Night Wander

Curfew time. Snape stood with his arms crossed, his face grim, leaning against the stone wall in front of the Slytherin common room.

When Filch passed by, the two nodded to each other. Filch's eyes were full of understanding and trust, but Snape's were filled with venom – directed at himself. How could he have foolishly and recklessly accepted the invitation of that old man disguised as a lamb?

After Filch disappeared with Mrs. Norris, the door to the Slytherin common room opened, and a head of messy black hair peeked out. Shallow golden-brown eyes looked at Snape with a smile, "Well, you're right on time."

"How rare, Miss Sekerei, a Slytherin student inside the Slytherin common room!" Snape gritted his teeth inwardly. She timed it perfectly, just waiting for Filch to see him so he wouldn't bother them, right?

Cyberlina walked out with a chuckle and closed the door. She poked her head out and looked around, muttering, "Looks like my other night-wandering companion hasn't arrived yet."

"Another one?" Snape, who had just left the stone wall, paused and looked at Cyberlina suspiciously. "Don't tell me it's that Old Bee."

Cyberlina felt that Snape was becoming less and less guarded about his dissatisfaction with Dumbledore in front of her.

"No-- Oh! Here they come!"

Cyberlina suddenly ran towards a waist-high stone pillar with a brazier not far away. She reached behind the stone pillar, seemingly trying to pull something out, but to no avail. So, she sighed helplessly and beckoned Snape over.

Snape narrowed his eyes, twirling his wand in his hand, and suspiciously walked to Cyberlina's side. He looked at... a pair of feet behind the stone pillar, with no part above the ankles visible.

Ha! An invisibility cloak! He already knew which giant this invisible person was!

"Sekerei!" Snape reprimanded in a low voice, his eyes full of disbelief and doubt.

"There's no other way, after all--" Cyberlina looked at Snape, but directly pulled the invisibility cloak down with her hand, revealing Harry, who was huddled between the stone pillar and the wall. "We need a Parselmouth."

Harry didn't dare to speak at all. He had only received a letter that afternoon from a Ravenclaw senior – from Senior Sekerei – asking him to come alone to the Slytherin common room entrance after curfew. Because the letter had a small snake drawn on it, he had guessed it was related to Parseltongue, but... he didn't expect Snape to be there!

And Snape knew he was a Parselmouth???

Looking at Snape's gloomy gaze, Harry suspected he wanted to deal with him, the "Parselmouth," on the spot.

"Need a Parselmouth?" You're not thinking of going to the Chamber of Secrets, are you?

Snape didn't finish his sentence, but Cyberlina had already guessed his thoughts from his expression.

"Don't worry, it's not there." Cyberlina glanced at the invisibility cloak in her hand, slowly folded it, and handed it back to Harry with a smile. "Why the long face, Harry? Snape has been teaching you for over a year, you should be very familiar with each other."

Harry's slightly fearful expression immediately became subtle. He really wanted to say, "Don't you know?" But thinking that Senior Sekerei had only arrived this year and seemed to be quite familiar with Professor Snape, he swallowed the impolite words and blurted out, "We're not familiar."

Cyberlina was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing. She patted Snape on the shoulder, "Mr. Snape, you're such a great professor."

"..." Snape pursed his lips and remained silent, glaring fiercely at Harry. "May I ask, organizer of tonight's event, are you planning to take a professor and a second-year Mr. Savior on a curfew-breaking tour at the entrance of the Slytherin common room?"

"Yes." Cyberlina nodded without hesitation.

Snape: "?"

Cyberlina didn't say much. Her wand fell into her hand from her sleeve. She smiled, stepped sideways, and raised her arm backward--

With a "bang," a cluster of flames lit up the dark corridor, igniting the brazier not far behind Cyberlina.

Her movements were sudden. Snape immediately drew his wand, while Harry clutched his invisibility cloak, his eyes wide as he watched Cyberlina, her hair slightly lifted against the firelight, smile at him. Then, Cyberlina raised her hand and slung an arm around his shoulder, forcefully pulling him out from behind the stone pillar-- towards the brazier that had just been lit.

