Chapter Sixteen

Slytherin's Other Secret

The rain came in very late that night.

Severus woke up early, partially restless of the storm, and partially because of how much was on his mind, slipping out of bed and down to his office before his wife had even begun to stir. He had his complete agenda for that spare hour all thought out; a barrage of letters to send out on subjects from the very personal to the very professional and every matter in between. But when he paused to turn a cup over on his breakfast tray, he noticed a note there, and after a quick glance he groaned softly to himself and shook his head. Putting the cup back upside down again, Severus reluctantly started up the stairs to Dumbledore's study.

The Headmaster's smile was so warm when Severus came in that Severus felt all the more apologetic, especially when Albus stood and offered him a chair, not hearing a word about anything until Severus accepted a teacup.

"So!" Albus said at last when he was convinced they were settled, "I believe you were about to tell me why you missed our meeting after dinner last night."

"I deeply apologize, Headmaster, but a certain student matter came up that I thought best to address as soon as possible," Severus said carefully.

"Of course I understand, Severus. Student matters do come up and should be taken as a priority, but you really ought to have thought to drop me an Owl," Albus chided him.

"So I should have," Severus agreed sheepishly. "To be perfectly honest, the fact that I was supposed to meet with you slipped my mind."

"Really? That isn't like you," Albus mused. "But no matter. You're here now, and I really would like an update on your arguments to add Divination as a requirement, considering the meeting is at the end of next week."

"End of next week?" Severus repeated, Albus raising his brows at the surprise in his voice. "Sir, with everything going on, can't it wait until next month's meeting?"

"Hermione must have time to reschedule students if the board agrees with our recommendations," Albus reminded him. "And I'm sure considering the circumstances, you know that waiting may jeopardize school safety, and that's something I'm sure neither one of us wants to do." Reluctantly, Severus nodded.

"Very well, I did make some headway on it before Halloween…"

"Good, I'm sure it'll be fine. By the way, how is the follow up on your Flux research coming?"

Severus stared at him.

"You must be joking."

"Now, Severus, I did warn you not to get too involved in affairs outside the school this year. But then, I've told you that nearly every year lately, not that you have listened. Besides, didn't I give you an appointment book for Christmas?" Albus sighed.

"Yes, so you did. However, after attempting to work with it last year I found it completely… unworkable," Severus said irritably. "It had someone bothering me every waking moment, and when the trouble came up with Jennifer and the potions last year, I might have intentionally let it fall off the desk into the dustbin, if you must know."

"Yes, that might explain why one of the House Elves brought it to me at the end of the year," Albus said calmly, drawing it out of a drawer and setting it on the edge of the desk in front of him. "Care to have another go at it?"

"Considering you know what my answer would be if given a choice, I will assume that was a rhetorical question," Severus said dryly, reluctantly taking it.

"Thank you," Albus smiled. "It really will help you to get organized if you let it. Just remember to always make sure you schedule some free time… use force if you have to," he added mischievously. "For I'm sure as long as you do that you will not resent it so." Severus gazed at it dubiously, deciding it would be best just to say silent. "Now, I really think with all the board trouble we've been having that you really need to get that Flux research done, perhaps a rough draft before the holiday…at the very latest the day you return. But I don't want you to overpressure yourself with everything going on either. To that end, I think you should make a point to plan going to the Hogsmeade trip this weekend. I'm sure Jennifer would be more than happy to chaperone if you do not," he added with amusement.

"I'll try to work it in," Severus said sarcastically as he got up. Albus nodded to him with a smile as he left then glanced up at the portrait of Caprica Dusthorn who looked even more amused than normal.

It was quite typical for Professor Snape to schedule a test before a Hogsmeade trip, gently hinting as he often did that students who didn't do well would spend their weekend writing a paper on what they did wrong. So Monday evening, Halbert, Stock, and the four Snapes gathered in the library, supposedly to study. Alicia, who had gotten there first, had her nose in a novel, while Andrew was busy helping Halbert memorize a list of curses and their countercurses. Alex, who had been sitting with Mandria and some of her other classmates while waiting for the others got up when Aurelius and Stock arrived, coming over to their table.

"What is that? Is that a paperback?" Aurelius said with obvious distaste when he saw the book in Alicia's hand.

"It's for Muggle Studies," Alicia said evenly.

"Alicia, you do know that book is fiction, right?" Alex sighed. Alicia frowned at her.

