"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four!" Tom hissed - Harry of course, understood it so it wasn't hissing to him. Then just like what happened when Harry was twelve, the large Slytherin stone face was moving, the mouth moving down leaving a large black hole in the centre, and the ground started to rumble, as the Basilisk began to move. This time Harry wasn't horror-struck, but at the back of his mind, he could hear Tom hissing 'kill him' shaking off his dark thoughts, it wouldn't happen this time around, well not to him at any rate and hopefully not at all not under Dumbledore's nose.
The Basilisk emerged from the hole, stopping mere centimetres from Tom, its eyes were different, it had some sort of while shield down over its eyes. The amber bled through, but it was still nearly impossible to see it. "What did you do to its eyes?" Harry asked confused, as always his self preservation nowhere to be seen as he stepped forward and pressed his hand and began to stroke the large serpent. It twitched as if surprised by the fact anyone would touch it, but that wasn't surprising it had been down there alone for a long, long time. "Hello, beautiful." Harry hissed, scratching his scales lightly.
"Haven't you read upon Basilisks?" Tom stated haughtily. He had read absolutely everything he could about them after he found the chamber and realized what resided within these walls; he was a Slytherin after all. No not just a Slytherin, the Slytherin.
Harry grinned in amusement at his tone of voice, "No, not really," nearly being killed by one had kind of taken any curiosity about the creatures from him post-haste. The bottom half of the Basilisk was immersed in the small pool of water at either side of the chamber, it's too bad he hadn't known he was coming down here, the poor thing was starving. He had House-elves, Peverell House-elves, but would they be able to hear him down here? It is a secret hidden chamber so the likelihood of them being able to get through was extremely small.
"The Basilisks have two sets of eyelids, this one prevents anyone from being killed by its gaze while ensuring it can see," Tom informed him, sounding like a textbook.
"Foot note, gazing at a reflection of the basilisk results in petrifaction," Harry added wryly, "My suggestion is don't let the basilisk out, trust me it won't end well."
"And what exactly will you do?" Tom asked his eyes narrowed, "Will you go against me?" he demanded to know, stepping up into Hadrian's face. As always his attempts at intimidation failed where Hadrian was concerned, he quite frankly just looked entertained.
"At some point I'll probably argue with you when it comes to some plan," Harry said, his green eyes sparkling unafraid of Tom. "But honestly? I don't think I'll care enough to actually go against you, but who knows? I don't know everything."
Tom backtracked at that pronouncement, "So why is it a bad plan?" he enquired, not that it mattered since that particular plan had been placed on indefinite hold. After everything he'd learned he realized the potential Muggle-Borns held in ensuring that magic flourished and prevented the decline in the pureblood society. So far he and the professor for Magical theory were the only people to have read Hadrian's book, although a few chapters had been sent off to a publisher. It wasn't just a theory, he had all the proof he needed that Muggle-Borns actually came from pureblood backgrounds, whether it took only three or four generations or seven or eight the magic always came back. It had been his reason for so long, the desire to finish of Salazar Slytherin's noble work. He didn't deal well with changes, but he still had many plans he wanted to see through.
"Other than the fact someone dies and the school ends up near enough closed? Oh nothing," Harry said flippantly, watching Tom pale at the implications behind that statement.
"I see," Tom stated coolly, but his face was slightly paler than normal, if Hogwarts had been closed then he would have returned to the orphanage earlier. The thought alone was abhorrent to him; he loathed the place with all that he was, always will. Just the thought had Tom remembering why they were down here in the first place - the ritual, which he wanted done immediately. "Let's go." leaving the Basilisk where it was to do whatever it liked, he moved towards the small bridge that the mouth created, and moved into it, watching Hadrian's face as he did, seeing him blinking in surprise and gazing around in awe.
"This is amazing," Harry said, "There must have been books here once upon a time," he added gazing at the empty shelves, moving towards them, "You know pureblood's always have these secret compartments in their libraries, you might find a few, if the books were removed after Salazar Slytherin…unless they were just created and not used." considering he'd managed to find the time to bring a basilisk down he believed the possibility of something being down here. Sliding his fingers across the wood, looking for the slightest break that indicated the possibility of a compartment. The room was empty, but he would bet once upon a time it had been used for something - a sitting room perhaps or a secret library? The only other door was straight ahead, to which Harry assumed was the potions lab. Judging by this room he heavily suspected that the other room 'potions room' would be pretty basic or worse empty.
