Chapter 7: Blood Red

( The Potter Manor, James, Lily and the Twins)

When Lily and James awoke the morning after Harry went to Hogwarts, the first thing they looked for was Hedwig. Sure enough, she was perched outside their bedroom window.

"I wonder what house he got into," said Lily as James relieved the owl of her burden.

"He is so much a Gryffindor; there is no doubt in my mind that that is the house he is in." said James just before he opened the letter.

James eyes seemed to skim over the first line and he shouted "I knew it! He's in Gryffindor just like us! Yes! Regulus owes me 20 galleons; he thought Harry would go to Slytherin! As if! I have got to tell Sirius!" He dropped the letter on the desk and ran out of the room.

Lily, wanting to see what else Harry had to say, picked up the letter and read through it. Her jaw dropped as she reread one sentence

"Well, I got in to Gryffindor, but this is where it gets weird, I am also in Slytherin. How this is possible I am not sure."

"Merlin! Harry, you will never cease to amaze me!" said Lily as she ran after James. It seemed that neither he nor Regulus had won anything.

"James! I wouldn't go gloating to Reg just yet. Harry's letter says he is in Gryffindor AND Slytherin." said Lily.

James stared at her in confusion. "He is in two houses? How? No one has ever done that before!" he asked.

Lily shook her head and handed James the letter before saying " I don't know; Harry says he doesn't either."

James read through the letter and laughed. "Well I guess I should have known. He has always been one for the extraordinary, hasn't he?"

(Hogwarts)

Harry woke up very early that morning. Whatever happened the night before had given him a massive headache. The common room was dark and empty. When he looked at the clock on the wall, it read 4:30.

Harry groaned, he knew it was going to be a long day.

With nothing to do and a bad headache, Harry decided it was the perfect time to look into helping Regulus remove the dark mark from his arm. Harry closed his eyes and focused on Voldemort's magic inside their link. When it came into view in his mind's eye, it looked blood red and its aura oozed around it. He tried to look further but found that his mind shields were very weak. As he tried to move closer his headache worsened. Then, a second later, he blacked out.

When Harry opened his eyes once again, he saw Hermione staring down at him. He had passed out on the couch in the common room.

"Harry, are you alright? What happened? Why are you sleeping here?" asked Hermione.

"What?! What time is it?" asked Harry, avoiding her questions.

"It's 7:30, almost time for breakfast. Why are you sleeping down here?" she asked.

"I couldn't sleep last night, so I came down here. I guess I fell asleep." Harry said tiredly. And he was really tired. He couldn't remember what happened last night, but he felt exhausted and his headache was attacking with vengeance.

"Want to go to the Great Hall, Harry? I am sure they have tea or something that will wake you up." said Hermione.

So Harry and Hermione sat down in the great hall for breakfast. Most other Gryffindors were still sleeping and would probably come running in at the last minute.

Harry took a sip of tea and discovered it was decaffeinated and really watered down. He sighed and looked around to make sure no one was watching him. Then he wandlessly turned the tea into strong coffee. Harry took a drink and sighed as he felt the caffeine start to work.

When breakfast was almost over, all the class timetables were handed out. Out of habit Harry groaned when he saw his classes. Slytherins every class,. Well, half of them were with Gryffindor, but the other half were with Slytherin.

For his first Class he was in Slytherin House and had Potions with the Hufflepuffs.

"That should be interesting," thought Harry. He had never had a Potions class with the Hufflepuffs before.

"What do you have, Hermione?" he asked.

"Charms with Ravenclaw and after lunch I have Transfigurations with Slytherin," she said.

"I'll see you in Transfigurations then. I have Potions first." he said as he gathered his books and walked toward the door to the dungeons.

"Ooh, good luck! I heard from the Second Years that Professor Snape is really harsh." said Hermione as she ran up the stairs towards the Charms room with the other Gryffindors.

Once in the Potions room everyone sat quietly, the Hufflepuffs because they were really scared and the Slytherins because they knew what to expect.

