A/N: I'm writing this chapter directly after I finished the first chapter so that it's all fresh in my brain. Thank you guys so much for the great reception to this story! I understand that I'm writing in one of the most written in sections of FFN and so it's hard to pick up traction, but 100 views for the first chapter in a day is really good, so thank you guys! Unlike my other stories, I'm determined to actually get through this one, so I'll make sure to update it as much as possible without burning out.

-§§-

"Normal Talking"

'Normal Thinking/Think Talking' (Like mental conversations.)

"§Parseltongue§"

"Big Monster/Booming Voice Talking"

'Big Monster Thinking'

I know it's goofy but below is the line break, I'm a goofy man:

-§Sserpentss§-

Chapter 2: The Path Begins

-§Sserpentss§-

Waking up on the grey, stone floor of the Chamber of Secrets was not particularly pleasant for Harry. He was chilled to the bone, those very same bones throbbing in agony from being thrashed by the incredible basilisk. Said basilisk's corpse lay unmoving about 20 feet away from Harry, a sword through its cranium. Looking around once more, Harry saw Ginny, with a lot more color in her skin, laying next to the nearly destroyed diary of Tom Riddle. That's good, he'd died when Harry pushed that basilisk fang through the diary. Looking down at his hand, Harry had the surprise of his life, but also the assurance that there was no dream, only reality.

Harry had pale hands. Not to the extent that it was unnatural, and not to the extent of Grindelwald's hands, but still much more pale than he had been. He reached for his hair, which was not obstructing his surprisingly crystal clear vision, and brought it to his eyes, noticing it was silky, straight, and white. He felt his face, which was now thinner, his cheekbones higher and his jawline much more defined. Grindelwald certainly wasn't lying, he felt much better than ever before! Looking down further, Harry noticed that the exposed part of his stomach had defined abs. His chest felt much more firm, and his arms felt strong. He was strong, but not bulky. He was lean, but not weak. He was the perfect build for a wizard, muscle built perfectly for speed. He also felt that he could remember things much better, and noticed that his Occlumency shields weren't up, and fixed them into place.

Wait, Occlumency shields? 'How do I know what those are?' Harry asked himself. Oh wait, Grindelwald had also explained that to him. He supposed he should probably get started on what he had been told to do. He needed to get his wand, Ginny, the diary, the sword, and Kraz out of here as soon as possible. Looking down at his hand again, he remembered what the Kraz had said about the beautiful Hogwarts ring. He willed it to disappear, and it did. He was stunned out of his reverie of the ring's disappearance by Kraz.

"Harry, you can summon the Sword of Gryffindor by will. Simply summon the sheath and use the leather straps that come with the sheath to put it on your back, that way you'll have enough room for everything." Kraz explained, Harry nodding along with that. Seemed like a good idea, after all he didn't have enough hands to carry it all. Thinking 'Sword of Gryffindor and sheath' with the intent of it appearing, the legendary weapon appeared in his hand with the sheath already on. Harry thought that was extraordinary. Wait, when had he started using that word? Ah yes, the mental and magical blocks caused by the charms, wards, and Horcrux were all gone, meaning he could think clearly.

Putting the Sword of Gryffindor on his back, he picked up Kraz in his left hand and swung him onto his head, moving for his wand. Picking it up, he had the small revelation that the wand felt different in his hands. Wrong. It felt like it was no longer his wand. Sure, it still had power, and sure, he could still use it, but it did not feel like it belonged to him.

'That is because you changed, Harry. After your conversation with your grandfather, don't worry, I won't tell, your goals and your views changed. With the removal of the Horcrux and the charms and wards, your mind has changed, making you calmer, more Slytherin like. Now you truly belong in Slytherin, even though I already re-sorted you.' Right, he had been resorted into Slytherin. He wondered how that git Malfoy would react, how Dumbledore would react. He groaned when he realized that he would have Snape as his head of house, and felt sad when he knew he would have to play Quidditch against the Gryffindors. However, that was one of the least of his problems. He would have to deal with the questions brought by Dumbledore about his Occlumency barriers. Kraz spoke up about this again.

