Many, many apologies for the delay. I didn't realize it had been so long but unfortunately school caught up with me, along with other projects.
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Harry followed Professor Snape silently as they made their way to the dungeons. He barely noticed Pansy and Tracey giving him contemplative looks. The walk from Lockhart's office to the dungeons seemed to take an eternity and yet, it was over all too quickly.
"Miss Parkinson, Miss Davis, you may leave. I would suggest returning to the common room as soon as possible. Mr. Potter will be following you shortly."
The two girls nodded. Harry swallowed nervously and shifted from foot to foot. He wasn't sure what Professor Snape wanted to talk to him about but he was sure that it couldn't be anything good. Normally when students of Slytherin house were summoned to the Potions professor's office, they were in severe trouble.
Harry glanced longingly at the retreating backs of Pansy and Tracey, wishing desperately that he could be with them, before trailing Professor Snape into his office.
"You wanted to speak to me, sir?" he asked, fidgeting as he tried not to look around the office. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see parts of animals floating in jars.
"I would have thought by now that you would have learned that I don't like being lied to, Mr. Potter," Professor Snape said in a low voice. Harry's fidgeting increased.
"I don't know what you're talking about, sir," he said. Professor Snape sighed.
"If you insist on lying to my face," he hissed, "try not to make it blatantly obvious. Professor Dumbledore may be content with believing what he hears at face value but I am not. What are you hiding?"
"Nothing, sir," Harry replied quickly. Professor Snape's eyes narrowed.
"Potter!" he barked. Harry flinched.
"It's nothing, sir. I just thought…" he trailed off and looked around the room.
"Thought what?" Professor Snape prodded.
"That I had heard something. A voice," Harry finished. The green-eyed boy waited anxiously for his professor's reaction.
"What kind of voice?" Professor Snape asked after a few long seconds.
"Cold. Dangerous. It was talking about how—" Harry gulped. It felt like there was a lump in his throat and it was making it difficult to talk.
"How what?" Professor Snape prodded again.
"How it was going to kill," Harry continued. "It wanted to rip and tear and kill. Then it said it smelled blood. That's when we found Mrs. Norris." Tears were pricking at the boy's eyes. Somehow talking about what had happened scared Harry more than it was actually happening.
"You didn't feel like this was important enough to mention to Professor Dumbledore?" Professor Snape asked. Harry shook his head and gave the man a sad, scared look.
"Even I know that hearing voices isn't a good sign, wizarding world or not. I don't want to be a freak. The Dursleys already think I am. I don't need the rest of the world thinking the same thing."
Harry's fidgeting started up again under the calculating gaze of his Head of House.
"One last question and then you can go, Mr. Potter," Professor Snape said once he had regained control of his racing thoughts. Harry gave a tiny nod and the Potions Master asked his final question. "Where did you hear this voice come from?"
The younger wizard shrugged.
"I couldn't pinpoint it exactly but if I didn't know any better, I would say it was coming from the walls."
The walls? Professor Snape was baffled. There was something inside the walls?
"You can go," he told Harry absently. "Be careful. One can never know what lurks behind these walls." Quite literally, it seemed.
Harry made a hasty retreat, glad to be rid of the Potions professor's office and the disturbing jars that lined the wall. Professor Snape barely noticed him leave. After a few minutes of contemplation, he summoned a book off one of the many bookshelves in the office with a sigh. It looked like it was going to be a long night but he needed to start somewhere. After all, he would do anything to protect his students.
Especially Potter.
Arriving in the common room, Harry was immediately cornered by Pansy and Tracey.
"What the bloody hell happened tonight?" Pansy demanded. "Are you mad? Why did you go tearing through the castle like that?"
"I just didn't feel well," Harry lied. "I thought I heard something but it was just my imagination." No one look convinced.
"Your imagination?" Pansy asked skeptically. Harry nodded.
"It's been a busy week and I was caught up in the mood of Halloween," he said. "Now let me go to bed. I'm not in the mood for celebrating anymore. I'll see you tomorrow."
Pansy and Tracey backed away to let the boy go to his dorm. As Harry made his way through the crowd, he heard Tracey remark,
"Well, at least the rest of the school will leave the Slytherins alone for a while due to this. After all, won't the Heir of Slytherin naturally be a Slytherin?"
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Tracey turned out to be right. The majority of the school population avoided the Slytherins whenever they could. Even the Ravenclaws, who were normally accepting of the serpents, were suspicious.
