Author's Notes: I do not own Harry Potter or anything in it. Too bad, I wish I did. If I did, I would be telling someone to type this for me. *smirks*


*Chapter 1*

For the first, and probably the only time, Harry was not being yelled at for having any sign of his "abnormality" out in the open. He sat there in the Dursley's living room, reading over the last few pages in his book The Standard Book of Spells: Grade Four by Miranda Goshawk. If he would have tried to do this a few years ago, his aunt and uncle would have yelled at him until their voices went hoarse. Either that or he would have been locked in the small cupboard under the stairs. But now, Harry was a wizard. Not a full fledged one, but he was about to go into his 5th year at Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and his longing to go back to the big castle grew everyday.
Harry was surprised, however, that Uncle Vernon hadn't yelled at him yet. The Dursley's were sitting on the other side of their living room, as far away from Harry as they possibly could be. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley seemed very interested in watching the evening news, where a small weatherman was pointing at a map of England. Harry couldn't help notice Aunt Petunia looking back and forth from the television to himself. Whenever he looked over at them, all three of his relatives would look quickly away if they were looking at him. Dudley appeared to be very frightened every time Harry glanced over at him. He was probably afraid that Harry would make his tongue grow again, like Fred and George Weasley did "on accident" during the previous summer.
As Harry read farther on in his book, he realized he needed to refer to another book to answer a question on his Charms homework from Professor Flitwick. His eyes scanned over the question a second time
before he closed his spellbook and reached for another book that was much smaller, titled Magical Rings, Amulets, and Other Items. He almost dropped it when Uncle Vernon snorted loudly, obviously disturbed by Harry's casual display of his "abnormality." Turning quickly to page 135, Harry looked down at the small ring upon the paper page.
The ring was magnificently beautiful, with one large blue sapphire on the top of the ring and diamonds encrusted in the side. Harry's eyes ran over the title of it. The Ring of Erishans. The small thing was probably the prettiest thing he had ever seen. Harry stopped on that thought. He had seen someone prettier, and he couldn't help thinking of her. Harry was so dazed, he didn't even notice Aunt Petunia shriek as Hedwig came flying through the open window.
"Hedwig!" Harry cried out lightly as she soared across the room, landing on Harry's arm. A small letter landed softly on top of Harry's books. Aunt Petunia ran screaming from the room, Dudley only a feet
behind her as he covered his fat bottom. As Harry watched them flee, he finally noticed that Uncle Vernon's face had not only swelled up, it was now becoming a dark purple color. Harry was almost knocked backward as Uncle Vernon's voice erupted with the force of an explosion.
"Take your books and that ruddy owl out of this room now!" Uncle Vernon yelled loudly. It surprised and scared Harry so much that he gathered up his books and had them up in his room in under a minute. Hedwig fluttered across the room, setting down gently to take a nap. When Harry's eyes fell upon the small letter, his heart gave a jump. He hoped it would be from Sirius, his godfather, since he hadn't written to him all summer. Even if it wasn't from Sirius, he wouldn't mind it if the letter was from Hermione or Ron. He would especially like it if Hermione wrote to him, since she hadn't for almost two weeks now.
As Harry slowly grasped the letter in his hands, he quickly slit the ink stamp, opening the envelope. Inside was a small letter, which Harry quickly unfolded to read.

Dear Harry,

I'm sorry I haven't written to you for a few weeks. While home for the summer holidays, my parents took me on vacation to Italy! It was so amazing! I learned so many new things that I know I can use in our upcoming year. They even have a wizarding shop in Rome. My parents bought me some really interesting books. But of course, I've already read them more than once by now ("Of course,"Harry said as he laughed to himself). Anyway, I have an important question for you. Seeing as there are four weeks left of the holidays after tomorrow, would you like to spend the first two weeks at my house before going to Ron's the last two weeks? Write back as soon as you can so my parents and I can pick you up as soon as possible tomorrow.
Love, Hermione

