PSEU~PSEU~PSEU~PSEU~PSEU~PSEU~PSEU~PSEU~PSEU~PSEU~PSEU

* Darker Than Blood*

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HP Fanfiction Shipping War Competition

"There's a perfect form of tragedy when two stars cross up above and an Angel and a Devil find themselves in love."

Summary: History is written by the victor. It is known though not often remarked upon that to any good story there are always two sides to tell. It is also known that the story is only ever as good as its villain. And the best sort of villains are the ones you didn't see coming. What if everything the wizarding world believed in was false, what if there were secrets other than basilisks hidden within it's walls. What if a fourteen year old savior found them.

Characters: Harry, Salazar Slytherin, Luna Lovegood, the Malfoy's (others)

Warnings: Morally Ambiguous. I can provide further warnings if necessary, feel free to suggest them and I shall take them into consideration.

Contains: Questionable Alliances, Magical Theory, Political Networking, Conspiracy, Blatant Manipulation, Unexpected Backstabbing...

An: Written in response to the HP Fanfiction Shipping War Competition. My first FFN contest actually, hopefully I do well. I know I was meant to post for BLACK on Saturday last and it's the following Monday already and I haven't done and I'm sorry. I'll get right on it after I've posted this. Promise. Don't smite me oh mighty readers of mine... Gosh I need some breakfast...or at least tea...tea sounds nice...

ANx2: At first I began this as nothing more than an experiment to see if I could write something out on demand however a wonderful plot came to me and whether I win or not I am incredibly excited to write this. I've touched on similar aspects in my other stories but never with the intention to take it as far as I am planning for this particular story. I've never been afraid to brush subjects I personally find uncomfortable or unnerving but this...I have such plans for this. Please bear with me while I get this together and let me know how I am doing. I am pleased to share the journey with you loyal readers and new readers alike. I shall bring to the table elements from my own original fiction, as I have done slightly in other stories, as well as new perceptions of JK Rowling's wizarding world. Hopefully. I might very well fail miserably. At least if I do I plan to do so spectacularly! So there's that.

Obnoxiously long AN done. Sorry! I shan't do it again I swear it. I also lie though so keep that in mind.

Ever Yours, Pseu [The Magnificent]

Welcome to the panic room

We're running out of air, ain't seen the light of day

Living life scared so I hide myself away, chaos all around

Be quiet! Just be calm! I'm better off alone like I have been along

I don't know why but I'm trapped inside

Welcome to the panic room it's my dark place, locked myself away from you and I can't escape

When you've got nothing to loose paranoia sets in and no matter what you do I'm never gonna let you in

Panic! Panic!

Like a spider I will crawl back into my hole, I'm scratching at the walls but I have no where else to go

I'm adjusting to the dark, forget about the pain; Am I really that afraid or am I just insane?

Don't know why but you've followed me inside...

Welcome to the panic room it's my dark place, locked myself away from you and I can't escape

When you've got nothing to lose paranoia sets in and no matter what you do

I'm never gonna let you in - Welcome to the panic room

Suffocating! I can't breathe! Hallucinating! Walls closing in on me!

Panic - Panic - Panic - Panic - Panic

I'm adjusting to the dark

Chapter One: The Beginning

I don't need them.

Standing in the empty girl's washroom Harry couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

His friends wouldn't approve had they known his intentions. Hermione would be scandalized at the very idea and he could almost hear the beginnings of the lecture awaiting him should she discover his actions tonight. She would go and on about his recklessness and his curiosity and why he would want to worry his friends the way he did.

Then again she was off soothing Ron's jealousy and wounded ego most of the evening and went to bed without a word to Harry. The red head was furious with the smaller Gryffindor for getting into the tournament. Jealous. That's what he was. Harry could deal with it well enough from most of the school, he didn't know them personally, but from his best mate it was hard to take. Harry felt a scowl forming and quickly wiped it from his face. All of that could wait. He needed a place to think away from the rumours surrounding the events of the World Cup and the equally inescapable rumours swirling around his placement in the TriWizard Tournament earlier that night. He had questions, worries, frustrations. He just needed to be alone with his thoughts if only for a little while and he could think of no place better to secure his need for personal space than the Chamber of Secrets. After all no one else could even get inside.

