Tver watched for a while. This hat really was the Sorting Hat he had seen countless times before.
What was different was that it no longer had those scar-like patches, nor the tangled cobwebs.
The only thing unchanged was the worn, slightly whitened edge of the brim.
So this was the Hogwarts Headmaster's Office from a thousand years ago?
Tver immediately realized that was a real possibility.
At the same time, he vaguely remembered his first year at Hogwarts, sitting at the staff table and watching the Sorting Ceremony.
Back then, Professor Flitwick seemed to have told him that the Sorting Hat had once been a hat worn by Godric!
If that was the case, then this Sorting Hat was very likely another treasure Godric had left to Hogwarts?!
Tver's eyes lit up, and he strode over.
"Um... what should I call you?" he asked awkwardly, looking at the Sorting Hat.
But the hat remained silent. It was nothing like the pent-up chatterbox it became when he occasionally talked with it in the Headmaster's Office.
Had it not been given a mouth yet?
Tver looked it over, then stopped hesitating. He picked up the Sorting Hat, sat down in the chair, and gently placed it on his head.
"Hello, my name is Tver Fawley. I'm a Hogwarts professor from a thousand years in the future."
"Pleased to meet you. I am Godric Gryffindor, founder of Hogwarts. But you said you're a professor. What do you teach?"
"Dark Magic..."
Wait, why was Godric's voice coming from behind him?!
Tver spun around sharply and saw a handsome, well-built young man standing behind him.
Godric was not at all surprised that his little prank had been exposed. He burst out laughing, clutching his stomach so hard he could barely straighten up.
"Hahaha, you're too adorable, Tver," he said with a broad grin, pointing at the hat on Tver's head. "This hat hasn't received my thoughts yet. It's just an ordinary hat, as ordinary as can be!"
Godric looked about as young as Salazar, but the two were as different as sunlight and darkness.
Salazar's eyes were indifferent, with the occasional flash of cold ruthlessness that gave his handsome face a sinister charm.
But Godric's eyes were full of curiosity about the world. His smile was bright as sunlight, as if it were permanently fixed on his face, yet somehow it did not make people dislike him.
No, except for Tver.
With a face full of black lines, Tver yanked the hat off his head. In that single moment, he understood why Salazar disliked Godric!
"I finally saw a living person, so I played a little joke."
Godric reined in his laughter a little, though he still came over warmly, took back his hat, and casually slung an arm around Tver's shoulders, pulling him over to the table and chairs used for receiving guests in the Headmaster's Office.
That part, at least, had never changed.
"So the ancient magic there was your arrangement, and that Giant Squid was something you left at Hogwarts as a guide?"
"Exactly!" Godric admitted without hesitation.
But Tver was baffled.
"Why did you hide your magic at the bottom of the Black Lake? And that Giant Squid too. No normal person would chase after a squid through a lake!"
"Then how did you find me?"
"..."
Tver was instantly speechless.
"Relax, Mudrick is very clever. I raised it from this tiny," Godric said, holding up a length of one finger, "to as big as it is now!"
"It checks every wizard who passes through the Black Lake, whether they're on a boat or swimming. Based on the information I left behind, it guides the ones who are suitable."
"The problem is, couldn't you have used a simpler method? Did it really have to be in the Black Lake?"
"This is the Black Lake!" Godric grinned smugly, as though the Black Lake contained something extraordinary.
"What's so special about the Black Lake?" Tver asked at once, his curiosity piqued.
"What's under the Black Lake?"
"Under it? Mud and dirt and stuff?"
"No, no, no." The smug look on Godric's face grew even stronger. "There's a House common room under the Black Lake."
"Uh, you mean Slytherin House? But what does that have to do with Slytherin?"
"It has everything to do with it!"
Godric stood up solemnly and made an up-and-down gesture with both fists.
"Mudrick is in the Black Lake, the Black Lake is above the Slytherin common room, and Mudrick represents me. Doesn't that mean I'm on top of Slytherin?!"
He punched one fist into the other excitedly, looking like a child who had just won first place in some ridiculously childish competition over not talking to his friend...
Tver understood him, and was deeply shaken.
He stared at Godric speechlessly until even Godric started to look a little embarrassed.
"Ahem." Godric rubbed his face, trying to look more serious. "Let's talk about the school. Hogwarts is doing all right a thousand years later, isn't it?"
"Uh... I suppose it's not too bad."
Now that they were talking business, Tver thought it over and gave the most conservative answer he could.
Then he told Godric about everything that had happened over the past few years: Voldemort controlling Quirrell to steal the Philosopher's Stone, Horcruxes controlling Ginny and Percy to open the Chamber of Secrets and wreak havoc, and so on.
"...And you call that not too bad?" Godric looked at Tver in disbelief.
"Even when we first founded the school and dark wizards were attacking us, there was never this much chaos inside the castle!"
"But..." His brow furrowed sharply, and his expression turned fierce. "Salazar really is a bastard!"
"I knew that basilisk he left in the Chamber of Secrets was going to cause irreparable consequences sooner or later. That's why I planned to leave my sword to Hogwarts. I just didn't expect it to really end up killing a student!"
"And who exactly is this Voldemort? Since he's a Parselmouth, is he Herpo the Foul, or Salazar's descendant?"
"Actually, Mr. Slytherin did want to protect Hogwarts' students. The basilisk was only being used," Tver said, offering a word in Salazar's defense.
But Godric only let out a cold laugh.
"So that means this Voldemort really is Salazar's descendant?"
"..."
"Hah, I knew it. Salazar spent all day playing with schemes and conspiracies. One day they were bound to turn back on him!"
"He claimed he was protecting Hogwarts' students, yet in the end he got students killed."
"He claimed he wanted Hogwarts to grow stronger, yet he was holding the school back."
"He claimed Slytherin House would become the sharpest spear in the wizarding world, but that spear is pointed at ourselves!"
Godric stood up angrily and began pacing back and forth in front of Tver.
His hands were clenched so tightly into fists that if Salazar had been standing there, he looked ready to punch him twice on the spot.
"No. While I still have some strength left, I have to undo the influence Salazar left behind at the school!"
A surge of magic erupted from Godric's body. The Headmaster's Office around them, which he had created, even began showing faint signs of collapse as he drew in power!
"Wait, what are you planning to do?" Tver asked in shock as he felt that magic.
The total amount of magic was not especially great, nowhere near Salazar Slytherin after merging with the castle.
But the structure within it was unbelievably stable, like a solid fist that could both perfectly withstand an opponent's attack and deliver an enormously destructive blow in return!
"Obviously, I'm going to command the Giant Squid to destroy Slytherin's dungeon!"