Suddenly Snape slammed his way through the door, making all the Hufflepuffs jump out of their seats. Then he began his scary first day speech. Harry noticed that he seemed to look around the room for someone; it seemed like he was a little distracted. Why? Well that was a good question.

Then someone ran inside the room and whispered, "Sorry I am late".

Snape glared, and said, "Take your seat Miss Dumbledore, by Mr. Potter"

"Damn you Snape!" cursed Harry to himself. This girl always made him slip up and make fool of himself, not the best lab partner he had in mind.

But as the lesson went on he realised it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Casey was very talented in potion making, and they managed to make a perfect brew while working together. Everything went fine until a jumpy Hufflepuff First Year completely ruined his potion, causing it to melt through his cauldron. As soon as the bad potion touched the flame it exploded.

"Everyone! Get down!" yelled Snape as saw the boiling potion spray in all directions.

Harry wasn't exactly sure how, but he managed to grab Casey and pull her down to the floor. Despite his efforts, a big glob of boiling ooze hit her shoulder. Strangely, Casey didn't seem to notice it.

Harry silently used a spell to remove the hot potion and found that it had burned through Casey's robes, but her skin seemed to be healing itself. What caught his eye even more that it was some type of magic healing her, and the aura looked slightly familiar.

Casey looked at Harry. Her face paled as she realised what he had just witnessed.

"You have to swear to me not to tell anyone what just happened. Please, not a word to anyone!" she begged as she pulled him closer to the floor and stared at him the same way she had on the train and in the Headmaster's office.

He felt a tingling all over him and an image filled his head once again.

He recognized where he was right away; it looked like the magical center in a witch's or wizard's mind. Like the place he went when the twins were attacked by Voldemort. In the corner he saw Casey's magical spirit, only she seemed to be chained up somehow, or controlled would be more like it. Then he heard Casey's voice; she seemed to be all around him.

"This is how Dumbledore wants me to be - weak, and limited. But recently those chains around my magic snapped. My powers have completely returned. If my so-called "Great Grandfather" were to find out, he would lock it all up again, and I can't let that happen. Everything depends on my powers staying intact."

Harry could tell by the urgency in her voice there was there was something more to her fear than simply having her powers taken away.

"My life depends on it" she said.

"What?! Why?" he tried to ask, but the image faded and left his mind.

When the potions room came back into focus, he heard Snape yelling,

"Potter! Miss Dumbledore! Get out off here unless you both want to help these poor excuses for potion students clean up when they get back from the hospital wing!"

Harry and Casey ran out of the room, neither of them missing Snape's intense gaze as they ran past.

Once they were out Harry looked back and said " Well, that was a lot different than I thought it would be." But when he turned around Casey had disappeared.

Harry sighed "Why me?"….

During lunch Harry tried talking to Ron. He knew the moment the Sorting Hat sorted him into Slytherin that becoming friends with Ron would be a lot harder than last time.

When he sat down and tried to make eye contact with Ron, the redhead avoided him, not knowing exactly what to say.

"You know I am not entirely Slytherin; I am in Gryffindor, too." Harry stated.

"You're not entirely Gryffindor, either," Ron retorted.

"Look, I know the way you view Slytherins, and for some of them I can't blame you. But don't be prejudiced against all Slytherins just because of a few bad ones." said Harry.

"But all of them are so snobbish, and think they are better than everyone else. Even if I tried to be friends they wouldn't want it." said Ron.

"The entire school thinks Slytherin House is evil, Ron. If the entire school hated Gryffindor, how would you react to everyone? The honest truth - how would you act? If all your classmates hated you because of the house you were in." said Harry. He left Ron to think about what he said.

"I have to make him see Slytherin isn't all bad." Harry thought.

His next class was Transfigurations with his two houses. He truly didn't know what to expect.

Harry sat beside Hermione who seemed to be kind of nervous.

