Blood On My Name

by sadlybeans

Voldemort, the Dark Lord, was defeated as the prophecy tells, by a teenage boy who had nothing but love and friendship at his side, his reign of terror over in a single night. After darkness enveloped him, Tom Riddle woke up in his eleven year old body, with the knowledge of the future and his past mistakes… Now the question is, will that knowledge help him avoid his destiny?

12. Chapter 12

Answer to reviews:

Thank you very much to everyone who has left their encouragement and support, I cannot express with words how much it means to me. This story is self indulgent but I'm so very proud that it has also served to entertain you. I will strive to keep fulfilling your expectations :)

Chapter 12 Notes:

TW; death (of an animal, the basilisk), vague allusions to canon character deaths.

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The one problem about entering the Chamber of Secrets was the thrice damned basilisk living in it… and contrary to the rumours, Slytherin had absolutely nothing to do with the monster. See, the actual story happened like this; Hogwarts was of course, already an existing castle by the time the founders purchased the property, and it had laid abandoned for long before then. And as great as the four of them were, it was likely they hadn't found every single secret the castle had to offer… but Slytherin did find a lot of them, the most adventurous of the four, and one such places was the Chamber of Secrets, an ancient room with seemingly no purpose that had long since been ruined with the water from the lake filtering in. He made use of it by transforming it into his private study, a place where he could practice his experiments without inciting Rowena's wrath for destroying an essential part of the school. Part of the modifications to the chamber was to install a safety protocol that ensured only parseltongue could open it up, and so when Salazar went missing nobody could open it again. And sealed it did remain— over the years as the castle changed it was unfortunately and entirely coincidentally connected to the sewers and from the sewers to the lake, where a semi aquatic creature found its way in as a juvenile, and then upon growing became trapped inside. Yes… nobody ever brought the basilisk in. Rumours started circulating about the chamber and Slytherin's heir when the monster was still young and could move through the pipes, rumours that would never die down, but the thing is— well.

Marzan had absolutely zero control over the monster if he happened to set it free. He could obviously talk to it, it was still a snake, but basilisks weren't precisely known for being talkative and this particular specimen was insane after a lifetime of isolation. Back then during his first life he truly never meant to kill Myrtle, it was an accident. He struggled a lot to seal the creature back inside the chamber, only for his stupid horrocrux to set it free once again… fortunately, the Potter brat had killed it. It was one of the few things he would actually give him credit for, it was no small feat.

If the chamber was opened, he needed to kill the basilisk immediately upon doing so, and killing a monster that can kill you with a single stare is not easy, even as skilled as he was. Although… he did have an idea.

That weekend after finishing his classes but before dinner and his patrol hours he made his way outside the castle towards the edge of the forest, where HanQiang sat basking on the last rays of sunlight.

«Good afternoon» he greeted casually as he came to a stop nearby.

One of the dragon's eyes opened to stare at him.

"You are plotting something. Spit it out"

And here he had planned an entire conversation….

«Do you know what a basilisk is?»

"Yes. Acquiring one would be a terrible idea"

«Great, yes— I want to kill one, it's locked inside the castle right now»

"I am not killing it for you"

Damnit, it was worth a try. He tapped his chin for a moment.

«Do you think I'm dead enough to withstand its stare, then?»

HanQiang stared at him for a moment, his golden eyes being so clear he could make out his reflection perfectly.

"It is hard to tell what will kill you and what will not… I would advise against tempting fate. Cover your eyes"

Being blindfolded was not ideal, but he did know the layout of the chamber quite well… The question was, how do you even kill a basilisk? What had Potter used?

«Um, how do I kill a basilisk?»

"Their scales are hard and will resist most stun spells" HanQiang informed him with a twinge of amusement in his voice "Their soft spots are reduced to their eyes and mouth"

Then how the fuck did the Potter brat kill it? Did he somehow manage to strike it through the eyes? Although, that might work…

Killing something through the eyes was not entirely impossible. In this case it was probably more work than it was worth, but if he blinded it first then he didn't have to worry much about being killed by it's stare. He could light the chamber, the basilisk hadn't seen any light in centuries and it would be vulnerable to even just a lumos, he could use that to stun it… Although a permanent light would be ideal. Maybe a lumos maxima… then he could explode it from the inside. No, too messy— basilisks were a good source of incredibly rare ingredients for potions, it would be such a waste to just destroy it when the species was so rare to come across. Basilisks weren't in any danger from being extinct, but their natural habitats laid in remote places with no human activity and they were good at camouflaging with their environment, which made the harvesting of ingredients nigh impossible.

«I need to go to the library. Thank you anyway—»

While he theoretically had some time before he needed to fulfill his other duties, his evening was interrupted as soon as he set foot back on the castle and saw three young boys throwing rocks at a floating figure that cackled madly as it returned fire with some water balloons. He let out a deep sigh at the sight of the poltergeist; while Peeves had been in the castle for far longer than him, he had never once run into him directly as the ghost thought all the Slytherins were far too stuck up to tease, but ever since being named prefect he had been forced to deal with him for the first time ever.

"What's all this? Stop this instant, all of you"

The three boys looked chastised and looked down at the floor, nervously huddling together. They were soaked completely at this point.

"Or what? You're going to take my points?" Peeves started laughing even louder, kicking his feet in the air as he spun around. "Try me!" And he threw a water balloon at him.

Marzan froze it mid air with a lazy wave of his wand and sighed.

"My, it seems we have to teach you some manners… it's well overdue"

"You and who else?" The poltergeist countered, stucking out his tongue.

He smiled sweetly, an expression that didn't quite reach his eyes, which adopted a red ring around his pupil. He moved his finger in a little circle and the balloon shot back towards Peeves.

