Chapter Text
Harry slumped down in the chairs in front of the common room fire. He was the last one up as it was nearing one in the morning, but he couldn’t sleep. How could he when their one good lead as to what was attacking students was a dead end? Part of him still wasn’t sure if he believed Malfoy. That he didn’t even have a clue who was opening the Chamber of Secrets and petrifying students. Well, he had said something about the Chamber being opened before, but Harry wasn’t sure how that helped yet. They likely wouldn’t have wanted to include that in Hogwarts: A History.
Hermione might have some ideas, but she was still in hospital wing, being turned back to herself. Since he wasn’t sleeping anyway, Harry had half a mind to slip off to search for clues, but there weren’t many places left to search. Harry sat there for a while before sighing and heading up the stairs. He still didn’t think he’d get to sleep, but he’d try again. Maybe if he tried to just not think of anything at all, he’d eventually just drift off without realizing it.
Harry laid there in bed and closed his eyes. He heard one of the others, possibly Neville, shift in his sleep across the room. Seamus was snoring but not very loudly. Harry took several deep breaths to try and force himself to relax. There was tension in his shoulders, and maybe that was part of his problem. Relax. Don’t think of anything. He needed sleep.
Harry didn’t think he slept much, but eventually, morning rolled around. Not sleeping certainly didn’t help his mood the next day or his ability to really pay much attention. Perhaps he should visit Hermione and see if she had any new thoughts. The term would start again in a few days, and then all the students would return. The monster would have so many potential targets. Harry wanted to figure out what was happening before more people got attacked.
After dinner, Harry and Ron went to visit Hermione as they had been doing every day. Although Harry, feeling quite tired, left first. On his way back to Gryffindor Tower, he wasn’t expecting to see Crabbe and Goyle lumbering towards him. Though they weren’t with Malfoy, who usually caused their worst behavior to flare up, they certainly wouldn’t hesitate to go after Harry alone in the halls.
Harry glanced around and quickly took a staircase down. He heard a loud ‘Oi!’ from behind him and flung himself down the stairs even faster. He didn’t want to try his luck against the two Slytherins. Harry heard the loud thuds of feet behind him even as he jumped down the last five or so steps and nearly fell flat on his face. Harry scrambled to catch himself and ran down a side hallway. Harry wasn’t sure where he was, but he could figure that out later. When he wasn’t being chased by the two thuggish Slytherins.
Crabbe and Goyle were still following him. Harry could hear their heavy footsteps. There was another staircase, and Harry took it. This one spiraled, and Harry nearly fell but caught himself at the bottom on a large gargoyle statue with a snake-like neck. Harry heard his name being shouted and quickly looked for a safe place to dart next. Then the gargoyle’s hissed. Harry let go in surprise as the gargoyle shifted to the side to reveal yet another staircase.
Confused but not wanting to get caught by Crabbe and Goyle, Harry slipped behind the statue and went down yet again. There was a thick door with an ouroboros knocker. There was a shout that sounded like Goyle and Harry tried the door. It was locked, but a quick spell opened it up. Harry nearly fell over himself to get inside and slammed the door behind him.
Harry listened for any sign that he’d been followed or that his pursuers had heard the door close. He didn’t hear anything for several minutes, but that might be due to how thick the door was. Harry sighed and rested his forehead against the wood. That had been far too close for comfort. He should still probably give it a few minutes and then leave, though. Crabbe and Goyle would either give up or move on before too long. “Are you lost?”
Harry whipped around at the unfamiliar voice. The room he’d hidden in was apparently a study of some sort with a laboratory on one side, complete with a full counter of different glass forms and empty cauldrons. On the room’s left wall was an immense set of bookcases with a large empty glass cage set in the middle. Directly across from where Harry was standing was a fireplace, which had crackled to life when Harry entered, and above the mantle was the source of the voice.
A full-length portrait of a man with slicked-back shoulder-length hair, long black robes, and piercing green eyes. The same green he saw in the nightmares about his parent’s death. The man was tall, pale, and had a vaguely haughty expression where he was sitting in a high-backed chair beside the glass cage. Only in the painting the cage wasn’t empty. In it was a large black snake sleeping over a log. “Well? Lost?”
