Quest of the Seekers: Animals Within
Year Two at Hogwarts
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Chapter 10: Seeking the Slytherin Seeker's Story
Tyler was shaken awake by Yenze so he could get ready to go back to school.
"Tyler sir, you need to get ready for school. Wake up."
Tyler moved Chaos to one side of the bed and went to the bathroom. He put his hand to his face to find it became sticky thanks to all the crying he had done the previous night. After washing up, he went to have some breakfast while Yenze brought down his new trunk into the family room, that he had placed all his stuff from his old one.
"Thank you Yenze."
"Oh, it was nothing sir. Please have a day sir," he finished curtly with a bow.
"I'll try Yenze," he finished and patted Yenze's head like a person would for his pet dog's head.
Tyler finished his food within a matter of minutes and went into his room to change into some clothes. He finally decided on a long-sleeve green shirt with the dragon hide vest Regulus had sent him for Christmas. He then put his Hogwarts black robe with green collar and insides along with the slytherin crest open over him and thought he looked good. He also stashed his wand inside the sleeve holder he had Yenze stitch inside just incase he had to use it when he met up with the other seekers on the train. Chaos poked his tale at Tyler's leg to get his attention.
"Tyler, now that you're secret is out, can I be out in the open now."
"No Chaos, you can't. My secret isn't out and even if it was I can't draw attention to myself. Besides, this is a new expandable trunk, remember? It'll be more comfortable and I put my clothes on the top to make it more comfy for you."
"No, it'll still be without fresh air."
"Enough, Chaos, my decision stands."
Then his father's voice called out to him from the family room.
"Tyler, son, it's a quarter to eleven. You ready?"
"Yes, coming dad."
He gave a goodbye hug to his mother and waved goodbye to Yenze while his dad readied the portkey. Chaos slid to him in a sort of pleading expression on his snake face but Tyler dismissed his plea. He knew he wanted to not go into the trunk again even though this new one could expand and make him more comfortable. He pointed his finger to it as an authority figure would and spoke to his snake.
"Chaos, into the trunk now."
"Please..."
"Chaos," he hissed narrowing his eyes at his pet snake."
"I know," he hissed to his master before he turned to Pandy. "You're lucky to ride out in the fresh air while I have to stay in a trunk."
Pandy hooted in mocking laughter while Tyler carried Chaos inside the trunk and closed it.
"You all set son?" asked his father with the candlestick portkey ready to go.
"Yes, I got everything I need."
"Okay then."
Moments later, Tyler found himself on the platform with his dad and belongings.
"Okay Tyler, be good and train hard because you grandparents, mom and I are going to try and make it to your next game. Just owl us when you get the date and we'll try and make it."
"Okay dad." He hugged his dad goodbye for comfort, knowing what he was about to go through out on the train.
His dad disapparated off the platform, certainly heading for the ministry for work. Tyler moved himself along with his trunk and Pandy's cage towards the ending compartment in the train. Every step felt like it didn't matter because it seemed like forever until he finally reached it. He had his hand on the door for who knows how long until he opened it. Tyler was relieved when he found that they weren't there yet. But at that second, he hard a very familiar voice making him tense up.
"Well are you going to go in or stare at it like you've never seen a compartment before?"
Tyler turned around to find Jacke standing there with his trunk next to him. His eyes could've shot out of his sockets at how he looked at him. Jacke, after a minute of this cleared his throat, reminding Tyler to get into the compartment. Tyler moved into the compartment, without Jacke realizing, that he moved his right arm up and down to ready the wand at the tip of his hand to pull out quickly should he need to.
Jacke put his trunk up besides Tyler's and sat across from him as usual.
"We should wait a while to talk, until Reggie and Brad get here."
"Yeah...okay."
Normally, that would have told a person that there was no hard feelings but Tyler wasn't too sure to risk it. After all, like the slytherin saying goes: "If during a duel, your opponent calls time-out for a chat, don't put your wand away from defensive position."
The silence and tension was so thick that you could slice it with a sword. Jacke and Tyler just sat and stared at each other absentminded. Tyler became nervous of his friend while Jacke seemed to be analyzing his friend, checking to see if it was really Tyler. Thankfully Reggie and Brad arrived after 5 minutes of the silence breaking it. They didn't break it with words; they broke it with the sounds of thumps as they were putting their things away. Brad sat beside Jacke while Reggie sat right beside Tyler, boxing him in. Then Reggie took his wand, pointed it at the door and shouted "Silencio" like Regulus had, making it soundproof to insure privacy. There was a big train whistle and the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station heading for Hogwarts.
