Chapter 7: A Library Visit

Harry woke to his wand vibrating at 5:30 the next morning. He had learned a useful spell in first year for setting an alarm using your wand. The incantation was Tempus Pulsum, and when you cast it you had to focus on the time you wanted the charm to go off. He reached under his pillow and grabbed his wand to cancel the spell, then got out of his four-poster bed and changed into the gym shorts and baggy t-shirt he would be using as workout clothes. He went into the communal bathroom and softly called for Dobby. Dobby appeared with an almost inaudible pop sound.

"Master Harry is up early today," Dobby said once he had arrived.

"Yeah, I need to start my physical training with Salazar this morning." Harry stretched his back and arms trying to get himself more awake.

"Dobby brought Master Harry some toast." Dobby clicked his fingers and a piece of perfectly toasted bread slathered in butter and strawberry preserves appeared in his outstretched hand on a small serving plate. He looked at Harry sheepishly waiting to see his reaction.

Harry smiled fondly at his new house elf. "Dobby, you are a lifesaver."

Dobby beamed and Harry took and devoured the toast quickly. Once the toast was gone Dobby clicked his fingers again and the empty plate disappeared back to where it came from.

'He really is going to make life easy. Too easy.'

"Thanks again, Dobby," Harry said through a yawn. "Can you take me back to the study in the Chamber?"

"Of course, Master Harry." Dobby reached out and gripped Harry's wrist. Harry closed his eyes and heard the soft pop sound. When he reopened his eyes he was standing in front of Salazar's portrait in the study. Dobby disappeared again with another small pop.

"Good morning," he greeted Salazar's portrait. Then tried and failed to stifle a yawn.

"Good, you remembered to come." Salazar grinned. "Now, use that small step stool by the bookcases to get me down from here and carry me down into the main chamber. I will instruct you through your exercises."

Harry dragged the step stool over and hauled the painting down off the wall and out into the Chamber. He propped it up against one of the stone serpents lining the pool.

"That must be my familiar." Salazar muttered sadly when he saw the basilisk corpse. "Later this week I am going to explain to you how to harvest some of the alchemical ingredients available from her. Once we complete that, you may wish to find someone who can harvest the remainder of her. Even in my day, basilisk skin and meat was extremely rare and valuable. The venom is almost priceless, as are the eyes."

Harry grimaced and choked down a bit of bile.

'I don't like cleaning fish, let alone 20 meter giant, killer snakes.'

"Don't give me that look," Salazar grumbled. "Since you killed her, you may as well get some use from what is left. The eyes will come in handy in a ritual I have planned and the venom is a powerful alchemical ingredient that can be used for a variety of purposes."

Salazar set Harry jogging around the perimeter of the Chamber. The size of the main portion of the Chamber was fairly comparable to a muggle football field so Harry had no problems finding an obstacle free path to take around the corpse and various stone busts of snakes and snake-like creatures. After he ran for 45 minutes, Salazar called him to a halt and had him do push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and other body weight exercises.

"This fitness regiment is adapted to your modern workout methods. Just another thing Tom Riddle inadvertently taught me one day when he suspended a particularly crude magazine in front of my portrait to annoy me." Salazar grumbled. "In my day, we trained with swords to build our strength and dexterity, but this will work just as well."

"I don't know how it works for sure, but I was told I could call the sword I used to kill the basilisk to me whenever I have need of it." Harry had been intentionally vague on the details of the weapon he used in his fight with the basilisk the previous night. He suspected that Salazar had let him at the time, but would eventually want to know more about the details.

"Do not tell me that the sword you slew my familiar with is that hunk of goblin piss that Godric used to tote around!" Salazar fumed in Parseltongue.

"Er, maybe? It has his name on the blade just above the hilt and a lot of rubies on it." Harry massaged the back of his neck.

"Great, he's probably laughing his ass off right now in the afterlife. Were you aware that only a direct descendant of Godric himself could wield that blade?" Salazar's fury slowly morphed into curiosity.

