The Founders Four

Chapter 12: Chamber of Secret

As he passed the dark and damp tunnels to his Main Hall, he lit the torches interspersed on the walls. He also found a few basilisk skins of different lengths. He inspected each of them and was happy to find that all of them were useable for potions. He added this to his to do list and walked ahead.

As he reached the end of the tunnel, he was happy to see that the entrance to his main chambers was not too damp nor did it have any slime on it. Apparently not all of his spell work had worn off with time.

He looked into the eyes of the one of the two entwined serpents that were carved on the entrance wall, they were glinting emeralds (he always did love that colour). After reaching near the wall he spread his right palm and pressed it on a stone near the entrance; and as he did that the serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight.

As he entered the main hall, he found himself standing at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place.

He frowned at this. He had expected this as he had visited this area in his own universe as Harry, but now he remembered the way this area was supposed to look and was not happy at the eerie feeling that it gave. This hall was supposed to have a welcoming feeling and the ceiling was not supposed to be lost in darkness, in fact it was supposed to depict the weather outside. This room was loved by all the founders and was a place where all four founders used to practice their elemental powers.

Salazar took a deep breath and took out his Ash wand and walked to the centre of the Hall. He raised both his hands and directed them towards the ceiling. After that he closed his eyes and started chanting in Parseltongue. He always found that the spells casted with Parseltongue had more power and tended to last longer than if they were casted in any other languages. Rowena was very miffed about this when she found out and this was what motivated her to create spells using Latin and ancient Greek that lasted a long time.

After about an hour, he was satisfied with the spell work. He conjured a comfortable couch and sat on it to rest for a while. A quick Tempus spell showed that it was already lunch time. He didn't want to go to the Great Hall so he summoned a house elf and asked for some pumpkin juice and a couple of sandwiches, in the chamber itself. The elf was as always happy to serve and popped in with the requested food. After thanking the elf (the elf squeaked excitedly and popped out after starting to clap in joy at being thanked by the notorious wizard; all Salazar could do was smile and shake his head at the antics of the elf.) and having his food; Salazar wandered into some of the other rooms.

These rooms were charmed to only appear only if Salazar or any of the other founders laid their hand on the designated stone whilst entering the main hall. If someone used a password the doors to the main hall will open but that person will not be able to see the other rooms in the Chamber. This feature was added as an extra security to ensure that no unwanted Parselmouth could access Salazar's belongings even if he had managed to enter his chambers.

Salazar decided to check out his medical ward first. They had set up a mini infirmary in his chambers. This was set up to attend to any wizard or witch who was seriously injured in the war. There was a shortcut from this chamber which opened at the edge of Hogsmeade village. In the ancient times, that ground was usually used to fight off any battles around Hogwarts was the battleground of Hogwarts and thus anyone seriously injured or anyone who needed to be healed by ancient magic or blood magic would be brought here by the Founders.

As he entered the infirmary, he found that the dampness was gone but the beds were in bad shape and the odour was not fully gone. So he started by casting the spells to dispel the odour, replacing it with the scent of freesia and jasmine. After that, he banished the beds and the side tables, and then went on to vanish the dust and slime that had gathered in the room over the years.

Finished with that, he summoned a house elf to sanitize the room, specifically ordering it to stay in the infirmary and return to the kitchens after it was done.

Salazar then set off to inspect his potions lab and the store. This was accessed from a password protected portrait of his aunt who taught him a lot about potions and magical rituals from a very early age in the infirmary.

The portrait was happy to see Salazar after such a long time. Before it swung open, it warned him that the lab was in a bit of a mess. Entering the lab, Salazar couldn't help but think that the portrait had made a massive understatement.

The lab smelled awful. The whole room was covered in slime, some of the potions had leaked from their vials and mixed with other potions. Unfortunately the result was some sort of an explosion. He remembered that he was trying to make some potions which could be used in battle but he never had a chance to show them to the other founders as he had completed the potion on the day of their argument that had led to him leaving the castle for the last time.

He sighed at the memory and wished for the umpteenth time that he could have shown the potion to the others. But they were not ready to listen to him at all. In fact, Godric had started shouting at him the moment he had mentioned using potions against the Muggles in battle, starting off the row.

He shook himself out of his memories and started cleaning the lab. This took a little more than an hour and after banishing more than half of his things, he had managed to salvage some of his better quality cauldrons, some vials, and other basic equipments. It was not much, but luckily all the basic equipments required for brewing the intuition potion were available.

After this he checked the storage area. This area was heavily warded and it also had a permanent static charm on it; thus it had escaped any damage including the damp smell. This was a relief to Salazar as it would mean that all the rare ingredients he had collected and every potion that he had brewed in his past life could still be used. He had brewed some very rare dark potions that can be used for ritualistic healing to counter the effects of dark curses that otherwise could not be cured.

Satisfied that all the potions and salves were unspoiled, Salazar collected the required ingredients for the Seer Ability Enhancing Potion and moved back to the lab and started brewing it. The potion would only take about fifteen minutes to mix the ingredients and then a further half an hour to be ready to use.

Once the potion reached the stage where it needed to be left for a while, Salazar decided to check on the progress of the sanitisation of the infirmary. He was happy to see that the elf had completed his job and the infirmary was ready to be used. He would have to buy some new furniture but for now he conjured a few beds and other furniture. He also conjured a stone bed, used for the ritualistic healing, and some chairs and couches.

After all this, he relaxed on the couches for a while and then checked the time. The potion was almost done, so he went back to the lab and prepared to use the potion. After the potion was ready, he took some in a smaller bowl and made a small cut on his finger by a ritualistic knife. He let few drops of his blood fall into the potion and after the required amount of blood was mixed in the potion the cut healed itself.

The potion immediately turned transparent after the blood was mixed and Salazar could see the view of Hogsmeade village. The place was just a few feet away from the secret entrance to his infirmary, just outside of Hogshead pub. There were about twelve Death Eaters surrounding a group of six people. Salazar could identify all of the Death Eaters and he realised that they were all best duellers Voldemort had in his ranks. There was no way he would be able to out duel them without harming the six non-combatants. So he focused on the position of the victims and the time. He quickly realised that the victims were none other than the Marauders with Lily and Mr and Mrs Weasley. He could see that all other villagers were either running around or were lying on the ground. None of the victims had their wands and Sirius, James, Remus and the Weasleys had some gashes and bruises on their bodies and faces. It didn't seem too serious but Salazar knew that when people like Bellatrix were around, it would not take long before things took a turn for the worse. He looked around for the wands of the victims and found that they were held by Bellatrix in her pocket.

After assessing the situation he checked the time, but quickly realised that this event was happening at the same time. A plan started to form in his head as he left to help the Marauders, Lily and the Weasleys. He did not have time to contact the others and thus decided to deal with the situation himself.