"Master Harry Potter, sir! Dobby has found the room you asked."
Harry was in the middle of his work out, running around the Black Lake, when he got interrupted by Dobby.
"I already told you not to call me Master Harry Potter, sir, Dobby!"
"Dobby is sorry Master Harry; Dobby is happy to have the found the room Master Harry asked. Dobby been waiting for Master Harry to be alone to tell him, just like he was ordered!" The small elf was beaming with happiness.
"Thank you, Dobby. Lead the way then." He said.
Harry followed Dobby inside the castle, they run into no one, since it was so early that everyone was still sleeping. They went up the stairs until they reached the seventh floor, stopping in front of a painting Harry found horrible. How had someone painted that? Who would teach trolls how to do ballet?
"We are here Master Harry"
"We are? Where is the room then? Behind the painting?" If it was, he wouldn't be surprised no one found it, as no one would even touch a painting as bad as that one.
"Master Harry needs to walk three times back and forth while thinking what he needs, and the door will show up."
Harry found it a weird way to access the room, but he tried anyway.
'A place where I can practice magic.
A place where I can practice magic.
A place where I can practice magic.'
He thought, as he walked back and forth three times. To Harry's amazement, a door showed up on the exact spot, on the other side of the painting.
Opening the door, Harry's mouth shot down with amazement. The room was gigantic, with targets, training dummies, and even a duel ring. Books containing spells, Harry presumed, stacked up in piles in one corner. Even a shower was available. It was incredible. Turning to Dobby, he said.
"This is fantastic, Dobby. Thank you so much."
"Master Harry don't need to thank Dobby; Dobby is happy to help. It just shows the greatness of Master Harry once again, thanking Dobby!" The small elf was now bouncing on his thin legs, with an adoring expression on his face.
"Well, thank you anyway, Dobby. You've really helped me."
With the smile on his face growing even bigger, if it was even possible, Dobby snapped is fingers and disapparated.
Harry entered the room, still filled with amazement. Salazar would be so happy when he told him that he had found Rowena's Room. He had done what his teacher couldn't, even if he had a little help doing it.
Harry decided to test the potential of the room, changing it numerous times to many needs he could have. He even decided to ask for a bathroom and was surprised with a row of bathrooms that seemed almost infinite. 'Yes', he thought 'this can really be useful'. After making sure the room could turn into what he needed for his date, he turned it back into the training room and decided to give it a test run. Still in his workout cloths, he decided to get some practice with the dummies.
"Reducto" he said, while pointing his wand at one of the dummies.
The blasting curse it the target dead on, and the dummy blew up. A few seconds later, another one appeared right where the previous one stood.
'Amazing' he thought.
His next few hours were spent firing spells at the same time he tried to dodge imaginary spells coming his way. It wasn't the best training method, but it would do until he could find a better one.
Fleur was watching Harry run, again. After the first task, the boy seemed to take a liking at running around the lake, and with the physical changes he had gone through, Fleur liked to watch it. She was thinking about joining him, when a house elf appeared in front of the boy and they left together.
'What a bummer,' she thought 'maybe next time.'
Going for her own morning run, she dispersed the thoughts about the Boy-Who-Lived from her head.
She finished her morning routine and went for breakfast in the Hogwarts Great Hall.
She waited for Luna at the entrance doors as it had become their routine, but this time the girl didn't show up. Knowing of her past experiences with bullying and getting worried that something might happen to the girl, she made her way to the Ravenclaw tower, which Luna had showed her one of the times Fleur had insisted on accompany the girl to her dorms.
When she arrived at the eagle guarding entrance, she got told a riddle that she had to answer in order to get in.
"I have cities, but no houses.
I have mountains, but no trees.
I have water, but no fish.
What am I?"
Fleur thought a few seconds on that and answered. "A map?"
The eagle nodded and the door opened. What she saw inside made her blood boil.
Luna was sitting in a corner, her head between her legs, with two older girls making fun at her while throwing stinging hexes at her.
Before she even thought about it, Fleur's wand was in her hand.
'Levicorpus' She thought, the non-verbal spell flipping both girls' upside down, suspending them midair.
