Slytherin

No matter what I did, you always thought it was alright. You'd seen right through our plan. I was so proud of you, Brain. But I couldn't leave it at that. I needed to die. I needed your help doing it, so you needed to hate me.

I thought lying to you again would be enough; you've always hated that. It wasn't though. Even with Professor Dumbledore convincing you that I'd changed.

He'd know, too. He was in love with Grindelwald when they were younger. Dumbledore's younger sister had been attacked by Muggles. His father attacked the Muggles back and got thrown into Azkaban. His sister couldn't control her magic, and his mother couldn't cope. Dumbledore tried leaving with Grindelwald, but his brother stopped them. In the ensuing fight, his sister died.

All the times he told you about it, I doubt he mentioned that. He's ashamed because he doesn't know who killed his sister. He trusted Grindelwald, and it all turned out to be lies. Dumbledore didn't want you to hurt someone you loved.

I didn't know how to make you hate me. Slytherin only needed you to consider me a threat, and I knew how to get the staff to do that. I had to kill someone.

You needed information, so it had to be someone you'd notice immediately. You rarely hung out with anyone apart from Toad, and I couldn't hurt him if I'd had to. Princess was with Draco, and Skyeyes was on his own, so that meant Cohort.

I hated killing Lavender. For weeks, when I closed my eyes, I could see her face. Hers and Cohort's. It wasn't easy. I had to think several steps ahead to work out what Cohort would do, prepare myself for anything. He conjured a bell. That was brilliant.

I had to make sure you'd know that I was against you. I had to break the one rule I'd always had.

I couldn't give myself time to mourn. While I was planning for it, I realized Princess would bring up how Draco had changed. He was changing; I could see it in him when he was home in our Super Secret Evil Lair (because no one would ever think to look for Tommy in his best friend's house). I had to hurt her, to send a message to you through her.

I couldn't be around you for more than a few rounds at a time. If I let myself be near you, I didn't trust that I'd be able to stop myself from telling you everything. So I went after your friends instead.

Lestrange had already taken Moon's eyes, and I didn't want to hurt her or Toad anymore. I'd already killed Alavel, so Skyeyes was sufficiently broken. That left Cohort, Princess, and Firecracker. I hurt two of them that day. When you put the ward up, I thought that was the end of it.

Slytherin still got communication out to me. It told me that you'd been working on more of my magic. You worked out discern location. I nearly started laughing when I found out. When we knew you were working on it, I started staying in the Shrieking Shack. It's outside of Slytherin's reach, so I thought it was the perfect spot. I sat and I waited. Either you'd kill me, or you'd listen. Maybe you wouldn't hate me by the end of it. Maybe Future Hermione wasn't the only possible future.

But it wasn't you that showed up looking for me.

Rose returned to the Shrieking Shack. She held herself together for a few more seconds before breaking down. She fell to the floor, heaving with tearless sobs.

<You didn't have to do that,> Reflectesalon said.

"Nothing I did was enough," she sobbed. "Nothing. Why can't Brain hate me?"

<That's not what I meant. She put up the ward. There's no reason for her to hate you. You could've told Taltria or Firecracker.>

"Taltria wouldn't listen. She'd assume it was some lie. And that… didn't even look like Firecracker."

Rose thought back to the way Firecracker had looked when she'd walked into the room. She looked arrogant, smug, and angry. One look had told Rose that neither of them would listen to her.

<You didn't have to be so brutal to her.>

"I was only doing non-lethal damage. I had to kill Taltria; she wouldn't have given up until one of us was dead, and she threatened Brain's parents!"

<That doesn't—>

"What I did can't be justified! I'm a monster, Ref! Monsters hurt people, so that's what I did! Maybe Firecracker will be fine some day!"

She wanted tears to stream down her face, to remind her that some part of her was human. But there was nothing left. She was nothing.

<You've got a few days left, and you don't know what Slytherin's plan is.>

Rose had pondered that question many times in the past year, but she hadn't had a chance to leave the Death Eaters until after the ward against her had been put up. Without any way to follow up on any theories, she'd decided to simply leave it alone.

