Harry Potter: A Slytherin in Gryffindor's Clothing

A/N: This is in response to pokemaster12's challenge. I hope you enjoy and if there is issues with the formatting I'm sorry.

Prologue:

"Open," Harry watched as the two snakes on the wall parted and revealed the Chamber of Secrets. He walked into the vast chamber and ignored the Giant Basilisk corpse as he walked over to the statue of Salazar Slytherin.

For the past week Harry had been coming down to the chamber in an effort to see if there was anything more then what he had already seen. It was a natural assumption that Salazar would not just create a Chamber with a Basilisk in it and nothing else, even if the man did want to get rid of all of the muggle-born students. Also, even if Salazar Slytherin was an evil git, Harry could not believe he would risk using a Basilisk when it could just as easily accidentally kill a pure-blood as easily as any muggle-born. Naturally that led to the assumption that the giant snake may have actually been guarding something.

Harry walked over to the large Statue of Salazar Slytherin and hissed, "speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."

The statue's mouth opened up, Harry held up his wand and made quick use of the lumos spell to illuminate his path. He walked down the small corridor, with its many side paths that the Basilisk had used to move about in, eventually coming upon a portrait of a man. He was fairly young with blond hair and a small goatee, wearing green robes with armor over it and a snake motif on his left breastplate. As soon as Harry stepped into view, the man looked up from the book he was reading and grinned.

"Ah, Harry back again. I take it you thought about what I asked you last time you were here?"

Harry nodded, "yes sir."

Harry panted from exhaustion as he finished levitating all of the debris the cave in had caused. It had taken three days to get rid of it all, a lot longer than he had expected. He would only have two days to explore the rest of the Chamber of Secrets before school ended now, meaning he may have to wait until next year.

He walked opened the next door and made his way into the chamber. He took a long moment to study the layout, he had not been able to really get a glimpse of it, since at the time he had been more concerned with Ginny, Tom Riddles memory and fighting a giant snake.

The chamber was in a word, massive. Lining the entrance were small statues of Salazar, leading into a larger area with many tunnels that the Basilisk had used to move through the castle. The ceiling looked to be nearly a hundred feet above him, and Harry had to wonder how far down the chamber had to be for it to be so large without Hogwarts noticing.

He shook his thoughts off and made his way deeper inside, going past the giant corpse still sitting there looking fresh. He spent the next hour trying to find any secret passages, and just when he was about to give up hope he remembered what Riddle had done to the statue.

"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."

Much to his surprise the mouth on the large statue opened, revealing a tunnel that led deeper into the Chamber of Secrets. Harry pulled out his wand and cast Lumos so he could see where he was going as he made his way into the tunnel. When he reached the end he found himself staring at the portrait of a man. Said man noticed him instantly and glared at him.

"So another one manages to uncover my secrets eh?" he hissed, "I'll tell you just like I told that insufferable fool Tom. Neither you, nor anyone else will be getting into this chamber. The last thing I need is a fool who thinks they deserve my power simply because they are my heir."

"I'm sorry sir," Harry hissed back, though he did not even realize they were speaking in parseltongue. "I am not here for your secret's, I just wanted to see if there was anything more to this chamber then what I had seen."

"Another speaker," Salazar looked at the boy in surprise and switched to English. "You don't look like my heir, messy black hair, that intense look in your eyes, your more likely to be Godrics heir then mine. How do you know the language of the snakes?"

Harry looked startled, had they been talking in Parseltongue? "The one you know as Tom, gave some of his powers to me as a child when he tried to kill me," he lifted his hair from his forehead to reveal his scar. "He tried to cast the killing curse on me but it rebounded and hit him, however I got this scar as a result."

"Interesting, most interesting…" Salazar stroked his goatee in thought. "And you say you survived the killing curse? Such a thing is not impossible, but to do so strong magic is required…"

"Professor Dumbledore thinks my mothers love for me saved me," Harry answered.

"Yes, that could be… if your mother invoked the ancient protection on you using her love as a focus then someone such as Tom would not be able to touch you," Salazar looked at Harry for a long while, making the young man feel uncomfortable. "Since you can speak the language of snakes that in a sense makes you my heir. Tell me boy, what is your name and what house do you belong in?"

"My name's Harry sir, Harry Potter," he answered, "and I belong in Gryffindor… though the sorting hat did try to send me into Slytherin."

"Oh?" The portrait looked more interested, "and why did you not go there if the hat wanted to send you?"

Harry looked embarrassed, "well I had just met this boy named Draco Malfoy, he was an insufferable git who tried to tell me who I could and could not be friends with. He was sorted into Slytherin before me and I did not want to be in the same house as him."

Salazar chuckled, "yes I can imagine how that would be, not many like being told who they can be and can't befriend. So, we have a Gryfiindor who can speak the language of snakes, and judging from your looks you are most likely his heir."

The knowledge that he may be related to one of the founders startled Harry, but he held his tongue for the moment.

"Tell me Harry," Salazar began, "I felt my connection to my Basilisk disappear a while ago… what happened to her?"

