Disclaimer: Believe it or not, no money is being made through this as all characters etc that you recognize belong to Madame Rowling. Anything else is, most obviously, property of Egyptian Flame unless stated otherwise. Egyptian Flame does not have an army of lawyers like the aforementioned literary genius but that doesn't mean to say he hasn't got an army…
Chapter 3:
Another year had passed on as Harry and Salazar traveled around the world seeking knowledge. Their first stop was Egypt, as it was well known that the ancient Egyptians were very knowledgeable magic users. Before they were to learn anything, Harry and Salazar were required to pass several difficult tests and go on several tasks in order for the respect of the Egyptian scholars to be earned.
Harry's hair had reached his shoulders and his body was much more defined than it had been. One of the tasks which Harry and Salazar had to go through was to assassinate an enemy of the pharaoh. Harry was hesitant to do it at first but when he heard the reasoning behind the enmity, it was easier to turn a blind eye and do the task. When they returned, they were welcomed by the pharaoh and rewarded with their training and some gold.
They had stayed for a month, learning how to apply and break wards from the Egyptians along with some blood rituals, which powered the wards, some Egyptian battle spells, and some slight necromancy. They learned how to summon skeletons, banish them and to make them guard but the Egyptians refused to teach them more than that, saying that it would do them no good to play with the forces of death.
They left Egypt more knowledgeable and skilled before heading for their next stop. It was a tribe in Rome who were very efficient in sword fighting. The only task that was required of them was to subdue two dragons that were threatening their tribe and killing its people. However since there was nobody brave enough to handle the two dragons, no one tried to go up against them.
The task was much harder and difficult since the dragons were almost resistant to all magic, but with the cunning of Harry and Salazar, they were able to kill both dragons by the help of some snakes that dwelled near by and by their own sword skills. They spent time perfecting their sword fighting skill with the tribe until they could no longer teach them anything else.
Harry and Salazar took parts in participating in dueling tournaments that were held in secluded locations, and managed to refine their dueling skills to admirable levels. They were held in a coliseum-like building where people came to witness superb duels, whether they were group or individual duels.
One of their stops was a coven of vampires to learn blood magic, since they were masters at this type of magic. It was a very powerful branch of magic and the two travelers wanted to delve in its wonders. However, the only problem was convincing the vampires to teach them blood magic, which was not easy.
Vampires had always thought themselves to be superior to humans, which left a huge task on Harry and Salazar's shoulders to convince the undead creatures to teach them their ways. It was after a lot of convincing that Salazar managed to strike a deal with the elder vampire upon which they would learn the magic.
The task was very hard since the vampires believed that no mortal should learn their blood magic. It was after a lot of exploiting of the weaknesses of the vampires that Salazar had managed to create a potion for them to make them able to reproduce.
It wasn't until the potion was created and tested, that the vampires agreed to teach them blood magic. It was a very powerful magic and a hard one to learn. They learned many uses for the blood magic and were lucky that Salazar managed to create the potion or they would have had to fight their way out of a vampire coven, which was a suicidal thing to do.
One of the hardest groups they had to satisfy was an assassin group called the Black Fang. They were the most skillful group of assassins around and were the masters of stealth, assassin techniques, and knife throwing. They were also the most brutal of all groups. Their test was to walk through a forest and find a house, take the knives that the people left there and return. On the way, one of the group assassins would try kill them, so it was to kill and learn what they had to offer or be killed and thrown to the wolves for food.
Both Salazar and Harry watched each other's back and managed to kill 12 members of the assassins before they succeeded in acquiring the knives and returning. The group agreed to teach them what they had to offer after Sal and Harry. Both travelers had sometimes offered their services to some or individuals in exchange for money or food.
It was in the middle of their traveling year when something occurred that was a blessing to them. They were traveling to where a tribe that was skillful in magic control lived, when they passed a scene that made them turned red with rage.
They found two wizards torturing what it looked like a family of goblins while laughing hysterically. It made Harry flashback to the Death Eaters while Salazar thought of his family. Suddenly, Harry's and Salazar's wands were in their hands in a flash as one of the wizards was about to fire a killing curse at the goblin child.
"Expelliarmus," shouted both of them simultaneously, gaining the attention of the others. The power of the spells was so enormous that it knocked both wizards into a tree, killing them instantly. Salazar muttered what seemed like 'pity' before turning to the goblin family. He took three potions off his belt and gave them to the goblins.
"Drink this, it'll help you heal," said Salazar softly with the help of a translation spell. The goblin family drank the potions and rested for a few minutes. The father of the goblin family stood up shakily and went to Harry and Salazar, limping from tiredness.
