CH 41

'I don't know, the room changes completely based on what you desire. I'll see if I can find their portraits next time I visit.' Harry hoped that by wanting to meet the founder's, or their portraits, they would appear.

'That's where the other, original you is spending his day before coming here and using the time-turner, isn't it?' Salazar deduced.

'Yes,' Harry admitted.

'It does sound like an amazing room,' the founder said wistfully. 'I should like to see it myself, but I doubt it works for a portrait such as myself. Rowena and Godric always did come up with the most fanciful, spectacular things, of course most of them ended up exploding in Godric's face, but the ones that worked were truly amazing. Even I'll admit that they were the finest things any of us ever made, with the exemption of Hogwarts, of course. A school and sanctuary is magic of a different kind.'

'I've only seen the sorting hat and the room,' Harry admitted. 'There were several more, the diadem you might have heard of, that was Rowena's favourite, she pretty much claimed it as hers, though Godric never really complained. He was rather selfless.'

'I wonder if any of them are in the room,' Harry mused.

'The diadem was lost, sadly. Rowena's daughter stole it and lost it before she died.' Salazar's eyes darkened, clearly that story was not one of his favourites. 'What have you been doing in their room?' he inquired, changing the subject.

'Practicing my mind-clearing mostly, but some practice of other spells and a bit of duelling practice. The latter is difficult without an actual opponent.'

'Don't

waste

your

time

there,'

Salazar admonished. 'You've got access to the two most secret, most useful rooms in the whole building, unless Helga made something else I don't know about,' he finished lightly.

'What did Helga make?'

'She tried to combine enchanting with herbology, plants were a hobby of liked looking after plants, creatures and people. She's responsible for that ridiculously named species of magical tree.'

'Magical tree?' Harry asked, sensing another less known story of the founders.

'She took an innocent, elegant willow tree and turned into something much less admirable. She wanted to plant a whole forest of them to protect the school, but we intervened before she could cause a catastrophe. I think the species probably still exists, she grew and sold quite a few before people realised how large they would grow and rapidly regretted planting them near their houses, or anything else for that matter. Horrible plants.'

'The founders are nothing like I imagined,' Harry grinned.

'Of course we aren't. We founded a school. I'm sure all the headmasters tell you how perfect and well behaved we were. The truth is that even at the age of sixty Godric was more a child than anyone to ever walk these halls after him.' Salazar's eyes misted over slightly, but Harry didn't mind. Nostalgia was hardly a vice for a thousand year old portrait that had been alone since its creation.

'Tempus,' Harry murmured, retrieving his wand to tap it against his wrist. It was later than he thought. Apparition had taken a long while to get the hang of.

'Time to leave,' Salazar concluded from his gesture.

'Yeah, I'll be back tomorrow.'

'You're not leaving before you've put me back up over the door in the study,' the portrait scowled. 'I refuse to spend any more time alone with that serpent, dead or not.'

'Fine,' Harry sighed, unsurprised. Salazar always insisted on it.

He picked his ancestor's canvas likeness up and carried it back across the bridge. It was easier than it used to be. The ritual had definitely had some effect, his musculature and endurance were much improved.

'Do you know anything that can be used to keep the venom from your former snake in?' he inquired.

'Anything inert,' the founder replied. 'It will only dissolve organic tissue or matter. There should be some crystal vials in one of the draws or lying around on the shelves opposite ladder.'

There were. Actually there were quite a few. Harry grabbed a handful and left to wrestle with the basilisk again. He might as well get it over and done with.

At least it will put up less of a fight this time.

He knew very little about extracting the venom from any snake, let alone a seventy foot serpent created with magic. It didn't help that the toxin was deadly in even the smallest quantity. Kneeling down in front of the basilisk's mouth he gingerly shoved it's mouth wide open.

It could have swallowed me in one bite back then. If the basilisk had the temerity to try again it would find Harry had grown and was more of a challenge.

Very carefully he reached past the teeth towards the venom sacs behind. A dead snake could not be tricked into biting and injecting its venom. The substance had to be taken directly from the glands.

This is the part when I slice the gland open too far and dissolve one of my arms.

Using his wand he carefully cut a very small hole in the gland over the outstretched vial and watched impatiently as the venom trickled in. It took a long, uncomfortable ten minutes to fill all four vials.

The venom continued to trickle once he pulled away, but he figured he had as much as he could ever need and let the basilisk's own venom begin to dissolve its own dead flesh.

'Did you get any?' Salazar inquired, peering at him interestedly. 'You're still alive, so you didn't impale yourself on a fang.'

Harry showed himself the four vials of thick, viscous, clear venom.

'That's a lot of galleons you're waving around,' the founder told him. 'Leave the venom here, it's very hard to come by.'

'I wasn't going to leave it lying around in the dormitory for some idiot to drink mistake,' Harry responded incredulously. Neville probably would drink it too.

by

Harry shuddered. That would not be a pleasant way to die.

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