The Lord of Death

Acceptance

Harry sat on the cold floor of the girl's lavatory on the third floor of Hogwarts. He was banging his head against the stone wall.

"You can't get rid of me. No matter how much pain you inflict on yourself, I'll still be here."

"Shut up!" Harry threw his head against the wall as hard as he could manage. He had tears streaming down his face. He wouldn't listen. He wouldn't give in.

"They all turned on you. Their savior. All for something you didn't even do."

"I said, shut up!" Again, he threw his head against the brick wall. There was now blood running down the back of his head, and he had a pounding headache.

"Don't you want to show them, though, how powerful you are? You have so much potential, Harry. Embrace it. Punish them."

Harry went to throw his head against the wall again when he stopped, mid-action, and considered the words. The idea of punishing all who turned on him. A cruel smile appeared on his face.

"That's it. Embrace your power."

Harry pushed himself from the floor and walked over to one of the sinks, leaning his weight on it as he looked into a shattered mirror. He moved his hand to the back of his head and immediately healed his wound.

He then moved and walked to another sink. "Open." The sink moved, and a staircase appeared. Harry walked down and made his way through the winding passages before coming upon a large door. "Open." He hissed again.

The door opened on his command, and he walked into the room. He ignored the Basilisk corpse lying on the ground and the sadness that was not his own.

"Can you control your feelings? I don't need any distractions right now." Harry was clearly irritated with the mixture of emotions he was experiencing. He was already angry himself. He did not need to feel sad.

"Well, I'm sorry, it's just that I'm currently looking at the corpse of the one friend I had as a child."

The sarcastic comment did not sit well with Harry. "Stop being sarcastic and give me directions. You know this place better than I do." Harry walked over to the large statue of Salazar Slytherin.

"Fine. There's a living room, bedroom, kitchen, and lavatory behind the statue. There's a corridor to the left with a library, meeting room, lavatory, and lounge room. The corridor on the right contains a dueling room, armory, map room, and dungeon."

Harry nods as he walks to the statue. Open. Salazar's mouth opened, and Harry walked in. On the first floor was the living room and lavatory, the bottom floor had a kitchen, and the top floor had a glorious bedroom with a walk-in wardrobe and a personal study. The entire place was draped in green and silver.

Harry left the living quarters and walked to the left corridor. The library was huge, and Harry knew he would be spending a lot of time here. He also checked out the meeting room that had a raised dais and a rectangular table in the center of the room. The lounge room was also large and had multiple sofas and chairs surrounding a large fireplace.

Harry then walked to the right corridor. The dueling room was large. There was a raised platform in the center. There were dummies against the right side of the wall and seating on the left side of the room. The armory had a multitude of muggle weapons, which surprised Harry, because he didn't expect Salazar Slytherin to have muggle weapons. He then checked the map room and was amazed. There was a large map on the ground that showed all of Hogwarts. It acted like the Marauders map but was even more advanced. It showed where everyone was and what they were doing. Then, he walked to the dungeon. It was dark and cold and had multiple cells.

He made his way back to the statue where he sat down in the living room and used his wand to light a fire. He had so many thoughts running through his mind. He didn't know what to do next.

"You could always go down the path of a dark lord. Accumulate a following."

"Dark lord?" The title sounded great. He would have so much power and control. "I'm not entirely opposed to that idea. How would I go about that, though?"

"Find your most trusted friends and tell them of your goals."

Harry didn't respond as he began to sort through his friends that he did and didn't fully trust. "I need to get this place cleaned up before I even think of who I'm going to tell."

"Get the house-elves to do it. They serve Hogwarts. Since you have access to the chamber, they will serve you."

"You expect me to trust the house-elves? What if they tell Dumbledore of my plans?" Harry is very skeptical of trusting any creature that Dumbledore has control over.

"They won't say anything to Dumbledore. He may be headmaster, but you have access to the chamber. Your needs and wishes will come before Dumbledore's."

"I'll think about it." Harry casts a tempus and saw that it was almost time for dinner. He sighs and pulls himself from the comfortable chair he was sitting in and stretches. "Time to go deal with annoying people." He makes his way out of the chamber and to the Great Hall. He begins walked towards Ron and Hermione, only for Ron to motion Seamus over next to him. So, Harry changes his direction and sits between the Weasley twins.

"Hey." He sits down between the two as they both greet him.

"Hey there-"

"Harry-"

"How-"

"Are you?"

Harry chuckles at the twins. "Amazing now that I'm in your presence." He smirked as both of them blushed.

Dinner passed with idle conversation. Harry goes back to the dormitories before the other fifth year boys. He quickly packs his trunk. He places an illusion charm, so it looks like he's already headed to sleep before making his way to the chamber.

When he gets to the chamber, he quickly bathes and changes. He then grabs a book and sits in his bed, reading. After about an hour, he places the book down on his bedside table and goes to sleep.