Petunia grabbed her mouthwash and swigged it back, trying to rinse the foul taste out of her tongue. She almost choked when a fanged, bearded head face glared out from her bathroom mirror, raising clawed hands and leering menacingly.

“Hisssssssssssssssssssssssss!”

“Arrgh!”

oOoOo

‘Ubi terrarum esses, Praeceptor Slytherin?”

The portrait opened his eyes “Ah, my aluminus, why do you call me?” Salazar replied in Latin, doing his best to look innocent.

“Where were you? I know you do not need to sleep.” Severus asked in a long suffering voice.

Salazar smirked “I called upon the kin-biter.”

“Indeed. I can imagine, then, that young master Potter has spoken to you about his Aunt?”

“Potter… is not that the name of the child who vanquished my heir?” asked Salazar curiously.

“Indeed.” Severus’s lips thinned.

“It is no wonder the poor boy cries in the night; so many enemies, including himself.” the ancient mage said sadly, shaking his head.

“Harry thinks that he is to blame for the abuse he suffered at the hands of his Aunt.” Severus sighed, tucking a blanket around Harry, who was lying on the sun-faded silk of Slytherin’s bed.

“Often it is so. Yet, I read that he is recovering.”

“You legilimensed him?” Severus asked, in concerned surprise.

“Only a little, I needed to know where his Aunt was to be found. What I saw of you impressed me, young Severus. You uphold the duty well, my child.”

“I wasn’t aware that it was possible for a portrait to do that.” Severus said, fixing Slytherin with a glare.

“It is also not normally possible for a portrait enter muggle frames” snickered Slytherin “Yet I can do so if I choose. I was lucky in my painter.”

The old mage’s face became solemn “The boy is unhappy to leave Uroborus, young Snape. He can remember neither home nor father” Severus started “Oh yes, my aluminus, little Harry wants you for his father but he is scared that you will reject him.”

“I would not.” Severus replied firmly “However, I am not exactly the paternal type and, in my position, it would be fool-hardy to develop close relationships, particularly paternal ones and especially when the child in question is ‘the boy who lived’.”

“Some things are more important than revenge” counselled Salazar “His mother would not, I believe, think you owed any debt to her but, if you insist on penitence, give this child a father. Others can fight my heir but only you, it seems, can nurture this little child.”

Severus sat down on the pale-green bedding “How..?”

“I have another portrait in the Headmaster’s study.” Slytherin said quietly “I hear much from there, though I do not often reveal myself.”

Severus studied the moth-eaten, emerald carpet, his shoulders hunched.

“In time, you will look back on your teenage self and see, not the man you are, but a mere child who must be pitied” Salazar said gently “Dumbledore’s treatment of you has always angered me. Your decision to follow my heir was foolish, yet you were a mere snakelet and, moreover, one aching from neglect, abuse, heartbreak and betrayal. What right had he to judge so harshly?”

“I was old enough to know what Voldemort was and to understand the evil of his actions, yet I joined him, aided him, spied for him. I can never forget that I have innocent blood on my hands.” Severus said harshly “I am not fit to be a father.”

“And Dumbledore is not fit to be a headmaster, nor is Harry suitable for the role of savour. Yet fate has cast them in those positions as there are none more suitable overall than they. Harry has chosen you for his father: if you cannot love him, merely continue as you are for poor Harry will be happy and grateful for any scraps of affection you choose to throw him. Yet, if you could love him, then give him a family to call his own.”

“How could anyone not love Harry, he is a dear little boy, yet…”

“Yet it frightens you to open your heart again?” Salazar asked softly.

“I do not even know if I can.” Severus said, looking sad.

Salazar nodded “There is a draw in the dressing table, if you just feel under the rim of the tabletop, the catch is towards the bed."

Severus ran his fingers under the cunningly curled, protruding rim of the bedside table. He heard a click.

“There is a little gold locket, about the size of a cuckoo egg. Mind the dagger: it bears the last of my father’s venom.” Slytherin added helpfully.

Severus held up the small locket, which bore a serpentine ‘s’ picked out in emeralds.

“A little gift for the boy. It bears a piece of my canvas inside, allowing me to converse with whoever holds it.” Slytherin explained “I can talk to Harry, when the voices return to him at night.”

“I would not wish for it to be widely known that Harry is a Parselmouth.” Severus said carefully “It might engender prejudice. The wizarding world is very fickle and suspicious: today’s heroes can too easily become tomorrow’s villains.”

“Get him a pet snake, one who is noisy.” Suggested Slytherin with a shrug. “It’s hissing will disguise ours. Oh, and on that point… maybe Harry should meet Mr. Hissy?”

“‘Mr Hissy’?”

“My little basilisk. Named him after Godric ‘Hissy fit’ Gryffindor." Salazar snickered, then in a more serious tone continued: "Poor Hissy is still in the bowels of Hogwarts: he might be a good ally for young Harry, considering the boy’s enemies. He’s very well trained, you know!” Slytherin finished truculently, noticing the incredulous expression on Severus’s face.

“If I say no, you would simply encourage Harry to find him anyway, wouldn’t you?” Severus said, rubbing his temples.

“If you forbade it, I expect young Harry would obey you, even if it were against his inclination” Salazar admitted “I just ask that you consider it: if ‘Voldemort’ decided to attack Hogwarts, he might enchant poor Hissy and use him against Harry: the kin-biting wretch did it before, you know, he forced Hissy to kill little Myrtle Henderson. However, if I tell Hissy to accept Harry, he would be immune to Voldemort’s enchantments and could even protect the boy.”

The Potions Master sighed. “I will seriously consider it. Now, as the Magical Menagerie closes at noon on Sundays, I think it’s high time that Harry and I were on our way.”

“Very well, Severus. You’re a good boy. I expect I will see you and young Harry again in the near future but, as for now, duty calls.” The old Professor closed his eyes with a smirk: as far as he was concerned, Petunia Dursley’s problems were only just beginning.