Chapter 21! It's Swell! This is going to be the last nightmare for a while but I think this one really explains quite a bit. Enjoy yourselves in my story and tell me how you felt in a review!
Snape had never been so horrified. The boy had been very dignified throughout his speech. Snape had been thrust between blinding fury and paralyzing horror. When Harry had finished and then collapsed on himself Severus had no idea what to say to the boy. He just let the boy cry himself into exhaustion and then he tucked him into bed.
Severus hadn't honestly expected it to be that bad. I mean he had expected neglect, and of course the physical violence but the depth they went to, to tear this boy down, was insane. He had to stop himself from flying over to their home in a rage and murdering them. He knew somehow Harry would not appreciate the sentiment. Instead after setting an alarm to alert him if Harry had a nightmare he stormed into the Headmasters office.
Once there Severus ranted. He did not divulge too many details or very many at all unwilling to break the trust of the boy who had finally opened up to him. Mostly he just wore a hole in the head masters carpet screaming about depraved muggles. After a very vivacious and long winded rant, one that lasted 45 minutes Snape sunk into one of the chairs.
"Severus I understand some of what you said." Albus began. "I know you left out details out of respect for Mr. Potter's privacy. There is just nothing we can do."
"Nothing?"
"Any magic done on the Dursely's that affected them negatively would end their guardianship of Harry. While that is ideally what we want once the guardianship ends the ministry has to decide where Harry ends up. There are many pure blooded wizards with enough pull to get him adopted only to arrange an accident later." Albus said. "Besides if the news got out that Muggles had abused the boy-who-lived anti-muggle sentiments would rise up and cause violence. At this point in time there is nothing I can do."
Severus let the implications of that sink in before sighing. It was true there was nothing that could be done right now. The future was a different story but as for right now Harry could not see justice. He felt only marginally better after ranting to Albus.
"Severus it has been years since I've seen you this open and free." Albus said with a small smile. "Harry getting rid of that Mark did you a world of good."
"Albus. I've never felt this free in my entire life. My father ruled me with an iron fist and Voldemort did the same. I didn't think I'd ever feel this light." Severus admitted. "But Harry is so weighed down. I am trying to help him but there is just so much."
"Severus. He trusts you more than anyone else in this castle. The fact that he didn't explode at you when he saw the mark and instead made moves to remove and learn your side proves that." Albus said. "If anyone can help him it is you. Tomorrow begin again. I imagine Harry will be embarrassed tomorrow after being so open. Be encouraging. Let him know that you thought he was very brave for speaking."
"I will." Severus gasped then. "Excuse me Albus Harry has just started having a nightmare. I imagine it started because he brought up such memories when talking to me. I need to get to our quarters."
"Use my floo."
Severus ran directly right up to the fire and through the floo powder. He ran into the fire shouting out the name to his quarters. He rushed through not bothering dusting himself off and ran into the room. This was not what he was expected. Before the nightmares had been heartbreaking to see but nothing too insane. Instead of screaming and crying out the boy was tossing violently and struggling along against an invisible force. The worst part was the magic. Instead of him being in control the magic was whipping around. Why would he lose control now?
The rings. Snape's heart began beating rapidly when the rings accepted him as the head of house he got the family magics. The boy wasn't trained to control that much raw power. Severus had to be careful. He was reminded of what had happened to his uncle's extremity and made a feral smile. Magic could be very cruel when it wanted to. Harry's magic could harm him if he wasn't careful. Snape made his way carefully over to the struggling Harry, the magic hissing dangerously around him destroying the room.
Once he got onto the bed the Magic increased in speed. He knew the quickest way would be to enter the boys mind. This was not a normal dream truly. He moved quickly and grabbed Harry's head opened up the eyelids and cast a wandless Legilmens. Instantly he was thrust face first once more into the maze.
"Harry? I need your help?" Snape called out for the pink clad guardian. "Please come here I need to get to the inner sanctum to help wake up Harry before he loses complete control of his magic."