Tom's eyes lit up at the small prospect of touching something of Salazar Slytherin's, something nobody else had touched since the founder's time. It was something to look into for sure, even if he came up empty handed he still had one of the most recognized items of Salazar Slytherin's, the locket, and his locket. It was the most precious item of his, that anyone had ever given him and he would cherish it and keep it with him.
"Did you bring the crystal runes?" Harry asked turning to face Tom probing for an answer.
"Yes," Tom replied, eager to get the show on the road.
"Pass them over," Harry commanded, holding out his hand, it was a testament to how much Tom wanted it done that he simply handed them over with only a look that said 'I'm doing it because I want to not because you insisted' sort of imperiously way. Harry just dug into the box and began placing them in the shape of a pentagram as he had for himself, leaving one out so Tom could enter the space. He handed it over as Tom stepped in, tapping where it was meant to go with his foot. Tom did as directed, but he already knew the book back to front, so it was no surprise when he began chanting fluently and without pause.
"Sevoco summoveo vestigium helcium omnino tumultuatio desino," Tom chanted fluently, having practiced and memorised the words with ease. The runes began glowing all around him, blue hues shaping the pentagram so much that Tom had to close his eyes or risk going blind with the intensity.
Harry shielded his eyes with his arms, keeping them up knowing it wasn't over and the light would continue to get brighter.
"Sevoco summoveo vestigium helcium omnino tumultuatio desino," Tom repeated the words as directed by the ritual, gasping when he felt his magic and the runes flare together, immersing him in its awesome power. Making his own feel all that much more powerful and there was nothing Tom desired more than power.
"Festinatim mea praecantatio egomet prensatio ollud nullus," Tom added strongly through his muddled thoughts; the feeling of his magic and the runes combined was making him feel light-headed. His magic flared further, causing his eyes dilated it took everything in Tom's power to stop himself swaying or showing any reaction to what was happening.
Tom felt a small tugging at both his core and the wand twitched in his hand as his magic leached the trace from both items - thus giving him the ability to cast magic whenever he pleased. Which did please him a great deal, he would never be made to feel vulnerable ever again.
Unfortunately the pleasant feeling quickly ended, as the runes glow began to rapidly deteriorate once its task was done. All too soon he felt like swaying once more, it was due to exhaustion. Not only had it magically drained him. Up close on the stones he noticed the runes were gone, the stones cracked in different places effectively making them useless, not that they were significant to him. They were just stones he and Hadrian had collected from the black lake transfigured into crystal.
"Give yourself a few minutes to recover," Harry said when he saw Tom trying to walk so soon after the ritual, he was exhausted Harry could see that - it was just Tom's usual stubbornness keeping him standing. Even at fifteen he refused to show emotion convinced it was a weakness, but for some reason he was being allowed to see through it all sometimes. "You'll only exert yourself if you don't, just sit down for a second." with Tom's stubbornness dealt with he began to banish the crystals, they had no further need for them. Although Tom was scowling like a petulant child much to Harry's not so secret amusement.
"The Slytherin's aren't happy that you've declared Hagrid off limits," Tom idly stated, as if he wasn't bothered about it. Somehow sitting on stone floor, he looked elegant - stunning as if he was merely sitting for a photo shoot. "They're demanding answers as to why. It's not a very Slytherin move to make."
"Haven't you realized by now that I don't care about what people think?" Harry answered bemused.
"You do know him in your future don't you?" Tom was just asking for confirmation at this point as he gazed at Hadrian knowingly as his body began to recuperate from his display of magic earlier. The ground was freezing cold, but he paid no mind to it. "I'm going to guess he was one of the few that didn't betray you."
"I wish," Harry snorted, "No, it wasn't quite like that, but this way…I can prevent him from becoming sickeningly loyal to the bastard…and with a little luck turn that loyalty to me. He owes me and he will do everything in his power to repay that loyalty."
