Hidden Slytherin

Chapter 41 Snakes And Fakes

Over the next two days Jane worked like a mad women. It was lucky it was the weekend and there were no classes. She not only found the spells she needed but tweaked them and had done all her homework. She had triple checked everything and was now finicking with one of her almost forgotten projects, levitation.

She had been sitting in the library that evening, dinner totally forgotten when Roman approached her.

"Jane, you remember that family project I need to do? When exactly are we going to get to it?" Roman sat across from her at the table. Jane was glad she had picked one at the back away from the crowds.

Jane put up a silent barrier with a thought and looked at Roman. He looked focused and like he thought she might put the whole thing off for another day.

"We could go tonight, but it either has to be that we go before curfew or sneak out after. Which one?"

"After. I don't want anyone finding out about this."

"So what's our excuse for being out past curfew? Exploring? Forgot our wands in the library?" Jane snickered even though she knew they wouldn't be caught. She would Just use the silent Notice-Me-Not on them both and sneak through the halls. But teasing Roman was fun.

Jane schooled her features into an innocent face.

He glowered at her before she started to cackle. Roman tried to glare but ended up laughing too. The realization that people could see them laughing like idiots but not hear a thing going on only made it worse. She looked up to see at least ten people looking at them like they had lost it and Jane could feel tears at the corners of her eyes.

Eventually they calmed down with the occasional giggle getting through. "I have a way we can get to the Chamber as long as you have a way of getting us in."

"I got it."

"Good. Then meet up at midnight in the common room."

They both headed off to dinner and ate quickly. They didn't rush through they're evening, instead spending some time with Neryssa and Draven.

At midnight Jane headed down to see Roman waiting. She caught Snape watching them from his portrait. He raised a raven brow at her in silent question. She gave him an innocent smile. Roman saw her and came over.

"Okay, I'm going to put a spell on us to make it hard for anyone to notice us. We still have to be quite and stay out of peoples way. Okay? And no matter what don't let go of my hand."

Roman nodded and went to hold her hand but paused. "Um, Jane? Why does is your hand covered in ink?"

Jane grumbled. Whatever she had gotten on her hand wasn't coming off. If anything, it seemed to have spread from her finger tips to moving past her fingers completely. It looked almost shadowy when she looked closely and she was glad that nobody had been paying attention enough to realize it wasn't ink. Jane knew she really needed to go and see Madame Pomfrey soon to get rid of whatever it was.

"It's nothing. Hurry up." Jane snatched his hand and quickly cast the spell silently and without her wand. The less she gave him to copy the less likely her brothers could pick up on it. Jane silently pulled him through the portrait that concealed the common room from the rest of the castle as the magic settled around them. They hurried to the second floor. They managed to get through the deserted halls without coming across another soul and they slipped inside.

Jane let the spell dissolve and dropped his hand before putting up a barrier to keep sound in and everyone else out.

"Okay, do your thing," Jane waved her arm towards the sinks.

Roman stepped over and began making some hissing sounds before the rumbling of stone and the grating against the tiles could be heard.

"What did you say?"

Roman looked over his shoulder at her. "That was Parseltongue. It's the language of the snakes. Salazar Slytherin was a natural Parselmouth and so are his descendants."

As he spoke the Chamber had finished opening. Jane looked down at what appeared to be an endless pipe that went straight down. "Um Roman, how are we going to...?"

Roman started hissing again and a set of stairs formed out of the side. They seemed incredibly steep almost like a latter. "Let's go," he said before starting down. As they moved down Jane had him close the door behind them and at the last second snapped her magic away. She didn't want to risk a teacher noticing it.

They slowly worked their way down the tunnel, eventually finding themselves in a wide but short chamber that lead away in a twist.

They slowly started walking down the room, if one could call it that. Jane noticed that the uneven ground was littered with bones from small animals and... other things. No matter where they stepped the pale bones crunched underfoot and Jane forced herself to ignore it. At least they looked like they had been here for a long time, so it was less likely Her and Roman would run into anything carnivorous. She hoped.

Just then Roman finally decided to break the silence.

"Why did he even make the fucking Chamber? I mean it's insane! And everyone knows he put a monster in it, something that was supposed to kill people, kill mudbloods!"

"Um Roman-"

"He was fucking insane and he made everyone around him fucking insane! What is even so great about being a bloody pureblood?"

"Roman-"

"I don't want to be the 'Heir of Slytherin.' Who would want that fucking legacy? A fucking bigot that's who!"

"ROMAN," Jane demanded, her voice bouncing painfully off the walls.

He whipped around to look at her, startled at the loud noise.

"Wasn't the school built way back, like in the nine hundred and ninety A.D.? Like when people were really superstitious? And there was the witch hunts that happened after that?"

Roman blinked at her, owl eyed.

She huffed. "Look, I get that what he said and did may seem insane now, doesn't mean there wasn't some method to his madness. I highly doubt that the other three founders would have started building a school with a homicidal nut job bigot, so there was something to him that they actually liked and trusted." Jane shrugged, "Just stands to reason. He didn't like muggle borns, didn't trust them, right? Well, maybe it had something to do with the fact that muggles were not only taught to fear witches and wizards, to fear magic, but also hunt us down and kill us."

Roman looked as if Jane had hit him with a two by four. In his shock he had come to a complete stop. Jane paused, waiting for him to carry on. When the silence seemed to grow heavy Jane finally decided to continue.

"Look, I'm not saying he was a saint or a hero but I am saying he may have been human. He didn't want any muggle borns near the kids in his house. He built what could be called a bunker that only he could get into with apparently a terrifying monster guard dog. Was it extreme? Hell yeah, but was it within reason for its time?"

Roman looked like he wanted to argue. He was grinding his teeth and looking at her like he wanted to curse her but Jane didn't back down. It struck her then that she had gone into a creepy chamber with a guy related to mass murdering terrorist and just disagreed with him to that he was pissed. Without telling anyone.

What a fucking genius.

Jane didn't back down and she didn't flinch. It would be an insult to him after she had said she trusted him. She didn't really think he would do anything, but that still didn't mean that she wasn't cursing herself out.

Roman looked away. "That actually makes sense."

"History has a way of distorting itself. Morals and reason change with time so sometimes things that seem insane were actually really normal back then. Don't hate yourself for the past. It's long over. Understanding it's not bad but living in it won't do anyone any good."

He nodded before walking on. Eventually they came to a large door round with five metal snakes woven across it. Roman started hissing again and the snakes came to life, slowly pulling back and the door swung open. They kept going, and the floor smoothed out into polished stone. There was water on the floor and their steps splashed.