"Okay," started Tyler breaking the silence because he couldn't take it anymore. "What did you guys want to talk to me so badly about?"
"Well, how about why you've been avoiding us for the last 1 ½ weeks." 'Also, how you spoke parseltongue and ran from us' thought Brad to himself after speaking.
"Well, I thought you guys would think I was a monster and not want me around so I tried to make it easy for you."
"Well you thought wrong Tyler," said Reggie promptly.
'Yeah, you say that now but just wait' thought Tyler as Reggie continued.
"Although, we are a little mad that you hid this from us. So, what's your story Solemn?"
"What do you mean?"
Jacke couldn't take it anymore. He'd grown tired of Tyler dodging the subject and snapped. "You know what we mean Tyler so stop playing stupid! Why didn't you tell us you're a parselmouth?!"
Tyler hid his face away but not before catching his friends faces. Brad looked patient, like he was just going to wait until he could tell them but not let the matter be finished until he got an answer. Reggie gave him a look which he clearly read as "Well?". Jacke looked very impatient and was breathing hard and had his eyes looking directly at his before Tyler looked away. Tyler just huffed to let the stress out and went straight into it.
'Might as well get it over with quickly or this will never end' he thought glumly. "I didn't tell you guys because I wanted to stay safe and keep my family safe too."
"Safe? What do you mean safe?"
"Reggie, you should know why already. My kin are thought to be the darkest and most horrible groups of wizards around. We have to stay secretive so we won't be prosecuted by the Wizengatmat."
"Wizengatmat?" asked Brad.
"The wizard high court Brad. My dad is on their council," answered Reggie.
"So that means that you come from a line of parselmouths?" Jacke started to calm down seeing that Tyler was having a hard time answering their questions and decided to not make it harder. "You said about you family being safe, so you aren't the only one around?"
"Er...no, I..." 'Dad's going to kill me,' he thought to himself letting out another stressful breath. "My dad and grandpa are parselmouths too."
Tyler stopped himself to let his friends absorb what they learned and for him to absorb what he just did.
'I'm telling our family secrets to them and I don't even know why I'm doing it. We're alone and there is a silence charm on the door. I should just modify their memories to forget I spoke parseltongue but I don't know why I'm not.'
Reggie pulled him out of his thoughts back into the reality of the situation.
"Well...Tyler, can I ask you if there is any connection between you and...Voldemort?"
Tyler had immediately forgotten how to breathe.
"I mean he is a parselmouth too. I wondered if there was any connection or not."
'Oh no, do I tell them.' Before he could think more on the matter he started to cough from choking on his saliva. Apparently, his body demanded he remember how to breathe. After fixing himself up, he looked at his three friends and exhaled a "Yes".
"There is one?" All three of them looked shock and felt their stomachs drop when they heard their friend say that. "I didn't really think there was, honestly, I just thought that there were probably other families of parselmouths around like the pureblooded families. When you said your kin, I thought there were like..."
"It's okay Reggie, you don't have to apologize. And no, there are only four of us left." 'Here we go' he thought. 'Time to snap the wand.' "There's me, my father Simon, my grandpa Alan...and...my cousin Voldemort."
Instantly all three of his friends spoke their thoughts out loud in the same tone of surprise and shock, at exactly the same time.
"Voldemort's your cousin?!"
"Unreal! Seriously?"
"I can't believe it! You telling the truth?"
At his nod all of them became silent for the, who knows what time in the hour. Tyler waited for accusations of being involved with his cousin's havoc to come but they didn't. What came from Jacke didn't sound accusing at all.
"You're not proud of that, are you?" Jacke said to his friend in a soft and gentle voice. Tyler stared back at him at how well he seemed to take the information he just gave. "Your face went into shame and sadness so I figured you weren't okay with the fact you're related to him. We know you're nowhere near like him."
Reggie and Brad looked at Jacke, both with impressed faces.
"I had no idea you were so emotional,' started Reggie.
"Yeah, you're usually hot-tempered and snappy," finished Brad.
"Oh shut up!" Jacke said, clearly annoyed.
"There's our Jacke."
Brad and Reggie started to chuckle and not even Tyler could resist chuckling which he tried to hide as coughs succeeding very little.
"But seriously," restarted Jacke. "Your cousin?"
"Yeah...you see, my aunt died giving birth to him but she lived long enough to name him and send us an owl telling us about the birth."
"Your aunt named her child Lord Voldemort?" Brad would've laughed if his question weren't so serious.
"No,...We have no idea where he got that name from but it's not his real name. He's been lying about that the entire time. His real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle."
