It was much, much more than 'a little painful'. Every bone in his body felt as though it were on fire. They seemingly burnt down to ash, before rebuilding themselves and repeating the process. Harry wouldn't even be surprised if that really was the case.
His jaw, as well as his cheekbones burnt as well; the pain in his eyes were so much that he forced them shut. He had previously thought the pain he felt in the woods of the World Cup was the worst he would ever feel. He hastily corrected that. Whatever this was, it was hundreds of times worse.
The pain suddenly stopped, leaving nearly every part of his body just as quickly as it arrived. What had been pain was now replaced by an uncomfortable burning sensation. His eyes, however, burned just as badly as before, perhaps slightly less.
He pushed himself off the ground, ignoring the ache of his muscles.
"Salazar, I'm going to burn your portrait for this one." Harry hissed in Parseltongue.
"Ahh, you're awake!" Salazar's voice came from somewhere in front of him, "You've been sitting there for about half an hour now, I was wondering when you would be done."
"Why are my eyes still burning? It's like the ritual hasn't even ended for them." asked Harry.
He was met with silence for a few moments, before he heard the portrait's voice, which was uncharacteristically filled with curiosity.
"It appears as though the ritual is trying to fix your sight."
"What? Will it work?" Harry asked excitedly. It had always been horrible, having to depend on glasses for everything. The moment he lost them, he would be easily defeated. It was pure chance that he hadn't yet lost them when in a dangerous situation.
"I am not sure." replied the portrait hesitantly, "The fact that it is burning as badly as you describe indicates that the ritual is having a tough time fixing it. We will have to wait, perhaps for maybe an hour or so until the feeling subsides. Then, we might find our answer."
It was undoubtedly one of the longest hours Harry had yet lived, which truly meant a lot considering his childhood largely comprised of being locked within a pitch-black cupboard. He lay down on the cold stone floor of the chamber, occasionally making small talk with the portrait. Salazar had helped him find his wand, and given him the incantation to a spell that lessened the pain quite a lot. After quite a while, the pain vanished entirely. Harry informed Salazar of the occurrence when it happened.
"Slowly open your eyes. That will give us our answer." said the portrait.
Harry did as he was told, awaiting the potential results of the ritual.
It's still blurry.
"It didn't work." groaned Harry in poorly concealed disappointment, "If anything, my sight is worse than it was before."
Salazar let out a stream of joyful curses in Parseltongue, before reverting to English moments later.
"Your glasses are on, my dear foolish Gryffindor! Take them off!"
Harry yanked the glasses off his head, his eyes growing wide. He could see everything in perfect detail, from Salazar's portrait all the way to the dead basilisk corpse.
"I love magic." Harry whispered in awe, before spending the next several minutes observing the chamber in full detail.
"Incredible, what ritualistic magic can do, isn't it?" asked Salazar happily. Harry nodded eagerly, before turning back to the portrait.
"My body burns a bit, but you said that it would last for the next week or so. It was worth it, so that's fine. Do I look any different to you? Besides the lack of glasses, I mean?"
Salazar studied him carefully, before replying, "You look much more intelligent, and more cunning. More confident as well. Though I only noticed because you asked, mind you."
Harry nodded slowly, before transfiguring a small stone on the floor into a hand-held mirror. He picked it up, casually observing himself in the reflection.
Salazar was right; he did indeed seem more intelligent, as well as more confident. When he flashed a smile at the mirror, it was just as charming as the smile Tom Riddle once had, although it was completely different. Besides that, Harry had yet to spot any differences in his appearance, although he knew those would form over time.
"Won't people notice a sudden drastic change in my appearance?" Harry asked curiously.
"Possibly. The ritual will work top to bottom, so your face will be done within the week. However, the changes will appear to be very different, yet very similar. It's truthfully quite hard to explain. They will, however, notice your lack of glasses immediately, maybe a small portion of the effects from the second ritual as well. The people you converse with that know you well may notice certain traits within you that they did not notice before.."
"Both guys and girls?" Harry asked. Regardless of how useful this evidently was, Harry did not enjoy the idea of attracting unnecessary attention. He knew it was better this way, as he would attract attention either way, but still disliked it.
"Yes. This is not some form of love potion, it is natural. All it does is makes traits of yours more obvious. People will still reach their conclusions on you entirely on their own. It has nothing to do with sexual or romantic attraction. It is simply easier for them to notice traits they find valuable within you. Whether or not they are attracted to you is entirely up to themselves, there is no magic behind that." the portrait said, "Besides, it works both ways; if someone truly wants to find a poor trait within you, they will likely be able to do so with more ease than before."
"This is all very confusing." said Harry in a tired voice.
"It's ritualistic magic, it should be confusing." replied Salazar, "Your more pressing problem is the sudden lack of glasses."
"Oh, don't worry about that. I'll just say I got contacts."
"Con - what?" asked Salazar, confused.
The two of them spent the next ten minutes engaging in a discussion on muggle contact lenses.
"So, to recap," started Salazar, "Muggles put miniature, circular, glass pieces in their eyes to help them see?"
"Essentially, yes."
"That explains quite a lot, actually. Now I know why I have almost never had a muggleborn in Slytherin, and why they always seem to end up in Gryffindor. Who else could possibly think that is a good idea?"
"One more word about my house and I'll set fire to your portrait."
.....
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