"Fetch"

Peeves let the balloon fly straight through his body with a mocking cackle, and then yelped when a tendril of darkness shot forwards and wrapped around him, and this time unlike anything solid it was able to handle him just fine, spinning him around while he shrieked. The three younger students gasped at the sight and then started laughing once they grasped onto the fact that they weren't in any danger. The noise also caught some attention from nearby students and soon enough they had a sizeable audience that was delighted by the sight… nobody had ever quite put Peeves on his place.

"Oh? What did you say? I didn't hear you" Marzan cupped a hand next to his ear, despite the fact he was perfectly able to hear the words Peeves was shrieking.

"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY, I WON'T DO IT AGAIN!"

"How should I know if you're being truthful? I've heard you're not to be trusted… better leave you up there, make the lesson stick"

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

Some students seemed to be crying of laughter by that point, and he couldn't help but smirk as well.

"I agree that Peeves needed a little humility shown to him, but perhaps that's about enough Mr. Gaunt. It will get rather late"

He turned his head to see professor Salman standing next to him.

"My apologies" he said politely, and looked up again. "Put him down"

The obscurial reeled back in, slamming Peeves against the floor, and returned beneath Marzan's skin with a satisfied purr. The poltergeist slowly floated in the air again, dizzy, and shrieked once he looked at him again before he high tailed it out of there through the ceiling. To him it seemed he would not be back in a while.

"Back to your business, everyone!" Professor Salman clapped her hands. "Mr. Gaunt, if you would, help me get these boys to their common room so that they might change their clothes?"

Ah, there went his research time…

"Of course, professor"

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He did manage to get down to the library the next afternoon, but unfortunately as he was making his way out with his arms full, he ran into Elerhys who immediately narrowed his eyes at him— Marzan had likely already read all the books of the unrestricted section, and ever since he had gotten adopted he hadn't been back much since he could make free use of the fortress' library instead… he hadn't done that this time because he needed to go into Elerhys and Iraia's rooms for that, and evidently the vampire knew that.

"What are you up to this time?" he demanded to know, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm just studying" he lied, knowing well that it was pointless.

Elerhys snatched a book from the top of his pile before he could prevent it.

"Studying basilisks?"

He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"You're having dinner with us tonight"

Marzan let out a sigh.

"Yessir…"

He went about his normal business henceforth, although he did read some few pages of the very first book before he was interrupted by his patrol hours, after which he told his friends he'd be back at their dormitory after dinner. By then he had thought of multiple excuses he could make about his research, and then also discarded them all; while he couldn't yet figure out if he could tell anybody about his first life -or if he even wanted to, for that matter-, his newfound sense of guilt made him want to be more honest with the people he cared about. His friends, of course, but also his new family… Tom had never had a family before, and he desperately wanted to be enough, to be good so that he wouldn't be cast aside unlike all those previous times. He was a good enough liar that he could get away with anything at this point, but he didn't want to do that. Although, he also needed to explain how he even knew about the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets to begin with… maybe he could say he had already found the entrance and been inside? It was technically true.

They ate all three of them alone, Azure was likely still upstairs eating with the rest of the staff and students, but thankfully Iraia was always more focused on getting him to eat healthily than anything else, and there wasn't much actual chatter beyond asking him about his day. He made sure to complain plenty about all the misbehaving children he had to deal with and send to the professors and Mr. Codde, to which Iraia chuckled.

"You'll grow used to it" he assured him, gathering the empty dishes, although it was Elerhys who sent them floating to the kitchen with a gesture of his hand. "You just need to be patient"

"I don't know how you do it, it's exhausting"

"You're worse than all of them combined" Elerhys retorted.

His husband clicked his tongue, kicking him lightly under the table, and Marzan stuck out his tongue in a childish gesture, although he knew the vampire hardly meant it seriously. He was a problem child sometimes, but he couldn't possibly amount the same as the whole castle.

"You're a very brilliant young man, sometimes too much for what the school can offer" Iraia sighed "And I know you do get bored easily, but we've talked about sneaking off without a word"

Ah, so the serious conversation was starting.

"I know I can handle things myself, so I forget I'm supposed to tell adults" he mumbled, sinking back on his chair. "Most of my life it's been just me, I'm not used to relying on others"

Using his words to express his reasoning wasn't his forte, but ever since he'd been adopted the CPD worker on his case had recommended that he see a mind healer. Marzan had refused to entertain more than a single session because he definitely did not want to actually have a crisis about any unearthed feelings, but that single visit had stuck to him due to the fact the healer had calmly informed him that while he saw his actions as perfectly rational and thought out, from the outside others saw him as impulsive and reckless. Ever since then he hadn't been involved in anything particularly serious, it had only been a few months after all, but he found that being more open and sincere often softened Iraia and Elerhys, and led to less harsh scoldings.

"Well, can you handle whatever is on your mind now?" Iraia asked tactfully.

Marzan paused for a moment.

"No" he finally answered, for both of their surprise "I mean— I know what needs to be done but I sure as hell don't know if I can do it. I'm not that careless"

Elerhys let out a long sigh, rubbing at his temples.

"There are no basilisks near the school, are they? They favour tropical climates"

"Well, it's not near the school, it's more uh… in the school"

That immediately made them straighten in alarm and Elerhys frowned, his crimson eyes hardening.

"Where?"

"Locked up inside Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets" he answered directly, making a vague hand gesture. "I did find it by accident. And no, I didn't see the beast directly either, but I did see its old skin, it wasn't too hard to figure out… I sealed it back up, but it's not a good idea to leave it there"

Iraia grabbed his face between his hands.

