"Who is Jarayim?" Victor continued to ask.
Slytherin extended a finger and pointed to the Basilisk skeleton behind Victor.
"And what about your current form?"
"I am I. The true Salazar Slytherin is already dead. This diary holds all the memories and knowledge I accumulated during my lifetime," the phantom of Salazar Slytherin replied robotically.
"I feel like this Slytherin is a bit… odd," Victor said, exchanging a glance with Luna, his brow furrowed.
From beginning to end, the Slytherin in front of them showed no change in his tone or expression. Other than answering his questions, he seemed to have nothing else to say, acting like a question-and-answer automaton.
Luna also noticed something strange about Slytherin.
Looking up at his listless eyes, which were slightly obscured by white hair, she said, "He's like a puppet. He only seems to answer when we ask a question." Then she tried to ask, "Can you tell me where a Crumple-Horned Snorkack is?"
She got no response.
"Oh, he doesn't seem to know..." Luna looked a little disappointed.
A bead of cold sweat trickled down Victor's forehead. He smiled wryly and ruffled the girl's hair, then looked back at the ghostly phantom of Salazar Slytherin floating in mid-air.
Based on their brief exchange, the book that Salazar Slytherin had left behind was likely just a vessel for his memories.
It was like a primitive form of artificial intelligence. It could only answer questions about things it already knew, but for things that weren't part of Slytherin's memories, it could only remain silent.
Out of curiosity, Victor began to ask some historical questions that had always puzzled him.
"Slytherin, can you tell me why you left Hogwarts?"
The moment the words left his mouth, Slytherin extended a hand from his robes, and a scene of war suddenly appeared before the two of them.
Countless giants with horns on their heads, wearing crude armor and holding clubs and stone hammers, suddenly stormed the land from the sea, setting fire to and destroying Celtic villages. Druids with magical abilities summoned giant beasts and unleashed magic to fight them, but they were still beaten back again and again.
In the vision, a Deep-Sea Giant extended its clawed hand, grabbed a fallen Celt, and then threw him, clothes and all, into its mouth to chew. Blood trickled from the corners of its mouth, and fragments of organs were squeezed from between its teeth.
Victor immediately reached out and covered Luna's eyes. Such a bloody scene was nothing to him, a battle-hardened Mage, but Luna was only eleven years old. Regardless of the circumstances, a sight like this was not something she should see at her age.
Slytherin didn't react to Victor's actions. As he showed the scene, he continued to speak to himself.
"Fifteen years after I established Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I received news from my homeland: a large number of Fomorians, led by their chieftain, Balor of the Evil Eye, suddenly attacked my home. My people suffered heavy casualties, and I had no choice but to leave Hogwarts and return to Ireland to join the battle."
"And what about the fight between you and Godric Gryffindor? Was he trying to stop you from going back to protect your homeland?" At this, Victor suddenly remembered the rumors that Gryffindor had tried to keep Slytherin from leaving.
"I intended to leave Hogwarts and return to Ireland, but Godric learned of my homeland's situation. As my friend, he also wanted to go with me, but I did my best to stop him. This led to a quarrel between us. In the end, I used some means to keep him at Hogwarts and returned to my home alone," Slytherin answered.
"Why did you stop him? Wouldn't it have been better for the two of you to fight the Fomorians together?" Luna asked, pulling Victor's hand away from her eyes.
The moment the words left her mouth, Slytherin flicked his wrist, and the scene changed again.
A vision of smoke-filled battlefields and raging war around Hogwarts Castle suddenly appeared before them.
"In the era I lived in, Muggles were full of prejudice and fear towards wizards' power, so Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and I established Hogwarts together."
"But in the beginning, Hogwarts was not a school but a sanctuary or a fortress of war. The four of us established it with the purpose of protecting children who could use magic."
The scene changed again. An army of over ten thousand people was attacking Hogwarts. One could even vaguely see some wizards within it.
"Although wizards were discriminated against and feared by Muggles, their power was deeply desired by rulers."
"Our actions angered them. Many countries and tribes united and sent armies to attack Hogwarts, trying to capture all the children we took in and turn them into slaves they could order around."
"But what does this have to do with Gryffindor not being able to go back to Ireland with you?" Victor asked, looking confused.
