Summary of "Parseltongue is Really Very Ordinary" - contains major spoilers for this fic.
Harry's been learning about pure-blood culture, with Pansy's help, and trying to blend in as an ordinary wizard. But will all his attempts at seeming normal be ruined when they find out he can speak to snakes? His Slytherin friends take the news differently than the Gryffindors.
In Harry's second year Professor Lockhart was delighted to assist Harry with learning about how to manage his fame. Lockhart helped him fix his mail problems, replacing the restrictive owl ward set by Dumbledore with one that allowed him to receive fan mail after sunset.
Harry carried on a correspondence with the fugitive Quirrellmort, who was ever-so-understanding. They chatted about wizarding culture, and Harry shared his woes about things like the mixed reaction to him being a Parselmouth, and his fight with Ron over it.
Pansy and her other Slytherin friends Millicent, Tracey, and Daphne encouraged Harry in his studies of wizarding culture and invited him to join in their secretive celebrations of the Old traditional quarter-festivals. He increasingly enjoyed them, but Neville was only a reluctant and temporary participant.
After returning to the Dursleys for Christmas, Harry went alone to visit Potter Cottage and the ruins of Potter Manor, collecting a few souvenirs while there. He also received a magical snake as a Yule gift from Pansy – a pet baby rainbow serpent that he named Storm.
With rumours flying about the school that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin and behind the petrifications, many were scared of him, while some Slytherins were secretly delighted. Some students started acting cautiously polite and ingratiating towards him, helped along by his Slytherin friends' prompts that making an enemy of him would be a moronic strategy whether he was the Heir or not. Draco, in particular, was keen to assist Harry in his mysterious schemes, cover for him as necessary, and to establish a friendship with the Heir of Slytherin.
Snape was shocked at Imbolc to discover that Harry Potter followed the Old Ways like himself, and was cunning and loyal enough to try and cover for everyone's presence (unnecessary though it was). It was the final piece of proof he needed to fully grasp the fact that Harry was not at all like his father. Snape consequently watched Harry more carefully in Potions, noticing Harry's deliberate sabotage of his own work to the Dreadful standard he thought Snape wanted and expected of him. Snape subsequently demanded improvements in Harry's grade and additionally nudged Flitwick to trick Harry into performing better than he'd planned on his end-of-year Charms exam.
Ginny handed in Tom Riddle's worrisome diary to the 'heroic' Professor Lockhart for safe disposal, but Lockhart instead started writing the draft of his next book in it and soon found himself possessed.
Under Tom's control Lockhart Stunned those who posed a risk to his schemes in some way – Harry, Neville, Ginny, and an interfering Ravenclaw, Alice Tolipan (who'd once queried his presence in a girls' bathroom) – and took them down to the Chamber of Secrets for a ritual sacrifice which would help Tom possess Lockhart more fully. Tom complained to Harry that such a possession would be a temporary measure, however, as eventually his host's body would begin to decay and fall apart.
Hearing his prospective ugly fate motivated the possessed Lockhart into fighting off Tom's hold on his body, and Harry cheered him on to success.
Storm argued with the Basilisk, Custos, that Tom was nothing but a cold ghost and Harry was a much better choice of Heir to obey. Ultimately Custos acknowledged Harry as the new rightful Heir of Slytherin. Harry then called Dobby to take away the silk-wrapped diary and bury it in the Forbidden Forest.
Post battle, Custos returned to her lair to hibernate. Harry beat Lockhart's attempt to Obliviate him, and instead they made a deal – all the glory of defeating the spirit and "killing the Basilisk" would go to Lockhart – with a little tweaking for more heroic drama – and in lieu of unwanted glory, a share of the profits of Lockhart's next book would go to Harry.
Pansy insisted that it was Chamber of Secrets, plural, so Harry began exploring the Chamber more thoroughly. His most notable discovery was an ancient mosaic of a Romano-British wizard named Ambrosius Aurelianus. After his friend Millicent was hurt in the Chamber whilst exploring, the Headmaster put a ward on the entrance in the girls' bathroom, unaware that Harry knew of an additional secret entrance.
At the end of the year, Harry gifted Snape with his mother's bequest that he'd retrieved from Potter Cottage – a crystal lily statuette – and the message of forgiveness that was in her will. Snape was bitter and angry about Dumbledore's neglect in failing to properly fulfil his job as executor.
