Violet woke up earlier than usual, with a quick tempus she saw that it wasn't even six am, the sun probably wasn't out yet. With a loud yawn she stretched out and she started to gather her things to get ready for the important task she and Jasmine were going to do this morning.
They had been forced to postpone their planned trip to the mythical Chamber of Secrets after their… duel against the Black heiress. They had decided to wait until the next Saturday before going down to visit the thousand year old basilisk waiting for them in the caverns under the school. Violet had been quite excited at the idea of visiting what for her was one of the few pieces of her family's history she could actually see and appreciate with her own eyes, her imagination was running wild with the things that she may discover inside.
When she finished preparing herself she went to the common room where she found Jasmine reading another book about the Egyptian hieratic script. The ancient script had proven to be a tough nut to crack and despite both of their efforts, their progress was slow. Jasmine assured her that they were actually learning it pretty fast, but the millenia old language was much harder, in Violet's opinion, that the Elder Futhark she had been learning before.
"Are you ready?" asked Jasmine when she saw her enter.
Violet simply nodded, Jasmine, closed her book and both of them exited the common room under the cover of Jasmine's invisible cloak, excitement bubbling inside Violet. They first went to the kitchens where they picked up a quick breakfast and a large piece of raw deer to give to the thousand year old serpent. They let the large piece of meat float disillusioned behind them as it was too big for any of them to carry it. Even the jolly house elves seemed to be quite confused on why they would want to eat raw meat but they happily indulged them. Then, Violet let Jasmine take the lead while she happily chatted about the last things she had learned in the book she was just reading before she arrived.
The versatility that the Egyptian writing system had in creating and destroying wards could prove quite useful in many situations. Violet didn't even want to think how difficult it would be to actually learn the actual hieroglyphic script. Nevertheless, Jasmine seemed quite happy to chatter about her latest discoveries and was already planning on trying to make their first practical trials on the room of requirement by the beginning of October.
Violet was quite surprised when Jasmine entered one of the bathrooms on the second floor. She was even more surprised when Jasmine started to speak in parseltongue to one of the taps. Then incredibly the whole sink started to float up revealing a large dark pipe that seemed to go down to the bowels of the earth. Violet turned towards Jasmine with a look of silent disappointment.
"Are you telling me the entrance to one of the most sacred and secret places in all of Hogwarts was hidden under a sink in a random bathroom?" she asked incredulously.
Jasmine actually looked sheepish at that. "Don't blame me for the decisions made by Slytherin. It is his fault if he decided that the best place to hide his secret cave was under a bathroom." she tried to defend herself.
Violet huffed, astounded by her ancestor's lack of decorum, and looked down the pipe once more, it seemed quite a long drop wasn't there another way down?
"How did you descend to the chamber last time?"
"Oh right! Stairs." she hissed in parseltongue once more. Immediately a set of spiral stairs materialized in the pipe going down towards the darkness. "Do we go?"
Violet nodded and started descending the staircase. It was quite a long descent until they finally arrived at some kind of dark damp stone tunnel, Violet was quite surprised when she saw that the tunnel was filled with bones of many small animals lying there. The tunnel may have been impressive once upon a time but now it resembled more a dump than a grand magical site. Violet could see broken reliefs that decorated the sides of the tunnel depicting snakes and what she supposed were scenes of ancient magical battles and she wondered how did this tunnel look like in its heyday.
They continued walking through the moistened ruins, Jasmine had created a floating orb of light that was idly flying a bit above them. It only made it even more obvious what a sad sight the famous chamber had become, was this all the great Slytherin name had left, dark ruins and inbred families. Jasmine must have seen her inner turmoil as she gently held her hand with a soft smile on her face that Violet was completely unable to not reciprocate. She vowed to turn around Slytherin's sad legacy, her family may just be a shadow of their former glory, but she vowed that she will be able to turn their legacy around. After all, she still was a truly once in a lifetime prodigy and she had Jasmine there with her. Together, changing the perception of her dying house will be easy.
At last, they arrived in front of a metallic door decorated with a huge amount of carved snakes. Those must have been protected by some form of enchantment as even after all these years they still looked lifelike to the point where Violet wouldn't have been surprised if they started to move on their own. Jasmine approached the door and she hissed in Parseltongue once more.
