The Founding of Happiness
by Healer Pomfrey
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC! Time travel!
It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind reviews for the previous chapter!
A few minutes later, Harry's mind slowly returned back to semi-consciousness. He noticed immediately that he was sore and cold, and he heard strange voices that sounded as if they were from far away. Hesitant to open his hurting eyes, he contented himself to just lie where he was as he listened in to the voices. One of the voices he recognized as Daddy Salazar's, but it still sounded strange although Harry could understand every word.
"I've been waiting for quite some time for you to bring the lytling down to visit me," the second voice hissed in complaint.
"You know that Harry isss only five," Salazar replied in the same hissing style of speech. "But if he doesn't wake up sssoon, I'll have to get Helga, and asss you can imagine she will not very pleassed."
'Oh no, no, no, I don't want that, anything but that,' Harry thought frantically, and hurried to force his eyes open.
"Oh, Thunderbolt, thank Merlin you're awake!" Salazar blurted out in his normal voice. "Are you all right? You slipped down the stairs."
"I'm f… f… fine," Harry replied with chattering teeth. "But I'm so c… c… cold."
Salazar quickly conjured a warm, green robe, wrapping the child firmly within the warm fabric. Harry gave him a grateful smile before he slowly turned his head to take in the second person in the room, whom he had heard Salazar talk to while he had been semi-conscious. His eyes grew bigger with surprise as soon as he took in the other living being in the large stone room he was in. It was a huge snake. Harry gave Salazar a horrified look, making the man laugh at the child's expression.
"Now, Harry, this is my friend Amaterasu. She is named after the Japanese sun goddess because she is a beautiful basilisk lady, just like a goddess, don't you agree? She is my familiar, and I'd like it if you were to become friends with her," Salazar explained patiently.
"Hello Harry," Amaterasu hissed in a friendly greeting.
Harry gave Salazar an anxious glance before he replied, "Hello Amaterasu."
Salazar let out a huge gasp. "You're able to speak Parseltongue. I hadn't even dared to hope that you would be! This is fantastic!"
"Yes, I appreciate that very much, my new, young friend," Amaterasu hissed to Harry.
"Where are we?" Harry asked curiously, while looking around the large stone room.
"This, Thunderbolt, is the Chamber of Secrets," Salazar explained. "I built this chamber for Amaterasu. We cannot have her run around the castle all the time you know. Normally, everyone who looks into a basilisk's yellow eyes dies instantly. However, I have placed a Charm on the castle and the grounds, even on a part of the forest, so that nothing happens to the people who look at Amaterasu. I have to renew the charm every year though. But nevertheless many of the students would be afraid of her or may try to harm her. Therefore, Amaterasu is only allowed in the main part of the castle during the summer holidays. At all other times, she lives here in the chamber when she isn't hunting in the forest."
"And you can only get to the chamber through your bathroom?" Harry asked incredulously, trying to get his chattering teeth under control.
Salazar laughed. "No, in fact the chamber is accessible from two other entrances located on the school grounds. There is one more entrance within the castle and one that is located outside on the school grounds. However, all entrances are protected by Parseltongue passwords, which is no problem for you of course. I will show you the other entrances sometime if you wish."
"Yes please," Harry replied eagerly. "Can we go immediately?" 'Oh, I love this basilisk. She is beautiful,' he thought, watching the huge animal in awe.
"No, Thunderbolt, we cannot go now. We have to go eat lunch first, and then I want you to take a nap seeing that you told me three hours ago that you were tired, and that was before you fell down the steps and were unconscious for a few minutes," Salazar told him sternly.
Harry groaned. "No, I'm not hungry, and I don't want to take a nap. Please Daddy, let's go now."
Salazar threw him a menacing glare. "No! As I just told you we will have lunch first. Can you imagine how worried Mummy Helga and Mummy Rowena would be if we do not show up for lunch?" He raised an eyebrow and stretched out a hand to pull the child along.
Harry however, now feeling absolutely awful, didn't want to go to the Great Hall for lunch in the first place, started throwing the first temper tantrum any of his parents had ever witnessed. He jumped up and down with both feet, shouting, "No! I don't want lunch. And it's so cold here that I'm not tired anymore. I want to go now!" He was so engrossed in his temper tantrum that he didn't notice the man's expression change from surprise to one of absolute anger.
