The return of Lord Slytherin

They reappeared with a soft crack in front of the Castle's main doors, they were massive and decorated with snakes slytherin on it. Hadrian turned to Harry and saw him watching the building in awe. He sincerely could not fault him, he had the same reaction the first time he saw it. With four stories and a couple of towers, it was a smaller replica of Hogwarts.

He began walking towards the doors, which opened by themselves as they sensed his presence. As they entered the entry hall, which, like the rest of the Castle, screamed wealth and pureblood at the same time, he called an house elf.

An elf appeared in front of them with a loud crack and he noticed Harry tense a little at his presence, why should Harry be nervous around house elves? Ah… Dobby, he almost forgot about the little critter, loyal house elf, a good heart and intentions even if rarely did the best of things.

"What can Soppy do for Master Sir?" He asked in trepidation.

"Take Harry's trunk to the room beside mine and organize his possessions, for the time he will stay here you will be his personal elf. Inform the others about this, in the meantime we will retire in the drawing room for tea." Hadrian replied.

He guided Harry towards the room and then he sat in a comfortable chair in front of the fire place, gesturing for Harry to do the same.

"I guess you have questions?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Who are you? Why did you take me away from my relatives? What did you do to them? And what do you mean we are cousins?!" Harry finished taking a deep breath.

"Very well, in order, I am Hadrian Abraxas Slytherin, Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Slytherin. I took you away from your relatives because you should have never been there in the first place and since I didn't want to go through the legal crap to take you I simply obliviated them and placed false memories that you went to your friend's home. And we are cousins through your mother, Lily Evans Potter, the fact that you can speak parseltongue just confirms it." Hadrian explained patiently.

Harry seemed a little confused now, "Wait, what do you mean I should have never been at the Dursleys? And how are we related specifically?"

"What you must understand Harry, is that I came back in England only recently because my father died, we did not know about yours or your mother's existence, I discovered we are related only a week ago and it took me all this time to find your residence. You should have never been placed in the Muggle's care because it says so in the Last Will and Testament of your parents, I read it while at Gringotts and a lot of guardians were specified for you in the case something happened to your parents, it also says that you should never go to them, because they hate magic and you probably wouldn't be treated well." He paused a moment to let Harry take everything in.

"As for how we are related, it is a very distant connection. Our many times grandparent Salazar Slytherin had three children before leaving Britain. Two sons and a daughter, the daughter never married, one of his sons was banished from the family for being a squib and his first son, the Heir, had two children, a boy and a girl, the boy never married and remained in this Castle till he died and his daughter married into the House of Gaunt. I am a direct descendant of Salazar, because he remarried and had other children when he fled Britain, you on the other hand come from the squib line, he probably made his life in the Muggle world and through the generations the magical potential reawakened in your mother, Lily. If you want to know, we are related to your Dark Lord Voldemort, he is a Gaunt, but if I remember correctly his father was a Muggle" Hadrian finished with disdain clear in his voice.

"So you are telling me that you and I are related, albeit distantly, and even Voldemort is a cousin of mine?" He concluded a little bit fearfully and incredulously.

"Correct. When I read the Will I noticed that something was very wrong, firstly, the Will was never read, it has been sealed by the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and then the very same became your magical guardian, I don't know why but there is something fishy about this. Figures the old goat would try to pull something with you being the Boy-Who-Lived and all that bull."

"Who is this old goat you are talking about?" Harry asked a little uncertainly.

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. I knew he was a meddlesome old man, but interfering with the Will of a Noble House like the Potters is too much even for him, there must be something for him to act like this."

Harry seemed a little taken aback by his declaration of Dumbledore, then he became enraged. "Dumbledore is a great man!" He exclaimed.

"Oh yes? Why, tell me one good thing he did for you, I don't know how you lived with the Muggles but considering your state of clothing and the fact that you are so thin I guess it wasn't the best of places to grow up. There would have been countless families that would have jumped for the opportunity to take you in, magical families, maybe you would have grown up a little arrogant dealing with your fame, but I bet you would have had a better life." Hadrian ended with a challenging tone, as if to dare Harry to contradict him.

What followed was a few minutes of silence, while Harry mulled over everything his "cousin", he was still a bit hesitant to call him that, told him. The more he thought about it, the more angry he became, it was obvious in retrospect that something was very wrong with his life.

The afternoon was spent by Harry and Hadrian exchanging stories about their lives, Hadrian told him about his travels around the world and Harry, after a bit of hesitation, told his cousin about his home life. It was with relief that he realized he could not see pity in Hadrian's eyes, anger, but no pity. They started to think about all the event that happened in his first year at Hogwarts and very disturbing things came to light. How could a pureblood family as ancient as the Weasleys not remember where the platform entrance was, the obstacles in the chambers under the third floor corridor seemed calibrated almost for them. All put together they were able to create a very disturbing picture, it was obvious he was being controlled, it was in the small things, but it was there.

