Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, objects, or anything else that comes from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.
Warning: This story will contain scenes of violence, bad language, and maybe other themes that some audiences may find unsuitable. You have been advised.
"Regular speech or Spell"
"Parseltongue"
Text
'Thought'
The True Heir of Slytherin
Chapter 4:
The next morning Harry woke up and headed downstairs under his invisibility cloak. Finally, he arrived at the painting that led to the kitchens. Quickly, he scratched the pear, making it squirm and laugh. Harry then turned the doorknob that appeared and entered the hidden room, making sure that the door was closed behind him.
"Hey, Dobby." Harry smiled as he took of his cloak and hid it in his pocket. "Thank you again for this."
"Dobby is always happy to help Harry Potter sirs." The house-elf replied as he popped in front of the fifteen year old with a golden plate topped with what seemed to be a granola bar and a couple of potions.
"All you need to say is 'you're welcome,' and nobody would mind." Harry said.
"But Harry Potter is the greatest wizard of all time, even more so than Dumbledore!" Dobby argued.
Harry just shook his head with a still ever-present smile on his face. "Whatever you say, my friend, whatever you say." Harry then downed each of the two nourishment potions, one after the other, slamming down the vials like alcohol shots except not upside down due to the cone shape of the vials.
"Ugh. Never going to get used to that." Harry grimaced once the two potions entered his stomach.
"Did Dobby do something wrong, Harry Potter sirs?" Dobby asked, concerned that he had hurt his hero in any way.
"No, Dobby." Harry assured. "Besides, I think the worse it tastes, the better it is for you when it comes to nourishment potions."
"Is Harry Potter sure?" Dobby asked.
Harry nodded before picking up the bar of food. Quickly he ate it in three bites. "That, on the other hand is delicious, Dobby. You don't make them like anyone else." Harry commended. "I still find it hard to believe that that entire thing contains an entire meal." Harry shook his head.
"I'll see you, Dobby, tomorrow. Have a good day." Harry then turned and started walking out of the kitchens.
"Good bye, Harry Potter!" Dobby shouted after the teen.
Harry chuckled after closing the door behind him. "I keep telling him to just call me Harry." The teen then adorned his invisibility cloak once more and proceeded back to the Chamber of Secrets.
"Hello, Daphne." Harry nodded as he entered the training room. The other teen was leaning against the wall to his right.
"Harry." She acknowledged. "Ready to train?"
Harry hesitated.
"What's wrong?" Daphne asked almost curiously.
"Could you answer a couple questions for me before we start?" Harry asked. Daphne nodded after a second of thought. "There is this house-elf… his name's Dobby, and he was the Malfoy's until three years ago."
Daphne raised an eyebrow.
"He was treated completely terribly, so I tricked Lucious into freeing him, and now, Dobby worships me for some reason despite me telling him not to."
"Is there a question in there yet, or are you just going to keep rambling?" Daphne asked.
"Sorry. What I want to ask is why can't he just let go and be a Hogwarts elf now that he has a job here? Why does he still try to do whatever he can after a few years?" Harry finally asked.
Daphne sighed. "I need to teach you more about our customs." Harry looked at his teacher, confused. "A house-elf requires a family to survive. Hogwarts does provide this, stopping them from dying, but they are much weaker than they would be with a magical family. They survive on the family's magic and in turn, they service their family. Dobby expects you to make him your elf since you helped free him."
"Oh." Harry said in a small voice. "So what should I do?"
"It's simple really. Unless you wish to have him suffer, you should employ him as your personal house-elf. Most people in your position would be happy to take on one as enthusiastic as him if you described him right, Harry." Daphne replied.
"Okay." Harry nodded. "I'll visit him after we finish up here."
"Good. Now can we get to work if it suits you?" Daphne asked slightly sarcastically.
"Sorry."
Daphne laughed. "I was just screwing with you."
Harry chuckled. "Now who's delaying training?"
Daphne rolled her eyes.
"So you have a new spell for me?" Harry asked, becoming serious again.
Daphne grinned. "Yes, but only one. It shouldn't take you long, and I have someone you should meet."
"Okay." Harry said slowly.
