The Rise of Slytherin

Chapter One – A Blessing or a Curse?

The sun had set long ago with nearly everybody in their beds apart from one. Sixteen year old Harry James Potter, a student wizard at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was stood in the middle on an ordinary looking field. Apart from the hole in the middle of the field, in which the black-haired teefn was currently digging, the field could pass as any other but he knew something ordinary people did not. Ever since his eighth birthday he had been having strange dreams, dreams of a young boy who would talk to him whenever he fell asleep, the boy from his dreams had told him to dig in the middle of the field. The boy hadn't given him a reason, Harry didn't need one, he would have done anything to get out of the house and digging a hole in the middle of the field was better than getting beaten up by his cousin Dudley Dursley. The first dream was eight years ago and much had changed in his life, he had started to attend Hogwarts at the age of eleven where he met Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger; his best friends. He had also made enemies with a boy named Draco Malfoy, saved the Philosopher's Stone and revealed that Professor Quirrel was Lord Voldemort. In his second year he had found out he was a parselmouth, one who could speak with snakes, had the whole school turned against him, found Tom Riddle's diary, saved Ginny Weasley from a basilisk in Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, it turned out Ginny had been possessed by Tom Riddle's diary. In his third year he had been taught the Patronus Charm, a charm which protected someone from Dementor's, and successfully learnt to cast it, suspected mass murderer to be after him, learnt that said mass murderer was his godfather and was framed by supposed dead man Peter Pettigrew, gotten chased by his werewolf professor and went back in time so he could save his innocent Godfather's life. In his fourth year he had been wrongly entered into the Goblet of Fire and made to compete in the Triwizard Tournament, he had to steal a golden egg from a dragon, go into the lake to save his friend from merpeople, face a maze full of enchantments. The Triwizard cup turned out to be a portkey, a form of wizard travel that sends someone to somewhere else via an object, which sent him and fellow Hogwarts competitor; Cedric Diggory to a graveyard where Tom Riddle's, also known as Lord Voldemort, father was buried, Peter Pettigrew revived Voldemort by cutting of his hand and taking Harry's blood among other things, Pettigrew, also known as Wormtail, had killed Cedric as soon as they had arrived. Harry fought Voldemort, again, survived and returned to Hogwarts with Cedric after speaking to the dead phantoms of several people, his parents being among them. It turned out his Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was an imposter. In his fifth year most people turned against him because they believed him to be lying about Voldemort's return. He went on a date with a Ravenclaw sixth year which didn't work out very well, he started up an illegal defence group, attempted to learn Occlemency, an art that protected the mind from invasion, from Severus Snape; the potions professor whom he hated and who hated him in return. He led five other students to the Department of Mysteries because Voldemort had tricked him into getting a prophecy. Neville Longbottom, a clumsy Gryffindor who accompanied him, accidentally broke the prophecy. In the end his Godfather, Sirius Black, had ended up falling through the Veil of Death, Dumbledore, the headmaster, revealed the prophecy to him after he fought Voldemort and everybody had no choice but to believe he was back. Of course that was only the gist of what happened; Harry lived with his Aunt and Uncle after his parents were murdered when he was one and since some of the Order of the Phoenix, a rebel group against Voldemort, had threatened them they had left Harry alone which meant he didn't have to sneak out in the middle of the night to dig a large hole in a field.

"It's a full moon." He whispered absently while brushing some of his stray ebony locks away from his face; he couldn't help but notice the silvery orb that hung in the sky, leaning on his shovel he stared up at it and smiled wistfully. "I wonder how Professor Lupin is." He mumbled while thinking of his ex-professor who turned into a werewolf every full moon, the greying man also happened to be an old friend of his parents. He let his gaze drop from the moon and land on the hole in front of him which he had climbed out of earlier, it was a deep hole and had taken him eight years to dig but he had the strangest feeling that he was nearly finished digging. He supposed that would be a good thing but he had no idea what he'd been digging for and just the thought of unearthing it made him nervous, what could it be? A chest full of treasure? An ancient spell book that would help him defeat Voldemort? Assuming that it was any use of course, he doubted it would be something that wasn't any use. Sensing the near completion of the hole the dreams of the boy had stopped and instead were replaced with strange ones of him recovering something totally ridiculous and of no use, usually it was a frying pan and unless he was supposed to hit Voldemort over the head with it or cook some poisoned food for the Dark Lord then he really couldn't figure out the use for that.

