When will the two Slytherin-house Slytherin realize that Harry is Slytherin-Slytherin?
Not for many more chapters, unfortunately.
Why would Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw banish Slytherin?
More on this subject comes up later, but you have to remember that there was lots of mistrust between the houses at this time, especially Gryffindor and Slytherin. It just all became too much.
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Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
:Mindspeech:
-Parseltongue-
Chapter Five: Places of Memory
The swirling lights vanished suddenly, and Harry, Draco, and Snape were left on an open field between a huge house and a forest. Draco was leaning over and looking sick. Harry turned, saw the house, and choked, beginning a violent coughing fit. Even Fawkes seemed slightly sick, giving a weak chirp before flying off again. Snape alone seemed unaffected by the travel, just a bit pale, although Harry's coughing fit had started, not by the way of travel, but the large house looming over them.
"Th-that was the way…" Draco trailed off, still looking rather pale.
"Yes, it was, although I'm not sure how he learned it. It's an ancient form of travel, said to be long lost. It's also dark magic, which, if Dumbledore knew, would make his side in this war questionable," Snape said. Harry, who, up till that point, was pretending to be confused, suddenly looked revolted.
"That-that thing was dark magic?" Harry asked, "You used dark magic? And…What are you talking about? Who's side in the war?" Snape and Draco ignored him.
"And the price?" Draco asked.
"Pain," Snape replied shortly. Draco looked worried.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Draco," Snape said, although Draco (and Harry, though he pretended not to) could see him gritting his teeth a little, a large sign of pain for one so experienced with masks.
Draco opened his mouth again, but at that moment, a large, slightly transparent, snake floated out from the grounds. Harry closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. That made it definite, this was, or at least used to be, Slytherin Manor. The snake stopped when she saw Harry.
-Welcome home, Lord Slytherin,- the snake hissed respectfully.
-How many times have I told you to call me Salazar? No, this place is not my home. This place is for everyone who needs it, not just me. For it to be my home would be a curse, for every place I have ever called my home has suffered,- Harry said with a sad smile.
-You home it may not be called, but your home it still is,- the snake replied.
-Ther,- Harry said, calling her by her nickname, rather than her real name Thermuthis, after an Egyptian goddess, -I have never owned the place and, if I did, the place now belongs to him.- He gestured towards Snape.
-Here is still your rightful home,- she told him stubbornly, coiling herself around Harry. She was quite a large snake, and her body hung on his shoulders, twisting around his torso quite a few times.
"Err…Harry, who's your, um, friend?" Draco asked, looking nervous.
"Draco, you can see it to?" Snape asked. Both Draco and Potter...That meant that they both had the power to be aura seers, and aura seers were extremely powerful. He knew Potter must be able to see it because he wouldn't be able to hear it otherwise.
"This is Ther, short for Thermuthis," Harry said. He was shocked that both Snape and Draco could see her, but hid it well. After all, he wasn't supposed to know anything about wards, "She's a girl, by the way."
-And I don't like to be referred to as an it,- She hissed, annoyed. Harry laughed.
-Would you rather he checked to see if you were a boy or a girl?- Harry asked, amused.
-You know what I meant!- Ther said, embarrassed.
"We should get going," Snape interrupted, "I'm sure you can talk to her later, Potter."
-He should show you some respect!- Ther hissed angrily.
-It's okay; he doesn't like me very much. I'll see you later, but we really should get going,- Harry hissed. Ther reluctantly unwound herself from her comfortable position.
-It's still no reason to treat you like that, you deserve some respect,- Ther hissed, floating away.
-Maybe, but I am no longer Lord Slytherin,- Harry said, amused, -I'll see you soon.-
"What did she say?" Draco asked as they headed towards the house.
"She just wanted to welcome me. Parselmouths are rare, after all," Harry said, telling the half-truth.
Snape pushed open the door, and Harry was greeted with hissed from pictures, statues, and other animated objects all over the house.
-Welcome, Lord Slytherin!-
-Salazar! We haven't seen you for a while!-
-Welcome back, Sal!-
-Thank you,- Harry said, glancing around the familiar entrance hall, a large part of which was decorated with statues or pictures of snakes. Draco was staring.
"That's a lot of snakes," he commented.
"This house has been passed down in my family for generations and most of the animated objects are snakes," Snape explained, "Although why they would want to talk to you, Potter, is a mystery to me."
"They just wanted to greet me. Apparently, they don't see outsiders often," Harry said, still sticking to his half-truths.