"Thank you, wizards. My family is in debt to you," said the goblin, putting both hands on Harry and Salazar's foreheads. Both of them were glowing red for a few seconds until the goblin's hand left their foreheads, leaving both wizards confused.
"This is a gift for saving us. You will be able to understand and eventually speak my language, and learn a small bit of goblin magic, but not much as you are humans," said the goblin in gobbledygook but the wizards understood him perfectly.
They gasped when he told them that they would be able to learn a bit of goblin magic. They were the most powerful magic users when it came to defence magic. Their defences were nearly impossible to break and it would improve their defensive magic immensely.
The goblin took both of their hands and muttered something which left a small tattoo on their wrists in the form of a strange rune. They didn't know what the mark meant but were not concerned about the tattoo.
Their bodies were filled with tattoos back and front from every tribe or people they had learned an art from as almost a sign of graduation. There was a sphinx tattoo on their shoulders from the Egyptians, a bat tattoo on their chest from the vampires, a dragon with a sword in its claws from the tribe they had saved from dragons, a knife with a few red drops under it tattoo from the assassins which signified their training in assassination and now this rune tattoo from the goblin.
"Any goblin will honor you if you show them this mark," said the goblin. The goblin also waved his hand, producing two books written in gobbledygook about the magic of the goblins and one about their language.
Salazar and Harry were stunned since goblins never gave away anything of theirs, whether it was magic or language books. To be trusted with this was an honor to them both and it showed in their glowing faces. The goblin family said goodbye and left as Salazar and Harry went their way.
They arrived at a village somewhere in India and rested for a while before they began searching for the tribe. After eating and drinking, they rented two horses and proceeded out of the village to look for the tribe. They were riding on the horses when they heard someone crying, so they hurried towards the voice.
They found a man comforting a crying woman while some people around them wore grim, grief-stricken faces. Harry and Salazar approached them carefully and slowly with the horses and climbed down off the horses when they reached the tribes people.
"Is everything okay?" asked Harry curiously, looking at the man and woman in front of him. The man looked up at the two young men for a few seconds when suddenly rage and fury overcame him. He turned to them and shouted with rage, "YOU! YOU KIDNAPPED MY DAUGHTER YOU SICK DARK WIZARDS."
The man began to throw balls of energy at Harry and Salazar who dodged every ball of energy which would kill them if touched. Salazar paled and Harry understood what the man was upset and furious about. The man threw the energy balls in blind rage and it was a miracle, and fit physical pristine, that allowed them to dodge skillfully.
"STOP," yelled Harry. "We didn't kidnap your daughter, nor do we have any relations with the Slytherin family."
"We've just arrived and we mean you no harm," shouted Salazar before dodging another ball of energy heading towards him. The man finally stopped and sank to his knees, tears rolling down his face. Both Salazar and Harry were panting from dodging the fast energy balls, the blood rushing back to their face but thankfully, they weren't hurt.
"We've just arrived here and we mean you no harm," repeated Harry. "We have no relations with the Slytherin family other than the looks. Please believe us, we won't hurt you."
The man sat with his people, and Harry approached Salazar knowing exactly what was on his mind. They had left the Slytherin family in England so it was a surprise that someone from the Slytherin family would travel to India.
"What are they doing here?" asked Salazar quietly "We left them in England a year ago, what business do they have here?"
"I don't know, Salazar. But what I know is that we won't sit around while someone innocent is being tortured. We also need their training and it's the right thing to do. Are you with me, brother?" Harry extended his hand.
Salazar grinned, "You're on."
Both men approached the man, who was sitting with his wife and family, and bowed respectfully. They had learned that they had to bow to any tribe leader for respect before saying a word. The man nodded back stiffly and motioned for the two wizards to talk.
"We will bring your daughter back in exchange for food, shelter, and knowledge," said Salazar formally. He knew that Harry would go anyway, whether they had food or not, but he knew that they had to reach an agreement with the tribe leader if they ever wanted to learn their magic.
The man nodded his head and replied, "Bring my daughter back and you will get what you want, wizards."
Harry and Salazar learned the directions for the kidnapper's location, and the name of the daughter, Ania. They then proceeded to find whoever kidnapped the leader's daughter. Salazar was sure that it was Thanatos, his brother, who kidnapped the daughter of the tribe's chief, but as the Slytherin family was huge, they couldn't know for sure. They walked for a few days, looking for a place where the kidnapper would be residing when they finally reached a mansion.
"Harry, you bring down the wards and I will take care of any traps or guards," said Salazar urgently.