"This spell is one from that book you found at the start of all this." Daphne said as she removed her wand. Harry raised an eyebrow. "Watch."
Daphne turned to stare across the room. She then raised her wand forward. "Pulsante basiliscum!"
A basilisk quickly emerged from her wand and started quickly moving across the room, away from the teens. After a few seconds, it vanished into the air.
"Give you one guess as to what it does." Daphne said, turning to Harry.
After learning the routine of casting the spell first regularly in parseltongue, then silently, wandlessly, and finally silently wandless, Daphne was convinced that the snake among lions could properly defend himself using one of his ancestors' ancient spells.
"Good, Harry. Now, let's go continue your lessons for the day. Just because you mastered one spell does not mean you are finished up yet." Daphne then began walking out of the training room. Harry quickly turned away from the six mutilated dummies and followed after his betrothed. A few seconds later, he caught up with her.
"Where we going?" Harry asked authoritatively but courteously, further showing off his acceptance of his heritage.
"The library. As I said earlier, there is someone that whose meeting has been too long postponed." Daphne replied.
Harry nodded his head. "All right."
The two continued down the passages of the Chamber of Secrets until they finally arrived back at the room that stored much of Salazar's ancient knowledge. Walking inside, Harry noticed a girl with fairly dark brown hair close to a chestnut color. Like her sister, Astoria Greengrass had a certain beauty about her, but she looked much warmer and younger than her older sister. To Harry, though, she couldn't really compare to the girl who had rewrote everything Harry had ever known.
Harry then began to realize that he did not mind so much the betrothal contract that had been created than he had first thought. While he had begun to become comfortable with pureblood ways, Harry had had his apprehensions about the discovery the night before. These initial thoughts, though, were pushed to the side by his selfless one, the one more concerned about Daphne's reaction than its own. Old habits died hard.
"Hello, madam. Your sister has told me much about you. How do you do on this day, Astoria?" Harry asked, falling into his ever more real pureblood persona.
"Fine, milord. And yourself?" Astoria replied, already out of her chair.
"Well." Harry said simply.
"I see my sister has been trying to teach you our ways. Valiant effort, but it still lacks a certain quality you must develop." Astoria paused. "I am glad that I can provide some use to you."
Harry turned to see an annoyed Daphne behind him. Despite this, however, Harry still let slip a look of confusion for a second as a way to ask her the meaning to the youngest Greengrass's words.
"I will be teaching you spells and other magical skills you will need to survive against your future nemeses. The political arena can turn violent quickly. While it is not technically that way, there is a dark side to politics that involves activities that the average person would find… illegal." Daphne replied.
"A rough estimate, but accurate nonetheless. While my sister learned combat, I trained for the duel of words and minds. My sister might be clever in a fight, but she still does not pay too keen an eye to politics. She knows our customs and the rough tactics of the various games, but I will be able to help you learn the finesse of politics." Astoria added.
"Yeah, politics get much further in a fight than a good performance of spells." Daphne rolled her eyes.
"My guess is that you two quarrel over this often?" Harry asked, interrupting the two before they could progress any further in their feud.
The sisters glared at each other before giving Harry a quick, short nod.
"I'll leave you two to your lessons. I have some schoolwork to finish. I'll be in the school library." Daphne said before exiting the room.
The next two hours had Astoria giving Harry a course in manners to be had in front of different people and what the manners were. They started with learning the manners and then started at the lowest levels of society rising up to now covering the purebloods.
Harry had remained silent until after most of the lessons had taken place.
"I've begun to recently wonder, Astoria… am I still a Potter?" Harry asked.
The girl sat in thought for a few moments. "Yes. Although you do not have real Potter blood inside your veins, the Potters did agree to take in your ancestor, thus making him one of their own. This would allow you to be the head of house since your," Astoria paused for a moment to recollect how old the man was, "great-great-great-grandfather obtained the lordship when he was the only male alive in the family for a generation." Harry raised an eyebrow in question. "The other males fought and died in several separate battles. Medieval England often had violent disputes."
Harry nodded. "What title do I then have as the head? I don't know any family's status."