"Open."
Just after pronouncing those words the snakes started to move and enter the frame of the door, then the whole door shifted and seemed to enter the frame as well revealing the entrance to what Violet supposed was the actual chamber.
It was incredibly big, Violet supposed that it was as big as the Great Hall although the ceiling didn't look as tall. The Chamber extended on a long stone walkway that was flanked by water and the occasional statue of a snake, the green eyes of the statues illuminated the chamber with an eerie green look. Violet noticed that her ancestor didn't seem to have much imagination in regard to his decoration. At the other end of the long walkway, the chamber opened up revealing a truly massive statue of an old bearded man wearing wizarding robes with a severe look on his face. Contrary to the decorations that Violet saw in the tunnel before, all of the statues in the Chamber were so well conserved that Violet thought that people could think that they were not even a year old.
"I know I had already seen it in your memories but they didn't really make it justice."
"You like it?" asked Jasmine with trepidation.
"I mean I wouldn't like to live here, but it certainly is quite impressive, maybe a bit too egomaniacal." replied Violet with a smile. "Now where is the Basilisk?"
"Well in my old world they were hidden behind the statue." explained Jasmine "You needed to say a password in order to let it out."
"What was the password?"
"Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four." said Jasmine in English.
Violet had to resist the urge to comment on her ancestor's egomania, it was actually kind of sad that he needed to reaffirm his superiority even in his own domains. A bit reluctantly she walked in the front of the statue and she loudly hissed.
"Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four."
She was quite surprised when the mouth of the gigantic statue opened up, immediately Violet firmly closed her eyes as she listened to the sound of scales slithering down the stone and the breathing of a truly massive animal.
"At last an heir comes to my domain." said an ancient female voice that seemed to echo all the way to their bones.
"Greetings, my name is Violet Riddle, my mother was a direct descendant of Slytherin, this is my dear friend heiress Jasmine Potter." hissed back Violet solemnly, she heard the sound of the great snake slithering near them and she doubted for a moment if she would speak before pounding on them.
"Oh two small heiresses, you can open your eyes hatchlings, my gaze won't harm you unless I will it so."
Violet would have preferred to have some confirmation that the Basilisk was friendly before risking her life, but she doubted that the large animal would try to deceive them, not when she clearly had the advantage. Slowly Violet opened her eyes and she looked to the gigantic scaled form of the Basilisk that seemed to have surrounded them with her gargantuan body. The massive snake was thrice as tall as her and her enormous head was adorned by two golden eyes that seemed to almost shine in the dark. The head was possibly big enough to eat her whole if she wanted it and the shining dark scales were a true sight to see they shined in a way that made Violet think of precious stones.
"Greetings Queen of the Snakes, it is an honor to meet you." saluted Jasmine with as much poise as she could.
"Oh two speakers! This is quite an eventful morning isn't it? Are you too a descendant of my first master?" asked the great snake curiosity dripping from her ancient voice.
"I'm related to him but my blood is much more diluted than Violet's."
"Then you must be honored to bear such a legendary gift." she said arrogantly.
"I appreciate it every time I have the chance to speak with one of your brethren." replied Jasmine sincerely "Although, I would like to have the honor to be able to call you by your name." asked Jasmine politely.
"Oh those silly things that you humans seem so obsessed over? That brings me back, when Sal was still here he insisted that I needed one of those. He called me Stheno. Apparently, that was a name that was feared far and wide, I thought it was appropriate." she reminisced fondly.
"You remember Salazar Slytherin?" asked Violet her voice betraying her awe.
The giant snake made a weird hissing sound that almost sounded like a parody of a laugh. "If I remember him? I met him before he was even old enough to grow a beard. He even used my venom for some of his most important rituals including the construction of the wards that protect this mighty fortress." said Stheno with clear pride in her voice.
"Lord Slytherin was the one responsible for the wards in the school?" inquire Jasmine intrigued.