He saw down the hallway the pink clad guardian was running towards him. The boy looked fuller than the last time he had seen him but had a very frightened look.
"Severus come on. Harry is stuck in the Vernon room and can't get out. His mind locked him in there and he's too scared to pull himself out."
"Harry is releasing his magic all of his room and I'm afraid if he loses all control he could blow apart half of the castle."
"Very well the other guardians are switching between leading you and trying to get the door open. We've got to run."
Severus nodded and ran alongside Harry. Instead of avoiding the traps Harry merely used wandless magic and destroyed them so that they wouldn't slow down. It was an awesome display of magical prowess. When they got to the green part Sal was already there to lead him through. Harry already gone back to trying to reach Harry in the Vernon room.
Sal said nothing and began running with Severus following close behind. As they ran Sal who actually had wand used to shoot curses at any obstacle. Harry was destined to be a very powerful wizard. He already was in a sense.
"Part of the reason we can't get into the Vernon room." Sal shouted. "Is because Harry put a password on the door and only he knows what it is. When you get there try to guess the password first."
"Alright Sal."
Along the way Snape tripped a wire that caused a wall of flame to come up it burned Sal's arm but the guardian hardly stopped to gasp out in pain.
"Sal." Snape said.
"Leave it. Harry is losing more and more control the longer we wait."
When they got to James' part of the maze the boy had thought to bring his broom. Snape said nothing but got on and allowed James to fly expertly through the maze. Severus was sure he had lost his stomach somewhere after the fifth sharp turn. James didn't bother with the traps just flying over and around them. He even did a barrel roll a few times. They got through quickly enough. He was surprised to see Boy standing tall. When Snape landed the boy grabbed his hand and began leading him through the maze.
The boy was being extremely brave and if Snape didn't have sharp eyes he wouldn't have noticed how much the boy was trembling. Boy's small legs could only take them so fast so Snape had an idea.
"Boy. If you direct me I can carry you. That way we can get to Harry faster."
The boy slowed for a moment before nodding quickly Snape picked him up and began to run. He listened to Boys instructions and allowed him to disperse the traps. Apparently all the guardians were powerful in a way. Then again this guardian was the one that represented the child Harry whose magic had grown enough to save his life multiple times. They got through well enough and the moment Boy was on the ground he was gone. Potter was next.
He looked up at Potter and instead of seeing the anger he expected he saw Potter smiling.
"Come on Severus you're almost there." He said with a smile.
"Aren't you supposed to be angry?" Severus demanded after taking a deep breath and running again.
"Oh I still am. Just not at you. You promised to love Harry and you did. A few hours ago when you told him you cared for him I lost all my anger for you. Harry forgave you completely and utterly. He feels no anger for you and so neither do I." Potter said. "Now stop dawdling like an idiot and run."
Severus rolled his eyes and ran. When he got to the door of the inner sanctum he saw the other four struggling with the door.
"Severus. We will be able to open the door but from there you have to use all of your strength to get the uncle Vernon door open." Potter said. "Do you understand?"
"I do. Get me inside and I'll do the rest."
"Alright gang." James said. "Let's get this damn door open!"
The five guardians grabbed the door and pushed hard. The second the door was open wide enough Severus squeezed in. The door slammed behind him but not before heard James shout at him.
"Don't fail me now you greasy git!"
The door on the left was the one he was looking for. It was chained and someone was banging on it from the inside. Probably Harry. A scream rent the air and Snape stopped breathing. He needed to get that door open now. One of the guardians Snape was too distracted to remember who had advised him to guess the password first.
"How do I guess a password?" Snape asked the door.
Suddenly the wall to the left slid opening revealing parchment and a quill. He just had to write the password down? He grabbed the quill and twirled it in his fingers. He thought hard. Harry would pick something that he had told no one. The idea came to him suddenly and once it entered it would never leave. Snape leaned over and wrote out in his neat script.
