Unspoken Chapter 22: The owner, a harry potter fanfic

Unspoken
by Teddylonglong

Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.

Severus and the poltergeist swore their oaths, before Croaker asked if they had decided on names.

Seeing that the two potions masters exchanged questioning looks, Harry spoke up.

"I conferred with Connie, and she suggested Chame for Severus and Scales for Professor Slytherin…"

"Please call me Salazar."

"… all right, Scales for Salazar then, trusting that Felina and Whisker will be able to help him get back to his usual form. If he agrees, Connie and I will make a philosopher's stone for him, so that his real age won't matter."

"That is very generous of the two of you; however, in this case, I believe that it would be the most profitable solution for everyone. Please explain everything to Scales within team 13 later on. Do the two of you agree with the suggested names?"

"Yes sir."

"I love it, and I really hope that the team will be able to help me."

Nodding contentedly, Croaker instructed Paws to provide Unspeakable robes for them and accompany them to Devil for their first training, deciding that he wished to speak with them again before lunch.

"Devil? What a name," Salazar muttered, when they crossed the otherwise empty corridor.

Harry grinned. "He deserves it."

"Thanks for the robes, by the way. I love them. Any method to hide my ugly Poltergeist form would be appreciated."

"I understand, but don't worry. The Unspeakables will be able to gain a new form if not your own real form. We'll discuss it with them in the afternoon." He introduced the two new Unspeakables to the trainer, before he excused himself, promising to pick them up again for their meeting with Croaker before lunchtime.

Toying with the thought of talking to his colleagues right away, he decided against it and ushered Lucy into the alchemy lab to get a head start at another philosopher's stone.

'It's good to make one now, before I forget how to make it,' he thought in relief, when Connie's voice penetrated his mind.

'Harry, where are you?'

'Sorry, I'm in Archie's lab.'

Two minutes later, she strode into the lab and swiftly began to assist, while Lucy greeted her in obvious happiness.

The conversation with their team colleagues went as well as expected with Felina and Whisker promising to take Chame and Scales under their wings.

"I will make you a necklace that will change your appearance to your former self if you provide me with data concerning your normal appearance. However, this is only a temporary solution." Whisker smirked. "For the long term, Felina will teach you to transform into your real self."

"Remember to take the elixir of life, before you transform the first time," Harry reminded the ancient wizard, who cast him a grateful look in return. Harry and Connie had already provided the ancient wizard with a dozen doses of the light red liquid.

Harry noticed with a combination of surprise and relief that Lily did not reveal her true form yet, but was wearing the necklace that changed her appearance to her Rose Smith persona.

'As cool it is to have a team exclusively for potions specialists, I'm going to miss Archie,' Harry thought to Connie, who full-heartedly agreed.

'I already miss him.'

'He's in team 9 now. I wonder who will be with him apart from Buckbean,' Harry thought, as he absentmindedly listened to the conversation between his adult team mates.

It was already dinner time, when Harry popped back to Hogwarts with Lucy and Severus in tow, trusting Connie and Salazar to find their own ways. He popped them right into a small alcove near the entrance hall, so that they could attend dinner on time.

"I suggest revealing that you're an Unspeakable to Minerva," Harry advised the older wizard. "You might need her to cover up for you from time to time, and she has always kept my secret from the time when I was five years old."

"I shall speak with her tonight. Thank you for your help."

"You're welcome, sir."

For Harry, nothing really changed. If he had expected Salazar to be able to give at least Regina magic, he was sorely mistaken.

"I am sorry, Harry, but I don't remember how I did that. I'll have to check my notes, for which I need to be able to read Parseltongue. I was so stupid as to write down everything in Parsel, especially knowledge, which I did not wish to reveal to others. As soon as I'll be able to return to my own form, I shall look into the matter. When I find out how that worked, I shall work on how to give magic to a muggle. We will securely store this information in my chamber though, as we wouldn't want anyone to find out about it and randomly give magic to muggles."

Harry nodded in simultaneous understanding and disappointment. "Thank you, Scales. I appreciate it very much."

He became distracted by the Quidditch match Slytherin versus Gryffindor, his first match as Seeker for the Slytherin team.

