Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Harry Potter franchise; That all belongs to JK Rowling and various other people. I don't earn a dime off of this. If you recognize it, it isn't mine. We all get inspired, both from published authors and from other FF-writers, but I won't try to name them, as they also got inspired from somewhere.

A/N: I would say that I'm sorry for the delay, but it has become a bad habit at this point. The review and messages are what guilt-trips me into writing this, even though I have a ton of schoolwork, so keep them coming.

Chapter 4: Amongst familiar halls

As the sun rose over the small wizarding village, most of its inhabitants still slept. Salvius had left the key to his room hanging in the door and left without more than a nod to the barkeeper. Walking outside of the inn, Salvius saw that the village hadn't changed all that much and made him feel a little more at home than Diagon Alley had.

Whilst walking along the road leading from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts, Salvius thought about the previous night's events. He could not put his finger on what it was, but that philosopher's stone drew him to it in an unnatural way. In fact, his dreams that night had been filled with weird visions, some cantered around the stone, whilst others were less clear. If he hadn't made sure already that he didn't possess any abilities in the art of divination, he would have called it a vision. Deciding to ignore it for the moment, he kept walking along the path.

Soon he had made his way to the gates, signalling the entrance to Hogwarts' grounds and also being one of the only openings in the wards. He suddenly realized that he had to decide how to enter Hogwarts. As one of the five original people that were tied to the wards, he could enter the castle with no problems, but that would most likely provoke some hostile response from the current headmaster and the rest of the staff. Taking that into consideration, he knocked on the gate. After waiting for a few minutes and not seeing any response, he just opened to gates with a wave of his hand.

As soon as he crossed the wardline, he felt the wards' magic rush over him, welcoming him. At first Salvius was shocked, as the wards and the castle itself felt near-sentient, which the hadn't been at his time, but he then realised that it was the result of the many magical students who had lived inside the castle, imprinting a little of each of their magic in the wards and the castle itself.

Before he realised it, he had reached the giant doors of Hogwarts. As he got closer, the doors opened themselves and Salvius immediately felt that he was home again. It was still late morning, so the few inhabitants of the castle would most likely be in the Great Hall, having breakfast. Deciding to get the likely tense introduction out of the way, Salvius went to meet them. As the entered the Great Hall it took a few seconds before anyone noticed him, but when they did he easily gathered the attention of the whole staff. A few of them looked ready to draw their wands but were calmed somewhat by the headmaster's lack of action.

As Salvius glazed at the individual teachers and staff members, he noticed the two men that had gambled the evening before. The one who had occlumency shields looked did not hide their face this time, so it stood to reason that the larger of the two men did not know the identity of the other. He was drawn out of his musings by the headmaster speaking up.

"I should think that there would be a reason as to why a complete stranger stands in Hogwarts without me giving them permission to enter the castle and go through the wards. Would you care to elaborate?"

Salvius gave a small smile and answered:

"That would be because I'm keyed into the wards. I should be, seeing as I was part of putting most of them up myself."

The headmaster frowned but continued:

"Were you a part of some warding team, that has been working on Hogwarts in the past? Even then you should not be keyed into the wards. Why are you here then?"

"To answer your first question; no, I'm not part of a warding team. I am, however, the descendent of Salazar Slytherin, which is why I'm keyed into the wards. The next question is a bit difficult to give a simple answer to. As a descendent of the Slytherin line, I feel obligated to observe the standard of both Hogwarts itself but also those students, who bear our family name. Therefore, I would like to take up residence in the castle and maybe teach a few classes or something the sort." Salvius answered whilst looking the headmaster in his eyes. The whole room was visibly shocked by his words.

"I would think an introduction would be in order. I am Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, and who might you be?"

"I'm glad to meet you Professor Dumbledore. I'm Lord Salvius Slytherin."

Again there was silence. Especially three occupants of the room understood the real significance of the words Salvius had just uttered. Two looking shocked and curios, whilst the one who had gambled with a dragon egg looked shocked but also as if wincing from pain. Filing that information for later, he shook the headmaster's outstretched hand.

As they released each other's hands Professor Dumbledore said:

"You are, of cause, welcome to stay at Hogwarts. How could we possibly deny you entrance to the school? As to the classes, we would have to find something out, fairly quickly, as the term starts in a few days. It would also have to be an optional class outside of normal school hours, as the timetables have already been made. Would that be alright with you?"

"That would be perfectly acceptable. I assume we can decide upon the specifics later."

"Yes, that would be suitable" Dumbledore said, with a twinkle in his eyes

With that, Salvius turned around and left to take a walk in the halls of Hogwarts.