Cross looked at Salazar and said "Do you know anything about Elves?" Salazar looked at him and said "I assume you're not talking about House-Elves." Cross shook his head and Salazar got serious as he said "This is an extremely forbidden topic, boy. Even more serious than Dark Magic!"
Cross' ears twitched and he said "Tell me." Salazar shook his head and said "I can't, I have already sworn an oath. The other three have as well." Cross frowned and said "What could have possibly been so bad that you can't speak about it?"
Salazar asked "Why are you so curious, boy. Isn't it better to just be a happy child?" Cross pointed to his ears and said "Look with your cataracts, old man. I am an Elf!" Salazar was shocked and said "I thought it was Animagus mutation! How can this be! They all died in that war-" before shutting his mouth.
Cross narrowed his eyes and said "What war." Salazar refused "I cannot speak of this. I am soul bound to secrecy. If I speak my soul will be tortured for the rest of time." Cross frowned and said "So serious?" Salazar said seriously "Listen, boy. You must hide yourself well. If someone finds out your true identity, even the gods won't be able to save you."
Cross was confused and said "Only a handful of Humans even know what Elves are and the Goblins will not speak." Salazar spoke seriously "You are a fool if you think there are only Goblins, Humans, House-Elves, and beasts in this world. Even your history books don't dare to write down every race there is!"
Cross was silent and narrowed his eyes at the implications of this news to him. There was obviously a conspiracy going on not only within the school but with the Elves as well. He didn't care about the Elves, he only cared about his own life.
He snorted to himself and said "Regardless or who comes if they find out, they will only become corpses if they want me dead!" Salazar smirked and said "Confidence is good, boy. But what happened was beyond your imagination. Do you think magic has an end?"
Cross looked up and Salazar sneered as he said "Magic isn't applicable on a scale, there is never an end to the heights you can reach! You can go as far as you can imagine! Me as well as the other three old coots were closest to the top of the funnel!"
Salazar chuckled wryly to himself and said melancholically "By the time we reached that level we realized we were only frogs in a well. Unable to make the final step and tread on a greater path, we decided to build Hogwarts."
Cross was confused and said "Final step?" Salazar said "Listen carefully, boy. Magic that you know now is only the beginning! Past the final step is a whole world of magic! That's why Hogwarts was born. To give the chance to the younger generation to hopefully reach the peak and take the step past the barrier."
Cross asked "What is the barrier?" Salazar shook his head and said "It can't be explained in words. If I had to give it a comprehensible name it would be Godhood!" Cross' mind trembled in shock as he said "Godhood?!"
Salazar waved and said "Relax, boy. That is too far for the current you. Just focus on your studies. Keep your Elf heritage under wraps or you won't even have a chance to cry about it. Understood?" Cross nodded and threw the shocking God revelation to the back of his mind.
Salazar nodded and stroked his beard as he said "The boy can be taught! Very good." Cross asked "What happened to the Forbidden Curses? Why are they forbidden now?" Salazar said "Avada Kadevra, Crucio, and Imperio?" Cross nodded and explained "In my memories, these three curses were used by the entire Blood Elf military."
Salazar said "Times change, people change. What was okay then, isn't now. If I remember correctly, they are now completely forbidden? Well there's a book with them in it, I'm sure you're smart enough to know when and when not to use them. Also, if you wish to enter the Room of Requirement you must walk back and forth in front of the dancing orc painting and think about what you want, three times."
Cross nodded and Salazar sighed as he said "Live well, boy. I have fulfilled my purpose. Behind the painting is a surprise.." he smirked and said "Maybe you'll find it useful." before the whole picture frame dulled and Salazar went to normal.
Cross kept his guard up and touched the painting, feeling that it was just a normal painting now. But he was unsettled and took the painting down, turning it towards the wall before leaning it on the wall.
He looked at where the painting was to see a vault looking thing with a snake on it. Cross spoke Parseltongue to the vault door saying "Open." the vault door opened and revealed a box with a letter on top.
Cross took the box and the letter before closing the vault door and walking to the desk.
He opened the letter and read the contents. It said the password for the Chamber of Secrets. Cross didn't know what that was but he kept the letter in his storage bag for later usage before opening the box.
Cross felt his eyes twitch fiercely. Inside the box was a full set of snake themed jewelry. Earrings, bracelets, necklace, rings, a pair of glasses, and a belly piercing. Cross really wanted to pull Salazar's soul back and give him a good slap, how could this be useful?!
Cross looked at the jewelry and noticed they all had different effects, increasing magic comprehension, increasing magic absorption, etc. Every one had a different effect but they were all useful. Unfortunately, Cross wouldn't be caught dead wearing any of these.
Apparently it wasn't his choice, as two earrings shot out of the box and morphed into snakes, melding into earrings running along the top of his pointed ears. They looked like two coiling snakes, crawling on his ears about to pounce from the edges.
Cross closed the box before any other jewelry started flying towards him and waved his hand, making a mirror in front of him. He twitched his ears and they felt the same, just now they had snakes on them. He didn't like them, at all, but he felt more magic flowing towards him and the magic in his body being stimulated.
He got increased magic absorption and increased magic power.
Cross looked at his miserable self and mumbled "Is it worth it? To look like this?" he sighed and touched the snake earrings. Suddenly! They disappeared! Cross almost jumped for joy as the earrings became invisible.