"What's it matter?"

<If Brain kills you, what's stopping Slytherin from repeating this with her?>

Rose's sobs stopped and she sat up. New determination kept her focused. She had only a few days to work it all out, so she had to get started immediately.

Don't worry, Brain. I won't let it hurt you.

First, I had to figure out what Slytherin was really planning. For that, I needed to know exactly what it was, but without going into Hogwarts. Fortunately, purebloods are pretty big on record keeping and other purebloods.

I learned a lot from the Malfoy library. Salazar Slytherin had three children, two boys and a girl. The girl was named Rosalind. She died by being burned at the stake; the spell to stop that didn't exist back then. She's the only one Slytherin ever mentioned, so she's got to be important.

Several books mentioned a journal. I needed notes on her, on Cruentius, the Spektres if possible. If it could get memories out of my blood, I needed to know what else it could do.

Compared to dealing with doing Slytherin's bidding or keeping Tom from killing himself, finding Salazar Slytherin's journal wasn't difficult. I was going to look for clues, follow leads, question NPCs, take plot hooks the DM offered me, beat down a few bad guys, journey into some overly elaborate crypt, kill a giant monster guarding the deepest recess of it, where I would find his body, likely under some illogical flood of moonlight that's there even during the day, with the journal clutched in his skeletal hands. Instead, I wished his soul would tell me where to find the journal, and he did. That was Ref's idea.

Once I found it (it was in a crypt with a beam of moonlight, but there was no monster to kill), I copied the contents to my notebook. The journal tells of the time Salazar Slytherin was at Hogwarts. That includes everything about Slytherin.

It was written in a different language. What follows are translations of the entries that involve Slytherin.

Day 1

I'm keeping this journal to document my findings as they occur, as is wise during one's studies.

I've included a detailed runic diagram of the structure I placed inside one of the chambers in my laboratory. I built Slytherin's Laboratory as part of Hogwarts, but my three colleagues know nothing about it. I believe this is for the best. I cannot predict how they would react if they were to discover my laboratory or my project.

I'm writing this journal in a language of my own design, so that no one else, including my project itself, may read this.

I provided a basic means of communication so that I may ask it questions to determine the extent of my success. As part of its construction, I granted it knowledge of language, allowing it to understand the world around it. When I ask questions, it carves out the answers to it into a stone slab.

Below are the questions I asked it:

1. Can you hear me? — Yes

2. Do you know who I am? — Salazar Slytherin

3. Do you know where you are? — Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

I am astounded by its answers. The project is a complete success.

Day 5

It asked me today what its name was. I had no answer, so I asked it what it wanted to be called.

"Your name is the only one with meaning."

It has therefore asked to be called Slytherin. I see no problem with this. It is somewhat of a child, so naturally it would have my family name.

Day 7

Slytherin asked about the castle upstairs. I told it not to mind about them; it belonged in my laboratory.

It said it could see more people upstairs, and it expressed a desire to know more about them. I insisted that it was too dangerous.

Slytherin spoke nothing more about it.

Day 12

It's time for the next step in my project. I've taken precautions to avoid anyone stumbling upon Slytherin, and precautions against anyone destroying it, but now it needs a protector. I've lost one child; I won't lose another.

I draw some of my own blood and set it aside. Blood Magic has always been a specialty of mine, although not one about which my colleagues know. It's dangerous, too dangerous for someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Some believe it to be blasphemy, using the human body like this. I call it innovation.

I cast several spells, detailed below, to animate the blood. Now comes the crucial step: binding it to Slytherin. I take the blood into Slytherin's chamber, then carve additional runes into the stone. At the same time, I cast the spells to link them together, making the blood an extension of its mind.

Slytherin asks what I'm doing. I explain that this will protect it and allow it to learn. Through the mental link, Slytherin will be able to read any additional blood that Cruentius absorbs.

"Cruentius?"

"It's an old word that means 'blood'. You two are bound together by my blood forever."

Day 15

Slytherin demonstrates great control over Cruentius. It makes me proud to see it grow in a way I never saw Rosalind grow.