'Cock Removal Curse'
It was crude yes but fitting. The words glowed gold before disappearing. The chains on the door disappeared and the door clicked. He grabbed the door and thrust it open. He looked into the room and saw Harry sitting in the middle of the room rocking back and forth crying out every once in a while. Snape rushed up and gathered the boy in a hug.
"Harry I need you to pull out of it. You are not with your uncle. You are in your mind you are safe. I am here with you."
The boy struggled and screamed. Then Snape realized he wouldn't easily be able to leave the memories if he was in this room. The room was awful and made Snape want to throw up and then go curse the damn muggle. He gathered Harry up and left the room. He walked up the hallway looking for a room with more pleasant memories. Then he saw it. Quidditch! He ran over to the room and opened the door.
He was surprised that the door had no password protections but then he saw why. Each and every memory was a hard to catch snitch unless you were a world class seeker the memories were well protected. He rushed into the middle of the pitch and sat down. The last thirty minutes of frantic running was hitting him pretty hard.
So there sitting in the middle of the quidditch pitch he rocked Harry back and forth. Slowly the boy relaxed but was still stuck in the nightmare. Suddenly a snitch flew right next to him. Snape grabbed it and pushed it into Harry's hand. Suddenly the boy was brought out of the Vernon nightmare and into a memory of quidditch practice. The boy relaxed completely and a smile graced his features.
"Harry." Snape called. "I need you to wake up now. Harry it's important that you open your eyes. We are in your mind. I had to break in to help you out of your nightmare."
Snape continued this mantra until Harry opened his eyes and stared at him in wonder.
"Thank you Severus. You have no idea how awful that was. I couldn't get out the memories just kept replaying over and over in my mind." Harry said trembling.
"Harry I found out something that I had not realized before. Do you know what family magics are?"
"Grandfather touched on them briefly but I'm not familiar with them." Harry answered honestly.
"Family magic is magic that stays within a particular family. That is where the idea of Pureblooded Supremacy comes from. Heads of houses of ancient families would have family magics that would give them special gifts or just extra power. A popular example is Parseltongue from the Slytherin family." Snape explained. "You were already quite a powerful young wizard before you got your rings. When you got those rings you accepted the family magics. You are now much more powerful."
"What does that have to do with my dreams?"
"You were so afraid, for good reason, that you lost control of your magic. Now that you have so much of it, it was whirling around in the room so quickly that I was afraid you would destroy it."
"I didn't did I?" Harry asked worriedly.
"I am not injured so I don't believe you did. Although your room is likely to be a mess."
"My room?"
"Yes your room. The on you've been occupying all summer."
"I just thought it was your guest room." Harry muttered.
"Harry. It didn't exist in the first place. Hogwarts has the ability to add and remove rooms at will within her structure based on the need of its inhabitants. The room you occupy was created specifically for you. It is your room." Snape explained.
Now Snape understood why the boy had not yet unpacked there was no reason to when you were merely living in someone else's room.
"Oh. I didn't know." Harry said blushing.
"Now Harry. I need you to push me out of your mind and wake up completely. Can you do that?"
"Yes Severus." Harry said.
With those words Snape felt himself flying out of the boys mind and straight into his own. He gasped and looked around. The room looked like a warzone. Glass strewn everywhere, parchment ripped and torn. Books opened to random pages and damaged. The only part untouched was the bed itself where Harry lay. Harry got up slowly.
"I did this?" He asked in an amazed tone.
"Yes. I was quite afraid that if I was not careful I would suffer a fate similar to your uncle's. Your magic was quite out of control."
"Oh. So you figured out my password!" Harry said with a large blush blooming across his features. "I thought it was pretty good."
"I feel I am the only one who could've guessed it." Snape answered honestly.
"Yeah you're the only one I've told that too. I didn't even tell Grandfather."
"Who is Grandfather?" Snape asked.
"Salazar Slytherin's portrait demanded that since I was taking his name I should at least call him Grandpa Sal." Harry said with a smirk. "It is by far one of the weirdest things I have ever done."
