6.

"Speech"

'Thought'

"Parseltongue"

"Spells"

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

"Well, Shit!"

Harry didn't bother to hide his amusement at the shocked faces of his tormentors and relished in the fear they had on their faces, though Lily's fainting was a bit disappointing. He carefully buried the rage he was feeling after seeing the faces of his father, mother, and Dumbledore in the deep recesses of his mind. He had to handle the whole situation carefully to get the outcome he wanted. He looked at the Slytherin table from the corner of his eyes and saw that they were all, in fact, ready (and willing for the most part) to do their part at his signal.

Harry's attention was drawn to the staff table when he saw the Professors' drawing their wands. He quickly cast a 'Protego Maxima'; a purple colored shield appeared in existence just in time to block more than a dozen spells. Harry discretely gave a signal to Slytherins from his left hand.

As soon as the Slytherins saw the discrete signal that Harry made, they quickly stood up on their feet and pointed their wands at the professors (except Snape who was standing at some distance from others smirking) who were attacking Harry. Malfoy and some others tried to show some defiance by not pulling out their wands in Harry's defense but a glare from nearby seventh years quickly changed their minds.

Professors stopped casting spells as soon as they saw the whole Slytherin house point their wands at the staff table, whether they were overcome by the shock that a whole house would dare to stand against them or they were intimidated into submission, nobody knew.

Harry didn't drop the shield even when the barrage of spells stopped, though the battered shield was not going to survive if it encountered more than a few spells in the next minute. Most of the Gryffindors quickly recovered from the shock and pointed their wands towards Slytherins in the Professors' defense, while Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs choose to be outside observers to the brewing conflict. Though Harry doubted that professors' defense was the main reason for Gryffindors pointing their wands at Slytherins, it was more the case of 'Slytherins are pointing their wands at staff members so we should point our wands at them and teach them a lesson.'

Before spells actually started to fly, Dumbledore intervened, "That's enough! There will be no infighting in this school." He released his magic and a shining white aura manifested around him while an invisible weight settled upon everyone's shoulders, pulling them down as if they were in increased gravity. "Never in my long tenure as the headmaster of this school, so many students have shown such disrespect to teachers and whole houses have pointed their wands at each other."

Seeing Dumbledore easily guilt tripping so many students while forcing others into submission, Harry had to concede the fact that the old man was his most dangerous enemy at the moment. He had partially shrugged off the shock of seeing him alive and had once again adopted his grandfatherly persona. Harry easily shrugged off the effect of Dumbledore's magical aura and observed others' reaction. Upper year Slytherins were handling the situation a lot better than others, they only had some barely-visible drops of sweat on their foreheads instead of the visibly shaking, panting and gasping for breath like many others. Their exposure to his magical aura had made them a bit more tolerant than others, it seemed.

Harry ignored the people on the staff table lest he lost control. Harry decided to intervene before the old man could get any more time to recover, "Excuse me, Headmaster. What I want to know is why was I attacked in the first place?"

Minerva McGonagall's whole body was shaking from anger at seeing the boy responsible for opening the Chamber of Secrets and attacking muggleborns, and his question broke whatever restraint she had on her anger. "How dare you show your face here and ask questions like that, after what you…"

"Enough, Minerva," Minerva turned towards Dumbledore with a shocked look on her face but Dumbledore ignored her and kept looking at Harry. "Mr. Potter, perhaps it would be better if we take this to my office."

Harry raised an eyebrow at the request before he shook his head, "No, I don't feel comfortable enough to talk with you in your office after almost every other teacher attacked me at first sight."

"Why you.. "James started but a glare from Dumbledore silenced him.

Dumbledore ignored the pointed look he received from Harry and gave Harry his best grandfatherly smile he could muster under the circumstances, "I insist that we continue this conversation in my office."

Harry just gave Dumbledore a flat stare and replied, "Insist all you want but I won't go with you to your office. Why are you not answering here anyway? It's not like I asked you a huge secret. I just want to know why I was attacked without any provocation on my part."

Before Dumbledore could say anything Ron Weasley stood from his seat and shouted, "Because you are an evil slimy Slytherin and you were respon..."

Dumbledore quickly silenced Ron but when he kept shouting something even when he was silenced, Dumbledore shouted "Enough Mr. Weasley. Thirty points from Gryffindor for speaking out of turn." After glaring at Ron, who was quickly pulled down by a pale-faced Eric Potter, for good measure, he returned his attention to Harry Potter and gave him a hard look, "I assure you that I have several reasons for not answering you here. I.."

He was interrupted by a loud gasp from Harry, who looked like he had seen a ghost, and followed where he was looking. Dumbledore paled when he saw that Harry was looking at Eric and Ginny Weasley. He silently prayed that Harry doesn't say anything about them in front of so many students. A lot of students already suspected foul play in the events of Chamber of Secrets, and if Harry decided to say anything then he won't be able to make the students believe otherwise.

Dumbledore held his breath when Harry turned his head towards Dumbledore his eyes flashing with rage and hissed, "Dumbledore, can you tell me why Eric and Ginny are seated at Gryffindor table instead of rotting in Azkaban for what they did?" He ignored the outraged shouts from other professors and students for disrespecting Dumbledore and continued, "And why are you stopping others from speaking when they obviously want to blame me for something?" Harry finished while staring directly into Dumbledore's eyes.

Since the beginning, Dumbledore was trying to maintain eye contact with Harry but Harry had been careful to not keep eye contact long enough for him to try legilimency. So, when he saw that Harry was maintaining eye contact with him, he thought that Harry had slipped in his rage and quickly sent a legilimency probe with the subtlety of a charging bull. He had every intention of finding out how Harry survived when even Fawkes had thought that he was dead or at the very least damage his mind if he could not find something useful. If the damage became permanent then he wouldn't have to worry about Harry anymore and even if it was not permanent then he will get enough time to do damage control and obliviate Harry.

Harry mentally smirked at Dumbledore's predictability and gently wrapped his magic around the probe and gave a tug. Dumbledore was shocked when he felt a tug at his probe while he was hammering down on Harry's surprisingly strong and remarkable occlumency shields. He quickly tried to release the probe but was not really quick enough and felt a retaliatory probe from Harry slipping through his shields.

Harry quickly slipped through Dumbledore's shields while following Dumbledore's probe. While his occlumency was not very strong, legilimency was what he excelled in. Not wanting to spend more time than necessary in Dumbledore's mind, he quickly left after leaving the message that he wanted to make a deal.

Dumbledore stopped trying to remove Harry from his mind after he felt Harry withdrawing after leaving a message about wanting to make a deal. He took a deep breath before releasing it. His grandfatherly persona slipped on his face though his smile looked a lot strained and said, "Why don't we go to my office? I will explain everything to you."

Harry kept silent for a few minutes before nodding slowly, "Very well."

Dumbledore quickly started towards the door, his impressive mind working a mile a minute to figure out Harry's game. Before he could reach anything conclusive, he was distracted by Harry's voice saying, "Dumbledore, I don't think it is necessary to bring your entourage with you."

