Trusting is the first step

'The arrogance of this boy is only matched by his growing blatant disrespect!' Almost screamed Snape as he rushed into the Headmaster's office. 'I refuse to teach him anything anymore!'

Dumbledore almost sighed. It wasn't the first time his Potions Masters was irrupting into his office to share his grudges with Harry. But now wasn't the time.

'Severus you are aware of the importance of your mission,' he replied softly. 'You know how crucial it is for Harry to be able to control his connection with the Dark Lord.'

'This condescending boy doesn't have what it takes!' Spat Severus. 'Occlumency requires discipline and humility. He has neither.'

'How would you know?' Asked Dumbledore who was now growing impatient with his teacher's stubbornness. 'Severus I have always respected you and always will for I know the considerable work you achieve day after day for the Order. But when it comes to Harry Potter, can you look me in the eyes and tell me that you have always treated him fairly or benevolently?'

Snape watched the Headmaster observe him with his twinkling electric blue gaze above his half-moon shaped glasses. He hated that look that seemed to have the ability to pierce through anyone's soul. A look you could not hide any secrets from. He turned his eyes away, disgusted.

'My dear Severus,' continued the Headmaster while reporting his gaze on the scroll he was holding. 'I have told you this before and I will say it again. You look at that boy seeing what you expect to see. I can assure you the day you will look at him and consider him for what he truly is, your opinion will change.'

'And what is he exactly?' Hissed Severus.

Dumbledore raised his look on the window near his desk. The Sun was setting on Hogwarts.

'A talented young man, battered in a flow of events he never asked for. A young wizard who joined his World too late and was neglected until then. Even worse, I fear.' He turned his gaze toward Snape again. 'Someone I should have let in way earlier than I did, and that you should let in before it's too late, Severus.'

It almost sounded like a confession.

'Headmaster,' said Snape so softly it was almost a whisper. 'Are you saying that you regret the plan you made about the boy?' He wasn't aware of all the details of this plan, but he wasn't stupid. Dumbledore was a mastermind who didn't act or say anything without an intent. But somehow, the old wizard sounded remorseful. Like he had made… a mistake.

It was Dumbledore's time to look away.

'We all owe this boy,' the eventually said. 'Instead of judging him or deciding for him we should try to listen and watch, for once.'

The Headmaster went to his desk, the meeting was over. Snape closed the door behind him, bewildered. Granted the boy had a way to get on his nerves that maybe, once, or twice, may have clouded his judgment.

"You see what you expect to see."

He knew perfectly what Dumbledore had implied here. As he was climbing down the stairs, he saw his reflect in one of the windows. When was the last time he had ever considered his face in a mirror? He looked closely. The face he was seeing was the same one he remembered. Maybe with one or two new wrinkles. Especially at the center of his forehead. He let his hand touch the cold glass and wondered what she would have looked like today.

'What would she say if she saw what you were doing to Harry?' Whispered a voice in his head.

He turned angrily on his heels and fled into his dungeon.

Harry left the library chased by Mrs. Pince. It was almost midnight and he had been so absorbed in his reading he hadn't seen the time pass. As he climbed the stairs back to Gryffindor Tower, he smiled softly. Hermione would have been proud of him. He wondered if she had joined the Weasley at Grimmauld Place. His heart clenched. He hoped they were alright.

He immediately took a shower and buried himself under his blankets. He had spent his whole afternoon, and apparently evening, reading everything he could find at the library. He had started with "A History of Magic" by Bathilda Bagshot which had later led him to read "Magical Families of England Vol. 5". This book was focusing on the nineteenth and twentieth century. He had taken a lot of notes about the Gaunt family.

He turned in his bed hoping that sleep would come soon. He was very tired. Suddenly he opened his eyes. A weird noise was coming from the other side of the dorm. Harry was the only fifth year from Gryffindor at Hogwarts. Therefore, whoever was here wasn't supposed to be there. He quietly put his blanket away and crouched on his bed. He slightly put his hands before him and tensed his muscles. Whatever would come, he was ready to jump. He heard a second noise and narrowed the space where his opponent could come from. The sound was located near a bronze panel fixed to the floor.

'Whenever you feel like it, don't hesitate to come help me!' Harry immediately recognized the hiss and rushed toward the panel.

'Diffindo,' he muttered while grabbing the edge of the panel.

Once he removed it, he saw a black bolt exit the hole and go straight to his blankets. He put the panel on the floor and approached his bed.

'I don't bite you know?' There was amusement in the hiss.

Harry sat in front of the basilisk who was taking half of his bed. He looked around a bit wary and and motioned his hand. His curtains around the bed closed themselves and he casted in his head any enchantment he could think of to protect them from unwelcomed ears.

