Meeting the Aurors

"Slowly open your eyes. That will give us our answer." said the portrait.

Harry did as he was told, awaiting the potential results of the ritual.

It's still blurry.

"It didn't work." groaned Harry in poorly concealed disappointment, "If anything, my sight is worse than it was before."

Salazar let out a stream of joyful curses in Parseltongue, before reverting to English moments later.

"Your glasses are on, my dear foolish Gryffindor! Take them off!"

Harry yanked the glasses off his head, his eyes growing wide. He could see everything in perfect detail, from Salazar's portrait all the way to the dead basilisk corpse.

"I love magic." Harry whispered in awe, before spending the next several minutes observing the chamber in full detail.

"Incredible, what ritualistic magic can do, isn't it?" asked Salazar happily. Harry nodded eagerly, before turning back to the portrait.

"My body burns a bit, but you said that it would last for the next week or so. It was worth it, so that's fine. Do I look any different to you? Besides the lack of glasses, I mean?"

Salazar studied him carefully, before replying, "You look much more intelligent, and more cunning. More confident as well. Though I only noticed because you asked, mind you."

Harry nodded slowly, before transfiguring a small stone on the floor into a hand-held mirror. He picked it up, casually observing himself in the reflection.

Salazar was right; he did indeed seem more intelligent, as well as more confident. When he flashed a smile at the mirror, it was just as charming as the smile Tom Riddle once had, although it was completely different. Besides that, Harry had yet to spot any differences in his appearance, although he knew those would form over time.

"Won't people notice a sudden drastic change in my appearance?" Harry asked curiously.

"Possibly. The ritual will work top to bottom, so your face will be done within the week. However, the changes will appear to be very different, yet very similar. It's truthfully quite hard to explain. They will, however, notice your lack of glasses immediately, maybe a small portion of the effects from the second ritual as well. The people you converse with that know you well may notice certain traits within you that they did not notice before.."

"Both guys and girls?" Harry asked. Regardless of how useful this evidently was, Harry did not enjoy the idea of attracting unnecessary attention. He knew it was better this way, as he would attract attention either way, but still disliked it.

"Yes. This is not some form of love potion, it is natural. All it does is makes traits of yours more obvious. People will still reach their conclusions on you entirely on their own. It has nothing to do with sexual or romantic attraction. It is simply easier for them to notice traits they find valuable within you. Whether or not they are attracted to you is entirely up to themselves, there is no magic behind that." the portrait said, "Besides, it works both ways; if someone truly wants to find a poor trait within you, they will likely be able to do so with more ease than before."

"This is all very confusing." said Harry in a tired voice.

"It's ritualistic magic, it should be confusing." replied Salazar, "Your more pressing problem is the sudden lack of glasses."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I'll just say I got contacts."

"Con - what?" asked Salazar, confused.

The two of them spent the next ten minutes engaging in a discussion on muggle contact lenses.

"So, to recap," started Salazar, "Muggles put miniature, circular, glass pieces in their eyes to help them see?"

"Essentially, yes."

"That explains quite a lot, actually. Now I know why I have almost never had a muggleborn in Slytherin, and why they always seem to end up in Gryffindor. Who else could possibly think that is a good idea?"

"One more word about my house and I'll set fire to your portrait."

Harry went down to Gryffindor common room with the rest of his dorm mates a few hours later. He had avoided talking to people, in a fear that the changes in their behaviour might be drastic.

Fortunately, Salazar had been correct. They had not instantly looked at him; in fact, nobody seemed to notice much of a difference in him, although he had caught a group of fifth and sixth year Gryffindor girls looked twice at him as they all sat in the common room.

I must be rather unattractive to be pleased when someone looks at me twice.

Harry knew that he wasn't painful to look at, but it was still an interesting thought. They were all waiting for McGonagall to bring them to breakfast (they had a more formal schedule for the day, since they were to meet the Auror guards).

He had, however, received many comments on the distinct lack of glasses. Many people had unknowingly given him an insight as to the workings of the second ritual; Angelina had told him that he looked brave and charming without his glasses, something that both Alicia and Katie agreed with. They had all assumed the change was caused by the sudden lack of glasses, as opposed to the effects of the second ritual.

It was a fairly nice feeling to receive such a compliment. He remembered that Salazar had said a trait would only appear if it truly existed. Bravery was quite a nice trait to have, according to Harry.

Hermione and Ron had also both noticed the change, with Hermione telling Harry he looked more intelligent. He and Hermione had quite a fun time explaining the concept of contacts to Ron, whose reaction was comparable to Salazar's.

Just as they had finished their explanation, Professor McGonagall entered the common room. She stood by the portrait hole, waiting for them all to quiet down.

"Organize yourselves by your years, youngest at the front. We leave in one minute." she said, her voice crisp. The students did as they were told, and within a minute they were exiting the common room.

.....

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