Archive of Our Own

Harriet wasn’t happy to leave her friends, not at all. They weren’t happy for her to go either. Elara had hugged her tight and promised to send letters. Hermione had nearly refused to release her.

It was, in the brief time she had to say goodbye, when Hermione offered advice.

“He thinks you’re his daughter, from that incident there was. Or one version of his daughter at least. And you’re his apprentice, which makes you doubly his. Play into it, if you can.”

“Play into it?” Harriet had asked.

“If he tries to act- well, nice, lean into it. You can go with shy I suppose, it works better than afraid, hopefully.”

“Pretend he’s a third parent,” Elara suggested. “I mean, he’s not, but he’s probably at least a cousin.”

Harriet saw the look her friends shared, a moment of doubt of Slytherin not being her parent. But neither of them dared to voice such a thought, not to Harriet.

It didn’t really matter to Harriet in the end, James Potter had died for her to live. What more could she ask of a parent?

But she understood their point. Slytherin was a possessive bastard, if Harriet even went along with it a little, he’d probably be very pleased. And keeping him happy was part of the goal, she thought.

If he was pleased with her, he’d probably teach her more.

Harriet swallowed and nodded to her friends. She’d do her best to play along, as awkward as it would be.

She was glad Snape would be there too though, he could cover for her stumbles.

She took a deep breath as Snape opened the common room door, bracing herself for what was to come.

She just needed to act like a shy uncertain daughter of Slytherin. She wants his attention but doesn’t wanna seem over eager- so follow along with his actions.

That shouldn’t be too hard… hopefully.

Slytherin sat in his preferred place by the main hearth. The common room was dark, light supplied only from the faint flames which burned low. Slytherin was writing in a bound leather journal, tilted towards the light as his quill moved quickly.

He made one last mark in the journal as they entered before snapping it shut and tucking it into his robes.

Harriet shifted, uncertain how she was supposed to act with her “newfound dad”.

“Good evening, Miss Potter,” he said finally, his gaze turning away from her as she came to a stop in front of him.

“Er—hello, Professor?”

It sounded more like a question than it ought to.

“Master,” he corrected, voice like a whip crack. “That is my proper form of address.”

“Sorry, Master,” Harriet replied quickly, ducking her head.

She didn’t think this was going particularly well.

OO OO OO OO

The place Slytherin took her too was odd, though pleasant enough. She eyed the various symbols and sigils above the doors with curiosity. Some of them were familiar, from her studies in Runes or just from time with the Flamels.

Slytherin stopped them before a tall, crooked building bearing a simple thread and needle on its painted sign. It was a touch creepy as they walked in, and Harriet wondered if drifting closer to Slytherin would make him think she was a fraidy cat or if he’d accept it as her trying to stay near him.

She decided to risk it, drifting close to him as they stepped in and an empty mannequin spoke.

“Uh, Master?” Harriet managed, trying to keep the manners he was insisting on in mind. Slytherin tipped his head to indicate he was listening. “Where are we?”

“My personal tailor, Miss Potter.”

Harriet thought that was rather obvious, seeing how there was a mannequin in front of them and the sign was rather tailor like.

She didn’t call him a twat like she wanted to, but instead shuffled slightly closer to him, peering around.

“It’s getting late,” she offered slowly, hesitantly, “are they not closing soon?”

Slytherin tilted his head to examine her, and she peered up at him uncertainly.

“No,” he said finally. “This is not a shop that closes at night.”

Harriet wondered what that meant, and shifted, fingers tugging at her sleeves.

She wished she’d thought to change before coming, at least to get the cake off. Maybe they wouldn’t be at the tailor if she had.

A door in the back thumped and opened, a short, spindly gentleman with a monocle and thick white hair coming through with his arms full of heavy fabrics. He froze when he spotted their group, strange eyes (that Harriet could’ve sworn she’d seen before) widening. He dipped into the best approximation of a bow as he could.

“L-Lord Slytherin!” he said in a reedy voice that matched the mannequin’s. “An honor, as always, as always. I was not—ah, expecting you. Was there an issue with your last order?”

“No, Mr. Jestergrass. I’m here for a different reason.”  Slytherin’s hand pressed between Harriet’s shoulder blades and she took a small step forward before he could push. “I need you to make my apprentice presentable. A full wardrobe, though she’ll need something to leave the shop in as well.”

The man, wizard? Harriet could’ve sworn she knew something about him but… he fidgeted and regained his composure.

Harriet tuned out part of their conversation, wondering about the man and why she felt like she knew him- not him specifically but someone like him.

“Your name, miss?”

Harriet blinked back to attention, “Harriet. Err, Harriet Potter.”

His comment about her age and wizarding apprenticeships was what made it click. He was a fae!

He ushered her back to get sized shortly and Harriet felt rather overdressed by the time he was done.

But Slytherin examined her as she stepped out, hands coming up to smooth the rope hanging over her shoulders. She stood straight, near holding her breath and hoping he was pleased with everything.

Play along, she just had to play along and seem—eager? For his favor? Or his attention maybe?

Harriet really didn’t know how she was to behave regarding her position as his daughter/apprentice.

“Much better,” he murmured. “You will dress like this while you are my apprentice. You have been given a great honor denied to many others. You will not sully that by appearing like an unfortunate Mudblood tart. Do you understand me?”

Harriet nodded, smoothing down her robes nervously. “Yes, Pro- er, Master.”

Slytherin nodded, moving to speak with Mr. Jestergrass and after a moment of hesitation, Harriet trailed after him, hovering by his side and listening as the two spoke about her outfits.

Slytherin’s hand idly nudged her properly to his side as he spoke about her clothing and she did her best to appear attentive.

She really did think this was stupid, but play along and all that.

Slytherin didn’t necessarily ask for Harriet’s thoughts, but he did compare some fabric swatches to her. Once he even asked her which shade of green she preferred of the options (there were no less than thirteen shades in front of her, she didn’t think the shading as that important).

She picked one that shimmered slightly, it reminded her of Livi’s scales and the way they caught the light. He wasn’t green, not like the fabric, but she liked the effect.

She appreciated it, a little. She didn’t want the clothes at all, but at least she got some say in how Slytherin was going to be dressing her up. And she did think the moving patterns, subtle but rather pretty, were wicked.

She just would’ve preferred to not have such expensive looking clothes.

OO OO OO OO

Her first night at the new house was marked by Slytherin’s annoyance.

He was annoyed by the hosts not being there to greet them.

He was annoyed that Harriet’s room wasn’t actually prepared correctly.

He was annoyed that they didn’t have food prepared for a late dinner.

Harriet hovered by his side and tried to avoid drawing his attention as he cooly directed a house elf to actually clean the dust in the room she was assigned.

“I don’t mind,” she’d murmured softly to Slytherin. She’d lived in worse conditions than a dusty room.

“You are my apprentice, an extension of myself, you are owed the same respect that they would show me. Do not allow them to treat you as lesser.”

Harriet nodded, not saying anything further as he ushered her into the room she was assigned (next to his). It was no longer dusty and her trunk was at the foot of the bed. Otherwise, it was a nice enough room, though she preferred her room at Grimmauld Place.

Slytherin glanced it over, seemingly deciding it was now satisfactory.

With that, Harriet was left to her own devices for the night.

She didn’t bother unpacking, just pulled out a set of pajamas and changed quickly, folding her new clothes carefully before dropping into bed.

OO OO OO OO

She was motioned to the seat on the right of Slytherin for breakfast, shifting from her prior position further down the table. He sat at the head, not touching his food.

He humored Mr. Aeter, smiling lazily and giving him nominal attention. Cicero didn’t seem happy about the lack of care for their words.

Harriet kicked her feet briefly and swallowed a bite of the food. She was a touch wary of poisoning after the words of Cicero and Mr. Aeter, but the spoon on her necklace was uncolored still so she felt relatively safe for this meal.

Harriet was certain he’d only joined the meal to make everyone uncomfortable, but it quickly became obvious that he’d also joined to explain exactly why Harriet was his apprentice and not any of them.

“She is exactly what I wish for in a student,” he murmured. “Why would I choose anyone lesser?”

Harriet figured she should keep a close eye on her food for poison. Maybe she should get a bezoar…

“She’s very young,” one of them mentioned, eyeing Harriet warily.

“Indeed, it makes her skills all the more impressive, does it not?”

Harriet felt her cheeks warming some, and she shoved some eggs into her mouth to avoid needing to speak.

None of the ones at the table looked terribly impressed with Harriet but that was okay, she wasn’t here to impress them.

Slytherin seemed content to needle at his followers and for the moment Harriet was his weapon of choice. Harriet kept quiet and ate, trying not to blush too much as Slytherin effusively praised her.

She wasn’t certain he actually meant most of the praise, he was never this nice in private. She figured he was just messing with his followers.

But it was still flattering and also nerve wracking to hear him talk about her like she was some kind of prodigy.

She remembered Elara and Hermione, remembered that she was supposed to play along. She was fairly certain she’d crave praise from her dad if he’d shown up in her life, so maybe she should act more pleased?

She tried to imagine it being James Potter praising her like this but it was hard. She didn’t really know him for all she grieved him.

She imagined Mr. Flamel praising her like this and smiled. Okay, she could work with that.

OO OO OO OO

In private he was far less effusive with his praise.

Her first rendition of the runes didn’t please him well enough, and he made sure she knew it.

“Sorry- er, Master. I’ve not really focused on runes like this before…”

He quirked an eyebrow, “Have your little projects with your… friends not included runes before?”