Screw them anyway.

If they weren't ignoring him maybe he would have even brought them along. Well now he wouldn't. In fact he wouldn't tell them where he went or what he did. It wasn't their job to know his whereabouts and Ron couldn't be bothered to feel some empathy for his best mate. He was far too busy wallowing while the rest of the school was jeering and mocking. No, he didn't need to bring anyone with him. He'd do fine on his own for a bit. He used to be alone all the time and maybe...maybe he was better off that way. He couldn't remember ever risking his life so much before he started making 'friends'.

"Open."

Harry slid down on his feet this time, which while just as exciting as tumbling down the tunnel, was a lot cleaner. He reached the end and leaped off, landing amongst the strewn animal bones and other various unidentified bits decorating the floor. The crack of breaking bones echoed ominously in the entry chamber. Too bad he hadn't brought Ron, the prat, with him to frighten. He turned beginning the trek down the path. There was nothing really to be afraid of down here. For him anyway. He'd killed the basilisk when he was twelve and the life draining spirit had disappeared when he pierced it's diary with a fang from the very basilisk he'd killed. Actually Salazar Slytherin may not want him wandering his chamber come to think of it. He had killed the man's pet and trashed the place once before. Left blood and venom on the floor, vanquished a spirit... A little late to think of that now considering he didn't have a plan to get back out. The last time Fawkes, a phoenix, had flown him up the tunnel. Well a long deceased founder hardly had any say in the grand scheme of things. And nor did anyone else.

He stopped at the circular divider at the end of the tunnel. "Open." The door parted allowing him into a larger passage at the end of which lead into the main chamber housing the statue of Slytherin. It was from the statue the basilisk came when Riddle called for it. Harry hoped there were secrets than just a giant snake hidden in here somewhere. A basilisk was quite heart pounding certainly but after it was dispatched, or if you didn't have to war with another Parselmouth over its control, there wasn't much else to look at as far as he could tell.

Deciding that Salazar Slytherin had to have more than a bloody snake, must have more than that, down there to merit naming it a chamber of secrets the raven haired Gryffindor explored the chamber and its off shoot tunnels. Maybe he could find something within the chamber to help him in the tournament. Something to even it out between him and the seventeen year olds. Or maybe even something to win. Hell if he had to be in it he could at least give them s how couldn't he? If he could find something, a potion or a spell, to help him out. The only super power he was aware of was the immunity to killing curses he apparently had and the ability to talk to snakes. If they chucked him in with a pit of dangerous snakes he might be able to swing something there, other than that he was wishing he'd been a bit more studious in his time there. He could cast a Patronis if they happened to sic a Dementor on them. Harry combed every corner, every statue, every carving. They were examined, tapped, knocked on and prodded with his Wand. He even took to randomly speaking in Parseltongue hoping he might find something by accident. The chamber as a whole was far more interesting all on its own than he'd originally thought. The statues and carvings were intricate, fearing unknown wizards and creatures. Some of them were etched with tiny symbols he recognized as runes. He didn't know enough to know if there was anything significant to it.

I can do just fine on my own.

It was at this point Harry considered how Riddle might have managed to uncover the password to the statue. This lead him to thinking of the Marauder's Map he'd gotten from the Weasley Twins the year before. Perhaps a specific phrase or request spoken in Parseltongue? When Riddle wanted the basilisk to come from the statue the teenage Dark Lord requested the greatest of the Hogwarts founders to speak to him, similarly the mapped worked by promising you were using it to do things you oughtn't. These were different from the passwords used to get into the Gryffindor and Slytherin commons rooms which involved a word a phrase that changed often. What he needed was a fixed phrase that encompassed what he wanted. There were so many possibilities and variations he could think of. Harry blew out air in a hard puff. This might take a while.