Salazar took one step in the child's direction, scooped the stubbornly fighting child into his arms, and carried him out of the chamber, noticing that the boy's cheeks were flushed and his eyes looked glassy as though he was not feeling well. He sighed and put the child into his bed. "You will stay here," he instructed him firmly. "I believe that your bold behaviour is due to the fact that you're sick, and I will send Mummy Helga up to check on you. Lie down and rest until she comes," he said sternly, giving him a menacing glare, and left the room.
'No!' Harry thought stubbornly, and quickly followed his Daddy until he reached the Entrance hall. Determined to find the entrance to the chamber that was outside on the school grounds, he left the castle and walked slowly in the direction of the forest, thinking of the Basilisk and quietly speaking in Parseltongue, "Hello! Can you hear me?"
"Oh, a young human ssspeaker," Harry suddenly heard a voice and saw a small snake slithering through the grass in front of him.
"Hello," Harry replied. "Do you know Amaterasu, the huge basilisssk? And do you know where she livesss?"
"Yesss, I know Amaterasu, and I know that she livesss under the castle. The entrance must be somewhere over there because she alwaysss showsss up there."
Harry saw that the snake pointed its head towards the edge of the grounds where the lake met the forest that was separated only by a small foot path. He groaned inwardly. 'Maybe the entrance is hidden in the lake. The basilisk can probably swim,' he mused, the thought of the cold water making him shivering even more. 'Perhaps I could ask the big fish. What was it called, 'wit', or 'quit', 'squit'? Oh, I don't know, my head is too achy today to think. Anyhow, I could ask him but how. He has played with me when I swam in the lake several times, but we haven't really talked to each other. Will he be able to understand me?' Harry pondered his options, slowly starting to walk towards the lake. He didn't even bother to look where he was walking, so that he nearly ran into a group of students that were enjoying the Sunday afternoon on the grounds.
"Harry, what are you doing here all on your own?" Hildred, who was among the group, asked the child, getting suspicious because he was never allowed out on the grounds alone.
"I have to ask the big fish something," Harry explained in a slightly annoyed voice. "Do you know what it's called and if it can understand me if I ask him a question?"
Hildred laughed at the impatient child. "It's called the 'Giant Squid', and I don't know if it'll understand you. Be careful Harry, and when you've finished talking with it, you need to go back into the castle before they realize that you are missing, as well as before the snow storm starts."
"All right; thanks Hildred," Harry mumbled and hurried off to the lake. 'Snow storm?' he thought absentmindedly, while he sat down on the edge of the lake, trying to get the Squid's attention.
Suddenly, a huge clap of thunder shook the grounds, followed by a huge temperature drop and the snow storm Hildred had spoken of before began. Harry, who was still unsuccessfully trying to gain the Squid's attention, hurriedly scrambled to his feet, swayed a bit as he stood up but managed to stay on his feet and made his way through the heavily falling snow, and fierce wind, to the castle's entrance that seemed so far away for his small legs.
Harry had been unaware of the fact that a concerned Hildred had been watching him the whole time, so that he flinched back badly when he felt himself suddenly being lifted up into her arms and carried towards the castle. They just arrived at the entrance doors, when Godric came out, worriedly searching the grounds for any students that may have been caught outside by the storm. He immediately took Harry from Hildred, thanking the girl profoundly.
"What were you doing outside, Leo?" he asked sternly, not knowing that his three colleagues were frantically searching the castle for the child since he himself had missed dinner due to a conference with the Minister of magic. He carefully set the boy back onto his feet.
"I wanted to speak with the Great Squid," Harry mumbled his explanation, slightly slurring the words. He automatically put up both arms to his Daddy Godric, feeling too awful to stand on his own. "Up please."
Godric gave him an astonished look before he complied. "It's the 'Giant Squid', Leo," he corrected gently before he asked, "Why did you want to speak to him, Leo, and what's wrong with you? Are you feeling ill?"
