Disclaimer: I only own my ideas not anything else.

Bloody Kitsune: Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it. Halloween is coming soon and with it, a rather scary Omake! Keep an eye on my profile and you might find something scary. Or at the very least, interesting.

Reviews:

Jostanos: Nice one Jos, but you got one thing wrong. Luna isn't a Quibbler Journalist. She wasn't raised by Xeno after all.

Twister60: Glad you liked it.

Lockhart's return

"He's back," Calla heard as she walked into the Great Hall which was alight with gossip.

Looking towards the head table, Calla spotted the source of the gossip. It would seem Lockhart had finally returned to school after a two week absence. A smile tugged at her lips as she spotted the ponce shifting uncomfortably. Huh, it looks like he still wasn't over the fact he no longer had anything between his legs. She looked away and made her way over to the Ravenclaw tables. She passed by Change and Edgecombe who flinched at the sight of her which told her that Night Terrors had been giving them nightmares of what was to come. She paused by Chang's shoulder and hummed a few bars of 'Come little children'. Chang and Edgecombe jumped causing her to snicker as she began walking again. She sat down in her usual seat as Vivian asked, "What's with them?"

"Oh, you know, Nightmares," Calla shrugged as she began piling her breakfast onto her plate, "Any idea what Remy's planning on teaching us today?"

"Not too sure though I'm pretty sure it has something to do with countering that slug puking curse," Vivian answered earning a soft hum, "I'm hoping we move onto the bat-boogie hex since it seems like a lot of fun,"

"More like gross," Calla did not like mucus of any form even when she had to use it to make potions.

Vivian snorted at her, "You do realize that honey is bee vomit, right?"

Calla rolled her eyes, "Not all honey is bee vomit, Viv. Try fey grown honey suckle, it's just like honey only without the whole vomit business."

"Seriously?" Ron asked as he sat down across from her.

Calla hummed lightly, "Yeah. I prefer it since it's actually sweeter and a lot healthier. Of course, you have to be careful choosing which vines to use since some of the create one that causes hallucinations," She paused as she thought about it, "It's actually one of the things they put in the food made explicitly for human consumption if the fae want to trap someone. For the fae, it's like some kind of drug only without the nasty side effects. For humans, it can kill them if they take too much. I don't know the exact reason for that, but it probably has something to do with the biological and magical differences between species."

"Are you going to..." Vivian jerked her head towards Chang and Edgecombe.

Calla shook her head, "They haven't pissed me off enough yet. Even if they did, I wouldn't give them the lethal dose. I would give them just enough to make them go insane. I don't plan on killing anyone."

The yet swirling around in Calla's thoughts was likely echoed in Vivian's. Shaking it off, Calla began to eat her breakfast. Ron gestured to the head table, "Lockhart's back."

"Yeah," Vivian looked at him for a moment, "He looks like he can't sit still,"

"He's probably having trouble getting used to the fact he no longer has a stem and berries," Calla watched Vivian and Ron jerk alongside everyone currently sitting near them.

Ron turned to her as did everyone else once they realized what she'd said, "How do you know that?"

"Poppy and Jane told me what happened when he was found," Calla lied and watched Vivian's eyes narrow.

Vivian glanced towards Candy Pop and Jane before looking towards Lockhart then back at Calla. Calla nodded and nodded towards Jane earning a raised eyebrow. She shook her head and mouthed 'later' the the other girl. Ron looked a bit green, "Why would they tell you that?"

"It's better to know something than spread rumors about it," Calla stabbed a sausage, "They told me to abate my curiosity. I know how to keep a secret,"

"Then why tell us now?" Vivian asked her.

Calla smiled at her friend, "Simple, I was only asked to keep the secret until he got back. Not after."

Vivian snorted at her reply, "Sneaky."

"Considering who I live with and who Papa's friends with, I kind of have to be sneaky," Calla ate her sausage, "There's also a thing called loopholes which every fae, full or otherwise, learns by heart. After all, you don't want to be caught flatfooted by anyone,"

"So Lockhart is an eunuch?" One of the older male Ravens asked.

"Mhmm," Calla glanced at the head table, "According to a rumor I heard, he deserved it because he touch someone he shouldn't in a way that is universally considered bad,"

Whispers broke out at her words, Calla thought that Candy Cane would be very proud of her at this moment. With any hope, the Ponce will be found out soon enough and she would only have to deal with one threat.

Calla wasn't quite interested in the proposed 'Dueling Club', but Vivian managed to convince her to go if only to watch Lockhart make a fool of himself. Candy Pop and Jane joined them as a majority of the younger years were going. She stood near the back of the room with Candy Pop while Jane wandered around seemingly unable to keep still. Lockhart beamed at all of them, "Welcome to the Hogwarts Dueling Club..."

Calla glanced at Candy Pop, "He definitely loves the sound of his own voice."

"Mhmm," Candy Pop hummed while leaning against the wall, "Why did you agree to come again?"