The other seekers couldn't believe that Voldemort actually had a real name. It almost made him sound human and they always looked at Voldemort as a dark creature- a monster.
"How do you handle being related to him?" Brad asked very sincerely. "Like Jacke said, we know that you're not like that."
"Humph...it hasn't been easy. Every time we read about the trouble he makes in the papers, we...we...well we react in different ways. My dad gets mad at how one of our own is publicly causing trouble while proudly letting people know he's a parselmouth disgracing us. My grandpa tries to not think about too much. As for me, I just try to run away from that fact by trying to stay far off the subject of my cousin. I try to be everything he's not because what he does disgusts me."
"Wow," commented Reggie in a low voice. "I don't think I could live with myself if my cousin was doing those things."
"Yeah, you must really have a strong will," said Brad.
Jacke then chuckled to himself, which made Reggie ask in a serious tone about what was funny. "Oh, it's just that I can imagine why Voldemort changed his name. I mean who would be scared with a name like Lord Tom Riddle." This caused a little chuckling from the other three when they put some thought on it and found it funny when they put it that way.
"Thanks Jacke, you too guys for everything." He then concentrated on what he had said before countless times. "I am a slytherin, you know." 'Might as well tell them this truth too so they won't hate me for hiding TOO much from them.' "Guys...there is one thing that me and my cousin do have in common." His friends suddenly looked at him fearfully when he said this. "We lie about our real names."
"What?" sputtered Reggie. "Tyler ISN'T your real name?"
"No, no" he said quickly. "I'm Tyler alright but I need to give you my FULL name mates."
"What is it?" they asked one after the other.
"I'm...Tyler...Tyler...Tyler Solemn," he paused for around twenty seconds. His friends didn't get what he was talking about before since he just repeated his name before until he finished. "Tyler Solemn Slytherin."
Tyler would've bet all the galleons in Gringotts that the eyes on his friends were about ready to pop out of their heads. He did just cast a pretty hard jinx at them. He also, still couldn't believe he actually told his friends that. He had told them his real name. Now how was that going to affect them?
"Tyler, are you trying to tell us that...that...that you're..."
"A descendant of Salazar Slytherin, yes...yes I am."
"You're the heir of slytherin?!"
Tyler couldn't look at his friends any more. He dropped his head down into his hands. He was definitely going to hear it now. What his dad told him as about to come true. The accusations of being an evil wizard.
"Wow...that's kind of...wicked," Jacke said sounding shocked with excitement.
"What?" Tyler said snapping his head up to find instead of hateful and scared glances, he found surprised and impressed looks. "You guys don't think I'm bad at all after hearing those things that my ancestor did?"
"Heck, why would we Tyler," said Brad.
Reggie shook his head like a joke had been made. "After all that stuff you said about being able to handle being related to Voldemort, why would we think bad about you being related to Salazar Slytherin."
"The reason why we had to hide our last name because it would've been pretty obvious if we didn't of who we were. We made it a tradition to always give our children the middle name Solemn whether boy or girl and use that as our surname in public. I'm actually surprised myself of how well you're taking all of this."
"Actually to be honest we kind of been practicing."
"What are you talking about Brad?"
"Well, during the holidays, the three of us wrote and decided that we should get ready for anything you told us."
"Yeah, in fact, Reggie here even thought you might be related to Slytherin himself."
"You did?"
"Yeah, I did. I remember reading..."
"Oh of course, books. Should've known from a Ravenclaw that that was the way."
"Can I continue?" Reggie said causing Jacke and Brad to laugh at how Tyler was kidding around with him. "Thank you, I remember reading that the records of parselmouths was always low and one of the most famous ones was Salazar Slytherin so I thought it was possible that he might be a relative of yours."
"Well, 100 points to you. I'm actually his great, great, great, great, great, great, grandson."
Jacke whistled while Brad let out awe while Reggie let in some air.
"Anyway, after we talked about what you might be and everything, we decided to get answers directly from you and not jump into conclusions so we owled you to meet us here."
"Yeah, about that. Exactly what was the "Or else" supposed to mean. What would you guys have done if I didn't show?"
"We would've gone through every compartment on this entire train until we found you. Then we would've dragged you kicking and screaming over here if we had to."
Tyler couldn't believe how his friends were taking it. They didn't hate him or fear him at all. He couldn't believe that he had gotten such good friends and decided to let them know how much he appreciated it.
"You know guys, you're the first ones in the history of the wizarding world that now knows this stuff. I didn't even tell any of my slytherin buddies any of this."
Now this time they had the shocked expressions he had expected before.
"What, we are?"