"Of course," Snape said, "This house is well hidden and kept secret. Not even Dumbledore knows exactly where it is."
"Wow," Draco said, looking around. Harry pretended to be looking around to, though he already knew his way around the house.
"Very Slytherin," was his only comment. Snape started by giving them a tour. Well, he gave Draco a tour and Harry followed. He seemed to be trying to ignore Harry, which was fine by him.
At first the tour seemed oddly incomplete. After a minute, he figured out that all the rooms and passageways with Parseltongue passwords were left out. Of course, Snape couldn't speak Parseltongue, so he had no idea that there were more rooms.
"…and your bedroom is up ahead. There are only two bedrooms, so either Potter has to sleep in your room, or he can sleep on a couch, it's your choice," Snape said. Draco glanced at Harry.
"I guess you can sleep in my room. I don't really care," Draco said, shrugging.
"No, its okay," Harry said, "I have nightmares sometimes; I don't want to wake you up."
"That's fine, it's not easy to wake me up," Draco said.
"I'm fine on a couch," Harry said. There was a large chance that he would wake up screaming, and he really didn't want anyone to know that his nightmares were that bad. Draco wrinkled his nose.
"I don't think so. Come on, I don't mind," Draco said, stubbornly. He had decided that Harry was sleeping in his room, and he was used to getting what he wanted.
"If you're sure…" Harry said, knowing it would be no use to argue.
"I'm sure. We've already had our lunches; do you need something to eat?" Draco asked. Snape was a little annoyed by that, it was his house after all, but Harry replied before he could protest.
"No, I've already had my lunch," Harry lied.
"Here we are," Snape said, stopping in front of a picture of a black haired, green eyed woman. Harry almost choked again. He knew there was no reason to be surprised, after all, this picture had always been there, but he hadn't registered that she would be guarding his rooms.
-Hello mother,- He whispered.
"Sa…" She started, surprised, before Harry cut her off.
-Parseltongue please, mother, they don't know me as Salazar Slytherin,- Harry said.
-I'll ask later. We were all quite upset when you left, you know,- His mother replied, -And why have you cut your hair?-
-I'm sorry about leaving,- Harry said, -My hair is like this because that's how I look now. I'll explain later, I'm busy now.- Snape was looking at the painting with a raised eyebrow.
"You neglected to inform me that you can speak Parseltongue," Snape told her.
"But you never asked, Severus," Salazar's mother said with a smile, "Was there something you wanted?"
"These two need to sleep in your room for the next month or so," Snape explained.
"And the password?" She asked.
"Draco can choose it," Snape said, "I'm going to go unpack, Draco, you can come with me if you want. We're going to go to Diagon Alley in afterwards to get you your things."
"I'll be fine, Professor," Draco said.
"But we don't have our booklists yet," Harry said, confused.
"What are you talking about, Potter? Sixth years got them at the beginning of the month," Snape said, annoyed.
"What?" Harry nearly shouted, starting to hiss furiously in Parseltongue. Dumbledore had been keeping mail from him, it was the only explanation.
-Salazar!- His mother hissed, -Watch your mouth!-
"Sorry," Harry muttered, blushing, "Whatever, Dumbledore has to give my OWLs to me soon, or I won't be able to sign up for any subjects. And he needs to let me take my Apparation tests…I should start a list."
"You haven't gotten you OWLs yet?" Draco asked, surprised.
"No, but I really don't care anymore. He has to give them to me eventually," Harry said.
"Stop being so melodramatic, Potter. I'll see you in about twenty minutes, Draco," Snape said, heading down towards the dungeons, where Harry knew two potions labs were available people who didn't speak Parseltongue.
"He doesn't like you very much, does he?" Salazar's mother asked.
"Nope!" Harry said cheerfully, "So what's the password, Draco?"
Draco thought for a minute, "I don't know…You can choose, Harry."
"How about supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?" Harry asked.
Draco blinked, "What?"
"It's a Muggle word," Harry explained.
"Um…"
"Come on, nobody would ever guess it!" Harry said.
"Fine, but I'll have a hard time remembering it. Why do we need passwords, anyways, when there's nobody here?" Draco asked.
Harry shrugged, "I don't know, but won't it be fun?"
"Whatever," Draco said, "Can we come in, then?"
"What's the password?" The portrait asked.
"What? But we…" Draco started.
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," Harry cut in. The portrait swung open to reveal a small room decorated much like the Slytherin common room. It was all green and silver, and the wood used in the furniture was very dark, almost black. "Thank you," He called when they were inside the room, and the portrait swung shut.
