Published on: 3/27/20

Words: 3,113

Coincidentally, today is my birthday. I'm 19 today. Hope you enjoy today's chapter. Next might come next Friday. Love you guys

Hermione POV

My Heir,
I don't know how long it has been since the four of us passed from this world but I hope it hasn't been so long that people have forgotten too much. As the Heir of Hogwarts, you are the spiritual and magical heir of all of us; if you read Godric's letter I believe he has explained what that means. My vault is vault number four - it was quite amusing to watch the others as they fought over the order of the vaults. In my opinion, it doesn't really matter, they are all exactly the same size. Personally, I am quite happy to have number four, it means less time in those blasted carts. I'm absolutely certain the goblins have those just to annoy us. But moving on, just use that pretty little ring on your finger and you will be able to unearth its treasures. And believe me when I say they are treasures. A long time ago I realized that over the years people have been cross-breeding plants and some have been dying out. When I saw this, I began to travel the world to collect and preserve as many as I could find. My vault holds the fruits of my efforts, I hope that they will not be needed, that people have seen the error of their ways and no longer abandon a plant when they think they've found something better but I have a feeling, and Rowena agrees with me, that this will not happen. I have sealed this part of my vault off so that only the Heir of Hogwarts can access it, I hope that you will make sure to both restore and expand the greenhouses here at Hogwarts. There are many plants there that are not currently in the greenhouses so you will need to add some more eventually. As my heir, I know you will see this done.
Along with my books and other items for all my heirs, there is also a pillar of jade. I have poured much of my knowledge into this stone and it is there for the use of my magical heirs. This includes the ability to speak with and feel the earth, master the elements, grow any plant and of course, cook perfectly.
Another thing is my other vault, the one with all the money and family heirlooms in my family, the key will appear in the first drawer if I have no more blood relatives alive. The vault number is number eight.
Finally, there is my wand. As I'm sure the others have told you, you must be very careful with this wand. You should only use it if, when you hold it, a bouquet of flowers springs forth from the end. If this does not happen, I urge you to place it back on the stand and not think of it again.
I'm sure you'll make me proud.
Helga Hufflepuff

Again, I was speechless. Hufflepuff had a seed-bank in her Gringotts vault? The possibilities were becoming endless. I turned to the final letter to see what Salazar had to say for himself.

Heir,
You should read Godric's letter first because he has explained the whole heir business. Yes, you are my true heir, spiritual and magical if you want to be specific. You are also the Heir of Hogwarts, good for you. I have a few things to say in this letter, some of which the others aren't too fond of so it's a good thing only you can read it. Ha! Take
that Godric, you can't see what I'm writing. Anyway, first, my vault. Rowena and Godric beat me to vaults one and two so I had to settle for three, I made a huge fuss at the time and it was hilarious. I'm pretty sure Helga knew I was just doing it for fun but maybe not.
In my vault, I've given you, and my other heirs some interesting stuff. First, there's my wand, whatever you do,
don't use it unless it accepts you. My wand is extremely temperamental and might blow up if it doesn't like you. I swear, sometimes that thing hates me too. If you touch it and a snake comes out lucky you, you can use it without fear of explosion or, well, at least not an immediate explosion. Oh right, before you touch the wand you should probably go to the big snake in the back – yes, I like snakes, they're cool – and look directly into its eyes. This will pass on a bit of what I know, and give you a few gifts, well, abilities actually. Anyway, you probably shouldn't let anyone else look at it because it's a basilisk statue and even though it's not alive, I've made it so it will turn them into a snake for the rest of their lives. I'm just mean like that. Right, after you look at it you should be able to change into a snake whenever you want, it's a bit like an Animagus but not really; speak both Parseltongue and Draconian (that's dragon speak if you're a bit slow); be able to look a real basilisk straight in the eye - not through the second lid, though - without keeling over dead; fly around a bit, without a broom; make just about any potion you want (I've never been able to do polyjuice or Felix Felis, which annoys me to no end - not that I've told anyone, maybe you'll have better luck); and get into my Chamber of Secrets, there's really only one secret but I like adding the 's' just to annoy people, not that they know that. There might be more that it gives you, but I can't really remember it all, you'll figure it out eventually.
Now, there's something about me that no one knows, not even the other founders, I'm hilarious. No really, I am. And I'm a prankster at heart, they all think random annoying things happen but really it's me. I only hope that there will be at least one person in each generation who follows in my noble footsteps, even if they don't know I left them. So, in my bedroom – yeah, you have to go in there, sorry for the mess – behind the headboard, there is a hidden bookcase. In there you will find all my journals, written conveniently in Parseltongue, the others think they're dubious plans of some sort but really they're just pranks and thoughts of questionable safety and sanity. Oh, I forgot to say, when you learn Parseltongue you will be able to read and write it as well as speak.
And last but not least, my second vault. Just as the others might have mentioned, the key will appear in the first drawer if my line has died out.
I request that you wreak as much havoc as possible but under no circumstance are you allowed to get caught. If you do, well, I'll be very disappointed.
Salazar Slytherin