"No it's not. It's about DaVinci… you see…"

"No, Alicia, look at the binding, it's fiction. The author was just making suppositions about a code based on history to make a thrilling story," Alex explained. Alicia flipped the book over, staring at it.

"But this is the first thing that's made any sense to me since I started this paper!" Alicia protested in frustration. "Well, I know at least that movie we saw at Zoë's about him helping that princess was true…" she paused when she saw Alex's wincing face and shaking her head. "But the old woman said it was true!"

"Honestly, Alicia, you know better than to trust that rubbish," Aurelius sighed at her, sitting down by Stock. "She is so naïve!"

"Well, I admit I don't understand why anyone would use a person who really existed in a made-up story," Alicia said, reddening slightly. "I certainly wouldn't want people making up stories about me, even after I've been gone for centuries."

"I can see it now, Alicia Snape and the Cursed Paintbrush," Stock joked.

"It's all right, Alicia, I'll help you get some real books," Alex promised, sitting down. "But first I was wondering how the search for the coin was going."

"Well, Janus seemed to think she might have passed it on to someone at some point," Alicia said. "But he can't say for sure when… I mean, if it happened before he left for the island or not…he was too preoccupied with trying to find out where the Cauldron was."

"Well, if she did pass it on, she wouldn't pass it on to just anyone. It'd have to be someone she was close to," Aurelius said.

"All I know is it wasn't Caprica," Alicia said. "And she did say she thought it was in the castle. If it did get passed on to someone, wouldn't they have taken it with them?"

"But how can a painting really be sure it is here," Aurelius said. "I get the feeling there's something she's not telling us. Still, I guess it wouldn't be all that hard to believe that someone already in the castle might hide it here. Andrew, what are the chances of you getting a hold of certain old school documents?"

"Rather good, I should think," Andrew nodded, Halbert and Stock glancing at each other thoughtfully.

"Alicia, are there any books in the Hufflepuff common rooms, you know, personal history of the house, that sort of thing?"

"I've never looked, honestly," Alicia said.

"Well, then we have work to do, don't we?" Aurelius said. "The rest of us will come up with a game plan for searching the castle in case we don't have any clear leads." Alex nodded distractedly, her mind somewhere else. What it was she was thinking she didn't bring up; and she completely missed the way Aurelius was gazing at her.

It took Alex nearly an hour to figure out where they had hidden the entrance now, but a few well-placed compliments to Moaning Myrtle finally led her to the wall behind a stall marked 'Out of order.' The sound of water dripping was all around her, and she found herself wondering what all the added rain was doing to the cistern and other areas below the lake level. Putting her worries aside, she concentrated on what she was doing, pushing down a rocky corridor which had been deftly cleared and widened the very year she had first come to Hogwarts. It was that year her mind was thinking of now; and what had driven her down into the depths of the castle to search for the answer to a mystery she had all but forgotten until now.

But her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a large heavy door in front of her sealed with a snake crest, shut tight. She stared at it a moment, realizing she had forgotten all about that particular detail. Last time she had gone to the Chamber of Secrets, it had been through the closet and there had been no need to pass through here. In Corey's case, her father's familiar Rasputin had gone as well; but she knew there was no way she would be able to get him now. But perhaps it wouldn't matter, she mused. Perhaps being an Omnivox was enough.

"Open up!" Alex ordered the snakes, but the door stayed shut. "Open up, please?" she said, then mused. "Open up, or else!" Again, nothing. Alex groaned. "Well, aren't I a proper idiot for coming down here then?" she muttered to herself.

"You can say that again," said a voice behind her, and she whirled around to see Aurelius standing there with his arms folded, staring accusingly at her. "Alex, what the hell are you doing down here?"

"Me? What about you?" Alex glared at him.

"I caught a brief glimpse of you thinking about this place when we were studying, so I figured I should keep an eye on you. And I've got to say, for someone who professes to be an adult now this is rather an immature stunt to pull! Especially since we're never supposed to go anywhere alone…not to mention into an area you know is full of traps…"

"I know, I know, but I didn't want to get anyone else into trouble on my account," Alex said. "I am sorry, but there was something I had to check out, and really, I don't want you getting into trouble over me either. Can't you just forget you saw me?"

"Answer me this, Alexandria. If I do that, and we just go up and go back to bed like we should, you're probably going to come back down here again tomorrow night and try again with an agreeable familiar, aren't you?"

