Warnings: Same as in last chapter. Especially the latter warning.

Dislaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, J K Rowling does. (And I am not Jo or her reincarnation, so no, I still don't own HP.)

A/N: Ooops, just realized I forgot to write a disclaimer in chapter one. Went back and changed it *grin*.

The following week was a pain in the arse, let me tell you. It was one of the most boring weeks in my life (Dursleys included). Everybody, and I mean everybody, avoided me like I had some kind of a lethal disease.

On day seven I got fed up.

"What the hell's the matter with you people?" I yelled as I swept into the living room where everybody was relaxing. Every head turned towards me and the look in their eyes immediately went from relaxed to wary. Of course it did, I thought wryly. They had to careful now that they had a Dark Lord amongst them, I added laconically.

Of course, that did not stop me from continuing. "It's still me! I'm not Sly–Him!" Even after a whole week of being left alone to think and ponder upon everything that happened, I still couldn't say his name without shivering. I couldn't imagine how much harder it must have been for everybody else. "So grow up and get over it! Come to me when you have!" with that I shut the door closed and for a moment I almost thought they would fall of their hinges. Alas, it did not happen. What a shame.

I made way to the kitchen to make myself a sandwich. Or two. I planned on staying there and eating sandwiches until somebody came to me and apologized for their despicable behaviour. I was just stubborn like that.

It took them over four sandwiches, but eventually Sirius opened the door hesitantly and called out, "Harry? Are you in there?"

A meaningless thing to say, if you ask me, since he could clearly see me. I felt a contemptuous sneer crawl up on my face, but I decided to deal with Sirius first. Godfathers took precedence over facial expressions, after all. Most of the time.

"Yes, I'm here," I said calmly, making myself a fifth sandwich, this time with chocolate. Did I mention that Salazar Slytherin was a chocolate freak, and so was I? Yes, I started to remember certain things from my–my previous life, as I have taken to calling it.

Sirius trudged uncertainly into the room, followed by Lupin, Ron, Hermione, the twins, and Mr and Mrs Weasley. He looked at me, undoubtedly thinking about what to say. "Uh, you see, Harry, I've been thinking..." Really, now?, I thought rather snidely. I didn't get a chance to examine where the biting sarcasm came from, because Sirius went on. "And I realized I've been resentful towards you–that we've all been resentful. I just didn't really realize it could affect you so strongly, I guess," he tried to go for a nonchalant shrug–and failed. "So I came here to apologize, to say I'm sorry. I really didn't want to hurt you, and yet I did. What kind of a godfather am I?" the last part was whispered under Sirius' breath rather than said out loud, but I heard it nonetheless. "A godfather should accept his child, no matter who the child is. Give me a chance to make it up for you, please."

By the end of his speech (I had a feeling Hermione dabbled in this one, she was scarily good at politics when necessary), I was smiling rather than sneering which, undoubtedly, was the goal of the speech.

"Well," I said, drawing out the words and playing on the suspence I knew was building up within not only Sirius but all the others in the kitchen. "I suppose another chance wouldn't hurt, oh godfather of mine."

I could almost hear the inner sighs of relief everywhere around me. I smirked.

Life was looking up.

The following evening found me in the living room, reading one of the books I got as a birthday gift from Hermione and Lupin.

I got as far as to page thirty when I was rudely interrupted by the entrance of Hermione Granger, followed by Ron Weasley, followed by Fred and George Weasley. Hermione made a beeline for one of the couches in front of the fireplace. The twins spread out on the floor with some sketches and notes of what looked like their future products.

Ron seemed to linger in the doorway, then set his mind on something and came over to me. "What'cha reading, Harry?" I noticed the distinct lack of 'mate' or 'dude' in the sentence, words that Ron called me all the time over the last four years.

"'Advanced Defensive Jinxes and Counter-Curses'," I replied without looking up.

"...Oh," Ron answered. I knew–or could accurately guess–what answer he expected and that it wasn't this one. However I wasn't going to start to suddenly plunge into the Dark Arts books just because it turned out I was a dark wizard in my previous life.

Oh, I wasn't about to deny that Salazar Slytherin wasn't fascinated by Dark Magic or that he actively practiced it. That would be lying right into my own face. But in this life, as Harry Potter, I resolved to wait and see on that matter.

Ron sat down in the chair in front of me. There was an awkward silence during which he stared at me. I didn't know what he expected me to say or do, but he clearly wanted something. Deciding to let him take the first step, I returned to reading.

I barely read half a page before he started talking again. I sighed quietly and closed my book, swiftly marking the page. "You aren't what I expected Slytherin to be, y'know? I mean, I kind of expected him to be like Snape, just scarier–if that's even possible. You don't behave like that. I mean, sure, you're quieter than normal, but that's sort of the way it's been the whole summer, so I can deal with that.