It was with trepidation that Harry let himself being tested for compulsions and mental suggestion by Hadrian and when he saw his face become red and twisted in anger, he knew something was wrong. In the end, they found a couple of compulsions that pushed him to talk only with Hermione and Ronald and a few others that instilled a sense of trust and admiration toward Dumbledore.

Hadrian immediately removed them and promised to teach him a method to protect his mind from future intrusions during the next month in the Castle. Hadrian also seemed very interested in his scar and asked permission to cast a few diagnostic charms. At seeing the results he frowned.

"Is something wrong?" Harry asked with hesitation, after all the revelation in this afternoon it would not surprise him if his scar was a freaking bomb ready to explode.

"I don't know, it obviously is a curse scar and I sense a connection, I dare say, mental, but I don't understand why they didn't purge it from you. I know rituals are banned by the Ministry but surely someone would have done a purging ritual for something like this." And continued muttering charms under his breath.

After a couple of minutes, Hadrian stated. "I don't know exactly what this thing is, but is seems a connection with something, maybe the Dark Lord himself. As soon as morning we will do a ritual do purify your body, it should work and purge the thing from you."

Harry said "Well, the scar hurt during last year in front of my Defense professor and at the end of the year I discovered that Voldemort was possessing him, does this mean something?"

Hadrian raised his eyebrows. "Yes, it means we will do the ritual as soon as we can. If it hurts you in the presence of the Dark Lord I do not know what else this connection could be used for. Better be safe than sorry I say."

The next morning they went through the ritual, it was painless for Harry's part, but it hurt a little in the end when his scar split in two and a black liquid poured out of it.

After cleaning the room and cleaning his face, Hadrian decided to cast some charms to see if the ritual worked. The results were positive and Harry told him that it was like he had been living all this time through a veil, because everything seemed clearer now.

As soon as they finished, Hadrian put Harry to work, he noticed that the boy was too thin and gave him a potion regimen to continue at least until the winter holidays and then he helped Harry with schoolwork and tutored him in subjects he didn't understand and advanced material he found interesting. He also was attending lessons with the portrait of Salazar Slytherin himself, who gave him lessons about the Wizarding Culture and the proper Etiquette he should have already known.

It was during these lessons that Harry asked the same questions he did once to the portrait. Once Salazar explained why he hated mudbloods, Harry turned to him.

"Even you hate muggleborns and Muggles?" He asked.

"Yes, I hate Muggles, they are beasts and if we don't distance ourselves from them, they will draw us in their wars and useless bickering between nations and we will pay the price for it. They outnumber us and even if a single wizard like Voldemort could kill hundreds by himself, he still is a single person and they will simply kill us because there are millions and billions of Muggles, while we are a few hundred thousands all around the world. Do you get this?"

Harry nodded, still a bit confused.

He sighed. "Harry, you have to understand, that magic makes us superior, everything we do is better, our bodies are better, we live longer, we do not get their diseases and we have a superior intellect. I know there are some wizards who are idiots, but that is their fault for too much inbreeding."

"Like Crabbe and Goyle?"

Hadrian nodded. "They come from pureblood families, but they inbred too much. Magic prevents the negative effects of having children with first and second cousins, but when you reproduce with your brother or sister even magic can't do miracles. Look at them now, they are like trolls, good for nothing but hard work, even their magical power has dwindled during the years. The same could be said for the Gaunts, they were so fixated with blood purity that they ended up marrying their siblings and became all mad."

"And what about muggleborns?"

Hadrian fidgeted a little. "This is a bit complicated. In one hand, I think that magical blood is all the same, we all have magic and there shouldn't be a difference between all of us, but there are some families who have important traits, like the Slytherins with parseltongue and the Blacks with numerous Metamorphmagus. It is advisable for certain families to marry between purebloods because in this way their traits do not become lost. Take parseltongue for example, there is more to it than speaking to snakes and if we went around marrying mudbloods there was the chance of this gift being lost. You also have to understand that most of the distrust towards them originated in the past, when our ancestor still lived, nowadays they are just ignorant and this is the cause of our hate toward them. They come here, full of muggle ideas and try to change our culture, they do not understand the way Magic works and try to force us to see it their way, they do not even try to learn about our ways. Think about the old festivities for example. Samhain, the 31st of October, is a very important night, because the rift between life and death is thinner, ghosts have more power and spirits can visit the world of the living. A lot of rituals can be executed on this date. Now we celebrate it as Halloween" he spat with disgust "and we have forgotten the Old Ways, we do not celebrate Yule and the other holidays correctly because the Muggle traditions have spread too much in our culture."

