Harry activated his Fast Travel ability from within the Zeus Hotel, and the world shimmered around him in silver light. The air twisted, folded, and then he appeared at the exact point he had marked — just inside the front gate of Slytherin Castle.
The moment he arrived, Harry froze in surprise.
The last time he saw this place, the castle was a mess — its outer walls cracked, its gates rusted, and the courtyard swallowed by wild grass and thorned vines. But now… it looked alive again.
[Fast Travel Successful]
Destination: Slytherin Castle – Main Gate
Condition Check: Safe Zone Confirmed
Environment Quality: +80% since last visit
The massive outer walls gleamed in the morning light, clean and repaired. The once–shattered gates looked newly forged, each serpent engraving polished to a mirror shine. The uneven ground that was once filled with weeds and broken stone was now smooth and trimmed.
Harry turned left and blinked in shock. The thick, dark forest that had grown wild beside the castle had been tamed. The trees stood in neat rows now, enchanted lanterns hanging from the branches, and new saplings of moonbark and crimson oak had been planted. The scent of magic hung faintly in the air.
"This is… incredible," Harry whispered to himself, walking through the front gate.
Inside the castle, his boots clicked softly on freshly cleaned stone floors. The corridors that were once filled with dust and spiderwebs were now adorned with silver chandeliers, rich green curtains, and paintings that looked centuries old. Every new portrait seemed to hum with faint enchantments, their subjects bowing politely as Harry passed.
He recognized the craftsmanship immediately — Jason Throne and Cassia Frey had done their job perfectly.
Harry explored further.
The main hall was transformed into a grand chamber with a serpent-shaped chandelier. The library had polished bookshelves but have no books. The bedchambers were fitted with soft emerald bedding and velvet drapes.
Every corridor, every corner, every room felt like a piece of history reborn.
Harry stood before one of the large windows and looked outside — the entire castle grounds stretched endlessly, the breeze flowing across the newly planted magical forest.
For the first time since claiming this place, Harry finally felt it:
This wasn't just Slytherin's legacy anymore.
It was his legacy in the making.
Harry, still disguised as the short, middle-aged Lord Blackfyre, turned when he heard the footsteps echoing behind him. Jason Throne and Cassia Frey approached, both looking proud and slightly nervous after completing so much work.
Jason bowed slightly.
"How did you find our decorations, Lord Blackfyre?"
Harry smiled, glancing around at the glittering chandeliers, the emerald drapes, and the marble floors that gleamed like polished ice.
"This is better than I could have imagined," he said. "You've outdone yourselves."
Cassia, always the more direct of the two, tilted her head.
"We only have a few more places to repair. After that, our work here will be done — and a bit earlier than we planned."
Her tone shifted to a playful concern. "That doesn't mean our pay will be reduced, does it?"
Harry chuckled quietly, the corners of his mouth curling into a knowing smile.
"Who said your job was going to end so soon?"
Jason blinked. "My lord?"
Harry clasped his hands behind his back, his eyes glinting faintly under the torchlight.
"Do you think I hired two curse-breakers merely to decorate a castle?" he said softly, his tone carrying a quiet amusement. "If that was all I wanted, I could have hired ordinary craftsmen for a tenth of the price."
Cassia exchanged a quick glance with Jason, her curiosity piqued.
"Then… why bring us here, my lord?"
Harry leaned against one of the marble pillars, the faint torchlight painting lines of gold along his face.
"Do you think the goblins took all the treasures and knowledge from Salazar Slytherin's castle?" Harry asked them, his tone calm but probing.
Jason frowned. "We were part of the goblin excavation team. We searched every visible chamber, every corridor we could find. Are you saying… there are more places? Ones the goblins missed?"
Harry's lips curved into a knowing smile. "Yes," he said simply. "There are rooms even the goblins never found."
Cassia blinked. "But… why didn't you tell them? Wasn't that the deal? You help them find the treasure, they give you the castle?"
Harry chuckled softly. "No. That wasn't the agreement at all."
He walked slowly across the hall, his boots echoing. "The contract said I would open any hidden rooms they discovered — ones they found on their own. I never signed anything about showing them hidden rooms they didn't know about." He stopped and looked back at them. "Everything they found, I opened. Everything I found…" He tapped his temple with one gloved finger. "…stayed right here."
Jason let out a low whistle, a grin spreading across his face. "You're a shrewd man, Lord Blackfyre."
Cassia folded her arms, half-impressed and half-worried. "How many hidden rooms are we talking about?"