'Harry, some people have natural Occlumency barriers, and they are extremely strong. The only reason that I'm getting through yours now is because you trust me and wish me to be able to talk to you. If you actively block Dumbledore out, and I simply say that I can break through any Occlumency, he will be convinced. You still need to be clueless about the Occlumency arts however, or at least act like you are.' Kraz explained. Harry thought that was a splendid idea. Moving yet again, he regally glided toward Ginny and the diary, picking it up and putting it in his pocket while he picked Ginny up bridal-style. Walking through the entrance, Harry looked back at the large chamber and made sure nobody but him would be able to get in. "§Close.§" Harry hissed, and the door closed. He kept moving, and eventually heard voices through the rock wall.

"HELLOO, HARRY?" Harry heard Ron asking for him. He simply replied, amplifying his voice without magic.

"I'm here Ron, on the other side of the rocks!"

"Have you got Ginny?" Ron asked desperately. No matter how annoying and no matter how many times he was pestered by her, Ginny was his sister and he cared for her more than the majority of things in the world.

"Yes, Ron. I have Ginny. I have quite the story to tell you." Harry stated. During this exchange, he was also listening to Kraz. Kraz was teaching him how to use the Bombarda spell to get out. "I need you to move back as far as you can Ron. I'm going to blow these rocks to kingdom come!"

"ALRIGHT HARRY, I'M ON THE WALL WITH LOCKHART!"

Harry grinned viciously. "FIRE IN THE HOLE! BOMBARDA!" Harry yelled, flicking his wand at the rocks. The rocks turned to dust, leaving a path for him to get to Ron and Lockhart. Lockhart was blubbering, and Ron was astounded. Then, Ron looked at Harry.

"Who are you?" Ron asked, a bit frightful and a bit curious.

"I'm Harry, of course!" Harry replied cheerfully. "I'll explain fully later, but it is a long story that I'd rather not repeat more than once." Harry finished, which stunned Ron. Harry had white hair now? And when did he become so... well he didn't want to say attractive because he still swung straightly, but that was really the only way to describe Harry. He also seemed to have a more regal air about him.

Swinging his head towards the tunnel that they entered from, Harry realized something he should have thought of before. "Hey Ron?" Harry asked.

"Yea Harry?"

"Do you really think that Salzar Slytherin himself would slide down a tunnel to get to his own chamber?"

"No?"

"Exactly, Ron." Harry replied, and switched to Parseltongue. "§Stairs.§" Suddenly, Harry and Ron heard thunking sounds coming from above, and soon they saw stairs sliding out from the side of the way in. The stairs finally stopped appearing, and they both walked up them, with Ron guiding Lockhart up them and Harry carrying Ginny. Reaching the top and stepping out of the sink entrance, they had Moaning Myrtle greeting them.

"Hello sir, who are you?"

"Oh is this going to become a thing? I'm Harry, and I'm not going to stop being Harry. By the way, I killed the basilisk that killed you and resolved the situation, thank you for the help Mrytle." Harry spoke to Myrtle, and she gasped. She started flying around fast, giggling the whole way.

"Yay! Harry killed my killer! Harry killed my killer!" She kept repeating, and suddenly dove into her toilet. Harry shrugged, and closed the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets when Ron and Lockhart got through. Harry strode towards the entrance to the bathroom, Ron following him, and Harry maneuvered his hand to be able to open the door. He glided quickly through the halls, many of the students looking at him funny or asking who he was, and he answered honestly every time. "Harry Potter," he would say, and either he would be discarded or stared at with wide eyes. Finally reaching the gargoyle that guarded the headmaster's office, he remembered the password for this month and said it quietly. "Lemon Drop."

The gargoyle moved and made way for a staircase, which Harry and Ron moved up. Walking up the stairs deliberately, Harry barely made a sound while Ron and Lockhart were both moving rather loudly. Finally reaching the door to the office of Dumbledore, Harry knocked twice on the ornate door. It had the carvings of all four houses as well as the Hogwarts logo. It also had a magical plaque for the name, just like all other teacher's offices, that said "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."

A muffled voice came from beyond the door, old and gentle. "Come in!" it said, firm but kind. Harry opened the door, unsurprised to see the headmaster working away at documents. Harry cleared his throat, causing the headmaster to glance up, look down, and then do a quick double take. "Harry? Is that really you? Why do you look like that? Ronald? Is that the missing student? Is this what Fawkes was talking about?" Dumbledore questioned, spitting questions at an incredible speed for one so old.