"You should've said something sooner! You could've been hurt— and what if another student stumbles in?"

"The chamber only opens with parseltongue" he assured him, cheeks tinting in embarrassment "I'm sorry, I just— it's locked inside and not going anywhere, I figured I could try and see if I could handle it myself"

"It's not the type of thing you should try and handle yourself" Elerhys stated firmly, shaking his head. "You're lucky you didn't accidentally run into the monster. We will have to inform the Headmaster about this to decide for our course of action"

Marzan bit his lower lip.

"Can't we just…. kill it without telling anyone?"

Now both of them looked at him with certain suspicion.

"I— Fine! Slytherin's personal study is down there and I don't want anybody to know because then they'd get their hands on his things and wouldn't let me see all of it!" he knew his face must've been burning red with embarrassment at having to admit why he wanted the basilisk gone. "They'd probably send aurors and the Ministry would seize it, but it's mine by birthright and it's not fair"

Iraia looked a little lost as to what to say but Elerhys let out a snort of amusement.

"You're his direct descendant, why would they not let you have his things?"

"That chamber was where he conducted his experiments, it's not like it's just clothes and books…"

"Marzan, we can't just not tell anyone" Elerhys said, rolling his eyes "I understand that you're overprotective of your family's legacy and why you feel that way, but if anything should go wrong there are hundreds of children's lives at stake"

He groaned and let his head fall on the table, Iraia's hand rubbing at his shoulder comfortingly, although he let his husband handle it this time.

"My stupid ancestors lost everything we had to our name, all I have left is what I find myself"

"I know, but as professors we are obligated to put the students' safety first"

"But tată…" he whined.

Elerhys made a brief pause, but Marzan had not seen the way his eyes of both men had widened at the form of address, and thus remained blissfully unaware for a few seconds.

"It's… alright, I will discuss it with Headmaster Dippet and see if we can come to an agreement" and before he could even start to question why he'd given in so easily despite being the stricter one out of the two, the vampire cleared his throat. "What was that you just called me?"

What? He didn't say anything of particular strangness, did he? Ever present in the back of his mind the obscurial seemed to be laughing at him, and he was so confused as to why. He had stopped referring to them as professors, so why—?

He sprung back up, mortified.

"I— I didn't… It just… came out…"

He had made good progress on his Romanian classes during the summer, just as in Mandarin, but he didn't even realise he had remembered the forms of address for family, since it had been one of his very first lessons. To be honest, he thought it would take him a long while to get used to seeing his professors as his adoptive parents, but the truth was that maybe, even if he didn't like admitting it, he had already started to see them as such long before they even took him in. Still! Slipping up in that way was mortifying, he wasn't a child anymore! It didn't feel wrong though…

Elerhys looked at his husband for help and Iraia smiled fondly at him through eyes that shone with unshed tears. He grabbed Marzan's hand gently.

"You can call us whatever you feel comfortable saying, be it first name or whatever else… we know you've never had any proper parental figures, but even then we don't want to presume that we can take that place"

Oh. Well, he did call his biological parents 'father' and 'mother', although it was mostly out of convenience than anything else, and he did suppose most other adopted children might struggle in that sense. Sometimes he told himself he was much too old to call anyone 'father' or 'mother', but wasn't that what you were supposed to do regardless of age? Even Elerhys referred to his father as such despite being centuries old. Tom hadn't had a family the first time around, so perhaps that was why he didn't quite understand it yet, but at that moment he was still technically a child so it should be fine…

"Anything I want?" he asked hesitantly.

Iraia nodded, squeezing his hand.

"Anything"

Merlin, this was going to be embarrassing…

"Ok, baba"

Well… it wasn't that bad actually, he thought as Iraia's happy tears made it out and he was pulled into a warm hug. He could somewhat get used to this…

"You… don't mind it either?" he asked Elerhys, unsure. The vampire was even less inclined to be affectionate than he was.

"No" he replied simply, his hand reaching to brush Marzan's hair. There was a smile on his lips, small and for once not full of teeth. "I don't mind it at all"

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"This is killing me" Orion loudly complained "I'm not ready for the OWLs"

Alphard sighed and pat his back halfheartedly, focused on his dinner. Although it was mealtime and all of them were proper pureblood heirs with perfect manners, there were open books and essays being written, as their homework had piled increasingly high as the days passed. Tiernan looked to be the most frustrated, but unlike Orion he didn't like to complain or ask for help as he wanted to prove he was more than capable of doing it all by himself— maintaining his grades balanced with being part of the quidditch team was a matter of pride for him.

"They're much easier than you think" Marzan replied calmly, eyes focused on a book in one hand and a quill on the other. It was his last bit of homework for the time being. "If you perform well during the year, you'll hardly need to study for them"

"Are you going to take all of them?"

"Naturally"

Orion pulled a face of disgust. "Your dedication to studying is nauseating"

"Thank you"

"I thought you weren't taking arithmancy or divination this year" Alphard frowned "you said it was too much work now that you're a prefect"

"We're not obligated to take the course in order to do the OWLs" Abraxas informed him, elbowing Marzan so he would open his mouth for a bite of chicken, since otherwise he wasn't going to eat anything. "Although, I would not recommend doing that unless you're well versed in said course"

"Hmm, that does sound like an advantage, if you pick extras like muggle studies" Alphard mused, closing his charms book to get to the potions one. "Will you do that one too? I've heard it is quite confusing"

Marzan contained a snort and took his time to chew and swallow before he answered.

"It's incredibly easy if you've ever lived any time around muggles… but the class isn't too accurate either way. Wizards are still somehow convinced telephones are magic"

"What is a telephone?" Tiernan finally joined the conversation, baffled.

