DISCLAIMER: I own nothing
Chapter 9 – Becoming Harry
Following the ceremony, the three stayed seated, lingering at the back of the hall, waiting for the crowd to clear. Within minutes the halls had emptied of practically all students, the three got up from the benches and made their way out of the door not worried they didn't know the password, sure that someone would tell them on the way up.
"So we have about 3 days until lessons start, what should we do until then." Ginny asked looking to the older boys on either side of her.
Neville shrugged, looking about at the suddenly empty hallway, it was strange just how quickly all of the students scampered up to their common rooms after leaving the hall, he had never noticed before as he had always been one of those students.
"Well, I have something that I need to take care of tomorrow but why don't we meet up with Luna the day after and we can hang out by the lake or something" Harry suggested looking for the others for thoughts.
They both nodded "What do you have to do tomorrow Harry?" Neville asked curiosity getting the better of him.
He was silent for a moment, "I'm going to go down into the chamber, I'm going to go and see Salazar Slytherin, and I think I'm going to take him up on his offer." He explained for the first time not bothered about revealing this sort of information to someone.
Neville was silent while Ginny was unchanged by this new information.
"You know Harry, I can't imagine making a decision like that, the trust your putting in him, especially the type of man most know him to be. I don't think that I could do that, I don't know if it's good or bad but I can respect your decision" Neville said slightly sceptically but accepting.
"You think I should go for it then, I don't really know what, or who they are except what they are telling me and that could all be a load of crap".
"Sometimes Harry it is better to have faith than to have none at all" He spoke, and despite the strange look on Harry's face Neville remained silent.
Frustrated he rolled his eyes but didn't mention it again knowing he wasn't going to get an answer.
The three turned the last corner, closing in on the final destination, upon reaching the portrait hole Harry opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the fat lady.
"Ah there you are, go right on in" she smiled at him inclining her head toward him in an unusual sign of respect. Harry's mouth dropped open in shock "Are you feeling okay Lady. Do I need to get Dumbledore?" He asked.
"Don't be so ridiculous Harry" she giggled causing the others in front of her to cringe at her annoying voice. "Go on in you have no need for a password" With that she let her portrait swing open and reveal the almost sanctimonious sight of the common room through the portrait hole.
Laughing uncomfortably they climbed inside.
"What was that about?" thought Neville aloud
"Who knows, maybe she finally cracked from all that singing she subjects her brain to, it's either that or she has some strange thing for you" Ginny smirked "but who knows, night boys" she waved her hand and jogged up the stone staircase.
They stared after her.
"She did that on purpose," Harry groaned, "Now I'm going to be having really disturbing dreams" he wined much to Neville's amusement.
"Well you never know Harry, Ginny could be right; I think I'm going to go to bed too, night" he hopped gleefully up the stairs
"For god's sake not you to, I'm going to be too horrified to sleep tonight" he mumbled reluctantly following Neville up the stairs.
The next morning Harry awoke to the sound of rain hitting of the window pane. Sighing he pushed the covers back he felt the cold air hit him out of the warmth of his bad covers. Shivering he jumped out of his bed, sliding back the curtains back seeing that everyone else was still asleep. Quickly and quietly he dressed and left the room.
The common room was empty as he entered; glancing at the clock it read 4:00am 'well,' he thought 'that would explain why nobody was up. Stupid rain, stupid Scotland, the one time I get to have a good night's sleep and the rain wakes me' He slumped down into the armchair and stared into the fire, closing his eyes and relaxing.
"Harry" a voice whisper causing him to jerk up from his relaxed position. "Harry" it said again as the fire flared into life, morphing into a tinted red version of Salazar Slytherin's face.
"Salazar what are you doing, anyone could come down at any moment"
"Relax Harry, I have asked Hogwarts to seal the doors so that anybody trying to get out can't and then they will immediately decide that they are tired and have to go back to bed, we are not going to be find she will make sure" he spoke
"She?" he asked
"Hogwarts, she will look after you, after all you are an heir of her creator, and she told me that you planned to come and see me today, is that true or is that mistaken." He questioned
"Yes that's true," he paused "Have you got her spying on me?" he asked leaping from his seat and pacing while fuming.
"Don't be so ridiculous Harry, you need to learn to control your anger at this rate you're not going to get anywhere in your training." he lectured
"He's right Harry," Natalia said, jumping again when he saw her sat on the armrest of the chair, he hadn't even noticed her move from his arm. "You felt anger meaning you didn't notice when I moved from your arm. My point being, staying calm is what will lead you to improvement." She hissed once then slithered back to her place on his arm.
Slytherin laughed "You know she's the smartest and most loyal snake I have even had the fortune to befriend. You should feel lucky she chose to be your familiar, she will make sure nothing will ever happen to you, she never let me down when she was still my familiar."
