Awakening

Harry laid on his bed, listening to the sounds of scraping forks on plates downstairs. His stomach rumbled from the lack of food, tired of being empty for so long. It had been two days since he had eaten anything, since the latest beating that had rendered him unconscious. Since then, he had been locked in his room, with absolutely nothing to do but listen as the rest of his 'family' went about their normal lives.

He didn't even have Hedwig to talk to as Uncle Vernon had killed her not long after he had come home from fifth year, claiming that she had been making too much of a racket. That had been hard to deal with, having his owl killed not long after his godfather, Sirius Black, had been murdered. It had been harder still, since all of his friends realized what exactly they were risking by being friends with him.

Only Luna stayed by his side.

She was the only one that seemed to have realized all along that there was danger in being his friend, and going along with his plans. The only one that accepted that it was a grave mistake to believe the vision and try and save his godfather. Even Ron and Hermione didn't seem to realize this, and they had been with him throughout all this time, didn't want him.

As soon as he had stepped into the house, his school stuff, including Hedwig, were taken from him and burned in the backyard and he was locked into his bedroom. He was just grateful that he had the presence of mind to keep his wand and invisibility cloak, knowing that his other stuff would at least have been locked up. Though it still made him sad and angry that they had burned his stuff. They had kept him in his room, only letting him out twice a day to use the restroom and shower, Petunia coming up to give a tray of meager rations once a day.

Tomorrow was his sixteenth birthday.

Just as he was lolling off to sleep, he heard the locks being undone and the door being flung open. Harry opened his eyes to look up at his uncle, who was stalking angrily into the room, after slamming the door shut. He briefly wondered what he had done to attract his uncle's ire, but banished the thought, as he knew he didn't have to do anything for his uncle to get mad at him.

But, upon closer look, the rage seemed to be … different. And his eyes were glassy.

He's drunk!

Harry carefully sat up, keeping his eyes on his enraged uncle. When Vernon reached the bed, Harry had to dodge a punch to his face, which only served to make Vernon even angrier. He wasn't so lucky to evade the next one, which ultimately led to him being beaten again.

"Can't even protect yourself, freak? It's no wonder your stupid godfather had to die because of you."

It was not a new insult for the summer, but it still made Harry angry. But just as he went to retaliate, his uncle sucker punched him. As he was regaining his breath, Vernon took out a knife that Harry hadn't noticed before. It was just a regular steak knife, but the fact that his uncle had brought it with him with the intent of using it to hurt him, scared him.

Vernon had never used anything but his fists, feet, and belt to hurt him before. But now, a burning cold blade was slicing into his skin, as if was hardly there. He screamed and screamed, but no one came to help him. No one cared. They never did.

No one cared about an orphan.

Finally, after his uncle was apparently done slicing up his flesh, Vernon left the room with a bloody knife, leaving his nephew in bloody strips a few minutes to midnight.

Tears streamed down Harry's face as he laid on his bed, trying to work up the strength of move. Sure, it probably wasn't the worst that his uncle wanted to do to him, but it was the worst so far. It also just served to really pound into his head that no one liked him, and that he deserved it, no matter if he had done nothing to gain anyone's ire.

Damn muggles.

Wait, where had that come from? He had never really hated muggles before, though he never really liked them. It wasn't as if he had anything against muggleborns, but the people they came from …

Where were these thoughts coming from? He had never really dwelled on muggles before, having too much going on in the wizarding world.

But now, he hated them.

Harry finally managed to sit up, wincing as he disturbed his already burning wounds. But as soon as he had managing to sit up, the clock hit midnight. A surge of power slammed into him, knocking him back on his back. Something else also surfaced.

-S-

He laughed as his father spun him around, his mother laughing from the background. He was three.

His mother pushed him away, urging him to run, as the muggles converged on them, brandishing torches, swords, knives, and pitchforks. He watched as his parents were murdered and burned, just because they could do magic. All he found afterwards was his mother's locket. He was five.

He literally ran into a blond haired boy, who merely smiled at him and introduced himself as Godric Gryffindor. It was then that he met his first friend. He was eight.

Godric's parents sent them both to school, where they would both learn how to use magic properly. They met two girls, one blond, one redhead. Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff. The four of them became great friends. He was eleven.

