The Chamber of Salazar Slytherin

Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
G
The Chamber of Salazar Slytherin
Summary
Harry looks up at the ceiling of his new room, it feels… wrong. The sheer size of the bedroom that was now supposed to be his, looming threateningly around him. It feels more like a cage than the cupboard, with the iron bars on the window and the cat flap and bolts on the door.The room is completely bare apart from a small single bed and an old wardrobe.He misses his cupboard. That’s not a sentence he ever thought would cross his mind - but it’s true nonetheless.He had grown accustomed to it over the years, the tight space had become kind of like a pocket of safety. It’s where they threw him in the aftermath, it’s where he recovers. It gave him the comforting illusion of safety (much like a rabbit would feel hidden away in a burrow believing it is protected even though a predator prowls above ready to dig them out).This room gives him none of that. It’s big enough so Vernon can come in and terrorise him as much as he pleases and it’s easier than ever for them to simply lock him in here, forget about him, and let him slowly rot away.It was supposed to be an improvement.He feels more trapped than ever before.
Note
Jk Rowling is a transphobic bigoted useless excuse for human being. My fic does not support any of her views, if you support any of her views you will not enjoy this fic. I am part of the LGBTQ+ community and my writing will reflect that, if you do not like that please stop reading. I do not own the rights to any of these characters. Do not repost this work anywhere. TikTok: @sparkling_watermeloTumblr: @sparklingwatermelo If you make any content related to my fic I would love to see it! Tag me or let me know in the comments on Ao3. ~~~ PSA: I am still happy to receive constructive criticism on this fic, because I wouldn’t have grown as a writer as much as I have without it. But I do just want to remind people to be kind about it and not come here onto my work and just put me down because something in my writing could be better.Also, it's important to remember that at the end of the day this is a story I am writing, and I love it, it's a fun thing for me to work on and I enjoy sharing my work with people. But if you don’t like the way the story goes at any point or you don’t like the way I have characterized someone, it's okay to just close the Ao3 tab and forget my story ever existed. My story isn’t going to be liked by everyone (I have crazy ideas and it's not everyones vibe) but please don’t come on here and be a moron just because I'm writing the plot of my story how I want and envisioned.That aside I wanted to thank all the lovely comments I got throughout the first part of this fic I genuinely would have crashed and burned in the first chapter without you guys 😅. Tag suggestions are appreciated! Edit 30/03/2025: Sorry i kinda dropped of the face of the earth 🫣 but i just thought id let you guys know THIS FIC IS NOT ABANDONNED (and it never will be (unless i die ofc)) I just got a bit burnt out from my real life stuff. I can’t say when I will be back but I can assure you that I will return (very much like a cockroach).so this is just an unplanned hiatus but i swear i will be back with lots of fun (and vaugley devastating) chapters soon!Thankyou for your patience 💜
All Chapters Forward

Together again

Chapter 3: Together again 

 

 

It is 5am on a Saturday, and Harry is awake. The crushing feeling has left him (mostly- probably temporarily -), and he is for the first time in over a month feeling actual excitement. Which if he is being entirely honest, feels like being on drugs (not that he’s ever been on drugs, Harry just imagines this is what it would be like if he was) after a month of fog and a film of grey constantly over everything, it’s a relief and it’s making him giddy. Hence why he’s up at 5am. 

 

The reason for this sudden change of moods is of course due to the fact that he will finally get to see his friends again. Luna said to meet at the entrance to Diagon at 9am today. Fred and George, Blaise and Hermione, and Luna, along with Freya and Lila and Panda, will all be there. Harry cannot wait. He can be free from this house and this stupid room (even if it's only for a day). 

 

Harry will have to take a train into London, and walk to the leaky cauldron from the station, he plans to leave privet drive early so he has plenty of time to get there and hopefully he can speak to bar man Tom before his friends arrive.  

