The Prince of Slytherin CH.8

4th September, 1991,

08:48 A.M.

As he spun on his heels, Harry found himself face-to-face with a short, beautiful, young girl with bright red hair and light brown eyes. The newcomer was dressed in white flowing robes that were slitted at the thighs and showed off her sexy, toned legs.

Realizing he had never seen her before in school, Harry narrowed his eyes at the unfamiliar girl and asked sternly, "Who are you? How did you get here?"

In response, the cute-looking girl giggled at him. "I have always been here, master. In fact, I'm the one who summoned you," she replied mysteriously. Harry watched as she began to sashay towards him, a slight smirk gracing her beautiful pink lips. "I've been waiting for someone like you to hear me for a long time," she breathed in a soft voice as she came to a stop in front of him.

Harry couldn't help but take a step back from the strong possessive look in the girl's eyes. She was staring up at him with a deep intensity. "Why are you calling me master? I don't even know who you are," he asked her in confusion.

The red-haired girl tilted her head to the side before responding, "Have you not realized it yet, master? I'm Hogwarts, silly," she told with a tinkling laugh.

Harry's eyebrows climbed upwards in surprise at the girl's answer. He couldn't believe what she was saying. "What do you mean you're Hogwarts?" he asked her in a voice tinged with disbelief. "That doesn't even make any sense. Hogwarts is a castle, not a person."

The mysterious girl chuckled softly, her brown eyes glinting with amusement. "Ah, you silly, master. You're thinking about this from a muggle perspective and not a magical one. Of course, it makes perfect sense that a magical castle like me has gained sentience after almost a thousand years. I am the essence, the spirit of Hogwarts itself, master. I took this form to communicate with you in a way that would make sense to your human perceptions," she explained, her tone carrying a mix of playfulness and ancient wisdom.

Harry's disbelief lingered, but curiosity replaced some of it. "So, you're saying that Hogwarts has a spirit? An essence? Since when?" he asked, still finding it hard to wrap his mind around the idea.

The girl nodded, her long red hair cascading gracefully over her shoulders. "For the last three hundred years, master. I first came to life in 1689," she informed him.

Harry's mouth hung open in surprise at this new information. If the girl in front of him was telling the truth, then she had been alive for more than three hundred years. "1689?! But that was so long ago. If you've been here for so long then why have I never seen you before?" he asked the girl claiming to be Hogwarts in confusion.

In response, the girl's cheerful expression turned sad at Harry's question. "Because I couldn't leave this room, master," she answered him, sounding upset. "This room contains the magical Wardstone of Hogwarts, which functions as my heart, so to speak. If anyone in the school found out about me, they could have used the Wardstone to take control of me. I couldn't let that happen; it would have been too dangerous."

Harry glanced back over his shoulder at the pulsing magical stone behind him. "This is your heart? And someone can control you with that?" he asked the redhead in curiosity.

Hogwarts nodded in response. "Yes, master. That's why I called you here—because I could only trust you with this."

Harry's eyes softened at Hogwarts' words. "But you have only just me. So, how can you trust me already?" he asked her, wanting to find out why she trusted him so much.

Hogwarts placed her left hand on top of his heart. "Because I know the kind of person you are, master. I know you would never let anyone hurt me."

Harry felt honoured by the amount of trust the red-haired girl had placed in him. He looked down at her with a soft smile and pulled her into a hug. Hogwarts let out a surprised sound as Harry enveloped her in his arms. For a brief moment, she felt confused, not understanding what was happening before realizing that Harry was hugging her. Immediately, she let out a noise of excitement before hugging him back tightly.

"Oh, this feels so good. I had no idea hugs could feel this wonderful, Master," Hogwarts groaned happily, enjoying the sensation of her first hug with a person. In response, Harry chuckled and hugged her even tighter.

The two of them kept hugging each other for a couple of minutes before finally stepping away from each other. As they did that, Harry realized a very sad fact about Hogwarts. It only just then dawned on him that she had been living without anybody's company for the last three centuries.

"So, you've been alone all this time, Hogwarts?" he asked the redhead softly.

Hogwarts's soft brown eyes turned a little downcast as she nodded in reply, saying, "Yeah." However, she soon perked up and flashed Harry a dazzling smile. "But don't worry about that, master. That was all in the past, wasn't it? And now that I have you, I don't have to stay alone anymore. You will keep me company, right?"

"Yeah," Harry replied warmly, reciprocating her smile. "I would love to keep you, Hogwarts. Maybe we can meet in my dormitory or one of the abandoned classrooms."

Hogwarts nodded happily, bouncing up and down on her feet. Automatically, Harry's eyes flicked downwards as her large breasts jiggled under her thin white dress. Unfortunately, his quick glance didn't escape Hogwarts' notice. Suddenly, her lips curled up in a mischievous smile and she asked Harry slyly, "Were you just staring at my breasts, Master?"