"The four of us were powerful. Even if one of me was missing, Hogwarts still had enough power to face the numerous invaders. But if Godric went back to my homeland with me, Hogwarts would be left with only two great wizards. As the strongest fighter among the four of us, Godric's departure would have led to an unpredictable outcome."
"I see…" Victor suddenly realized the truth. But if this was all a misunderstanding, another question immediately popped into his mind. "Slytherin, then why did you leave Hogni at Hogwarts? And why did you leave a final instruction to eliminate all non-pureblood students to your descendants?"
The scene in Slytherin's hand changed again, and the entire Hogwarts Castle was filled with the smoke of war.
Countless bodies and body parts lay in the corridors and on the lawns. Rivers of blood flowed, and it was clear that the enemies outside had found a way to break through the castle's defenses. The Hogwarts professors were fighting a bloody battle.
"We built the castle into a powerful defensive fortress. The enemy could not break through with force, so they began to try and groom some stray children, send them into Hogwarts in every way possible, destroy the protective charms, and corrupt the other impressionable young wizards."
"They spent five full years executing this malicious plan. The battle lasted from late at night until the sun was high in the sky. Although we fought to the death to drive all the enemies out of the castle, Hogwarts still suffered heavy casualties in this battle."
"After this battle, the army left, but the small skirmishes continued. They were still sending spies into Hogwarts, hoping to return."
"So, in order to protect Hogwarts, I specifically left Hogni in the cave below the classroom before I returned home. As long as an unpredictable danger arose in Hogwarts, my descendants would go to the cave, wake Hogni, and indiscriminately eliminate all spies and traitors."
Victor was dumbfounded by what Slytherin said.
So that's where the whole thing about eliminating non-pureblood students came from!
But this raised another question: what if Slytherin's descendants died on their way to the cave?
But Slytherin also gave his answer to this question. "If something happens to my descendants, Peeves will wake it up in place of them."
"Then what was the serpentine ring you left behind for?" Victor asked again.
"The ring allows Hogni to completely obey my descendants' orders, but if something happens to my descendants, Peeves can also select a qualified person to wear the ring and gain the ability to speak Parseltongue. I left Hogni with orders and the location of my homeland. If an irreparable disaster befalls Hogwarts, the survivors can use the ring's ability to go to my homeland."
"But there's still something wrong. If that's the case, even your descendants would only be able to completely command Hogni after wearing the ring. So if an accident really happens, how does Hogni distinguish who is a spy and who is a traitor?" Victor asked.
"It doesn't need to distinguish. At that time, Hogni will indiscriminately eliminate all suspicious people."
Ah!
Victor instantly understood why Slytherin, who had kindly left a Basilisk to protect Hogwarts and left final instructions, had been misinterpreted by his descendants as having a pure-blood ideology.
Indiscriminate elimination meant that regardless of whether you were a spy or a traitor, anyone who was suspicious would be killed to prevent future trouble. It was no wonder that this kind of ruthless and decisive mindset, with the passage of time and people's various subjective interpretations, would turn into what it was today.
"But why didn't you go back to Hogwarts in the end?" Luna, who was still holding Victor's hand, suddenly asked.
"After returning to my homeland, I united everyone on the land of Ireland to fight the Fomorians. After nearly ten years of war, we finally defeated them and drove them to an island far away from the mainland. But in the final battle, although I killed Balor of the Evil Eye, I also suffered the fatal curse from his one eye. My life was about to end."
"But I realized that I couldn't die just yet. Years of war had left my people exhausted, but the Fomorians had not been completely exterminated. So, I willingly came to this island, built this huge underground prison, and imprisoned and monitored all the remaining Fomorians on the island."
"Until I felt that the flame of my life was about to burn out, I used my last bit of strength to seal all my memories and knowledge into my diary, and asked Jarayim to petrify me to prevent my body from turning into ugly, rotting flesh."
"But why didn't you completely wipe out the Fomorians? You clearly had the ability to kill them," Victor asked in confusion.
"I couldn't. Balor of the Evil Eye had a daughter named Eithne. Because of a prophecy made by our tribe's seer, she was imprisoned in the deep sea by her own father. In the end, my brother Saan saved her."
"My people and I promised Eithne that she would help us win the war, but we could not completely exterminate her people."
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