Dumbledore quickly turned around to see Moody, McGonagall, Snape, and James, who had left Lily in Sinistra's care, following him. He raised a single eyebrow at them before turning towards Harry with a frown on his face, "I don't think that there is any problem with them joining us in the office."

"I beg to differ," Harry retorted without missing a beat, "No offense professors but I don't feel comfortable with the prospect of spending time with the people who have attacked me not even fifteen minutes ago."

A lot of students gasped at hearing Harry refuse to be in the same room as Professors. Dumbledore hearing the students gasp realized that they were still in the presence of other students quickly agreed and with a look to the fuming (or in Severus's case, stonily faced with a barely there smirk on his face) professors marched out of the room. Harry followed him after giving a slight nod to Slytherins, who were still ready to defend him.

As they moved towards Dumbledore's office, Dumbledore was fighting an internal conflict within himself. As much as he wanted to know how Harry survived, he couldn't simply disregard that Harry could destroy a lot of his plan by simply telling others of his part in Harry's near brush with death. While he had full confidence in his legilimency skills with elder wand, the ease with which Harry had stopped and even returned his earlier attack with an unknown technique made him hesitate in doing the second attack. He looked over his shoulder to see Harry looking at the portraits while following him. Seeing Harry in a distracted state, he made his decision and quickly turned around with elder wand in hand.

Harry turned around to see Dumbledore pointing his wand between Harry's eyes and glaring at him with an emotionless face. Harry slowly raised both of his hands to show that he was surrendering. Dumbledore kept his emotionless mask for a few moments before his grandfatherly mask slipped on his face and he looked at Harry with eyes full of disappointment and sighed, "Now that we have established that I am in charge here, why don't you answer a few of my questions, Harry?"

Harry who was looking nervously at the wand point asked, "And what questions would that be Dumbledore?"

"How did you survive? I saw the whole incident in my pensieve and even Fawkes was sure that you were going to die."

Harry nervously looked around to see if anyone was there but a look of disappointment appeared on his face when he only saw portraits in the hallway, he took a deep breath before his face was set in determination and answered, "Why should I?"

Dumbledore looked at Harry in amusement and answered, "You should answer my question truthfully because you don't have any choice. I could do anything to you here and can get away by simply stating self-defense. Who do you think people will believe, me, the leader of light or you, The Heir of Slytherin?"

Dumbledore was surprised when instead of the nervous answer he was hoping for, Harry started chuckling and his mask of determination cracked to show him smirking with dark amusement in his eyes. Harry looked at him in the eyes daring him to use legilimency again before saying, "That would have been true, had your initial assumption that you were in charge correct," Dumbledore felt a wand poke him at the back of his head, and he suddenly realized that he was not alone with Harry like he had assumed. He cursed himself for getting careless and glared at Harry with every bit of hate he could muster. He felt another poke in the back of his head and slowly lowered his wand but not before casting a wandless 'Oculomagi' charm at his glasses to see the intruder.

As soon as Dumbledore saw Harry relax, he cast a wandless banisher at Harry while simultaneously ducking his head. He turned around with the speed that should be impossible for someone of his age and pointed his wand where he thought the intruder was, only to be surprised when he couldn't see anyone. He once again cast the charm on his glasses this time with elder wand, only to receive the same result. Before he could cast any other spell or charm his wand was snatched away.

Harry had felt a small magical spike from Dumbledore before he cast the banisher and had managed to erect a weak wandless shield between himself and Dumbledore. When he looked at Dumbledore, he had to stifle a chuckle at the surprise etched on his face when he couldn't find anyone else in the hallway. Using it to his benefit he had quickly snatched Dumbledore's wand from his hand. As soon as the wand was in his hand, he felt raw power course through his body. While it was hard to describe, if asked Harry would say it was as if a comforting yet fierce warmness had spread through his entire body starting from his hand holding the wand. It was like he had finally found a missing part of his soul that he never knew was missing. The reaction of this wand was a lot more intense compared to his old wand. Surprised by the odd occurrence, he filed the information away to run by Salazar and his grandfather later and observed the wand closely.

It was a unique wand, particularly because of the carvings that resembled a cluster of elderberries running down its length. He could feel the magic thrumming inside it ready to be unleashed at a moment's notice. Before he could study it more closely, he had to move back to avoid it being taken by Dumbledore.

"Now-now Dumbledore, there is no need to get aggressive, We are all intelligent people here, so we should deal with matters in civilized manner instead of using force like you just tried," He smirked at the look of fury that appeared on Dumbledore's face due to his mocking and continued, "And you should know better than to attack the heir of a Most Ancient and Noble House without any provocation. Before you do any more foolish things lets go to your office."

Dumbledore gave a stiff nod at the thinly veiled demand and started moving towards his office while keeping his senses open for any sign of Harry's invisible accomplice. He was stumped about the reason why he couldn't see the invisible person even after casting the 'Oculomagi' charm with the elder wand. The only artifact that could do give such an invisibility was safely locked in James trunk from where only he and James can take it out. He was quite sure that James would never give the artifact to Harry even if he was in dark about its real nature.

Thinking of the Elder wand made him look back at Harry who was twirling the precious artifact in his hand. He sighed loudly at Elder wand's unfaithfulness, even after being with him for almost half a century it changed its allegiance as soon as someone snatched it away from him. Thankfully, Harry didn't recognize the wand as a Deathly Hallow. So, the situation was still recoverable, now he will just have to disarm Harry to make the Hallow his own again.

Rest of the walk to Dumbledore's office was completely silent. Both Harry and Dumbledore spent their time making plans to deal with the upcoming meeting. Once they reached the Headmaster's office, Dumbledore made himself comfortable in his chair and observed Harry's reaction at seeing his office for the first time. His curiosity in Harry grew even more, when unlike other students who enter his office for the first time; Harry just gave a cursory glance to his office like he had been in places like this before. Unknown to him, Harry's standard of getting awed has increased dramatically after living in Salazar's personal chambers. Harry looked around like he was searching for something, most probably Fawkes before he sat on the chair on the opposite side of Dumbledore. Dumbledore looked around once more for any sign of the invisible witch or wizard but couldn't find any.

"Mr. Potter, now that we have reached my office, please return my wand," ordered Dumbledore. It showed how much tense Dumbledore was when he didn't even look at his favorite lemon drop's bowl, nor did he thought about offering one to Harry as he usually did when having a meeting in his office.

Harry raised an eyebrow at Dumbledore's sudden change in attitude before he shook his head, "No, I don't think so Headmaster. Who knows what you will do once you have your wand back? Now let's cut the chase and get to the point. You tried to get me killed and then framed me for releasing a Basilisk and attacking the students with it. Unluckily for you, though, I survived."

This time it was Dumbledore's turn to raise an eyebrow, "Really Harry? I thought you knew better than blaming the Chief Warlock and Supreme Mugwump for the supposed murder attempt on yourself. Did anyone cast any spells on you, Harry, while you were in the chamber? Or perhaps someone gave you a cursed object? We both know that you were dying due to Basilisk poison and I should also add that you were bitten by the Basilisk that the whole wizarding world thinks was under your control. All that is left is Eric's confession, which while I admit was very foolish of him, could be simply called as your delusional thinking due to the basilisk venom in your veins," Dumbledore looked at Harry with glee in his eyes like he already knew that he has won and continued, "No one is going to believe your word over mine and Eric's, Harry, no one. If you are thinking about Veritaserum, you should know it is prohibited to use on minors and someone of my status."

