All my thanks to Jared, Joe, and Kuilin, who beta-ed this chapter.

Chapter 32.

Descendants, Part IV, Severus Snape

10:10 am, June 28th, 1993

After proper use of memory charms and five turns of his Time-Turner, Lucius was put back into the sewer, leaving Salazar all to himself.

From extensive exploration of Giuliani's mind, Salazar saw that Giuliani had talked to portraits on various occasions, and the portraits seemed to respond in a reasonable way. The portraits in Salazar's time could only enunciate very simple sentences, or carry out simple tasks such as opening doors only to those that knew certain passwords. It seemed that later wizards had developed better portrait techniques. Since Nagini mentioned nothing of it, it must be another non-Interdicted yet interesting development. With any luck, Salazar could grab a portrait that could speak both Latin and the current vernacular, and use it as a translator.

Salazar disillusioned himself again, and walked into the corridors. The first portrait he saw was a drawing of two witches in extravagant garments, the collars of which were wider than their shoulders. The witches were whispering to each other in a language resembling French, and constantly looking around in alert.

-So the portraits are indeed much better these days.

Salazar pointed his wand to the frame of the portrait, and felt the delicate magic and the link of it with Hogwarts. It seemed that all portraits were made to obey orders from the current headmaster or headmistress of Hogwarts, which made things very convenient for Salazar. With a few twists similar to what Salazar had already done to the house-elves before he entered the Mirror, all the portraits in Hogwarts would obey Salazar first, and then the current headmaster and headmistress only if Salazar had not ordered them otherwise.

Salazar had been tempted to get a portrait of a passed headmaster or headmistress for their superior knowledge, but that was too obvious, so he settled for a portrait hanging in a deserted corner. The eccentric wizard depicted in the portrait was Roderick Plumpton, who had been a seeker in the ridiculous game nowadays called "Quidditch", a painter later in life, and died from old age four years ago.

As Plumpton explained, the use of someone's willingly donated blood and memory before they died, alongside with some special techniques, could make portraits behave like the persons depicted in them. The original aim of wizarding painters was to use the advanced portraits to bypass the Interdict of Merlin, but that was unsuccessful.

With the help from Plumpton, Salazar knew that the younger Tom Riddle who called himself "Harry Potter" wanted to use the Mirror to lock the current out-and-running adult Tom Riddle and all his horcruxes in Time. "Harry Potter" had told Severus and the "Auror" named Moody, that the ritual would require himself to be sacrificed, and be locked in Time as well. "Harry Potter" asked Severus and Moody's help in setting up this magic and then being obliviated, to which both men agreed.

What Salazar heard was quite confusing: what is this younger Riddle actually planning to do? What he has planned can indeed lock all Riddles up - well, if I haven't cleaned the dirt from Rowena's Diadem, I can lock all Tom Riddles in Time now. But why would he do it? Does he really consider himself a hero like Godric? Or maybe this Plumpton is such an idiot that he completely mistranslated things.

Then, in private, "Harry Potter" told the girl emanating the smell of unicorn that since he was indeed another Tom Riddle, once the magic of the Mirror was triggered, he would also be locked in Time. This girl named "Hermione Granger" and little Draco should lead human beings to advance magic and something called "science" for the next several hundred years, conquer other galaxies, evacuate something called the "Milky Way Galaxy", then release all Tom Riddles from the Mirror. At that time, she should save this "Harry Potter" and the obliviated Tom Riddle in the form of a ring, then -

The younger Tom Riddle's words were cut off at this point, maybe because he literally couldn't say what would happen in the next step. However, Salazar could guess: the younger Tom Riddle is implying that the Granger girl should destroy the "Milky Way Galaxy", and in this way, the Prophecy that this Tom Riddle would destroy the world would be fulfilled in the best possible way.

Salazar ignored the various sounds made by the Granger girl, and mulled over the younger Tom Riddle's statement for quite some time. When he finally reached a passable answer for the motive of this particular Tom Riddle, it was just as crazy as the previous possibilities Salazar had thought of: this Riddle has found the many horcruxes and the many versions of "Tom Riddle" annoying, or he thought his many horcruxes might lead to world destruction. However, some of the horcruxes were so well-hidden that even he himself can't find them. The only way that he could think of to get rid of all other Tom Riddles was to blast the whole earth plus nearby stars.

Needless to say, Salazar had quite a headache absorbing this new information. However, if there was a possibility to lock all the Riddles in Time for a while, Lord Slytherin would surely help, even if that meant delaying the formulation of his plot to use the Stone for a few days.

