Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, objects, or anything else that comes from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

Warning: This story will contain scenes of violence, bad language, and maybe other themes that some audiences may find unsuitable. You have been advised.

"Regular speech or Spell"

"Parseltongue"

Text

'Thought'

The True Heir of Slytherin

Chapter 2

"Ugh. I hate that man, I do. He is a bloody pain in my arse. Why do we have to even take potions? It's not like I'm ever going to use it." Ron ranted on as they proceeded down the hall from the potions classroom. It had been two days since Harry had lost his patience with the world and had been shown the truth: he was Salazar Slytherin's true heir. The day before he had met with Daphne, where she had informed him there was no going back now. She had quickly left, a minute after appearing.

"Oh my god, Ron." Hermione replied.

Before Ron could come up with a witty retort, the Golden Trio bumped into a blonde Slytherin.

"Oh, if it isn't the Greedy Golden Gryffindor Trio. Rush recklessly into any situations lately?" Daphne Greengrass greeted coldly after turning around.

As Ron started ranting about how horrible all Slytherins were, how they were all Death Eaters, and how the light would prevail, Daphne and Harry ignored the boy. Harry slightly tilted his eyebrow to ask, "What is this about?" She merely tapped her right robe pocket. She didn't worry about this motion being detected because Hermione was looking for Daphne's reaction on the blonde girl's face and Ron was enveloped in his rant. Harry, though, caught the motion and understood: check his right robe pocket for… something. He didn't know exactly what it was from her vague indication.

"Whatever, Weasley." Daphne scoffed. "Just watch where you step or else watch out when you sleep, because if you don't, I will make sure that you go to sleep with nightmares and wake up into an even worse one." Daphne threatened before turning and walking back to her friends.

"How could they allow someone like her in school?" Ron asked. "She is clearly going to become a Death Eater if she isn't already."

"You don't know that; Dumbledore could still persuade Slytherins like her to choose the right side." Hermione replied.

"Hermione, Dumbledore can't do shit." Harry replied.

"How can you say that, Harry? Dumbledore is the greatest wizard in the world. He'll protect us from You-Know-Who." Hermione gasped.

"Sorry if I don't have confidence in a man who has been ignoring me all year and who is rarely there when I need him." Harry replied.

"Are you okay, mate? You haven't been yourself lately." Ron asked.

"I'm fine, let's just get to Binns's class." Harry replied before starting to walk quickly down the hall. The other two hurried to catch up. When they arrived, Harry automatically went to the back and sat in the middle seat, forcing Ron and Hermione to be on his right and left respectively. When Binns had started talking, Ron went to sleep and Hermione paid full attention to the poltergeist, just like Harry had predicted. Harry then discreetly reached into his right robe pocket. He looked up to see if Hermione had noticed his actions thus far. Her focus was still glued to the front of the classroom.

Harry then removed the note and set it down onto the open page of his textbook. Harry quickly scanned the message. It read:

Meet me tonight at nine in the chamber that only we can access with our secret language. I'll arrive five minutes after nine, but you should arrive at nine. Keep this note hidden until we meet.

~D. G.

After he finished reading it, Harry took out his quill and bottle of ink and scratched out the words she had written down. Although she had been very vague with rare knowledge, Daphne had advised him to do this to any note she wrote him. Once satisfied, Harry crumpled up the paper and returned it to his right robe pocket. The rest of the day proceeded like last week, dragging ass, but Harry's day was brightened by the fact that he would be meeting Daphne later. He was enthusiastic to learn his true family's secrets. All during dinner, he had to resist the urge to look at his watch every five seconds or to even risk a glance at Daphne. After dinner, though, everyone proceeded to their common rooms and later, their dormitories.

Harry waited to hear Ron's snore before getting out of bed. The others, he knew, had already learned to fall asleep before the loud dreamer or else stay awake for the whole night. Also, Harry thought Ron's snoring would mask the noise of his movements. He quickly put on his pair of black slacks from last year, a white long sleeve button down, his black sports coat from last year, and his black shoes. Daphne had told him to try to start dressing better when not with his friends. She had specifically said, "A pureblood heir of your status should not be walking around in the clothes you normally wear, but we can't afford to arouse any suspicion. Keep wearing those rags for now, but I don't want to see them anywhere near you when we meet."

