The little ones.

Sirius sat in his room and stared at the wall, on which now hung a board with many unsuccessful Alchemist Circles and clippings from scientific newspapers. Each sheet was connected to the other with threads and pins. He's currently working on the theory of Fire of Alchemy and possible ways of applying it.

His problem with a lack of understanding of theory did not go away, but he was slowly making progress. Transmutation was pretty easy for him - he learned this art from Minerva McGonagall for seven years - fire and explosions were a little. . . temperamental. He wasn't a Finnigan after all, he was a Black. He wasn't built for explosions, he was built for curses.

Unfortunately, he could no longer cast curses, well, at least he could still curse. Heh. Curse.

"Can Pride be considered a curse? Probably."

Sirius felt his shadow twitch in protest, but the teen just stomped his foot and everything calmed down. He had noticed a long time ago that Pride sometimes reacted to his words like a living creature.

It freaked him out a little.

He did not know why or how Pride could move of its own accord. Of course, he had theories and of course, none of them made much sense. Perhaps his Stone still contained the consciousness of Selim Bradley, but then why hadn't he spoken up? Perhaps inside the Stone, there is now a soul that previously occupied his body, but again, why is he silent? Sirius decided not to think about it so he wouldn't have a headache.

Suddenly there was a crunch in the room, confusing Sirius. The sound rang out again and this time Black realized what was happening. The basilisks finally decided to hatch. The Wizard immediately went to the glass tank and saw how the eggs began to break from the inside. In just a minute, the Basilisks slid out of their shells and began to look around. There were five of them in total, which surprised Sirius, there were only four eggs, which means that he has twins in his family now.

The first and largest snakes slithered from the egg hatched by a Bullfrog. They were dark green serpents with heterochromia. One of them had a left blue eye and a green right eye, while the other had the opposite. Each had three horns on their heads that grew in the shape of the vertices of a perfect triangle.

The third-largest was a snake with pink and green scales and a rounded muzzle. His eyes were blood red and there were no horns on his head. It hatched from a Glass Frog egg, and due to this, its scales were slightly translucent.

The fourth was a completely white serpent with white eyes, two horns on its head giving it a slightly demonic appearance. Its vertical pupils seemed to draw your soul in them.

The fifth and smallest was a black snake very similar to King Cobra. His eyes were sickly yellow just as the Basilisk's in the Chamber of Secrets. His head was crowned with five horns, making him the winner of the non-existent competition by the number of horns.

Sirius smiled softly and opened the lid of the glass tank and reached inside, drawing the attention of the Basilisks. They felt the magic emanating from him and looked at him with interest.

§Welcome to our world, little onesss.§ He hissed.

The snakes hissed something back, but their words meant nothing, they were too young to speak. They crawled up his arm and hissed happily again, wrapping around his fingers. The Basilisks looked at him and then at the toads.

§Hungry?§

Sirius did not hear the answer and the snakes were on the toads in a second, devouring them. Well, he expected this from the beginning. The first meal of the Basilisks was always their surrogate mother, another reason why they were considered dark creatures - not counting their looks, deadly eyes, and the most dangerous poison on the planet.

§Well, I don't have to deal with toadsss anymore. . . Sssad.§

In addition, their scales were considered ideal protection from both spells and physical blows. Unfortunately, it was impossible to make armor out of it, as it was too heavy and thick to wear. But with the help of Basilisk scales, ideal wall defenses were created against all types of attacks.

So if someone covers the walls of their house with Basilisk scales, they will receive the strongest barrier that a person can create and a reward for the most tasteless house. Seriously, who wants to see snakeskin instead of the regular walls of their home?

'Most likely goblins, they have strange tastes.'

As soon as the Basilisks finished their lunch, Sirius again thrust his hand into the tank and took them out of there. Now he just needs to come up with names for them. Thanks to the Higher Powers for Basilisks being hermaphrodites.

§You will be known asss Rowena, and you will be Helga.§ Sirius hissed, first stroking the snake with the green right eye and then the snake with the green left eye. They leaned into his touch and purred - can snakes do that?

§Your namesss will be Godric,§ He put his finger on the smallest black companion. §Rasssputin and Clay.§ The all-white Basilisk has now become a 19th-century Russian healer, and the pink-green has become building material.

Nobody said that Sirius had good naming sense.

---

Bang and Midoriya stared at the newest addition to the Dojo without blinking. Their training took place every two days so that their muscles could recover. A lot can be done in these two days, and apparently, Sirius decided to spend his time to get himself a snake. Five scaly bastards.

"Black, why the fuck do you need five snakes and why do they feel like death itself?" Bang asked with interest, looking at his student.

"Like death itself? But they are so cute! How can you call them death?!"

"I call a spade a spade. Yes, they are still young, but no less dangerous, especially the black one in your hair."