"Ye," Harry replied miserably, not caring about what would happen anymore. He nestled deep into his Daddy's robes and slowly drifted off to sleep. When he woke up a few hours later, he felt much better, warmer, and not so sore any more. He carefully opened his eyes, eyeing his surroundings, and noticed that he was lying in his own, comfortable bed. Suddenly, he could hear footsteps coming nearer and the angry voices of Rowena and Helga penetrated his ears. 'Oh no! I'd better pretend to still be asleep,' Harry thought. 'They sound so angry.' He quickly closed his eyes again; trying to breathe in what he thought was even manner and made him look as though he were still asleep.
"You might as well open your eyes, magorinc. I know that you're not really asleep," Helga told the child angrily, waiting until Harry lazily opened one eye before she continued her rage, "What did you think you were doing, Harry? Daddy Salazar put you to bed because you were obviously ill, and you not only disregarded his order to stay in bed but even leave the castle to play in the cold?"
"What you did was very stupid, Lufu," Rowena added. "Not only because Mummy Helga, Daddy Salazar, and I have been very worried about you and had to search all over the castle to try to find you, but also because you made yourself so much worse by staying outside in the cold."
"I'm sorry," Harry replied hoarsely, losing the fight against the tears that had been filling his eyes just waiting for the opportunity to pour down his flushed face.
Knowing that it would take the child at least a week to recover from the light pneumonia he had caught, Helga looked him straight in the eye and said sternly, "Because you were so naughty, you will be grounded for a week, which means no Quidditch, no playing on the grounds or with the students in their common rooms, and no brewing potions."
Harry gave his Mummy a weary look, feeling too sick to really care about the punishment at the moment. "How many times do I have to sleep until it's Christmas?" he asked softly.
"Five nights," Helga replied with confusion, while she pointed her wand at the child to take his temperature, not understanding why Harry suddenly became very upset and started to cry even more. 'Five nights are less than the week that I'm grounded, but I have to brew the pear drops before Christmas for mummy Helga and mummy Rowena,' he thought frantically.
Rowena put a cool hand on his forehead, trying to calm down the upset child. "Now, Lufu, you must calm down. You have a high fever, and it will get even worse when you get so upset," she said gently, while her friend continued to check on the boy.
"I must speak to Daddy Salazar," Harry sobbed hoarsely, giving his two mothers a pleading look.
"He is just brewing a few potions for you, Leofost," Helga replied in a calming voice. "Afterwards you may speak to him if you must."
ハリーと幸せの願い
One night, Harry woke up when Helga came to check on him and give him a potion before she went to bed. He immediately closed his eyes again, not wanting to let his Mummy know that he had woken up. 'Since Daddy Salazar said he couldn't help me with the potion for the pear drops for Mummy Helga and Mummy Rowena, I'll just have to brew them on my own,' he thought as he determinedly crawled out of his bed, pulled his warm robes over his pyjamas, and headed for the Potions classroom in the dungeons.
He carefully chopped the ingredients, knowing how to brew the potion by heart as he had made it so many times during the last five months. An hour later, the finished potion was simmering in the cauldron. 'Now I only have to get the pears, but for that I have to go into the forest,' he thought wearily, suddenly feeling very tired. 'Maybe I could ask the elves in the kitchen,' he mused, knowing that the kitchen wasn't too far from the Potions classroom. He quickly cleaned up everything except for the cauldron and made his way to the kitchen.
Only three house elves were in the kitchen since it was the middle of the night. They immediately asked, bowing deeply in front of the child, "What cans we does for Master Harry?"
"Could you perhaps give me a few pears?" Harry asked shyly, giving the elves a hesitant glance.
"Yes, of course," the elves replied, and seconds later Harry found himself holding a huge bowl with pears in his hands.
Harry gratefully thanked the elves and told them that he was making pear drops for his parents and that he didn't want them to know about it. "Don't worries, Master Harry; we won'ts tell anyone that yous was here tonight," he was reassured firmly.