Glancing at his watch, which was ticking closer to three, he climbed down into the hole since it had gotten to deep to jump into without breaking his leg or something similar. Standing at the bottom of the hole he realised that he had left his shovel at the top causing him to frown and punch the wall in annoyance. Before he realised what had happened a pale hand burst from the earthy ground and grabbed onto his shoe as a consequence Harry leapt back in horror with his back pressed firmly against the wall. His breath was coming out in short pants as the thing underneath the earth began to emerge and when it had fully unearthed itself he felt like he was going to faint.

"Thank you Harry Potter." Harry attempted to nod at the slightly younger boy who was now stood before him, the boy from his dreams. Mud caked black hair was spiked up in various directions contrasting violently to the incredibly pale skin of the boy, dark brown eyes stared up at him from under the black strands that hung in front of them, a small, thankful smile rested upon the boy's lips and Harry gulped nervously.

"Who are you?" He questioned while trying to process everything, last he knew when you dug for eight years the body you found was most likely dead. "How come you aren't dead?"

"I am Silas, Salazar Slytherin's little brother." The boy answered his eyes never leaving Harry's face not even when Harry reached for his wand and held it directly at the other's chest. The only word that ran through his mind at that moment was; impossible. Returning back to the fact that you didn't dig up bodies, which were alive, after eight years of digging and especially not ones who had brother's over a thousand years old.

"Then you should be dead." Harry whispered firmly with his wand hand shaking slightly.

"Immortality…" The boy whispered softly while closing his eyes. "A blessing…or a curse?" Harry's mind was whirring away with different possibilities.

"If you are immortal then why do you look eleven instead of over a thousand?" He asked, his hand finally stopped shaking and he contemplated the idea of blasting the boy's head off because the brother of Salazar Slytherin had to be as evil as his elder brother, right?

Instead of answering right away the boy's eyes snapped open and narrow at him. "I am NOT eleven!" The boy, Silas, declared angrily while crossing his arms firmly across his chest and stamping his foot. "I am fourteen!" Silas stressed. "Not everything is as it appears." Before Harry could react the younger boy had already started to climb out of the hole with Harry rushing after him.

"W-wait!" He shouted breathlessly when he reached the top; the Slytherin was already halfway across the field. "I dug you up! You could at least explain things to me!" He growled as he stormed over to the boy who had stopped.

"Not everything is as it appears." The boy repeated firmly as he turned to face the Gryffindor. "When I was eight, Salazar was like…I dunno twenty or something…what do you know about Gryffindor Harry Potter?" Harry raised an eyebrow at the abrupt change of subject but didn't say anything

"Call me Harry." He insisted while dredging up what he remembered about the founder of his house. "Well, Gryffindor was a powerful light wizard, he founded Hogwart's, was Head of Gryffindor House, was best friends with Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin, they banished Slytherin after he wanted to wipe out non-pureblood's." Harry explained while Silas stared up at him unblinkingly with disbelief written all across his extremely pale face.

"Okay, your right but your wrong…" Silas informed him. "Right! So when I was eight-"

"This isn't going to be your life story, right?" Harry interrupted as soon as he saw Silas sit down on the ground as if he was about to tell a story which was hours long.

"No! Are you stupid? I'm skipping eight years since I'm starting when I'm eight, it wouldn't be that long anyway since now I'm-"

"Eleven?"

"-Fourteen. Would you stop interrupting me?!" Silas grumbled in annoyance while Harry just smirked and sat across from him. "Okay, so like I was saying. I was eight-"

"I know, you've told me three times now, can you just tell me already." Harry butted in while Silas threw him an exasperated look.

