Disclaimer: I don't own HP. Dumbledore is OOC.
ITALY WON!
Chapter Twenty, Year Two: Arrival
The last month before school found Ron and Hermione extremely wary of Tom. Tom, to his credit, didn't attempt to try to circumvent any of the clauses on the oath that he took. A Voldemort-possessed snake was still out there, still ready and waiting to try to possess him.
That month passed in relative harmony except for the rather exciting escapade to Diagon Alley so Tom could get his school things and a slightly stilted debate on whether Dumbledore should be alerted to Tom's presence at the Burrow. Salazar still maintained that Dumbledore already knew. Severus decided to alert him just in case.
In fact, the month was so peaceful that Ron soon grew accustomed to asking a future Dark Lord to help him with his homework and Ginny was seen blushing whenever she glanced at him. So, it seemed came as a shock when the front of the Daily Prophet on August 31st proclaimed a rise in Death Eater activities. The majority of the table seemed grim. The rest glanced worriedly over at Tom, and Tom looked at his toast like it was going to avada him.
Salazar stood up abruptly, much to the surprise of the rest of the table. Salazar said to the table in a shaky voice, "I…I think I have to contact Dumbledore right now. Please excuse me, I just-"
"I'll come too," Tom interjected hastily earning a few suspicious glances.
The walk up to Ron's bedroom was spent in silence with Salazar looked worried and Tom trying not to have a heart attack or hyperventilate.
Once they entered the bedroom, Tom immediately sunk onto his bed. "He's after me; I know he's after me. His Death Eaters are regrouping and they're going to do things to my body…" he trailed off looking down at his hands.
Salazar sighed. He didn't understand where his descendant got his dramatics from, and he didn't care. All that he wanted was for Tom to at least be dramatic in a positive way.
He pulled up a chair and sat in front of Tom. "Tom, look at me."
There was no response. "Are your hands named Harry? Hello!"
Silence.
Salazar took a deep breath and prepared himself for a violent outburst. "Oi! Mudblood!"
Tom stiffened and his eyes shot up from looking at his hands to Salazar. The next moment found Tom clutching his wrists as his attempt at strangling Salazar resulted in pain.
Salazar stood up. "Good, now that you're finished with your self-pity, maybe we can move onto more constructive things."
Tom got up slowly, rubbing his wrists and glaring. "I'm not a mudblood. Don't call me that!"
"Fine! Then quit sulking and pitying yourself. If you want to be treated like a Slytherin, then start acting like one!"
Tom took a deep breath and released it. After a moment he looked over at Salazar. "Alright, let's fix this."
Salazar smiled.
…….
The Weasley family seemed to neither be surprised when Dumbledore's head appeared in the fireplace later that day, nor did they seem surprised when he asked them to take Floo over to Hogwarts immediately.
Hermione seemed to be the only one surprised at this, and mentioned that Hogwart's: A History never mentioned the castle being connected to the Floo system. Salazar, though he didn't look it, was surprised as well. The Floo network was after his time.
They arrived in a chamber just off of the Great Hall. A large, richly embroidered, cloth-covered object was standing in the middle of the room on a dais. Blue light was being admitted from under the cloth.
While the Weasley family was sorting themselves out, and Draco and Tom were conversing in low voices over a piece of paper, Salazar cautiously approached the odd object.
"Ah, I see you've found the Triwizard Cup." Dumbledore said.
Salazar jumped and turned around, a hand over his heart. "I didn't see you, sir."
"I didn't mean to startle you," Dumbledore said. "Lemon drop?"
"Er, no thank you."
"Well then, all the more for me!" he exclaimed and happily reached into his container of lemon drops.
"Albus!" Mrs. Weasley called.
Dumbledore and Salazar looked over to see the Weasley family plus Draco and Tom walking toward them.
"Ah, hello Molly, lemon drop?" he asked, holding out a tin.
"Albus, what's going on? I understand the children being summoned here, but why Arthur and me?"
Dumbledore gazed solemnly at her. "That is a conversation for a later time. However, it is late, and no doubt you'll scold me if the children don't get adequate sleep."
Mrs. Weasley blushed. "I…I wouldn't…"
"So, let's see. The Ravenclaw Head Boy and Girl's chambers should be alright, so Molly, you and Arthur can sleep there. The Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff dorms are rather waterlogged at the moment. The Slytherin dorms are the only ones habitable at the moment courtesy of the Bloody Baron, so you youngsters can stay there."
Ron groaned and Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling.
"Since I'm sure you can navigate Hogwarts well, and since I have a rather urgent message from Fudge to respond to, I'll leave the rest up to you."
Salazar was staring at the Headmaster's departing back hard. Tom was also looking at the Headmaster with a frown.
Draco sighed and shook his head and Ron just scowled.
……
Ron frowned the moment he set foot in the Slytherin dorms. "Is it always this cold?"
Draco frowned. "Cold? What are you talking about? It's not cold."
"No, not temperature wise; I meant…I meant…" Ron trailed off, gesturing vaguely.
Salazar looked around. The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several high-backed chairs were scattered around the room. There were also a few black couches and table scattered around the room too.
"I think what Ronald means is cheerful or something along those lines," Percy said.
"I always thought that the Slytherin dorms were a little wider, more circular with a higher ceiling and large arched windows with a view of the grounds," Salazar interjected.
There was a moment of silence. A few people were looking at him oddly.
"I read about the original architectural design of the Slytherin dorms," Salazar said, looking around the room.
"Wow Potter, didn't know your read!" Draco exclaimed.
"Harry, why were you looking up the Slytherin floor plan?" Hermione asked.
Salazar grinned sheepishly at her. "Well, you wouldn't stop talking badgering me about reading Hogwarts: A History, so I wanted to see if I could find it in the library. They didn't have that at the moment, but they did have the original designs for Hogwarts."
"You have to show me!" Hermione exclaimed. She looked like she was about to rush to the library immediately, with Salazar in tow, to look for the book at 11 at night.
Draco made a noise of impatience. "I don't really care about you lot of Gryffindors," he began, "and frankly, the thought of you defiling the sanctity of the Slytherin dorms makes my skin crawl, however, sleep is important."
"You're worried about us Malfoy?" Fred asked.
"No, I'm worried that your mother will clobber me with a caldron if she saw you looking like zombies tomorrow morning."
Fred and George smirked at each other.
Draco sighed. "Right staircase leads the girls' dorms. Left leads to the boys' dorm."
Salazar walked in to find his trunk already at the foot of the bed. He quickly changed into his pajamas, crawled into bed and was out like a light.
A/N: Yes, it's late. Very late. But I think I started this chapter eight times, and each time I was halfway finished with it I scraped it. Dumbledore is horribly OOC, but, unfortunately, less OOC than how he was the other eight or so times. God it's pathetic. Anyway, I'm anxious to at least finish Year Two before the second book, because I think I know who one of the Horcruxes is. :evil grin:
Reviews:
Serenity1910: Sorry, no meeting between Hermione and Tom. Tom wasn't shocked that Harry is the reincarnation of Salazar because he had a suspicion that either he or Draco was Salazar's reincarnation. However, because the whole purity of blood thing is part of Salazar's legacy, Tom's rather more shocked that Sal doesn't want it to continue than Sal being reborn in Harry's body.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this.
