A/N: Sorry this is so short but everyone has been patiently waiting and I wanted to get something posted for you guys so here is the next chapter. If there are any mistakes let me know and I'll get to them.

Disclaimer: Everyone already knows what goes here.

Chapter 6

Lunch was a silent affair; not uncomfortable, just pensive and Harry shrugged internally. It was his own fault for giving them so much information, He could have done it better but chose the most shocking things he could think of to get them to see, being gentle with them would have only taken longer to convince them and he was sure that they would come around eventually, they just needed time to digest it all.

So Harry left them to their silence and discretely observed the things going on around him. His eyes first landed on Malfoy, who was speaking quietly with Greengrass and Parkinson; his ever present bodyguards sitting silently to either side of him. Harry was surprised that Malfoy hadn't forced a confrontation yet and that wasn't the only confrontation that he was waiting to happen.

Pucey and Flint, as well as a few other upper class Slytherin's seemed to be the ruling body of the house and it was only a matter of time before they took it upon themselves to put the 'Savior'' in his place. It wasn't like he hadn't noticed to not so covert glances and sneers thrown his way and Harry had no idea what he was going to do about it but he was sure he wasn't going to allow them to walk all over him. There was no point because no matter what he did do, Harry knew it would never leave the common room and that was the exceptional thing about being a Slytherin.

Harry's eyes darted back to the Malfoy heir. He knew Draco could be so much more than what he was now but that was the future, an alternate timeline, when his father served under a madman and he was forced to do things against his nature. Things that change a person and whereas that Draco was someone that was at least tolerable, this one was still a haughty stuck up spoilt brat. It would take the upcoming war to toughen him up, because as much as Harry would like to avoid it, there would be a war, there was no getting around it and that was one of a few reasons he chose this path. His former friends, with the occasional exception, wouldn't understand or refuse to understand. It was easier to distance himself this way and he was finding Nott and Zabini's company much more companionable than Hermione's and Ron's ever had been.

Thoughts of the Malfoy heir morphed into thoughts of his father, Lucius and his eyes strayed from those of his own house to the head table and the dour potion master. Two powerfully imposing men and the right and left hands of the Dark Lord; Harry needed them on his side to accomplish his goals. And as much as he needed them, Harry really wasn't looking forward to working closely with them. The two brought up desires his future self-had buried deep and never dared to confront not to mention neither man liked him; He could only hope that the promise of bringing their Lord back with his sanity back would endear him to them a little.

Those desires, however, had no relevance to his plan and it was getting harder to ignore them. It was getting more and more difficult to separate himself from the journals memories; it was as if those memories were becoming his own and though he was slightly detached from them, they were there. He needed to come to terms with everything before next Sunday and it wasn't like anything would ever come from them, one was a married man, the other was suffering from unrequited love and he had the body of someone old enough to be their child. He sighed internally and forced all those thoughts back behind his Occlumency Walls.

Harry was so caught up in his own head he hadn't realized he had been staring at the Professor until dark fathomless eyes caught his own. He mentally berated himself and his eyes slid from Snape's impressive figure to the Professor sitting next to him then down to his plate. He wanted to rub at his face wearily but refrained, he needed to keep up the Slytherin act and dropping it would bring a whole new host of problems. He pushed away his barely touched plate and decided to retreat back to the seventh floor. He needed to find a binding ritual and now that he recalled, he also needed to figure out how or if Unicorn blood affected just Professor Quirrel or Voldemort as well.

As gracefully as he could, Harry climbed off the bench. He bent down to speak quietly when his two companions looked up at him. "You know where I'll be. You both are more than welcome to join me, otherwise I'll see you at supper." They nodded their assent and turned back to their meals as Harry left the Great Hall. He could feel the pin prick of eyes following him out the door and resolutely ignored them. He encountered Nidhogg on his way, who had been exploring the castle, and discreetly grabbed his soon to be familiar before continuing to his destination.

…

Eventually Nott joined him in the RoR while Zabini was off doing whatever and except for the initial query for recommended reading, the silence was peaceful only broken by pages being turned and calm breaths.