During his long life, Bang learned to determine the level of danger of his opponents, the most dangerous of which was Toshinori and. . . that bald man. And these snakes already emitted half of the danger that All Might in his prime was. It wasn't good, especially if Sirius didn't know about it.

"And you didn't answer the first question." Added Izuku. "WHY do you need snakes? Are you going to use them as support? Then how will you control them? You never said anything about your Quirk, can you control snakes? Then it would be logical, although, in situations where you cannot give them an order, they might accidentally hit a civilian- Ow!"

The green-eyed teenager's muttering was stopped by a slap on the head from Bang.

"I don't know what it was and I don't want to know."

"Sorry, this hasn't happened for a long time. . ." Izuku's cheeks were slightly flushed with embarrassment.

"But brat is right, you didn't answer the question."

Sirius looked at the snakes that were coiled around his fingers and right arm and shrugged.

"I learned to talk to snakes from a guy with a Quirk that allowed him to speak their language. Yes, I'm going to ask them to be my support. And I have no Quirk. Technically."

Izuku stared at Sirius in shock, digesting this piece of information, while Bang only nodded in understanding. His Quirk was useless in the work of a Hero, so he trained his body to the point where he "created" several Quirks with just hard work and raw talent. His Martial Art alone could be considered a Quirk.

"Technically?" Asked Izuku still shocked.

"Well, ordinary people don't know how to talk to snakes, and I also use science in its highest form to do this."

'Sooner or later they will find out about my skills anyway, so it's best to show my "Heroic Quirk." Just in case.' Thought Sirius and put on his white gloves with the Transmutation Circle on the inside of his palm.

He touched the ground and his hands flashed with red lightning, a small but very detailed stone bonsai rose from the ground. Bang and Midoriya just stared blankly at the technically Quirkless teen in front of them. If they hadn't been told beforehand that this was science - which was hard to believe - they would have sworn it was a Quirk.

". . . Why is there a dent in the ground?" Izuku finally asked.

"The Law of Equivalent Exchange. In order to obtain or create something, something of equal value must be lost or destroyed, so I took the earth and turned one element into another. I have just demonstrated the simplest Transmutation, but Alchemy can do much more."

Midoriya just silently stared at the bonsai tree for a couple of minutes, after which his gaze turned to Sirius.

"Can you teach me?"

Now it was Sirius's turn to stare at Izuku. He could easily start teaching him, but the problem was that it took years to study Alchemy! It took only a couple of weeks for it to become useful in battle - oddly enough, learning how to create knives from scrap is quite easy - but to really fight with Alchemy. . .

Sirius wanted to refuse, but Izuku's gaze made him stop. This child wanted more power and if Black refused, he will go to look for it somewhere else. And he will find someone who will give him this power, be he good or bad.

". . . Yes, I can. But I warn you right away, it won't be easy. I can and I will squeeze every drop of intelligence that you have from your brain. I hope you are ready for the fact that not only your body but also your mind will hurt like a bitch."

Izuku's eyes were blazing with determination and never wavered.

"Bring it."

Bang, who had been looking at the stone tree in thought all this time, suddenly looked up.

"As I understand it, you can use materials to change their structure and shape, am I right?"

"Yes." Sirius answered curtly, feeling that this question would not be followed by anything good.

Bang's smug smile didn't help to ease that feeling at all.

"Ah, can you help me fix my Dojo? I've gotten pretty old and can't do such boring - ahem - difficult tasks myself."

Black and Midoriya looked at their old Sensei with blank expressions.

""You just don't want to pay for it."" They said at the same time, still not showing any emotion.

A tick mark appeared on Bang's forehead and his eye began to twitch.

"I teach you for free! Of course, I don't want to pay for this! Even Hero Commission's money will never be enough if I fix this building every time something breaks!"

The next training sessions became twice as difficult until Bang calmed down.

---

After training, the two teenagers decided that it was best to conduct classes at Black's house since no one would bother them in the forest, there were all the necessary materials, and the fact that Izuku didn't want to be at home more time than necessary. So right now, they were sitting at a table in the living room where Sirius had finished asking Midoriya about his knowledge of physics, chemistry, and, to the surprise of the green-haired teenager, philosophy.

"Why do we need philosophy? Didn't you say that this is science in its purest form?" Confusedly, Izuku asked.

"This is true, but the use of Alchemy requires not only knowledge and understanding of theories, but also an understanding of the world itself. Without it, no Alchemist can become a master of his craft, no matter how hard he tries. I knew two guys who were left on a desert island to understand the meaning of 'One is All, All is One.' And they did it. You should be thankful that you still need to go to school, otherwise, I would have thrown your ass on the island and left to survive."

Izuku sweatdropped but he had a few questions, so he continued.

"By the way, don't you have to go to school? You're too young to live alone."

Sirius just glanced at Midoriya, looking up from his notes on Alchemy.

"I graduated from several schools in my past life, that was enough for me. And I'm not too young to live alone, nobody is."