The students were especially distrustful of Harry, Pansy, and Tracey. As they had been discovered at the scene of the crime, everyone suspected them. Who else could have done it? No one else had been missing at the Halloween feast.
Even the Slytherins were suspicious. Many of the older students claimed that they wouldn't put it past the students in other houses, especially the Gryffindors, to have come up with it to get Slytherin House in trouble. Very few of them had even heard of the Chamber of Secrets.
But there was no denying that it existed. They had gotten their confirmation from Professor Binns himself. While scatterbrained, Professor Binns had lived at the school longer than anybody else, except for possibly the Sorting Hat.
Harry jerked awake as he heard the voice of one of the Gryffindors. Hermione. She was apparently prepared to do the unexpected—ask Professor Binns a question. As far as Harry knew, he was the only one that had done so prior to this occurrence.
"I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets."
Even the Slytherins were leaning closer to the front of the room, looking interested. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw many of his classmates wake with a start.
"My subject is History of Magic. I deal with facts, Miss Granger, not myths and legends." Professor Binns seemed offended that a student would even consider asking him about such things. He attempted to continue on but Hermione stopped him once again.
"Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?"
Harry hid a grin behind his hand at the look of amazement on Professor Binns' face. Expressions always seemed odd on a ghost. Of course, the ghost he interacted the most with was the Bloody Baron, who was always dreary.
"Well, yes, one could argue that, I suppose." Professor Binns looked like he had sucked on a lemon as he made the admission. "However, the legend of which you speak is a very sensational, even ludicrous tale—"
Harry didn't believe Professor Binns' words. If one looked closely at the History of Magic professor, they would be able to see that he was nervous by the way his eyes roamed around the classroom and by the way he floated just a few inches higher.
It didn't take much more convincing before Professor Binns was relaying the legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The effects of having an audience were greater than Harry had imagined. Of course, Harry wouldn't call the story of Chamber of Secrets a legend. It was more of a horror story, in his opinion.
"The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle. Of the other founders knew nothing. Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic."
A slight shiver ran up Harry's spine. Maybe Draco had been right. Muggleborns would be targeted if the Chamber of Secrets had truly been opened. It was only a matter of time. And a matter of what. The horror that lay within the Chamber of Secrets could be anything.
"Sir, what exactly do you mean by the 'horror within' the Chamber?"
Professor Binns sighed. He didn't look thrilled about relaying what could easily be considered a bedtime horror story to his students.
"That is believed to be some sort of monster, which the Heir of Slytherin alone can control."
Well, that narrowed it down to any creature that could be controlled by magic. Unfortunately, that involved most of the animals on the planet, Muggle and magical.
"I tell you, the thing does not exist," Professor Binns said firmly. "There is no Chamber and no monster."
Professor Binns' words didn't reassure the class. Everyone wanted to believe that the Chamber of Secrets existed. Harry didn't blame them. The message had to have been written for a reason. Why would someone say that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened if such a thing didn't even exist?
"Well, that was certainly an interesting class," Theodore Nott commented at lunch. Draco rolled his eyes.
"Oh, please. It wasn't anything new. Professor Binns basically fed us lines from Hogwarts, A History," he said in a scathing voice. "And now the Gryffindors just have another reason to poke around and try to blame us for everything. Shall we make a bet about which one of us they'll accuse of being the Heir of Slytherin first?"
The second years leaned in eagerly at the proposition of a bet. Harry picked at the food on his plate, suddenly not hungry. He already knew that he would be one of the top choices.
"I'm going to say Draco," Pansy said with a smirk. Crabbe, Goyle, and Millicent Bulstrode nodded in agreement.
"What? Why?" Draco asked indignantly.
"Maybe because of your 'You'll be next, Mudbloods,' comment," Pansy replied as she sat back. "That makes you automatically suspicious." Draco snorted.
"A comment like that doesn't mean anything."
"To you," Blaise replied. "To others, it might actually mean something." Draco frowned.
"Well, my bet is on Potter," Draco muttered petulantly. Harry rolled his eyes.
"Naturally," he replied and continued pushing his food around on his plate.
"You're not going to ask why?" Draco's eyebrows rose in surprise.
"The reasons are obvious," Harry said. "I defeated Voldemort as a baby and was sorted into Slytherin. People probably think that I'm the next Dark Lord. I was also the first one to find the message. People don't need many more reasons than that."
Harry didn't mention the voice. It was bad enough that Professor Snape knew. He didn't want any of his house to know as well. If accusations started flying around the school, soon they would be all he could rely on. He didn't want to be abandoned by his house as well for being a freak.
