Chapter 10: True Heir of Slytherin

For a moment, there was silence since as Harry, Josh, Ron, Ginny, and Lockhart stood in the doorway covered in muck and slime. Then there was a scream.

"Ginny!" It was Mrs. Weasley, who had been sitting crying in front of the fire. She leapt to her feet, closely followed by Mr. Weasley, and both of them flung themselves on their daughter.

Josh looked past them. Professor Dumbledore was standing by the mantelpiece, beaming, next to Professor McGonagall, who was taking great, steadying gasps, clutching her chest. Fawkes had swooped past Harry and Josh and settled on Dumbledore's shoulder. Mrs. Weasley swept in and hugged Harry and Ron.

"You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?" And then she hugged Josh tightly who yelped softly in pain.

"I think we'd all like to know that," said Professor McGonagall weakly. Josh was released from Mrs. Weasley's grasp, and watched as Harry walked up to the desk and placed the Sorting Hat, the ruby encrusted sword, and what was left of Riddle's diary. Josh winced as he sat in one of the chairs.

Then Harry, Ron, and Josh started telling them everything. For nearly a quarter of an hour they spoke into the rapt silence. They told them about hearing the disembodied voices in the walls, how they finally realized that Harry and Josh was hearing a basilisk in the pipes; how they had followed the spiders in the forest, that Aragog had told them where the last victim of the basilisk died; how they guessed that Moaning Myrtle had been the victim, and that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets might be in her bathroom...

"Very well," Professor McGonagall prompted as the three boys paused, "so you found out where the entrance was - breaking a hundred school rules into pieces along the way, I might add - but how on earth did you get out of there alive, Potter?"

So Harry continued to tell them about Fawkes's timely arrival and about the Sorting Hat giving him the sword. But then he faltered. Josh noticed that Harry had so far avoided mentioning Riddle's diary - or Ginny. She was standing with her head against Mrs. Weasley's shoulder, and tears were still coursing silently down her cheeks.

"What interests me most," Dumbledore said gently. "is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently hiding in Albania." Josh saw Harry let out a sigh.

"W-what's that?" said Mrs. Weasley in as stunned voice. "You-Know-Who? En-enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not...Ginny hasn't been...has she?"

"It was his diary," Harry spoke quickly, picking it up and showing it to Dumbledore. "Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen..." Dumbledore took the diary from Harry and peered keenly down his long, cooked nose at its burnt and soggy pages.

"Brilliant," he said softly. "Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen." He turned arounf to the Weasleys, who were looking utterly bewildered. "Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving the school...traveled far and wide...sank deeply into the Dark Arts, constorted with they very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations, that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognized. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."

"But, Ginny," said Mrs. Weasley. "What's our Ginny got to do with - with - him?" Josh looked at Ginny was crying and too scared to speak. He then looked at Harry who was didn't want to speak either.

"It was because of his diary," Josh spoke up for Ginny. "She wrote in it, and he wrote back..."

"Ginny!" Mr. Weasley said flabbergasted. "Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain? Why didn't you show the diary to me, or to your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic -"

"I d-didn't know," Ginny sobbed. "I found it inside one of the books Mum got me. I th-thought someone had just left it in there and forgotten about it -" Josh and Harry shared a glance.

"Miss Weasley should go up to the Hospital Wing right away," Dumbledore interuppted in a firm voice. "This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort." He strode over to the door and opened it. "Bed rest and perhaps a large, streaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up," he added, twinkling kindly down at her. "You'll find that Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She's just giving out Mandrake juice - I daresay the basilisk's victims will be waking up at any moment."

"So Hermione's okay!" Ron said brightly. Josh and Harry smiled.

"There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny," said Dumbledore. Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out, and Mr. Weasley followed, still looking deeply shaken. "You know, Minerva," Professor Dumbledore said thoughtfully to McGonagall. "I think this all merits a good feast. Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens?"

"Right," said Professor McGonagall crisply, also moving to the door. "I'll leave to deal with Potter, Weasley, and Anderson, shall I?"

"Certainly," said Dumbledore. She left, and the three boys gazed at Dumbledore, uncertainly, fearing they were about to be punished.

"I seem to remember telling a couple of you that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules," Dumbledore said. Josh looked at Harry and Ron. Harry had his head bowed while Ron had his mouth open in horror. "Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words," Dumbledore went on, smiling. "All of you will receive Special Awards for Services to the School and - let me see - yes, I think two hundred points a piece for Gryffindor." The three boys smiled and looked at one another. "But one of us seems to be keeping mightily quiet about his part in this dangerous adventure," Dumbledore added. "Why so modest, Gilderoy?"