"You will do fine, Hermione. Just don't worry about the spell, and concentrate on your magic." said Harry as he tried to reassure her.

"I don't know Harry. I feel like I should have studied more. I hate feeling unprepared." said Hermione.

Harry was about to reply when Professor McGonagall walked into the room and looked around the filling class room; she seemed to be taking a head count. Then Harry realized what she was doing. There were always kids running late on the first day and she always like to freak the first years out when she turned from a cat to a human again, like she had done with him and Ron last time.

When the final bell sounded there were still a number of empty seats.

"Now I want every one to sit quietly and copy down the notes on the board," said McGonagall as she swished her wand and paragraphs began appearing on the giant chalk board behind her. Then she walked out the side door. Harry didn't miss the black and grey cat slipping into the classroom shortly afterwards.

There was complete silence in the room and Harry found his mind beginning to wander. His mind eventually traveled to Casey; he didn't really know what to make of her. She didn't seem very friendly toward Dumbledore. Then he remembered what Casey had told him at the end of potions.

"This is how Dumbledore wants me to be - weak, and limited. But recently those chains around my magic snapped."

Chains around a person's magical spirit could only mean one thing, Dumbledore wanted control over her powers.

"Why would he do that? She is his own Granddaughter. Dumbledore may not be on my favourite person list, but even I find it hard to believe that he would hinder one of his own family members like that. I must be missing something; none of this makes sense yet." thought Harry.

Then the door was flung opened with a bang making everyone in the class jump. In the doorway was Snape. He was holding Ron and Neville by the ears. Casey was following behind them.

McGonagall in her cat form growled and leaped off her desk as she turned back into a human.

"Severus, what is the meaning of this? What are you doing with my students?" asked McGonagall exasperatedly.

"Apologies, Minerva. I found these two snooping around the Slytherin corridor." sneered Snape as he released his grip on the snivelling students' ears and left.

"Professor, we weren't snooping! We got lost and were looking for someone to point us in the right direction when we ran in to Snape and he just dragged us here!" rambled Ron.

"Enough, Mr. Weasley. Now both of you take your seats." said McGonagall pointedly.

Then she turned to Casey, who gave her a note.

"I was needed in the Headmaster's Office," she said quietly.

McGonagall nodded her head, " Take your seat, Miss Dumbledore."

With everyone in attendance, McGonagall started her lecture.

"Who her can tell me what an animagus is?" she asked.

Both Harry's and Hermione's hands shot up in a instant. A few others hesitantly raised their hands.

McGonagall's eyes fell on the seat behind Harry. "Miss Dumbledore, would you care to give your explanation?" she asked.

"Very well, an animagus is a witch or wizard who can turn into a particular animal at will. Each animagus has a specific animal form, and cannot transform into any other animal. The animal cannot be chosen; it is uniquely suited to that individual's personality. Similarly, when an animagus transforms, it is always into the exact same animal, same hair, eyes, and even general build." Casey explained.

"Correct, Miss Dumbledore, 10 points to Slytherin." she said as she started writing more notes on the bored.

"Animagus transformations are the most complicated type of magic that you can achieve in Transfiguration. To become an animagus, your magic must be greatly focused and controlled. It takes a great amount of practice to gain this control. Today I will show you the first step towards this difficult transformation.

"Once you are finished with these notes, I will give you a toothpick and you will try to turn it into a needle. Good luck." said McGonagall.

Both Harry and Hermione finished the notes quickly, and Hermione started trying the transfiguration spell right away. Harry observed her for a moment. Her wand movement was perfect, and spell pronunciation was flawless, but the spell wasn't completely successful. Like last time, the toothpick's surface turned silver but the shape and the interior were still made of wood. It was still a lot further than where everyone else had gotten, but that may have been because Harry hadn't done anything yet.

"Miss Granger, that is excellent for a first try. Keep practicing. Five points to Gryffindor." praised McGonagall as she handed Hermione a few more toothpicks.

Harry watched as Hermione tried the spell two more times with the same result. Hermione kept on casting.