In the Headmistress' Office, the younger Tom Riddle showed Severus the Stutterer and Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody some notes from the Muggle-loving fool Albus Dumbledore, and some older notes from his Line of Merlin Unbroken heritage, then asked them if they could figure out the details of how to lock someone in Time, and how to control the process remotely.

Naturally, Lord Slytherin took this chance to duplicate all the notes that he could lay his hands on, examined the notes in an empty classroom nearby, and kept a keen ear on the Headmistress' office. In case they couldn't work out the details after a while, Salazar wouldn't mind secretly offering them some hints.

Luckily for Salazar, most notes passed down from the holders of Line of Merlin Unbroken before Karen Dutton, the stupid witch who chose Dumbledore as her successor, were written in Greek, Latin, and occasional ancient Runes and Hebrew, all of which Salazar could understand pretty well.

In all the notes left by Merlin himself, Salazar could only find one piece of half-torn paper that contained something related to the mass-sacrificial ritual that Godric and Lucius warned him about. The letters on it were almost illegible scratches, and Salazar could only decipher "atomos", "lux", "stella", and "mors", the last of which was written quite a number of times, as if the writer was in great agony and anxiety.

-Atom, light, stars, and death. What do they mean? Death would be the result, atom would be the things sacrificed, and Lucius mentioned something about "why the stars shine"... But why? How?

Although common sense told Salazar that since the ritual-weapon had not destroyed the world during the past fifty years, it was unlikely to destroy the world in the next few days, Salazar's mind was still preoccupied by it, and even the rest of Merlin's notes that contained hints of a number of powerful spells and rituals had lost their attraction to Salazar at this moment.

-Lucius told me that Severus knew more about the weapon, and Severus might also have means to lay his hands on the weapon. Therefore, I need to liberate Severus from his current task on figuring out how to use the Mirror soon.

From Plumpton's translation, it seemed that Moody and Severus spent almost a day, pondering on how to communicate one's wishes with the Mirror, before the younger Tom Riddle finally spoke up.

"Ponite occlumency obice, suspicor." Plumpton translated the younger Tom Riddle's words.

Salazar sighed inwardly.

-If Tom Riddle is going to give information as simple as "drop your occlumency barrier" at this rate, I may need to wait until the next year for anything to really happen.

Salazar pointed his wand toward the general direction of the headmistress' office, and cast, "Siticulos."

The simple Siticulos spell that Salazar learnt from Constantinople was quite harmless by itself, and it did nothing except making people in that general direction thirsty. However, if it was cast by several powerful wizards with all their strength, it would lead to the entire enemy army consume much more water than planned, and thus it was a very powerful spell while fighting in arid areas such as Egypt. In this case, the spell would only lead to the inconspicuous need for the loo within one or two few hours.

Salazar pointed his wand to the wall of the empty classroom, and connected himself to the wards. He located the private toilet attached to the headmistress' office, which was only added long after the conjuration of Hogwarts, and made some small adjustment in sound transmission of the toilet. Salazar didn't quite understand the need for "privacy" instead of socialization while using the toilet or the bathroom, but since this new trend worked to his advantage at this time, he wasn't going to complain.

Then, the old lord waited patiently while flipping through the notes left by the holders of Line of Merlin Unbroken, looking for anything related to "atomos", "lux", and "stella", while keeping an ear on the headmistress' office.

Approximately one hour later, the younger Tom Riddle needed to use the toilet. Both Severus and Moody went into the toilet together with the "Boy-Who-Lived", and checked the toilet thoroughly. Unfortunately for them, the modifications Salazar did was indeed part of the castle, and the Eye of Vance had a limit for how many walls it could see pass through.

Salazar approved the companion of others while in potential danger in principle, -that was, if it was not in the way of his plot.

-Didn't Plumpton say current population need "privacy"? Do I need to make up a new plot?

Luckily, Severus and Moody soon left the toilet, and left the younger Tom Riddle all to himself. A while later, the younger Riddle left the toilet, and Severus entered.

Salazar carefully applied a white-blue shield of Protego Vitamaxima in the innermost circle, an invisible single-sided silencing charm in the second circle, another invisible single-sided smell concealing charm in the third circle, and a Circaduplucem to the outmost circle. Before entering the Mirror, Salazar used to apply one spell of his own creation that served both as protection and concealment before Apparation; now, with the invention of Protego Vitamaxima, he wouldn't trust any lesser protection spells, yet he didn't have time to create a new combinatorial spell. Although Salazar was reluctant to admit it, the fact was, applying all four separate spells in a row was a bit stretching for the Greatest of Hogwarts Four.