Harry swallowed hard and glanced around the room. There were several different snakes carved into walls and decorative corners. The mantle had rearing cobras holding up the shelf. Several of the glass vessels on the counter even had stoppers shaped like snakes. The gargoyle had hissed at him before moving to the side. Harry forced his eyes back up to those deadly green eyes painted far too well. “Who… who are you?”
“Salazar Slytherin,” the man said with a faint wave of his hand.
Harry felt his eyes widen. “The-the founder of the school!?” The snakes made sense, but it couldn’t possibly be!
The man’s eyebrow went up, but then he smiled. Harry was a little surprised by how charming it was and how it softened the haughtiness of his sharp bone structure. “How many other Salazar Slytherins are you aware of, exactly? Judging by that rather odd bit of fabric around your neck, I’m guessing you’re one of Godric’s little cubs?” Harry held his tie self-consciously and -not sure what else to do in this unusual situation- nodded. Salazar Slytherin, or rather his portrait, hummed. “I must say, I’m rather disappointed. I would have thought one of Helga’s would have come to try and make nice before now. They always would before... It’s been an exceedingly long time since I’ve had a visitor. I certainly didn’t expect a Gryffindor. But maybe I should have... you are so very brash, after all.”
“Er,” Harry glanced around. With the thick layer of dust on everything, he was sure it had been years since this room had been entered. “I’m not... sure anyone knows you’re down here... sir.” Harry had no idea what to do here. This was the ancestor of the man that killed his parents and countless others. A man who left a monster to kill anyone from muggle families. One of the most infamous wizards there was. And yet... he didn’t seem insane or even unpleasant. Was this portrait from before that? He did supposedly get along with the other founders at some point. How did magical portraits work anyway? Did they only know things up to a point, or were they perfect copies of their subject? Harry had no idea. He’d never really thought to ask.
Salazar Slytherin frowned. “Just what year is it?” he asked, leaning closer in his chair.
“Um... 1992?”
Slytherin was out of his chair in a flash. “What?” Harry pulled back against the door. The snake in the painting lifted its head and hissed. Slytherin visibly composed himself and hissed something that sounded like ‘go back to sleep, dear’ to the snake. Then, after a moment, Slytherin sat back down like a king on his throne. “Are you saying that I have been down here for a thousand years?”
“Um... just about?” Harry looked around. He’d found this place reasonably effortlessly, and there was no monster, but he just had to ask. “Is... Is this the Chamber of Secrets?”
Slytherin blinked in surprise and then burst into laughter. A surprisingly light and cheerful noise for a man that planned to kill those he considered unworthy of being taught magic. “The Chamber? Of course not! This was just my office. The Chamber is highly protected. No mere student would be able to just stumble his way into it.”
Harry was rather annoyed about that. “It’s not that protected. Someone’s opened it and sent your horrible monster out to attack students,” he said angrily. The snake lifted its head and hissed.
Slytherin’s smile very abruptly dropped. “That’s not possible.”
“It is! There’s already been multiple attacks, and people have been petrified!”
Harry was expecting another protest, but he didn’t get it. Instead, Slytherin rested his chin on the knuckles of his left hand. His right hand was fiddling with something off to the side. Some sort of necklace, it looked like. His green eyes were fixed on Harry with an unsettling intensity. There was a far too long pause where Harry felt like his skin was being peeled back, and every secret he ever had was on full display. “What is your name, little cub?”
Harry shifted his weight back and forth. “Harry Potter.” There was no reaction to that, which Harry supposed made sense. Salazar Slytherin had absolutely no reason to know who he was.
“Well, Mr. Potter, I believe it is time for you to tell me what exactly is going on in my school.”
Loki Odinson felt a strange tug at the back of his mind. One he hadn’t felt in ages. A century even. It took him a moment to place what the sensation was. Someone had disturbed some of his wards. They weren’t his best. He’d made them when he had only been practicing magic for a measly two decades. So it wasn’t really a surprise that someone had gotten past. What was more shocking to Loki was the fact that he’d almost entirely forgotten about their existence. His office. In Midgard. In the castle that he’d built with his mortal friends. What in Odin’s name was going on down there that someone would go into his old office? He hadn’t left anything important there, had he? Loki didn’t think so. Perhaps he should check…