Previous Chapter - Ron is worried that his friendship with Millie will bring him into conflict with his mother's' wishes. Harry is followed by two wizards from King's Cross to Privet Drive. Afterwards he spends time reading through one of his mother's journals and discusses his family's friends with Tom. The next day a disguised Harry catches the train back to London.

Chapter 16 - Tom's Cupboard

The walk through Diagon Alley was happily uneventful. Harry enjoyed the anonymity that the disguise and glamours provided. He ignored Tom's continual prodding and spent half an hour browsing the goods at Quality Quidditch Supplies before leaving that shop. He took with him a few magazines but resisted purchasing anything else as it had been made pretty obvious to him that a few of his friends and teammates were planning on buying him quidditch related Christmas presents.

When he finished his walk of Diagon Alley he turned into the narrow lane a little past Ollivander's. The tiny street sign attached to the a small second hand clothing store was too faded to read but Tom had already told Harry than it once read Hazel Lane. The numbering of the small apartments and offices that lined the lane followed no pattern that Harry could discern, but it still took no time at all to find his destination, Hook and Jingle's Affordable Lodgings. Harry guessed magic was involved, as the copper nameplate was surprisingly easily to read despite being dark and pitted with age. The building itself was just as worn, but still solidly built. It had three stories but, with each a little shorter than the previous, it was only a little taller than the adjacent buildings, both each a story less.

He ignored the brass bell and used a simple unlocking charm to bypass the weak protections on the public door. He walked past the simple door marked office and along the narrow hall up the even narrower stairs. He climbed two flights, which certainly wasn't high enough to clear the top of the hall but still put him on the next floor. He walked down another small hall, took the first right and was presented with a hall so narrow that he could easily touch both walls with his elbows without stretching. Midway down the hall two doors stood facing each other. The end of the hall was blank except for a tiny dusty window near the roof.

"This is the place Tom?"

'Yes.'

"Which door?"

'Neither.'

"What?"

'Think of it as a test Harry. If you can't find my hideout and gain entrance with everything I have taught you, then you are not ready for what is inside. We will have to find alternate accommodation.'

"But..."

'You are wasting time, Harry.'

Harry closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths and pictured the hallway in his mind.

"Okay. Well it's too long for anything but the most general magical detection spells so let's break it down. Two doors, wall before and after each door and at the end. Roof and floor which I will separate into three sections, before doors, between doors and after doors. That's... Twelve plus the end, thirteen areas."

Tom didn't make any comment so Harry imagined a piece of parchment and a quill and had it write down the side a list of numbers from one to thirteen. Even since Tom had taught him that little mental trick he had made use of it to keep track of many things.

He almost started casting the detection spells before he realised his position and quickly put on a notice-me-not charm, a simple sound ward behind him and a few alert wards on the two doors and the hall behind him.

'Those really should have been your first actions, Harry.'

Harry sighed, he wanted to say something about not expecting a test but he knew that Tom was right. Another few deep breaths were followed by three broad magical detection charms, covering magical concentrations, wards and notice-me-nots. Then, area by area, he cast the three more focused detection spells until he finished with the end wall. After casting each spell he made a simple scratch next to a number. Three scratches and he moved to the next.

"Nothing, Tom. A few alerts and locks on the door. Faded cleaning charms. Just... eh... I must have made a mistake. Missed one area." Harry was looking at his mental list which showed twelve rows of three scratches next to the thirteen numbers.

Sighing he scribbled across the scratches and started afresh to their right. Being more familiar with the enchantments on the doors and walls it took less time to recast the charms and, once again, Harry found himself looking at twelve rows of scratches.

"I miscounted again. Must be more tired than I thought." Harry rubbed his eyes, stared down the hall and started planning what other detection spells to cast. He tried to work out what other spells could be useful but he just couldn't seem to forget about the miscount.

He looked down the hall and pointing his finger started counting the areas, "... 9, 10, 11, 12. I must have made a mistake when I visualised it."

He closed his eyes and created a small model of the hallway and marked the surfaces. "... 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. What the hell?"

He repeated the exercise twice more before he was sure that if he counted the surfaces with his eyes open he only got twelve, but with them closed he got thirteen.