Harriet wondered how much he knew about the Atlas, she hoped not terribly much.

“Yeah- er yes, they have but not the whole set- I mean, we tended to focus on a handful of runes and then picked them apart until we knew every way we could use them.”

Slytherin hummed softly, tapping his fingers, “Then do the same with these.”

Harriet looked down, barely hiding her horror. “All of them?”

Slytherin smiled, “I suppose that might be a bit much for the first day, let’s say- I want a breakdown of five runes by the end of the week. Analyze their various uses and meanings and suggest three unique ways they could be applied either alone or with the support of other charms or runes.”

Okay, Harriet could do five- assuming she had reference books. This was an old home; it definitely had a library.

“Okay,” she said. “I mean- yes, Master. I can do that.”

“Indeed, now then, let’s focus on the next recitation, shall we?”

Harriet picked up her quill and got back to the runes, debating which ones she might want to start with for her analysis.

OO OO OO OO

Slytherin wasn’t around at all hours, and when he was gone, she was left relatively to her own devices.

She avoided most of the others in the house, wary of their hatred and jealousy. But she did her best to take advantage of the resources the home offered. That’s what Slytherin had brought her here for, she was rather sure.

So, she spent time in the library, pulling down big old books on runes and newer slim volumes discussing individual runes. She took notes the way she would with Hermione and Elara and did her best to fill their roles in her rune research.

She picked five runes the first day and finished her breakdown of all five within a few days, even with her personal studies with Slytherin.

She figured he’d assign her more runes anyways, so she started on another rune once she finished the current one.

She was reading one of the slim volumes on the rune she’d picked, ansuz, when Slytherin returned from… somewhere. He hadn’t mentioned where he was going.

“I don’t believe ansuz is one of the runes you were planning to work on,” he noted smoothly as he claimed the seat across from Harriet.

She peered over at him, noting his raised eyebrow but placid expression. So, he wasn’t annoyed, probably.

“I finished the first five,” she said, “so I thought I’d start on the next one.”

“And you finished the reading I assigned you?”

She nodded, “Yes, Master.”

The faintest of smiles touched his lips, “Good. Finish up on your analysis of ansuz then bring me what you’ve done so far. We will review your work tonight.”

Harriet nodded, shuffling the parchment she had scattered in front of her into some semblance of order. She’d need a better organization system if this kept up.

Fingers ghosted over her head for a moment, and she jolted, looking up to find Slytherin leaving.

Well, at least he seemed pleased with her work? She was going to take that as a win.

OO OO OO OO

Slytherin didn’t spend many meals discussing Harriet and the apprenticeship, but if someone else brought it up he was always delighted to take advantage of it.

One of the younger members of the group, still older than Harriet and several years out of Hogwarts, had made the mistake of commenting on the fact that Harriet was reading some “basic beginner texts on specific runes”.

Harriet knew they were more basic beginner texts of course, but that’s why she was starting with them. Hermione had taught her how to research, sorta, over the time they’d studied together.

Starting basic, with the simplest concepts of something, gave you a jumping off point. It let you know what you didn’t know and where you had the most questions. Harriet had been using the set of beginner rune texts (which were super helpful, she hadn’t seen those in the library at Hogwarts and was considering ordering herself a set, Hermione would love them) as a jumping off point for her analysis of the specific runes they covered.

Slytherin, of course, was well aware of this. While he hadn’t said much about it to Harriet, other than to elaborate on the runes further and explain far more uses for them than Harriet had realized, he was delighted to explain her reasons to whoever the girl sneering at Harriet was.

“My apprentice is smart enough to know that starting with the basics is an important aspect of gaining an in depth understanding of a concept. Though I’m certain you have read a few more advanced runic texts, without a solid foundation all you’d be able to get from them is surface level knowledge and understanding.”

Harriet wondered if she should ask Professor Snape for ways to identify poisons, because the look on the girls face was certainly poisonous enough to kill on its own.

“Perhaps she could explain some of these basics to us then,” suggested their host. “I must admit to being rather curious as to the depth of her knowledge in runes.”

Slytherin tilted his head, eyes sliding to Harriet.

She swallowed her current mouthful of food, recognizing the silent order for what it was.

“Ansuz, or Anne-suhz, can be said to translate literally to Woden, referring to Odin as he is known by many today,” she started, though she was sure that none of them particularly cared for her to elaborate on the nature of Odin’s name. “It’s uh- it’s conceptually known as Breath or Ancestral God. Some do argue that it means a more general concept of God, but considering the nature of the Rune and the origin perpetuated it likely refers to Odin.”

She took a sip of her drink, trying to order her thoughts so she wasn’t just rambling on without any order.

“It can of course be utilized to refer to the concept of divinity as a whole, along with a number of concepts more specifically tied to Odin such as language, casting, ancestors, breath, speech, poetry, and communication as a whole. It’s most commonly utilized to reference the Gods or communication of some sort in runic arrays, making it very common in translation arrays and rituals for the Gods.”

Harriet took a breath, and another sip of her drink.

“Ansuz is considered to be a rune based in order, which is another reason it’s so useful for translation arrays. It’s been argued that Ansuz can be used to order chaos, or to call upon the natural order of the universe. It’s also got a connection to life, in its conceptual meaning of breath. It’s been stated by uh- Theriz?” she paused to consider the name. “Yeah, him, he’s argued it’s also connected to the first breath you take and the source of inspiration for life. So, it could be utilized in healing arrays as well and some healing spells reference the rune.”

She glanced at Slytherin here, not sure how much more he wanted. She’d given a basic summary of the analysis she’d written for him, even including some basic examples of how it was used…

He smiled, “As you can see, her method of studying the runes is rather effective.”

Harriet ducked her head, imagined it was Mr. Flamel complimenting her skills, and smiled.

She thought she was doing rather good at this whole- act like she wants her supposed dad’s attention thing.

OO OO OO OO

Harriet was enjoying the runic array game she was playing. It wasn’t technically a game, but it was fun to figure out how different runes went together.

She was trying to piece together a sequence that might work on a folder, to organize the contents and make it easier to keep track of her work. The system she was using said her work was both right and wrong which was a tad frustrating. What did she have wrong?

She added jera to it, wondering if starting with a date-based organization sequence would be better, when a spell caught her by the ear and tugged her to the side. A moment later the couch dipped, and Harriet got a glimpse of Slytherin’s robes before falling into his side.

She could’ve stopped herself, technically maybe should’ve, but she never did with Mr. Flamel (not that he’d ever done this particular thing) and she was using her reactions with him as the basis for how she’d act around a dad version of Slytherin.

His fingertips brushed on her shoulder, and she tilted her head to peer up at him in confusion.

“What isss it you want, Harriet?” he hissed, soft and winding. No one dared to look at him except for Harriet, who blinked up at her ‘new dad figure’. “I musst admit, I’ve given it thought, and though I’ve come to my own conclussionsss, I musst assssk…what is it you want?”

“I…” Harriet cut herself off, if he was speaking in Parseltongue to her then he wanted it to be between them. “I don’t know what you mean, Massster.”

His fingers idly trailed over her shoulder, tapping against the couch for a moment before he stretched his arm over the back of the couch once more.

“Everybody wantss sssomething,” Slytherin elaborated, lifting a hand to gesture to the room at large.

Harriet was rather certain most of them stopped breathing at the motion. She shifted, tucking herself closer like she would with Mr. Flamel.

Slytherin graced her with a smile before continuing. “People who come to me have a desssire they wisssh fulfilled. I wisssh to know yourssss.”

“I jussst want to learn,” Harriet hissed back.

Slytherin canted his head considering Harriet silently. She flicked her gaze back to the runic array in front of her, rearranging it to see if the different arrangement would help.

Slytherin dipped his hand plucking up a rune and flipping it, so it was inverted.

The array lit up green.

Harriet frowned, studying it intently, how did inverting odal get that result? She was using it for its meaning of possession, as in ownership of an item- She was combining that with the association for order and direction. Inverting it would add a refusal to bind things… It was more chaotic-

“Why would it work inverted?” Harriet finally asked after trying to puzzle it out.

Slytherin hummed, idly twirling a strand of Harriet’s hair with a finger.

“While it has an assssocciation with chaotic energy and a refussal to listen, and commonly can interfere with runic arraysss if not placed correctly: Your use of anssuz and naudiz balanccesss it. Especially naudiz, which drawsss it from bucking against the resst of the runess to following the need that naudiz attesstss to. It would be more effective if you tied naudiz directly into anssuz, with jera as an offshoot.”

Harriet studied the arrangement and started to understand. Making all the different runes work together was tough, she usually left the connection part to Hermione. She’d have to find some more info on it… or just let Slytherin keep lecturing her.

“But, you attemptsss at making ssomething to organize your thingsss asside—”

And of course he’d figured out its meaning immediately. Harriet resisted the urge to sigh and instead peered back up at him.

“—we were talking about your happinessss, yess?”

“I ssuppose sso, yess.”

He smiled, amused by her words.

“You ssay you simply wish to learn under me, and yet if that were all you desired you’d be more of a raven, hmm?”

Harriet couldn’t deny that, so she nodded.

“Why do you want to learn?”

Harriet wasn’t certain what to say to that, so she took a moment to peer back at the runic array in front of her.