Before taking into the air, he noticed that his friends were sitting in the Slytherin stands together with Severus, Connie, Regina, Rebecca, Artemis, Sirius, Remus, Rose, Jamie and even Salazar in the form, which Artemis' necklace provided for him.

Determined to catch the Snitch as fast as possible, he joined his team in the air with Lucy riding his broom in front of him.

'You know what?' Lucy suddenly thought to him. 'If anyone else takes me flying, it's good, but flying with you is the most fun.' She let out small sounds of apparent happiness, when they roared over the pitch in a high speed.

'Thanks, Lulu,' Harry thought back, grinning broadly, right before he spotted the Snitch and went into a deep dive only to pull up last minute before hitting the ground. In the eleventh minute of the game, he caught the Snitch, much to Lucy's disappointment.

'That was too fast,' she complained, as they landed onto the ground, while the Slytherin stands erupted into cheers, when Madam Hooch announced their victory.

"Harry Potter caught the Snitch. Slytherin wins 150 – 20."

'Sorry, Granny Minerva,' Harry thought to the Gryffindor head, who cast him an unobtrusive smile.

To Harry's surprise, Severus invited everyone who had been sitting in the Slytherin stands to join them for the victory party in the Slytherin common room, knowing that several of them belonged to his Unspeakable team and the others probably to Harry's family. Not only his extended family, however, but also Salazar happily followed the invitation.

After everyone had eaten and drunken their fill in celebration, Severus rose from where he was sitting in front of the fireplace together with the other adults.

"I have an announcement to make." He motioned for Salazar to stand next to him. "This is Professor Salazar Slytherin, the founder of this house. No, I have not had too much alcohol. This is true. Why he is still alive is his secret to share, not mine. However, provided that the headmaster agrees, as I have only received Professor McGonagall's consent so far, Professor Slytherin will replace me as head of house from January onwards."

Absolute silence followed that reminded Harry of his own Sorting almost fifteen months ago, and he politely began to clap his hands, hurriedly followed by his family, friends and housemates.

"Dear Slytherins," Salazar spoke up and explained how he had become immortal with the help of an alchemist and a potion and spent all his time at his own manor, before he had recently decided to return to Hogwarts.

Harry smirked, noticing how the ancient wizard efficiently kept his Peeves' form from the students.

'I'll have to ask when they're going to speak with the headmaster, as I really want to attend that conversation invisibly,' Harry thought in amusement, as he observed Salazar interact with the students of the house he had founded so many years ago.

One evening during the week before the beginning of the Christmas holidays, Severus, Salazar and Minerva headed to the headmaster's office right after dinner. Harry followed them, invisibly.

"Severus, Minerva," Dumbledore greeted his colleagues, before his eyes lingered on Salazar.

"Have we met before?"

"No sir. Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Salazar Slytherin."

Dumbledore's eyes narrowed, when Severus and Minerva ushered the ancient wizard into the seat between them.

Harry stood next to the window as far away from Dumbledore and his phoenix as he could. 'Who knows if his phoenix will be able to sense my presence?' he thought.

Salazar raised his wand. "I swear on my magic that I am Salazar Slytherin, born on 9 April, 975 and founder of Slytherin house at Hogwarts."

A golden glow surrounded the ancient wizard, and Dumbledore leaned forward in surprise.

"Excuse me, sir, but you must understand…"

"Dumbledore," Godric growled from his portrait. "He is Slytherin, the imbecile who had nothing better to do than to develop prank potions for hundreds of years instead of looking after the school."

"Ah, shut up, you dunderhead of a portrait."

"Sal, behave yourself. Dumbledore is surely going to listen to me, not to you."

"Godric, are you one hundred percent sure?"

"Yes. He returned to Hogwarts a few weeks ago, probably lured here by invitation from your Slytherin head and his assistants."

Severus cleared his throat. "Albus, in fact we came here to inform you that Professor Slytherin is going to take back the head of house position from the beginning of January onwards."

"Severus, I believe that we had an agreement that you were going to use the head of house position to make sure that the students from dark families remain on the right path?" The headmaster used his grandfatherly voice, which Harry absolutely despised.