'Ah, that's what I missed when I woke up, Fawkes was gone.' Harry thought.

"Well sir, to explain the situation simply, Me, Ron, and Lockhart went into the Chamber of secrets." Harry began his tale of lies. Dumbledore leaned forward at this, but did not speak. "Lockhart said something about this being "his story" and tried to obliviate us with Ron's wand. Lucky us Ron's wand was broken, since instead of obliviating us he did it to himself. As you can see, he's a blubbering mess." Harry continued, Dumbledore looking to Lockhart and seeing him mumbling under his breath. Dumbledore called a house elf to take Lockhart to the mental ward of the healing chambers. "Continue please, my boy." Dumbledore said gently.

"Well sir," Harry started again, "Lockhart flew back due to his obliviation and caused a large falling of rocks. I was the only one able to go, while an obliviated Lockhart and Ron were on the other side with the entrance. So I went deeper, and used Parseltongue to open the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. I walked all the way through the entrance area to a widened circular area that had a statue of Salzar Slytherin." Harry continued, getting a hum from Dumbledore. "I saw a sort of ghost there, coming out of a diary that Ginny was laying next to." With this, Harry laid Ginny on the guest couch, sitting down in one of the 2 chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk, Ron sitting next to his sister on the couch. "This ghost introduced himself to me as a man named Tom Marvolo Ridde." At this, Dumbledore's eyes widened and he sucked in some breath.

"Harry, do you realize who you met?" Dumbledore asked firmly.

"Yes, and I will get to that." Harry continued while Dumbledore moved back in his chair a bit. "He laid out his sinister bad guy plan, like every other dumb villain who decides that he should tell people his plan. He was planning on taking over Ginny's body, which would have transformed it into his own, and leaving Hogwarts to go lord over the world. I was confused at his words, so he explained his true self." Dumbledore widened his eyes a bit further, and leaned forward in his seat again, but said nothing. "He wrote his name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, in the air with my wand that he stole and then rearranged it. Tom Marvolo Riddle is an anagram for "I AM LORD VOLDEMORT" and it was quite frightening when I understood who he truly was."

"He then spoke in Parseltongue towards the statue of Salzar Slytherin. Slytherin's mouth opened, and a basilisk came through it." At this, both Ron and Dumbledore gasped, although Dumbledore's was less convincing. "It attacked me, and I ran. Soon, Fawkes, your phoenix, came to help me. With claw, he held the sorting hat and with the other claw he gouged out the eyes of the basilisk. Fawkes gave me the sorting hat and watched from the ceiling. From the sorting hat, I saw a metal handle, so I pulled and out came the Sword of Gryffindor." As a demonstration, Harry pulled the legendary weapon out of its sheath, demonstrating a couple of slashes and sheathing it again. "The sorting hat explained to me that I could always summon it to me wherever I am, as I was the sword's champion, the champion of Gryffindor." At this comment, Dumbledore smiled softly. "Long story short, I ran around a lot, and eventually got tired of fighting. The basilisk could still smell me, so I simply lunged at it at the same time it lunged at me." Harry was certain he got a reaction from that, and had to restrain from laughing.

"HARRY, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT! IT'S A BASILISK NOT A SNITCH!" Harry heard Ron yell, while Dumbledore was just frowning at him. Dumbledore certainly was calmer than Ron.

"What else was I supposed to do Ron, wait for it to kill me?"

"Well,-"

"Exactly." Harry interrupted. "As I was saying, and as you may be able to see on my face, the attack at the basilisk didn't go incredibly. As I pierced its brain with the Sword of Gryffindor, it clamped down on me. I was very lucky that the basilisk's venom only engaged when it reached my arm, or I would be braindead. Even then, I still came way too close to dying. The basilisk died, it's fang in my arm. I ripped the fang out, ran over to the diary, and slammed it into the diary, supposedly destroying the ghost of Voldemort." Ron flinched at the name, but said nothing. "I slumped onto the wall with the sorting hat in hand. Fawkes came over to help, and cried on my arm, helping to heal it. I noticed myself getting paler, and I succumbed to darkness." Fawkes hadn't truly cried on his arm while he was conscious, but that needed to remain a secret. Harry stopped, breathing deeply since he hadn't breathed for a while. This gave him time to process the looks on Dumbledore's face and on Ron's face. They were horrified, but Dumbledore's was also thoughtful.

