23 The Language of Runes

"Whether you like it or not, you are not ready yet. You must develop more control, perhaps a bit of Occlumency, before we can begin that. We'll start with some other interesting things, do a few rather useful rituals - "

"Rituals?" asked Harry, "Aren't rituals classified as dark magic by the ministry?"

"You mean the same ministry that you claim placed the school under the patrol of hundreds of dementors to protect against a man who had been locked in prison for twelve years?" said the portrait sarcastically.

"Fine, whatever."

"As I was saying, we will be doing a few rituals, as well as learning how you can improve and learn new magics. Maybe even get you a magical familiar. You're in your fourth year, correct?"

Harry nodded.

"It's the first day of term after the summer break."

"And what electives are you taking?"

"Divination and Care of Magical Creatures."

Change them."

"What - I can't just - but how am I - " stuttered Harry in a manner similar to that of the late Professor Quirrell.

"I don't care about your Care of Magical Creatures course; take it or leave it, really doesn't matter to me. Divination, on the other hand, can only be learnt by true seers. A seer is not one of your abilities, and it is therefore worth nothing to you."

"What would you have me take?" asked Harry.

"Join Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, if your corrupted ministry still allows those to be taught."

"They do, but those are the two hardest electives. They might not let me in, I would be a year behind."

Slytherin's portrait rubbed it's goatee once more.

"What time is it?"

Harry shrugged, pulling out his wand from his pocket.

"Tempus!" he muttered. The time read to be ten past one in the morning.

"If you stayed till around six, I could probably teach you most of the course." said the portrait in a causal tone.

"That fast?" asked Harry in shock, watching as Slytherin nodded once more, "If it can be taught that quickly, why are the courses a year long?"

"From what Riddle told me, the third year Arithmancy class is the same as basic muggle mathematics, I believe he called it Algebra. Would I be right in assuming you know that already?"

Harry confirmed the portrait's assumption. Although he had not actually attended secondary school, he had read most of Dudley's textbooks due to the constant confiscation of his own.

"Then you already know what you need to for the third year, as well as most of the fourth. You are ahead of most of your peers. As for runes, it seems that most of magical art has been long forgotten, and that what they teach is only a memory of what it once was. I can teach you runes in the purest form. It might seem as though you use strange methods to your classmates and professors, but I assure you your methods will be far superior. I can teach you what your classmates have most likely learnt, as well as quite a bit more, before you have to go for breakfast."

Harry stood in silence, both shocked and impressed.

"Will it be like that for all subjects you teach me?" he asked the portrait, who shook his head gently.

"The other forms of magic are more commonly deployed, and are therefore not nearly as forgotten. You will have to learn them just as any other might, although I would like to think that my teaching is slightly superior to that of others."

"And the obscure subjects you'll be teaching me, what were they again?"

"Rituals, which can be used to give yourself more abilities."

"I thought it wasn't possible to give yourself abilities." said Harry.

"It is very possible, although many of the rarer or more powerful abilities can not be gained in any way other than chance at birth."

"Anything else?"

"Offensive magic, which I believe your group of ministry fools call Dark Magic now." said Salazar in a disgusted tone.

"It's called dark magic because it can be used to kill someone, according to my textbook." Harry mentioned helpfully.

"You could kill someone with a tickling charm if you wanted to." Salazar replied, "Offensive magic is magic used to attack someone during a fight so that one might stay alive. Unless you were planning on hitting your opponents with tripping jinxes, of course."

"My friends are going to think I've gone evil or something." muttered Harry.

"Then do not tell them about it. This is the Chamber of Secrets, the chamber of our family. Anything that occurs within here should be kept within the family, which now only consists of the two of us, certainly more so you then myself. But that is of no importance at the moment. Right now, we have only a few hours to get you up to date on your knowledge of Ancient Runes. Go to the section on runes in my library, and pull out all of the books on the first shelf. Back out to the chamber, I will see you there."

Salazar walked out of his frame, no doubt appearing wherever the other room's portrait frame was. Harry quickly grabbed the books he was instructed to take, and stumbled out of the study and back into the chamber.

He had not seen it before, but there was a giant portrait hanging above the entrance he had used to get into the chamber hours ago. Salazar was now sitting within it, staring at the corpse of his basilisk.

"My dear friend . . . if only you had not been forced to do Riddle's bidding." the portrait whispered sadly.

Salazar turned back to Harry, cracking his neck a few times as he did so.

"Think of runes as a language of sorts, similar to the way you might think of Parseltongue . . . "

.....

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