Harry read over Hermione's letter two more times before finally setting it down on his dresser. After shutting the door to his bedroom carefully, Harry slowly walked down the stairs and entered the kitchen. Aunt Petunia was surprisingly already there, boiling some water on the stove to make a cup of tea for herself. She stared at him intently as he walked in. "You better not have that bloody owl with you," she said in an angry tone.
Harry shook his head quickly. "I don't have her with me. She's in her cage, up in my room," he stated, watching her as his aunt paid little attention to him as she poured the hot water into a teacup. Ever so slowly, Aunt Petunia dipped a tea bag into the steaming water.
"What do you want then?" she asked, obviously annoyed that he was still in the kitchen. Just as Harry was about to speak, Uncle Vernon trodded into the kitchen slowly. His face was still swollen from yelling at Harry earlier. When Harry looked back to Aunt Petunia, she looked very impatient and displeased.
"A friend of mine, from my school (Uncle Vernon's face bulged slightly), has written a letter to me, asking if I would like to spend the rest of the summer holidays there, at my friend's house," Harry stated quickly. "Can I go?" he asked. Harry was almost sure that they would say no, when to his surprise, they burst into fits of laughter. In his opinion, they couldn't have been happier. Uncle Vernon was smiling the most that Harry had ever seen him smile.
"Boy, I don't care where you go, as long as you're not here under our roof. You may go, assuming you can leave as soon as possible," Uncle Vernon said after regaining his breath from having a good laugh. Harry couldn't have been more delighted as he left the kitchen and jumped the stairs, taking three steps at a time. As soon as he entered his room and shut the door, Harry quickly crossed over to his desk, pulling out a bottle of ink, a quill, and some spare parchment. Dipping the quill into the murky ink, Harry began to write a letter back to Hermione.

Dear Hermione,
My aunt and uncle say I can come. Please, come and get me out of this dreadful place as soon as possible. It is a nightmare here. Keep Hedwig at your house. Send a letter to Ron to tell him I am coming to your house. See you tomorrow.