"I also expected you to start, I don't know, throwing around dark curses and laughing gleefully," he shrugged, sounding as though he forgot I was even there. I didn't think he would say something like that to my face. He was far too shy for that. "But you don't. And while I'm happy you haven't changed much," yet, I added silently. "I don't know how to deal with that. I've been preparing myself for a different you. You being the same kind of throws me off the track, if you know what I mean..." he trailed off.

Only then did Ron notice that not only did he have company in the room, but that said company was currently staring at him as though they'd never seen him before, me included. "What?" he asked offended.

Hermione stared at Ron. "That was very deep of you, Ron," she said sincerely.

Ron blushed. "Thanks," he mumbled.

I nodded in agreement, then returned to my book. From the corner of my eyes I could see that the twins returned to their sketches and Hermione to her book. Ron looked around, then settled for a nap in the chair.

Two people–a man and a woman–were sitting around a table, drawing up some plans and drafts. The man had long, black hair and cold, green eyes. He was dressed in forest-green robes with a touch of black and silver. The woman had dark hair and sparkling, chocolate-brown eyes. She was dressed in a blood-red dress with black details. She was pointing something out to the man, who nodded in agreement and said something inaudible.

I realized I was dreaming. But these weren't dreams, they were memories long forgotten. Memories of Salazar Slytherin. I knew that the man was Slytherin–me–and the woman was Ravenclaw (though why she was wearing red was beyond me). Somehow, I also knew what they were saying, even though I couldn't hear it. They were discussing a school–Hogwarts–and its curriculum.

The woman–Ravenclaw–suddenly took out her wand and with a swish, she organized the parchments into one single pile. Both Slytherin and Ravenclaw stood up and exited the room.

I woke up and sat up in my bed. Looking at the clock, I realized it was around three in the morning. I sighed resignedly. I started to get used to waking up in the middle of the night–something that should creep me out, yet it didn't.

It's been two weeks since my other self told the residents of Grimmauld Place that I happened to be a reincarnated Founder of Hogwarts. Since then, I've been dealing with all kinds of feelings from everybody–from suspicion (Moody), mistrust (again, Moody) and wariness (Tonks and Lupin), to reverence (the twins; turned out Slytherin was secretly their idol, more on that later), feigned nonchalance (Ron and Sirius) and exasperation (Hermione and Mrs Weasley, though it might be aimed at the two aforementioned males rather than me).

Dumbledore and McGonagall came to visit a week ago. Let's just say it was a highly entertaining visit and leave it at that (though if you ask Messrs Fred and George Weasley, they might tell you a tale of gawping Headmasters and staring Deputies, but that's not my story to tell). After the revelation, Dumbledore decided to stay at the Headquarters. Officially, he was overseeing the reinstallation of the Order of the Phoenix. Personally, I think he was looking for entertainment–and that was granted, what with six Weasleys, two Marauders, a reincarnated Slytherin, a paranoid ex-Auror, another clumsy Auror and a bookworm. After all, at Dumbledore's age, what else was left, other than screwing with people?

I haven't seen McGonagall since she found out. I think she's still in denial that one of her little lions is actually the king of snakes (an expression Fred and George spread around in their fourth year, what with everybody suspecting me of being the Heir of Slytherin). I knew she would come around eventually, though I didn't know how long it would take.

In the meantime, I started to be assaulted by old memories all the time, mostly at night when I slept. Along with the memories came a still growing knowledge of all sorts of subjects, Potions and Mind Magic being the largest ones. I supposed what they said was true–my former self was truly the best Potions Master in history, having attained the Mastery at the tender age of sixteen.

The newfound knowledge had one rather useful perk though–the summer assignment turned out to be a lot easier than I initially thought. The Potions homework was by far the easiest, especially seeing as it Snape that gave it. 'Research the Draught of Peace, discuss how the ingredients react with each other, then conclude with a short warning on which ingredients ought to be avoided at all costs'. I found that I didn't need to look into the textbook even once; I wrote it all from my memory–or rather, His memory.

Apparently, I was the only one to think that the Potions assignment was easy. All of the others–Fred, George and Ron (and Hermione too, though she'd rather die than admit it)–were sitting around the kitchen table and trying to scrape together something that resembled an acceptable essay. I saw them when I entered the kitchen to drink something. I decided to observe, as they didn't seem to take notice of me even being there.

"Argh!" Ron growled and threw up his hands in defeat. "I give up! This thing's impossible to write! What does Snape think we are, walking encyclopedias?"

Hermione sighed and looked at Ron. "Ron, he just wants us to understand how this potion works so that we can brew it with ease. He isn't purposedly mean," Hermione hesitated at the end, as if trying to convince herself as much as Ron.

