Disclaimer: nope. still don't own it.

Reaching Through Time

Chapter 15: Eventual first Month

"First years this way," The Slytherin Prefect called out as the feast ended and Headmaster Dippet released the students to go to their dorms for the night. "This way please."

Tom chuckled softly when Harry yawned as he stood up. He wasn't surprised that Harry was worn out, not after everything that had happened the entire day. Meeting new people, having a near panic attack, almost being overwhelmed by the old magic that made up Hogwarts, and then a full meal? It was a simple equation that equaled out to a sleepy pre-teen.

Most of the older students went on ahead of the first years, but Tom, Abraxas, and a couple others stayed close to the first years. Tom had made it very clear to his group, his followers, that Harry was to be looked after. Last year a few of his followers had questioned why, but even Abraxas had stood up and told them that they were not to argue.

After all, Harry was Abraxas and Tom's younger brother.

"Alright first years. Slytherin dorms are down in the dungeons. It gets slippery at night so watch your steps."

The Hufflepuff students were not far behind the Slytherin's and Harry was told that their dorms were close to the kitchens down below as well.

For a moment Harry caught sight of Rupert being led away by a Gryffindor Prefect and Harry sighed sadly.

"You'll see him in classes tomorrow Harry." Tom squeezed Harry's shoulder comfortingly. "I'll make sure everyone knows Rupert is a friend." That should keep most of the older Slytherin's from bullying Harry and Orion into breaking off their friendship with the newly sorted Gryffindor boy.

As they descended into the dungeons the air began to chill and, as the Prefect had said, the floors started to get slick. Harry could hear Ladon complaining about the chill in the air so he adjusted his shirt sleeve to make sure the little snake was properly covered.

"Alright first years. Here's the entrance to Slytherin Dungeon." The prefect told the group as he pointed to the wall behind him. "You need a password to get in. For this week the password is 'Salazar'," The wall slid sideways to reveal a large common room filled with comfortable plush seats, a blazing fire in an elaborately carved mantelpiece, a huge beautiful painting of a brilliant green snake whose head was moving around to watch the students, green tinted windows, and green lights hanging from the ceiling. "A new password will be posted on the board over there every Sunday night."

"This is the Slytherin Common Room. When not in classes or in your dorm rooms you can come here to relax, study, or socialize." The girl and boy prefects led the way into the common room before bowing to a man that came over to join the group.

"Good evening my new little snakes." The man was very round in the middle and had a smile that seemed too wide for his face. "I am professor Slughorn and I will be your Head of House." He stuck his thumbs into his belt and smiled at all the faces looking up at him. "If you ever need anything, have questions or concerns don't be afraid to come to talk to me."

The prefects bowed again after Professor Slughorn excused himself to head back to his own rooms. "Before you get your assigned dorm rooms we have a few rules to inform you of." The girl prefect told the first years.

Tom and his group had gone to lounge on the sofas and chairs that were closest to the group of first years.

"First and foremost do not share the password with anyone outside of Slytherin. Do not bring any non Slytherins into our dorm."

"Any conflicts or disagreements you might have with other Slytherins are to stay here in the dorms. We must present a united front to the rest of the school."

"All students besides prefects, headboy, and headgirl must adhere to the curfew unless given permission from a professor. You will not be caught outside the dorm after curfew."

That garnered a few laughs from Tom's group.

"Slytherin is a proud house and you will carry yourself with dignity, poise, and excellence. Point loss will not be tolerated."

There were even more chuckles coming from the older students sitting a few feet away and the Prefects glared over at them.

"Now them. Dorm assignments." The prefect pulled out a scroll and began reading off who was sharing rooms with whom.

There were 4 first year girls and 6 first year boys in total. The girls all had to share a room while the boys were split between two rooms.

Harry ended up assigned to a room with Orion and a boy named Nathan McGreggor. Their dorm room was large, not as large as his room back home, but still pretty big for 3 boys. Each boy had a bed and a desk, and in the center of the room was a circular open fireplace with leather sofas around it. The fire in the fireplace flickered in different shades of green and even though it gave off heat when Harry reached out to it he wasn't burned.

The beds were large enough that if they wanted two bodies could easily fit into one bed. Soft green curtains hung from the canopy and could easily be closed for privacy. To the back of the room was a door that led to a private bathroom that had a claw footed tub and other necessities for a bathroom.

"Nice to see our things were delivered safely." The new boy, Nathan, said with a sniff as he went to his trunk to open it up. Once he had gone through his things, probably to make sure everything was there, he turned to Orion and Harry and held out a hand. "Nathan McGreggor. Pleasure to meet you."

Orion was the first to take his hand to shake it once. "Orion Black and this is Hadrian Malfoy." Harry took the offered hand once he was introduced.

"Settled in Harry?"

The three boys looked to the door quickly and Harry broke out in a smile when he saw Tom leaning against the door frame.

Nathan frowned at the older student, but he didn't say anything when Harry went over to give the older student a hug.

"Just about. We were just getting to know each other." Tom was gently petting a hand through Harry's hair as Harry spoke. With a flick of his eyes Tom glanced up at the new boy that he had yet to learn about.