"What do you think you're doing?" She screamed, her mind filled with rage, and her vision with shades of red. "Do you think this is funny? Making fun of a younger girl? Are you two bitches dumb? I thought I had made myself clear about what would happen if someone messed with Luna."
She carefully pointed her wand the one of the girl's face. "Let's see if you find it funny now."
'Diffindo' she whispered, and a small cutting curse made her way to the pretty Chinese girl's cheek.
"Not enjoying it so much now" She said, when the girl's eyes filled with tears "Let's see what your little friend thinks."
"Please, don't…" The other Ravenclaw begged.
'Silencio' she said, both girls crying and begging not audible anymore.
Pointing her wand at the other girl's nose, she said "Engorgio" the nose grew until it was the size of a tennis ball. 'Accio scissor' she said after, and a scissor came flying right to her hand.
"Not, what do you girls think of a new hair cut?"
Fleur did her best to ruin both girls' hair, which turned out to be more difficult than she thought, seeing that she was an excellent hairdresser.
When she finished, she placed a Boils Jinx on both girls, with the boils spelling 'Bitch'.
When Fleur was satisfied with her work, she turned to Luna and said.
"Luna, my dear, why don't we go for a walk? We could visit the Thestrals and ask Dobby to bring us breakfast there. What do you think?"
The small Ravenclaw embraced Fleur and nodded her head, and together both girls made her wait to the fringes of the Forbidden Forest.
Fleur's mind was still with those two girls, what they had done to her friend, and how she would have a nice conversation with Luna's head of house later. The nice thoughts of going for a run with the young Slytherin student long gone.
The four Slytherin fourth years were finishing dinner, all the while Harry was nearly bursting with the excitement to tell Daphne about the room he had found.
As they left the Hall and before he said his goodbyes to his friends who were going to the dungeons while he was going to the chamber of secrets, he decided to pull Daphne apart.
"You guys go ahead, I need to have a small talk with Daph, please." He said to Blaise and Tracey.
His best friends looked at each other, and knowing what that meant, decided to give them some space and made their way to the dungeons.
"I have some news about our date, but as I remember, you wanted to kill me first, right?"
Daphne smiled, and then got her serious look on.
"You're actually lucky I had a few days do cool off, otherwise the physical damage might be irreversible." She then proceeded to come closer to him, teasing him, and when she was so close he could swear his lips were going to touch, she slapped him in his cheek. "How dare you invite another girl to dinner right after inviting me for a date?"
Harry grabbed the left side of his face, it was red and it hurt. She hadn't restrained her strength.
"I know what I did was wrong, and I apologize for it. I wasn't given much of a choice, but I should have known better." He decided to leave what had happened in the champions tent to another day. "Fleur has a difficult life, and as you can notice, she's very lonely. She doesn't seem to have friends with the Beauxbatons students nor at Hogwarts, except for Luna. I thought it wouldn't hurt to be her friend, as she is actually nice under that mask of arrogance."
"Well, maybe we can get to know her a bit better, but you still should have asked me first. It was you who invited me on a date after all." Daphne smirked and winked at Harry.
"While that's true, you were the one who jumped on me in front of the entire Great Hall." He said, watching as her face took a tone of deep red, earning himself another slap, even though this time with way less strength and with a more friendly feel.
"Such a smartass we got here. Now, you said you had news about our date?"
"Yes, the date, right. So, have you ever heard of the come and go room? Or of a secret room made by Rowena Ravenclaw?"
"No, I can't say that I have. What's so special about it? Come and go?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, from what I learned, it's a room created by Rowena, and the house elves call it the come and go room. What it does, is it turns to whatever shape or form you desire. So, if I wanted it to be like my room, it would become my room, if I wanted to practice magic, it will turn into a practice room. And I thought I would be the perfect place for our date!"
Daphne thought about it for a few seconds before agreeing. "If you can make sure no one finds us there, then we have a plan."
"From what I understood, if someone is in there, no one else can get in without the person who's inside allowing it. And I doubt a lot of people know about the room, it took someone special to find it" he answered.
Harry got up, and deciding to go for a big romantic gesture, got in one knee and asked.
"Daphne Greengrass would you do me the honor of accompany me on a date, one week from now?"