 

The barman had been nice to Harry last summer, and... Harry believes that Tom is going to be a brilliant ally to have on his side. Even though barman Tom has no political power or any extraordinary magical power/abilities - he is the owner of the most popular magical pub in London. Meaning, that he serves drinks and overhears gossip from many many people that do infact have mountains of political power, therefore he is a useful ally. 

 

He also needs to make a visit to Gringotts, purchase his school supplies, buy some more clothes, and get a few things for his familiars. It was easier to manage his time at the Dursley's when he had his school work to focus on, so he has also decided to buy additional reading material and potentially find some sort of project he can work on, that will last until he can escape back to Hogwarts. 

 

So, he has plenty to do today on top of getting to spend time with his friends. The best part is he actually feels capable of doing it, without the stupid fog and tired hollow, or the weird crushing feeling. 

 

So, he gets up from his bed and moves to go get ready. 

 

--

 

20 minutes later he crept out from his room and took a shower, careful to put a silencing spell on the doors of Vernon/Petunia’s bedroom and Dudley’s also, so he did not risk waking them up.  

 

Now he’s fully clean and stepping back into his room, making sure the door is locked for when Petunia comes to ‘let him out’ for his allotted five minutes in the morning where he is supposed to use the bathroom and immediately return to his room (it makes him feel like some sort of freak house pet, its honestly humiliating). 

 

Once he’s sure all the locks are in place he waves his hand and pulls on his magic again thinking ‘silence, make it so no one can hear anything from this room’ he feels the magic settle over the door and he smirks, satisfied with himself. He perfected that trick in the first few days of being back at the Dursleys, it's very useful and it means he can get ready in peace without having to fear waking Vernon up, and facing his wrath just because a floorboard creaked too loudly. 

 

He moves across the room and grabs his special hairdryer that Hermione gave him, and begins sorting his hair out properly for the first time in weeks. It makes him feel ashamed- now that the crushing feeling has lessened -that he was incapable of doing such basic tasks, but he firmly pushes the feeling to the back of his mind to deal with at a later date (or never). 

 

When he’s happy with his hair and he’s pulled his green t-shirt, blue hoodie, black jeans, and converses on, he slings his satchel (that still holds all his belongings) over his body, satisfied that he is completely ready to face whatever today brings (probably). 

 

He pulls on his magic once more and flicks his fingers dropping all the silencing spells. “Selena you can drop the shield now; I stopped my spells.” 

 

He feels her magic fall away from around him and she rears up on her tail to better look at him. “It is done.” She hisses. “Now come here Star, you should eat. The strange magical food box is full once more.” 

 

He rolls his eyes; she’s constantly trying to get him to eat and it’s kind of annoying (even though it’s probably a good thing). “Yeah, yeah, I know.” He sighs. “But after that we’re going, okay?” 

 

Selena makes a hissing/huff noise of indignation, “You, and the foolish Solace, shall consume food. Then we shall go and find the seer and your other friends.” 

 

He nods and sits down on the bed next to her and pulls the ‘strange magic food box’ onto his lap and begins slowly eating the bowl of porridge sprinkled with berries and peanut butter that has appeared inside the box. Solace joins them and steals berries from Harry’s bowl, happily gulping them down before hopping around on the mattress like a maniac, he seems very happy today (Harry has a feeling it has something to do with the fact that Harry is functioning like an actual real life human being rather than a weird ghost/shell/shadow). 

 

He finishes his breakfast and gives a pointed (but fond) look to Selena. “Am I allowed to go now.” 

 

Selena hisses happily, clearly enjoying being the overlord of Harry’s life. “Yes. We shall go now, speaker.” 

 

So, he stands up, dons his invisibility cloak and makes his way out of the house. Selena, wrapped around his neck and Solace nestled in the hood of his hoodie. 

 

Off he goes to the train station. 