"No one told me that." Dumbledore had only told him that only a "true Gryffindor" could have pulled the sword from the hat. Was that supposed to mean a descendant, or just someone who embodied the traits Gryffindor valued most?

"Godric put his sword into the sorting hat before his passing. The hat was supposed to present it to his worthy heir in a time of their need. This makes things interesting." Salazar stroked his beard in thought. "If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that one of your parents is a direct descendant of Godric himself, and the other is a direct descendant of mine. How curious. Just another reason we need to figure out your lineage properly, I suppose."

'No kidding. Gryffindor and Slytherin as ancestors?'

"Try to call the sword to you," Salazar instructed.

Harry thought 'I need the sword of Gryffindor.' as hard as he could, but nothing appeared. Instead, he called out, "I need the sword of Gryffindor." In his right hand materialized the very sword he had used just a few days ago.

Salazar muttered something unintelligible glaring at the sword in Harry's hand. Harry tried really hard not to smirk and failed epically which set Salazar off again, cursing in Parseltongue. Once he calmed down a bit he explained, "That gaudy piece of work is made from goblin steel. The blade will never rust or tarnish and never needs to be cleaned or sharpened. However, one more good thing about that sword, it will imbue the properties of whatever it touches so long as those properties make the blade stronger. I would imagine, since you killed my basilisk with it, that the blade will now act like basilisk venom. Be very careful not to cut anyone but yourself with it."

Harry paled. Imagine if he hadn't known that and accidentally cut one of his friends with it. "Wait, why not myself? Wouldn't the venom kill me too?"

"No, your bite was healed with phoenix tears, one of the only things those horrible birds are good for. The venom and tears were not purged from your system so you should have a natural immunity to just about any venom on the planet, which is a very unique boon." Salazar was stroking his beard in thought. "In fact, you may be one of only a small handful of wizards in all of history that would be immune to just about all natural venoms. And I know for a fact that you are the only wizard in history that is immune to both the venom and stare of the basilisk."

'Wait, what?'

"How am I immune to the stare? I thought it would kill you instantly, unless viewed through something else like a mirror or other reflection." Harry thought he had an idea but didn't want to voice it. He didn't want to look foolish if he was wrong.

"You are a Parselmouth, the stare of the basilisk will not work on you. Basilisk's were first created by Herpo the Foul, an ancient Parselmouth. They are made by incubating a chicken egg underneath a toad. The magic that creates the basilisk is a form of ritual magic that requires a Parselmouth to perform it. This ties the creation to the wizard and makes the stare ineffective to any Parselmouths it comes in contact with."

'So Fawkes didn't need to mess up its eyes like it did.'

Salazar muttered again before grumbling, "Fine, tomorrow we will do the exercises Godric used to perform, since you now wield his ostentatious sword."

'Ostentatious? Look around, Sal. You're one to talk.' Harry snorted.

Harry looked down at his sword and decided to play a small prank on Salazar. He darted up to the study and laid the sword right in the middle of the desk, propped up on a book so Salazar could read the name on the blade from where his portrait hung. He quickly headed back down to finish his training.

After he finished his workout, Harry put the painting of Salazar Slytherin back on the wall above the door. "You sniveling brat," Salazar spat when he saw the sword on the desk. "You had better be glad I don't have any other options for an heir." Though he sounded upset, Harry could see the edges of his lips twitching upwards.

Harry chuckled as he called for Dobby to apparate him back to the showers in his dorm.

Harry showered and put on his school shirt and trousers for the day. He usually tried not to wear any of the horrid clothes he had inherited from his cousin. He managed to make it down to breakfast before 8am. Classes began at 9am during the week which meant that breakfast stopped being served at 9am as well, even if it was currently a Saturday. Harry sat down next to Neville who looked up at him and smiled shyly.

"Hi, Harry. How have you been enjoying not having classes? You've been keeping busy, I haven't seen you around much lately."

"Definitely haven't missed having to see Snape." Harry glanced at the head table and saw that Snape wasn't there. Harry knew Snape tended to eat earlier than most.

'I bet it's so he doesn't have to deal with us.'

