Keeping The Dark Lord (on his toes)

Chapter - 9 Who says finite always works ( sept to dec 1992 )

Harry first noticed that something was amiss when he saw that the feast had appeared after the first years had been sorted, but Dumbledore didn’t stand up to make his speech as he usually did, and this left most of the Great Hall’s occupants glancing at him as if to indicate that he was missing his cue.

The second thing Harry noticed was that even Peeves (or Godric) seemed confused about what was going on, and that ruled out the usual pranks that the poltergeist often pulled.

He turned his attention back to the headmaster, only to find that the old man’s lips seemed to be sealed together as Dumbledore physically tried to pry his lips open with his fingers, before letting out a deep groan of pain.

He moved his hands to his chair to get up but the moment his hands touched the armrests, they seemed to also get stuck. Dumbledore then tried to stand up, but the chair to lifted off the floor as well and he hit himself over the head with the back of the seat due to the strange position.

A Hufflepuff let out a startled laugh before their friends managed to silence them…but the damage had already been done and none of the students (and most of the teachers) were able to contain their laughter anymore (though it was almost painful to see how valiantly the teachers tried to act unaffected).

Harry saw Salazar reluctantly cast a Finite Incantatum, but when it didn’t work, Harry spotted a hidden dark smile before the man started silently casting spell after spell in earnest. Everyone else thought that he was overzealously trying to help (as Lockhart would), and none of them recognized the minor curses that took hold of Dumbledore’s being.

Most of them were merely meant to bring about bad luck and minor suffering though, so Harry didn’t interfere. It seemed as if the man had been watching his heir long enough to know that Dumbledore was Voldemort’s to kill, though it didn’t stop him from instinctively wanting to avenge his heir.

Harry almost winced when he recognized a bright blue spell coming from Salazar’s wand, and for a moment he wondered what the trigger words were for the Compulsive Truth spell that the man had just cast. Salazar gave him a quick glance and a nod before finally stepping back as if he’d finally given up on trying to ‘free’ the headmaster.

‘Voldemort wasn’t the only one that Salazar watched from my realm. He watched over you as well, and even as you worked to destroy the monster that his heir had become, he vowed that he would ruin the man either in life or death for all his meddling. This is his way of fulfilling that vow without putting an end to Dumbledore…’,  Death explained.

The admission had been unexpected, and Harry didn’t know how to react to the knowledge that the Slytherin founder had been watching over him as well. He decided to file away the information for later as he realized what Death had indirectly revealed…the trigger words would be ones that Dumbledore had often used when referring to both him and Voldemort.

He decided to make full use of the knowledge, as the normal spell only lasted for about two weeks before fading, but as Madam Pomfrey rushed over to the headmaster, Harry adjusted his estimation to a month for he was sure that Salazar had cast the spells in Parseltongue.

A flash of movement outside the Great Hall's doors, caught his attention as he glanced around the Great Hall and he did a double-take as Mina and Dobby gave him a slight bow before popping away. Luckily everyone else’s attention was on Dumbledore because he was sure he’d seen an empty packet of Lemon Drops in Dobby’s hands, while Mina held a small bucket filled with a familiar thick white liquid.

It didn’t take long to put two and two together and he fought to keep his mask on as the hilarity of the situation fully hit. He spotted quite a few muggleborns, including Hermione, who seemed to finally realize what was happening, but the way they simply turned away without revealing anything, told him how far Dumbledore had already fallen from grace because of his behavior last year.

He turned his attention back to the front of the hall where Professor McGonagall had called for silence as Madam Pomfrey levitated Dumbledore in front of her as she made her way to the infirmary. The speech was short and sweet and, finally, they were allowed to dig in.

The Great Hall was alive with activity as everyone finally relaxed and enjoyed the sensation of being back at Hogwarts, but that didn’t distract Harry enough from noticing the way that the Slytherin founder kept glancing at his godfather.

After the feast, they made their way to their common rooms, but it wasn’t until Harry found himself getting ready for bed that the situation fully hit him.

He knew that he would inform Severus about the Slytherin founder being back temporarily because he was sure that his godfather would jump at the chance at being able to discuss some of the potions that Salazar had created in the past, but it finally hit him that he would have to inform his friends about the truth as well.

He refused to leave them in the dark any longer than he had to, but that didn’t stop the irrational fear that reared its ugly head. Would they accept him fully, even if they haven’t gone through the previous life and death experiences together?

Would they accept his desire for the Dark Lord after hearing what he had done in the past and what he would have taken from them in the future if Harry hadn’t interfered?

He hated not knowing, so he pushed the thought to the back of his mind for now.

~The next day~

Harry sat at his usual seat in the DADA class, but he couldn’t deny that he was feeling nervous. Draco scoffed next to him as Salazar appeared in his Lockhart disguise and he wondered what Draco’s reaction would be if the blonde knew that Salazar Slytherin himself was teaching their class today.

The class itself seemed to surprise most of the students as Salazar proved to be a strict but fair teacher and they weren’t allowed to perform the spells until he was sure that they could pronounce the spell properly before they practiced the wand movement without saying the spell.

To the surprise of many, they all managed the spell after their first try once Salazar permitted them to merge the wand movement with the words, and many students silently vowed to incorporate the learning style into other aspects of their studies.

                    ~~~~~~~~~~

As December neared, Harry found himself becoming increasingly frantic. He knew that he was going to return Voldemort’s diary to him, but that was because Death informed him that Voldemort’s soul and magic had a chance to heal if Harry returned the other pieces to him one at a time.

But it would be hard to top the Philosopher’s Stone as a gift, and Harry really wanted to give the Dark Lord something that he wouldn’t be able to obtain by himself.

Harry had already added one of his friends’ memories about the superglue event to a bottle, as he couldn’t use his own without giving everything away, but it wasn’t enough and he spent weeks going through catalogs and reading books with the hope that something might appear.

And after weeks of searching, he still found nothing.