Salazar sneaked stealthily up to the guards and killed them with knives and arrows, leaving Harry free to do his work. On the other side of the mansion, Harry closed his eyes and began to feel the wards around the mansion, trying to decipher which ones were linked to the house itself and which ones were linked to the house owner.
It was impossible to bring down the wards that were linked with the mansion's owner without alerting him so he decided on doing this mission as stealthily as possible. He brought down the anti-apparation wards and some defensive wards linked to the house itself, and then proceeded to confuse the wards that were linked to the owner, so that it would think they were animals.
As he finished his work, he panted heavily from the excess use of magic. He felt dizzy as it took vast amounts of magical power to bring down wards of a mansion of this size alone, not to mention it was not easy to stealthily bring them down.
He took out a vial of energizing potion which would give him energy for a few hours, this was essential in order to complete their mission. Harry was sneaking inside the walls when he saw a basilisk lying lazily on the floor. He readied his wand and sword to attack when the basilisk hissed at him.
"Master Slytherin gave you permission to enter. Proceed, wizard."
Harry was stunned that Salazar was able to convince the basilisk to let them enter but hissed thanks and proceeded inside the mansion. He caught up with Salazar, who was disabling an alarm on a passageway that lead to the dungeons. Harry nodded to him, indicating that he did as planned and began to help Salazar disable the traps and alarms. Unfortunately, things were not meant to be as a voice came from behind them.
"What do we have here?" said a cold voice, making them both turn. Harry was trying to know who the man was with legilimency when Salazar spoke hissing coldly and sneering.
"Hello dear brother. How is the family?"
"Salazar, the black sheep of our family and my dear baby brother," said Thanatos Slytherin, a taunting sneer plastered across his face. Harry took the opportunity to sneak into the dungeons, disabling some traps in his way before he reached the holding cell.
He found a couple of dead bodies in a cell and an almost dead one in another. He approached the barely living figure and whispered, "Ania?"
The girl looked about 15 years old and had apparently been tortured mercilessly. Ania nodded with tears in her eyes, and Harry took out his wand. He began throwing every curse-breaking spell he'd learned, trying to bring the spells and wards on the door down. It took Harry around ten minutes of continuous casting to finally bring the wards on the door down and opened it with a simple 'Alohomora'
He entered the cell and carried Ania in his arms, giving her the healing potions that Salazar had supplied him with, one after the other. After making sure that the girl was not near death anymore, he carried her and searched for a way out. He found none so he sighed and walked the way he came in from, hoping that Salazar was okay.
When he reached the top of the stairs, he found Salazar dueling his brother and another wizard who Harry assumed was the mansion owner. Harry settled Ania down and took out his wand, joining the duel, and sending curses and hexes towards the mansion owner, leaving Salazar to duel his brother.
Harry proceeded to duel, sending various curses very quickly, and dodging anything that returned at him. When he was exhausted, Harry decided to end his duel as quick as possible. He summoned the man to him, making him fly very quickly and into an effective punch, sending the man to unconsciousness.
Salazar took advantage of Thanatos' distraction when the mansion owner was defeated and disarmed him. He proceeded to walk towards his brother and pointed his wand at him.
"Avada Ked…," hissed Salazar but Harry took hold of Salazar's wand before he completed the killing curse.
"No Salazar, don't kill him," said Harry firmly. Salazar glared at him but lowered his wand. Harry waved his wand and ropes appeared and wrapped themselves around Thanatos, binding him completely.
"Why didn't you let me kill him?" Salazar said coldly, glaring at Harry. Harry returned the glare full force and replied in the same tone.
"There was no use Salazar, he was disarmed."
Harry went back to Ania, carried her up in his arms again, and proceeded outside. Salazar followed him, still furious that he had lost the chance to kill his brother. They rode for a day then camped to regain their strength before continuing their journey.
They arrived at the tribe's head hut and were welcomed with a cheer of joy at the sight of the chief's daughter alive. The mother cried as she held her daughter in her arms while the tribe leader bowed and shook their hands with a big smile on his face.
"Thank you wizards. You are welcome to stay and learn our magic, for you are certainly worthy of it," said the tribe chief and invited them for dinner. Harry and Salazar did not talk to each other for a week because of what happened in the mansion.
Salazar was still fuming that Harry had stopped him from killing one of his family members who caused him pain and misery. Harry was equally furious that Salazar wanted to kill an unarmed man who happened to be his brother, even though he was an evil wizard. It was only after a week that Salazar finally apologized and the two were fine with each other again.
They spent a month and a half with the tribe where their leader taught Harry and Salazar how to control their magic and manipulate it. Unfortunately, they could only learn the techniques on how to begin taking control of their magic and pushing it outside their body with enough manipulation. The process had to be practiced until the user gained control over his magic, which was not something to be taught.
