Slytherins Secret

AN: Ummm I guess this needs some clarification, no Harry doesn't know about prongs, he's dreaming but I believe I mentioned something about the Pevrell connection and the white stag standing for the spirit and soul? Tried something a bit different here, let me know your thoughts?

Chapter 13: Thoughts on Harry

That night a great many people's thoughts were focused on one person, they thought of him by many names, 'that boy' The-Boy-Who-Lived, My Heir, Prongslett and even Harry, their trains of thought differed greatly, but their decisions could all have a great impact on him and for many the paths of destiny would change tonight.

It was long past midnight and the family had a busy day planned but Arthur Weasley was still awake, he glanced at his sleeping wife and wished he could talk this over with her, but he had promised confidentiality and would never go back on that. Besides, she couldn't protect her mind, the Unspeakables taught all department heads, but he was sworn not to reveal their methods. Unfortunately Molly can be a bit of a loose cannon, he mused silently, she'd either refuse to see the truth or go charging off with no plan, thus spreading things around; the poor boy might not have directly said so but I suspect he sees what I do, Dumbledore's fingers are all over this mess. He thumped his head gently against the headboard wondering what he could do to help the young man to whom he was doubly indebted, at the moment, all that came to mind was continuing to act as he currently was, whilst giving Harry his subtle support. Frustrated he lay back down and attempted to sleep, but sleep was a long time coming as he went over the implications of various easily dismissed comments his boys had made and Harry's own revelations.

In his filthy, freezing, cell somewhere in the North Sea, Sirius Black shifted in his sleep, he didn't know how long it had been since he was a free man and had long since lost the coherency necessary to contemplate the exact length of his incarceration. Instead, as was usual, he was dwelling on his greatest failure, the day his 'brilliant idea' cost him his best friend and brother and his wife. Abruptly the thoughts which had been looping since shortly before his incarceration were disturbed, he felt a familiar presence giving of a feeling of acceptance and forgiveness, a tiny smile tried to form on a mouth that had made nothing but whimpers and sobs in twelve years and he whispered inaudibly "Prongs" as tears ran silently down his cheeks. Days later Minister Fudge would be shocked into compliance by the apparent sanity of a man whose mind had long been considered lost to the ravages of the Dementors and a plan would hatch from the kernel of sanity protected through the long years by Padfoot's existence.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Oder of Merlin First class, Supreme Mugwump , Chief Warlock, Headmaster of Hogwarts and all round hero, the greatest wizard the Light had seen since Merlin himself, was sitting in his office preparing for a long summer of politicking and mentally patting himself on the back. Little Harry was such a good biddable child, he really was proud of the work he'd done at the Dursley's, that aversion ward he'd had tied into the blood protections was a work of genius (and easily passed off as a method of hiding him from the remaining Death Eaters) the various bindings and restrictions he himself had added to the boy were combining nicely with the spells set on his home to create exactly the humble, self-sacrificing, suggestible, little sacrificial hero he needed. Oh it was a shame that the boy had to die, after all James and Lilly were such good children and the loss of the Potter bloodline would be a blow, but since the boy had to go it might as well be by Albus' carefully orchestrated script. If all of the variables played out as he hoped he'd even be able to keep to bloodline alive after the boy's sad death and possibly gain control over the Potter estate in the process, this magical problem the boy had developed would cause some hiccups with his usual means of monitoring the boy until he returned for the next year, but it would pay unexpected dividends in giving him a means to control Lupin's contact with the boy if he were left with no other options for Defence Professor. All in all, he thought to himself with a smug grin, the boy would happily give all he had then go willingly to his death for The Greater Good never suspecting that he might have a had a fuller and richer life before his ,sadly unavoidable, death. Content that his plans were all in place and that Harry would be safely returning home for a summer that would reinforce his desperate loyalty to the wizarding world Dumbledore began humming as he planned for the three week meeting of the international confederation of Wizards.

In her room just off of the medical wing Poppy Pomfrey stirred in her sleep and rolled over, she had been losing sleep and gaining more weight than was really healthy over the last year as she tried to think of a way to help Harry, now that she had a plan she could finally sleep without her conscience weighing her down. She had made the long term arrangements necessary to flee to America if Harry could not convince the Dursleys to sign the custody papers and if they could not find another way to protect him, but she had every confidence in the boy's ability to talk his way out of trouble! Harry reminded her of her youngest nephew, she knew that he had secrets within secrets, something more than the story he had told had occurred down in that chamber, whether it was just information or something more remained to be seen, she hoped she had been supportive enough that if it were dangerous he would have told her, but the sudden revelation of the Dobby and his closed doors meeting with Mr Weasley tipped her off to the lack of full disclosure. She smiled and muttered something, slipping into a deeper sleep, content in the knowledge that she had not betrayed the spirits of James and Lilly.