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Harry closed the book in front of him with a sigh. His homework was already finished and with nothing else to do, the green-eyed boy had decided to occupy his time with trying to figure out what sort of monster would be hidden within the Chamber of Secrets. The other students at Hogwarts were content with speculating about who the Heir of Slytherin was but Harry wasn't. In his opinion, the real danger lay with the monster itself. A person was easily dealt with. A monster on the other hand…
It didn't help that Harry had nearly nothing to go on. All he had was a voice lurking in the walls and the fact that Mrs. Norris had been Petrified. He didn't know how and that made it near impossible to narrow the monster down to a specific category.
Harry glanced at the pile of books sitting on the table in front of him. They had all been scoured for information and he had found nothing. Absolutely nothing. Harry leaned forward and rested his head in his hands. He didn't know what to do.
"This essay is disgraceful," he overheard a sixth year saying. The girl was sitting just a few chairs over and was glaring down at a piece of parchment. "I could barely find anything because all the books I need are in the Restricted Section!"
The Restricted Section. Harry had considered looking for any sort of information there but it was nearly impossible to get into the Restricted Section. Madam Pince refused to let students into the Restricted Section, pulling the requested books from the shelves herself. Filch often lurked around the library at night so sneaking in wasn't an option unless Harry had a way to become invisible.
The twelve-year-old let out a groan at his stupidity. How had he not seen it before? He had a way of getting into the Restricted Section and it was sitting at the bottom of his trunk.
With a plan beginning to form, Harry gathered up his books and headed for the dorm. While the dorm was still empty, he grabbed his cloak and tucked it under his pillow. He didn't want to draw any attention to himself when he was sneaking out of the dormitory. He knew for a fact that Draco and Blaise were light sleepers and would easily wake if he took a single wrong step.
It was after midnight when Harry was sure that everyone was asleep. He pulled the Invisibility Cloak out from under his pillow and made sure that it covered him completely before slipping out of his bed. The Slytherin set his feet gingerly down on the floor and held his breath when he heard a faint creak. Only when he was certain that neither Draco nor Blaise had woken up did he take another step.
Harry didn't take a full breath until he was safely outside of the Slytherin common room. Luckily for him, there had been no Slytherins in the common room.
As Harry approached the Restricted Section, he felt his chest tighten in anticipation. The thought of being able to discover which creature lay within the Chamber of Secrets was nearly overwhelming. If he could find out which creature it was—if he found out where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was—then he would be regarded as a hero.
Hours later, becoming a hero didn't seem as possible as it did at the beginning of the night. He was feeling foolish. Why did he think that there would be information in the Restricted Section? If there was, why had no one else found it? Was there even a Chamber of Secrets?
The green-eyed Slytherin closed the book he had been reading and turned to grab a new one off the shelves. His hand flew to his heart and he stifled his startled gasp as he spotted a pair of tennis ball-sized eyes in the corner of his vision.
"Dobby?" Harry hissed quietly. The house-elf nodded miserably.
"Harry Potter should have listened to Dobby, sir," he whispered. "Harry Potter should not have come back to Hogwarts. Why didn't Harry Potter go back home when he missed the train?"
Suddenly the incident at the beginning of September all made sense to Harry. Dobby had tried to stop him from going through the barrier. The tricky, conniving elf…
"You stopped the barrier from letting me through?" he hissed accusingly. Dobby nodded solemnly. Harry glared at the house-elf and clenched his hands into fists. He took deep breaths, not wanting to do something rash.
"What are you doing here?" he asked after he had calmed down somewhat.
"Harry Potter must go home!" Dobby said, voice rising slightly.
"Why?" Harry demanded. "Because of the Chamber of Secrets? It's already been opened so it's a bit late—"
The boy cut off as Dobby gained a horrified expression at the thought and began to shake.
"Harry Potter must go home!" he repeated. "Dobby cannot let Harry Potter stay here now that history is to repeat itself, now that the Chamber of Secrets is open once more—"
Eyes widening at the admission, Dobby grabbed one of the books in Harry's pile and slammed his head into it. Harry didn't move to stop him, too surprised to do or say anything.
"What?" he said when the revelation began to sink in. "Who's opened it? Who opened it last time? What sort of creature is in the Chamber of Secrets? Where is it located?"
Dobby shook his head vigorously.
"Dobby won't say, sir! Dobby mustn't say!" he squeaked, voice rising even further. One corner of Harry's mind was surprised that no one had come to investigate yet. Dobby was certainly making enough noise to draw attention to the Restricted Section.