"Well, yes, because there's something in there that I need to find out… something that might just be related to where the coin went," Alex said. "Look, why don't you be a good sport and let me borrow Achilles so I can get this over with, and then I'll meet with all of you in the morning and tell you if I found anything."

"While I appreciate your concern for not wanting to get anyone else in trouble for your own stupidity, I can't very well have you traipsing about in the middle of a cursed area without having a spotter. There is no way I am going to put myself in a position where I have to explain to our parents why your body parts are splayed all over a place you shouldn't have been in to begin with!" Aurelius snapped.

"And just how do you plan to stop me, then?" Alex challenged him, a dangerous spark in her black eyes as she felt for her wand.

"I'm going to turn you into stone and leave you out to be a birdfeeder for the courtyard," Aurelius said sarcastically. "Come on, let's just get this over with before anyone finds out we're down here!" Alex gazed at him in surprise as Aurelius let out a hiss and the door slowly slid open. "Get busy explaining to me why we're here, and it had better be good."

As Aurelius listened to Alex recount what had happened the night she, Mandria, and Rose had been there and the strange room with the rubble-filled entrance, Aurelius felt a strange creeping sensation up his spine. In fact, the entire area made his skin tingle, growing stronger as they walked into the Chamber and he caught sight of the imposing statue of Salazar at the far end.

"It's over here behind one of these two serpents, I think," Alex said, and Aurelius looked over at the statues she was pointing to.

"Achilles, why don't you see what you can do with it?" Aurelius said, unwrapping his familiar from his arm. But it wasn't long after the grass snake disappeared that he hissed.

"It is sealed in some way," Achilles said. "I cannot pass it."

"Show me," Aurelius said, poking his head in the snake statue's mouth. "There's a strange little latch here with an eye, but it seems to be jammed open with something. And it's covered by a wizard's ward… Father's." Alex winced when Aurelius appeared again, leaning on the statue thoughtfully.

"Think we can dispel it, just the two of us?" Alex asked after a moment.

"Perhaps, but I'm not sure we can do it without him knowing it. From the way it's woven it looks like it has some sort of personal charm on it to tell him when it's broken," Aurelius said.

"Well, maybe he'll be too deeply asleep to notice," Alex suggested hopefully.

"And if he isn't, we will be roasted and I will have to suffer the consequences of what Eigil Hauk is going to do when he finds out I've lost the house a thousand points," Aurelius growled.

"You didn't have to come, you know," Alex said coolly. But Aurelius sighed.

"Yes, I did," Aurelius said, getting out his wand. "Let's just hope this isn't all for nothing. Come on, I'm going to need your help." Alex nodded and took his hand as he cast the sync spell and the counterspell, jumping in response to the rumbling sound of the door opening, the jaw sliding forward.

"Did we do it? It didn't go off?" Alex asked anxiously.

"Hard to say," Aurelius shrugged. "Let's take a look. Keep your wand out," he added as he stepped in. The moment he cast a light spell, he saw what Alex had told him about. A severe chill went down him as he stepped around the shackled skeleton, careful not to step upon the marks on the floor despite the fact there were counter curse marks on top of it. The only other things in the room were a bare bookshelf and an ancient desk, its drawers open and emptied.

"There he is, poor chap," Alex said with a sigh as she pulled out a book. "To be perfectly honest, I'd forgotten all about him over the years, but all the talk we've been doing about people that lived back when the founders lived reminded me of him. I have the spell to speak to the dead right here. We need to find out who he was, why Slytherin was after him, and if he's connected to all of this…and I have a hunch that he is."

"But why would Dumbledore leave him here instead of giving him a proper burial?" Aurelius murmured, glancing at the shackles, then at Alex. "Wait before casting that spell, Alex… we should probably run some checks for curses first."

"Curses don't usually last after death, do they?" Alex said, but paused anyhow, waiting curiously as Aurelius got out his wand.

"Perhaps, but the spirit can be still be malicious," Aurelius whispered quietly. "I don't trust this."

Cautiously, Aurelius began murmuring some spells, completely unsurprised when dark halos appeared around the shackles themselves. Squinting suspiciously, he crouched to see them better. Glancing back at Alex, who nodded, he slipped on his gloves and carefully turned over the shackle on one of the arms, half afraid the arm itself would break off. His gloves brushed against what he now saw was a layer of tarnish; underneath was silver with strangely complex embossing gilt in gold; something no one would ever expect in a common set of shackles. It was then he spied the lock, completely taken aback when he recognized it and stood straight up so suddenly that Alex motioned as if to cast a protective spell around him. But Aurelius held up his hand, meeting her gaze with a haunted expression.

