"We really are not related, anything we have in common is coincidental and as far as I know you only have one blood relative alive and he won't be for much longer if I have anything to say about it".
The man in the portrait glared at the teen before narrowing his eyes.
"You had better have a good reason for trying to end my line boy", he warned.
Harry nodded stiffly.
"Well?", Slytherin prompted, wanting the boy to explain himself.
Harry sighed and dragged a hand through his hair.
"It's a very long story".
"Well its not like I am going anywhere boy", the man pointed out.
Harry nodded and told the man everything he knew about Voldemort and what he had done to the wizarding and to Harry personally. He explained that Tom would use his relation to the founder to gather support and justify himself and his actions.
The man listened with rapt attention, his face an impassive mask as he did so though Harry did notice his expression harden at times. When he was finished the man turned his back on the teen for a few moments before shaking his head.
"This boy did all of those things?", he questioned dangerously.
"He did", Harry confirmed truthfully.
"He used Sura to do his bidding?, He killed those without magic in my name?, He is attempting to subjugate the wizarding world?, he ground out.
Harry could only nod and watch as the man grew furious.
"Then the bastard is no blood of mine", he hissed. He began pacing backwards and forwards within the painting, occasionally pausing before looking at Harry calculatingly. He eventually paused and took a deep breath before addressing the boy once more.
"For what my family has done to yours I offer you my apologies young man", Slytherin offered with a bow.
Harry returned the bow respectively and waited for the man to proceed.
"Clearly my name has fallen considerably in the years that my body perished", he spoke sadly. "We were once among the most respected, but not for our power or through fear but because of our dedication to teaching those of youth, something that I took seriously as did my father and his father before him and now it seems that one has taken my legacy and manipulated into something foul and I assure you young man that I find such actions reprehensible". Harry was taken aback by how sincere and passionate the man sounded. It was clear to the teen that whatever people believed about Salazar Slytherin, they were very far off the mark.
"Tell me young man, what did happen to Shevah? He promised to return and carry out my instructions but I guess he did not forgive me after our last argument", he sighed.
"I'm sorry but I haven't heard of Shevah, was he your son?"
"Yes, he came here a few times to study but after I refused to allow him access to certain books he left".
Harry again dragged his hand through his hair.
"I don't know what happened to him, but if he was your son then he must have been dead for almost one thousand years", Harry explained. The man in the painting seemed to pale and he sunk into the chair behind him.
"It's been a thousand years?", he choked.
Harry confirmed it with a firm nod.
The man simply looked distraught and swallowed deeply.
"She promised to wait for me, but it was only supposed to be temporary, until Shevah carried out my instructions", he mumbled sadly.
"I'm sorry?", Harry questioned.
"My wife, Dhalia. We agreed that I would store a magical essence of myself within the portrait to guide our son if he should need but Shevah was supposed to destroy the painting as he got older and no longer needed me", Slytherin explained. "With my magical essence in here I cannot pass on, it's similar to what a ghost becomes if they choose not to pass on", he explained. Harry offered the man a sad smile as the understanding sunk in.
"So she has been waiting for you all this time", he stated.
"I can only hope".
Harry could not find the words to even offer comfort to the man. He himself was skeptical about the after life but he knew that Slytherin came from a time where belief in such things was much more prominent and he himself was only sixteen years old, he knew he was in no position to judge or question the mans views.
"Young man, I have no right to ask you for anything but would it be possible for you to carry out what my son failed to do?", he pleaded. "In return I will grant you entrance to my room beyond the portrait and everything within will become yours, he offered.
Harry looked at the man and shook his head gently. "I once wished for the same thing, to be reunited with those that I loved more than anything, and I got my wish, I won't accept payment for granting someone the same thing if I can".
Slytherin looked at him calculatingly once more and smiled a genuine smile.
"And that is why I want you to have it young man, even in my time good men were far and few between, use it well".
Harry nodded his agreement and flicked his wand into his wand.
"You will need to be able to use the cursed flames, it is the only way to break the enchantment and you must use the Slytherin tongue", the man instructed firmly.
Harry took a deep breath and braced himself.
"Fiendfyre", he hissed. He watched as a flaming basilisk erupted from his wand and began devouring the painting from the base to the top, catching sight of a smiling Salazar Slytherin before the flames fully engulfed him. When he was sure that the painting was destroyed Harry placed his wand back in the holster and crossed the threshold that had been left in the wake of the charred frame. What he saw left him shaking his head but smiling amusedly.
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