What have you been up to?' Slytherin asked, leaning forward to peer at Harry. 'You must be awfully cheerful to forget that you aren't allowed to put your feet on my desk.' He'd been a bit tetchy since Harry had forgotten to come back to the chamber and hang him up for a few days after the ritual.
'It's not your desk anymore,' Harry reminded him, 'but yes I am happy.'
'Are you going to answer my original question?' The founder leant a little further forward, dislodging the serpent from around his neck, briefly giving Harry a glimpse of a slender, silver chain.
'My plan is taking shape perfectly,' Harry explained, still smiling, and not moving his feet off the desk.
'Which plan is this?' Salazar inquired curiously. 'You had several.'
'They're all part of the same plan really,' he grinned. 'Find the Prophecy, find out why Voldemort is after me, destroy his horcrux, or horcruxes if there are still more than one left and kill him.'
'Which
part,
then?'
The
founder
asked impatiently.
'I'm one spell away from getting rid of Dumbledore for as long as the Ministry remain against him, and I can't see a way it will fail.' Harry smiled icily. 'Even Riddle's horcrux couldn't come so close.'
'Just because you cannot see a way, does not mean it doesn't exist,' Slytherin warned.
'I know,' Harry agreed, 'but if I cannot think of one after so much careful thought, then the chance of it being disrupted seems small.'
'Would you care to share this work of genius with me?'
'Dumbledore has been keeping too close an eye on me,' Harry began happily, 'with Snape's lessons in occlumency and the school wards should he ever look at them. I don't know what he's keeping his sacrifice,' both Harry and Salazar sneered, 'alive for, but if I start to look like a threat he will eliminate me.'
'You think you've found a way to outmanoeuvre Albus Dumbledore?' Salazar asked, a hint of skepticism in his tone. 'Riddle was always wary of him for a reason.'
'He thinks I am on his side,' Harry smiled, 'and why would he not. The other sides are Voldemort who murdered my parents and seeks to kill me, or the Ministry who continue to slander me. Never in his darkest dreams does he imagine that there might be a fourth side, my side.'
'So you think you will take him by surprise?'
'I will. Neville has started a group to openly flout the Ministry's rules about teaching students under Dumbledore's influence to fight. I managed to get them to name themselves Dumbledore's Army,' he grinned. 'Once the group is discovered there will be nothing Dumbledore can do. Either he tries to fight the Ministry, which helps Voldemort, or he lets the Ministry expel thirty of the students including his martyr and those closest to him.'
'If there are as few loopholes in your trap as you believe then you have done exceedingly well,' Salazar congratulated, sliding into joyous parsletongue. 'It is no more than he deserves for even thinking about trying to sacrifice my heir, a member of my family.'
'There are a few loose ends,' Harry admitted. 'I won't be in suspicion if I can indirectly betray the group, but while I'm fairly confident ordering somebody else to lead Umbridge to the list that is to be her proof will not break the contract I signed when I joined I'm not certain.'
The founder looked thoughtful. 'What are the exact terms?'
'It wasn't a specific written contract,' Harry told him. 'I will be very careful about how I word my instructions to Marietta Edgecombe, the girl who will tell Umbridge, and that should be enough.'
'You're replacing Dumbledore with the woman who tortures children,' Slytherin hissed, suddenly furious.
'Only temporarily,' Harry's smile turned a little sinister. 'On the back of the list is a map, one that I drew and concealed with an enchantment requiring an activation phrase-'
'Where did you learn to do that? I never taught you any enchanting,'
'Fleur is very good at it,' Harry grinned. 'She's taught me a few little pieces when I've asked.' 'All that time in France was worthwhile after all,' Salazar commented dryly.
'The phrase is for the Greater Good,' Harry told him. The painting enjoyed the irony every bit as much as he did, chuckling darkly. 'The map appears to lead into the forest to something important, I intend to entice Umbridge into investigating it.'
'I assume she won't be coming back from her investigation,' Slytherin remarked amusedly.
'No she won't,' Harry grinned, 'there are an awful lot of acromantula in that part of the forest, with a little help she'll wonder right into the middle of their nest unaware.'
'How tragic,' Salazar sighed, his tongue dripping with sarcasm. 'That gets rid of the two trouble causing teachers, but you still can't take advantage of it yet.' 'I think my godfather will tell me about the Prophecy if I can convince him I know enough that there's little point in withholding the rest. At the very least I should learn what the Order of the Phoenix is planning.' Harry swept his feet of the desk and tapped the time turner. 'If the worst comes to the worst I can use this to go back and change my conversations with Sirius to make sure he is convinced.'
'You're willing to experiment with it now?' His ancestor's face lit up.
'No,' Harry reminded him sternly. 'I don't know why you're so eager to lose the only descendant you have that isn't a mass-murdering megalomaniac in the currents of time.'
'You wouldn't be lost,' the painting retorted.
'How would you know?' 'I'm Salazar Slytherin,' the founder replied, but he sounded more hopeful than anything else.
'Nice try,' Harry laughed.
'Fine,' Slytherin relented. 'I wanted to ask you about something different. You're doing well to deal with the Ministry and Dumbledore, but Voldemort will make himself know soon. If he's allowed to launch a surprise attack on the Ministry you will find yourself hard-pressed to defeat him.'
'You are right,' Harry realised. 'What can I do?'
He considered his options. It was obvious that nobody would believe him if he tried to tell other people without proof, and he doubted Voldemort would be so kind as to turn up at the Ministry to prove them wrong. 'I need to make it look as if he's returned,' Harry concluded.
'And you need to do it well enough to be beyond reasonable doubt,' Salazar added. 'What did those articles say about why Voldemort wasn't back?'
'No proof of his return except the word of Dumbledore and myself, neither of whom is having much luck convincing anyone with Rita Skeeter out there defaming anyone who speaks up adjacent Fudge.'
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