This is the next chapter. Please read and review, love Hannah xxx
When Heidi woke up in the morning she got dressed insuring she looked as good as she could. With the help of Ivy she applied a light amount of makeup which made it look as though she wasn't wearing any and just had a fresh looking face something which she loved. She left her bag in her room and headed down to the common room to be greeted with a shocking sight. It was almost as though the whole house divided down the middle. Two older year students were getting ready to duel one another over whether having her in their house was a good thing or not. Just as they were about to strike Severus entered and waved his wand sending them both to couches at the opposite end of the room.
"Everyone pay attention right now! As you can see I look and feel better than I ever have in my life. I was under serious vows and things which magic herself removed from my person yesterday and I am better as a result. As I can see we still haven't grown up much have we? Burke, Johnson pull yourselves together this instant! We have a true advantage the other houses are not getting and it's high time you all realised that. I hereby nominate Heidi Potter as the Queen of Slytherin and wish to remind you that you do not want to know what will happen if she is not selected. That is all I am at liberty to say at this time. I am afraid we cannot wait so we will hold a vote now. Does anyone else have any other nominations they wish to put forward?" he asked as some people nominated another girl Millicent Hardwick from fifth year.
At this revelation the entire house went into chaos with people firing curses here there and everywhere. Quite frankly Severus had never seen his house this crazy and it was a spectacle for sure. They were all stunned when Heidi let off a cannon blast with her wand and spoke directly to the portrait of Salazar Slytherin in Parsel tongue. That conversation continued while everyone watched in awe. They had no idea what they were talking about but were stunned when the usually very serious portrait burst out laughing. No one anywhere Severus included had seen that coming.
"Well Miss Potter I can see what you mean. For those of us not in the know Tom Marvolo Riddle or as he prefers Lord Voldemort is a half blood. He would rather we don't know that but as he was a member of my house until he lost the right to hold such membership I do of course know about it. In fact anyone with a bit of research and sense would know about it only he's too foolish to realise that. By the way for any idiots afraid of Voldemort it translates from French into flee from death. Professor Snape all I will say to you is that you are and where he is concerned you will always be right, you know of whom I speak!" he said knowingly as Snape gasped.
"I knew it! I just knew it! He will suffer for refusing to believe me make no mistake about that!" he said as everyone in his house looked at him in shock wondering what it was about. It was in fact about Professor Quirrel and who he truly was and that Dumbledore had never believed him when he'd mentioned that something was very wrong with Quirrel. In fact he'd asked Severus to not be so jealous. The portrait resumed talking with Heidi for a while and actually they seemed to fighting about something which a lot of the older years who didn't like her were happy to see.
"NO I AM DOING THIS NOW END OF DISCUSSION!" he snapped in English as there was a huge magical glow all around the house itself which settled into everyone before it dispersed away. He then informed her she could show them.
"I have used ancient Slytherin methods to insure what is said next is never repeated without permission. Should anyone think they are above me and try it they will regret it for sure!" he said as everyone gasped not sure what it was about.
"I do not like this but as I have literally been given no choice whatsoever Revelio!" Heidi said pointing her wand at her hand which revealed the Slytherin Ladyship ring as everyone gasped and some people even fainted. There was uproar as most people if not all of them knew what this meant and she was immediately elected as Slytherin Queen. What annoyed them further was that they couldn't tell anyone else about it even those at home. It was a huge internal struggle to stop wanting to tell everyone about her.
"As your queen I have certain rules which must be obeyed forthwith. Our house will comport ourselves with all the respect we would expect other houses to give us. We will act like proper ladies and gentlemen. For the first rule I expect everyone here to be happy about their appearance. If they are not then change it to whatever would make you the most happy. Remember your parents are not here and do not matter in school. When you leave school you will leave as yourself so you should leave looking as you like!" she said as everyone gasped. For her first rule it was incredibly fair and not something anyone would actually dislike. Maybe she'd be a very fair queen after all.
"For my second rule you will not rely on your parents for everything. What I mean is that if you have a parent in a high place in society you will be proud of them but not brag to anyone inside or outside the house about it because we don't care. We don't need to hear how great your parents are. Again when you leave school you want to be able to get a position in the ministry because you earned it not because of who your parents were or indeed who they were connected to who could just give you the job no questions asked. From now on we will earn everything honestly!" she said passionately glancing at Professor Snape who smiled and nodded once to show he approved of her new rules.