It was a good thing he had all weekend he supposed. If he wasn't locked out of the dorm for, not cheating, but for cheating without Ron who'd wanted to enter the tournament badly. His jealousy colouring over his knowledge, after three years of schooling together, that Harry hated attention and had more than enough of his own gold. He didn't need to be in the tournament. He didn't want to be in it. Moody's insinuation that someone was out to kill him wasn't helping either. Though to be honest, someone tried to kill him every year. It would odd if this year was attempted murder free.

Harry went through many declarations. Some of them more creative than others. To keep himself entertained he shouted some and whispered others. For some he twirled on one leg and for another he sang it out, thinking of the three headed dog he'd found his first year at Hogwarts. He knocked on carvings while saying some of them, and offered to give the statues a good cleaning. Finally he decided to be blunt about it.

"I seek a bloody secret!"

To his complete and utter disbelief the entire wall just to the right of the statue of Slytherin's founder shimmered, groaned and slid back several feet revealing stairs carved into the wall as it did. They were narrow and inclined and lead up nearly fifty feet to a small platform perhaps the width of his bed. Harry couldn't believe his luck. It was ridiculous. Shaking himself Harry walked toward the new staircase. His footsteps were suddenly quite loud to his ears, smacking against the damp stone and splashing in the puddles located through out the room. Reaching the stairs, which were about a foot wide, Harry took a breath and began to climb. Somewhere inside of him his inner Slytherin that almost got him sorted into the house was warring with its self. On one hand this was incredibly reckless. On the other...think of what he could find! His ambitious side won out much to his inner Gryffindor's exultation as it'd been pouting in the corner.

He really needed to stop thinking of himself as multiple people. That just couldn't be healthy in the grander scheme of things.

The fourteen year old was nearly half way along the stairs when he glanced down. Green eyes widened. A foot hit the next stair up and he tripped. He managed to grab the side of a stair just his legs slipped and swing out, dangling. He swallowed and gave a nod, getting a better grip. "Alright new rule Potter. Never look down." Unable to pull himself up Harry tried to visualize the stairs as a non-regulation set of monkey bars. He looked only at the next stairs, never back or down, clutching one and then the next and focused on developing some sort of rhythm to it. Another five feet up when he heard a crash. "Don't look. Don't look." Crash. "Dammit it all to Hell." Harry looked.

The first few steps at the bottom were committing suicide by breaking off and falling to the floor. It wasn't until he realized it was having a domino effect on the remaining stairs and he himself hung some thirty feet in the air that Harry saw where this was going. Crash. Harry shook himself out of his daze and started scrambling at the stairs and the wall looking for anything he could use to get back on the staircase and run to the platform. While he did not know the platform would remain intact he knew for a fact he didn't want to be hanging on the staircase when it fell.

His foot banged against something, chancing a look he saw an unlit wall torch. He rested his weight on it experimentally and grimaced when it gave a loud grinding noise. It would have to do. Harry pushed off of it, pulling with his arms and managed to get himself most of the way back onto the stairs. A shudder, a boom, the room shook and dust rose into the air. The lower half was gone!

"Oh God...Oh God..." Harry clambered to his feet and ran up the steps, skipping as many as three or four at a time. He nearly slipped to his, probable, death at one point when he looked over his shoulder to see how much time he had. The answer was not a lot. Heart squeezing in his chest he threw himself forward onto the platform just as teh rest of the staircase went crashing to the floor. Booms echoed in the chamber. Harry pressed his hands against his ears and shut his eyes.

When it was silent once more he sat up, using a sleeve to wipe the dirt from his face. His glasses had slipped off during his dive and were cracked. He rolled his eyes and stuffed them into a pocket. Standing Harry looked around wondered how on earth he was going to get back down.

He really, really needed to start thinking things through.