"McGreggor. I assume your mother is Tempest McGreggor?" The woman worked at the Ministry in the Department of Transportation. Even though Tom didn't know Nathan, he knew of his mother.

Nathan nodded a little dumbfounded that this older student would know of his mother.

"Hm." With that Tom promptly looked away from Nathan to focus on Harry once more. "The fire is perfectly safe. Ophion likes to sleep in the one in our room so Ladon should enjoy your fire as well." Tom entered the room and went over to one of the seats set around the fireplace.

Harry pulled up his sleeve to look at his sleep snake, who was still complaining about being chilled. With a smirk he went over to the fireplace and let the little snake uncurl from his wrist to slither into the green flames.

"If neither myself nor Abraxas is available and you need something, Harry, you are to go to Alf Mulciber, Mervyn Rowle, Ridgewell Avery, Laurence Nott, or Sebastian Lestrange. In that order preferably." There were others that Harry could go to, but those five were the ones Tom trusted the most to make sure his Harry would be safe. "The Black girls would be good choices as well." If nothing else because they thought Harry was adorable.

Harry nodded quickly. He had no doubt that Tom was being protective for a perfectly good reason.

"You'll do well in classes Harry. I've already told you which professors you can go to and which to avoid." Yes, Harry knew exactly which professor Tom was talking about. If Harry could help it he would only ever see Dumbledore during his classes and meals.

Tom lounged on the seat for a few more minutes after that before sighing and standing up. "Try to get a full night of sleep. I'm just a few doors down." He gave Harry a quick hug before letting go to head back to the common room to talk to his followers and allies for a little while.

Harry tried to be strong and let Tom leave for the night, but he wavered just as Tom reached to close the door to his room.

With quick steps Harry went to the door and wrapped Tom up in a tight hug. Tom quickly held Harry close until the younger boy was ready to let go.

"Sleep well Harry." Tom murmured into Harry's hair before pushing Harry towards his bed for the night.

Being as exhausted as he was from a day full of activity, Harry was able to fall asleep fairly quickly and he slept soundly enough to not be awakened until morning.

Back in the common room Tom took his customary seat in a single high back seat. The other couches had been positioned to surround his chair to show his place in the student hierarchy.

"How's our little brother doing?" Abraxas asked once Tom was settled. It was best to reinforce the fact that Hadrian was their precious baby brother as often as possible to keep any of the weaker minded Slytherins in line.

"Tired. I placed a dreamless sleep charm on him so he should be able to sleep through the night." The last thing Harry needed was to have a nightmare in a new place.

Abraxas nodded and settled back in the his chair that was situated directly to Tom's right.

"I want to make it perfectly clear that Harry is to be watched closely. Orion Black will do well to keep him safe during classes, but between classes and during meals Harry is to have at least one of you within sight. Especially if Dumbledore is nearby."

None of the Slytherins liked the Transfiguration professor and they knew that there was a silent feud between Tom and Dumbledore. They already knew Harry's schedule and had worked out a system to make sure one of the upper years would be able to keep watch.

"Tom?" Antonin Dolohov, a third year that had shown a great deal of loyalty to Tom early on, lifted his hand up to get Tom's attention. "Will Hadrian be included in our group?"

Dolohov wasn't talking about the group as they were sitting in the common room. He was talking about the Knights of Walpurgis.

Tom crossed his arms over his chest in thought. He wanted to keep Harry as far away from his political ambitions for as long as possible. Tom knew his knights would be getting their hands dirty in the future and Harry was too good of a person to get involved in such things.

"No. At least not until he's older."

Abraxas let out the breath he'd been holding. He knew that Tom wouldn't want Harry involved in things, and Abraxas himself was only going to be involved in the background and not an active player in the Knights, but it was a relief to hear Tom say it.

"And Black?" Lestrange growled out.

"We'll make the offer when he is older." Tom was only really considering 3rd years because he was trying to build up his numbers. He wanted to make sure he had a fairly large follower base before he graduated so that he would have support for his political ventures in the future.

"Another thing." Tom crossed one leg over his knee as he spoke. "Rupert Flint. He was sorted into Gryffindor." He waited until he was sure his group were listening. "He is currently a ward of the Malfoy family and a good friend to Hadrian and Orion. He is not to be bothered."

A few of the Slytherins looked like they wanted to argue, but a sharp look from Tom with his black eyes stopped them. He would not accept any sort of arguments unless they were valid.

"As a ward of the Malfoy family, Rupert Flint has the protection of the Malfoy's." Abraxas explained with a roll of his eyes. "Whichever house he is in doesn't negate that protection. If he is harassed at any point by any Slytherin, then the Slytherin in question will have to deal with myself, Tom, and the full force of the Malfoy name."

That seemed to settle the matter and the discussion was closed.

"You all know what needs to be done. We'll meet again Saturday night." Tom waved a hand dismissively and the majority of the group stood up and left. After a few minute of shuffling the only ones left were Abraxas, Tom, and Alf.

"What is it Alf?" Tom asked when the pale brown haired stood before him.

"The Gryffindors won't like Rupert hanging out with Slytherins." He stated simply. "Do you want me to keep an ear out for whispers?" Alf smiled a bit darkly. He was exceptionally good at gathering info.

