Harry luxuriated in the bed for a minute before reluctantly standing again. He had to figure out what this Heir of Slytherin Business was and go make sure that possessed girl was still alright. If the boy was the last Heir of Slytherin then did that mean that Harry was the one who could give orders to the big snake now?

Harry stared between the cluttered room of magical objects and the library. He went to the books. The shelves rose to the ceiling and the room was quite large. There was a large painting of Salazar Slytherin hanging over a desk on the far side of the room. The painting’s head snapped to Harry as soon as he walked in the door.

“Who are you? No one but the Heir of Slytherin should be able to enter here,” the Salazar Slytherin in the painting asked curiously.

“I’m Harry Potter, I’m the new Heir of Slytherin after defeating the last one outside. He was trying to possess some girl to stabilize his body outside,” Harry said, “I am rather confused about all of this. Can you help me?”

“You? The Heir of Slytherin? Come closer, boy. I want to test your blood again, then I might help you,” the painting said, “I’m surprised that Tom Riddle was defeated, he was rather skilled. How did you manage to destroy his Horcrux? The enchantments wouldn’t have acknowledged your victory in combat if that fragment of him was still alive. And the Basilisk wouldn’t have intervened if there was a challenge between heirs…”

Harry walked forward and saw another one of those bronze metal plates at the base of the desk, “Yes, place your hand right there and it will scan you,” Salazar said and Harry followed his instructions. His hand sank in slightly and his arm buzzed slightly with magic again.

The painting hummed and seemed to look at nothing for a long moment. “Interesting,” he eventually said, “Miniscule amounts of my blood indeed. But it is there. I’m surprised one of my descendants would marry into the Potter family. I recognize your right to be my Heir until the position is taken from you by force or you choose to renounce it.”

A pulse of magic shot through the library and shot into Harry for a moment before it faded away as if it had never been.

Salazar turned to Harry and appeared much more energetic.

“So!” It said, clapping its hands, “Tell me, how did you destroy that horcrux? I’m rather curious how a student managed it.”

“I ate it if you are talking about that black book that the boy's, Tom Riddle's? Tom Riddle’s soul was in,” Harry said, “Do I have to worry about the snake attacking me? I can’t understand it very well and I don’t want to offend it by accident.”

“Ate… ate it? How? What?” Salazar sputtered before recovering, “If you don’t want to tell me something then just say so, there’s no need to make up such ridiculous stories. Nidhogg, the basilisk, will follow your orders now that you are the Heir. Not a parselmouth, surprising. How did you enter the sanctum here if you could not speak to snakes?”

Harry shrugged, “I can speak but not understand. Like this.”

Salazar widened his eyes in the painting, “Ascendant,” he whispered before closely inspecting Harry, “-and with no repercussions to you. Extraordinary.”

After a moment’s silence he shook his head and straightened, “Now, we can’t waste an ability like that. The potion was experimental, but where was it… Ah, there.”

There was a crack of air and suddenly an ancient piece of parchment appeared on the desk. Harry picked it up and read it quickly.

“Follow those instructions,” the painting said, “-and retrieve that potion from my collection. I will configure the ritual room while you are gone. If this goes right then not only will you be able to understand Nidhogg, but any language you hear. Quite a useful ability, eh?”

Harry nodded as the painting began staring into nothing. “Are you sure?” Harry said, “This potion sounds very valuable and you are allowing me to use it up after I just got here?”

Salazar refocused and chuckled slightly. “Oh, it is hardly free,” the man said, “As Heir you are given the privilege to retrieve items from this place as is your due. Depending on the value of the item you must wait a longer time before retrieving anything else. This potion alone is worth two decades of time. You will not be able to take another item from this place for at least that long. Usually you would have to prove yourself in a trial as well. But your ability is far too unique to waste. Being able to speak Ascendant… I’m far too curious to wait for this. Now go, shoo!”

Salazar waved and Harry turned around and left. He walked into the opposite room filled with magical clutter and followed the directions on the note. Harry had already memorized it so he didn’t bother looking at it as he walked through the twists and turns. There were full suits of armor, stuffed models of magical beasts. Various items sitting on pillows, all sorts of mirky bottles filled with potions levitating in the air and appearing frozen in time.

Harry found the potion he was supposed to get, it was floating and was a blazing green in an elaborate twisting glass bottle. Harry placed his hand on another of those metal plates at the base of the pedestal. They were everywhere in this place. Words appeared on the plate after Harry tapped it.

‘Retrieve potion? Yes/No’

The Yes was on one side of the plate while the No was written on the other. Harry hit the side with the Yes and the words faded away. The potion slowly floated out of the pedestal and slowly dropped into Harry’s outstretched hands. The cushioning force lasted a few seconds after it touched Harry, but finally he felt its full weight as the spell disappeared.

‘Potion retrieved. 20 Years remain until next extraction attempt’

The metal plate wrote before the words faded away a few seconds later. Curious, Harry touched the plate again. Words formed again on its surface

‘20 Years remain until the next extraction attempt.’

