Return of Salazar Slytherin

Riddle was completely thrown into chaos: the person before him claimed to be Salazar Slytherin!!!

And judging by his demeanor, there was a very high likelihood he was telling the truth! 

So, this little wizard named Rhys might actually be his ancestor? 

Considering the benefits of acknowledging Rhys as an ancestor, coupled with the fact that he was no match for him, Riddle made his decision in less than a second. 

"Honorable Salazar Slytherin! I offer you my highest respect. You are a living legend, and the blood flowing through my veins that belongs to you is my eternal pride," Riddle said in an extremely earnest and serious tone, as if reciting an ode, paying his respects to Rhys. 

"I, Tom Marvolo Gaunt, in my arrogance and ignorance, have offended you. Please, great ancestor, punish me for the sins I have committed!" Tom's tone was full of sincerity, as though he truly welcomed any punishment Rhys might give him. 

Rhys: "..." 

"Enough already," Rhys said, his face contorting the moment he heard the name 'Gaunt.' "Gaunt was my foster child. The blood in your veins is not mine." 

"No matter what punishment you choose, my heart will be full of gratitude because I have finally—Wait what?" Riddle's words stopped abruptly. 

Rhys's statement hit him harder than a thousand blasting curses. With Slytherin's personal confirmation, how could there be any room for denial? 

Now, the blood in his veins was nothing but the filthy lineage of Muggles and the blood of thieves and liars. 

'He is a pure-blood ideologist! At this rate, he'll kill me!!'

However, Riddle quickly devised the best possible way to respond. His expression turned sorrowful, and his voice took on a sobbing tone: 

"Oh, great Slytherin, you may not know this, but I grew up in an orphanage..." 

In concise and poignant words, Riddle narrated his childhood in the orphanage to Rhys. 

Orphanages in the 1930s were far from kind places. Overcrowded due to the war and with government funding stretched thin, the children endured harsh living conditions and a lack of care or attention. It was a survival-of-the-fittest world. 

"The ultimate goal for the orphans was to be adopted. Whenever a family came to the orphanage looking to adopt, the children would become as eager and excited as puppies in a pet shop, trying their hardest to show themselves in the best light." At this point, Riddle's tone grew indignant. "I was no different, and I put in immense effort. But a mere small rumor was enough to destroy everything." 

"'He talks to snakes.'" Riddle mimicked a child's voice with a sneer. "'All those damned brats had to do was casually bring up this fact during conversations with prospective adopters, and all my merits were erased—no family was willing to take in a child who might be able to talk to snakes.'" 

After detailing his miserable childhood, Riddle changed his tone: 

"The first sixteen years of my life were bleak. But after meeting you, I finally have a family again!"

"You, the great Slytherin, are the father of all students in Slytherin House! I, Tom Gaunt, have finally found a father! Please, let me be your adopted son. From this moment on, your commands will be my life's purpose—" 

At this emotional peak, Riddle even shed tears. 

Rhys interrupted Riddle's performance and kindly reminded him that he indeed had a father—the Muggle named Riddle. 

Tom Riddle: "…"

The thing he despised most was the Muggle bloodline he inherited from his father. 

He wanted to say more, but Rhys had no interest in wasting further time on him. Through their exchanges, Rhys had seen through Riddle's true nature. 

As he initially concluded, Riddle was nothing more than a beast wearing human skin, and language was just another weapon in his arsenal. 

"Earlier, I shared with you the mysteries of separation magic. Now, let me teach you another lesson—" Rhys stretched his upper body and cracked his neck, the joints in his body emitting a series of sharp pops. 

"—And that lesson is to be cautious when using soul-level magic, especially when you can't ascertain the opponent's level." 

He loosened his control over his own soul. 

Before Rhys had even finished speaking, Riddle already had a bad feeling.

What followed quickly confirmed his intuition: the ground of the flower-covered landscape, previously dry sand and stone, now began seeping with moisture.

The air grew humid, and the unmistakable scent of water lingered everywhere. 

Riddle instinctively wiped the beads of dew forming on his forehead, only to notice fine scales appearing on his palms.

"What...?!" He looked toward where Rhys stood and saw that Rhys's body was undergoing a drastic transformation. The scales on his skin swelled and flattened repeatedly until green serpents began slithering out from him. In no time, his lower body was entirely concealed by the writhing mass of slick snakes.

The snakes coiled and intertwined, forming a "tail" beneath Rhys's waist. At a glance, it looked like a massive green serpent several meters long.

Meanwhile, his upper body stabilized, though all the scales on it turned silver, and his face took on an even more serpentine appearance.

Noticing Riddle staring at him, Rhys grinned widely.

"Don't look at things you're not supposed to…" a raspy voice whispered in Riddle's ear.

Riddle suddenly felt as if thousands of needles were stabbing into every inch of his body. He let out a pained scream, swelling like a balloon before bursting with a loud pop.

Most of Riddle's soul fragmented into countless specks of light, drifting through the air. Only a faint, thin wisp of light floated upward toward the sky.

Rhys did not stop it and allowed it to vanish into the air.

Riddle had already coughed up all the benefits he had extracted from Ginny, even losing a significant portion of his own essence in the process. It was time to send him back into the diary. 

If he continued to harm Riddle, Rhys genuinely worried he might accidentally destroy this Horcrux—and it still had an important role to play.

It couldn't afford to be damaged. 

After all, finding another Horcrux wasn't an option! 

Rhys was rather thankful to Riddle, who had provided him with a wealth of precious "materials."

Riddle's contributions had yielded the best treatment solutions for both Ravenclaw and Astoria's ailments. 

As Rhys reverted to his original appearance, the flower field's ground also returned to its dry state, as if the water from moments ago had never existed. 

A single droplet of water fell into the field, followed by a second, then a third... 

Rain began to fall from the sky, merging with the glowing specks of light that floated in the air and soaking into the field, nourishing the previously arid soil. 

Rhys remained in the flower field until the rain stopped.

By then, the land had transformed into fertile black soil, and the withered dandelions were gone, replaced by countless tiny sprouts just breaking through the surface. 

"The dandelion field will bloom again, though it may take a few days," Rhys said, confirming that Ginny's soul world had returned to a healthy state.

With that assurance, Rhys exited her soul world. 

_________

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