Salazar checked the new combination of shield and concealment again, and apparated into the headmistress' large bathroom while the sound of toilet flushing began.

To Salazar's both delight and annoyment, the second he landed in the bathroom, the black-haired wizard who was reaching for the faucet suddenly had his wand in hand, and cursed toward the general direction of where Salazar landed: "Ava -"

Salazar's stunning hex smashed through the faint blue shield just started to spring out from some trinket attached to Severus' robes, and rendered the black-haired wizard completely immobile.

Just as Salazar grabbed Severus' wrist and prepared to apparate again, another version of a slightly confused looking Severus appeared from nowhere.

"Go quickly," Salazar heard the slightly strange sound of himself hissing.

Lord Slytherin didn't need more cues, for he knew it was hard even for himself to produce a believable illusion for the holder of Eye of Vance for a prolonged period of time.

When Salazar apparated back to the empty classroom, he didn't take off the illusions immediately, for he knew he was sweating and slightly panting from the succession of protection and illusion spells, the two apparitions, and the powerful stunning hex. For some reason, Salazar didn't want his descendant to see it, even if he knew that Severus would be obliviated afterwards.

-For the sake of Atlantis, I could do this type of thing five times in a row and still had energy for a dance merely ten years ago, - oh, well, ten years ago for me anyway. And now, my bones and joints start to protest, and my heart is pounding so fast.

The aged Lord Slytherin wiped his forehead, composed his breathing, and sized Severus the Stutterer up and down.

The black-haired wizard still had horrified looks frozen on his yellowish face; his black tunneling eyes that resembled Salazar's in his younger years were calculating, maybe because he knew that he would be returned to the very toilet, apparently unharmed; his shoulder-length hair was oily and unkempt, which suited Salazar's taste better than the overtly looked-after white blonde hair of the Malfoys; his black robes were as expensive looking as Lucius', yet dirt and dried moth marred the elegancy of the garments - from his previous search in the tunnels, probably; his fingernails were dry and cracking, and he still held his black wand firmly in his right hand.

Salazar cancelled the concealments, and showed himself in front of Severus. He accioed Severus' wand and pouch without a word or any wand movements, for the appearance of omnipotence was important for the smooth continuation of the conversation to come.

"Greetingss, Sseveruss, my desscendant. Nicce triess for calling for the dirty creaturess." Salazar hissed.

The horrifying apprehension and confusion in Severus' eyes brought Salazar a smirk, then his smirk froze slightly: Severus isn't thinking that I am Tom Riddle, and I am his true father, is he?

With the slight headache that associated with Tom Riddles, the aged lord continued, "I am Ssalazar Sslytherin, the Greatesst of Hogwartss Four. I mean you no harm. "

Confusion, disbelief, and relief flashed through Severus' eyes, then everything was replaced by the emptiness of occlumency.

Salazar had considered trying legilimency on Severus, but decided against it, for the possible failure might infringe his appearance of omnipotence - mental defense is just too simple as comparing to offense, and Tom Riddle wouldn't trust someone without a perfect occlumency barrier for any important secret task.

Since Severus might have figured out that Salazar was the hand behind Lucius' "invention" of Protego Vitamaxima among other things by this point, Salazar did not give Severus the chance to show off his cunning. "And yess, I ssummoned the ssnakess to sschool, killed man-eating sspiderss, and had an interesting converssation with Luciuss."

-But then, Lucius told Severus everything without considering the consequences. Was Lucius deceived of the level of friendship between them by Severus; or did Lucius do this on purpose, for he noticed something was wrong with him, and he wanted people to know, and wanted Severus to feel guilty about revealing it? Hmm. With descendants like this, one may never have a dull moment in life.

"Did you descend from the Malfoy line, or the Gaunt line?" Salazar asked casually, for making Severus too nervous or hostile would be bad for later conversation.

After Salazar waved his hand, Severus the Stutterer spoke slowly, "Ak-cording to Luciuss, I am hiss v-fourth k-cousin, and fiv-fth cousin oncce l-removed,."

There was some strangeness in the way that Severus answered his question, and with Severus' previous reaction when he heard that he was Salazar's descendant…

-Is Severus a bastard or orphan who doesn't know his true parentage?