"A device that can communicate muggles across big distances, such as opposite sides of the city"

"That sounds like magic"

"They're not" he shook his head in amusement "They're connected to lines that run underground in a network and powered by electricity. Electricity is like… lightning, but in very small amounts, that can be used to power lights and objects like telephones" he made a pause and looked down to his parchment to write another line in elegant handwriting. "Not everything they have is powered by electricity. Their automobiles are fueled by… let's call it a potion. The machine inside uses that potion to move, and thus they don't need any horses to pull them. Nowadays ships to cross the sea are powered by steam, twice as fast as any sail ship. In the future I expect airplanes to be the fastest form of travel— they're flying machines"

Alphard let out a little surprised squeak, but although he had expected to stun them into silence, suddenly he felt someone colliding with him from behind and he almost dropped his quill on top of his essay.

"They can fly!?"

"Hello Cygnus" he sighed.

"None of that sounds as useful as magic" Orion huffed. "Portkeys can take you nearly anywhere if you don't know how to apparate. Why would you want machines to go anywhere?"

"Orion" Abraxas gave him an incredulous stare. "They don't have magic"

He flushed a deep red as Alphard and Cygnus started laughing, and Abraxas let out a sigh as he picked up another piece of chicken with his fork and shoved it towards Marzan, who accepted it wordlessly as he looked back down to his essay, lips curved in a smile.

"What are you doing here?" Alphard asked his little brother after a moment, when they had stopped making fun of their cousin.

"Ah— I was meant to do a delivery" he dug into his bag and dropped a small bundle of envelopes on the table, right next to Marzan's book. "There you have it. Mail from your admirers"

He blinked.

"My what?"

"The girls in my year set a box for people to drop anonymous letters to people they like… I'm helping with delivery" he looked inside the bag. "Wait, forget it, that's not yours"

Marzan started to sigh in relief and then a much bigger bundle was placed on the table, with the smaller one being pushed towards Abraxas.

"This is the right one"

He looked at the envelopes with a horrified expression, and Orion and Tiernan started snickering, covering their mouths to avoid breaking out into hysterics. At his right Abraxas looked at his pile with disinterest, but ever the polite future lord he was he took the first one on top to check them out.

"I don't want them" he immediately told Cygnus.

In turn, Cygnus raised his arms in defense, clearly not wanting to take them back.

"I'm just in charge of deliveries! Which, I need to keep doing so… good luck" And then he left, the little bastard.

He stared at his nearly finished essay, wishing the earth would just open up and swallow him, all the while his friends revelled in his misery.

"I'll vanish them" he finally decided after a minute.

"Don't you dare!" Alphard pulled the bundle out of his reach. "People went through the trouble of writing their intimate feelings for you. Even if you don't reciprocate, throwing them away is heartless"

"He's right" Abraxas nodded, distracted as he was looking at one of his letters. "The proper thing is to at least read them. And since they are anonymous, you don't need to answer them"

He was missing his days as Tom Riddle, at least back then everyone was either too disgusted or too afraid of him to send him love confessions.

First he finished his essay, as he only had a few sentences left, and after carefully putting all of it away inside his own bag, he picked up the bundle and followed the others back to their common room as he took out the first letter to read it. It only took a few to realise they were all more or less the same— they liked his handsome face or his pretty eyes, they thought he had a dashing smile, they thought he was smart and incredible… some even wrote he was brave for competing in the tournament. A few weren't any love confessions, just admirers that thought he was a cool older student to look up to. However, it did make him start thinking about it… were those the criteria people followed when 'liking' another person? Appreciating their physical appearance? He had obviously never been in any sort of romantic relationship, not even any sort of sexual relationship, because he was much too busy being a psychopath and a mass murderer, although he had received plenty of 'invitations' back then. Some of his followers had even tried, Bellatrix most notably, but Voldemort truly couldn't care less and he never had had any physical urges either. As for romance, he hadn't trusted anyone to be his friends, much less anything closer. As far as he was concerned, romantic relationships seemed to be simply two -or more- people deciding they wanted to be together… as for why, he hadn't figured it out yet.

"Well? Find anything that tugs at your heartstrings?" Orion asked with a quiet laugh as they settled in their bedroom.

"Very funny…"

"I think they're adorable" Alphard commented.

"Love letters are a waste of time" Tiernan scrunched up his nose as he looked at a pink envelope that had been doused in perfume, before he set it back on top of Marzan's pile. "Either tell someone how you feel directly or don't bother… most of us are going to marry whoever our parents choose anyway"

Both Alphard and Orion turned different shades of red and turned away, suddenly interested in arranging their corners of the room. Well, everybody knew they were likely going to end up married, and Marzan most of all was nearly completely sure, as he wasn't planning on ruining everything this time.

"Are you?" he asked Tiernan "You and Lauretta are very close"

He shrugged as he set his homework at the end of his bed.

"I like her, but both of us also know that the future of our families is very important. She might not be the heiress, but I will inherit at least something after Harlan and I still don't know if my father has any particular plans for me"

He could not remember if Lord Lestrange did have any plans, he had completely forgotten who Tiernan's future wife had been. It would be a shame if they didn't marry, whoever she was… Rodolphus and Rabastan had been excellent wizards and most loyal to him. If Bellatrix hadn't ruined them all by getting them thrown in Azkaban, they wouldn't have become shells of themselves. Speaking of Bellatrix, Marzan hoped Cygnus and Druella Rosier didn't end up together, because he really could do without that crazy girl.

"And you, Abraxas? I'd expect your father to have an engagement lined up" Orion's comment was unsurprising.

