Severus was the first to wake the next morning. He had always been the first to wake even at Hogwarts as a child; he was a light sleeper and rose with the sun. If he ever went down with it, that is. Last night the potions professor had been hard-pressed to find rest. He couldn’t get Harry’s parting words out of his head...Sev. No one had called him that for almost sixteen years... but it didn’t do to dwell on forgotten murmurs of forgotten nights. The Death Eater spy donned his robes and stalked silently towards the library. He would read until breakfast.

It was nearing 7:00 when Harry rolled out of bed in his usual state of disarray. He, too, had had trouble sleeping the night before, plagued by nightmares of the graveyard and of Sirius. Bleary-eyed and tussle-haired, he dragged on a pair of jeans and a wrinkly T-shirt and walked down the hall. Which way was the library?

Severus climbed the narrow stairs to the second row of shelves. He didn’t feel like researching conventional magic this morning. Maybe he’d reread that book on Necromancy. Professor Snape had just found the book when he heard the squeaking of the door hinges below. Surely Jerome hadn’t gotten up this early...he had never been an early-riser. It was Harry. The dark man beckoned and placed the Necromancy book back on the shelf. It was finally time to teach Harry the other side of magic. Dumbledore would just be thrilled, Severus thought in a gleefully sarcastic way.

Harry stopped when he reached Severus. “Good morning, Severus.”

Severus nodded and pulled another book off the shelf and put it into Harry’s hands. “Read. Let me know once you’re done.”

He conjured Harry a chair, and walked farther down the shelves.

Harry stood when he had finished the book almost an hour later. He quickly found Severus, poring over a large handwritten book. Harry glanced at the title. It was a book about Necromancy.

“I’m done, Sev,” Harry said.

For a moment, Snape seemed frozen, but then he nodded in his usual curt way. “We have to go to breakfast now, but we can discuss the book tomorrow morning at the same time.”

Harry smiled shyly and murmured, “Thanks,” before turning and walking back to replace the book on its shelf.

Snape followed him and then they walked through the narrow creaking hallways to the dining room. Jerome was already sitting at the table, helping himself to a muffin from the plate Binky had set out.

“So polite,” Severus said mockingly, “so delightfully mannerly.”

Jerome just shoved another mouthful of muffin into his mouth and grinned tauntingly at Severus. Once he had swallowed, he cheerfully said, “You’re up early,” and gave Snape a meaningful glance.

Snape glared back and sat at the table. Harry followed suit, acting very polite until he could no longer resist his Gryffindoric impulses and flung a bit of muffin at Jerome. Jerome immediately rose to the challenge and threw a piece of bacon at Snape’s forehead. Soon they were in an all out food fight, Jerome being especially enthusiastic, spelling food everywhere. The food fight was finally ended with one of Severus’ quick cleaning spells when there was no more food to throw.

“Well, now that we’ve proven how mature we still are and completely disgusted even the portrait of Salazar Slytherin,” Snape said silkily, “perhaps we should find ourselves something to work on for the rest of the day.”

Harry had the grace to look ashamed as he glanced at the sneering portrait of Slytherin. “We could start talking to Chryseis and Ajaria, and I believe you wanted me to explore the forest, correct?”

“Precisely,” Severus agreed. “Perhaps we could convince Salazar to come along,” he added, raising an eyebrow at the portrait. “Discuss a bit of strategy.”

The figure in the portrait smirked as he rose and stepped gracefully out of the portrait and into the dining room. “What- How can he do that?” Harry stuttered.

Jerome answered with a small smile. “Certain portraits are given the power of human motion if the painting’s owner permits it. Severus, obviously, does.”

“Oh.”

“Gods, this is the boy that saved the world?” the silky Hogwarts founder sneered. “And I thought Gryffindor was an idiot.”

“Never mind him Harry,” Jerome grinned. “That’s his way of saying he likes you.”

“Me? Like this poor imitation of a strong wizard? Boy, your training’s about to get a lot tougher. Come along, let’s meet these centaurs.”

Salazar seemed to flow as he walked out towards the forest, Jerome and Severus walking in the same way, and Harry behind, feeling rather clumsy.

The founder of Hogwarts’ fourth house stepped gracefully into the clearing the other three men had been in the day before. Chryseis and Ajaria were already waiting.

“Salazar,” Ajaria murmured, eyeing the man. “It’s been a while.”

