Harry felt the effects of the body-bind curse disappear as he found himself back inside the chamber of secrets damp atmosphere.
'You should be safe enough down here, child. I need some time for myself now, but fret not, I'll be there for you tomorrow,' Fawkes told Harry through their bond, as he nudged the boy's head with his soft wings.
Harry didn't get to reply as the majestic creature took flight and disappeared with a mournful trill.
'Sigh. I suppose that breaking such a long bond, even with Dumbledore, must be painful.'
With that thought, Harry got up and moved towards Salazar's stone mouth.
"Open," he hissed at it, prompting it to move as commanded.
That was a nice little ability that Salazar had granted him by keying him to the room's wards.
Apparently, Voldemort never bothered to go inside the chamber as Salazar didn't know him.
Previously, it was the basilisk that opened the door when called. Since it was now dead, Harry was now the only one able to access the room.
"Hello, Harry. How did the meeting with Dumbledore go? Did you win his phoenix over?" the elder man fired.
Before Harry could reply, Asmodeus made his presence known.
"SSo I have a big brother now huh?" he hissed, getting two puzzled looks. "I can sssense the new bond you ssshare with the chicken," he answered the unasked question.
"That is excellent news! Surviving the task shouldn't be a problem for you now."
The old man seemed pretty excited with the news if his smile was anything to go by.
"Now you only have to do the ritual and it'll be a walk in the park," he said, frowning as Harry's expression darkened.
"The ritual isn't enough anymore, Sal," he uttered slowly, causing the man's eyebrows to scrunch in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
Harry proceeded to give the man a quick rundown of his encounter with the old fogey. Needless to say by the time he finished, Salazar was most displeased.
"I'm afraid that even in my time, prophecies were as much as an obscure subject as they are now. I don't think you should take it to heart, but also not downright dismiss it," he commented as his facial features tensed.
"Doesn't he know what'sss too much, that fucking back-sstabbing bastard? He'sss gone round the bend…"
Harry couldn't have agreed any more and wanted to add some creative insults of his own, but he couldn't lose his temper, not now. Time was of the essence.
"Sigh. You designed the ritual with only my survival in mind, right? Dumbledore, as you know, tried to alter my memories. He would have no doubt searched my mind for any answers he might have wanted, finding out about you and our plans. If we would have been caught so soon, it would have been really bad. Do you realise what that means? He wants, no he needs, to have control over me. He won't leave me alone unless he believes that I'm firmly thinking about his interests, and I doubt I'll be able to convince him of that with mere words. Do you understand where I'm going with this?"
"Yes, my heir. Your name getting out of the goblet was definitely someone's plan. Whether Dumbledore or Voldemort decided to put you in the tournament for whatever nefarious reason, it doesn't matter. The two strongest wizards of your time, have interests that concern you. One wants to control you, and the other continuously tries to kill you. Lastly, much sooner rather than later, you'll have to face one, if not both, of them in combat," Salazar said tiredly.
"Exactly and that's why survival isn't enough anymore. I need you to create another ritual for me, this time, with the most potential and destruction in mind," Harry said calmly, sending the man in deep thought.
'Are you going to be okay?' came Ash's concern in his mind.
He gave the snake an appreciative nod, his attention snapping to the elder man as he started talking.
"Enough potential and destruction to stand against magical powerhouses in the foreseeable future… We'll need a more powerful sacrifice, much more powerful. Hmmm… What else is there that we could use? Lifespan? While it could indeed offer much, it would require many years of his life. Fertility is definitely a no-no. I doubt that Harry will willingly sacrifice another human… A magical creature then? It'll need to be strong, very strong. Would Asmodeus do? No, he wouldn't be a good enough option, not for the likes of Voldemort and Dumbledore," the Slytherin mumbled out loud, going over any and all ideas that popped into his head.
"Wait, why wouldn't a thousand-year-old basilisk be a good option? He sounds like a fan-fucking-tastic option in my opinion," Harry cut Salazar's monologue.
"Oh, I was thinking out loud again, huh? Well, you slew him two years ago and have done nothing to prevent his magic from leaking out. Not only that, but as far as you've told me, you've not issued a right-to-conquest challenge before slaying him, thus you've not gained a right over his magic," informed the older man, giving Harry an idea.
"What if I had another powerful magical creature that I had slain after issuing the right of conquest challenge you've mentioned?"
"I can't see what creature are you thinking about," he said, looking Harry in the eye. "Don't tell me you are talking about Fawkes. I'm afraid he doesn't exactly fit the destruction criteria you've put as a phoenix and all. Not only that, how will you even go about killing the phoenix?"
"Are you insane? I'm not talking about Fawkes. I'm talking about a dragon," Harry cried, glaring at the man.
'Is he cruel enough to think of killing a phoenix? He did mention something about human sacrifices…'
Harry didn't continue that thought. He knew Salazar didn't have the same morals as him, and it wasn't the time to argue.
"You are not serious, are you? Have you finally gone mad? Until now, we were making plans for you simply surviving the first task, and now you wish to slay a dragon?" inquired Salazar, in mild disbelief.
'Gryffindor,' he concluded with a single word.
"Can you humour me at least?" Harry asked, annoyed at the older man's show of trust in his skill.
"Sigh. Fine. I suppose the Hungarian Horntail will be a passable magical creature to use for the ritual. Its carcass together with the previously determined sacrifices, should do the job, albeit I'm not sure how well it would go along with Asmodeus' venom," he calculated, not noticing Harry's change of expression at the dragon's mention.
"Who said anything about the horntail?" he asked with a smile creeping on his lips.
"The Abyssal Reaver?" realised Salazar, speaking very slowly and with a clear incredulity.
'He's gone mental. All those occlumency lessons and these are the results? There's definitely something wrong with his head if he is still unable to think straight.'
While Salazar was trying to understand what was wrong with his heir, the said boy was looking at him impatiently.
"Earth to Sal? Are you there? What do you think, can you make the ritual?"
The elder man looked at the lad in front of him.
"Of course I can, I'm not sure if I should do so, though."
'I'm not sure if I should do so, huh?'
A pillar of annoyance was quickly building inside Harry before he crushed it.
"I know you don't think I can kill it, you don't have to worry though!" Harry said with mock cheerfulness.
"Just make a ritual and leave the rest to me," he said emotionlessly before turning and heading towards the bedroom.
Even though the day was still in its beginning phase, he felt extremely tired.
Harry became pallid with rage as his thoughts went back to his meeting with the headmaster.
'He has taken everything away from me and wishes to take more,' he thought, clenching his hands so hard that they almost leaked blood.
He stared down at the bathtub in front of him.
Were he to look at his face at the moment, he'd have been amazed that his eyes' pupils were like emerald disks of fire.
'Damn that lemon-flavoured brain of yours Dumbledore,' he cursed as he reached down and turned the tap on.
Salazar stood in his portrait speechless for some time before finally breaking out of his stupor, no thanks to himself.
"SStop ssstanding there and gawking old man," hissed Asmodeus.
"Did you underssstand what that human of yourss decided to do?" fired back the monkey-ish man.
"Yesss, and I can't say that I'm any more pleased than you are. However, if there'sss any that can constantly pull miracles out of his asssss, it'ss him," Asmodeus said sagely.
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