Twenty years was a long time, Harry thought as he looked at the glowing green potion. But if it did what Salazar said it did then it was probably worth it. Maybe Harry would even be able to thank the thestrals for their help in saving him last year if it worked. And talk to all sorts of animals and people he could never talk to before without it.

Harry walked back into the library and noticed that there was a new doorway to the right of the desk from before. Salazar was gone from his painting. After a few seconds the man walked back in from out of frame and looked at Harry expectantly.

“Now, go in the doorway, boy,” Salazar said, “The ritual is almost ready. You’re lucky I could find all of the components. I left the rest of the instructions on the wall inside. Make sure to follow them exactly, and only proceed when you know them by heart.”

Harry walked inside and after a second Salazar did too. He had another empty painting frame on the wall to Harry’s right, with the instructions written with the raised surface of a massive version of one of those metal plates covering the entirety of the far wall.

Harry turned to the painting after spending a few seconds reading, “I’m ready, is there anything else?” he asked.

“Are you sure, boy? Nothing can go wrong or there might be disastrous consequences for you as well as wasting the potion,” Salazar replied.

Harry tapped his forehead with his free hand, “Don’t worry about that. I have a perfect memory so I already have it memorized,” Harry said calmly.

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Salazar raised an eyebrow. “You just keep getting more and more interesting, don’t you, boy? Well, that’s good. You will be perfect for this. Make sure to make the timing as exact as the instructions specify. Timing is everything for these things. Are you ready to begin?”

Harry nodded and stepped forward into the center of the sprawling diagram written all over the floor of the room in a thin layer of silvery metal. Near the perimeter of the circle were various magical components that Harry had never seen before. Some were glowing slightly and Harry even saw an elongated tooth at the far corner.

He stepped into the central circle, the potion held in his tight grip. Harry unstoppered it and waited in silence. He would have to say things with exact timings or it all might fail.

“Begin,” Salazar said as the silvery metal and diagrams began to glow and buzz with magic.

“Attune,” Harry said.

“Attune,”

“Attune…”

Over and over Harry chanted as the diagram around him grew brighter and brighter. Occasionally he would pause for a few seconds before continuing, letting the ritual do its work. Several of the ritual components began glowing and lifting off the ground, spinning rapidly in place as they blazed with magic.

“Attune,” Harry continued,

“Attune,”

“Attune,”

Harry’s throat was a little sore as he repeated the word for the forty-ninth time. It was time.

“Attune.”

Having said the word fifty times in Ascendant, Harry brought the potion to his lips and began to drink as quickly as he could, careful to not spill a drop.

Harry had a ten second window to drink it all, and he finished the bottle in six. The magic was building wildly around him and each of the components around him appeared as little more than spinning balls of glowing magic.

Harry took a deep breath and waited for the precise moment. The metal wall in front of him was counting down the seconds for him.

3… 2… 1…

Harry shouted at the top of his lungs, “ATTUNE TO ME!”

The diagram pulsed and all the building magic rushed inwards to impact Harry all at once in one massive wave.

Harry almost grunted, but made sure to stay silent as the magic pulsed through him wildly, making changes that Harry didn’t understand. All he could feel was that the potion was guiding the process somehow as the energy attempted to run rampant and damage Harry.

After the longest ten minutes of Harry’s life, the magic petered out, the ritual complete in its changes to him. Harry looked at Salazar who was still there looking at Harry in interest.

“Did it work?” Harry asked.

“You tell me,” Salazar replied in a hiss.

“I understood that? It's so strange, I heard you hissing like a snake, but at the same time as fully formed words…”

“Yes, I’m glad it worked,” Salazar replied, “Every communication you hear, human or beast will now be translated into your language of choice, Ascendant in this case. As it is such a powerful language, this ability will allow you to understand the speech of almost anything that lives. With lesser languages it only allows understanding if the languages are close enough in structure. I truly can not think of a better use of that potion, my Heir… The ritual was very well executed, a flawless performance.”

“Thank you, I couldn’t have done it without your help,” Harry said, “Does that mean I can now understand Nidhogg the Basilisk?”

“Yes, yes, of course. Go have fun getting to know each other. Nidhogg has served here for over a thousand years, you would do well to befriend him. Unlike the last Heir who viewed him as a tool.”

Harry turned to leave and walked outside back into the library. Salazar followed in the painting there. But before leaving, Harry paused and turned back to the painting.

“Do you have anything I could use to heal somebody? The girl that Tom Riddle was trying to possess didn’t look very good and I would like to heal her.”

“How pure is her blood compared to yours?” Salazar asked.

“I don’t know, I’ve never even talked to her before,” Harry said with a faint frown. Did Salazar really promote that blood purity nonsense? Harry had read it both ways in the textbooks.