Harry decided to continue now, after a couple seconds of getting his breath under control. "When I came to, my body, mind and magic was all different. My hair, skin, and face was what it is now, my body was more well built, my mind was a lot more clear, and my magic felt completely unrestrained." Dumbledore hid a frown at this. The only thing that could have done this was- "The sorting hat then explained a couple of things to me." Harry continued, startling Dumbledore out of his thoughts. "He explained to me that I was supposed to originally go into Slytherin, but that Gryffindor had been what I wanted due to my only friends being from there. Now, however, I needed to be in Slytherin, so he resorted me. I am now a Slytherin." Harry said, getting another reaction out of Ron, but silencing it quickly. Dumbledore was silent, but one could see in his eyes that he was shocked. Harry couldn't however, as he was avoiding Dumbledore's eyes. He didn't want to have to explain his Occlumency barriers.

"After that, I put the sorting hat on my head, grabbed the diary and put it in my pocket, summoned a sheath for the Sword of Gryffindor, and picked up Ginny. On the way to the rock barrier, the sorting hat taught me how to use the Bombarda spell." At this, Harry took the hat off his head and put it on the desk. "I used it, used Parseltongue to summon stairs for the chamber of secrets since I'm sure that Salzar Slytherin would never be caught sliding down a dirty hole in the ground to get to his own chamber, and me, Ron, and Lockhart all walked up it. I sealed the chamber, had a chat with that crazy ghost Myrtle, and came here. The groups of students that I passed on the way were very shocked at my appearance." At this, Dumbledore cursed internally. He couldn't very well cover up Harry's appearance now, he needed to simply accept it. In truth, Harry looked very similar to his grandfather. The slight differences were just age, height, eyes, and a couple of other features he got from Dorea and Lily.

"Well Harry," Dumbledore began, "it seems like you have had a very exciting day." Harry held a snort, that was an understatement. "I believe you and Ronald here should go see Madam Pomfrey in the healing chambers with Ginerva. It would be irresponsible of me as your headmaster to allow you to roam free with possible wounds. Off you go then!" Dumbledore finished cheerfully, hiding his stress.

"Alright headmaster, thank you." Harry said. Ron picked up Ginny, and the 3 of them started towards the healing chambers to get cleared.

-§Sserpentss§-

Today had been much more stressful than Harry had thought it would be. Lucius Malfoy had been a large surprise to see, especially as it had seemed like he had planned on Ginny dying. However, he was happy to have bonded Dobby to him, as now Henlein would have to do less work. On another note, Madam Pomfrey had cleared him quickly, but not quickly enough to make it to dinner. Lucky him that Madam Pomfrey was so nice, as she had dinner brought to him in bed. Harry had still had a broken right arm, and the scar in his head that had replaced his signature lightning bold was unable to be healed, and marred his face forever. The situation with him becoming a Slytherin had been put on hold. It had been a tiring night for Harry and Dumbledore made the decision not to tell anyone about the change, and that it would be handled tomorrow.

Laying in bed, Harry was not very tired. It had been a late start to the day, and it was not that late compared to when he woke up. He suddenly remembered what Grindelwald had said about coming to the Chamber of Secrets as soon as possible. As silently as possible, Harry swung open his curtains and off his bed, landing without a sound on the floor. Grabbing his invisibility cloak (1), he swung it on and creeped through the castle called Hogwarts. Halfway through his session of creeping, he saw Professor Snape patrolling and wished he was in the Chamber of Secrets right now while clenching his eyes and stopping his breathing. Suddenly, Harry felt like he was being squeezed all over. He hit the ground, barely managing to stay upright, and opened his eyes, realizing he was in the chamber next to the body of the basilisk.

