*Gobbledygook*
~Parseltongue~
-October 31st, 991-
It had been two months since Salazar had found out about their gift of Parseltongue and their secret lessons on Parseltongue and Parselmagic had caused the two of them to become closer than they had been. Their shared gift made Alex the closest to Salazar out of them, Godric, Helga, Rowena, and Merlin. Even as they had gotten closer to Salazar, they had also gotten closer to the others as well, each of their teachers having a special nickname for them, although Salazar only used their nickname when they were in private together, since they had decided to keep their shared ability a secret.
Salazar called them Little Snake or Snakelet, still sticking with Alex when around the other four. Helga called them X, after they had instantly shut down her first suggestion of Lex, since that was way too close to their deadname to be comfortable. Rowena called them a range of bird related nicknames, such as fledgling, hatchling, and Little Raven. Godric called them Flame because of their fiery red hair, or Emerald for their eyes, which had a tendency to glow when they were angry or wound up, since that caused their magic to strain slightly against their control and it would find an escape through making their eyes glow, since that wouldn't cause any damage to anything or anyone. Merlin continued to call them Young One or Little One like he had been seen he first met them.
While the five had all given them nicknames, Alex had returned the favour and rarely used their full names, preferring their nicknames. Salazar was Sal, or occasionally Zar when Salazar was in a good mood. Helga was Hel. Rowena was Row or Rena. Godric was Ric. Merlin was the only one whose nickname was longer than his name, and not related to his name at all, having been gifted the nickname of Old One or Old Man, as the opposite of his nickname for them.
It was during one of their lessons on Parselmagic with Sal that Alex found out why he had been in such a bad mood and been acting so oddly while Celestine had been going through maturity. She had completed her maturity about a week after Alex had first met her, and they had been down to visit her many times since then; Celestine seemed to enjoy coiling around them in a serpentine type of hug. They had asked Salazar about the maturity that Celestine had gone through, and Sal had explained that, as her bonded, some of her pain and discomfort was filtered through their bond to him, especially the times when the pain was the worst. He couldn't do anything to numb the pain on his end, like he couldn't do anything to numb the pain for his familiar, but he also couldn't block the pain coming through the bond, since that would mean that Celestine would experience that pain on top of what she was already feeling; he basically syphoned off some of the pain, and that was the only way he could help her through her maturity.
Samhain came quickly and Alex looked forward to their celebration of the night. It was a night dedicated to the dead and honouring their ancestors that had come before them and was the night when the veil between the world of the living and the dead, and the barriers between the physical world and the spirit world, were at their weakest.
That night, like every Samhain that Alex had been there for, they would light a fire in the courtyard and welcome the spirits of their ancestors to join them and feast with them, before beginning their own meal. Once they were done with their feast, they would offer their remaining food as a sacrifice to their ancestors and burning the food in the fire. They would then offer a drop of their own blood into the fire. The offering of blood was Alex's favourite part, as it led to each of those who had joined in falling unconscious and communicating with a loved one or ancestor that had already moved on to the spirit world.
However, that Samhain, Merlin, Godric, Rowena, and Helga were growing concerned about Alex and Salazar. They were both running late, which in itself was unusual, but it was especially unusual for Samhain. Their lesson was meant to have finished ten minutes ago, and neither of them had appeared again. Helga had brushed the worries aside when they were five minutes late, saying that they may have started brewing late and were just finishing up. But as it reached fifteen minutes after their lesson was meant to have finished, even she couldn't brush it off as just a long brew.
When it had reached half an hour since their lesson was meant to finish, all of them were worried and on edge. It was then that Rowena and Helga finally relented and agreed with Godric that they should go check on them. After all, they still had their Samhain celebrations and ritual to complete that night, and Alex still had lessons the next day, so they couldn't stay up too late; Alex was only eleven, after all.
Rowena, Helga, and Godric headed down to the dungeons, where the lesson was taking place, while Merlin headed out into the courtyard to set up the area for the celebration and ritual. Rowena led the way through the dungeons, being the one who went down there most often and knew which labs Salazar preferred. Once they reached the last lab, which was the lab that Rowena knew both Salazar and Alex preferred, Helga reached past her and knocked on the door before Godric could just barge in.
"Think Ric. If you go barging in while they are brewing, you could cause an accident," Helga reminded him. Godric crossed his arms but nodded, knowing that she was telling the truth. Especially since they knew that Alex worked with some very volatile ingredients. Rowena stopped Helga from knocking a second time, opening the door slightly as she heard faint hissing.