On the wall was a carving of a tree just a bit larger than Harry. It's roots descended past the platform and stretched to the ground. The branches and leaves twisted around one another, words visible within them, though none that Harry understood. He traced the grooves of it with his fingers curiously. Harry wasn't an expert on art but even he knew this was incredibly well done. An uneven edge nicked his thumb. The blood dripped from his finger before he could like it off, hitting where the wall hit the platform and the roots began. He felt sort of guilty for messing the picture up even if no one else would ever see it.

Harry knelt down, pulling his sleeve up to wipe it off the wall. He reached out his hand and froze. His blood soaked into the craving. It reminded him so strongly of the last time he was in the chamber it gave him chills. Golden light lit up the roots, starting from where his blood fell and spreading into the rest one by one. He was pretty sure that wasn't a good sign. He stood warily as the light rose into the trunk, into the branches and into the leaves until the entire thing was outlined in golden light. Not quite as ominous as talking back or sucking you into a memory in order to manipulate you, Harry still knew this was a bad idea. He knew it when the wall slid aside to reveal another room. Harry ought to try and find a way to get someone to rescue him.

No he didn't need them anymore. He didn't need any of them.

He couldn't resist. This was a secret even Riddle hadn't seen. A part of the chamber perhaps no one had seen since Salazar Slytherin himself built the thing. It gave a him a sort of rush. It was a place entirely his own that no one else would ever see, no one else would ever know. The secrets within entirely his. Harry pushed aside his feelings of trepidation and walked forward.

It was dark at first. And longer than he'd thought, the light from the main chamber fading behind him. He knew he reached the other side when a low light began emitting from the front of him rather than the back. It eventually opened into a room that could contain several Great Halls. Harry should have noticed that the library he found himself in went up several stories from the level he found himself standing on, and down several as well. What he noticed was the lack of dust. Everything was clean. That may not be what a normal teen his age would focus on but Harry grew as the Dursley's personal house elf and knew a great deal about keeping things clean. Because of his experience with cleanliness and his knowledge of the wizarding world's obsession with house elves cleaning things for them he came to an unsettling conclusion. Someone or something was down there or at least came down here often enough to keep it this way. Did the Hogwarts elves take care of it? If they did why didn't they tell anyone about it or at least where the giant snake petrifying students was coming from because that was information that could have saved him from being labeled a future Dark Lord by the rest of the student body.

This was like his second year in a lot of ways and it was making him nervous. Hated by the school. In the Chamber of Secrets. Seemingly innocent books lying around. Speaking of which. Harry stopped at the end of the level and looked around. There didn't seem to be a way to get to the next level either up or down. There had to be a way of course. There was always a way. He walked back the way he came looking for pull down ladder maybe or another carving he could feed his blood to. Harry blinked when he realized he could no longer locate the tunnel he came through. The entrance to it seemed to have been sealed away or covered by the endless bookshelves. Well this was the Chamber of Secrets wasn't it? So where the hell was the secret Slytherin method of getting down?

Harry looked at the grooves in the bookshelves and felt like smacking himself. Who ever of heard of snakes that liked climbing. Harry leaned out to the one nearest where his railing stopped, stepped his feet into the groove, his hands using ones higher up and used them to climb. As he suspected the grooves in the cases below took him to the next balcony. The ladder was built into the staircases. Creative. He continued until he reached the ground floor. It was far less exciting than the stairs coming in for which he was thankful. Having so many books fall on him would probably kill him. Death by literature. Merlin how embarrassing.

Paintings and statues were everywhere down there, along with maps of lands he'd never heard of before and globes of various sizes and materials. There was one smaller one on a table he thought might be made out of some sort of seashell. He felt like he'd broken into a museum. Harry noted there weren't as many books as there were in the upper levels. In fact there were things with words written on them that were neither books nor scrolls. A pile of tablets near him had words etched in the wax spread over their face. He examined those in interest though he refrained from touching anything. Whomever or whatever was keeping this place up wouldn't appreciate an intruder smearing or damaging the objects kept within. A brief image of a dragon guarding the 'treasure' room had him both grinning and being even more cautious. It was the wizarding world and one never knew.

