Louis had been feeling lately that the way Snape looked at him was… strange.
It was that look of wanting to say something but stopping short, of longing mixed with embarrassment, the kind of desire that dared not be voiced.
The reason Louis sensed it so clearly was simple enough: with Snape temporarily teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, there were two classes every week, and Snape would always, intentionally or otherwise, linger around him.
Louis knew exactly what Snape wanted to ask. Wasn't it just about Harry's transformation—what on earth was going on there? Maybe he even wanted to pry into the potion formula behind it.
But Louis had no intention of bringing it up himself. Besides, he didn't have the time to indulge Snape's curiosity.
Harry, for his part, was impressive as well. He had managed to hide the fact that he could transform, completely and thoroughly. Forget about everyone else—even Ron, who was with him practically every day, hadn't noticed a thing.
He truly didn't touch cold water at all. The kind who wouldn't even step outside on a rainy day.
A round of applause for Harry's perseverance.
As Easter approached, Louis—who had originally planned to return home—ended up staying at school again.
This time, however, it was different from before. Last time, he had been forced to remain because both of his parents were off on vacation. This time, Louis chose to stay.
He planned to take advantage of the Easter holidays to make a trip to the Chamber of Secrets.
What do you mean, "going again is a puppy"?
Kids say the darndest things!
…
Inside the vast, hall-like Chamber, Louis suddenly appeared beside the enormous statue of Slytherin.
Teleportation really was absurdly convenient. Whether it was for protection or for traveling, Teleportation was useful in every possible way.
Slytherin's statue stood there in silence.
In fact, much like the sink in the bathroom and that thick door resembling a security vault, this statue also required a password to open.
Naturally, it also required Parseltongue.
All one needed was to speak to the statue in the language of snakes—"Speak to me, Salazar Slytherin, greatest of the Four Founders"—and its mouth would open, revealing the passage behind it.
That passage led to the basilisk's lair. Creatures like basilisks were created from the very beginning to help wizards guard their treasures.
Thus, Louis was certain that there should be another chamber beyond—a room that was the true Chamber of Secrets.
Of course, whether it truly counted as the Chamber of Secrets didn't really matter. Whatever was inside had probably already been taken by Voldemort. That man would never leave the most important place untouched.
Louis's reason for entering the Chamber was nothing more than personal interest.
However, Louis wasn't a Parselmouth. And while Harry was one, he didn't know the password.
But Louis didn't need a password to open this door.
He only needed to resurrect the statue.
That was the most important reason he had come here.
"Awaken, revive, and then kill…" Louis eyed the statue with ill intent.
That was right—what he intended to do was to steal heaven and replace it, to use the power of distortion to twist truth and falsehood alike, turning this false Salazar Slytherin into a real one—flesh, blood, and soul.
Such an act was, of course, extremely dangerous. Salazar Slytherin was undoubtedly a more dangerous wizard than Dumbledore.
Not because Slytherin was stronger than Dumbledore, but because, after reading A History of Magic alongside Seventeenth-Century Charms and Eighteenth-Century Charms, Louis had discovered something rather interesting.
Magic had been constantly improving—but not by becoming more powerful. Instead, its raw force had diminished, its control methods had grown more refined, and its ease of use had increased.
It was hard to say whether this counted as progress or regression. From the standpoint of popularizing magic, it was progress. But in terms of sheer power, it was a step backward.
Although Dumbledore was hailed as the greatest wizard in history, almost comparable to Louis's so-called ancestor Merlin, in truth, his offensive capabilities were not as formidable as those of the wizards from the dark ages several centuries ago.
The Dark Ages—late medieval times—when wizards were persecuted, and when the Four Founders built Hogwarts.
Back then, there wasn't even any special classification called "Dark Magic." All magic was lumped together as a single category.
And because witches and wizards were hunting one another—as well as Muggles—offensive magic flourished. All kinds of large-scale spells, many of them indiscriminate and unconcerned with friend or foe, detonated across the wizarding world, blasting everything into chaos.
It was hardly surprising that ordinary people persecuted wizards in those days. Those wizards were genuinely terrifying.
As for Salazar Slytherin, a towering figure of that era, his magic was even more formidable. Who knew what kind of disgusting spells he might possess—magic capable of causing tremendous harm.
Curses, for instance.
That was why Louis had made thorough preparations. For example…
Hundreds of golden vortices wrapped around Slytherin's statue, sealing it in completely. From within those golden whirlpools, one sharp prototype Noble Phantasm after another sprang forth.
Dense layers of weapons formed a sky-filling array of gun emplacements.
This was no exaggeration in the slightest. Every Noble Phantasm within the King's Treasury was at least B-rank, each with power no weaker than artillery fire.
Within the area covered by those golden vortices, any disturbance whatsoever would trigger saturated bombardment, letting the enemy experience the terror of total firepower coverage.
And that so-called enemy was, naturally, Salazar Slytherin himself.
Louis gazed at the enormous Slytherin statue and thought to himself that he really did seem to have a strange affinity with giant heads—Hermes, after all, had been deliberately crafted by him as nothing but a head.
Placing his hand against the statue, Louis let the surging vitality of the Rat Talisman pour into it, remodeling its internal structure from the inside out.
The statue's hard stone surface began, at a speed visible to the naked eye, to transform into soft flesh. The influence of that vitality spread outward, gradually enveloping the entire statue.
Suddenly, the stone statue of Salazar Slytherin reacted as if a drowning man had abruptly awakened. He drew in a long, ragged breath, opened his eyes, and looked at the person whose hand rested against his face.
"Who are you?"
His voice was deep and loud, echoing throughout the cavernous chamber.
"Me? That's not important." Louis smiled faintly as the light in his right eye warped.
Truth and falsehood inverted. In the blink of an eye, the Salazar Slytherin formed from a false stone statue turned into a real man of flesh and blood!
Aside from having only a head, everything else was perfectly normal.
"Ah… ahh!" In the instant of that distortion between truth and falsehood, Salazar Slytherin himself felt it most keenly. He suddenly sensed a familiar power surging within him—the power of the magic he had once mastered!
He lifted his gaze to survey his surroundings. The sense of danger radiating from those golden vortices made Salazar Slytherin instinctively wary.
At the same time, he realized something was wrong with himself—he seemed to have no body.
Even so, he did not panic. Instead, he looked toward Louis.
"Oh? You're a Slytherin student." Seeing the serpent emblem on Louis's chest, Salazar Slytherin smiled. "Don't be afraid. I won't harm you…"
Louis slowly stepped back, maintaining a safe distance with cold rationality.
Suddenly, his brow furrowed, and he spat out a mouthful of black blood.
I got hit? When did it happen? What kind of spell was that?
What the hell—this Salazar Slytherin is way too decisive! He went straight for the kill?!
The instant Louis coughed up blood, the previously genial Salazar Slytherin abruptly revealed a vicious expression.
He opened his mouth savagely and began chanting an unknown incantation, as some terrifying, ancient magic was reborn into the world.
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