Diary Overload

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            Harry had been reading the Slytherin journals along with his grandmother's for several weeks now.  He'd learned much about the unspoken Irish heritage of his mother and the Slytherin family.  He was grateful to Professor Snape for suggesting he ask Petunia for her assistance.  He was however starting to feel overloaded by the information.  He didn't know who to talk to about it. 

            He was finding out all sorts of things about his grandmother's student days at Hogwarts.  He wondered why she'd left the wizarding world but was sure the answer would be in one of the diaries his aunt had sent him.  The Slytherin journals were detailing the breakdown of friendships between the founders in a way that sounded like they all had quite literally let a lot of small incidents snowball into one large one. 

            One night when Harry was translating the Slytherin journal he looked up at Severus, cursing under his breath about how stubborn Godric was.

            "Something to say Potter?" drawled Snape amused at the curse.

            "Why was Gryffindor such a git?" he asked, looking up from the journal. "The man fought about everything!  He wouldn't accept girls into his House! He refused to teach them for years, and then he wouldn't accept certain families into his House stating they were Dark, and he seemed to think he was ALWAYS right! He wanted Slytherin gone long before he left and it was his own bigotry that drove him out."

            "Yes it was," agreed Snape, "seems like the hero has feet of clay. Perhaps as speculated there is more to the dispute than was recorded.  Is there anything in there so far that can be used to defeat the Dark Lord?"

            "Doesn't seem to be," answered Harry. "But it is very interesting reading and maybe setting the record straight would be a worthwhile thing."

            "Perhaps we should set it aside for the time being.  Tell me Potter have you been reading your grandmother's diaries also?" asked Snape idly.

            "Oh yes sir, I have." He answered enthusiastically. "She had so much to say. Did you know she was a Slytherin?"

            "A muggleborn Slytherin?" Snape exclaimed. "Impossible!"

            "Oh yes sir, but she writes that she was sorted into Slytherin and about her housemates.  One of them was Tom Riddle. They had classes together and they were friends, being the halfblood and the mudblood in Slytherin together. Her two younger sisters were in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. I've gotten up to her fifth year so far, where her and Riddle became prefects for their year, and she started dating a Gryffindor named Jack Evans.  Riddle didn't like him for some reason but they hung around together anyways."

            "We may find more out from your grandmother, than the Slytherin journals.  Potter it is extremely rare that a muggleborn gets sorted into Slytherin: halfbloods are more common.  She must have been very cunning or ambitious to get there.  Most Slytherins as you know come from older bloodlines.  We can usually predict who will sort there.  Does she say anything about who her Head of House was?"

            "I think she said something about a Professor Thorne, being Head of House, taught DADA at the time.  They didn't like her according to the diaries.  Seems like she often took the side of the other Houses and let them get blamed for everything.  She hated Dumbledore even worse though.  She called him all sorts of names in her journal, even though she reports her transfiguration grades were above average.  She said that he really was biased against the Slytherins, and being Head of Gryffindor made it worse.   Some of the rumors about Dumbledore and Thorne in the common room were pretty filthy." Harry looked at Snape as he said this. Snape had produced tea and scones as he was talking.  He took the teacup with a grateful nod, snagging a scone while he was at it. 

            "Funny thing is she didn't seem to care one way or another about the Headmaster at the time.  Says in her journal that Dippet was pretty much a nonentity, everyone knew Dumbledore was running the school.  I feel like I am invading her privacy when I read these.  I get the impression she never meant for anyone to read the journals, you know?" said Harry as he bit into his scone. 

            "Perhaps she didn't expect them to be read, but they may give us insight on the younger Dark Lord," answered Snape as he refilled his teacup. He looked over at Harry as he did so and saw a thoughtful look cross his face.

            "Perhaps.  I'd like to keep reading the Slytherin journals also, sir.  There may not be anything to beat Voldemort in there, but the reading is interesting.  Pity we don't have a History of Magic class as good as the journals." Harry responded. 

            "Binns has been a bore for as long as anyone remembers.  And the students know it.  History is important but you don't see any Hogwarts students going on for advanced studies in it," responded Snape dryly. 

            "I liked muggle history classes, sir.  Thought I would enjoy magical history, but Binns is so boring, puts me and everyone else to sleep." Harry commented. "How long has he been teaching?"

            "Longer than anyone here remembers," answered Snape as he refilled his cup. "He was teaching here when Minerva was a student or so she told me. I suspect he was here when Albus was a student also."

            "Pity, he's turned off at least 100 yrs worth of students to history then. I remember reading if you don't know the history, you are doomed to repeat it somewhere."

            "How is the occlumency going?" asked Snape in a sudden change of subject.

            "Oh it's going well, he doesn't get past my shields anymore. The visualization trick works." Harry was happy to report that, especially since said trick came from the dark man seated across from him.

            "Good.  Our spies report that the Dark Lord is frustrated that he hasn't gotten into your mind lately.  Keep it up Potter.  Denying him access will just make him angrier and hopefully he will make a mistake.  It's late; you need to return to the tower.  Good night Potter."

            "Good night sir." He answered as he got up to leave. 

            Harry went up to the tower to find his bed.  It was late and he had classes in the morning.  Ron and Hermione were in the common room when he got there. 

            "Alright Harry?" asked Ron.

            "Yeah," he answered.  "You?"

            "Yeah," answered Ron.  They all said good night and went to their respective dorms for the night.  Christmas and exams were coming and they needed their sleep.

A/N An apology for taking so long to update.  There are reasons but not excuses.  Real life has been rough lately and it is coming out in everything I do.  A dear friend of mine has had some health issues and I have been there in the trenches with her on it.  A few things about reviews:  I am grateful for the time everyone who has reviewed takes to write them.  Funny about reviews, I didn't start this for them, but they have kept me writing.  Too many people have told me they like this for me to give it up.  Folks, you don't want to know how many STARTED stories I have on my hard drive.  I suspect I will finish this one way or another, just for the folks who DO review.  The problem is I am not an outline writer; I don't do an outline and follow it.  I have been putting threads into this story, and wondering where they came from.  I know to do this well or even right; I need to tie them up at the end.  So you are seeing someone who bit off a bit more than she expected to chew.  While you wait for me to update, may I recommend a few stories I have been reading avidly?  'Faith' by Dragongirl16 is awesome.  I wish I wrote the way she does.  I check on that one every day.  Enahma's 'Happy Days in Hell' trilogy is a good read.  Awesome improvement with her language skills and her story is worth the time taken to read it.  Yih's 'Mirror of Paradox' is good reading, along with so many others.  'Betrayed' by Kateydidnt is good also, really enjoying that one.  So much fanfiction out there to read.  Enjoy!