Severus nodded. "Albus, I will not be gone from Hogwarts. I will still fulfil my duties as Potions professor and potions master. However, I have taken on a position as an Unspeakable to work together with Unspeakable Paws and his team of potions masters, and I feel that I do not have as much time as the head of house position requires."

Dumbledore shook his head. "You cannot work at Hogwarts and as an Unspeakable at the same time," he replied in apparent disbelief.

Godric let out a small growl. "Dumbledore, sorry to say this, but you're not in a position to make such a decision. Unspeakable Paws' team needs the best potions masters. I know him personally and can tell you that he is happy to have Professors Snape and Slytherin onboard. As the last remaining founder alive, Salazar is automatically the owner of Hogwarts – just for your information. As such, he can overwrite any decisions of the staff including those made by the headmaster."

Dumbledore's shoulders sank in apparent resignation.

"Albus. Severus and Salazar came to ask for your consent, which is not really necessary, as I have already approved of the matter in my position as the deputy headmistress." Minerva's voice was laced with light disapproval.

"Yes, my dear. All right, Severus and Professor Slytherin, thank you for bringing this matter to my attention." He remained pensive for a moment, and Harry realised that everyone was just about to raise from their seats to leave, when he added, "Please inform Unspeakable Paws that I wish to speak to him in the near future."

"What reason may we give him?" Severus quirked an eyebrow.

"I don't think that he has time just for chitchat," Minerva added, "considering his achievements and duties."

"Exactly," Salazar added. "I heard that he is training to become the new head of the Unspeakables."

"Oh, is that true?" Dumbledore sounded surprised, yet relieved. "That's fine then. I was wondering if he might be one of our students. Very well, thank you for the information. Good night, everyone."

With that, everyone took their leave, and Harry quickly popped to his suitcase, barely able to contain his laughter, as he arrived.

"What happened? I could sense that you were highly amused the whole time."

"Dumbledore was thoroughly pissed off, especially when Godric Gryffindor and also Minerva fully supported Severus and Salazar." Harry chuckled, as he relayed the earlier conversation to his wife and his best friends.

"So, Professor Slytherin is the owner of Hogwarts?" Hermione grinned, broadly. "That makes totally sense. Could we ask him if he was willing to install new subjects or, for example, replace professors?"

"Oh, I really could do without Lockart," Neville groaned.

"Not to speak of Binns," Draco added.

"We can ask him. Shall I ask him to join us right away?"

Receiving eager nods in return, Harry popped himself to where he could sense Salazar. 'Thank Merlin that I made myself invisible,' he thought upon realising that they were standing right in front of the gargoyle guarding the headmaster's office. Salazar was in his Peeves' form, and that alone told Harry that he was up to no good.

"We only accept new passwords from the headmaster," the gargoyle growled.

Salazar quickly changed into his human form. "I am Salazar Slytherin, the owner of Hogwarts, and the new password will be 'Albus eats too many sweets'."

With that, he changed back into Peeves and unobtrusively pointed his hand at the gargoyle that snarled, "Password?"

"Albus eats too many sweets."

With that, the gargoyle opened; however, Peeves did not step through but turned around and walked away. Harry invisibly followed him, inwardly chuckling.

"Salazar," he whispered once they were out of hearing range from the old artefact. "Will you join us for a few minutes please? My friends have a few questions for you."

Salazar nodded. "All right, although I don't have much time, as I can't wait to linger here in the corridor to see the headmaster's reaction to my latest prank."

Harry chuckled. "That was well done indeed, and I'll happily join you for the spectacle."

The discussion with Salazar was mainly led by Hermione and Connie, and Salazar agreed with most of their suggestions, before Harry offered to call Minerva to efficiently proceed with the implementation of the ideas.

'Granny Minerva, do you have a few minutes, and could you join us in my suitcase please?' Harry thought to the deputy headmistress, even though knowing that she could not reply through telepathy.

A few minutes later, the professor stepped through the fireplace. Harry motioned for her to take a seat on one of the two additional chairs, which Salazar had conjured earlier, before the ancient wizard explained the details of their earlier discussion.

Minerva immediately agreed to the dismissal of Professors Lockart and Binns and voiced her consent, when Harry suggested to leave it to the Unspeakables to find adequate persons to replace them.

"If they find new professors before Christmas, we can hire them from the beginning of January onwards; otherwise, it will be September," Minerva informed them.