"Yeah Brad. My father warned me to not let my secret get loose or I could've gotten in trouble like what happened before."
"What kind of trouble before?"
"Oh sorry, that's...kind of private. You do know that I still can't tell you everything, right? This is as far as I can tell you for my family's sake."
"Well...I guess we have to respect that. Right Reggie, right Jacke?"
They nodded in agreement.
Maybe,...I'll tell you guys more, one day. You do know that I shouldn't have told you what I did to begin with. My dad told me that if anyone found out anything close about us that I should put a memory charm on them and modify their memory."
"So, why didn't you do it to us then?"
"I...honestly have no idea."
"Can I ask one more question?"
"It depends Reggie."
"Well, I have always wondered this one thing. Where in the world did you get those books for the transformations?"
"Oh...well, I can't fully answer that because I took them without my parent's or grandparent's permission and I can't tell you the location but I can tell you from my family's...library if you will."
"Oh, because I was starting to think that you smuggled them or got them in a dark part of Knockturn Alley or something."
"Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, don't worry I didn't."
"Tyler," said Jacke suddenly. "Don't worry, I just never got to thank you for saving me from that snake before. So thanks mate," he said in a meaningful voice.
"No problem. Oh wait, there is one more thing that I want to show you."
"What?" they all asked eagerly.
"Actually it's more of someone and don't worry he's harmless okay."
The other seekers nodded in understanding and Tyler went to open his trunk. He found Chaos there cozyingly asleep on his robes and clothes.
"Chaos, Chaos wake up."
"What Tyler," he hissed still a little asleep. "Are we in your dorm now?"
"No, I want you to meet my friends. The ones I told you about. Come on." He extended his hand for Chaos to wrap on.
...
As Tyler was hissing to the trunk his friends became uncomfortable. Sure they now knew about Tyler being a parselmouth and became okay with it but it was still creepy to hear him actually speaking it.
'I guess this is going to need to be getting used to,' thought Reggie.
'Whoa, it sounds like he actually swallowed a snake' thought Brad.
'By Merlin, I'm going to need to start getting used to him doing this. Sure I'm cool with Tyler being a parselmouth but I was told to be afraid of parseltongue so it's not going to be easy. I don't want to hurt Tyler's feelings so I better not say or do anything stupid.'
When Tyler showed them Chaos they went back in their seats a little.
"You don't have to be worried guys. This here is my faithful pet and friend Chaos." He then started hissing to the snake and started to point to each of them in turn.
Jacke who forgot what he just promised himself said, "What did you just say Tyler."
"Oh, I just said "Chaos, meet my fellow seekers. There's Reggie, Brad and Jacke." That's all."
Chaos did a very noticeable bow to them and they were only able to wave hello back. Tyler completely understood.
...
That night when Tyler went to bed he couldn't help but smile to sleep. Chaos had decided to sleep in his 'secret area' as he called it, in the network of tunnels in the walls and floors of Hogwarts that he had found when he went into a mouse hole last year. It felt like a heavy load had been loaded from his conscience. He was even laughing to himself about how foolish he was acting during the break worrying about nothing. He wasn't living a total lie from his friends now. Then he thought about what might his family do if they found out that he told them a considerable amount of information. He decided that telling dad or even his trusty grandpa were out of the question because then they would tell him to modify their memories or do it themselves. Not to mention that he would be punished for life!
'Well, whatever my parents don't know can't hurt them. Besides I think I can trust Jacke, Brad and Reggie with this information.'
He then went into a calming sleep. Little did he know that his friends were up in the same way. Looking up from their beds but not sleeping. They were all reflecting on the new revelations about the slytherin seeker that they learned. All thinking of how Tyler trusted them all with the information he gave. It was all to take in at once even if he only revealed the softer facts. They began to wonder what the bigger facts were if what he told them was the tip of the wand. They each decided not to worry about that now and sleep on it. They, after all, had to get to sleep because classes resumed the following day.
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End of Chapter 10
Nightlit: Well, I'm glad you agree with how they all found out about Tyler's secret. I hope you liked how he told his friends. And what is up with your story already. It's almost been a month. I'm dying to know what's going to happen.
Author Notes:
Well, there we go. The slytherin seeker's story is now public knowledge in the seeker's circle. How will this change their friendship? Who knows? Naturally me. Ha. Ha. Ha. The next chapter is in construction. "Dueling In & Out of School" There will be a dueling scene at school and the seekers will have a wizard duel of their own that unlike anything that has been done before in wizard history. Oh and Happy Fourth of July everyone.
REVIEW, Flames are allowed since they tell me what I'm doing around so don't be bashful.