Salazar silently hoped that Severus wasn't really Tom Riddle's son, for he could deal with the possibility that Severus was Lucius' illegitimate brother, but Salazar didn't want any family drama involving the very descendant that he wanted to lock in Time.

Salazar decided to skip the cunning small talks that might lead to more headache, asked the question that he cared about most. "What do you know about the weapon that invokess the ritual which ssacrificess atomonss or masss, and caussess huge exxplosions?"

Salazar might have seen true confusion and the shock flashed passed Severus' eyes. However, these might just be Severus' covers, since although you couldn't tell lies in Parseltongue, there was no rule about your expressions.

Then, the black-haired wizard spoke slowly, "Not ssure j-you are … to know."

Salazar frowned upon the answer. Salazar knew he should be careful with such rituals, but Lucius had said some of his knowledge came from a "paper" distributed by some wizards in one of the new continents, and it didn't sound that well-kept -

"Luciuss told me about paper distributed by - " Salazar changed to the vernacular he yet to learn, and mimicked Lucius' pronunciation, "Amirikan", then turned back to Parseltongue. "It hass written much about the ssecretss."

Severus' face twitched slightly, his breath became a bit uneven. After a while, Severus slowly began, "Do not get near d-thesse v-weaponss. P-Powerful wizardss may l-render -" Severus searched for words, then said. "A lot ov-f Muggle dew-vicess invented in the passt one hun-dred j-yearss or sso broken. Thiss type of v-weapon can be more dangel-rouss if broken. Sseven yearss ago, ssomev-where in Easstern Eul-Europe, more d-than one hun-dred thousand … people have to be ew-evacuated becausse ssomething like that b-broke."

Salazar nodded slowly, and then realized why Severus was reluctant to reveal information about the ritual-weapon. "I have no intention to usse or own such weaponss, only to take them away from unworthy wielderss, Muggle and wizardss alike. And before I can rid the world of ssuch danger, I have no intention to antagonize Muggle governmentss or groupss that wield the horrible ritual weaponss by any meanss, ssuch ass hurting Muggless."

Severus opened his mouth, then paused. He regarded Salazar carefully, and asked, "Muggle-b-bornss?"

Those dirty illiterate creatures irked Salazar greatly, and he always thought the mudbloods should never be allowed to learn magic. However, Severus did raise a valid point: hurting mudbloods may lead to retaliations from Muggles. By the way, he called them "Muggleborns", like the good and great Lord Gryffindor did. Hmm -

"I sshall not hurt mudbloodss or Muggless unlesss by not doing sso may hurt mysself or Hogwartss." Salazar promised. "And I have no intention to lead to the desstruction of the world."

From Severus' silent mouth movements, Salazar guessed the black-haired wizard might have cursed Lucius. Then the black-haired stutterer said, "The Girl-Who-l-Revived, hass uni-corn blood insside, bl-bringss good luck v-while alive. Do not v-want to imagine v-what would happen if she d-diess. Her pal-parentss are ssquibss."

-Ah, when there is a prophecy that a version of you might bring an end to the world, keep a living luck maximizer around you. Tom Riddle is surely cunning, and he is capable of creating great disasters if things do not go his way - in case the mudblood girl named "Hermione Granger" dies, the retribution from the Universe might really destroy the world. And that's why Severus brought out the topic on mudbloods.

The grim prospect that Lord Slytherin the famous blood purist might be forced into protecting a mudblood girl irked the aged lord greatly, yet he knew better than to challenge the Universe. With an inward sigh and another note to punish all the Tom Riddles with creative methods, Salazar promised reluctantly, "I shall not hurt the girl with unicorn blood, and shall protect her if it iss necesssary."

Noticing that Severus seemed a bit relaxed after hearing this, Salazar had a brief impulse to punish the stutterer for delivering the blackmail sent by Tom Riddle to the entire world, but he held himself better than that, for he knew that Severus did the right thing as to warn him of the things that might lead to great disaster, such as hurting the mudblood girl, or getting near to the ritual-weapons without understanding them first.

"Any other dangerss that I should be aware of?" Salazar hissed.

Severus frowned, then answered, "The Sstone d-that makess transsv-figuration permanent. The Sstone can be used in dan-dangerous v-wayss . For v-what iss worsse, the Boy-Who-Lived ov-offered the sservice of the Sstone to every-one a j-year ago. Many pov-powerful wizardss, gl-groupss, and nationss dessire the Sstone all for … d-themsselvess. World v-warss might sstart."