"What's going on, Tom?"

'Work it out, Harry.'

"If I didn't know better I would think there was a notice-me-not on one of those sections. But I've already eliminated that. It couldn't be a fidelius charm because I wouldn't be able to notice anything wrong without a hint of the secret and it feeling wrong. It couldn't be a compulsion because I would have felt it on my shields." Harry paused, that last statement felt slightly wrong.

He cast a charm to detect compulsions and was very surprised to see everything become tinted.

"How is that possible? I didn't feel a thing. I thought you told me that my shields were good enough that there wasn't a compulsion that could get past without me being aware?"

'I did.'

"Then how... oh... it didn't get past my shields." Harry smiled and cast a counter and watched the tint fade away. He cancelled his charm and started counting areas again. He gritted his teeth when he got twelve again. Recasting his detection charm the tint returned, but now he had worked it out. It took only a few more moments to erect a simple ward against compulsions on his eyes and finite it again before finally he was able to count the section of wall past the right door.

"Very tricky. I haven't read about anything like that."

'And I hope you never will. I was very proud of that piece of magic. I spent hundreds of hours after leaving Hogwarts researching compulsion charms. I doubt there is anyone alive that can match my skill in that particular area. I will teach you, but I never wrote nor ever will write what I learn down and ask that you do likewise. They are too easy to abuse which, sadly, was the entire reason why I studied them so thoroughly.'

It took only a few more minutes to break the simple chameleon charm on the cupboard doors at the end of the hall and recast it so that only he could see through it. The runes to keep it active were already there so he just recharged them. Harry could see at a glance that the compulsion charm that forced viewers' eyes to skip over the section was beyond his ability to modify or recast, so he just endeavoured to remember to cast the counter each time he returned to this hall.

He was surprised to find that, apart from the charm and the chameleon charm, there were no wards, charms or any sort of traps on the door. He questioned Tom on this.

'Why do you think that may be, Harry?'

It took Harry a moment before he understood, "Because their magic would weaken the effectiveness of the compulsion and chameleon charms."

'Very good.'

Harry still was very cautious in opening the door. A physical and magic shield went up first and then he conjured a spectral hand to first open the right side and then the left side of the cupboard doors. The ghostly hand he allowed to float idly by as he looked in to see a clothing rail with a number of old cloaks hanging from it. A bucket and mop leaned to one side and a box of cleaning supplies sat innocently in the middle of the floor.

This time he instantly felt the compulsion as it touched his shields. There was a need for him to shift the cloaks to the side. It started subtly and, when that failed it, suddenly increased in strength massively. Harry was stunned by its power and went down on one knee as he poured all his strength into his shields. He was very glad he had been standing a few feet from the doors, as it would have been too easy to accidentally topple into the cloaks. He allowed his consciousness to retreat behind his shields. It took him a moment before he had gathered his wits and turned his attention to the walls. Pleased that everything was holding he added a simple shield, a floating hand, designed to just block out that one particular spell. Once done he let his attention return to the cupboard. He could still sense the compulsion, but it was now beating ineffectually against the ghostly hand inside his mind. He was amused to realise that the hand he created in his mind was identical to the one he still had floating beside him.

A few simple detection spells later and the cloaks, box, broom and bucket were all glowing a sickly green.

"Poisoned, but not a colour I recognise. What would have happened if I touched any of those?"

'A painful death, more than likely. I seem to remember coming up with a potential antidote but due to the scarcity of certain ingredients I never bothered testing it. The poison is snake venom imbibed with an extremely dark curse.'

"How is such a thing made?"

'Through a very dark process that I plan to take to the grave with me and hope that it is never rediscovered. I will however teach you what I worked out about cures to such dark magic when you are advanced enough in potions and transfiguration.'

Harry almost asked what did transfiguration have to do with poisons and antidotes but realised exactly what kind of answer Tom would have given him: when you're advanced enough you might be able to understand.

A few minutes later he moved the cloaks and box aside with his ghostly helping hand magic and started casting detection spells on the back of the cupboard. He moaned when he saw just how many Tom had layered there.

"Do I have to break all of them?"