Salazar was taught a few potions from some of the people of the village. After a month and a half, their stay ended. They acquired a tattoo, a staff with a snake wrapped around it with its head resting on the head of the magnificent cane.
They traveled for weeks, learning random spells and potions from people they meet, doing arbitrary jobs here and there. They gathered a lot of gold from some of the tasks and jobs they performed for tribes or people they met during their trip.
They went to a very well known tribe in Greece, which was famous for their bond with animals. They welcomed Harry and Salazar into their tribe after they learned that both wizards were snake-speakers. The tribe cherished animals, took care of them, and learned about them and their magic. Harry and Salazar stayed with the tribe for a month, learning about various animals and their nature.
They were taught a different form of being an animagus. Instead of forcing your inner animal to change you into your destined form, a real animal would choose the wizard, become one with the wizard by bonding with them and then the wizard would gain the animagus form of said animal.
The animagus transformations in the future depended on the wizard changing by his inner animal, thus gaining no characteristics of the chosen animal but just its form. After a month of practicing their magic and learning about the animals, Harry and Salazar left the tribes equipped with a new magic that would help them in their future and the tattoos of their forms on their back.
Their last stop was a village in Scotland. It was the name of the village that told Harry that their trip was ending. They settled in an inn, resting from their long trip from Greece. Their journey of knowledge was a huge success as they gathered important knowledge from some very stubborn people.
They were eating breakfast together when they heard two witches and a wizard about their age talking at the table next to them. They were talking about a topic that made Salazar's face light up and excited Harry a little. They were talking about building a school to help gifted children learn magic.
Due to Salazar's excitement, his aura flared around him but not visibly. Only an aura reader would be able to see an aura of a wizard, which is why when Salazar's massive aura flared, one of the witches sitting at the next table cried in agony from the massive light that attacked her eyes. The eyes of an aura reader were usually very sensitive to bright lights.
"Salazar," yelled Harry warningly, "calm down, there is an aura reader here, and your aura isn't helping." Salazar calmed down immediately and kept a tight leash on his aura, making the witch relax from the pain. They went to the two witches and the wizard and Salazar gave a pain-relieving potion to the girl.
"I'm sorry about my aura. I was excited about something and usually when I get excited, I tend to release my aura," said Salazar sincerely.
The pretty girl who was in pain moments ago smiled kindly at him and replied, "It was my fault. I thought that since the place wasn't crowded, I could afford not to restrain my gift. I'm Helga Hufflepuff by the way."
They shook hands and Helga invited them to sit at their table. Helga had blond hair, light blue eyes and a petite body. Harry got their things and sat down, excitement filling him at the prospect of meeting the future founders of Hogwarts. Salazar was the first to speak. "My name is Salazar Slytherin and this is my best friend Harry."
"I'm Rowena Ravenclaw, it's nice to meet you both," said Rowena with a grin, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. She was a very beautiful girl; she had midnight black hair, grayish blue eyes, and a lean body.
The other wizard introduced himself as well. He was very well built, with dark red hair and brown eyes. "I'm Godric Gryffindor. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"I couldn't help but overhear you talk about wanting to build a school, which was what made me excited by the way. I've always wanted to build a school for children to learn magic instead of apprenticing or learning from their family," said Salazar , pronouncing the last part with a bitter tone, which went unnoticed by all except Harry.
"The only problem is the lack of land and magical skill. Between the five of us, the magical skill problem is solved. However, where can we find a land to build the school on?" asked Godric thoughtfully. Harry thought that he could ease the process of looking for a land for them and replied. "There is a large piece of land not far from here. We could purchase it and build the school on it."
"But that land would cost a lot of money, and we don't have much of that either," said Rowena with a sigh.
Salazar leaned over and spoke softly in Harry's ear. "How did you know where the land would be, Harry?"
Harry glared at Salazar for daring to say such a thing with the other people sitting beside them but he still replied, whispering softly. "It is one of the things that I told you I can't tell you about, Salazar."
Sal's eyes widened at what Harry was implying but smiled fully, earning himself confused looks from the other three. He looked at them and replied, "We have enough money to buy the land where the school would be built." The eyes of the other three widened but grinned at each other.
They finished their lunch and went to the property owner to see about the land being bought. It was a strange moment for Harry, seeing the lake, forest and Hogsmeade but no castle. After a lot of convincing and bargaining, the man finally decided to sell them the land with money, which cost almost all Salazar's and Harry's money. Thus, the five teens began the plan to build the school that would be Harry's favourite home in one thousand years.