Neville shuddered. "Wish I could just skip his class too. With you gone he has been worse to me than ever, and he was already pretty bad to begin with."

Harry grimaced. "Sorry, Neville. I'm back on Monday though, I'll act as a buffer to give you a break." Harry grinned.

'There are only 4 days left now of this term, what's the worst he can do to me?'

"You'd do that?" Neville asked.

"Sure, I have no problem helping out my friends." Harry grinned at him.

Neville's jaw dropped slightly and his eyes got a little misty. "I'm glad I'm your friend then. I haven't had too many friends so far here."

"Neither have I, but I am glad to call you my friend. Ron would have never stood up to us like you did last year. That took courage. That makes you more a Gryffindor to me than Ron could ever be."

Neville blushed but smiled brightly at that. Harry noticed Neville's shoulders lifted out of their typical slumped position and he held his head a little higher. "Thanks, Harry."

For the rest of breakfast, the two boys chatted about everything and nothing, just getting to know each other a bit better. As they finished eating Neville turned to Harry, "They will be waking up the people that got petrified today. Professor Sprout asked me to help harvest the mandrakes yesterday morning. She told me the potion takes 24 hours to brew and, apparently, Snape started on it the minute he got the mandrakes."

"Thanks, Neville." Harry jumped out of his seat and grabbed his bag. "Sorry, but I want to be there when they wake up Hermione."

"No worries, tell her I can't wait to hear from her," Neville said and blushed slightly again.

'Huh, Ron would have thrown a fit if I had tried to run off from him like that.'

Harry sprinted up to the hospital wing and slowed to a walk right before the doors. He didn't want Madam Pomfrey to throw him out just because he ran or banged the doors or something else stupid. He carefully pushed open the door and saw Madam Pomfrey setting vials of a mud colored potion onto her medical trays.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, I expected to see you here." Madam Pomfrey sighed. Harry opened his mouth to start pleading to stay when she cut him off. "Yes, I will allow you to stay. You may take the seat next to Miss Granger's bed. I will handle her first regardless." She gestured in the same direction she had on all of his previous visits and Harry just caught the hint of a smile on her face before he turned.

Harry walked behind the curtain to Hermione's bed and sat in the chair. His knee bounced with nerves and anticipation while he waited for the potion to be brought in and administered. After a few minutes, that to Harry felt like an hour, Madam Pomfrey finally came around the curtain with a vial of potion.

"Now, Mr. Potter, this potion takes a couple of minutes to take effect. However, once it does, Miss Granger should come around fairly quickly. We don't know if she will remember anything from her time petrified or not, so she may be very startled when she does come around. Do not be alarmed, I will be nearby with a Calming Draught if it is needed."

Harry nodded. He tried to speak but his throat was too dry and he was nervous. He watched as Madam Pomfrey tipped the vial of potion into Hermione's petrified mouth. She then cast a charm on the potion. "What was the charm for?" Harry managed to rasp out the question.

"It's a charm used to force potions down the throats of unresponsive patients. The potion will slowly un-petrify her mouth and throat and continue its work as it spreads through her body. That charm simply makes sure it will make it to her stomach."

Harry nodded his understanding and leaned forward with his elbows on her bed and his head in his hands to wait.

'I really hope Snape didn't muck up the potion.'

What felt like an eternity later a warm hand came to rest on Harry's hair. He whipped his head around, having expected to feel movement from her before she touched him. His eyes went straight to hers. They sparkled in the morning sunlight drifting in from the open windows of the hospital wing. "You solved it," she said. Her voice was clear and full and full of pride.

'Wow, some potion, I would have expected her voice to be off from not being used for a couple of weeks.'

"No, you solved it, Hermione. I found the scrap of a book you had in your hand." Hermione smiled and Harry grinned back.

"No, I only found out it was a basilisk. You found the Chamber, saved Ginny, and killed the snake."

Harry blinked. "You remember what I've been saying?"

"Every single word, Harry." Hermione beamed at him. "And so you know, I don't blame you one bit for the fight with Ron, he hasn't been to see me since you last brought him with you."

