CH 40

You'll be fine,' Salazar smiled, as his snake reclaimed its spot across his shoulders. 'Keep practicing.'

'You just want to watch me fall over,' Harry grumbled.

'It reminds me of Godric,' the painting agreed in one of its rare, heartfelt moments.

Harry visualised the far end of the chamber this time, not eager to repeat his venture into the pool.

He reappeared there immediately and instantly fell over again. Behind him the portrait of his ancestor burst back into laughter.

It took a further ten attempts before he could manage to remain upright and an additional five for him to do it without swaying or staggering all over the place like a drunk.

'It's a good skill to learn,' the founder told him seriously afterwards. 'It's very important in case you get disarmed and have to escape. The ability to quickly apparate saved my life more than a couple times.'

Harry nodded, but would not be practicing that any further for a while. It was not the most pleasant form of travel, even if it was convenient.

'Was there anything else you wanted to learn?'

'The disillusionment charm,' Harry suggested immediately. He loved his invisibility cloak, it was the only thing he had that belonged to his parents, but it wasn't perfect and was a lot slower than a spell.

'Not an easy one,' Salazar mused, 'not if you want to master it. It takes quite a bit of talent and control, the latter more than anything, to manage it flawlessly and become fully invisible.'

Harry let his wand slide out of his sleeve and into his had with an air of determination.

'Well you know what you should be visualising,' the portrait mused, 'and it's fairly close to transfiguration. You should be fairly adept at this spell, despite the phoenix feather.'

Harry narrowed his eyes at the jab at his wand, but twirled his wand around himself in the manner he had read from the book in the Room of Requirement earlier that day.

'Oh, you know the wand motion,' Salazar remarked, impressed.

Harry stared at his body in mild interest as it very slowly changed to mirror the background behind it. He moved his arm and the colouring changed as it moved, albeit far too slowly for his liking.

'Not a bad first attempt,' the founder congratulated him. 'You look like a very inexperienced, giant chameleon.'

Harry fixed him with a flat stare.

'This is a spell that requires a lot of focus and control,' the portrait told him, unaffected by his glare. 'It will take a great deal of practice before you can cast it well enough to move with it on and that's as far as most wizards or witches can ever get.'

'So it's camouflage.'

'You aren't most wizards and witches,' the portrait told him smugly.

Another Heir of Slytherin reference is about to be made, Harry realised. He knew the proud expression on Salazar Slytherin's face well enough to recognise the impending moment.

'You're my heir, and quite gifted in an applicable area, you'll do better in time.'

And there it is.

Harry tried several more times, but, despite some improvement, the spell's full ability escaped him. The best he could manage was full body camouflage that lapsed a second behind his surroundings when he moved. It was something he'd have to practice in the Room of Requirement. It was best not to waste the time he spent with Salazar's advice on things he could manage alone.

He slid his wand away and sat down on the floor in front of the portrait. 'What do you know about occlumency and the mind arts?' he asked, shifting the chain of the time-turner around his neck so it was a little more comfortably placed.

'Enough to get by. Interested in keeping your secrets? I'm surprised you haven't already asked, I'd half-assumed you already knew.'

'I discovered it recently, but the exercises I perform to clear my mind before performing a spell to help me focus my intent are virtually the same as the basic mind arts ones.'

'That does make sense,' Salazar agreed. 'Occlumency is the art of shielding your mind. It's a bit of a misnomer actually since what you actually do is empty your thoughts of anything useful so an intruder cannot see anything.' 'That explains it better than the book,' Harry admitted. The passage in the book had been written in a rather archaic prose and hard to comprehend.

'Where did you learn about it at school?' Slytherin asked curiously. 'I can't imagine it being a part of the curriculum.'

'You remember that room you mentioned Rowena and Godric creating?' Harry shot him a devious smirk.

'You found it,' Salazar exclaimed. 'Ha, I knew I would win in the end.' He threw his arms up in the air, disturbing his now snoozing snake. 'Take that Godric and Rowena.'

'How did you win?' Harry inquired, amused.

'You're my heir, you found their secret room before anyone of their descent found mine.'

'You do know that when I pulled the Godric's sword out of the sorting hat I became his heir of sorts?

'So?' Salazar demanded, mid-celebration.

'I killed your basilisk with it, here, in my second year.'

The smile fell from the painting's face.

'Well that rather ruins the competition, if you're heir to both of us, despite Godric's claim on you being rather less firm than mine, then we both win and it's all null and void.' The portrait went quiet briefly and Harry received the impression that he was sulking again.

'What was it like?' Salazar asked. 'Were their portraits there?' he added, more softly.

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