Disclaimer: JK owns HP. Always

1989

Chapter 11

"I can see why you were sorted into Gryffindor."

Hermione looked up from her book. She had been sitting with Charlie at a table in the back of the library for just over an hour now, attempting to research Nagini while he worked on one of his essays. It had been over a week since their conversation in the stairwell, and in retrospect it seemed to have only caused them to grow closer to one another.

"And why is that?" She asked as she flipped to the next page.

"Because only someone as brave and foolhardy as a Gryffindor would run headfirst into a scuffle with a group of dark wizards on the off chance of defeating you-know-who once and for all." He answered as he dipped his quill back into the inkpot. "I can now see why we get a bad rap sometimes if I'm being honest."

"Well I can't really argue with that." Hermione responded as she closed her book, realizing it was of no use to her research. "But I also think that you would have done exactly the same thing I did if you'd been in my shoes."

"You're probably right, as usual Miss Know-it-all." He beamed at her from across the table.

She gave him a nasty glare in return before pulling her beaded bag towards her and rifling through it. "I'm going to ignore you now."

He chuckled twice before continuing to scribble on the parchment in front of him.

After a few more minutes, Hermione pulled out one of the books she'd summoned from Dumbledore's office just after his funeral last year. Her intention was to see if there was anything important referenced in them that she might have missed.

"Where the hell do you keep pulling this stuff from?" Charlie asked, flabbergasted by the size and quantity of the books and other items he'd seen her pull from her bag over the past few weeks.

Hermione sighed, realizing that if she told him about the charm on her bag it would probably only lead to him asking more questions. "Undetectable extension charm. Everything I own is in this bag."

'Is it really?" He asked, looking intrigued. "How'd you get one? Aren't they kind of expensive?"

She looked slightly offended that he thought she would spend money on something she could do herself, but she brushed that aside realizing he hadn't known her that long. "I didn't spend any money on it actually. My mother bought me the bag at the mall a few years ago and I added the charm to it myself."

"You can do extension charms?" Charlie asked, looking both shocked and impressed. "That's really advanced. We aren't scheduled to learn those until after the holidays and from what I hear most people can't do them at all."

She opened the new book and started scanning the pages, hoping he'd let her go back to reading in silence soon. "Yes, well, right before we went on the run last year I started gathering everything I thought we'd need. There was too much stuff to carry around with us everywhere, so I read up on the undetectable extension charm and tried it out. It worked, and now I have everything I need with me at all times."

"Impressive." He said, as he scrawled another sentence at the bottom of his essay. "I still think you're strange though." He added with a grin.

Hermione snorted as she flipped another page of the book. "Still not a bad thing?"

"Still not a bad thing." He confirmed as he shook his head at her.

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Three hours later, Hermione was still in the library. Charlie had long since left, having gone to run some new strategies over with the chasers and Oliver Wood for their upcoming match against Slytherin. He had bid her a goodnight before leaving her to her studies.

Once she'd been left alone, she'd gone straight into the restricted section to pull any books that looked as if they might give her an idea for the origin of Voldemort's most beloved companion. She made sure no one else was in the area before digging out her key, and slipped past the gate designed to keep all but a select few out.

Recently, she had discovered that not all of the books in the restricted section were there because they were full of dark magic. Some of these books were so old and rare that they needed to be locked away to avoid any further damage and handling than necessary. Hermione browsed through the few hidden stacks, dragging her pointer finger along the spines to familiarize herself with the titles. After several minutes of browsing she finally decided to sit in the darkest, farthest back corner of the restricted section. She hadn't visited this part of the library before, and it made her shiver in discomfort, as if she had entered an area that didn't want her there.

Along the bottom shelf there were over a dozen books she had never heard of, all looking more sinister or gruesome than the next. One seemed to freeze her insides as she moved her finger across it's spine. She avoided touching them unnecessarily after that. Three books from the edge, there was finally something that piqued her interest enough to risk grabbing a hold of. It was unnecessarily thick and green, and seemed to bulge in the center. There were no words along the spine, which seemed strange, but she slid it from it's spot anyway.