In the middle of the hall a necklace suspended under a glass jar resided on a podium. The closer he got to it the more he thought he could hear whispers. It made his skin crawl. He couldn't seem to stop moving toward it. The edge of the podium just under the jar had the same words as the ones etched into the tree carving. He still wasn't sure what they meant. Harry tapped a finger against the glass. It made an eerie chime.

He would have too look up what the object might be. Maybe there was a scroll or a book nearby with it's history. Hermione would be drowning in jealousy at the information he had at his fingertips. She'd probably-

He'd never tell her.

She would never see this place. She could sit and stew and wonder where he found the knowledge he did and he would never tell her. She didn't deserve to know. He was the one wanted to save her when the troll was let into the dungeons. He was the reasons he was alive, the reason anyone in Gryffindor tolerated her. It was him! How could she abandon him so easily? Well, he'd show her.

Harry stood still and let the rush of anger roll through him, pushing it back into a corner of his mind. He'd been doing so well at pretending everything was alright. Harry just expected her to be more understanding, to show him some support. Instead she'd only given him this look as if demanding to know why he insisted on getting into trouble, then she'd left to find Ron and comfort him. Ron. As if the git needed comforting. Harry grew up in a cupboard and he had a higher sense of self-worth than the red head and that was unbelievably sad. His inferiority complex was tiresome. When would he grow up? The rest of the student body ought to grow up as well. How could they live being so immature and petty all of the time it had to be exhausting. If they would at least direct it at someone else he could ignore it but it when it was shoved in your face again and again you could only take so much. Who they hell cares if he was a fourth champion? Why get so upset over it? Didn't they realize he was only a fourth year and Boy-Who-Lived or not unless they were going to chuck killing curses at him he was woefully under-prepared and under-skilled for such a challenge. It was highly unlikely he would win, he may as well not participate at all, so why act like he kicked the Hufflepuffs puppy? Those idiotic, flighty, moronic...

"You shouldn't be down here you know."

Harry about jumped out of his skin. He whirled around to see a man sitting in a chair as though he were holding court. With his burgundy eyes and dark hair Harry almost mistook him for an older Tom Riddle. He could tell now that there were more differences than age. He appeared to be in his twenties, his dark hair sticking up though it seemed to be intentional as it looked far neater than Harry's ever did. He wore red red slacks and a long unbuttoned vest to match. The yellow snake coiled around his left arm was what really made him stand out. That and the velvet top hat. Who wore velvet top hats?

"Who are you?" Harry asked. After a beat he realized he'd slipped into parseltongue while staring at the snake. He was about to repeat himself in English, and feeling relieved that the man hadn't noticed what he'd done, when the man answered.

"I am the Keeper of the Archives." He said very grandly, giving a mocking half bow from where he was seated.

That didn't mean much of anything to Harry. Hermione was the researcher not him. The again he was fairly certain he'd have heard of such a person before now if it were common knowledge. And Harry knew he would notice a man walking around in red silk. This must be who was keeping the place tidy. He certainly did a good job of it. Wait...did he just speak in parseltongue? "You can understand me?"

He was a little worried by how excited the prospect made him.

"I can. I can understand many languages in fact however I have spoken this one in particular since I was born. I imagine it must have been the same for you as I have yet to come across anyone who'd learned through a second party fluently enough to speak it as flawlessly as you."

Harry felt himself smiling. He found someone who could speak with snakes and they weren't a dark lord! If anything the man was a snake liking librarian with a hat fetish and he could work with that. "Yes I never learned it I was always just able to do it though I did not know the name of the language or even that I was speaking another language until a few years ago. I never heard a difference between it and English."

The man smiled. Boy? He seemed even younger now. Maybe Ron's Brother Percy's age. "You really shouldn't be down here. I can't help but wonder how you managed to find yourself down here in this depths of school all alone."

Harry wasn't sure what to say. That his two friends, and didn't that sound pathetic, weren't speaking to him because someone put his name in for a deadly tournament and the entire school hated him? Yes, that would be a shining example of a good first impression.