Draco looked around; it was a lot like the Slytherin dorms. The beds were similar, though not four posters like the Hogwarts ones, and even the wood color was the same. The major differences were the window and the carpet; Slytherin dorms were in the dungeons, so they couldn't have windows and had stone floors. This room also had a desk, while the Slytherin dorms only had small, beside tables.
"So, who gets which bed?" He asked
"It doesn't matter to me, you choose," Harry said, "Anyways; I'm supposed to be on the couch."
"I like this one," Draco decided, choosing the bed on the left.
"Fine with me," Harry said, putting his trunk, which still looked like an ordinary trunk, next to the bed on the left, "So, what are we going to do? We have half an hour."
"Aren't you going to unpack?" Draco asked. Harry pretended to think for a minute.
"No, I don't think so. Don't you have anything?"
"I have been disinherited from my family, so no, I don't have anything," Draco said.
"Oh," Harry said, not quite sure what to say, "Sorry."
"It doesn't matter," Draco said, "I don't really want to be a Malfoy any more." Harry didn't know what to say to that, and tried to think of another topic. While he was doing that, he remembered something that he had wanted to do.
Walking over to the window, he opened it and let his aura flare up in what was the magical equivalent of a whistle. Hedwig, as his owl, was bound to his aura, and would feel that he was calling her. Satisfied, he opened his trunk and took out Hedwig's cage.
He had wanted to call her earlier, but didn't want to risk Snape seeing him. Harry wasn't sure if Snape was trained to be an aura reader, but knew Godric wasn't. Auras were considered very personal, so aura reading was considered a dark art.
"What are you doing?" Draco asked.
"I expect Hedwig to come back in a couple hours; I let Hermione borrow her," Harry said, "Do you mind if I put her cage on the desk?"
"I don't mind," Draco said, "As long as it doesn't take up too much room."
"It won't," Harry assured him, "There's still plenty of work room." There was a knocking sound.
"I guess that's Professor Snape," Harry said, "See you, then."
"Bye," Draco said, leaving the room.
Harry watched them walk across the grounds and disappear before leaving the room, this time through a picture of a Runespoor. One of the three heads of the orange and black striped snake bowed to him, but the other two were too busy arguing to notice.
Harry used his free time to go through the secret passageways, visiting snakes all over the castle. Many hours later, the snakes told him that Snape and Draco were back. Harry ran back to the portrait to the Runespoor and through it, throwing himself on the bed and opening up the book that he had left there for that purpose. Harry heard Draco try to say the password a few times before opening it for him from the inside.
"I hate your password," Draco said, "I'll never be able to remember it."
"Don't worry," Harry said, "I'm sure you'll get it eventually. After all, we do have a month here."
"Professor Snape says that dinner is going to be ready in ten minutes," Draco said, flopping onto his bed. Harry snapped his book closed in faked disgust.
"I can't concentrate with those two arguing!" He said, gesturing towards the Runespoor.
"What are they arguing about?" Draco asked curiously.
"Different things," Harry said, "At the moment, the left head is complaining that the right head complains too much."
"If you say so," Draco said.
"You're lucky, all you hear is hissing. I'm going to be up all night listening to those two arguing," Harry said.
"Can't you…I don't know, turn it off?" Draco asked.
"No, it's just another language to me. Actually, to me, it sounds like English," Harry said.
"Weird," Draco said, "I think its time for dinner." They headed downstairs and Harry let Draco get them lost before pretending to ask a nearby statue for directions.
Dinner was quiet. Draco, hungry from spending all afternoon shopping enthusiastically dug into his food, while Harry and Snape, though both hungry, ate at a much slower pace. Draco chatted with Snape about different things, and Harry listened, pretending not to.
After dinner, Harry and Draco went back to their room, talking a little bit before getting into bed. Harry slid into his bed exhausted, placing his glasses on the desk, which was behind his bed. It had been a long day, and he had woken up very early. Not to mention how much magic he used teleporting Snape and Draco and messing with the wards. Soon, he was fast asleep.
Salazar stared at the fire in his private chambers, wondering how a little argument had become so blown out of proportion. He owed it to his friends to tell them the truth, tell them about his life, but he could never bring himself to do it. His friends had been great to him, always patient, but he had waited too long.
Godric had confronted him one day and Salazar hadn't known what to do. They had started arguing, even in front of the students, and their playful pranks had taken a slightly dangerous turn. Salazar had started cutting himself, and spent more and more time in the Chamber with his familiar.