Hermione hesitated for only a moment before opening the cover. What lay inside turned out to not to be a book at all, but rather just a cover for the real book that had been hidden inside it. Not yet knowing exactly what she had just unearthed, she very carefully extracted what looked to be a several hundred year old handwritten manuscript. The insides contained what she assumed used to be thick parchment, but was now so yellow and withered that she was sure the book would have disintegrated entirely by now if it wasn't for the magic that must still be holding it together.

Even more carefully she looked it over, not yet realizing the importance of the discovery she had just made. Etched into the old leather cover seemed to be the faded words 'The Founders.' and underneath that '1177.' So even more carefully, as she assumed 1177 was the year it had been written, Hermione opened it and scanned her eyes over the long faded letters.

The first ninety percent of the book contained details of Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, and Rowena Ravenclaw's lives, of before and after their founding of Hogwarts. She found it to be a very interesting read, and assumed that the knowledge in this book had been long lost after the eight hundred years since it had been written. She would be surprised if even Madam Pince knew about the existence of this book.

It was, however, the last ten percent of the book, which contained the information on Salazar Slytherin, that had Hermione's full attention:

The youngest daughter of Salazar Slytherin only visited her father once after his abrupt departure from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This information comes from the late witch's nephew Sanderson, to whom she revealed the horrifying details before her death in 1142. I interviewed Sanderson three years ago in my research of the four founders.

For several years, Sylvia Slytherin made several attempts to contact her father Salazar without success. What was even more peculiar than his disappearance was the fact that each time she sent an owl off it would vanish as well; never to be seen again, much less return with word from her father.

Having not heard from him in over a decade, Sylvia finally received a charmed origami bird with an apology for his longtime absence along with an invitation to visit him at his new residence. Included with this message had been a small unknown item that he intended for her to use the following weekend as a portkey to his location.

Sylvia was both relieved and nervous to finally find out what had happened to her long lost father, and all of the owls she had sent him over the years. Knowing that this might be her only chance to find out what had come of him after all this time, she decided to take the included portkey in the hopes that she could convince him to return home.

When she arrived, she knew instantly that something was off. The portkey had dropped her off in a dark room with no windows which was only lit by two candlesticks on the far wall. A single door made entirely of iron was positioned between the two wall mounted candles, and seemed to be the only exit.

Without delay, Sylvia forced the door open magically with the intention of finding her father and questioning him. She was unfortunately met by the hissing and slithering of three different vipers entering the room instead. As the only child of Salazar Slytherin to not possess the gift of parseltongue, she began to panic and backed up as far into the room as she could.

Just when she thought she was doomed, and that her father had lured her to her death, she heard a familiar voice hissing back at them from the adjoining hallway. The three vipers retreated from her frightened form instantly and took their place on either side of Salazar along with the other five snakes that were already accompanying him into the room.

After greeting his frightened daughter lovingly,he informed her of his travels that had finally led him to an island just off the shore of Brazil. The island had been mostly abandoned when he arrived due to the vast amount of snakes that lived there, hence the appeal for Salazar to travel there. But in turn, his arrival caused the snakes to over double in quantity to where there were over five snakes per square meter. Something about Slytherin's presence seemed to not only control the snakes on this strange island as was expected, but it also instinctively urged them to reproduce at an accelerated rate. He admitted to her that the only other inhabitants, who had been muggles, had all died from snakebites shortly after his arrival.

Sylvia left the same day she arrived, both horrified by the island and worried for her safety if she spent anymore time there. She received only two more messages from him after this, both of which were delivered by charmed origami, which she assumed was because the snakes fed off any owls that made it onto the island.

