"Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem, or V.I.T.R.I.O.L. is an important part of alchemy and so it is vital that you understand it," Professor Neotera informed the class as she started writing the acronym on the blackboard. Turning her attention back to the class, her lips curled at the sight of her students' horrified face. "In English you may translate it as 'Visit the interior of the earth, and by rectifying what you find there, you will discover the hidden stone', the hidden stone being, naturally, the philosopher's stone. At first glance, it explains the importance of purification in alchemy but, as you know by now, alchemy is all about finding the deeper meaning behind even the most conspicuous things. The same way something as fleeting as a butterfly can also represent souls -hence why both words are the same in Greek- this cypher also has a deeper meaning. So what do you think it is?"
Albus raised his hand but, as it was often the case, the woman ignored him and looked at the rest of the class. "Any idea, Mr. Doge?" she asked the Gryffindor.
Elphias startled. "W-Well," he stammered, "like you said this isn't just about purifying the ingredients we use. It can also be… I mean, it has a deeper meaning. It's more… philosophical?"
She indulgently smiled. "That'll do. Five points to Gryffindor."
Elphias sighed in relief.
"Can somebody else expand upon this reasoning? Mr. Slughorn, maybe. If this cypher has some sort of meaning, then what can it be?"
The Slytherin grimaced then seemed to consider the question. "I guess the earth refers to something like the body. The body, or the soul maybe. As for the other part… Maybe you've got to purify it to reach the stone."
The alchemy professor hummed. "Well, you're not completely wrong, though you need to go deeper. If the 'earth' represents the self and the stone stands for immortality, then what must be done?" At the sight of Horace's face she sighed. "Very well, then. We'll ask another of your classmates to solve the cypher. Still, 5 points to Slytherin. Now, in light of what Mr. Doge and Mr. Slughorn said, does anyone think they can solve this cypher? Anyone?"
Purifying the soul, Albus reasoned, also meant finding its flaws and then fixing them, no? More than that, if at some point for some reason or another something went wrong with it, then purifying it would allow it to return to a healthier state, right? If one cannot turn a soul back to its previous self, then perhaps they could isolate the tumour and remove it. Maybe in the worst case scenario Albus could put such terrible thing in another object and then his sister-
"To the well-organized mind, death is nothing but the next great adventure."
A pause. Then Albus sharply turned his head in the direction of the person who had uttered these words, dumbfounded.
How on earth ?
Professor Neotera's lips twitched. "Explain," she told the student in front of her.
Harry hesitated. "Well… One shouldn't fear death, or see it as an end. A true alchemist should rather…" he seemed to consider something for a moment. "Ah, 'set his affairs in order' and be ready for the day he dies."
She hummed. Finally she murmured, "Thirty points to Gryffindor."
Harry loudly exhaled.
"Some may say it is more complicated, but that is indeed an alchemist's final goal. More than looking for a magic stone, an alchemist should reflect on his failings and attempt to correct them to the best of his abilities. He should work to be in tune with nature and ultimately accept the fact that nothing is eternal and that he and everything else will inevitably die."
Black frowned and raised his hand. "It doesn't make sense though," he pointed out. "If alchemists are to accept death, why would they spend their whole life attempting to make the philosopher's stone?"
She darkly chuckled. "I admit there's a certain irony in all this. At the very beginning of alchemy, it is true that the goal was to cheat death at all cost. It just so happens that this reasoning was heavily criticized and is to be rejected. Even to reach immortality, there are things that should never be done, prices that should never be paid."
Her lips stretched into a bitter smile, as if there was more to the story than what she was telling them. "Anyway, as very few managed to make the stone, alchemy had to find a more accessible goal. It just so happens that this goal became understanding the rules of the universe we live in. And the very first rule of this world we live in is that everything dies and that nothing can stop this."
" Where did you hear these words ?"
Harry turned to Albus and frowned when he noticed how upset the other boy was. "What words?"
"You know," Albus answered, agitated, "the answer you gave to Professor Neotera just now. To the well-organized mind, death is nothing but the next great adventure . Who told you that?"
Harry dazedly blinked.