"Lord Slytherin! Ha! If he could hear that now, he hated the idea of a nobleman and landed aristocracy. When they gave him that first silly title he was no more than a normal commoner orphan who had the luck to save a town from a wandering dragon." the giant serpent laughed once more her hissing echoing all around the chamber. "As for the wards he had some help. Rowena had always been so knowledgeable, they were such a cute couple and little Helena was so cute. You know they came here sometimes. I always was left on the outside of the chamber to protect them while they did their most dangerous rituals, they always ended up so tired and sweaty afterward." bragged proudly the enormous snake.
"Actually that makes us think about something that we wanted to ask you to help us with."
"Oh of course the mission! So there still are some wandering mudbloods roaming around the grounds of this illustrious school? Do you want me to scare them first? I can control the power of my vision, I can petrify them forever so that they would be able to be put at the gates as a warning for any mudblood wanting to attend." excitedly proposed the thousand year old Basilisk.
Jasmine turned to look towards Violet giving her the most horrified look she had ever seen on the face of the young girl. Violet meanwhile was a bit shocked by the casual racism the Basilisk was clearly displaying and how casually she talked about decimating the school population. The two girls had a silent conversation through looks alone before responding to Stheno.
"No mudbloods have long since been banned from entering this castle, only the most talented and noble members of our community can enter." easily lied Violet without missing a beat. "What I want to talk about with you now is that we would want to use your venom for some of our rituals and potions?" asked Violet with her most innocent voice.
"Of course, you can, Salazar did it all the time. He said that my venom was the most useful and rare of all the ingredients he ever utilized." she said before opening her mouth so widely that Violet could have entered whole. With a flick of her wand, Jasmine and her conjured a dozen of small vials and started collecting the dark venom of the giant snake. The venom was vicious and it smelled putrid, it oozed with danger and it was clear for anyone to see that it was lethal to even touch. It took them quite a while to collect it all and in the end, they filled over two dozens of those small flasks.
"Will you want to use my old skins too? Salazar used them frequently for many of his rituals and they haven't done anything other than collect dust for the last few centuries." casually proposed the giant Basilisk.
Violet and Jasmine eagerly nodded, and with another one of those weird laughs, the gigantic snake slithered towards the entrance of her nest once more. She returned shortly thereafter with a couple of the skins she had shed on her long body.
"Thank you Stheno. We appreciate it, here take this I don't want you to be hungry." said Jasmine before tossing the large piece of deer that they had brought for the snake. However, she noticed that the deer, despite being quite large, was completely dwarfed by the large snake.
Stheno laughed once more "Thank you hatchling, this small snack is perfect for an old lady like myself."
They went back to the surface only to notice that they had completely missed lunch. Violet was quite surprised by how fast time seemed to have flown past inside the chamber. Jasmine promptly made her way back to the common room where she took one of the enlarged trunks they had. They had to move a few things but they were able to fit the massive skin and the two dozens of vials inside of it. They quickly made their way towards the kitchen where they ate one delayed lunch.
When they returned to the common room they found Dorea, Abraxas, and Nott seated on one of those awfully comfortable couches that decorated the common room. When they saw the two of them their attention abruptly shifted towards them.
"Oh! Look who finally appeared. If I didn't know better I would say you two are ghosts with how often you just disappear as if someone vanished you." jokingly said Dorea with a small smile.
"Yes actually where were you two? I think I didn't even see you during either Breakfast or Lunch. Were you so entranced in the library that you didn't remember to eat?" asked Abraxas curiously.
"I don't think so. I was in the library this whole morning working on Herrera's homework and I didn't see even a hair of either of them."
"Oh! So you were in your own little hiding hole and you still haven't told us where it is. You surely hoard the best places for yourselves." exclaimed Dorea excitedly.
"It isn't as if you would have found it interesting what we were doing," said Violet.
"And what were you doing?" asked Nott.
"Runes of course." responded Violet without hesitation. "With third year quickly coming we wanted to study ahead to be sure that we didn't struggle."
Abraxas and Dorea actually had the nerve to laugh at that.
"Of course, you two are the only people I know that would be nervous about a course you haven't even begun yet and that you won't start taking for a whole year." said the Malfoy heir.
"In our defense Runes are notoriously hard, just ask Dorea." argued Jasmine.
"I mean yes they are hard, but you are you. I'm ninety percent certain that you could take the same classes I'm taking right now and still have better grades than me."