Salazar knew quite well that he couldn't bring a basilisk out of the Chamber, however small she may be. Godric didn't even know he bred snakes as a hobby, and had only found out that he could speak to snakes the week previous; after one of Godric's particularly nasty pranks, involving a very poisonous snake, went wrong. After that, he had been fired from his position as the Hogwarts potions teacher. Godric's words, that he was 'a danger to the school', still rang in his ears, however hard he tried to ignore them.
Salazar had even moved into his house part time. The house was passed on to him from his mother's side of the family, and was where he had lived during the summers when he was going to school. It was an odd place, passed on through his family for generations, and the house had a series of passageways that could only be opened using Parseltongue passwords. It was a large, almost castle like, building and was surrounded by a forest.
The whole place radiated peacefulness and was a haven for those in need, no matter who or what you were. The forest was filled with both light and dark creatures that liven in harmony and helped each other when in need. Salazar loved the house, and the only thing that kept him from moving in permanently was his friends. It was where he planned to go if the argument got out of hand.
This morning, it had somehow gotten out that Salazar was a dark wizard, something that he had been keeping secret. Dark wizards may be allowed, but they were widely looked down upon, and the Ministry was under a lot of pressure somehow get rid of them. It was one of the biggest secrets he had hidden from his friends, and he dreaded their reaction, Godric's in particular. Godric came from a very old, light family, and all his relatives had been killed by dark wizards.
Salazar knew he couldn't hide forever; knew he should talk to his friends and tell them the truth. He stood up, and walked out of the dungeons, thinking through the conversation in his head. Helga hated dark wizards, her grandmother had been killed by a group of them years ago, but Rowena was neutral. She didn't like them, but had no particular hatred for them, and was the most logical of the group.
Salazar neared the Great Hall, knowing that they would probably be there; it was dinnertime, after all. Taking a deep breath, he entered the hall, and headed up to the staff table.
"Can I talk to you?" He asked the other founders, faltering a bit when he saw their hate filled expressions.
"Salazar Slytherin, you are hereby banished from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for corrupting the school from within and spreading the dark arts," Godric stated, standing up and glaring at him, "You must be gone from here by midnight with all your things." Salazar stood frozen, his mind refusing to accept what those words meant.
"What?" He gasped, gaping at Godric.
"You heard me," Godric said calmly, although Salazar could tell that Godric was the angriest that Salazar had ever seen him. Salazar looked at Rowena and Helga desperately, eyes begging them to tell him it wasn't true. They glared back at him, eyes burning with hatred. They had turned against him, they really hated him. Salazar gave a sad smile.
"So be it," he said, and fled the Great Hall. He ran through the dungeons, ran through the halls that he had built, that only he knew the secrets of. He had already moved his things to his house long ago, when Hogwarts was no longer a welcome home. He ran through the Chamber, ran through a portal he had set up, connecting it to his house. He heard Serphenia calling after him, felt Hogwarts trying to pull him back, but ran on, lashing out with his magic and collapsing the portal.
Even the house wasn't friendly, didn't supply him with the love that he so desperately needed. He fled the house and ran into the forest; kept running until he collapsed, tears streaming down his face. He took out the dagger he kept up his sleeve and slit his wrists quickly and efficiently. He could feel his life flowing out of him with the blood, could feel the basilisk venom on the end of the dagger start to take effect; could feel the burning spread through his body…
"…arry! Come on, Harry, Wake up!" Harry woke up, gasping for air. "Are you okay?" Draco asked, worriedly.
"I'm fine," Harry said, lying back down, "So, what did I say?"
"You didn't say any words that I could make out," Draco said, "Just sort of whimpered."
"I'm fine," Harry repeated, embarrassed, "It was just a nightmare." He should have remembered to place the charms around his bed to muffle sounds. If he had thought about it, it was perfectly reasonable that he would dream about that day. After all, to him it had happened only yesterday. Draco looked doubtful, but went back to his own bed, pulling the covers up and then rolling over to look at him.
"Are you sure you're okay?" The blurry blob that was Draco asked.
"I'm fine, Draco, you can go back to sleep," Harry said, glancing at the clock and momentarily fixing his vision so he could see it. Ten o'clock, he had nearly an hour before the next Death Eater meeting. He closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but he was still up long after Draco had fallen asleep.
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Thank you, reviewers; you're all so kind to me!
Of course, that doesn't mean that I want them to stop coming :D
Also, feel free to e-mail me with ideas, or just to chat; I'd love a pen-pal or beta.
I need someone who understands enough Latin to help me make spells and some ideas for pranks, if you'd like to help out.