"She seems to be concentrating so hard. Everything about the way she does it is perfect… That's it! She is concentrating so hard on performing the spell correctly, she doesn't have enough concentration left on her Magic." thought Harry.

"Hermione, may I make a suggestion? Try concentrating less on the wand movements and the incantation, and more on your magic." said Harry.

Hermione stared at him in confusion. "But if I don't do the wand movements and incantation right, the spell won't work properly."

Harry shook his head, " No, no, that isn't what I mean. Just relax. It doesn't have to look perfect, it has to feel perfect." said Harry. But he could see the Hermione fully didn't understand him.

"Maybe I should just show you," he said as he picked up his wand and moved in the specified pattern and said the incantation. He did the spell simply and allowed his magic to flow out of him. The tooth pick on his desk turned into a perfect metal needle.

"Hermione stared at him with wide eyes. "You make it look so easy," she said.

Harry laughed, "No, you're making it more difficult then it has to be. You know the spell and the wand movement, Hermione. Don't concentrate on them so much, just let your magic flow out of you. Visualise the toothpick change and remember to relax." he said.

Hermione took a deep breath and let the words and her wand call her magic out. Hermione squealed when she saw a perfect silver needle on her desk. "I did it! Thanks Harry!"

Unknown to Harry, McGonagall had been observing his interaction with Hermione and she smiled before saying quietly, "10 points to Gryffindor and Slytherin."

Also unknown to everyone in the room, Voldemort watched as Harry taught a classmate how to control magic. "Yes Harry, thanks….."

Later that night, Harry was called up to Dumbledore's office, about what Harry didn't know.

When he arrived in the Headmaster's office he saw Dumbledore sitting at his desk waiting for him. He noticed that they were all alone; even the portraits were all blank.

"This probably has to with Voldemort," thought Harry as he stood in front of the desk.

"What is this about, Dumbledore?" asked Harry, he was tired and felt that his patience was very thin. He wanted to get out as soon as possible.

"Professor McGonagall tells me you have an interesting way of teaching. I must say I have never seen her look so proud before." said Dumbledore.

"Get to the point, Dumbledore! What do you really want?" Harry snapped.

"Your help, come with me." said Dumbledore as he got up and walked to a side door. It looked like a secret passage.

When Harry walked in through the passage he saw Quirrell magically bound to a bed. Harry notice something different about him right away, the dark red aura of Voldemort around him was gone. As he stepped closer he noticed that the back of Quirrell's head was bruised and completely vacant of Voldemort's ugly face.

Harry sent Dumbledore a confused face, but inside he was screaming, "What the….. ?! How did this happen? Where is Voldemort!"

"I have suspected Quirrell being Voldemort's host, so I had someone watch him in secret, to avoid the notice of Voldemort. Now it seems he has found another host and I don't know who it is. I was hoping you may be able to use your knowledge from your former lifetime to figure out where he went." said Dumbledore.

Quirrell looked dead. If he hadn't seen his chest rising up and down, Harry would have thought he was.

Harry sighed and said, "I hate to admit it, but I don't know who it is, either. In the timeline I am from he was always in Quirrell. He didn't leave his body until I injured Quirrell in June. This complicates things greatly now. He could be in anyone."

Harry ran his head through his hair, a habit he had picked up from his old time line when he was stressed out.

"Have you tried waking Quirrell up yet?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore shook his head. "He was found in his quarters this morning in a coma caused by total magical loss," he said gravely.

"Voldemort took all his magic with him," Harry concluded.

Dumbledore nodded his head. "Yes, and there was something more Professor Snape and I found on Quirrell that we hadn't noticed before," said Dumbledore as he held up Quirrell's hand and showed it to Harry. On Quirrell's middle finger there was a ring. It was cold black metal and the main feature was a black, red-eyed snake. Harry felt drawn to it.

Harry slid the ring off Quirrell's finger to get a better look. As soon as the ring left Quirrell's finger it flashed alive with magical energy, and Harry suddenly knew what the ring was.