'Oh,' Harry thought. 'I forgot that I could silently apparate.' He facepalmed, and then moved towards the mouth that the basilisk came from. He changed his language from English to Parseltongue, which he realized was like a switch in his brain, and hissed. "§Open, Lair of Salzar.§" This had a reaction quite different to the one that occurred when Tom summoned the basilisk. Instead of opening to the size of a basilisk, the mouth opened further, all the way to the ground. Almost squinting to see inside, Harry realized again that he didn't have to. His vision had been fixed, and his glasses had been destroyed when the basilisk gave him his new scar. Moving forward, Harry entered the mouth of Salzar Slytherin. The corridor was becoming more and more narrow, leading to a regularly sized door. When Harry got to the door, he hissed again while opening the door.

"§Close, Lair of Salzar.§" As he said that, Harry stepped inside of the room. Looking around, he noticed that he was in an entrance hall of sorts. There were 4 doors, 2 on the left and 2 on the right. They were all labeled. The first on the left was "Bathroom." The second on the left was "Bedroom." The first on the right was "Library," and the final door on the right was labeled "Storage." Harry thought it was a bit strange, but then again, this place was likely designed to be the living quarters for Salzar Slytherin, so it wouldn't be too far out of the ordinary. After finishing in the old bathroom, Harry walked towards the Library room.

Opening the door to the library felt like opening a Christmas, no, a Yule present. Harry had been reading up on wizarding tradition, since being is Slytherin meant a lot of purebloods. This massive library would certainly help him. It had 2 layers, and a large staircase in the middle. The room was at least 20 or 30 feet from the center in all directions. The shelves were double his height on just the first floor, and each shelf had a label such as charms, curses, wards, potions, and the like. Looking over at the cozy reading area to his right, with 3 armchairs, 2 bean bag-like chairs, and a table, Harry was somewhat startled to see 2 portraits. One of them had a man with long, black hair, a sharp face, green eyes, tanned skin, and a goatee. The other man had short, straight white hair, pale skin, mismatching eyes, and a white mustache. These people were Salzar Slytherin and Gellert Grindelwald, and they were... bickering?

"I still don't think it's a good idea to train the boy, Gellert. He's too unstable, too new with his power." Salzar stated heatedly, both him and Grindelwald not noticing Harry's silent entrance.

"Why? Scared he'll surpass you? He's your descendant, and the only one that can save the world from that wretch Voldemort." Grindelwald argued back.

"Fine, we'll train him, but if he starts going off his rocker then it's your job to bring him back onto it." The truest Slytherin replied.

"Well that's good," Harry interjected, startling both portraits, "because I'm here and I'm ready to learn as much as possible. Hello grandfather, ancestor."

"Please Hadrian, while you are training with me, call me Salzar. I hate being called something like ancestor, it makes me feel far too old, even if I am." The last part was grumbled by the founder, making Grindelwald chuckle. Grindelwald also replied.

"And you can call me Gellert or Grindles, that is if you don't wish to call me grandfather." Harry found that second name weird and discarded it immediately.

"Well then grandfather, Salzar, I suppose I'll need the rundown of my training?" Harry asked, rather excited to start, but hiding it with a blank expression. Unfortunately, he was still just a child, and he could not hide the intense twinkle in his eyes that gave it away.

"Bide your excitement, kid." Salzar started. "This is going to be hell. Me and Grindelwald here haven't started discussing your training regimen yet. There is a book on pureblood wizarding traditions and goblin traditions over in the "Politics & Traditions" section of the library. First floor, over in the corner. Go read those while we discuss and make sure to memorize it. It will teach you how to walk like a Lord, how to talk to a pureblood properly like a pureblood, and so on and so forth. It will also teach you how to greet goblins and so on. After you read them, we can discuss your training further." Salzar finished, with Gellert nodding along side him. Harry held a groan. While he loved to read, he didn't particularly like stuck up purebloods. Oh well, he'd have to read it anyway so he might as well get it out of the way now.

-§Sserpentss§-

After 2 excruciating hours of reading traditions and practicing walking properly among other things, Harry finally sat down in front of the portraits of the 2 people who would turn him into a wizarding legend. He was rather excited, as he would be able to learn so much!