Harry just shook his head, "You are underestimating me and overestimating your influence Dumbledore. While I admit, rest of the world won't believe me over you, but what about the students in this school. A lot of them already don't believe your version of events even right now, so what exactly do you think will happen if I gave them my own with a magical oath? Do you think they will still believe in you? Your positive image along with Eric's will be destroyed. Then they will surely tell their parents about it, while I admit a lot of them won't believe it, few of them will and it will decrease your support base," Harry leaned forward and his voice dropped to almost a whisper but it was still very loud in Dumbledore's ears, "And you don't want that, do you? Especially, when Voldemort is regaining his strength with each passing day and will undoubtedly be back in a year or two."

Dumbledore slumped back in his chair at hearing the end, somehow Harry Potter knew about Tom's eminent return. Dumbledore still tried one last attempt to stop Harry without making any deal, "You would indirectly help your Grandmother's killer by not forgiving us. I know that Dorea will be extremely disappointed."

Hearing his grandmother's name from Dumbledore almost made him lose his cool, get up and curse the old manipulator, it was only due to the comforting feeling of Elena's hand on his shoulder did he somehow manage to resist the urge. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at the way Harry relaxed but didn't comment on it. After making sure that he was once again thinking clearly, Harry replied, "You never asked for forgiveness Dumbledore, not that I would have given it, but the point is you don't regret the decision you took on that day. The only thing you might be regretting was that you didn't make sure that I was dead before collapsing the entrance," he didn't need to see Dumbledore, to know that he was giving Harry a defiant stare, "You are still trying to manipulate me by using my grandmother's name. In my eyes, both you and Voldemort are almost same. "Dumbledore flinched at the comparison and the pressure in the room increased rapidly as Dumbledore started to leak his own magic into the very air to show his displeasure. Harry ignoring the effect of Dumbledore's magic continued, "Both of you tried to kill me. The only difference is, he had the guts to come after me himself unlike you who chose to not get your own hands dirty."

Dumbledore took a deep breath and slowly reigned in his magic before speaking in such a cold voice that Harry had never heard from him before, "Never compare me to Voldemort again or you won't like the consequences."

Harry didn't let a hint of how deeply unnerved he was from Dumbledore's tone; show on his face. He thanked Salazar mentally, for teaching him some finer points of occlumency. Without it, he had no doubt that his complexion would have resembled a corpse. Even if he was a powerful teenager, he was a teenager nonetheless, and when the alleged most powerful wizard of your time threatened you, it was easy to lose composure. Harry, though, didn't back down and retorted, "I am only expressing my thoughts on the matter, Headmaster. If you don't like it, that's not my problem."

Dumbledore kept looking at Harry for few moments before letting out a sigh and leaned back in his chair, "What do you want Harry?"

Harry relaxed in his chair and thought over his demands in his mind one more time before answering, "I want a magical oath that you won't interfere with my education, you will allow me to go outside Hogwarts whenever I want. I also want unrestricted access to the restricted section of the library, immunity from detentions and right to retaliate when someone attacks me."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at the simple demands before giving a nod. Harry's demands were very simple in contrast of what Dumbledore was hoping. He had no doubt that every student in the Hogwarts would want what Harry was asking for and could be considered childish whims of a teenager. Either Harry was planning something that he didn't know, which was highly probable given last night's odd occurrences or he simply wanted to tell that he didn't want to stand in Dumbledore's path and was just trying to get something out of the situation like a Slytherin. Dumbledore didn't see why he shouldn't agree to Harry's demands. After all, he could have demanded many different things like training or books from his personal library.

Dumbledore looked in Harry's cold eyes, and not for first time in the duration of meeting cursed mentally for not knowing what was going inside Harry's head. "Very well, I agree to your demands. In return, you will swear a magical oath that you won't tell anyone anything about the whole Chamber of Secrets ordeal which will paint the Potters', Weasleys' and me in a bad light and."

Harry shook his head, "I agree to take the oath that I won't tell anyone about your part in the whole ordeal unless someone whom I consider a friend asks me about it, after making sure that he or she won't tell anyone or if I am getting convicted for the opening of Chamber of Secrets and the attacks on students by the Basilisk."

"I can't let you tell anyone else, Harry."

"I don't care, Dumbledore," Harry retorted. "The deal is final, take it or leave it. Rest assured that I have no intention of using this ordeal to tarnish your reputation in the future."

"What about those who already know? I have no doubt you have already told others."

"I have made sure that they can't tell anyone, who is not in the know, about it. The only exception is my Grandfather. Knowing that you trust me as much as I trust you, I am willing to take a magical vow."

Dumbledore stared into Harry's eyes for few moments before giving a reluctant nod. A lot of things have suddenly started to fall into place and he could almost see the full picture now. Charles' strange behavior could be easily explained now. A lot of things were spinning out of control and he had no doubt he would have to do a lot of damage control. Since Charles now knew about their hand in Harry's near death, he will never make Eric his heir. The Potter seats in Wizengamot were forever out of their reach. He decided to think about it later and concentrate on the current meeting. If Charles hadn't taken any action until now, then it meant he was leaving the retaliation to Harry or was unwilling to take any action against his son and grandson. Charles was still a loose end; he will have to make sure that Charles doesn't tell anyone.

Harry smirked at the constipated look on Dumbledore's face, "Now that you have agreed, let's go over the wording of vows."

Harry and Dumbledore wrote the vows on a parchment before rechecking the wording to make sure that they took correct vows. After that, they exchanged the parchments so that both Harry and Dumbledore were sure that the other one took the correct vow.

"Hand over my wand Harry," requested Dumbledore.

Harry looked up from the parchment that he was reading. "Why?"

"To take my oath of course," replied Dumbledore like it was obvious.

Harry smirked, "I would have been a lot more inclined to believe it if I hadn't seen you casting a wandless banisher."

Dumbledore cursed in his mind. He wanted his wandless magic to be a secret, as it is most useful in catching his opponents off guard. He had used it in front of Harry and his accomplice only because he was sure he could have easily subdued them and obliviated the knowledge from their minds. He gave a long sigh before taking the vow, a bright flash of light showed that the vow had been taken. Harry, seeing that Dumbledore had taken the vow, did the same.

Harry, seeing that there was no need to be in Dumbledore's office anymore, got up to leave but was stopped by Dumbledore, "Harry, my boy, perhaps we should come up with an acceptable story, as the students will no doubt demand to know what really happened in the Chamber of Secrets."

Harry twitched at the way Dumbledore addressed him but let it go, "just tell them that we don't know who the heir really was. If asked why you blamed me, tell them that the heir was polyjuiced as me and tricked Eric into believing that I was the Heir of Slytherin. The imposter also imprisoned me in one of the unused classrooms with some type of wards. After about a year of his death, the wards collapsed and I was able to escape. And make sure that they know that I was not responsible for the Basilisk attacks in any way."

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, "A lot of students and teachers won't believe it."