"The shackles are definitely cursed, and from the workmanship and the aura I think it's quite complicated."

"Perhaps that's why Dumbledore left it," Alex said.

"Maybe," Aurelius admitted. "And maybe it was left for me to do."

"What do you mean? Left for you to do what?" Alex said with confusion.

"Have you ever had the feeling that you were somehow wrapped up in Fate and saw it unfolding in front of you even as you found yourself doing it?" he asked, and she nodded slowly. "Well, that's rather how I feel right this moment, Alex, because I know where the key to these shackles are."

"What?" Alex said with surprise, and watch wide-eyed as Aurelius pulled a key out of his pocket. "How in blazes did you get that?"

"Lucius Malfoy gave it to me," Aurelius said, "years ago." Alex gazed at him hard, but couldn't bring herself to say anything. "He told me at the time that it was a key that could bring fantastic power for those loyal to Slytherin, but if anyone else tried it, it'd mean uncertain doom. I guess I don't have to tell you who must have given it to him."

"Then Voldemort's been in here," Alex said, her voice lowered as well.

"I don't think there's any doubt of that," Aurelius said, noting some writing on the walls. "But if that's so, and he had the key, why didn't he unshackle him? No, there would be danger in that, no mistake… but they also should keep the spirit of this guy from getting out of hand. Perhaps you should go ahead and cast that spell and see what we can find out."

"Are you sure?" Alex said, raising her wand again.

"No," Aurelius admitted. "But I think it's a better plan than releasing it. Go ahead, I'll cover… and let's make a pact right now not to trust anything he says."

"Right," Alex agreed, and began intoning the chant in her book, a glow beginning to spread over the skeleton like a thick, oozing liquid. When the glow finally encompassed it, Aurelius heard a whispering voice, but didn't recognize any of the words spoken. "Who are you?" Alex asked, and Aurelius immediately reached for his potion wallet for a translation potion. "Aurelius, it was a Professor! He says his name was Cuthbert Wuscfrea, Professor of Spell Creation. I say, we could really use a class like that…"

"Half a moment!" Aurelius growled as he swallowed down the potion and waited for it to work. The hollow eyes of the skeleton seemed very strangely expressive, gazing almost suspiciously at Aurelius.

"Why are you here? What happened to you?" Alex asked.

"Torture…and treachery," the skeleton whispered. "But though he did not relent, I did not reveal. You of Slytherin's cloth, release me so my suffering will end!"

"What didn't you reveal?" Aurelius asked.

"If I would not reveal it to him, what makes you think I would reveal it to you?" the skeleton said with genuine bitterness and hatred. "What power could you have that Slytherin did not?"

"I can name one, actually," Aurelius said evenly. "Apparently, this man was the one who hid the Cauldron on the Westernmost Isle."

"But I thought Icarus Ravenclaw did that?" Alex said, but Aurelius shook his head.

"No, he merely stole it and gave it to his mother. Someone else hid it. But how did you possibly get it there without getting caught by the Fomorian storms?"

"I see you know much all ready," the skeleton said, seeming even darker than before.

"We are friends of the Professor," Alex explained. "He is a ghost in this castle."

"I must speak with him! Free me, so I may do so!" he demanded, turning his head towards Aurelius again. "The safety of the Cauldron is at stake!"

"I think it'd probably be safer to bring him down here," Aurelius decided. "But you need not worry about the Cauldron, Professor. It is back in the castle in the proper hands."

"Then my deed is done, young Slytherin, and there is no need to further keep me here," the skeleton pressed.

"That might be, but you're just going to have to wait a little while longer until I find out more about this. Come on, Alex," Aurelius said. "Dispel the thing and let's get out of here."

"Wait! I haven't asked him about the coin yet!" Alex protested, turning to the skeleton again. "We're looking for Hufflepuff's Obol. Do you happen to know anything about it?"

"Yes, I know it all too well," the skeleton said, the bitterness in his voice even greater than before. "It was the Coin of Indecision that sealed my fate to work against the evil growing within this school. It is a very powerful Oracle…a symbol of chance that questions chance and gives answers of the future to those who seek it. It was that coin that in some ways led me to this very room and condemned me to serve the very man I attempted to defy."

"The Coin of Indecision?" Alex said with interest. "Did you happen to have it on you when you were captured?"