Tom thought about that for a moment. He could control the Slytherin house rather well, but the Gryffindors? They had rules all of their own and they wouldn't be easily intimidated. So he nodded to show his acceptance of Alf's offer.

"Do it."

The last thing any of them needed was Harry getting hurt and losing control of his magic.

Nothing of any real importance happened during the first couple weeks of school. Harry proved he was very much a Slytherin by carefully showing his teachers his intelligence, but not overly so. He already knew everything that was to be taught for the first few years of school, but the three Malfoy brothers agreed that the youngest should not draw too much attention to himself.

In fact the only class Harry made an effort to not get ANY attention was transfiguration. He made himself seem as average as possible while under the blue gaze of Albus Dumbledore.

Where ever Harry went, when not in class, at least one of the older students would join him. Alf was usually the one to take up the role and Harry learned to enjoy the older boy's gossip and talkative nature. Harry even made a point to try and make Alf laugh; which wasn't too difficult, but his laughs always sounded genuine.

What Harry didn't know was that the older Slytherins were being extra careful. As Alf had predicted the older Gryffindor students were not happy at all with the friendship between Rupert, Orion, and Harry. They'd told Rupert to break it off, but Rupert had insisted that both Orion and Harry were great.

In conjuncture with running his Knights of Walpurgis, being top student of his year, charming his teachers, and watching over Harry, Tom was also searching the school.

Over the years he'd dug into the history of the Slytherin house and had gathered as much information about his ancestor as Tom could. He'd learned everything he could about the Chamber of Secrets and knew he was close to finding it.

There was just one last thing he needed.

"Harry, could I borrow Ladon for a little bit?" Tom asked when he found the younger boy curled up on one of the couches in the Slytherin common room. Tom braced himself on the back of the couch to hover over Harry. "You can keep Ophion with you if you'd like."

It was well known by this point that the two boys both had garter snakes. The majority of the Slytherin house hadn't really cared about the little snakes; they were just garter snakes and garter snakes weren't exactly known to be magical, dangerous, or poisonous.

Harry looked up from his book, one of Tom's old fourth year books, and frowned. There was only one real reason Tom would want Ladon. Ophion's ability, after spending so much time around magical cores, was related to healing simple injuries. Ladon on the other hand had a perfect sense of direction and could even sense what an area around him looked like.

"I'm coming too." Harry closed his book and before Tom could tell him no, raced back to his room to put the book down and pick up Ladon.

Tom sighed and rubbed his forehead. He would have rather left Harry in the dorms where he would be safe. All the rumors he'd found about the Chamber of Secrets had talked about traps and a dangerous creature living within it.

"Let's go!" Harry returned, Ladon wrapped around his neck and flicking his tongue out to scent the air. The snakes little eyes were already glowing gently so Tom knew Harry had already told the snake that they were going to go searching for something.

"Harry-"

"I'm coming Tom! I spent 3 years stuck in that one room. Do you really think I'm going to miss out on exploring Hogwarts?" Harry placed his hands on his hips and glared up at Tom.

Looking into those pale green eyes Tom broke. It was true that Harry hadn't really gotten to look around the old school. He knew Hogsmeade better than he knew Hogwarts. Harry had even done as Tom had asked and not gone wandering around the school even after weeks of going to and from classes.

"Fine. But you are to do everything that I say." Tom warned as they left the dorms. Breakfast had been a couple hours ago and it was a Saturday so they had plenty of time to find the Chambers and do a quick exploration. "Ladon. We're trying to find a secret passage that will lead far below the dungeons." Tom told the snake once he was sure there were no unwanted ears listening in. "I think the entrance will be somewhere on the first floor."

Ladon's eyes were still glowing as he listened to Tom's words. He nodded in understanding and then focused on the world around him, his tongue flickering out faster.

To help the process the two boys went up to the first floor and began walking around. Ladon's ability only went so far. The snake had once described it as looking out all around and the farther he looked the blurrier the world got.

"It stinks." Ladon informed the boys once he had found something. "Straight ahead. Through that door. It stinks." The snake looked to grimace before burrowing down under Harry's collar to protect his poor senses.

Ladon's assessment made sense once they went through the door. It was the girl's bathroom and it smelled just like a bathroom.

"This seems like an odd place for a secret entrance." Harry mumbled as he glanced around.

"There. In the middle of the floor." Ladon didn't even bother to peak out from Harry's collar as he spoke.

The only thing at the center of the bathroom floor were the sinks. Harry and Tom looked at each other skeptically before searching around to find something of interest.

"Harry, here!" Tom waved for Harry to come over as he knelt down to look under one of the sinks. There, under the porcelain, was coiled up metal snake affixed to the sink. The two looked at each other again before Tom shrugged and hissed at the snake decoration. At first nothing happened so Tom hissed at it again with a different order.

It took a couple tries, but eventually the snake uncoiled and the sink dropped down to reveal a tunnel that fell down into darkness.

"Do we...jump?" Harry asked as he looked down into the dark.