"It doesn't matter whether they believe it or not. It's not like anyone who knows what really happened is going to babble," retorted Harry. "Do you have anything else to discuss?"

"What about your studies? You missed a whole year," pointed out Dumbledore.

"I have already taken the end of the year exams of my fourth year in ministry. You can easily get my results from there. I will be taking fifth-year classes." Harry got up from his chair and started moving towards the door. He opened the door to let Elena out before turning towards Dumbledore. "Know this Dumbledore, as long as you don't stand in my path, I won't do the same. Don't misunderstand my today's actions; I did what I had to do to make sure that you don't interfere with my life."

Harry tossed the elder wand back to Dumbledore, who was a bit surprised by his words before leaving the room without turning his back to Dumbledore. As much he liked the wand Harry knew Dumbledore will never let him keep it and it's not like his own wasn't working properly.

Dumbledore while a bit surprised from Harry's words quickly got over it and sent a 'Patronus' to James. The way Harry relaxed after almost losing his cool in the middle of the meeting when Dumbledore spoke about Dorea could only be done by the touch of a girl, whom Harry was in a relationship with. Dumbledore had seen the same behavior between couples numerous times and knew he could unmistakably recognize one when he saw one. The only girls he knew who Harry was close with were Daphne Greengrass and her sister. According to Severus, Elder Greengrass sister was out of the country, so, Daphne was his best lead at the moment.

Dumbledore pulled out his pensive before pressing the tip of Elder Wand to his temple before slowly pulling it away. A thin silvery thread emerged from his temple and he carefully dropped it in his pensive. He decided to take a look at the whole meeting from an outsider's perspective while he waited for others to arrive. Dumbledore dipped his finger in the pensieve and let his conscious enter the pensive. A mental command from him made the events go faster.

The more Dumbledore watched the more he was getting sure that he was made to dance on Harry's tune without him knowing. The whole meeting went according to Harry's plan. It was like he had predicted Dumbledore's move before he even made them and got away with things he wanted. The most frustrating thing was he couldn't decide what the motive behind his demands was. If Harry had planned so much, he could have surely demanded a lot more things, why settle for simple school related things?

How was Harry able to enter Hogwarts without the knowledge of Dumbledore? Was he responsible for the separation of wards surrounding Slytherin common room and dungeons? If yes, then how did he do it? And the most important question, how did he survive? So many questions without any answers, it was frustrating him to no end. To a man who took pride in himself for holding all the cards; this was nothing short of a disaster.

A ping from the wards informed him of the coming visitors. He emerged from the pensieve and put it back in its place before settling in his chair. There was a knock on the door. Dumbledore used Occlumency to clear his mind to prepare for the next meeting before answering, "Come in."

As soon as Dumbledore gave permission to enter his office, James Potter followed by Minerva McGonagall, Alastor Moody, Filius Flitwick, Pomona Sprout, Lily Potter, who had recovered from her fainting, and finally Severus Snape entered his office. James and Lily quickly settled themselves in the chairs opposite to Dumbledore while others opted to keep standing.

There was a brief tense silence which was broken by McGonagall, "Albus, what happened? Where is Harry Potter?"

Dumbledore gave a long world-weary sigh before answering, "Mr. Potter is on his way to or he is already in Slytherin common room." Dumbledore raised his hand to stop other's protest and continued lying through his teeth, "I had no choice other than to let him go. All of you saw how other Slytherins were willing to attack us when we attacked him in morning. He had the backing of the whole Slytherin house and I am not willing to alienate or worse make all the Slytherin students leave the school, just because I expelled him."

McGonagall gave him a sharp look, "Surely you don't mean to just let him go without any punishment? And while the behavior of Slytherins," she gave Severus a look of barely disguised loathing and contempt, "this morning was disgraceful, their parents will never let pull out their children from Hogwarts."

"We can always involve DMLE and get him convicted for the attacks," added Flitwick.

"Did you people already forget that he was the Heir of Slytherin?" snapped Dumbledore losing his cool. "Dark families will flock around him and protect him from any repercussions. We don't have any solid enough evidence to convict him. Add the fact he is also the Potter family heir which makes it impossible for us to use Veritaserum without the permission of Wizengamot. Wizengamot will never permit the use of Veritaserum on him seeing that he is the heir of a Most Ancient and Noble House and all the victims of petrifications were muggleborns and the less we say about Weasley family reputation in pureblood circle the better." Dumbledore, seeing that McGonagall and Flitwick were looking properly chastised, added, "It would be much better if he stays here in Hogwarts where I can keep an eye on him and stop his plots, rather than letting him run free in the wizarding world and do whatever he wished."

Barty Crouch jr., who was impersonating Moody, was keeping his silence since the beginning of the meeting raised an eyebrow at the news. He wasn't aware of anything that was being discussed, which could lead to a potential disaster. He vowed to get as much knowledge as he could get about past happenings in Hogwarts so that he didn't get caught flat-footed next time. The Dark Lord was also unaware of these things too, so he had to inform Dark Lord as soon as possible about the new developments.

"I will trust your wisdom on this matter, Albus," conceded McGonagall with Flitwick nodding his head. "But I am not happy with the outcome."

Dumbledore gave another long sigh before saying, "Neither am I Minerva, neither am I." Dumbledore turned towards Snape who was standing silently in the corner, "What I want to know is why you didn't inform me of happenings in the Slytherin common room, Severus? The behavior of Slytherins this morning showed that Harry had already met with all of them."

"I can't tell you about it," replied Severus.

James sneered from his seat, "Can't tell about it or won't tell about it, Snivellus."

Snape glared at James, "Surely, your pathetic tiny brain could tell the difference between can't and won't."

"What do you mean by you can't tell me about it, Severus?" Dumbledore asked, even though he had a good idea. Harry had said that he had made sure that the people whom he had told won't be able to speak about it to other people who did not know about it already.

"I think he means that he has already exchanged one master for another. Don't you Snape?" Moody butted in before Snape could answer.

Snape glared at the retired auror but backed down when he saw Moody take a threatening step towards him, his both normal and magical eyes locked at Snape's body. Snape turned towards Dumbledore before opening his mouth to speak but was unable to utter a word. He closed his mouth before speaking after a moment, "I am unable to speak about the happenings in Slytherin common room." Harry had already warned Snape in the morning while he was explaining his plan to others that something like this will happen. While it was embarrassing to follow the plan of a fifteen-year-old boy, the power and influence the boy will have in future made it a lot easier, and Dumbledore's face at seeing Harry in morning was more than worth following his plan.

Dumbledore sighed loudly "I suspected as much." Dumbledore made a mental note to research on mind related curses and other similar things. If he broke whatever was stopping Severus from telling others about the happenings in Slytherin common room, he will no doubt gain knowledge of what Harry was up to. How Harry came upon the knowledge of this type of magic was a worrying prospect. Others looked at him curiously but when he didn't elaborate they decided to drop the matter.

"Why did you ask us to question Miss Greengrass and take magical vows from her to not use a time turner?" Asked Sprout, she was still angry for taking a magical vow from Daphne Greengrass. She was against the idea of taking magical vows from a minor but was ruled out by other professors.