AA bright smile lighted up her face.
"Of course I would, Mister Potter. The invitation is very appreciated."
His lips curved upside to make the form of a big smile.
"Then it's a date!" he said, a weight lifting from his chest, as one would always be nervous on a situation like this.
She gave him a kiss on one of the cheeks she had slapped only minutes before, and happily made her way to the Slytherin dungeons, no doubt to tell Tracey and Astoria about the new developments.
With a mixture of happiness and worry about the situation he was in, with the two witches apparently interested in him, he made his way to the Chamber of secrets.
Harry arrived at the chamber to find Hedwig waiting for him, a letter from Sirius in her paw.
"Thank you, girl." He said, petting her on her head, and wandless summoning a few pieces of bacon he had stored under a stasis charm for her. He had been practicing wandless magic ever since Salazar had told him how useful it could be on a duel. It wasn't nearly as powerful as with a wand, but if he for some reason got disarmed, being able to summon his wand back to him or sending a few low powered curses at his foes to distract them could be a deciding factor.
Harry
I'm going to start by saying I believe in you when you say you didn't put your name in the goblet. But that's a scary perspective, meaning someone else wants you there, and I agree it was with nefarious purposes. You need to be careful and don't let your guard down. The tournament may be dangerous, but the people who did it may have fail safes in case you manage to beat the tournament without major damages. So be careful, as Moody always say, constant vigilance.
Dumbledore is a complicated man and a very powerful one too. If you want to move against him you need to be careful, there is a reason he is the chief warlock and the supreme mugwump. Don't do nothing stupid that can put in harms way with the Headmaster.
And before you do anything foolish, remember he was the one leading the war on Voldemort and that your parents trusted him completely.
I've been more of a fan of the man in the past than right now, but he can be a powerful ally against Voldemort. I can't express this enough, but be careful, don't antagonize the man completely.
I really want to know who this new mentor is, I've read about your feat at the first task and I must say I'm impressed. I don't know who it is, but it must be a powerful man to teach you how to do such things at the age of fourteen. I understand if you don't want to put it in a letter, so I'll try to come to you so we can speak in person. In the shrieking shack in around two weeks, I'll send you an owl closer to the date to give you the specifics.
Once again, be careful.
Padfoot
Harry pulled the letter closer to his chest. It felt good having someone believing and worrying about him. He really owed Sirius more credit.
As he had been doing for the past few weeks, right before he went to bed, he scanned the Marauders map for a few minutes, looking for something suspicious.
Daphne was in her room with Tracey and Astoria, he noticed, probably all speaking about the incoming date. Dumbledore was pacing in his office, like he used to do. He noticed Fleur and Luna were together in the Beauxbatons carriages. He smiled at the friendship the two were forming. It was good to know that neither of the girls was alone anymore. He noticed how Barty Crouch was, once again, in Professor Moody's office. 'Those two really liked to talk late at night' he thought to himself. 'Was there, maybe, a scandalous relation to be found?' he thought, humorously.
Noticing nothing uncommon, he closed the map and went to sleep.
Harry finished putting on his glamour's. He looked himself in the mirror. Blue eyes looked back. His hair was now of a dark blond tone, his face swollen to look more like Dudley did. His scar was hidden by his bangs, with a strong notice-me-not charm on it. No one would ever look at that boy and recognize him as the boy who lived.
Today he had two missions to accomplish in Diagon Alley. First, he needed to go to Gringotts. After much study of the contract for the Triwizard tournament, both Salazar and Harry himself had arrive to the conclusion that he needed to be considered of age to be a champion. The fact that he had already take part on the first task meant the contract was valid so, by the laws of the Wizarding World, he was emancipated. Which meant he was now able to access his family vaults as well as claim his Lordship of the Potter family. It was an exciting moment.
His second task was to find a new wand. With the threat of Voldemort and his presence in the tournament, he knew that he would soon need to fight for his life. And not agreeing with Dumbledore's view that everyone could be redeemed, he knew he would be forced to cast spells he preferred not to cast with his personal wand. So, a second wand was his best option.
He knew Ollivander's was out of the question. The man was a great wand maker, but he was a law-abiding citizen, and the law forbade everyone from having more than one wand. He would have to go to Knockturn Alley for the wand.
