AN: So... Here's a new chappie. Sorry for such a delay, but I got sidetracked, lost in discovering the two wonderful fandoms of Naruto and Bleach. Kyaa! Aren't they cool? Anyway, as usual after such a long absense I post only as much as I have written some time ago, so not much at all. It's a short piece, but hopefully I'll update soon with a larger chapter and do it more frequently. So... Hope, you'll enjoy!
Chapter 19
The flat stone surface seemed to mock him. Ryan knew there was a secret chamber behind the wall on the left of the grotesque statue. But neither his hissing out various verbs like "move", "open", "reveal" and "speak to me Slytherin, the greatest of the Hogwarts four" nor trying to find some secret key or handle were helping. And he sensed that it was there! Already an hour has passed, and insults as it seemed were not working either. The wall remained a wall and he felt quite dumb spending his time talking to it. That's it. It was time to switch tactics.
"If you won't open this instant, I'll tear down the wards, smash the stone and marauder the quarters..."
No reaction. Well, at least he had the decency to warn the... whatever it was he was talking to. Ryan drew the magic slowly but steadily from his core and gathered it into his right arm. Raw power was circulating and slowly transforming into a drill. Just another ten seconds and...
With an ear-splitting grating sound, part of the fell back on itself and melted forming an entrance. The mage's grin represented all the malevolence and superiority he felt at the moment. Finally!
He stepped into the room and narrowed his eyes at the darkness. Adding a bit more power into the still not discarded drill he cheerily asked: "Light?"
The torches flared revealing an immaculate-looking office combined with library.
"What do you want here, boy?" asked the sulky voice.
Ryan looked around and soon found the source of it in the frame of a portrait. The background of the painting was somewhat similar to the office he was standing in. It was filled with the same furniture with snake-carvings but the premises seemed to be different. Sitting at the large distinguished looking table was a middle-aged man, with an aristocratic looking face, brown-reddish hair and dark-blue eyes.
"Why if it isn't Salazar Slytherin, the greatest of the Hogwarts Four!" The sarcasm in Ryan's voice couldn't be heard only by the deaf.
He had to admit he was conflicted on the subject, while the mage did not care about Salazar Slytherin being Voldemort's ancestor and a muggle-hating bastard, he did care about this wizard recreating soul separation technique and thus indirectly butchering his Apprentce's soul.
"I repeat, what do you want here, boy! Don't think that I didn't recognize you! I don't know what you did to change your magical signature so drastically but that won't help you!"
"My-my, you are the first to recognize me, you have my respect."
"And you don't have mine! You killed Eliza!!!"
"I think I'll hazard a guess and say that this Eliza was the Basilisk inhabiting the chamber?"
"Yessss..." hissed out Salazar in Parseltongue, his eyes flashing. It seemed, that the only thing preventing him from throttling Flhoyer was his state of being as a portrait and the threatening concentration of magic in the intruder's right arm.
"I am sorry."
"You are sorry?! Why didn't you talk to Eliza in Parseltongue, why didn't you order her to stand down?! She would have obeyed a parselmouth."
"Wait, wasn't her obedience restricted to the Slytherin bloodline?"
"Foolish boy, you already were my heir through Tom. It doesn't matter whether the heirship passes down through blood or magic."
"Well sorry, I obviously didn't know that!" Ryan had to admit that he felt a bit guilty but also justifiably angry. "I hadn't got the time then to contemplate the possibility!"
"Yesss, so shouting at the Basilisk to stop in Parseltongue was beyond your mental capabilities but running around the sewers and then slaughtering sixty two feet and five inches snake wasn't beyond your physical ones? I see how it is..."
"Look, you must understand that I didn't do that on purpose, and anyway I didn't come here to argue with you. I have questions concerning your heir. Tom Riddle."
"I am listening," acquiesced Slytherin to the temporary truce.
"Did you invent Horcruxes?" hissed Ryan in anger.
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. What of it?"
"Because currently I am trying to reverse the damage your heir inflicted upon his magical core and his soul. What were you thinking? Dabbling in such outrageous magic?!"
"What's wrong with creating a Horcrux and insuring one's chances of survival?" asked Slytherin in puzzlement.
"Well, not taking into account heinous crimes one must commit in order to conduct the ritual, absolutely nothing, but creating SEVEN Horcruxes is certainly a problem!"
"Seven?!" the man's face was in equal parts horrified and awed. "Seven? That... That's impossible..."
"It is possible, as seeing from the example, but the side-effects include one's magical core instability and insanity."
"Tom isn't insane!" protested the wizard weekly.
"And when was the last time you had seen him?"
"Some time ago..." admitted Slytherin. "But what interests me is why do you even care about what happens to dear Tom? For all I know, you'll use the knowledge I give you to hunt down and destroy his Horcruxes and ultimately kill my blood heir!"
"Death would still be an improvement over his current state, but no, I don't plan this. After all, killing one's Apprentice is not ethical."
"Oh please! Tom Riddle as your Apprentice? Don't make me laugh!"
"It is true! I am the Master Mage after all!"
"Master Mage? Now that is getting even more unbelievable, this title was mostly lost and forgotten already in my time. Though, I was lucky to know one. Show me the markings!"
Ryan stared at the portrait incredulously. "You know, there is always a possibility of acquiring the necessary information by force..."
"Oh, come on, don't be shy! I have seen it all! Or are you lying?"
The mage grunted and began to undress. The robe slipped on the floor and a black t-shirt soon followed. He reluctantly loosened the belt and lowered the trousers a bit, turning his back to the portrait.
"Happy?" Ryan asked through the clenched teeth. When Appreticeship was a common place the mastership marks were usually tattooed on face, neck or arms, not lower back. But times changed and that was no longer safe, so Master Sohhare decided to place the markings of his Apprentices on the less open surfaces.
"Interesting... I know the Triangle of Three Forces, that's standard, and Hell's Pentacle must be the mark for Summoner, but what does a spiderweb mean?"
Flhoyer ignored the question putting the t-shirt back on, but leaving the robe on the floor. He sat casually in one of the two armchairs in the room and stared back at the musing portrait.
"Now that this is out of the way, let's get back to business… Can one integrate the soul piece into the main soul without body dying and conducting the resurrection ritual?"
"It can be done, yes. The original resurrection ritual can be slightly adjusted and you will get the desired result."
"So... do you have anything here? Scroll, book, parchment – where is it that you stored your Horcrux research? I reckon Tom must have gotten his information from you."
"It is the eighth book on the right on the third shelve from the floor. Look up the resurrection ritual and I'll help you with the adjustments..."
Ryan stood up and headed towards the bookshelf but stopped mid-movement.
"You know, you are being suddenly very trusting and cooperative. Have the markings had such a great effect on you?"
"Not really, but if he really made seven Horcruxes, then even if you kill him, there will be no big loss. And by the way, you cannot carry any books from my quarters, so I suggest taking notes."
"Whyever not?"
"I'd like to preserve the library for future generations."
"What future generations?"
"Your kids, Tom's progenies..."
"We'll see if your library is truly worth something for future generations. Hm-m... I don't even know if Tom's body is still fertile after all his experiments, though I can guarantee it is sexually active." Ryan grimaced remembering one of the many scenes involving Riddle and Lestrange in various positions he was unlucky enough to walk on.
"I see," Slytherin looked at him strangely. "That can certainly explain a few things..."
"What are you... Oh! Whatever you are imagining, don't. I just have the misfortune of having two Apprentices at once, who are very much amorously in tune with each other. It..." The mage had to bite his tongue to prevent himself from going into the full-blown rant about how much migraine such a situation causes for those Apprentices' Master. "So... where were we?