After he dressed and secured his wand in his right front pocket and the Marauders' Map in his left front pocket, Harry put on his invisibility cloak and went down to the common room. Thankfully, no one was in the room, so Harry left out of the Fat Lady's Portrait and proceeded down to the second-floor girls' lavatory, Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Harry quickly slipped into the room and scanned it to see if the ghost was there. Luck seemed to be on Harry's side, so he went up to the sink he had visited less than three years ago.

"Open up!" Harry hissed. The sinks then started moving forward, away from the center, and stopped after a few meters. They then retracted into the floor, and metal grates covered the separated sinks. There was now a giant hole in the floor.

"Here I go again." Harry stated before jumping down into the slippery pipe. After a minute, the pipe dumped Harry into the pile of broken bones. Harry stood up and walked away from the huge pile before cleaning himself off. He then kept walking.

"Ugh. I forgot about that." Harry said as he saw the huge pile of boulders that had been caused by Lockhart's selfishness and stupidity plus Ronald's broken wand. There was a small hole at the top of the obstacle that Harry had used a few years ago, but he knew that he couldn't slip through it now. He thought for a moment before removing his wand. He aimed it to the right of the hole.

"Reducto!" Harry shouted. The spell impacted the side of the wall and broke off part of it. The hole was now wide enough that Harry could crawl through.

"What would I do without magic?" Harry smiled before returning his wand to his pocket and crawling on his belly through the hole. It was a bit of a tight fit, but Harry managed. He then walked through the cavern and up to the door after brushing off the dust from the rocks. Just as he remembered it, the door was a round metal portal with many locks.

"Open." Harry hissed. The two snakes appeared and disengaged the locks, allowing the door to open. Harry walked through and found himself back in the Chamber of Secrets.

"What in the name of Merlin?" Harry asked as he saw, or didn't see to be more accurate, the basilisk he had thought he had killed in his second year.

"What is wrong, Harry?" Daphne asked as she came out of one of the tunnels.

"How'd you…?" Harry asked where she came from.

"I used the entrance of course. How did you get down here?" Daphne asked curiously.

"I used the sinks." Harry replied almost dumbly.

"That was meant for Salazar's pet, not people, Harry. No wonder why you look so filthy." Daphne responded.

"There's an entrance for people?" Harry asked, eyes wide, before absorbing her second sentence. He looked down at his clothes and saw that trying to wipe everything off had done nothing but make everything worse.

"Uh, could you…?" Harry asked indicating his clothes. He had never learned the spell.

Daphne shook her head before silently casting a spell that cleaned Harry's clothes.

"Thanks."

"You have a lot to learn." Daphne sighed in response.

"So, where is this other entrance?" Harry asked, trying to change the subject.

"Through that tunnel. I'll show you it when we leave." Daphne replied.

"I appreciate it." Harry said. "So, where is the basilisk? I thought I killed it second year."

"How did you 'kill it?'" Daphne asked.

"I shoved Godric Gryffindor's sword through the roof of its mouth. After I removed it, the beast lifted up, thrashing and then fell down onto the floor." Harry answered.

"It would take more than that to kill a basilisk, especially as old as the one that rests here. All you did was wound it, albeit pretty badly. If I hadn't seen you enter the chamber and followed you, he probably would have died, but I nursed him back to full health." Daphne explained.

"Why didn't you help me then?" Harry asked, slightly angered.

"When Riddle summoned the basilisk, he somehow managed to control it very well. While you were fighting it, I was trying to calm him down and make him realize just who he was attacking, his real master. I would've done more, but my spells at the time weren't as strong or developed to do anything against him." Daphne replied. "Now, though, everything has changed. Let's start with summoning your greatest serpent."

"That's how we're going to start? No spell casting or learning about my family's past?" Harry asked, dumbstruck.

"No one knew Salazar better than his pet. While my family holds his memoirs, journals, and one of his many spell books, Deus knew Salazar better." Daphne responded.

"The basilisk's name is Deus then, I take it?" Harry asked.

"Yes. Now summon him." Daphne said sweeping her arm towards Salazar's head.

Harry looked at it uncertainly and just stood there.

"You don't know how to summon it do you?" Daphne sighed.

"I'm afraid not." Harry admitted sheepishly.