Harry turned toward the staircase leading down to the deeper levels of the castle, his eyes glowing faintly in the dim light.
"Twelve," he said. "So far."
Jason's jaw dropped. "Twelve?!"
Harry nodded. "And you two are going to help me open them. That," he said, his smile returning, "is why I'm paying you more than the goblins ever did."
Cassia exchanged a look with Jason — a mixture of greed and curiosity sparking in both their eyes.
Jason smirked. "Then, my lord, when do we begin?"
Harry looked down the dark corridor stretching deep beneath the castle. The faint hiss of distant serpentine magic seemed to echo through the stones.
"Now," he said. "Salazar's secrets won't stay buried forever."
Harry walked down the staircase that led deep beneath Slytherin Castle, his torch flickering against the damp stone walls. Cassia and Jason followed closely, their boots echoing faintly in the narrow corridor. The air grew cooler, denser, and the smell of old stone and age-worn magic filled the air.
The staircase opened into the first dungeon, a sprawling maze of interconnected rooms. Dusty iron bars lined the walls, turning half the chamber into something that resembled a prison. "This looks like a servant's wing—or maybe where Slytherin kept… experiments," Jason muttered, his voice uncertain.
Harry glanced at each corridor, his [Observe] ability flickering faintly.
[Hidden Passage Detected]
But he wasn't after that. Not yet.
He continued toward a second stairwell—a deeper descent that spiraled into the earth. The second dungeon was older, thicker, carved from solid stone and reinforced by ancient enchantments. And at its center was a massive circular hole in the ground, like a ritual pit. Old runes glowed faintly around its edges, whispering fragments of forgotten language.
Jason squinted into the shadows. "This is where the goblins stopped. They said they searched every inch with magic and still found nothing."
But Harry had already seen it. On the far wall, barely visible under centuries of dust, faint serpentine carvings spelled out something in archaic script. He stepped closer and brushed his gloved hand across the stone.
The Slytherin's Archive — The Personal Library of Salazar Slytherin.
Cassia's breath caught. "You've got to be kidding."
Harry lifted his hand toward the inscription and said softly, "Open."
Nothing happened.
He frowned and tried again. "Open—in the name of Salazar Slytherin."
The air trembled for a moment, but the wall didn't move.
Then he saw it—a small indentation in the center of the wall, almost invisible, perfectly circular. The shape was unmistakable. It matched the Slytherin ring he wore on his finger.
He pressed the ring into the dent and whispered again, "Open."
This time, the wall glowed faint green. Ancient runes awakened one by one, snaking outward in luminous trails. Slowly, the wall began to dissolve, the stones rearranging themselves into a doorway.
A rush of cold air came from within as a new chamber revealed itself.
Harry stepped forward, and his torchlight fell on rows of shelves—books, parchments, scrolls, all untouched by time. The room was circular and small, nothing like the grand library upstairs. This was something more intimate—a personal study.
Cassia and Jason followed him in, their eyes wide as they took in the sheer weight of history around them.
"By the Founders…" Cassia whispered. "It's all still here."
Harry walked deeper, his hand brushing over the bindings of books written in old runes, ancient serpentine lettering glowing faintly beneath his touch. He could almost feel the lingering presence of Salazar Slytherin himself.
[Quest Update: The Hidden Study Discovered]
Reward:
+500 EXP
+3 INT
+2 WIS
Skill Unlocked – [Serpent's Tongue: Writing Style]
Harry smiled faintly. "This isn't the library," he murmured. "This is only the beginning."
Behind him, Jason and Cassia exchanged an uneasy look. If this was only the study, they could barely imagine what sort of secrets Salazar Slytherin left behind.
Harry caught Cassia's wrist gently before she could cast the spell.
"Don't," he said quietly. "No magic. Not yet."
Cassia blinked, confused. "Why not? It's just a simple cleaning charm—"
Harry shook his head. "This study is older than any spell you know. The wards here are delicate and tangled into the very stones. A single spell could erase a century's worth of Slytherin's work—or burn a parchment to ash before we can even read it."
Cassia hesitated but slowly lowered her wand. The air inside the study was thick with dust, the scent of parchment and ink filling the room. Cobwebs hung like silvery lace between shelves, and the green torches lining the walls flickered faintly, reacting to their presence.
Jason looked around skeptically. "If these doors opened so easily, what do you even need us for?"
Harry turned toward him, expression unreadable. "Opening the door is the easy part," he said. "Getting what's inside… that's the hard part."
