They descended the nearest staircase, walked through the dimly lit corridors, and arrived at the entrance to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Everything went incredibly smoothly—no one crossed their path, and no obstacles arose. Orli wasn't sure how things would end, how they would kill the basilisk, or how they would survive. It felt as though the Felix Felicis only illuminated the next few steps ahead. But deep down, she had a feeling they were on the right path, and she knew she would be safe.
The bathroom was empty and eerily quiet. Moaning Myrtle was perched on the water tank of the furthest toilet.
# Moaning Myrtle
"Oh, it's you lot."
She floated lazily into the air when she saw the four familiar faces.
# Moaning Myrtle
"What do you want this time?"
# Harry
"The same question as before."
Harry adjusted his glasses and gave her a friendly smile.
# Harry
"You mentioned a pair of yellow eyes last time. We'd like to know exactly where you saw them—details, if you can."
# Moaning Myrtle
"Somewhere around there, I suppose."
Myrtle replied vaguely, gesturing toward a sink in front of her.
The row of sinks looked perfectly ordinary and old, with nothing unusual about them. But Hermione, as if guided by some unseen force, immediately noticed a tiny snake-shaped engraving on one of the taps.
# Hermione
"Here, Harry."
# Moaning Myrtle
"This tap has never worked."
Myrtle said with interest, floating around them in circles.
# Ron
"Harry, say something to it—in Parseltongue."
Ron suggested. The Felix Felicis seemed to have sharpened his wits.
# Harry
"Open."
Harry tried.
## Orli
"No, you're speaking English. Standard London accent."
Orli shook her head.
## Orli
"You have to believe it's alive."
Harry turned back and focused intently on the small snake engraving. This time, it worked. A strange hissing sound escaped his lips, and immediately, the tap emitted a dazzling white light and began spinning rapidly. The sink moved as well, slowly disappearing from view to reveal a massive pipe, large enough for a person to slide into.
# Harry
"We need to go down."
Harry said confidently.
# Harry
"I have a strange feeling this won't be too hard."
Ron, Hermione, and Orli all nodded. The Felix Felicis continued to work its magic, and Orli felt that tonight, they were the luckiest people in Hogwarts.
Harry went first, sliding into the pipe, followed by Orli and Hermione, with Ron bringing up the rear.
The pipe was like a dark, slimy, seemingly endless slide, twisting and turning, spiraling steeply downward. Orli felt they were descending to a depth far below the school's foundations, deeper than Snape's office. She could hear the faint thuds of Ron bumping into the walls behind her at each turn.
She wasn't worried about the descent at all. It was as if she instinctively knew what to do. After a short horizontal section, she landed steadily on a damp floor.
# Hermione
"Lumos!"
Hermione lit her wand, and the four of them turned their eyes toward the darkness ahead.
# Hermione
"Let's go."
Their footsteps echoed loudly on the wet ground. The light from their wands cast long shadows on the damp walls, and the tunnel was littered with the bones of small animals.
# Hermione
"Maybe we should close our eyes? But for some reason, I feel like we don't need to."
Hermione said.
# Ron
"There's something over there."
Ron pointed to the other end of the tunnel. A coiled, massive figure lay silently in the shadows, unmoving.
Harry squinted, stepping cautiously forward, and spoke:
# Harry
"It's fine—it's just shed skin."
He lit his wand as well, and the light fell on a giant snakeskin. It gleamed green, stretching at least twenty feet long.
They carefully walked around the enormous snakeskin, turning through several more bends in the tunnel. The paths were intricate and maze-like, yet they seemed to know the way as if they had been here before. The Felix Felicis was guiding them.
At last, they came upon a solid wall. Two entwined serpents were carved into it, their eyes set with large, glittering emeralds.
## Orli
"Harry."
Orli called out to him.
Harry cleared his throat, and the low, raspy hiss of Parseltongue filled the air once more. The two serpents slithered apart, and the stone wall split down the middle, sliding away to reveal an opening.
# Hermione
"Is everyone ready?"
Hermione gripped her wand tightly.
# Ron
"Absolutely."
For once, Ron's voice sounded full of confidence.
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