Tom groaned and grabbed Harry just to make sure the pre-teen didn't do just that. Tom hissed again and demanded stairs to be made and sure enough, stairs came out from the walls of the tunnel spiraling down into the dark.

"Sometimes I wonder if you're secretly a Gryffindor." Tom grumbled as he led the way down the stairs.

Once they were past the opening the sink lifted back up into place as if they had never been there.

Harry was sure they'd been going down the stairs for hours when in reality it probably only took twenty or thirty minutes. The descending tunnel itself had been pitch black and even a lumos from both boys had barely penetrated the dark.

The darkness gave way when they finally made it to the end. Green light barely lit up the slime covered walls. When Harry took a step forward there was a loud crunching sound and he looked down to find he had stepped on a skeleton of a rat.

"Gross." Harry lifted his foot and stepped around the piles of bones.

"Indeed." Tom quickly used several cleaning spells he had learned in order to clean up at least some of the slime, mold, bones, and other disgusting unknowns up as they walked.

They had found the chamber at least. The walls were covered in snake carvings and effigy's who's eyes seemed to follow Harry and Tom as they walked past.

Any normal person would have been freaked out by the snakes that were around them, but Harry just felt curious. He would have been touching all the snake statues, but one look from Tom had him holding back.

"What do you think is down here?" Harry asked, his speech slipping into parseltongue the longer he looked at all the snakes. A few of the snakes turned their heads instantly towards Harry at the sound of him hissing and he jumped.

Tom rolled his eyes. The younger boy had never had the control that Tom had had over the snake language. Still, speaking parseltongue would probably keep any traps from triggering.

"Rumors say a creature that Salazar left in order to cleanse the school of those unworthy of magical education." Tom eyed the snakes as they watched the two of them. His instincts had told him they'd already passed a couple traps, and yet they hadn't gone off.

"That's awful." Harry said with a deep frown. "Magic is wonderful. If you're born with magic it'd be horrible if it were taken away." He couldn't imagine his life without magic. Magic was what brought him and Tom together.

Tom shook his head slightly, but he wasn't going to argue with Harry. He could think of a few people that didn't deserve the magic they had. One being Dumbledore. He knew Harry wouldn't see it that way; the pre-teen was too gentle at heart.

Finally the two turned a corner and entered a large chamber that was partially submerged.

"Oh wow!" Just above the water was the head of large statue. Harry glanced into the water and could barely make out the rest of the statue. "How deep do you think it is?"

Tom didn't answer. Instead he stood there staring at the head of the statue. The mouth looked like it could move, which he was sure meant it was a secret entrance. He pulled Harry behind him after a few minutes of thinking, which only caused Harry to ask questions.

When he was sure Harry wouldn't leave from behind him, Tom straightened up and hissed at the statue. "I am the Heir of Slytherin. Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of Hogwarts 4."

At first nothing happened, but then the mouth of the statue slowly started to open with a loud grinding sound of stone against stone.

For a long time after the statue's mouth opened nothing happened. And then both Tom and Harry heard a loud hissing sound from within the darkness of the passage the mouth had revealed.

"Does the Heir call for me?"

Tom had a vague idea as to what was hidden within the passage. "Keep your eyes closed Harry." Tom whispered in English. "Do not open them until I tell you."

The hissing kept getting louder and louder and Harry could feel something scraping against stone. And then something heaving slipped into the pool of water Harry had been looking down into.

"I am the heir. Keep your eyes closed I do not want you to harm my companion."

It was a snake that Tom was talking to, it had to be, but why did Tom want Harry to keep his eyes closed?

"You can open your eyes now Harry."

The first thing Harry saw when he opened his eyes and looked past Tom was wall of black scales. He gaped at the creature, a giant black snake that had it's head lowered and bowed to Tom. i"Wow."/i no other words could describe the creature that had joined them in the flooded chamber.

The magic the snake was giving off was dark, but it was smooth against Harry's senses; much like Ladon's scales felt against Harry's skin. It was wild, powerful, and beautiful.

"May I touch you?" Harry asked as his hand lifted a little from his side. He wanted to see if the scales of the giant snake felt anything like it's magic.

At first the snake didn't say anything. Instead it waited until Tom told Harry it was alright.

As gently as he could Harry reached out to set his hand against the snake's neck, just below it's head. Upon closer inspection the scales weren't actually black, but an intensely dark green color that shifted to black when the light wasn't hitting the scales.

"Beautiful. You're beautiful." Harry had no reason to fear the snake seeing as how it was obeying Tom's every command.

The snake made a hissing sound that was similar to the sounds Ladon and Opion would make when particularly pleased.

"What is your name, Basilisk?" Tom asked as Harry continued to rub at the scales beneath his hands.

"Senestra, my Master." The basilisk answered. She continued to hold completely still as Harry rubbed at her scales along her neck. "I have been asleep for so long, Master. Let me feed."

"Not on humans." Tom nodded and gently tugged Harry away from the basilisk so the snake could move away into another dim passage to one side of the chamber.

Once the basilisk was gone Tom felt his shoulders relax. "I worry about you Harry. Do you have no sense of self preservation?"

Harry looked up at Tom in confusion before smiling. "Senestra was listening to you so I knew I would be safe. You wouldn't let her attack me."

