A Web Of Magic

[Impact Points+50]

Magnus stood at the entrance of what looked like a living room with old yet luxurious furnishings. The color scheme was all in green and silver, typical Slytherin style. There were two sofas and chairs interspersed in the room. The floor to ceiling bookshelves on two sides of the room were empty. The later end of the room opened up into a laboratory with the usual tables, cauldrons and glass containers which were all empty. It looked like someone took away everything that was valuable.

"Teacher Slytherin was very intelligent, yes. Perhaps the second after Teacher Ravenclaw. But the wisest he was not, as much as he claimed so in private. He left most of his possessions to his descendants in hopes of them reaching his level, but alas it wasn't meant to be. The quality of his descendants only got worse with time. Some degenerated enough that they even sold off some of Slytherin's invaluable possessions for gold. The last one was very promising but his mind wasn't quite in the right place," the book lamented. It sounded remarkably human this time.

"So, Slytherin's inheritance was left here?" Magnus enquired. The room looked clean despite it being unoccupied for who knows how long. He's pretty sure that whoever has been here before took away the inheritance. "Such a pity. Imagine the knowledge that must have been here," Magnus sighed out loud.

"A pity indeed. Teacher left all kinds of knowledge here. A talented wizard could easily reach a high level of magic and do great things with them. But alas, it wasn't meant to be. Most of his descendants only wanted the books which you might now call as Dark magic. Back then it was all just magic. How it's used depended on the wizard. Dark magic as you call it now, has its own set of requirements. Some of it wasn't even meant for human hands. If you don't meet those requirements, you are in for a world of pain. Some of Slytherin's descendants learned it the hard way," the book said darkly.

"You seem to know a lot about them despite being just a book. So, you met them all just like me? And I'm guessing you also read all of their minds?" Magnus spoke with a raised eye.

"Hahaha. Well, they met me differently. They needed Slytherin's Locket to enter here as I told you before. The locket itself contains some knowledge and information. Only when they access that knowledge completely will it lead them here. Usually I lie on the desk at the entrance over there. Any descendant of Slytherin who enters here has to sign their name in me in order to receive the inheritance. What they receive later is up to their capabilities. I just read their minds a bit to get a feel of them. Can't let the dangerous knowledge out to everyone now, can I?" the book said joyfully.

"Then you couldn't prevent some of them from squandering all the knowledge here?" Magnus asked confused. There should be at least some 200 books here based on the size of the bookshelves. Surely, they didn't have to take everything?

"Ah, you have to understand, I just hijacked some of teacher's work here. The knowledge was left for his descendants so who am I to stop them from receiving it. I just hid some things that shouldn't fall into the wrong hands," the book explained.

"So, there's still something left here? And what about Merlin's inheritance? Are they both the same?" Magnus questioned. He did come here for the reward after all.

"Yes, don't worry. You'll get your reward. All that Merlin left behind is within me. Slytherin's most dangerous and coveted knowledge is also hidden here by Merlin through me. Well your reward originally was just going to be what's within me, but you are good enough from what I've observed. Cautious and not greedy. You can resist temptation to a good extent for someone your age. I don't know when and if a next one will come after you. I think I can show you what's hidden here. What do you say? Are you game? If you can use the knowledge here well, you can even handle that little problem in your blood," the book tempted him.

'Hmm, very tempting. Something that can help me with the blood curse? Or is it the beast blood? It's good enough either way. But why didn't the book give it to Slytherin's descendants? What's so dangerous about them?' Magnus then voiced his question.

The book sighed as it explained, "Where do I begin? The Salazar Slytherin who built the school along with the rest of the founders is very different from the Slytherin that left the school later. Many things happened that changed some of his views. Some were justified while some were not. His descendants only knew a part of the reason for his departure. They misunderstood that and started their pureblood theory nonsense. Their minds were warped with that thinking. They have become too narrow minded."

"What exactly happened that changed Slytherin's mind then? Rumors are he left the school because he had a disagreement with the other Founders," Magnus enquired. There was very little in the history books about the Founders. Any knowledge about that time is very precious. 'Hmm, maybe I should ask Helena about it?' he wondered.

"Ah, it's not just one thing you see. There were multiple factors. Slytherin had a disagreement but that isn't what led him to leave the school. Let's just say he was about to do a very delicate experiment that would've been very dangerous. Leave it at that for now. Maybe I'll tell you about it someday when you grow up. Knowing too much isn't good for you now," the book didn't let out much.

'At least I got some information about Slytherin. What experiment could be so dangerous though? Is it similar to that ritual from before? It couldn't be, right? Slytherin wouldn't stoop so low, right?' Magnus stopped that line of thought. Whatever happened had already happened. No need for him to think too much. He'll know of it eventually from the book.

"Can you tell me more about that pureblood theory? I always thought it was nonsense about the Sacred 28 families," Magnus enquired. He decided to milk the book for all its knowledge. it's already so old, who knows when it'll suddenly go inanimate?

"What Sacred 28 families?" the book questioned. 'Hmm, so it doesn't know everything,' Magnus confirmed. Its knowledge of the present seems to be limited to that taken from the minds of Slytherin's descendants. Even then, the knowledge doesn't seem to be complete. So, Magnus explained the theory to it.

"What a pile of horse shit! The things some idiots come up with! The real Purebloods were in a state of decline even during the time of the founders. There's no way for any more purebloods to exist in this era. Even the line of Slytherin has declined to such an extent. The last one was barely qualified in terms of bloodline. He was only good at his talent outside of his bloodline. If Slytherin's bloodline cannot last despite all of the precautions Salazar Slytherin took, there's no way others can," it said confidently.

"Oh, so Slytherin took some precautions? What did he do? And who's this descendant of his that you spoke so much about?" Magnus asked curiously.

"Yes, teacher Slytherin valued his bloodline very much. You'll know about what he did once you look at that hidden knowledge, if you can understand it. It is pretty advanced even for you. About the last descendant, look for yourself," the pages of the book turned before it stopped on a particular page. There were rows of names on the book all of which must be Slytherin's descendants.

'Hmm, let me see-'

'… Slytherin'

'… Slytherin'

'… Sayre'

'… Gaunt'

'Tom Riddle?'