"Of course," Tom stated, shaking his head just slightly, the ultimate Slytherin move, would he ever truly understand Hadrian's motives? Just when he thought he knew and understood them, another piece of the puzzle falls in his lap. He just worked different from most Slytherins, was that the reason for helping Myrtle in the first place? And the others? He was respected and liked by the majority of Hogwarts, just as he was but his approach was cooler and Harry's open and friendly.
Harry just flashed him a grin before standing up again wishing to see the only room he hadn't seen yet. Excitement thrummed through him, there wasn't much that could surprise him these days so it was brilliant to learn something new - and not just in classes. Opening the door he blinked in surprise to find it a fully functional lab, right down to all the items you'd need. Caldrons along the wall, potions, vials, an assortment of knives, spread out in their own space, gleaming marble surfaces, and a wide array of books against the far away wall. Turning back to face Tom, who had turned around to observe him, "Did you do this? Or was it already like that?" curiosity getting the better of him.
"Both, I brought things from the Room of Requirements the cauldrons that weren't useless, the glass and silver set of knives and brand new mortar and pestle. I even found a wizarding chess set, it was one of the first to be made, worth a fortune." Tom replied as he got to his feet, feeling a little shaky but more than ready to move on.
"And ingredients?" Harry enquired disappearing into the room fully now.
"Cupboard," Tom replied smugly.
"You found all this in the room of requirement?" Harry asked doubtfully, as he gazed into the cupboard before his head peered around and looked at Tom in question.
Tom just gazed at him as if he was insane, "Any ingredients in that room are useless, dried up and quite frankly would explode any potion you were working on."
"Tom…" Harry sighed in exasperation. He couldn't say anything either because he had stole ingredients when he was a student. He had assumed that Tom didn't steal once starting Hogwarts too scared of ending up caught and expelled. "I notice there's no basilisk skin in here."
"The Basilisk is not being killed for its part," Tom said vehemently.
Harry blinked, well he was attached to the basilisk then, same with Nagini but he'd always assumed it was because of the Horcrux. Maybe he truly had trusted and loved her - as much as his twisted mangled soul could at any rate. "I didn't say that, a basilisk sheds its skin, Tom, like all other snakes, leaving behind a sixty foot shed skin that's worth millions of galleons. It's been thousands of years since a basilisk was seen, never mind the ingredients freely available. That and snakes are supposed to be milked of their venom, it's bound to be uncomfortable for it that its not been done in centuries. Another ingredient worth a fortune, the purebloods would pay an arm and leg for it. Gringotts will see it done anonymously for a fee…well that and opening a vault under your name since you'll need one for them to transfer the funds into." Harry shrugged before his eyes roamed over every vial to see if the ingredients he needed were all there. There was just no point to lugging them all out only to find out they were short.
To his relief everything he needed to create the potion was there, grabbing an empty vial he created a large box, and began to place the potion ingredients into it, so he didn't have to take trip after trip to gather them. By the time he emerged Tom was sitting on a stool a book open at the workstation across from his.
Once Harry began preparing it though, Tom continued to watch him closely, keeping an eye on what he was doing his curiosity shining through. The ingredients that were going in and in that order he suspected some sort of rejuvenating healing potion of some kind, it was as though he was mixing the two potions together and adding others, creating something else entirely. After watching him for an hour he observed that it was a salve, it had hardened slightly.
"You've brewed this a lot," Tom stated if he was correct with his thoughts on the potion he certainly wouldn't be happy to learn why he needed to remember it.
"I needed to brew a lot of potions," Harry admitted grimly. As he levitated the cauldron and tipped the contents out into a large jar that should hold it all. It did, flicking his hand he turned the tap on and levitated the cauldron with his wand placing it in the filling sink, before letting the tendrils of magic fall away. He screwed on the lid keeping the potion secure until it cooled down enough for him to use it, then turned the tap off with a flick of his finger. "Half an hour until lunch." he commented out of the blue.
"What does it do?" Tom asked picking it up, the heat of it resting on his hand, but the jar had been spelled with a cooling charm, preventing it from burning him.
"It will repair my skin so the scar fades; thicken my skin so it won't hurt anymore." Harry informed him, taking it from Tom and sliding it into his bag. "I almost don't want to go, Dumbledore is going to be on my ass worse than ever," grumbling under his breath, he cleared up the mess he made, knowing if he didn't Tom wouldn't budge until he did. He was one clean nut (he refused to ever use the word freak) not even when it was a normal word used to describe someone the proper way.
