Still don't own it. J.K. Rowling still does own it. Props to Miranda Flairgold. Read and Review, greatly appreciated. Leave a review for the love of hell.

It had been two days since the portrait of Salazar Slytherin had agreed to guide Harry in his training. Salazar had been away from his portrait frame during the two days and Harry had not seen him. Harry and Cygnus had been exploring the Chamber, and had been preparing themselves for whatever Slytherin had in store for them.

Harry was sitting cross-legged on the floor in one of the stone rooms he had discovered earlier. It was cold inside the bare room, but despite that a thin sheen of sweet was beginning to form over Harry's shirtless form. Harry had grown lean during his time in the Forest, losing most of the fat that was on his body, and making his muscles more defined and pronounced.

He was currently practicing one of the meditation techniques that he had read in one of his schoolbooks. This meditation was meant to summon pure, raw magic to one's body. This magic could then be redirected or utilized in various ways, but it was often just released by the person meditating. It was difficult to harness the pure magic for anything actually useful, unless the meditator was well versed in at least basic mind magics.

Harry had pulled in as much magic as he could control and it could be seen shimmering around his arms and hands. It manifested as a pale gold color that occasionally pulsed with more vibrant shades. It required a good amount of concentration and strength to control magic like this, especially for a prolonged period of time.

It was a good exercise in that with more practice in controlling the magic it would make it easier to use in the future. The raw magic that Harry had summoned could be used for multiple things, the most common was for the raw magic to simply be thrown or shot and used as a magical missile of sorts.

Launching a blast or bolt of pure magic could be a lot quicker than casting a spell, especially if the desired result was simply an explosion. Raw magic, unless handled correctly, is almost always explosive and therefore rather difficult to deal with.

Taking a deep breath in and slowly exhaling Harry released the magic built up in his hands as he exhaled. He had gathered as much magic to himself as he could, and held it for as long as he could. He would keep up with this exercise everyday until he could summon a bolt of raw magic and launch it instantaneously. He was on the run after all.

Cygnus slithered into the room that Harry was in, and hissed out, "Masssster, Lord Sssslytherin isss in hisss portrait, and wishesss to sssee you."

"One sssecond Cygnusss. I will be in shortly."

Drying the thin layer of sweat off of his body with a quick spell Harry rose and put on his shirt. Exiting the room he was in and going down the short hallway to Salazar's personal study Harry entered. Cygnus slithered off to finish exploring the Chamber.

"Greetings again, Harry."

"Lord Slytherin, Cygnus said you wished to see me."

"Yes, I did agree a few days ago to help train and prepare you as best as possible. I needed some time to completely formulate my plan, and to decide that I would indeed train you. I am not the most trusting person, but I can sense my own magic inside of you, somehow. Yet it is different than my magic that I could sense in my heir, when he was here."

Continuing with his little monologue Salazar was glancing about the room, "I said that we would need more time to suitably train you, and that is still true. Tell me, young Potter, what do you know of Bloodmagic?"

"Nothing, Lord Slytherin. It is illegal to learn and teach now."

"Illegal, hmm? Does that bother you, little Gryffindor?" Slytherin seemed to use the term "Gryffindor" derogatorily, but it didn't bother Harry.

"Will it help me to survive?"

"Undoubtedly."

"Then no, it does not bother me at all, Lord Slytherin."

This seemed to satisfy Slytherin, "Good. To gain the time needed to properly train you at all you will need to perform a rather simple Bloodmagic ritual."

Salazar continued to explain bloodmagic to Harry, "Bloodmagic is rather simple, but devastating if used incorrectly. It is in it's most basic form simply magic that is embedded in one's body that improves or gives additional abilities or attributes to a person. Bloodmagic also exists in other forms, some not on the body of the 'caster', but you will only be learning the basic's for the next few months. bloodmagic is performed by drawing particular runes into the ground and then carving other runes into one's flesh with special knives, this leaves a bit of magic inside the cuts which can then be activated later or kept active. It can be infinitely useful for an infinite amount of purposes, and is a very useful tool to have in one's arsenal."