He actually agreed wholeheartedly with them. People did rely far too much on who their parents were in society or who their parents knew because sometimes it was who they knew that actually mattered. She was essentially telling everyone present that they needed to succeed in their own right and earn enough to be notable on their own. He thought it was a fantastic idea and it was what he'd done in his own youth. He'd not known anyone of importance but had become the youngest potions master in a century on his own merit.
"For my third rule everything will be thought about before it is said. We need to think about how we speak and if there is another way we can better communicate what it is we need to say affectively. If someone asks for one parchment of homework for example give them one parchment and not an inch more. If you feel you have loads to say try the best way you can to rephrase and condense everything so it fits on that one parchment for top marks. Also pay attention to exactly the way other people say things too as the way they speak could allow for loopholes in the future at some point. As most people don't think about how they say things much I can see this being an advantage to us and we need to be ahead of the curve here!" she said proud of herself as Severus smiled deeply.
She was being so smart and these rules so far were things everyone would actually be able to follow with little to no difficulty so he liked it. They also required actual thought which some Slytherins were terrible at doing. They couldn't think for themselves and often relied on others or their own parents to do the thinking for them. What would become of them after school if they didn't learn to think for themselves whilst at school? If people's parents complained to him about it he would quickly set them straight. Heidi was loving being able to dictate what Slytherin did from now on. She remembered how disorganised Gryffindor had been when Harry had been in it and shuddered. People in Gryffindor merely got by often times on sheer luck alone which in genuine sincerity was simply not enough any longer.
"For the fourth rule you will need to learn to pick and choose your fights carefully. Do not do something to draw obvious attention to the fact that you seriously dislike a particular Gryffindor as an example as should anything happen to them you would be the first and most likely suspect. Besides which they would often do anything to get you into trouble and I don't think we all need to be reminded of how much the headmaster obviously loves his old house given how gutted he was that I did not end up there which he was incapable of hiding. We don't care who they are or how you feel keep your damn opinions outside of the house itself to yourself. This goes hand in hand with not attacking anyone or breaking any rules unless you can be entirely certain you will not get caught. If you must attack someone for whatever reason do so as privately as you can and always cast a light charm after your done. It really does cover your back!" she said as they all gasped now looking at her almost reverently.
She spoke such sense no one anywhere could deny it any longer. It was quite obvious that they were sometimes baited by Gryffindor members in particular to attack them and then get in trouble themselves. It was always such a pain in the arse but this would surely help them.
"The next thing I must say is not a rule but just some advice. When I knew I would be coming to Hogwarts I researched as much as I could and I learned that while there are specific dark spells some of the light ones can cause severe damage. When I attempted the diffindo spell I nearly severed off my finger but managed to catch myself in time which was lucky. Imagine if that had been the throat of an enemy and also remember how it is viewed as a light spell by the Minister of Magic himself!" she said letting those words hang in the air as many pureblood people gasped the colour draining from their faces.
It was clear that no one had ever in their lives thought of this fact and it did terrify them. Someone even said his mother used that spell all the time to prune her many roses in their garden at home. It was genius to tell them that as it would mean that they would think about what spell they fired before they fired it. This would in turn reduce the amount of dark spells used by the house as a whole and would be better off in the long run. Besides which it would lighten everyone's view of the house as a whole if it did less things of a nefarious nature.
"Going along this theme I want you all to try and master the patronus charm. It can be very useful in defending yourselves from dementors and sending messages instantly. Besides which hardly anyone in the other houses knows it and it would be an ego boost for me if most of Slytherin knew how to cast it. It is powered by the most happy memory you have and the words for it are Expecto Patronum. I'm not a fool and do know that some of you will simply not have any happy memories but I implore you to make some. My last bit of advice concerns the seventh floor. On that floor opposite the tapestry of the trolls being taught ballet is a magical room. For that room to appear you need to walk back and forth in front of the wall three times and think of what you need the room for. It can become anything from a toilet or bedroom to a potions lab or duelling room. If you wish to practice anything do so on a training dummy the room provides. It's also a safe space to practice any spells without hurting anyone especially if those spells are less savoury!" she said as they all nodded.