"I'm trying! Don't even think about interrupting me. Okay, so when I was eight Godric Gryffindor killed me then buried me underground for some reason that I don't know because I was only eight. I don't know if he knew I could come back to life but I think he did because he buried me with a spoon." Silas grumbled while pulling a silver spoon from the pocket of his muddy robes. "I died…a lot actually, trying to dig my way out, I didn't get very far and when I'd been doing it for six years I gave up and stayed in between life and death for a while because I can't die. Then while flittering through the minds round here I came across yours, a wizard mind, perfect. Then I infected your dreams and convinced you to dig me up!" Harry stared at the boy in front of him for quite a while, finding no reason to knock the explanation aside he just nodded in agreement.

"How come you don't speak how they spoke in the past?" Harry questioned bluntly while standing up and brushing the dirt of Dudley's baggy trousers.

"Probably because the last time I spoke to anybody was Gryffindor when I was eight which was an age ago then I spoke to you for eight years." Silas replied with a shrug before turning his gaze to the sky which was turning various pastel colours as the sun rose. The black-haired boy breathed in deeply with a soft smile etched on his face.

"You don't know how long it is since I've breathed fresh air or actually breathed at all. Do you know how hard it is to breathe underground? Impossible because there's little, if any, oxygen and the earth usually crushed me before I had time to breathe anyway. Thank you for digging me up Harry." Silas mumbled while blushing slightly in embarrassment. "Erm. Heh, well I never really did expect to be dug up, so…any ideas on what I should do now?"

"Not really." Harry answered with a shrug while feeling the same as Silas. For eight years his summer goal had been to dig the hole and now he'd finished he didn't know what to do with himself, he felt at a loss. "My relatives won't let you stay with me." He told the boy while sighing slightly.

"Oh." The fourteen year old uttered while looking small and lost.

"Why aren't you evil?" Harry questioned suddenly while striding forwards with the younger boy automatically following.

"Should I be?" Silas asked innocently before stopping suddenly when they reached the road. "W-what?" He stuttered while bending down and running a hand across the tarmac. "What is it?" Brown eyes focused on Harry with confusion written in their depths.

"It's a road." Harry acknowledged not seeing why the boy seemed so confused. "Y'know, what you drive cars on."

"Cars?" Silas queried looking at the other boy blankly.

"I forgot. You're a wizard." Harry muttered while checking to see if there were any early-morning cars before crossing the road.

"So?" Silas questioned innocently causing Harry to sigh. "So where are you going? Can I come?"

"Home I guess and no, you can't." At his words Silas looked absolutely heartbroken and Harry felt slightly guilty. "I don't really want to go there myself."

"Then don't!" Silas declared cheerfully while managing to look perky unlike Harry who felt exhausted from digging through most of the day and night. "Let's go shopping! We can go to my vault and buy stuff. Like a wand!"

"I already have a wand." Harry pointed out while tapping the wooden stick he had pointed at Silas earlier.

"But I don't." He whined childishly.

"You don't? Maybe we could accio it." Harry pondered while Silas waved an agitated hand in front of the scarred boy's face.

"Accio?"

"Summon it." Harry explained to the Slytherin while sitting on the curb of the road since he didn't want to bring Silas near his house, how would he explain that to his relatives.

"I don't have a wand." Silas repeated slowly while Harry nodded in response.

"Of course not, why would Gryffindor bury you with your wand." Harry stated deep in thought causing Silas to let out a sigh while shaking his head at the elder boy.

"He wouldn't because I don't have a wand." He pointed out once more.

"As in you don't have a wand at all not even before you were buried. I thought you were fourteen?" Harry recalled while Silas looked like he was trying his hardest not to slam his head into the concrete.

"I don't know if I told you this but I was eight."

"You have, quite a few times actually." Harry mumbled while thinking of how Silas kept trying to start his story with that phrase.

"Eleven year olds get wands." Silas told him slowly while making a slow circle with his hands as if to speed up Harry's thoughts.

"OH!" Harry finally exclaimed in realisation while Silas looked relieved at the development. "Then let's go get you a wand!" A smirk settled over Harry's lips and he turned to look at Silas. "I've just had the best idea ever."

"What?" Silas asked warily.

"When's your birthday Si?"

"Silas. Urm, I don't know. Sal said I had the worst luck with dying and it totally messed with my birthday because I was reborn several times…which birthday do you want?" Silas muttered while shrugging casually.