Salazar seemed to notice Harry’s disapproval and raised his hands placatingly, “Oh, I’m not for that blood purity nonsense my descendants cooked up to control the masses. In my day the muggles were still actively hunting us. Having the muggleborns being taught here and then going back to their wizard hunting parents and telling them all about us was a risk for the school. No reason not to accept them these days with the statute of Secrecy dealing with that problem. No, I meant in regards to myself. If she has my blood with enough magical purity then you could invite her in here and I could treat her as your guest. Accommodations for others in the family, you know. If she doesn’t have my blood then you could not do this and the defenses may attack her.”

“Well, I don’t think that’s true,” Harry said, “So what should I do?”

Salazar nodded to himself, “Here, this is my replacement locket after my original one was stolen from me. I’ve made sure that this one is better at dealing with thieves,” he said and after a second a locket with snake motifs and silver appeared sitting on the desk.

“Put a drop of your blood on it,” Salazar said, “And it will allow you to create an entrance, and more importantly, exit, to the chamber at your command while you are within the Hogwarts castle. The tunnels are spatially compressed, so don't worry about having to walk too far as you go through. The locket will inform you of where you can and can not create an entrance or exit. But it is flexible. And it can turn invisible if you will it, so make sure to hide it if you around those who are... unappreciative of your heritage. You can use it to carry the girl out yourself, get her treatment by someone competent. Make sure to return, I am interested to hear the true story behind you defeating the last Heir.”

Harry looked around as he realized he had nothing to cut himself with. Realizing the problem, Salazar also made a knife with a silver handle appear.

Harry picked up the knife and pricked his thumb, letting a drop of blood fall on the locket. Harry’s magic vibrated for a moment and he picked up the locket and put it around his neck.

He looked up to the painting. “Thank you for everything, Salazar. You are a lot nicer than the history books say you are.”

Salazar snorted. “History is written by the victors. And my descendants were certainly not the victors of the magical world from what I’ve heard from the other Heirs. The buffoons bought their own propaganda after a generation or two. Pathetic. Come back soon, Harry Potter.”

“I will,” Harry promised, “Bye for now.”

Harry went back outside, through the door into the large cave, through the tunnel, and back to the main chamber with the Basilisk, Nidhogg. The girl was still unconscious and Harry sighed in relief as he saw that her chest was still rising and falling slowly. She appeared to be stable.

Harry looked up to Nidhogg who was still swaying there watching Harry as he stood over the girl.

“Salazar helped me perform a ritual so I can understand you now, Nidhogg,” Harry said, hearing the hissing sounds he made at the same time.

“Excccccellent, I think I will like you more than the lasssst Heir,” Nidhogg hissed back, “Alwayssss ordering me around like a tool. Could you bring me some meatssssss when you come back? I’ve had to hibernate for a long timesssssss so I do not ssssstarve.”

Harry nodded. “I’ll try to bring something. Can you make sure not to petrify anyone else in the school? I was very upset when I heard you targeted my friend Hermione.”

“I’m sssssorry, Heir,” Nidhogg said, “I made sure not to killllll any with my gazzzzzze despite the orders of the last heir. My misssssion is to protect this school, with its importance second only to the chamber itsssself. I did not like attacking this school’s students for the lassssst Heir. But orderssss are ordersssssss.”

“Well, please don’t do it again,” Harry hissed to Nidhogg, “But I think I understand. That Tom Riddle really seems like a bad person. I’m glad I don’t have to feel too horrible about consuming his soul. I have to go now, talk to you soon?”

“Talkssssss soon, Heir,” Nidhogg hissed back before turning and slithering back into the open mouth of the statue to his cave.

Harry put his hand to the locket around his neck and felt hundreds of locations on Hogwarts grounds that he could make the Chamber exit from. The locket also told him that the entrance to the girls bathroom was still open. With a thought, Harry ordered it to close. He didn’t want anyone to come down here and get trapped and possibly end up upsetting Nidhogg. Harry was lucky that the snake seemed to like him and hadn’t followed Tom Riddle’s orders to attack him immediately.

Harry thought about the location he should exit from. He didn’t want to tell the Aurors about how he could get into the Chamber. They would not like that with how Salazar’s reputation was in the modern day. And Nidhogg and Salazar had seemed rather eager for Harry to come back to visit them in the future. Harry was sure the Aurors would just lock the place down and not ever let Harry inside.

Harry leaned over and grunted as he slowly dragged the girl's limp body over to one of the walls, careful so her head wouldn’t hit the floor as he moved her. Looking at her face, she did look vaguely familiar. Harry tried to recall where he had seen her before as he dragged her.

Harry chose his exit and the wall in front of him shifted into a doorway. He grabbed the girl’s arms and began dragging her through and as they slowly went through the tunnel, Harry finally remembered where he had seen her. It was Ginny Weasley, Ron’s sister! Good thing Harry had been there, Ron would have been devastated if Tom Riddle had succeeded in killing her to resurrect himself…