It's the First Time I've Seen a Little Wizard As Difficult as You

"The founder? Who? Godric Gryffindor?" Harry asked hurriedly, desperate for any great man in history to share his skill.

"It was Salazar Slytherin…" said Ivan, snuffing out Harry's hope.

"That's terrible!" Harry wailed.

Even though there are no rumours of Slytherin descendants opening the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts, Harry does not want to be associated with the legendary founder of Slytherin House.

Ivan shook his head, ignoring Harry's complaints.

In fact, if it weren't for the influence of Voldemort's Horcruxes, Parseltongue would have been a pretty good ability. At the very least, Ivan wanted it now…

When they returned to the dormitory, Ivan went to find the Horcrux Diary, which he had kept for a long time.

As soon as he flipped it open, black ink immediately appeared on the blank page.

[Hales, where have you been these days?]

The handwriting was so illegible that Ivan could detect a hint of bitterness in it. He smiled and began to write in his diary.

[I've joined the Quidditch team. Recently, I've been busy training with my teammates and participating in matches. In short, I've been too busy recently…]

Yvonne's diary, which complained about how she was doing and her daily troubles, filled the page.

Tom responded to Ivan's bitterness with great patience, without a trace of impatience.

For a time, the two of them regarded each other as close friends and even exchanged secrets…

Ivan realised that the time was right and wrote a character on the diary. "By the way, Tom, do you recognise this?"

The pages of the diary were broken up to form a series of words.

[Where did you see it?]

"I found this by accident? What's wrong, Tom? Is there something wrong with these characters?" Yvonne asked, omitting the process of acquiring them.

Tom was silent for a while, and then, just when Ivan was beginning to get impatient and thought he wasn't going to speak, new writing appeared on the diary.

[This is the language of the serpents, or perhaps it is a text created by Salazar Slytherin based on the language of the serpents, which possesses strange powers…]

Ivan was lost in thought as he read the words in the diary, when he learned that the characters were related to the language of snakes.

Ivan had a vague idea that what he was looking for might involve Salazar Slytherin, one of the Big Four.

The ancient copy of The Origin of Blood… could it have been left behind by Salazar Slytherin a thousand years ago?

Various thoughts passed through Ivan's mind, and his hands did not stop moving. Ivan was very cautious and asked Tom to learn the language.

[You want to learn the language? Why?] Tom wondered.

"Didn't you say it was written by Slytherin himself, and that it had strange powers? Of course I want to learn…" Ivan replied casually, and then asked another question.

"What about you, Tom? Why can you read snake?"

[Because in my body flows the blood of my ancestor, the great Salazar Slytherin! The language of serpents is not for the common man, but for those of special blood!]

The black ink on the blank page formed words, and even if they were just words, Ivan could feel Tom Riddle's pride and joy.

Ivan, however, was not convinced by Tom's claims, as he knew Dumbledore to be able to speak snake, and the old Headmaster was not a Slytherin.

Ivan was confident that he could learn anything, no matter how difficult it was, so he did not give up and asked Tom to teach him again.

Tom replied quickly this time.

[Yes, but I'm just a memory with no power to speak or teach you. Can you find a creature and kill it? I need this to cast spells, such as your owl…]

Marka, who was dozing in her cage, suddenly shivered and looked around in fear. Ivan reached out and calmed her down.

"I'm sorry, but Marka is my best friend… and I'm not going to hurt her," Yvonne said firmly.

[Then other creatures will do… Rats? Spiders? Snakes?]

Tom stated that he was not a picky eater and would eat anything…

Ivan, however, hesitated. He knew exactly what the Horcrux Diary was, so he dared not allow it to absorb life and restore its power.

[You're hesitating? Don't you trust me? We're best friends…]

Tom's words appeared clearly on the blank page, printed so deeply that the page quivered.

Ivan was sharp enough to notice that his hesitation seemed to have aroused Tom's suspicions, so he tried to salvage the situation.

'Of course I believe you, Tom!'

"But what you said about what seemed like dangerous dark magic frightened me, and…" Ivan trailed off, looking deliberately timid.

"Mum once told me that it's best not to believe in anything self-conscious… you must understand, don't you? Tom? We're best friends…"

Ivan, who knew all the tricks, knew that the best way to deal with an opponent's emotional card was to respond with another.

As your best friend, I trust you, and you have to understand me…

Tom Riddle felt a headache coming on. He had no idea how to answer Ivan, who was definitely the most difficult little wizard he had ever met.

When Tom did not reply for a long time, Ivan decided to write in his diary.

"Why don't I take you to Professor Dumbledore and ask him if he has any magic that can restore your powers?"

The diary began to shake violently, and in less than a second, the two pages of the diary were covered in ink, which made them look extremely scribbled…

[No, please don't. Don't go to him!]

[Hales, don't be fooled by that mad headmaster of yours… he's no saint!]

…

Ivan did not expect Tom to react so strongly to his mere mention of Dumbledore.

Just as he was about to calm her down, the ink on the diary finally gathered together again, forming a line of words that covered the two pieces of paper. The words were deliberately enlarged to capture Ivan's attention…

[If you don't believe me, I can show you myself!!!]