It still wasn’t exactly what she wanted, so she started fiddling with dagaz. It had to fit in somewhere-

Slytherin seemed content to wait for an answer from Harriet. He twirled her hair and watched her try to puzzle out how to best associate dagaz into the array.

She connected it with jera, day and year being good for timing. Hopefully the use of dagaz would also help with the runic arrays ability to read the information she included…

She remembered what Hermione had said, what Elara had nudged her towards. She knew that Snape wanted her to not get too close and Dumbledore wanted her to learn as much as she could.

But Elara just wanted Harriet to survive, and Hermione wanted them all to thrive.

Harriet… Harriet wanted to live. She wanted to have her friends with her and live. She wanted to be safe, for them to be safe.

How would that translate to something that Slytherin would be happy with though?

She fiddled with the dagaz, trying to make it link to the jera and ansuz separately. Maybe two dagaz? But that might muddy the connection.

Hermione suggested playing to his expectations. He believed her to be his daughter. She was an orphan girl who’d been raised by spiteful muggles.

She thought of Mr. Flamel and Flamel home. She thought of the happiness and safety of it, of them.

She thought of wanting to never leave.

“I want a family,” she hissed, more honest than she wanted to be with Slytherin. “But my parents died because they didn’t know enough, they weren’t ssstrong enough, or clever enough.”

She didn’t want to insult her parents, it wasn’t their fault at all. But playing into it would help… and she was a bit of a rubbish liar so going with honesty on some level was better.

If they’d been faster, more clever, better hidden, stronger- maybe they’d have lived.

“But you’re clever and sstrong and know a lot, you wouldn’t die like that. So, I want to learn from you.”

Harriet hoped that played into his expectations. And gave him whatever he was looking for in this conversation.

Slytherin stopped toying with her hair, draping his arm over her shoulders and tilting her jaw to look up at him.

His teeth gleamed, a smile sharp and pleased curling his features.

“I am indeed all thossse thingsss. I can teach what you need to know, my apprenticcce. Though I do hope your interesst in a family doesn’t disstract you with banal teenage romancce like this last year.”

Harriet knew her cheeks were flushed; she felt the heat on them.

“I-“ she swallowed “-I wassn’t ever interested in him like that- I didn’t realize he wasss interessted in me until- well- the ball- and then he turned out to be-“

Harriet couldn’t finish that bit, letting her eyes drop from Slytherin’s even as she made herself curl into his arm a bit.

It was oddly safe next to him. She knew that no one in the house would dare look at her wrong with him in the room. He’d taken great joy in tearing them apart for such things already.

It was like having a scarier monster hovering over her, daring the other monsters to try and take a bite of his prey.

“Yesss, he didn’t turn out to be who you thought, hmm?”

Harriet nodded.

“I’m not interessted in any romancce,” she added, for his benefit. “I just want to learn right now. I’m not sure why everyone is so interessted in romancce anywayss, they all act a bit barmy.”

Slytherin laughed then, and Harriet was certain she saw a few in the room jump. There were more in the lounge than there was earlier but none dared to look at the two of them on the couch.

Slytherin’s hand dropped from her jaw, lazily toying with her hair once more.

“Yes, teensss do tend to act a touch barmy about romancce,” Slytherin agreed, looking quite pleased once more.

Harriet was left reeling from hearing Slytherin say barmy.

“It is a usseful tool at times, sso long as you don’t get sswept up in the nonssensse.”

Harriet nodded, trying to look as attentive as possible to her supposed dad (in his eyes).

“I won’t,” Harriet said. “But I’m not ssure how it can be useful. Everyone seems to lose their brainsss when it comes to romancce.”

“That’s why it’s usseful,” Slytherin all but crooned. “They’re too busy with their feelingsss to notice other thingsss going on. It is esspecially usseful if you’re the object of their emotionsss. Many will do jusst about anything to gain the affection of their crussh.”

Harriet found that baffling. She’d do a lot for her friends and people she cared about… and sure she’d broken the law for them… but some of the people that others crushed on were just- strangers. They’d do anything for strangers?

“People are sstrange,” she settled on.

“Indeed, but undersstanding them is a key aspect of thriving in this world. I will enssure you know what to do.”

His fingers brushed Harriet’s shoulder once more as he settled more comfortably into the couch, Harriet still leaning against him.

She adjusted her own position, trying not to lay on him too much. But his robes were soft and his fingers had begun idly combing through her hair and she felt oddly wrung out after such a delicate conversation.

She let herself sink against him a bit more, adjusting the runic practice piece she was working on to poke at it some more.

Slytherin seemed content with the conversation they’d had for the moment and struck up a conversation with one of the others in the room. He didn’t move from his position so Harriet didn’t either.

She’d laid against both of the Flamels’ many times before. She was pretty sure that was a thing people did with family, she definitely did it with her friends. Her leaning against him should only help with the whole thing.

Also, she was too lazy to get up at the moment.

She tuned out the chatter around her as she focused on the runic array once more and tried to figure out if it would work for what she wanted. It definitely looked better than any of her other tries. Maybe she could test it with a paper folder? Something that she didn’t mind burning up if necessary?

Slytherin would probably know if it would work but she wanted to figure this bit out on her own. It was kinda fun playing with runes.

She tugged a piece of parchment out of her pocket and scribbled down the rune array for later then went back to trying to create ridiculous rune combinations.

She had fun combining the runes in increasingly complex ways, trying to puzzle out combinations and placements that would get a good result. She rather liked some of the combinations she thought up, though she wasn’t sure what she’d use them for.

She was puzzling over one that she thought would summon some kind of rain, or maybe a snowstorm? She’d included hagalaz which would incorporate hail probably but she wasn’t positive with the combination of uruz and sowilo how that would work.

Slytherin tapped her head then, drawing her attention once more from the runic array.

“You still have an essay to write on laguz tonight,” he reminded her. “Best get to that.”

And Harriet, tired from a long day of studying, her brain fried from runic arrays, having spent the entire week reminding herself to act like Slytherin was her dad, and very comfy after getting nice head scratches for the last hour, made a grave mistake.

“Yess, dad.”

There was a beat of silence as her words caught up to her. There was a moment of shock on Slytherin’s face.

And then her face flushed, the head crawling down her neck, and she quickly shot up and snatched up her things, fleeing the room.

That was horrifically embarrassing, she could not believe she’d just done that.

She was going to hide in her room and pretend that had never happened.

At least it was in Parseltongue so no one else ever had to know she’d done that.

OO OO OO OO

After venting to Livi and her golems, and screaming into a pillow for a few minutes, Harriet got to work on her essay on laguz. Or well, more like got to finishing it. She’d gotten a lot done earlier just hadn’t finished with the examples of use.

Maybe she could make Snape give it to Slytherin and avoid him for a little bit longer?

Those hopes were dashed by a sharp knock on her door and a pause just long enough for Livi to turn invisible before the door opened and Slytherin came in.

Harriet wondered if it was too late to jump out a window.

 “Have you finished your essay?” he asked, eyes pausing on Rick who had decided to make a painting and was currently making a mess with ink on a piece of parchment.

“Er- yes- um- Master.”

He quirked an eyebrow, “Master again?”

Oh, Harriet was just going to die. She felt her face warming all over again and ducked her head.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I didn’t mean to-“

Fingers combed through her hair and Harriet could feel the smugness coming off of Slytherin.

“There is no need to apologize,” he crooned. “You are mine. I will allow such… informality, so long as it is just between us.”

Hermione was so right, Slytherin was radiating pleasure at her calling him dad. He was sounding so smug and satisfied—Harriet could at least draw comfort from the fact that her plan was working even if it was horribly embarrassing.

She peeked up at him carefully, his fingers smoothing down her hair before tucking under chin to make her look up properly.

“Understood?” he asked.

She swallowed, “Yes- ah… dad.”

She hissed the dad, uncomfortable calling him such in English. That was for James Potter.

Besides, Slytherin seemed like he’d be happy with her using the language only the two of them knew for it.

And indeed, he did look pleased, smile on his lips and eyes gleaming.

“Now then,” he said, pulling his arm back. “Your essay?”

Harriet quickly collected it from the desk and handed it over.

Hopefully this wouldn’t have too many repercussions.

OO OO OO OO

Harriet cursed herself for calling Slytherin ‘dad’. Like, on the bright side he seemed to be a bit nicer even in private now and she had a quick way to make him soften ever so slightly. On the downside-

“Oh, I’m sorry, but my apprentice is simply better than all others who wished to be in her place.”

He was now bragging about her even more.

She shoved more food in her mouth with as much decorum as she could manage considering Slytherin was currently comparing a Rune’s Master’s daughter to Harriet in terms of rune knowledge and finding the other wanting.

Like yeah, Harriet had been doing a lot of deep dives into runes and their meanings- but she was still pants at combining them. Slytherin had mostly stopped lecturing on the individual runes now and was focusing on the various methods of combining them instead.

It was very helpful, and Harriet had pages of notes that she just knew that Hermione was going to demand to see, but she was still figuring out all the fiddly bits of rune combinations. There was so much that went into it!

She hoped no one at the table took too much offence to this mess.

OO OO OO OO

Harriet knocked on Slytherin’s door until he opened it, looking at her like she’d lost her bloody mind.

“I need to go back home,” she rushed to say. “Gaunt—I mean, someone tried to kill my god-sister.”

Slytherin peered at Harriet, looking rather unimpressed.

“And? Is she dead?”

Harriet blinked, opened her mouth, then closed it. She remembered what Elara and Hermione told her to do. She took a deep breath.