Dumbledore seemed to gain age as he leaned back in his chair. He looked at every other person in the eye before giving another long sigh, "Mr. Potter was not alone." Seeing that everybody was confused, he explained, "Mr. Potter had an invisible companion today. I have reasons to believe that the said invisible companion was a girl and she is in a relationship with Harry and I could think of nobody else who was close to Harry other than the Greengrass sisters. One of them is traveling the world, so, I suspected that it was Daphne Greengrass."

"How did she manage to remain unseen even by your eye?" Moody asked with surprise evident in his tone.

"I have a few guesses but nothing concrete yet. I was unable to see her even after casting an 'Oculomagi' charm on my glasses," answered Dumbledore.

"Ms. Greengrass didn't even protest at the idea of taking the magical vow. It was like she already knew what we were going to ask her," said Sprout.

Dumbledore resisted the urge to sigh once more; of course, Harry had probably suspected that they would question Greengrass. In hindsight, he should have known it was not Greengrass; she was too obvious of a choice. He looked at the Potter couple sitting in front of him before saying, "Everyone except Lily and James please leave us. I would like to have a word with them alone."

All of them gave a nod before walking out of the office. As soon as other Professors were out, Dumbledore waved his wand in a complex pattern and activated the Privacy wards of the Headmaster's office.

James Potter got up from his seat and started pacing furiously before asking, "How did he survive Albus? You were sure that he was dead."

"I don't have the slightest clue about the cause of his miraculous survival," answered Dumbledore.

"Is it possible that Fawkes's tears healed him?" questioned Lily; she was still feeling a bit overwhelmed from seeing her first child alive and well.

Dumbledore shook his head, "No, he was too far gone to survive with only phoenix tears. Also, Fawkes would have never cried on his wounds if there was even a slight chance of recovery with his tears."

"Maybe someone followed Eric and Harry down there, and saved the boy," suggested James.

"No, the wards that I had placed at the entrance of the bathroom would have notified me if any other person was there," Dumbledore retorted before giving James a furious glare, "Where is your invisibility cloak, James?"

James seemed to shrink in on himself at Dumbledore's glare and mumbled, "I returned it to my father."

"Do you have any idea what you have done?" Dumbledore demanded, "Charles gave the Cloak to Harry and it was because of that cloak, I was unable to obliviate him and had to make a deal with him to keep him silent." Dumbledore decided to not tell them about the elder wand; it would lead to some uncomfortable questions. There was no need to tell them about the existence of The Hallows yet.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked, with a confused expression on her face. "Can't you see through invisibility cloaks?"

This time Dumbledore was unable to resist the urge to sigh loudly, "That was a special cloak. Even I can't see through it and you just had to hand it back to Charles." Dumbledore massaged his temples and continued, "Why did you return it anyway?"

James looked a bit sheepish and embarrassed, "We had a row about making me or Eric, the Heir of House Potter a few months ago. It evolved into a shouting match and next the thing I know is that I am returning the heirlooms I had with me." Suddenly something seemed to click for James, "Wait! How were you able to see through the cloak when I used to wear it?"

"I had placed a tracking charm on the cloak in case someone stole the heirloom and I used to catch you with its help. Charles must have found the charm and removed it before giving it to Harry." Dumbledore answered before giving James a stern look, "Don't try to change the subject, James. Why was I not informed of this?"

"It didn't seem too important at that time," James replied lamely. Dumbledore just shook his head at James's idiocy.

"What was the outcome of the meeting? What did he want?" Lily asked as she tried to figure out what Harry wanted now.

"We made a deal. He wanted some school related privileges and a favor from me in return for not telling others about what really happened during the Chamber of Secrets ordeal," replied Dumbledore.

"Huh, just some privileges and a favor? Why? He could have demanded a lot of different things," questioned James.

"I don't know his motive behind such simple demands except for the favor; having a favor from an influential wizard like me will no doubt be helpful for anyone. I suspect he was trying to show that he is not an enemy, but I am not sure about it."

Lily hummed in agreement; Harry's demands didn't show his motive behind doing all of this. "So, what should be our next step?"

"We do nothing but observe for now," ordered Dumbledore. "I will deal with him at a suitable time. We should concentrate our efforts on improving Light side's reputation. I am going to file the paperwork Master-Apprentice bond between me and Eric in the ministry today. It should be in the newspapers tomorrow. I believe it will go a long way in distracting people from looking too deeply into the matter of The Chamber of Secrets."

James reluctantly nodded his head "Alright, we will do as you say." He looked uncomfortable for a second before asking, "What about the heirship? Dad will never make Eric or me, his heir as long as Harry is alive."

"There are other ways to get the heirship. We will make a plan once everything is settled down."

James and Lily nodded to show that they understood. They had waited for a long time, they could wait some more.

Once Harry stepped inside the Slytherin Common room he was unsurprised to find most of the Slytherins waiting there for him. He gave a cursory glance to all of the students present there before saying, "I don't think I need to say it but it was a wonderful performance during the breakfast. Thank you for following the plan that we discussed this morning. Without your help, my meeting with Dumbledore wouldn't have been so successful. I-"

"Shut up Half-blood!" shouted Draco Malfoy. Several Slytherins just face-palmed at his outburst, while others looked at him with emotions ranging from anger to amusement. Harry raised an eyebrow at the interruption and turned towards where Malfoy was standing. Seeing that Harry was quiet, Draco continued, "I don't care what happened in the meeting or how wonderful our performance was. Stop acting like the whole world revolves around you. We weren't even able to select the new leader this morning because you wanted us to be a part of your stupid plan. I also know how you tricked us last night into believing you were powerful."

Harry just gave an amused look to Draco and said, "Oh! Do tell. I believe others would want to know about it as well."

Malfoy puffed up his chest like a peacock before giving others a superior look and answering, "You used an illegal potion to give yourself such a strong magical aura."

"How did you reach this conclusion, Malfoy?"

"I asked my father about it," replied Draco like it was obvious.

Suddenly, it clicked in Harry's mind, how Malfoy was confident enough to confront Harry. It was also quite ingenious of him to circumvent the ward and ask about Magical aura when he couldn't ask or tell anyone anything related to Harry. Harry shook his head at Malfoy's idiocy, he should have gathered all the facts before confronting him, and with a barely hidden-patronizing tone, said, "You need to start thinking on your own and not run to your father for every small thing. You must have tried to tell him about me but when you found you couldn't, you asked about the thing that was bugging you the most, my magical aura. Because to you, there was no way a Half-Blood could be stronger than you, even if the said Half-Blood was not really a Half-Blood and a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin. Am I right?"

Draco nodded his head while a few upper years and quite a lot of lower years were staring at him incredulously, and replied, "Yes and I found out how you were projecting such a strong aura! And how dare you to activate a memory containment ward without our agreement. Wait till my father hears about this…"

"Draco! Draco! Draco! You never learn, do you? Always running to your father for everything. How will you tell him about the ward, when you can't tell anyone about the happening in this common room?" Harry shook his head before turning towards the other Slytherins and said, "I hope you remember what I said about you being a defective Gryffindor. Draco here is a prime example of it, while I commend him for not believing everything he sees and gathering information, he confronted me without checking whether his gathered facts were true or not, like a Gryffindor jumping headfirst without thinking."