"Tell me," Harry ordered. Dobby continued to shake his head.
"Harry Potter must go home!" Dobby warned one last time before disappearing. Harry blinked at the sudden disappearance, wondering why the house-elf would have taken off at that particular moment.
Then he heard it.
"…rip…tear…kill…."
Harry looked around wildly. The voice was faint, sounding like it was coming from outside the library. He slipped on his invisibility cloak and fled the library, not bothering to return the books he had been reading to their shelves.
"…rip…tear…kill…"
Harry followed the voice, desperate to get a glimpse of the monster that was beginning to haunt the school. It never once crossed his mind that he could be putting himself in danger.
Harry tripped on the edge of the invisibility cloak and ended up falling to his knees. He let out a quiet cry of pain and scrunched his eyes in pain. He pushed himself to his feet quickly but he fallen strangely on his knees. One was already swelling. There was no way he would be able to run and keep up with the voice.
No longer able to hear the voice, the young Slytherin started the slow journey back to the Slytherin common room. The stairs were the most difficult part, as Harry could only put a small amount of pressure on his knee without collapsing. For many of the steps, he had to actually sit down and slide down the stairs that way.
A small scream echoed through the corridors of Hogwarts. Harry shivered at the sound. The scream had come from the direction he was heading in. The boy quickened his pace in hopes that he could avoid the professors that would surely be drawn to the area by the scream.
No such luck. Within minutes, the young wizard could hear urgent voices.
"Minerva, what happened?" Harry swallowed nervously at the sound of Professor Dumbledore's voice.
"Albus, look," Professor McGonagall sounded terrified. "There's been another attack."
"Let's get the boy to the hospital wing," Professor Dumbledore said quietly. "Before the other students wake up."
Harry pressed himself against the cold stone wall as he inched closer to the scene. He sucked in a breath as Professor Dumbledore rounded the corner, carrying the top half of a statue-like person. Professor McGonagall appeared a few seconds later, carrying the other end. As the two adults passed him, Harry was able to get a glimpse of a face—the Gryffindor, Colin Creevey.
Once he was sure that the two adults and their cargo were out of sight and hearing range, Harry continued to limp toward the Slytherin common room. He sighed in relief once he was safely under his covers. After tonight he didn't want to leave his bed ever again. His quest had been all for nothing. He had only learned three things—the Chamber of Secrets existed, it had been opened before, and there had been a second attack. Harry was almost positive that the voice inside the walls was connected to the attacks.
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"Harry, what happened to your knee?" Tracy asked as the boy limped down the stairs the next morning. Harry glanced down at his leg and winced. Something was definitely wrong.
"I fell on it," he said.
"When? It wasn't like that last night." Sometimes Harry hated how astute the members of Slytherin house could be. It made situations like this difficult to divert.
"I couldn't sleep last night, so I came down to the common room for a while," he lied. "I tripped coming up the stairs on the way back to the dormitory. It didn't look this bad then."
Tracy looked skeptical but didn't ask any more questions. "You should go see Madam Pomfrey," she said. "It looks painful."
Harry nodded. He had been planning on going to the hospital wing already. He wanted to see if he could get a glimpse of Colin and find out more information. Unfortunately, his plan didn't work. Madam Pomfrey had erected a curtain around Colin's bed and refused to answer his questions about what lie behind the curtain.
The news of Colin's attack spread through most of the school quickly. While most of the students were panicking over the fact that there had been a second attack, the majority of Slytherins regarded it as a joke.
"It's his own fault," Harry overheard a fourth year say. "What was he doing out of bed that late, anyway? If you're going to sneak around, at least do it right. He was probably the one that went through all those books in the Restricted Section. Couldn't even be bothered to clean up his mess."
Harry buried his nose even further in his book. While nearly all of the students believed that Colin had broken into the Restricted Section, he knew different and it embarrassed him. Madam Pince had decided to shut the library down earlier as a result and had taken to staying in the library after hours to see if anyone else would attempt to break into the library.
When the sign-up was posted to stay for Christmas during the middle of December, Harry's was the first name on the list. Surprisingly, Draco also signed up, along with Crabbe and Goyle. Blaise Zabini and Millicent Bulstrode also signed up once they saw who else was staying.
"Why are you staying again?" Blaise asked Draco once he had scrawled his name on the list. Draco shrugged.
"Mother and Father are going to the villa in Spain and I don't want to go. It's rather boring there."
Harry rolled his eyes and made a face. At least Draco could go home if he chose to do so. The Dursleys wouldn't let him anywhere near Privet Drive unless it was for the summer holidays.