Tom sighed, 'Probably, the password is in Parseltongue and I don't believe it's possible for you to learn the language of snakes even if I could speak it aloud.'

"Do I have to know the language to speak the password? "

'More than likely. Parseltongue is the language of snakes, magic part of every word. The password is all will bow and you are welcome to try saying it.' Harry wondered why Tom had said the password with a strange accent.

Harry nodded, "Okay, so what does it sound like in parseltongue?"

There was a pause before Tom asked, You can understand me?

Harry shrugged, "Sure, the accent isn't that strong."

Tom said a few words in a strange language, 'Jūs varat saprast?'

"That's the password?"

'No, that was Latvian. How is it that parseltongue sounds like English to you?"

Harry shrugged a little confused.

'Close up here. We need to go purchase a magical snake before we go any further.' Tom's tone held a mixture of excitement and confusion.

Ten minutes later a still confused Harry, after returning the entrance to Tom's Hideout back to it's original state, had made his way to The Magical Menagerie. He had briefly contemplated entering during his walk up the street but Tom had been getting overly insistent about hurrying up at that time.

'Purchase the small green striped snake. It's only mildly magical but will do fine for what we need.'

Harry peered at the little snake. He had only just walked to the glass cages of snakes and hadn't even had time to start reading all the labels. A short while later and a few galleons poorer Harry was crouched at the end of an alley behind a powerful notice me not unwrapping the glass cage with the little snake inside.

The snake hissed at Harry, I'm hungry, human.

Harry almost dropped the cage, "I understood that!"

Tom's voice was very pleased, 'Surprising, but very good. Try speaking to it.'

Harry blinked a couple of times then pulled out one of the other packages he had bought, I have some miniature mice, will they be okay?

The snake reared back in surprise, You are a speaker!

Harry was likewise surprised, You can understand English?

I can learn if you teach me, master., replied the snake.

But…

Tom interrupted him, 'You are speaking Parseltongue, Harry. It just sounds like English to you. It works similar to a translation charm, in that what you hear and say seems to you just like your native language, though others hear something different. I will teach you how to choose which language to use and ,with practice, you will also be able to hear the actual sounds you and the snakes make. However, for the moment, with the help of that snake you should be able to enter my hideout with tearing down all my wards. It's time to return.'

Harry was having trouble taking it all in, so he just followed Tom's suggestion.

As he rewrapped the cage he explained his actions to the little snake, I'm going to go to my new home ,so I'll just wrap you up till we get there.

The snake hissed, Where will I go master? If you keep me, I'll make a good companion.

Harry had almost finished the rewrapping before he replied, I think I'd like that.

As he headed back towards Hazel Lane he remembered something and, rolling his eyes, he asked, "All will bow?"

'I know. Terrible! I'll show you how to change it and how to set the wards to alert you if anyone attempts to open it.'

-my-friend-tom-

Unlike the hallway and staircase, which had been lit by ancient gas lamps with yellowing and fading lumus charms, the room beyond the cupboard was brightly lit. Harry had to blink and look down which was when he noticed that, even with the cupboard door open, the light did not spill into the hall. He made a mental note to learn the charm responsible for that piece of trickery.

After his eyes had adjusted to the light, he looked around for the light source but wasn't able to find any.

'You expected a dark and dingy hideout? This is where I spent many years studying. Good light is essential to concentration, so I incorporated a radiance charm into the roof ward.'

Harry nodded and let his gaze fall from the roof as he entered the hideout properly. The area in which he now stood in was roughly squarish, with a scattering of mismatched furniture. Half of one wall opened up into a small kitchenette. A partially opened door nearby led to a small bathroom.

The walls were buried beneath layers of posters, pictures, maps, lists, notes and diagrams. The posters drew his eye, the biggest was one of Hogwarts taken from the air, the clouds flickered strangely as the point of view jerkily moved around the castle. Harry presumed the strange moment was due to faded animation charms. Still, the poster brought a smile to his face.

'Hogwarts was the closest thing to a home that I ever had. I'll teach you how to recharge the charm later. The poster is even more impressive when everything is moving properly.'

"Thanks. What are all the maps for?"

'Many are related to my search for founders' artefacts. I also continued my research into dark creatures whilst I was here. The maps are related to my search for them. The diagrams and many of the lists are on how to control them.'

