章 6: Something interesting
The next days were considerably quieter, except for one morning, when a young auror everyone called 'Tonks' came to visit. She had managed to fall over some troll-leg umbrella stand and awaken Walburgas portrait, that started screaming on the spot.
Harry, confused as to where the noise was coming from as he had never heard the woman scream before, had come down from the room he shared with Ron and asked Sirius what the hell was going on. But after he had shouted the question to his godfather, to be heard over all the racket, the portrait had suddenly shut up, looking surprised before its curtains had been pulled close.
No one knew why Walburga had stopped screaming that particular moment but as everyone was relieved they soon forgot about that incident, opting to tell Tonks to be more careful instead.
That day the order had held some meeting, meaning Harry saw quite a lot people coming and going from his spot inside the library as the window in the Dark Arts section was seemingly charmed to show the front door of the house and part of the street. Well, for once he was thankful for Orion Blacks paranoia.
But except for the fact that Snape seemed to be part of the order - as he could clearly see the dark figure of his potions professor entering the house - he never learned something of interest through that window.
About a week after his arrival he got another letter from the unknown person he felt he should recognise. It was the longest he had received as of yet but nonetheless very straightforward.
Harry,
I assume Dumbledore never told you but there is a prophecy about you and Voldemort. It was made by a seer during a job interview at the Hogs Head, shortly before you were born. I have enclosed a memory of a person you most certainly know. It contains the first part of the prophecy, the part he overheard and relayed to the Dark Lord. Maybe it will help you understand a few things, it will also stand as proof that what I tell you is correct.
Also, keep this parchment. It is charmed to show you the whole prophecy if you speak the name of the man the memory belongs to.
Be careful.
The memory was contained inside a slim glass vial, most likely spelled unbreakable, but it still posed a problem. To view a memory he needed a pensieve. And he was absolutely sure he could not use Dumbledores for that.
Maybe a trip to Diagon Alley would help? He wanted to pay the street a visit anyway, as soon as the book lists arrived. Though until now there had been nothing. Fred and George spread the rumour that Dumbledore was not able to find a new teacher for Defence Against the Dark Arts, but he had not heard a confirmation of that yet.
He had even considered asking Sirius if the Black family had a pensieve, but then he would have needed to explain his godfather what the hell he was doing with some unknown person that kept sending him letters. And even though he was still suspicious himself he was pretty sure that a memory could not be charmed to be dangerous. It could be fake, yes, but he'd be on alert for any signs of that.
Surprisingly, the pensieve problem solved itself the day after he got the letter.
Harry sat on the windowsill of the fake window in the Black library that morning, as always, reading about blood wards, when he heard a slight plop. He looked up and saw Kreacher standing in front of him, looking torn.
"Kreacher...?" he asked, confused and the house elf jumped slightly.
"Kreacher is very sorry if he has interrupted Harry Potters studies," the elf mumbled, still seeming not very happy about the situation.
"It's fine, what's wrong? Did Sirius send you?" Which would be very strange, seeing that his godfather probably still hated Kreacher with a passion. Who scoffed in disgust anyway before shaking his head.
"No. Mistress Walburga sent me."
Now Harry was stumped. Walburga Black? The portrait downstairs? He knew that Kreacher still took some orders from her and was free to do so as long as they didn't go against Sirius' orders, but why would the old woman send the house elf to him of all people?
"Alright, what does she want?" he asked, trying to maintain a friendly tone. Maybe Kreacher wouldn't look as unwillingly as he did now if Harry cooperated a bit.
"Mistress said she will be happy to show Harry Potter the secret room. She said he has passed her test and Kreacher is allowed to bring him there." The elf beckoned Harry to follow him and even though he had no idea what kind of test he had passed he was quite curious what secret room the other was talking about.
Kreacher led him out of his standard isle, deeper into the Dark Arts part of the library, and stopped in front of a plain wooden wall, with candleholders on every side. There were many of these walls thorough the library, so it really was nothing special.
Harry had a vague idea what might be different this time anyway and really, with a surprisingly big jump Kreacher grabbed the left candleholder, pulling it slightly to the side with his weight. It was not very noticeable and it didn't seem to change anything, but as the house elf let go he stuck his hand through the wall, just like the wall at Kings Cross. He then bowed slightly.
"This is a secret room Salazar Slytherin himself approved of. Mistress said Harry Potter is allowed to go in there now."
Harry frowned. The fact that he couldn't see behind the wall made it a great hiding place, but also a great trap.
"Kreacher can go in first if Harry Potter likes," the house elf added and Harry thought about it. He was pretty sure Sirius had ordered Kreacher to not cause trouble for anyone inside of this house. He didn't think the house elf would really lead him into some kind of trap.
"Let's go in together," he decided after a moment. It would've seemed mean to let the elf go first but he didn't want to go in there alone as he had no idea as of yet if he could open and close the passage way from inside too.
That got him a curious look of Kreacher, but he nodded and with that both of them walked through the seemingly massive wooden wall.