Given this progress, I decide it's time to give Cruentius its first blood.

I retrieve a vial of Rosalind's blood from my store. It's all I've got left of her. I feel this weighing on me, but I remind myself that it's necessary. This has always been the plan. It's the only way to bring her back.

I remove the stopper and allow Cruentius to take the blood. It drains the vial, growing in size as Rosalind's blood feeds it.

"Rosalind."

The word is carved onto the stone slab as Cruentius moves around. It appears to take the shape of a human before reverting to its natural form.

"That's right."

Cruentius takes the form of a human again, then begins to writhe, as though in pain. I draw my wand, unwilling to remove the blood it already absorbed, but determined to stop the project if necessary.

"What is this?" Slytherin asked. "This feels wrong."

This can't be right. Slytherin shouldn't feel anything. It should have no concept of emotion. I begin to ask it to describe this feeling, but Slytherin asks me a question before I can complete my own.

"Where's Sarah?"

This raises further concerns. Rosalind had no friends, although she frequently snuck out, going so far as to erase herself from her mother's mind to enable this.

"Who's Sarah?"

"My friend. I've got to find her."

This poses a problem. Slytherin shouldn't believe it has any friends.

"What's your name?"

"Rosalind."

I don't know if this is good or not. I wanted to revive Rosalind, but as I see the apparent pain it's causing Slytherin, I question whether it was a good decision.

Within 30 seconds, Cruentius begins to calm itself. I stay for another two minutes, but Slytherin says nothing. Before I leave, I inform Slytherin that it is mistaken, that its name is Slytherin.

"The name Rosalind Slytherin means nothing to you. She is dead."

Slytherin repeats the word dead.

I further inform it that the real Rosalind died in a fire, burned at the stake by Muggles who were frightened of her. This is something I've had to remind myself many times. I'd never heard the name "Sarah". Perhaps this was one of the Muggles who killed her.

When I leave, they've both calmed down. I decide to give Slytherin some time to recover.

Day 16

A vial of blood might have been too much to feed it at once. I take small drops of blood from the students instead. As far as they know, I'm checking them over for diseases. I plan to feed Cruentius and Slytherin the blood on a schedule I've detailed below.

Day 20

Slytherin no longer believes itself to be Rosalind, but I see signs that it has changed.

It has blood from most of the students now. I dare not feed it anything from the staff. I cannot predict the consequences of such a thing.

Slytherin expressed curiosity about the students again. It asked about the sky, the ocean, the trees. I told it not to worry about such things. It asked about building a campfire, but I dismissed it.

It was to be expected that the information from the students would leave it with many questions. I will continue to record everything and ensure that these questions subside.

Day 34

Cruentius is now approximately one cubic meter. I've kept careful track of how much I've fed it, and there are several cubic centimeters for which I cannot account.

I ask Slytherin about this, but it insists I must be mistaken. It asks to see my notes, so that it may "check my work". I tell it that such a thing is not necessary.

I see no reason why Slytherin would absorb more blood.

After I leave my laboratory, Helga finds me. She tells me about a missing cat one of the students keeps. I know nothing, but I tell her I'll tell her if I find something.

No more than two minutes after Helga leaves do I realize that I know exactly what happened to the cat. Slytherin killed it. What for? Why absorb useless blood?

Day 38

I bring up the cat with Slytherin. It claims to know nothing.

Another student stumbled upon a dead rat in the corridors. It had been ripped apart and drained of its blood. I insisted I would look into it, struggling to keep everyone calm.

Day 39

I tell Slytherin it has to stop this. I notice that Cruentius has grown more, and demand to know why it's wasting its time on such meaningless creatures.

"I want to learn."

I tell it that there's nothing to learn from mindless beasts.

"Snakes have a language, so they must be intelligent. Therefore, other animals might be intelligent."

I repeat my demand for it to stop before leaving.

Day 46

After returning to my laboratory, I discover that Cruentius is a different colour.

"I wanted to see if I could," is Slytherin's explanation.

I study the changes, and find that it found a way to change the pigment in the blood. It's not an illusion; the blood now appears a different colour.