Harry slightly paused at the end of the letter before he signed it "Love, Harry." He almost felt embarrassed to write it and almost blotted it out, but Hedwig fluttered out of her cage and flopped down onto the desk in front of Harry. Sighing softly, Harry quickly put the letter into a small envelope and tied it onto Hedwig's leg. "Alright Hedwig, take this to Hermione. You might have some difficulty finding her house since you have only delivered one letter to her there, but please try," he said gently. After nibbling lightly on Harry's hand, Hedwig soured out of the window and off into the night.
Harry watched her fly off until he couldn't see her anymore. Then he crossed over to his bed. It was getting late, and Harry was becoming tired. Looking at his desk, Harry closed the book of charmed items as he put his glasses down next to it. The last thing he saw was a picture of The Ring of Erishans on the page. As he slowly got into bed and rested his head on the pillow, the image of the ring stuck in his mind as his vision was clouded by a strange mist. Suddenly, Harry was falling through the darkness, and before he knew it, he landed forcefully on a hard, stone floor.
Four torches were lit above Harry on the four walls, casting light and creating ominous shadows in the corners of the room. Pain arched through Harry's legs as he stood up, holding onto the wall for support. Harry could faintly see a path to his right, but it was too dark to walk through. Seeing as he didn't have his wand, Harry grabbed one of the torches. The wood felt rough in his hand as he pulled it free from its holder. Harry then proceeded down the dark pathway, using the torch to light his way. So many questions ran through his mind as he began to walk up some stairs. The stone walls were moist with dew, and fresh mold grew in some areas against the wall. 'No one has been down here for a long time,' Harry thought to himself.
After walking up the stairs for what felt like hours, Harry finally came to the top of a small landing. His legs ached with pain as he stumbled and almost fell into a small pool of water in the center of the new room. Harry quickly regained his balance just in time to see two robed people slowly walk into the room, carrying their own torches that lit up the whole room. Looking desperately for a hiding spot, Harry realized there was nowhere to go. He was sure he would get in trouble for this. Surprisingly, the two robed people walked up to him, past him, and over to a large cauldron on the other side of the small pool of water. They didn't even notice him, and Harry was sure one of them walked partially through him. It was just like previous times that he had experienced. They couldn't see him, just like Tom Riddle and many other wizards couldn't. Harry quickly turned his attention back to the two robed people by the cauldron as they began to speak.
"Hm, all of the ingredients are complete. Go get the phoenixes, Helga," said the first wizard, who was a man. The other was a witch. Slowly, the witch named "Helga", left the room, returning a few moments later with two small phoenixes perched on her arm. As she brought them over to the wizard, he quickly pulled his wand out of his pocket and aimed it at the wood underneath the large cauldron. "Incendio!" he yelled out. Flames shot from the end of his wand and fell upon the wood, lighting all of the wood on fire.
Seeing as they couldn't see him, Harry walked up to the cauldron, looking down into it. A purple substance that was very thick was boiling and bubbling. Just then, the wizard slowly pulled a regular gold ring off of his hand dropping it into the murky liquid. The purple liquid sizzled as the ring sank underneath the surface. "The phoenix tears, please," he said softly. Helga jerked slightly, almost dropping the magnificent birds. It seemed that she was trying to fight something. "No you don't! No one fights back against Salazar Slytherin. Imperio!" the wizard yelled. He had pointed his wand and cast the Imperius curse on Helga again. She immediately fell back under the spell, pulling out a small knife. Turning her hand, she gut a deep gash in her arm. The blood flowed over her hot flesh, dripping to the floor.
The phoenixes instantly reacted, bending over the wound and began to cry, their tears falling onto the wound, already healing it. Salazar pointed his wand at the falling tears. "Accio," he said quickly. Two tears were instantly caught. As they floated over to him, Slytherin stopped them just over the cauldron, breaking the spell. The two tears fell into the purple water, making it sizzle and turn a deep, sapphire blue color. Harry watched with extreme curiosity. He wanted to yell at Slytherin. Curse him, or just do something to stop him. Unfortunately, he couldn't. He watched Salazar Slytherin walk away from the cauldron and over to a small oak desk that Harry hadn't seen in the room. It was over in a dark corner. Salazar's hand grasped a drawer's handle, pulling it open, revealing a silver orb that glowed brightly. He hastily pulled it from the desk and crossed back over to the cauldron. "Finally, I will have the power," Slytherin whispered as he slipped it into the cauldron.
At first, nothing happened. The blue water stayed the same, bubbling from the flames beneath. Harry grew anxious, wondering what would happen, but at the same time, he was afraid. Harry began to walk backwards slowly, easing away from the cauldron, when he suddenly stopped unexpectedly. He could hear that the liquid wasn't boiling anymore. The room was deadly quite. The silence was finally shattered as the cauldron erupted into a pillar of light. It was so bright, Harry was almost blinded. A loud explosion shook the chamber, sending Harry flying across the room and into the wall. Magical wind whipped around the large room, holding Harry against the wall. The wind was so strong that Harry couldn't even move. His eyes were still fixed upon Salazar Slytherin, despite the bright light. Slytherin had his wand out again, and Harry could see he was struggling against the wind as he pointed it at the cauldron. "Impedimenta!" he yelled. Harry knew that moment what that spell was. It was a curse to slow something down or completely stop what the spell is cast on.
It was like the world was frozen in time. The wind stopped, dropping Harry to the floor. The light erupting from the cauldron was stuck in an odd position. Harry tried to stand up, but his muscles in his legs were too numb to let him move them. Using his arms, Harry quickly pushed himself up into a sitting position, his back against the stone wall. His eyes once again fell upon Salazar Slytherin and the cauldron. Harry was quite surprised to see water slowly rising in the pillar of light, despite the spell. A small golden ring was being held up by the water. Harry's throat tightened, and he almost stopped breathing. He knew what the ring was.
" The Ring of Erishans," Salazar Slytherin said slowly as he greedily grabbed it out of the light. Harry would have wanted to stop him, but he didn't know what the ring was used for. He knew it wasn't used for something good. Just that thought alone made him feel hateful towards Salazar Slytherin. Just when Harry thought Slytherin was getting his way, the unexpected happened.
"It's over, Salazar. Once Godric and Rowena hear of this, you'll be through. First you say you made a Chamber of Secrets, and now you've gone against the Law of Wizardry, using a Forbidden Curse and creating a ring with magical powers. I can't wait to hand you and the evidence the convict you over to Godric Gryffindor," helga slowly said, enjoying the satisfaction of breaking his spell and catching him off guard. Helga Hufflepuff had her wand pointed straight at Slytherin. He stared at her, his eyes boring into her with anger beyond hatred. His hands were quickly turning white from gripping the ring so hard.
"Expelliarmus!" Helga Hufflepuff yelled, pointing her wand at his hand. Harry watched the spell hit Slytherin, blasting him across the room and into the far stone wall with a sickening crunch. The ring fell from his hand, and Salazar watched it as it slowly rolled a few feet away from him, falling down a drain.
"No! How could you?" Slytherin yelled. Standing up quickly, a look of extreme pain on his face, Salazar pointed his wand at Helga Hufflepuff and shouted the only curse that couldn't be blocked. "Avada Kedavra!" he roared. A blast of green light burst from his wand. As Helga Hufflepuff's lifeless body fell to the floor, Harry's scar burned with immense pain. Then, as fast as he had come, Harry was quickly sucked out, falling back onto his bed in his room on Number 4, Privet Drive. He quickly sat up, suddenly waking up from a deep sleep. Harry realized he was sweating lightly, feeling his damp skin. As Harry slowly stood up, his legs no longer hurting, he began to wonder if it was just a dream.
Turning, Harry looked out the window. The sun was slowly beginning to rise in the East. Harry yawned slowly, stretching his arms. His Aunt Petunia would be up within the next hour or two. As Harry slowly got back into his bed, all thoughts of his dream left his mind as he slowly fell back asleep.