"Or maybe we could speak of others things. Your over-large clothing, or how thin you are. The dark magic centered on your forehead? Why you were so angry a moment go..."

Harry looked away finding the man's -boys?- eyes a little too knowing for his liking. "You don't know who I am?" He asked instead.

"We've never met." With that the Keeper of the Archives stood fluidly, walking toward him. His strides were long and slow, relaxed. He had a soft smile on his face and had seemed friendly so Harry didn't understand the chills that curled up his spine when the young man circled behind him and left his line of sight. He thought of turning to see him and then refrained not wanting to show how unnerved he was. It was just because he was a stranger wizard, that was all.

"They've you on your own little snake speaker. I wonder why. Don't they want you?" The Keeper's tone of voice was suddenly different. It was sweet and low and something about it made his skin crawl.

"My friends and I aren't speaking right now."

The Keeper made another lazy loop around him. "Are you sure that's it? Or is it that they don't want you around?"

"They do! Or at least Hermione might. Ron will get over it he's just being a jealous git."

"Jealous. Such a lovely word. Jealous..." The man/boy drawled. "His jealousy is enough for him to let you wander alone? And to somewhere as dangerous as the archives? He does not seem to be a caring friend."

Harry swallowed. "They don't know I'm here. I left after everyone was asleep."

"Normally you would bring your friends with you." It was a statement.

Harry glanced around the Archives trying to distract himself from the circling wizard. He felt vulnerable and didn't know why. "Yes. I guess so. I didn't feel like bringing them."

The Keeper stopped in front of him, leaning close. "You don't want either of them here. This is your place, isn't it? You aren't even planning to tell them you found the Archives. Friends keeping secrets..." He tsked.

"I deserve to have space to myself!" Harry burst out. How the hell did this guy know these things? Shivering Harry turned away intending to leave. He didn't want to talk about these things. Perhaps he should go back to the dorms and sleep for what remained of the night. Ron might forgive him come morning. Hermione would help smooth things over. He shouldn't be here.

"Leaving so soon?" The Keeper twirled into his path, resting a hand on his shoulder, then he was twirling behind him and resting a hand on his other shoulder. "Why should you have to be the one to compromise little snake speaker? Why should you have to earn their favour. Shouldn't they apologize to you? Don't you deserve it? You didn't ask for any of this and their they are acting like you planned for it. I don't think that they trust you."

Harry could feel his breath against his ear. He shivered again. He knew this guy was doing something but it was hard to focus when the whispers from the necklace were loud enough to vibrate in his bone. He couldn't seem to think straight, his thoughts were fuzzy, "Yes they should apologize but they won't. If I let it go Ron will come around eventually and-"

"And then what? You can pretend it never happened. He can be the Boy-Who-Lived's best friend again and you can walk around tensed and ready for the next blow up? The next time he'll leave you?"

"He won't, he wouldn't...this hasn't ever happened before..."

"Oh but that's not true mon cher. Do you remember the look in his eye when you received your father's cloak of invisibility? The way they glimmered when you first spoke to snakes in front of him? This jealousy, these doubts, they've always been there. Are you so desperate for friendship that you would subject yourself to a friendship that is less than worthy?"

Harry wanted to scream. Or cry. He was so frustrated and it seemed like every time he thought up a point the Keeper would smash it to pieces. "I've never had friends before. And they like me for who I am."

"Did they like you before or after they knew who you were?" He didn't give him time to respond which was good as Harry's heart had shoved its self up into his throat. "I could be your friend. If you let me."

"Why would you do that?" Harry rasped.

The un-age-define-able wizard lay his chin on the top of Harry's head, the hands on the younger wizard's shoulder's bringing him closer against his chest. "I rather like you little snake speaker. You are so small and sad. It's adorable."

Harry gave a startled laugh.

"I could do more than be your friend. I can show you things. Things you've never seen. Things they won't teach you." He spoke quicker, sounding excited at the prospect. "I haven't taught in such a long time. You'd let me teach you wouldn't you? And you could tell me whats going on in the world. I haven't had news in ages."