Tom's cheeks colored slightly and he had to look away from Harry's warm and trusting smile. Sometimes Harry was too innocent for his own good, but the trust Harry had placed in Tom made the older teen feel warm and happy.

"Come on. Let's explore for a bit. I want to try and find Salazar's private library."

For a few hours Tom and Harry wandered around the various passageways, Tom using cleaning spells on everything, until they found a dead end that had the head of a snake and strange writing around it.

"To unlock the path, a sacrifice of blood must be made. But beware! I will only answer to the blood of the purest line and I will attack if filth touches my tongue."

Tom sighed softly. It wasn't that tricky of a riddle. So, with a light cutting hex against the palm of his hand, he let a few drops of his blood fall onto the serpents tongue. Ophion quickly healed the cut even as Harry tried to look at the injury himself.

The snake's head moved aside and a new hallway was revealed to the two boys. Torches lit up along the walls the moment Tom and Harry stepped within. Doors lined the hall, each with the strange writing on them.

"This is it!" The normally reserved and calm Tom couldn't stop the excitement that seeped from him. He read each door plate until he find the library. The door opened easily enough and inside were rows upon rows of book shelves.

So distracted by the library, Tom didn't notice as Harry slipped back out down the hall and back to the flood chamber. Ladon had told him that Senestra had returned to the flood chamber and Harry, as curious as ever, wanted to go talk to the basilisk.

"Hello Senestra." Harry called out once he made it back to the flooded chamber.

The basilisk hissed a greeting and swung her head around to look at the small human that had accompanied her master.

"You are a speaker, but not an heir of Slytherin." It was a statement of fact and not a question. "What are you to my master?"

Harry rubbed at the back of his head and blushed a little. "Tom and I are best friends. He saved me when I was real little and we've been together ever since."

Senestra slowly moved closer to Harry, her large tongue flicking out to scent the air around Harry. "His scent is in your magic. Are you mates?"

That had Harry turning a bright red and he quickly shook his head. "No! Not really! I mean we have a blood bond thing, but we're not m-mates or anything."

The little human intrigued Senestra. She settled her head down in front of Harry so she could better watch him.

Harry's hands twitched. He so wanted to pet Senestra's scales again. "Did you find something to eat?"

"Of course. There is plenty to eat if you know where to look." She shifted a little closer so that her snout was barely an inch from Harry. "You are a curious one. You may touch me. It has been a long time since I have been touched."

There was a sadness in her voice and Harry felt his heart tighten in his chest. He reached out and rubbed his hand along Senestra's snout and then between her eyes. Ladon always liked when Harry rubbed at that spot so he assumed Senestra might as well.

"Are you...are you alone down here?" Harry asked sadly as Senestra pressed a bit into his hand so he would keep rubbing. "Must be lonely. I know what it's like to be alone." He'd always been so lonely whenever he'd been stuck with the Dursley's.

"I sleep when I am alone. Sleeping helps." Senestra liked being able to talk to someone. The last heir hadn't spent much time with her and had preferred she stay out of his sight.

The two were silent for awhile. Eventually Harry ended up climbing up onto Senestra so he could rub at spots just below her horns. The old basilisk seemed to enjoy that.

"If you want we could be friends." Harry said as he found a particularly nice spot that made the basilisk squirm and hiss happily. "Ladon could be your friend too! Right Ladon?" The little garter snake had chosen to stay under Harry's collar while his boy had gotten to know the Queen of Snakes.

"Friends? Haven't had a friend since first Master." Senestra hissed thoughtfully. This young human was bonded to her current master so she would listen to him to an extent. There was something about his magic that reminded her of something; something that she couldn't remember off the top of her head.

"Then we'll be friends! I'll come down to talk to whenever I can! I'll tell you all about school and maybe we can go exploring together"

That's how Tom found them after some time. He'd been so engrossed with the books he'd been searching through that it wasn't until he tried to show Harry something he'd found that he'd realized his friend was gone.

Desperately he had raced from the library, searching the various rooms until he returned to the chamber to find Harry stretched out on top of the basilisk chatting to it happily.

"Damn it Harry." Tom rubbed at his temples as he fought to get his heart rate back under control. "You scared me to death! Don't wander off on your own like that; there are numerous traps down here that could have seriously hurt you!"

Harry pouted, but he looked away guiltily. Tom was right, he shouldn't have wandered off like that. He'd promised Tom he would stay close to him before they'd even come down to the chamber.

"Traps will not harm little hatchling friend." Senestra quickly assured Tom before he could get too angry. "Little hatchling has bond with Master. Salazar's magic will allow any bonded with his heir to enter safely."

Harry sputtered for a moment as he sat up on Senestra's back. "I'm not little! Or a hatchling!"

Senestra turned her head a bit which almost knocked Harry off her. "I am centuries old. You are a hatchling. A hatchling bonded to my master and under my protection."

Tom didn't know if he should feel relief or laugh at the entire situation. When doing his research of the Chamber of Secrets he hadn't once taken into account his blood bond with Harry. He tuned out the snake and Harry arguing over Harry's status as a 'hatchling' to think about the implications of all this.