"This the Ring of the Salazar Slytherin bloodline!" Harry thought. "Voldemort must have been using it to make Quirrell more powerful. It allowed him access to his powers".

Harry was so deep in thought he didn't notice Dumbledore staring at him strangely.

"Harry, put the ring down, now!" Dumbledore snapped.

Harry looked up in shock at Dumbledore yelling. "What?" he asked.

Dumbledore went to grab the ring out of Harry's hand, but it seemed it the sudden movement caused the ring to suddenly take on a life of its own. Neither Dumbledore nor Harry were sure how, but the ring managed to magically link itself onto Harry's finger.

"What the!" Harry yelled as he immediately tried to pull the ring off, but it almost seemed it was fused to his skin.

Harry quickly began to feel the cursed ring try to take over him. He felt his magic going crazy, and his scar felt like it was splitting his head in two. The ring was now glowing red, and two black ghostly snakes slithered out of it. Harry tried to spell them off of him, but they continued to work their way up his body. When they were staring right into his eyes, the snakes seemed to slither right into him. Then Harry felt himself black out, but the split second before he did, he mentally turned off the emergency Port key his family had given him. He didn't trust the snakes that went inside him at all. So, fearing for his family's safety, he made himself stay put.

Harry suddenly found himself in his own mind, but yet he wasn't sure where in his mind he was.

He was standing in total darkness. Although he hadn't been afraid of the dark since he was four years old, the utter blackness was just a little disturbing.

Suddenly glowing red snakes appeared, and a deep, but smooth voice sounded all around him. It was not the voice he expected to hear.

"Harry Potter, at last I have the pleasure of meeting you," said the voice.

"Who are you?" asked Harry. He was sure it wasn't Voldemort. This voice was dark, but not menacing like Voldemort's was.

The snakes slithered over to a door way and the image of a man started to appear. "Ahh.. Well that is a good question isn't Harry? But it is just so much more entertaining if you try and figure it out." said the still blurry figure, but Harry could tell the figure was smiling at him.

"Okay, I picked up Voldemort's ring, and two snakes came out of it causing me to fall unconscious. Then I hear you. You're not Voldemort, but you obviously know who I am. Hmm I still don't…" Harry paused at the look the figure was giving him, as if saying "think again". Then he seemed to notice his mistake.

"Wait, the ring isn't Voldemort's, it's Salazar Slytherin's. From what I remember about the Founders' magic, it was rumoured that they may have put magical ghosts of themselves in their most precious possessions….. So you're Salazar Slytherin…. Aren't you?" Harry concluded.

The figure became increasingly clear, and then in all his glory THE Salazar Slytherin stood before him.

"You are correct Mr. Potter." Slytherin said.

Harry stared at Slytherin in shock. "But why are you in my mind, Lord Slytherin? I have studied this type of magical spirit possession and everything I have read mentions magical spirits can only inhabit a blood descendant." Harry said once the shock of have the most infamous founder standing before him had worn off.

Slytherin seemed to think for a few seconds before saying, " I stopped talking to my descendants a long time ago. All of them seemed to have lost the meaning of the term pure blood. You have been the first pure blood wizard I have encountered in nearly 3 centuries. As for how I can be inside you, I am not sure yet. It is slightly possible you are one of my descendants, or the other possibility is you are my magical heir".

The last part caught Harry's attention, "Magical heir? How does that work? I have never heard of that before."

"It is very complicated and I don't have time to explain. You are waking up…" said Slytherin as the room they were in started to become distorted.

Before everything completely faded away Slytherin said, "We can only talk in your dreams. I can not see or hear anything while your are awake. And Harry, don't take the ring off. As long as it stays on your finger, my blood heir can't use my powers…"

When Harry awoke he found himself in the hospital wing. The ring on his finger glowed slightly with magic before it seemed to vanish, although he still felt it on his finger.

