Harry sat at breakfast the next morning and couldn't believe what he was reading. Hermione had come through for him again and what she had found was both amazing and scary. He had a dark power. According to the parchment he was reading, it was an ability that was used by the darkest of dark wizards, Voldemort. It was even said that Salazar Slytherin himself had the same ability and that was why his house symbol was a snake.

“You could be his great great great whatever grandson.” Hermone whispered from right beside him.

Harry nodded and took out a piece of blank parchment and quickly wrote out two notes. He used the envelope spell twice and put the notes into them, then looked up to see Hedwig coming in with the other owls. He put his books forward for her to land on and she let out a soft hoot in greeting and gave him a letter.

“It's from Sirius.” Harry said and Hermione leaned in close to read it. “Ha, he said that the head healer is forcing him to ask me to visit more often.”

Hermione chuckled. “Of course she is.”

Harry smiled and nodded. “Oh, he's finally finished the Dirigible Plum cauldron cake I gave him, too.”

“Good for him! I had to summon the one that got away from me when I opened the box of cakes you gave me.” Hermione said and gave Harry a pointed look. “Thanks for telling me that they float.”

“Did the house elves get the icing off of the ceiling?” Harry asked and avoided her gaze.

“Yes.” Hermione said and she shook her head. “They licked it off.”

“Ha! I knew they would.” Harry laughed and took out another piece of parchment. “I was sure that they didn't use magic to clean, and now we know.” He wrote out another letter and made another envelope, then did another as Hedwig ate some of his eggs. “I've got four for you today.”

Hedwig hooted and took a quick drink of his juice, then she held her beak open.

“Amelia, Bertha, Sirius, and Madam Malkin.” Harry said and gave her the envelopes. “Thanks a lot, Hedwig.”

Hedwig touched his cheek for a moment with a wingtip, then she took off and disappeared out the window she had just come in.

“At least she's getting lots to do.” Hermione said.

Harry nodded. “I was a little worried that she would be bored and sitting around while I was in school. I'm glad that I've gotten to use her just as much as I did at home.”

“I think she is, too.” Hermione said. “Not that I can read an owl's face any more than you can.”

“I've been too busy to practice meditation.” Harry said. “Plus, we're almost done of all the bathrooms.”

Hermione chuckled. “What's left after that? The ceilings?”

Harry smiled. “Nope. I've been doing them before going to Filch's office.”

Hermione gave him a surprised look. “I thought you weren't allowed to clean using magic.”

Harry grinned. “Only when I'm in detention.”

Hermione's mouth made that little 'o' of surprise and Harry quickly picked up a small breakfast sausage and popped it right into the hole. She jerked a little, then the two of them burst out laughing.

Harry's supposed dark ability of speaking to snakes was completely forgotten.

*

Filch was very proud as he strode through the halls and everything was bright and clean. Wood shined from polish, metal gleamed, and the floor was clean enough to eat from. His expression darkened a little as a group of students walked by him. Most of them ignored him, too caught up in their own lives to bother with him. What he noticed however, was that their shoes didn't leave marks on the stone floor. He frowned and looked down at his own feet.

“Meow?” Missus Norris asked.

“Aye, lass. I don't see the dirt from shoes on the floor, either.”

“Meow meow.” Missus Norris said.

Filch nodded. “I do believe the lad is responsible, despite my rule.”

“Meow.” Missus Norris responded.

Filch sighed. “I know he means well.”

“Mrow.”

“No, I don't think I can tell him that I can't maintain whatever he cast on the floor.”

“Meow mrow.”

Filch looked down at her and she looked up at him. “No, you're right. I don't think he'll care that I can't use magic.”

“Meow.” Missus Norris said and walked on.

“All right. As long as he's not doing it where I can see him, I guess I can't be angry at him for it.” Filch said and followed her.

*

An hour later, Amelia's door opened without the person knocking. She had expected the visit however, and had left it unlocked and told the secretary to not say anything.

“Did he send you a letter, too?” Bertha asked as she shut the door.

Amelia held it up. “Short and sweet, just like him.”

Bertha had to smile at that description, then she came over to her friend's desk and sat down. “What should we do about this?” She asked. “If it gets out that he's a Parselmouth...”

“That boy has been touched by the darkest of magics, Bertha.” Amelia said. “Considering his home life, I am very surprised that he hasn't become an unholy terror.”