"If you don't you'll been seen as a coward," Tom made no move to gentle the words - he didn't have it in him.
Harry rolled his eyes, "I'd like to see you put up with Dumbledore, he's going to be beyond intolerable."
"I have done, still do," Tom replied blandly, the last thing he really wanted to do was speak about Dumbledore of all things.
"You think what you have now is bad? If you'd continued with this, Tom, he would have kept in your own words 'an annoyingly close watch on me after that'," Harry laughed at his attempt at sounding like Tom, especially the look on the others face - he so wasn't used to people mocking him that's for sure. "Come on then, let's head up."
"Lets," Tom replied moving out to the other room and picking up the box and his bag before shoving the box in and shrugging his bag over his shoulders.
"Do me a favour Tom, feed the Basilisk when you come down here every night," Harry said as he wandered up to him ready to head up.
"How do you suggest I do that?" Tom asked sarcastically, "Fill it up with cupcakes?"
"I'll show you were the kitchens are," Harry replied, as they climbed out the mouth, Tom hissed at the Basilisk to return which it did before he hissed once more, closing the mouth and entrance so the Basilisk couldn't re-emerge. "Actually you better not, I'll call upon one of my House-elves they can give you the food without worrying they'll tell the Headmaster." unlike his feelings for Dumbledore he actually respected Dippet and it showed.
Tom nodded curtly, still smarting (or more accurately feeling jealous) at the fact Hadrian was actually the Lord of his estate, the Peverell estate. He himself wasn't able to claim the Gaunt estate, not until he got rid of his Uncle at any rate, and he was very tempted to do just that. Not that there was anything worth taking, he'd bet, but he would make sure nonetheless. As Hadrian said he didn't know everything, so the information that the Gaunts squandered everything might be wrong - there very well may be something left in the Slytherin Estate. If not well he had the most important parts - the name, an actual estate and respect for coming from an old family and he was confident he could make money to fill a vault at least, especially if what Hadrian said was true for this time not just his own, that shed Basilisk skin was worth a lot of galleons.
Harry happened to glance back and see the jealousy written across Tom's face, but to others I would have come across as avarice not just for money either, but things Tom desired in general like the locket it had come out then. He wanted a lot of things, probably too many things and too soon. But what was wrong with desiring things? Everyone felt jealous of someone. He had felt Jealous of Weasley when they met, of his family, the love he got from them and in turn the idiot had been jealous of him and his so called fame. He'd never realized how lucky he had it, just continued to simmer with jealousy while playing his friend only to turn on him. In reality you would expect someone like Tom to be jealous of families, but he just sneered at them when he saw them unimpressed. It was ironic since a lot of people were probably jealous of Tom too, his looks, his power levels, his ease at his schoolwork and grades too.
They got back up the pipe with a hissed 'stairs' much to Harry's secret delight, another new piece of information he hadn't known he'd wondered briefly how Tom was getting up and down, well wonder no more stairs were magically concealed within the pipe allowing them to get up - it wasn't any less messy than going down in fact it was worse, due to the hard work it took to get up them. He'd only went down for one reason though, to stop Hogwarts from being closed, and alright he had given a shit about Ginny back then too - as much as he hated to admit it.
"Alright I'm impressed," Harry muttered as he flopped up on finally in the girl's toilets again. "Although I am curious why you wanted me to come," the 'it's not like you' was left unsaid.
Tom didn't reply he just closed the chamber entrance without pause. He didn't need to explain himself, plus he didn't want anyone asking Hadrian out to the Yule ball, if anyone took Hadrian it would be him. He had glared in warning at anyone who dared to open their mouths and planned to ask, and it had worked he thought smugly. So he definitely planned on having him with him at all times.
Harry just silently gave up, shrugging his shoulders before grasping the sink and pulling himself up. "Time to face the music."
Tom just snorted; trying to convince himself he wasn't amused, Hadrian had a flare for dramatics - something that was becoming increasingly obvious the past day now.
Of course, Tom would realize that Harry didn't dramatise anything, he understated it - big time.
Things were about to get entertaining.