 

~~~ 

 

The bell on the leaky cauldron door chimes as Harry pushes it open and steps inside. The pub is fairly quite as it’s only 8am, and most of the patrons tend to arrive later in the day. Harry makes a beeline directly to the bar, where Tom stands cleaning glasses with a cloth.  

 

“Morning Tom.” He greets the old wizard with a friendly smile, while Solace hops from Harry’s hood out onto the counter, chirping merrily at Tom’s familiar (a grouchy mouse named Jerry). 

 

“Foolish, Solace.” Selena hisses in annoyance, glaring at the mouse and the raven from where she pokes her head out from under the neck of Harry’s jumper. 

 

“Ah, Mornin’ Laddy!” Tom sets the glass he was holding down and grins at Harry showcasing his many missing teeth. “I was beginnin’ to think you weren’t goin’ to show up this summer.” 

 

Harry rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry about that Tom. I had a lot going on... but I'm here now, aren't I?” He says smiling up at the barman in what Harry hopes is a charming manner. 

 

“Suppose so.” The barman chuckles. “Can I get you a drink? On the house of course.” 

 

“Pumpkin juice, please. If it's not too much trouble.” He says, nodding his thanks at the man. 

 

“No problem at all Laddy, no problem at all!” Barman Tom shakes his head in amusement before shuffling off to get Harry’s drink poured. Harry makes sure to fill the cracked old tip jar at the till, to the brim with coins. It’s a good way to keep Tom on Harry’s side and hopefully form some sort of alliance between them. 

 

The hour passes quickly after that. Harry chats with Tom and sips pumpkin juice whilst he waits for his friends to arrive. 

 

~~~ 

 

Luna’s Pov: 

 

“Goodbye dad. I will return at...” She ponders the true answer for a moment, listening to the feelings and thoughts that are ever a buzz in her mind. “7.43pm.” She decides. 

 

Her dad smiles with a soft fondness that always makes Luna feel safe. “Very well moonbeam. You have fun. I will watch the clock and if you do not come back by 7.43, I shall come and find you.” He says, getting up from the table to wrap her up in a big hug, which she returns winding her arms around her dad and squeezing tightly. “And make sure you give Harry a gurdyroot, hopefully it will help the wrackspurts leave him alone.” He adds, before stepping back from Luna, patting her on the head twice as he does. 

 

“I will dad.” She nods with a solemness she doesn’t usually have much need to show on her face, but wrackspurts are quite a serious situation, especially when they are invading her friends mind so thoroughly. So, she feels the solemness is very fitting.  

 

Her feelings say Harry will be okay, and she always trusts her feelings as they are never usually wrong. However, she does sometimes have small worries that her emotions and thoughts muddle with the feelings and make them not entirely true, she worries they’re only wishes that she wanted so badly that they became feelings. 

 

Though she does remember her mother always telling her to never doubt a feeling, even if it crosses over with something she wants. So maybe Luna is spending far too many thoughts worrying about muddled feelings in the first place. 

 

“Luna, come back to the ground.” Her dad says as he guides her to the fireplace, probably knowing that she is dancing with her thoughts again. “Oh, and be careful of stray pigmy puffs. You know they can sometimes be possessed by evil spirits during the summer months.” 

 

She smiles up at him, leaving her dancing thoughts behind as she does. “If I see one, I can ask Harry to catch it for me with his magic. Then we can help it be free from the spirit!” 

 

“Brilliant idea, moonbeam!” Her dad smiles at her proudly. “Now, go on. I'm sure your friends are waiting.” 

 

She nods at him softly and checks to make sure Panda is safely asleep in her pocket, then takes a handful of floo powder into her delicate hand, and steps into the fireplace. She smiles brightly once more at her dad, before letting the pretty green powder drop to the floor of the fireplace, making warm green flames rise up all around her as she calls, “The leaky cauldron!” 