"The Potters would normally be classified as just an ancient house, but since the generation before the first Slytherin/Potter lord, the Potters gained the title of noble through their vast input into stopping dark lords, ladies, and other beings that threatened the light." Astoria replied. "Few others are ancient. One, of course, being the Greengrasses and any descendants of the founders… though no others are known. There are far more noble houses, however, despite them taking up only half of the families of the Wizengamot even tallied up with the ancient and ancient and noble houses. A house can be made noble through many ways. One such as how the Potters were and other ways that benefit the government well as a whole."
"Ah, and Slytherin?" Harry asked.
Astoria sighed, but strangely she wasn't the only one.
"They are an ancient but disgraced family. They still withhold their overall power, but due to centuries' worth of misconceptions about Salazar and students in Slytherin, the Slytherin line isn't trusted. While nobody besides us know that the Slytherin line is alive, the Wizengamot decided to still mark the house as a disgrace." Daphne said, barely containing her anger while still letting herself be known.
"It is not so simple as that Daphne, and you know it." Astoria countered.
"Oh, cut the politics, sister! You, father, mother, and I all know that that is the true reason for Slytherin being marked disgraceful!" Daphne retorted.
"Wait! How can Slytherin be disgraced? Wouldn't that anger many students?" Harry interjected again.
"It would have… if they let it known widely beyond the Wizengamot." Daphne sneered. "Also, the school house is separate from the line despite being under the same name." Astoria would at first have seemed to be agreeing with her sister, but through the delivery, her words conflicted Daphne's. This was further shown by the mutual glare still unbroken since it had formed when Daphne entered the conversation.
Harry checked his watch. "I apologize ladies, but I am afraid that I must depart. I need to round up a few allies. Daphne, if you could meet me here after dinner it would be appreciated. I need to know of any allies I could possibly gain in Slytherin." Harry then decided to leave the extremely confused siblings to fulfill his words.
At the top of the final staircase inside the Chamber of Secrets, Harry pulled out his Marauders' Map instead of pushing on the brick wall. After a quick check, he found the three people he needed.
A few minutes later, Harry arrived inside the Greenhouses. After a quick walk, Harry found the Longbottom heir.
"Hey, Neville."
"Oh, hello, Harry. I was just transferring this Fanged Geranium to another pot for Professor Sprout. It's getting a little big for its old one." Neville replied.
"That's good, Neville, but aren't we doing that in a couple weeks?" Harry asked.
"We are, but Professor Sprout said she trusted me enough to handle them and that I should really be handling seventh year plants. Funny thing is that she does let me handle sixth year plants." Neville responded.
Harry chuckled. "You definitely have a way with plants."
"Not that I don't appreciate the company-which I do- but what brings you over here? You're not that fond of herbology from what the Professor tells me." Neville asked.
"I needed to talk to you about something." Harry said, letting his pureblood side emerge ever so slightly.
Neville finished transferring the Geranium before looking curiously up at Harry.
"I've realized that you are one of my only true friends, Neville, and I need you, Seamus, and Dean because of that. You three all stuck by me in the Triwizard Tournament while Ron had a fit and Hermione tried soothing him. They won't change. Ron is a bigoted arse who only looks out for himself, and Hermione only cares about teachers' approval. Sure, she might actually be a good friend, but everyone knows that Ron and her fancy each other even if they don't see it yet. If it comes down between Ron or I, she'll pick Ron." Harry said.
Neville nodded. "So that explains last night."
"Yeah. The only thing is…" Harry drifted off.
"What?" Neville asked, slightly concerned.
"What I'm about to tell you cannot leave this spot, okay? I need you to promise me that."
"All right."
Harry sighed a moment before speaking. "I am actually a direct descendent of Salazar Slytherin. In fact, I am head of the line. I found out a week after we got here at Hogwarts."
The Gryffindor's eye's widened in surprised.
Harry then began telling his story from the library up to the moment he met Neville that day, obviously excluding the Chamber of Secrets or the Greengrasses, but revealing that Harry did have a hidden place to learn and train and that he was being taught by a girl.
"Now that you know who I actually am, how are you going to proceed?" Harry asked.
"I… I…" Neville shook his head as if rearranging his thoughts. "I… am with you. You seem like a nice enough person still. I've always known you to try and do the right thing."
