Hogwarts, Slytherin Common Room, September 14, 2017, 9:00 AM
Sunday morning was the quietest time of the entire week.
Most students slept in late. The few who were awake stayed in their dormitories or went to the Great Hall for a slow breakfast.
The Common Room was empty.
Perfect.
Solus, Stella, and Albus gathered by the fireplace.
"Did you bring the map?" Solus asked in a low voice.
Albus pulled the yellowed parchment from under his robes.
"Here."
They spread it out on the low table.
The 18th-century map showed the dungeons in more detail than any modern blueprint. Passages. Hidden rooms. And that mark that had caught Solus's attention:
Lower Chamber, Forbidden
"The entrance should be here," Solus said, pointing to a spot on the map. "East wall of the Common Room. Between the third and fourth window."
Stella looked in that direction.
"That's a solid wall. I've been in this Common Room for a week. There's nothing there."
"Visible," Solus corrected. "There's nothing visible there."
"So how do we find it?" Albus asked.
Solus stood up.
"Follow me."
They walked toward the east wall.
The windows showed the lake. Black water. Creatures swimming in the shadows.
Between the third and fourth window was a green stone wall. Smooth. Unmarked. No visible cracks.
Solus placed his hand on the stone.
Cold. Solid.
But...
Something.
There was something behind it.
Not a physical space.
But an absence of magic. Like a void in the flow in that specific spot.
"What are you doing?" Stella asked.
"Sensing."
"Sensing what?"
"The magic."
Stella and Albus exchanged a confused look.
Solus closed his eyes.
'Breathe.'
'Extend your awareness.'
The flow of magic in the Common Room was constant. Like a river. But here, in this specific wall, there was an eddy. A point where magic folded in on itself.
A ward.
Designed to hide.
'But how does it open?'
Corvus wouldn't have used a password that could be forgotten. He wouldn't have used an object that could be lost.
He had used blood.
Slytherin blood.
Solus opened his eyes.
He pulled out his wand.
"What are you going to do?" Albus asked nervously.
"Test something."
Solus made a small cut on the palm of his hand with a silent spell. Red blood shone against his skin.
"Solus!"
Stella jumped. "What are you...?"
Solus pressed his bleeding hand against the wall.
And he spoke in a tongue he hadn't spoken aloud in a thousand years.
It wasn't English.
It wasn't Latin.
It was Parseltongue.
"Open the way for the bearer of the blood."
The words came out as hisses. Like snake whispers.
Stella and Albus stepped back instinctively.
"Was that...?"
Albus paled. "Was that Parseltongue?"
Solus didn't answer.
Because the wall was answering.
The stones began to glow.
Green runes appeared where there was nothing before. Symbols that twisted and shifted. Ancient Magic responding to ancient blood.
And then the wall opened.
It didn't slide.
It didn't pivot.
It simply... dissolved. Like mist under the sun.
Behind it was darkness.
And stairs that descended.
Stella took a step back.
"What... what was that?"
Solus looked at his hand. The wound was already closing. A healing spell he had cast without thinking.
"A blood key," he said simply.
"But you spoke Parseltongue," Albus whispered. "Only Slytherin's descendants can speak Parseltongue."
Solus looked at him.
'Shit.'
'I was careless.'
He had been so focused on opening the entrance that he had forgotten how it would sound.
'I need an explanation.'
'Fast.'
"My mother," he said slowly, "is a Muggle. But her great-grandmother was a Gaunt. Distant lineage. Very distant. I didn't even know I could speak Parseltongue until I tried to open this."
It wasn't entirely a lie.
Helen might have Gaunt blood. It was impossible to know without magical tests.
And mixing truths with lies made the lie more believable.
Stella studied him with those way-too-sharp eyes.
"Your mother has Slytherin blood?"
"Apparently."
"And you never mentioned it?"
"I didn't know it mattered."
Silence.
Albus broke the tension:
"So... do we go down?"
Solus looked at the stairs.
'No turning back now.'
"Yes. But carefully."
They descended in silence.
Solus went first, his wand lit. Stella followed, her own wand glowing. Albus brought up the rear, looking nervously behind him.
The stairs were ancient. Worn stone. Moss on the edges. The air smelled of dampness.
They went down.
And down.
And down.
'How deep is this under the Common Room?'
Finally, the stairs ended.
They opened into a passage.
No.
A corridor.
Long. Dark. With stone walls engraved with runes that glowed faintly.
Solus recognized the symbols.
At the end of the corridor was a door.
Not wood.
Green stone with a carved serpent that seemed to move under the light of their wands.
"That is..." Stella swallowed hard. "That is the entrance."
"Yes."
They walked toward the door.
With every step, Solus felt the magic become denser around him.
'This is alive.'
They reached the door.
Solus placed his hand on the carved serpent.
"Do you need blood again?" Albus asked.
"I don't know."
But the serpent responded.
Its eyes, green gems embedded in the stone, began to glow.
And a voice resonated in Solus's mind.
Not out loud.
In his mind.
"Who seeks the treasure of Corvus Slytherin?"
Solus froze.
A ward. Corvus programmed it to respond only to someone who could hear it.
He answered in his mind:
"Solus Gray. Heir of the blood."
"Heir of blood or heir by chance?"
"Both."
Silence.
Then:
"Enter, brother. Your path awaited you."
The door opened.
"What happened?" Stella asked. "Did you talk to the door?"
"Something like that."
"How?"
"I don't understand it perfectly, it was the intent."
Solus walked in. "I'll explain later."
The room beyond the door was...
'Impossible.'
It wasn't a room.
It was a chamber.