"This suddenly makes things a whole lot more complicated. I need answers." thought Harry before he put on his invisibility cloak and walked off to the library.

Harry spent most of the late night and early morning flipping through books on magical heirs and could only make one logical conclusion. Voldemort not only transferred some of his magic and soul into him that night, but also a piece of his magical core. According to Wizarding Law, making Harry his magical heir made him just as legal an heir as Voldemort was to Slytherin. But one thing the book said disturbed him..

"Magical Heirs were usually made when a wizarding family wished to adopt a child and make them a carrier of their magic to the next generation. Once a magical Heir binding is made, the child is just as legally the son or daughter of the family as a child by blood."

"So.. Whether Voldemort intended to or not, he made me his magical heir. I am, under the law, his son." This thought made Harry shudder. It was unsettling that he shared yet another link with Voldemort.

When the sun started to rise, he made his way to the hospital wing again and pretended to go back to sleep. His mind was too busy to actually allow him to fall asleep, plus he wasn't quite sure what to make of Salazar Slytherin. Was he really what legend made him out to be? Or had every book in history been completely wrong about the happenings of how the Hogwarts four founders spilt up?

( The Black brothers' house)

Regulus was startled awake early in the morning by a strange burning feeling on his left arm. He rolled up his sleeve and saw to his confusion the dark mark changed

The serpent had completely disappeared from the skull, and the skull itself seemed to fade just a little.

"What is going on here?" he asked himself.

"Why don't you tell me?"

Regulus jumped and saw Sirius standing at the door.

"You have been acting really strange these last few weeks, Reg. What is happening?" Sirius asked.

"I am not sure, Siri, but look at this," answered Regulus as he showed Sirius the changes in the dark mark.

Sirius looked at it with caution and concern.

"What do you think it means?" he asked.

"Well, I am not really sure, but from what I understand about the dark mark, it represents HIS magical soul, the essence of his magic. Something very strange has happened, and I not sure if it is good or bad." said Regulus.

Sirius's eyes seemed to turn uncharacteristically serious.

" For all our sakes, I hope it is the first one," he said as he stared at a picture of Lily, James, Harry, and the twins, all of them smiling and laughing. It had been taken on the twins' first birthday.

"I really hope all of this turns out alright….."

(Voldemort's spirit, in host's mind)

" If I find which Idiots decided to do this, I will make them wish they had never been born! They completely ruined my plans. Now I have to start all over again!"

Voldemort spent almost an hour ranting and raving about how he was going the torture all the death eaters he thought were responsible. That was until he noticed something.

Voldemort smirked evilly. "Well maybe I will only torture them a little bit," he said.

Suddenly his spirit seemed to dissolve in a blood red light. Voldemort gave a ghostly laugh as his red magic seemed to soak into the walls of the room.

(Hogwarts, Harry)

Somehow in the early hours of morning Harry had managed to fall asleep and he had the most bizarre dream he had ever experienced.

When the dream started, he saw flashes of images, although he couldn't make out most of them. It was like they were out of focus. He couldn't keep track of them all as they flashed through his mind. He did recognise one, however; it was the image Casey had somehow sent him.

Harry saw her holding a snake in her hand and she looked at him with desperate eyes. Then she handed the snake to him. Harry went to move away, but snake slithered onto him and coiled itself around his wrist.

Then the image changed again and he saw something much different. It looked like a bunch of animals. The fine details were hard to make out. He could see an outline of a bird, it was quite big, the size of an eagle. The large bird was attacking a long slender cat. What kind of cat it was he couldn't tell, but there was one thing he could see clearly, the blood red, glowing eyes of the feline staring directly at him.

Then in one last flash, another image appeared, and this image would haunt him for the years to come. He saw himself standing in the middle of a room. His eyes were glowing a dark red and he could see blood dripping down his face from his scar. Then he saw his hands were covered in blood that was not his own. As if in slow motion, he saw himself blink, and when his eyes opened again they were a startling silver.