If he was being honest with himself, Harry wasn't good at alchemy. It was far too philosophical for him and Harry was starting to believe this was yet another dead-end on his quest to find a way back to his time. So whenever Professor Neotera was interrogating him, more than trying to find an answer on his own, Harry would imagine how Professor Dumbledore would answer the witch's questions or he would try to remember things the old man had once told him and hope this would be enough.
In a way, Harry was cheating. Like a student following instructions somebody smarter wrote on a potion book, Harry was using words which weren't really his. He had thought Albus wouldn't notice what he was doing as these words would only leave his lips in a century but it seemed like he got caught anyway.
"I can't really remember," he carefully answered, "maybe I heard you saying that when we were studying together but I swear-"
But Albus tersely shook his head. "That's not possible. There's no way I would have said these words. No, you must have heard it from someone else. An older woman maybe?"
"What? No, I swear I didn't. W-Why are you so upset anyway?"
Albus stiffened and looked away. "No reason."
Harry frowned at the other wizard's strange behaviour. Before he could question his friend any further however he spotted Phineas walking past him. Suddenly remembering he had been meaning to talk to the other wizard, he grimaced. "Sorry, I-I gotta go. It's-it's important so..."
Albus tersely nodded, still refusing to look at him.
Muttering another apology to the red-haired boy, Harry left his side. Unfortunately, by the time he turned around the corner, the Slytherin had vanished.
Harry angrily ran a hand through his hair.
Ever since Halloween, the Slytherin had been avoiding him. The reason for that being that, while Professor Mesmer had assured him the day after the necromancy séance that everything was alright and nothing had happened, the Slytherin still seemed to be under the impression that Salazar Slytherin's ghost was possessing him and that there might be a risk Harry would start going on a rampage and kill everyone. He had been trying to explain the situation for a few days now but the other boy so far had always found a way to mysteriously disappear.
The situation had gotten so exhausting that, to be honest, Harry was inches away from giving up on the whole thing and letting the other boy believe whatever he wanted. Unfortunately, Harry now needed his help so he had to do all he could to get it.
Cursing under his breath, Harry started heading to the staircase, swearing to himself that, next time he encountered Phineas, he'd tie him up and force him to listen.
It was only when the animal started cursing him that Harry noticed the gigantic snake in the middle of the corridor .
Harry started. "What are you doing here?" he asked.
Yellow eyes stared at him. "What am I doing here?" the snake repeated. "Why am I here? What is my purpose?" it screamed the last words.
Harry felt a headache coming.
The most likely scenario was that somebody had conjured the animal to play a prank on their friends and then abandoned it. As this snake wasn't real and was created maybe minutes ago, it was highly likely that, in absence of real orders, the animal didn't know what to do and was now having an existential crisis.
"It'll just… I'll just send you back?" he said over the snake's screams. Reaching for his wand, he added, "Just- Just don't move, okay?"
As the snake started vanishing, Harry heard a gasp. Raising his head, he noticed that he wasn't alone and that Phineas Black was staring at him, mouth agape.
Shit.
Shit, shit shit.
He was fucked. He was fucked. He was utterly fucked.
Truth be told, Phineas was aware that he had been paranoiac. If Potter was possessed, why would Professor Mesmer let him roam in the castle, going to class as if nothing was amiss? Yes, he'd had explanations for these questions, but Phineas knew the possibility of a dead man possessing a living person without some sacrifice was so low nobody sane would realistically think it could happen.
Still, something in Potter's behaviour made him uneasy. Ever since that day, the Gryffindor had been following him like his shadow and staring at him in class. The situation had been so creepy that Phineas had had no choice but to consider the possibility that something was going on and that it would bring him nothing but trouble.
So, in an attempt to prove to himself that he was mistaken, Phineas had conjured the snake, hidden himself and waited for Potter to just vanish it. He had never been supposed to talk to it in parseltongue!
And now that Potter -no, Salazar Slytherin- knew that he knew who he really was, there was no way he'd let him live.
He ran as fast as he could, hoping to find a teacher before the dark wizard could get him. If he could reach his father, Phineas knew he could be saved and nothing bad would happen.