“She’s... she’s not dead but- he could target her again.”

Slytherin sniffed, “And you expect to do what?”

Harriet stared a bit helplessly.

“Did you not say you wish to learn from me to be strong and clever enough to not fear for your life?”

She swallowed and nodded.

“You have certainly not learned enough to keep yourself alive, much less others. There is no reason to rush home just to confirm your god-sister is as alive as you know she is. You will see your friends when term is due to start and not a moment sooner. Am I understood?”

Harriet wanted to argue, wanted to rage about this. She wanted to go home and be certain her friends were okay.

But she had a role to play. They wouldn’t want her to endanger that, not when her role was meant to make sure that she could live, that they could live.

She nodded, “Yes- yes, dad.”

Slytherin’s annoyance settled somewhat at the Parseltongue word and he stepped back to consult the grandfather clock in his room.

“We have an excursion to make today and will set out in an hour,” his gaze flicked over Harriet’s wet hair and damp robes. “I’m sure you will appreciate the distraction. Use the next hour to make yourself presentable, daughter.”

Harriet’s eyes widened even as the door snapped shut.

Slytherin had called her Potter, Harriet when he was in an exceptionally good mood, and apprentice… but never- never that.

She turned and found Snape waiting in the corridor, watching her.

She didn’t even know where to start on what had just happened, so instead she lifted her chin, scowled when he raised an eyebrow, and swept to her room.

OO OO OO OO

Harriet stumbled a bit to keep up with Slytherin.

She knew, from experience and comments they’d heard from others, that Slytherin was possessive and didn’t like to share.

Though he’d had Snape help with some things, he’d seemed displeased the few times Harriet had gone to Snape for help over him. So, Harriet thought it better to focus on Slytherin at the moment, ignoring that he was bringing Snape along with them.

Plus… he’d called her daughter earlier. And with the whole- act that Hermione and Elara had encouraged- she’d be quite interested in holding his approval right then, right?

She imagined she’d be clinging to Mr. Flamel if he’d done that. She wished she could cling to him.

But she was here, and she had a job to do. So, she did it as best she could, trying to keep up with Slytherin and watching what he did.

She wanted to think on her friends but Slytherin was next to her and Elara’s voice was in her head saying to pretend Slytherin was a third parent and if she had a real third parent she’d listen to them while out here.

She needed to learn, needed to get better. She needed to survive and to make sure her friends did too.

So when Slytherin stopped for the third time to study some moss, Harriet asked what he was doing.

“Tracking,” he said. “It’s a touch more advanced than the runic work we’ve been doing. I shall supply you with books on the basics when we return.”

And in the meantime, he began explaining how to track trails of magic. To study the local plant life to determine what had been touched by magic and what hadn’t been. To identify the trails in the woods and to take the bark to feel what had come past.

Harriet was handed pieces of bark and moss to try and get a feel for it but even when she wrinkled up her nose and squinted at it with all her might she couldn’t figure out what he’d seen.

She could get some of the stuff he explained, the position of the sun, the color changes of the plants. She thought the tree he’d paused to show her, that was naturally patterned with a runic sequence, was wicked.

Slytherin explained it was born of druid groves, though didn’t elaborate much despite her curiosity.

“Another day,” he’d said, hand on her shoulder to lead her away. “We don’t have the time today.”

Harriet picked up the signs of a settlement and peered at them in surprise. It didn’t look like a normal town or village.

She jolted when Slytherin caught her hood and pulled it up.

“Discretion, daughter, no need for them to know your identity.”

She tugged the hood down further, trailing at his side uncertainly. He was still calling her daughter. In Parseltongue alone, like how she called him dad.

She tucked close as they entered the area, his fingers ghosting over her shoulder briefly but otherwise he ignored her doing so.

He spoke with two shabby wizards, dressed in black. She watched them carefully as they interacted.

They were dark wizards, for sure. And clearly believed Harriet to be one as well.

She didn’t understand what they spoke of, searching for something for Slytherin she’d gathered. They’d found it, they assured him, and got it undamaged as agreed upon.

A book was pulled from their bag and offered to Slytherin. It felt slimy, coiling with dark magic and dripping to stain their hands.

Slytherin swept it up into one arm and offered a little gold pouch in return.

Harriet thought it was wise of the shabby dark mages to refuse payment.

The money disappeared back into Slytherin’s pocket, and his hand landed on her shoulder to guide her back out of the settlement.

She didn’t look back, but she did wonder what they thought of this. What this looked like to others.

She fiddled with her sleeves and peered at the disgusting feeling book warily.

Slytherin smiled, teeth gleaming, and the book vanished into his pockets. They had to be expanded, there was no way they were just that big.

“Now, let’s see how well you can guide us to the next location.”

Harriet despaired for the hours they would be lost in the forest, but he motioned her forward and she moved forward.

What followed was indeed a solid two hours of her examining the plants and trees the way Slytherin had shown her on the way to the first site and yet not really understanding even those signs she could pick up on.

Slytherin occasionally chimed in, explaining an aspect of it to her, but for the most part seemed content to let her try (and fail) on her own.

She could ask questions, and he did answer them (if sarcastically at times) which she thought got them somewhat close to another settlement.

She was about ready to give up at hour three, her legs burning from all the walking after so long confined, when she caught sight of another tree with runes naturally formed on it. Like the Druid tree from earlier.

That one had been near a settlement, was this one too?

She checked the area around the Druid tree, finding a few pieces of moss that looked a shade off to the West.

Slytherin smiled when she hesitantly guided them that way and signs of settlement started to appear once more.

Okay, so that took far far longer than Slytherin guiding them but… she had managed to figure it out.

Eventually.

“Room for improvement,” he mused, stepping up beside her and taking the lead once more. His hand caught her hood and dragged it back up from where she’d let it drop while searching the woods. “But not terrible for your first attempt.”

She nodded, tired and legs aching. She hoped they’d be done soon.

Slytherin spoke with these dark wizards a while longer than the last, not getting a new book but rather… information?

They talked about things, some she understood, some she didn’t. The habits of werewolves with Greyback dead, new laws in the works, rumors of someone inquiring into the state of things.

The Malfoy’s fleeing their home was mentioned, though the cause was uncertain and had mixed rumors apparently.

Even letters being sent to various dark families, by Hermione though the one responsible was unnamed by these wizards, was mentioned.

Slytherin seemed satisfied with the information they brought and once more guided Harriet out of the settlement. She hoped he wouldn’t have her guide them to the next one.

“Tired?” His question was light, but it felt like a trap.

“I haven’t been moving around as much this summer,” she offered hesitantly. “I can keep going.”

“Indeed,” his head was tilted down to study her. “We have one more stop today before we head back.”

Harriet nodded, staying by his side as he led the way through the woods to the last stop.

This route was faster, barely thirty minutes with Slytherin guiding the way. It was a touch scarier, however, as they passed a stake with a wizards head on the top.

She’d taken a step away from it before thinking and Slytherin’s hand settled on her shoulder once more.

“Come along,” he chided, “the fool wandered where he shouldn’t have and paid the price.”

She tangled her fingers in Slytherin’s sleeve, not wanting to hold his hand. But wouldn’t he expect his daughter, when scared, to reach out to him? Especially when he was right there.

He said nothing about her action, merely continuing to guide her (and Snape, hovering behind them) through the woods.

“They’re scum of the Earth,” he murmured. “Scavengers and criminals who can’t eke out a living among proper sorcerers. However, they have their… uses.”

“Finding things?” Harriet asked, peering up at him.

His finger curled around her wrist from where she was holding his sleeve. She did her best not to react.

“Indeed. Finding things, gathering information, removing problems. No one cares what the scum does, which let’s them wander a touch more freely than the rest of us.”

Harriet nodded and continued with him.

The final settlement they stopped at had poachers. Harriet’s heart ached seeing the animals trapped in too small cages. Some were dead and piled on top of each other.

Some creatures she recognized from class, some she didn’t. She didn’t like poachers.

Slytherin was quick with them, sending Snape to speak with some to the side while he discussed finding a specific ingredient he wanted.

Harriet peered around at the cages, gaze lingering on a glass terrarium with a strange snake inside. It looked listless, slow and bleak.

“A black tailed rattlesnake,” Slytherin murmured as the man he was speaking to went to speak with someone else. “Looks like an experimental breed, as they typically aren’t such a bright blue but rather more gray.”

“It looks… sad,” Harriet said, not sure how else to explain it.

Slytherin raised an eyebrow at her, but Harriet didn’t know exactly what to say. It looked lonely, listless, defeated.

She rubbed at her collarbone, where Livi would be if he was still wrapped around her. He was practically too big for that now, but she’d grown a habit anyways.

Slytherin hummed, then wandered over to the snake, Harriet stumbling as she hurried to follow.

“Hello,” Slytherin greeted the snake.

Its head rose, peering at them curiously.

“A sspeaker?”

“Hi,” Harriet added, peering at the snake.

It really was a striking blue, with dark stripes of black and brown scattering down its body. Harriet thought it was a rather nice look.

“Two sspeakers, what bringsss you here?”

“My daughter found you intriguing, are you interessted in leaving thisss cage?”

Harriet felt the flush crawling up her cheeks even as she jolted to stare at Slytherin in surprise.

“No more cagesss?” the snake demanded. “Or would I ssimply enter a new cage upon leaving thiss one?”

“No more cagess,” Harriet answered immediately.

Slytherin’s lips twitched, “As sshe ssaysss.”