Harry started, taken aback by Hogwarts' blunt query. He could only sputter in response, unable to come up with an answer to defend himself.

Meanwhile, Hogwarts was giggling on the inside, feeling incredibly excited at making Harry so flustered by her question. She didn't allow him to gather his thoughts as she continued her teasing, placing her hands on her hips while looking at him sternly, "Don't think about lying to me, Master. I just saw you glancing down at my breasts. Is that why you asked me to meet you in an abandoned classroom? Because you find me attractive and want to do naughty things with me?"

Harry's eyes bugged out as Hogwarts launched her violet of questions at him. A part of him couldn't believe what was happening. Luckily, before Harry could combust from the huge amount of embarrassment he was feeling at the moment, Hogwarts took pity on him. She dropped her stern expression and burst into giggles, saying, "Oh, Master, I'm just kidding. You don't need to feel embarrassed, please."

It took Harry a few seconds to realize that he had been pranked. Once he did, he let out a playful growl and launched himself at Hogwarts, tickling her on the sides.

The red-haired girl shrieked with laughter as Harry began to tickle her, attempting to escape from him. "Master, stop. Please, I'm sorry," she pleaded desperately while giggling madly.

However, Harry wasn't going to let her go easily. "Are you going to tease me like that again, Hogwarts?" he asked the girl with a playful growl.

Hogwarts quickly shook her head in response. "No, Master, I won't. I promise," she replied amid fits of giggles.

Finally, Harry decided that he had punished her enough and released her. Hogwarts' face was flushed, and her brown eyes were lit up with excitement as she turned to look at him. Harry found his gaze drifting down to her pink, heart-shaped lips and realized he wanted to kiss her. He noticed that Hogwarts was giving him the same look while gazing up at him through her eyelashes. Deciding to take a gamble, Harry slid his arm around her back and pulled her closer to him.

Hogwarts let out a nervous squeak as her front was pressed up against Harry's chest. She swallowed nervously as he lowered his head, bringing his lips closer to hers.

However, before their lips could touch, they were interrupted as a ball of light floated in through the ceiling and came to a stop before them. Harry and Hogwarts stepped back from each other in surprise. They watched in silence as it transformed into a silver Phoenix, which opened its beak and started speaking in Professor Dumbledore's voice, "Mr. Potter, this is an urgent message. Please report to the Headmaster's office at once."

Its message delivered, the Phoenix dissolved into silver mist before disappearing completely.

"What do you think this is about?" Harry asked Hogwarts curiously as he snapped out of his daze. "Also, did he sound mad to you?" he added, having noticed a slight hint of anger in the Headmaster's voice.

Hogwarts turned a little sheepish as she replied to Harry's question, "I think this is because of me, Master. The Headmaster must have felt the disturbance in magic around the castle when I gave you control over my wards, causing his own personal spells to crash down. He's most likely furious about how you did that since to the best of his knowledge that should be impossible."

Harry's eyebrows climbed up at this piece of information. For a moment, he felt afraid that Albus Dumbledore was mad at him. However, Harry quickly shook his head, dismissing that thought from his mind. He didn't care if the Headmaster was the strongest wizard in the world, he wasn't going to let anyone also control Hogwarts apart from him. 'She belongs to me,' the thought went through Harry's head almost possessively.

In the end, Harry took a deep breath before saying, "Alright, I'll go see what the Headmaster wants," to Hogwarts. The red-haired girl gave him a small nod, looking disappointed. Hogwarts had been so excited about having her first kiss with Harry but it seemed like that wasn't going to happen now. Meanwhile, noticing the sad look on her face, Harry couldn't help but feel irritated with the Headmaster for cock-blocking him. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to cheer Hogwarts up. Harry didn't want to entertain the possibility that Professor Dumbledore might come down here looking for him.

So, with no other choice left, Harry began to turn around to leave. He had only taken a couple of steps when Hogwarts reached out and grabbed his wrist. "Master, wait," she said urgently, "Would you mind if I came with you?"

Harry stared at her in confusion. "How would that be possible, Hogwarts? Wouldn't Headmaster Dumbledore be able to see you if you're in the same room as him?"

In response, Hogwarts' eyes lit up with mischief. "Not when I'm with you, Master," she said, smirking. Harry watched in total incredulity as the short, red-haired girl in front of him transformed into a small sphere of pale blue light and vanished into his body. He stood there in silence, his mouth gaping open in shock as he tried to process what had just happened.

A few seconds later, Hogwarts materialized in front of Harry and started giggling as she noticed the funny look on his face. The sound of her infectious laughter finally managed to snap him out of his daze.

"That's brilliant, Hogwarts," Harry exclaimed in amazement, staring at her with wide eyes, "This way you don't have to worry about anyone seeing you. Now, can stay with me all the time," he said happily.

Hogwarts grinned back at Harry, delighted with his words. "Thank you, Master. So, shall we go then?" she asked him excitedly.