Considering the instalment of new subjects, such as for example Latin and Magical Arts, however, she refused to set up anything in the middle of the school year. "If we decide to install these subjects, which I personally believe would be a good idea, it will be at the beginning of a new school year."

With that, Minerva left, reminding them that curfew was going to commence soon.

"Lulu, please return to the dormitory with Neville and Draco. I still have an errand to run," Harry informed the canine, casting Salazar a mischievous look. "Shall we go?"

"Where are you going? It's almost curfew," Hermione reminded him in apparent exasperation.

Harry grinned. "I hope Dumbledore will leave his office for some reason tonight. I'll tell you afterwards. Good night."

With that, Harry and Salazar turned invisible and popped into the corridor leading to the headmaster's office. With the Unspeakables' way of invisibility, they could not even be heard by anyone but each other, so that they readied themselves for an evening in the corridor discussing possible potions research.

To their disappointment, Dumbledore did not leave his office. However, at one point, Minerva strode towards the gargoyle.

"Marsbars."

"Wrong password," the gargoyle snarled.

Minerva groaned. "Snickers, lemon drops, gummy bears, liquorice wands, chocolate phoenixes, melon jelly, green gummy bears, Bertie Botts beans, oh Merlin, Albus eats too many sweets. Pineapple drops, peach jelly…"

Suddenly, the gargoyle opened, causing Minerva to shake her head in apparent exasperation, before she stepped forward.

Minerva entered Albus' office, shaking her head at the old wizard, who was sitting behind his desk sharing some kind of sweet with his phoenix, in annoyance.

"Good evening, Albus. How dare you change your password without informing me?"

The headmaster turned his eyes to her in apparent surprise.

"No, Minerva, I did not change my password."

"I had to guess a litany of sweets, before the annoying busybody let me in. Anyway, I came to speak with you about a request from Professor Slytherin."

Albus leaned forward, eyeing her with apparent trepidation. "And what might that be, my dear?"

"Apparently, some students, well, Miss Granger and her friends if I am not mistaken, asked him to replace Professors Lockart and Binns, which is not surprising at all…"

"That's not possible," Albus interrupted her.

"Ah, but it is." Godric glared down at him from his portrait. "As I stated earlier, Salazar is the owner of Hogwarts and entitled to make his own decisions, even against the headmaster's wishes."

"Salazar will ask the Unspeakables to find adequate candidates as soon as possible." With that, Minerva took her leave, torn between pitying the old wizard and shaking her head at him in annoyance at his stubbornness. As soon as she had left the office, she transformed into her feline form and dashed home, glad that the corridors seemed void of students and colleagues.

Harry and Salazar observed in amusement how the deputy headmistress transformed into her feline form and rushed away from the gargoyle.

"The headmaster probably had to be reminded that I can overwrite his decisions," Salazar whispered, and Harry could imagine his smug expression, even if he could not see it in the dark corridor.

They resumed their discussion about a possible potion for insanity, which was their team's newest project. Regina's and Rebecca's brothers and sister-in-law had harmed Neville's parents, and they were eager to help the Longbottoms to make up for what their own family did. Neville had never spoken about his parents; however, Rebecca and Lily had told him everything about them, when they had made the research for that very potion the new project of team 13.

'If anyone can find a remedy for anything, it'll be our team,' Harry thought, feeling very proud of his colleagues.

He was just about to call it a night, when the headmaster left his office and strode along the corridor, muttering something sounding like "A lovely hot chocolate with marshmallows will do wonders."

"We'll have to check out my library. I may have several recipes, which might have similar effects to what we need here. During the holidays, I shall intensify my attempts to transform into my usual self, so that I can speak and read Parseltongue without assistance from anyone. I have much time, which I'll be able to spend at the Unspeakables' office anyway."

"Salazar, would you perhaps like to spend Christmas with my family and me?" Harry invited the ancient wizard, knowing that he did not have any family in this time.

Salazar chuckled. "Thank you, Harry. This is a very generous invitation, but your family…"

"My family is a very mixed-up family. You've met them at the Quidditch matches."

Chuckling again, Salazar said, "Your family is really amazing. Lucky for them, by the way, that you're playing on two teams giving them the opportunity to come and watch every now and then."