By supper Harry had found a simple bonding ritual but had to wait for the full moon and Nott left the room with him disappointed he couldn't bring the book he had been reading with him. The meal itself was pleasant and thought provoking. It started with he, Nott and Zabini discussing mythology and religion quietly between themselves and quickly morphed into a serious debate about mythology, religion and fairy tales and the truthfulness behind them; those within hearing distance stopped to listen avidly then slowly begin injecting in the conversation and when they weren't immediately brushed off, became more enthusiastic about their comments.

For the first time in so long, even his memories, Harry was enjoying a companionable intellectual conversation and though he kept his Slytherin mask on he was happy and did not think on all of the problems he still had to face or how tedious the next day's classes were bound to be.

…

Harry had been expecting questions as soon as they retired but all he could hear was the muffled sound of water running coming from behind the closed bathroom door and the quiet shuffling of he and Nott changing.

Zabini was the one to break the silence, emerging from the bathroom in his pajamas with a fluffy white towel wrapped loosely around his shoulders. "So are you going to show us what that paper was we nicked this morning?"

Harry stopped pulling things out of his trunk and reached over to grab the parchment he set aside earlier. He spun so that he had the open space of the floor and began unfolding it. He waited for them to kneel at the edge and tapped the paper with his wand to activate the map.

He kept his eyes on the two boys across from him who were staring intently at the blank parchment. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." He watched their eyes grow larger with every appearing line and moving name, until the entire castle was outlined on parchment and every inhabitant was accounted for.

"This is the Marauders Map. It was created by my father, Godfather and two other friends." He pointed at the names printed on the top left and right hand corners. "Moony is Remus Lupin, Padfoot is my Godfather Sirius Black, Wormtail is Peter Pettigrew and Prongs was my Father James Potter." Both of his roommates looked up quickly at Harry's mention of Sirius.

Harry preempted their questions. "He was never a traitor, he is innocent. It was Pettigrew who sold out my parents to the Dark Lord." He told them as their eyes glossed over the numerous names both moving and not.

"He is one of many who won't make it out of this war with his life." Harry's voice turned dark with the revelation.

Nott cleared his throat, "There is something I don't quite understand. You want revenge on Pettigrew for turning traitor but you are planning on bringing back the Dark Lord; the man who killed them and will be joining his side."

"But if I were to go after everyone who is to blame for my parent's death I would be taking out a lot of people and not only those on the side of the dark." He waved his hand dismissively, "It was a war that had started many years before any of us were ever thought of so my parents are partially to blame for bringing me into this world knowing that they were a part of the front line forces, Dumbledore is to blame for being a fool and holding a job interview in a pub even if he didn't know the women would prophesy something and I could blame the man who overheard only the first part of it for running right to the Dark Lord before finding out more."

"All of that not counting the Dark Lord or Pettigrew; I am picking the battles I can win, like taking out Pettigrew who is alive and I know right where is for when I want him. He has no use in this war; he is a sniveling coward, has no notable skills and is a betrayer so I have no qualms about killing him because I should be able to at least get my Godfather a trial. And with Veritaserum, memory recall and a simple Priori Incantatem, it should be relatively easy to prove his innocence.

I will forgive the Dark Lord and the man who overheard the prophecy because it is in my best interest but I will never forget and Dumbledore will eventually be brought down." He said decisively. "Now I believe we have our first classes tomorrow so we should head to bed." He tapped the page once more,, whispering the words to deactivate the map. He folded it and stowed it in his trunk quietly wishing his roommates goodnight as he lay down.

…

The three boys went about their new morning routine and made their way to breakfast which was a quiet somber affair given that classes started shortly after.

The Slytherins started their day with History of Magic with the Ravenclaws and while most of the class spent their time trying to stay awake through Binns monotonous droning, Harry had pulled out his journal and was puzzling through his most pressing problem right at that moment. He had managed to find the information he needed and it explained a lot. The effects of unwillingly taken Unicorn were dire and Harry absolutely could not let Quirrel go down that path.