He knew the bond kept Harry in the past with him. He knew they could sense each other's emotions through the bond. Tom also knew that they could share their magic with each other to some extent through the bond. The fact that Harry was a parselmouth was probably a bi-product of the bond they shared.

The fact that Harry had the protection of the basilisk was something that Tom was immensely grateful for as well. If anything happened Harry could escape down into the chamber and stay safe with Senestra.

"Thank you Senestra. Your protection of Harry is most appreciated." Tom piped up once Harry and Senestra stopped their bickering long enough for him to interrupt."Harry and I need to return now though. We've been here long enough we missed lunch and we can't miss dinner."

The giant basilisk seemed hesitant to allow either Tom or Harry to leave. Tom was her master and he was the one that would give her orders, but little Harry was Tom's bonded which meant she would need to protect him. Little Harry was too young and the maternal instincts that had been asleep for centuries surfaced. Protecting the little hatchling would obviously make her master happy as well. But her master said they needed to go back.

Senestra finally relented and allowed Harry to slide down off her back.

"We'll return as often as we can." Tom told the basilisk gently when her head lowered sadly."Are there any other ways in and out of the chamber? Say...closer to the Slytherin student dorms?"

Senestra showed Tom and Harry the way to another of the entrances. When she asked Tom for any orders, he told her to do as she pleased so long as she stayed out of sight and did not harm any students or staff.

When they made it back to the dorms several of the other students had questions about where they had vanished all day. One look from Tom had the older students going silent while Harry told Orion and Eileen he was spending time with Tom exploring the school.

Tom had warned Harry not to tell anyone about the Chamber or Senestra; at least until he could gauge how people would react.

"There's still time before dinner. Want to go meet up with Rupert in the library to go over our Potions homework?" Orion suggested which both Eileen and Harry agreed to. "He said he'd go up to study after lunch."

As the trio left Tom nodded to Abraxas to show that he was to follow after Harry. The older Gryffindor's had been quiet for the most part, but Tom still didn't trust them not to do anything.

"I need to get a few books for my arithmancy work." Abraxas proclaimed loudly as he caught up with Harry and the others. "I'll head up with you."

Just as Orion had known, Rupert was up in the library struggling over his potions paper that Slughorn had assigned for the weekend. With both Harry and Eileen helping, the four first years were able to quickly finish up their work and were able to just hangout for a little while afterwards before dinner.

Abraxas stayed out of the way, but at one point he noticed a few older Gryffindors sending Harry, Orion, and Eileen poisonous looks. He stepped out from behind the book shelves he'd been watching from and pointedly looked at them with a deep scowl.

When the Gryffindors finally noticed Abraxas they scattered. It was obvious they were planning something, they were nowhere near as cunning as a Slytherin, and Abraxas didn't like it. He would need to tell Tom about this during the group meeting tonight after dinner.

For a week after Tom and Harry found the chamber nothing obvious happened. At least none of the first years noticed anything going on, but the older Slytherins had already stopped several Gryffindors from approaching the first years on several occasions. Tom and Abraxas both made it known that the Slytherin students needed to be on alert. Something was up.

It wasn't until after the first quidditch match that something came from all the aggression that had been building up between the older Slytherins and Gryffindors. The match, which had been between the two rival houses, had been violent and loud. At least three of the players had been injured before the Slytherin seeker finally caught the snitch to end the game.

The game had been close right up until the golden ball was caught.

"That was amazing!" Harry was all smiles and feeling super energetic once the game was over and the students began filing out of the stands. The press of bodies made it hard to hear Orion, Eileen, or Rupert, but he didn't care. "Did you see how the Gryffindor Keeper swooped in and stopped the Slytherin chasers? He nearly fell off his broom!" It was cool that his team had won, but that didn't stop him from admitting that the rival team had done amazing maneuvers as well.

He heard his name being called, but Harry was too caught up with his play by play description of the game to notice.

With the crowd pushing him along, Harry failed to realize he had been separated from his three friends as well as the older Slytherins that were supposed to be watching over his little group.

Harry didn't realize it until he was pushed free from the crowd just out of the quidditch pitch and roughly dragged out of view of all the other students and staff.

"Hey!" Harry tried to cry out, but a hand was slammed over his mouth just before something hard slammed into his stomach. He felt Ladon hissing angrily before the snake left Harry to find help.

"Was that a snake?!"

"Of course it was. This little shit's in Slytherin."

"Shut up and keep watch."

Harry's head began swimming as another hit landed against the side of his head. Pain spiked through his entire body as he fell to the ground and what felt like kicks were being delivered all over his body.

"This is what you get for trying to corrupt Flint."

He was being beaten up because of Flint? No. He was being attacked because Harry had made a choice to stay friends with Rupert.

Memories of the times the Dursleys had abused him flashed through Harry's mind and his thoughts stopped. He curled up instinctively, but he couldn't convince himself to fight back. Harry wasn't sure if he was having a hard time breathing because the older students where attacking him or because he couldn't stop seeing his uncle's ugly angry face staring down at him while smacking him around for dropping a plate.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

The beatings stopped suddenly, but Harry was having a hard time noticing anything past the pain and the memories of his relatives.