And the room behind was... amazing. It wasn't very big, though he could navigate through the furniture without any problems.
On the opposite wall he saw a big Slytherin banner framed right and left with the same candleholders as outside. Underneath the banner was a strange table, which had only one leg right in the middle that was shaped like a snake and a curious looking box placed on top of it.
On his left, he saw a big, cushy-looking couch - of course, it had a dark green colour - and a light grey coffee table, as well as a bookshelf with what he guessed were books about the Dark Arts next to the snake-table.
Across from that stood a small, wooden desk complete with a not very comfy looking chair and at the far end there was a simple shelf with nothing in it except for a stone basin... he blinked.
"Is that a pensieve...?" he asked, surprised as he noticed the slight silver glow that the bowl seemed to emit.
Kreacher looked up, followed his glance and nodded.
"Yes, as far as Kreacher knows. Harry Potter may use it, mistress said it is alright," he explained, but then turned to point at the box on the snake-table. "Mistress wants to give Harry Potter the content of that box. She said to open it one has to speak to it like Salazar Slytherin did."
Harry raised his eyebrow, staring back and forth between the box and the house elf. Speak to it like Slytherin did? Parseltongue? But how did Kreacher know about his ability, much less Walburga- he stopped.
Hadn't he talked to Shiva in the hallway in front of the kitchen multiple times? Maybe Walburga wasn't as deaf as everyone believed her to be even if the curtains were closed and one whispered only...
It was certainly a possibility... if she had heard him speaking Parseltongue she'd probably come to the same conclusion as everyone. That he had to be Slytherins heir. Though of course he wasn't, Voldemort was. He had proven so while opening the chamber of secrets.
He shook his head, trying to chase the dark thoughts from it, focusing back on the box. So... to open it with Parseltongue...?
"Open," he hissed, the words coming so much easier to him than a month before. He didn't even need to look at a snake anymore. Though Shiva poked her head out anyway, seemingly curious. And really, the box gave an audible click and sprung open, revealing it's content.
On a velvet cushion laid a metal bracelet, slim and decorated with small, green stones. In the middle was a slightly bigger stone with a tiny, but almost real-looking snake carved into it. It was truly a masterpiece, but Harry wasn't sure if he was a big fan of jewellery.
"That looks... incredible," he said after a while. "But why is it that protected?" No one would hide a normal bracelet in a hidden room, locked into a box that could only be opened by speaking the language of the snakes.
"Kreacher doesn't know the specifics, but mistress Walburga said it was left here by Salazar Slytherin himself. And she said that the bracelet has magic inside. It is also activated with the tongue of Salazar Slytherin and it is said to protect the wearer from all spells that would reveal their location."
Harrys eyes widened. If that was true... all the possibilities! He knew that locator spells were easy once you had some DNA of the person you searched. So if that bracelet truly worked, it would give him a great advantage if combined with the Invisibility Cloak...
Like that, he might even go out again, maybe together with Sirius!
He smiled and took the bracelet carefully out of the box, hesitating only for a second. It was very unlikely that someone had cursed it, since Slytherin seemingly wanted his heir (or someone like that) to get it and Voldemort was probably still thinking that he was the only Parselmouth alive. Even if he knew about that bracelet he probably would've ignored it.
Harry proceeded to look at it more closely, wondering if the green stones were real emeralds. Well, they certainly complimented his eyes.
While he examined the craftsmanship he thought about what kind of phrase he'd need to say to activate it. The box had had a simple 'password', maybe it was the same with the bracelet? After all there were few words he could say by accident in Parseltongue.
He tried a few things that didn't do much, but after a hissed "Hide me" - something Shiva had suggested after a few amused words at his failures - it began to emit a soft glow. He probably wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't stared at the ruddy thing for the last minutes, but it made the jewels seem even more radiant and gave the silver some kind of mysterious gleam... he liked it.
A bit more of experimenting and he got that the counter-phrase was "Show me", which immediately stopped the glowing.
He then finally decided to put the thing on, observing with interest, as the metal seemed to close itself around his wrist the second it had touched his skin. By now he was sure the bracelet wasn't cursed, so he analysed it calmly until he found out how to take it off again. It was a pretty simple 'mechanism' as the only thing he had to do for that was pulling at it, though he strongly suspected that it was charmed to do so only if the wearer wanted it to. It was some kind of... heirloom of Slytherin after all.
The thought actually made him feel bad for a second - he wasn't Slytherins heir, so the bracelet technically didn't belong to him - but then he thought that it was probably better for everyone if it was in his hands instead of Voldemorts. And it would be very impolite to decline a gift like that.
So instead he put it on again, activating it once more, and thanked Kreacher happily, which made the elf stare at him in wonder for a bit before bowing deeply.
They left the hidden room and Harry straightened the candleholder before asking Kreacher if he could pass his thanks to Walburga as he still had things to do.
The house elf happily complied and Harry made his way out of the library in search of Sirius. He'd told himself to enjoy the rest of his summer holidays while making his godfather leave the house at least once.
And what better way to accomplish both of it together than by going on a little walk?
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