Year Two at Hogwarts
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Chapter 10: Seeking the Slytherin Seeker's Story
Tyler was shaken awake by Yenze so he could get ready to go back to school.
"Tyler sir, you need to get ready for school. Wake up."
Tyler moved Chaos to one side of the bed and went to the bathroom. He put his hand to his face to find it became sticky thanks to all the crying he had done the previous night. After washing up, he went to have some breakfast while Yenze brought down his new trunk into the family room, that he had placed all his stuff from his old one.
"Thank you Yenze."
"Oh, it was nothing sir. Please have a day sir," he finished curtly with a bow.
"I'll try Yenze," he finished and patted Yenze's head like a person would for his pet dog's head.
Tyler finished his food within a matter of minutes and went into his room to change into some clothes. He finally decided on a long-sleeve green shirt with the dragon hide vest Regulus had sent him for Christmas. He then put his Hogwarts black robe with green collar and insides along with the slytherin crest open over him and thought he looked good. He also stashed his wand inside the sleeve holder he had Yenze stitch inside just incase he had to use it when he met up with the other seekers on the train. Chaos poked his tale at Tyler's leg to get his attention.
"Tyler, now that you're secret is out, can I be out in the open now."
"No Chaos, you can't. My secret isn't out and even if it was I can't draw attention to myself. Besides, this is a new expandable trunk, remember? It'll be more comfortable and I put my clothes on the top to make it more comfy for you."
"No, it'll still be without fresh air."
"Enough, Chaos, my decision stands."
Then his father's voice called out to him from the family room.
"Tyler, son, it's a quarter to eleven. You ready?"
"Yes, coming dad."
He gave a goodbye hug to his mother and waved goodbye to Yenze while his dad readied the portkey. Chaos slid to him in a sort of pleading expression on his snake face but Tyler dismissed his plea. He knew he wanted to not go into the trunk again even though this new one could expand and make him more comfortable. He pointed his finger to it as an authority figure would and spoke to his snake.
"Chaos, into the trunk now."
"Please..."
"Chaos," he hissed narrowing his eyes at his pet snake."
"I know," he hissed to his master before he turned to Pandy. "You're lucky to ride out in the fresh air while I have to stay in a trunk."
Pandy hooted in mocking laughter while Tyler carried Chaos inside the trunk and closed it.
"You all set son?" asked his father with the candlestick portkey ready to go.
"Yes, I got everything I need."
"Okay then."
Moments later, Tyler found himself on the platform with his dad and belongings.
"Okay Tyler, be good and train hard because you grandparents, mom and I are going to try and make it to your next game. Just owl us when you get the date and we'll try and make it."
"Okay dad." He hugged his dad goodbye for comfort, knowing what he was about to go through out on the train.
His dad disapparated off the platform, certainly heading for the ministry for work. Tyler moved himself along with his trunk and Pandy's cage towards the ending compartment in the train. Every step felt like it didn't matter because it seemed like forever until he finally reached it. He had his hand on the door for who knows how long until he opened it. Tyler was relieved when he found that they weren't there yet. But at that second, he hard a very familiar voice making him tense up.
"Well are you going to go in or stare at it like you've never seen a compartment before?"
Tyler turned around to find Jacke standing there with his trunk next to him. His eyes could've shot out of his sockets at how he looked at him. Jacke, after a minute of this cleared his throat, reminding Tyler to get into the compartment. Tyler moved into the compartment, without Jacke realizing, that he moved his right arm up and down to ready the wand at the tip of his hand to pull out quickly should he need to.
Jacke put his trunk up besides Tyler's and sat across from him as usual.
"We should wait a while to talk, until Reggie and Brad get here."
"Yeah...okay."
Normally, that would have told a person that there was no hard feelings but Tyler wasn't too sure to risk it. After all, like the slytherin saying goes: "If during a duel, your opponent calls time-out for a chat, don't put your wand away from defensive position."
The silence and tension was so thick that you could slice it with a sword. Jacke and Tyler just sat and stared at each other absentminded. Tyler became nervous of his friend while Jacke seemed to be analyzing his friend, checking to see if it was really Tyler. Thankfully Reggie and Brad arrived after 5 minutes of the silence breaking it. They didn't break it with words; they broke it with the sounds of thumps as they were putting their things away. Brad sat beside Jacke while Reggie sat right beside Tyler, boxing him in. Then Reggie took his wand, pointed it at the door and shouted "Silencio" like Regulus had, making it soundproof to insure privacy. There was a big train whistle and the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station heading for Hogwarts.