Other information gathered from my interview with Sanderson revealed that the rest of the castle had been crawling with his obedient snakes as well. It was the belief of his Aunt Sylvia that Salazar had built his own castle into the rock that the island was mainly made up of. There were few windows, which had only been placed to the front of the castle, but her view out each one had revealed the sight of an unending mass of snakes. They seemed to be everywhere: slithering on the ground, curled up under rocks, and hanging from trees,

It was also her belief that Salazar died on that island, surrounded by the snakes he obviously loved more than his family.

Hermione's mind began to race at an accelerated pace as she reread the script again, attempting to understand it better. No one had ever discovered what became of Salazar Slytherin after he left Hogwarts on less than friendly terms. Had his family known but kept it hushed due to the madness he seemed to fall into after his departure? And not only that, but who had placed this book in such an unknown place, and why had they never passed the word along to future generations?

With about a million new questions going through her brain at once, Hermione did the only thing she could to try and ease at least one of her questions. She pointed her wand at the handwritten book and muttered the words that would at least tell her who had hidden this museum worthy find. "Tandum tange."

The spell that would reveal who had last touched the book did as she intended, and several small letters floated out in front of her until they arranged themselves into the name of the person who had hidden this book inside a false cover, and left it where he thought no one would ever find it.

Tom Marvolo Riddle

Hermione gasped and covered her mouth with her free hand as her eyes traveled over the hovering letters again. "Voldemort." She whispered to herself.

He must have discovered this book at some point while he was attending Hogwarts, and hidden the knowledge here. He must not have wanted anyone else to figure out what his greatest ancestor had been up to before his death. It seemed Voldemort's greatest weakness was the pride he had in himself. He seemed to keep making the mistake of underestimating the cleverness and drive of those who oppose him.

Not knowing how, but feeling as if this was somehow a clue to her search on how to win the war, she tucked The Founders gently back into its hiding spot; memorizing it's exact location in case she needed to come back for it later.

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Hermione made her way swiftly down the halls in order to get back to Gryffindor tower before curfew passed. The entire way she couldn't stop thinking about the book she had found. She wanted to go to Dumbledore, she was sure that with his help she could piece together how it fit into the bigger puzzle of Voldemort's past, but she knew that wasn't an option. Dumbledore hadn't known about the book or the island off the coast of Brazil when he was helping Harry, so he couldn't know about it now either.

Half way down the second floor corridor, she was suddenly pulled from her thoughts by a loud bang and some yelling. 'Someone is getting into some serious trouble' she thought as she noticed that it was Filch's office just up ahead.

"I'm going to string you two boys up by your ankles!" She heard the old man roar from the other side of the door as she approached. "That's the second one tonight!"

"Two boys?" She whispered to herself before realizing exactly who it was getting into trouble.

Hermione sighed as she pulled out her wand. 'It wouldn't really be changing anything to help them out a little would it?' She thought. 'They are going to be in tons of trouble over the next few years, so it surely wouldn't change anything important to help them just this once, right?'

She pointed her wand at the office door and swiped it back and forth a few times before concealing her wand again. Without hesitating, she knocked on the door just above the paint she had just left upon it.

The yelling ceased, and was replaced by stomping that only seemed to get louder as Filch made his way to the door. "What is it?" He practically yelled at her as he threw the door open.

"Um, Mr. Filch sir." She said, tucking a curl behind her ear. "I'm new here so I'm not extremely familiar with things yet."

He looked annoyed at her disruption. "Get on with it, I have some maiming to do here!"

"Of course, sir." She decided to get to the point, though she did notice Fred rifling through one of Filch's file cabinets while his back was turned. "Well it's just that I passed that poltergeist thing I've been warned about a few minutes ago in the hall, and he seemed to be behaving himself. Except that, as I passed your door." She grimaced as she gestured to the other side of it. "Well I thought you ought to know."

Looking panicked, Filch entered the hallway and closed the door most of the way. On the other side in bright yellow paint sat the childish artwork of what was obviously a butt, and it was labeled as Filch's face. Underneath that was a signature that said -your friend peevsie.

