Summary: In a fit of fear, Harry Potter disappears from his abusive aunt and uncle's nearing his seventh birthday and lands hundreds of years in the past. Eventual Rowena Ravenclaw/Harry Potter
CHAPTER FOUR: POWER
Power: the ability to do something in a particular way.
Parselmagic was a strange type of magic. It was easy or light compared to typical spells that Mama and Pa taught the three, and Harry noticed from the get-go. Most parselmagic included rituals, complicated rituals that led to strange outcomes.
The Monday after The Talk (as Salazar dubbed it), the three children had taken part in a ritual that strengthened the Snake Pit's wards. The robes they had wore were emerald silk, lined with soft black fabric and they chanted together in a circle of black candles. When they were all done, Harry felt lighter. Salazar and Eve did too, Harry could tell.
Their days were spent pouring over Mama's family spellbooks, the Slytherin Grimoire and other fantastic books or helping Pa with yardwork or doing more rituals to strengthen their family home and lands. It was on the fourth day after the Warding Ritual that a visitor approached their farm.
Harry sat in his bedroom and shoved his siblings to the side and planted his ear on the thin door, trying to hear Pa and one of the townfolk ("Mr. Holton, the blacksmith in town." Salazar had whispered. It had taken some work but the three children had managed to escape from Eve's room (where they had originally been placed, far from the grownup's conversation), down a large tree by her window and into Harry's room through the back porch.
Eve bounced on her toes behind them and waited more patiently than the other two.
"Witches, Arnold!" A bellow came from the kitchen. The three children stilled. A few minutes later, they heard loud stomping and the door slamming shut loudly.
Eve suck in a terror-filled breath.
"Bollocks." Salazar muttered, crumpling by Harry's bed.
"Oh no." Eve whispered. Her eyes flashed to Harry, filled with fear. "Is this - Am I -"
The door creaked, and then it swung open.
In the months that Harry had become a member of the Slytherin family, he had grown to admire Arnold Slytherin. The man, aside from being a tall and intimidating figure, was strong with his magic. He was kind and warm and everything that Harry expected from a father. But right now? All Harry could see was the severe disappointment in his eyes and the faint pink circles on his cheeks.
"Pa?" Eve said in a shaky voice.
"We need to talk." Pa said in a tired voice.
It was there, in Harry's room with Selene hovering at Arnold's shoulder and Eve quietly crying into Harry's shoulder that the truth was spilled. The blacksmith, Martin Holton, was not just another mudder but one that descended from a magical line.
"He was born without magic and cast from the family," Pa had explained. "His mother would a mudder, herself. We've been friends since I was a boy." Pa had sighed. "He had news."
The Slytherin family, while not repressed by the local church, had always had suspicions placed on them even when Pa was a child. There were several incidents throughout of the years with members of House Slytherin being caught practicing magic by muggles. All these incidents ended with death.
Harry felt shaky, frightened and he could see the anger flash in Salazar's eyes when Eve chanced a glance.
"This is our home." Salazar begged.
"We need to fortify the wards." Pa said calmly, squeezing Salazar's hand. If we must, we'll go under a Fidelias." Pa paused, reaching out to touch Mama's hand for a moment. She was white.
"How, Pa?" Eve whispered.
His face turned serious, eyes darkening. "With blood."
The blood bath started in the chicken house. They squawked and resisted but the Slytherin magic was stronger than a few common chickens. Harry was in charge of drenching the certain points on the grounds in a blood mixture from the chickens, Mary the Cow, Ducky and Joseph the Pigs and every witch or wizard that lived on the grounds.
The ceremonial Slytherin blade doesn't hurt but Harry felt a sting within him anyways. Their lives were endanger and Harry was frightened. He couldn't imagine what he'd do without this new family and, with a jerk of energy, Harry continued to paint protective runes on every wall in the manor.
Eve was in charge of the animals; she always had been. The young Slytherin had always been more in sync with the brainless animals, more gentle with their outbursts. All animals on the farm trusted the young woman and when Harry looked, he could silent sobs coming from her small body as she disposed on them properly.