"Mum and Dad said that you're welcome to stay with us," Tracy said quietly. Harry shook his head. While he had loved staying with the Davis's during the summer, Christmas was a family holiday and he didn't want to intrude.
"I'll be fine here," he said. "The Christmas feast is amazing."
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The Potions lesson before the winter holidays began was unusual. They had been making Swelling Solutions, one of the more basic potions. The worst that could have happened was a melted cauldron.
Unless you were Gregory Goyle.
Harry flinched as Goyle's cauldron exploded, showering most of the class and arousing shrieks. A droplet landed on his arm and the skin began to swell. Draco and Goyle got an entire faceful.
"Silence!" Professor Snape roared over the cries. "Silence! Anyone who has been splashed, come here for a Deflating Draft—" the professor looked furious as most of the class began to line up for a Deflating Draft. He looked murderous as the burnt remains of a firework were pulled out of the destroyed cauldron. Harry hoped that whoever threw the firework would have sense enough to not tell anyone else about the prank, because if Professor Snape found out who did it, expulsion would be the least of his or her worries.
For the next few days, Professor Snape was in a foul mood. At first, it seemed like an overreaction to the explosion in Harry's mind—until he found out about the Dueling Club. Watching Gilderoy Lockhart walk onto the dueling stage, announcing Professor Snape as his assistant, Harry decided that the Potions professor was allowed to be as insulted as he wanted.
"Why is he starting the Dueling club?" Harry muttered to Tracy. "If anyone should be doing this, it should be Professor Flitwick. At least he was a dueling champion, not a nitwit."
Tracy smirked in response. Her smirk grew even wider as Professor Snape successfully disarmed Lockhart without even batting an eye. Harry cheered along with Malfoy before flinching at the glares a few of the girls in the room sent their way.
Thirty minutes in, Harry had decided that the Dueling club was a waste of time. All it did, he observed as Millicent Bulstrode tackled Hermione Granger, was give students a way to take out their frustrations on the other houses that was permitted. His own partner, Ron Weasley, could barely aim his wand in the right direction.
"Potter, Malfoy! Up on the stage!" Harry glanced at Lockhart in amazement. Why was he supposed to get on the stage?
"You'll be giving everyone a demonstration on blocking unfriendly spells," Lockhart explained. Harry sighed and reluctantly got on the stage. Draco looked reluctant as well.
"Now, Harry—" Lockhart began but Harry cut him off.
"I know how to do it," he said abruptly. Lockhart looked surprised at his tone but backed away. As Harry faced his dorm mate, his stomach twisted nervously. In all actuality, he had no clue about what he had to do. He was sure Malfoy wouldn't actually try to hurt him, they still weren't friends. Harry had no idea what to expect.
"Three—two—one—go!" Lockhart shouted.
"Serpensortia!" Malfoy cried, raising his wand quicker than Harry. Harry watched wide-eyed as a snake shot out of the end of the wand, hissing furiously. He was supposed to block a snake? That seemed easy enough. All he had to do was dodge the fangs.
"Don't worry, I'll get rid of it," Lockhart shouted, brandishing his wand. The students in the crowd shrieked as the snake flew through the air before landing in the middle of the stage. Immediately it raised itself as it prepared to strike, fangs exposed and heading right for a Hufflepuff named Justin Finch-Fletchley.
"Stop!" Harry shouted stupidly. "Leave him alone!"
The snake turned to face Harry, relaxing and closing its mouth. Harry eyed the snake in faint amazement. He hadn't actually expected his shouting to do the trick. He hadn't even been sure that snakes could hear, as they had no obvious ears. The only reason he had tried was because it had worked a few summers ago at the zoo.
"What are you playing at?" Justin's shout drew Harry's attention away from the snake. Harry's eyebrows narrowed in confusion.
"What?" he asked. Justin drew away from him, along with the students standing nearest to the stage.
"Harry!" Pansy hissed, grabbing his hand and practically dragging him off the stage. "Come on!" Pansy led Harry out of the Great Hall, the crowd parting as they moved. Many of the students were giving Harry frightened looks. A few were muttering under their breaths.
"What's going on?" Harry asked once Pansy let go of him. A few of their yearmates had followed him out. Pansy raised an eyebrow.
"Do you really not know?" she asked. "You didn't know that you're a Parselmouth?"
"A what?" Harry asked.
"Well, that answers that question," Theodore Nott muttered.
"A Parselmouth is someone that can talk to snakes," Pansy explained with a huff. "Did you really not know?"