I actually laughed. I laughed! Slytherin was hilarious, really he was so different from what people thought he was that it was unbelievable. I think he was possessed or writing under duress. Well, I knew what I was doing this weekend! I was going to Gringotts; there was a lot to do there now. I looked at my watch and realized it was almost five. With a sigh, I placed all the letters back in the drawer and was about to close it when I noticed four things in the drawer. Three of them were keys, one with a lion, one with a raven, and one with a badger. And the last thing was one last note at the very back. It was carefully printed so I didn't know who wrote it.

P.S. When you're standing behind this desk, you can apparate anywhere. Have fun!

I had a sneaking suspicion that it was Salazar who left it but decided not to question my luck. I guess I'll be going to Diagon Alley sooner than I thought. I was about to head to the Founder's Door when I heard someone's voice behind me. "I see the Heir of Hogwarts has finally come around. Took you long enough," he said, sounding rather annoyed. Shit. I turned around quickly with my wand out, "Who are you?" I asked, pointing my wand out. "What is your name, girl?" "Hermione Evan, you?" I really didn't know who the voice belonged to – or used to belong to – but I figured a little politeness never went astray. He hasn't attacked yet so he might not be planning too but then again 'Constant Vigilance'. "Hmm. I suppose it is. Now let's see, I don't have much time here because I'm not supposed to be here unless you really needed me," "Really?" I asked before I could stop my curiosity. "How's that?"

"Well," The voice, which I still didn't know who it belonged to, said. "I left a small piece of my magic hidden in that ring, for when the Heir arrived. I'm kinda not supposed to show myself until you need me. Same for the other founders," he said and I sighed. I brought my wand down. "No worries," I said. "I was sent back in time and am now going to purposefully change everything. I think we're even." "Did you now? That's interesting...maybe I'll stick around a bit," the man muttered to himself. Then he clapped his hands in a very uncharacteristically Slytherin manner. The man came into view and said, "Anyway, down to business, I'm Salazar Slytherin and you're the Heir of Hogwarts. Are you a pureblood?"

I scowled, it was one to rival Snape's future ones. Not only was I talking to a dead guy and standing in front of Slytherin himself but I was talking to a dead guy that looked very much alive. I was also about to tell him that I was as far from pureblood you could get without being a Muggle. This was not going to end well. "You know," Salazar said. "You may not be able to see it but I can see that beautiful expression on your face. Now please, answer my question before I do something I'm really not supposed to." As much as I wanted to find out what else the body of a hundreds-year-old dead wizard could do, I figured it was best to just answer his question. "I'm a Muggleborn."

The voice snorted. "Oh good. You shouldn't be as averse to helping me; those purebloods can be a bit stuck in their ways. It does make sense too, a Muggleborn as the Heir, it would be hard to find a pureblood with all our traits, especially Helga's; believe it or not, she's really quite picky." "Lovely," I said. "Of all the dead guys I could have found in this school I had to find the one of a pureblood maniac." Then what Slytherin had said finally registered. "Wait, what?" "Yes, you heard me, I have nothing against Muggleborns, especially one who has been deemed the Heir of Hogwarts. I'm a pretty good guy, once you get to know me."

"Seriously? How do you explain the fact that almost every single one of your descendants has been an evil, narcissistic, prejudiced ass hole? I should probably also mention that many of the students in your house can be described in a similar manner." "Oh, you can blame that on my wife," Slytherin said offhandedly.

This threw me off-guard. "Your wife?" I asked. "Yeah, she was a bit mental, liked to pretend purebloods were better than the rest of humanity. I mean, yeah, maybe they should be schooled separately but that's because they don't know our world and usually hold back the other students. I couldn't stand the woman, she would never shut up," he said while looking to the side. "Then why did you marry her?" I asked. "Arranged marriage," Slytherin grumbled. "Okay, that explains the children. But what about the students?"