Josh gave a start and looked behind him to see Lockhart. He had completely forgot about Lockhart. The non amnesiac Defense Professor was standing in the corner of the room, still wearing his vague smile. Whe Dumbledore adressed him, Lockhart looked over his shoulder to see who he was talking to.

"Professor," Ron said quickly. "There was an accident down in the Chamber. Professor Lockhart -"

"Am i a professor?" said Lockhart in a mild surprise. "Goodness. I expect I was hopeless, was I?"

"Yes," Josh mumbled with a smile which went away when he saw Dumbledore glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.

"He tried to do a memory charm and the wand backfired," Ron explained quietly to Dumbledore.

"Tried to erase our minds, he did," Josh added.

"Dear me," said Dumbledore, shaking his head, his long silver mustache quivering. "Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy."

"Sword?" Lockhart said, dimly. "Haven't got a sword. That boy has, though." He pointed at Harry. "He'll lend you one."

"Would you mind taking Professor Lockhart up to the infirmary, too?" Dumbledore said to Ron.

Lockhart ambled out. Ron cast a curious look back at Dumbldore, Harry, and Josh as he closed the door. Dumbledore crossed to one of the chairs by the fire across from Josh.

"Sit down, Harry," he said, and Harry sat in one of the chairs next to Josh. "First of all, boys, I want to thank you," said Dumbledore, eyes twinkling again. "You both must have shown me real loyalty down in the Chamber. Nothing but that could have called Fawkes to you." He stroked Fawkes, who had fluttered down onto his knee. Harry and Josh shared a look and gave small smiles at Fawkes. "And so you met Tom Riddle," Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "I imagine he was most interested in both of you..."

"Professor...Riddle said that I'm like him. Strange likenesses, he said..." Harry spoke.

"Did he, now?" said Dumbledore, looking thoughtfully at Harry from under his thick silver eyebrows. "And what do you think, Harry?" Josh looked at his friend as he answered.

"I don't think I'm like him!" said Harry, more loudly than Josh expected. "I mean, I'm - I'm in Gryffindor, I'm...Professor, the Sorting Hat told me I'd - I'd have done well in Slytherin. Everyone thought I was Slytherin's Heir for a while...because I can speak Parseltongue..."

"You can speak Parseltongue, Harry," said Dumbledore calmly, "because Lord Voldemort - who is the ancestor of Salazar Slytherin - can speak Parseltongue. Unless I'm much mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that scar. Not something he intended to do, I'm sure..."

Josh looked into the fire, tuning out Harry and Dumbldore. That doesn't explain how Josh knows Parseltongue. Voldemort couldn't have destoryed himself twice to two babies? No, that made no sense what so ever. And it seemed stupid and ridiculous, but then he thought about what Riddle had told him. 'You must have some Slyterhin in you.' Riddle had told him. Did that mean that Josh had some Slytherin blood in him? And if he did, then wouldn't he be in Slytherin like Riddle? They were both half bloods, so it should make some sense. But why was he put into Gryffindor then. He was brave and had the heart of a lion, but he was also very ambitious and cunning like a Slytherin. But he was so much different than Tom Riddle and other Slytherins. He had a good heart, and he would be always do the right thing even if it meant if he had to break a few rules, or a hundred. But it could be possible, Most of his family had been in Slytherin as far as he could remember except for his cousin that went to Durmstrang. And his Grandfather did tell him that he was the first Emrys to be a Gryffindor in a long, long time. But could it be true that he was a relative of Slytherin? He could control the Basilisk and legend did say only Slytherin's Heir was the only one to control it.

Josh looked up from the fire to see Harry looking at the sword. "Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the hat, Harry," Dumbledore said simply. "Now, what you two need, is some food and sleep, I suggest you go down to the feast, while I write to Azkaban - we need out gamekeeper back. I must draft an advertisement for the Daily Prophet, too," he added thoughtfully. "We'll be needing a new Defense teacher...Dear me, we do seem to run through them, don't we?"

Harry and Josh stood up and walked towards the door, but Josh stopped. Harry turned and looked at him questioningly. "Go on," Josh said to him. "I'll catch up." Harry nodded and left the office, while Josh turned back to Dumbledore who was at McGonagall's desk writing a couple of letters.

"Um, Professor?" Josh called.

"Yes, you want to know why you speak Parseltongue too, am I right?" Dumbledore asked as he looked back at Josh with twinkling eyes.

"Yes, sir," Josh said. "It can't be the same as why Harry does, but then why?"

"Well, Joshua,'' Dumbledore started as he stood up. "When i was gone, i decided to visit an old friend. Your grandfather, Malcom Emrys. And we both decided to check yours and his family tree."