Salazar nodded to the information that he had already inferred from the various times that the Hogwarts wards were triggered by outside wizards, and the Giuliani guy that he had killed. "I have a plan to deal with that."

Salazar's plan was to awe the powerful lords in the world into submission, as Merlin did, and to proclaim Hogwarts and the Stone of Permanency as his. Although, due to the utter stupidity of the younger Tom Riddle, Salazar might not be able to deprive the use of the Stone from wizards all over the world, for that would definitely lead to a world war, and even the combined forces of the Hogwarts Four at the height of their powers might not be enough to defend Hogwarts from the combined forces from all the wizards in the world, not to mention some might have access to the ritual-weapon.

However, before Salazar could execute his plan, he needed to regain his youth first. And for that part, Salazar might need a living person's help, preferably a Parselmouth. Salazar only knew four possible Parselmouths, including Tom Riddle, Severus, Lucius, and Draco. Out of these four, Tom Riddle was his enemy, Lucius was held as a political prisoner, Draco was too young, therefore, Severus was the most convenient option. That was, before Salazar found other Parselmouths.

"Who do you know are Parsselmouthss?" Salazar asked.

Severus hesitated.

Salazar gave an impatient hiss. "Any danger in thiss ass well?"

"Not s-sure if dan-dangerouss." Severus answered reluctantly. "Can n-name ssome. A-Albuss, v-former sschool-masster, iss one, but he iss ... locked in Time. Bartimuss-" Severus changed into vernacular to say "Crouch", then back to Parseltongue, "Might be one, but he v-went cl-crazy when hiss only sson died." Then he paused.

-Wait, the Muggle-loving fool is a descendant of mine as well? What a delight! Now that I have one descendant who possibly handed the world-ending ritual to Muggles, and one descendant who has a hobby of splitting himself up, fighting himself, and possibly ending the world.

-By the way, Severus isn't providing any useful information by naming one person who was locked in Time and another who went crazy. What is he hiding?

-Ah, the fact that the younger Tom Riddle is a Parselmouth, because Severus still thinks the "boy" is some great figure to be protected, and he is afraid that I might utilize the "boy" for something and causes great danger to the world.

Salazar hissed. "I already knew the one that current wizards call 'the Boy-Who-Lived' and the Malfoyss are Parsselmouthss."

Severus paused, his eyes might became a little more empty, and then he said, "I j-just know one m-more P-Parsselmouth, the Dark Lord -" In vernacular, Severus said the name, "Tom Riddle", then supplemented in Parseltongue, "No idea v-where he iss. He iss very dan-dangerouss."

Salazar nodded to the disappointing news that there were only such a limited number of Parselmouths nowadays, and Severus seemed to be the only one available for the task of helping Salazar to regain his youth.

-Well, Severus isn't a bad choice, actually. His magical power is mediocre, but that level of magic is considered "powerful" per current standards. The "Auror" named Moody only has the same level of magic as Severus does, yet he was entrusted by the young Riddle to guard the Stone, and many enemies of Hogwarts have apparently failed to challenge Moody's wards. Moreover, Severus is discrete, cunning, and interesting. As a bonus, Severus knows quite something about the powerful ritual weapon, and maybe somewhat how the current Muggle society. Therefore, Severus is about as good as I can get as a helper. However, I need to know what leverage I can use on him, if he is to be trusted, and how to convince him to go along with my plan.

-Severus is obviously a sane man who doesn't want the world to end, so maybe I can convince him that helping me would help the world. However, most people cannot be easily motivated by such grandeur pursuits if going down such paths may require them to do something as simple as changing their traveling methods from broomstick to flying carpets. Severus seems to be better than that, but I'd better not take the risk before I know him better. Money is a common tools to motivate people, but since Severus used the Stone for several hours during that interesting night, I guess he already has plenty of gold. Personal ambition, then. I hope the ex-Head of my House has the ambition to become a really powerful wizard.

"What languagess can you sspeak?" Salazar asked, for learning as many ancient language as you could was a standard requirement for anyone who was serious in power since the Interdict of Merlin.

"English, F-French, Old English, Old Fl-French, Latin, Ancient Gl-Greek, Runess, Hebrew, P-Parsseltongue, ssome Hiel-Hieroglyph, ssome Old German, and I am learn-learning Sspanish and - " Severus changed into vernacular, "Russian."