"Just say 'come to me, beast and symbol of all Slytherins. Your former master's heir summons you' in Parseltongue." Daphne explained.

"All right." Harry nodded before thinking of a snake.

"Come to me, beast and symbol of all Slytherins! Your former master's heir summons you!" Harry called.

As before, Salazar's mouth opened, and the basilisk slithered out. Unlike before, though, Harry was calm, and the creature slithered over to him obediently.

"If you are Salazar's heir, prove yourself." Deus said forcefully.

"I can testify for him, Deus, and you know that my family watched Salazar's line closely. He is his heir even if we have not gotten him checked out by the goblins at Gringotts." Daphne replied.

"Very well, but you know the test he must take to prove himself." Deus responded.

"What is this test?" Harry asked. Deus looked at Harry and finally recognized him.

"You are the one that wounded me over two years ago! You were the one that Riddle forced me to attack! Daphne has told me much about you." Deus said, a sliver of anger was in his voice at the beginning but it slowly dissipated as he calmed.

"I am sorry for hurting you so, but as you said, you were hell bent on killing me." Harry replied.

"Well said." Deus responded.

"So as I asked before, what is this test?" Harry asked.

Deus nodded his head over to a basin that was rising from the floor. "Pour some of your blood into that basin, and if you are the heir, something will happen that will show you who you truly are."

Harry nodded before asking, "How am I to break my skin to pour my blood into the basin?"

"Do not be concerned about what I am about to do. Your body has probably grown to be used to the presence of my venom. A new amount won't do anything." Deus warned before he struck out and used one of his top fangs to lightly bite Harry's right arm. The force of the bite was strong enough to break skin but not enough to damage anything but the capillaries in the skin. While Deus was conversing with Harry, Daphne had pushed Harry's sleeves up to reveal most of his forearm with a wave of her wand. Black venom and red blood poured out from the wound as Deus removed himself from Harry's arm.

Harry grabbed his arm and screamed in pain. "You just killed me!"

Deus looked at him curiously. Daphne whispered something to him.

"Could you please speak Parseltongue? Deus can't understand you." Daphne asked nonchalantly.

"Why does it matter? I'm as good as dead! Is this what you call loyalty? Because I'm pretty sure that poisoning me is not in my best interest!" Harry shouted.

"Please call down, and to address you being poisoned, you were not. Remember what Deus told you before he bit you?" Daphne replied, still nonchalant.

Harry thought for a moment before the basilisk's words were absorbed. He then examined the wound to notice that while the venom was aplenty, it didn't appear to be causing any adverse effects like burning his skin. He then thought for another moment to find that he felt no different than before except that there was a slight pain where the fang had connected with the skin.

"Would you please go up to the basin now?" Deus asked politely.

"Yeah. Sorry about the screaming. I wasn't thinking about what you said." Harry said before walking up to the basin and squeezing his arm right by the puncture to draw some more blood. After a few moments, the basin was full and the steady stream of blood halted, and the hole in Harry's arm was healed. Daphne quickly cleaned his arm off with another wave of her wand.

"Thanks." Harry said absentmindedly. He was not trying to be rude, but he was focused on the basin. The color of the liquid was primarily a blackish purple that overtook the red color of Harry's blood. Slowly, the inside of the basin started spinning but its speed steadily increased exponentially. Finally, the basin stopped and drained itself of the venom/blood/potion. As the basin drained, the chamber did as well. After two minutes, the entire chamber was devoid of any water. This revealed that the three beings were resting on the roof of one of many buildings in the underground compound that doubled as a walkway. The lack of water also revealed Salazar's entire body, not just his head. The compound stretched five levels down and each got bigger towards the base, which was the largest. Stairs on the sides of the walkway they were on allowed them to reach any of the other levels.

"Oh. This is getting good." Harry grinned.

AN: I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I would have had this out earlier, but I was trying to get the latest chapter of The Grey Assassins done and it is slow going since I have been drained from work and such as I type/write at night. If anyone hasn't noticed, I have fixed last chapter to make more sense. I had not intended at first to have this be multiple chapter, so I had not been worried about the specifics. Just thought everyone would like to know. As always, reviews are always VERY appreciated and I hope that you'll continue reading. Occidere Prima Vel Occidi.