"What did you find out?" Josh asked as he felt he knew the answer.

"You are very much related to Slytherin," Dumbledore answered, and Josh's face fell. "But it's nothing to be sad about."

"It is when you find out you're related to Voldemort himself," Josh murmured angrily.

"Related? Yes, but family? No," Dumbledore said. "Let's see here. Slythering had two sons. The oldest, Septimius, followed Slytherin's purity ideas, while the youngest, Sertorius, followed Gryffindor's ideas, and even married a muggleborn witch, shunning him from his blood family. And from Slytherin's youngest line, his children, and their children and so on, married whoever they liked and eventually went to half-bloods mostly, then back to back to pure when your great-great-grandfather Magnus Emrys married you're great-great-grandmother, who was half blood and related to Slytherin's youngest son."

Josh nodded. "But, parseltongue? How can i speak it and my family can't?" he asked.

"It seems that after Sertorius and his children and their children's children, and so on, they mostly married muggleborns, and that the Parseltongue trait only became a gene that was carried and became very dormant, but it seems that for some unknown and myterious reason, that the trait finally awoken in you."

"But why me?" Josh asked. "Why after all this time that the Parseltongue suddenly awakes in me and in no one else?

"Yes, Joshua, that is the question, isn't it?" Dumbledore said. Josh nodded and there was a few moments of silence. "You are a very good wizard, Joshua, with qaulities of both Gryffindor and Slytherin. It seems that you would be very much like Sertorius himself as he was a great wizard, too."

"But, what if i'm become like Tom Riddle?" Josh asked with his head bowed.

"Do you believe that you will?" Dumbledore asked. Josh looked up at the headmaster and shook his head. He was nothing like Tom. "Good. It is our choices Joshua, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." Josh nodded and turned to leave, but stopped when Dumbledore spoke again. "And I do believe, like Harry, you are meant to do great things, like the true Heir of Slytherin was meant to do."

Josh smiled. He liked the sound of that; True Heir of Slytherin. His new nickname, like Harry's; the Boy-Who-Lived, but cooler.

"Oh, and I think you should go to the Hospital Wing," Dumbledore said. Josh looked at the headmaster. He had forgotten he was hurting and sore all over. "You're a little pale, and shaking, and wince everytime you make a big move, so by my guess, you've been hit by the Cruciatus Curse."

"The what?" Josh asked.

"Oh, you'll learn it sooner or later, but I advise you to get to the Hospital Wing for your pain."

Josh nodded and left the office, wincing in some pain. He was near the Hospital Doors when he heard his name called.

"Josh!"

Josh turned and saw Daphne run up to him. "Yeah?"

Daphne stopped in front of him, then looked at his grimy self. "What in the world happened to you?" she asked. "Where have you been? I overheard Ron talking about how him, you, and Harry went into the Chamber of Secrets and saved Ginny Weasley."

"You heard right," Josh replied then began to walk towards the Hospital doors.

"Are you okay?" Daphne asked in a worried voice.

"Yeah, fine an...ah!" Josh yelped as Daphne jumped on him and hugged him tight. "Daphne, can you let go? I'm in a lot of pain."

Daphne let go quickly and looked at Josh with more worry in her eyes. "I'm sorry! What happened to you?" she asked him.

"Dumbledore said i was hit the what was called a Cruciatus Curse," Josh answered as he opened the doors and entered the Hospital Wing with Daphne following and gave a gasp when she heard his last two words.

"Are you serious?" Daphne asked, hand on her heart.

"Yeah, you know it?" Josh asked as he felt like he was getting tired, exhaustion catching up to him.

"Yeah, it's a torture curse, an unforgivible curse," Daphne asnwered. "One of the curses that was mostly used in the first war with Voldemort."

Josh nodded and continued to looked for Madam Pomfrey. He noticed the petrified were gone, and that Lockhart was in the bed reading one of his own books, and Ginny and her parents in one of the beds talking quietly. He found the nurse, and she gave him some pain dulling potion, pepper up potion, and strengthening potion to take.

After the healing, Josh and Daphne went to the feast. The two entered while everyone was eating and chatting to their friends, and then went their seperate ways. He sat in between Neville and Hermione, and across from Ron, and was happy to see Hermione and the others back to normal. Josh asked where Harry was and learned that he went back to go to talk Dumbledore again, but Ron didn't know why.

This feast was one Josh has never been to before. Mostly everyone was in their pajamas, except the petrified students, and Josh and Ron. Harry entered 15 minutes later with a big smile on his face. When asked, he told them that He had freed Dobby which turned out to be a good thing, and now had an elf who became his friend for life.

