his redemption » tom riddle

00 | prologue

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00 | prologue

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THE PAINTINGS QUIETED SWIFTLY as Salazar passed them, running his fingers through his hair as he thought. The amount of mudbloods that were allowed inside the prestigious gates of Hogwarts was starting to get irritating, but nobody seemed to listen, not even Rowena.

He laughed bitterly; Ravenclaw was the house of the wise, and yet its representative couldn't even see the obvious calamity in front of her face. Hogwarts was starting to become so inclusive of students that Salazar swore that next Godric would recommend that letting muggles learn magic was a good idea too. If Helga, Godric, and Rowena didn't want him there, then that was fine... but he would leave a gift for the future generations to utilize.

Salazar would cleanse this school of everything that plagued it with some simple magic, something that nobody had thought of.

The chicken's egg had laid beneath a toad for nearly a full moon's cycle, and a slight shiver ran down Salazar's spine at the notion that it's hatching day had finally arrived, and not a moment too soon, either. Tomorrow would mark the last time that he would enter the wrought iron gates of the school he had cofounded.

Salazar couldn't quite believe Godric had the nerve to banish Salazar from his own school, but at least it had sped up his plan. This blasted school was becoming such a frustration that perhaps it would be better to be free of his duties.

His cloak was slid smoothly over a cage containing his prize, his present to his heirs; the wizards who would know how to properly make use of his weapon. He couldn't help the smirk that pushed itself onto his face at the knowledge that Godric would never know of this, or certainly not until it was too late to stop it.

A flicker of doubt edged itself into his unwilling mind. What if it all went wrong?

He shook his head firmly to himself; failure wasn't an option. His school needed this, needed him, and he would not disappoint them.

Finally, he was standing before one of the girl's washrooms. Godric would never expect anything to be hidden here, of all places.

He stalked in, standing in front of the sink that was third to the door and sat across from the second stall. A small carving of a snake glinted copper in the moonlight that filtered in dimly through a window high up on the wall.

Salazar just looked at it for a minute, imagining it coming alive and slithering towards him in a coil of gleaming skin. "Open."

His voice came out more snake-like than human, like the hiss of a cobra before it struck, and a deceivingly white glow surrounded the circle of amenities. The sinks moved out of the way and the one with the carving descended right into the ground to reveal a large pipe.

Lifting his robe almost delicately, he placed a foot on the edge and held onto his possession as he let himself fall with the slope of the pipe. The metal was cool against his back, and when he finally emerged onto the other side, he was deep under Hogwarts. Salazar stood up soundlessly and continued through the gloom of the tunnel. He lost count of how many turns he'd taken and just as he was beginning to believe he'd made the passage too long, it spat him out into a small clearing.

Two snakes were looped onto the wall, their eyes a bright emerald green so vibrant that they almost looked alive.

"Open." He called again, the low sibilate vanishing into the humid air.

The pair parted smoothly, forming the entrance to his pet's new home. As he walked through the chamber he'd created, he admired the leveled planes of the serpentine statues that lined the long corridor, and the high ceiling that would be the envy of any aristocratic home.

He may have hidden it, but that didn't mean that it had to be ugly.

There was an eery silence, and a strange greenish shade surrounded him. The cage bumped against Salazar's leg as he strode through, reminding him that inside was something very much living. At the end of the hall was a large engraving of himself, partly obscured by shadows, and he walked straight towards it, placing his cage inside of the mouth. Even though the sky was probably darkening outside, inside it stayed a constant balance between completely dark and the kind of light that appeared at the crack of dawn.

Soon a tiny crack appeared in the smooth white shell, and Salazar visibly livened up. This was what he had waited for.

Another crack appeared, and he crooned lovingly to his snake in Parseltongue. "Come on, you can do it."

It's little head popped out of the husk, a brilliant, poisonous green, and then the delicate exterior shattered as it broke apart.

Salazar looked away, shaking his basilisk free of its cage.

"Sleep."

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unedited but revised

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