"Well, they were fine in my day but my first grandson, he took over Slytherin house when I died, well, kinda died, I'm not quite dead yet. But yeah, my grandson, he listened to my wife a bit too much, I think. I was always busy with my work, maybe I should have spent more time with my kids," his voice faded away for a second but then it came back full-force. "But oh well, can't change that now. Anyway, I guess he gave Slytherin house a bit of a reputation. It really is too bad."

"Fine. Children and students accounted for," all of my views about Slytherin were being shaken around and part of me wanted to believe him when he said he wasn't as bad as people made him out to be, but the other part was pointing out everything that didn't add up. "But what about that dirty great snake you have down in the basement?"

"Harriet?" "No, the basilisk. You know, massive body, deadly eyes." "Yeah, Harriet." I blinked. "You named a basilisk Harriet?" "Yes. And before you start accusing me of anything, let me explain." I humphed but let him continue. "Thank you. Now, there are many different places in the castle that we built, some of them are hidden, like my chamber in 'the basement', as you called it. I happen to like snakes but the others weren't too fond of them so I built a place where I could play and work with them without annoying – or scaring in Godric's case – the others." "Let me guess." I said, momentarily ignoring the fact that I had just learned Gryffindor was afraid of snakes, "One of the snakes you liked 'playing' with is a basilisk?"

"That is correct," Slytherin said. "I'm not really sure how you know about the snake because you obviously don't speak Parseltongue – I could teach you by the way – but that's neither here nor there. And anyway, Harriet has a second eyelid she can close which turns off the killer gaze...if she was hurting people it was probably because a powerful Parseltongue related to me was controlling her."

"Oi," I said. "I can speak Parseltongue, my best friend taught me a few years ago." Slytherin looked at me questioningly "You're a muggle-born, and you were taught Parseltongue a few years ago? How is that?" he asked me. "Well, I used Merlin's Box to get back here. The future became really shitty because of a few followers of your last descendant. When my best friend was a baby, your descendant accidentally transferred some of his power to him and 17 years later, my friend and I did a blood adoption on each other and transferred some of each other's magic to the other. That, for me, also came in the form of your descendant's power so I was taught Parseltongue," I explained. "Compared to your descendant, you're not really that bad of a guy," I finished.

"I thought I just said that but I'll say it again; no, I am not. In fact, I'm rather perturbed by the fact that my reputation has been so negative all these years." There was still one more thing that I wondered about. "Hold on, how do you explain why the sorting hat puts the people in Slytherin that all turn out so bad?" "I don't know, maybe someone messed with it. Or maybe it's just the requests people make, you can request a house you know." "Yeah, I do know. One of my good friends asked not to be placed in your house so he wasn't." I said. "I also got to choose, both times around actually."

"Well, I do have another theory, I mean, I guess I did think that Muggleborns shouldn't be with the other students to start off with so maybe that was a bigger influence than I thought. Anyway, I've had some time to think it all over, sitting in a ring for hundreds of years does tend to mellow someone out, gives them time to figure things out, wouldn't you say?" "I can't actually," I responded, then I backpedaled so as not to sound rude. "I mean, I can't say because I've never been stuck in a ring for that long. The most I've ever been captured for was 42 days. Yes, I counted." I sighed. Why did I tell him that? I asked herself. Now he's going to ask why on earth I would count days in a dungeon. Too late now...

"What do you mean '42 days'? It is rather unusual to count dungeon days. Why exactly were you counting?" "Would you like the long version or the short version?" "Hmm. That big a story, eh?" Slytherin sounded thoughtful and drifted off into silence for a moment. "Seeing as I've had absolutely nothing to do and nothing interesting to pay attention to all these years I would prefer the long version."

"Okay, long version it is." I looked around for a chair and found a plush green one with black leather trim and black mahogany accents, it was surprisingly comfortable. "You know," I said as he made his way to sit in a different chair, "It is really odd talking to a dead guy. I'm beginning to act like the madwoman I am. The only difference is now I actually have an audience." The sarcasm was clearly evident in my voice. "You know, I really like you. You make a good company." Salazar paused again, "Another question, and believe me, there is a point to it." "Fire away," I said dryly. "Right, I have no idea what 'fire away' means but I'm going to assume it's a yes. So, which house are you in?" I blinked, I had not been expecting that. "Gryffindor," I said.