrary, he had been trying very hard to get along well with Zhou Ming recently. After class one time, he even called Zhou Ming alone and asked him if he would like to go to the restricted book area and said he could provide all necessary help.

This surprised Zhou Ming somewhat, and he even suspected that Lockhart had taken the wrong medicine.

Is this guy trying to use his fame to boost his status? Just like he did with Harry? If that's the case, then this guy is really out of his depth.

Zhou Ming's mind was full of random thoughts as he followed Hermione to a group of professors.

"Good afternoon, Professor Dumbledore and all the professors."

"Good afternoon, Zhou Ming!"

Professor Flitwick patted his arm happily, and although the other professors didn't say anything, they all nodded at him.

Lockhart grinned and was about to say something when Dumbledore suddenly spoke.

"Tell me what you think."

With just one sentence, Lockhart was blocked.

Dumbledore's words shocked the other professors.

"Albus?"

McGonagall frowned at Dumbledore.

"Don't be impatient, listen to what he has to say first."

Dumbledore smiled and shook his head, then turned to look at Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming looked at the other party in confusion, not knowing what Dumbledore was thinking. He did not answer Dumbledore's question immediately, but asked back.

"Professor, do you really want me to tell you? If I do, you will have to tell all the other things to the professors."

"Yes, I have thought about it. It is necessary to let other people know about such a big thing. After all, Hogwarts is not just my school."

Dumbledore smiled slightly, showing his attitude.

"Albus, what are you talking about? What are you hiding from us?"

How could Professor McGonagall not hear that the two were hiding something from everyone?

"Don't be impatient, Minerva. Let Zhou Ming tell us what he thinks first. I will explain everything that happens next to you all. Oh, I forgot, Professor Lockhart?"

"Ah? I'm here!"

Lockhart was stunned for a moment, then responded immediately.

"I have to trouble you to go to Hagrid, the guardian of the forest. I need him to confirm something."

"Um, now? No, I mean, when?"

"Just now."

"Ah? But..."

"Everyone is very busy now, I can only ask you for help."

Dumbledore said his request with a smile, but his tone was actually very firm. He did not give Lockhart any chance to refuse, and he was not able to refuse Dumbledore.

Lockhart was so unwilling that he looked back every few steps as he left.

He was excluded from such an important matter, which was a huge blow and humiliation for a person who became famous by relying on other people's stories.

If it were someone else with a bad temper, hey, you still want me to help you call someone? You're overthinking it. If I call you, I'm your own.

But if it was Lockhart, he would actually go to find Hagrid obediently.

It was obvious that Dumbledore deliberately sent him away. Only after Lockhart left did Dumbledore look at Zhou Ming.

"let's start."

"it is good."

Zhou Ming nodded, turned and walked to the place where he had found Justin before. There were still some water stains there.

He bent down, dipped his hand in some water, rubbed it gently on his fingers, and put it under his nose to smell it.

"The smell of dark magic, yes, it's the basilisk."

"Can you track the basilisk?"

Dumbledore asked.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Zhou Ming looked at the other person curiously.

In fact, he had communicated with Dumbledore privately about the Horcruxes. According to Dumbledore's idea, the Horcruxes must be eliminated as soon as possible, otherwise keeping them would cause trouble.

But he was a little undecided, mainly because he didn't know who had the Horcrux. Although he could control the entire school and all the portraits were his spies, this could not guarantee that he could observe the entire school from all angles. Therefore, he had been looking for the Horcrux all this time but to no avail.

He once asked Zhou Ming whether he had the ability to find the Horcrux, and Zhou Ming gave a positive answer, but he also expressed his own thoughts.

He thought that the Horcruxes should be allowed to move around outside for a while, which would give the students a sense of crisis and make them less casual about their studies, so that they could take their strength more seriously. After all, the wizarding world has never been peaceful, and these students will face their own challenges sooner or later. The current state of study is not a good thing for Hogwarts students.

Dumbledore initially agreed with the idea, but now it seems that he has changed his mind.

"determine."

He nodded. "The threat of the basilisk is too great. This is already the third attack. We were lucky these times and no one died. But no one can guarantee that there won't be deaths next time. Even if we want to train students, we can use other methods."

Old Deng still wants to play it safe.

But it's true, although he has special treatment for Harry, he actually still treats all students as his own children. He would feel heartbroken if any student was injured. If someone really died... Dumbledore would probably die of guilt.

"okay, I get it."