"Can you hear hissing?" she asked. Helga and Godric both stepped closer, listening intently, before nodding.
"What do you think the hissing is coming from?" Godric asked.
"Probably from a snake Ric. This is Sal we're talking about," Helga replied, rolling her eyes. "We should go get them." The three of them entered the lab and found it completely clean but noticed that the door on the other side of the lab was slightly open and that that was where the hissing was coming from.
"That's leads to Sal's personal quarters. He had a door in each lab that leads there," Rowena said.
"But he doesn't let anyone in his personal chambers," Godric said.
"Clearly he lets our hatchling in there," Rowena replied. Helga approached the door and knocked, even though the door was already slightly open. The hissing stopped and a few seconds later Salazar was standing at the door, Alex just behind him.
"Yes?" Salazar asked, not at all happy that their lesson had been interrupted; Alex had just been getting the hang of using Parselmagic for defensive spells. They had found that, while it took them longer to get the hang of Parselmagic, once they got the hang of it, it was much stronger for them than using normal spells; for example, one of Alex's normal shields could hold for about five strong hexes at the moment, while one of Alex's Parsel shields could hold for nine or ten strong spells at the moment. Even though there was normally a slight increase in power between Parsel spells and regular spells, the difference for Alex's was much larger, but they also found it much harder to get the hang of.
"We came to get you. Your lesson was meant to finish half an hour ago. We still have the Samhain celebrations and ritual tonight and Emerald can't go to bed to late tonight since they still have lessons in the morning," Godric said.
"Is it that late already?" Alex asked. They had been so absorbed in their lesson that they had totally lost track of time.
"It is. Merlin is already setting up for the celebrations," Helga agreed.
"Honestly? We must have really lost track of time. It felt like we had barely started," Alex said.
"Indeed. If you are done, fledgling, we will head up now and get ready for our celebrations," Rowena said.
"Alright Row," Alex replied.
"Yes, we have done as much as we can for the time being," Salazar agreed.
"Come on then," Godric said, before turning and leaving the lab. Alex walked calmly after him, Helga and Rowena walking on either side of them, while Salazar cleaned up in his chambers before following after them.
"What were you and Salazar doing X? He never lets anyone in his personal chambers," Helga said.
"Sal was trying to get a snake to donate some venom for a potion we're doing next class," Alex replied with a casual shrug.
"In his personal chambers?" Rowena asked.
"Yeah. That's where the snake has been living. Plus, it's quieter in there. The labs echo."
Alex felt slightly bad for not telling Rowena, Helga, Godric, and Merlin about the fact that they were a Parselmouth and their extra lessons with Salazar in Parselmagic. But at the same time, they wanted to be a bit selfish and keep that as something just for them and Sal. They had something special that connected them with the other four and wanted to keep the thing that connected them to Sal a secret. They shared their love of art, of drawing and painting, with Hel. They had a connection with Ric through their ease of use when it came to Offensive and Defensive magics, as well as their ease at flying. They shared an ease of wandless magic and mage sight with their Old Man. Their extreme interest in, and what was growing to be love of, spell creation connected them with Rena. And now they had Parseltongue and Parselmagic to be the special thing between them and Sal.
"Yes, the stone walls do tend to cause things to echo, don't they," Rowena agreed. Alex nodded, they had carpet in their room and a tapestry covering the largest wall for a reason.
They continued through the castle in a comfortable silence, heading out into the courtyard and over to the area that Merlin had set up for the fire and the feast with their ancestors. They each took a seat on a log around the firepit in the centre and, once all six of them were seated – the other students in the school, who were all apprentices under one of the five, were having their own celebrations in their small friend groups throughout the grounds – Merlin lit the fire and led the prayer of the ancestors, calling back those who had come before them to spend the evening with them, to dine with them and to spend time with them.
Once the prayer of the ancestors was done, they each took a plate and filled it with various things from the scattering of dishes that were laid around the fire, to be easily accessed by their ancestors that chose to join them. They ate quietly, and Alex enjoyed watching the flames dance around, occasionally glancing around them and seeing traces of old magic moving amongst them, seeing traces of spirits long past from the corner of their eyes. Alex didn't try and look closer though, knowing that their ancestors would come and go as they pleased and that they wouldn't see them unless their ancestors wanted them to see them.
Once the meal was done, they offered their remaining food to their ancestors, each of them sacrificing a few of the dishes into the flames. They then added a drop of their blood to the flames and let the embrace of their ancestors take them into unconsciousness.