"Peeves!" Shouted a very red faced Filch as he slammed the door open again. "You two boys get out of here!" He continued to scream, though Hermione could see Fred zipping up his bag after obviously tucking something into it. "And I don't ever want to see you in this office again!"

Hermione wanted to laugh at that, knowing quite well that this would not be their last time in the caretakers office, it would in fact practically become their second home at Hogwarts. She was somehow able to hold back her laughter, and stepped back to let everyone else make their exit from the room.

"And you girl." He rounded on her. "I see you're a Gryffindor too, so I want you to escort them back to your common room to make sure they don't set off any more dungbombs on the way."

"Of course." She nodded as she gestured for them to join her in the hall. "Goodluck on your hunt."

Filch only nodded at her in annoyance before heading down the hall in the direction she had just come from.

"Come on boys." She gestured in amusement at the twins.

They ran past her, both with especially large grins for two boys who had just been in big trouble with someone as scary as Argus Filch.

"Thanks for that." Younger George said as they ran ahead. "We really owe you one."

"Yeah we do." Chimed in Fred as he tried to keep up with his brother.

"Let's just get back." She grinned at them as she motioned them forward.

"Say." Fred spoke up again as they made their way up the moving staircase. "Aren't you Charlie's girl?"

"Wh-what?" Hermione stuttered, clearly taken aback by his question. "I'm not his girl." She claimed calmly.

"That's not the way we wee Weasley's see it." George kept pressing on.

"Yeah." Fred added. "If you're not his girlfriend then why is he always following you around?"

"Oh he does not!" She tried to brush it off.

"Lost puppy he is." George grinned.

"Too right he is, George." Fred grinned back at his twin.

"We're just friends." Hermione claimed, glad to finally have arrived outside the fat lady. "Opaleye."

She shooed the two boys into the common room before they could protest anymore. "Now do try to stay out of too much trouble." She bid them once they were tucked safely inside.

"Oh don't worry." Fred's grin grew deviantly.

"We will." George promised, though his gleaming eyes told a different story. They cackled before running up the stairs to their dorms, though George did throw a 'thanks again' over his shoulder as they left.

She shook her head at them goodnaturedly as they went, her arms crossed as she watched them go.

"Jean?" She heard from behind her.

Hermione turned to see Charlie approaching her from the other side of the common room. "Yes?"

"Was that Fred and George you just arrived with?"

Hermione snorted and nodded her head. "Yeah, I just got them out of a spot of trouble with Filch, so he asked me to escort them back as a deterrent from setting off anymore dungbombs."

Charlie groaned and covered his eyes with one hand. "Thanks for that."

"No problem."

"Where did they even get dungbombs?" He asked aloud to no one in particular.

She snorted again. "It's Fred and George. Do you really want to know how or why they get hold of anything?"

He laughed at that. "I guess not. But if I don't know I can't stop them from getting anymore now can I?"

"I think we both know that they would just find another way if they really wanted to." She said, knowing his brothers probably just as well as he did. "But they are your siblings, and not mine, I'll leave that mystery to you. I'm off to bed myself now."

"Oh." He said, looking disappointed that she was calling it a night. "Well, there was something I wanted to ask you, but, uh, it can wait until tomorrow."

"You did?" She looked nervous as to what it was he was wanting to ask her. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's silly really." He tried to brush it off. "I'll see you tomorrow though?"

"Of course." She smiled. "Goodnight Charlie."

"Night, Jean." He bid her in return before scurrying off to find his friends instead.

She stared after him, slightly confused for a moment before moving to go up the stairs to the girl's dorms.

When she arrived less than a minute later, the seventh year girls room was a bustle with the other girls getting ready for bed. She tried to discreetly make it to her four poster as chaser Avery Dawson babbled to her friend Jasmine about the practice they had just returned from, but Laura and Sarah caught up to her just as she sat on her mattress to unload a few things from her bag.

