Salazar Slytherin did not leave too many things behind.
The desk had been emptied, so the two bookshelves were the most important places to check.
The first thing Snape paid attention to was a set of metal utensils in his line of sight.
At first glance, it looked like a crucible, but upon closer inspection, it looked more like a tool used by alchemists.
One of the small cauldrons, the size of an adult man's fist, was faintly black, perhaps because it had been used for a long time. Snape did not touch these things.
Instead, he looked at the row of hardcover books next to him. Just looking at the titles on the spines of the books, he could not help but be fascinated: The Back Staircase to Potions, The Course of Poison, The Road to the Crucible, The Beauty and Sublimity of Black Magic... His index finger brushed across the gilded letters. Most of these were legendary books that had gone out of print.
Of course, many of them were related to black magic, but Snape had never hidden his interest in black magic.
Harry came over to take a look. He looked up and asked, "Do you want to take a look?"
Snape hesitated for a moment,
Then he shook his head and returned to his normal expression,
And began to carefully examine the items on the bookshelves.
After a while,
Gryffindor, who had adjusted his state of mind, also came in.
His expression was normal as he watched the two men nervously examine every item with their wands.
He could not help but be curious, "What are you looking for? Maybe I can provide some clues. "
Harry smiled bitterly and shook his head,
The problem was that they did not know what to look for. They had asked to check Slytherin's room,
Only because of the hint left in Merlin's letter.
[If you can see Salazar, you will see some of my research results.]
But Salazar did not leave anything like a manuscript here,
As for the books,
The two men looked through them one by one,
Most of them were academic works on potions, alchemy, black magic, and the like. There were no letters in between. So the results of this search were very discouraging.
Unwilling to give up, Harry checked the bookshelves again and again, but he still did not find any hidden compartments or secret passages. He could not help but ask Gryffindor, "Can we take a look at Slytherin's secret chamber?"
"Secret room?" Gryffindor scratched his head in confusion.
"Is it the secret room where the basilisk is kept?" Harry felt a little guilty as he spoke. Could it be that Slytherin had not locked the basilisk in?
"Snake monster?" Gryffindor's reaction confirmed his suspicions. Leonopteryx looked a little surprised. "You mean Delphina? She wasn't locked up! Well, I mean, she is dangerous, but she is not locked up. Salazar kept her in captivity in the Black Forest … "
The basilisk's name is Delphine? Harry frowned slightly. He felt that he had heard of this name before.
Snape did not seem to be paying attention to their conversation. He walked around the room again and stood for a long time in front of a portrait on the wall. Harry had also noticed the portrait and looked at it for a long time. It was a portrait of the Four Great Leaders, and it was an ordinary oil painting. The four people in the painting were very lifelike, but they did not move or talk.
In the painting, Helga, Hufflepuff, Rona, and Ravenclaw were sitting in the front row. Gryffindor and Slytherin were standing behind them. They were all in their prime. Hufflepuff was a brown-haired woman with a gentle smile. Ravenclaw raised his chin slightly and looked straight ahead with his gray-blue eyes. Gryffindor was naturally in the painting. As for Slytherin … the black-haired and black-eyed Slytherin was wearing a silver-green robe. His eyelids were slightly lowered. He did not look at the painter or any of his companions.
Gryffindor walked over and pointed at Slytherin in the painting. He smiled and said, "He doesn't want to be painted. It's like he's afraid of a curse."
In fact, there was no portrait of Slytherin that had been passed down. No one knew where this painting ended up.
While thinking, Harry recalled the origin of the name Delphine. "Ah, Delphine, it's Delphine!"
The other two people in the room looked back at him, puzzled. Harry covered his mouth and shook his head, indicating that he was just having a fit. However, his heart was in turmoil. Delphine was the giant serpent that guarded Delphine, and Delphine was the residence of Apollo. Apollo … the legendary Apollo, handsome and with a head full of dazzling blonde hair.
The search in Slytherin's residence ended in failure. Gryffindor also said that he was not sure where the serpent ancestor kept Delphine, so he invited them to the dining hall for dinner first.
Harry wanted to see the banquet hall of the Hogwarts a thousand years ago, but Snape refused first, so he had to tactfully decline as well. "It's not suitable for us to meet people."
Gryffindor's expression changed slightly, and he said tactfully, "We wizards don't mind you … ahem, although you're a little young …"
Snape's face was darker than the night outside the window. Harry hurriedly grabbed him and explained, "I mean, it's best that we don't have too much contact with people to avoid … the butterfly effect?"
The Lion Ancestor did not quite understand, but he had a general idea. He smiled and said, "Well, I'll take you to my place to rest. The house elves will bring you dinner. Is that okay?"
Harry said that it was okay.
