Is he going to drop his mask when he goes to school?
I'm not sure, but by then he probably will have dropped most of his masks.
Is there a 'Godric', 'Rowena', or 'Helga' floating around?
I'm not sure what you mean by this, but all four founders are somewhere out there…with or without their memories of being founders.
That dream at the end of the chapter, is it the day Sal killed himself?
Yes, the dream was a memory of the day he was banished and killed himself.
When will Draco get his memories of being Godric?
Not for a while, unfortunately.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
:Mindspeech:
-Parseltongue-
Chapter Six: Summer at Snape Manor
Harry opened his eyes, feeling much better than he had been the previous day. It was only then that he realized how messed up his emotions had been. Harry also noticed that he had been acting disturbingly Gryffindor the day before, although he grudgingly admitted that he was now more Gryffindor than he cared to be.
It was only seven o'clock, but he wasn't tired, so he sat up. After casting a few illusions around his bed to make it look like he was still asleep, he closed his eyes, pulling himself into his own mind and magical core.
Harry winced as he saw the mess, or at least what the mess looked like from the outside. The outer wall was a cross between the type of Occlumency Salazar used and the type of Occlumency Harry used. Pulling himself through that wall, he made his way through his memories, both personal and non-personal now mixed together in a jumbled mess.
He then reached another barrier, the one he had used to keep people away from his more personal memories. Harry's, which was made purely out of non-personal memories, was mixed with Salazar's subtle but impenetrable one. There was a huge crack in it, and personal memories were flowing through, mingling with the non-personal ones.
Harry made his way through that wall too, and was met with his…well, magical core. That too was a mess: red and green everywhere with memories and facts drifting randomly around. Harry sighed, resigning himself to some hard work.
Harry spent what felt like at least a couple days organizing every memory, sorting facts into mental filing cabinets, and repairing his mental shields. In reality, it had only been three hours, as time moves differently in one's mind.
Harry withdrew from his mind and slowly opened his eyes, getting readjusted to the physical world. His mental shields were still far from perfect, but they would have to do for now. Harry was sure they would be enough to trick Snape, at least.
There was still a lot more on his to do list, and he needed to get many of them done as soon as possible. Harry mentally ran through the list in his head, glad at least, that the mental filing cabinets were now working properly.
1) Set up Gryffindor mask as soon as possible
2) Go through trunk and reorganize it
3) Test current magical strength and limits of angel powers
4) Go through books and learn more modern magic
5) Look up angels
6) Look up reincarnation
7) Find out if Draco's getting Godric's memories
8) Find a way to attend Hogwarts without the wards breathing down my neck
Harry was very glad that his mental filing cabinets worked like that; there was no way that he was going to leave a list like that lying around. Well, first things first, although that list wasn't in a particular order, he would need to get his masks up properly if he was going to live with two Slytherins for the rest of the month.
Harry sighed, and wiped his face of emotion. Okay, that was easy, now for the mask…What are the first things that come to mind when I think of Gryffindor? The house, not the person. He thought for a minute, brave, rash, quick to anger, saving-people-thing, self-sacrificing, golden boy, lion, red and gold, cheerful, confident, arrogant…Harry frowned at that.
He needed to be like he was before, but what he was before was too Slytherin. Even so, Harry had never ever been arrogant. No, not arrogant, perhaps confident, but never arrogant. Having decided that, Harry put together a mask; carefully balancing and measuring every emotion. Harry crawled out of bed, automatically putting on his glasses, and crept over to Draco's bed.
"Draco?" He asked quietly. There was no reply. "Draco?" He tried again, a bit louder. "Draco?" Harry half shouted, but still, there was not reply. Sighing, Harry reached over and poked him. In the ribs. Hard.
"Aaah!" Draco shouted, waking up instantly and scrambling away from Harry. "What was that for?"
"You wouldn't get up," Harry said, "I've been waiting for ages, and ages, and ages."
"Stupid Gryffindor," Draco muttered. Harry considered telling him that he was nearly a Slytherin, but decided against it. It might have been worth it to see the look on Draco's face, but if that got back to Snape, he would have to be extra careful around the Slytherin Head of House.
"When's breakfast?" Harry asked.
"How am I supposed to know?" Draco asked Harry, irritated at the Gryffindor's energy.