"Okay," started Tyler breaking the silence because he couldn't take it anymore. "What did you guys want to talk to me so badly about?"
"Well, how about why you've been avoiding us for the last 1 ½ weeks." 'Also, how you spoke parseltongue and ran from us' thought Brad to himself after speaking.
"Well, I thought you guys would think I was a monster and not want me around so I tried to make it easy for you."
"Well you thought wrong Tyler," said Reggie promptly.
'Yeah, you say that now but just wait' thought Tyler as Reggie continued.
"Although, we are a little mad that you hid this from us. So, what's your story Solemn?"
"What do you mean?"
Jacke couldn't take it anymore. He'd grown tired of Tyler dodging the subject and snapped. "You know what we mean Tyler so stop playing stupid! Why didn't you tell us you're a parselmouth?!"
Tyler hid his face away but not before catching his friends faces. Brad looked patient, like he was just going to wait until he could tell them but not let the matter be finished until he got an answer. Reggie gave him a look which he clearly read as "Well?". Jacke looked very impatient and was breathing hard and had his eyes looking directly at his before Tyler looked away. Tyler just huffed to let the stress out and went straight into it.
'Might as well get it over with quickly or this will never end' he thought glumly. "I didn't tell you guys because I wanted to stay safe and keep my family safe too."
"Safe? What do you mean safe?"
"Reggie, you should know why already. My kin are thought to be the darkest and most horrible groups of wizards around. We have to stay secretive so we won't be prosecuted by the Wizengatmat."
"Wizengatmat?" asked Brad.
"The wizard high court Brad. My dad is on their council," answered Reggie.
"So that means that you come from a line of parselmouths?" Jacke started to calm down seeing that Tyler was having a hard time answering their questions and decided to not make it harder. "You said about you family being safe, so you aren't the only one around?"
"Er...no, I..." 'Dad's going to kill me,' he thought to himself letting out another stressful breath. "My dad and grandpa are parselmouths too."
Tyler stopped himself to let his friends absorb what they learned and for him to absorb what he just did.
'I'm telling our family secrets to them and I don't even know why I'm doing it. We're alone and there is a silence charm on the door. I should just modify their memories to forget I spoke parseltongue but I don't know why I'm not.'
Reggie pulled him out of his thoughts back into the reality of the situation.
"Well...Tyler, can I ask you if there is any connection between you and...Voldemort?"
Tyler had immediately forgotten how to breathe.
"I mean he is a parselmouth too. I wondered if there was any connection or not."
'Oh no, do I tell them.' Before he could think more on the matter he started to cough from choking on his saliva. Apparently, his body demanded he remember how to breathe. After fixing himself up, he looked at his three friends and exhaled a "Yes".
"There is one?" All three of them looked shock and felt their stomachs drop when they heard their friend say that. "I didn't really think there was, honestly, I just thought that there were probably other families of parselmouths around like the pureblooded families. When you said your kin, I thought there were like..."
"It's okay Reggie, you don't have to apologize. And no, there are only four of us left." 'Here we go' he thought. 'Time to snap the wand.' "There's me, my father Simon, my grandpa Alan...and...my cousin Voldemort."
Instantly all three of his friends spoke their thoughts out loud in the same tone of surprise and shock, at exactly the same time.
"Voldemort's your cousin?!"
"Unreal! Seriously?"
"I can't believe it! You telling the truth?"
At his nod all of them became silent for the, who knows what time in the hour. Tyler waited for accusations of being involved with his cousin's havoc to come but they didn't. What came from Jacke didn't sound accusing at all.
"You're not proud of that, are you?" Jacke said to his friend in a soft and gentle voice. Tyler stared back at him at how well he seemed to take the information he just gave. "Your face went into shame and sadness so I figured you weren't okay with the fact you're related to him. We know you're nowhere near like him."
Reggie and Brad looked at Jacke, both with impressed faces.
"I had no idea you were so emotional,' started Reggie.
"Yeah, you're usually hot-tempered and snappy," finished Brad.
"Oh shut up!" Jacke said, clearly annoyed.
"There's our Jacke."
Brad and Reggie started to chuckle and not even Tyler could resist chuckling which he tried to hide as coughs succeeding very little.
"But seriously," restarted Jacke. "Your cousin?"
"Yeah...you see, my aunt died giving birth to him but she lived long enough to name him and send us an owl telling us about the birth."
"Your aunt named her child Lord Voldemort?" Brad would've laughed if his question weren't so serious.
"No,...We have no idea where he got that name from but it's not his real name. He's been lying about that the entire time. His real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle."