The blond Malfoy heir shook his head, busy reorganising the envelopes he had received.

"My father is aware that I won't marry unless I have my pick"

"And he'd just let you!? Your father is…"

"Scary?" Alphard suggested.

"Yes, that!" Orion nodded. "You're his only son and heir"

"We have an agreement" he replied with an enigmatic smile.

An agreement, huh? That was curious. Especially since he had completely rejected Vasilyeva's proposal.

"I envy Marzan, who doesn't have to worry about any of it" Tiernan sighed, dropping down on his bed to untie his shoelaces. "Unless professor Dracul would arrange for your marriage?"

Marzan chuckled and shook his head too.

"Only the head of the Dracul family can arrange marriages— that is, Vlad Dracul himself. Even Elerhys had to ask for his permission to marry, he's only a regent in the prince's absence. If I want to get married in the future, I have to ask for my grandfather's approval" he made a pause. "And likely for my grandmother's too, on Iria's side"

Tiernan visibly shuddered at the mention of The Dragon, but that was understandable given any pureblood heir worth his salt would know very well of the stories told about the first vampire.

"What's he like? Your grandfather" Alphard asked in reluctant curiosity, laying atop his bed on his stomach and leaning his chin on his palms.

"I haven't met him yet" he admitted with a shrug. "He's been in isolation for decades now… I've only met one of Elerhys' blood sisters, Carmilla"

"He has sisters?"

"Vampires call each other siblings in blood or blood siblings if they were turned by the same vampire" he clarified. "They're not actually related"

"Oh that makes sense…"

Vampire hierarchy was very interesting and complicated. For the most part, nobody could really say they were social creatures… unlike others like werewolves who had complex social dinamics and a highly functioning society, vampires didn't often run into each other and if they did it was for convenience, as they were cold and detached. The lesser vampires, the lowest step on the pyramid, were more likely to form alliances and could be found in covens as to hunt for food much easier, although said covens often involved plenty of fighting and attempts at murdering each other, as only the strong could pull their weight to survive. High vampires lived alone and apart from others of their class, and if they kept others of their species as company it was lesser vampires, who often were their servants… the same applied to the seven elder vampires, who could sometimes keep high vampires as 'pets'. But even with their instincts of rivalry, vampires were generally highly subservient and loyal to their creator, their parent, as the primary being who could destroy them— in a 'family', the 'father' or 'mother' had the ultimate power and word over all its members, and the older 'siblings' could in turn demand obedience from the younger ones. Between 'siblings' it was still somewhat common to have them kill each other to climb the ladder, on top of conflicts with other 'families'. Even then, 'families' rarely lived together at all.

"You've never met many other vampires, then?" Orion asked in disappointment.

Marzan laughed louder this time.

"No, I guess not"

In truth, every single servant in their fortress was a high vampire who loyally served the Dracul family. And most people living in their lands under their rule was either also a high vampire, or a lesser vampire. But it was much better if nobody from the outside knew that, especially while being in England… wizarding governments were better off not knowing just how many blood sucking creatures the Prince of Wallachia had under his direct rule.

"I pity whoever ends up wanting to marry you" Orion said, in a tone of voice that was mocking but knowing, as if he laughed at a joke Marzan wasn't aware of.

Luckily, nobody would want to marry him. He kept that to himself.

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Halloween that year coincided with a Sunday and most of the castle was emptied as the students ran to Hogsmeade to celebrate the holiday, but Marzan remained behind with Elerhys. After an entire month, Headmaster Dippet had agreed to let the elder vampire dispose of the basilisk in the chamber and for them to explore it on their own, under the condition that if something should go wrong they would immediately call for the aurors. To say he was excited would be an understatement. After breakfast he said his goodbyes to his friends and waited until the castle emptied, point in which he met the headmaster and his adoptive father in the receiving hall of the castle.

"I wonder why he's letting me get away with it" he commented after they assured the headmaster they would do their best to handle it quickly, walking along the empty halls.

"By all means, you own one quarter of the castle" Elerhys pointed. "There is no actual legal way to determine that, but similarly there is no legal reason for the headmaster to stop you… where exactly is the entrance?"

Marzan turned into the girls bathroom on the third floor and he heard the vampire half protest behind him before he followed in.

"The… girl's bathroom?"

"Originally the entrance wasn't a bathroom, but nobody knew it was here when they added the bathroom" he explained, tracing his fingers over a faucet. "There's a vertical tunnel going in, and it's pretty gross because it's just pipes"

"Right. Let's get it done"

Marzan stepped back and hissed an 'open'. The sinks groaned and shifted, spreading outwards to reveal indeed, a straight tunnel down that was submerged in complete darkness from beneath. The air inside felt stale and humid, but not so deeply unpleasant as to put one off. He walked off the edge, and instead of falling directly he slowly floated down— flying was a very easy thing to do as far as he was concerned, but somehow most wizards still needed a broom to do it. Contrary to his approach, Elerhys simply jumped down and he heard when he landed down in the pile of bones at the bottom, all from fish and small animals that had wandered close to the beast through the pipes, most of them coming from the lake. Just in case, he whispered the word 'close' so the entrance would be sealed behind them. Fortunately there wasn't any as they walked through the familiar tunnel, as it was best to do as little noise as they could to avoid being noticed so soon; it was a short trek but it felt longer as it wasn't the most comfortable place to be, being as they were both too tall to stand completely even in the wide pipes, and they stopped at every intersection to make sure nothing was around. Finally, the pipes led to a rock cavern with a taller ceiling, and at the end of said cavern there was a proper door.