"You spent all afternoon yesterday with him," Harry pointed out.
"Well I don't know," Draco snapped.
Harry blinked, "You're not a morning person, are you?"
"What do you think?" Draco snarled, pulling the covers over his head.
"So do you think Snape's going to come get us?" Harry asked.
"I don't know," Draco said, his voice muffled by the blankets.
"Well, he has to, doesn't he? Do you think he's going to come soon? It's ten o'clock. He doesn't seem the type to sleep in; do you think he's letting us sleep, or is he waiting for us to come down? Or do you think that he's working and he just forgot about us?" Harry said, overflowing with hyperactive energy that, however fake it was, was getting on Draco's nerves.
"Potter, shut up," Draco said, rolling over and putting his pillow over his head.
:I'm afraid you're giving him a headache: someone said from behind Harry. Harry whirled around, and saw Fawkes sitting on Hedwig's perch.
"Oh, well, he deserves it…You know, I really should get you your own perch. Or make one," Harry said, thoughtfully.
"Who are you talking to, Potter?" Draco asked, rolling over.
"Fawkes," Harry said, "So do you plan to hang around me all the time, or are you going off on your own?" He asked the phoenix.
:I'm sorry for the way I acted yesterday: Fawkes chirped, looking uncomfortable::I just wasn't expecting to see you.:
"And I'm sorry about the way that I treated you yesterday," Harry said after thinking for a minute, "I wasn't exactly having a great day."
:If you don't mind, I'd like to stay with you: Fawkes chirped, shooting a glace at Draco.
:You want to stay near him: Harry said with sudden understanding, "Sure, I don't mind, but you have to leave me alone if I want some privacy, okay?"
:Thank you: Fawkes said, sounding grateful.
"Can you really understand what the phoenix says?" Draco asked curiously.
"Yes," Harry said.
"How do you do it?" Draco asked. Harry was on the verge of revealing his telepathic powers, but stopped, realizing that if he gave them away, there would be a big chance that Draco would put two and two together and realize that Harry was his mysterious rescuer.
"I don't know," Harry said, and it was true. He had a good idea, but didn't know for sure. Besides, he shouldn't have even told Draco that. It wouldn't be a good idea if Dumbledore heard of them; he was mentally whacking himself for letting Snape know the day before.
"Severus says to get ready for breakfast," a voice said from behind them. Harry and Draco jumped, and whirled around to see Salazar's mother in the picture of the Runespoor.
"Why does everybody keep doing that to me?" Harry asked nobody in particular. Salazar's mother smiled at him.
"Breakfast will be ready in half an hour," She said before leaving the picture.
Half an hour later, Draco and Harry, with Fawkes on his shoulder, entered the dining room. Snape was already sitting at the table, waiting for Harry and Draco…Or just Draco.
"Why did you bring the Headmaster's phoenix with you, Potter?" Snape asked.
"Fawkes is supposed to stay with me," Harry said, "I guess he just took it a little too seriously."
"And why don't you just tell him to leave you alone?" Snape asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You do believe me!" Harry exclaimed, inwardly smirking at the annoyed expression on Snape's face.
"I was being sarcastic, Potter," Snape said.
"Oh," Harry said, pretending to be embarrassed. How he hated letting the man get the better of him like that, but it would be suspicious if he didn't. The rest of the meal passed mostly in silence.
Sometimes Snape would make a comment and Harry would pretend to get mad, or Draco would say something, but any conversation usually died out pretty quickly. Harry talked a little with Fawkes, mindspeech so as not to annoy Snape, but even that conversation was limited. Breakfast was finally over, and Snape went back into the dungeons, telling Draco that he was allowed to fly and that Harry could to, if he must.
"So, should we go fly?" Draco asked Harry. Harry wanted to agree, but his back, around the area where his wings used to be, tingled at the thought of flying, and he wasn't sure if it was such a good idea.
"Sorry, but I need to write a letter to Dumbledore. If I don't know what classes I'm taking, how am I supposed to get my homework done before the school year starts?" Harry asked, "You go fly without me."
Draco glanced at him, "Are you sure? Everyone knows how much you love flying."
"I'll be fine. There'll be plenty of other opportunities, anyways," Harry said.