The other seekers couldn't believe that Voldemort actually had a real name. It almost made him sound human and they always looked at Voldemort as a dark creature- a monster.
"How do you handle being related to him?" Brad asked very sincerely. "Like Jacke said, we know that you're not like that."
"Humph...it hasn't been easy. Every time we read about the trouble he makes in the papers, we...we...well we react in different ways. My dad gets mad at how one of our own is publicly causing trouble while proudly letting people know he's a parselmouth disgracing us. My grandpa tries to not think about too much. As for me, I just try to run away from that fact by trying to stay far off the subject of my cousin. I try to be everything he's not because what he does disgusts me."
"Wow," commented Reggie in a low voice. "I don't think I could live with myself if my cousin was doing those things."
"Yeah, you must really have a strong will," said Brad.
Jacke then chuckled to himself, which made Reggie ask in a serious tone about what was funny. "Oh, it's just that I can imagine why Voldemort changed his name. I mean who would be scared with a name like Lord Tom Riddle." This caused a little chuckling from the other three when they put some thought on it and found it funny when they put it that way.
"Thanks Jacke, you too guys for everything." He then concentrated on what he had said before countless times. "I am a slytherin, you know." 'Might as well tell them this truth too so they won't hate me for hiding TOO much from them.' "Guys...there is one thing that me and my cousin do have in common." His friends suddenly looked at him fearfully when he said this. "We lie about our real names."
"What?" sputtered Reggie. "Tyler ISN'T your real name?"
"No, no" he said quickly. "I'm Tyler alright but I need to give you my FULL name mates."
"What is it?" they asked one after the other.
"I'm...Tyler...Tyler...Tyler Solemn," he paused for around twenty seconds. His friends didn't get what he was talking about before since he just repeated his name before until he finished. "Tyler Solemn Slytherin."
Tyler would've bet all the galleons in Gringotts that the eyes on his friends were about ready to pop out of their heads. He did just cast a pretty hard jinx at them. He also, still couldn't believe he actually told his friends that. He had told them his real name. Now how was that going to affect them?
"Tyler, are you trying to tell us that...that...that you're..."
"A descendant of Salazar Slytherin, yes...yes I am."
"You're the heir of slytherin?!"
Tyler couldn't look at his friends any more. He dropped his head down into his hands. He was definitely going to hear it now. What his dad told him as about to come true. The accusations of being an evil wizard.
"Wow...that's kind of...wicked," Jacke said sounding shocked with excitement.
"What?" Tyler said snapping his head up to find instead of hateful and scared glances, he found surprised and impressed looks. "You guys don't think I'm bad at all after hearing those things that my ancestor did?"
"Heck, why would we Tyler," said Brad.
Reggie shook his head like a joke had been made. "After all that stuff you said about being able to handle being related to Voldemort, why would we think bad about you being related to Salazar Slytherin."
"The reason why we had to hide our last name because it would've been pretty obvious if we didn't of who we were. We made it a tradition to always give our children the middle name Solemn whether boy or girl and use that as our surname in public. I'm actually surprised myself of how well you're taking all of this."
"Actually to be honest we kind of been practicing."
"What are you talking about Brad?"
"Well, during the holidays, the three of us wrote and decided that we should get ready for anything you told us."
"Yeah, in fact, Reggie here even thought you might be related to Slytherin himself."
"You did?"
"Yeah, I did. I remember reading..."
"Oh of course, books. Should've known from a Ravenclaw that that was the way."
"Can I continue?" Reggie said causing Jacke and Brad to laugh at how Tyler was kidding around with him. "Thank you, I remember reading that the records of parselmouths was always low and one of the most famous ones was Salazar Slytherin so I thought it was possible that he might be a relative of yours."
"Well, 100 points to you. I'm actually his great, great, great, great, great, great, grandson."
Jacke whistled while Brad let out awe while Reggie let in some air.
"Anyway, after we talked about what you might be and everything, we decided to get answers directly from you and not jump into conclusions so we owled you to meet us here."
"Yeah, about that. Exactly what was the "Or else" supposed to mean. What would you guys have done if I didn't show?"
"We would've gone through every compartment on this entire train until we found you. Then we would've dragged you kicking and screaming over here if we had to."
Tyler couldn't believe how his friends were taking it. They didn't hate him or fear him at all. He couldn't believe that he had gotten such good friends and decided to let them know how much he appreciated it.
"You know guys, you're the first ones in the history of the wizarding world that now knows this stuff. I didn't even tell any of my slytherin buddies any of this."
Now this time they had the shocked expressions he had expected before.
"What, we are?"