He started to see Godric in a new light. The other boy was beautiful, graceful, brave. He tried to hide it, but apparently Godric felt the same, and had no trouble telling him. He was sixteen.

The four of them, after they had graduated at the top of their class, as some of the most powerful wizards to date, had liked the idea of teaching. It had been Row's idea first, as she had gotten into tutoring first, but she had dragged the rest of them into it as well. They decided to build a school. They quickly found a suitable place in Scotland. It was part of the Gryffindor Family's land, but Godric's parents happily gave them, saying he would inherit it anyway. He was eighteen.

The school was finished. It was a large castle with a large great hall, many class rooms of different shapes and sizes, towers, and dungeons. It also had many 'secret' passages, most of which were in the dungeon, the part that he had built, just because he wanted to see if any of the students were smart enough to find them. Godric had gotten the same idea. However, there were a few the led to his secret Chamber that were guarded by parseltongue passwords. He was twenty one.

Teachers had been hired, letters had been sent out to students. They were ready to try out their new school, as well as their house system. He was twenty two.

He had Godric had had a small, impromptu, sparring fight. Sword against daggers. These fights weren't anything new, nor were any of their other fights, none of which meant anything, but they had never done them in front of the students before. That was probably what scared them. The girls had sent them both away, so that they could try and calm down the children. He had decided to run an errand the he had been meaning to run, and went into a nearby muggle town, even if he tried to stay as far away from common, non-magical muggles as much as possible. In the middle of a crowd, a searing pain had suddenly appeared between his shoulder blades. As his world went black, he only wished that he could see his lover one more time.

He was twenty eight.

-S-

Salazar Slytherin opened his eyes for the first time in a thousand years. He looked around the small, barren bedroom that had been his as Harry Potter. It looked utterly muggle, even though it also looked like the occupant was abused. Which he was.

Even when he was raised among them, he was still compiling evidence why muggles should have absolutely nothing to do with the wizarding world. Unless, of course, they were a muggleborn witch or wizard. Then they should come and master their magic, but they shouldn't involve even their family. Somehow.

Slowly sitting up, Salazar cast a silent, wandless spell to stop the bleeding from the cuts that were all over his body. He would have to get a potion soon to heal the rest of it. He had never been good with healing spells.

For now, he pulled himself up, doing his best to ignore the pain, and pulled on a clean set of clothes. He grabbed his wand and invisibility cloak, and Disapparated out of the house, intent on never returning there ever again.

-S-

Salazar appeared in front of Slytherin Manor, which he had only found years after his parents had died, after he had lived on the streets for three years. Seeing as how the manor greeted him as a long lost friend, without him having to take over the wards again, no one had been inside since.

He smiled. This was where he would stay until school started up again. This was where he would stay until he went back to the place that had always felt the most like home. As soon as he stepped inside, it was clear that no house elf had been there in a long time. He used spells to clear as much away as possible as he walked by.

He was tired, so he made his way to where the master bedroom was, finally noticing the tracks in the dust on the floor. Snake tracks. He smiled, happy that snakes saw his manor fit to use for their home.

Apparently his bed, too, since there were several coiled up on it when he walked inside. All of the snakes hissed threateningly at him, getting themselves into a position to strike it they had to.

"I mean you no harm," Salazar hissed in parseltongue. "I only wish to sssleep."

"Who are you?" one of them asked, a beautiful black, female viper.

"Sssalazar Ssslytherin—"

That was all he got out before the snakes lost their defensive positions and started to voice their disbelief and excitement.

"It can't be!"

"Imposssssible."

"Isss it true?"

Finally, they settled down, and the viper asked they question that they all wanted to know. "Are you really Sssalazar Ssslytherin?"

Salazar nodded."It ssseemsss that I have been reincarnated for whatever reassson."

The snakes got excited again, but the viper's next question made them all silent again. "Why do you sssmell hurt?"

He sighed."The family I lived with before didn't like me much, and there hadn't been much I could do to protect myssself, for I didn't know how. In the morning, I will sssee what hasss to be done to get a potion, but for now, I just want to sssleep."

The snakes immediately made room for him, which he immediately curled up in. The snakes then proceeded to curl around him as his consciousness faded.