 

~~~ 

 

Harry jumps up from his seat when Luna practically dances out of the fireplace in the Leaky cauldron, wearing a long yellow skirt covered with pictures of sunflowers and a bright purple top with pink swirls all over. “Luna!” He exclaims excitedly as he speeds towards her.  

 

Solace flies ahead of him to land on her head, chirping happily, and making a mess of her long blonde waves. 

 

“It is the seer.” Selena hisses happily. “Our seer is returned.” 

 

“Hello Harry. Hello Solace. Hello Selena.” She smiles, and immediately throws her arms around him in a tight hug.  

 

Merlin, he missed Luna, and Luna’s hugs. He honestly didn’t know it was possible to miss someone as much as he missed Luna the past twoish months. It’s also kinda strange seeing her in person, after only seeing her through the lockets for so long. Harry is an inch or so taller than her now, whereas when he last saw her, they were practically the same height. 

 

She pulls away from him, still smiling, as she reaches into one of the deep pockets of her skirt, and brings out what he knows to be a gurdyroot tied, tightly on a red string. She threads it over his head, so it settles around his neck. 

 

“Why do I need another one of these?” He asks curiously, remembering the last time she gave him one when he was panicking about Quirrell. He’s feeling happy and fine now so he shouldn't need one of these. 

 

“For the wrackspurts.” She hums. “They’ve been awfully mean to you lately.”  

 

Solace lets out an indignant sort of chirp (Harry guesses that means the raven agrees with Luna’s statement). 

 

He tilts his head to one side, “Are they gone now?” 

 

Luna shakes her head, her blonde eyebrows drawing together in a soft frown as she looks at things he can’t see. “No, they’re close by, but at least they are no longer invading your mind.” 

 

He shrugs, and then smiles widely at her. “That’s okay then. We can always deal with them later. The others will be here soon.” 

 

Luna nods and loops their arms together. “I’m happy you are here.” She tells him in her typical Luna-floaty-musical voice. 

 

“I’m happy to be here.” He sighs slightly, before looking at her fondly. “And I'm happy you’re here too.” 

 

She smiles looking very happy with his statement. “We will find a way, so you never have to go back to that place. I don’t know when, but I know that one day we will.” She says in a soft hushed voice, probably so the few people that are in the pub this early don’t hear. 

 

He hopes so, but then again hope has always been a pointless thing for him. So, he simply nods. 

 

Luna tilts her head suddenly and fixes her eyes on the door. “Hermione’s here.” She says a moment before the door to the pub opens, revealing their friend.  

 

Hermione glances around until she notices them in the corner of the pub next to the fireplace. A smile breaks out on her face, and she hurries over to them and immediately embraces both him and Luna at the same time in a tight (rib crushing) hug. 

 

“Hi Hermione.” Harry says with a grin as he awkwardly returns the hug best he can with one arm still looped with Luna’s. 

 

She pulls away from them still smiling brightly. “Hello! I missed you guys.” She looks well, her hair is as nice as it always is – pushed back out of her eyes with a thick navy-blue headband, she’s grown taller over the summer but she’s still about the same height as Harry, her dark skin has a sort of glow to it as if she’s spent a lot of time basking in the sun, her Hazel eyes are bright and she looks happy. 

 

“We missed you too!” Luna says happily, bouncing slightly on her heels, before dancing forward to wrap Hermione in another hug. 

 

“How's your summer been?” Harry asks, when the two girls break apart, and Luna returns to him and relinks their arms once more. 

 

“Amazing! My parents and I went on a trip to France, there was so many things to see and I learned so much about everything. Oh! And I finally got the chance to go to ‘the archives of Lyra Barlowe’! Which was... beyond anything I could ever have dreamed of. There are so many ancient books, Harry, you would love it.” She rambles her eyes lighting up with a hungry sort of spark at the mention of the library.  

 

“She is a seeker of ancient knowledge. I knew her to be a worthy friend for you, Star.” Selena hisses in approval. 

 