"Neville," Harry said as seriously as if telling the other boy of a close relative's death, "you need to realize that if you stand with me… you stand against almost the entire Wizarding World. Dumbledore. The Ministry. Voldemort. Everyone. It won't be an easy road ahead of us."
Neville absorbed Harry's words fully and gave a quick nod. For a few moments, all that could be heard inside the Greenhouse was the growls of various plants.
"My answer is still the same."
A smile slowly grew on Harry's face. "Good to hear." Harry held out his right hand in offering.
Neville didn't hesitate or even think over anything. He had already made his choice and he would stick by it. Automatically, Neville outreached his own right hand to grasp Lord Slytherin's, and the two shook hands with a firmness and determination in their eyes.
"Meet me in the common room tonight after everyone is asleep. Be prepared to get wet. I'm going to see if I can't convince two others." Harry then turned and began walking out of the Greenhouse, but before crossing through the door, he turned around to say one last thing. "Glad you're with me, Neville. I need someone as strong as you."
Harry then exited the Greenhouses and headed toward the Grand Staircase. Before he reached the moving stone, however, he was quickly pulled from the empty hall into a dark alcove.
"What do you have for me?" Harry asked Daphne calmly, not acting surprised about this odd event. After finding out that he was Salazar's heir, nothing really surprised him anymore. His lessons and training had also helped.
"I need to know what you are doing."
"I already told you."
"Yes, but you failed to mention that you would be recruiting the heir to an Ancient and Noble House renowned for being light." Daphne said through slightly clenched teeth.
"I assure you, Daphne, that I know what I am doing. Neville is one of the best people you will ever meet. I looked into his eyes when he told me his thoughts about joining me even after I told him about my ancestor, and I saw conviction, determination, and faith. He won't betray us." Harry replied.
Daphne sighed and looked around, gaining time to gather her thoughts. "All right. I need to start trusting you, so I will. Next time, though, I would greatly appreciate you telling me who exactly you are recruiting."
"Easy, just follow me." Harry started walking out of the alcove but quickly stopped and threw Daphne something from inside his back pocket. "Here, take my invisibility cloak."
Daphne caught the folded cloth and quickly put it on. "Afraid to be seen with me?" She asked as they started walking down the corridor leading to the Grand Staircase.
"Not afraid, but you said yourself that we need to be careful until we reveal ourselves. Even then, we'll need to be extra careful until everything cools down." Harry replied quietly out from the side of his mouth.
Daphne did not reply and remained silent. A few minutes later, the couple arrived outside the Portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Password?" The woman asked.
"Mimbulus mimbletonia." Harry casually replied, not trusting the portrait to share him in a quick or nervous mood.
Harry then pretended to be surprised that his shoe was untied, so he quickly steeped down to do so, allowing Daphne to pass by him and into the Common Room.
"Hurry up, dear. You wouldn't want another house entering our esteemed common room." The Fat Lady said.
"Sorry." Harry apologized, finishing his knot and hurrying into the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Hey, Harry. What you brings you here? Lately, you've been disappearing during the day when we don't have class." Seamus asked, in a good mood despite the suspicious nature of his words. He was sitting across from Dean at the table normally used for chess.
"I needed to talk to you and Dean about something privately. You mind if we talk in our dorm?" Harry replied, using his peripheral vision to search for Ron instead of letting his eyes move across the room.
"I don't think it'll do much good if you want privacy, Harry." Dean said. "Ron is up there right now, and he's still pissed about you going off last night."
"Yeah, partly what I wanted to talk to you about. Just follow me." Harry then waited for his friends to get up before proceeding out of the Gryffindor Common Room until reaching his spot by the lake where he had first met Daphne in earnest.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Dean asked.
Harry stared at where he knew Daphne was hiding and raised an eyebrow. The two Gryffindors looked at him as if Harry was going insane.
Daphne, though, remained underneath the cloak. Harry just looked back at his two friends, not acknowledging his betrothed.
"You two and Neville are my only real friends in our entire year, and I need you guys more than ever now that Ron and Hermione are gone." Harry began.