He calmed down and put the box of jewelry in his storage bag before going back to the bookshelf. He was basically free until tomorrow morning, so he could get comfortable in his new room. He started setting his room up with all the stuff from his storage bag.
He took out the incubator and placed it carefully on the desk. He looked at the egg and mumbled to himself before taking off the case and biting his finger. He dipped a drop of blood on the egg before putting the case back. The egg sucked up the blood and trembled a bit before getting even colder than before and gaining a red-ish tint.
Cross flicked a drop of blood into Carl's mouth and then licked his own finger, closing the wound.
Carl fell to the ground and twitched slightly before a blood cocoon enveloped him. Cross picked the cocoon up and put in on the desk next to the egg and started reading about advanced magic from the bookshelf, while practicing his strings.
The next day
Cross appeared in the common room and sat in a chair, reading the French book. It was much more simple than the Parseltongue book, as a matter of fact he was already almost done.
Daphne came down and saw Cross reading in a chair. She bounced over happily and said "Were you waiting for me?" Cross nodded and said "I have something for you. Let's go." Daphne smiled and they left the common room.
Cross spread out his strings and cleared the area before pulling out a box from his storage bag. Daphne was curious and said "What is it?" Cross smiled mysteriously and opened the box, Daphne saw the beautiful jewelry inside and was confused.
The two bracelets flew out and turned into snakes before wrapping around Daphne's wrists and biting their own tails. Cross closed the box and put it away, Daphne was stunned and looked at the bracelets saying "They're beautiful! I love them!" as she hugged Cross.
Cross was stunned and looked awkward as he hugged her back saying "Yeah, uhh. You're welcome.." Daphne pulled back and said seriously "Cross, we need to talk." Cross was startled and said "Um, okay. But let me just tell you something.."
They started walking again and Cross explained "The bracelets are artifacts, in particular your bracelets will increase your magic control and comprehension. Basically turning you into a genius! Also, they can turn invisible if you want them to."
Daphne looked at the bracelets and thought for a moment. The bracelets disappeared and Daphne said "So cool!" Cross smiled and Daphne said "You have some on you too? Can I see?" Cross' face turned ugly and he said "I'd rather n-" Daphne said "Show me!"
Cross sighed and let the earrings appear, Daphne looked at Cross' ears and she said quickly "Enough, disappear. Go back!" Cross made them invisible again and sighed "Ugly right?" Daphne almost died. What do you mean ugly?! My heart is still beating fast! More like too handsome!
Cross didn't know that Daphne had told him to put them away because he looked too good and she didn't want anybody else to see him.
They sat down for breakfast and started eating.
A while later
Hermione and Draco sat down as well. Daphne finally remembered "Right! I almost forgot!" she elbowed Cross, who was reading the French book. Cross almost dropped the book and quickly caught to before looking at Daphne, bewildered.
Hermione bit her lips and looked down, giggling slightly. Draco chuckled as he ate and Daphne said seriously "You need to relax." Cross was confused and said "What do you mean?" Daphne explained "You weren't all serious all the time before! Ever since we got here you've been all serious and studying."
Cross was silent for a second before saying "It's dangerous here. You can't let your guard down..." Daphne rolled her eyes and said "We're not in danger right now are we? Just relax, you're too serious. Look your uniform is all perfect and neat! Where's the goofy Cross from before?"
Cross was speechless and Daphne put the final nail in the coffin as she said "Do you want me to tell dad that you're not actively making friends?" Cross said "You wouldn't! He'll kick my ass!" Daphne chuckled evilly, Cross grumbled and said in Elven "Change"
His robe changed to the golden flower robes.
Daphne nodded and said "Just chill. You're too high strung." Cross sighed and went back to reading, cursing Daphne for basically blackmailing him. Hermione and Draco were stunned.
Draco was stunned that Daphne actually showed so much emotion and Hermione was stunned that Cross used to be a goofy kid.
The rest of the meal went by without anymore surprises.
Another few weeks later
Cross finished learning French, Spanish, Russian, Italian, and Gobbledegook. He returned all the books he finished and kept the Draconian language book. He kept his golden flower robes but kept doing the same he was doing before. It wasn't that he was ignoring Daphne's advice but he felt it was better to be safe than sorry.
He practiced in his room every night, he had become even more proficient in his strings and was developing a special spell.
Cross stood in the middle of his room and spread out his hands, strings flew out and slowly came together to form another Cross. He perfected all the details and enchanted it with Elven magic. Cross named it 'String Clone', it could move, talk, and do everything Cross could do but only worked with Cross giving it instructions.
It didn't have a mind of it's own. But everything it did, learned, and saw, could be sent back to Cross, either telepathically, or by returning to his body in string form.
Cross made this clone so that it could go to classes while he went other places.
He was thinking of going to the Room of Requirement soon and skipping class would obviously shine attention on himself. So the solution was to create a clone that could send him feedback and be a stand in for himself.
Cross looked at the string clone in satisfaction before going to sleep.
The next day
Cross sent the string clone to class and went to the 7th floor. He had tested the clone at breakfast and it worked perfectly, nobody suspected anything.
Cross walked through the 7th floor before finding the dancing orc painting. He covered the painting with a mass of strings, covering its sight before he paced back and forth thinking about wanting to get into the Room.
After the third time the wall in front of him changed into a door. Cross smiled and walked into the room, dispelling the strings as the door disappeared and leaving the orc confused.