"Hey, Jean." Laura greeted her warmly as the two girls approached. "Were you off at the library again?"

Hermione nodded. "Yeah I was doing some research for an extra project I'm working on."

"I know you feel like the new girl and all, but you can always join Sarah and I instead of hanging out with Charlie and Devon all the time."

"Something tells me she enjoys spending time with Charlie though." Sarah commented.

"Well I figured that." Laura scoffed at her friend. "But she doesn't have to spend time with only boys. Surely she must long for at least a little feminine interaction."

"Speaking of which." Sarah ignored her friend as she plopped down belly first on Hermione's bed, "Has Charlie asked you to go with him to Hogsmeade yet?"

"Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked, confused as she scooted over slightly to make room for the two friendly roommates. "Oh, um no."

"Well do try and act surprised." Laura chimed in as she sat more gracefully on the other side. "Since Sarah here has gone and ruined it for him."

"What makes you two think he's even going to ask me?" Hermione asked. "We're friends, so it's likely he assumes I'd tag along with him and Devon."

"You hear that Laura? She's in denial." Sarah sang with glee at her best friend.

Laura laughed. "Seriously Jean, he's completely enamored with you."

"Oh he is not!" Hermione claimed, though her face did burn slightly at the thought of it being the truth. It was the second time that night she'd been called out about him.

"He is so!" Laura continued to laugh. "He's practically been glued to your hip since the moment you arrived here, or hadn't you noticed?"

"Not to mention the looks he's always giving you when you're not looking." Sarah cut in before Hermione could answer. "I mean I never even saw him look at Heather St. Claire the way he looks at you."

"He doesn't look-" Hermione started to say before all of her sort-of-friend's words registered in her brain. "Wait, who's Heather St. Claire?"

The two girls giggled at her in a knowing way before the more mature one answered. "Heather St. Claire was a seventh year Ravenclaw when we were just little fifth years. She was the most beautiful girl in the entire school, blonde hair, hazel eyes, and pretty much every guy in fourth year and up wanted to date her."

"Yeah, and everyone thought she was going to choose one of the seventh years, mainly Bartholomew Cuffe who's father practically runs The Daily Prophet, but instead little miss perfect set her sights on Charlie." Sarah continued.

"So they dated?" Hermione asked, trying to sound nonchalant about the information. She had remembered him mentioning dating an older girl back when they first met, but to actually hear about the girl and her infamous beauty made Hermione feel that familiar sting of inadequacy.

"They dated the entire year, only breaking up because she was graduating and he still had two years left." Sarah confirmed.

"Oh." Was all Hermione could come up with to say after hearing about his last serious relationship; the sting of jealousy burning hotter in her chest.

The two friends looked at Hermione for a moment, reading her reaction to what they had just told her. She may be a good actress when her and her friends are in danger, but that seemed to not be the case when it came to matters of the heart.

"But you don't need to worry about that." Sarah spoke up again, obviously trying to cheer her back up. "As I said earlier, he never looked at Heather the way he looks at you."

Hermione blinked rapidly a few times before shaking it off. "Oh I'm not worried. Charlie can date whoever he wants." She said in an attempt to try and convince not only them, but herself as well that things were still on the level of platonic. "He's just a friend. That's all."

Laura and Sarah gave each other a smirk, as if telling each other telepathically that she was still in denial, but luckily for Hermione they finally dropped the subject of her and Charlie. They spent the next half hour instead telling her all about Sarah's longtime crush on Devon, and how it had ended after an awful and sloppy kiss back in fourth year, before they finally called it a night.

A long night, in which Hermione kept trying to piece together how Slytherin's snake island fit into the complicated background of Voldemort, but ultimately ended up distracted by thoughts of Charlie and his ex-girlfriend instead.

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A/N So the island where Slytherin died is actually a real place. I thought it was a fascinating place and the idea came to me a few weeks ago for him to have been it's origin. Hope you thought it was as cool as I did.