Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot. So don't sue me. All Harry Potter™ characters and settings are the sole intellectual property of JK Rowling, Warner Bros. and various others who all aren't connected to me in any way. No money is being made with this fanfiction and no copyright infringement is intended.
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Chapter 4: A Mentor Gained
Harry shook his head no. Unable to even look at Slytherin in the eye after asking what he realized was a very stupid question.
"Yeah, I didn't think so either." Salazar said in a cold whisper.
"Now that I've told you about myself, I think it's time for you to do the same." Salazar said, after a few minutes of silence passed between them.
Harry took a deep breath, he started his story with the night Voldemort murdered his parents and then tried to kill him as well, but being unsuccessful. Harry was slightly amazed that the memories of that night now seemed clearer and more detailed now that the mind cage was no longer in place. And with added help from Voldemort's memories he was able to piece together the events of that night more accurately. Which helped to reveal that Voldemort did not travel alone that night, Snape and Wormtail were with him.
Snape had helped in murdering his father by hitting him in the back with a piercing curse while James had his full attention on his duel with Voldemort. Though before Voldemort was able to kill him, James wounded Snape badly enough that he had to leave his masters side. His mother did not have her wand with her when she faced Voldemort. Harry fought down his burning rage at the memory of his parent's death. Snape's involvement only made Harry more eager to kill the bastard. Though the memories were still choppy it was far more detailed then he had ever remembered before.
From there, Harry explained briefly about his miserable childhood with the Dursleys'. How the first day went when he was sent his Hogwarts letter and the chaos that followed, his visit into the magical world. It was only after he reached the part about finding the troll in the girls bathroom that Salazar interrupted him and instructed Harry to use his old pensive that was stored in one of the back cabinets in the room.
After some quick lessons on how to operate a pensive, Harry's ability at recalling his memories became a lot easier. For the next two hours Harry told Salazar everything he could about his so called adventures throughout all his years at Hogwarts. Showing much of what happened with the help of the pensive the same way Dumbledore did when he showed Harry the Prophecy. Never purposely leaving anything out, Harry did over look some of his memories however.
Some of Voldemort's most resent memories of the past five years filled in many of the blanks of information in Harry's own story. After a little while Harry was telling everything more to himself then to Salazar, almost forgetting about the old portrait as his life played out before him. Harry began to truly realize the advantages of using a Pensive. He had never purposely tried to remember everything like this before, and seeing it all again allowed him to analyze what happened much more clearly than ever before. In doing so, Harry realized just how much he had been used, lied to, and manipulated. He was shocked that it was on an even grander scale than he originally thought. He felt like a complete fool to not have realized it before now.
But now that the mind cage was broken, Harry could remember clearly every whispered command that Dumbledore's fog had given him. It left his blood cold at knowing how much power and influence the old man had once held over him. How easily he was controlled. How eager he was to please the voice of his, ' master '. Harry gave a violent shutter at that last thought.
When he was younger, it had only been the Dursleys' whom he had to guard himself against. Once he entered into the magical world it became mainly the Slytherins' at Hogwarts and Voldemort. This year it had been the Ministry. But now Harry realizes his muggle relatives, spoiled children, a Dark Lord, and a corrupt government, were the least of his worries. His greatest enemy had been the closest one to him.
When he first entered the Wizarding world he had been nothing more than a wide-eyed ignorant child. A child who was starved for the chance to prove that he was worth more then what the Dursleys' had always made him out to be. To prove he was someone normal to those he respected and looked up too. That he could, in some small way, live up to the title of the Hero of the Wizarding world. He had been slowly cultivated to save everyone because as a Hero, the life of the victim was ' more important ' than his own.
He had to give the man credit; Dumbledore had started him off slowly, letting his gentle giant Hagrid lay the foundation of a Gryffindor mentality. ' There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin.' Years of living with the Dursleys' had taught him to stay away from anything that was likely to gain him even more negative attention, which lead him to shun any traits he had that could be seen as those of a Slytherin. And at the time, in his mind, being put in a house that the majority of the wizarding world thought of as pure evil, was not a good idea when entering a world that was so unfamiliar to him.
Everyone had expected him to be the perfect little Gryffindor, to be the Hero, the Saviour. And with the help of the fogs guidance he had tried to become just that. Hermione had been right when she said he had a 'saving people problem', but not one of his own creations. All the right people had encouraged him down the path of the reckless Gryffindor saviour, completely under Dumbledore's control and command. While at the same time, suppressing him and shunning him to the point that his closest friends were an ostracized muggle-born and a poor hen-peaked light wizard. With two best friends that were both considered to be of the lower class. He would also stay in that social class out of loyalty to their friendship, causing him to shun the higher-class circles in which he born into. While the prejudice that they faced helped the old man mold his sense of righteousness. And he had been too blind to see any of it at the time. Paranoia would now be in healthy supply when it came to dealing with those around him from now on.