Harry pointed at a collection of drawings of floating black robed figures. The pictures all seemed to exude an aura of menace, "Some of the dark creatures you were looking for?"

'Those are Dementors. I already knew where to find those, but learning to communicate and bargain with them came later. Very unpleasant creatures they are, feed on negative emotions which they force their victims to experience. Very hard to defend against and even harder to control. The ministry probably still believes they control them.'

Harry turned his attention from the walls. He guessed it would take hours, if not days, to examine all the pieces of paper Tom had left there.

In the middle of the room was a large heavy table. A small number of thin books was stacked in one corner. A tall and narrow bookcase opposite the kitchen was filled with books, magazines and strange knick knacks. In one corner of the room was a shrunken four poster bed, currently only big enough for a toy. A miniature trunk sat at the foot of it. A second normal sized trunk rested nearer the small kitchen area.

'I only trapped the stack of books on the table and the two trunks, however it's been many years and magic will do as it chooses so I would suggest you check everything first. My wards to preserve this room have not been maintained in thirty years.'

So Harry proceeded to check and clean the room. There was surprisingly little dust or dirt in the room however the stasis charms on the food within the pantry had long gone and he needed to use many vanishing and cleaning spells before he was able to safely cancel his hastily cast air freshening charm.

By the time he had finished cleaning the room and recharging the wards Harry was getting a little tired. It had taken rather a lot of magic to get them all back to full power. He had been surprised to find any power in them at all.

'I attached the ward schemes for the room to that of the building. Just enough of a connection so that I could siphon off a little bit of power without it being easily detected. I was generous with feeding it power whilst I lived here, which is why they haven't all faded.'

"How long did you live here?"

'Around three years. Most of that time I worked at Borgin and Burkes. That enabled me to collect a selection of valuable objects. Some I bought, some I tricked their owners out, others I just outright stole. Many are in that large chest but are of no real interest, unless we need access to a little extra spending money. Apart from the books on the bookshelf ,the main things I want you to have are in the shrunken chest by the bed. Cancel the charm, but be careful, the bed is in the same charm and it does take up a fair amount of room.'

Harry stepped a little further from the bed and with a wave of his hand cancelled the charm. The bed and chest near exploded to their original size with a loud bang and Harry stumbled back in surprise swearing and reaching for his wand.

'Ha. Not to worry, this room is well soundproofed. Just be glad you recharged those runes first.'

"Why didn't you warn me that it'd be so violent? Why was it like that anyhow?"

'Half trap and half amusement. I'd actually forgotten I had modified my shrinking charm. It was forty years ago, Harry, and I did say to be careful.'

Harry frowned but didn't say anything more. He moved closer to the bed and cast detection charms on both the bed and trunk. That done he reaching for the trunk but paused just before he touched it, "You said both trunks were trapped but I didn't detect anything."

'Indeed.' Tom's voice was amused.

Harry crouched down beside the truck and examined it closely. It was a fairly basic trunk and looked like it had been owned by a number of people over the years. It had been repaired a number of times, sometimes well but usually not. It took him a few minutes to discover the small needle that was set to spring out when the latch was opened. Another minute to work out how to disarm it.

"Poison?"

'Once. Though nothing lethal and it would have long faded to nothing that would have caused more than a faint irritation. I added it during my fourth year as a final deterrent to a certain overly curious teacher.'

"This was your school trunk then." Harry added in understanding before opening it.

'Down the bottom you will see a set of school robes and a vest. Take those both out and I'll tell you about them.'

Harry extracted both items from under a selection of old clothes and laid them out on the bed before sitting down next to them. The robe looked just like his own except for the Slytherin trim and badge. The vest, however, was something very different. It was fashioned from five large overlapping panels of giant snake skin that were wrapped around a tube of black cloth and connected to two thick shoulder straps. The construction was rather crude but the thing had a special kind of beauty, the way the scales shimmered as it moved was almost mesmerizing.