Gryffindor's residence was at the top of Gryffindor's tower. The Hogwarts had just been established, and the students had not yet filled the new castle, so there were still some empty rooms on the top floor of the tower. Harry and Snape used the Illusion Spell and followed behind Gryffindor. They had a rough tour of the Hogwarts from a thousand years ago. Apart from the clothes, there was not much difference from a thousand years later. The students were still lively and noisy.
Surprisingly, the students of the four academies seemed to respect Gryffindor. Along the way, many children came to chat with him. Some asked for advice, and some just greeted him. The students of Slytherin did not seem to be hostile to the head of the Lion Ancestor, which made Harry even more curious about the reason why Slytherin left.
Gryffindor greeted the students one by one, and took the time to explain to Harry and Snape, "Helga and Loina went out to look for the children who haven't heard of the Hogwarts yet, so I'm the only one looking after the school now."
Harry nodded and then realized that the current world was far from the peaceful era of a thousand years later. Although the Vatican had not yet begun to hunt witches, this was the period when Catholicism was widely spread, and wizards were naturally regarded as evil beings. Therefore, the original intention of the Big Four was not only to preach and answer questions, but also to provide a shelter for the young wizards. They were both teachers and guardians.
From this point of view, Salazar and Slytherin's dislike of Muggles seemed to be understandable.
Not long after Gryffindor left, the house elf delivered a sumptuous dinner. Although the ingredients were simpler than a thousand years later, the cooking was still excellent. It was a world of difference compared to the simple meals of Shakespeare's time. The two tried their best to maintain their poise and swept away the food like a whirlwind. Almost as soon as they put down their forks, the house elf delivered the after-dinner snacks.
The two looked at each other, slowly drank a cup of tea, and finished a pudding. Only then did they stand up while holding their stomachs. "Let's go out to digest the food."
Using the Phantom Spell, the two avoided the crowd and left the castle through a small path. They went straight back to the Tadis who had been cast with the Ignore Spell.
Harry lay on the round-backed chair and rubbed his stomach, muttering, "Isn't it a bit unethical of us to do this?" They had eaten and drunk other people's food, and now they were blatantly avoiding them.
Snape sat in front of the console, cautiously strengthened a layer of protection spell, and then snorted, "This is for his own good."
Harry also knew, but he only felt a little guilty. However, this guilt disappeared after he rubbed his stomach twelve times. Then Snape sat opposite him, and the two studied the letter left by Merlin together.
As usual, Harry first expressed his thoughts, "First of all, we can be sure that this letter is not for reminiscing. Merlin left us a lot of hints. He wanted to leave us some information under the premise of avoiding accidents. This accident, of course, will be read by people other than Alan and Daniel. In other words, this is a secret letter that only we can understand. As for how to 'interpret' it … "
Harry paused and looked at the Potions Professor.
However, Snape simply repeated, "Too many paragraphs."
Harry had to continue his thoughts. "Yes, too many paragraphs, and there are so many paragraphs — or rather, most of the paragraphs, which have something in common, in their first sentence …" Harry picked up the letter and read it aloud. "The second paragraph, 'I guess I got your name.' The third paragraph, 'But the name itself is also scarred …' The next few paragraphs, their first sentences are all repeating the same word. I guess this is not a high probability event, so we can only treat it as a coincidence."
The boy shrugged. "And coincidences can often lead to hints."
"Name." Snape pointed out the word. "He's emphasizing the name."
"He lived in anonymity for many years." Harry was the first to think of this. As expected, they read from the letter about Merlin's life from his youth to his old age, and found out why this life was missing in the history books.
Snape pointed at the signature of the letter with his index finger. "He used a name that we can recognize." William as in William Shakespeare.
Could it be that the focus is on Shakespeare? Harry tapped his forehead with his finger and carefully read the letter again. He did not find any other information that could be linked to Shakespeare, but he found another piece of information that they did not mention at the beginning. "Avalon lost its name … Professor, according to Merlin, he hid the lake and the island of Avalon, and then Gryffindor and the other three came here …" He looked up in surprise. "So this is Avalon, Hogwarts … Black Lake … This is Avalon?!"
Snape was also shocked for a moment, and then he thought of something else. "You said that Avalon lost its name?" He seemed to catch on to something in an instant, but it was soon blurred.
Harry nodded and then felt puzzled. "But the lake is still there, but it has become a black lake. What about the island?"
Snape tried hard to recall the inspiration, but it seemed to be really fleeting. He pressed his forehead and asked Harry to summarize the other information in the letter.
Harry had silently chewed on the letter several times during the meal. He immediately said, "There are two more things worth paying attention to. First, Merlin did study space-time magic after we left, and he made a lot of progress. I guess that will help us. Second, Merlin believes that our meeting with him was not a coincidence, but was arranged by 'it'. This' it '… seems to refer to fate. "
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