“Why would you do ssuch?”

“All proper sspeakersss ought to have a ssnake for a time, don’t you think? And my daughter is rather ssmall, the runt of her age group. She could usse a ssnake to warn off threatsss until she is deadly enough on her own.”

It was clear the snake agreed, and it swiftly said as much. Harriet felt rather insulted at her small size being used against her once more.

Slytherin seemed amused by the sound she made at being called the runt of the litter, a gleam of a smile flashing at Harriet.

“Usse it to your advantage,” he said. “You will be underesstimated for your ssmall ssize and sslight form. It can only help you.”

“A sssmall form will let you sstrike from below,” the snake agreed.

Harriet huffed, “I’m not that ssmall.”

The snake looked her up and down.

“You are the ssmallest human I have ever sseen,” the snake noted.

Harriet was so offended.

Slytherin outright laughed at the words even as he waved his hand and opened the small terrarium. The snake reached up, winding around his hand and wrist and up over his sleeve.

Slytherin held the snake out to Harriet.

“Do you have a name?” she asked as she accepted the snake, letting it, her, coil over her arm.

“The humans here called me Ssam.”

Slytherin scoffed softly, “You shall have a new name.”

Harriet felt his eyes on her as she studied the snake.

“Do you like Ssally?” Harriet asked.

Slytherin sighed, “You could offer something more formal, such as Cecily, Sselene, Rossalie.”

Harriet shrugged awkwardly, she liked the simple names.

“Ssally short for Sselene?” she offered. “I like the short names, they’re fun.”

Slytherin sighed, “Very well, Sselene, Ssally for short.” And softer, “Ssally, how ridiculouss.”

Harriet couldn’t help but grin. Maybe she couldn’t help all these poached animals, but at least she got the one and managed to exasperate Slytherin. She loved exasperating him when he wasn’t gonna hex her for it.

“Thank you, dad,” she hissed, curling her fingers in his sleeve with her free hand.

Slytherin’s annoyance melted into something nearly smug.

“Do keep Sselene with you. We will gather ssuppliess for her shortly.”

Harriet wondered if now was a good time to mention she already had a snake but decided that was a conversation she did not want to have. So she nodded and thanked him once more, smiling as the snake hissed violently at the poachers who returned.

Slytherin gracefully threatened them without sounding too threatening and got Sally for a steal. Not literally, or Hermione and Elara would’ve had Harriet’s head (they already would for the new snake she’d just gotten-). The poachers were suddenly very happy to just give up the snake for free. They got permission, so it wasn’t stealing.

But Harriet was pleased enough, especially as she rather suspected Slytherin would’ve had her pay for it.

“Come along,” Slytherin said. “We’re returning now.”

Harriet hurried along beside him, petting her new snake. She hoped Sally got along with the others, though she suspected Livi was going to be horribly jealous. He was not happy that he couldn’t come with her.

The path back was easier than the path there, Slytherin leading the way with confidence. He still made Harriet point out any signs of magical passage she could, but it was a much easier walk.

She fell a bit behind Slytherin, lingering to peer at different mosses and hiss explanations to Sally on the area. She squeaked as she tripped, nearly falling if not for Snape catching her arm.

She peered at the brick buried in the weeds then looked up and around.

The large irregular rocks around the clearing made a new amount of sense, they were the remains of houses. A village.

Black soot scorched the bones, and nature had hidden the rest.

“The Dark Lord’s doing,” Snape muttered. “Or Slytherin’s. Or Gaunt’s.”

Harriet didn’t answer, a hand coming up to pet Sally. Sally hissed confusion at them stopping.

“He can make you believe in anything he says, but this is the reality. Entire villages or communities fed to the fire because they did not bow to His whims, and they were too far from the Ministry for them to do a thing.” Snape passed her, his robes brushing her arm. “Do not forget he would do the same to you in a heartbeat, Potter.”

Harriet stared after him in confusion.

Of course she knew that; it was why she was here. It was why she was learning from Slytherin, why she was playing along as his daughter.

It was why she was doing her best to be on his good side, all those things Snape always warned her of.

She huffed and hurried forward, passing Snape and catching up to Slytherin who was looking back, annoyance on his face.

“Sorry,” she murmured at his raised eyebrow. “Sally had questions about the houses.”

His gaze flicked over the clearing, no recognition on his face.

“Yes, a tragedy this poor village.”

He didn’t sound particularly sad for it, but nor was he sneering like he often did to those he deemed as unworthy of his time or care. Harriet wasn’t sure what to make of it.

Slytherin held out an arm, expectant.

Harriet swallowed but reached up and took his hand, his fingers tight as he tugged her forward and led the way once more.

Sally hissed a question about their path and Harriet answered as best she could, pointing out the magic signs that Slytherin had taught her earlier.

Slytherin didn’t let go of her hand, or even speak again, until they arrived back at the house. Harriet was released and told she had the afternoon free, and he would let her know when the things for Sally arrived.

She escaped to the library, not wanting to introduce Sally to the other snakes just yet. She figured she could start with the next bit of work and explain to Sally what she was doing.

She hoped to distract herself from her desire to go home, to introduce Elara and Hermione to Sally and to make sure they were okay. They were being threatened by a madman.

She read the book aloud to Sally to distract herself, explaining what concepts meant when Sally didn’t understand them. Sally slithered from her arm to drape over her neck, peering at the book and commenting on the lack of pictures.

Harriet successfully distracted herself, to the point that she didn’t realize dinner had passed until Slytherin came in. She heard him lingering behind her for a good minute as she explained the concept of combining runes from different alphabets to Sally.

“I ssee you’ve neglected dinner this evening.”

Harriet lifted her head then, twisting to peer at him. “Ssorry, dad, I wanted to get started on tomorrow’ss assignment.”

Slytherin tapped his fingers together, studying Harriet with a scorching gaze.

“Come, apprentice,” he ordered.

Harriet pushed out from her seat, marking her page in her book.

He led her out of the library and to the study that was his, tapping his wand in his hand all the while. She ignored the people they passed, including Snape who watched them with sharp eyes.

Slytherin closed the door behind her with a flick of his wrist.

“I have a conundrum,” he mused aloud, pacing to the shelves and pulling out a slim volume on rune alphabets. “I do so prefer to mark my people, something that… let’s me call for them.”

Harriet thought of the Dark Mark and swallowed.

“However, none are mine as much as you are.”

Harriet was a bit worried that the plan was working too well. She stroked Sally and peered at Slytherin warily. Him being possessive was roughly the idea of the plan, the whole basis of this strategy. But she realized there was a risk of it backfiring and him not letting her go at all.

“And it really just wouldn’t do to mark you like one of the common rabble,” he mused, turning to Harriet with the book open. “And yet, you are doing rather well and should be marked.”

Harriet very much did not want another mark on her body, thank you very much. Especially not as an award. However, she could recognize that Slytherin was viewing it as one and her denying that might not go over well.

She took a slow steady breath, trying not to get queasy, and tried to figure out a way out of a literal mark on her. The brand was enough, she didn’t need another.

“It’s just to call me to you?” she asked slowly. “Not- not for anything else?”

Slytherin smiled, “It has no other real purpose. It’s hardly as crass as the Dark Mark—“ he sniffed “—rather subtle and fulfills its one purpose well.”

Harriet’s brow furrowed. She’d seen the Dark Mark at work, making it possible for Voldemort to call upon his Death Eaters. She assumed that whatever Slytherin wanted to do was similar. Did that mean the Dark Mark had other purposes? Beyond calling them?

“Maybe you could charm something?” she offered. “Something that would let me know if you called me?”

“And what if you forgot it,” he chided, tapping his fingers on the book.

“Something I’d wear!” she blurted, thinking of the Atlas and spoon and crow’s skull on her necklace. “Like a bracelet or necklace. And uh- charmed to stay, so I wouldn’t take it off and no one could take it.”

Slytherin took a moment to consider her suggestion and for a moment he seemed to be dismissing it. But then something gleamed in his eye and Harriet thought he’d come up with something.

She wasn’t sure she’d like it, but Slytherin seemed pleased with whatever had occurred to him.

“Yes,” he murmured. “I can work with that.”

Harriet didn’t breathe a sigh of relief, not out loud, but she certainly felt like doing so as Slytherin snapped the book in his hands shut. He moved to the bookshelf, replacing it there and then swept towards the door.

“Come, daughter, we still must set up the care for Selene.”

Harriet hurried to her feet, catching up with Slytherin quickly and hearing the door snap shut behind her with a brush of magic. Slytherin guided her with a hand at her neck to her room and she was relieved that Livi was hidden away when they entered.

Things had been left on the desk in the room. A terrarium, food, soft sand, some rocks.

Sally hissed curiously, peering at everything.

“Now then, have you ever set up a terrarium for a snake before?”

She shook her head. She didn’t count the one for Livi since the berk never went in it.

“Come here, you shall do the work for your snake but I shall guide you.”

Harriet nodded and hurried to follow his directions as he explained how to arrange the terrarium.

It wasn’t terrible, being around him. And that scared Harriet more than she thought it would.

OO OO OO OO

It was several days later when Slytherin brought her back to his study after another dinner where he’d expounded on how superior she was. Seriously did he do this just to see how long it would take for the others to snap?

She trailed after him all the same, Sally around her neck as she’d taken to staying. The others in the house were newly wary of her with the blatant sign of favor in the form of a new snake.