"Yeah Brad. My father warned me to not let my secret get loose or I could've gotten in trouble like what happened before."
"What kind of trouble before?"
"Oh sorry, that's...kind of private. You do know that I still can't tell you everything, right? This is as far as I can tell you for my family's sake."
"Well...I guess we have to respect that. Right Reggie, right Jacke?"
They nodded in agreement.
Maybe,...I'll tell you guys more, one day. You do know that I shouldn't have told you what I did to begin with. My dad told me that if anyone found out anything close about us that I should put a memory charm on them and modify their memory."
"So, why didn't you do it to us then?"
"I...honestly have no idea."
"Can I ask one more question?"
"It depends Reggie."
"Well, I have always wondered this one thing. Where in the world did you get those books for the transformations?"
"Oh...well, I can't fully answer that because I took them without my parent's or grandparent's permission and I can't tell you the location but I can tell you from my family's...library if you will."
"Oh, because I was starting to think that you smuggled them or got them in a dark part of Knockturn Alley or something."
"Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, don't worry I didn't."
"Tyler," said Jacke suddenly. "Don't worry, I just never got to thank you for saving me from that snake before. So thanks mate," he said in a meaningful voice.
"No problem. Oh wait, there is one more thing that I want to show you."
"What?" they all asked eagerly.
"Actually it's more of someone and don't worry he's harmless okay."
The other seekers nodded in understanding and Tyler went to open his trunk. He found Chaos there cozyingly asleep on his robes and clothes.
"Chaos, Chaos wake up."
"What Tyler," he hissed still a little asleep. "Are we in your dorm now?"
"No, I want you to meet my friends. The ones I told you about. Come on." He extended his hand for Chaos to wrap on.
...
As Tyler was hissing to the trunk his friends became uncomfortable. Sure they now knew about Tyler being a parselmouth and became okay with it but it was still creepy to hear him actually speaking it.
'I guess this is going to need to be getting used to,' thought Reggie.
'Whoa, it sounds like he actually swallowed a snake' thought Brad.
'By Merlin, I'm going to need to start getting used to him doing this. Sure I'm cool with Tyler being a parselmouth but I was told to be afraid of parseltongue so it's not going to be easy. I don't want to hurt Tyler's feelings so I better not say or do anything stupid.'
When Tyler showed them Chaos they went back in their seats a little.
"You don't have to be worried guys. This here is my faithful pet and friend Chaos." He then started hissing to the snake and started to point to each of them in turn.
Jacke who forgot what he just promised himself said, "What did you just say Tyler."
"Oh, I just said "Chaos, meet my fellow seekers. There's Reggie, Brad and Jacke." That's all."
Chaos did a very noticeable bow to them and they were only able to wave hello back. Tyler completely understood.
...
That night when Tyler went to bed he couldn't help but smile to sleep. Chaos had decided to sleep in his 'secret area' as he called it, in the network of tunnels in the walls and floors of Hogwarts that he had found when he went into a mouse hole last year. It felt like a heavy load had been loaded from his conscience. He was even laughing to himself about how foolish he was acting during the break worrying about nothing. He wasn't living a total lie from his friends now. Then he thought about what might his family do if they found out that he told them a considerable amount of information. He decided that telling dad or even his trusty grandpa were out of the question because then they would tell him to modify their memories or do it themselves. Not to mention that he would be punished for life!
'Well, whatever my parents don't know can't hurt them. Besides I think I can trust Jacke, Brad and Reggie with this information.'
He then went into a calming sleep. Little did he know that his friends were up in the same way. Looking up from their beds but not sleeping. They were all reflecting on the new revelations about the slytherin seeker that they learned. All thinking of how Tyler trusted them all with the information he gave. It was all to take in at once even if he only revealed the softer facts. They began to wonder what the bigger facts were if what he told them was the tip of the wand. They each decided not to worry about that now and sleep on it. They, after all, had to get to sleep because classes resumed the following day.
.
End of Chapter 10
Nightlit: Well, I'm glad you agree with how they all found out about Tyler's secret. I hope you liked how he told his friends. And what is up with your story already. It's almost been a month. I'm dying to know what's going to happen.
Author Notes:
Well, there we go. The slytherin seeker's story is now public knowledge in the seeker's circle. How will this change their friendship? Who knows? Naturally me. Ha. Ha. Ha. The next chapter is in construction. "Dueling In & Out of School" There will be a dueling scene at school and the seekers will have a wizard duel of their own that unlike anything that has been done before in wizard history. Oh and Happy Fourth of July everyone.
REVIEW, Flames are allowed since they tell me what I'm doing around so don't be bashful.