"I admit I have a hard time imagining you calling Salazar Slytherin Grandpa." Snape said. "Now back to the issue with your magic. We need to begin immediately on training you with control. The headmaster is the best for this since he had a power source much like yours. For now though I need you to take a sleeping potion to keep you from dreaming. Until we are sure you can control your magic if a dream gets too violent you could blow up part of the castle."
"I'm sorry." Harry said ducking his head down.
"There is no need for apology. You have a great many gifts and that is something to be proud of. This one just requires a lot of work." Snape said with a smile. "Now lay down and I will be back momentarily with the potion."
Snape fed Harry the dreamless sleep potion and gave Harry a hug. The boy hadn't requested he stay so he left and collapsed into a chair by the fire. It was 2 in the morning and he needed to talk to Albus. He cast a patronous and sent it with a message. Fifteen minutes later Albus came into the quarters looked bemused.
"What could you possibly need at this time Severus?" He asked.
"Come with me." Severus said standing.
He took him to Harry's room witch was still destroyed.
"What happened?" Albus asked.
"I believe Harry has just had a large power increase from accepting the family rings. He had a particularly bad nightmare and lost control of his magic. I had to wake him using legilimency." Snape explained.
"Did you say rings?" Albus asked.
"You may be able to see them but the boy has 4 head of house rings on his fingers and two heir rings." Severus explained. "He has a longer name than you Albus."
"What is his name now?" Albus asked his eyes twinkling with mischief.
"Harry James Peverell Gryffindor Slytherin Potter heir to the Black and Flamel names." Snape said with a sigh.
"Slytherin? How did he get that name I wonder?" Albus asked his was full of amusement.
"Honestly I have no idea but I saw the ring accept him so there is hardly any doubt it is his name."
"He was already quite a powerful young wizard. The family magics don't add any magic to your core they merely amplify it. I wouldn't be surprised if he needed a custom wand."
"Custom?" Severus asked.
"There are few normal wands that can handle the amount of power he now wields. I mean he could now destroy his current wand with magical overload."
"That's possible?"
"Yes. I did it to my first two wands as I grew stronger until I finally found one that would be able to handle the amount of power I possessed."
"Albus. He needs training. I can hardly train him to control that amount of power." Severus said.
"He already has the control my boy. I can sense it in him. He merely needs to use magic often so that he doesn't overflow."
"Overflow?"
"As a child his core isn't big enough to hold a lot of magic for a long time. If he doesn't expend it he will have bursts of accidental magic like the one you just witnessed." Albus explained. "He just needs to practice magic every day. If he does that his core size will grow and he won't have any accidents."
"Do you think the other professors will help?"
"Of course my dear boy. At dinner today we can plan out a schedule of training sessions." Albus said. "Now go to sleep my boy. You look exhausted. I imagine it wasn't easy getting into his barriers under such duress."
So Severus bid Albus goodbye and collapsed into his bed. He was asleep almost instantly. He was woken up by the smell of breakfast. It seemed the House elves had decided to bring the food before he called for it. He stood up and changed his clothing and walked out of his room and into the weirdest sight he had ever seen.
Sitting at his table was four house elves who were talking and giggling while Harry cooked in the kitchen. That was just strange but the weirdest part was that Harry was cooking entirely with magic. There was no wand in sight and Harry was merely waving his hand around his levitation charms, summoning charms, and who knows what else to call around ingredients that he would add to the mixtures. He stood in the door frame and watched for a while.
"Alright Klangly your blueberry waffles with bacon omelet is complete." Harry said using magic to send the plate right in front of the house elf.
"Now to Dacker. The loser of the bet I have created chocolate chip pancakes with scrambled eggs." Harry said returning in a moment with the corresponding plate. "And Millie the wonderful Millie the winner of our bet I bring you your favorite meal. French toast drowned in syrup with a side of chocolate pudding."
Harry left and returned with a final plate for the fourth house elf. It contained a giant omelet that Harry titled a 'monster omelet' for the esteemed Filly. It was after that display finished that Snape cleared his throat. All five stiffened at the noise and Harry looked up at him.
