Revelations
Lily was shocked. She not only was a Descendant of one of the Hogwarts founders. But she was related to that monster.
How? How can it be true. She was also a Parselmouth and so was her baby boy!! But if she was a Parselmouth surely she would know, right?
James's head was spinning. He has to take things one at the time. First Lily.
"Lils love. Maybe we should check if you are a..a Parselmouth too". His wife looked sick, but nodded.
"And how are supposed to check that?? Do we just walk to a random snake and hope it understands Lily? Or are we suddenly gonna pull a snake out of our pockets. No Padfoot. Not the right time." Remus looked at a smiling Sirius.
"Well Moony. As funny as it is. I think we're going to use, option number 2. We do have wands in our pockets, that can produce a snake you know." Remus pinched the bridge of his nose. But Sirius did have a point.
"Serpensontria"
A snake erupted from Remus's wand. Said snake wasn't very happy.
& You Humans disturbed my sleep. Filths. I should bite you. I should eat you. Starting from the small juicy baby. Yes&.
Lily potter lost it. Never threaten to eat her baby.
& If you touch my baby I will turn you into a pair of shoes and feed the rest of you to my werewolf brother!!!& The snake widen it's eyes. Or at least appear to do so. There were two different reactions. Gasps and giggles.
& You speak our tongue woman of fire. Please forgive me. I won't eat your hatchling. I promise &. Lily blinked and looked at the others in the room. James was sitting there with his mouth open looking at her. And he also appeared to have a flush on his cheeks. Sirius was cursing happily for some reason in French. Poor Remus was shocked.
"I guess that answer our question huh?" Lily then turned back to the snake & If you promise to never harm us, especially my baby I guess you could stay&.
& I will do you one better, Fiery speaker. I promise I will protect your hatchling &.
&That settles it then. One more thing. What's your name?&
&My name is Vica speaker&.
&Well then welcome to the family Vica. You should know my son is also a Parselmouth &.
Lily turned to her family "Everyone, this is Vica. She will be staying with us from now on". Remus passed out and Sirius had to help him up. " Wait. So you understand everything she said?" James asked puzzled. "Well it was English for me. I didn't realize I was speaking in another language."
Ironclaw thought he has seen everything but this! This was something else. " Lady potter. There are books written in Parselscript in both the Gaunt and Slytherin vault. Since you are the last living Slytherin Descendant of age, they're rightfully yours.
You might find some interesting books, that could help you in the long run." Lily had to agree. " Manager Ironclaw. Is it possible to visit these vaults?"
"Certainly Lady Potter. If you and Lord Potter could follow me. Lord Black I have order for some tea, to help your husband get back around."
Sirius inclined his head " Thank you Manager that is very thoughtful of you".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After that crazy ride they made it to the Slytherin vault. Ironclaw stopped in frond of it and turned to Lily.
"Lady Potter. The founder's vault does not use a key. It will only open with blood and confirmation." James put his arm around his wife.
"What you'll have to do is. Cut your palm with this knife and place it on the door. Then you'll have to speak your name in parseltongue."
Lily nodded and stepped forward, hanging Harry to James. She sliced her palm and placed it on the door.
& I am Lady Lily Marie Potter Nee Evans Daughter of The House Of Slytherin &
The door opened. Revealing the inside. It was covered with gold, books, potions, potions ingredients, clothes. In the middle of the room stood Salazar Slytherin vs portrait. Shelves full of potions on one side and shelves of books on the other. Chests filled with gold and books. Glass bottles filled with colorful liquids. Portraits and a lot more.
"How did you enter my vault? Which one of you is a Parselmouth? Which one of you is my descendant?" Salazar's portrait demanded looking at the newcomers. Lily took a deep breath, it was now or never.
&Greetings Lord Slytherin. I am Lady Lily Potter your descendant. I just learned that I am a descendant of Great Slytherin. And I am also a Parselmouth an ability that I share with my son.&
" Well hello young one. It is sure a pleasure to meet my descendant. Thank Merlin you are a Parselmouth. And another descendant to!! Oh please young one tell me everything. What do you mean you just learned you are my descendant? Didn't your parents informed you? Merlin please tell me your parents weren't related!!" A horrified yet amused Salazar demanded.
Lily smiled "No sir. My parents were not related." Salazar visibly relaxed. Well, as much as a painting could relax.
"Hhm let me see your eyes dear. Oh my! It can't be!! I could recognize those eyes everywhere. These are Rowans eyes!!. Rowan was my youngest son, he was unfortunately born a squib. But that doesn't mean I didn't love him. Rowan was my favorite, the apple of my eyes. I was very sad when he left. But he said he need to find his own footing in the world. Hogwarts was apparently not the place for him.
You have his eyes! If you are my son's descendant then I'm your many times great grandfather. Oh please call me Grandpa Sal!" He was now smiling down at Lily who of course smiled back. " Of course Grandpa Sal. Let me introduce you to my family. This is my husband Lord James Potter and this little boy is my son Hadrian Potter, we call him Harry for short."
