Late at night.
As darkness settled over Hogwarts, the castle fell into silence, broken only by the soft rustling of the forest beyond.
"Creak—"
Tver moved through the bathroom with practiced ease and stopped in front of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.
Yes, he was fully prepared to face Salazar Slytherin.
After half a year of research and practice, he was now able to freely convert between soul and magic.
Of course, that was only possible because magic itself was formed through the shaping of the soul.
The door to the Chamber of Secrets had been completely restored. The serpent eyes embedded in it gleamed under the faint light, and the traces he had left behind earlier, like those of a basilisk, had been wiped away without a trace.
But that didn't matter. As long as Salazar's magic still flowed through the door, it was enough.
Tver's gaze sharpened as he slowly raised his wand.
There was no flash of light, but in his perception, his magic drifted down onto the stone wall like a gentle breeze, spreading across the entire surface.
In an instant, the door seemed to corrode. Layer by layer, countless brilliant points of light surfaced, shimmering like stars.
The wall, however, was incredibly thick. Even after increasing his magical output, it took nearly ten minutes before it completely vanished from his sight.
What remained was a breathtaking sea of stars.
So next, he just needed to merge these stars into—
Wait. The stars were moving.
Under Tver's astonished gaze, the starlight scattered lightly, then streaked toward the depths of the chamber one by one. Faster than when they had appeared, they converged into a dazzling beam of light.
This development was genuinely unexpected.
Tver had anticipated many possibilities, including, but not limited to, Salazar being ill-tempered and unwilling to communicate.
The outcome he feared most, of course, was that Salazar hadn't shaped magic using his soul at all, which would mean his entire line of research had been wrong.
But what was happening now?
The magic had clearly been restored into fragmented soul-light, yet it was flying away.
So he was right, but not completely?
Curious, Tver strode forward, passing through the thinning sea of stars and entering the Chamber of Secrets.
Without needing to look closely, he immediately noticed the destination the starlight was rushing toward—the statue of Salazar Slytherin at the very heart of the chamber.
Yet the statue gave him an inexplicably eerie feeling.
It bore an aged face, with a sparse, long beard hanging down to the hem of its wizard's robes.
Two large, grayish feet stood planted on the smooth stone floor.
Everything about it seemed normal. But as the starlight poured into the statue's eyes, Tver finally understood the source of that unease.
No matter where he stood, he felt as though the statue was watching him.
An interesting design.
Tver recognized it as a visual trick, a clever carving technique that created this effect without the use of magic.
He slowly walked to the base of the statue and waited quietly.
Waiting for Salazar Slytherin's secret to reveal itself before him.
After a short while, the starlight fully vanished into the statue's eyes, and the chamber returned to darkness.
The next second, an overwhelmingly bright beam burst forth from the statue's eyes, projecting onto the ground in front of Tver.
At the same time, the other structures in the chamber seemed to come alive.
The serpent carvings wrapped around the stone pillars began to coil along their surfaces.
The long-dry torches flared back to life, as if in a final resurgence.
The thin layer of water on the floor slowly flowed away to both sides, revealing dry stone beneath.
...
All of it was in preparation for the arrival of the chamber's true master—Salazar Slytherin.
When the light faded, a tall, upright figure stood before Tver.
His height was only slightly shorter than Tver's, who stood nearly six feet three, though his body, extending from an emerald-green robe, was noticeably leaner.
Yet that did nothing to diminish his striking, almost bewitching beauty, especially those vivid green eyes, which examined Tver with an eerie, serpentine intensity.
"Sssss…"
A cold hiss slipped from his lips, matching the chill in his eyes.
"My apologies, Mr. Salazar Slytherin. I don't speak Parseltongue."
Tver bowed with effortless elegance.
Even though Salazar didn't seem nearly as approachable as the other two founders, Tver still stepped forward without hesitation, meeting his gaze head-on.
"That was more or less what I expected," Salazar said with a faintly wicked chuckle.
His voice carried an unexpectedly magnetic quality, somewhat similar to Marvolio's slightly husky tone.
If anything, Salazar's voice was even more pleasant to the ear.
"Are you my heir?"
His eyes never blinked, a detail Tver noticed immediately.
"That depends on how you define an heir. If you mean someone who can speak Parseltongue and command the Basilisk, then no, I'm not."
"But if what you want is someone who can restore your soul, then that would be me, and only me."
Salazar seemed quite pleased by that confidence, the curve of his smile growing noticeably wider.
"Of course I want an heir like you. As for Parseltongue, that's up to you—"
"You're probing my mind!"
Tver's expression instantly turned cold. He locked eyes with Salazar, the muscles in his wand-holding hand tightening at once.
The intrusion had likely begun the moment their gazes met, yet despite his Occlumency, he hadn't noticed until now.
To be blunt, even Dumbledore couldn't pull off something like this.
Last year, Rowena Ravenclaw had read his memories as well, but that had been mutually agreed upon, and she couldn't maintain her own existence without him.
Salazar was different.
He hadn't even paid.
…No, his soul was still wandering around the castle.
"My apologies." Salazar dipped his head slightly, his manners flawless.
"I forgot to mention it. I'm a natural Legilimens. I tend to catch glimpses of interesting things without meaning to."
"But your Occlumency is quite impressive. It's already not much worse than ours."
"But compared to your Legilimency, it's still far behind," Tver replied coldly.
Natural Legilimens weren't unheard of, but that was usually nothing more than an innate talent. Sometimes they couldn't even see through the most basic Occlumency.
As for someone at Salazar's level, Tver had never even heard of such a case.
"Don't worry. I won't reveal your little secret," Salazar said, spreading his hands in a friendly gesture.
"After all, you're the only one who can restore my soul, aren't you?"
"To be honest, ever since I merged with the castle, I never imagined there would come a day when my soul could be reassembled."
"Merged?" Tver frowned.
"Yes." Salazar's expression was utterly matter-of-fact, yet his eyes gleamed brightly.
"This is Slytherin's castle, young man. I have both the right and the duty to protect it."
...
If you'd like to support my work and unlock advanced chapters, you can follow me on P@treon.
[Upto 50 chapters ahead for now]
[email protected]/BlurryDream