Bertha stared at her for several quiet moments, then nodded, albeit reluctantly. “He's focused on learning as much magic as possible first, so we can at least guide him towards not destroying his relatives.”

Amelia chuckled and put the letter down. “I would have arrested them as soon as I heard, if I didn't think they would be even harsher with the boy if I did.”

Bertha nodded again. “Yes, we don't want to escalate their verbal abuse to physical.”

“They smack him for making mistakes.” Amelia said, remembering Harry occasionally flinching when he answered a question wrong, then the slight look of surprise when he wasn't hit for it. “I've half a mind to pull him away from his relatives and the house entirely.”

“You can't.” Bertha said and Amelia gave her wide eyes. “He's protected by blood wards, remember?”

Amelia riffled through her papers and picked up the report from the Magical Maintenance Department. “I thought I remembered reading something about that.” She said and flipped through the report. “Yes, here it is. It's a very powerful and very fragile protection ward.”

“I don't know how that's possible.” Bertha said. “How can it be strong and weak at the same time?”

“It's simple, really. As long as he calls that place home, he's protected from a lot of nasty things, especially dark detectors and evil spells that mean him harm.” Amelia said. “I think someone cast them on him and the house to stop you-know-who's followers from finding him.”

“Oh, I see.” Bertha said. “That makes sense.”

Amelia nodded. “The moment he turns seventeen, the legal age of an adult, or he decides that place is no longer home, the wards break and he can be found.”

“Then it's a good thing I had the maintenance people put the full suite of enchantments on the place.” Bertha said with a big smile.

Amelia chuckled. “In for a knut, in for a galleon, right?”

Bertha chuckled, too. “When the famous Harry Potter asks the Ministry of Magic for help, he will get that help.”

Amelia agreed, wholeheartedly. “Well, now that you're here, we can discuss the Sirius situation.”

“You got the copy of the letter I sent you?” Bertha asked and she nodded. “I hope you don't mind taking time to ferry the boy to his godfather for a short visit on Saturday mornings.”

Amelia almost laughed. “I warned you to not pester the poor man.”

“It was the best way to test his sanity.” Bertha said, a little smugly. “Plus, he never did like me. I wanted to see if that was worse after his prison time.”

“Uh huh.” Amelia said. “You're also lucky he loves Harry so much.”

“So is he.” Bertha responded. “Harry is going to be essential to his recovery.”

Amelia nodded. “I have no problem picking Harry up a little earlier and spending an hour at the hospital.”

“Excellent.” Bertha said. “Would you like to have a late breakfast or an early lunch?”

Amelia laughed. “Let's go for early lunch, just so our secretaries won't complain that we're goofing off.”

“But we are goofing off.” Bertha said with a smile.

“I intend to work through the rest of the day after this, thank you very much.” Amelia said and stood. “I'll need calories for that, though.”

“A woman after my own heart.” Bertha stood as well, then the two of them left the office.

*

“This is amazing.” One of the school governors said as he sat at the table with the others, who were just as surprised about learning that Salazar's monster had been real and also that it was dead.

Lucius Malfoy was not amused. He had plans for that monster and with a few dark objects still in his possession. He had tried several times to get rid of them over the last ten years and he couldn't do it. He had been holding them for The Dark Lord and every time he thought of removing them from his home, he was either compelled to keep them or stayed his hand from harming or destroying them.

“What do we do about it?” One of the others asked.

“We announce it, of course.” A woman said, her face almost pure joy. “Imagine the prestige the school will gain for defeating a legendary monster.”

“What was the classification?” A man asked.

“The highest possible. It's a Class Five restricted creature, right up there with dragons and manticores.” She responded. “Imagine! The teachers at the school handled a Class Five!”

“Yes, yes. This is wonderful news.” Another man said. “We should get a report done up immediately.” He looked at another man. “You have a contact at the Daily Prophet.”

“I've already called her.” The man said. “She'll be here in an hour.”

“Good work.” Another man said. “Should we ask the teachers for an interview?”

“Not right now.” The woman said. “We can give them accolades and save that for the follow up articles.”

“You plan to milk it as much as possible?” He asked.

“We can keep people talking about it for weeks.” The woman said, her smile so bright that the others had to smile in return.

Lucius did his best to smile as well, despite his disappointment. He knew that the other followers of The Dark Lord were not going to be happy when they learned of it.