To prove his point, Harry picked up a small stone from the ground. He tossed them toward a tall bookshelf where rows of old tomes rested.
The stone never touched the shelves. It bounced mid-air with a sharp crack, sending a faint green ripple through the air before falling to the floor.
Cassia stepped back, startled. "A ward!"
Harry nodded. "A strong one. There's an invisible barrier protecting every shelf, maybe even every single item in this room."
Jason crouched to inspect the space where the ripple had formed, muttering a few curse-breaking incantations under his breath. "Complex layer," he said. "There's at least three enchantments interwoven—protection, illusion, and anti-theft. These are goblin-tier wards, maybe even older."
Harry smiled faintly. "That's why I brought you both. I'll handle the cleaning."
And true to his word, Harry rolled up his sleeves and began dusting each surface by hand. He moved with care, almost reverence, wiping the age from the desk where Slytherin himself might have once sat. The goblin-made lanterns glowed brighter as if recognizing their new master's touch.
Jason and Cassia began their delicate work—carefully tracing sigils in the air, muttering counter-runes, and using fine silver chisels to disrupt the magical lattice woven into the shelves. The room buzzed with restrained magic, every breath filled with danger and discovery.
Slowly, inch by inch, the green shimmer around the first bookshelf faded away.
Cassia exhaled. "One down. Ten more shelves to go."
Harry smiled slightly. "Good. Take your time. This place has waited a thousand years—another few hours won't hurt."
A soft notification shimmered in his vision:
[Quest Update: Secrets of the Serpent – The Study of Slytherin]
Progress: Wards Removed (1/10)
Reward (upon completion): +200 EXP
Skill Scroll (Ancient Magic Detection)
Harry wiped another patch of dust from the carved serpent emblem on the desk and murmured, "Let's see what secrets you're hiding, Salazar."
Jason Throne's hands trembled slightly as he lifted the dragon-hide-bound tome from the shelf. The ward on the book had only just faded — thin ribbons of green magic still evaporating in the air. For a moment, he simply stared at it, reverence written all over his face.
Harry noticed the change in him. The normally composed curse-breaker looked almost nostalgic.
"You were a Slytherin, weren't you?" Harry asked, carefully dusting another section of the study desk.
Jason smiled faintly, brushing a hand across the serpent emblem embossed on the book's cover. "Head Boy, actually. Prefect too." He paused, his voice softening. "I've always respected Salazar Slytherin — not for his… blood opinions, but for his brilliance. His mind. Potions, wards, defense against dark arts — he was centuries ahead of his time."
Cassia smirked. "And yet the goblins tore this place apart like treasure-hungry rats."
Jason's expression darkened. "Yes. I hated watching it. As a Gringotts employee, I couldn't say a word, but…" He glanced around the chamber, eyes gleaming with a mix of sadness and pride. "Seeing this — seeing that not everything was lost — it feels like some small part of him survived."
He slowly opened the book. The parchment was smooth, preserved by powerful enchantments, but the writing inside was… strange. Dark, looping symbols danced across the page — neither runic nor Latin nor any magical language Jason recognized.
"What in Merlin's name is this?" Jason muttered. "It's like nothing I've ever seen."
He turned the book toward Harry.
The moment Harry's eyes met the page, faint whispers coiled through his mind — soft, hissing syllables that formed words. His pupils narrowed slightly as instinct took over. He whispered aloud, and the words flowed from his tongue effortlessly, "The anatomy of serpentine magic — the link between sound, will, and motion."
Cassia's head snapped up. "You can read it?"
Harry nodded slowly. "Yes. It's written in Parseltongue — the written form."
Jason's eyes widened in disbelief. "Written? I didn't even know Parseltongue had a written form."
Harry gently took the book, his gloved fingers brushing across the script. "Neither did I… until now."
He flipped to another page, where diagrams of snakes intertwined with wand movements and sigils filled the parchment. Beneath it, more hissing letters formed rhythmic patterns.
Jason leaned closer, awestruck. "That— that's Salazar's handwriting. The old Slytherin records said he devised spells that merged vocal sound with instinctive command. He must've documented his theories here."
Harry smiled faintly, his emerald eyes glinting under the torchlight. "this is a manual. A manual of serpentcraft."
Cassia whistled softly. "And we just found the only copy in existence."
Harry looked up from the tome, his voice low and determined. "We're not done yet. If this was just one book from shelf… imagine what's waiting behind the next nine."
Jason grinned, the spark of his old Slytherin pride rekindled. "Then let's make Salazar proud, shall we?"