Draco who was seething in rage at being disrespected shouted, "How dare you compare me to a Gryffindor!?"

Harry continued like he hadn't been interrupted, "Unfortunately for Draco, his gathered facts were wrong." Once again an immense weight settled on everyone's shoulder before disappearing like it never happened.

Draco who had been getting angrier as Harry continued to ignore him, finally snapped and whipped out his wand before casting a 'Reducto' in Harry's direction. Elena, who was watching the proceedings from the sidelines snapped out a 'Protego' charm to intercept the curse. Draco seeing his curse strike the shield without doing any visible damage snarled, "Stay out of this, bitch."

Every bit of amusement disappeared from Harry's face and he glared at Draco while pulling out his wand, "You really are a fool Draco, aren't you?"

"Says the one who keeps hiding behind a woman," snarled Draco, "I have had enough of you trying to show that you are stronger than me, I challenge you to an honor duel."

"You should think before opening your mouth Draco," chided Elena. "It could come to bite in your ass."

"Shut up, whore!" shouted Draco. "I always think things through before I say anything."

Almost every girl and many guys in the common room gasped at his offensive words while simultaneously rolling their eyes at the incredulity of his statement, considering what he had said not a minute ago. The Slytherins who were subtly moving away from Draco decided to drop the subtlety and quickly created enough distance from Draco, leaving only his close supporters near him. Elena didn't retort to the insult but her eyes showed that Draco was going to be in a world of pain whenever she got the opportunity.

Draco flinched when he saw Harry's cold eyes and felt the rising pressure in the common room but didn't back off. Harry kept silent for a few more moments before asking, "What are the stakes?"

"If I win, you will have to step down from the position of the lord of the House of Slytherin and make me its new lord when you receive your lordship and sign a betrothal contract between me and Elena."

Harry's magic spiked once again after hearing it but he controlled it and asked, "Alright and what will I get if I win?"

"If you win," Draco replied while stressing on word 'if' to show his utter disbelief at the fact that Harry thought he was going to win, "I will accept you as the heir of the House of Slytherin and won't challenge you for the heir or lord position ever again."

Harry raised an eyebrow at Draco's reply and retorted, "Really? I don't care whether you accept me as the heir or not. Contrary to what you have been led to believe Malfoy, you are not important enough for your opinion to matter to me."

"It shows what you know Half-Blood," sneered Draco. "I am the Heir of Noble House of Malfoy and the opinion of a Malfoy always matters."

Harry thought about reminding Draco that he was the heir of two houses before discarding the idea. The ideology that Malfoys are better than others was too deeply ingrained in him, so he will ignore that fact and concentrate on his Half-Blood status. Suddenly an idea struck him and after thinking it over he said, "I don't care about it Malfoy." He ignored the reddening of Draco's face and continued, "If I win, the Noble house of Malfoy will become a vassal of the House of Slytherin when you get the lordship and you will publically ask Elena for forgiveness."

"How dare you suggest this preposterous idea!? House of Malfoy will never be a vassal of any other house," shouted Malfoy.

"You should know the rules of Honor Duel, Malfoy especially the ones involving the heirs of different houses. If you want to duel me then you should be ready to give me something of comparable value of the House of Slytherin and you have only one thing that I am interested in. It's your choice Malfoy, do you agree or not?" Harry retorted.

"Draco, think of it in this way, the Noble House of Malfoy will only be a Vassal to the House of Slytherin if you lose. However, if you win you will not only be the heir of Noble House of Malfoy, you will also be the heir of House of Slytherin. Do you not think that you can win Draco?" goaded Elena.

"Of course, I will win," replied Draco. While Draco had a Superiority Complex of the size of Mount Everest, he wasn't in Slytherin just for saying, he was still apprehensive about putting his house on the line. However, the notion of becoming the heir of House of Slytherin along with the betrothal to Elena was too great to decline.

His mind was finally made up when Theodore Nott whispered in his ear, "Accept the stakes. Just don't make a magical vow or contract agreeing to the terms. This way even if you lose we will just say that you were joking. While you will lose some respect, you will remain the heir of Noble House of Malfoy. And if you win then we will force him to make you the heir of House of Slytherin even if we have to go to the Wizengamot for it."

Draco nodded his head, 'Yes, this is a fabulous idea. If I manage to win then the father will be very proud when I tell him what I did.' He turned towards Harry and said, "Alright. I agree to your terms."

Harry's smile turned predatory and said, "I knew you will agree to the terms, Draco. Now, let's…"

Before he could say anything else, he was interrupted by Elena when she leaned in and whispered, "Your grandfather must be worried about you. You should speak to him immediately."

Harry immediately turned his attention back to Draco, "Something important has come up and requires my attention immediately. So, we will hold our duel tonight. Take this time to prepare Draco because I won't be showing you mercy anytime soon." Once he said it, Harry quickly made his way to the hidden door that led to the Chamber of Secrets. Harry ignored the shouting from Draco about him being too afraid to fight Draco unprepared and whatnot and opened the door with a touch of his Slytherin heir ring.

Before he could enter, he saw Daphne entering the Common Room and called her, "Daphne! Come with me."

Daphne turned towards the direction Harry was calling from and saw that he and Elena were standing by the door to the Chamber of Secrets while waving at her to follow them. She gave a nod to Harry and started moving towards them while ignoring the jealousy filled glares she was being sent by other Slytherins. After all, she was probably the first non-parselmouth to ever enter the Chamber. Harry gave her a small smile and sidestepped to let her enter first. He and Elena followed after her. The walk to the Chamber of Secrets was passed in silence as each of them was lost in their own thoughts.

The group emerged from the passage in a small room with a dozen doors. Other than the doors there, the whole room was empty with only some torches on the walls for light. Elena immediately apparated out while Harry entered the door at the opposite side of the room followed by Daphne. Harry emerged in the study and made himself comfortable on a couch. He turned towards the door and saw Daphne standing there looking around with awe and wonder. It reminded him of a much younger Daphne who had the same look when she first saw the Hogwarts castle before she had to adopt her ice queen persona to protect her at school and home. Harry discretely wiped a tear from his eyes at the thought of Daphne's peril before coughing loudly.

Daphne's head snapped in Harry direction, her face flushed pink with embarrassment when she realized that she was caught gaping and being very decidedly non-Slytherin. She started walking towards him with accusation clear in her eyes, "You didn't tell me."

"What do you mean by I didn't tell you?" Harry asked, a picture of such utter innocence that even Daphne had to stop a second before shaking her head and continuing towards him.

Daphne, upon reaching the couch, jabbed a finger on Harry's chest and growled, "Don't try to be over smart with me, Harry James. You wanted me to look like a fool, didn't you?"

"No. I was going to tell you last night but we got distracted. So, I decided to surprise you," answered Harry.

"Don't lie to me Harry. I know you wanted to see me standing at the door gaping while you laughed mentally at my misfortune."

"Maybe."