He was hitting a dead end at every turn however and could only come to one conclusion; he would have to move up his timeline by much more than he wanted. While Harry had wanted to wait until at least his second year, he was now going to have to move the Dark Lord's resurrection to this weekend.

Meeting with Snape, Malfoy and his wife would have to take place within the next couple of days and he needed to convince them to help without all of the information. Narcissa would be able to access Grimmauld Place and Bellatrix vaults for the locket and cup and Lucius would be able to bring the diary as well as retrieve the ring.

The ritual would have to be done in the Chamber since there were multiple wards surrounding it and keeping anyone from know what he was doing down there especially since the ritual he was going to preform was probably as dark as you could get; even darker than the one the Lord originally perform to bring himself back. Only the ritual Harry was going to do would be much better. The only problem with the Chamber was it was in severe need of cleaning and he had just the people to help him with that task. It would also help for them to earn his trust.

…

With a somewhat solid plan in place he attended Charms with the Hufflepuffs, ate lunch dutifully and worked through Transfiguration with the Gryffindors; Harry made sure to do well in his classes but not enough to stand out and when the Slytherins and Gryffindors started sniping at each other he kept quiet and out of the way. Competition was healthy but the house rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor was not and Harry had more important things to worry about.

During DADA, Harry watched Quirrell and was thankful for the barrier in his mind that kept the pain from the Dark Lord's proximity away. Though because of the Professor the class was a dreadful mess aside from being as boring as the rest.

…

After supper he, Nott and Zabini retreated to a quiet corner of the common rooms to do their homework which took little time unsurprisingly. Back in their shared room while stowing their work away, Harry informed them of his task.

"I have another task that needs to be completed by Friday and I would appreciate some help with it if you are not opposed to a little menial labor. If you agree you will be allowed to see a place believed to be a myth and at the moment only one other besides myself know of it."

Nott's eyes gleamed, anxious to learn more. As Theo gained more and more knowledge Harry unknowingly cemented his loyalty and trust. Though he was not put in Slytherin for nothing and was slowly and quietly putting pieces together to form a picture that seemed to be impossible. Theo had no idea if Harry was dropping hints on purpose as a sort of test or doing it unknowingly but he had no intention, secrecy wards and vows or not, of saying anything unless he couldn't deliver on what he promised.

"Will we be staying in the castle?" Zabini asked slightly worried that if they left they'd be caught but still wanting to accompany the both of them.

Harry nodded, "Yes, where we are going is much like the Room of Requirement. This will be a test of trust for all of us. I am not going to ask for any type of vows from you two but I will request that you not say anything to anyone and you two will have to trust me to do whatever I tell you to so that I can keep you safe."

They both nodded but were curious about where in the castle they would be going that could be unsafe. "Good if you're both coming than change and put on robe you don't mind getting ruined. They did so quickly and followed Harry out of their room and into the common area where they were halted from leaving by one Draco Malfoy and his overbearing bodyguards.

…

Harry sighed, He knew this was coming but it was very inconvenient timing. "Malfoy, what can we do for you?" He drawled, not bothering to mask his disinterest.

"Potter, I figured it was time for introductions since you have made the acquaintance of a few notable people," The blonde nodded his head at Nott and Zabini. "You obviously know who I am and this is Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe." He waved a hand dismissively back at his companions.

Harry suppressed a snort at Draco's haughty tone. "It's a pleasure to meet you," He barely kept the sarcasm from entering his voice. "We have something to do at the moment and haven't the time to chat." He brushed past the three boys in his way with Zabini and Nott following closely behind, none of them seeing the dark glare Draco aimed at Harry's back or Pucey and Flint approach the young Malfoy.

…

Outside the Slytherin common room, Harry led them to the second floor and into the abandon girl's bathroom and smirked at their disbelieving looks before approaching the sinks. $Open.$ They began to move and he watched as disbelief turned to outright shock. When the sinks stopped moving they approached the edge of the hole and looked down into darkness.

"Welcome to the Chamber of Secrets." Harry said and without waiting for a response, jumped down the hole.