He paused a bit to take a breath. "Lord Voldemort and I have similar ideals. We both want to separate the world of Magic completely from the Muggles, but differently from him, I recognize the potential mudbloods bring with them: new blood and stronger magic than most of our wizards and witches. We just have to educate them to our culture, take them from the Muggles earlier and place them with proper Wizarding families that have no children, this way everyone is happier, our pool gene expands and our magic becomes stronger. Voldemort instead wants to eliminate all the impurities, all halfbloods and mudbloods would be killed on sight or reduced to slavery. If things went his way, we would die out in less than two centuries. He wanted to bring change through war and conflicts, I will try to bring it through politics and public support. After all, what I dream of is not unachievable and the ideas are just and everyone would benefit from this.

The purebloods would get people with strong magic to strengthen theirs, halfbloods will be treated with respect and mudbloods will have a proper life in the Wizarding World and not between the Muggles."

Hadrian sighed, it would take a bit to convince Harry, but he was positive he could do it.

On the 3rd of August he received a letter from the Headmaster asking to come the following day to do the third year exams. Checking that Harry would be okay for the day, he left for the school.

When he arrived through apparition and entered the gates, he found himself being welcomed by the Headmaster, Deputy Headmistress and the other Heads of House.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, Lord Slytherin, I hope you are good?" Asked Dumbledore.

"Yes, thank you for the welcome, Headmaster Dumbledore. I am sorry to say I do not know your colleagues."

After a bit of introduction, he was led into the Great Hall, where in the morning he took the tests for Transfiguration and Charms. After a short pause for lunch, he did the practical, stunning the Ministry examiners with his wand work.

This routine continued for the rest of the week, written test in the mornings, practical in the afternoons.

He was proud to say he basically aced the tests with minimal efforts, of course, he would have hanged himself if he didn't, what with being 24 and all that.

He had a lot more conversations with Harry during the days, when he tutored him and talked with him about nothings and they got closer and closer. He took advantage of their newfound friendship to explain to Harry something he thought about.

"Harry, now that you are more comfortable with me, we have to talk about your use of parseltongue."

"What about it?" Asked Harry confused.

"What I mean to say is that it will be expected from me to be a Parselmouth and thanks to Voldemort everyone will think I am a Dark Wizard just because of this. I know you took the lessons with grandfather seriously so I know you understand a bit of politics. With your position of the Boy-Who-Lived, you cannot be seen speaking parseltongue, they will shun you and think you are the next Dark Lord. You understand perfectly how feeble the public is, do not give the journalists something like this or they will have a field day. I also think that we should keep our connection a secret, you do not want it to be public knowledge you are related to Lord Slytherin and the Dark Lord. This does not mean we can't talk to each other of course."

Harry was still a little dubious but gave in. "Okay Hadrian, we will do as you say."

It was in the second week of August that Hadrian sent a formal letter to Lucius Malfoy, inviting his family for tea Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately Abraxas could not come, as he was alredy ill.

Harry remained in his chambers with silencing charms all over the place so as not to attract their attention.

If Lucius was surprised to see Lord Slytherin was a fourteen years old, he did not show it. Narcissa was obviously trained since infancy to attend meetings between purebloods and played the perfect Lady of the House. Draco was a bit nervous being in the presence of a Lord but he behave himself.

He met them at the doors, "Lord Malfoy, Lady Malfoy, Draco, a pleasure. Please come in."

He led them to the drawing room, where tea was being served by a house elf and various sweets were already set out on the table. They sat comfortably for a few minutes, making good conversation over nothings, when Lucius asked the question everyone was thinking.

"To what do we own the honor of being invited here today, Lord Slytherin?"

Hadrian put the tea down and took a deep breath, this was not going to be easy.

"Lord Malfoy, I know we do not know each other much, but I wanted to know your family because we are related." Lucius raised an eyebrow. Hadrian chuckled. "Yes, I know I am probably related to all the other pureblood families, but what I mean is that we are more closely related than the others. We never met because my father and I were out of the country for all my life since mother died in childbirth. When father died I came back in England and waited to set the family affairs straight before contacting you."

He took a deep breath. "My father was Salazar Slytherin III and my mother was Miranda Malfoy, your sister."

Lucius adopted a look of shock before schooling his features. "And why did we never receive notice of this?"

"My mother was in France since the beginnings of the '70 and she met my father in 1975. They married a year later but they could not risk sending news because of the war, so they kept everything secret. Mother died in childbirth and after the burial father took me with him and we traveled the world visiting the various magical communities and learning obscure magics from them. I came here this spring and will attend the fourth year of Hogwarts this September."