He may have been angry with Dumbledore over this past year, but he had never expected the old wizard to stoop this low. Viewing his own memories had made him lose all remaining respect he had once held for the man. What deity had he offended in another life to warrant the life he had now, Harry wonder. What had he ever done to warrant such distrustful mistreatment?
Viewing the events of the night at the DoM were the hardest to watch. It took all his strength for him not to break down completely as he watched Sirius fall through the veil for the second time. His grief and guilt over that night threatened to consume him, pulling him deep into a pit of despair. Taking a few minutes to calm himself down before he continued with his story, though he had notice that a lot of Voldemort's most resist memories dealt with the veil itself somehow, but they were to jumbled to make any kind of since to him at the moment.
After Harry had finished his story, he looked up to Salazar's portrait for his reaction to all that he had shared about his life up until this point, and he was shock and a little afraid at what he now saw. Gone was the calm and posed Lord with the warm laugh. In his place was a powerful and enraged Dark Lord, who many till this day still feared. The man's entire body was taut and rigid; a dark halo of magical power surrounded him. On his face was a look of pure fury, his nose faired while green eyes literally were a blaze with anger and hatred. Harry drew back a little from the ancient portrait, Salazar looked more powerful then both Dumbledore and Voldemort could ever dream of competing with. Harry hoped that Salazar's anger wasn't directed at him.
It had taken Salazar Slytherin quite a few minutes to calm down enough to think rationally and clearly. He had heard many rumors about the young Gryffindor from some of the other portraits that contained members of the Gentry family who were still able to travel through the portraits of Hogwarts. But now after seeing what really took place the truth was ten times more mind blowing and surreal than any rumor could ever hope to be.
The Slytherin Lord was beyond furious at what that manipulative fool Dumbledore had done in regards to Harry. What that man had tired to tune the true heir of the Slytherin line into. It had been nearly sixty years since Dumbledore had charmed all the portraits in Hogwarts not allow his portraits image entrance into the castle. Limiting his movements to only his sanctuary, the Gentry ancestral homes and certain scholastic charm schools around the world. If he had still been alive, the backstabbing bastard would be suffering from one of the most slow and painful deaths ever conceived to wizarding kind. Given that his knowledge and skill in the Dark Arts had never been matched, even to this day and age, was saying something. Harry's quiet voice broke Salazar out of his angry thoughts.
"I spent so much time trying not to think about all the bad things that happened to me or not being allow to think too deeply on it all. I've never really just sat down and talked about everything before." Harry was silent for a moment.
"It was all just one big manipulation wasn't it? Just one big lie I've been forced to live. I was never a human being to him, just a tool, just a toy that Dumbledore liked playing with." His voice breaking slightly, he fought desperately to hold back his tears.
"I can not say positively, I do not believe that everything was; the plots to kill you were certainly genuine. But what concerns me most of all is the magnitude in which things were manipulated around you. From what you have shown me when you attempt to destroy the link to Voldemort's mind, I'm quite positive that Dumbledore used the last remaining essences of your mother's soul that she give up in order to give you protection to help secure the link between the remaining magic from the failed Killing Curse in order to feed the Claustrum Ward." Salazar hissed angrily.
"Leaving you in such a negative environment of your own mother's blood, could only serve to strengthen such an unnatural link. That riot that Dumbledore told you about you needing to stay with your muggle relatives because he extended your mother's sacrifice to your blood kin is a complete lie. An outside party can in no way extend a soul sacrifice to anyone but the person the sacrifice was made for, blood kin or no. Placing you with your muggle relatives could only serve to help keep you from noticing that your mind was being suppressed because your native environment was suppressing you negatively from the start. Every time you returned to your relatives home during the summers only helped to recharge the link, because it's within the month of your birth. Now that the Claustrum Captivus and the link is broken, the remaining protection your mother give you should be able to protect you in the way it was always meant too."
Harry balled his shaking hands into tight fists, and close eyes tightly against the rage that was building inside him. He had already guessed about most of what Salazar had just told he in regards of the supposed wards protecting Privet Drive. But he wasn't prepared to hear that Dumbledore had somehow bonded a piece of his mother's soul to the remaining magic of the Killing curse for no other reason but to control him easier. That bastard was going to pay dearly for all that he had done.
