The corridor leading to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom had been completely sealed off. Until the basilisk's corpse was fully dealt with, the area was strictly off-limits to all students.
Filch was bustling about, hammering large wooden boards onto the walls, leaving only a narrow path barely wide enough for one person to pass through.
# Filch
"Hey, student! What are you doing here? This is a restricted area. Get lost!"
Filch barked, his crooked eyes narrowing as he fixed his gaze on Orli.
## Orli
"Sir, Headmaster Dumbledore gave me permission to be here. I'm here to assist Professor Snape with handling the basilisk's corpse."
Orli said calmly.
# Filch
"You think I'll believe that—a second-year student's load of rubbish? Lying to me, mocking me... Brats like you need proper punishment to learn some respect. They never should have done away with the old punishments..."
Filch sneered, clearly showing no intention of letting her pass.
Expecting Snape to come upstairs to fetch her was, of course, out of the question. Orli crossed her arms and stared Filch down.
## Orli
"I'm the only student in the entire school who works part-time in the Potions office every week. Don't tell me you haven't heard about it. Of course, you can choose to make things difficult for me."
She spoke with confidence, her expression firm.
## Orli
"But Professor Snape is waiting for me down there. If you keep blocking my way and he gets impatient, that won't be my fault."
Filch glared at her for a full minute before grumbling under his breath and stepping aside.
Borrowing someone else's authority had its perks. Orli allowed herself a small, triumphant smile.
In the center of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, the massive black hole remained open, looming like an abyss. Orli stood beside it, raised her wand, and cast a Lumos. The spell's light barely illuminated the first few meters of the descent. The effects of Felix Felicis had been remarkable earlier—she had jumped without hesitation. But now, her fear of heights was making her legs feel like jelly. She couldn't help but think of the massive water slides at Muggle amusement parks, except this time, there was no clean swimming pool waiting at the bottom.
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and leapt. For a moment, she felt like a rubber ball ricocheting down a pipe, bouncing off the walls as she twisted and turned deeper underground. Her elbows and knees were bruised from the collisions, and she had no sense of how long the descent lasted, let alone the route. After nearly hitting her head, she tightly shut her eyes and shielded her head with her arms, bracing for impact.
But the pain she expected never came. When she screamed her way out of the final horizontal stretch of the pipe and landed on the stone floor of the exit, the surface beneath her was unmistakably soft.
A Cushioning Charm. Orli clumsily scrambled to her feet, only to find Snape standing nearby, his expression one of pure disdain.
# Snape
"Your screaming could be heard loud and clear in the deepest part of the Chamber. Look at yourself—you look like a filthy sewer rat."
He raised his wand and cast a Scourgify on her before turning away.
# Snape
"I can't tell if you're here to help or to cause trouble. If your legs aren't broken, hurry up and follow me."
The underground passage was bathed in an eerie green glow, with rippling shadows resembling water patterns writhing on the damp stone walls, as though serpentine shapes were slithering along them. Beneath their feet, the occasional crunch of small animal bones echoed unsettlingly.
Orli quickened her pace, her small footsteps echoing in the corridor. A growing sense of unease gnawed at her, and she found that only the dark figure ahead of her offered any semblance of reassurance.
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