George looked up from 'Advanced Potions-Making' to look at Hermione. "Hermione, don't try to protect that git. We all know that he demands the impossible and then enjoys flunking us."

"Hear, hear!" Fred joined the conversation. "I can just imagine the gleeful look on his face when he writes that ugly 'T' of his on my essay," he shuddered.

I smirked–I couldn't resist it, the mental picture was hilarious. I silently put the now empty glass on the counter and made my way to the table where my four friends were sitting. "Sounds like you need help," I said, sitting down gracefully on the chair between George and Hermione.

All four of them jumped, only now noticing me. "How long did you stand there, Harry?" Fred asked suspiciously.

I shrugged. "Long enough to know you have a bit of a problem with this," I pointed to his Potions essay. Well, it wasn't really an essay, not yet–Fred had only written the title, 'The Polyjuice Potion'. The rest of the parchment was empty.

"Are you already done with that?" Ron asked incredulously.

George perked up, pointedly ignoring Ron. "Can you help?" he asked, immediately taking an opportunity to be done with his most hated subject.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "How can you help? Not to be rude, but you aren't good at–" she broke off as a look of realization hit her. "Oh."

I smirked. "Yes, Hermione, 'oh'. Now, do you need help?" he prodded her homework.

Ron looked between the two. "Mind explaining to us non-geniuses," ("It's genii, Ronald," Hermione reprimanded. "Yeah, whatever," Ron waved it away) "what you meant?"

Surprisingly, it was George that answered Ron's question. "Supposedly, Salazar Slytherin was a Potions Master, and a darn good one at that. Since Harry's his reincarnation, it's not hard to realize that Harry takes after Slytherin."

I was surprised that George Weasley, of all people, knew that little piece of history. I quirked an eyebrow–a habit I picked up from Him. George reddened and answered the unspoken question. "Well, you see... Me and Fred, we kind of..."

"Worshipped you," Fred took over, equally red in the face. "I mean, we worshipped Salazar Slytherin, but it doesn't matter now."

I couldn't hold back a smirk. I suspected the twins held the Founder of all things sneaky and clever in high regard, but it was wonderful to get it confirmed. Fred and George either didn't notice my smirk, or pretended they didn't.

"Anyway, we tried finding some sort of biography of you–"

"Let me guess–you failed?" I asked. If there was any biography, Hermione would have found it by now.

Fred nodded. "Yes, the only thing we found was a reference in 'Hogwarts: A History' that 'Salazar Slytherin was a renowned Potions Master, possibly the youngest in history. He invented many of the most common potions wizards and witches use nowadays, among many the Veritaserum'."

"I don't–" I started, only to be cut off by the resident bookworm.

"Sorry to interrupt," Hermione didn't look sorry at all. "But, as fun as it is to see my best friend being worshipped by my other best friend's brothers, can we get back to work?" to emphasize her point, she held up George's essay which contained about as much text as Fred's did.

"Right," Fred said with a grin. "Well, oh esteemed Potions Master, canst thou helpest us?"

I grinned as well. "Well, since you beg so nicely..."

And so I spent the afternoon explaining the complexities of the Polyjuice Potion to Fred and George, and helping Ron and Hermione with their esays on the Draught of Peace. I found that I enjoyed teaching people–that was, I noticed, another trait I picked up from Him.

What surprised me the most, however, was that, now that everything has calmed down a tad, my friends were very much fine with me being the legendary Snake Lord. It was almost as though they were less bothered by it than I was, when it was supposed to be the other way around. I didn't know what I did to deserve such loyal friends (although Hermione would probably find something).

I smirked (because it just wouldn't do to smile)–I could get used to this.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, folks! I'm happy you liked it. As usual, point out if you see any mistakes or misspellings. Sorry I've been gone for a bit, but I got a writer's block, and when I finally had some inspiration, I didn't have any internet connection (was sailing for the last three weeks) or even my computer. The hurry up some of you sent me was just the kick in the metaphorical balls I needed. On another note entirely, I need your help with coming up with ideas on the... non-amused-ness of the Grimmauld Place Nr 12 residents. There is only so much I can come up with on my own, so feel free to send in your ideas :D

EDIT: 9/1/13: Changed a little detail to make a funny oneshot possible.

Oh, and I have just published a new series of oneshots, from the Founders' time. (Y'know, like why Hogwarts is named after a pig, how the school got its motto, why a Basilisk is a preferable protector instead of a dragon and much more.) Make sure to check it out!

The next chapter will include Snape's reaction to the revelation and a little anecdote about drinking, pigs and naming Hogwarts, as seen from Salazar's point of view.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and don't forget to review!