THE RETURN OF SLYTHERIN
-CHAPTER TEN-
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The students practically fell upon each other since they all wanted to enter the platform first. Most students were accompanied with their families, but Harry spotted some lonely students too. He could easily separate the old students from the young, not only were the first years small but he could practically smell their anxiety of what were to come. He found it quite amusing to watch them look around with big eyes, he didn't remember himself being so scared of going to school. Sure, everything had been new and exciting and he hadn't known what to expect, but surely most students came from wizarding families like Ron? He was interrupted in his musings when he spotted a large group of people. He drew back from the window quickly and almost stumbled over Salazar in the process.
"What on earth are you doing?" Salazar asked him as Harry righted himself.
"Don't you see them too?" he asked and hid behind Salazar while still watching the group of people. Salazar raised and eyebrow and gave him a glance.
"I can see many people," he stated and Harry hit him on his shoulder since he knew Salazar was deliberately fucking with him. The man had obviously seen what he had seen.
"Well?" he hissed and yanked on Slytherin's robes.
"Fine," Salazar said with a snort. "Yes, I see them, and no I don't particularly care about them," he answered. Harry decided that there was no point in standing there drooling in the window so he sat down in the seat.
"What if they come in here? They might search the train for me," he said while rearranging his robes so they didn't get wrinkled.
"What are the order going to do?" Salazar asked contemptuously and whipped around so his robes flared around him dramatically. Snape wasn't the only one who was able to do that move. "They can't touch you. You're here when you're supposed to be, neither one of them are your legal guardians, nor will they be able to get the truth out of you since it is illegal to give you a truth potion. Besides, I am here with you."
"Oh, I feel very comforted and secure now," Harry muttered but Salazar didn't seem to mind terrible.
"Well you should," he said haughtily. "I am the most powerful wizard in the world, you know." Harry only nodded absently since he had heard it all before. He wasn't sure that Salazar was the most powerful wizard, since he himself had quite a big deal of power in him, but he didn't want to challenge Slytherin's ego by pointing that out.
"I am not afraid of them if that's what you think," he told him. "I just want to avoid and confrontation and the complications that arise with it," he explained. Salazar finally sat down in his seat across of him.
"If life was that simple it wouldn't be worth living it. Where would all the action and fun be?" Salazar asked. Harry thought Slytherin had a pretty distorted way of looking at life and what it meant, but he didn't say anything. Slyhterin would always be an enigma and he was pretty sure no one would ever truly understand Slytherin. Hell, he didn't even understand half of what left Slyhterins mouth, and yet he lived with him!
"Sometimes I wish I could leave all this behind, you know?" Harry told him and gestured with his hands. "It would be nice to be somewhere else, and to choose for one self what kind of adventure I'd be going through. This whole deal with Voldemort was forced upon me. When I was younger I thought it was my burden to carry around, and I didn't wish it upon someone else, but I must admit that I am not so noble now days. I would run if I could, and I would gladly give this responsibility to somebody else. I don't care who the fuck it is, be it Ron or Hermione… I wouldn't stay to help," he admitted. He had thought about this for a while, and he felt that Slytherin deserved to know what was running through his mind. He half expected Slytherin to began to curse him and yell but Slytherin simply nodded. The man was so unpredictable!
"I wouldn't expect anything less you of. You're only human, and it's a natural instinct to run away when sensing danger. It doesn't make you any worse than the rest of us, you're still here, aren't you?" Harry nodded.
"Yeah, I guess I am," he murmured and looked away from Slytherin's intense glance.
Slytherin leaned forward in his seat. Harry felt his knees being grasped in a firm grip and he looked up. Slytherin trapped his gaze and immediate attention at once. "I expect you to doubt from time to time. This call of yours isn't easy. I too want to run away sometimes…" Slytherin trailed off, let go of his grip and leaned back in his seat once again before glaring darkly at Harry. "But if you ever tell anyone I said that you wouldn't recognize yourself in a mirror after I'm through with you!" he added in a dangerously low voice. Harry couldn't help but crack a smile at the threat. Slyhterin was also good on bringing him out of the melancholy that he now days experienced quite often.
