4th September, 1965,
Scotland,
Hogwarts castle.
Today was Sunday, which meant no classes for today, but I had checked the schedule for my nightly patrols. Today night it was my turn to walk around and catch mischievous students after curfew. And I didn't plan to be serious about it, after all I myself used to roam around the castle after curfew, I can't be a hypocrite.
I planned to use that time for a visit to the chamber of secrets, but first breakfast. The Great Hall was pretty much empty this early in the morning, even among the teachers there was only me and Professor McGonagall. To her I gave a curt nod, which she replied in kind.
After breakfast I was back in my office thinking what to do when I took notice of the forbidden forest, which gave me an idea. Moving out of my office I went to the forbidden forest but on my way was Hagrid's hut. He was lumbering about looking after his vegetable patch and a few magical creatures he was allowed to raise here this close to the castle.
Hagrid was a certified magizoologist with licence to raise many kinds of magical creatures ranging from something as dangerous dragons to as harmless as browtruckles, he even had a license to inter breed different magical creatures to create a new one. His name in magizoology was even higher than that of Newton Scamander. He had graduated with many NEWTs but he chose to be a keeper of keys and grounds of Hogwarts after his graduation to tend to the multiple creatures in forbidden forest.
"Hagrid! How are you?" I called out to him.
He turned around and perked up after seeing me. "Ah, Lord Starborn or should I say professor now?, I am fine as always. How about you? Did you need something from me?"
"Ha-ha, you can just call me Marcus Hagrid just as I have told you multiple times to do, and no, I don't need anything and I am fine as well , I was just going to enter forbidden forest for a bit to explore and see if there is anything new from my student days." I replied to him. We were friends as multiple of the licence to raise creatures he got were helped by me to get. I very much liked his nature and simple mindedness.
"Oh ok, ok, I will call you Marcus, but you have to call me Reubus too. And about the forbidden forest, you are free to enter it, but if you need a guide I can come along with you after I finish my work here." Replied Hagrid.
"Of course Reubus, but I don't need a guide, I don't plan to go to deep, I will just lounge about there and observe many magical creatures that you tend to." I declined his offer as I wanted to be a bit alone in the forest to relax in silence. Hagrid being a half giant is not that silent even if he is just sitting around.
"Alright."
I bid him farewell and went onwards to the forest. After walking for a while I sat down with my back against a rock lying against a tree. After some cleaning charms, that is. You would know from the smell alone that some animal has pissed on the rock, but that was not much of a concern with a simple scourigify.
I sat there observing various magical creatures and aligning my magical energy to match that of the forest to feel the sensation of being in a forest teeming with life a bit more clearly. Forbidden forest, despite its name was very rich in positive magical energy. Only certain areas with dark creatures had a energy with negative nature.
What I was doing was a simple trick that druids of old used to do for magical harmony and getting rid of the negative elements from there magic. It is very efficient and effective method for wizards who want to dabble in dark arts without the crippling side effects. The Starborn castle itself has a ancient forest.
This is important as I had discovered some side effects that were not known to the world till now. The negative emotions used when casting dark spells corrode the soul of the caster. If the corrosion reaches a certain point they loose their rationality and often die early due to a heavily corroded soul. Most dark wizard know the later part which causes them to use more dark spells to prolong there life. But that leads to more corrosion.
There are few truly effective methods for offsetting the corrosion of one's soul one of which I use. It gets rid of the negative elements from my magic and adds positive elements which heals the soul. But these methods are not known to common wizards. Which I will rectify after I complete the academic paper I want to publish regarding this.
After almost half a day of magical cleansing, I went back to the castle to eat something. During this time many creatures also observed me, a large number of them were dark ones like Acromantulas, they were attracted to the dark bits of magic I was discarding. Back in the castle I saw students milling about playing and generally enjoying the holiday. Mostly they were catching up with there friends from different houses.
I greeted the ones who greeted me on my way to the chamber of secrets. Arriving to the bathroom which I had sealed of to the rest of the world with powerful draconian charms, I opened the entrance for me and slipped inside sealing the entrance shut again. I said the phrase required to open the entrance to the slide which led down me below the castle were the chamber of secrets was and entered it sliding all the way down to the area below.
Because of the preserving charms I had cast last time I was here, the interior of this area was still spotlessly clean. Moving on and reminiscing about the time I spent here, I got to the room in which the portrait of Salazar Slytherin was placed. As soon as I entered it there was a surge of magic emanating from the portrait, followed by that the figure of Salazar in the portrait moved as if waking up from a deep sleep.
"Marcus Starborn, I see you have grown up, how much time has passed since we last spoke?" spoke the figure in the portrait.
"Mother magic may bless your soul in the lands of dead sir Slytherin, it has been almost 36 years since we last spoke." I answered.
"May mother magic be merciful to you Marcus, I see, then what about your goals regarding the direction in which wizarding should grow?" he asked.
"My efforts have been successful, the goals I had in mind have become a reality under my nudging." I answered proudly.
"Good, you may return for now Marcus. I need to gather some more magic to function after such a long dormant state." He said and went back to sleep, the flow of magic in the portrait also subsided to a gentle rhythm, like the breath of a sleeping beast.
I had always thought his portrait was different from the others it was almost living, if my speculations are right it must be a product of life alchemy. My mind swirled with the pondering of magic's mystical nature as I went through the motions of the remaining day and finally retreating to the embrace of hazy sleep.