He sat back down, frustrated yet again, they were right he knew that, but admitting it, that was the hard part.
"I am sorry" he forced out "I believe that you and she have the ability to mould me into the person I want to be, I would like to start on that journey now, would it be alright if I came to the chamber to begin my training I feel that It would be the best thing to do for the future. You were right"
"You were always welcome to come to the chamber, you have no need to ask thought when you start the training I cannot allow you to stop, you must complete it, no matter know long It takes, you must agree to that before I can begin your training."
"I agree" he said
"Excellent, you will come down now" the head stated and with that he disappeared from the fire.
He slipped through the portrait hole much to the annoyance of the Fat Lady who promptly awoke only to find that it was Harry and promptly blushed mumbled and returned to her early morning slumber.
The hall was eerily silent for such a place as was Hogwarts, the early morning light shone through the castle windows creating a strangely comforting light flow in the halls. Trailing towards the girl's bathroom, Harry was still bleary from the early morning wake up, although he never usually slept well it was still hard to wake up this early, especially on his first day back at Hogwarts, which was normally the best night's sleep he got all year.
Entering the bathroom he looked around for moaning Myrtle or any other person present in the room, not that he was expecting anyone, it was still only 4:30 in the morning nobody in their right mind should be up this early and if they were it wasn't very likely they would be taking a stroll to the girls bathroom nobody wanted to enter. Unsurprisingly there was nobody else there.
Hissing to the sink, it opened, permitting him entrance to the chamber, jumping down the pipe he slid, this time he didn't have to worry about their being a dead body of his best friends sister down there, so it was much more enjoyable, like a water park ride he saw on the TV at the Dursley's one time.
Crashing to the bottom of the pipe he was surprised to find that all of the animal bones which had littered the floor, discarded by the friend now resting on his arm, had all disappeared. They had been replaced by a cushion, a large cushion which covered the whole section of the floor, and made the drop much more comfortable.
"Would you look at this Nat, it seems that Slytherin's tried to make the place look nicer." He said, this time feeling Nat remove herself from the restraints of the tattoo, and curl her way up to his shoulder.
"You know Harry, it wasn't always such a dingy place as you knew it, in fact when Salazar first created it, and it was almost as cosy as you might think the Gryffindor common room is. It was Tom Riddle who changed it into the look you were introduced to, ah what I would do to get my fangs into that man, no matter how much I may hate to put my fangs on him it would be well worth it to kill him." Malice in her voice was very noticeably not that it really bothered him; anyone with a grudge against Voldermort had something for them in his books.
They followed the familiar path down to the main chamber; the pile of rubble which had previously blocked the path had been removed. Upon entering the chamber it looked much the same, turning to the right he found the door to be there.
His hand edged towards the ornate handle, responding to his approaching touch it turned, opening to door to reveal four people stood waiting in anticipation of his arrival.
"Harry you have arrived, good" Salazar said when he entered.
He greeted each of them, then followed them towards a corner of the room which was set out like the common room, the four sat in two sofa's opposite to harry who was on the other. They were all bathed in the light of the fire illuminating the room, it was a stark difference from outside of this room, if what Natalia had said was true then clearly Voldermort had never touched this room.
"Well you see the reason that we are choosing now to reveal the heirs to the world is that it is no longer safe to leave it to the old magic of Hogwarts to protect her students" Godric explained being the first to speak
"While mistakes may happen to everyone, it does not make one less guilty" Rowena commented offhandedly, confusing Harry and causing Salazar to role his eyes.
"For once Rowena can you not speak plainly for everyone to understand, is that so difficult for you" snipped Salazar to which Rowena simply ignored him
"You will have to excuse Salazar he never quite got over a choice make long ago, I am afraid that once upon a time our trust was mistakenly placed in someone who nobody should have trusted, he changed, for the worse and I will be forever saddened by the outcome of that nice little boy" Helga said elaborating on Rowena's comment
"we put our faith and power in a small child too young to be judged how he may use these certain abilities granted to him, that was my mistake and I have paid for it ever since. We taught him everything he knew, in fear of a growing danger and in the end he was what caused the very danger I trained him to avoid, I will make him pay for the betrayal even if I can't inflict that pain on him myself. That task I wish to place upon you, should you accept it, I must say it is too bad we can't go for the source itself; we will get the spawn I will make sure of that" Slytherin spat rising and turning away from the rest of them not continuing the story
"You see when about 100 years ago we sensed that the magic around Hogwarts in danger, we didn't know from whom or from what however we did know it was coming. Normally we do not interfere with the mortal world, allow things to play out themselves, this time we felt evil magic was so strong we needed to interfere before it became too powerful to stop; this was beyond the power of regular witches and wizards. We decided to train someone, like you, choosing the person ourselves, a mistake of which we shall never make again. Hogwarts magic was always a better judge of character, for that is how her magic has evolved over time; she can sense what is truly in someone's magical core, be it good or evil and she sensed that you will bring peace to Hogwarts.