'Figures. He didn't come to see his sister, why would he come visit you.'

Hermione gave him a calculating look. "You, however, have come to see me every single day. You even snuck in under your cloak. I heard you tell me that you had."

Harry stared back into her eyes. "Of course I did, you are my best friend, Hermione. Why wouldn't I come check on you?"

Hermione blushed a little under Harry's intense stare. "You are my best friend too, Harry. It means a lot to me that you took time to come and see me, even though you had no idea if I could hear you or not."

Harry shook his head, "It never mattered to me if you could hear me or not. I just didn't want you to think I forgot about you. I've been lonely most of my life, I wouldn't let my friends feel that way if I could help it."

They continued talking throughout the morning. Harry caught her up on some of the class work she had missed, though she usually studied far ahead of where the class was in the material so she didn't really miss anything. Hermione asked Harry to thank Neville for coming to visit as well. Apparently he had visited most days too. He did not, however, tell her about Salazar and his lessons with the founder.

'I will tell her sometime next year, she respects authority figures and I don't want any of the professors finding out.'

It was close to lunchtime when Madam Pomfrey insisted that Harry take his leave so she could talk to Hermione herself. Harry promised Hermione to come and check on her again after dinner then he made his way down to lunch. He ate with Neville and caught him up on how Hermione was doing.

"Hermione said to thank you for coming to visit her like you did," Harry told him. He noticed that Neville blushed scarlet. "She can remember everything that people have said to her and she remembers you coming."

Neville's face was completely red and he stuttered out a quiet thanks.

'Why is he so embarrassed? I went and visited her every day too.'

When he finished his lunch, Harry begged off to the library. He wanted to see if they had any genealogy books or, if not, some way to find out anything he could about his family history. He decided to start by asking Madam Pince for some help.

"Madam Pince?" Harry whispered to get her attention. She was seated at her desk just inside the library sorting out books that must have been returned for the end of the school year.

"Yes, Mr. Potter," she sternly replied. Harry always hated talking to her because it always seemed like she was trying to find a way to kick him out of her beloved library.

"I was wondering if you have any books on wizarding genealogy. I was hoping to maybe find out some information on the Potter family." She looked up at him from her books. She studied him for a second then got up and stalked off to a row of books near the history section. Harry followed along meekly not wanting to upset the witch.

She pulled an old leather bound book down from the tall shelf and thrust it out to Harry. "This is a book that most pureblood families keep a copy of. It hasn't been updated since the 1920's but it goes back quite far into history. You should be able to at least find some names that you could research further." She then stalked back to her desk.

Harry sat at a nearby table and read the title of the book.

'Nature's Nobility, A Wizarding Genealogy.'

He opened the book and started flicking through it until he found the name "Potter" at the heading of a section.

The Potter family origins date back to the 12th century. Linfred of Stinchcombe, whose nickname was "The Potterer'' eventually chose to make Potter his family name. Hardwin Potter, Linfred's heir, married Iolanthe Peverell the granddaughter of Ignotus Peverell.

'Wow, my family goes back further than I expected.'

Harry continued reading about his family, seeing a lot of names he recognized being married into it over the years.

'I really do wish I had a family tree.'

His musing was interrupted by a soft throat clearing sound. He looked up and met the brightest pair of blue eyes he had ever seen. The eyes belonged to a fair skinned, blonde witch wearing a Slytherin uniform. Her hair was so blonde it was almost silver and it was curled in a very tasteful way. It hung just below her shoulders with how it was styled but if it was straightened it would probably hang to the small of her back. Her features were soft but aristocratic and she had very feminine curves for her apparent age. "Mr. Potter," the beautiful blonde witch standing before him said, "I was wondering if you had a moment to speak to me?"

Harry's mouth opened and closed rapidly but no sound came out. Finally he simply gestured to the chair across from him instead.

'Pull yourself together, Potter!'

The girl took a seat in the chair gracefully and crossed her legs at the knee, resting her hands primly on her knees. "I'm not sure if you know who I am, so allow me to introduce myself. My name is Daphne Greengrass."

