Getting rid of Draco was not something I was worried about. It would have been best if I could change into an animal… then I could slip away… but no, he had to screw it up for me. The moment I remembered it, I felt my blood boil, spurring my thoughts to imagine him being strangled to death. I had to shake my head and distract myself, pushing everything back down forcefully.

I had to come up with something different. So I asked Quincy to brew me a sleeping potion that I mixed into a nice, tasty-looking hot chocolate I conveniently left in the common room, unguarded. I played it off as if I was careless, and I knew he would take the bait, hook, line, and sinker. Of course, he drank it when I seemingly went to the bathroom. Too easy. When I questioned him, he played the dumb idiot, prompting me to prove it… I knew he wanted me to attack him.

The fact that he was doing everything to spur me into action made my senses tingle a little. Something was not right, or he would not be this eager to get into a fight. Not when he was all alone… as to what his plans were? I don't know, but I remained calm. It wasn't hard; this was my plan from the get-go anyway. He was sleeping in one of the armchairs only a little later, knocked out entirely. Even if I punched him, he wouldn't wake up now! But I held back. Before leaving, I made sure to place a charm on his clothes that would alert us if he ever got close to us. I couldn't put all our trust into one potion, even if it was brewed by Quincy. Anything could go wrong, and if we don't prepare for it, it will go wrong! When I met up with her, she was in the dungeons, in her owl form, changing back only when I gave the nod that all was clear.

"Did it work?" She whispered.

"Yep!" I nodded, and we headed straight to the bathroom, opening the secret entrance and descending carefully. "I was thinking, don't you think this place has been boobytrapped? You know… because what happened?"

"I had the same idea, but what do you think?" She asked back as we headed deeper, and soon we were in the chamber where we last saw the basilisk. "Then we shouldn't be able to open the entrance that easily! Also… can they close off something from someone who can speak to snakes? Because I don't think so!"

"And there is no more valuable stuff here. Gotcha."

Soon, we realized my last comment was absolutely right. There was nothing down here. The snake's remains? Gone. Any clues of the fight? Gone. Only Salazar's giant statue remained. Quincy turned into an owl quickly, flying around the chamber, trying to see from above or check hidden crevices and spots. I was doing the same thing on the ground, holding out my wand, casting spells, looking for anything unusual, and mumbling in parseltounge. Nothing.

"Damn… I expected… something!" She hooted as she transformed back into a human, doing it mid-air, landing after a summersault. She was more than used to flying by now!

"Honestly? Me too… tsk! There is… oh, wait!"

"What?!" She jumped, looking towards where I was looking. "Oh!"

She very quickly caught onto what I was looking at. The statue's mouth! It was open as the snake came from there. It didn't look out of place from where we were standing, but it had to lead somewhere! First, I let Quincy use the levioso spell on me and float me up there while I climbed in, then she followed me in her owl form. I once again cursed out Draco as I wiggled my way through the hole, and the pitch-black tunnel was terrible and terrifying at the same time. Going in all four was like climbing into the depths of hell… at least in an animal form, it would have been more comfortable. Or something…

While I was thinking, I failed to hear Quincy's hooting in time and placed my hand forward, pushing it against air and falling along with her biting at my ankle, getting dragged down to hell. We whizzed down on something like a slide before landing in a 'nest.' I call it that because it had to be where the basilisk originally slept.

“Owie… that hurt…” She moaned, climbing off me while turning back to a human as I managed to give her a black eye while we slid down.

"Sorry…" I murmured, summoning multiple balls of light so we could see better. "Yuck!"

The place was filled with crunchy, white, shredded snake skin, who knows how old. It was anything but welcoming. Other than that, it was a bland, oval room with another statue of Salazar decorating the wall behind us.

"What now?" I grunted, feeling trapped. Getting back will be a chore!

"Revelio!" Quincy shouted, and the moment she did, I heard a chime; looking at the wall, it was… different. Glowing? No… not really, but thanks to her spell, now it was simply… more vivid. "That wall is magical."

"Ohoho!" I stood up hurriedly, pulling her up as we walked before it, no longer minding the sound of ancient snake skin being crunched under our shoes. "Nice find!" I said, then tapped my wand on it, speaking in parseltounge… but nothing.

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"It's not opening." She stated the obvious, to which I only replied with a nod.

"Probably has a password. If it's only speaking to it in snake language, the basilisk could have left any time he wanted. It has to be a combination of magic, parseltounge, and a password… tsk!"

"Any old memories? From your blood?" She shrugged, but I had nothing.

"Let's think! What would Salazar Slytherin choose as a password? Not 1, 2, 3, 4, that is for sure!"

"Why not?" Quincy giggled, trying it, but of course, it didn't work.

"If it would have opened up, I would be outraged now."

"Hehe~!"