It was after she was sitting in her spot in front of his desk (and it was her spot, he kicked others out of it when she came in now) that he pulled out a small black box.

“Your gift,” he said, looking rather pleased with himself.

Harriet took the box and opened it, peering at the bracelet inside.

It was delicate looking, a weave of vines- no, a weave of silver snakes threading over each other. The eyes gleamed with small emeralds, or perhaps a different green stone. It was intricately detailed and could not more obviously be a Slytherin bracelet than if it had the name of the house branded on it.

She carefully picked it up out of the box, turning it in her hands.

“It is quite shiny,” approved Sally.

Harriet couldn’t help smiling faintly at the snake’s commentary. Sally had proven to be a lover of shiny items over the last few days.

“Well?” Slytherin asked lightly.

“It’s lovely,” Harriet said honestly, if a little surprised by the amount of work he’d apparently put into the item he was using to call her to him. It occurred to her that she didn’t know how it would call her, hopefully not by biting. “How does it call me?”

“The metal will warm, the hotter it is the more urgent it is you come.”

He plucked the bracelet from Harriet’s hand, picking up her wrist with his other hand and sliding the bracelet on.

“It cannot be removed by any method except my hand,” he said, idly studying how it looked now, as the snakes slithered tighter onto Harriet’s wrist so it wouldn’t slide off. “And should you be in dire need of my presence… and I do mean dire—” the look he shot her was clear on the consequences should the need not be dire “—then you can tell the snakes in Parseltongue that you need me, and I will be alerted.”

Harriet nodded, lightly pulling her hand back to look over the bracelet.

It was a chain, but it wasn’t a brand and that was what mattered. It could be removed, it might take work, but Harriet was confident that she could get it off if she had to.

“Thank you,” she added, because Slytherin liked to be thanked. “I didn’t expect something so… nice.”

“You are my apprentice, my daughter,” his fingers tucked under her chin to lock eyes with her. “I will not have you wearing anything subpar.”

“Yes, dad.”

He smiled, pleased with her response.

“Now then, let’s review your latest lesson, hmm?”

OO OO OO OO

Harriet sent a flipendo at Bonespell and sent her flying and took a breath.

“Hmm,” came a familiar voice. “Very well done, apprentice.”

Harriet hurried to tuck her wand into her brace, cheeks warm at being caught hexing another in the hall. Even if he was clearly pleased with it, she still felt like she’d broken some rule.

“Very well done indeed,” Slytherin murmured as he waved his hand and fixed the floor. “But I’m not convinced Bonnie’s learned her lesson yet.”

Harriet swallowed, peering up into the manic red eyes of Slytherin.

“Master?” she questioned, hoping he didn’t mean what she thought he did.

Bonespell was struggling to her feet, looking a bit out of it. Maybe she’d overpowered that flipendo.

“Pro-professor-“

Oh her lips was bleeding- er… oops.

“I didn’t—I didn’t mean to—”

“How about it, Harriet,” he finished in Parseltongue, as he did whenever he was more familiar than apprentice and Miss Potter. “What curse will you use on her?”

Harriet breath caught for a moment before she rushed to convince Slytherin that wasn’t what she wanted- wasn’t needed!

“I, erm, I don’t think that’s necessary? Sir! We were just—practicing, y’know? That’s all, Master. I asked her to help me practice, and—and she was really helpful. Really.”

Slytherin’s smile slid away like ice down her back.

“I think not, or do you think me a fool? They are not welcome to touch you.”

Harriet swallowed hard and tried to think of what would gain his mercy here. Not pleading, not lies either—oh, perhaps—

“She didn’t touch me, not really—” Harriet brushed her cheek “—it doessn’t hurt. And- and they don’t like that I’m yoursss, do they? Won’t they be angrier that they owe me for showing mercy when they know you wouldn’t?”

“They’d think you ssoft, daughter. Are you?”

His eyes were dark at that question and Harriet raised her chin.

“I’m showing mercy,” she hissed slowly. “And Bonesspell will hate that. But she’d owe me all the same, which is usseful isn’t it?”

“Fear is more usseful than their paltry debt.”

“Maybe,” Harriet admitted hesitantly. “But I wouldn’t really follow someone out of fear, but because I wanted to. And- if I’m wrong, and thiss doesn’t work I’ll know better? But- pleasse let me try?”

Slytherin considered Harriet for a long moment. Harriet wondered what he was thinking, but no hint of it showed on his face.

“You get your one experiment,” he hissed softly, his hand coming up to smooth over Harriet’s cheek.

The faint pain of the burn was gone in an instant.

“But if she sstrikesss again, you will punish her. Thoroughly.”

Harriet nodded, hopeful that Bonespell wouldn’t be that stupid.

“Thank you, dad,” she hissed, tangling fingers into his sleeve.

He smiled then once more, sharp and dangerous, but his fingers curled over Harriet’s wrist and he turned his gaze away so she was rather sure he wasn’t going to hurt her.

“My apprentice advocates mercy,” he crooned. “I will grant it, but only once.”

Bonespell nearly collapsed in relief, Harriet thought.

“Now get out of my sight.”

Bonespell fled and Harriet was tugged along with Slytherin, away from the ones watching the conflict.

“You’ll follow ssomeone because you want to, hmm?” Slytherin hissed.

Harriet realized what part of what she’d said had caught his attention. But it worked with- well, the plan, so she nodded.

“Yess, I don’t know why anyone would follow ssomeone if not because they cared or believed in their purpose. I don’t understand them doing it out of fear.”

Slytherin laughed, low and soft,

“You are braver than the rabble around you, mosst of the fools when afraid do whatever they think will keep them ssafe. It makes them sstupid.”

Harriet supposed that meant that she wasn’t stupid? She hoped that was a good thing.

OO OO OO OO

Bonespell did keep in mind that she owed Harriet a debt and kept in mind that getting caught would bring down a particularly harsh punishment. With this in mind, she was very careful to do nothing in front of Slytherin.

However, she’d formed some kind of alliance with Mirthcut who hadn’t gotten that warning and threat.

Which meant any time Harriet wasn’t spending learning from Slytherin was spent either close to his side (learning anyways because he loved using every opportunity as a lesson of some sort) or hidden in her room.

Livi and the golems were comforting, and with Sally there and known she felt okay speaking Parseltongue in her room. Slytherin would assume it was with Sally, if she was lucky.

She had impressed on Sally that her other snakes were secrets, her friends and protectors. Sally agreed to keep them secret from all, mostly because she thought as the ‘runt of the litter’ Harriet needed all the help and protection she could get until her fangs came in.

Harriet didn’t know how to explain she wasn’t going to get fangs, so she just nodded and agreed.

Slytherin watched Harriet’s interactions with Bonespell, and both Bonespell and Harriet knew it. Harriet was determined to not curse Bonespell the way Slytherin would want and Bonespell didn’t want to get cursed that way either. It led to a very uneasy truce in front of Slytherin that disappeared whenever he was out of sight.

Harriet could understand some of what Slytherin meant when he said they needed to fear her to leave her be. Bonespell felt confident going after Harriet as long as Harriet didn’t intend to hurt her.

Harriet wasn’t about to fall to their level though, so she grit her teeth, avoided injury, and hexed back viciously.

She suspected Slytherin knew, he always seemed to know these things. But he said nothing.

Not yet.

The summer crawled by slowly, oh so slowly it seemed. Harriet couldn’t decide how she felt about it.

Slytherin was dangerous, cruel, a part of Voldemort and undoubtedly bad. But it was hard to feel too bad about someone when three meals a day were spent listening to him expound on how great she was.

Not to mention Slytherin seemed to have decided that since she was his daughter, and she acted like it, that she got… special privileges? No- more like… she was a proper extension of him.

She wasn’t sure if it was being his apprentice or his- supposed daughter but he made sure she learned.

Oh it was boring at times, and he didn’t tolerate even the idea that she was slacking, but he taught her some truly interesting things.

It made her feel a bit icky to use what he taught her, but at the same time she loved what she was learning. The runes were getting interesting and he supplied her with any tools she needed to fiddle with the runes.

While he demanded that Harriet utilize them in an defensive manner (she needed to have a runic array for both an attack and a defense, either spelled or through some other method, by the end of the summer) he let her toy with her organization array and demonstrated some warding arrays (which she quickly figured out how to add to her trunk) and walked her through the complexities of combining various runic languages for the best effect.

She had any book she could need, and when she’d mentioned she was gonna try to get a set of the beginner rune books, because they really were a great resource and she desperately wanted to take notes in them (sacrilege to Hermione, but Harriet thought it would be dead useful in these books), he simply dropped the whole set of them in her room and told her they were hers.

She suspected the Sangforts had “donated” them to Slytherin and while she felt a bit uncomfortable with it… Slytherin wouldn’t give them back, she knew that much. So she thanked him and took notes in them just as she’d wanted to.

Other runic tools were “gifted” to Harriet as the summer went on. The practice runes she liked playing with, a proper set of rune stones, a few more advanced books. The Sangforts watched her warily and she wasn’t sure what she was meant to do with this. But the one time she’d tried to give them back (the proper rune stones), even with the excuse of wanting to make her own, Slytherin had said that the Sangforts insisted on her keeping them.

Had even brought one in to tell her and they’d quickly assured her they wanted her to have them.

She didn’t try to return anything after that.

Slytherin had taken her out the next day to collect stones for her own set, teaching her how to identify stones meant for specific runes. She now had a decent set of her own making that she thought was nice, though Slytherin had commented that she’d get better at it over time so she suspected they were mediocre at best in his eyes.