Harry shrugged.
"I don't know. There was one time that I set a boa constrictor on my cousin at the zoo but that was before I received my Hogwarts letter."
Tracy snorted in amusement.
They were nearly to the common room when Harry realized something.
"Wait—how did you know that I was a Parselmouth?" he asked his yearmates. "And why was everyone acting like I had just committed murder? I was just telling the snake to leave Justin alone."
"For all we know, you could have been saying anything. We just heard hissing," Theo muttered. "Creepy hissing at that."
"I thought I was speaking English," Harry informed the group. "How was I speaking a different language without knowing I was?"
The other second years could only shrug.
"So why was everyone looking so scared?" Harry asked again. "Is being a Parselmouth rare or something?"
"Or something," Theo replied. "Don't you know anything? Salazar Slytherin and all of his descendants were Parselmouths. Or did you just think that he really liked snakes? You probably just made your way to the top of the list as the Heir of Slytherin with that little display."
Pansy smirked at that comment.
"Draco's going to be so jealous," she said. "He wanted the school to think that he'sthe Heir of Slytherin."
Once back in the common room, Pansy, Tracy, and Theo left Harry alone, deciding to turn in for the night. Harry sat down in front of a table, staring blankly at the wood. It seemed that the longer that he was at Hogwarts, the less he seemed to know. He didn't even know his own heritage. The Dursleys had never said anything and he didn't dare ask any of his housemates for fear of looking stupid. For all he knew, he could actually be the Heir of Slytherin.
The Heir of Slytherin…Harry had the ability to speak Parseltongue, a talent usually only given to those that came from Salazar Slytherin. Now it seemed that whoever 'S' was, was a member of the House of Slytherin, most likely a direct descendent from the founder.
Harry's head hit the desk. Salazar Slytherin had lived over a thousand years ago. 'S' could be anyone, if all it stood for was 'Slytherin.'
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Harry scanned the library bookshelves, looking for information on Salazar Slytherin's descendants. With the events of the night before, he was more determined to find out who 'S.' was.
"—if Potter's marked him down as his next victim, it's best if he keeps a low profile for a while."
Harry lifted his head and looked around the library as he heard his name being whispered. Through the bookshelves, he could see a group of Hufflepuffs with their heads bent close together.
"You definitely think it is Potter, then, Ernie?"
Harry's eyes narrowed. He had already figured out that they were talking about him being the Heir of Slytherin. It didn't take a genius to figure that one out.
"He's a Parselmouth," the boy named Ernie replied. "Everyone knows that's the mark of a Dark wizard. Plus he was Sorted into Slytherin and Slytherin turns out Dark wizards all the time. I bet that was why You-Know-Who attacked the Potter's that night. He didn't want any competition."
If Harry hadn't been so angry, he would have laughed at the absurdity of Ernie's claim. Instead, the boy stormed out of the library, fists clenching and unclenching. As Harry stomped down the corridors, he barely noticed where he was going until he literally ran into someone—Hagrid.
"Hi, Hagrid," Harry said.
"All righ', Harry?" Hagrid asked, moving to help Harry to his feet. Harry was careful to not touch Hagrid longer than was absolutely necessary, as the man was holding a dead rooster.
"What happened to that?" he asked. Hagrid glanced down at the dead rooster.
"Second one killed this term," he told the boy. "I need the Headmaster's permission ter put a charm around the hen coop so the foxes can't get in."
Harry glanced at the rooster again. It didn't look like it had been killed by a fox. It looked like it had been strangled.
"Yeh all righ'?" Hagrid asked again. "Yeh look upset."
Harry shrugged his shoulders.
"Just people being prats," he said. "It's nothing."
And it really was nothing. Harry had known that people would start accusing him of being the Heir of Slytherin. He just didn't expect it to happen so soon or to hurt as much as it did.
Yet, when Harry heard the news of a third attack on Justin Finch-Fletchley and the ghost Nearly Headless Nick, he knew that he was going to have to get used to it. Everyone except for the Slytherins was convinced that he was the Heir of Slytherin and the actual Heir was getting away with the attacks on fellow students. If something didn't happen soon, Hogwarts would be shut down or someone would be expelled.
And that someone would probably be Harry, despite the lack of evidence.
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Sneak Peek (to take place in the next two chapters):
Severus sat down at Hagrid's table and rubbed his forehead.
"I can't stand to see my son suffer there any more," he admitted.
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I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Once again, I apologize for the wait. Reviews are always welcomed!