"How long have you been alive? Exclude all the times you've been dead." Harry reasoned while Silas began doing maths using his fingers.

"Thirteen years and eleven months!" The brown-eyed male exclaimed proudly while Harry let out a soft chortle.

"That would make you thirteen Si not fourteen." Silas pouted slightly before glaring at him.

"Silas not Si, Si-las." Silas grumbled while flicking his hair from his face. "Plus I'm only a month off!"

"Fine. Whatever Si, that would make your birthday…well since I dug you up sometime around three that would make it. August the 31st sometime around three." Harry observed whilst stretching, maybe they could stay in Diagon Alley for a while.

"When's your birthday Harry?"

"It's on the 31st of July." Harry mumbled sadly while thinking off his friends who hadn't sent him any letters this summer.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Silas counting something on his fingers. "Happy Birthday Harry." The boy declared suddenly causing him to smile at him gratefully.

"Thank you Silas. Should we get going, you're going to need a wand!" Harry informed him with a smirk.

"Huh? You never did tell me your plan Harry." The boy whined not liking the look Harry was giving him.

"In due time m'boy, in due time." Silas raised an eyebrow at Harry's imitation of Dumbledore although Silas didn't know that. "Firstly we need to change your surname if not your whole name; you can't go around as a Slytherin."

"I'm keeping my first name." Silas retorted while looking like he didn't enjoy the idea at all.

"Fine, fine. What's your middle name?"

"Sally never told me, why?"

"Sally?" Harry chuckled while holding his stomach, for some reason he could just imagine Silas as a younger boy going around calling one of the 'darkest wizards' Sally. "Silas Selwyn Saunders it is then."

"Selwyn?" Silas questioned curiously.

"It means prosperous friend."

"Silas Selwyn Saunders." Silas muttered testing his new name. "Not bad I suppose." The boy shrugged while striding forwards. "Time for a wand methinks!" The boy squealed happily, yes he did squeal; Harry stared at him for a while before holding his wand out into the middle of the road with Silas staring at him blankly.

With a deafening bang the night bus appeared before them causing Silas to shriek while staring at the big purple bus as if it would attack him.

"This is a bus." Harry explained as Stan Shunpike opened the door.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor for this evening." The spotty conductor explained.

"Hello Stan, two to London, that's one Galleon and five sickles, right?" Harry questioned the conductor who only just seemed to notice the famous wizard.

"Oh my word it's Harry Potter."

"We have met before." Harry murmured with a sigh as he shoved some of the silver sickles into the conductor's hands, he had never been happier to see that the bottom floor of the Knight Bus was basically empty apart from a grumpy looking wizard reading the Daily Prophet. Harry sat down on one of the raggedy looking seats, since it was after five the seats weren't beds anymore, while Silas sat down in the row behind him.

"Take 'er away, Ern." After another deafening bang Silas let out another shriek as both boys were thrown backwards in their seats. "Where abouts in London?" Stan questioned Harry seemingly paying very little attention to the other boy who seemed fine with this.

"Diagon Alley." Harry answered remembering the first time round he had caught the bus.

The rest of the journey was silent with Stan opening his mouth to say something before closing it again, he had mused that he'd always believed Harry to have been telling the truth. When the bus stopped in front of the Leakey Cauldron Silas rushed off it as soon as the door opened with Harry saying a quick goodbye before taking his leave.

"This is where we'll be staying." Harry told the other boy as he studied the Bar while Silas hopped up and down still looking slightly green from the bus ride.

"I don't like buses." The boy declared as he pushed the door open. Harry followed him before approaching the barkeeper who was serving some early risers.

"Good Morning Tom could we get a room?" Harry asked the toothless man who smiled in return, Harry paid him before leaving for the room and falling asleep before his head hit the pillow. He couldn't be sure if Silas followed him or not.

I hope you like it. If anybody has any idea's for Harry's O.W.L results please tell me. I'll probably just use the ones from Book Six if you don't. Please review. Everything belongs to JK Rowling and various other people, Silas belongs to me.

Moonlight's Messenger x