This was a lot of information for Harry to take in. It sounded very useful indeed, but also like it had a lot that could go wrong. Which was also true. But it sounded intriguing to Harry, and also like it would be beneficial to learn bloodmagic, even if it was just the basics. But Harry intended to take this bloodmagic stuff as far as he could, permitting it was reasonably safe enough to do so. It would not do to let an advantage like this slip by if he could help it.

Salazar spoke again, "In the desk you will find what should be a suitable knife to use, and also notes on the ritual you will need to perform. The ritual you will be performing will be one of the simplest rituals in bloodmagic, a Ritual of Activation. It simply serves as the 'on' switch for the vast bloodmagic runic array that I set up a thousand years ago."

Moving over to the desk Harry removed what Lord Slytherin had told him to remove. Sitting in the chair behind the desk Harry began to read about the Ritual of Activation that he would need to perform.

Looking up from reading the notebook Harry asked, "Lord Slytherin, what exactly will this Ritual of Activation activate?"

"It will activate what is perhaps one of my greatest achievements in magic. It will turn on the Time Distortion Field that is set up and waiting dormant around the entire Chamber of Secrets. It will distort the passage of time inside the Chamber of Secrets for about a year, essentially removing it from the standard time stream."

Harry exhaled a deep breath, this was Time Magic, and Time Magic on a scale that Harry had never really seen before. Time Turners were one thing, the entire Chamber removed from time for a year was an entirely different animal altogether.

"The Ritual of Activation will simply activate the runic array that I set up, and it will send us out of time for exactly a year. I will use this time to guide and direct your training as best I can."

"Yes sir, Lord Slytherin."

Going back to reading the notebook it seemed that the Ritual of Activation was really as easy as Lord Slytherin said it would be, which was good. When bloodmagic went wrong it was always explosive or fatal, which made learning bloodmagic somewhat hard, it was difficult for beginners to find the correct pace at which they should progress.

The Ritual would only require a few shallow cuts on his palm and for the blood to then be smeared in a rather precise rune pattern, forming the Rune of Activation. Letting that set and then smearing his blood across it again, this time charged with even more of his magic than was present in his blood already, would finish the Ritual of Activation. And Harry was eager to begin.

"Tell me, young Potter, do you think you can perform this simple Ritual? We will need to begin as soon as possible."

"Yes, Lord Slytherin. I can do it now, where do I need to draw the rune?"

"In the main chamber, near the base of the statue of myself. If you focus on what the bloodmagic feels like you will be able to see the thin golden strands of bloodmagic running throughout the stones."

Harry nodded and thought for a moment, "But how am I supposed to focus on what the bloodmagic feels like if I've never felt it before?"

"But you have felt it before, Potter, I can sense it coming off of you right now. It is very subtle yes, but it is there nonetheless. I can feel it and you can too, if you look for it in the correct way."

This was confusing for Harry, as it should be, but everything that Lord Slytherin had said was true. Harry had massive amounts of bloodmagic inside himself, thanks to what Dumbledore had done to him as a baby, but Harry did not know about this, and would not know about it for a long time.

"That's right! The Bloodwards! Dumbledore said he set up special wards that would protect me as long as I lived with my blood relatives. I don't live with them anymore though."

Pausing to think for a few more moments Harry continued his thought, "But I was living with them for years and years. I bet it would take some time for such a powerful bloodmagic connection to fade, even if it was completely broken."

"Correct. Now you just need to find this old connection and familiarize yourself with the feel of bloodmagic. To do this you will need to meditate some."

Moving from sitting in the chair to sitting on the ground, once more cross legged, as he had been before, Harry began to focus on himself, and what his magic was telling him.

He turned his senses inward and tried to reflect on what he was being told.

Harry could vaguely sense and feel some bit of older, fading magic that he could not quite identify. It did not have the rather slimy and slippery feel that Parseltongue had. It was slippery in it's own way, hard to grasp but also it felt very powerful. Harry could sense the slightest bit of intent that this magic was cast with, which was to tie one thing to another with honorable intentions. Harry assumed, rightfully though he could not know for certain, that this was what was left of the bloodmagic connection between himself and the wards that were once around his relatives house.

