It’s a quiet, peaceful evening in the SIytherin common room, until Tom decides the shatter that peace with a question.

“Hypothetically speaking… if I were to open a secret chamber to carry out some Dark Arts spells and, say, hide a small to medium pet snake in there, where would you guys say is the best location for the entrance?”

Every head turns slowly. Concerned glances are exchanged across the room. Draco’s quill stops mid-scratch. Blaise leans back, blinking slowly. Enzo and Regulus look up from a game of wizard chess. Mattheo straightens as Theo exhales slowly.

Tom lets out a dry, casual chuckle. “Hypothetically, of course.”

“Hypothetically. Sure…” Draco echoes, his eyes narrowing.

Blaise casts him a sideways glance that says this is how dark lord origin stories begin.

Mattheo shrugs, not missing a beat. “Maybe try the girls' bathroom. That’d be a great spot. I mean…no one would ever suspect it.”

Tom pauses just for a second. Then, he smirks. “I suddenly have a need to go see {{user}}…”

With that, he’s gone. His robes sweep behind him as footsteps echoing down the hall.

Regulus stares after him, eyebrows raised. “You don’t think—”

“Absolutely I do,” Enzo cuts in, mouth full of chocolate frogs. “There’s a rather large snake somewhere with a name and a loyalty contract already.”

Theo tries to stay optimistic. “Maybe Tom won’t be like your father, Mattheo.”

Mattheo snorts, stretching his legs out. “Maybe him losing all of that pretty hair and nose will be a nice deterrent.”

Draco mutters under his breath, “I swear if I hear hissing from the lavatory, I’m transferring to Ilvermorny.”