"W-What are you talking about? What's this about death and why are you talking about it as if it's an actual being?" he stuttered.
"My mother, Circe blesss her, was a born Peverell. Now you may not know what that meanss, ass my family'ss legacy was probably lost through the harshnesss of time. There's no reason to fret though, I'll happily enlighten you. The Peverell family, appointed by Death itself, had a duty to deal with the beings trying to run away from death. Whenever a budding immortal dark lord appeared, a Peverell was dispatched and not long after, the issue was solved," Salazar informed him.
Harry was gobsmacked.
'Bloody hell… Death is a being and my ancestors have had contact with it… Death is actually alive, or is it dead?'
"No matter that, it's getting late and you should go to sleep. Is there anything you wish to ask before that?" he asked, breaking Harry from his inner debate about Death's life condition.
"Actually, yes. I've talked with my best friend today and I wanted to get your opinion in bringing her in with what we're doing," Harry disclosed.
"Hmmm. Have you thought about this? Can she be trusted with this knowledge? What's her opinion on rituals and 'dark magic'? Are you sure she won't freak out and go straight to the authorities?"
"Of course I did. If she couldn't be trusted I wouldn't have mentioned her in the first place. To answer your second question though, it's not good. She, like most of the Magical Britain's population, believes everything that Dumbledore and the media spew. If I were to tell her, there's a chance she would think that I'm going nuts," Harry replied.
"There you go then, you've answered your own question. You can either fully keep in her in the cold or reveal a few tidbits to keep her satiated, just like a proper Slytherin. Now, unless you have anything else to ask or say, go to sleep," he commanded.
"I'm regretting telling you about my sorting..." Harry said tiredly.
Thankfully, Salazar didn't bother replying, leaving him to his devices.
With a sigh, Harry got comfortable on his couch and slowly drifted off to sleep. His last thoughts pertained to a certain silver-haired beauty.
[BREAK]
"Damn that old geezer. If there was a bedroom inside the chambers couldn't he have mentioned it earlier? Was he ever going to do so if I haven't found it by myself?" he mumbled while walking towards the great hall.
He immediately spotted Hermione, reading whilst eating, and immediately started heading towards her.
'No surprises there.'
"Morning Hermione," he muttered as he plopped down next to her.
"Good morning Harry. You seem tired," she observed as put down her cereal bowl.
"Yeah, I didn't sleep much."
'It's probably the stress,' she concluded.
Without exchanging any more words, Harry looked around his near vicinity, observing all the offered food.
'What to eat?' he wondered.
He'd usually go for sausages and fried eggs but he didn't feel like it at the moment.
Shaking his head, he grabbed a clean bowl and reached for a pot containing oatmeal. Using a soup spoon, he ladled a generous portion into his bowl. Then, taking a moment to savour the comforting aroma, he proceeded to pick up some strawberries from a fruit bowl and toss them inside his own bowl.
By the time he started eating, Hermione had put down her bowl again and was looking at him bemusedly.
"What's up?" Harry asked after noticing her gaze.
"You are eating porridge."
"You don't say," he replied, throwing her a sceptical look.
Hermione didn't say anything else and Harry's attention fell back to his breakfast.
While eating, he threw a few looks around to see if there was anything interesting going on.
'Ron's eating like a pig, nothing new there, but he is throwing a lot of death stares in my direction though. It probably has to do something with Hermione sitting next to me I bet. Speaking of us, no one is sitting anywhere near us. Curious,' he mused, his eyes leaving the Gryffindor table.
'Absolutely no change with the Ravenclaws,' he concluded after peering at the blue table. Needless to say, he wasn't looking at his schoolmates but at the Beauxbaton students. The Beauxbaton champion to be exact.
'Damn, she's pretty.'
Sighing, he turned around to look at the Hufflepuffs. After a moment, he noticed something strange.
"Hey, Hermione," he said, nudging her arm and prompting her to look away from her book.
'What's she even reading?' he wondered.
"Hmm?"
"Am I finally going bonkers or does the whole Hufflepuff table seem to be glaring at me?" he asked in amusement.
Hermione turned her head at the aforementioned table, making many students from the younger years snap back to their food. However, a lot of older students kept unashamedly scowling at Harry, making her frown.
"No… They are definitely mad at you," she observed, contemplating their reason for doing so.
"They are probably mad at you for stealing Cedric's spotlight of becoming a tournament champion. Since Cedric got chosen as the champion of Hogwarts, Hufflepuff also got a chance to shine brighter than the other houses," she analysed.
"In other words, they are mad at me for being made a champion of the infamous tournament for its high death toll without my consent. Bunch of sheep," he chuckled mirthlessly.
'Huh, how come Harry is so calm? I expected him to lose his temper when I finished my explanation.'
Against Hermione's expectations, Harry ignored the little badgers and looked towards the last and his least favourite house.
He wasn't surprised when he noticed Draco looking straight at him. He always showed an unhealthy interest towards himself for some apparent reason.
'Is he deluded into thinking that we are some sort of rivals?'
Was Draco really that stupid? He wasn't sure.
'It could also be a very roundabout way of him trying to show his feelings for me,' he thought, a chuckle escaping him.
Draco didn't seem too pleased that Harry was laughing while looking at him and he glowered at him.
Ignoring Draco, Harry returned his attention back to his bowl and quickly finished his food.
"I'm going to class. Coming?" he asked Hermione while grabbing his school bag from the bench on his right.
"Sure," she replied while closing her book and grabbing her own bag.
Without any delay, the two teenagers got out of the great hall and moved towards the defence against the dark arts classroom.
"When are we going to talk about your super safe and secret place?" Hermione suddenly asked.
'Was I a fool to hope that she would forget about that…? Now how much do I tell her?' Harry pondered.
He looked behind them; no one was there.
'Ah fuck it.'
"The chamber of secrets," he said as casually as he could, trying to ease the impact.
"The chamber of secrets?"
They stopped walking.
"That's what I said, yes," he answered innocently.
"You are sleeping there? You can't! Isn't the dead basilisk in there?" she fired.
"Nah, don't worry. The body of the basilisk has long since decomposed and I levitated the bones away. I also cast a few charms here and there and the place became pretty comfy in my opinion," he said.
Luckily, Hermione had never gone inside the chamber of secrets and couldn't know that a few charms wouldn't change a thing in the humongous damp room.
'What are the odds she knows about a basilisk's decomposition rate?' he contemplated.
"If you say so… You'll have to take me there to see sometime though," she demanded.
"Yeah sure," he replied stiffly.
There was no way he'd take Hermione to the chamber of secrets any time soon that was for sure.
(Last edit: 16/07/2024)