Harry suddenly awoke with a scream.

"What the hell was that about?" Harry said to himself.

Unknown to him, Snape was standing at the doorway of the hospital wing and was staring at him strangely.

"So you talk to your self when you are awake as well, Potter? I should really write to your parents about getting you some help." he said in mock sincerity.

Harry sent him his best glare, which Snape returned eagerly.

Then both of them suddenly gasped as the felt a wave of dark magic sweep over them. Harry didn't miss the hiss of pain that escaped Snape's mouth.

Then Harry suddenly got an idea of what it was, the Dark Mark. He was sure of it; he could even feel the magic oozing out of Snape's arm.

Without thinking about what he was doing, Harry waved his wand and Snape suddenly found himself in front of Harry with his left sleeve rolled up, fully exposing the Dark Mark. They saw that the mark had changed. The snake had disappeared and was now replaced with blood. It leaked out of the skull's mouth as if it were a freshly fed Vampire.

"Oh, Merlin," was all Harry could say.

Snape was stunned by Harry's sudden use of magic; he was speechless. He stared at Harry for what seemed to be a long time. Right when it looked like he was going to say something a voice boomed from behind them.

"Harry! Release him!" yelled Dumbledore.

Harry did release Snape, but not before making sure that Snape forgot about what had just happened. Then, as the result of the memory modification, Snape fell asleep.

Harry felt like yelling. "Who is your Great Granddaughter really, Dumbledore? What is she?" but he didn't. He knew if he did, he would only get a bunch of half truths and lose what little trust Casey had placed in him to keep quiet his suspicions of her. If he wanted to find out the full truth, he would have to find it from her.

Dumbledore levitated Snape to a bed and gave Harry a look as if to say, "Was this really necessary?"

Harry sighed. "He can't know the truth about me yet. So he can't know I know about his double agent duty or anything about his dark mark. He would definitely think something is up."

Harry saw Dumbledore take a look at the mark on Snape's arm. "Hummmm….. What do you think the blood coming out of the mouth stands for?" he asked.

Harry shook his head. "I'm not sure. I think not having that Ring anymore has changed Voldemort somehow." he said.

"Ah, yes! I Came to ask if you know what happened last night. Do you remember anything from last night?" asked Dumbledore.

Harry knew it would be a bad idea to tell him he had Slytherin's magical spirit in his mind. Given Dumbledore's reaction to thinking he had Voldemort taking him over, all those years ago, there was no way Harry was going tell him the original Slytherin was in his mind.

"No, I don't remember anything after I was knocked out. I don't even have the ring anymore. It was probably just the last of Voldemort's magic left in it. I wasn't expecting it to knock me out, but it's all a blank." said Harry.

Dumbledore looked like he was going to say more, but Harry looked at the clock and said " I got to go. I am going to be late for Breakfast." With that Harry nearly ran out of the Hospital wing..

When Harry walked in to the Great Hall it seemed to be in utter chaos. As usual, there was a commotion between the Lions and the Snakes, while the other two houses talked amongst them selves.

In the center of the argument were Malfoy and Ron, both snapping insults at each other.

"It is going to take a miracle for me to get those two to be even civil to each other." thought Harry as he shook his head and walked over for a closer look and listen.

Just as he thought, they were throwing insults about each other's family blood lines.

"Why are wizards so obsessed with blood? One would think they would be obsessed with magic. What does blood have to do with it anything, anyway?" Harry thought. He tried to block out the bickering as he ate some breakfast. It seemed things were beginning to calm down when Malfoy let out one snide comment to the surrounding Slytherins.

"I guess it is hard to expect a family of weasels to comprehend the meaning of being pure blood." he said with a smirk.

Harry remembered the tell tale signs that Ron was going to explode, so he decided it was his time to step in.

"I don't think very many people understand Pure Bloods, Malfoy, perhaps you could explain it to us." Harry said with mock interest.

Caught off guard by Harry's sudden request, Malfoy reddened a second before clearing his throat and straightening his back.

