Damn. Did Newt write this guide?

Great writing! Enjoyed this very much! Into Harry Potter stuff so this was a great! Also, good choice on picking a basilisk!

My only question is how did he accidentally leave a toad on a chicken egg for 9 months.

I really like what you did here! Beautifully written, as well, I didn't spot any technical things. I love the character you gave Salazar, Herpo, and Helga! I really like reading these fics about barely-known characters (though I would be complete rubbish at writing them :p) and you've done a wonderful job here working with them! Great fic :D

Omggg I really enjoyed reading this fic. This is one of the most original pieces I've seen, to be honest with you.

The characteristic traits you presented Helga and Salazar with were very entertaining. I found their banter to be humorous at many points, and also the sort of bitter, snappish dialogue from Salazar made me think of Filch quite a bit. I can definitely see the power-drive that describes Slytherins in him.

You definitely researched Herpo the Foul and the Founders well - I love how you tied in a lot of Chamber-related facts as well as Greek with this fic. Your spelling and grammar were spotless from what I saw.

I think this was really creative and cool, I liked it a lot! Great job! :))

Woah. This is very, very interesting...in a good way. I love how you've captured Salazar's thoughts on Hogwarts' decline, his disgust at the idea of Muggleborns, the driving force behind wanting a Basilisk - all very in character and fabulous to read. The snippets from Herpo the foul were great. I really enjoyed the format of this piece. And I found it intriguing how you compared Salazar's relationship with the baby Basilisk as a mother/child one! Now there's a crack!fic waiting to happen.

One little mistake I noticed though: [Salazar knew he could speak Parselmouth] should be Parseltongue, which I'm sure you know. :3

Other than that, this was fantastic!

This was unique and I loved it! Chocolate Card figures are quite intriguing, aren't they? I like the dry style of Herpo's words and his instructions - compared with Salazars actions - often made me chuckle, like when Salazar was told not to use magic on the toad when he had just Stunned it. The 'Steps to hatching a Basilisk' truly sound like a recipe for disaster haha. I like the detail of Salazar taking 10 years to decipher the text, because it shows his determination. I do believe the Greek wrote on papyrus scrolls rather than stone tablets at that time, but I could be wrong.

The comment on the smell of the egg and wondering why Herpo never said it smelled foul was a nice throwaway line as to were Herpo might have gotten his nickname from.

The only thing I can put as concrit here is that the taming of the Basilisk went by a little too quickly, like it almost didn't take any effort to tame it. I would have liked to see a bit more of the work on that as well.

I really enjoyed reading this. The little experts from Herpo's tablets and Salazar's experience around them is very well balanced. The only thing is that I wish you'd included more on how Salazar tamed the basilisk. It seemed almost *too* easy, you know? :)

This was a very interesting story. I didn't mind at all that it had a lot of Salazar in it... the Founder's Era is my second favorite Era to read and write, even if it is one of the most difficult. This was very good and I was defnitely draw in immediately. I loved everything you did with this. Amazing job. :)

I LOVE THIS! I love what you did with Salazar's character and the way you told his story of how he ended up creating a basilisk. I've never read anything like this and it was absolutely wonderful. I love Sal's characterization here. He's resentful, and powerhungry, but also very hardworking. The conversation between Sal and Helga said a lot about how he treated his friends in general. And really, I just loved the whole thing. Great job!

A very interesting process of how a Basilisk is born, I knew how, but it was still fun to see it in action. There was a great deal of bluntness to Herpo's instructions, which I found myself chuckling at. Namely, "Once the shell has been fully discarded, remove the toad. This toad is now of no use." because I just got the image of Salazar tossing the toad over his shoulder nonchalantly.

Though, it left me curious. Just how did Salazar know a heir would return to free the basilisk?

This is brilliant :)

I'm not really sure how it counts as HerpoSalazar, but maybe that's just me. Pairing aside, I think you've managed to create a very nice explanation for how Salazar hatched the Basilisk in the Chamber - I think I may just have a new headcannon!

This story has an interesting structure—I like the way you alternate between textbook-style instructions and Salazar's snippets. It's refreshing to see a different format for a story!

I love that it has taken Salazar ten years to decipher just the first passage on the tablets/Herpo's instructions. The words seem so simple, and yet require painstaking labor to translate. This shows a lot about Salazar's character—his determination, curiosity, and scholarship. (A note, though . . . at the time of Herpo, I believe people were writing on scrolls, not stone or clay tablets, unless Wizards were behind the times then, too).

The first line of step two—considering what Salazar just did to the toad—cracked me up.

Reading Salazar's point of view of the deterioration of Hogwarts gives a good insight into him: he obviously doesn't see himself as a bad man—just one who has been disappointed in accomplishing his noble goals. This strikes me as realistic.

[constantly insisting to come] probably should read “insisting on coming.” I also notice that something might be up with this sentence: [the egg did turn a green]. Is there a word missing here? I wanted to ask, in case you meant “a shade of green” or something like that . . .

["Finally, you're here," he said in a way he had heard mothers talk to their newborns.

The creature wriggled in its new body.] I really like these two lines: Salazar treating his hatchling as a baby, and the hatchling itself reveling in its freedom.

The ending of your story is chilling—yet sad. I feel sorry that after all those years of labor and his feelings towards his “creation” (almost fatherly), Salazar has to abandon it so soon. I feel bad for the baby basilisk, too. Yet, even more so, I feel frightened for the future—and for the carelessness that Salazar shows in leaving such a dangerous creature lurking beneath the castle.

Eee Ash this was so good! I could've sworn that the extracts from Herpo's tablets were out of a textbook they sounded that professional. I really liked this idea quite a lot and It was brilliantly written and I loved seeing how Salazar eventually hatched the basilisk and I liked the mishap with the toad. Brilliant job Ash! Keep up the great work!

This was really interesting, and really unique (or at least I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before). I like the way you went about this, with each instruction and then Salazar carrying it out. You got a really suitable tone for each section, I thought.

I really liked your characterisation of Salazar - he seemed really determined to succeed. You showed a lot of tiny details that revealed a lot about his character, like his attitude towards Helga and their interactions. I also liked how he had the Basilisk under his control so easily, how natural it seemed to him even though he wasn't experienced at it.

I spotted one mistake - shouldn't it be "Salazar knew he could speak Parseltongue" instead of "Parselmouth"? - but other than that I can't fault this. :)