By the time Harry had finished with the walls, with a kind word from Mama too, Pa and Salazar had come from the study. A heavy black ring on Salazar's finger and a thick-tomed book in his hands had Harry clamping his mouth shut and nodding at his brother.
There was a new head of house, now.
The mudders came at midnight and Harry found that hatred was easy on this side. They came in a flash of red-hot torches and angry shouts, all led by the Reverend. The three children hid in the house, peeking out of windows while Mama and Pa approached the crowd.
"Have peace, friends." Pa shouted.
"Silence, demon." The Reverend bit. He waved an old bible towards Pa and snarled loudly. "You hide the Devil's Bride in your home. Release her to us so we may purify her soul."
Harry felt it. The wards, deep and old, writhe with anger but it wasn't Pa's. With a flicker of a glance, Harry saw the rage on his brother's face and felt it too.
"My daughter is innocent." Pa said loudly.
"I saw her." A voice screeched and Harry scowled when he saw the small figure appear by a much larger man, the mayor. Jacob Hart had an old sword in one hand and a torch in the other and gave Pa a horrible smile. "In your tent. She preformed magic on those vegetables!"
"Who knows what curse your family has given our village?" Mayor Hart said angrily. Harry quietly wiped fog from the windows to see closer.
Mayor Hart stepped closer and Harry saw no resemblance between he and his son. He was fat and purple faced (much like Harry's Uncle Vernon) and had little hair on his head. What was on his head was brown, dirt-looking. He wore fine clothes that looked out of place among the villagers.
"All witches must burn!" Jacob Hart said excitedly. His face was pinked with his excitement and the cheers from the villagers led the boy on as he stepped forward, blade in hand.
Mama struck out her hand, a coolness in her voice. "None will pass the walls of my home."
"You sound so sure." The Reverend sneered but there was a hesitance in his voice. "Burn them. Burn them all."
And then chaos struck.
A torch, lit brightly, was thrown above Mama and Pa's head and struck the window that the three were pressed against. An emerald shield appeared, glimmering across the front of the house and the torch puttered to the ground. A warrior cry, unlike any Harry had ever heard, came from Mama's voice and from her hands came a beautiful blue bird, one he'd also never seen or heard off.
"Light Phoenix." Eve whispered. "Of Mama's house."
Before the Slytherin, Harry thought in awe. The beast swept through the villagers, crashing them into each other and burning out their torches. The few women and stronger boys that had come made a point of trying to attack the bird whilst the menfolk attacked Pa.
Eve gave a little cry and sunk against Salazar, her brother's hand on her back a comforting reminder.
It was the mayor that dove against Pa, revealing a frightening dagger as he attempted to stab their father. Pa was stronger, though, and easily avoided the jabs with a few well-placed wordless spells. Emerald and sapphire magic swirled together in perfect harmony.
"Witch!" The Reverend howled, raising his bible in the midst of the battle, if one could call it that. "We will not rest until all evil here burns!"
Mama paused, the blue in her eyes almost celestial and smiled a cold, cruel smile. "And so you will burn."
Wind whipped when Mama began to chant a spell that even the three children didn't know. Pa took her hand and chanted with her after giving the large window a sad smile. The emerald shield cracked.
"We need to get back." Salazar whispered, grabbing Harry's tunic and the sleeve of Eve's dress.
"No." Eve screamed. Her eyes seemed wild, hysterical as she realized, as they all did, what the elder members of the Slytherin house were doing.
"Eve, stop!" Salazar cried out, trying to grip a hold on her tightly, but she slipped out of his grip. As she ran to the front door (to stop Mama and Pa, maybe?), Harry dove for her.
The winds whipped.
A flash of emerald and sapphire.
The taste of burning flesh.
And then for a moment, just a single moment, the world stood still.
A/N: I rewrote this chapter at least three different times and each one seemed worse than the last! I finally managed to piece this together and I'm fairly happy with the result. Let me know what everyone thinks. :)