The actual door to the chamber was more what you would expect of a place famously associated with Salazar Slytherin, sturdy iron circular frame with seven snakes sealing it shut, at each side having two long dead torches. He approached the door and listened for a moment but everything seemed very silent on the other side, so he retreated again and took a deep breath.

«Open»

Something clicked on the mechanism of the door and slowly the snakes retreated inwards to let go of the safety hatches, clicking back into their second resting place, and slowly the heavy door groaned open… Elerhys put a hand on his shoulder and slipped in first, but just as he had imagined, the basilisk wasn't in sight just yet. The chamber was… just like he remembered. A long stone bridge surrounded by shallow water led to a wide open space at the end, where the giant carving of a man's head gave the entire place a somber air. In each of the pools multiple stone statues of snakes held braisiers in their mouths, which lit in a weak blue fire, although most of the light in the chamber came from the ceiling on top of the man's head, where natural light poured in through a well engineered but very small skylight to the surface.

"I assume that is your ancestor?" Elerhys asked as he took a look around the chamber.

The walls were full of moss and mold, eroded by water, but there were obvious signs of old spells hitting the walls as it might've been used to duel or practice spells.

"No, Salazar wasn't as arrogant to do that… I don't know his name, but I believe he was a wizard he greately respected, an old master of his"

Maybe a bit of a weird choice of decoration, but it was better than putting one's own face there.

"Well, kid… ready to hunt?"

He turned to look at Elerhys, who's eyes were fixed on a tunnel— ah, he had forgotten the vampire could easily pinpoint the basilisk's location by its heartbeat.

"Can I?" he asked, excited.

"Cover yourself with the obscurial" he laughed in turn, taking off his usual leather gloves to let his claws grow unobstructed. "and stay out of its mouth, understood?"

"Yes, sir"

The obscurial felt just as excited as he was, and it easily came out from within him to surround him in a black and red mist like a second skin, concentrating around his eyes to block his vision. Although he was in complete darkness, he found that he had some sort of awareness of the world around him, sensing where things were— he guessed this was how the obscurial oritentated itself all the time, given it had no eyes. However, he soon found that it could also sort of see… it was more as if it was projected into his head, but he could perceive Elerhys' shape as a blood red outline moving, and soon enough a second figure came in, a long outline in white. Marzan didn't need to guess what it was both due to the size and the strong angry hiss of the basilisk.

The basilisk lunged towards them and they both jumped out of the way, to each side of the monster. He heard the basilisk hiss in pain, which meant Elerhys' claws were definitely strong enough to pierce through its skin. The obscurial moved around his hand forming the shape of a blade and he drove it on the other flank, causing another shallow cut, and then had to roll out of the way as the tail came sweeping at him. He had to admit, it was more fun than he had imagined to be in such close proximity to danger; while in his past life he had done plenty of risky things, back then he had taken the appropriate precautions to avoid any unnecessary dangers, but the rush of the unknown was not quite as bad as he thought it was. He still wouldn't jump head first into danger like a stupid Gryffindor, but letting loose once in a while was… good.

Doing shallow cuts one after another angered the basilisk, who's incoherent rambling was almost completely gibberish, but in that angered state it wasn't actually thinking much and although it was fast, it hardly was doing any damage in turn.

"Marzan! Can you climb on top of its head?"

He jumped back to avoid a bite.

"I think so! Give me a moment"

The basilisk's mouth came down towards him and he slid underneath it, taking hold of the scales on its softer underbelly and climbing his way up its neck, having to hold on with the obscurial's tendrils of darkness as ropes around it as to not slide down when it tried throwing him off. With a bit of a struggle he managed to climb up towards the very top, and a loud hiss alerted him to the fact he had accidentally kicked one of its eyes— he tried not to laugh and set his hands on the edge of the mouth, careful to not touch the teeth, and the basilisk tilted its head backwards following his hold.

"Now pull!"

He heard a last protest from the dying monster before a wet ripping sound echoed in the chamber and he fell off to the side, caught by the obscurial safely before he touched the moldy stone floor. As his vision returned he discovered Elerhys had grabbed the basilisk's lower jaw and ripped it directly in half all the way down, with blood and viscera spraying everywhere.

"That's gross" he scrunched up his nose. "Are we leaving it here?"

The vampire cleaned up his hands with a burst of magic and set them on his hips as he admired the fruits of their work.

"The chamber's humidity will make it rot quite fast, and it would be idiotic to waste all of it. Your exploring will have to wait a moment"

As much as he wanted to go off and see the rest of the chamber, he agreed on that assessment and he was happy to help in recovering as many ingredients as they could possibly use. Blood, scales, skin… the venom glands were completely intact as well, and the teeth could be extracted both for their separate qualities and because even when detached from the basilisk, the traces of poison in them still worked. It did take them at least two hours even when aided by magic, and by the time they were done he was happy to not handle another animal carcass for a few more months. The unusable parts of the basilisk were vanished away, and he cleaned up his clothes and hands with his wand, although he undoubtedly was going to take a shower as soon as he could.

"Well then, is the study inside the tunnels?" Elerhys asked, putting his gloves back on.

"Even better" Marzan smiled and walked over to the giant statue. The password was unknown to him, but he slid his wand out of his sleeve and mumbled a diffindo against the tip of his finger, smearing his blood against the stone and holding his hand to it. «Open»

Recognising his blood, the stone groaned and the mouth of the statue opened up, revealing a dark tunnel and a staircase going up.

"Hmm, clever… if you forget the password, you only must prove you're yourself by blood or magic" Elerhys reluctantly complimented, following behind him in the darkness.