When Lucius asked for proof of his claim, he took out parchment and dagger and did a small ritual to reveal the parents and identity of someone. After making the necessary spells, the parchment read.

Hadrian Abraxas Slytherin. Salazar Slytherin III. Miranda Malfoy.

Satisfied with the ritual, the meeting went smoothly after that. He alredy knew Narcissa was a good person, but talking with her without being the Boy-Who-Lived made the experience different. After knowing he never knew his mother, it seemed she took it upon herself to replace her. He did not know how to react to this new development, but Aunt Cissa, as she wanted him to call her, seemed to expect this and paid it no mind. Uncle Lucius, he had to reinforce his Occlumency shields considerably when he was asked to call him that lest he burst out laughing, was a bit lost. He loved his sister with all his heart and was overjoyed to have a nephew, but his other side, the more political one, was alredy scheming and planning to find a way to turn this to his advantage, it was not every day you are related to a Slytherin after all. Draco was confused, he did not know what to make of this, but even he could see this was important, so he kept his mouth shut and talked only about school and Quidditch.

Lucius also gently inquired about his political views and was satisfied when he learned he was a "proper" pureblood, meaning: he hated Muggles and would support everything against them. Hadrian dared no breach the topic of mudbloods, he knew it was a little early into the game to try to change the Malfoy's views.

They all left the manor with good spirits, Hadrian was relieved everything went well. He was expected at Malfoy Manor the following weekend for a formal dinner and be introduced to the Malfoy Patriarch.

On Wednesday they received their Hogwarts letters and Hadrian the results of his tests. He was not surprised to see he had all O's in every subject.

They went to Diagon Alley under glamour to buy their school supplies and he made sure Harry bought a complete new wardrobe at Madam Malkin's, the old witch smiled so brightly she could have lit the place all by herself.

While Harry was suffering at Madam Malkin's, Hadrian went to the Magical Menagerie in search for his familiar. He clearly felt a pull at his magic and followed it. When he entered he greeted the woman behind the desk and went immediately to the reptile section. There he watched in fascination the little snakes moving in the cramped up space that was the cage. He moved on and walked in a particular dark part of the shop where he saw it. He felt the pull become stronger and with a wandless lumos he watched the contents of the cage.

Inside he saw a beautifully colored coral snake, the color pattern consisted of a series of rings that encircled its body, wide red and black rings separated by narrow yellow rings. The label said.

Coral Snake, magical breed, venomous.

It was still little for a magical snake, he thought, it was 3'7" but he knew that when it bonded to him it would grow greatly taking into consideration his more than average magical power.

He approached the snake and hissed softly. §Hey there, little fellow. Mind if I pet you a bit?§

The snake, which was hissing angrily till a moment ago, stopped and looked at him as if it was judging hid soul. §Yes you can, Speaker. I will be your familiar."

Hadrian was a little taken aback but he shrugged it off. Snakes always seemed to know what was going on and if it alredy wanted to bond with him, all the better. He quickly paid for the animal and exited the shop. He discovered that it was a female and he named her Elvida. She approved.

Two gruesome hours later, Harry was professing his burning hate for Hadrian while they walked to Gringotts.

"Oh stop being such a baby Harry, thanks to the potions you have filled out a lot and you gained a few inches, you wanted to go to school in those disgusting rags of yours?" He asked with sarcasm.

Harry had the decency to blush. It was true, he supposed, since the ritual and the potions he felt great. The scar on his forehead faded a little and thanks to the potions he was taller and put on some weight. He wanted to undergo a ritual to fix his eyesight, but Hadrian refused, saying that there was the chance of his magic righting it during his puberty, still, he bought a new pair of glasses either way, they were silver and thin with small lenses. All in all, he gave off a new image of himself.

They entered Gringotts and Hadrian requested an audience with both their account managers.

Harry watched in rapt fascination as Hadrian managed his gold and investments, then he motioned for him and guided him through the paperwork of his Vault.

"Since you are twelve and the Heir of a Noble House, you can gain emancipation at your age, plus, if someone tries to block you, we have the Will of your parents which was obviously not followed as leverage to gain you emancipation, after that you will be able to manage your gold more freely, but you won't be able to take out objects from your vault until you claim the Lordship of your House at fourteen. Understand?"

Harry nodded, all of this was already explained to him by Salazar during their lessons but it helped being reminded of it all.

"For now, I will help you managing your investments but once you can, I expect you to do it alone and bring profit to your Vaults, Gold is useless if you leave it there gaining dust." He nodded and noted that the goblins seemed pleased from his words. Of course, they gained a percentage of his profits so it was obvious they were happy. Well, as happy as a goblin could anyway.