The apparition jump to Diagon Alley would be a big and tiring one, but Harry was confident he would be able to make it.
He had discussed a lot with Salazar what wand would best suit him. The Founder was not an expert in wand lore, but he knew how to manage himself in the topic.
Gathering the materials he needed, he focused his intent on the destination he wanted to appear in, and with a soft sound he disapparated.
Apparating in the middle of Diagon Alley, he quickly made his way to the goblin's bank.
He approached an old looking goblin who was counting gold coins and asked.
"I'd like to speak with the Potter account manager, please."
The goblin looked at the young boy for a few seconds and answered.
"And who would you be to make such request?"
Harry remembered he was under a glamour, but with a small cast by his wand the notice me not charm on his scar was dispelled. Making it visible through his hair, he said.
"The scar and my wand should be sufficient to you, right?"
The goblin nodded at seeing the scar and examined Harry's wand. He quickly wrote a few lines on a small piece of parchment and sent it flying inside the bank.
"Mister Potter, Blordak here" He said, pointing at another goblin who was nearby "will lead you to the conference room. Ragnok, will see you shortly.
"Thank you" he replied and followed Blordak.
Harry waited almost fifteen minutes for Ragnok to arrive. When the goblin finally appeared, he was tired of waiting, but put on his best smile and said.
"Mister Ragnok, thank you for seeing me. We have much to discuss today."
"Mister Potter, I do believe we have." The knowing expression in the goblin's face made Harry wonder if he already knew why he was here. Sitting down, the Goblin asked, "I presume you're here to take an inheritance test?"
"I am indeed" was Harry's response.
"Very well" said the goblin, a small stone, a piece of parchment and a quill appearing in between both. "If you can please give me your hand, the sone needs a few drops of blood to work."
Harry already knew that would be necessary, so he offered his hand to the account manager. The goblin took it, and with one of his long nails made a small cut on Harry's palm. A few drops of blood reached the stone, who immediately started glowing. The quill, who was obviously enchanted, started to write in the parchment.
While harry performed a quick healing spell for the cut in his hand, the goblin looked at the parchment.
"Oh my" he said, "isn't this interesting?"
Curious about Ragnok's reaction, he read what the quill had written.
Harry Potter
Age:14
Status: emancipated
Lineage:
Potter family: Heir/Lord
Slytherin family: Possible Heir(?)
Gaunt family: Heir/Lord, right of conquest
Harry was stunned. 'Right of conquest? What did that mean?'
He asked the Goblin, which was quick in his reply.
"The right of conquest is an accident law defining that if you were to end a family's line during a fight, leaving no direct descendants alive, and with no intention to cause harm to said family, you would inherit it's Lordship by right of conquest."
"So, I'm now the Lord of both Potter and Gaunt families?" He asked.
"The test says so. You are also a possible heir to the Slytherin family. This usually means there's some sort of test to be fulfilled or a proof of some kind you have to give in order to claim the actual lordship. Your mother, Lily Potter, was also a possible heir of Slytherin, but she never explored the subject much."
'A test? Salazar never mentioned any kind of test' he wondered. He would have a conversation with the founder later.
"My mom? How is that possible? She was a Muggleborn."
"All Muggleborns are descendants of a wizard. Two pure Muggles can't create a wizard, so your mother needed to have a wizard back in her family tree. That wizard was, from what we can see, a descendant from Salazar Slytherin, meaning both of you have Slytherin blood in your veins. Don't worry Mister Potter, a lot of wizards have been possible heirs for the four founders throughout history, but no one was ever able to claim the lordship. The Dark Lord actually used his status as a possible heir to Slytherin to convince his followers of his heritage."
"Th- this is a lot to think about, Ragnok, thank you for the explanation."
"It's my job to inform my clients of such matters, Lord Potter."
Harry couldn't help but notice the change in his tittle.
"The Lordship rings, I was told that would be dealt with at Gringotts as well?"
"That will be handled right away." Informed the goblin, the coat of arms for both the House Potter and Gaunt appearing in front of the goblin. "Please put your hand over each crest, the family magic will determine you to be worth of the Lordship. Don't worry, normally this is just a formality as it's very rare that one should be rejected."