"Incendio!"

Cyberlina, with lightning speed, lit two more braziers, and then--

"Boom--"

Following the sound, the three of them saw a stone door open deep in the corridor.

"Ha! Silent, no wand, and then silent and no wand." Snape gripped his wand tightly. "As expected of you, Miss Sekerei, always remembering to show off your abilities."

"You flatter me, Professor."

Cyberlina smiled and, without allowing Harry to refuse, pulled him into the door. With her other hand, she beckoned Snape.

Snape followed her, his expression dark. After he entered, the door slowly closed, plunging the three of them into darkness.

"Wh-what should we do now?" Harry realized the hand on his arm was gone. A sense of danger immediately filled him.

In the darkness, Cyberlina raised her hand and pressed down Snape's raised wand, saying gently, "As a Gryffindor who often sneaks out, I think you know what to do."

Harry was startled, then understood that Cyberlina was testing him-- although he didn't understand why she would test him.

"Lumos!"

Harry shouted excitedly, and a cluster of light surged from the tip of his wand, illuminating the area around them.

"Very good, Harry." Cyberlina lowered her hand, pointed at the invisibility cloak Harry was holding, and gestured for him to put it back in his pocket. Then she pointed forward, "Next, walk forward."

The corridor was not long. At the end was a large door with a stone carving of two intertwined snakes. Harry examined the door carefully for a few seconds, then turned and said to the two of them, "There's a door."

"I don't think I'm blind yet, clever Mr. Savior."

Snape's wand tip also lit up. He didn't even look at Harry, nor did he walk to the door. He simply illuminated the seemingly ruined stones in the corridor in front of the door.

Harry pouted unhappily. He truly detested Snape, especially his mouth.

Snape's wand slowly rose, and Harry's gaze followed the light upwards-- until the incomplete stone carvings emerged from the darkness.

"Ah! I know!"

Harry suddenly shouted and excitedly ran to the stone carvings. However, before he could voice his conclusion, Snape, startled by him, shakily pointed his extinguished wand at him.

"You! Damned-- impulsive! Gryffindor!"

"There's no need to say that..." Harry said softly, but he took a step back under Snape's gaze, thinking that if the light went out, he wouldn't have to see Snape's expression, which looked like he had just seen a classroom full of exploded cauldrons.

Then—his wand lost its light.

Snape closed his eyes. He was truly going to be angered to death by this idiot!

"Whoosh!"

With the sound of flames igniting, half the corridor lit up. Snape and Harry simultaneously looked in the direction they came from and saw Cyberlina holding an oil lamp.

Her shoulders barely moved as she raised her arm, illuminating the damaged stone carvings.

"Isn't this much more convenient?"

"Yes." Harry nodded frantically.

Snape, however, let out a scoff. "Why didn't you bring it out sooner."

Harry secretly glanced at Snape, then immediately turned his eyes back, looking at Cyberlina with some excitement. "Senior, I know, maybe we can use a repair spell to fix this stone carving!"

"You guessed correctly, Harry. Can you do it?"

"Of course!" Encouraged by Cyberlina's smile and tone, Harry immediately raised his wand, pointing it at the stone carving. "Reparo!"

The fallen stones on the ground flew up one by one, obediently merging into the stone carvings, forming their original shapes.

Snape looked at Cyberlina expressionlessly. "You dragged me here tonight just to be a practice dummy for basic spells for our Mr. Savior?"

"No." Cyberlina gave Snape a meaningful smile, saying nothing more.

"Hmph, being mysterious." Snape snorted coldly and stopped looking at her.

The second the stone wall carvings were restored, a "hissing" sound entered Snape's ears—shrill, low, sending a chill down his spine.

The sound appeared suddenly and its exact location couldn't be found. It seemed to be moving around them, or perhaps circling their ears.

"What is she saying?" Harry asked, somewhat confused. He was sure he heard someone speaking, but could only understand individual words. "It doesn't sound like English."

"It's 'it'!" Snape pinched his brow. The sound made his head buzz. "It's your turn to shine, Parseltongue!"