Ron rolled over in his sleep glad to be back at the burrow after a stressful year at school, he felt bad for Harry having to go back to a dull muggle house with people who didn't really seem to like him much, but he was sure he'd be fine, after all last year he only had problems because of that crazy house-elf right? Worry over, Ron's mind turned from thinking directly about his best mate to the discussion that they had had about the electives, he'd spoken to Professor McGonagall like Harry and had written a letter to his parents, but he still wasn't sure of the best route. At the moment he was signed up for Care and Arithmancy but he thought he might switch to Divination if Arithmancy seemed too hard. McGonagall had seemed disapproving over his original choice of Divination and had appeared relieved when he asked to switch, praising him for making the decision nice and early, he supposed that meant he should stick with it, he was also going to independently study for Muggle Studies and take the OWL if he felt that he could get and Acceptable or better, a plan which had made his Dad happy.

Hermione wasn't sleeping yet, she'd missed so much school! If she wanted to take all of the electives next year she had better ace the placement tests McGonagall was having her take in a month, she wasn't supposed to know about Harry's offer of tutoring and certainly wasn't sure about how she felt over taking his money, but she really hoped he was able to make some money from the basilisk. Oh she doubted the horrible thing was as large as he described it, fear can do strange things to your perceptions after all, and there was no proof that basilisks could live to be more than a few centuries so it was likely hatched by Voldemort when he was at school. Six years was plenty of time for it to have developed the lethal stare that killed Myrtle and a 60 year old basilisk would still be about 20 feet give how fast they grew in the first century. Despite that, there ought to be enough money from it to pay for a tutor, a mind healer and still leave Harry something and she doubted the other petrified students would turn him down, so there really was no reason for her to disadvantage himself. She hoped the silly boy would buy some decent clothes with the money, she understood that since he had wizard clothes the Dursleys just gave him second hand muggle clothes for when he did messy things at school but they seemed unable to understand that their son was overweight and taller than Harry, and the silly boy never brought his good clothes with him to the Burrow last year. Oh she'd heard that stupid story the Weasley boys had told about pulling bars off of his window and fleeing in the night but would hardly credit their tall tales, they had probably broken a safety lock, after all Muggles didn't lock children up behind bars!

Pettigrew slumbered peacefully dreaming of the day that he would gain concrete evidence of his lord's whereabouts and gain the power he so desperately craved, if only he had realised last year! The master would reward him handsomely if he arrived with the damn Potter boy, yes James Potter really would be his ticket to greatness, just not the way Peter had originally intended.

Neville woke with a start and glanced at Harry's closed curtains, nothing had changed but he felt that Harry was no longer in the room and wondered where he had gone to. Shrugging his shoulders he decided to give his Godbrother some privacy, after all, if he didn't know that Harry was out after curfew then he couldn't accidentally reveal it. His mouth firmed in determination, Harry was returning to the muggles and now that Neville new why he hadn't responded to his apologetic letter last summer, he was determined to stay in touch and maybe meet up. He didn't have many friends and, thinking about it, neither did Harry, perhaps they could have a joint birthday party, the Dursleys certainly wouldn't want a bunch of wizarding kids at their house. He thought about Harry's reasons for picking his electives and decided that picking the ones the required the least magic might not be the best method, perhaps he'd read up on Runes and Arithmancy, he'd need at least an OWL in Runes to get anywhere with Herbology, perhaps he should talk to his Gran?

Vernon Dursley was snoring loudly but his mind was grumbling even as he slept, the ungrateful freak would be back soon after breaking out last year in that unnatural car, well he'd teach the brat, there would be no funny business, no sir! Besides Marge would be coming to stay and the freaks didn't like normal people knowing about their unnaturalness so the boy would have to behave. Pet had been talking about Dudley's weight and how the buy needed to go on a diet, she had even hinted that perhaps he himself was carrying a bit too much weight! The whole idea was preposterous of course, but he hoped the return of the unwelcome brat would divert her from her silly notions, salad was no fit meal for a man.

In Hogwarts dungeons that Statue which currently help an imprint of Salazar Slytherin could not truly sleep, instead the spirit was mediating on the boy who's desperate situation had activated hi last safety measure. His new Heir was…pleasing to the spirit, cunning and ambitious without allowing those traits to cloud his considerable intellect and moral fibre. The state of his house was a disgrace, but what were the children in it to do? They were hated and reviled by ¾ of the population and brainwashed by their parents then treated differently by every alternative role model they came across, whilst being educated in a very linear unquestioning way at Hogwarts! His Heir would be unable to change this immediately but perhaps as their plans progressed…

Through all of this Harry slept, soundly dreaming of a white stag that spoke of things his waking mind would not recall.