"I was not captured, I was led," the skeleton said. "And yes, it fell into his hands."

"How exactly was it that you served him?" Aurelius asked sharply.

"Unwillingly!" the skeleton shrieked with such horrible despair that both of them took a step backward. "Free, me, I beg you, I can have no more done to me! My powers have been stripped from me, stripped from a soul raw from centuries of torment! Help me escape these cursed shackles that have taken all that I am!" Just then, the shackles around his arms began to glow at an alarming rate, growing brighter and brighter white.

"End the spell, quick!" Aurelius begged as it grew blinding.

"I did already! I think it's the shackles!" Alex barked back.

"Damn it!" Aurelius growled and launched himself forward, flailing his hands from the light as he felt for the bindings and called the key out of his cloak. Fumbling in panic, it seemed to take him an interminably long time to get the key into the lock, and when he finally turned it with a loud snap, a scream echoed in his mind.

But around him was darkness, although his eyes were wide open, and he felt almost as if he were floating… attached to something which was keeping him from roaming free.

"So, this is the one who would deem himself worthy of the power I have gathered," said a dark voice that reminded him strangely of his grandfather. "How dare you even suggest it? You are not loyal of Slytherin, Parselmouth or no."

"I am loyal to the Slytherin House," Aurelius said proudly. "I am its Prefect, and I do everything in the best interests of my fellow housemates."

"Your job, Prefect, is to make sure that the house doesn't forget my ideals," said the menacing voice. "Not to promote your own!"

"Times have changed, sir," Aurelius said guardedly. "A thousand years have passed, but most of the traditions are still honored. Slytherin House has come to look after its own interests, instead of a mere individual."

"I see," said the voice of Slytherin. "Just as clearly as I see that you are anything but in the Houses' best interests. Treachery is in your eyes, weakness in your heart, and you are anything but loyal to me! So be it! Share the fate of my enemy! Your own magic power will match well, I think, with that of this fool! Perhaps this will teach the house what happens to those who defy our true cause…to one day allow our kind to be the true rulers of this world!"

"Stop!" A woman's voice hissed, causing another chill to surge through Aurelius. He knew the voice but he wasn't sure how. It was a voice that existed in the whisper of the trees in the Dark Forest; a voice that called to him in his dreams as surely as Pali called to him. In the darkness an iridescent appeared in the form of a giant snake that encircled him, its strangely regal face and slit eyes gazing into the darkness. "You may not harm him! I chose to spare him as I did you, and you may not, even now, touch him!"

"He is in my domain, not yours, Brigid," the voice snarled. "And it was his own choice to follow my path!"

"He was not spared to follow your path, Salazar, but to answer for it," the Snake said.

"That may be," the voice hissed. "But I shall indeed get in the final word!"

Before Aurelius knew it, he was in the middle of a battle between the Snake and a force he couldn't see, a battle that seemed to be ripping his spirit apart…a battle over his soul. A wail erupted inside him that he couldn't control, and a fear gripped him that he couldn't quite understand… a panic to get out of this strange surreal arena and back to where he belonged.

It was then he heard an unfamiliar voice somewhere in the distance, followed by one he recognized immediately.

"It's his soul!" Anna shouted at them angrily. "It belongs to no one but him!"

Suddenly alert, he called out to his aunt and saw a pair of strange glowing lights below him. A moment later, a warm hand grabbed his arm and he felt himself jerked back into the land of the living… immediately realizing that he had been trapped within the same cursed spell that had held the Professor's soul in place for so long. But now the shackles were open on the floor, the key still in them, and the skeleton in a pile before them. Sitting beside him looking quite shaken was Alex, a deep relief sweeping over her when he opened his eyes,.

"He's all right! He's awake now," Alex said, glancing over at where Anna knelt, looking incredibly pale.

"Aunt Anna!" Aurelius said at last, frowning at her in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"You have some nerve asking me that after what you two just put me through!" Anna snapped at him, feeling his hand.

"It was my fault, Aunt Anna, please don't yell at him," Alex said. "He simply followed me down here afraid I was going to get in trouble…"

"Well, he should have told someone instead, and you should know better!" Anna snapped.

"Are you going to tell Father?" Alex asked as Anna helped Aurelius to sit up.

"No, you are going to tell him! The two of you shouldn't have been down here! In fact, after we get Aurelius to the hospital wing, you and I are going to march straight up there!"

"No need," Severus said as he stepped in the door. Aurelius took one look at him and decided to lay down again.