Having moved the last stone, Alan could finally see the passage from which the basilisk had crawled out earlier. It was small, but easily large enough to accommodate three people crawling through at once.
"Maybe I should go and check first?"
"No need," he jumped into the tunnel and, squatting, slowly began to move forward.
A couple of minutes later, after following a rather winding path, he finally emerged into an open space, a spacious cave with something resembling a nest in one corner. Of course, there were no eggs there; after all, the basilisk lived alone and couldn't fertilize itself.
"It's empty here..." Nagini said, a little disappointed, expecting to see a real mountain of treasure in this place.
"I wouldn't say so," Alan approached the nest, pointed his palms at it and released a stream of flame, which in a few seconds destroyed the dry leaves, branches, and other vegetation that had somehow miraculously fallen under the lock.
As soon as the flame disappeared and the ashes were blown away, Alan's gaze was met with the imprint of a palm on the smooth surface of the stone.
"Hmm... too simple..."
"Maybe I should put my palm on it and say, 'Open up'?"
"You're a naive soul," he said, gently patting her on the top of her head and smiling as he placed his palm in the indentation. The next moment, an unpleasant hissing sound was heard and the smell of burning filled the room.
Raising his palm, Alan looked thoughtfully at the glove. Although it hadn't been burned through, it was very close. So Alan quickly discarded it and donned a new one; fortunately, he'd prepared three pairs in advance for such an eventuality.
"See? This must be an entrance, but only for Salazar's descendants. I felt as if something tried to pierce the glove to draw my blood, and when that failed, it released acid, presumably to punish anyone who tried to enter without being an heir." The next moment, a transparent dome appeared over Alan's head, and acid poured from hundreds of holes in the ceiling. "Too predictable," he said, then, turning his gaze to the entrance, he saw that it had already been sealed shut.
"I... I didn't know it was a trap... I didn't want to..."
Hearing Nagini almost sobbing and feeling the emotions washing over him like a wave, Alan smiled crookedly.
"I'm glad, of course, that you've become more emotional, but can you see that we're in danger? And I decided to do this myself." There wasn't a hint of worry on Alan's face, only calm, which calmed her somewhat, though she herself was a little surprised by such a reaction. "That's why I didn't get a familiar in my past life: it's too much trouble to constantly sense other people's emotions."
Snape's gaze shifted to the walls and he closed his eyes, fully concentrating on his surroundings, searching for any solid or unnatural traces of magic.
The acid pouring from the ceiling like a torrential rain didn't stop; in fact, it intensified. Sure, the barrier held it back, but even that wasn't all-powerful, and it was gradually corroding it. The magic in this cave was limited and couldn't be replenished due to the materials the walls were made of, making it a near-perfect trap for hapless wizards.
It took less than a few minutes for the acid to completely flood the floor, rising several dozen centimeters into the air.
"Here it is..." Finally opening his eyes, Alan approached the stone wall on the left and, touching the uneven surface, bared his teeth, and a stream of black flame burst from his palm, but only for a few seconds, until his core tensed up, and he urgently had to stop releasing flames.
But even this was enough to leave a huge hole in the meter-thick wall, through which he passed into a tunnel leading to a door decorated in the best colors of Slytherin: it was made of silver with the symbol of the Slytherin house, decorated along the edges with green patterns, and the handle was in the form of a snake, and two statues completed the composition on the left and right: one belonged to the basilisk, and the second to an elderly bald man with a long pointed beard, dressed in a long robe.
"Apparently, this is Salazar," Alan nodded with interest, moving closer to the statues, while the hole behind him quickly healed thanks to the nonverbal Reparo he had cast.
"I'm sorry..."
"It's okay, but try to learn to control your emotions."
"I'll try," Nagini hissed with a tired sigh, also turning her attention to the statues. "But what if this, too...?"
"Unlikely, of course, but it never hurts to be careful in such moments," Alan agreed, covering his hand in flames. Just as he was about to grab the handle, it suddenly came to life and hissed at him. Alan didn't care, though, and he grabbed it anyway, causing it to hiss even more furiously and eventually return to being a normal handle. "Too predictable," Alan finally opened the door, revealing a small room, somewhat reminiscent of Dumbledore's office, but in green tones.
To the right and left stood huge bookcases, and in the center of the floor there was a red carpet leading to a table on which lay some books, sheets of paper, pens with ink, and a statue of a snake, and behind it on the wall hung a portrait of the same old man whose statue Alan had seen at the entrance.
"Interesting," Snape said, first scanning the books and noting with surprise several rather intriguing titles. His attention was particularly drawn to a book by Herpo the Foul, one of the most powerful dark wizards in this world, and it had a rather catchy title: "How to Become Immortal?" Even in my old world, there were no Immortals. Yes, no one forbids one to live forever, but the soul will slowly deteriorate over this eternity, which is why all those hundreds of Creators never managed to survive until my time. And here's such an intriguing title; I can't wait to read this 'creation.'