Harry placed his hand first in the Potter coat of arms. It was all in red and gold tones, with a griffin on top. In the middle there were three flowers, something which Harry found very appropriate, with her mother being named after one.
After a few seconds with his hand placed on the golden object, he felt a warmth in his hand, as a golden ring materialized in his ring finger. The ring was all gold with a big Rubi on top, and a small version of the crest inscribed in the stone.
Once that was done, he placed his hand in the Gaunt crest. This one was green and yellow. Harry thought it kind of ugly, but he didn't comment.
A few seconds later, another ring appeared in his hand, this one with an emerald and the Gaunt crest inscribed. He noticed the precious stone was way smaller than the Rubi on the Potter ring, and this was made of silver. He pointed that out to Ragnok who provided him with an explanation.
"Only the rings from one of the seven oldest houses are made in gold, all the others are silver with the exception of minor houses, those who are less than three generations old, who are made of bronze."
Harry thanked the goblin for the explanation and they proceeded to spend some time discussing the business investments from both houses. While the Potters were immensely rich, with a lot of investments, properties and gold, the Gaunts were poor, only owning a small shack on the outskirts of a small muggle town called Little Hangleton.
Making a mental note to eventually go and investigate said shack, thinking that with it being the home of Voldemort's ancestors, it could contain something important, he finished his business with Ragnok, leaving a lot of orders for future and present investments and taking with him piles of documents about the Potter finances to study later. Putting them all in his bag, which was charmed with an expansion charm, he went to the Potter vault.
These one was very different from his own trust vault, with way more than just piles of gold. He found precious stones, pieces of jewelry, books, and two small envelops with is name on it. Guessing what they were, he quickly put them in his bag to read when he had more privacy. The family ring gave him information about every piece of jewelry in the vault as well as the books in it, telling which subjects they spoke about and what enchantments were in each ring, necklace and bracelet.
Choosing a few to take to the chamber, we quickly made his way out of the bank and into Knockturn Alley.
With his glamour giving him an older look, Harry entered Borgin and Burkes. He had never been there, but from what some of his classmates had said, this was the shop for illegal objects.
"Hello" said Borgin "how can I help you today?"
Harry knew it had to be Borgin, as Burke had been killed more than fifteen years ago, probably at the hands of Voldemort.
"I'm looking for a new wand, I've heard I can obtain one here" said Harry.
Borgin didn't like it. "I don't know who told you such things, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave my store, please."
Thinking fast, knowing he had one chance of making it work, Harry decided to take a risk.
"Lord Malfoy spoke very highly of you, Mister Borgin. I hope that faith is not misplaced. Are you sure you want me to leave your store?"
The shop owner's eyes widened a little, the implicit threat very noticeable.
"Well- I- of course not, if Lord Malfoy sent you here, I will of course take care of whatever needs you have, sir" What had happened to his business partner was still very present on his mind.
"Great. Now, as I said before, I require a wand. But, of course, it's not any sort of wand. I have a few special ingredients that I want you use when crafting the wand, will that be possible?"
"I think so" answered Borgin "special requests are, of course, more expensive, but if it is possible, we will take care of that."
"I'll pay whatever is needed" Said Harry, he had grabbed a lot of gold from his vault specially for this situation.
Harry explained what his requirements for the wand were, and Borgin told him it would take a few hours. While he waited, harry went to the main street of Diagon Alley for a walk.
AN: So, I can see that my last AN confused a few people.
This story is, and always has been, a Harry/Fleur/Daphne story. I was jokingly answering a review where it was claimed that this story was secretly a Daphne/Salazar story. The "necrophiliac" comes from the fact that Salazar is 1000 years old and, in a sort of way, dead.
Brasheril_holmestalentsmaster: Thank you for your two comments. They really were interesting to read, a lot of good points made there. Really appreciate the feedback.
And for those who are wondering if Harry is now really overpowered against the other champions, he had a big demonstration of power, and it surprised a lot of the people watching, but other things may make up for the power difference, experience being one of them. Oh, and Hubris. That tends to screw a lot of the most powerful people.
Thank you for the follows and reviews. Keep them coming.