Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or its characters. I am merely using them to entertain myself because I am bored and don't feel like doing my massive amounts of compiling homework.
Warnings: Mild slash (Salazar Slytherin/Harry Potter), OOCness (it's fanfiction, if you want In Character stuff, read the books), spoilers through OotP, etc.
A/n: This chapter is out relatively fast for me. This is because this one and the one after it are prewritten. After these two are posted, updates will probably be much slower. However, I will do my best--I won't abandon this fic no matter what. Thank you very much to my reviewers! I enjoyed hearing your comments!
Salazar was in the middle of a lecture when Godric stormed into the classroom in something akin to a blind panic.
"He's gone, Salazar, gone!" he cried, his voice laced with worry to the point of hysteria.
Salazar raised an eyebrow. "Who'se gone?" he said coolly.
"Harry!" Godric shouted in exasperation.
"I think, perhaps, you are overreacting, fool," Salazar said in a condescending voice. "He isn't meant to be here in the first place."
Godric fumed. The icy, superior face was getting to him. "He's not gone, just missing! There's a difference!"
"So? He's your pupil, not mine—thank heavens."
"Salazar Slytherin!" the Founder bellowed, trying to be intimidating like his peer. Of course, he did not receive his desired reaction.
"Get out of my classroom, Godric. You're disturbing both myself and my students," Salazar remarked irritably.
Godric pouted. "Not until you help me find him." Salazar sighed and relented, knowing that Godric would cling to him and complain until he helped. In truth, the fact that the boy was missing disturbed him more than he cared to admit.
"Reeves, please take these students to Gryffindor classroom and maintain order. I will severely punish misbehavior. Do not leave that room." The students quickly shuffled about to comply with their instructor's commands.
"Isn't that a bit much?" Godric asked. "Lighten up."
Salazar glared. "First of all, do not tell me how to deal with my students. Secondly, Mister Potter has been following you around like a second shadow since his arrival. If he is missing, there may be a threat to the other students."
"Should we warn Helga and Rowena?"
"No. They must remain with their students. If they find out, they may wish to help."
As the two wizards searched opposite sides of the campus, Salazar felt a surge of power from the Third Floor. He quickly ascended the steps and walked down the corridor and froze when he reached the end. This was the location of the Room of Requirements!
He paced back and forth several times, focusing his thoughts on Harry, which admittedly was no difficult task for the Founder, as he seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Eventually, the door appeared and Salazar almost ripped it off its hinges.
Harry jumped at the intrusion but smiled when he saw who it was. Salazar slammed the heavy door and spelled it shut until he declared otherwise. He then moved so that he was inches away from the boy and towering over him darkly.
"Hullo. Fine weather we're having," Harry said with a childish grin, not the least bit intimidated.
"Your disappearing act has sent the school into an uproar. Godric and I were convinced that you'd been kidnapped by spies who had somehow managed to infiltrate the premises."
Harry blinked owlishly. "Why'd you think that? I just wanted some time to myself and I happened upon this cozy little room here."
Salazar sighed. "The Room of Requirements," he explained, taking a seat next to the boy. "It provides whatever you want."
"I noticed," Harry chirped, holding up a small antique mirror. Salazar raised an eyebrow inquiringly. "I wanted something that would show me what's going on in my time. You know, family, friends, insane Dark Lords after my life…the works. I figured I should update my knowledge of 'current' events."
"And what have you discovered in your time?" Salazar asked, his curiosity piqued.
"Voldemort is on the rise. He's preparing to attack the school. Werewolves sided with the Light—compliments of Remus, no doubt."
"Remus?"
"My last living family member."
Salazar blanched. "You're related to a werewolf!"
"Not by blood, but we are very close. He's my friend and legal guardian, if you discount my Muggle relatives—and yes, I have Muggle family, as much as I hate to admit it. My mother was a Muggleborn. I'm half." When Salazar didn't reply, Harry smiled sadly. "You must think I'm disgusting."
"Not at all. Godric is the one who is finicky about purity of blood. I am more concerned with power." He glanced at the boy, who was clearly shocked by the new piece of information. "Is it really so surprising?"
"I had no idea…my classmates always made it seem the other way around…and in history class, too, they always…" He quickly changed the subject. "My friend Hermione is a Muggleborn, but she's one of the cleverest girls I've ever met. There's not a spell she can't master—as far as I know—and she could beat any of the purebloods in our year with her eyes closed. She spends all her free time in the library. She's obsessed with studying because she wants to further her understanding of magic."
"Rowena would be pleased," Salazar muttered in response to the last part.
Harry made a noise of agreement. "Yes, they are very much alike."
There was a tense pause. "And you? Who do you associate yourself with?" Harry looked up at Salazar, his green eyes boring into the Founder's own. Then, he blushed and looked away, all the while mentally berating himself for doing so.
"I'd always seen myself as a Gryffindor through and through, but now…" he trailed off, shaking his head.
"Now?" Salazar prompted.
Harry looked up again. "Did you know that the Sorting Hat didn't want to put me in Gryffindor? 'You would do well in Slytherin,' it told me. Now, I am rather inclined to agree with it."
"You would do well in my House," Salazar remarked with an air of indifference.
"I wish I had chosen differently," the young wizard confessed softly, just realizing it himself. "Your House is so unlike his."
"If you wanted to switch, why didn't you request a re-sorting?"
Harry stared blankly. "You can do that?"
"Yes. Well, you can in this time, but I'm sure the proceedings haven't changed much and, considering what you've told me, I think your headmaster would make as exception for his favorite pupil."
"I hate using favoritism to get my way—almost as much as I hate using my fame to get out of trouble."
