Chapter 11: Chapter 11 Portrait
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"I know you are there! so show yourself intruder"
The painting might not able to detect him but it knows that the door can only be opened with a command.
Harry didn't know what to do? on the one hand, he could continue pretending but the painting might use the wards to completely seal the room and he needs those magical components and the ritual room. If the room is sealed then he would have to break the entire ward scheme to get in, that's not really an option because the Chamber's wards are also connected to the Hogwarts main ward scheme. Or he can try his luck with the painting.
Despite being a copy of the wizard's mind the painting is not really Slytherin, it is more like what the muggles call a program. It is a very intelligent and complicated program with all of Slytherin's knowledge and intellect but still a program. It only knows and understands what Slytherin knew in his lifetime, it can't learn new things and have original ideas by itself. So it shouldn't be that difficult to deal with it.
Harry removed the cloak and appeared in front of the painting. At first, the painting was surprised by the boy that suddenly stood before it but quickly got over that and started silently observing him.
"I expected my intruder to be a little more than a child but no matter, you might not believe child me but I am very relieved to see you, when the door first opened I thought that my blood wards stopped working or worse someone managed to get past them. Seeing those green eyes of yours there is no doubt, welcome to the Chamber of Secrets my descendent" the painting welcomed him.
Harry was expecting this, despite what the headmaster thought harry didn't get parseltongue from the scar, he actually inherited the ability from his mother.
Harry only realised this years after the war when he read his mother's notes, his mother never revealed this because of the stigma associated with it. In fact the sacrificial protection ritual that took effect with her death was performed with parseltongue.
The painting looked at him like it is waiting for him to introduce himself. He nodded "Harry Potter of House Potter"
"Potter! that is the house that merged with Godric's house. How could a self-respecting descendant of my noble house ever lower themselves to marry a descendant of that swords-for-brains idiot is beyond me. Lucky for you I am a reasonable man so I won't judge you for the mistakes of your parents"
That is the famous Slytherin pride he heard so much about, a painting just insulted his parents and his entire paternal ancestry all the while sounding like it was doing him a favour.
"Look it was great meeting you, as great as meeting a consciousness in the form of a painting could be but I have some business to take care of. Don't mind me I just have to use the ritual room for a day and borrow some of your things, it is not like you are going to use them anyway." With that said harry made his way into the ritual chamber.
In the ritual chamber, there is a clear space in the middle designed specifically to perform rituals and all four sides of this space are covered with shelves that are filled with all types of magical ingredients. These ingredients are magically preserved in different types of containers, some kept in liquid-filled jars, some in metal boxes, others in leather pouches, etc.
Harry walked around the room checking out various shelves and once in a while a few of the ingredients would rise from the shelves and gently land in the middle of the room.
As Harry gathered all of the necessary ingredients he is surprised by someone's yelling "Marvellous! Simply marvellous!"
He turned around to see that the portrait of Slytherin was standing inside the landscape painting in front of him. Only now harry realized why every wall of this study was covered in different types of landscape paintings, it was designed this way just to allow this portrait to move around and have access to the entire chamber.
"A child showing such magnificent control of magic even without using a magical focus, it is like you are blessed by magic itself" the portrait exclaimed but he ignored it.
The portrait tried to get harry's attention but he didn't respond, after making sure everything is there he turned around and started walking out.
"Wait!" the portrait yelled " I can help you"
Harry stopped and turned to the portrait "help me how?"
"From what I can see here, you are trying to perform a set of three enhancing rituals to enhance your three core aspects, mind, magic and body, that too before your first magical maturity. While these three rituals are great it will be even better if you could do a set of seven rituals. I can help you with that"
Hearing this harry used his occlumency to maintain a straight face but internally he was shaken, just by looking at the ingredients the portrait was able to figure out how many rituals he planned to perform, their type, their purpose, etc. You really can't underestimate these legendary founders.
"My knowledge in other aspects of magic might not be as relevant as it was in my time but when it comes to ritualistic magic even now you won't find anyone better than me. you have already seen my work, using a ritual of my own design I managed to bestow upon my bloodline the ability to speak the noble tongue of serpents, an ability which in nature is extremely rare and only shows up in select few people." The portrait continued.
The portrait can be a huge help in that regard, while the knowledge of other aspects of magic like spells, potions, etc have improved drastically over time but the major principles of ritual magic have remained the same for thousands of years.
"Why are you so eager to help me? I might be your descendant but the wizard who founded the house of cunning won't just help others just out of the goodness of his heart. What do you get out of helping me?" Harry went straight to the point.
"You are cautious that is good, with you also being Godric's descendant I was worried you might have the same lack of self-preservation that sword-brained idiot foolishly labelled as bravery. As for my willingness to help you it is entirely self-serving, in all my time being in this school I have never seen a child as magically gifted as you. I just want to make sure you reach your full potential."
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
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