La Pietra

15

Harry walked down the hallway that led to the dungeons, thinking about the Ravenclaws. They were all so upset, most of them had become friends with the friendly, smart boy that was no longer with them.

Harry found out that Anthony had a little sister, and that his father had died while he was young, being a victim of the Muggle disease cancer. His mother was a witch and his father a Muggle.

Terry Boot, one of Anthony's closet friends said that his little sister, Emilee, was the world to Anthony. Harry knew it must be hard on Anthony's family, loosing him. They had lost his father first, now Anthony himself. It was terrible.

Harry was descending the stairs to the dungeons when he bumped into a rather tall figure, the dim green light from the torches on the wall making it hard to see.

"Excuse me" Harry said
"Hello, Harry Potter. Pleasure to see you." Said the figure. It was Professor Quirrell
"Good evening Professor. How are you?" Harry asked
"I-I'm quite w-well. I assume you are go-going to the Slytherin Common Room, yes?"
"Yes, sir. I sleep there, with my friends. I was just visiting Ravenclaw. They experienced a loss of a student last year and I wanted to see how everyone was holding up, the student was also a close friend of mine. Its difficult to experience." Harry said
"Ah, I'm su-sure it is. I-I've experienced sev-several losses over th-the years as w-well. I hope you do get be-better soon, H-Harry, it'd be a sh-shame go see you f-fail your cl-classes this year, I hear you are an excellent st-student." The professor said
"Thank you, Sir. I must be going now. Have a nice evening." Harry said

Professor Quirrell smiled and nodded, then continued his way up the stairs, Harry going down them.

As he got to the portrait, he paused. He didn't know the password. The man, Salazar Slytherin, look at the boy before speaking.

"Are you lost, young one?" He asked
"No, sir. I simply don't know the password." Harry said
"Well, how about this. You answer a question I ask you, and I'll let you enter. Deal?"
"Deal."
"What do you know about me, Salazar Slytherin?" The portrait asked
"Well... I know that you were one of the four founders of Hogwarts. I know that people believed you to be an evil man, a dark wizard. But in reality, while I'm not saying anything bad about the other three founders, you didn't agree with what they were doing to the school. They were partly exposing us to the Human world. I know that you had a child, with Godric Gryffindor. And that somehow, Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena RavenClaw managed to have a child together. I know that the two children, your daughter and their son, had a child together. And I also know that the child was a stillborn, never to see the light of day, never to experience life, an innocent soul taken from the world. But that child still had a magical aura that seemingly disappeared when the child was buried alongside its mother, who did not make it during the birth. But you and the other three founders had a theory, a theory that the magic of your lost heir would be given to someone worthy of it, by Mother Magic herself. I know you can speak to snakes. I know all of these things... yet I don't know how I know them. The information just appeared in my head, like it had been there for forever. I know that it scares me because of how I know these things. And I also know that I would like to know more, but I've no one to teach me of it, sadly. Is that a good enough answer for you, Salazar Slytherin, Sir? Am I worthy enough to enter the chambers that you created for your students hundreds of year ago? Am I even worthy enough to be speaking with you, sir?" Harry finished

To say that Salazar was shocked was an understatement. He didn't speak, he didn't look at Harry, he simply opened the entrance and let Harry through.

"Thank you, Sir" and with that Harry entered to common room, ready to speak with his friends and then go to bed for a much needed nights sleep.