"Harry, tell me, do you know what kind of effects the Dark Arts can have on a small child's mind, soul, and magical core." asked Salazar his face now showing no outward emotion. Harry just shook his head, still too angry to talk.
"Great Merlin, do they still teach anything of substance at that school anymore?" Salazar asked angrily, "Well pay attention because this is something very important that you need to understand. And I do not like repeating myself." The old wizard said before switching into his professor persona he always used with his students.
"At such a young age, a child's mind and magical core is still developing. Any magic greater in magnitude than a fourth year spell, or any spell held for an extended period of time, will have the potential to adversely affect the child. The damage done can vary wildly. It all depends on what type of spell as been cast on the child. This is especially true in regards to the Dark Arts. It's was a every good thing that your parents were able to put such a powerful magical block on you in order to protect your core before Voldemort was able to attack you using the Avanda Kedavara. Which is one of the darkest and most powerful curses known to wizarding kind. If they hadn't protected your magical core, and you had still somehow served the attack, the best anyone could have hoped for was for your magic to have been erratic, steaming between turbulent fits of extremely powerful accidental magic and being made a squib. The worst out come would have been an intense case of Dementia, Magic Loss, or a complete corruption of your mind, magic, and soul, causing Damnum Veneficus.
"The Algiz Block also served the purpose of stopping anyone from tampering with your magical core. If Dumbledore had been able to bond the Claustrum Captivus ward to feed itself from your developing magical core, coupled with such a negative environment to raise you in, it would have caused a severe case of Damnum Veneficus. Likely turning you into a completely dark wizard even before you hit puberty.
"In such a unique case as yours, all that was needed was a Sacred Circle ward to protect your mind from the link and the remaining magic from Voldemort's failed Killing curse. The ward would have only needed to be reinforced periodically, until a professional Medi-witch or wizard declared it safe to remove. There was absolutely no need for such a dark spell to be used other then the purpose of wanting to have control over a potentially powerful weapon."
By the end of Salazar's explanation, Harry could feel an ice cold chill run down his spin. 'Damnum Veneficus? Magic Loss, Dementia? Now that the mind cage was gone, would that still happen? Or will I be okay, now that I'm older? ' Harry thought franticly.
"If you fretting over the possibility of you suddenly going insane and during into the next Dark Lord its highly unlikely. It's been almost 15 years since the spell was cast, and from the memories you have shared with me, you have never shown an interest in the Dark Arts or made plans on taking over the world. If there was any ill side-effects from the ward I guarantee they would have showed up by now." Salazar said with an amused sneer.
"But I do recommend being checked over by a Healer, just to make sure you didn't harm yourself somehow when you removed the ward." He added as an after thought. Harry just nodded in understanding, too relieved to do more.
"Now I would like to address the manipulation of your Hogwarts letter, because that is also a cause of concern. " said Salazar.
"What do you mean the manipulation of my Hogwarts letter? I didn't even get a chance too read it until Hagrid came to get me on my birthday." said Harry in confusion.
"That's why I am concerned." Salazar snapped testily. "Hagrid was not even a professor at the time, but a mere games keeper, a servant! He should not have been sent to you that day. While rare, you are not the first magic-born child to be raised by Muggles. It has always been Hogwarts policy to introduce people like you and your families to the magical world in the same way as a Muggle-born. Your aunt having some knowledge of the magical world is irrelevant. Muggle-born students are never sent invitations of education via owls.
"A Hogwarts professor, generally a Head of House, goes to the houses of the incoming Muggle-born students for the first meeting. They are to then explain about the magical world and Hogwarts to the family in detail, provide proof that magic does exist and charm the family so they may not tell others of our existence, like I explained to you earlier. Around three hundred years ago it became very necessary for the incoming students from the muggle world to have a ghost register under a different school name to have a creditable accounts of their education in the muggle world if they wished to attend muggle universities. The parents or guardians, along with the magical child are given books and pamphlets about our world, how to deal with having a magical child, health needs, and the laws they must now abide by. They are also given a separate book list to make learning how to use their magic easier in their future studies. You were given none of these things.
"And if you recall Harry, your relatives are not the first to decide they do not wish for their child to go to Hogwarts. There are policies in place to deal with such problems. From your memories and from what you have said about how your relatives treat you. I have little doubt that in your case you would have been removed from your relatives care once your living environment was publicly discovered."
Salazar's words shocked Harry somewhat. He had always hated being forced to return to the Dursley's and now he learned that he could have left them if it wasn't for Dumbledore's meddling.
"But that is not what disturbs me the most about your life. What greatly alarms me is not what Dumbledore didn't allow to happen, but what he did allow to happen while you were here at Hogwarts." Salazar hissed furiously.
