A room decorated in a particularly classical style.
"Runes. Well, for you, that would be Ancient Runes. You have mastered them quite well."
Salazar commented as he looked through Lucien's answer sheet.
Having already tested his knowledge in various fields such as Charms, Transfiguration, and Herbology, Lucien's performance left even Salazar quite satisfied.
"I can tell you've worked hard and fully lived up to your talent, especially in Transfiguration..."
"Has Transfiguration in your era developed this far? Magical Creature Transfiguration. Hufflepuff actually researched that field back in our day... However, I don't seem to have seen anything related to it in Lockhart's memories. Is it a recent breakthrough that hasn't spread yet?"
Hufflepuff, the founder of Hufflepuff House? She had also attempted Magical Creature Transfiguration back then.
Lucien replied,
"Head of House Slytherin, actually, Magical Creature Transfiguration is..."
As he listened to Lucien's explanation, Salazar's gaze shifted from the answer sheet to Lucien's face. His pair of emerald slit pupils changed from calm indifference to utter disbelief.
Suddenly, Salazar felt an impulse. Should he use Legilimency and forcibly inspect this child's memories?
Reaching a new peak in the field of Transfiguration in just one year?
Could such talent even be understood by ordinary human standards?
Could he be some ancient monster who had mastered strange Magic and disguised himself as a young wizard to sneak into Hogwarts with malicious intent?
But that was unlikely.
On one hand, Salazar trusted the identification methods that he and the other three founders had left behind in the castle.
On the other hand, through Lockhart's memories, he had learned that the current Headmaster of Hogwarts was extremely powerful and not some incompetent fool.
In that case, it could only be attributed to innate talent.
The magical world had never been a reasonable place.
In the end, Salazar disdained to take action against a junior, especially one as gifted and promising as Lucien.
After a long silence, Salazar slowly spoke.
"You should become Head of House Slytherin in the future. It suits you quite well. Hmm, Headmaster would be even better. It makes getting things done much easier."
Lucien, suddenly burdened with such a heavy responsibility, was stunned.
How had the conversation ended up here?
Were the thought processes of people from a thousand years ago always this unpredictable?
"Lucien, when you were sorted, the Sorting Hat was quite conflicted, wasn't it?"
Although Salazar had abruptly changed the subject again, Lucien still answered.
"Yes."
Salazar snapped his fingers, and the scene changed once more, revealing a workbench filled with Potion and Alchemy equipment.
"So in the end, you chose Ravenclaw yourself?"
As the person who had given the Sorting Hat its ability to probe the traits of young witches and wizards, Salazar understood the essence of the sorting ceremony better than anyone.
It simply identified the trait that made a young witch or wizard most compatible with a particular house.
"Yes. I felt I could study in peace in Ravenclaw."
Hearing this, Salazar nodded.
"The atmosphere in Slytherin is indeed not very good these days."
What?
Lucien was slightly suspicious that he had misheard.
The founder of Slytherin House had just said that the atmosphere in Slytherin was not good?
"Alright, let's move on to Potions and Alchemy."
Originally, Salazar had not intended to test Alchemy. After all, according to Lockhart's memories, Hogwarts only offered Alchemy courses to upper-year students.
However, after carefully reviewing those memories, he had "seen" that Lucien had already designed and crafted quite a few Alchemical items, so he added Alchemy to the test as well.
Salazar was quite curious about just how much Lucien could accomplish at his age.
As Lucien processed the manifested Potion ingredients, he hesitated for a moment before asking the question that had been lingering in his mind for a long time.
"Head of House Slytherin, when choosing a successor, you didn't seem to consider bloodline?"
According to the historical records that had been passed down, Salazar Slytherin had parted ways with the other three founders and ultimately left Hogwarts precisely because he opposed admitting Muggle-born students, firmly believing that wizarding bloodlines should remain pure.
After a thousand years of development, this concept of bloodline purity had become deeply ingrained in Slytherin House.
However, when Salazar had explained his criteria for selecting a successor earlier, he had never mentioned a requirement for being pure-blooded, which genuinely surprised Lucien.
A trace of complexity flashed through Salazar's slit pupils, and his aged voice carried a hint of reminiscence.
"At that time, emphasizing bloodline was a necessary measure. In our era, the fear and hatred Muggles held toward wizards were ingrained in their very bones, and the flames of witch hunts could be seen everywhere."
"Even Muggle parents could not accept the fact that their children had become wizards. They viewed it as the devil's temptation. If the Muggle world had discovered Hogwarts, it would have been extremely dangerous."
"So I insisted that wizards of Muggle or mixed heritage were unreliable."
As he said this, Salazar's tone remained completely calm. He did not believe in the slightest that his decision back then had been wrong.
Lucien remained noncommittal.
Admittedly, the Muggle world a thousand years ago had very little tolerance for wizards. The relationship could indeed be described as openly hostile.
Salazar's views could actually be considered extremely conservative.
For the survival of Hogwarts, admitting only wizards from pure-blood families would certainly have been the safest option.
Suddenly, Salazar changed the subject.
"However, as time advances, the wall between wizards and Muggles cannot remain high and unbroken forever. The number of mixed-blood and Muggle-born wizards will inevitably continue to increase. That is an irreversible trend."
"Therefore, the pursuit of bloodline purity is only a temporary measure."
Hearing Salazar's explanation, Lucien felt a strong sense of dissonance.
Salazar's personal views on bloodlines were actually so...
Open-minded?
This did not match the records that had been passed down to the present day.
A distortion caused by a thousand years of history?
"Then," Lucien continued along that line of thought, "the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk you left behind were never actually intended to purge so-called non-pure-bloods?"
"Of course not. The Chamber of Secrets was an insurance policy I left for Hogwarts. If the school ever faced a crisis, my successor could use the power within to preserve its future."
Lucien thought for a moment before pointing out a contradiction.
"But the Basilisk was used by Tom Riddle to attack students..."
Salazar nodded slightly.
"I anticipated the possibility that its power might be abused. Therefore, I placed certain restrictions on the Basilisk's eyes. Its gaze would not function as an instant-death curse against the teachers and students of Hogwarts."
"If the Basilisk truly attempted to slaughter the teachers and students of Hogwarts, the restriction I left within its soul would activate, and it would die immediately."
So Tom's carefully laid plan to control the Basilisk and unleash a massacre at Hogwarts had actually been doomed to fail from the very beginning?
Lucien immediately understood.
But a wave of awkwardness followed right behind the realization.
Well... he had already killed the school's thousand-year-old guardian.
Salazar seemed to see through Lucien's thoughts. His face remained completely unconcerned.
"It doesn't matter. The Basilisk was ultimately only a tool. With your talent, once you mature, creating protective measures for Hogwarts that far surpass the Basilisk will not be difficult."
"Since the Basilisk is dead, you can make use of its eyes."
Salazar pointed at Lucien's eyes.
"Those eyes of yours are quite good, but there is still room for improvement..."
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