I do not own Harry Potter, only the OC.
Hello guys, Badger here. Before we begin, I have a small announcement. The pairing poll has now been closed, the final results will be shown at the end of this chapter. There is now a new poll on my profile. If it is still the same, please let me know. This poll is about Dobby and Jinx. Check the poll for more details.
Anyway, I am glad to see the previous chapter was well recieved. There is one person, sorry I can't remember your name right now, who binged read the whole 20 chapters, where they love that James acts like an older brother to Harry. Another loved the narrative of the story, with others giving me story idea. I'm glad people are getting involved. With this new chapter, I had another moment, where my brain went into hyper mode, making it difficult to write. I persevered and rewrote several times, until I came up with something decent. There are a few small time jumps in this chapter, otherwise there would be around three chapters full of nothing but filler, where I wouldn't know what to write, so I hope you don't mind. Anyway, here is the new chapter, I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 21
A shocking attack
Professor Snape sat as his desk, as he gestured for Harry to take a seat. After his previous potion lesson, the boy had asked to speak to him.
"How can I help you Harry?" Snape asked, though he suspected the reason
"Well…I…I wanted to talk about…me being a Parselmouth" Harry replied, fidgeting slightly
It had been a couple of days since the Duelling Club and things had not been going well for him. Most of the student population looked at him in fear, as they whispered things behind his back, or avoided him in the corridors. There was even one First Year, who ran when he accidently bumped into Harry. As he wasn't paying attention to where he was going, the boy ran into a wall and knocked himself out. The teachers on the other hand, whilst they didn't say anything or treat him any differently, seemed to look at him with calculative looks, as if they were looking for something. Out of the whole school, the only people who weren't afraid of him were James, Daphne and her sister Astoria, Neville, Susan, Tracey, Luna and the Twins.
"Yes, I suspected as much" Snape sighed "Ask any questions you may have and I will try my best to answer"
"Is…is it really as bad as people say it is?" Harry asked
"I'm not going to lie Harry, Parselmouth has never had that good of a reputation" Snape sighed "Not only was Salazar Slytherin a Parselmouth, but so was a Dark Wizard known as Herpo the Foul and even Voldemort himself"
"Really?" Harry asked
"Yes" Snape nodded "because of the fear Voldemort causes, people tend to forget that there were also wizards who used Parseltongue for good…most notably is Paracelsus, who is credited for the discovery of Parseltongue…he was an alchemist who made significant contributions when it came to healing and medicine…if what I've read is true, he used the Parseltongue ability for healing"
"So it's not all bad?"
"No, but as I said, the fear that people like Voldemort caused, made people fear such magic and abilities, hence such abilities were labelled as Dark Magic" Snape replied "I wouldn't worry Harry, fear makes many act irrationally…eventually they will come to their senses, but don't hesitate to come to me, should you need anything"
"Thank you sir" Harry said
…
In the Hufflepuff Common Room, Susan was sat studying when she overheard Ernie Macmillan talking to Justin-Finch Fletchley and her friend Hannah Abbot.
"I'm surprised that Dumbledore has allowed Harry to remain in the school…I thought he would have had him kicked out by now"
"Why?" Susan spoke up, causing the three to turn to her "He hasn't even done anything"
"Susan, he is a Parselmouth" Ernie replied, as if that explained everything "Everyone knows that is the mark of a Dark Wizard…Have you every heard of a decent one who could talk to snakes…besides if he is the Heir of Slytherin, he is the one who petrified Mrs Norris!"
"Not to mention he set that snake onto me" Justin spat
"Really?" Susan asked "Because I remember Malfoy summoning the snake and, though he was speaking Parseltongue, he seemed to stop the snake from attacking you"
Justin said nothing in response. He just sniffed, as he looked at her with a scowl on his face. Susan shook her head in disgust, before she looked at Hannah.
"Hannah, you don't believe this do you?" Susan asked
"I…I don't know Hannah" she replied, uncertainly "I don't want to believe it, but…he can speak Parseltongue and…well…he is a Slytherin"
"Just because he is a Slytherin does not make him a Dark Wizard!" Susan snapped "He may speak Parseltongue, but I have gotten to know him over the past few months…he barely holds any characteristics of a Dark Wizard…besides, we all saw him during our first year here…name one time you saw him doing anything remotely evil"
She looked at the three of them, seeing that they were thinking about her words, however Susan doubted they will believe them. She shook her head in disgust once more, before she packed up all her things and headed into her dorm room.
…
In the Gryffindor Common Room, things were not better. Fred, George and Neville stood listening, as Ron went on a massive rant about Harry.
"I knew he was a good for nothing git!" Ron proclaimed loudly "I knew he was involved with what happened with Mrs Norris…Now you all see, he is the Heir of Slytherin!"
There was rumours across the Common Room as Ron continued to rant. After a few more minutes, though the Twins had heard enough.
"Oh give it a rest Ron!" The Twins spoke in unison
"What?" Ron asked, as he looked at them "Are you on his side! That Dark Wizard!"