'That there Harry is basilisk skin. Shaped from freely given and freshly shed skin and enchanted in that same hour by moonlight. It'll block most blades and cutting spells and many minor curses, it'll also dampen any physical blows and bludgeoning style curses. As is likely obvious I cut and crafted it myself. It would not have been wise to alert anyone to the knowledge that I had access to such a creature. Especially whilst I was at school.'

Harry run a hand across the material, "It's amazing. Where did you find a basilisk?"

Tom laughed, 'You'd never guess so I just have to let you in on a little secret. Under Hogwarts.'

Harry blinked surprised but not doubting Tom's honesty, "Under? There used to be a Basilisk living under Hogwarts?"

'Not used to Harry. I'm sure she still is. She often hibernates for decades or centuries at a time. As a Parseltongue you should be safe to visit her though I suggest we further examine your grasp of the language before we risk a journey down to her home.'

Harry just nodded as he continued to look upon and touch the vest.

'Put it on, Harry. The silk underlining stretches and is charmed to be comfortable against the skin. I'd like you to wear it all the time. It's designed to be near invisible under normal clothes.'

As Harry started disrobing he asked, "Why did you stop wearing it?"

'I replaced it with a better crafted one not long after I left Hogwarts and then many years later I used rituals to increase the natural resistance of my skin and no longer needed the additional protection. I don't recall where I left the other vest though it probably wouldn't fit you anyhow.'

Harry slipped out of his t-shirt and pulled the vest on over his head. As Tom had said the silk stretched and the panels shifted as he wiggled his arms and neck though the holes. It was incredibly comfortable and did almost feel like a second skin. Each panel went about two fifths of the way around his body, giving each part of his torso two layers of protection. The basilisk skin didn't stretch much but the panels slid easily on top of each other so it didn't hinder his flexibility noticeably.

"Wow! Thanks, Tom. This is excellent."

'You are welcome, Harry. Now cover it up with a t-shirt and your jacket and then put on the robe. It's time to go get some lunch.'

"You want me to wear a Hogwarts Slytherin uniform out on the street?" Harry was a little confused. He didn't think he could pass as a Slytherin and his current identity was a few years past Hogwarts age.

'Not at all. The robe has many enchantments added to it. Put it on and I'll teach you about them. You will need to recharge them all though. They were never designed to last this long. They are rune based so you can recharge them without actually needing to learn how to cast or create them.'

Harry slipped on the heavy robe. It was too long, uncomfortably heavy and there seemed to be strange textures within the actual material. He also noted that, unlike his typical robes, it was hooded.

"It's not very comfortable."

'I am not surprised. Feel the material. Tell me what you think.'

Harry run his hands across the material. It looked flat on both the inside and outside but there did seem to be some strange texture inside it. Pressing it against one hand he started tracing shapes with his hand. It didn't take too long before he exclaimed, "Runes! The runes are actually inside it."

'Indeed. Actually all wizarding robes have runes incorporated into the design, or at least they should. In ages past robes were the number one defensive tool of the wizard. Months went into the enchanting of robes and powerful wizards would wear robes literally covered in runes and protective charms. Hence the tradition of wearing such bulky clothes, they cover the largest amount of body which allows a single charm to offer almost total protection. They are also large enough to accept the most powerful enchantments. Of course these days robes are just seen as a fashion item and, apart from a few comfort and self maintenance charms, few are able to stop more than a dull butter knife.'

Harry was still tracing the invisible runes with his finger. "But this one is better than that."

'Indeed. I spent many hours crafting the runes within the layered material. An older girl at Hogwarts with superb needlework skills embroidered them for me in exchange for certain favours. Later I took away her memory of what she actually did for me though I did allow her to keep the payment. For the moment I want you to charge the runes, claim its ownership and then command it to resize itself to you and lose its Slytherin markings. It's capable of imitating any of the houses. A feature I rarely used but I am now glad I added. It'll also become a lot lighter and more flexible once the runes are charged.'

"Then lunch?"

'Then lunch.'

Author Notes: Keep those reviews/comments coming. I do read and enjoy them all. I try to answer as many questions as I am able to though sometimes a chapter or two (or three) may pass before I get to them. Also if you would like a private message rather than having just having my reply posted to the forum add a 'pm pls' at the end of your review.

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Thanks again to Aletheya who is able to banish the errors I cast at her.