Someone was yelling Harry's name, but the voice was being mixed up with his Aunt and Uncle's voices and Harry could only curl up even more to protect himself from further blows.

"Harry! Harry calm down!"

Even with his eyes open, Harry couldn't see what was going on. He flinched when something touched his shoulder and suddenly his magic lashed out. The attack had happened so suddenly Harry hadn't been able to even call on his magic. Now though his magic was reacting to both the panic attack and the pain that was coursing through Harry.

"Shit! Someone get Tom!"

Someone else tried to touch Harry, but he whimpered and his magic pulsed. There were several thuds as people landed a few feet away.

"Out of my way!"

His memories had shifted and now he couldn't stop remembering the time his uncle had thrown him into a wall when he'd been 3. Harry's head had hit the wall hard and he'd been sick for weeks afterwards.

"Harry, Harry it's me." A soft voice called through the horrifying memories that were playing on repeat through his mind. A gentle caress of magic touched against Harry's own magic and a sob broke through his swollen throat.

He knew that magic, he knew that voice. Memories of when he'd first met Tom replaced the ugly snarls of his uncle and aunt and slowly Harry was pulled from his panic attack.

"To-" Harry's voice broke and he coughed hard.

"Sir Leighleas is almost here Harry. Focus on me. That's it. Ophion is doing what he can." Tom used what healing spells he knew to take away the pain Harry was feeling, to distance him from the pain, but Tom hadn't spent much time learning about healing magic. His little garter snake could barely heal the cuts and bruises; he couldn't do much about the internal damage.

Pain from his neck reminded Harry of the time his uncle had nearly chocked him to death and he shivered as the memory threatened to overwhelm him.

"Hey now! Don't think about them. Think about the beach. Remember the first time we went to the beach? It'd been freezing, but you had still insisted on swimming for hours." Tom whispered as he felt through their bond when Harry started to freeze in terror again. "You nearly gave me a heart attack with how far out you went and you didn't even know how to swim properly!"

The memory of that day came to Harry and his mind settled into remembering the biting chill of the water, the yells from Tom for Harry to be careful, and the joy Harry had felt of being free in the water.

"Remember that shell you found? The one with the spikes? Remember how you said we'd find a home one day? We did. We found a home. We're both safe now Harry."

Tom's voice was getting softer and Harry was having a hard time staying awake. There was another voice now, an older voice, that was insisting that Harry stay awake. He was so tired though and his entire body felt so heavy. Couldn't he just sleep for a little while?

Harry was pulled from falling asleep when he was jostled and lifted up. He whimpered and cried out weakly when a stab of pain went through his chest.

"I've stabilized Hadrian, but I need to get him up to the medical wing. Professor Slughorn, would you please escort everyone else up to Headmaster Dippet's office?"

"I'm coming with you." Tom's voice was the only one Harry cared about and he wanted to nod. He didn't feel safe without Tom.

"I don't have time to argue. Come along then."

It felt like Harry was floating in a haze for eternity. Once in awhile he would hear Tom or whom he assumed was the mediwizard for the school reminding him to stay awake. At one point he was sure he was resting on a bed, but his body had been numbed so it was hard to tell.

Finally Harry was told he could get some rest and go to sleep.

"Tom-"

"I'm right here Harry. I'll stay right here until you wake up."

That was all the assurance Harry needed. If Tom said he would do something then nothing in the world would stop him. With that last thought Harry slipped into a dreamless sleep thanks to the potion that had slipped past his lips moments ago.

Tom waited until Harry was sound asleep before looking up at the mediwizard that was carefully casting spell after spell over Harry.

"He'll be out for at least 12 hours if not more." Sir Leighleas told Tom as he worked. "I would suggest you go up to the headmaster's office to give your own statement. I'm sure you'll want to know exactly who attacked your friend."

Tom's eyes narrowed at the mediwizard, but the man was right. Tom wanted to know exactly who had been involved with the attack. He wanted to know first hand without any of his followers having to report to him.

But...he didn't want to leave Harry's side. Tom could feel his chest tightening painfully as he looked at the blood and bruised boy that he cared so much for.

"It was close, but your friend will live. I promise you that." Leighleas thought for a moment. "If you would wait a moment, I'll write a note to the headmaster about Hadrian Malfoy's status. You can take it up to the headmaster for me."

Tom nodded and he sat back down in the seat next to Harry's chair.

The mediwizard worked for a few more minutes on Harry until he was satisfied that the boy would be safe enough to wait a few minutes so he could write up a fast report on Harry's health.

"Here. If the attackers aren't expelled for this I'll personally request that the Board of Governor's take care of it." With that said Leighleas handed the scroll to Tom. "Hurry and get up to the headmaster's office. The password is Fibblewibbits."

With one last look at Harry, Tom took the scroll and then hurried out of the medical wing. His rage was boiling just beneath his focused exterior and it took all his strength not to let his magic lash out at the paintings and suits of armor around him.

How DARE those Gryffindor peons touch his Harry? He and his followers had made it perfectly clear that Harry was not to be touched and yet they had not only touched Harry, they had ATTACKED him.

