Bonding with Hedwig

"Potter, you're up."

Harry made his way to the front of the classroom, sending a discrete glare at Tonks as he did so. He stood there for a moment, wondering how his wandless magic would affect the curse; Salazar told him that it would have little to no effect - apparently that was not how wandless magic worked, something that disappointed Harry slightly.

"Imperio!"

For a fraction of a second, Harry felt as though nothing in the world mattered, as though he were finally at peace.

Pretend to be a snake . . . said a voice within the depths of his mind

Harry didn't particularly want to do such a thing, yet at the same time, he really did. It simply seemed like the right thing to do.

Come on now, slither around like a serpent, it'll be rather fun . . .

Harry still wasn't sure; doing so would get his clothes dirty. He had Snape after this, the last thing he needed to do was create an excuse to lose house points.

Hurry up, slither slither slither, let's not dither . . . just like a snake . . . it'll be great, I'm quite sure . . .

He decided against it. It did seem like a rather pleasant idea, but he would not be doing it; the idea simply felt too foreign, and much too strange.

The peaceful feeling of unending happiness vanished. He was back in the classroom now, standing in the front of the room. The rest of his class was staring at him in shock, as were the Aurors. Moody, however, was beaming. It was not a rather good look, considering the prominence of scars upon the ex-Auror's face.

"Would you look at that!" said Moody, turning to the class, "Potter fought it, he beat it! Come one, let's go for another round everyone. Second time might be the charm!"

...

Harry made his way down into the chamber during his lunch break, Hedwig on his shoulder. The snowy owl had simply not wanted to leave him. Harry was more than fine with that; he had not yet shown her the chamber, something he felt was long overdue. She was one of his greatest friends, having stayed with him during his summers at the Dursleys. He had grown even closer to her this year in particular, spending even more time with the owl.

"How Gryffindor of you," said Salazar loudly as Harry entered the study, "Bringing an owl into an underground chamber, I can not say I am surprised."

"Oh, shut up." retorted Harry, "She's really close to me, my best friend of sorts. I should have shown her this place a long time ago."

Harry spent a solid hour showing Hedwig around the chamber, much to Salazar's irritation. Hedwig seemed rather interested in the chamber, showing signs of excitement and surprise that shocked Harry.

To be fair, she's always been a smart owl.

Upon finishing the tour, Harry set Hedwig down by the fireplace. He turned to Salazar, making his way over to the other side of the room.

"Didn't you tell me that it's impossible to remove someone's free will?" he asked the portrait.

"So you do listen to my lessons, I was wondering."

"The Imperius Curse seemed to remove my free will."

Salazar paused within his frame, his eyes widening.

"You were put under the effects of the Imperius Curse?" asked the portrait.

"Yeah, remember that old nutter, Moody? Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor?"

Upon seeing Salazar nod, Harry continued.

"He thought it would be a great idea to put all of us under the effects of the curse, so we would know what it feels like."

"He's right." the portrait agreed, "Imagine if your first time feeling the effects of the curse was on the battlefield."

"Yeah, I know that. But back to the question."

Salazar shook his head at his descendant's lack of politeness, before gesturing for Harry to take a seat.

"What I said is true, there is no way to remove one's free will." began the portrait, "It is one of the natural laws of magic, others being that all who live must die, and that the dead can not truly be awoken."

Harry nodded at this, having head Salazar tell him that many times, particularly when Harry talked to the portrait of his parents.

"The Imperius Curse simply dominates your will, it does not eradicate it. If it did, it would not be possible to fight the curse, and after experiencing the curse you would be similar to one who has taken the Dementor's Kiss. Whatever it was that made you who you are would be gone."

"And what about other forms of mental control?" asked Harry, "You know, love potions, allures, things like that?"

"They simply create a strong obsession, or a need to impress, respectively." stated the portrait, "The first one does not affect your will whatsoever. It simply redirects your focus onto another. As for the second, that can be fought with a strong will, like the Imperius Curse. If you can fight that, you should be able to resist the others as well."

"I can." Harry informed the portrait, "I was able to fight off the allure of the Veela girl, and if what you said about Veela beauty being proportional to magical power, then I would assume I should be fine in that area. Though she wasn't exactly trying to use her allure on me, it was just her passive allure."

"If you are capable of fighting off her passive allure without feeling a thing, you should be capable of fighting off the full force of her allure." the portrait informed him, "Or do you simply feel nothing at all?"

Harry's head tilted sideways slightly.

"I'm not sure." Harry admitted, "I can certainly tell the allure is their and all, but I don't feel it affecting me. It's just there, nothing more. The Imperius Curse is different - I could feel it trying to subdue me."

Salazar quieted down, seemingly lost in thought. Harry himself moved over to the fire place. He sat by the fire for quite some time, stroking Hedwig's feathers. After a while Hedwig flew to the top of his head, where she began to straighten his hair with her beak.

"You really are close to that thing, aren't you?" asked Salazar from somewhere behind him.

"Like I said, she's my best friend." said Harry, still looking into the fireplace, "She's been by my side from the moment I met her, and she knows what it's like, living with the Dursleys. She's always been there for me, you know?"

"Turn her into a phoenix."

Harry turned around so sharply, he could have sworn he cracked half the bones in his neck.

"Sorry?" he said loudly.

"I said, turn her into a phoenix." repeated the portrait, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, "'Phoenix Creatio Vitae'. Put her through the ritual, she seems more than worthy, she'll be fine. She has a strong bond with you as well, you could even attempt a soul bond between each other."

Harry sat, frozen in shock, for what must have been several minutes. When he finally spoke, it was with a weak voice.

"Could you, you know, back track a bit? I have no clue what you're talking about."

Salazar swore angrily in Parseltongue about the lack of knowledge in the magical world. When he had finished, he motioned for Harry to come closer. He did so, bringing Hedwig gently with him.

.....

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