𝐅𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐇 ; Tom Riddle

05. Salazar Slytherin

     "IT'S RIGHT...HERE." Tom said as they stopped in the middle of an empty corridor on the seventh floor in front of a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls ballet.

     Phoebe looked around, confused, "I don't see anything."

     "That's because it's right here." said Tom. Phoebe looked over at him and he was motioning at an empty wall. "Just, watch." He closed his eyes and stood in front of the wall.

Phoebe watched in amazement as a large door started to appear. "I will never get used to magic."

     Tom grabbed her hand and opened the door. They walked inside and Phoebe's mouth dropped. There were huge piles of junk everywhere she looked. "How did you find this place?" she asked.

     "It just appeared one day. I call it the come and go room. It will appear as anything you need or want it to." Tom explained, "I found the painting hid in here one day."

"What painting?" Phoebe inquired as she walked further into the room and looked around at everything. Some things just looked like junk, while others looked like they could be worth something.

"The painting of Salazar Slytherin." replied Tom. "It's over here." He said as he began walking deeper into the room. Phoebe quickly followed after him.

After a couple minutes he stopped moving and pulled a large painting out from in between two of the piles. He sat it down and backed up. Phoebe took the time to study the painting. Salazar Slytherin looked like an ancient and monkey-like man. His head was bald and his eyes were closed as if her were sleeping. He had a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of his sweeping, black robes. There was a ring on his right hand and on his left hand.

    "Is he asleep?" whispered Phoebe to Tom.

Salazar's eyes remained closed.

"No," replied Tom, "He just doesn't answer to normal English." He paused, and walked closer to the painting. "He only answers to parsletongue." The next words to leave Tom's lips were not English. If any outsiders were to be listening, they would just hear a variety of hisses. But to Phoebe, his words were as clear as day.

"Salazar," he hissed, "I've brought her. Just like you asked."

Phoebe was shocked. Salazar Slytherin had asked for her? Why would he do that? She didn't have time to dwell on the questions, because Salazar's eyes suddenly shot open. He looked at Tom for a moment, before his eyes finally settled on Phoebe.

"Come closer, girl." His voice was rough, low, and commanding.

     Without hesitation, she did as she was told. Even though the man was only a painting, she didn't want to know what would happen if she disobeyed. She stopped when she was finally standing beside Tom, "Hello." she said politely. She made sure to keep eye contact with him as she was afraid he would find her disrespectful if she didn't.

     Salazar nodded his head, "Ah, so he wasn't lying. You speak the language of the snakes." He took in a deep breath and briefly closed his eyes, "But we are not related." An odd look appeared on his face, almost as if he were trying to figure her out. His eyes narrowed. "Only the people related to me should be able to speak parsletongue."

     "I've been able to speak this language since I was a child." replied Phoebe. For some reason she felt as if she had to give an explanation, even though there was truly no reason she should.