Tom had to stop a moment as his black eyes flashed red and back. His rage was impossibly strong and without Harry's calming presence Tom was sure he would do something not helpful.

What would be helpful would be for Tom to find a way to kill the bastards.

That thought gave Tom pause and his mind began working out plans for just that. A chilling wicked smile stretched across Tom's lips and his eyes once again flashed red.

There had been a time when Tom's eyes had been blue, but the blood adoption ritual and growth in his power had changed his eyes to black. The people of Hogwarts had never noticed, and Harry had admitted he liked Tom's black eyes. Now though the red had replaced the black as Tom fought to keep his magic in check.

"Ophion." Tom hissed."Go down to the Chamber and tell Senestra I will be down as soon as I can get away." Instantly the garter snake was slithering away. Ladon had stayed behind with Harry to watch over him as the mediwizard worked.

Tom knew that Senestra would be willing to destroy the entire school after finding out that her 'precious little hatchling' had been attacked. She would obey any order he gave her, but knowing that she would happily fulfill his wishes made it all the better.

After the password was given Tom went straight up to the headmaster's office and found his Slytherin followers all standing to one side of the office glaring at the Gryffindors that had been caught.

"Headmaster." Tom's voice was ice as he went up to the headmaster. "Sir Leighleas sent this for you."

"Thank you Tom." Dippet sounded exhausted and there were bags under his eyes. He had no choice in his decisions. There were witnesses, both student and staff, of the attack. The Gryffindor students that had beaten Harry had all been captured, with petrification spells and body binding spells, by the Slytherins while they had been kicking and hitting little Hadrian with spells.

Dippet quickly read through the report, ignoring Dumbledore as he tried to explain that his students had made a grave mistake, but shouldn't be punished too harshly.

"The bullying was stopped before serious damage could be done." Dumbledore was saying with soft gentle words. "Expulsion seems overly harsh."

"I've made my decision." Dippet cut off Dumbledore as the man continued to argue on behalf of his students. "All Gryffindor students that were involved in the attack of Hadrian Malfoy," He made sure to empathize Hadrian's legal name. "Will be expelled. After extensive diagnostic examinations Sir Leighleas has concluded that Mr. Malfoy would have died if Tom Gaunt had not stepped in with his rudimentary medical knowledge."

Dumbledore didn't even get the chance to argue when Dippet held up a hand to stop him. "That is my decision Albus. These boys beat Mr. Malfoy within an inch of his life and were still attacking him even as Mr. Malfoy's fellow Slytherins stepped in to save him. It is obvious by the reports from all the Slytherin students that the Gryffindor students had been targeting Mr. Malfoy for quite some time and only today got the chance to attack."

Tom felt a fraction of satisfaction fill him. All the Gryffindor boys that had attacked Harry were 5th and 6th years; which meant their wands would be snapped.

"We didn't mean to take it that far!" One of the boys practically yelled. He was pale as a sheet and shaking. "Honest! We only meant to scare him a little! Jersey and Croop were the ones that kept hitting Malfoy!"

Dippet sat down in his seat heavily. "You all took part. Attacks on fellow students are prohibited in Hogwarts and regardless of who did what I will not tolerate such violence in my school."

"What about Mr. Hagrid?" Dumbledore's voice was heavy with regret. "He admitted to being forced to stand watch. He said he stepped aside as soon as the Slytherin students approached."

Tom looked over at the third year oaf that was standing behind his fellow Gryffindors. He was openly crying and Tom could tell he was extremely remorseful for what had happened. Despite that Tom could not feel any sympathy for the idiot.

"Forced or not, Mr. Hagrid was still involved." Professor Slughorn said quite loudly. "Granted he did rush to get both myself and Sir Leighleas as soon as my students got involved."

At least the oaf had done that much. Tom would never forgive him for endangering Harry though.

Dippet sighed heavily and he looked down at his steepled fingers.

"If I may make a suggestion?" Dumbledore offered as the headmaster took longer and longer to decide. "Seeing as how it was Mr. Malfoy that was attacked, why not let him decide Mr. Hagrid's fate?" Since he couldn't save his other students from expulsion he could at least try to stand up for Hagrid. If nothing else it would put the overly large third year in Dumbledore's debt.

That idea wasn't without merit and Dippet was considering it hard. He wouldn't allow the students that actually carried out the viscous attack get out of being expelled, but Rubeus Hagrid had gone to get help.

"For now Rubeus Hagrid will be suspended. When Hadrian Malfoy is strong enough we will offer him the option of deciding what will happen." Dippet decided after getting a hesitant nod from Professor Slughorn. "Misters Jersey, Croop, Bannisten, and Jones are hereby expelled. Members of the Board of Governor's will arrive in the morning to officiate the expulsions and then the boys will be sent home via the Hogwarts Express."

Which meant the boys would have to travel through the forbidden forest to an extent to get to the train station. Tom smirked internally as his plan for revenge solidified.

Yes. The idiot Gryffindors would be punished for what they had done.

Special Thanks to: Louise to, Maurey

A/N: I update every monday. Want info on updates and what I'm working on? Check out my tumblr: ethrildragon