"Good Morning Severus. I'm cooking this morning so what would you like?"
"You are cooking? Why?"
"Well, these esteemed house elves and I had a bet going. If I lost the bet I would have to prepare for them their favorite breakfast meals. I lost so here I am cooking again. Not that I mind, cooking is and was one of my favorite chores." Harry explained. "Now what do you want? You name it and I'll cook it."
"What I have every morning will be fine."
"So coffee as black as your clothing, three eggs, one of which is poached, and a croissant?"
"Of course." Severus answered. "Now where am I supposed to sit?"
At the end of that question he saw Harry wave his hand and in came a chair from one of the other rooms. Harry went into the kitchen and continued cooking. Snape sat down and looked at his four unexpected guests.
"So what was the bet?" He asked.
"Well." Klangly said looking towards the kitchen.
"Go ahead and tell him." Harry shouted from the kitchen.
"We elves knew that Harry would be more powerful than Dumblydores sir." Klangly said.
"Yes. We knew but Harry was sure he would never be that strong." Millie continued.
"So we made a bets!" Dacker said excitedly. "And we wons!"
"Then why did Harry call you the loser?"
"I bets he wouldn't be more powerful until Christmas sir. I was the latest in the year."
"So who won?" Severus asked.
"I did sirs!" Millie shouted. "I bets he would be more powerful befores his birthday."
"Why were you so sure of Harry?"
"He is a good wizard and the magics know so." Mille explained as if that answered all of it.
Snape leaned back and waited. In ten minutes the boy returned with two plates. One obviously for him and the other for Harry himself. While he had been waiting the house elves had been eating steadfastly. When Harry came out they were finished.
"We must be goings to work now Harry." Millie said. "Now you must be visitings the kitchen soon."
"I will Millie I promise."
With that the elves popped out of existence and Harry laid the first plate down in front of Snape and the other one in front of himself. He sat down and started eating. Snape looked at his own food. It looked well prepared, something he would see in a restaurant. Which would make sense last night he had learned that Harry had been made to cook very early on in his childhood. It would make sense that he would have skills in the kitchen. He grabbed the fork and ate the food.
It was very good. Which while not surprising was a happy fact. He noticed Harry was watching him worriedly. The boy having already finished his meal. When he finished he leaned back and looked at the boy.
"I noticed you weren't using your wand this morning." Snape said.
"Huh? Yeah I was going to but it felt really hot in my hand and it nearly burned my hand so I decided to just go without it." Harry said with a shrug. "Now onto more important matters. What did you think of the food? The Dursely's never liked my cooking."
"The Dursely's most likely lacked taste buds." Snape said with a sneer. "The food was quite good."
"Thanks Severus! Now I was thinking. I should do magic today. Like a lot of it. If I do enough I'll be so tired that I won't have any crazy dreams."
"The headmaster was of the same opinion." Severus said. "He told me that since you have so much more magic at your disposal the more you use it the better control you will have."
"Awesome! Did you want to come with me to train? Grandpa said I could invite you."
"He said that? Salazar said you could invite me to visit him?"
"Yeah the others agreed. You've got to promise to be extra respectful to Gramps."
"Who is Gramps?" Snape asked intrigued.
"Godric Gryffindor. He is pretty loud and well generally how you would expect him to be. Grandmother Helga and Grandma Ro are very different though."
"You call all four founders your grandparents?"
"They asked me too. Grandma Ro is the one who told me I could trust you."
"Rowena Ravenclaw knows who I am and thought I was trustworthy?"
"You know I won't take you with me if you keep acting so surprised about everything I say." Harry said. "I just thought you would want to see Grandpa Sal's potions lab. It's pretty extensive."
"Extensive?" Snape asked.
"Yeah I mean I think you would appreciate it more than I do. Grandpa talks about it as if it's his baby."
"Very well we shall go today." Snape said trying to sound resigned and mask his excitement.
