It had been a week since the start of term and Seraya had settled in surprisingly well. The Ravenclaws had welcomed her with open arms and although she didn't consider herself to be an overly social person, she had decided to make an effort to make at least one friend. Loners were targeted by bullies more often than others and Seraya really wanted to keep a low profile and stay out of trouble's way.
The boy whom she had asked about Tom Riddle at the feast was bearable company and so she had struck up a few more conversations with him. His name was Timothy Hall who also happened to be in fifth year. He had kindly shown her to all her classes as the castle was rather large and seemed to be everchanging. The first week had gone by in a flash. Classes so far had been interesting though extremely easy and although Seraya knew all the answers to the questions asked she had kept quiet.
If things were to play out the way she had planned, keeping a low profile was key. As was getting sorted anywhere but the house of Slytherin. It wouldn't do for her to raise suspicions in teachers. She had seen Dumbledore keeping a close eye on Tom Riddle and it had yet again sparked her curiosity. Logically, she had read through the mind of her Transfiguration teacher. Granted, Albus Dumbledore was a master at shielding his mind but not even he had been able to sense nor evade the tricks Seraya Cassedy used to get what she wanted.
Throughout the course of her life she had read plenty of minds but only few were as complex as Dumbledore's. It had taken her several attempts to reach his memories regarding young Mister Riddle but when she had found them, oh was she delighted. It showed the old man visiting the matron of an old muggle orphanage discussing Tom Riddle. Dumbledore had explained to the strict looking lady that Tom would be attending a boarding school and Seraya had seen the expression of utter relief crossing the matrons face at the prospect of Riddle leaving the orphanage for a longer period of time.
She had told Professor Dumbledore about the weird things that seemed to happen around the young Tom Riddle. Apparently a bunny had been killed and some of the other orphans had returned from a field trip utterly distraught and scared out of their minds. Although the matron couldn't explain this, Seraya Cassedy could and she was sure so could Albus Dumbledore. Even before the age of eleven Tom Riddle had managed to achieve effects similar to those of the Cruciatus curse in a burst of accidental magic. Impressive, truly impressive.
The memory continued with Dumbledore going up to Tom's room to properly meet the boy. For someone so young Tom had already been exceedingly cold and analytic about things. The way he questioned the Professor, the complete distrust on his face. If the conversation with Tom hadn't been enough to make Professor Dumbledore wary of the boy, the sudden exclamation of his ability to talk to snakes certainly had.
Seraya had been elated to learn such a thing. Well, well, well...the little halfblood orphan, a possible descendant of Salazar Slytherin, founder of this very school. 'Did he know about his true heritage?', she wondered. 'Did he know, that many meters beneath this school rested an entire chamber, meant only for him and a beast, a beast that would help him cleanse the school and that, if the old legends were anything to go by, only he could control?'
- - - - -
Seraya had left Ravenclaw tower early this Saturday morning and had made her way through the empty hallways of the grand castle. She had plans to get to a certain study and obtain some books on a special branch of magic. These books, this knowledge was one of the many reasons for her transfer from Ilvermony. Before leaving for her excursion she had made sure to cast several silencing and disillusionment charms on herself.
Although not actively knowing where she was headed, Seraya followed the magic in her core that was pulling her towards her destination. When she reached the girls' lavatory on the second floor, just above the Great Hall, she looked around once more before entering. Closing the door behind her, she cast a silent 'humenum revelio' and to her utter delight she found that except for herself the bathroom was completely unoccupied. Seraya made her way over to the rondel of old tarnished sinks. The magical pull led her to a faucet that had a serpent engraved on the side of it, a tiny serpent that could easily be overlooked.
She chuckled. The main entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was right there, for everyone to see, and yet nobody had found it. Salazar Slytherin must have been pretty sure that even if someone found the entrance, they wouldn't be able to open it if they weren't his heir by blood. So, what did the biological heirs of Slytherin possess that other wizards didn't? The answer was amusingly easy. As the most well-known parselmouth, Salazar Slytherin passed his ability to speak to snakes down to his descendants.
'Open' Seraya hissed at the sink, effortlessly slipping into the ancient serpent tongue. The rondel of sinks started moving apart and giving free the entrance to the chamber. It was a drop of unknown depth. 'I wish for stairs' she ordered no one in particular, once again speaking the sacred language. Obeying her wish the chamber provided stairs that circled along the walls of the thick hole. Entering the steep pipe, Seraya took several steps before ordering the entrance to close above her once more. Immediately her surroundings were drowned in darkness only to be lit up again by a simple 'Lumos'. It took several minutes for her to reach the bottom of the seemingly endless hole.
She stepped out into a drain of sorts, the ground littered with bones and the bodies of dead rodents. The drain merged into a large cave, covered in stalactites and stalagmites. On the other side of the cave there was another door and Seraya quickly made her way towards it. The door looked like the entrance to a vault. Thick impenetrable steel, locked by seven steel snakes.
'Open' she ordered once more and again the chamber obeyed her command. An eighth steel snake slithered around the door unlocking it. A horrible screeching noise erupted when the old door swung open. Seraya was quick to make her way through the door and not a second too early as it locked right behind her. She was standing on a small platform of sorts, overlooking the actual chamber. The heads of large stone serpents stood to either sides of the chamber and at the head was a monumental statue of the face of a man.
Salazar Slytherin watched the chamber and its serpents in all his rocky glory. Seraya climbed to the bottom of the chamber using a rusty old latter. The floor was wet as though it had only recently been flooded which came as no surprise when regarding the deep pools of water surrounding the large stone snakes. The girl fearlessly made her way towards Slytherin's head and then paused. This was it. She could feel her magic reacting to her excitement, making it swirl and dance around her like a husk of wind.
Refocusing on the mouth of the statue, Seraya hissed 'Open Slytherin, greatest of the four of Hogwarts'. The stone made rumbling sounds as Slytherin's mouth opened to reveal yet another deep dark hole. An ancient and wild magic flared up as simultaneously a deep hissing filled the chamber 'Who disturbs my slumber? I shall kill you if you are unworthy' The head of the largest serpent the young woman had ever seen moved out of the shadows of Slytherin's mouth, swiftly followed by the rest of its body.
The basilisk was about 15 meters long and would easily be able to swallow an entire human being. Seraya looked up at the creature in wonder as it raised its head. Large yellow eyes meeting glowing silver ones. 'Greetings King of all snakes. I do not wish to disturb your rest. I merely wish to enter the Lord's study' the basilisk tilted its head eyeing the girl with great suspicion. 'You are not of my Lord's blood; I can sense it. But tell me how, little human, did you come to know this ancient tongue? And why are you not perishing at my stare?'
Seraya chuckled 'You are right, I am not a blood heir to the Lord. However, I was born with the ability of parseltongue which deems me worthy to enter the chamber and the study. I wish not to tell you all of my secrets. Secrets are what keep you alive.' The large magical snake bowed its scaly head in acknowledgement 'You speak wisely, little human. If you are worthy to enter, you are worthy to stay.'
The young woman also bowed her head and made her way to the opening that was Salazar Slytherin's mouth. It wasn't hard to climb inside. The hollow room was large enough to fit two full grown basilisks if needed and was also littered in rat bones. The door to Slytherin's study was just a few meters ahead and marked with carvings. 'If you are worthy you shall enter what I deem my greatest treasure' it read in parseltongue. Feeling slightly giddy Seraya hissed 'Open' one last time before entering the dimly lit room.
YOU ARE READING
Madness- T.M.R.
Fanfiction"There is no good and evil, only power and those too weak to seek it." "You're wrong, there is only madness and those too scared to admit it."