Getting a grip on this small tendril of magic that had not yet completely faded away Harry observed it closely. It was somewhat hard to grasp, but also rich and powerful. It was wholly unique in a somewhat indescribable fashion.

Familiarizing himself with the magic and the feel of it for a few moments Harry memorized what it felt like. He would need to draw the same magic out of his own blood if he wanted the Ritual of Activation to succeed, and indeed he would have to become familiar with it if he wanted to make any progress in the field of bloodmagic.

"Lord Slytherin, I've got it, I know what it feels like now."

"Are you certain that you can reproduce it? Any failure will send the entire Chamber collapsing down on our heads."

"I'm positive."

"Good. Take the knife you found in the drawer and the notebook and go perform the Ritual. I will be waiting in here when you are finished."

Recognizing the dismissal and immediate order Harry did as he was told. He would need to be precise about this Ritual, and he had never really tried any sort of Ritual before, bloodmagic or not.

Moving into the main Chamber where he had dueled Tom Riddle those years ago Harry went to the base of the statue, as Lord Slytherin had said.

Focusing once more on the feeling of bloodmagic that Harry had familiarized himself with earlier Harry concentrated on it hard. After a few moments of diligent concentration Harry could see the faint outlines and spider webs of gold lines that signified bloodmagic had been cast there.

There was a blank spot in the middle of the spider web of faintly glowing gold lines, which was where Harry would be drawing the Rune of Activation.

Studying the notebook for a final second Harry sighed and set it down. Moving the ritual knife to his left hand Harry took in a deep breath.

Closing his eyes and exhaling slightly as he made the first cut into his right hand Harry began to cut the simple pattern of six intersecting lines that were necessary for this Ritual of Activation. The number could vary depending on how the runic array was set up, and this Ritual required six cuts.

Finishing the cuts Harry brought his bleeding palm up to the blank stone, he could still see the glowing gold lines all around the blank area. Focusing on the feeling of bloodmagic that he had identified just moments earlier in the study with Salazar Harry began to channel it into the blood in his palm. He gathered it to himself exactly as he had gathered the raw magic to himself during his meditation, and from there channeled it into his blood.

Drawing the Rune of Activation into the blank spot took just a minute or two, and Harry then let it set for a couple more minutes as he focused even more bloodmagic into his palm. A faint reddish golden glow could be seen emanating from his palm as he gathered more energy.

Bloodmagic manifested itself with a golden glow after it had been cast and was set, but before it was cast or firmly set it also had a reddish glow in the visible manifestation.

As the bloodmagic set in place and the reddish glow on the stone turned completely golden Harry knew it was time for the next step in the Ritual.

Taking the bloodmagic gathered into his palm Harry once more pressed it against stone that was now criss crossed with faintly glowing golden lines. Pushing the bloodmagic into the Rune of Activation Harry completed the Ritual.

With a flash of blinding light the Ritual was complete, which soon became obvious.

Harry could see tendrils and bolts of magic bouncing back and forth along the perimeter walls of the Chamber of Secrets. Even though he could not see it this was happening on each and every wall inside the Chamber, as the Time Distortion Field activated.

A voice, Salazar's voice, filled the air from one of the light crystals embedded in the ceiling. "Time Distortion Field Activated. The Chamber will return to the Timestream in one year."

Returning back to the private study as Lord Slytherin had asked Harry entered the room.

"I see the Ritual of Activation was successful. Good. Now that you know what the bloodmagic feels like, and we have more time we can start planning your first piece of bloodmagic."

"Each piece, as they are called, does something special. Most of the basic pieces are for improving oneself either physically or magically. Spells, enchantments, and wards can be cast using bloodmagic but those are much more complicated and dangerous."

And so Harry sat at the desk and began taking down notes into a blank journal, he was writing everything that he and Lord Slytherin were agreeing on and discussing about Harry's first piece of bloodmagic. It would be a relatively simple and easy to do piece that would improve Harry's physical strength.