They continued their routine until the end of August. Hadrian went to a formal dinner at the Malfoy's and was introduced to Abraxas and he seemed to make a good impression on the man.

Harry continued to improve in his subjects, Hadrian put him through hell once he saw his marks –"I won't have a cousin of mine with this marks, I expect you to be at least in the top 5 of your year, am I clear?"-, he also began teaching him a rudimentary version of Occlumency, which he learned was the art to protect one's mind. He was mildly good, he could recognize an attempt of Legilimency and he could dispel compulsions, but he could not keep out an accomplished Legilimens the caliber of Dumbledore or Snape. Hadrian instead was pleased with his progress -"You are definitely good for your age, continue your exercises in the mornings and evenings before bed and we will continue our lessons in the weekends during school."- and told him not to look either of them in the eyes just for precaution.

Hadrian made sure Harry reviewed all his experience at Hogwarts through his mind and he began to notice that his "friends" were not so friendly anymore. Ronald always seemed to be jealous of him and Hermione got angry when he got something right before her. When Hadrian told him the Weasleys received gold from Dumbledore to be friendly to him -that had taken a lot of persuasion on Hadrian's part for the goblins to tell him- he felt like the world fell upon him but Hadrian quickly told him that they were only two people and Hogwarts had hundreds of students, surely at least one of his roommates would be his friend and in Hadrian's opinion the Longbottom Heir could go to places if he was more confident in himself.

Gaining emancipation at the ICW has been a bit complicated. One would think being the Boy-Who-Lived and all that he would have obtained it instantly because people wanted to please him, instead they wanted to protect him and thought being emancipated was too dangerous for him. Again, gold passed hands and the process went smoothly, even if a bit slow.

On the 1st of September they donned their robes and went to the platform through the Floo. This way Hadrian rid himself of the "Dobby problem" as he dubbed it. They agreed that they should act as if they didn't knew each other. Harry had prepared a cover story for this summer, apparently he was fed up with the Muggles and went to Diagon Alley and rented a room at the Leaky under false name, then he went to Gringotts where he inquired about his Vaults and the Will of his parents and he saw the deception of Dumbledore. From there everything went to the right places, he went to his manor –unplottable and warded like hell, Hadrian made sure of that- and remained there for the rest of the summer, gained emancipation and he would not return to the Muggles ever again.

Confident in their stories, they exited the Floo a few minutes from one another. Harry went first, for Hadrian had to set the Castle in lockdown as he would come back only during the winter holidays. He was still debating whether to organize a Yule ball to introduce himself officially to the other purebloods. He would think about it.

After setting the wards and the last orders to the elves, he exited the Floo on the platform and waved to the Malfoys when he noticed them. They made their way towards him and Narcissa, to his dismay, enveloped him in a tight hug. He tried to resist but her grip was too firm and he resigned and let himself enjoy the warm feeling in his chest. When he looked up he saw the smirk on Lucius face and Draco was silently laughing at him.

Feeling his cheeks warm up, he patted Narcissa on the back. "There, there Aunt Cissa, I won't die at Hogwarts. And try to remember young Draco as well." As he finished, he flashed a sadistic grin to Draco, who assumed a look of utter betrayal and resignation as Narcissa let him go and went to "her little Dragon".

He shared a smirk with Lucius and shook his hand. "Goodbye Uncle Lucius, give my greetings to Grandfather."

"Will do Hadrian, take care at Hogwarts and keep an eye on your cousin will you?" He asked.

"Sure thing, take care." And with that he left the small family to their goodbyes and boarded the train. He passed a compartment full of gingers and sneered at them. Weasleys, they reproduced worse than rabbits. He preferred to call them hypocrites rather than blood-traitors for they never married Muggles or mudbloods, instead they preached about their equal rights but in the end they were the first to have disowned a squib three decades ago and marry only other purebloods.

Shaking his head, he passed their compartment without giving them another glance. He found an empty one and sat down by himself, letting Elvida out from his robes. He was not surprised she grew during the last week of summer, the initial period of the bond had finished and she measured 4'3" more or less, she would grow more, but at a more slow pace now. She slithered around the compartment for a bit, then she coiled beside him, resting her head on his lap and letting him petting her.

Meanwhile his mind was spinning with thoughts. He did not know personally any of the fourth year Slytherins, the knew he was in class with the Carrow twins, Bole, Montague, Pucey and Warrington, all of them in the Quidditch team except for the twin sisters. He remembered the twins were neutral in the war, they did not want to get involved, as their parents before them, and tried to distance themselves from Amycus and Alecto. None of them actively supported the Death Eaters' cause, so he could very well try to convince them of his ideals, in time of course.