This answer led to more questions, causing Izuku to frown.

"Two guys you knew. What happened to them?"

Sirius went back to his notes and began to write something.

"Don't know, but I hope they lived happily ever after."

". . . Okay, what about 'All is One' and 'One is All'? What does it mean?"

"And this, my dear student," Sirius placed a sheet in front of Izuku with a dozen questions on it. "you have to find out for yourself."

Izuku nodded and began to read. Alchemy was worth becoming a philosopher for. The teenager flinched at the thought of it. He just didn't like philosophers, they gave him creeps.

"Oi." Izuku looked up. "You just thought something rude, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't."

Sirius narrowed his eyes and looked at Izuku like prey.

"If this happens again, I'll give you Bang for re-education." Izuku nodded and returned to his questions. "I'll go test something."

With this, Izuku was left alone in the room.

Sirius, dressed in fireproof clothing, stood in the backyard of his house. He wore the latest version of his Fire Alchemy gloves, and the circle itself hadn't changed much. As a result, he got a circle with a hexagram inside, created from the triangle of air and the triangle of the earth. In the center is a triangle of fire, the top of which is directed to the image of the flame. Under the hexagram is the image of a salamander.

The circle looked so simple that it was hard to believe that it could help destroy entire squads with just a snap of your fingers. But to believe you only need to see once.

Sirius raised his right hand in front of him and imagined a small clearing in front of him filled with concentrated air and a minimum amount of gas nitroglycerin. Alchemy could work wonders. The teen snapped his fingers and red lightning danced in front of him, filling the air with the smell of ozone. Immediately after, the air in front of him began to burn and Sirius concentrated to maintain the intensity of the flame.

After a couple of seconds, he stopped and looked at the burnt patch of grass. He suddenly laughed and doubled over.

He did it! He can steal- borrow the name "Fire Alchemist!"

"YOU IDIOT! WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU TRYING TO BURN DOWN THE FOREST?" Izuku's voice rang out, accompanied by the hiss of Basilisks.

This will be the second time in a week that Sirius has been given a lecture on his irresponsibility.

---

Giran rubbed his hands gleefully in anticipation of a successful deal. Two months ago he met a rather interesting young man - he introduced himself as Salazar - who ordered a lot of books and a ton of fucking patrons from him. There was a feeling that he was going to arrange hell in some part of the city, the broker did not even know how he was going to carry five boxes himself.

Salazar showed up at their meeting point - an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Tokyo - along with a small addition. On his shoulders were two identical snakes, his neck was adorned with a completely white sleeping snake, and a pink one coiled around his waist. Also on his ring finger was a black snake that seemed to be looking into Giran's soul.

"And this is how you came alone?" The broker asked with a smile.

"Every self-respecting gentleman should have at least one trusted person on his side. Unfortunately, people have proven that they cannot be good companions in the first couple of years of my life." Salazar answered coldly. "Did you bring all the items I needed? Were all the books I ordered available?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Damn it, a couple of them were very disgusting things. Why do you need a book that tells how to curse a man's soul so that he shit with raccoons?"

Salazar's face could not be seen behind the shadow, but Giran could swear that his interlocutor was just as disgusted as him.

"Higher Powers, I didn't want to hear that. I need this book to complete the collection I have at home."

"There's more?! For the love of God, what kind of crap is written there?! How to make human skin rot and immediately regenerate into acid?!"

"As a matter of fact-"

"STOP! I don't want to know!" Giran shuddered. "Let's just get the deal done, man. I don't want to talk to you any more than necessary."

While Salazar considered Giran an interesting person, the broker was horrified by the stories of the teenager in disguise. Seriously, who in their right mind would believe he was martyred at seventeen? And a bunch of Villains who could kill almost anyone with just two words? These stories were fuel for nightmares.

"As you wish."

Salazar took a thick envelope from his pocket and handed it to the broker. He noticed that there was something written on it in English in cursive.

{ℳℴ𝓃ℯ𝓎 𝒻ℴ𝓇 𝒯𝒽ℯ 𝒮𝒽𝒶𝒹𝓎 𝒪𝓃ℯ.}

Giran snorted.

"That's one way to put it."

The shadows around him began to move and lifted five boxes into the air - 1mx1mx1m. They flew up to Salazar and entered through the cracks. After a couple of seconds, he nodded in satisfaction and turned around, pleased that the deal went smoothly.

"Hey! Catch!"

Salazar didn't turn around and only molded shadows from his shoulder, creating an extra arm for himself. He caught the thing that was thrown at him and was a little surprised to see a burner phone.

"There is my number so you can call me anytime. Don't worry, there are no trackers."

Salazar just stared at the phone for a couple of seconds and then continued walking without even looking back.

"Thank you. Have a good evening, Giran the Broker."

". . . You too, weirdo." Giran muttered as Salazar left the warehouse.