"You seem to know what's going in my life pretty well." Harry pointed out.

"Oh but you are tragically easy to see through little speaker. All broken glass stuck together. It's very sad." The hands on his shoulders squeezed as if to emphasis this. "And you're special I can tell. I collect special things you see. I've always been very good at finding things no one had ever seen and learning all of their secrets. That's why they tied me to this place. They didn't think it was right for one man to have all of this knowledge so they sealed it away. So many things you will never learn up there. Things they would keep from you?"

"What, what sort of things?" Harry's eyes found the necklace. He took an involuntary step toward it.

The Keeper gave a delighted laugh and darted around him. He clapped. "Oh so many wonderful things. Would you like to know how to fly in the wind without a broom? I can teach you to sail the skies, speak with the stars, see the threads of Fate and even," The red eyed wizard leaned very close, "bring the dead to life."

"You sound a lot like my potion's master," Whispered Harry. The jar over the necklace was within touching distance now. It couldn't hurt to take a look at it could it? Just one look. "He's as passionate about his potions as you are about your secrets."

A beaming smile. "Passionate. I like that. Would you like to learn some of my secrets Harry? I can do anything you wish, any type of spell, all you must do is ask and your wish is my command."

Something about that caught Harry's attention and he managed to drag his eyes away from the necklace, locking eyes with the wizard instead. "How's that?"

"Power like this you see was sealed away for a reason. A very silly reason if you ask me. They never wanted anyone else to learn of it, they wanted to lord their own power over the magical being of this world. They didn't want anyone to threaten their position."

"And you threatened them." Harry guessed.

The Keeper flashed his teeth. "I did indeed." His snaked hissed laughter. "I have limited access to my powers within these walls as a result."

"Why don't you leave then? It isn't right for them to keep you here. You've been here so long they might not be alive anymore. I bet you could come out."

"Oh I would love to come out. Therein lies the problem. I can only use my full magic for someone else's benefit and whats more I can only leave this place under the control of a master." He said the last bitterly.

Harry frowned. "They made you some sort of a servant? That isn't fair. Just because you wouldn't do what they wanted you to do doesn't mean they have the right to force you to do whatever they want." He thought about it. Maybe there was a way he could help? There were many scrolls and books down here, surely Harry could find a counterspell of some sort and set the poor man free. No one deserved to be shoved out of sight just because they were different. He felt a surprising amount of anger on the Keeper's behalf. "How can I help you?"

"If you were willing to take the title of master I could leave this room with you and you use my powers whenever you like. I will be able to teach you everything I know." His voice was soft and sweet again. Almost affectionate.

"Wouldn't people notice you walking about with me?" Harry asked vaguely, losing track of the topic. His eyes were trained on the necklace. The whispers were back. He thought they wanted him to put it on. Maybe he should. Only for a moment.

The Keeper was waving a hand in his peripheral vision. "I can take care of that. In fact I can make it so no one but you can see me if you like."

"Yeah...that might be best. Just for a little while."

"As long as you like little snake speaker." The man stepped beside him and grabbed his wrist gently when Harry reached out to move the glass jar covering the necklace. "Careful. You have to say the words first. Do we have a deal?"

Do it Harry. You don't need them to hold your hands. Have your own adventure for once.

"Yes...we have a deal." Suddenly his hand was free. Harry moved the jar aside, grasping the chain of the necklace carefully. It was heavy and smooth, the medallion hanging on the end two snakes wrapped around a circle, swallowing one another's tails. It was well done, expensive too. Harry pulled the chain over his head. The medallion landed with a thud against his chest. He rocked a bit on his feet at the influx of power. The Keeper's power probably. The master was supposed to keep him in check after all. Harry eyed the man standing beside him. "What's your name anyway? I can't just call you The Keeper all of the time."

The man put his fingertips to Harry's chin, leaned down and put his mouth to his ear. "They called me..."

"...Salazar."

oOoOoOo

"I knew who I was this morning but I've changed a few times since then."

Pseudonymous Entity

2015

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