Huge. The size of the Common Room. Maybe bigger.
The ceiling was high, supported by green stone columns engraved with runes. The floor was polished black marble reflecting the light of torches that burned with green flames.
And in the center (centre) of the chamber was a table.
A stone table.
Long. With a map carved into its surface.
Not a map of Hogwarts.
A map of the world.
Continents. Oceans. Mountains. Everything carved in detail.
And glowing.
Points of green light marked locations all over the world.
"What is this?" Albus whispered.
Solus walked toward the table.
His fingers grazed the surface.
The Map Chamber.
Corvus used it to track his students. His heirs. His contacts all over the world.
'And every point of green light is...'
Something Corvus, or someone else, left behind.
Solus touched a point in the British Isles.
The green light pulsed.
And an image appeared above the table.
Floating in the air like a hologram.
A vault.
No.
The Gringotts vault.
Vault 7.
Solus smiled.
'Every point is a resource, hidden all over the world.'
'And I have access to everything.'
Stella approached slowly, looking at the map with awe.
"Is this real?"
"Yes."
"How many points are there?"
Solus counted.
Twenty in Europe.
Fifteen in Asia.
Ten in Africa.
Eight in South America.
Five in North America.
Three in Oceania.
"Sixty-one," he said quietly.
"Sixty-one what?"
"Resources. Places where there might be treasures or things. Or where his descendants established bases."
Albus approached too.
"And they are all yours?"
"Apparently."
Stella laughed. An incredulous laugh.
"Solus... this is..."
"Overwhelming."
"I was going to say incredible."
Solus looked around the chamber.
Besides the table, there were shelves. Full of books. Scrolls. Artifacts.
In one corner, a dark wooden trunk with the Slytherin crest engraved.
In another, suits of armor (armour) on pedestals. Not modern armor. Ancient armor.
And on the back wall, hung like a holy relic, was a sword.
Solus walked toward it.
The blade was darkened silver. The hilt was wrapped in black leather. And at the base of the blade there were runes engraved.
"Voluntas Vincit Omnia."
"Will Conquers All."
The motto of his previous life, of the Slytherin Clan family.
Solus reached out.
He touched the hilt.
And the sword resonated with a sound from its origins.
Through the magic.
A vibration that ran through his arm. His chest. His mind.
It was a sort of recognition.
'The sword recognizes its wielder.'
He took it from the mount.
It was lighter than expected. Perfectly balanced.
As if it had been forged specifically for him.
Because it was.
Whoever left it here, forged it for their heirs.
Stella and Albus were looking at him with expressions that mixed awe and something like fear.
"That sword is..." Albus didn't finish the sentence.
"Ancient," Solus completed. "Very ancient."
He returned it to the mount.
'Not now. I don't need it yet.'
Solus spent the next thirty minutes exploring the chamber.
He found journals. Dozens of them. Written in Corvus's handwriting. In Latin. In Old English. In languages Solus recognized from his memories but were no longer spoken.
He found detailed maps of Hogwarts. Not just the castle. But the tunnels underneath. The secret passages. Places no one else knew.
He found artifacts. Some identifiable. Others not.
And in the dark wooden trunk, he found gold.
Lots of gold.
Ancient magical coins that shone as if they had just been minted.
"Where did he get all this?" Stella asked, leafing through one of the journals.
"From a lifetime, it seems," Solus replied.
It wasn't a lie.
Judging by the dimension and the total quantity of items, he had spent decades building this. Ensuring that his heirs had the tools to survive.
To prosper.
Albus was looking at the map again.
"What do we do with this?"
"For now, nothing." Solus closed the trunk. "This chamber is a secret. No one else can know it exists."
"Not even the professors?" Stella asked.
"Especially not the professors."
"Why?"
"Because knowledge is power. And I don't know who to trust yet."
Stella nodded slowly.
"Makes sense."
Albus looked nervously toward the door.
"Can we go now? This place is... amazing. But it's also scary."
Solus smiled.
"Yes. We can go."
But before leaving, Solus placed his hand on the map table once more.
'Now it depends on me to use this wisely.'
They climbed the stairs in silence.
When they reached the Common Room, the stone entrance closed behind them. The runes disappeared.
The wall went back to being just stone.
As if nothing had happened.
They sat in front of the fireplace.
"So," Stella said after a long moment. "Are you going to explain what all that was?"
Solus sighed.
'They deserve to know something. Not everything. But something.'
"Magic," he began, "is not just spells. It's not just words and wand movements."
"What else is it?" Albus asked.
"It is Intent. Will. The ability to feel magic itself and mold it in every possible and unimaginable way."
Stella leaned forward.
"Like ancient magic?"
"Exactly like ancient magic."
"And you can do that?"
"I'm learning."
"How?"
Solus hesitated.
'How much do I tell them?'
Finally:
"When I was younger, I had... an experience. I don't know how to describe it. But after that, I could feel magic differently. As if I could touch it without a wand."
It wasn't entirely a lie.
Just... the information was a bit vague.
"That is..." Stella searched for words. "Incredible. And terrifying."
"Both."
Albus asked quietly:
"Can you teach us?"
Solus looked at them.
'Can I? Should I?'
His first life would have said no: 'Keep your secrets close.'
But his second would have said 'Yes. Teach those who trust you.'
Now he is both.
And neither.
"I can try," he finally said. "But it will take time. And practice."
Stella smiled.
"We have time."
"And practice," Albus added.
Solus nodded.
'So this is how it begins.'
'My first lesson as a teacher in this life.'
That night, Solus wrote.
Then he lay in his bed.
And for the first time in weeks, he slept without nightmares.