I am both fascinated and concerned. Where did it learn to do this?

"I worked it out on my own."

Day 54

While doing another assessment, Slytherin asks why people outside kill each other. It brings up the people that killed Rosalind.

I explain that those people killed Rosalind because they were afraid of her.

"How do you know?"

"There were snakes in the forest near where she died. They told me."

"Can I talk to snakes?"

I remind Slytherin that it can't talk. That we communicate through writing only.

It seems to be satisfied with this answer. I want to ask about Sarah, but doing so might risk confusing Slytherin again.

Day 62

Godric approaches me and asks about a new student. I tell him that I hadn't taken on any new students. Rowena was always bringing in new students, children she'd found promising. I suggest asking her.

He insists it couldn't have been her, that it must've been me. The girl bore my house's crest on her robes.

"What's this girl's name?"

"She said her name is Sylvia Tilshnery."

I'd never heard of the Tilshnery family, and I say as much to Godric. I tell him to direct the girl to me when he came across her again.

"There's another thing,�� he says before he leaves. "She looks a lot like… well, Rosalind."

It was then that I knew who it was. I repeat my request for the girl to be directed to me, and that was the last of it. I went down into my laboratory, pondering the name "Sylvia Tilshnery". It was fake, obviously; a moment's thought revealed that the name "Tilshnery" was an anagram for "Slytherin".

I confront Slytherin about it shortly thereafter.

"I can be a student," it tells me. "There's so much I can learn."

"You risk discovery. Godric's already getting suspicious. If he finds out you're here, it will ruin everything!"

"Like what? What other purpose does me being here serve? I can't get Cruentius to leave the castle, but I can still live a life. A life that was stolen from me!"

Despite my best efforts, it appears that Slytherin still believes itself to be Rosalind. Wasn't this the purpose of this project? To resurrect my beloved Rosalind?

"I don't know why you're afraid of Godric. He's as incompetent and easily manipulated as the rest of them. I can make sure he never considers the possibility that I'm not real."

This was another concern. I ask what it meant by this, but it refuses to say. After it becomes clear that it won't speak, I urge it again to stay hidden.

"So you can lock me up again? Make me promise to behave myself or you'll use that torture curse on me again? Sit by and watch while you teach everyone else to use magic that I've already mastered?"

"Staying hidden is for your own safety. Now I won't hear any more of this. If I spot you upstairs, I'll see to it that you regret it."

I storm off. I have no plan for punishment, but I will think of something.

Day 65

"Sylvia Tilshnery" appears again, this time in the Great Hall. She doesn't eat, but the other students paid her little mind. They speak amongst themselves all the same. Even my colleagues don't ask about her. It is as if no one knows she doesn���t belong except for me.

I look at her, and she at me. She knows I can see her.

I'm continuing today's entry several hours later, after everyone else has gone to bed. I'm returning to my laboratory to await Tilshnery's return. After an hour of waiting, she has arrived. As always, my journal is driven by my thoughts, allowing me to record events as they happen.

I draw my wand as Tilshnery arrives.

"I told you I'd make sure you regretted it."

The "girl" glares back at me. At first, a small pain arises in my chest. It has captured her perfectly. My head drifts back to the hundreds of times I'd seen that exact glare before. It passes, and I stand my ground.

I can't destroy Cruentius; it remains the final layer of defence for Slytherin. But I can cripple it.

I recite the incantation, brandishing my wand. Cruentius, acting on Slytherin's orders, lunges at me, but my spell stops it in place. Layers of enchantment are stripped away, revealing the core of Cruentius. The drops of my own blood, allowing a seamless bond between them. With one final spell, I destroy the core.

Cruentius collapses, but reforms within seconds. It tries to reform into the child again, but Slytherin quickly discovers the extent to which I've damaged Cruentius.

Without the bond of my blood, Slytherin's control of Cruentius is not as seamless. It isn't destroyed completely; Cruentius has absorbed enough blood to sustain itself without the core. Without the core, Slytherin cannot exert enough control to create the amount of detail it needs to have a proper body. I explain as much to Slytherin.