"This boy was named Grindelwald, and he was sought out by a young Tom Riddle who later became Voldermort, he trained him, bringing him up to a standard which is not achievable by any witch or wizard with normal training, this was what he decided to do with the gift which the four of us bestowed upon on him. We would have stopped him to had we not had the issue of him leaving, he moved schools, and he left because he knew there was no way that we could stop him if he was out of our magical reach.
"Which brings me to why your here this time when we sensed Grindelwald's apprentice Voldermort we asked Hogwarts to choose someone to take over from us, which is why she has spent the last 40 years searching for them. She does not make the same rash decisions that we humans make, she waits and watches the magical core of everyone who comes through Hogwarts, and well here we are some 40 years later, with you. As It turns out she tells us that all 4 of you are here at once together, something unusual by all standards."
"You will now take the first step in becoming who you are destined to be, the other three will no doubt be joining you soon, should they become ready in time, I should warn you, you absolutely must not reveal to anyone that there are others who are going to be joining you, should you do this they would never be able to achieve what will prepare them for accepting their destiny. It must happen of their own accord, in the same way as it has already happened to you, in some cases it has already begun in others time will still tell.
"For now we must balance your power and open up your magical core, should this not happen your magic will become unstable as your power continues to grow. This is why you have been having mood swings brought on by the power surges and bouts of uncontrollable magic, for instance your Aunt, until we open up your magic core those things will only get worse."
"Once you open your magical core you will become more powerful and able to grow in strength with relative ease, not that I am saying this will be easy for it won't be an easy process, it won't be but your best chance is going to be opening your magical core."
"Okay then" accepted Harry, floored by the new information the founders were presenting and trusting him with, it was such a difference to Dumbledore who trusted him with nothing.
"The training room it is then" Godric declared jumping up excitably.
They entered a room off to the right, the door was beautiful although it looked quite a bit beaten in some places, instead of being preserved like most of the other doors in Hogwarts, this one showed it's age and it was even more magical than the rest of the building, a historical magic.
This room was brighter than the other, lit by balls of fire hanging suspended round the room
Salazar's ghostly form sank to the floor as they entered, he positioned his legs below him in a cross-legged sitting position, Harry watched him, wondering what to do, Salazar opened one eye, raising an eyebrow to Harry.
"Are you going to sit down or just stand there staring?" he questioned irritated "Merlin's beard, I never thought you were this stupid, we really need you to have a word with Ravenclaw, you've not been working your brain hard enough, your lazy, don't worry she will fix that soon enough" he added although it wasn't particularly comforting.
So, Harry sat in front of Slytherin slightly awkwardly, it was a long time since he had sat crossed legged, in fact he was sure that nobody had expected him to since before he was 11 and attending muggle school. Finally settled he returned his gaze to Salazar, who was smirking softly.
"Comfortable?" he questioned
Harry lowered his gaze feeling the mocking tone.
"Good, firstly I want you to close your eyes" Harry complied although slightly warily, he had never been that comfortable with having that sense blocked off from him "Relax, clear everything from your mind, it is actually quite easy just don't think too much about it." As Slytherin said once he stopped focusing on not trying to think anything he found that he wasn't thinking anything, unfortunately realising this once again brought back all the thoughts previously strewn about in his mind.
"Now harry you must open your magical core, this will allow your power level to stabilize, I am afraid this must be done before we can begin any other section of your training, right now magic is leaking out and causing you to become unstable physically, emotionally, and mentally, all we are going to do is extend the capacity of magic your body is capable of holding. Usually our students are left to take time for this to happen as their own body's develop and they age, however your magic is expanding more rapidly than a normal person, this will only be heightened once you start to train."
"What must I do then," he asked "It's not painful or anything is it"
"Nothing remotely like that all you have to do is sit focus and imagine it is getting bigger, we are after all creatures of magic"
"Close your eyes, picture yourself travelling into the depths of your mind."
Harry did as he was told imagining at first it was just that, an image projected in his mind, but as they sat their longer the image became more real and solidified, it appeared that he was actually there. From the way Slytherin had described it, a small ball of light appeared before him, about the size of his head, floating before him. Snakes of blue white light pocked their way out from the small fragile cracks in the orb.
He considered waiting for Slytherin to come and help him, 'I'm sure I could do it without him he explained it all I have to do is expand the orb.'
Grasping with his mind, the ghostly image of a hand placed on each side of the orb. Considering his next options he chose to try and just pull it apart with his newly usable ghostly hands. Surprisingly the orb did pull apart as his hand did, as he widened it the cracks, formerly emitting light seemed to close up from the edges in sealing together from the corners, similar to the way a wound would close on a living organism.