Unfortunately, just as he was about to take the stairs, his body froze and he fell. Unable to even move his head, he heard footsteps getting closer and closer.
He was dead.
Harry took the Slytherin by the feet and started dragging him to the closest empty classroom he could find.
In the current circumstances, Harry couldn't let Phineas Black escape and tell everybody that he was a parselmouth. Even if people refused to believe he was possessed, the fact that they would assume he was related to Salazar Slytherin would do him more harm than good.
The best way for Harry to handle the situation would be to erase the Slytherin's memories. Problem was, Harry had never learned the charm, and he wasn't even sure it would work and not make him even more suspicious. And since Harry couldn't make Phineas Black forget what he saw, the next best thing he had was to convince him not to spill the beans.
Locking the door of the classroom they were in he cast a silencing charm. Taking a chair nearby, Harry made the still frozen Slytherin sit on it before conjuring ropes and tying him up. Once he was sure that the other boy wouldn't be able to escape, Harry finally undid the charm.
The Slytherin violently shook his head before looking at him in abject horror. "P-Potter. F-Fancy seeing you there," he shakily said, as if the two hadn't been in class minutes ago. "How-How are you doing?"
"Listen, Black," Harry began. "I know you saw me speaking to a snake-"
"No, no, no. I saw nothing. I-I didn't see anything, I swear."
"But I assure you, this isn't what you believe."
"Not what I believe?" he shouted. "You've tied me to a chair!"
"I just don't want you to run to your father and scream I'm Slytherin because I'm not. I'm not possessed, I swear."
"Liar! I saw you hissing to that snake!"
"I was already a parselmouth, Black!" he yelled.
Phineas stopped screaming. Mouth opened, he just stared at him and Harry uncomfortably looked away.
"What did you just say?"
Seeing he had no way to take these words back, Harry sighed. "I'm a parselmouth."
Phineas had a puzzled look. "H-How? The- The Potters are not related to Slytherin! They're not- They don't- They don't even like Slytherins."
Harry suddenly felt very tired. "It's a long story and no, I'm not going to tell you. Just know that I've been able to talk to snakes before Halloween and I just don't want people to know about it."
He sharply inhaled. " That's why he came, wasn't it? Slytherin, I mean. Mesmer said he doubted he would come because the connection wasn't strong enough but he doesn't know you're a parselmouth, does he? That's why you got possessed and reacted so strongly: when Slytherin realized there was a parselmouth among us, he decided to show himself and send a message." Harry tiredly nodded and he continued, "What does it mean though?"
"I have absolutely no idea." Seeing the other words digesting his words, Harry tried, "You believe me, right?"
The Slytherin gave me a tense smile. "Yes, of course. It makes perfect sense."
"Thank God, I was sure you wouldn't believe me and- are you just saying that so that I untie you and you can escape?"
"You've tied me to a chair!" Violently moving in a vain attempt to free himself, he screamed, "Let me out, Potter!"
"I told you I'm not Slytherin!"
"So what if you're not?" Looking at Harry's face he barked a laugh, "What? You think I couldn't see how you've been acting? How you've been stalking me since All Hallow's Eve? I know you want something from me, Potter. I may not know what it is, but I know that, for some reason, you want neither Dumbledore nor Mesmer's help. As you don't want them to know, one cannot help but think it's because you're hiding something big. Big enough that you feel like they'd disagree with you and that they'd see you in a different light."
Harry scowled and Phineas hysterically laughed. "I'm right, aren't I? Something happened that night, something big and you don't want them to know. As you need somebody to help you with this, I'm your last hope. Well then, Potter," he told him, a glint of madness in his eyes, "even if you hadn't actually attacked me and made me your prisoner, I would have refused to help you because so far you've given me no reason to believe what you're planning is harmless."
Harry gritted his teeth.
As much as he wanted to say otherwise, the Slytherin had hit the nail on the nail. After the divination séance, Harry had realized that he couldn't ignore the situation with Voldemort any longer and needed to confront the dark wizard as soon as possible and use hypnosis to do so. Like Professor Neotera had said, Harry needed to reach the deepest part of his mind to find the dark wizard and, hopefully do something about it.