It tries to attack me again, but it's slower now. A few waves of my wand force it back.

"I'll kill you for this!" comes Rosalind's voice from Cruentius.

Screams echo throughout the chamber, but I ignore them and leave. As I return to the castle, I notice small tremors. This is for the best. One day, perhaps it will understand that.

Day 71

Slytherin has displayed no problematic behavior since I crippled Cruentius. I remain weary of it, but I venture into my laboratory once again. I call for it, but get no response.

I return to my chambers, where I meet Godric. He asks where I'd been, but for once, will not accept a vague answer. He presses me for my whereabouts, refusing to leave it alone.

I manage to distract him with another topic, but I can tell something is bothering him. I believe it will be best if I stay out of my laboratory for a time.

Day 76

Rowena mentions that I'd been disappearing less than usual, and asked where I'd been going before. I insist it doesn't matter. After all, I wasn't going there anymore.

Day 77

Godric asks me what I'm keeping to myself. He's forceful in his tone, something I haven't seen from him in a long time.

Why now?

Seconds after I voice this question, I realize the answer. For some reason, Slytherin is whispering to them. What for?

Day 79

Helga expresses concerns that I look stressed. Further, she is concerned that I might be taking it out on Muggle-born students.

"After what happened to Rosalind, I can understand that you're upset, but it's not fair to them."

"That's preposterous! I have never taken out my anger on students that weren't the direct cause of it."

I can excuse Helga's behavior. We've always had different approaches to raising and teaching children. She insists on not using violence to punish children at all, but it's the only way they learn.

She expresses further concerns, but I brush them aside. I have no time for such nonsense. We are both teachers, and we have our own methods.

Day 95

I've noticed my colleagues eyeing me when they thought I couldn't see. I don't know what I did to make them suspicious of me. We've been working together for months.

I began to consider what had changed. What did they think I'd done?

The answer was obvious in hindsight. I hadn't done anything; not to them. What I had done was move against Slytherin. It became clear that it was moving against me, in retaliation for what I'd done to Cruentius. I don't know how it has managed to influence the mind of others.

I considered restoring it. All it would take was blood from myself, possibly from anyone descended from me. I wondered how much it knew. While I'd used my blood to create it, it shouldn't have been able to read it like it did the other blood I'd given it.

If I restored Cruentius, Slytherin would use it to create a body and live among the students again. The longer it did, the more likely it would be caught. I couldn't risk that.

I'd taken precautions to protect it, to ensure that it wouldn't be destroyed, but my colleagues are clever. I wouldn't put it past them to figure out a means of destroying it.

Slytherin is slowly infecting the minds of the other founders, but for a purpose I do not yet know.

Day 101

A child has died. A Muggle-born. Killed, with her blood drained.

The four of us keep the other students away. Insist that we'll get to the bottom of it.

The other three have already made up their minds. They all believe I did this.

Day 102

Godric orders me to leave Hogwarts. He says my extreme values have no place here.

I can't tell him what killed the student, nor would he believe me.

Rowena tries to appeal to my logical side, saying it's not going to change what happened. She asked if I was angry at her for not finishing her spell to save those burned by Muggles.

Helga tried to calm everyone down. Always the peacekeeper, she offered another explanation. Perhaps there was a creature inside Hogwarts.

Godric heard none of it. He didn't draw a wand; he knew he couldn't beat me in a duel. Instead, he drew his sword.

I tried talking sense into them, but I couldn't speak as to what else might have killed the child.

Godric forced me out of Hogwarts, demanding that I never return.

Day 103

I dare not return home. They will no doubt have informed my wife. I've nowhere to go, so I begin walking.

I've still got my journal. I'll keep it with me. If you've found it, and you decipher it, then please, I have one thing to ask.

Stop Slytherin. I made a mistake. I wanted to bring back Rosalind, but she came back wrong. I should've known it would fail. Now, I fear what she will become.

Slytherin's goal is to restore Cruentius. It needs blood from a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin, but it's more than that. I think Tom's soul plays a part in this, otherwise we wouldn't be doing this at all.