"I bet it's not a simple spell either." I continued, tapping my wand against it, trying to feel any change, but nothing.

We spent the next hour or so trying different words, phrases, and passwords, uttered in parseltounge, infused with magic, but nothing worked. In frustration, we attacked the wall with spells, but it simply rebounded, setting the dried snake skin on fire, which was… not fun. And stinky. After we managed to deal with that, Quincy had an idea that, and in all honesty, it was pretty simple. Something we should have started with. Just use blood. Unlike Salazar or any of his heir's blood, mine had a more significant presence of the basilisk's blood. The same inheritance came from Herpo, who established the line into which Salazar Slytherin was born. Did he even know it? Who knows.

"Hah!" I laughed at once because the moment I pressed my bleeding finger against the wall, it started trembling, moving as the stones separated, opening up into a small tube we had to slide down.

It was a much shorter ride than before, and we appeared in a study room from the mouth of a statue of Salazar. The braziers burst into flames at once, the same as the torches on the walls, filling the room with gentle, orange light. Standing up and looking around, both of us were gobsmacked as this place was filled with books, codexes, and ancient relics, and everything bore the symbolism of Slytherin himself. The green and silver decorations, the many S-symbols, and crests of snakes… this was his adobe! No doubt about it!

"Merlin's beard…" We said at once, barely able to contain our excitement. "We found it! Let's look around," I added, excitedly holding her hand, "But be careful! Traps could still be present!"

Luckily, that was not the case. Anyone reaching this place was worthy of his possessions. At least, that is what we thought after being able to touch and open every book that was present. It was a field day for Quincy, getting her hands on so many ancient and exciting codexes… although many needed time to be translated. Those few we could read were still in old English, and we had to use charms that helped translate them to modern English.

"Listen to this!" Quincy exclaimed while I was rummaging through a cupboard, looking for more treasure.

"I'm all ears!" I shouted back, half of my body still leaning into said furniture.

"This book describes the Crucio-spell! But more than that, listen!" She spoke hurriedly, quoting the pages, barely able to contain herself, "I have to lament that my invention seems to be the last straw between me and my old friend, Godric. I am devastated to see our friendship crumble in such a way, but his mind has been corrupted by the other two, and his ideals have grown beyond common sense, blinding him to the correct path we wizards and witches must take. The honor he values so much is nothing but a twisted sense of valor and the cravings of his ego to indulge in his grandiose fantasies. The muggles will never understand us, nor will they ever accept us. Thus, we can't teach their kin magic! Give a weapon into their hands that they can use against us? Never! Alas… my methods are deemed wrong. Inhuman. Why would it be? The human body remembers pain… a short punishment from my spell, and the students would never break the rules again. But… they see it otherwise."

"Woah!" I hurried over, listening to her reading it, realizing it was direct admittance that Salazar Slytherin created the Cruciatus curse!

"See? I told you this is awesome! It even has a description of the spell and its usage! And there is more!" She flipped the page, continuing Salazar's recollections. "No reason worked with my old friend. Not even when pointing out Rowena's preferred method of punishment: putting her students under a charm that made them obey her words. Even though mine dealt pain, it did not rob the individual of his or her free will. Which of us is the Dark Wizard, then?"

"Imperius curse?" I asked, but there was little more to go on.

"Maybe…" She tilted her head, thinking before continuing, "Our biggest argument came from the fact I wanted to teach the students the Avada Kedavra spell, but they were protesting against my idea. When I pointed out that Godric's favorite fire spell was much more painful to suffer through than the killing curse… I was ridiculed. My notes that it was a spell created to kill one of history's foulest wizards, Herpo, was the proof that we need to use it, to wield it against others who may rise up and endanger our way of living! Our existence! But all of that is ignored like ancient nonsense. Did we become so full of ourselves that we think we are above all? Maybe. I will leave this place and start anew. One day, I should return, and if not, then my descendant. When my views prove to be correct, my line will return to mend the mistakes of my old friends."

"Huh… the killing spell was made to defeat that dark wizard?" I asked, surprised, and if it wasn't the handwriting of Salazar Slytherin, I would have questioned its validity.

"To those who come across my Scriptorium," Quincy continued, "I leave all my knowledge to you. Use it well, use it wisely… and don't be blinded by false ideals. Power can't be shared with everyone because power corrupts. Share it without thinking, without vetting, and soon, one of those people you pulled up from the mud will rise above the rest and take control of everything… you included."

"Shit…" Both of us exclaimed at once, looking up at each other. "Does this mean all of this belongs to us now?" I murmured, watching the priceless books around us.

"Seems like it!" Quincy gulped, flipping the pages over. "And this one also has the other curses… besides many others, I have never heard about yet!"

"I think… we have a jam-packed winter break before us, eh?"

"I can't wait!" She giggled happily, and I couldn't help but agree… this was the best Christmas present one could ask for!