At the top of the stairs they arrived at a completely dry room that lit up when they stepped into it, the only room Tom Riddle had been in back then when he accidentally opened the chamber. It was a sitting room of sorts, with a couple plush seats and a small shelf of old books— he would've explored more but he had been in a hurry after he accidentally got that girl killed, and he couldn't risk going back inside afterwards, which was extremely frustrating. His only comfort was knowing the Potter brat was much too stupid to find the study at all. Opposite to the staircase there was a door, which he hesitated only for a second in pushing open…

The second room was at least twice as big, and the light that ignited above his head in a chandelier was bright and efficient. On one corner at the end there was a full three shelves of potions ingredients still well stocked, a big cauldron and an additional shelf of perfectly organised potions in their flasks. The walls left and right to the door were full of even more books, and a writing desk was before them, overflowing with papers and writing quills. Past the writing desk there was a fireplace, and past that a comfortable chaise lounge to rest in. However, Marzan for once couldn't care less about books, or the magnificent pattern of the green rug covering the floors, or even for the potions in that shelf. Instead, he nearly tripped over his feet to get to that fireplace, neck cranking up to stare with wide eyes at the painting.

It was huge, probably as tall as Elerhys was, depicting a reflection of the writing desk corner, even with the messy quality to it, and the figure of a man was lazily strolling back and forth with a book in hand, dressed in a loose white shirt with ample sleeves and black pants paired with black leather boots with silver buttons. His long silky black hair had been tied in the back of his neck with a vibrant green ribbon, although with time the ribbon had slid down to below his shoulders, giving him a more carefree look and freeing a few wisps of hair to frame his face; he was still young, likely only in his twenties, with rich brown skin, a familiar curved nose, and long eyelashes framing green eyes. And although Marzan looked mostly like his biological father, he could see a lot of himself in that portrait as well. It was surreal… it was bloody amazing.

"He looks like you" Elerhys commented, standing next to him with his arms crossed.

"Well I'd hope so!" he answered with a bit of offence to his voice, even knowing that the vampire was only teasing him.

He had completely forgotten that he was trying to not embarrass himself in front of his ancestor, but as it turns out the portrait hadn't noticed them before and he jumped at hearing their voices, finally turning and looking very surprised to see them, which was somewhat expected since nobody else had been in there for almost a thousand years.

"Visitors! After such a long time…" he paused and frowned in thought, vaguely pointing to Marzan with a finger. He spoke in very old english at first, paused, and then continued speaking either way. "You're a descendant of mine. How long have I been down here?"

"Yes, er… it's really an honour" he greeted in Latin, bowing quickly. It was the common language between the three, if he was not mistaken. "Nine hundred years give or take, sir. My name is Marzan Gaunt, this is my adoptive father, Elerhys Dracul"

"Adoptive?" Salazar closed the book and set it down in a precarious pile to the side of his desk, seamlessly accepting Marzan's offer of Latin. "You happened to be adopted by another demon?"

He opened his mouth, then closed it.

"I'm a normal human"

"Hmm no, I know very well what comes and goes into my study. The runes aren't for decoration"

Marzan turned to look at the doorway, that was in fact engraved with hundreds of tiny runes well meshed into the elaborate carvings of the doorframe.

"The obscurial?" Elerhys suggested.

"They existed even back then" he replied, completely baffled, but either way he let the obscurial come out partially around him. "Is this what you detected, sir?"

Salazar leaned over even though he could not come out of his frame.

"Correct. They usually do not get too far in their life cycle, their host dies before it fully develops… you however, are somehow still alive, and it's going to become stronger over the years until it becomes a proper demon. Not overly powerful in comparison with others and likely still tied to you as a vessel. What, is this not known to you? I thought you said nine hundred years have passed" he straightened up and set his arms behind his back. "Lesser demons can be born of a wizard's magic under extreme stress circumstances, most commonly in children with no control"

Too stunned to speak, he thought it over very carefully, although it certainly made some sense… demons weren't truly what muggles thought of when they heard the word, they were a very broad term used for multiple creatures of which many weren't related in any way. True 'demons' were… not quite the definition of a traditional demons, but they were ancient beings of great power… obviously, none had been seen in eons. Everything wizards knew about them were mere rumours, they might not even exist. Muggles often called them gods.

"All of that knowledge must have been lost even before my time" the elder vampire shook his head. "The information available on obscurials nowadays can be resumed in less than a page"

"Alright, apparently I'm a demon… wait! How are you a demon?"

Elerhys looked at him in disbelief.

"What did you think vampires were? Although I'm only half demon"

"Grandfather is a demon!?"

In turn, Elerhys rubbed at his forehead as he let out a long sigh. Salazar laughed from his portrait and Marzan felt his face heating in embarrassment. Great, amazing first impressions and all that…

"Well child… Marzan, correct? What brings you down to my study?"

"I was curious to find something from my ancestor, I just never imagined there would be a portrait!" he exclaimed, gesturing to the painting. "My family… well, they became a mess over the years, lost all our fortune and our relics. Almost lost our magic too, by inbreeding with cousin after cousin"

"Portrait? Hmm, I take it the older me did not listen when I reminded him to sit down for a newer one before it was too late" he shook his head in exasperation, but as if it was something entirely expected of himself. He looked more interested in the details his descendant was speaking. "Even my mansion? I quite liked the place… How did you come about?"

"I don't know what happened to the mansion, it doesn't appear on the few records available and the bank was founded after your death" talking about his family though… well, actually it had become much easier in the last year after he finally got to talking about it and stopped hiding. "My grandfather was an asshole, he and my uncle really hated muggles, and my mother was in love with one"

"Language" Elerhys chided.

"Sorry, tată. Anyway, she drugged him with a love potion and I came out of it. I was raised in an orphanage, and then sent to live with my uncle for a few years. I was adopted this past summer, they both teach here in Hogwarts. Baba is a cultivator, from China"

Salazar hummed again in deep thought, resting against the desk.