"Next time you decide to hide things like this from me," Daphne pulled out her wand and pointed it at his crotch, "I am going to freeze your balls, Harry," warned Daphne.

Suddenly, she heard laughing from behind. Startled by the sound, she turned around; her wand pointed in the direction of the laugh. Once she saw that she was pointing her wand at a portrait of a distinctive looking elderly wizard, whom she immediately recognized as Salazar Slytherin from the unanimated portraits she had seen before, she bowed low and turned her head towards a snickering Harry's direction with a mortified expression on her face and whispered, "You planned all of this didn't you?"

Harry stopped snickering to answer with a nod before he once again started cackling loudly when he saw her face. Daphne just sighed loudly before turning her attention back to Salazar and bowed her head, "I apologize for my rude behavior," she shot a withering glare at the still laughing Harry and continued, "it's just that your heir is just too insufferable."

"At least both of you are still getting along," a familiar voice sounded from the direction of the door.

Daphne turned to the direction of the door and saw Charles Potter along with Elena standing there. Harry hurried towards Charles and gave him a short hug.

Daphne gave a nod to Salazar's portrait before going to greet Charles. Charles upon seeing Daphne gave her a small smile and pulled her into a short hug, surprising her, before she reciprocated, separating after a few moments.

"It's nice to meet you again Lord Potter," said Daphne with a small smile.

"What did I tell you about calling me, Lord Potter?" Charles asked.

"To not call you that, Lord Potter," answered Daphne with a smirk on her face.

"Then why do you call me that? I told you to call me Grandpa or Grandfather, did I not?" asked Charles in a mock-offended tone.

"It won't be proper to call you that, Lord Potter," replied Daphne, stony-faced while looking anywhere but in Charles's eyes.

Charles just sighed at her answer and dropped the topic as a lost cause. Every time he had met with Daphne, their conversation's beginning had remained the same. He would insist that she stop calling him by his title while she would stubbornly refuse to do exactly that. Maybe it was his inner matchmaker that wanted her to call him Grandfather or maybe he just wanted to let her know that she could consider him as a male parental figure in her life; even he didn't know the answer to the main reason he was compelled to do so. He was interrupted from his inner musing by the sound of clearing of a throat.

"Lord Slytherin," greeted Charles.

"Lord Potter," returned Salazar with a nod. He gave an annoyed look at Harry who was still engrossed in his own conversation with Elena before coughing loudly.

Harry who was talking with Elena about the small leather bound book she was carrying turned in the direction of coughing and saw Salazar looking at them impatiently. Harry just chuckled sheepishly and once again made himself comfortable on the couch with others doing the same. Elena took the adjacent seat of the couch on which Harry was sitting while Daphne and Charles took the couches on the right and left respectively.

Seeing that he had their total attention, Salazar said, "Now that the greetings are over, can we get to the reason why all of you are here?" After receiving nods from everyone he asked with a concerned voice, "What happened? Did everything go according to the plan?"

Harry was surprised by the concern, which looked quite out of place on the normal stoic face of his ancestor's portrait. It was the first time his ancestor ever showed open concern and it warmed his heart to know that now he had another person, even if he was just a portrait who cared for him. He shook his head to clear the thoughts and answered, "Yes, everything went according to the plan. Dumbledore was too surprised to outmaneuver me. He was even more wary of me after I used the legilimency trick you taught me, Salazar."

Salazar just nodded and said, "I don't think he will try to use legilimency on you again anytime soon."

"I agree. It made him wary enough that he tried to obliviate me even though he was very interested in how I survived the Basilisk bite."

"What!?" shouted both Daphne and Charles at the same time.

"Relax; I suspected something like that could happen. So, I had Elena following me under my invisibility cloak."

"Start from the beginning," ordered Charles.

Harry nodded and started telling them what happened from the beginning with Elena adding things from her own point of view. Daphne and Charles who didn't know the complete plan that the other three had hatched were extremely surprised by their daring move. Blackmailing and threatening the alleged most powerful wizard of this era was a very dangerous plan but no one could argue that it wasn't effective or that it didn't work. There was silence in the chamber for a few moments after Harry finished his tale before it was broken by Daphne.

"Dumbledore will probably take this as an insult and will retaliate," pointed out Daphne.

"While I agree that he will retaliate, he will wait for an opportune moment to do it. Even then I will have the advantage as he will underestimate me. At the moment, he probably considers me an annoying cockroach who he can deal with anytime he wants," retorted Harry.

"What about your family?" Daphne spoke the word family with so much disgust that it made Charles cringe.

"I will deal with them when I am ready to make my move, no need to tip my hand earlier. They will get what's coming to them in due time." Harry leaned forwards in Daphne's direction."I noticed that you were late in returning from Great Hall, Daphne. Did everything go well on your end?" asked Harry with concern evident in his voice.

"Yes, everything went well," replied Daphne while shifting to a more comfortable posture on the couch, "At the end of the Breakfast, James Potter received a Phoenix Patronus, probably from Dumbledore. After that, I was called to Professor McGonagall's office and had to give a magical vow that I am not in possession of a time turner and I will not use it today. James wanted to use Veritaserum on me to get information about you, but other professors who had followed us stopped him from doing it."

"It wouldn't have mattered even if they had used Veritaserum on you," said Salazar. "The ward Harry activated in the common room will stop you from telling anything that you learned there about him even under the compulsion of Veritaserum."

"Won't it make people suspicious if Slytherin Students are unable to tell others anything that's happening in Slytherin Dorms?" Charles asked.

Salazar shook his head, "I didn't call it one of my best wards for nothing. It filters memories based on the intent of caster or in this case Harry."

"It would be counterproductive as it would bring a lot of attention to the Slytherins if I blocked all their memories of Dungeons," Harry spoke up. "At the moment, the ward is stopping them from telling others anything related to me."

Elena nodded her head to show her agreement before turning towards Daphne. "Dumbledore probably suspected you to be Harry's invisible accomplice and warned others about you. However, to think James wanted to use Veritaserum on you," Elena shook her head at the notion, "he must be desperate. He must have known that using Veritaserum on a minor and said minor being the heiress of a Noble House, without the permission of Wizengamot is a criminal offense. I would have loved to see him try to weasel out of the charges."

Charles hummed in agreement and added, "While it is true that he would have been in trouble for using Veritaserum, don't underestimate Dumbledore and Eric's fame, Elena. James would have walked free after paying a minor fine."

"Well, he didn't use the Veritaserum," Harry butted in, "so; there is no need to think about it anymore. We should think about our next move."

"That reminds me," Charles picked up the book Elena had brought with herself and gave it to Harry, "you will find everything that has been documented by Peverells about Deathly Hallows in that book. That book was in the restricted section of The Potter Library, only for the eyes of the head of the House. It is the part of the Peverell legacy left by our ancestors."

Harry and Salazar's eyes widened with shock that such a book existed and was in Harry's hand. Daphne while shocked was confused when she saw the other's reaction. She like the majority of the wizarding world believed Deathly Hallows to be a myth but the reaction of Harry and Salazar and the existence of the book clearly showed that they were real. Elena who already knew of the existence of the book seeing the confused expression on Daphne's face mouthed 'later' before leaning over Harry's shoulder to read the book.