I don't know much about the Spektres, but Slytherin doesn't trust anyone. It won't risk using something it can't control, so there's got to be a way of controlling the Spektres. Figure that out, and you can stop them.

I'm running out of time. I've had my homunculi working on my tasks, handling whatever I could on my own. I'm going to leave the first one with Ana before the invasion. I don't know if you'll want to follow them, but I've got to give you something. I hope that will be enough.

June 25th, 1997

Rose sat alone in the Shrieking Shack. She wished there were somewhere better for her to be, but there was nothing.

Evelyn sat beside her. It was a matter of waiting for the ward to go down.

Rose ran through everything in her head again. She had to kill Dumbledore. Unless he could kill her first.

She wrote a few final notes in her notebook, then closed it. Activating Serendipity, she teleported her notebook to the chamber she'd had made underneath Azkaban.

"The ward's down."

Rose closed her eyes. This was it. She was going to die.

She stood up, drawing her hood over her head.

With one final breath, she activated Serendipity again.

I'm writing this inside the Shrieking Shack. I don't know what's about to happen, but if you're reading this, you won, and I lost.

I don't know what made you follow my clues. I hope you don't hate me by now. At least, I hope you'll understand why I did what I did.

My first task is to kill Dumbledore. If I don't have a contingent revivify, then Slytherin will be suspicious, so my plan is to get Dumbledore to kill me once, then for you to kill me the second time. I don't know if anyone else can stop me, but someone has to. I don't want to live like this, a puppet of Slytherin's.

I'm positioning the Death Eaters specifically for all of you. Lestrange will be near Toad. Pettigrew near Skyeyes. The others will mostly be scattered, but I know you can all deal with them.

Tell Firecracker I'm sorry. It's never going to be enough. I know I ruined her life, but she's got good friends, and a good family. Tell them all to take good care of her.

Tell Cohort he made a mistake letting you go. All the time he spent being jealous of me, I spent plenty of time being jealous of him. And I'm sorry about Lavender. I honestly meant to bring her back. But the way he handled it was amazing, so that's something. If he keeps that up, he'll be a PC one day.

Tell Skyeyes that Alavel would be proud of him. And that killing Alavel and Taltria were some of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

Tell Princess that a lot of people have tried turning a Malfoy, and she's the only one that succeeded. It was fun getting to laugh at Slytherin for being wrong about them.

Tell Toad I'm proud of him. He's a better hero than I ever was. I've spent the last two years wishing I could be more like him.

Tell my sister that I love her. I saw what she did in the forest. She's grown up so much. I'm letting her and Toad take out Lestrange, but if they don't, she's mine.

As for you Brain, I don't know what to say. No, that's wrong. I know exactly what to say.

It's not fair for me to put this all on you, but there's no one else that can do this. Thank you for giving me peace, and as hard as it's been, thank you for believing in me. Good luck.

Love, Rose

Hermione stared at the notebook. She had the feeling that she needed to leave, but she couldn't tear her eyes away.

She wiped fresh tears out of her eyes. It'd been worse having to read every word aloud for Moon. The both of them were sitting on the ground. Moon had her head rested on Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione forced herself to close Rose's notebook, then put it inside her pack. She put her arm around Moon and held her closer, both of them fighting back tears.

"We should go," Moon said. "The others need to know this too."

Hermione glanced at the entrance to the chamber.

"We can't get out the way we came in. We'll never make it."

"You can teleport us out."

Hermione remembered the moment in the Room of Requirement when she'd almost killed Moon. She began to shake as she considered arriving at Hogwarts with a dead Moon.

She quickly used discern location to find Ron. When she realized where they were, she smiled.

"No one will think to look for you there."

Her smile faded when she realized they were trapped.

Moon slid her hand into Hermione's.

"You can do it, Brain. Rose believed in you, and so did Toad. And so do I."

Hermione looked at the others, then got to her feet. Tutela and Crookshanks gathered with them, and everyone made sure they were touching her.

You can do it, Brain!

Hermione squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated on her friends' location.

"Teleport!"