"Wizards who have four magical grandparents are known as pure-bloods. Those who have one or more non-magical grandparents are known as half-blood[. Those with two Muggle parents are known as Muggleborns, or as 'mudbloods.'" At the mention of the vulgar name, many of the Gryffindors who had heard started shouting in protest. But Malfoy continued.

"Pure-bloods consider blood purity a measure of a wizard's magical ability, which is why pure-bloods are so much more talented and well off than any of you." Malfoy said with a smirk to everyone around him.

" I disagree," Harry said calmly. "Blood has nothing to do with how powerful an individual's magic is. Throughout our history, half-bloods and Muggleborns have been well known for their discoveries or special talents - Wizards like Albus Dumbledore, his father was a Muggleborn.

"And whether any of you choose to believe me or not, Tom Riddle, also more recently known as Voldemort, is a half-blood himself." Harry paused as the people around him shouted in angry protest.

"You are a liar Potter! You-Know-Who is the purest pure-blood of them all, Potter, and you know it!" shouted Malfoy.

Harry stared at Malfoy challengingly "Prove me wrong then Malfoy. Go to the library and find me a reference to his blood line. Can you tell me who his father is? If he is a pure-blood, you, of all people, should know the pure-bloods' family trees."

Malfoy was turning red and seeming to try and find a retort, but had a hard time finding one. It was true, he didn't know anything about the infamous Dark Lord's family or where his true blood line came from. But since blood purity was always the Dark Lord's main goal, Draco had always thought that the Dark Lord was a pure-blood, as well.

Many students were now staring at Malfoy, anticipating his answer, thinking the answer obvious. But when no words came from Malfoy's mouth, everyone around them began whispering and speculating that Potter might be right. Many people, however, found it hard to believe that the Dark Lord was a hypocrite.

"That is just riddiculus Potter! You just tell me the Dark Lord's real birth name and I can tell you and everyone his true heritage." said Malfoy, although it seemed only Harry could tell how neverous he was.

"Before he was Voldemort, his name was Tom Marvolo Riddle, Son of Mr. Thomas Riddle, who, for your information, was a Muggle."

Malfoy paled and shuddered, obviously clueless what to say. Then he glared at Harry and sneered, "I will find the real the truth, Potter. You'll be sorry!" He stormed out of the Great hall, his two walking tanks following him.

Harry could tell that he had planted the seeds of doubt in some of those who listened. If there was one thing that pure-bloods hated more then Muggles and Muggle-borns, it was a half-blood saying he was a pure-blood.

Harry sat back down and continued eating his breakfast before class started.

As he was eating, Hermione sat beside him and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. When he looked at her she leaned in and whispered into his ear.

"You-Know-Who is still alive isn't he?"

If Harry hadn't already been sitting down he would have fallen over.

"What?! How.. How did?…." he choked out.

Hermione smirked at him as he struggled. "While you were talking you said V..Voldemort is a half-blood. Meaning still living. You didn't say was like most people do."

Harry took a deep breath to try and calm himself. "Come with me," he whispered to her.

He led Hermione to an abandoned classroom and wandlessly cast a silencing charm around them.

"Hermione, what I am about to tell you - you can't tell anyone, alright?" Harry said.

Hermione nodded her head.

"Voldemort may not be really alive at the moment, but his Spirit is. Right now he is living off of someone else, like a parasite." Harry explained.

"But Harry, how can you be sure? I mean, how do know he is alive or not?" Hermione asked.

In the dark classroom Harry unconsciously traced over his scar. He whispered in a haunted voice, "I can feel him, his magic feels thick and heavy, and his aura is as Red as the devil and blood."

Harry's voice sent shivers down Hermione's spine, and for a split second Hermione could have sworn she saw Harry glow. She couldn't tell exactly what color. She would guess it was multi-colors, but when she blinked again the glow disappeared.

"We are going to be late!" Harry said suddenly as he ran out of the old classroom and down the hall.