Problem was, Harry didn't want Professor Mesmer to suspect there was something wrong with him, especially after the man had handcuffed him on Halloween. As Albus had never learned divination, Harry couldn't ask for his help either. Meaning that, as far as Harry knew, Phineas Black Junior was the only person he knew who used a pendulum and who could possibly use hypnosis on him. He's been trying to be alone with the other student and ask for his help, but it was clear now that he hadn't hidden his intention as well as he had hoped.
As for the Slytherin accusing him of planning something harmful, Harry couldn't pretend that anything involving Voldemort was completely harmless.
Oh, who was he kidding? There were dozens of ways for this to go terribly wrong and Phineas was actually smart enough not to get involved in Harry's mess.
Harry suddenly felt very tired. Pinching his nose, he sighed. "You're right," he confessed. "I-I just-"
Harry heard Phineas grumble, "You're not going to cry on me, are you, Potter? I mean, I'm the prisoner here."
He wetly snorted. "Nah. It's just- You're not wrong."
Phineas seemed to hesitate. "Well, good. Now untie me and maybe I won't scream what you did to my father."
Seeing no way out, Harry vanished the ropes. Massaging his wrists he heard, "That sure was dumb, what you just did. What were you planning to do afterward, eh?"
"No clue, I just-" Harry darkly chuckled. "I just got scared, you know?"
Harry has been terrified since Halloween. Realising that the thoughts in his head hadn't been his, feeling for a moment that a monster was living in him and that, now that Voldemort's revealed himself, everybody looking at him would just know what he truly was and how dangerous he could be.
He had been utterly convinced that nobody should, under any circumstance, know what he was or what he was planning to do. If he could trick Black and confront Voldemort without anybody knowing any better then maybe he'd be safe.
However Black had seen right through him, and Harry had most certainly shown him far too much, so what was he supposed to do now? How could he possibly come back from this?
Phineas uncomfortably shifted. After a few seconds he muttered, "This must be really important. For you to go this far, my help must really be important to you."
"It is."
He sighed and pinched his nose. "What did you want me to do anyway?"
Harry was so tired about the whole thing that he confessed, "I wanted you to use hypnosis on me and put me into a trance."
As expected, the answer he got was, "Are you mad? What if you're some madman and you've got some secret personality nobody knows about? Like- Like Doctor Jekyl and Mr. Hide! What if you suddenly become a crazy serial killer and start killing everybody in the school and-" Looking at Harry's face he suddenly stopped. "And- and… And that's exactly what you're afraid of, isn't it? That's why you want nobody to know."
The silence was deafening.
For a few minutes, none of them said anything. More than one, Harry wondered how he could possibly recover from this and if erasing the Slytherin's memories was feasible. After all, the only time he'd seen somebody casting the charm, Lockhart had been the one doing so, so Harry wasn't sure that it was an example to follow.
To his surprise, it was Phineas who broke the silence. "I have a few conditions. If you do not agree to them, I won't help you."
Looking at Harry's stunned face he snapped, "Do you really think we can pretend nothing happened after what you said? No, whether we like it or not we need to deal with it. If you're a risk to the school, we've got to confirm it as soon as possible. Also if that's because of what happened during divination it's possible that this is just you overthinking it. In any case we've got to find the truth about it. I'm willing to help you and keep my mouth shut if it truly is nothing but, if you really need my help, I have a few conditions."
Harry dazedly blinked. "Condi- Y-Yes! Yes, of course!" he hurried to say.
"My first condition is that, should anything happen when you're in trance I tell my father. Not Mesmer, not Dippet, it's got to be him." Noticing Harry tensing from the corner of his eyes he snapped, "Yes, I know you are on thin ice with him right now, but I don't want anybody to be able to sweep the whole thing under the rug if they want. If you are so sure that this is nothing then it should be easy for you to agree to my condition, no?"
Biting his cheek, Harry nodded. "What are the other conditions?"
The wizard seemed to consider something. Finally, he nodded. "There's just one. Before the hypnosis séance and until I'm sure that you're not a danger to anyone, I tie you up."