Harry nodded back in response to her question. He couldn't help but shiver slightly as Hogwarts vanished inside his body once more. The sensation was so strange, it took Harry a couple of seconds to get used to it. It was almost like there was a static buzz going through his body. Finally, Harry decided he was ready. "Alright, time to face the music," he said to himself as he began to make his way out of the dungeons.

                                                                                    oo0oo

4th September, 1991,

09:12 A.M.

About ten minutes later, Harry finally reached the corridor housing the Headmaster's office on the third floor. The gargoyle standing guard outside the entrance stepped aside the moment it noticed his presence. Making his way up the circular, moving stone staircase, Harry found himself standing outside Professor Dumbledore's office. He raised his hand to knock on the door, but it swung open on its own.

Harry entered the office a bit cautiously. He blinked in surprise as he found himself in a large circular room with numerous windows and towering bookshelves. The Headmaster's office was adorned with peculiar objects and magical artefacts, lending an air of mystery to the space. Professor Dumbledore himself was seated behind his desk, his long white beard flowing over the edges. Harry's gaze wandered over the man's head, drawn towards the numerous portraits of former Headmasters and Headmistresses behind Dumbledore's golden chair. They all glared down at him with deep mistrust in their eyes. A couple of them almost hissed at him, Harry noticed almost absently that they were all dressed in red, Gryffindor robes.

Harry nearly snorted in amusement at the sight of these grown-up wizards and witches indulging in something as petty as house rivalries even after their deaths. Unfortunately, he didn't get the opportunity, as Professor Dumbledore spoke up, "Mr. Potter, please take a seat," he said, gesturing towards the empty chair in front of his desk.

Harry obliged and took a seat, trying to suppress a grin. Professor Dumbledore regarded him with a sharp gaze, having noticed his lips twitching slightly before addressing his predecessors.

"Now, as much as I appreciate the enduring spirit of house rivalries, ladies and gentlemen, there are more pressing matters at hand," Dumbledore began, his tone becoming serious. His words had the desired effect and all the portraits in the office turned quiet. Professor Dumbledore nodded in satisfaction before addressing Harry in a firm voice, "Mr Potter, Harry, I'm sure you have an idea why I called you to my office, right?"

Harry shook his head in response. "No, Professor. Did I do something wrong?" he asked in a worried tone, pretending to be clueless.

Unfortunately, Professor Dumbledore didn't believe his words for a second. He raised a thick, bushy eyebrow, looking down at him over his half-moon spectacles, "Are you saying you didn't take control of the wards around Hogwarts from me, Harry?"

Harry winced. Apparently, it seemed like there was no point lying to the Headmaster. He already knew what had happened. So, Harry decided to be truthful. "Yeah, I did, Professor," he told the old wizard.

Professor Dumbledore leaned forward in his chair, his eyes troubled by Harry's answer. "Harry, my boy, do you have any idea what you've done? These wards are crucial for the safety of everyone inside the castle, child. I need you to return the control back to me so that I can monitor them and ensure that nothing dangerous enters Hogwarts."

As Dumbledore concluded his demands, Harry found himself troubled by the Headmaster's words. He could discern the truth behind the man's voice; unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to help him. Harry had made a promise to Hogwarts and he wasn't going to break it no matter what. In the end, Harry shook his head, saying, "I'm sorry, but it's not possible, Professor. The castle recognizes me as its master, and it wouldn't let anyone else control it now that I'm here, not even you," he explained truthfully.

A few portraits broke their silence now, making displeased grumblings at his response, unable to believe that he had just refused the Headmaster. Dumbledore, however, didn't react angrily at all. He simply made a thoughtful sound, running a hand through his long white beard. His piercing blue eyes regarded Harry sharply, "Is that because of the Slytherin Lordship, Mr Potter? Is that what gives you ownership over the castle?" he asked curiously.

Harry nodded back in reply. "Yes, Professor."

Dumbledore let out a tired sigh, surprising Harry. "Well, this is very disappointing, Harry," he said softly, "The only reason I called you here was to try to change your mind, but clearly, that would be a waste of time I think. Still, I implore you, my boy, to grant me some control over the ward scheme so that I can at least monitor who is coming in or going out of the castle."

Harry thought about it for a second and decided that it was a fair request. It would be something to discuss with Hogwarts later. "I'll consider it, sir," he replied, rising from his chair.

Dumbledore nodded in acknowledgement. He then gestured toward the door, silently giving permission for him to leave.

Harry quickly turned around and made his way towards the door. As he exited Dumbledore's office, the heavy wooden door closed behind him with a soft thud. Thoughts swirled in Harry's mind as he decided what to do next. In the end, one thing was clear to him, he needed to talk with Hogwarts and see what she thought about his latest chat with the Headmaster.

His mind made up, Harry began to head towards the nearest abandoned classroom which nobody frequented so that he could have a private talk with the red-haired girl.