"Why did you get rid of them anyway? I mean, don't get me wrong, they are terrible, but why now?" Seamus asked.
"I opened his eyes." Daphne revealed herself, pulling off the cloak and throwing it back to Harry.
"Thanks." Harry said lowly as he shoved the fabric into his back pocket.
Meanwhile, Dean and Seamus had turned to see Daphne, and the two could not have acted any differently.
Dean automatically began to question as to where she came from, why she was here, and how she obtained Harry's cloak while Seamus's eyes and mouth gaped open in surprise and because of his hormones flowing at full blast.
"Back off, Dean. She's with me." Harry soothed.
"You might want to button up your trousers." Daphne advised Seamus as she walked past the Irish teen and to her spot on Harry's right side.
Seamus scrambled to check to see if his fly was down or not. To his relief of not walking around the school with his pants undone and his embarrassment of falling for Daphne's trick, it was not. As soon as Seamus realized this, he looked up accusingly at Daphne. His look, though, was not as impressing with the slight red tinge on his cheeks.
"Boys." Daphne rolled her eyes.
"My eyes were already opening by the way. You did help, but I started it all." Harry ignored the past few seconds.
"Technically, everyone else started it all." Daphne teased.
Harry rolled his eyes.
"What are you doing with Daphne Greengrass, Harry?" Seamus interjected slightly accusingly but mostly admiringly.
"Well…" Harry began before informing the two Gryffindor teens in front of him of the events that had happened to him so far this school year, excluding the Chamber of Secrets' actual name and location.
"Wow. Did not expect that." Seamus said.
"The reason I just told you all of this is that I am going to and currently need friends that I can trust. The reason I went off on Ron last night was that I've come to realize that he bloody sucks at being one. Dean, I can always trust you to be there, waiting to work together on homework, and Seamus, I can always trust you to make all of us laugh while doing it." Harry continued. As he addressed each one of the two, their minds wandered, reminiscing of the good times they had had together so far. "I could not imagine not having that in my life. Will you guys join and stick by me through thick and thin? We won't have an easy time of it, but change never does come easy. Are you with me?"
Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas shared one look to confirm the other's resolution.
"I'm still with you, Harry." Dean said. Harry nodded. Everyone then looked at Seamus in confusion.
"I only have one condition." Seamus finally spoke.
Harry raised an eyebrow.
"I'll join you… if I can snog Daphne for five seconds." Seamus said.
"You have to be fucking kidding me." Daphne deadpanned.
"My words exactly." Harry agreed. "You are kidding, aren't you?" Daphne glared beside him
"Aye! I was! Just having a bit of fun." Seamus replied. "I'll stick by your side."
'Though it would have been nice to score with Greengrass. She is steaming hot!' Seamus thought to himself.
"That's good to hear." Harry said he then outreached his hand first to Dean and then to Seamus to shake their hands.
"Meet me in the Gryffindor Common Room tonight after everyone else goes to sleep. Neville will be joining us." Harry informed before turning to Daphne. "Could we try out that piece of magic you used to depart the first time me met?"
Daphne grinned before hugging Harry close, much to everyone's surprise.
A second later, the world looked the same except ironically dark like a shadow as he and Daphne raced past. Daphne guided Harry back to the Chamber of Secrets' library, where Astoria was absent. There they talked for a bit, readying themselves for the event to occur a few hours later.
At eleven o'clock that night, Neville, Dean, and Seamus were shadow traveled onto the top floor of the Chamber of Secrets one after the other. As soon as Daphne and Seamus arrived, completing the group, Harry and Daphne showed the three Gryffindors around the compound and made sure that the three had memorized the password for getting into the Chamber of Secrets, despite it being only word: open. It was in parseltongue, though.
At midnight, the five empty beds were refilled with their owners.
AN: Hope everyone liked. Harder chapter for me to write, as I had to develop, think like, and write almost completely new characters as well as deal with a busier schedule for a period of time. Sorry to all who particularly enjoy this story above my others, but even if you do not, others still enjoy them so I must write chapters for them as well, though I do enjoy writing chapters for all three stories. Please express your thoughts about this and/or any other chapter of this story in a review. I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can if you have a question. Occidere Prima Vel Occidi.