"See if you can come out for a bit later," Draco said.
"I'll try," Harry lied, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." The portrait of Salazar's mother swung open and Draco went over to his new trunk and pulled out a broom.
"Did you get a new broom?" Harry asked.
"Professor Snape got it for me," Draco said, proudly handing over a handsome broom with the name Freedomflight on the handle, "It's not from one of the more well-known companies, but it's supposed to be a very good broom."
"It looks great," Harry said, "Although we don't have much time until lunch."
Draco looked at the clock and winced, "I've really got to go now if I want to fly. Are you sure you can't come?"
Harry hesitated, "I really need to get this letter to Dumbledore. Take Fawkes, though, I'm sure she'd love a chance to stretch her wings." Fawkes sent him a grateful look.
"Didn't the Headmaster say that Fawkes is a boy?" Draco asked. Harry mentally smacked himself.
"She's a girl, but, for some reason, Dumbledore seems to think she's a boy," Harry explained.
"And she's supposed to be his familiar?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I know," Harry said, "but Fawkes doesn't want him to know, can you please, please not tell anyone?"
"Sure," Draco said, shrugging.
"Go on, we're wasting time," Harry said. After the two left, Harry sat at the desk with a roll of parchment. He tapped his quill on the desk, but couldn't think of exactly what to write. It was only then that he noticed Hedwig was still missing.
He looked out the window worriedly, but couldn't see his beloved pet anywhere. He paused for a minute, watching God-Draco and Fawkes outside, before tearing his eyes away to continue looking for his snowy owl.
Harry spread out his magic in all directions, but she wasn't anywhere in or around the Manor and forest. He concentrated on the special bond owls shared with their masters, and followed it. His surroundings seemed to swirl and dissolve, spinning around him in a dizzying way.
Harry was standing in a familiar looking room. Having no need to wear masks, now that he was pretty much a spirit, Harry glanced around, analyzing everything carefully. He was, if he wasn't mistaken, in the girl's bedroom in number twelve, Grimmauld Place. Spotting Hedwig in a rather cramped looking cage, Harry ran over to her.
"Are you alright?" He asked, examining the cage and finding that it was blocked with magic, radiating Dumbledore's aura. Harry hissed something very rude about Dumbledore in Parseltongue. Hedwig chirped reassuringly, although Harry couldn't understand her like he could Fawkes. "Can you show me what happened?" Hedwig chirped worriedly.
:I'll be fine, Hedwig: Harry said. The surroundings swirled again, and all of a sudden, it was sunset. Hermione was reading on her bed and Hedwig was now perched on Harry's shoulder.
There was a tapping sound on the window and Hermione looked up from her book. Another Hedwig was perched on the window sill, tapping on the glass, for this was a memory rather like in a pensive.
Hermione opened the window and read the letter that had been attached to Hedwig's leg. Harry couldn't read it from where he was, but knew what it said:
Dear Hermione,
Sure you can keep Hedwig for a while, but not too long, okay? What do you need her for?
-Harry
Hermione turned to Hedwig, "Can you sleep in here?" She asked, gesturing towards the small cage, "I don't have anything better."
Hedwig looked like she didn't want to, but reluctantly stepped into the cage. There was a knock on the door and Hermione let Ron into the room.
"Guess what, Hermione! We're going to be trained to protect Harry, and Dumbledore's going to train me personally himself!" Ron said, looking excited.
"Wow, Ron!" Hermione said, "But we aren't allowed to use magic out of school, are we?"
"We are!" Ron exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of his feet, much like Ludo Bagman had at the world cup, "Dumbledore managed to get passes for us! He had to get one for Harry to, but nobody's allowed to tell him that."
Hermione frowned, "Why not? Doesn't Harry get training to?"
"Hermione," Ron said patiently, "If Harry found out, he would probably do something stupid. Imagine if he got it into his head that he needed to save someone and went running off! Besides, we're getting training so Harry doesn't need it! We just need to stay close to him all the time."
"I suppose so, but keeping Hedwig all locked up is a bit extreme isn't it? I mean, couldn't we at least get her a bigger cage? That's cruelty to animals!" Hermione said.