"Severus... I saw his eyes twitch," Nagini whispered, pointing her trembling tail towards the portrait.
After all, from the very beginning, as they entered the room, she felt as if she was out of place, as if someone was watching her, and a strange whisper did not give her peace.
"Don't worry about it, it's a living portrait, but why he's pretending to be a felt boot, I don't understand myself," he took one of the books and threw it at the portrait.
"Hey! What are you doing in my office?! Haven't you learned any manners?!" the elderly man's voice rang out, furious and tinged with arrogance.
"There's no point in trying to talk my companion into anything. If you try that again, I'll burn you." Without even glancing in his direction, Alan continued scanning the shelves until he reached a book that bulged slightly. "Hmm..."
"Hey! How dare you threaten the founder of your house?! Where's your respect for your elders?! You're nothing but a pathetic half-blood...!"
As soon as the fireball appeared in Alan's hand, he instantly fell silent.
"I'm glad we understood each other."
"He's definitely up to something..."
"That's true. For example, right now he's trying to use Legilimency to penetrate my mind, thinking I'm not paying attention." Salazar's face reflected shock at these words. "Better let him do it, then at least he'll keep quiet..." Such indifference left Nagini speechless, but she also felt calmer, seeing that he didn't give a damn about the old man in the portrait, whose gaze sent shivers down her spine.
"Who are you? You can't be a simple student."
"You should have kept quiet, eh..." He pulled away from his books and turned his gaze to the sullen Salazar. "But I'll disappoint you, I'm a simple student, but a very talented one."
"A student who can kill my pet and get here can't be a simple student."
"Well, that's how it is, nothing can be done about it," he said, turning his gaze back to the shelves. He pointed his hand at her and, in an instant, transferred all the books to the wallet, the second one in a row, since the first was filled with the basilisk's body. "As I suspected," he said, "there were only three books left on the shelf." "What order?"
The old man was practically out of breath with rage at such disrespect. After all, this was HIS office, and some half-blood had dared to rob HIM, right before his very eyes, even though he was only a fragment of the real Salazar.
"Put them back immediately! This is my collection, and a pathetic half-blood like you has no right to touch it!" But instead of returning them, Alan's smile widened and, going to the second bookcase, he emptied it of everything. Just like last time, there were still three books left, part of some kind of mechanism.
Alan didn't stop there and, amidst the Hogwarts Founder's furious outcry, continued to clear out the office, simply throwing everything into the purse. Nagini simply closed her eyes and disappeared under her sweater, and somewhere deep down, she even felt sorry for the portrait.
And just ten minutes later the office was "crystal clear," with the exception of two cabinets: all the decorations, books, certificates, cups, jewelry, artifacts and everything else had been confiscated by Alan.
"Thief! You're a damn thief! Vandal! How dare you rob my office?! How can you be so disrespectful to the dead?!"
"Don't worry, I'll sell them later to Muggle-born wizards for half price."
"No! Not Muggle-borns! Why did you do this to me? What did I ever do to you?!" the elderly wizard nearly cried.
"Well... I tried drowning it in acid, isn't that enough?" He approached the portrait and looked thoughtfully at the frame. "It's made of gold, right?"
This question left him momentarily at a loss, but when he realized what Alan was about to do, a stingy tear rolled down his cheek.
"Green, red, green, blue, green... yellow..."
"I'm glad you understood," he said, smiling as he walked away from the painting and walked over to the cabinets, where he began to push the books back in that same order.
"What if this is a catch..."
"Don't worry, it's not a trap. He's trying to divert my attention from what's behind him, right?" Looking at Salazar, who was as pale as death, he finished with the books, and at that very moment, a ladder began to descend from the ceiling.
"H-how?"
"You just don't know how to use illusion magic, that's all."
As soon as the Parselmouth saw Alan's predatory gaze on himself, he shuddered.
"You wouldn't dare..."
"Is it true?"
"How can you rob the founder of your house...? Don't you have any sense of shame? Be a little more reasonable..."
"If you're worried about your family, it's completely extinct—you have no one to pass on your knowledge and wealth to, so rest in peace."
"Rest in peace after learning my entire family was extinct? You think I didn't know that?" he hissed, glaring icily at Alan. "But I won't give anything to a pathetic Muggle-born like you!" The next moment, the door slammed shut, and the office shook. "You'll die here!"
"I told you so..." Nagini hissed, poking her head out from under her sweater, a hint of weariness in her voice. "...or rather... forget it, I didn't say anything, I'm tired of being surprised today. When you're done, please wake me up," and she darted back in just the same way...