"Alright, dear grandson," Gellert began airily like always with his voice, "we've decided on your training regimen. We're going to split it up based on the skills that we hold. Salzar is better at skills such as wards, rituals, transfiguration, and elemental magic. I, however, am better at runes, charms, aggressive battling magic, defensive battling magic, and both of us can teach you the craft of creating spells. You have already learned more arithmancy in your muggle schools than we as wizards learn up until the level of an advanced curse-breaker, so that won't need to be taught. If I'm correct, it is the twenty-ninth of May and Hogwarts releases you to summer break on June nineteenth?" Gellert paused, getting an answer from Harry in the form of a nod. "Right, then for the first week we shall teach you everything you need to know to live alone. For the second week, we will be on a rotation of subjects and things. In the morning, you will run around the Black Lake twice before breakfast and classes. After your classes, you will come back here."

"On Mondays, from the time you get here to the time you go to bed, you will work on aggressive and defensive battling magic. You can simply call this "Dark Arts" even though a decent amount of spells taught to you in the beginning will be light. You will learn this with me. On Tuesdays, you will learn potions through the same time period. On Wednesdays, transfiguration. On Thursdays, charms. On Fridays, elemental magic. On Saturdays you will have much more time, so you will learn rune for half the time you are here and wards for the other half. On Sundays, it is your full break day for Hogwarts, but you will learn ritual magic and perform rituals with the materials from the storage room on this day. This loops back to Monday, where we will do the same thing." Harry nodded, and Gellert continued.

"After the third week is over, you will go back to the Dursleys and do as I said to do in the world between life and death. Dumbledore will not see any of this coming and you'll be able to get away with it all scot free, making you more powerful politically and more defensively powerful since the House rings that you'll be receiving from the Potters, the Slytherins, and the Grindelwalds will be extremely powerful. Do you understand your task, Hadrian?" Grindelwald finished, looking expectantly at Harry. Harry nodded, confident in his ability to learn and happy to be trained in the ways of magic by such legendary people.

"This will certainly make potions less excruciatingly difficult" Harry murmured under his breath.

"What do you mean, boy?" Salzar questioned him, wondering what ever he could mean.

Harry replied, "Some of the Slytherin students like Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, and Blaise Zabini seem to like throwing things at or into my cauldron during class. The amount of potions that have blown up in my face is far too many to count." Harry finished, noting the furious expression of the founder of the house of snakes. And oh how furious Salzar was. Potions is such a delicate art, and little schoolchildren are ruining it for Harry! "What makes it worse," Harry continued, "is Professor Severus Snape. He hates me for no particular reason and blames me for everything. If I try to criticize his teachings, even if my complaint is legitimate, he will take away points." Harry finished, frowning at the thought of Snape and his weird hooked nose.

"Well Hadrian," Salzar startled Harry out of his hateful thoughts, "I'll teach you how to be a good potioneer in no time. Not all people are meant to be teachers, but that's what made us founders so legendary. Not that we were incredible at our crafts, but that we were incredible at them and incredible at teaching them." Salzar finished, making Harry extraordinarily excited to learn from the legendary founder.

"Well, run along dear grandson. It's time for you to be off to bed." Gellert stated, causing Harry to look at the clock. He was a bit startled to see it was already near curfew time. "One more thing?" Gellert asked.

"Yes, grandfather?"

"Please request to go to Diagon Alley the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow I will show you some outfits I would like you to wear, and I think they would suit you. Also, the robes you are wearing are a bit small, so I believe it would be good to just get a whole new wardrobe. Hogwarts robes, casual robes, formal robes, and so on." Gellert finished, causing Harry to nod. Ever since his bodily transformation, he had been struggling to stay in his robes properly.

"Alright, be off with ya." Salzar said cheerfully. Harry obliged, and went out to the main chamber, opened the "Lair of Salzar," apparated to his dorm, and went off to sleep. Dreams of being a powerful wizard, unmatched by all floating around his head.

-§Sserpentss§-

A/N: Unlike in the original story, Harry has bonded with Dobby immediately instead of Dobby working for Hogwarts.

(1): The invisibility cloak, unlike in cannon, isn't just some giant piece of cloth. It is a literal cloak, that when put on masks the entire body. It can change forms from a blanket like form to a cloak form. In the cloak form, it locks around the neck, has a hood, and once on cloaks the entire body that it is touching whether it is actually covering all parts of the body or not.

One extra note: Hadrian will become Harry's name, but it will be phased in after Gringotts when he "finds out" his name from them. Until then, he still has to use Harry.