Chryseis tugged on a lock of her silvery hair. “How’d you meet Sal, Severus?”

“He lives in a portrait at my manor,” Severus responded, raising an eyebrow at both Slytherin’s nickname and the centaurs’ uneasy behavior. “How’d you meet him?”

“Long story,” Ajaria said.

“I assume you came to discuss some final battle strategy,” Chryseis began, displacing the awkward meeting. “I’ve been doing some thinking.”

Two hours later, the Hogwarts founder disappeared into the forest, leaving Harry, Jerome, and Severus with the centaurs.

“So now that Salazar’s gone to find the unicorns,” Jerome said, looking quizzically at the two centaurs, “How about you tell us what the problem is.”

“Don’t think we don’t see how uncomfortable you are,” Severus said quietly.

Harry kept silent, raising an eyebrow and leaning against a tree. After a moment of listening to the two men squabbling good-naturedly with the centaurs about their secret, he quietly slipped away in the direction Slytherin had gone. He couldn’t have gotten too far.

The forest on this side of the clearing seemed almost tense. Harry coughed nervously and looked ahead...this place was giving him the creeps. And where was Slytherin?

“Boo.” Harry whirled around at the quiet voice behind him. It was Salazar.

For a moment the two men, one doomed to save the world, and the other only a memory, stared at each other without saying anything. Then the Hogwarts founder drawled, “So what were you planning on doing after you got miserably lost?”

The teenager stared at Slytherin a moment longer before he replied. “I wasn’t planning on getting lost.”

“Exactly,” the man before him said in a whisper. “And that is why I hated Godric. He never planned anything. Not one of the other three even thought about the next day. And that is why I am the only one here, in this stupid time, with these stupid dark lords, helping you. So you’d better listen closely. Come along.” Harry watched, dumbfounded, as the dark-haired man turned and began to carefully pick his way farther through the trees. “Look,” Salazar said dryly a few minutes later. “I do believe we’ve stumbled upon a few unicorns. I just can’t believe it. It’s an absolute fucking miracle.”

Harry thought his jaw must have dropped to the ground. “Fuck was a word a thousand years ago?”

Salazar froze before he turned to Harry with an expression of caustic disbelief on his face. “Gods, they’ve given me an absolute idiot to train. I still have ears, Potter. Now shut up, I’m trying to talk to the unicorns.”

Ten minutes later Salazar and Harry were riding the unicorns farther through the forest. It seemed that in his years, Slytherin had acquired an idea of how to communicate with the majestic beasts. Harry didn’t know what exactly Salazar had done, but after a moment or two of tense silence staring at the unicorns, a rush of peace or something like it had filled the entire area, and Harry guessed that meant the unicorns were happy.

Harry nervously patted his unicorn’s neck. Around these sacred creatures, he felt almost dirty. He had cast an Unforgivable back at the end of term. The young wizard had almost forgotten it. At the time it had seemed natural, the only way out. Now he just felt like a naughty little kid trying to act like a grown-up.

“I know what you’re thinking about, Potter,” Salazar muttered. “And the unicorns do too. You’ve noticed they’re actually letting you ride. They obviously don’t think you’re evil or any such other nonsense. You’ve got to realize that all the morals you’ve been taught are wrong. There is no right or wrong. There is no black and white. This is a human world; we make human mistakes. Everybody has their good side, and everybody has their bad side. Learn it now, while you’re young. Godric never learned it. Helga never learned it. Hell, I’m not sure Rowena learned it either. You can’t win unless you know yourself. Every fucking bit of yourself. The good, the bad, and all the gray stuff in between. Because trust me, it’s going to take every ounce of it to beat someone like Tom Riddle. And if you listen to me, that will be your one advantage, besides the fact of the prophecy- you’ll have every single bit of power in this. Tom Riddle will not. Now look at this tree. See the roots, how they come up a bit from the ground?”

Harry nodded, still stupefied from the speech Salazar had just delivered.

“Good. Prime place to hide things. Never use it. You know why?”

“Because I’m not the only one that’s looked at the base of a tree,” Harry murmured.

“Exactly. Instead, don’t hide it at all, just take it with you. Because if it’s important enough that you don’t want anyone to find it, then it’s important enough for you to carry it around. If you do have to hide something though, just throw it out of sight into some high branches. Funny thing is, wizards just never think of a summoning spell when things are high up. Now you will. Now come on, I’ve got as many tricks to show you as there are trees in this forest.”