Overall… the summer wasn’t as bad as she’d feared.

But she missed her friends and wanted to go back. And she needed to get her school supplies soon too. So, after dinner one night when they were lounging on the couch (Slytherin running his fingers through her hair as she messed with the practice runes) she’d asked him when she’d be getting her school supplies for Hogwarts.

“Hmm, soon,” he’d drawled, looking uninterested in the subject.

That typically meant pushing would annoy him and annoying him was something she tried to avoid. So, she’d shut up, nodded, and gone back to her runes.

She hadn’t been prepared when a few days later Slytherin had stepped into her room while she was testing a defensive runic array she’d been messing with (she wanted to try and make it into a spell but she was wary of doing so without supervision, those could go bad).

Slytherin had ordered her to grab her things and told her they were going to Diagon Alley.

OO OO OO OO

“Your little friends are meeting us there,” he drawled as they walked to the edge of the wards, Snape their ever-present shadow. “I need to run some errands, so you’ll have a few hours to collect your things.”

Harriet perked up at the thought of seeing her friends, “Okay. Where will we meet?”

“Gringotts, my last errand will be there. Let’s say- four pm.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Do stay out of trouble,” he reminded her. “Let’s not have any more… problems with the law, hmm?”

Harriet flushed but nodded.

Slytherin held his hand out for Harriet once they reached the wards and she took it. She was well used to such now, after many trips around where he demanded she stay close and even take his hand if he deemed her too slow or distracted.

A sharp twist and pressure burst over her skin and then vanished as they arrived in Diagon Alley.

Harriet smiled, relieved to see the familiar place filled with normal non-murderous wizards.

Though calling them normal might be a stretch, she mused as she watched one bloke stroll by with a goose in his backpack.

“Four pm,” Slytherin reminded her, releasing her hand and straightening her robes. “And remember-“

“Harriet!”

She turned her head in time to see Hermione—hair Charmed a lighter color and bound in a plait—sprinting through the crowd, followed by Elara with her long hair released from its usual bun, colored a mousy brown.

Harriet barely had the time to turn before Hermione had squished her in a tight embrace, Elara looping an arm around the both of them.

A man came over as well, Harriet realized as she managed to wiggle her face free of the hug, squeezing them back. Harriet didn’t recognize the man, and she was near questioning what he was doing, when he reached out to tug the hood of Harriet’s summer cloak into place with a wink.

“Good morning, petit oiseau.”

Harriet lit up, allowing Mr. Flamel to tuck her fringe behind her ear.

Slytherin’s hand landed on her shoulder and Harriet reminded herself she still had a part to play. So, she looked up at him in question as he smiled a touch too sharply and a touch too meanly at her friends.

“Severus will remain with you,” Slytherin said, turning his gaze to Harriet. Do remember to behave.”

“Yes, Master,” she said dutifully.

“And don’t take your hood down,” he hissed. “Gaunt is very interested in catching you once more, daughter.”

Harriet swallowed and nodded, “I’ll be careful, dad.”

He smiled then, one that she suspected might be reserved for her and for people he was trying very hard to charm. It was almost a nice smile, pleased and small.

“Four pm,” he said once more.

“In front of Gringotts,” she said with a nod.

He left then, sweeping through the crowds and leaving her with her friends, Snape, and Mr. Flamel.

“It is good to see you well. You are well, oui?”

Harriet, who had Sally curled over her arm under her robes and a bracelet that called her to Slytherin on her wrist and a head full of new knowledge relaxed as she basked in her friends’ presence.

“I’m good, but much better now. Thanks.”

“Come, the others are waiting. We ‘ave much to do and not enough time to do it in. Let us go, girls.”

Snape was a silent shadow as Harriet tapped the rune on the edge of her hood, which kept it in place so it wouldn’t fall, and joined the group.

“So, what’s the apprenticeship like?” drawled Longbottom.

Harriet frowned at him, fingers rubbing Sally’s head where the snake had placed it on her wrist, just hidden by her robes.

“It’s a lot of work,” she said simply.

Elara sniffed and hooked arms with Harriet pulling her a bit away from Longbottom and then further still once they entered a shop.

“Is everything going okay?” she asked, Hermione hovering by her side.

“Yeah,” Harriet murmured. “Our… strategy is working really well.”

Snape wasn’t near enough to eavesdrop, Harriet didn’t think, but was close enough to keep an eye on everyone around them.

“He seems pleased with me behaving the way we discussed,” she murmured, making sure to turn away from Snape so he couldn’t see her lips. “And won’t shut up about how I’m superior to all the others who wanted an apprenticeship.”

Elara pursed her lips but nodded, “Well, at least it’s helping.”

“Definitely,” Harriet whispered, showing them her wrist with the bracelet. “He was gonna bloody well brand me, like he does his followers, but decided since I was his apprentice and daughter that I needed something different. I convinced him to make it a bracelet instead of a brand.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Hermione said in relief. “And it’s a lovely bracelet, it looks good on you.”

“It’s high quality,” Elara agreed, examining it. “What does it do?”

“Warms up to call me to him, lets me call him for help in an emergency. It can’t be taken off by anyone except him, he said, but I think that it could be broken off if someone really tried.”

“Silver is a softer metal, but depending on its enchantments-“ Hermione fell into soft murmurs as she studied the bracelet.

“I’m glad it wasn’t a brand,” Elara said, clutching her hand.

“Me too,” Harriet said.

“What has he been teaching you?” Hermione asked, gathering some quills for the group.

“So much,” Harriet said. “You’re gonna love my notes on runic arrays and combining runes and the different alphabets and how to combine them- and the Sangforts uh… gifted me a set of books. Each one goes into a different rune, it’s brilliant. I was gonna buy a set for myself but well-“

“Gifted?”

“Well, I don’t think they were given a choice in the matter but when I tried to return something else, they refused to take it back so…”

Elara nodded, “Might as well take advantage of the privilege while you can.”

Hermione sighed, “Well, I’m glad things have been going well. And I’m definitely going to want to look at the notes on runes.”

Harriet grinned, she’d known it.

“I’ve missed you guys terribly,” she admitted. “I tried to ask to come home, to se you guys after the- well the incident at the hospital.”

Elara and Hermione both grimaced.

“But he said since you were still alive it wasn’t necessary.”

“I wish we could’ve been there,” Hermione murmured. “But I’m so glad you’re okay. I- well I knew he had to take care of you because of the rules behind Masteries and Apprenticeship but I still- well I worried.”

“I didn’t think he’d take care of you,” Elara said shamelessly. “I’m still worried, but if everything is going well at the moment… I’m glad.”

Harriet smiled, “It’s as well as it can be. Lots of work though.”

“Well it is an apprenticeship,” Hermione pointed out.

Harriet laughed, “No, but did you know there are loads who want an apprenticeship under him? Like I sorta knew that, but it didn’t really click until people were trying to off me in the hallways of the house.”

“Trying to what?” Hermione hissed.

Elara drew a sharp breath.

“I’m okay,” Harriet assured them. “The most I got was a small burn and Slytherin healed it. I’ve gotten very good at handling surprise attacks I guess.”

They both looked very concerned.

“They leave me alone, for the most part, when I’m around Slytherin. And I hide in my room when I’m not with him.”

“Well… that’s good,” Hermione murmured. “Has Slytherin not done anything?”

“He- well he wanted me to punish Bonespell, the first one to attack me… I convinced him to uh- show mercy as he put it. He said I could have one experiment with it. I haven’t told him she’s still attacking me cause I’m pretty sure he’ll make me torture her if I do.”

Elara clutched Harriet’s hand.

“That-“

“We have a truce when he’s around, then go back to hexing each other when he’s not.”

“That could be better,” Elara settled on.

“Yeah,” Harriet agreed, cause it could be. “But at least I don’t have to torture her.”

Hermione and Elara agreed that that was a good thing.

Harriet bugged them into sharing information on their summers while they collected their potion ingredients, though Harriet had a sneaking suspicion that she’d be getting some extra’s with Slytherin considering the focus he’d put on her identifying plants and animals whenever they were out.

Hermione was working on her plot to turn votes against Gaunt, Elara was doing better with her mind healing and learning some control over a magical technique. Both were rather sick of the group of guests in their home but glad for the help the adults were offering.

Harriet was glad they were doing okay, even if they had to be more careful at the moment. Things were tense, and Harriet was afraid, but at least her friends were relatively safe and alive.

She’d make sure they stayed that way.

OO OO OO OO

Slytherin appeared mere minutes after Harriet and her group reached Gringotts, the others in the big group lingering nearby as they waited to leave Harriet with Slytherin.

He oozed out of the shadows, sweeping up to her with a bored expression and a faint sneer curling his lips when Mr. Flamel took a moment to fuss over Harriet.

Harriet basked in Mr. Flamel’s attention, promising to be careful and to take care of herself. Promising she’d write.

He tucked her fringe back and hugged her tight, then stepped back to let Hermione and Elara hug her.

“Be safe,” Hermione said.

“Learn a lot,” Elara murmured, gaze intense.

“I will,” she assured them both, reluctantly stepping back to be by Slytherin’s side.

“I will see you at Hogwarts,” drawled Slytherin, hand landing on Harriet’s shoulder. “Goodbye.”

The three took the blatant cue to leave and left, waving one last time as they walked away. Harriet took a steadying breath, drawing on their presence and reassurance to steady herself for the days ahead.