"I won't," he promised but he couldn't help but add cheekily, "But you gotta admit that was some fine piece of blackmail material you just gave me." Slytherin rolled his eyes.
"You wouldn't dare," he said dryly. Harry had to silently admit to that, but he would be damned if he voiced that out loud! "Now shut up, I can hear the students getting closer," Salazar told him and Harry nodded. It was time to act.
Several students opened their compartment door before hastily closing the door with an apology when they saw it was already occupied. Salazar and he had to wait for a while before the Order found them.
"Harry!" Tonks greeted and seemed very relieved as she entered the door first. The other order members pushed their way inside right after them so their compartment suddenly became very crowded.
"Hello Tonks," he said calmly and met her gaze calmly.
"Where the hell have you been boy?" Mad eye snarled at him but Harry refused to get angry.
"I've been on a little holiday in the muggle world since my relatives threw me out and you didn't seem bothered to help me at the time. I stayed at a low down hotel, doing nothing much. I tried to stay out of sight which I obviously managed to do," he told them in a steady voice. Lupin was among the crown and he had his look of disappointment plastered on. This time, unlike his third year, it didn't bother him the least.
"Do you have any idea of what you have done? You could have been killed and all out hard work to keep you safe would have been for nought!" Mad eye thundered. Harry stared back at the man defiantly.
"I'm still here aren't I?" he said rudely. Mad eye closed his mouth and glared at him angrily. He didn't have a handy retort, Harry had been right after all. Lupin decided to step in.
"Harry, we have been very worried and we have looked all over the place for you. What your relatives did was wrong, and we've spoken to them about it. We didn't realise your situation until it was too late and you were already gone, or else we would have come and taken you with us." Harry had to restrain himself from telling Lupin that he saw right through his little lie, but he didn't. Instead he decided to try and put an end this conversation. He saw that the order looked at Salazar suspiciously, who still hadn't spoken. Salazar's face was expressionless, bordering towards bored, but he followed the conversation around him with rapt attention.
"What's done is done. We can't change the past and everything went well. Let's leave it at that, shall we?" he asked. "This summer treated me good. I had a nice breathing pause and I enjoyed myself," he told them. The order members seemed to think it through.
"Alright," Lupin finally said. "But you must promise never to do something like this again," he said sternly. Harry put on his most innocent look and met the werewolves eyes.
"I won't," he said and lied him right in his face. Lupin didn't seem to know that through, and nodded in acceptance.
"Now then… I believe we haven't had the pleasure of meeting your compartment mate, yet," Lupin said meaningfully.
"Oh…" Harry said before clearing his throat. "Well, this is the new Professor against the Dark Arts, Professor Sal Randle," he told them.
"How do you do," Salazar said but made no movement towards shaking any hands. Moody nodded in greeting but seemed very suspicious. Even Lupin seemed a bit hesitant towards Salazar. If only they knew, he thought humorously.
"Will you be alright here, Harry?" Lupin asked him and he nodded. Sure he would!
"Hermione and Ron will join you soon," Tonks added. "The Weasley's are only just saying goodbye to each other."
Oh joy, he thought sourly. His friends would no doubt try to get all the secrets out of him. All in vain of course.
"That's great, I've missed them," he said and lied through his teeth. He hadn't missed them one bit. They had grown apart since the first time they met. Sure, they had been through a lot together and he cherished those moment but things wasn't right between them now. Everything seemed forced, even their conversation and he didn't want to live through another year that way. If he wanted to evolve and grow as a person he needed to move on and not be afraid of being on his own and going his own ways. He also had Salazar to lean on in the man time, until he found out who he really was and what he wanted to do with his life.
"Take care Harry!" Tonks said and gave him a quick hug. Lupin leaned in and have him another one.
"Yeah, see you later," he said without knowing when that would be. Usually he didn't see much of those people. Even through he didn't want them around them he wasn't hating them, nor did he wish them any harm accept for perhaps Dumbledore. Those people risked their lives everyday for something they believed in, and how could that be wrong? Just because he didn't necessarily agree with everything they did it didn't mean he wouldn't try to protect them, in the future.
When the compartment door closed after the last of the member, Salazar and Harry's gaze met. They were finally alone again.