"Don't worry about what she's saying." Cyberlina, holding the lamp, pushed Harry towards the door. "Try to talk to her, make her open the door, Harry."

Harry understood. "She" was a snake, and only he could understand it now.

He took a deep breath, lowered his head slightly, and focused on his toes. He listened carefully to the chattering female voice in his mind, and when she paused, he spoke—

"Hiss—Open the door for me."

Watching Harry speak Parseltongue, Snape felt a strange sense of incongruity for no reason and subconsciously averted his gaze.

The two intertwined snakes on the stone door suddenly emitted a glow, then twisted their bodies upwards simultaneously, revealing the door crack hidden by them.

"Well done, Harry." Cyberlina smiled and patted Harry's messy hair, once again offering her generous praise.

Harry lowered his head shyly.

Snape, however, looked at Cyberlina thoughtfully.

The three passed through the door. Cyberlina stretched out her arms and lifted the oil lamp, as if confirming something. Snape watched her movements, clenching his wand—he was sure he felt the same wind as he had at Cyberlina's old residence.

"Very good, nothing has changed. You lead the decryption for this part." Cyberlina handed the oil lamp to Harry.

"Me? Decryption?" Harry took the oil lamp, eagerness in his eyes, but his face still lacked confidence. "Senior, since you said nothing has changed, does that mean you've been here before?"

"Yes." Cyberlina gave a gentle smile. "But that was a long time ago."

"A long time?" Harry was momentarily confused, but his question was quickly interrupted by another. "Then how did you open that door just now?"

He remembered Cyberlina saying that he was almost the only Parselmouth.

Cyberlina paused, then her smile widened. "To be honest, my lover is also a Parselmouth."

"Your lover!?" Harry exclaimed, half his face blushing, his eyes shining—for a child his age, the word "lover" was too mature and formal.

"Yes." Cyberlina looked at Harry's eager, gossipy expression, placed her hands on his shoulders, and manually turned him around. "But now, you need to move forward, Harry."

"Okay, okay." Harry replied verbally and walked forward, but he clearly looked like he wanted to ask a few more questions.

"Gryffindor's curiosity." Snape sneered.

Harry glared at him briefly before walking forward—towards what was clearly a wall-mounted turntable that required decryption.

The turntable was large, with two rows, engraved with simple but peculiar patterns. Above it, a delicately carved snake-like stone sculpture coiled.

"Slytherin's Lock," Cyberlina introduced. "I hope our little Gryffindor can open it."

Snape, the current Head of Slytherin, had never heard this name before. But he quickly realized that "Slytherin" here referred not to the house, but to Salazar Slytherin.

Snape had already noticed similar patterns on the iron gate beside them and on the turntable, understanding how to unlock Slytherin's Lock. However, the little Gryffindor, who was studying the turntable, didn't understand. He chose to try and turn it directly, and then—

"Hiss—"

The little snake on the turntable suddenly moved, opening its mouth and revealing fangs as it lunged towards Harry's face.

"Incarcerous!"

Snape reacted extremely quickly, grabbing Harry by the back of his collar and pulling him behind him, raising his wand to point at the snake. However, the spell had no effect on it—or rather, it appeared to have no effect, as it returned to the top of the turntable and resumed its snake sculpture form.

"It's just a little trick, not a real snake." Cyberlina bent down to pick up the oil lamp that had fallen from Harry's hand when he retreated, and handed it back to him. "But it still hurts to be hit, think before you act, little lion."

"Heh, how could a Gryffindor think? They're always reckless!"

Faced with Cyberlina's teasing and Snape's mockery, Harry, unusually, offered no retort or defiance. After all, he had indeed been reckless, and Professor Snape had saved him.

Sensing Harry's thoughts, Cyberlina bent down and whispered into his ear, her voice clear enough for all three to hear, "It seems a certain Keeper is quite reliable."

"Sekerei!" Snape snapped, enraged.

Still reeling from the shock, Harry's mind hadn't quite caught up. He looked at Cyberlina with confusion. "I'm the Seeker, not the Keeper."