Someone people even knew that room and were sure that her Slytherin ring was telling her about it which was great. They were all stunned about the spell and further stunned when other people could do it. They hadn't told anyone because it had simply never come up. So roughly one quarter of Slytherin throughout the years could do that spell Professor Snape included. For the purposes of showing everyone the spell he produced his patronus a large doe appearing there and walking through everyone as Heidi's eyes widened and a tear fell. She had completely forgotten about that and it reminded her of her late mother. If Severus noticed it he didn't say anything about it to her.
"The fifth rule is to stop targeting Muggleborn people. My mother herself was a muggleborn and knew more than most purebloods in her year as she got straight grades shut up and did all her work without complaint. She was quite frankly excellent at avoiding conflict at all odds. Do not judge the book by the cover. Take Professor Flitwick for example he is tiny and doesn't look necessarily threatening but one only needs to be near him to see that he could easily wipe the floor with all of us. I researched him and know him to be a world duelling champion when I heard he would be a teacher of charms from him as he introduced me to the magical world. I will not be taking his height for granted and neither should you!" she said as everyone gasped.
Clearly they'd not thought of this either making her roll her eyes. Why were they all so stupid? Yes Filius was tiny but that didn't make him any less threatening. It was nearly of benefit to him that he was so small as he would be easily overlooked or not seen. This would mean he could attack from a place which was hidden or too small for others to reach.
"The sixth rule is to stop being so obvious. You are supposed to be cunning yet everyone knows when you don't like someone as you suck at hiding it. I observed that last night during the feast. If I a first year can see it you can guarantee everyone else can. You need to make our house look better as a whole. I want people know that all Slytherins are now approachable and can give help where necessary. If you need to you can say that getting me as a new house member changed everything for Slytherin or something. While that's actually true no one will question it really asides from the headmaster probably. You can even say that the changes were done in order to impress me or something" she said as everyone nodded. She had two more rules to give out before breakfast so got to it.
"The seventh rule is to never go to the Headmasters office without Professor Snape present as I don't want him to try anything funny. Should he offer you anything at all in his office you are ordered to refuse it unless you know one hundred percent that it is safe! Last night he could not hide that he quite obviously loves his house more than any other house and hates Slytherin house the most. I wouldn't put it past him to think we're all stupid and wouldn't know he might try something which is why you're all forced to refused anything he might offer you such as sweets or a drink or something!" she said as Snape smiled really brightly at her.
"How astute Miss Potter is. I have in fact noticed that he offers everyone either a lemon drop, tea, pumpkin juice or all of them if he thinks he can get away with it. I have taken and tested his lemon drops without his knowledge and they are slightly laced with tiny amounts of calming draft and a mild truth serum. Just stay safe and I don't care what I am doing either even if I am angry you have disturbed me I am to come with you for every meeting with him you have. If he does attempt to insist you take something which he could I will offer to take it instead. If he asks me about it I will tell him that I instructed all of my Snakes to read the charter thoroughly and that they insisted I be with them in every meeting. He is not allowed to kick me out either something else in the charter so he will be trapped essentially!" he explained as everyone marvelled at not only how serious he was he was being but that he actually meant what he said. Finally he was being the school house leader they needed him to be and boy did it show.
"My Seventh and final rule for now is that all games of Quidditch are to be played fairly or not at all. If I don't feel they will be played fairly I will remove people form the quidditch teams. All teams should have a secondary team which can take over if a member of the main team gets sick. This way we don't miss out on any games for this reason. Also all teams primary and secondary must have some women on them. I will not have our house looking like it is full of sexist pig men. Also I am here should anyone need advice or if they are not sure they will be breaking a rule or not if they do something. It is better to ask questions now then to break a rule later on and suffer the consequences. Now then let's go to breakfast. Have a great day everyone!" she intoned as the whole house cheered and clapped for her. It was a stunned and much changed Slytherin house that walked into the great hall this morning with some obvious differences in appearance for a lot of its members. Dumbledore was dismayed by it but decided he would see what happened next before he made his move.