Everything was going fantastic, and it had gotten better when Hagrid appeared half past three, and hugged the three Gryffindor heroes. Harry's, Josh's, and Ron's points for Gryffindor, caused the house to win the House Cup second year in a row. Josh didn't think it couldn't get any better when Dumbldore announced that the exams have been canceled as a school treat and that Lockhart was not going to be joining next year, and even a few teachers cheered for that one.

"Shame," Ron said to his friends. "He was beginning to grow on me." Josh and Harry laughed out loud as this turned out to be a great early morning.

The rest of the final term passed in a haze of blazing sunshine. Hogwarts was back to normal with only a few, small differences - Defense classes were canceled and Ron seemed to think that him, Harry, and Josh had enough practice anyways. And for more better news, Lucius Malfoy had been sacked as a school governor, and Draco was no longer strutting around the school as if he owned the place. One the contrary, he looked resentful and sulky. On the other hand, Ginny Weasley was perfectly happy again.

Too soon, it was time for the journey home on the Hogwarts Express. Harry, Josh, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny got a compartment to themselves. They made the most of the last few hours in which they were allowed to do magic for the holidays. They played exploding snap, set off the very last of Fred and George's Filibuster Fireworks, and practiced disarming each other by magic, Harry and Josh were getting very good at it, and even hitting each other at the same time and catching each other's wands at the same time.

They were almost at King's crossed stationed when Harry and the rest all found out from Ginny about how Percy had a girlfriend. It was Penelope Clearwater, one of the petrified victims.

The Hogwarts Express slowed and finally stopped.

Harry pulled out a quill and a bit of parchment and turned to his three best friends, Ron, Hermione, and Josh.

"This is called a telephone number," Harry told Ron, scribbling it three times, tearing it into three pieces, and handing it to them. "I told your dad how to use a telephone last summer - he'll know. Call me at the Dursleys', okay? I can't stand another two months with only Dudley to talk to..."

"Your Aunt and Uncle will be proud, though, won't they?" Hermione said as they got off the train and joined the crowd thronging towards the enchanted barrier. "When they hear what you did this year?"

"Proud?" said Harry. "Are you crazy? All those time I could've died, and I didn't manage it? The'll be furious..."

"Harry?" Josh called. Harry turned to him. Josh handed him his number and address. "In case you want to come to visit, or get a chance to call."

"Cool, thanks," Harry said and took the parchment. And they all walked back through the barrier together into the Muggle world.

Josh turned to Ron and they stared at one another for a few moments, and then they shook hands.

"Still not friends," Josh said with a hint of a smile.

"Of course," Ron replied with the same expressiong. "Well, seeya." Ron said and then left. Josh said goodbye to Harry and Hermione and began looking for his mom when he felt a hug on his shoulder. He turned to see Neville. "Neville!"

"Josh," Neville replied. "Seeya next year, yeah?"

"Of course, Neville," Josh replied and Neville then waved goodbye and left. Josh then continued to look for his mother when he felt someone hug him from behind. "Daphne." he said simply.

"How did you know?" Daphne said as she walked to Josh's front.

"Same way i can tell the Weasley's apart," Josh answered simply with a smile. "So, this year has been really crazy."

"Oh yeah," Daphne replied with a smile. "i'll miss you."

"Yeah, I'll miss you too," Josh replied and the two hugged again, but this time, Daphne kissed his cheek, and both blushed when they split. "Yes, well..."

"I have to go," Daphne said. "Write me?"

"Of course," Josh said. "Bye."

"Bye!" Daphne said and ran off. Josh turned back to look for his mother, but didn't find her. Instead, he found his Grandfather, standing with his greying hair, green eyes, very tall, over 6 feet, strong complexion and wearing a black business suit. Josh walked over with a big smile on his face.

"If it isn't the True Slytherin Heir!" Malcom spoked as Josh reached him and hugged him.

"Granpa," Josh greeted then released him. "Where's mum?"

"She thought it would be a great surprise for me to get you," Malcom said with a smile.

"It was," Josh replied, and the two began walking off.

"Heard you had a great and adventurous year,' Malcom said.

"You have no idea," Josh replied and took a glance at the barrier. "Hopefully next year is just as great!"

A/N The End. There, short chapter, but it's over. Now this is the start of Josh's destiny, and it all has to do with a few things like why he's the only parseltongue in his family, and then why he's in Gryffindor, and another thing that will be a big part of his destiny is his own question of Will he be like Tom Riddle? That will be a big part in the last few chapters of Josh's life through the Harry Potter Books as he will have a battle within himself. You'll just have to wait and see.