Cyberlina and Snape froze for a moment, then burst into laughter simultaneously. Snape's laughter was laced with mockery, while Cyberlina's held a hint of barely perceptible nostalgia.

"As expected of a brainless Gryffindor."

"I wasn't talking about the Keeper on the Quidditch pitch, Harry. I meant the one who protects you off the pitch," Cyberlina said, smiling as she slung an arm around Harry's shoulders. "But I believe you're a formidable Seeker both on and off the Quidditch field, Harry. Go on, continue deciphering. We don't have much time for our night-time excursion."

Cyberlina's words, with their subtle double meaning, made Snape suspect she was hinting at something.

The Lock of Salazar Slytherin wasn't difficult. Once Harry found the key on the iron gate, he opened it quickly. It was the maze-like corridors and the pitch darkness that disoriented him, almost causing him to miss the location of the final lock.

"You tampered with that lock," Snape stated confidently to Cyberlina as they stood before the last iron gate, waiting for Harry to open it. "That snake was supposed to be a real, venomous snake."

"Sharp observation skills," Cyberlina praised without hesitation.

Click.

The snake pattern on the iron gate writhed, and the door swung open, revealing a corridor lined with twin, menacing serpent-adorned stone pillars.

Snape turned to look down the corridor and his expression darkened—this corridor was unlike the previous ones. It reeked of dark magic.

"Don't worry, we tampered with this one too."

Hearing Cyberlina's voice, Snape turned back to her, only to find her standing in the same position, her gaze fixed on Harry, who was running from a distance. It was as if she hadn't spoken to him at all moments before.

"Well done, Harry! I'll handle the rest."

Cyberlina took the oil lamp from Harry, turned, and walked towards the door at the end of the corridor, with Snape and Harry following behind her. Snape kept a few steps behind Harry, positioned to turn and shield him at any moment—he was still wary of the intensifying dark magic.

As they neared the large door, Snape's pupils suddenly contracted. He quickened his pace to walk alongside Cyberlina. When Cyberlina stopped before the door, he also halted, standing to its right, his face grim as he glanced down at his feet. Then, he raised his eyes, his empty black irises fixing on Cyberlina with a wary, sinister gaze.

Cyberlina offered him a reassuring smile. Then, she waved her wand in front of her chest. Instantly, that strange wind swept around Snape once more and surged towards the door.

A face, twisted in pain and contorted in agony, appeared on the door, blending seamlessly with its surface. It looked disgusting and terrifying. As the wind passed, the distorted face began to writhe. Flashes of blue and red lightning-like magical light streaked down the door, outshining Cyberlina's oil lamp and threatening to illuminate the entire corridor.

Harry raised his wand and instinctively took a few steps back. Snape also raised his wand, aiming it at the door, at Cyberlina, but his feet remained rooted to the spot, pressing down firmly on a stone tile that seemed to emit a faint red glow.

Cyberlina forcefully lowered her arm, her wand angled towards the ground. The lightning-like magical lights surged directly into her wand like shooting stars, disappearing without a trace.

Once all the light had vanished, Cyberlina naturally lowered her arm. The terrifying door silently melted downwards, flowing away, and disappeared.

Cyberlina hopped slightly, then spun around abruptly. Her school robes billowed as she raised her right arm, her wand lifting the hem of her robe. Then—her left hand holding the oil lamp remained at the same height, her left foot stepped back half a pace, her toes touching the ground, her waist slightly bent, her back slightly hunched, and her head bowed—she executed an elegant bow.

"Congratulations to all who have found—"

Strands of Cyberlina's curly black hair fell over her shoulder. The oil lamp in front of her flickered erratically. The moment it extinguished—a burst of fire suddenly lit up the darkness behind them. A statue of an old man with a long beard and hair, encircled by snakes, appeared before Harry and Snape—and stood behind Cyberlina.

The dark-haired girl raised her eyes. Her light golden-brown irises, backlit, seemed to glow faintly, filled with a deep smile, yet also revealing a touch of the same sinister aura as the old man's stone statue.

"—Salazar Slytherin's study."