"I am certain that is merely a trait you've acquired since you were sorted into the Golden House." The last two words were spoken with great sarcasm and disdain. "I am also certain that you could easily pull it off. Your conscience should not feel guilty for trying to do what's best for you."
"But I'm hated by the entire House! Every Slytherin I know has either tried to get me expelled or kill me because I am destined to battle their master!" Harry exclaimed.
"I've never tried to kill you," Salazar said softly.
"No, but you did regard me as a threat without giving me a chance to—"
Salazar cut him off, "Can you blame me? It is my duty to protect my students. You could have been a spy, an assassin, or even a madman like the Dark Lord in your time."
Harry sighed. "No, I suppose you're right. I'd have done the same thing," he admitted. He was looking at the floor, so he missed the small smile that quickly appeared on Salazar's face. It was gone almost as instantly as it appeared, though, hidden behind cold green eyes.
"Perhaps the students do not hate you half as much as you think they do."
"They attack and harass me nonstop!" Harry objected fervently.
"They are expected to. It could cause them trouble at home, I'm sure, if they treated the enemy with civility." Harry considered this and at length nodded in agreement. It made sense.
The two wizards sat in silence for a long time. Harry eventually pulled out a blank piece of parchment and whispered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The Marauders Map appeared in its full glory. Harry immediately located Godric Gryffindor, which was not a difficult task seeing as the man's name was going around in circles like a chicken with its head cut off. Salazar's name was directly next to his own.
"What is that?" the Founder inquired.
"My father and his friends made the Marauders Map when they were in Hogwarts. It eventually worked its way into my hands, but I got it taken away by my professor. I decided to get a new one from this room."
"So you already knew about the Room of Requirements," Salazar said. "How? No one should know of it."
"I stumbled across it while looking for a place to…study…with my friends—we were actually looking for a place to hold meetings for a club that was recently banned by the school. It was pure chance that I found this place." He paused and looked at the Founder. "Why does it matter?"
"I created this place as a personal sanctuary. It was my secret," the older wizard explained, his displeasure evident in his tone.
"You created this room?" Harry asked in astonishment. "You must have used some very complicated spells!"
Salazar let out a soft chuckle. "No spells were involved in the creation of this room. It was built on pure magic, an art that seems to be lost to future generations. Pure magic is simply the ability of a witch or wizard to wield the source of his or her power without the use of a wand or spells. The wizard's desire to make something happen controls the magic."
"So the Room of Requirements was built by your desire to create it and by your magic's inborn response to that wish," Harry said.
Salazar nodded. "That's exactly right."
Harry hesitated before asking, "Is the same true of the Chamber of Secrets?"
Salazar's eyes widened fractionally. "How did you—"
"Remember how I mentioned a diary of the Dark Lord's old self trying to kill me?" Salazar nodded slowly. "Well, Tom Marvolo Riddle stumbled across the Chamber of Secrets in his years at Hogwarts. He apparently found out somewhere that he has your blood and he became obsessed with finishing Salazar Slytherin's 'noble work'. He wanted to unleash the beast that was waiting in the Chamber to rid the school of all things 'mudblood' or Muggle, meaning the extermination of all Muggleborns at Hogwarts." Salazar waited for him to continue. "In order to save my friend, Ginny, who as you know had been possessed by the diary, I had to follow him down to the chamber and slay the Basilisk he told to kill me. Of course, I didn't defeat your precious little serpent on my own; I had help from the headmaster's phoenix and Godric Gryffindor's sword."
"There is no such serpent in the Chamber of Secrets," Salazar informed him stiffly. "And why is it you were able to enter the Chamber? Only a Parselmouth can open the passageway."
Harry motioned to his scar. "A present from the night the Killing Curse failed to destroy me. Everyone thought I was the next evil overlord as a result of the wonderful ability to talk to snakes." He smirked ironically. "Although it's rather handy in getting rid of unwanted company."
"I see…" Salazar looked at him darkly. "Then you can understand what I am saying right now?"
"I can understand it all the time, but I can only speak it when I see a snake," Harry explained.
Salazar raised an eyebrow. "Harry, that is a skill that one must develop. It does not come naturally. If you practice, you will be able to speak Parseltongue anytime with as little effort as it takes to speak a human tongue."
"Teach me," Harry insisted. Salazar raised a delicate eyebrow. "I've never met anyone else who might be able to in my own time…you're the only one…Please?"
"As a professor, I cannot refuse to instruct a student. I suppose I am now obligated to instruct you." Harry smiled when he heard that. He knew that was Salazar's way of saying it would be his pleasure to do so. Salazar ignored the grin on the boy's face and rose to his feet. "I believe we've given Godric quite enough of a scare for one day, and I am sure he is still as frantic as ever. As entertaining as it would be to leave him like that all night, it is almost time for dinner and we must not be late."
Harry stood as well, glancing at the Marauders Map and saying, "You're right. His name is still running around in circles in the same spot as before." Salazar shook his head in disdain and escorted the wayward student back to his rightful teacher, who fell down dizzy when he saw Harry standing a few feet away watching him in obvious amusement.
In spite of being harshly reprimanded by a very irate professor, Harry was pleased with recent events. Not only had he gotten some time alone, but he'd also been able to speak with Salazar Slytherin rather openly. Harry found that he liked the reserved Founder. Salazar was definitely a Slytherin, but beneath the pretenses and façades he was very considerate and gentle; perhaps so considerate that the man thought too deeply into respecting the wishes of others that he often ended up hurting those around him because of a misunderstanding. Yes, Harry was certain that Salazar Slytherin was very misunderstood. And he intended to fix that.