"Ron, just shut up" Neville replied, standing by the twins and shocking everyone as the usually shy boy was standing up against someone "Harry isn't a Dark Wizard…what proof do you have?"
"He is a Parselmouth, what more proof do you need?" Ron replied, as if that explained everything
"Have you seen Harry commit any dark acts?" Fred asked
"Have you seen Harry harm another person, whether that is student or professor?" George added
"No, but he must do it in secret" Ron shrugged "He doesn't want to get caught after all…plus he is friends with Badger…everyone knows that his family have used dark magic before"
The Twins sighed in exasperation, whilst Neville shook his head slightly. It was obvious that Ron was not going to let this go, no matter what they said.
…
The next few weeks were less then easy for Harry. The whispers and comments grew. There was one time when James drew his wand and hit a student with a stinging hex, after they insulted Harry, accusing him of using Dark Magic. The student was a Gryffindor as well. James' act resulted in him receiving a detention, but James thought it was worth it. There were also comments from Malfoy about how stupid the students were if they believed Harry to be the Heir of Slytherin. Normally, Harry wouldn't agree with the blonde ponce but, for once, he had to on this occasion. He was at least glad that most of the students left for the Christmas Holidays, leaving him mostly alone. James too stayed behind, where he made sure Harry at least had a good Christmas. The Albrights even sent him a letter and Christmas cake, hoping that he was okay.
As the next few days passed, when the Christmas Holidays were over, though the whispers and comments did lessen slightly, they still didn't stop. However, he couldn't let them get to him right now. It was time for the next Quidditch match of the season: Slytherin vs Ravenclaw. Thankfully, the Slytherin Quidditch Team didn't seem to believe he was the Heir of Slytherin, though he was confused. Last night, James and Luna went into the library, as Luna had received some books from home, all about magical creatures, where she hoped they could find what they were looking for. The two of them agreed to stay behind after their evening studies, to look through the books. However, neither Harry nor Daphne had seen them this morning. They assumed they were still asleep, as they spent all night investigating. Harry shook his head, to clear some cobwebs, as the team made their way to the pitch, where McGonagall was waiting for them, looking pale.
"Professor McGonagall" Flint greeted politely "Is something wrong?"
"I'm afraid this match has been cancelled" McGonagall replied
"What for?" Flint asked
"There has been an incident" McGonagall said "You and the rest of your teammates should head back to the Slytherin dungeons immediatley, except you Mr Potter…you and I will find Miss Greengrass…I'm afraid there is something you must see"
…
Both Harry and Daphne felt confused as they followed McGonagall down the Hogwarts corridors. However, they grew more concerned and worried as they approached the Medical Wing. They stopped outside the doors, as McGonagall turned to them.
"I have to warn you, this may be quite a shock" She said
The doors opened, where their gaze landed on the left side of the room. Laying side by side, on separate beds, were James and Luna. Both of them had looks of shock on their faces and both frozen solid. Like stone.
…
DUN DUN DUN!
Things just escalated haven't they? Now that James and Luna have been petrified, what are Harry and the others going to do? Will the Ministry get involved? Will they take matters into their own hands? You'll have to wait and see.
When it came to planning the Chamber of Secrets, it was always planned that James was going to be petrified, however Luna being petrified with him was a recent decision. I hope you now see why there were no other attacks after Mrs Norris. I wanted this attack to be a massive surprise and personal, for the other characters. I feel like having James petrified was always a good idea, as it will give Harry time to shine, take center stage and begin to become his own person, whilst trying to figure everything out, without James' influence.
Yes, I know this chapter was mainly filler, but try as I might, I was unable to think of a scenario to write about before the ending portion, so I just wrote whatever came to mind. Which was already difficult with the state of my mind during writing. The moment with Harry talking to Snape about Parseltongue was originally planned, as I felt it was needed, as there haven't been many moments with Snape yet. And yes, Herpo the Foul and Paracelsus are actual characters in Harry Potter lore. Don't believe me, search it up. The moment with Susan and the three Hufflepuffs was included after some thought and is just a modified version from the canon story. The moment with Ron in the Gryffindor Common Room was the most difficult out of the moments to write. My mind just kept going blank and went through the most rewrites. Though I did eventually write it, I feel it is the weakest part of the chapter. If there were more scenarios that could have been used, I would have included them. Again, I hope you don't mind the small time jumps.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and I will see you in the next one.
Final Pairing Poll results:
James/Pansy: 4 James/Harry: 9 Harry/Susan: 11 James/Daphne: 9 James/Tonks: 3 Harry/Fleur: 5 Harry/Tonks: 4 James/Luna: 9 James/Astoria: 2 Harry/Daphne: 8 Harry/Astoria: 1 Harry/Ginny: 1
These were the final results. One final time: These are NOT guaranteed results. I will take the results into account with the pairings. Though the poll is closed, feel free to give me pairing ideas in the review section. Now though, please check out the new poll on my profile. If it is still the pairing poll, let me know and I'll make sure it is changed.
Badger out.
