Hermione was covered in dust and grime when she stepped into the salon that overlooked the garden that she had appropriated as hers when she moved in. Using a quick scourgify she cleaned herself and the painting, and conjured an easel to set it on that overlooked one of the more informal gardens, taking a seat at an angle to it so she did not obstruct the view. Alorica came close to the front of her frame and smiled.
"Summer, I did not know it was summer already again. The world is so alive in this season. I miss the wind the most, I think. But I promised you a tale, Hermione Granger, and a tale you shall have. It is the least that I can do, I think, for my release from exile."
"Humans are not naturally magical, that is one of the basic truths of existence, and possibly the first thing anyone should know to understand anything that comes after," she began. "The elves knew this, as did the other four original magical races, and at first it was thought that humans were unintelligent because of this. For uncounted centuries the five races watched them, laughed at them and despised them, until one day they began to do different things. They began to shape tools and use them. They discovered fire, and levers and forging metal and soon the world seemed to ring with the sounds of this new thing called industry. The world started to stink with the fires of the forge, and when the first elf touched cold iron and was burned they knew that something altogether different had come to pass. The humans were not stupid and useless, they were fundamentally different, so different that there was no common understanding, no basis to compare. There was a conclave and it was agreed that the races would make themselves known to the humans so an accord could be reached in which all races could share the world.
"They appeared to all the great kings of humans at once, ambassadors from the ether, and after much negotiation and no few instances of battle, accords were reached, and as all such treaties are, it was sealed in blood. The sons of man were given daughters of the fey to wed, and when those alliances were fruitful the first witches and wizards were born. It did not stop there, as all should have known it would not, and soon it was more common for the fey and the humans to marry and have children. A pattern began to emerge, however, fey typically marrying into certain families, the magic getting stronger as generation after generation was infused with new fey blood. It was only a matter of time before someone decided it was too dangerous to allow so much power in the hands of so few. This family was one of the ones who saw where this would lead and so they began to publicly condemn those who married fey while secretly continuing to do so. I lived the majority of my life under a glamour, as did my mother before me and my brothers.
"Finally there was a gathering of the most powerful families and it was decided that they would join together and banish the ones with the close connections to the fey from the wizarding world. My family escaped by pretending we did not carry what was called the new "cursed blood". Stories were spread about that horrors of the half breed fey, and used to scare small children at night. Hogwarts was opened with the help of my grandson Salazar to teach the children the new doctrine, and the fey were purged form the collective memory of the wizarding world simply out of fear.
"It was about this time that Godrick Gryffindor discovered what he called Muggle-born, who were simply the offspring of the banished wizards and witches who went into hiding. He had no knowledge of the agreements that had been made in the families and did not understand why Salazar feared them as he did. My grandson lied, he told the world that it was because they were tainted, dirty blood, they would dilute the magic in the wizard world, they would breed Squibs. He falsified studies to "prove" his claims, anything to keep the fey children form Hogwarts, but in the end it was Godric who prevailed because the children were allowed in and though most did not know who and what they were, at least they were still taught. And so it went for generations, and the blood did dilute because so many so called muggle borns felt so unwelcome in the wizarding world that they would leave and go back and marry true muggles again. There were some bloodlines, however, who were so strong in the magic that even these countless generations it breeds true. You are one, and the Malfoys are the other. They were so heavily intermarried at one point that one could barely call them human. That is why they are all so unearthly lovely. The Manor also lies directly atop one of the strongest ley lines in Britain, if not the world. Magic infuses every brick in this home, every drop of water and every breath of air.
"Sadly, over the years even the old families purposely did not pass along the knowledge of what they had done, and so the craft passed into obscurity, the language began to be forgotten and practical teaching became folklore. I suppose this always happens when great cultures rise and fall, but to see it happen in the space of only a few generations was more painful than you know."
"And you lived through this time? You are Salazar Slytherins grandmother?" The portrait smiled and nodded.
"Yes, I am. I wore my glamour until the day I died, but when my portrait animated I was as you see me. It was a function of my own native magic I suppose. They hid my portrait away so no one would know, it would have been the end of both families for going against the accords in such a way. I have been there ever since."
"Can you teach me now? Can you teach me how to speak it, how to read it, how to use it?" Alorica smiled.
"I can, but that does not mean that I shall. There is much power and much risk in what you want me to do and before I will consent I will learn more of you and satisfy myself that such a gift will not be abused. And so, Hermione, now you will tell me of yourself, I think, and we will see."