“You enjoyed yourself?” Slytherin asked mildly.

“Yes, Master. It was… good to see them.”

“And you got everything you needed?”

“Yeah- er, yes. We double checked.”

Slytherin nodded, then nudged her towards the bank.

Harriet was puzzled. She’d thought from the way he’d spoken that his last errand would be in the bank, but he’d come from the street and now they were going in the bank.

“Stay,” he ordered Snape as they stepped inside, ignoring the wizard as he turned to wait by the door.

Slytherin swept up to a teller, “I need to speak to my account manager.”

Bloodclaw peered down at him, took note of his appearance and Harriet beside him, and nodded. “Silverfang will lead you to him.”

A goblin came over and led the two of them down the hallway, Harriet even more confused as they went. Why was she coming with him for this? Had his errands run late?

They were shown into a room and Harriet was ushered by Slytherin to a chair.

She swung her legs, peering around the room. It looked suitably intimidating for the account manager of the Slytherin account she thought. With dark streaks in the marble and deep green stones decorating shelves with bones and weapons on the walls.

“Master?” Harriet started, hesitantly. “Why am I with you to see your account manager?”

Slytherin glanced at her, eyes gleaming. “I am adding you to the family records and inheritance line.”

Harriet blinked slowly.

He was… what.

“Of course, I have no intention of dying, but it’s the principal of the matter.”

Harriet blinked again.

He… he was-

“Lord Slytherin,” said a goblin as they entered the room. “What did you need?”

The goblin sat behind the desk, peering at the two of them with a sneer.

“I need to add my daughter to the vault access, along with noting her in the line of succession.”

Harriet knew these things were usually done without Gringotts, but rather by filing with the ministry. But, she realized, Gaunt hated Harriet and wasn’t a fan of Slytherin either. If Slytherin went through the Ministry, Gaunt would learn of what he was doing and maybe even try to stop it.

They were at Gringotts because it was the only place other than the Ministry that these records could be updated.

The goblin’s eyes widened as he looked at Harriet. She did her best to appear very self-assured. This was the first time Slytherin had called her his daughter in English rather than Parseltongue, she wasn’t sure what she thought of it.

“Ah, of course. Will there be a trust vault?”

Slytherin waved his hand dismissively, “She has one from her other parent, no she simply needs a key to my vault. Hers should only allow access with written permission from myself for the moment.”

“Should I assume she’s to be your heiress?”

Slytherin seemed amused by the question as the Goblin noted down what he said.

“Sure,” he drawled. “Should I die, she’s the next head.”

Harriet swallowed.

She knew that Voldemort believed himself immortal, to an extent, especially with the whole speech he gave. But it was a little scary hearing such a thing from Slytherin too. Neither of them believed they could die. No wonder Slytherin was willing to put her in the line of succession, it was a formality to him, not a thing that would ever come to pass.

It probably would piss off Gaunt though, which was likely a bonus in his eyes.

Harriet was shortly after handed a silver key and Slytherin had to sign a document using a strange red quill.

“A blood quill,” Slytherin had said when Harriet had peered at it. “It can be used to bind what is signed magically, if the paper is prepared correctly.”

Harriet made a mental note of that.

“Is that all?” the goblin asked, filing away the document Slytherin had signed.

“Yes,” Slytherin said, standing and holding out a hand expectantly for Harriet.

She stood as well, taking his hand and trailing beside him as he led the way out. Snape was waiting right where they’d left him and he fell into step behind them as they headed back to the apparition point.

OO OO OO OO

“You are prepared for Hogwarts?” Slytherin asked, leaning against the door as she packed the last of her books into her trunk.

“Yes, dad,” Harriet said. “I’ve packed all of Sally’s things as well.”

“I’ve informed the teachers that Sally is with you, they know to allow such.”

Harriet was glad she could keep Sally with her, though Livi was as terribly jealous as she’d expected. She’d gotten used to having Sally on her arm or draped over her shoulders.

“Thank you,” she said, because he liked being thanked. “Do you know my schedule for the year yet?”

Slytherin inclined his head, “I will call you to my office before classes start to give you your schedule. Your expected time with me will be noted down on it though we will likely meet more often than that.”

Harriet nodded, shutting her trunk.

“You will keep your head down this year,” he warned. “The Minister is looking for an excuse to target you. You will not give him one.”

Harriet swallowed, “I’ll behave.”

His fingers reached out, smoothing through her hair. He really wasn’t terribly tactile, but he seemed to enjoy brushing fingers through Harriet’s hair or fixing her robes to “sit right”. And of course, he’d developed the habit of holding her hand whenever he felt like it. That one was probably her fault for the whole- holding his sleeve thing she’d tried out.

Harriet thought it was a bit like a favored pet. He considered her his, more so than any of his followers. So, he enjoyed affirming that ownership.

He gave very nice head scritches though, so she allowed it without complaint.

“Snape will drop you off at King’s Cross in the morning. He is needed at Hogwarts early so you will be delivered early.”

Harriet nodded once more.

“You have done well this summer,” he said in English. “But now that you have the basics down, we will be moving to more advanced material during the school year. I expect you to keep up with your studies and to complete all the work I assign as well.”

“I will,” she said. “I won’t disappoint you.”

And Slytherin smiled, “No, you won’t, daughter.”

OO OO OO OO

BONUS: Snape this whole time

Snape: why is she leaning on him

Snape: why is she holding his hand

Snape: what the fuck are they talking about in Parseltongue

Snape: why is he still bragging about her

Snape: is she falling for his tricks? This is bad, this is very bad

Harriet: I have a clever clever plan to get close to Slytherin and hold his favor, I just need to pretend he’s Mr. Flamel whenever he says something even vaguely nice and he gets all pleased that I’m his. Not sure what’s got Snape in a twit though.

Snape: I need to make sure she doesn’t forget how dangerous he is!

BONUS: Everyone else around them

Sangforts: yep, you can take whatever of ours you want- oh… you’re giving it to your apprentice… how nice… yes… of course she can have it… we’re honored…

His random followers: who is his apprentice and how come she spends evenings talking to him in snake??? Did he have a kid and didn’t tell anyone??? Can he stop complimenting her for five minutes???

The ones who want to be his apprentice: this is blatant nepotism I should’ve had the apprenticeship and I’ll prove it-

Random criminals and poachers: *sweating* there’s a mini him following him around, one him was bad enough, what do we do with two?

Snape: *screaming internally at all times*

BONUS: Slytherin at Harriet’s naming conventions

Harriet: Sally is a great name!

Slytherin: That is an absolutely ridiculous name what snake would be named Sally?

Harriet: well my other snakes are named Rick, Kevin, and Howard.

Slytherin: One of our lessons is going to be on proper naming of snakes

BONUS: Elara and Hermione finding out about Sally

Elara: Harriet why is there a snake wrapped around you?

Harriet: Idk what you’re talking about, I usually have one on me. Remember first year?

Hermione: that was Livi, not this snake

Harriet: Livi’s too big to wrap around me now

Elara: so you got a new snake?

Harriet: I dunno what you’re talking about, Sally’s been around for weeks

Hermione: we need to stage an intervention

BONUS: Slytherin’s thoughts on Harriet

Slytherin: she’s small, oddly dedicated to sticking close to me, and mentioned wanting a family

Slytherin when she calls him dad: oh… oh she’s mine down, fuck you Gaunt and Voldemort, I’m not giving her up now

Slytherin when she calls him Master again: hang on! I just got called dad! You don’t get to backpedal on that! I’ve already filled out the paperwork!

Slytherin watching Snape try to keep an eye on her: on the one hand I want to kill him for trying to stay closer to her than me, on the other hand she keeps missing it and just coming back over to me which is getting increasingly funny as his blood pressure goes up so-

Slytherin waiting to see how long it’ll take Harriet to admit she was wrong to show mercy: well, she’s dedicated I’ll give her that, and their fake truce in front of me is very amusing so I’ll play along for the moment

Slytherin with Sally: My daughter obviously needs a snake. For one, she’s tiny and still not willing to use torture or lethal force on others so she needs a protector and for another everyone’s faces will be hilarious, I can’t wait to see

BONUS: Gaunt and Voldemort learning about all this

Gaunt: she calls him dad

Voldemort: I did not have a child

Gaunt: she speaks Parseltongue of course she’s your child

Voldemort: I did not have a child and especially not with Lily fucking Potter

Gaunt: Why does he get a kid to mold into the perfect minion? I want one!

Voldemort: She’s Not My Kid

Gaunt: I’ll have to kidnap her after I finish killing her friends as punishment for disobeying me

Snape standing off to the side: she’s calling Slytherin fucking what now

BONUS: The Power the Dark Lord Knows Not

Harriet: so my super special power is love right?

Dumbledore: yep <3

Harriet: okay so uh- Slytherin has decided I’m his beloved daughter and tried to kill Gaunt over his latest kidnapping attempt. I think them fighting over me might kill them all

Dumbledore: I’m not sure that’s love-

Harriet: I mean it’s not healthy love but it’s a form of it I think

BONUS: The school’s reaction

Harriet’s fanclub: yay! She’s got a dad protecting her!

Harriet’s hateclub: of course she’s got the evil git of a professor as a dad that explains so much

The neutral students: So is she actually his kid or? Cause he doesn’t look old enough to have a kid her age but Gaunt on the other hand-

Umbridge: She is not his kid she is not his kid she is not his kid and I am gonna torture her for this