"Conrad…"

It was Quincy's voice, and maybe that is why I was able to concentrate on it, calling my consciousness back from its murky state. The competition's first round was wrapped up, and she came to me immediately. She saw something was off and asked no questions, merely helping me leave quickly before anybody could stop us.

We didn't head back to the common room, nor did she lead me to our own classroom at the North Tower. We went straight to the Room of Requirements, and the moment the door closed behind us, my mental fortitude gave out, and I collapsed in a howl of pain, clutching my head.

"Conrad!"

I could hear her voice, but it was muffled to my ears, and I felt my consciousness was slipping into a different state of existence. I can't recall when I crossed between reality and dreams, but I was in a familiar-looking, dark forest, and I could feel the presence of the same snake that had pursued me so many times in the past.

"What… do you want?" I turned towards where I sensed its presence, and to my surprise, there it was. A viper with its deep, midnight-colored scales. It wasn't ordinary, especially because its size rivaled that of the basilisk while looking down at me. I faced its glowing, golden eyes and watched its pupils smile before he turned into a human. "Herpo?" I asked, but I wasn't surprised. I had already guessed as much.

"You should have just killed him. Why spare the weak?"

"If you really think that, you are an idiot!" I chortled, unafraid of the consequences. If he wanted to kill me, why was I here? If he is the source of my pain, then-

"I am not the source of it. Not… entirely." He shook his head, smiling.

"What do you mean?"

"What you are feeling is simply the transformation you are going through after injecting yourself with basilisk blood." He explained readily, and I felt his sincerity. No… it was amusement. "I didn't think it would be the same type of blood I used in my youth, but… it was a lovely surprise!"

"What are you… talking about?"

"I made the first basilisk ever to appear on this earth, boy!" He laughed proudly, stating a fact that should be celebrated in his eyes, "It was a magnificent killer, a potent weapon, a beautiful beast! But… alas, it was uncontrollable. I had to come up with a way to handle it! What use does a weapon have if it can't be aimed at your enemies? I already had my knowledge of imparting knowledge into my bloodline; the snake blood was simply the newest addition to it! Learning the snake's language… was an unexpected but welcomed boon!"

"You want to tell me… the gift of being a parselmouth is nothing but an… accident?" I groaned, my head starting to throb again.

"Don't you know, kid? The biggest gifts in the world are all accidents! What you are experiencing is simply the pure, raw power of the King of Snakes! I made the perfect specimen; it has everything that I was known for! POWER! Why are you denying it? Why don't you accept it?" He walked closer to me, tapping my head with his cold finger, and I was not really in a position to draw myself away from his touch, "Your head hurts because you are fighting against it… You will never get rid of it unless you let it be assimilated into you. You have to give it an outlet!"

"..."

"Don't you want more power?"

"I am good…" I groaned, twitching my eyes, trying to ignore my resurfacing pain.

"Spoken like a true basilisk… they also think they are perfect~!" He grinned, baring his teeth at me, "At least you are more reserved, unlike my other descendant…"

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"You mean…" I blinked my eyes, feeling them watering up, trying to keep my focus straight and ignoring my vision that was slowly starting to swim.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle. Yes. He amassed great power… so much of it that even I am awed by his achievements! But… that will be his downfall."

"Why…?" I asked because I won't lie… I did think about getting powerful. Who didn't?

"Balance. If anything, it is something that I learned in my years while I was a living being! The strongest living being..." He smiled like a gentle grandfather, telling his life story to his grandson. "Magic… is part of nature. And nature always strives for balance! You don't need to believe me, but go and check all the laws present in nature! It is always about getting to a balanced level! Too much of something, and it will self-destruct! Releasing the energy back to nature, returning to a leveled-out state!"

"He will explode?" I grunted, squinting, feeling like that the dark forest was too bright for my eyes.

"Ahahaha! No, no! But things are already in motion! Nature, in this case, Magic, and that is with a capital M, already started acting to balance his existence. No matter what he does, he can't prevent that! Kill one; there is always another! Haaah... I have already experienced it myself... Didn't I tell you this? I am already dead! I fought to become Immortal! I even found a way to dodge Death itself and return from beyond the grave! Did it work? No! You can't fight the power that makes up Magic itself!"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you are doing the same, only on a smaller scale. Stop fighting against it! You are out of balance! That is why you are in such pain now that it will kill you! Maybe not this time, but a few more fits like this, and you are gone! Embrace your new part… then the pain will be gone!" He smiled again, his face kind and caring… but I caught a different kind of light in his snake-like eyes. Before I could say anything or ask about it, I was back in reality.

When I regained consciousness, I was looking up at a foreign ceiling. It was made out of wood and looked really cozy. Turning my head to the side, it was as if we were in a homey cabin in the dead of the night while the fire was burning in the fireplace. It was painting the place much more welcoming with its warm orange color. I say we because Quincy was lying next to me on the bed. The moment I moved, she opened her eyes and hugged me, saying nothing. It was enough… I could tell her worry leaving her body and finally calming down.

"Is this…?"

"The Room of Requirement, yes." She replied, "It was like this when we came in, but you immediately collapsed! You were screaming in pain! What happened?!" She asked, getting worked up once again.

"Even I'm not so sure…" It took great effort to retell everything as I felt extremely weak.

"So… you get dark thoughts, and when you try not to act on them… your head hurts?"

"Simply put, yes." I moaned as it was more than that, but… the gist of it was still correct. "It's like my anger goes from zero to a hundred and then keeps accelerating without me doing anything."

"I get that… I mean, I get why you can't act on it! Not when everyone is looking! I will look into things and see if there are… potions that can help calm you down! It was… dreadful! You were howling as if you were dipped into boiling oil or something!" She sniffled, snuggling up to me.

"Yeah, I did feel like it! But it's much better now!" I chuckled, enjoying hugging her. I couldn't care less that our uniforms were getting wrinkled up… this was bliss itself!

"It is not better! We have to do something about this! It isn't a joke!"

"I didn't say it was! I get it. I really do! But worrying about it is also not a solution. "

"Yes… um… and Conrad?"

"Hm?"

"Don't listen to him! I don't trust that old wizard!

"I listened once, and check out where it landed us! Haah… Worry not, I won't!"

"I mean it, Conrad!" She looked into my eyes, "He was a wizard as infamous as Grindelwald and… HE! Only those two rank before him!"

"Infamous?" I chuckled, "Careful! Others hear it, and they will accuse you of something bad! It sounds like something that the Order people would say!"

"Hmph! Everyone knows they are nasty people!" She grumbled, rolling her eyes, "In here, they won't know about it, and the truth is the truth! You can't trust people like them!"

"Okay, okay… I was just teasing you! Yeah, I don't trust him either! Somebody like him wouldn't just appear in my head to help me."

"Do you think…" She asked, and I knew she was thinking about the same thing.

"I don't know if I believe that he really died. He talked about coming back from the grave and, well, the hungry glint in his eyes that I caught… yeah, it did make me think about what he might really be aiming for."

"Your body…"

"Yep. I also concluded the same terrifying idea!" I shrugged, caressing her face. "Well, for now, I am me!"

"Um… I can recognize your gaze. You are still my Conrad."

She whispered it so gently a shiver ran through my back, and we kissed before I could say anything. This time, it was much sweeter and less laughable than before. It was… a real one… and if anything, the second time was even better than the first.