They chatted for a while and once they gathered the books they needed, they were ready to leave.Lily took Harry in her arms said goodbye to Salazar and was ready to leave.
&Goodbye little one. Be a good boy for mommy. I'll miss you my little snake&.
Harry picked his head over his mum's shoulder and waved at Salazar. &Bye bye gampa Sal&
That halted Lily and James. They both looked at each other and then their son. "Lily... Did our son just spoke in parseltongue?". Lily could only nod. Then a thought hit her. "James... What if...what if Salazar could come home with us?".
"What? Lily you can't be serious. It's Salazar Slytherin." Lily was having none of that.
"James that man is my Grandfather! He is family! Of course he's coming with us!! And I'm not hearing anything else!" James reluctantly agreed. So Ironclaw removed the Painting and srinked it and gave it to Lily.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Returning to Ironclaw's office they had to explain to Sirius and Remus what happened in the vault. Which resulted into Remus passing out again and Sirius looking at the painting blinking. It's not everyday you get to meet a founder, or his painting and certainly not to be able to take said painting into your home.
"Oh Lils my mother would be rolling in her grave!! And die for a second time if she saw that!" Sirius burst out laughing. To even think that the same "muggleborn" that Walburga hated was an actual descendant of Salazar Slytherin himself, made Sirius all the more willing to apparate to Grimuald Place and rub it all into his mother's face.
Remus thought that this day couldn't get more wierd. His cub was a Parselmouth. One of his best friends was a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin. And Salazar Slytherin was looking at him through a painting frame and was going to live with them. Maybe this was all a dream and he was still asleep. Yes it was all a dream, he was still sleeping.
Harry on the other hand was happily "chatting" with his new grandpa and Vica. Said snake was very happy, this little hatchling could understand her and was giving her the best pets.
"So. We are taking Salazar Slytherin home." James was still a bit worried about this. "Young Lord call me Salazar or Grandpa Sal. You are married to my granddaughter after all".
That was all the family needed and they all bursted out laughing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Salazar's portrait was resting in the family's living room. Above the fireplace. In comparison to an empty vault, the living room was heaven. Watching his little grandson play with a snake made him even more happy. He couldn't wait for this little one to grow up and finally head to Hogwarts. He was secretly hoping, his grandson ended on his House. Only time would tell.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lily was surrounded by books and parchments. She was actually studying all those books they took from Gringotts.
She was actually pretty confident she could erect parseltongue wards around their house. Although, she would have to talk with Grandpa Sal, for some advice. Maybe she could teach James Sirius and Remus parseltongue. It would definitely help them with spells. Yes. It would seem very useful.
"What got you thinking so hard love?"
Her husband's voice startled her. "James! How long have you been there?" He chuckled. "Hmm about five minutes. Now what's wrong?"
He sat down with her and she cuddled into him. "Well, I was thinking. James would you like to learn Parseltongue?". James was speechless. It was drilled into him that that was dark magic. But, how could Lily be any dark, or Harry. They are not evil. They are not dark. They are his family.
They just happen to have a special gift. To be honest James was a bit worried and a little bit jealous, he dearly loved both of them. He was kinda disappointed on the thought that his son wouldn't be as close to him, as he will be to his mother.
He also knew how the Wizarding World viewed those who were different. They would call his baby boy and his wife evil and dark. But James knew that their world was biased on anything different or new. Maybe this would change things. Maybe it was about time to leave all the hate and fear for the different behind. Maybe it was time for a change. And if his wife and son were those who were bringing that change, James was sure as hell he would support and help them anyway he could.
If learning Parseltongue would help, then James promised he would be fluent long before Harry set foot to Hogwarts. He wouldn't raise his son in prejudice. Nor in a way that taught him, to be afraid of his powers. This is who Harry was and James would be a fool to pretend otherwise. James made his decision.
"I would love to learn love. Maybe we could include Moony and Padfoot to those lessons. What do you think?". That earned him a very passionate kiss, from a very happy wife.
"Also James. I think I can create some parseltongue protective wards around our house. But I'll need both yours and Grandpa Sal's help. Would you help me my love?" Protecting his family was the most important thing in James's life.
"Anything my love. Sirius and Remus could also help. You know that yours and Harry's safety are the top priority for me". That earned him another kiss.
Lily finally got up "Come on then. Let's go and ask Grandpa Sal for his input. Then we can inform Padfoot and Moony". James's life change, probably for the best. Who would have thought a visit to Gringotts would reveal such things. These revelations were definitely life changing, yet very welcome in their lives. And James never in his wildest dreams would even dream he would be living with the Portrait of Salazar Slytherin, calling him grandpa and even learning parseltongue from his wife, who was a Parselmouth, descendant of said wizard.
Yes. His life really took a turn, thanks to those revelations.