Chapter Twenty Three, Year Two: Parselmouth
Salazar left the Chamber a bit preoccupied, but no longer as stressed and angry. He had even been a bit jumpy. At one point he thought he saw red eyes in the darkness, but it was just a trick of the light.
He grinned as he looked down at the small magical viper curled around his arm. Apparently, one of his descendants had raised another basilisk, the Ministry found out, and he was forced to stash it here. Thus, Basle and the other basilisk mated and started a sort of colony. First generation basilisks needed to be hatched from an egg placed under a toad. Later generations are born alive, like most non-magical vipers, and with no toad involved.
The small snake, looked up at Salazar sleepily. "So warm," it hissed.
"Do you have a name?" Salazar asked.
The snake gave him an odd look.
"Er, then how about…Jormungand(1)? No, too dramatic…" Salazar looked around, and continued walking, trying to remember various snake related myths.
When Salazar realized that he was seriously considering naming the little snake Leviathan, he changed gears from mythology and religion to literature. He eventually settled on Crowley(2), and told the snake this who just gave the approximation of a shrug and went back to dozing.
Salazar smiled down at the small serpent, and was nearly run over by Tom.
"Do you think Draco would mind if I slept in the Slytherin common room? The Gryffindor dorms are just too, too…" Tom groped around for a reasonable excuse, "they're too red. The color schematics are terrible."
"Tom, have you ever had to wait through something horrendous before the plan starts to come together?" Salazar asked, putting an arm around Tom's shoulders and walking him back toward the Tower.
"Yes," Tom said slowly.
"Think of your stay like that."
They continued walking toward Gryffindor Tower in a companionable silence. Suddenly, Tom stopped.
"Why didn't you say that if I didn't stay there I'd end up dead?" Tom asked.
Salazar raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it obvious? You're too melodramatic for that statement to make an impact. Come on, people are probably worrying," he said, giving Tom a little push forward.
Tom frowned. "I am not melodramatic."
Salazar just snorted.
……….
Salazar had been right when he said that people would be worrying. All around the Common Room, people had a look of relief on their faces.
Tom rolled his eyes and stalked up to the sixth year boys' dorm. Salazar sighed and went up to his own dorm.
Ron and Hermione were waiting for him there. Hermione looked rather like Ms. Weasley.
"Harry, where were you?" Hermione asked, hands on her hips. "We were all so worried. Don't you realize how dangerous it is to go wandering around after dark with Voldemort back?" Ron nodded his head in agreement.
Salazar shook his head, trying to think up a plausible excuse. "Sorry, I just needed to get out. This whole thing is nerve-racking." Which just so happened to be true.
Hermione's face softened marginally. "Oh Harry, I'm sure it is, but that doesn't give you an excuse to not tell anyone!"
"Yeah mate, I think Lockhart's stalking you, and who knows what that nutcase will do," Ron said mock-seriously.
Salazar grinned, and Hermione gave Ron a severe look.
"But you will tell us next time, right?" Ron asked completely serious this time.
"…Sure."
"Good, that's all we ask," Hermione said approvingly. "Oh, and here's my copy of Hogwarts, A History."
"Thanks," said Salazar.
Hermione nodded. "And Harry, if you go wandering off like that again, that's the last time you'll be allowed to use my books," she said as she left.
Salazar walked over to his bed, placed the book on the night stand, then took off his robes. As he was opening his trunk, he heard Ron's exclamation behind him.
"What?" he asked.
"Where did you get that snake?" Ron asked, pointing to Crowley wrapped around his forearm.
Salazar looked furtively around the room to see if there was anyone else there, and also to look for possible escape routes. There were none of either category.
"Er, well, I kind of found him on the steps of Hogwarts and…"
"How come you haven't been bitten?"
"I talked to it and…"
"YOU TALKED TO IT?"
"Yes, and stop interrupting me!"
"Harry, do you know what this means?" Ron asked wearily, ignoring Salazar's command.
"…That I have a pet?"
"No! Well, yes, but besides that…you…you're a Parselmouth!"
"I'm a what?" said Salazar, looking innocent and quizzical.
"A Parselmouth! You can talk to snakes!"
"Oh, I know, but I'm really glad to finally know the term…anyway, I'm sure there are lots of people who can do it," Salazar said sounding blissfully unaware of how shocked Ron was.
"Oh, no they can't," said Ron. "It's not a very common gift. Harry, this is bad."
"Why?" asked Salazar, now sounding a bit angry. "It's like speaking Spanish. Spanish isn't bad!"
Ron twitched. "I'm not saying it's evil! I'm saying the implications are evil!" he said, exasperated. "Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth! That's why the Slytherin crest is a snake! People will think you're related to him or something!"
"But I'm not," said Salazar, now sounding innocent and confused, "so what's the problem?"
Ron sighed. "People just don't see it that way. They can be a bit stupid sometimes. They'll probably think you're in league with Voldemort."
Salazar blinked twice rapidly. "But I'm not."
"I know you're not, but other people will. And quite frankly I don't feel like picking up itsy-bitsy Harry pieces anytime soon."
"I don't feel like being in itsy-bitsy Harry pieces either," said Salazar.
"Good," said Ron sounding very pleased.
"But that doesn't mean that I won't use this…gift."
"Harry!"
Salazar shook his head. "I'm going to bed, Ron."
"But…"
"Goodnight," Salazar said climbing onto his bed and drawing the curtains.
Ron stared at the curtain for a while. "Well, fine then you bloody annoying black-haired midget! Why is it that when it counts, you never listen to me!" He kept muttering to himself as he got into his own bed and fell asleep.
A/N: Yes, a more regular update! Incredible! At any rate, this chapter might not be that good, but it's much better than it originally was.
1. In Norse mythology, Jormungard is the great sea serpent that inhabited the ocean surrounding Midgard. He grew so large he was able to encircle the world completely and grasped his own tail.
2. The little basilisk was named after Anthony J. Crowley, who is one of the main characters from the book Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimon. He's a demon, or rather, "An Angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards." He has an Arrangement with the angel Aziraphale and the two set out to stop Armageddon.
Also, the name is a reference to Aleister Crowley who was a famous occultist and founder the Abbey of Thelema, among other things.
Reviews:
Serenity1910: Thanks. I actually found a cute wallpaper of Salazar Slytherin with a snake around his neck. Here's the link:
d e v i a n t a r t . c o m / d e v i a t i o n / 2 5 0 3 6 3 6 9 ? q o 6 6 & q S a l a z a r + S l y t h e r i n
Granted it doesn't say that it's a wallpaper, but that's how I use it. I hope you liked this chapter.