"Wh-What do you mean?" Harry feared that he already knew exactly what Salazar meant, but a part of him had never wanted it to be true.
"What I mean is that all the dangers you've faced within the halls of Hogwarts should have never been allowed to happen. Hogwarts my young heir, is far more than just an old castle made of stone. We made her into a sort of consciousness, almost to the point of her being ensouled. We created her to be extremely intellectual, protective of all those who are under her care, and to have the ability to protect herself from attack if the need ever arouse. She is anchored to the wards that protect the school. Her consciousness resides within the very halls of Hogwarts castle.
"When a witch or wizard takes the position of Hogwarts Headmaster, they become magical connected to the wards, as well as the consciousness of Hogwarts herself. If a problem of security arises no matter how small the Headmaster is notified, or the Deputy Headmaster if the Headmaster is inaccessible to do anything about the problem, even if they are off the school grounds. She is able to warren the other Professors but to a lesser degree.
"For extra more detailed information the Headmaster or the other Professors can be alerted by a portrait. This is the reason why Hogwarts is so full of wizarding portraits, status, suites of armor, talking mirrors, and House-elves. They serve as her, eyes and ears, so to speak. "
Harry could do nothing but sit there, mouth hanging open slightly while Salazar's words washed over him in waves. All the danger and death he had faced had been even more pointless than he had first thought. A completely numbness of feeling spread over him as another layer to Dumbledore's betrayal was revealed to him. Harry had to pull himself back to the here and now when he finally noticed that Salazar was speaking to him once more.
"It's quite obvious that you will have to break yourself free from Dumbledore and his influences and all those who choose to follow that man blindly." Salazar spoke in a stern voice.
"You will need to become as independent and self-reliant as possible against those who wish to try and use you for their own gain. The only option you have open to you is to claim full lordship over your families estates."
"But how Salazar, I'm not even of age."
"That my dear boy is precisely why you need to claim the full lordship over the Gentry and Potter estates and holdings. You are the last living direct descendant of two ancient noble pureblood wizarding lines, once you claim lordship you are automatically reclassified as a legal adult come your sixteenth birthday within the Wizarding world." Salazar said with a smug smile.
"Though before you are able to do that you must first research the History and by-laws that govern your family Houses. As my Heir, I will help you learn everything you need to know about the Gentry line. Also, because you are the heir to one of the Founders you have certain rights and privileges while at Hogwarts. You even have a certain sway over the castles magic. All you need to do is claim your rightful inheritance. Go to the Room of Requirements and call forth the Hall of the Founders. Once the door appears to you place your hand on the seal while speaking these words in parseltongue:
Lady of Hogwarts, Maiden full of grace, Remind me of my Courage.
Lady of Hogwarts, Mother round and full, Remind me of my Loyalty.
Lady of Hogwarts, Crone the teacher still, Remind me of my Wisdom.
Lady of Hogwarts, Siren swift and soothing, Remind me of my Cunning.
I am pure of heart. Seeking answers left to me.
Aid me Mistress of Hogwarts. Guide your Heir true. Keep my secrets,
As I shall keep yours.
And tell me of my enemies and the dangers I must face.
Hear me; Come before me, My Lady of Hogwarts.
"After saying these words go inside the room and the consciousness of Hogwarts castle will appear before you. You also need to visit the library for the Family Charters, which are located in the Ancestral Magic section.
"Wizarding law and proper social etiquette will need to be of great focus in your up coming studies my young serpent. And the reason I grouped those two topics together, is because they are more closely related than you could ever imagine, especially when you go back to some of the older, more ancient wizarding laws that are barely remembered anymore, but could be used to your advantage. Like the law that states you have had the right to practices magic freely in your home since you turned thirteen because you are the last son and heir to both the Potter and Gentry lines. So there fore your ministry trail should have never taken place.
And from what you've told me of the idiots running the magical world, you're going to need to know exactly what you can and can't do under the letter of the law. If you don't, you will find yourself being taken advantage of, like at your trail, or even reprimanded for something you were entitled to do. You have to know the game before you can play it. " Salazar said with a playful sneer.
Harry was too surprised to even reply to all that. A small grin spread over his face. What other wonderful laws and hidden privileges were out there that he could use to his advantage. Luckily for him the Slytherin Lord provided Harry with quite a few secrets that were sure to come in handy during the rest of his years while living at Hogwarts. After talking a little while longer Harry headed back to the Chamber. He finished cleaning up the office, collected and shrunk a hand full of books on warding and security spells. Then made his way back up to the main part of the school.
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To be continued...
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