Once the orb had expanded enough to close all the see able cracks he stepped back, thankfully the orb held. He raised his eyebrow, admittedly even he was surprised that the thing held together, since he was just guessing, it was quite shocking it had actually worked.
Smirking cockily to himself, he roused from his meditative state, blinking to get the fuzzy, slightly lightheaded feeling. Stretching out his stiff limbs and clambering to his feet, he stumbled slightly from a head rush.
"Right" he muttered to himself.
"Harry, you done or do you want me to wait for you to stumble around a little more"
Harry jumped, straightening up immediately.
"Come on we have to complete the ceremony now,"
"What ceremony is this?" he questioned
"Ah Harry, it seems I have forgotten to explain this step, it is a transferral of knowledge from me to you, sadly you will not be able to use the knowledge immediately, it takes time to harness the knowledge you will contain, are you ready?."
"Yes" Harry responded
"Do you agree to begin the process and become my heir?" Salazar asked, stood in front of Harry.
"Yes" replying in the most obvious way he could.
"Marvellous" he smiled to his new apprentice, then to Harry's shock held his left hand suspended in the air before him. Light flashed from his hand, materialising in the hand was a long staff, before harry could get a good look at the new object, Salazar brought it crashing down on his head.
"OW" he groaned "What the hell was that for?"
"I just passed you 1000 years of knowledge, wait for it, I'm sure you will notice it in a second" he said casually staring at Harry's head.
Another few seconds of rubbing his sore head, he gasped clutching his head overwhelmed.
"Harry, Harry, relax just let it take over, everything will be alright" comforted the blurry image of Helga, who had popped up from nowhere, but if he could think about it he would have probably noticed that she had been waiting for this.
He relaxed and the pains subsided as he passed out.
He came too slowly, head still throbbed from earlier, blinking his eyes open, he squinted against the lights above his head.
Turning his head, he saw Helga slumped next to him in a chair head lolled back, it was an amusing sight to see someone so famous for such power and intelligence could look so human, as she heard him move she awoke suddenly, immediately beginning to fuss.
"Harry, how are you feeling, head okay? I'm afraid there isn't much I can give you for that, all you can do is for it to ease in time." She explained putting two fingers to each side of his head feeling for the pulsations.
"I need to get up." He stated "What time is it?" he asked as he tried to climb for the restricting covers.
"late, you have slept the day away dear and Salazar is waiting for you in the training room." She told him leaning back returning to her chair.
He managed to free himself muttering a thank you and walked out glad to see that the throbbing pain in his head wasn't as hindering as he had presumed it may be.
He found Salazar waiting for him again sat down with the staff casually resting against the wall next to him.
Harry sat down in front of him. After a few moments Salazar opened his eyes and acknowledged him.
"Feeling Better?" he asked
"Much actually, still painful but not as bad as i expected"
"No it almost never is"
They were both silent waiting for the other to speak, Harry broke the silence first
"Look when do I need to come back and start training properly? Like all the magic and stuff like that"
"Harry you may now possess all the knowledge needed however, you will not be able to access it until you are able to sort it all out. It is not safe enough to sort it out until you have learned to protect your mind, with a skill essential to any powerful wizard, occlumency. Right now anyone searching through your mind will only see a muddle of thoughts, they will disregard all of the knowledge floating about and think nothing of it." Salazar explained
"So what you're saying is that I won't be able to do any of that until I at least learn how to protect my mind"
"Well, yes" he admitted
"Great" Harry drawled sarcastically "and what if I don't l can't do that, what if that is something I never achieve. What then, doesn't that ruin your perfect plan?"
"Do not concern yourself with such things it has been a long day we move on now" he said waving his hand dismissively.
Harry rolled his eyes "Right we move on." He then perked up eyes lighting to at the thought "Are you going to tell me who the other three are?" Harry asked delighted with the idea of knowing.
"No" Salazar shook his head "Should you know you would try and help them, it is after all in your nature. You must let them find a way as you did yours. Facing all the prepared you for life ahead but you still maintained what made you who you are. Saving Ginevra proved that you were ready. Now it is their turn."
Harry tried to hide his disappointment but Salazar noticed right away, and comforted Harry with a smile.
"Don't worry for some I do not believe you will have that long to wait" he said before looking off into the distance.
"And now Harry you must leave, I believe night is rapidly approaching and it would not be good if I made you lose more sleep than i already have. Have fun with your friends tomorrow" with those last words he vanished.
"Good night" Harry muttered to himself, grinning and heading back to the common room.
A/N: well it has been a while hasn't it, thanks to everyone who read the story and is still interested although it takes forever to update. Nobody Beta'd this chapter so if you spot any mistakes please tell me.