~~~
The next few months flew by, and Alex's training progressed even more. They hadn't lost track of time in any of their lessons since Samhain, and they had continued to keep their secret lessons with Salazar hidden from the others.
Their lessons with Helga in the arts had moved on to simply time where they could relax and create their art, drawing or painting any image that came to mind; it was one thing they had always enjoyed and was a skill that they had always been proud of. They had progressed past simply learning about the different animals and were now learning how to care for them and how to heal the common injuries the animals received. Their human languages were progressing well. They had become basically fluent in French, Latin, and Greek, and were now working on Italian and Mandarin, the accompanying etiquette and customs being learnt along with the languages. They had progressed with their lessons on healing as well, now able to heal larger cuts, fix small breaks and fractures, treat head wounds, and work with an unconscious patient.
Their lessons on the Fundamental magics had grown and covered a large range of different Charms and Transfigurations, from household spells, to spells that were useful in every day life, to spells that may only be used once or twice. Their Arithmancy had grown to learning to dissect the different spells and the origins of the spells, finding out what they were originally used for and which type of magic it required. They had begun learning to link and join Runes, not only in chains and sequences that already existed, but also in small chains and sequences that they created. They no longer discussed anything to do with Divination, all that Alex was able to, or willing to, learn having already been taught. They had progressed well in magical languages, now fluent in not just Gobbledygook and Mermish, but also Fae (the language of Fae, Fay and Fairies), Pixine (the language of Pixies and Brownies), and Troll – admittedly, Troll wasn't very difficult to learn. They were now learning Elven (the language of Elves) and Genomon (the language of Goblins and Dwarves). Their lessons in spell craft had also moved on slightly, and Row was helping them start constructing their first spell, which took a long time as they didn't want it to rupture at all.
They had gotten extremely comfortable with their blades, both short swords and daggers, as well as their throwing knives, and could switch between all three in an instant. Hand-to-hand had moved on as well and had been incorporated into their spars, and they often switched between blades and hands during one spar. They had picked up Offensive and Defensive magics well and they had moved on to the larger Defensive spells, since the larger Offensive spells were more draining, so Ric was waiting until they were a bit older before moving on to those. Their lessons on Light magic hadn't gone as well as their lessons on Offensive and Defensive magics, but they were still progressing much faster than most of Rics' other apprentices, at least according to him. Godric had also finally let them start flying on some of the animals, as long as neither Helga nor Rowena was around to see.
Their potion lessons had moved on as well and they were editing a lot more potions now, as well a being in the process of creating their own, brand new potion. Their lessons on Mind Magic had moved on to learning how to completely hide their memories from intruders now that their mind was completely organised and had protection and defences around it. Their Dark magic lessons were progressing in the same way as their Light magic lessons, and they found it much easier to work with Dark magic now that they could completely control their emotions. Their bow work had moved on to firing at multiple targets at different distances and seeing how long it took to hit all of them. Their secret lessons in Parselmagic had them learning magics that they had already learnt in their other lessons in Parseltongue and learning to control the power that came from each Parsel spell, which in turn improved their control and power regulation in regular magics as well.
Their lessons with Merlin had continued in much the same way, with them learning each of the different things he was teaching them in the same way as they got more connected with their magic. Their lessons on Elemental magic had also begun and they had already found their connection to multiple elements. They weren't surprised that they could work with air, as they felt so comfortable flying, but they also had an affinity with both fire and water, which had surprised them, as they didn't expect to be able to work with more than one element, and Merlin, as apparently having an ability to work with and manipulate three of the elements was very rare, especially since water and fire, and earth and air, were very much opposites. Merlin had begun teaching them to work with and manipulate air first, as it was the easiest to learn, simply because it was always around you. Their lessons on History had also moved on to what was in the future for the five but would be in the past for Alex.
Their duelling lessons had also continued, and they had begun learning to mix different chains that they knew, as well as beginning to incorporate their daggers in to a duel.
Alex was having an incredible time with the five and was enjoying learning everything that they were being taught. They did miss Remus, a lot, but they also were so busy that they didn't have much time to feel homesick; they often went back over their memories with Remus before bed to combat that homesickness and found themself drawing Remus during their art lessons with Helga whenever they were really missing him; they had about half a wall covered in various drawings and paintings of their godfather. But they knew that they would see him again and continued to enjoy everything they were learning. After all, they still had four more years with the five, and there was so much they could learn in that time.