Hidden Slytherin

Chapter 42 With Friends Like That I'd Hide The Knifes

"So how are you actually related to old Voldy?"

"Don't call him that."

Jane gave him the side eye but he just seemed depressed, not angry. "Fine Tom Riddle."

He huffed, his shoulders slumping. "He's my great Uncle, I guess. His mother was of the Gaunt line, while his father was a muggle also named Tom Riddle. Merope Gaunt had used a love potion or something on Riddle Senior to get married but died in child birth. The spell was broken and Riddle Senior was disgusted and Tom ended up in an orphanage. Nobody knew but Merope Gaunt's brother Morfin had raped a girl from the village, who moved away shortly after. Nobody knew she got pregnant. With my Grandfather."

"Sorry."

Roman nodded his head.

They kept moving and found themselves in a massive chamber with a sculpture of a man's face that seemed to take up an entire wall. There was something else, off to the side. It was tall, taller the either of them but even longer than that. It took a second for her mind to compute what she was seeing.

"Roman," she whispered, tugging at his sleeve.

"What-" She shushed him and pointed at what she now realised was a giant snake.

She generally didn't mind snakes but something about it being as tall as a bus and from what she could see at least three long, did not sit well with her.

"I think it's dead," Roman whispered.

Jane nodded but didn't let go of his arm as they slowly moved towards it. She only breathed again when she realised that the whole through its head meant that it really was dead. She stepped away from Roman to get a better look. It's eyes had been clawed out and were she assumed it's two more prominent fangs would be were empty.

"It's a Basilisk," Roman said as he stepped up beside her.

"I've read about those but why was it left here?"

"I read about how Potter saved a girl and killed the monster from the Chamber in his second year. I guess this was it."

"So they just left the corpse?"

"What were they supposed to do with it? Mount it?"

Jane gave him a look. "Roman have you looked at a potions book recently? A Basilisk's corpse is worth a small fortune!"

They both looked back at the corpse.

"Want to split it?"

"Merlin's Beard Jane! What the fuck?"

Jane and Roman stared at each other. "It is worth a small fortune and it seems to be in fine shape... somehow."

"Basilisks are magical creatures that can live for thousands of years. It might take thousands of years to break down too."

"Huh," Jane said.

"If you want it, take it. I don't want to gain off of them. Even if he wasn't as horrid as he sounds, it feels like tempting fate to take it."

Jane nodded. "Okay, I'll take it."

Jane called Pidge who nearly had a panic attack when he saw the massive snake, but quickly took it to be stored in till she could sell it, probably through the Goblins.

They looked around for a few seconds but all they saw were hundreds of tunnels, each splitting off to form even more.

"So, what now?"

"We look for it in till we find it."

"Huh." Jane looked around before just winging it. "Hogwarts, where is Salazar Slytherin's library," she called.

"That's not going to work," Roman snickered.

Good, at least he's in a better mood, she thought.

Just then there was a tinkling kind of pop. It reminded Jane of the noise some spells make. She started walking that way.

"Where are you going? Wait up!" Roman hurried after her. "This is crazy Jane. We can't just wander around!"

"Not like we weren't before. Just trust me."

She followed the strange noise and Roman followed her. Eventually the noise stopped and they were left standing in front of a giant mural or a snake. It was a giant snake that encircled the whole school. The snake was eating its own tail and Jane reminded herself to look into it later.

"Say something Roman."

"What?"

"Something in Parseltongue." She shook his shoulder.

Roman started hissing and the whole wall began to shift.

Jane resisted giving Roman the 'I-Told-You-So'look. She must not have been very effective because he rolled his eyes but he was smirking so she figured he was fine.

Suddenly they stood face to face with what appeared to be a massive common room. They stepped in and Jane noticed that to one side there was what appeared to be a massive dormitory with beds the right size for children. On the other side was what she could only describe as private quarters. Jane pointed out both to Roman.

He nodded, a shadow passing over his face at the emergency dormitory. They headed to the private quarters and quickly discovered a living room, bed room, a potions lab and a library.

Bingo.

"If Salazar was actually trying to protect everyone then why does everyone think he was a bigot? Why did they turn on him?"

"Probably because they were already in a fight. They started with him not wanting any Muggle borns. He probably lead with not wanting any in the school but in the end just refused to have them in his house. He didn't trust them not to hurt the other students. That could become a small thing that leads to a bigger thing. Maybe they never used the bunker, maybe they didn't realize that he wasn't just trying to be a prick but to protect not only his house but all of them."

"So it was all a misunderstanding?"

"The murder snake probably didn't help."

Roman choked on a laugh and next thing they were both in hysterics. Eventually they calmed down and Jane was happy to see Roman looked a lot better, not like the weight of the world was sitting on him. They looked at the library, it was incredible. It rapped the whole room and spanned from floor to ceiling.

"Uh Roman?"

"Yeah?"

"How are we getting this shit out of here?"