Of the younger years, namely Draco's years, he knew a lot of them. Millicent Bulstrode, Daphne Greengrass, Pansy Parkinson, Tracey Davis, Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott and Draco Malfoy. All of them from influential pureblood families, except from Davis, she was a halfblood.

He could easily gain influence with the upper years, with him being Lord Slytherin and what not, they were not nearly as politically powerful as those in Draco's year. With them, he had to tread carefully, he could not allow himself to alienate a possible ally because he ran his mouth without thinking.

He was interrupted from his musings as the door opened to reveal Draco with his clique. Theodore was a dark haired boy with angular features, Blaise was dark-skinned with raven hair, Crabbe and Goyle resembled more gorillas than human beings if not for the lack of fur, Tracey had strawberry blonde hair and a heart-shaped face with green eyes, Millicent was a bit on the ugly side, what with her broad shoulders and a patch of hair under her chin, Draco embodied the perfect mix between a Malfoy and a Black: slicked back blonde hair, high cheekbones and aristocratic features, Daphne was the one who stood out the most, all her posture and image screamed pureblood: perfectly arched eyebrows, a linear petite nose, delicate jaw, full lips and icy blue eyes with a mane of black luscious hair that cascaded down her shoulder blades.

Draco seemed a little surprise by his presence but recovered quickly. "Can we sit here Lord Slytherin?"

From the lack of gasps and intakes of breath, he deduced Lucius must have spread the news that he was related to the House of Slytherin. He was sure he had milked it all the way and then some but he expected it, Lucius was the perfect Snake after all.

"Certainly Draco, you and your friends are welcome to sit here, I long for intelligence conversation for once. I couldn't help but notice the hoard of gingers on the train and if they are all the same I fear they are a bunch of illiterate idiots." Hadrian replied. "And please, feel free to call me Hadrian if we are not in a formal setting."

They introduced themselves and then sat inside the compartment. There was bit of confusion when they saw Elvida but he was quick to assure them she was his familiar.

§Stay calm Elvida, they are not a danger.§ The boys were awed at the display of parseltongue and in the end, the girls gave in and asked to pet her. He relayed the message and Elvida rose from her position and slithered towards the girls, where she made a sort of nest between their robes. While Daphne and Pansy pet her, Hadrian was getting to know the others. What he learned was not news, but hearing it first hand was a different experience. He already knew what their families did to earn their money. The Malfoy's were into potion ingredients and rare artifact, coupled with Lucius' work at the Ministry. The Crabbes and the Goyles were Vassals of the Noble House of Malfoy and did what Lucius wanted them to do and received payment for their services. The Notts had vast fields where they grew food and other products. He did not know what the Zabinis did, but he knew for sure that her mother always seemed to marry rich wizards who later on would die unexpectedly and then leave everything to her. Pansy's family had a company for export of goods to the other magical societies, mainly France and Germany. The Bulstrodes invested in various companies and were not on the level of wealth of the Malfoys. Davis' was a halfblood because her grandfather had been a mudblood, but he gained the respect of the old families by creating various companies that made deals with the Muggles and brought the investors a lot of Galleons in a relatively short time. Daphne's family was famous for harvesting wand making ingredients and they grew various animals useful for potions.

When they asked about his family, Hadrian answered. "Well, at the time of Salazar, the Slytherins were the best warders of the entire Europe, the wards of Hogwarts Castle were cast by Salazar himself in parselmagic and they still hold strong after a millennium. After he left Britain those idiot Gaunts squandered the family wealth and by the time of the last descendants they were paupers and lived in a shack in a Muggle village" he said in disdain. Hadrian knew that he had their interest now. He just had to tread carefully and their families would know another Slytherin will real skills was back in Britain.

"Obviously Salazar thought in advance and he made another fortune abroad. When father died I brought all the family fortune back in Britain and closed the Vault to all the others who could have a claim. During august I went back from Gringotts and the Manor several times to deposit all the ingots we had. Now I am dealing with the goblins and making investments. I alredy know the "family business" if you want to call it like that of casting the most powerful wards. Traveling since birth I started my education very early since I have a large core and could begin in my early years, so I am alredy accomplished in parselmagic. I just have to finish Hogwarts and take a couple of Masteries, then I will continue the tradition and enter the political arena in the Wizengamot. The family seat hasn't been used since Salazar II and I intend to bring back the glory and honor of my family. What these ignorant muggle-loving idiots are saying about my ancestor is complete bull."

Blaise, who had been silent since the introductions, said frowning. "You mean his opinions about mudbloods?"