"Hermione, we don't have any other cages. This is the biggest one we have," Ron said, "Plus, she's Harry's familiar, so she must have some pretty powerful magic. After all, Harry's a pretty powerful wizard, isn't he? This is the only one we have with magical reinforcements. She'll be fine." His familiar? How much of this rubbish had Dumbledore been spreading?
But Harry could see Dumbledore's logic in it. Hermione undoubtedly would look up all she could about familiars, and would find that magical familiars were rare and only belonged to the most powerful wizards. Familiars themselves were rare enough, though, and it would show that Harry was a powerful wizard, just not as much as Dumbledore.
"But what if Harry finds out we mistreated Hedwig. I mean, he's pretty attached to her, isn't he?" Hermione asked.
Ron shrugged, "He doesn't need to find out."
"Ron, Hermione, dinner time!" Mrs. Weasley shouted from somewhere downstairs, no doubt the kitchen or dining room. Ron and Hermione left the room, still conversing in low voices.
By now, Harry was furious with them. He had suspected that his 'friends' were controlled to some extent by Dumbledore, but he hadn't expected anything like what he had heard in the conversation.
"So be it," He whispered, his eyes burning with emerald fire. He was pulled out of the memory, and was soon standing in front of Hedwig again. If he had looked, he would have seen two pure white and very solid feathers float to the ground. Harry did not look, however, as he was busy concentrating.
Using magic as a spirit was somewhat easier, as he didn't have a physical body that the magic had to travel through, but was different, and he didn't have much practice. Managing to 'find' the magic fairly easy, Harry used his magic to release the lock and open the door of the cage. Hedwig chirped in thanks and flew out the window.
Harry followed her, instinctively launching himself outside the window and spreading his wings, soaring over the buildings and streets. They flew to the Manor together, dancing in the sky. Harry's emerald eyes were bright as he flew over the Mansion and past Draco and Fawkes; the later singing a bright tune and flying with them for a minute before resuming whatever game she had been playing.
Harry returned to his body and stood up, emerald eyes still bright from the flight. He offered his arm to Hedwig and she landed on it. Harry sat there, stroking Hedwig for a few minutes, lost in thought.
"Potter?" someone asked behind him.
Harry whirled around, "Will everyone stop doing that already; it's driving me insane!"
"You sanity has always been questionable at best," Snape said, "It's time for lunch."
"I was wondering why Fawkes flew off," Draco said, coming up behind Snape. Harry turned around and saw Fawkes on the window. When he turned back around, he saw that Snape was already gone and Draco was putting away his broomstick.
"Sorry Hedwig, Fawkes, but I don't think that I should bring you two to lunch," Harry said, "You're going to have to stay here. Are you going to be all right?"
Hedwig hooted reassuringly, and Fawkes said::Of course.:
"Bye!" Harry said, following Draco, who had just left the room.
Lunch passed much as breakfast had; nobody even bothering to talk. Snape told Harry that Occlumency lessons would be at six o'clock every night, starting that night, and went back to the dungeons.
Draco turned to look at Harry, "Now can we go fly?" Harry waited for his back to tingle but, to his surprise, it didn't.
"Sure," Harry said. Had that flight with Hedwig cured his desire to stretch his wings? But he had only been spirit then, so that didn't make sense.
Harry and Draco spent all afternoon messing around on their broomsticks, and then Harry headed inside for his Occlumency lesson with Snape. He spent about half and hour there, letting Snape see false memories and yell at him for not trying before eating dinner, which was the same as breakfast and lunch.
The next week passed that way; waking up, having breakfast, playing (often flying), lunch, more playing, Occlumency, dinner, and then bed. Harry had fun with Draco, but sometimes felt a little stifled by him. He really needed some time to himself to think and figure out a few things. Thankfully, a chance came only a few days later, when Snape needed to visit Diagon Alley (and Knockturn Alley) to get some potion ingredients and invited Draco along.
Harry waved goodbye to Draco out the window, despite the fact that he doubted that Draco could see him. As soon as he saw them disappear, however, he let the Gryffindor mask finally drop.
He hadn't gotten a chance to test his magic or look up any of the things he had planned to do, but he barely had now, not when Godric's birthday was so close. There was also only a couple weeks left before he would be heading back to school, and the only thing that he couldn't do at school was find his daggers.