"And the others? That is, the descendants of Godric and Helga?"

Rowena Ravenclaw wouldn't have had any, seeing as her daughter died before her, and Salazar didn't ask because of that.

"I believe Hepzibah Smith is the last distant relative of Lady Hufflepuff, but she does not have any descendants of her own nor did she come from the direct line. As for Lord Gryffindor, the Potter family are the closest relatives. They have two sons my age, twins. But then again, they are not direct descendants like I am"

They could be counted thanks to someone from the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff family being somewhere in their family tree, but it might as well have been an uncle, a cousin, or even an adoptive family member of sorts, but it was truly hard to track. The Potter family had more relevance and fame due to descending from the Peverells anyway, who were their direct ancestors. The Gaunts on the other hand, could perfectly be traced back to Salazar Slytherin going from son to father all the way up… not that it was a good thing, considering how they did it.

"I see… such is the natural progression of time. Now that you're here, I see no reason to let you use my study, although first I would like to know whether I should trust you with it. The work of my life is here, I'm sure you understand"

"A quiz? Of course!"

Elerhys sighed and muttered something about him finally being someone else's problem and went to lie down in the chaise to let them amuse each other.

.

.

"You're hiding something"

Marzan, who was busy ironing his white shirts, blinked and set the iron away before looking up at Abraxas, who had finished hanging his ironed uniforms for the upcoming days. They were the only ones in their dormitories, seeing as the others were either doing homework in Alphard and Orion's case, or in quidditch practice when it came to Tiernan.

"I'm not—"

"I know when you hide things"

He paused for a moment. He hadn't told them about the chamber yet because as much as they knew how to keep secrets, that was only a ticking time bomb to the entire house of Slytherin hearing about Salazar's private study, and he still hadn't brought up the idea of bringing anybody but Elerhys inside… and the only reason his adoptive father accompanied him was because he needed supervision.

"It's nothing bad nor am I in trouble" he promised. "I don't know if I have permission to share that information, that's all"

Abraxas looked at him in silence for a moment in suspicion.

"Is this about 'the other'?"

Ever since his condition as an obscurus had been revealed, the Malfoy heir had never once referred to it by name or as anything more than 'the other' or 'that thing' or whatever other euphemism he felt like making up at that moment. He had been easily the one to be the most upset at Marzan for keeping it to himself for so long, and although he never was quite cold, his quiet anger was never hid from view. Marzan had to apologise about a dozen times before everything returned to normal.

"No, not at all" he shook his head, looking down at the ironing board and picking up the iron once again to finish his task before he completely forgot about it. "I know I've been very secretive before, but this time it truly is nothing harmful. It's someone else's secret to tell"

Setting the iron to cool with a gesture of his wand, he hung up his uniform and set it in the hook at the side of his shelf. He almost jumped when he turned and Abraxas was standing right there, mere inches away.

"If you do anything at all like last year, I will kill you. And then I will bring you back so I can keep yelling at you" he declared firmly, pressing a finger into his chest.

Despite himself Marzan couldn't help but laugh, because he truly had no idea of just how much of what he'd said had already happened, and because despite the very real threat, he couldn't help but be glad that he had such a good friend in Abraxas after all.

"I won't, I won't! Pinky promise"

That stunned the pureblood heir for a moment.

"Pinky promise?"

He blinked.

"Oh. It's a thing muggle children do, it's uh… how does it go? If you break it you have to swallow a thousand needles…? Nobody quite does that last part but, it's for very important promises" he held up his hand with his pinky extended, lips inevitably pulled into a smile. "Here, give me your finger"

Abraxas looked at his hand for a moment but eventually reached with his own finger and Marzan linked them together.

"There, pinky promise to be really careful and not lie again. Now I can't break it"

To his surprise, the lines of the half-elf's face softened and his lips curved in a small genuine smile, his green eyes focused on their linked fingers.

"Pinky promise"

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* Everything about the basilisk is made up when it comes to habitat and the like, unless I happened to coincidentally recite facts about fiction, but I truly did not look this up. I thought it would make sense the basilisk was at least semi aquatic, as it lived in that chamber that's so humid. I also chose to completely eliminate the fact of Slytherin being the one to leave it in the castle because it makes no sense with the lore I've built, and also makes zero sense for canon.

* Tată is modern day Romanian for 'father'. Elerhys was born in the 13th century, before the first written accounts of Romanian as a language, but it is possible he would've spoken a very early Romanian, or just Latin. I've decided he would probably speak mainly Romanian as he lives there anyway, but Latin is most likely his first language.

* Baba is one of the Mandarin ways to say father, with others being "a-die", "diedie" and "fuqin", the latter being the formal way. It is also how you would say it in Farsi and Arab, so this can be interpreted as Marzan saying it in Farsi or Mandarin according to the reader's desires.

* On demons; I've chosen to leave this as a vague term to describe many creatures of a 'darker' or just stronger nature. In universe I imagine it was more used in past times but as time progressed such term became outdated. Salazar Slytherin still would've used such a term since he lived in the tenth century.

* Similarly, Latin would've likely been the common ground between all three of them. Salazar would've spoken an early Old English that wouldn't be very comprehensible to modern English in 1943, but as a man of noble status he would've spoken Latin, especially considering its the language wizards in Britain use for their magic.

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Well, here we go! I believe this is the longest chapter to date, resting at around 9k words.

We had some good moments, some family fluff and Marzan bonding with Elerhys… we are still to arrive to the main conflict of his fifth year, do not worry.

I will, hopefully, see you all soon.