"So would you be interested in taking me as well for your study sessions?" asked Nott "I have been planning on choosing Runes as one of my electives. My grandfather was an enchanter so he had quite a big collection on the subject."
Before Jasmine could do something stupid like accept Violet immediately responded. "First you would need to prove to us that you already know how to write Elder Futhark and that you know the correct pronunciation in order to imbed your magic on the runes." she said not leaving room for doubts. "We wouldn't be able to help you much if you didn't know that at least."
Nott only smiled despite her relatively cutting reply. "So you already know how to write Elder Futhark and to imbed magic on your runes. Wow even for you two, that is quite a feat."
"Yes I agree with Theodore, most of the people in my class didn't even start to actually imbed magic on runes until this year. I wouldn't even dream to try it with less than a month of practicce." said Dorea. "Are you sure you are safe? I'm not the best at Runes…"
"More like the worst" teased Malfoy with a wide grin, earning himself a punch to the shoulder from his fiancée.
"As I was saying, I'm not the best but professor Jensen spent most of last year just repeating time after time the security measures we have to respect. I'm sure that at least verifying that you won't explode the castle I can do."
"Thank you but that won't be necessary, we are taking all the precautions possible." assured Jasmine.
"Well but don't overwork yourselves. You might be prodigies but you are still human, if you work too much you are more likely to make mistakes."
"Oh wow! You are actually being responsible." jocked Jasmine.
"Shut it, I'm just taking care that my cousin isn't blown to smithereens."
"Don't worry, we won't be doing anything with Runes until tomorrow. We have already done too much today."
"Well, in that case, why don't you sit down and relax for a bit." said Abraxas gently.
After that the conversation diverged towards less serious topics. The next day they said that they were going to be spending their day studying runes. With the excuse in place, they quickly made their way to Diagon Alley under the protection of Jasmine's cloak by taking one of the secret passways that Jasmine had learned about in her past life. They then took the floo through the biggest pub in the small village to the Leaky Cauldron and then they went to sell a piece of the valuable skin they supposedly had found with one of the Basilisk venom they had in one of the largest apothecaries in Knockturn Alley. The shady counterpart of Diagon was so used to weird figures that hid their features using clothing and magic that no one batted an eye at two more clearly suspicious individuals.
They were given quite a lot of money for a relatively small part of their inventory. Just for their two items, they were able to bargain the price up to three thousand galleons total, which according to their Legilimency was more than fair. The owner had actually needed to go to Gringotts to get them the money. That was little less than a tenth of Jasmine's current wealth and they hadn't even sold a fraction of what they had. It was becoming increasingly obvious that the real bottleneck they were going to find was finding people with the money to buy their products, not their inventory.
Jasmine and her needed to think of a better, more efficient way to sell their items if they wanted to maximize their profits. Neither wanted to approach the goblins as they knew that they had little reason to be fair with them or be interested in Basilisk parts, so their best option was probably to approach one of the pureblood families. They had both the capital and the business to be interested in and to buy their supply. Yet, it would be inconceivable that they don't become curious about where they would be getting their product.
They knew that Stheno was very well protected the parseltongue passwords needed to get access to it were much more than enough to protect it from most forms of incursions, that's without even counting the likely presence of ancient powerful wards that were being fed in part by the presence of a thousand year old Basilisk. No, the Chamber itself was almost completely impregnable. That being said they definitely didn't want to publicize the fact that they had a fully matured Basilisk in their basement.
Technically their best bet would probably be either the Bulstrode or the Shafiq as they are the biggest producers of magical animal products. However, neither Jasmine nor Violet had any connections with an important member of either house. Moreover, none of the two houses had any heirs in Hogwarts at the moment and the members who were there were nothing more than third sons or second cousins. They would have a hard time getting the head of house to listen to what they want to say and even if they did, those who got them their meeting in the first place would be quite a likely source for leaks on their new ventures.
No, their best option was to try to either approach them by being presented through someone else or to approach a house that was less ingrained in that market but would want to expand on it. Sadly, they lacked something that would prove vital for them if they want to play the game, information. They were still shackled for the most part to the connections that they can get in Hogwarts and they lacked opportunities to actually approach other families than those that were in their year. For the short term, they would need to bear lower profits until they knew how to take the next step.