-Twelve besides the current English and Parseltongue, acceptable. It seems that Severus has been determined to gain more power for quite some time, for you do not learn a dozen languages in a short time. He should at least add Aramaic, Arabic, Cuneiform, Persian, and Sanskrit to his list, though. On a second thought, he - and I - should also learn Chinese and the language called "Jaepeneese", for Tom Riddle has gained much knowledge over there.

-Severus' intelligence and cunning are already tested, so he is an acceptable helper.

The ancient lord hissed. "If you agree to help me to regain youth ssecretly, I would help you to defeat my desscendent from the Gaunt line, the persson you call the Dark Lord."

Obviously, Salazar didn't bother to mention the fact that he would defeat the Tom Riddles whether Severus chose to cooperate or not.

The black-haired man's face turned grey, then hissed as if he was facing his own death. "I sshall not help you ssteal or l-rob the Sstone, for d-that may lead to v-world desstruction."

The old wizard suppressed his annoyance, and hissed: "Have no plan to ssteal or rob the Sstone, jusst to usse it ass sso many otherss from the entire world have."

-Well, of course, after I have awed all the powerful wizards in the world into submission, I plan to publicly claim the Stone as my own. But before that, I can be temporarily content at going back to my early thirties.

Severus eyed Salazar with great suspicion, and asked: "I am a P-Parsselmouth, sso iss d-the Boy-v-Who-Lived. Kv-Quicker if you reveal yoursself in fl-front of him and assk. V-Why me?"

-Because the so-called "the Boy-Who-Lived" is Tom Riddle, you fool!

"Ass Luciuss and you have said, too much danger in and around him." Salazar carefully chose what he could say without revealing the boy's true identity, for as long as the younger Tom Riddle were to be confident that he was under a perfect cover of a young hero, he must act the part of hero in front of other's eyes, and made the world safer. "No plan to tilt world balance toward danger in any way or form. Shall not explain in more detailss, for that might be dangerouss."

Though Severus didn't seem to be convinced by this answer, he chose to give up on this question, and asked another. "How do you l-live for sso long? V-Why hass nobody heard of j-you for sso long?"

-Does Severus suspect me of using some stupid methods such as horcrux to achieve longevity? Yeah, and Godric and I started the rumor. Does he blame his own possible misfortune on me? Perhaps this one isn't as sharp as Lucius, because Lucius didn't ask - nah, Lucius was too afraid of his own neck back then, yet Severus is quite sure he will be returned to that bathroom in the future. And after all, nobody has ever mimicked Lord Slytherin's wise move in more than nine hundred years.

With a hint of gloat, Salazar answered his descendant's question: "The Mirror."

Severus the Stutterer opened his mouth, then looked as if he wanted to hit himself with a hammer. Slowly, and some cloud of renewed suspicion rose up in his black eyes. "V-Would you help uss in our ka...current tassk v-with the Mirror?"

-Oh, well, Severus probably has correctly deduced that I am inclined to help him locking up all Tom Riddles. For the sake of Atlantis, I can hardly decide which kind of showing-off is more annoying: the Malfoys' extravagance, or Severus' cleverness! Yet, Godric had often accused me of gloating…

Salazar struggled between the roles of an annoyed lord and a doting grandfather, and silently admitted to himself that his judgement might have been compromised by the softness in his old age. With a note that he needed to regain his youth sooner, Salazar hissed: "If you cooperate with me, I shall leave you hintss on that ssubject ass well."

Severus' eyes flickered, and then promised: "I v-will co-cooperate, but I le-retain right to sstop, in casse I ssee danger of v-world de-desstruction in d-doing sso. I v-will tell you the rea...reason if I can."

That sounded reasonable to Lord Slytherin. The old lord hissed: "You can only hide information from me under the circumsstance that by telling me sso, the very act may endanger the world. If you accept, then deal. "

Severus considered, and hissed. "Deal."

Note: In canon, Dumbledore could speak more than a hundred languages, and Crouch, Sr. could speak more than two hundred. This certainly makes a lot of sense in a world with the Interdict of Merlin where one of the greatest sources of power is to read ancient text and to guess the secrets buried behind. However, if anyone who is serious to gain power has to learn that many languages, a great many powerful lords might be intellectually exhausted afterwards, and have no energy to think about something such as "magical Enlightenment". Think about Harry, if he were to be brought up by a distinguished magical scholar, then probably he has to learn Old English, Old French, Latin and Greek as a start, and Hebrew and Runes as a first-step supplement, with Hieroglyph and Arabic in the waiting, etc. By the end of the day, I wonder if Harry would ever have the time or mental capacity to read any scientific literature even when they are put in front of him.