James a chance to explain himself. This ancient world was just too dangerous to muck about in.
Even as James was thinking this, however, something began to move from behind the statues. Someone had been standing in their shadow and was now coming out as if to meet him. James tried to stop, to duck into another hiding place, but there was nowhere to go. It was already too late. Salazar Slytherin grinned wickedly at James, triumphant. He had his wand in his right hand and carried something under his left arm. It was covered in thick black fabric.
'Imagine meeting you here, my young friend,' Slytherin said smoothly. 'You know, I'm beginning to think you aren't a Muggle at all. I'm beginning to think you are a spy. Very tricky of you, travelling via Mirror. I had made the mistake of believing that was impossible.'
James shook his head, 'It's not what you think! I just need to—'
Slytherin's voice turned icy. He held his wand up but didn't point it at James. 'I can promise you one thing, though, my young friend,' he said, turning, 'I will not make that same mistake twice.'
A bolt of white light shot from Slytherin's wand. It struck the silver-framed mirror, which exploded into sparkling bits. The pieces flew between the stone legs of the statues and pattered to the floor.
'No!' James cried, dropping to his knees. He reached for one of the shards, but it was no use. The tiny fragment showed nothing meaningful. The portal was destroyed.
'They say it's seven years bad luck to break a mirror,' Slytherin commented lightly. His footsteps crunched on the bits of broken glass as he walked toward James. He grinned maliciously. 'I guess that just shows what they know, doesn't it?'
James scrambled away from Slytherin, struggling to extricate his wand from the oversized robe. Slytherin stepped casually after James, shaking his head in amusement. As James finally found his wand and pointed it, the bald wizard was already flicking his. There was a sharp crack and James' wand flew out of his hand. It clattered several feet away.
'I'd thought that I was one of but two men in the earth who knew the ways of the Mirrors,' Slytherin said, still advancing on James. With a deft flourish, he pulled the black cloth off the object he'd been holding under his arm. It was another mirror, small and oval-shaped, its golden frame fashioned into the shape of a coiled snake. 'This one is particularly interesting, especially to someone in your predicament. No, I'm sorry to say it isn't a portal. It's a bit more… one-way.'
Slytherin held the mirror so that James saw himself in it. The reflection showed a boy in a pathetically oversized robe, his eyes wild and fearful.
'Have you ever heard of the old Muggle superstition that if you stare into a reflection for too long, you'll become the reflection?' Slytherin asked smoothly, still holding the mirror toward James. 'They fear that if they then walk away from the reflection, they will simply… disappear.'
James had been inching slowly toward his wand, which was lying on the floor a few feet away. Now he steeled his nerve and lunged for it. An instant later, pain roared up his arm, crippling him. He fell to the floor, screaming. Desperately, he looked to see what had caused the damage, and then gasped in shock. His entire right arm had vanished up to the shoulder. He stared at the place where it should have been, unable to resist trying to grab at it with his left hand. Slytherin was laughing happily. He approached James again, and as he did, James' arm faded back into existence. The pain receded.
'There's nothing so instructive as a practical example, is there, my young friend?' Slytherin said, holding the mirror so that James could see himself in it once more. 'As you've just illustrated, if you choose to stay within the reflection, you will be perfectly safe. If, however, you attempt to leave it… well, I really do not need to say any more, do I?'
Slytherin flicked his wand again. James' wand lofted into the air, turning end over end. The bald wizard caught it deftly and held it up. 'Curious, this. Such a beautifully fashioned wand in the hand of a boy who barely knows how to use it. You are not a student of this establishment, and yet you seem to know us. So very many questions do I have for you. And do you know what, my friend?' Slytherin pocketed James' wand and his eyes turned narrow and icy. 'I have every confidence that you will answer them.'
Several minutes later, James found himself in a darkened room in Slytherin's personal chambers. The room was quite low, stone-walled, and surrounded by tapestries depicting rather unpleasant scenes of dancing skeletons and flaming mountains. Tables on both sides of the room gave James the impression that this was Slytherin's personal magical laboratory. The table on the right was laden with gigantic books, parchments, quills, and paints; the one on the left was arrayed with a mind-boggling collection of vials, jars, and pots, all arranged on stacked shelves surrounding a large cauldron. Only one candle burned in the room, blood-red and embedded in the top of a human skull. James had the distinct and unsettling impression that very few people had ever seen this room. He sat against the rear wall in a very straight chair with a high ladder-back. It was rather uncomfortable, but it was the only chair from which he could see himself in the oval-shaped mirror. Slytherin had positioned the mirror on an easel in front of the double doors, assuring that James could not approach the doors without leaving his reflection.
'As much as I would enjoy interviewing you immediately,' Slytherin had explained, 'I am a very busy wizard, and you've caught me at a rather bad time. Let me assure you, though: as soon as I complete my evening's appointment, you will have my full and undivided attention.'
With that, Slytherin had pulled the doors mostly closed, but not completely. Through the gap, James could see a tiny portion of Slytherin's main office. As James waited, he could hear the bald wizard moving about, shuffling parchments and muttering darkly. Finally, there came a single, loud knock on the outer office door.
'How quaint of you to pretend you are not already in the room, my friend,' Slytherin's voice said. 'I sensed your arrival minutes ago, but I assumed it rude to say so. Please do make yourself comfortable.'
Through the crack in the double doors, James saw a shadow move. A figure passed in front of the crack. There was the creak of a heavy footstep, and then a deep sigh.
'I despise the very stone of this place,' a deep, rumbling voice said. 'The cobbles of its floors are like knives to my feet. I'd call up the fires of the earth's belly to consume it if I could, and damn your miserable college.'
In the darkness of the laboratory, James gasped. He recognized the voice of Slytherin's visitor. It was incredible, and yet it seemed to fit all too well. How could he not have made this connection before? His heart pounded and he strained his ears to listen.
'I sympathize, Merlinus,' Slytherin said. 'This must be a very disquieting homecoming for you. Still, you cannot imagine that we'd have allowed this castle to go unoccupied. As you may guess, not a single Muggle lord wished to claim it after Lord Hadyn's unfortunate… accident. Ironically, they believe the castle is cursed rather than magically fortified. I join you, however, in despising much of what this place has become. My fellow founders are increasingly double-minded. They coddle the unmagicked and the dirty half-bloods. They plot against me as we speak. I fear that my time here is near an end.'
'What a pitiful shame,' Merlin said, his voice oozing contempt. 'And you had once believed this college would be the dawn of your pureblood utopia. You must be positively heartbroken.'
'My 'pureblood utopia', as you call it, will be a reality whether I assist it or not, my friend,' Slytherin said. 'It is the nature of things. The rulers of this world will only live among the cattle for so long before they rise up. My role in the process is insignificant, although I admit I wished to live to see the day. And do not pretend disgust at my words, Merlinus. You are the greatest proof of my claims even if you deign to ignore it.'
'You believe that I detest the unmagicked as you do, but I am not so simple-minded,' Merlin said dismissively. 'One rabid wolf doesn't justify killing the pack. Domination is your only aim, not justice.'
'Is it wrong to dominate those unworthy of equality?' Slytherin replied, as if he and Merlin had had this argument many times before. 'One can make the claim that it is a kindness to govern those who are unable to