'Muffliato, Cave Inimicum.'

The snake blinked. Harry hadn't said a word, but he had felt the change in the magical balance in the room.

'I am delighted to see your training is bearing fruits,' he susurrated.

'Thank you,' replied Harry. 'Why have you come here? It's dangerous for you!'

'Why didn't you come in the Chamber tonight?' retorted the basilisk.

Harry had gone every night since September in the Chamber of Secrets. He realised that tonight was the first he had broken this routine. Therefore, the basilisk must have been waiting for him. And realising Harry wasn't coming, he must have started to look for him. Harry's heart ached a bit. The basilisk, though small, was still of a considerable size for a snake. But he shouldn't forget that the creature was only three years old. He knew, thanks to his classes with Hagrid, that magical beasts matured faster than human and that the knowledge accumulated by their specie was embedded in their core. But still. The basilisk was young and had lived all his life with company. Harry would have to remember to be a better master.

'I got busy in the library,' answered Harry. 'You are right, I should have come see you.'

The snake hissed in approval. No excuses, no vain attempt to apologize. Explanation and acknowledgment of his inconsideration. The boy had grown a lot since the night he had broken a statue of one of his peers.

'What did you find out about the House of Gaunt?'

Harry looked briefly in the pale-yellow eyes of the basilisk and realised something he had never felt before. Though he didn't have the servitude of the elves but a strong personality, the snake was his ally. His indefectible, faithful ally.

"He will help you as you are now his master."

'The Gaunts,' repeated Harry. 'A real family of nutcases, especially the latest.'

'We are talking about Slytherin's lineage,' hissed the snake outraged.

'One of his many lineages,' said Harry raising his hand to appease the basilisk. 'And to my mind they didn't honor his legacy.'

Harry grabbed his notes and started to share the result of his research with the basilisk who listened attentively.

Magical families of England were nothing but an entanglement of alliances. But thanks to the name of Voldemort's father he remembered quite well, since he had been chained to his tombstone a few months ago, he had found the branch he was looking for. Tom Riddle Senior was the Muggle master of Little Hangleton at the beginning of the century. With this information he had been able to trace the branch of the Gaunts living in this area. They had been reduced to poverty and Harry found archives explaining there had been a raid from the Ministry against them. He didn't have the details but apparently Marvolo, the father, and Morfin, the son, had been locked in Azkaban. Only the daughter had been left behind.

'So Merope must have been the Tom's mother,' said Harry once he was done while massaging his temples. 'She was the only descendant in this region then. But I didn't find any trace of her wedding with Tom's father.'

He sighed and smiled.

'Well, if Tom has been raised in this family, I can understand why he became crazy.'

'Tom Riddle was an orphan,' replied the snake softly.

Harry almost asked him how he knew this information but remembered that he was from a family of basilisks that had been the ears and eyes of Salazar Slytherin at Hogwarts for almost a century.

'He rarely left Hogwarts,' continued the snake. 'He liked to speak with my mother as it allowed him to converse in Parseltongue. Apparently, he spent his childhood in an orphanage. He really hated it and saw Hogwarts as the Home he never had.'

Harry could understand that. Who wouldn't? An orphan then… 'Like me!' He thought. He shook his head.

'Salazar told me I would find the ring of their family at their House,' he said eventually.

'Seems we are up for a trip then!' The hiss from the basilisk was joyful.

'We?' Repeated Harry in his mind. He liked the idea and laughed a bit.

'What's so funny about this?' Asked the snake a bit offended.

'I am not laughing at you,' answered Harry. 'Let's say that the only other wizard I know who always travels with a snake is the very person trying to kill me. I find it a bit ironic.'

'He has a snake,' The hiss was now full of pride. 'You have a basilisk!'

Harry nodded. At least there was one thing he had that surpassed Voldemort's.

'When do we leave?' Continued the basilisk.

'Oh…' Harry took a few moments to answer. His Firebolt was locked in Umbridge's office and now he had a snake of a consequential size to take with him. 'I didn't think of that part yet.'

'What about Apparition?'

'I don't know how to Apparate,' replied Harry.

'Well, it's magic, isn't it?' Asked the basilisk. 'Besides you already did it when you were young.'

Harry wanted to argue that it was more subtle than simple magic, but in essence the snake was right. And it was true that he had already used it to escape his cousin.

'I guess my training isn't done,' he finally said.

The snake hissed happily to approve the conclusion.

'But that can wait until tomorrow,' yawned Harry. 'I am exhausted.'

He pulled his blanket over his body. The black mass at the end of his bed didn't move.

'Can I stay there?' Finally hissed the basilisk a bit timidly.

'Make yourself comfortable,' replied the master in a sleepy voice.