"Okay just let me get my stuff!" Harry said bounding out of the room.
He returned moments later with a backpack, his wand and the old parselscript book. Harry opened the door and motioned for him to follow.
"Now it's not very clean down there." Harry said as he led the way.
Severus knew where they were going. The girls bathroom on the second floor. When they got there Harry went over to one of the pipes and leaned down and hissed into them.
"The password is Parseltongue. All you have to do is tell it to open and then ask for stairs." Harry explained. "Be careful it can be pretty slippery."
"I shall endeavor not to fall down the stairs." Snape said sarcastically right before his foot slipped and he landed on his back.
"I told you Severus." Harry said while helping him up.
Snape endeavored to ignore the snickering he heard from the boy and continued regally down the stairs. They came up to the doors that had blocked Severus before. Harry went up and hissed at the doors and they swung open revealing a large well lit room.
"Welcome to the Chamber of Secrets." Harry said with a smile.
"You weren't lying when you said you had found it."
"Nope. Now come on and let me give you the grand tour." Harry said pulling Snape inside. "Over there you have entrances to the large pipe system that runs through the school. In the event of an attack on the castle Salazar's monster would use these to get to the fray as quickly as possible." He said pointing to the far end of the corridor.
"Salazar's monster? It's real?"
"She is a hibernating Basilisk currently residing somewhere in that statue over there." Harry said pointing to a giant statue of Salazar Slytherin. "I haven't called her awake since I have no desire to be face to face with a hungry cranky Basilisk."
"That would be the logical thing to do."
"Yeah it's what's behind the statue that's the cool part." Harry said walking around behind the statue. "This door leads to the potions lab and private rooms. Only a person of Salazar's blood can open it."
Harry opened the door and Severus' eyes widened. The room had a few couches and looked extremely cozy and warm. There was a desk off to the side and along the walls four portraits of the famous founders. They all smiled and waved at Harry. Godric spoke first.
"So you brought down that old snake of yours eh?" The man bellowed. "Good! I wanted to get to know him."
"Godric. You are so loud sometimes." Helga complained. "Hello my name is Helga Hufflepuff. Please sit down."
Before Snape could sit down Harry jumped.
"Oh right. Grandpa Sal do I have permission to show him your potions lab?"
"Yes it will be good to have another master in there." Salazar said.
"Come on Severus. You are really going to like this room."
Harry walked over to one of the rooms and opened the door. Snape couldn't help it his jaw dropped. The room was gorgeous. A huge potions cabinet lined the walls on one side and on the other an ingredients closet. He ran over there and opened the door and began salivating. Row and rows of properly stored ingredients both common and rare. Along the third wall were cauldrons of all sizes and types, properly cleaned. He just looked at the large and glorious space for a moment and took it all in.
"Severus." Harry said after a moment. "You can play later but there's more."
"More?" Severus asked.
"Yeah the library. You know where all the books are."
"There's a library?"
"Grandpa's Sal's personal one. It's over this way."
Harry pulled him to the wall that contained the potion ingredients and a door appeared. He opened this door and inside was a room full of books. Severus was stunned all of this was in the bowels of the castle?
"It's organized by subject. The largest group is the potions since it is Salazar Slytherin's chamber." Harry explained. "Over there is the charms and transfigurations, there's a whole section on ancient blood rites, there's a section on history. Salazar said he had a book written by Merlin himself somewhere in there. Really any topic that comes to mind he is bound to have at least a book on it."
"Harry this is amazing." Severus breathed out.
"Yeah but now we've got to go back and talk to the founders. Salazar wants to talk about your Wolfsbane potion. He thought it was genius of you to figure something out like that. While you guys are talking Gramps was going to train me."
"Salazar Slytherin wants to talk about my potions?" Snape demanded.
"Stop repeating everything I say and come on." Harry said rolling his eyes.
Harry had to drag Severus out of the potions lab and into the sitting room. He pushed Severus onto the couch.
"Now go talk potions while Gramps trains me." Harry commanded sternly.