"True," Harry agreed. "The Slytherin victory was much more fun though, considering that they were all invited into the common room. The first Ravenclaw victory party last year was so awkward that Hermione, Connie and I left after ten minutes, which is why we simply spent some time with my extended family in an empty classroom. Did you have the impression that anyone did not like having you with us?"

"No, of course not. Everyone was very friendly."

Harry nodded. "Just like they will be at Christmas. It will be even louder though, as we have three one-year-olds running around. Anyway, you are very welcome to join us."

"Thank you, Harry. If you're really sure that they won't mind, I'll gladly accept."

Together, they observed in silence how Dumbledore returned. 'Thank Merlin it's the full moon tonight; otherwise, we wouldn't even be able to see him in the dark,' Harry thought, when the headmaster uttered, "Marsbars."

"Wrong password," the gargoyle snarled, causing Harry to inwardly grin.

"Marsbars. It is the password I set with you last week."

"Wrong password."

"I did not change the password."

"Wrong password."

"Did anyone else change the password? That shouldn't be possible considering that it is my office."

"Wrong password."

"Do I really have to return to the Great Hall and use the internal floo to get into my office?"

Harry noticed that Dumbledore sounded more and more upset. 'Understandable,' he thought, as he almost pitied the old wizard, before he recalled how the man had sent him to the Dursleys as a baby not caring in the least how he was treated by his relatives.

"Wrong password."

Muttering something sounding like "Going to ask Minerva how she got in," Dumbledore returned the way he had just come from, most likely to floo into his office.

"I shall relay the new password to Godric, so he can inform Minerva," Salazar promised, before he bade him good night, and they both popped away.

First thing the following morning, Harry telepathically informed Rebecca that he had invited Salazar to spend Christmas with the extended family. 'I hope that was all right?'

'Of course, dear. No one should have to spend Christmas alone. What about Severus though? He is the only member of team 13, who is not celebrating together with us.'

'I don't have a problem inviting him, but will Lily and the Marauders agree?'

'I'll talk to them tonight,' Rebecca promised. 'Lily wanted to reveal her identity to him soon anyway. Salazar invited the whole team to Hogwarts by the way. We'll meet in Artemis' office, just when dinner is going to commence in the Great Hall.'

'I'll be there,' Harry promised before asking, 'Why?'

'Lily has developed a charm, which she can cast on us to make us understand any language including Parseltongue. Therefore, Salazar will take us into the Chamber of Secrets and show us his library and lab. Will you please bring Connie, provided that the two of you wish to join us?'

'Of course, we will. Is he going to check out his potions recipes? He said that he had several remedies for insanity, but that he couldn't read them, because he had written them in Parseltongue.'

'I believe that this is the main objective for tonight's activity, considering that we will all be able to read and speak Parseltongue.'

'I'll see you tonight then,' Harry replied, looking forward to see his whole Unspeakable team later the same day.

Lily's charm indeed worked wonders, and Salazar, Rebecca, Artemis, Harry, Connie and Severus in his human form were all able to speak and understand Parseltongue. Once an hour, the charm wore off and Lily had to re-cast it; however, that did not prevent the group from spending the whole night in Salazar's library.

Together, they busied themselves skimming Salazar's notes, and by the early morning, they had found all three recipes that dealt with some kind of insanity.

"We must still adjust them, as there was no Cruciatus Curse in my time," Salazar informed them, and everyone nodded in understanding.

"It would be an amazing Christmas present for Neville if we manged to cure his parents," Harry thought allowed, grinning broadly.

"We'll work on it," Lily promised.

"And I believe that we'd all be very happy," Rebecca added.

"Harry, do you have a few phials of our fresh-and-go potion ready somewhere?" Artemis quirked an eyebrow.

Noticing that Severus stared at him in apparent surprise, Harry grinned. "Always." Reaching into his inner robe pocket, he produced a couple of small phials, handing each of them a dose.

"Is that why my Slytherins always attend breakfast after nightly activities, while the students of other houses miss breakfast every now and then?" Severus quirked an eyebrow.

"Of course, sir." Harry grinned. "We'll have to ensure that we win the house cup again."