"Yes, Salazar hated them not because they had "bad blood" but because they were cowards and backstabbers. They came to Hogwarts to study magic and then they betrayed us selling families to the Muggles. That's why he thought of them with mistrust, at the time you could never afford yourself to grow complacent with them or they would turn on you. He left Hogwarts because the other founders did not agree with him and continued to teach the mudbloods. That is the reason why he hated them, not because of their blood. They are as magical as us in the end, it is just a matter of upbringing. Now the reason because we hate them is different, they come here sprouting muggle ideas and try to change our culture and traditions, they have alredy managed to make us forget about the Old Ways. What we should do is to bring the mudbloods into our society as soon as they display magical potential and place them with proper families, this way they will accept and understand the way magic works and will integrate in our society without problems." He finished with satisfaction. He knew he shouldn't have ranted about this so early in the year, but they were all interested and nodded as if confirming his opinions. They were young and easily swayed to his cause, but he better be more cautious with the upper years.

After that, they discussed it a bit more and then changer topic. He met Pucey and the Carrow twins during the trip and went in their compartment to chat and acquaint himself more with his year mates. He learned that the dormitories where divided per years and not gender, each person had a personal room which they were allowed to personalize. He alredy saw the common room in his past so he would have no surprise there.

As they arrived, he waved off his new acquaintances and stepped inside a boat with three little first years. As they rode through the lake, he sensed a malevolent aura and he narrowed his eyes toward the ginger menace. Obviously the Horcrux was alredy at work in corrupting her mind. He already had something special planned for the bitch. They arrived in front of the closed doors that led into the Antechamber, where Professor McGonagall awaited them and then proceeded with the usual tripe about the Houses.

Slytherin was the best, obviously. Cunning and ambition. How he could have gotten himself in Gryffindor was beyond him, he supposed he was a little brash and hot headed at the time, but seriously, Gryffindor? The House of the idiots? Ravenclaw was the worst of the lot, sure it was for the "intelligent" but in reality it was a pit of know-it-all that had no practical knowledge whatsoever. At least Hufflepuff had hard-workers and loyal students. It was still lame, but at least they had good qualities.

He quietly let Elvida slid down his robes and she stayed at his feet. He zoned off as they entered the Great Hall, keeping up a blank face as required to someone of his status. Even if he himself wanted to gape and point to the various decorations -the beauty of the Great Hall was ever the same- Lords do not point or gape, it was unbecoming.

He patiently listened with one ear to the song and the sorting, while he let his eyes wander. Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor table, as far away from the two traitors as possible, he assumed he already clarified the situation with them. He sat with Thomas, Longbottom and Finnigan with the female Gryffs, namely Patil, Brown and Dunbar. He nodded to himself, they were good sorts of friends for Harry. He didn't expect him to know the entire school, but he told him in uncertain terms that he should widen his circle of friends more than just Granger and Weasley.

He recognized various students in the hall and most of them were studying him, curiously asking themselves why he was in the middle of the first year midgets.

At the Slytherin table he saw Draco and the other second years all sit together and the fourth years, the twins and Pucey at least he recognized, were keeping him a seat. It was a given he would be sorted in the house of the Snakes.

At the Head table he saw Dumbledore watching everything from his high-backed chair like a mother hen would his chickens. He resisted the urge to send him a stinging hex when he saw that damnable twinkle in his eyes. To his right was an empty chair reserved for the Deputy. To his left sat Flitwick, beside him was Sprout and at the end of the table were Vector and Babbling. To the other side of the table sat Lockhart –the pompous fool was already grating his nerves-, Snape –he couldn't help but pity the man, he was surrounded by idiots, to his left and to his right- and Hagrid at the end. He was a bit conflicted about Hagrid, on one hand he was a generous and good person, on the other he was Dumbledore's man through and through.

He patiently waited until the first years were sorted. Then he notice the old goat standing up with his eyes twinkling full blast.

"As you may or may not have noticed, this year we have a transfer student. He did not attend a school previously but he passed brilliantly the third year exams and will join the other fourth years here in Hogwarts. Please give a warm welcome to Lord Hadrian Abraxas Slytherin." He gestured with his hand in the direction of the hat.

Hadrian began to walk toward the chair and he heard Elvida coming behind him. A small smirk found his way to his face as he heard the gasps and muffled shrieks from the students. He was such a drama queen, he blamed that to Salazar.

He was just three feet from the hat when it bellowed. "SLYTHERIN!"