'I recognize that name. Merlin, how blind am I not to notice a girl this beautiful in my potions class?'

"Nice to meet you, officially." Harry managed to say. He was putting in a lot of effort not to stutter and stare at Daphne like a pubescent child.

"Likewise." Daphne gave him a calculating look. Her gaze flickered to and from the book on the table and she arched an eyebrow slightly upon seeing the title when Harry closed it. "I wanted to talk with you about the Chamber of Secrets."

Harry blanched. "I'm not sure what you are talking about," he deflected.

Daphne raised her eyebrow again and gave him a soft smile. "That was rather forward of me, I suppose." She giggled a little and to Harry it sounded musical, like tinkling bells. "I understand you are normally a very private person. After all, we have been in class together for two full years now and you haven't once spoken to me. Allow me to try this again." Harry nodded once, trying not to make a fool of himself. "I overheard you the other day while you were speaking to Miss Weasley while she was in the infirmary. I didn't mean to listen in," she added quickly when Harry shot her a slight glare, "but you were talking rather loudly."

Harry huffed. "Yeah, well I thought she was the only person in there that wasn't petrified. Come to find out, even they can remember what they heard while petrified so I guess I can't blame you. I'm sure most of them heard me talking too. It's a small ward."

Daphne inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement. "Let me start by saying this instead; thank you for what you did for the school."

Harry blushed deep crimson and waved her off. "I didn't do it for thanks, or recognition. Ginny was trapped down there and all I wanted to do was get her out."

"That may be true," Daphne admitted, "but regardless of your motives, noble as they were, you also potentially saved each person in this school. Basilisks are illegal to breed for good reason. It may have only targeted muggleborns, but the stare of the basilisk does not discriminate. There very well could have been some collateral damage, shall we say, to the Heir of Slytherin's plan."

Harry frowned. 'So, anyone other than muggleborns would have been "collateral damage". What does that make the muggleborns then?'

It was as if she could read his mind because she quickly held up her hands, palms out, in a gesture of peace. "I do not mean that I wished any of the muggleborns to be hurt either. Just that it seemed as if that was the Heir's intentions."

Harry relaxed a bit. "You don't hate muggleborns?"

"Not everyone in my house is a blood supremacist," Daphne answered, coldly. Harry could almost feel the temperature in the room drop with the chill in her tone.

It was then Harry's turn to hold his hands up in peace. "I'm not saying they are, I'm just confirming your views on the matter."

Daphne thawed out a bit. "Yes, well anyway, thank you for what you did." She looked like she was going to get up and leave but her curiosity got the better of her. "Why are you reading that book? I didn't think you were one for pureblood genealogy."

'Do I tell her the truth or deflect. I did decide a Slytherin pureblood would be a good person to ask about wizarding culture. Maybe I could ask her. Plus, she is very attractive. Could have a worse teacher, especially on the eyes. Could ask Parkinson.' Harry shuddered internally.

"Look, I'm going to trust you not to go spreading this around your common room, ok." Harry stared into her eyes. Daphne shivered slightly as his eyes started glowing faintly. She nodded once. "I don't like talking about my past much and this will be rather personal, I need your word that this will be between you and I."

Daphne nodded again, thought for a second, then pulled her wand from her sleeve. "What is your middle name?" She asked.

"James," Harry responded, confused.

She held her wand in front of her, clasped in both hands with it pointing vertically. "I, Daphne Isabelle Greengrass, solemnly swear that this conversation, between myself and Harry James Potter, will not be repeated to anyone else unless given permission to do so by Harry James Potter himself. I swear this on my magic." A bright blue flash emitted from the tip of her wand and the blue light settled around her making her glow briefly before it dissipated.

"What the hell," Harry exclaimed. He shot a look over toward Madam Pince who had heard him and was glaring in his direction. He gave her an apologetic look then turned back to Daphne. "What did you just do?"

"You've never seen a magical oath before?" Daphne asked.

"No," Harry mumbled, "I was raised by muggles. A lot of this magic stuff is still new to me."