“That sound lovely Hermione.” Luna says with a light nod and bright smile. “I wonder if there are any paper pixies in the library.” She hums thoughtfully. “You know they usually can be found in between the words of ancient tomes, they’re very tiny and sometimes a bit mean.” 

 

Hermione shakes her head. “I didn’t see any pixies, but you could always come with me next time I go, maybe you’ll see them.” 

 

(Harry thinks that in another universe Hermione wouldn’t like Luna very much.  

 

Luna believes in things that cannot be proven, she understands things that are not understandable, she knows of magic and creatures that no one can see.  

 

While Hermione is logical, she believes in the things that can be proven and backed with extensive research. 

 

Harry thinks that it might be due to the fact that Luna was Hermione’s first friend. The first person her age to look at her and think that she was worth being friends with. So, instead of trying to dismantle Luna’s ideas and truths with hard logic, she simply goes with what Luna says and doesn’t mind it too much when there is no logic or evidence to back Luna’s words. 

 

Harry is very glad they are not in some other universe. Because he has no idea what he would do if he didn’t have Hermione and Luna as his friends.) 

 

“Oh, I would love too!” Luna says happily, looking at Hermione with her shining blue eyes. 

 

“Maybe we can get Snape to give us permission to go over the Christmas break.” Harry suggests. He would really like to see the library and he also wants to see if it's worth the 500 galleons he spent, getting Hermione an access pass to the place. 

 

“Sure! It's going to be so fun; I can’t wait to show you the section they have on runes, Harry.” She says sounding ecstatic at the idea, and Harry has to admit it does sound pretty damn fun. 

 

“I’ll speak to Snape when we go back to Hogwarts.” He says with a smile. 

 

“I’m sure he’ll say yes.” Luna hums, while she reaches up to pet Solace who is still perched firmly on her head. “He likes you, Harry.” 

 

Harry nods in agreement. Snape does seem to like him; Harry has been wondering if it has something to do with the professor (according to McGonagall) being friends with Harry’s mum. It’s something Harry will have to find out this year. He had meant to ask last year, but he never quite got round to it. 

 

Harry’s thoughts are interrupted as green flames flare up in the fireplace, and the twins tumble out onto the hearth, sputtering slightly. 

 

“Every time, for merlin's sake!” Fred groans, getting to his feet and dusting the ashes of from his clothes. 

 

“It’s only because you always want to travel together.” George huffs as he checks on his familiar Lila, whose little ginger fluffy head is peeking out of his bag nervously. “If we went separately, I bet we could avoid this. Look at my poor Lila! She’s terrified now.”  

 

Fred rolls his eyes and reaches out a hand to help George up off the dirty floor. Once they’re both standing, they finally seem to notice the three people right in front of them. 

 

“Oh.” Fred blinks in surprise before a grin breaks out on his face. “Hi!” 

 

George has an identical grin on his face. “We should of known we would be last to arrive.” 

 

“We’re not last, Georgie. Blaise is still missing. Unless he’s hiding behind one of you?” 

 

Hermione shakes her head in amusement. “As if Blaise would ever be caught dead hiding behind one of us.” 

 

Harry can’t help but agree. He also feels a bit of worry creep through his excitement, that Blaise is yet to arrive. 

 

“He’ll be here soon.” Luna says- Harry wonders if she heard his thoughts -before moving forward to wrap the twins in a hug.  

 

“We missed you, Lue.” Fred says, returning the hug. 

 

Luna pulls back and looks at them with her head tilted to one side in curiosity. “Lue?” 

 

“Yep!” George says with a nod. “We thought we should probably give you lot nicknames.” 

 

“Lue for Luna” Fred says. “Mione for Hermione.” 

 

“We’re still work shopping Blaise’s nickname and we figured ‘Harry’ is kinda already a nickname since its short for Harrison.” George adds, with a pleased sort of smile. 

 

“Blaise will hate you for the rest of your lives if you give him a nickname.” Harry chuckles. 

 