No surprises here, he imagined the castle recognized him and the hat alredy knew that he was fit for that House. He just raised an eyebrow before bowing to McGonagall and making his way to Slytherin table where the students were clapping exitedly. He took the sit the other fourth years kept him and he noticed, as did the rest of the hall, that as soon as he sat the green and silvers of the table seemed to brighten, the banner of the Slytherin Coat of Arms above the table came to life and the snake started to move in the green camp. Elvida came up to his arm and he hissed softly to her and she wrapped herself around his shoulders.

After a few moments Dumbledore started the feast and he began to eat making conversation with his fellow classmates.

It immediately became clear that Hadrian was a prodigy in class. All the spells were perfectly cast on his first try, his written work was flawless and he casted silently. However he did not give off the know-it-all vibe, he instead helped his housemates to complete the work and this gained Slytherin a bunch of points. They were alredy in the lead. It did not help that every turn he embarrassed the gingers and sabotaged their works. The Weasley twins never managed to lose as many points as they did the first few weeks of this year. He managed to steal the Marauder's Map and that would make their escapades more difficult, above all if someone told Filch were to find them every time they set foot outside the common room during the night.

He kept in contact with Harry through a pair of charmed journals he gave him during the summer. He made sure he continued his potion regimen and the Occlumency exercises, then they would have a private lesson during the weekends in an abandoned classroom.

During the evenings he interacted with all the snakes inside the common room and steadily and carefully he managed to create a few alliances inside his House. Differently from the other houses at Hogwarts, Slytherin is a sort of playground for those that would enter politics out of school. There were alliances and a certain hierarchy. He of course started in a high place for being a Lord and the Lord of their House nonetheless. He portrayed himself as available to the younger years, helping them with the workload and guiding them through the castle, and a cunning politician to the older years. It helped that he was often seen talking in parseltongue with Salazar's portrait above the fireplace, which was famous for not having spoken a word in two decades.

With the indirect help of Draco's group, the other Slytherins started to act more cunning. He dared not speak about mudbloods yet, but he could talk them into being a bit more resourceful and not getting caught while doing something against the rules. If you want to bully a little 'Puff, at least use a glamour and blame a Gryffindor, no use in getting the blame and points subtracted for these little skirmishes. They did not speak the word "mudblood" outside the common room, this way the other students saw that Slytherin did not mean Evil and Death Eater automatically.

In the course of a month, he got the school to think of the Snakes with less prejudice, but they were still wary of them. He himself had the image of the dedicated student and was often seen in the library where he would help everyone if asked, without caring of blood status and house allegiance.

Of course he did not sit still in September, he laid out the trap for the Horcrux. He placed several wards in parselmagic around the secondary entrance of the Chamber –how Riddle thought the real entrance was in a girl'sbathroom he would never understand, that was the exit Silvana used when Salazar took her inside the school, otherwise she would use the other exits in the grounds- and he was sure Riddle never knew of the uses of parseltongue in casting wards. He talked a bit to Silvana and once brought with him the portrait of Salazar and left him there for some talking with his familiar.

Soon, the Halloween feast arrived. He made sure to be seen frequently and was always in the company of someone. He would spend the feast with the others, then use the time-turner and go in the chamber to wait for the Weaselette. It was one of his greatest moments when he thought of getting a time-turner, you never know when you need one. It was a pain getting his hands on one, that was sure, but he managed.

He spent the feast with the other fourth years, shooting here and there comments like, "Halloween, filthy muggle feast, wizards celebrate Samhain not this pumpkin rubbish" and similar.

He watched the Gryffindor table especially well and noted with glee that the Weasleys noticed their little sister was absent.

After the end of the feast, the Slytherins all returned to the common room, he remained with the other students to socialized and then retired for the night.

When he was sure all were asleep, he donned the time-turner and went inside the common room.

He searched for a little snake engraving beside the fireplace and hissed softly. §Open§

A little doorway opened and he made his way inside, casting cleaning charms as he walked and lit the torches. Salazar told him about the passages but he never had the opportunity to visit them. The old founder created a series of passages that went all through the school and could be opened only by his heirs.

He quickly went downwards, where he knew the chamber was located. When he reached a peculiar door, where instead of the usual snake he saw an engraved basilisk, he repeated the command and entered the chamber, right beside the statue of his ancestor.

He sat in a conjured chair in the corner under a disillusionment charm in front of the statue and turned the time-turner 5 times, sending himself in the past well before dinner. Now it was a matter of patience until the little girl would come out here.

He waited and waited until he heard the doors slid open. He watched as a little girl with bright red hair, freckles and second-hand robes walked into the main chamber. As the girl stood in front of the statue, Hadrian silently rose to his feet and walked behind the girl.

He bend down until his head was beside hers so she could feel his warm breath against her skin. He felt her stiffen and said.

§Hey there little girl, are you lost?§