Daphne arched a delicate brow again. "I wondered why you seemed so unaccustomed to our world last year. A magical oath is made in order to bind someone's magic to a promise they are making. If I were to go tell people about what we speak about now, I would lose my magic." She seemed entirely unfazed by this but Harry was horrified.

"You didn't need to do that," he sighed, "I would have taken your word for it. You don't need to risk your magic just to promise me something."

"Well, I wanted you to feel assured that you could trust me." Daphne waved him off with a delicate, feminine hand. "This way you know for sure your secrets are safe with me."

'Seems a little severe to me. I wonder why she wants me to trust her so badly?'

"Will you answer a question of mine, before we talk?" Harry asked. "I can make the same oath if you wish."

Daphne waved him off again. "No need. You are far too noble to go parroting around to others. I trust you far more than you would have trusted me."

Harry shook his head slightly, surprised by the trust. "Ok then, why do you want me to trust you so badly?"

Daphne sighed. "You may understand better if I ask you something first. What do you know about your parents?"

Harry's face fell. "Next to nothing. I only ever hear how I have my dad's hair and looks but I inherited my mother's eyes. I know they died on Halloween, 1981. I know they were killed by Voldemort, personally." Daphne did not flinch when Harry used Voldemort's name, which surprised him slightly. "Other than that, I have some pictures of them that Hagrid gave me, and I saw them in the Mirror of Erised last year."

Daphne's eyebrows shot up. "You saw the Mirror of Erised?"

"Yeah, Dumbledore had it hidden in a classroom not far from here during the Christmas holidays last year. I stumbled into it while hiding from Filch and Snape after trying to break into the Restricted Section here in the library one night."

Daphne shook her head and scoffed in amusement. "You really do have some crazy adventures, don't you? I had heard rumors of course, but the stories are almost crazier."

Harry chuckled. "You have no idea."

"Anyway," Daphne said, bringing the conversation back to familiar ground, "Your mother was good friends with mine during their school years. My mother asked me to keep an eye out for you as a favor to her friend's memory. I thought you knew they were friends and were choosing to avoid me, but it seems like you had no idea."

'Mum had a good friend then, at least.'

"As I said, I don't know much about my family." Harry lifted the book he had been reading. "Hence the book."

Daphne giggled. "Yeah, I kind of put two and two together on that one." She eyed him speculatively. "If you want, I could tell you some of your family history. Most pureblood houses know each other's history to some extent. We don't have a particularly large community so, as the saying goes, "everyone knows everyone"."

Harry thought about it for a second. 'She seems to really only want to help. I'm sure she will be getting something out of the deal, Slytherins are known for cunning and ambition. But, what could I possibly offer her?'

Harry nodded then asked, "Would it be possible for you to teach me a little about wizarding culture as well? I had my, let me call him my "mentor", advise me that I should learn more about our customs and traditions."

Daphne gave him a radiant smile. "I would like that. Would you care to meet me here in the library every other day at 6:30 after dinner? We can start tomorrow. That will give you a couple of, let's call them lessons, between now and the end of term."

Harry nodded his agreement. Daphne stood and Harry followed suit. He wasn't sure on wizarding etiquette, but what little etiquette he had learned in the muggle world told him to stand when a lady stood to leave.

Daphne smiled again. "First quick lesson. Wizards bow to each other and to witches as a parting or greeting. Witches curtsy. Then, a witch may extend her hand if desired and a wizard will kiss her hand in farewell." She curtsied and Harry hastened to bow slightly at the waist. She extended her hand to him and Harry took it gently and kissed her knuckles lightly. His face flamed and when he looked up he saw that Daphne's cheeks had pinked slightly as well. "Tomorrow then, Mr. Potter."

"Tomorrow, Miss Greengrass." Harry replied.

'The Mr. and Miss thing must be another pureblood custom? I'll have to ask her."

She walked gracefully away. Harry couldn't help but watch the slight sway to her hips as she did. Because of this, he was unable to notice when she glanced back as she reached the end of the row, and he missed the small, pleased smile she gave when she noticed him watching her.