Zhou Ming nodded, shook his wrist, and the magic wand fell into his palm.

Then he waved his wand, sending streams of blood-red magic into the water stains on the ground.

After the magic power entered the accumulated water, it quickly outlined a series of circular patterns. At first, no one was sure what it was, but as time went on, the circles became more and more, gradually outlining a huge figure.

"Basilisk!"

All the professors frowned involuntarily, but Professor Flitwick looked more at Zhou Ming. He had never seen this spell before.

Based on his understanding of Zhou Ming, there is no doubt that this is another spell developed by Zhou Ming himself.

As the bloody basilisk took shape, it suddenly opened its mouth, let out a silent roar, then swung its tail and swam away in a certain direction.

"I've found the direction. Professors, please follow me."

Zhou Ming turned around and said, then took the lead and walked forward.

The other professors followed immediately.

The group followed the "Brasilen" and soon arrived at the girls' bathroom on the third floor.

"Is this here?"

Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow.

"This should be it... Um, next, Professor McGonagall? Professor Sprout? Who do you think will come?"

The female bathroom on the third floor is also very famous because a ghost named Myrtle lives here. If it were Zhou Ming himself, he would walk in without hesitation. But now the professor is around, and this is a female bathroom, so let someone else come.

"I come."

Professor McGonagall took a step forward without saying a word, pushed open the bathroom door and walked straight in.

Professor Sprout had no intention of taking action from the beginning. She just watched with a smile as Professor McGonagall entered the goddess bathroom menacingly.

"Ah! How could you come in? You...eh? Professor McGonagall?"

Myrtle's voice echoed from inside.

"Myrtle, we are going to do something next. I hope you can keep it a secret and not tell other students."

"Oh? What kind of thing is it? Hey, I may not be able to keep it a secret."

"If you can't keep a secret, I'm sorry, but I may have to petrify you first."

When it comes to the safety of other living students, Professor McGonagall is not so easy to talk to. Although Myrtle is also a student of Hogwarts, she is already a dead person. Dead people are not as important as living people. Professor McGonagall is very clear about this.

"No, don't petrify me, I won't look at it, I won't look at anything!"

Myrtle screamed, and then there was a sound of water, and then Professor McGonagall's voice rang out.

"It's all right now, you can come in."

Everyone filed in.

Hermione looked curiously at the bathroom which only had Professor McGonagall.

"Professor McGonagall, Myrtle..."

"She ran away. Don't worry, I won't do anything to the ghosts of Hogwarts."

Professor McGonagall said with a straight face.

Hermione shrank her neck and hid behind Zhou Ming, not daring to look at Professor McGonagall's face.

"Then let's proceed, classmate Zhou Ming. It's up to you."

"rest assured."

Zhou Ming smiled and waved his wand. The basilisk that remained outside came in, circled around the sink, and finally disappeared through the sink.

"It seems that the basilisk came out from here..."

Zhou Ming said, then he walked forward and touched the faucet.

"No problem, here it is."

He said this, and then smoothly transformed his language into snake language.

"Hiss, ha, sass (open the passage)~"

Under the shocked gazes of the professors, the sink suddenly deformed, and soon a dark hole appeared in front of everyone.

"You speak Parseltongue? Are you a Parseltongue?"

Snape spoke first. He thought that only the descendants of Slytherin had this ability. Doesn't this mean that Zhou Ming actually has Slytherin blood? But isn't he from a Muggle family?
Apparently, other professors also have this question.

Zhou Ming smiled.

"It's just a simple little magic trick that can help everyone learn other languages ​​faster, including magical creatures. Don't worry, professors. After this, I will write down the contents of this spell in full."

It's just a worthless little spell, and he doesn't care if other people learn it.

After the entrance of the cave appeared, Dumbledore was the first to take out his wand, and the other professors, as if awakened from a dream, did the same thing one after another.

"Next, there will most likely be a battle, Zhou Ming, I hope you can stay here to protect Miss Granger."

"No, I want to go down."

"but……"

"Don't worry, Professor. Hermione will be safe if she follows me. I know what you want to say. It's no secret that the basilisk's gaze can kill people. I dare to come, which means I'm not afraid of this power. At the same time, I can protect Hermione, so don't worry."

Zhou Ming smiled confidently.

Dumbledore looked at him and said nothing more. Instead, he took the lead and jumped into the passage.

The others quickly followed, and after they left, the sink at the back was quickly restored to its original state.

(End of this chapter)