Harry paused for a moment, not sure if he should inform Salazar that he had killed her… even if it was just a portrait. However a glare from the man soon had him telling what happened, from Tom's Diary possessing his best friends sister, to his battle with the Basilisk and stabbing the diary with a fang that had been stabbed into him. When he was finished the portrait had a curious gaze.

"I see…" Salazar sighed, "I must thank you, that fool Tom had bound my Basilisk to his will and when he left Hogwarts she had been driven insane, she wouldn't even listen to me anymore. And you say you made Godrics sword appear?" when Harry nodded Salazar smiled, "well that proves you are his heir. Only someone who holds a blood relation to Godric can touch that blade, it's Goblin made and very powerful."

"So I'm related to one of the founders…" Harry breathed in surprise.

Salazar shrugged, "at least one, though you may also be related to Rowena. I know that her and Godric had a relationship several years after Godrics wife died, but that is neither here nor there. Tell me," he gave Harry a pointed look, "… if I were to help train you, what would you do with the power I gave you?"

"Train me?" Harry said in surprise, "why would you want to train me?"

"You are Godrics heir, and you can speak to snakes, that makes you my heir as well," Salazar paused. "You have the potential to be great, especially if you are also related to Rowena. Godric was the strongest fighter amongst us, I was the most knowledgeable about combat related spells and Rowena was just plain scary with her intelligence and ability to create new spells. I can see you are powerful, you magic is stronger then most and it could be even stronger then it is now. Under my guidance you could become great, and I would hate to see such potential go to waste."

Harry frowned, "how can I trust you? You're the person who created Slytherin."

"So?" Salazar asked, "I do not see your point."

"Slytherin's are evil and you created the house they reside in," Harry explained as if that was all he needed to know.

"And you are equating there evil with me?" Salazar asked incredulously, "Are you a bloody idiot?"

"What?" Harry said as if he had not heard.

"What makes you think I condone any actions they take?" asked Salazar.

"Bu-but," Harry was not cure what to say to that but he had to try. "Everyone always said you were evil, that you were run out of Hogwarts for trying to kill the muggle-born and half-blood students…"

"What!" Salazar hissed and his eyes narrowed. Harry took a step back, "who told that load of rubbish!"

"Everyone I've talked to said that," Harry tried to remind himself this was just a portrait he was talking to and it could not harm him.

"And were they alive in that time?" asked Salazar with a nasty scowl. "No! of course they weren't. they do not know of the past. I left Hogwarts because I wanted to uncover the secrets to an ancient artifact I had found. I created this Chamber and the Basilisk to guard that artifact and my notes on magic. Hell I never even fully left, aside from making this portrait I would come back to Hogwarts at least once every three or so years."

"Oh," Harry said dumbly, simply so he would have something to say.

Salazar pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment before sighing, "Unbelievable, people these days. I bet this was Godrics doing, some kind of prank I can't escape from now that we're all dead…"

"Um…"

Salazar looked over at Harry before waving a hand in front of his face, "right, anyways… I can see the potential for greatness in you, and so I am willing to offer you training. However I must ask, if I train you what would you do with the power you received?"

"Well…" Harry looked unsure.

"You don't have to answer that right now," Salazar said, "come back in a day or two and give me your answer then."

"So what is your answer?" asked Salazar.

Harry took a deep breath and let it out, "I don't have any great plans for what I would do with this power. I grew up in the muggle world because my parents were killed, and Professor Dumbledore felt I would be safer with my relatives. However I often find myself in dangerous situations, and my friends tend to get dragged into them as well. If I had the power from your training, I would use it to protect them."

"An admirable goal," Salazar said after a moment, "but might I add something else? A personal favor if you will," when Harry nodded he continued, "…from what you have told me the Houses seem to have split, with mine being the one who has isolated itself the most. This was not how it was meant to be. Unity among the houses is imperative for all of the students to reach their full potential. I would like for you to being uniting the Houses again, starting with my house."

Harry looked surprised by the request, but did not say anything at first as he thought it over. Uniting the four houses did seem like a worthy goal, but there were a lot of road-blocks that would be in the way, namely Malfoy and probably Snape.

No goal that is easy to accomplish is worth having.

The voice of an old teacher he had during his tenure at muggle school startled him. He had not really thought about his teachers or even his schooling from back then when he had began learning magic. However as he thought over the words he realized that they were right. What was the point of having a goal if it only took a small amount of effort to accomplish? Where was the satisfaction in doing something that was easy?

He looked at the portrait of Salazar who was watching him closely, "I'll do it."

The portrait smiled, "excellent!" he clapped his hands together, "now since school will be ending soon we will not be able to speak. However behind my portrait you will find a library. This library contains many books written by us founders, as well as a few written by Merlin himself. To start, I want you to take the chest that you will find on the left hand corner, it is a special chest that Rowena created and has unlimited storage space. Start by taking the journals myself and the other founders left…"

A/N: Hope you readers enjoyed this. Please review with suggestions about the pairings.

Vappourider.