“Maybe, maybe not. Who knows.” Fred shrugs, unconcerned. 

 

“I don’t completely hate the one you came up with for me.” Hermione muses, with a light frown as she considers the nickname ‘Mione’. 

 

“I love mine!” Luna beams, looking overjoyed with this new development. “It’s much better than Loony.” 

 

Harry’s head snaps up to full attention as his eyes lock on his best friend. “Who calls you Loony?” He asks a bit sharper than he meant to. 

 

“Alot of people.” She waves her hand around in a dismissive gesture as if she can simply wave away the reality. “Most people think I'm crazy Harry, you know that.” 

 

“Not for much longer they won’t.” Harry locks eyes with the twins and Hermione, and they nod at each other firmly, the four of them make silent pact to obliterate anyone who calls Luna Loony.  

 

Harry knows Draco has on occasion called Luna, loony, but every time it happened, he paid for it. But Harry was unaware of anyone one else calling her anything of the sort.  

 

Luna smiles, her eyes shining happily. “I like having friends.” 

 

“Couldn’t agree more.” Fred smiles, before asking lightly. “Now... could you give us a list of names-” 

 

Fred is cut off from saying anymore as the flames (once again) light green in the fireplace, and Blaise steps out with much more grace than the twins, clothed in expensive looking robes, and holding Freya in his arms (probably so she didn’t get lost in the floo network). 

 

“Blaise!” George exclaims. “You're here!” 

 

Harry notices Blaise’s slight flinch at Georges volume. Just a slight flicker of his face. Blaise doesn’t flinch with his body, Harry has noticed, it’s always his eyes or a twitch in his face. But never with his full body. 

 

“Really.” Blaise deadpans. “However, did you work that out.” He asks with a slightly mocking tone. But Harry notices his eyes are suddenly happy, relived maybe? To be back with them once more, despite his sarcastic demeaner. 

 

Blaise sets Freya down on the floor. She immediately comes bounding over to Harry, her tail wagging furiously as she yaps up at Solace (who has returned to perch on Harry’s shoulder) the raven hops down to land on the fox's head, chirping merrily and waddling around on Freya’s fur as the fox darts back to Blaise happily, clearly both of the familiars overjoyed to be together once more.  

 

Blaise shakes his head at them before looking up at Harry. They stare at each other for a moment, each of them evaluating the other. 

 

Blaise is okay. He doesn’t seem injured; he looks a bit tired and maybe a little more withdrawn than he usually is around them... but apart from that he seems alright. 

 

Blaise must think something similar about Harry’s appearance, because he gives Harry a short nod and a slight smile. “All of you are earlier than I was expecting.” He says looking around the group with narrowed eyes. “It’s not even 9:00 yet.” 

 

“I think everyone was just excited to be together again.” Luna says simply as she slowly moves towards Blaise (giving him plenty of time to back out) and hugs him gently. Blaise pats her back stiffly but doesn’t seem to really protest the hug in any way. 

 

When Luna pulls away Hermione looks around the group. “Shall we head into the ally now?” She asks. “If we go now, we can get most of our shopping done before the rush starts.” 

 

“Yeah, let's go.” Harry agrees, looking away from Blaise. 

 

“I want to go look in ‘Quality quidditch supplies’!” Fred declares eagerly, suddenly appearing to have enough energy to fuel a freight train. 

 

Hermione and Blaise roll their eyes at the same time. “Out of all the shops Weasley.” Blaise tuts in annoyance (neither Hermione or Blaise understand the brilliance of Quidditch). 

 

"Oi! That shop is great.” Fred says indignantly, looking absurdly offended on behalf of the shop. 

 

“Sure, Fred.” Hermione says with a sweet (definitely sarcastic) smile. “And pig's fly.” 

 

Both the twins huff at that.  

 

“Come on.” Harry grins at his friends, happy to be back with them after so long. “Let's go.” 

 

The brewing arguments are quickly forgotten and the six of them (plus familiars) head towards the magical brick wall that leads into Diagon. 

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