Next few minutes were passed in silence as Harry continued reading the book for any relevant information on the Hallows. Halfway through the book, Harry stiffened before sighing loudly and putting the book back on the table.

Elena, who was also reading the book just face-palmed before she started chuckling. Harry getting annoyed at her chucking discretely pinched her butt. Elena yelped loudly before glaring at him. But seeing the others looking at her with confusion she schooled her features while ignoring Harry's smirk.

"I have good news and bad news, what do you want to know first?" asked Harry.

Salazar narrowed his eyes before answering, "Bad news first."

"I know who has the Elder wand."

"What!?" shouted Salazar losing his composure at the thought of knowing the location of last Hallow before he remembered that this was a bad news at least according to his Heir, "Wait! How is that a bad news?"

Harry picked up the book and showed the picture of Elder wand to others and replied, "This is the same wand I had taken from Dumbledore earlier."

"Are you sure? It could have been a wand with a similar appearance," Charles questioned while trying to remember Dumbledore's wand and compare it with the picture on the book.

"Yes, I am sure," replied Harry. "Its shape is very distinctive and the rush of power I felt when I took the wand for the first time clearly showed that it's not a normal wand."

"I was going to bring it up, later but now that we are talking about Hallows," Elena spoke up while taking out the cloak from her pocket and placing it on the table. "You should know that the Invisibility Cloak also warmed up when you disarmed Dumbledore. I believe Dumbledore would have felt the surge of magic from the cloak if he was not distracted after getting disarmed."

"Dumbledore is using that wand ever since he disarmed his lover Grindelwald during Second World War. He…"

"Wait, wait, wait," Charles was interrupted by Daphne, who was speaking for the first time ever since the topic of Hallows was breached. "Dumbledore is gay!? And he was in a relationship with Dark Lord Grindelwald!? "

Charles started chuckling at Daphne's incredulous expression before replying, "Yes, he was in a relationship with Gellert Grindelwald before the death of his sister. Both of them were quite close at that time and were a believer of 'The Greater Good'. After the death of Dumbledore's sister, both of them had a falling out and went their separate ways."

"Why do we not know this?" Daphne asked while trying to wrap her mind around the fact Dumbledore and Grindelwald were lovers.

"As I said earlier, Dumbledore was a believer of The 'Greater Good'," answered Charles, he looked at others to see them paying full attention to him, even Harry and Elena to his surprise were listening attentively and thus came to the conclusion that Voldemort didn't know about this at the time he made his first Horcrux. "While Grindelwald chose to slaughter thousands for his vision of 'Greater Good' of society, Dumbledore choose to push the society towards his own vision, politically. After he defeated Grindelwald, he received the position of Chief Warlock and Supreme Mugwump. It also brought him under a lot of scrutiny from his opponents and political rivals. Fearing that all of his hard work would be undone if the true extent of his relationship with Grindelwald came to light, he obliviated, blackmailed and took vows of silence from anyone who had even the slightest idea. He had done quite a thorough job in it, that's why very few people know about it."

"How do you know about it?" Daphne asked, while her calculative mind was working a mile a minute on how to use this knowledge.

"I was told about it by Abeforth Dumbledore. Dumbledore wasn't able to force himself to obliviate his own brother, who was still angry at him for their sister's death."

"This information will be quite useful if we ever have need of discrediting Dumbledore," Elena pointed out.

"Certainly," agreed Harry. "But back to the matter at hand, what are the chances of Dumbledore not knowing the true nature of his wand?" asked Harry steering the conversation back towards the Elder wand.

"Extremely low," answered Charles. "From what I have gathered about his past, he was fascinated with The Hallows and had done a great deal of research about them. So, I doubt that he won't identify a Hallow when it's in his hand."

"Getting the wand from Dumbledore is not going to be easy if he knows that it is the Elder wand," Elena pointed out, her mind working furiously to find a way. "Even if you manage to disarm him like you did today, he will take the wand back from you even if he has to go to the Wizengamot for it."

Suddenly, Harry groaned loudly bringing the attention of others to him, "That means he now knows that I have the Invisibility Cloak."

Charles gave a nod, "Yes, without a doubt."

"It doesn't matter whether he knows about it or not, he would have found about it anyway," Salazar spoke up. "Now, what is the good news, Harry?"

Harry smirked, "I am already Elder wand's master." Seeing the confusion on their faces he elaborated, "Elder wand only changes its allegiance if it's taken forcefully. I became its new master when I disarmed Dumbledore and since, I just gave it back to Dumbledore; it didn't change its allegiance."

"What is the benefit of its allegiance when you don't have the wand?" Salazar pointed out.

"Elder wand won't work against me properly and I am immune to any lethal curse cast from that wand. There is a high chance that lethal curses will be rebound to the caster."

"That will give you an edge when dueling against Dumbledore," said Elena.

"Speaking of dueling, I believe I have an idea that will give you a perfect opportunity to get the wand." Seeing that he had their total attention, Charles started telling everyone his plan.

Harry's eyes widened when he heard the convoluted plan and immediately agreed to go through with it. While it was quite risky, he believed he could pull it off with Elena's help. "Can you make it happen, though?"

Charles scoffed at the question, "Of course, I can make it happen. I will just have to call in some favors so that Dumbledore doesn't interfere with it."

Harry gave a nod before his face broke into a large grin. "I almost forgot to tell you, the Noble House of Malfoy will become a vassal of The House of Slytherin in the near future."

Everyone immediately understood what has happened and their faces broke into similar grins; Charles and Salazar because they knew that it will make things easier in future for Harry, Daphne because both male Malfoys were insufferable pricks.

"Did you duel already?" Salazar asked.

"No, it's in the evening."

"You know what to do. Make sure that everyone understands what happens to those who oppose us of the House of Slytherin. Show them the strength of the descendant of the great Salazar Slytherin."Salazar ordered pompously.

Harry chuckled at his ancestor's hubris but nodded all the same.

Oh yes, he was going to show them what it meant to mess with him.

A.N : Sorry it took so long to post this chapter. To be honest, I was sitting on this chapter for more than a month. It took me a while before I found this chapter satisfactory enough to post. Hope you guys enjoy it. If you find any error or plothole, please point it out in the review or send me a pm. I am also open for any suggestions, whether it is to improve my writing or the story. Err...I couldn't decide what should I name this chapter, so if you guys have any suggestion pm me. I will give you the full credit for the heading if I like it.

Thanks to Falconette360 and SapphireDragonis.

Special Thanks to my betareader BattlemageABK.

Reviews are welcome while Flames will be ignored.

Speaking of Flames, One of my most favorite writers on this website, Yagami Nguyen, decided to stop writing because he was flamed a lot for the latest chapter of one of his fics. I hope he decides to write again.

I just don't get it why do you guys(flamers) waste your time in flaming. It's not like we writers get anything from posting stories and we don't owe you anything. So, if you don't like anything then don't read it. Too many good writers stop writing because people didn't like something and start flaming without caring about the time they spent writing it for the readers. Sigh...I will stop here, no need to bore you guys with my rant. It's just that I am annoyed that another good writer stopped writing.

On the Brighter side,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!