Harry needed his daggers; needed them for the protection they gave and for cutting. He still cut at night, when the fears and worries overwhelmed him. The dagger that Harry used was very nice and all, but it was just another dagger; it didn't have quite that specialness that Salazar's daggers had.
Harry had a friend now, but he was sure that Draco would abandon him when he remembered. Fawkes and Harry were friendly, sure, but Fawkes wasn't quite Harry's friend. Hedwig was loyal, but she wasn't enough, no matter how hard she tried.
-Do you need something, Lord Slytherin?- Asked a voice from right behind him. Harry spun around, but relaxed when he saw it was Thermuthis. Harry was, by now, extremely annoyed. That made it, what, eighteen times in the last month or so? How was everybody managing to sneak up on him like that?
Harry sighed, he knew the answer. His mind needed more sorting; only memories and facts had been done so far. He still needed to balance out the two lives to get control over his magic and habits. Harry mentally filed it away with the to-do list.
-I…Have you seen my daggers?- Harry asked.
The snake sighed, -Salazar, you need to give up that dangerous habit.-
-I know,- Harry said, -But I can't Ther, it doesn't work like that.-
Ther looked at him sadly, -I was assigned to watch over your daggers, to give them to you if you ever returned. I have to give them back, but please be careful, Salazar.-
-I will,- Harry said. Ther twisted into a tight coil and then unwrapped, now coiled tightly around two long daggers and three shorter ones. Harry took them from her. –Thank you, Ther,- Harry said, running his hand along the familiar daggers.
Ther suddenly stiffened, -They're home.-
-Already?- Harry asked in surprise. He heard nearby footsteps and swore loudly in Parseltongue.
-Salazar,- Ther said disapprovingly as Harry threw the daggers into the trunk, in his haste forgetting to renew the illusion charm on it. Harry dove onto the bed, slipping on a casual Gryffindor mask in record time.
-Can you pretend that we've been talking for a while?- Harry hissed pleadingly.
Ther rolled her eyes, -Fine, what should we be pretending to talk about?-
Harry blinked, -Does it matter? I mean, it's not as if they could understand us.-
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," Snape said outside the room. Harry mentally giggled at hearing Snape say such a ridiculous word but then stopped. Since when did he giggle? Those disgustingly Gryffindorish habits were rubbing off on him.
-How did you come up with such a ridiculous password?- Ther asked as the door swung open.
-It's a word from a Muggle's children's movie,- Harry said.
-What's a movie?- Ther asked.
-I'll tell you later…- He pretended to notice Snape and Draco for the first time, "Aren't you back a little early?"
"If you must know, Potter, there was only one store that had a chance at having the ingredient that I was looking for, and they didn't," Snape asked.
"What ingredient?" Harry asked curiously.
"Runespoor venom," Snape replied sourly. Harry had to stop himself from wincing sympathetically (another Gryffindorish habit!). Runespoor venom was notorious for being a hard to get potion ingredient. Salazar himself didn't have nearly as much trouble getting it as anyone else, as he was a Parseltongue and it was relatively easy to get it himself.
"Runespoor as in that type of snake?" Harry asked, pointing to the picture on the wall.
"Yes, Potter," Snape said impatiently. He had evidently become bored of the conversation, as he turned and left, presumably to one of the potions labs.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Snape was headed, not to the potions labs as Harry had assumed, but towards the library. Once there, he took a book off of one of the shelves and flipped it open, flipping through the pages and obviously looking for something.
He had almost given up, when a picture caught his eye. In it was a green trunk with silver decorations that turned out to be, on closer examination, snakes.
Item: Trunk
Description: Green with silver snake decorations and fastenings; unopenable
Price Bought? Came with Snape Manor
Price Sold: 120 Galleons
Sold To: William Johnson (trunk maker)
Now that was interesting. Snape was almost positive that that was the same trunk that Potter had. Apparently, nobody could open it and it had been found in the same house they were staying in. How had Potter gotten it, or, more importantly, where or when had Potter gotten it?
Snape headed back down to the dungeons, lost in thought. Making potions was a relaxing activity that he usually did when he needed to think (or any other time, really). How, when, and where had Potter gotten the trunk? Was it coincidence?
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I hated this chapter (well, some parts of it), but the next chapter will be better; some things are actually going to happen!