He thankfully returned back to the Potions classroom, where he quickly mashed the pears before he put them into the simmering potion. Afterwards he made drops from half of the liquid, separating the remaining liquid into two cauldrons. In one cauldron he added a spoonful of crushed ginger nuts, knowing that Godric loved ginger; then he put a spoonful of crushed mint leaves into the other, aware of the fact that Salazar liked mint, and quickly finished the pear drops. Very relieved, he filled the drops in four small bags from the pile of bags that they always used, pocketed them and returned to his own room, where he hid his treasures behind the book shelf. Utterly tired but happy he let himself sink back into his comfortable bed and fell asleep immediately, glad that nobody knew about his nightly adventure.
In the morning, he slightly regretted his nightly excursion when he woke up to Rowena and Helga talking about him at his bedside. "I had hoped that I could let him get up for a short time today, but his condition has worsened so much overnight that I even don't know if he'll be able to get up on Christmas," Helga told her friend, sighing deeply.
Fortunately, on Christmas day Harry was lucky and Helga allowed him to join his parents in the Great Hall for breakfast. The day before, Harry had asked Godric to take his presents down to the Great Hall and put them under the Christmas tree, glad that he had managed to add labels with the receiver's name on them in a rare unsupervised moment. 'I just hope they won't ask me when I made the drops,' Harry thought worriedly, when he sat on his chair between Helga and Rowena in the Great Hall.
To Harry's luck, nobody asked him as Godric and the two women assumed he had brewed the drops together with Salazar, who didn't give the child away in front of the others but gave Harry a menacing look and whispered, "We will have a talk later, Mister."
Like the year before, Harry received a lot of presents from Father Christmas; among them were several books and new potions ingredients that made the child's face light up. When everyone had unwrapped their presents, Godric suggested that they should all head outside for a walk around the grounds as it was an uncharacteristically warm and beautiful winter day. Harry gave Helga a pleading look, knowing that he was still supposed to be grounded.
Helga unobtrusively waved her wand at the child before she told him, "You may accompany us as long as you promise to stay near me and not run around." She quickly conjured warm robes and a scarf for the child, forcing him to wear both before they headed outside.
"Can I sit down here on the edge of the lake?" Harry asked a few minutes later, and Rowena conjured a bench just next to the water where they sat down for an hour until Salazar suddenly called Harry over to him from the edge of the forest. When Harry gave Helga a questioning glance, she stood up and walked over to her husband, Harry following her slowly.
"Thunderbolt listen," Salazar turned to the boy before he switched to Parseltongue and called, "Amaterasu!"
Suddenly, the branches in the nearby forest moved and the Basilisk's large head appeared from underneath the leaves. "Hello Salazar, hello Salazar's wife, hello Harry," Amaterasu greeted them pleasantly.
"Happy Christmas, Amaterasu," Harry said and sat down on the floor, his back and head against a tree stump, ignoring Helga's frown.
The Basilisk immediately extended her head until it lay on Harry's lap as if she wanted him to pet her. "Go on, Thunderbolt, she wants you to pet her," Salazar encouraged the child, and Harry complied hesitantly, while Salazar motioned his wife to sit down next to Harry. He sat down on Helga's other side, putting an arm around her back and a kiss on her lips before he pulled her into a tight embrace, whispering into her ear.
The two adults remained engrossed with themselves for a few minutes before Amaterasu regained their attention when she suddenly started hissing to Salazar. While Helga turned to Harry, seeing that he had fallen into an exhausted sleep, Salazar listened to his familiar, who told him what she had discovered earlier in the morning.
"I was hunting in the forest this morning and met a griffin lady. She told me that she has a baby cub of a few months. Her cub has obviously told her that he could feel his familiar around here or even in the castle, and she was asking me if I could help her find her cub's familiar," Amaterasu told Salazar. "However, I have no idea how I could help the griffin."
"How can we help them?" Salazar replied questioningly, absentmindedly noticing that Helga and Harry walked back into the castle. "I'd say you could bring the griffins into the castle, but the problem is that you're only allowed in the castle during the holidays when there are no students around, and that wouldn't help the cub to find his familiar. Maybe we could introduce the griffins to Godric and ask him to take them into the castle to meet everyone and find out whom it feels is its human familiar."
Amaterasu vanished behind the leaves while Salazar went to fetch Godric. A few minutes later, two humans, one basilisk, and two griffins met again at the same spot.