Harry slowly woke Hedwig up, giving her a bit of time to be fully awake. He nodded his head towards Salazar and the rune work, before placing Hedwig on his shoulder.
"She will need to sit in the center circle." Salazar informed Harry, "The moment you step out of the rune area, the ritual will begin.
"Will it hurt her?" asked Harry.
"As long as she is indeed a magical owl, which she is, she will be fine." assured Salazar, "She will simply be still for around fifteen minutes, as she absorbs the magic required for the Phoenix Stasis."
"And when will the Phoenix Stasis begin?"
"No particular time." said Salazar, "Just some time that she is alive. Although it does happen more often when they are in dangerous situations, from my understanding."
"Alright, I'm doing it."
Harry slowly walked towards the center circle, depositing Hedwig within it. She gently nipped his fingers before he made his way out of the rune area. Once he had done so, Harry noticed that the magical components were glowing slightly, and that Hedwig had frozen entirely. He stood there for a few minutes, trying to see if anything was happening.
"I expected a ritual that turns an owl into a phoenix to be more interesting." commented Harry.
"I said the same thing to Rowena when Helga transformed Caladrius." said Salazar, chuckling.
"And what did she say?"
"Something about how the ritual didn't turn the owl into a phoenix, but that it made it so that owl's worth could later be judged, and then the owl might turn into a phoenix at that time."
"She sounds like Hermione talking about homework."
They sat in silence for a bit, before Salazar spoke again, this time in a much quieter voice.
"When she goes under her Phoenix Stasis, I believe she will attempt to create a soul bond with you."
Harry turned to the portrait, his expression curious.
"How do you know?"
"Like I said, all phoenixes hold some sort of positive emotion. For her it seems to be love, which is directed toward you. You must have treated her with love, something that most witches and wizards will not give an owl. She will want to bond with you."
"Is that good or bad?" Harry asked the portrait.
"I believe it to be good. There are only two magical creatures that can be soul bound, or become a true familiar, and they are both creatures that are wizard made: phoenixes and basilisks. For a basilisk, they chose whether or not to bond with their creator the moment they break out of their egg, just as phoenixes do when they are first formed. The moment my basilisk left her egg, I chose to ask her to not bond with me, but to enjoy her long life. As you know, she spent the majority of her long life in sadness and sorrow."
Harry nodded.
"So are basilisk similar to phoenixes in that regard?"
"They are indeed. Both require a ritual to be created, both can choose to either do nothing or create a soul bond. Both will live for a thousand years if they do nothing, unless they are killed - which is a very difficult thing to do, but not impossible, as you know. Neither of the two creatures can mate, and both of them once were another animal. Both of them require a powerful emotion and intent to be created. For phoenixes, they must be positive. For basilisks they can be, but it is not a requirement.
"So if someone created a basilisk, they could potentially form a familiar bond with it and have an invincible basilisk?" said Harry, panicking. He really hoped Salazar hadn't told Riddle how to do this, or he would be dead within a few years at most.
"Yes, that is indeed possible."
"But you can literally make a basilisk by putting a chicken's egg under a toad, everyone knows that!" exclaimed Harry, his panic growing.
"The sheer stupidity of your generation never ceases to amaze me." Salazar said distastefully, "The toad is supposed to sit on the egg during the ritual. As the ritual occurs, the toad is combined with the unborn chick inside the egg, as well as the several other magical components. That is what creates a basilisk. A toad sitting on a chicken's egg is simply one of many steps."
"So you need the ritual to create the basilisk." asked Harry, continuing once Salazar had nodded.
"Does Riddle know the ritual?"
Salazar shook his head.
"At a certain part of my life, I was the only person who knew how to create a basilisk. Once I had created my basilisk, I used a memory charm to remove the information from my head."
"So the knowledge on how to create a basilisk is lost to time?" Harry questioned.
"It is indeed. Besides, a basilisk would be much more likely to kill someone as opposed to bonding with them, regardless of the person being their creator. It is only due to myself being a Parselmouth that my basilisk, Lilith, offered to bond with me - "
Boom.
Both the portrait and Harry turned towards the origin of the noise, which was where Hedwig was. The runes that had once etched the floor were gone. The magical components had also vanished. Only Hedwig remained where she was, flapping her wings.
Harry made his way over to his owl, picking her up gently. She seemed more than fine, judging by the way she hopped on to Harry's shoulder and rubbed her chest against Harry's head.
"She seems the same." Harry noted.
"Good, she is supposed to be the same." said Salazar, "Sometime in the future, she will go under the Phoenix Stasis, and will be judged of worth. If she is worthy, she will become a phoenix."
"Who exactly judges her worth?" asked Harry.
"No idea. Rowena theorized that they are judged by their own beliefs. They have to deem themselves worthy."
"Alright, fine." said Harry, not entirely understanding the portrait's words (he would have to ask later), "I really need to go, but one last thing. What does the stasis look like?"
"She won't move at all." Salazar informed him, "She might appear frozen. You may think she's dead, or asleep, but she is not. You can tell by peeling back her eyelids. If she is under the Phoenix Stasis, her eyes will be glowing a soft gold."
"Golden eyes, got it."
"Do not worry about it, it highly unlikely that it will occur anytime soon. Now tell me about this Champion Selection; it appears to be much more pressing."
"There are going to be a few famous witches and wizards, and some important ministry officials, I think." said Harry, "I know that the British, French, and Bulgarian Ministers of Magic are all going to be there, Professor McGonagall yelled it at us the other day when Fred and George were fooling around in the common room. They're going to be using the Recorder Glass too, to broadcast around the world."
"Do you know any of the places where people will be able to watch?" asked Salazar.
"All eleven major magical schools." said Harry, "They've set up temporary recorder glasses there, from what I know. Most major magical pubs as well. All the Ministries of Magic. I meant to ask you, how do you create a magical object that can broadcast like that, especially all around the world?"
"It isn't as hard as you think, all though it would definitely take a long time to do so." said Salazar, "You are simply imitating an action that can be performed by a witch or wizard, which is sight and hearing. Then you simply duplicate that. I expect the device has two parts, something to capture and something to display?"
"Yeah, there's this floating orb that captures everything, and it's displayed on this magical glass. We saw it at the Quidditch World Cup."
"I will teach you more about it when we work on runes." said the portrait, "But for now, you need to go. I will not have my heir looking anything less than perfect, especially when the entire world is watching."
"It won't be me they'll be watching," argued Harry, "It's going to be whichever idiots put their names into the Goblet. If the Tournament's anything like what it used to be, I'm not even sure there will be a third task."
"I suppose it would still be rather enjoyable to watch." said Salazar, "Have fun, and do not bring shame to our family."
"You mean the family that nobody knows I'm a part of?"
"Those who know about how the Parseltongue ability works will know you're a part of the family." argued Salazar.
"So, that's how many people, three? Five, if you're lucky?"
"Just get out, and don't do anything particularly Gryffindorish."
"I would never." said Harry, chuckling.
.....
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