90 Chapter 90: The Objective of the Chamber

"Today we will transform animals into glass cups," Professor McGonagall stood in front of the class, delivering instructions for the upcoming exercise. "You must do it like this," she elegantly waved her wand, saying, "One, two, three, Vera Verto." The bird next to her then transformed into a glass cup.

The students in the class were immediately impressed; everyone stared at the animals on their desks. It was obvious that it was now their turn to replicate what Professor McGonagall had just done.

Neville, in particular, was extremely nervous, looking at the toad in front of him. His spells usually failed, and he didn't want to harm Trevor.

"Don't worry; you won't hurt him," said William, forcing Neville to look at him.

"But what if it happens?"

"Just do your best to make sure it doesn't. Seamus Finnigan should be more worried; his spells always explode," William reminded, causing Neville's expression to change. He immediately looked at his classmate as if he wanted to warn him about something. However, he then saw him casting the spell, and the rat in front of him turned into a glass cup, surprising everyone.

"See?" William asked, "If he could do it with the risks he takes using his magic, then you can do it too. You just have to trust yourself, Neville."

The boy nodded, looked at Trevor, and closed his eyes to concentrate. Meanwhile, William looked away; he was about to witness one of the best scenes from the second Harry Potter movie.

Ron Weasley moved his broken wand slowly, focusing on his rat Scabbers, who was actually Peter Pettigrew.

"Haha..." he couldn't help but laugh at what was about to happen.

Ron moved his wand three times as instructed, saying, "Vera Verto" with a serious tone. The green light left his wand to transform the rat, but all he got was a cup with fur and a long rat tail.

Laughter erupted among all the students at the scene, a worthy failure for Ron Weasley.

When the laughter finally subsided, a hand rose among them—Hermione Granger, to no one's surprise, but with a question that truly captured everyone's attention. "Professor, could you tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?"

Professor McGonagall looked at all the students; all eyes were on her. Everyone wanted more information about the Chamber of Secrets and the heir mentioned on the wall that night.

"Fine," the professor reluctantly agreed while selecting in her mind the information she should reveal to her students.

"Everyone should already know that Hogwarts was founded by four great wizards of the time: Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin. Three of the founders lived in great harmony, and one did not. Salazar always wanted to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts; he wished magic education to be a privilege for pure-blood families. As he couldn't convince the other founders, he decided to leave the school."

"But according to legend, Slytherin built a hidden chamber in this castle known as the Chamber of Secrets, but before leaving, he sealed it until the moment his true heir arrived at the school, so that the heir could unleash the horrors within the chamber to purge the school of those whom Slytherin believed did not deserve to study magic."

"The impure," Hermione mentioned, and the professor nodded.

"Of course, we have searched for it many times, but such a chamber apparently does not exist."

"Professor, who lives inside the Chamber of Secrets?" Hermione asked again.

"It is said that the chamber houses something that only Slytherin's heir can control; it is believed to be the home of a monster."

Finally, when the professor stopped speaking, a hand rose again, this time from one of the potential heirs of the Chamber of Secrets. "I believe the goal of the Chamber of Secrets is not to harm students but to protect wizards."

The professor raised her head and looked at the owner of the voice, exactly at William. The rest of the students focused their attention on the silver-haired boy.

"What do you mean, Mr. Rosier?" the professor asked, interested in this new perspective.

William stared at her. "As you know, during the time Salazar Slytherin was active until the founding of Hogwarts, Muggles actively pursued the famous witch hunts. The Chamber of Secrets was nothing more than another weapon to defend Hogwarts from possible Muggle attacks. On the other hand, it was normal for Salazar not to trust Muggle-borns because he believed that at some point they might betray the magical world. Despite all his beliefs, there is no document in which he harmed any student born of Muggles. Instead, he chose to leave the school, hoping for his heir. Perhaps he believed that the Slytherin family would endure until modern times, which did not happen. Similarly, he must have believed that his heir would continue his way of thinking and not use the Chamber of Secrets to harm students but to defend Hogwarts."

"It's a quite particular point of view," praised Professor McGonagall with a smile. "Your words may be true regarding the Chamber of Secrets, and it's possible that it either doesn't really exist or that its heir uses it for evil purposes."

"I hope that with what has been said, you can reflect on it. Class dismissed."