"Everyone else was going and Vivian managed to convince me," Calla caught sight of Snape, "I bet you twenty that Snape's going to kick his ass,"

"No bet," Candy Pop shook his head as the two 'professors' separated and moved to the opposite ends of the platform set up, "The bat might be a dour and childish bastard, but he managed to get into the inner circle of the Death Munchers which takes skill despite how incompetent English magicals seem to be,"

And right before their eyes, they watched as Snape hit Lockhart with a spell. It was amusing until she was called up alongside Parkinson. Candy Pop followed her and glared at Lockhart to keep him away from her. Candy Pop bent down and whispered, "Use the spells you want, but nothing that can kill her."

"Everything can kill her," Magic was all about intent after all.

Candy Pop rolled his eyes, "Just nothing lethal."

"Of course not, she's a prissy little princess and not worth it," Calla replied earning a snort and then the duel began prompting her to cast, "Bombarda,"

Calla aimed at the area in front of Pansy since she didn't want to kill the girl. Pansy let out a shriek and stumbled back as the area in front of her exploded in a shower of wood. Pansy rightened herself and shouted, "Serpensortia!"

A black mamba appeared and hissed angerly, "Who daresss to drag me from my sssslumber?!"

Screams echoed through the air, Calla ignored them as she focused on the snake, "A pathetic child that doessssn't underssstand the way of thingssss."

"Sssspeaker!" The black mamba reared a bit and slithered closer to her, "I am honored to meet you,"

"And I you," Calla bowed lightly while ignoring the whispering coming from all around her, "Pleassse allow me to asssissst you back to your den,"

"Assss you wish, Ssspeaker," The snake agreed.

Calla uttered the spell to send it away and watched it vanish before casting the full body bind of Parkinson, "Foolish brat! Using a new spell especially one that can summon deadly serpents in the middle of a crowded room, are you mad?"

"P-potter is the Heir!" Someone shouted and Calla rolled her eyes.

"No, I am not," Calla glared in their direction making everyone flinch, "Why would I send a snake after anyone when I haven't done it before? Do you not remember the attempts to bully me?" She shook her head, "Just because I can speak to snakes doesn't mean I set them on anyone. If anything, I'd rather just speak to a snake since they can be interesting conversationalists," She looked at Candy Pop, "Honestly, it's not like talking to snakes is a bad thing. It's people that are the problem,"

Calla got off the stage with Candy Pop and everyone around her moved away. She rolled her eyes and decided to leave rather than stick around since it was clear that everyone was uncomfortable.

"That was awesome!" Vivian told Calla when the other girl returned from the dueling club.

"How is it awesome?" Calla looked at her in confusion.

Vivian walked over to her wardrobe, "Because I've never heard you talk to a snake before and it sounds like the awesome kind of creepy," Calla didn't really have anything to say about that, "What kind of snake was that?"

"A male black mamba though I have no idea how she managed to summon it since they're from Africa and it's accent sounded like it hadn't been bred in another country," Calla said earning a surprised look from Vivian, "What?"

"You can tell where a snake's from via an accent?" Vivian asked earning a nod, "How?"

"Same way you can tell where someone was born and raised," Calla answered as she brushed Shukaku's fur, "Every being has an accent. It doesn't matter if they're human or not. Same with slang. As Parseltongue is a universal language since any snake will be able to understand it due to the magic involved, you have to listen carefully to the accents and slang used in order to correctly figure out where the snake comes from,"

Vivian stared at Calla like she had sprouted a second head before saying, "Calla?" Calla looked at her curiously, "Where the actual hell do you find this stuff?"

"Research and the fae," Calla answered earning a blank look, "A good bit of it is through personal experiences though,"

"Considering who you grew up with, I'm just going to take your word for it," Vivian grabbed her night clothes and went into the bathroom.

By the time Calla arrived at breakfast the next day, the whole school was aware of her little talk with the snake. A majority of the school was giving her fearful or hateful looks with a few of the Gryffindors actually spitting at her. She ignored it all and went about her day. A few weeks passed without a new victim and many relaxed allowing things to fall back into the same old routine until Dumbledore called her up to his office on a chilly day in December. With Candy Pop beside her, she went to meet him. She looked at Candy Pop when they found the office empty, "Where is he?"

"No clue," Candy Pop shrugged as she wandered over to the phoenix, "He should be back soon though,"

Calla reached up and gently ran her fingers over the rather worn looking phoenix's head, "You're not feeling too hot, are you, Fawkes?"

Fawkes let out a soft coo as Candy Pop said, "It looks like he's about to go through a burning day."

"At the very least, he won't feel so bad soon," Calla removed her hand and watched Fawkes self-combust leaving a pile of ash in on the bottom of the perch.

Calla watched with wide eyes as a phoenix chick grew from the ashes. She slowly reached out to brush her fingers lightly over the chick's head as Candy Pop said, "I've never actually seen a burning day happen before."

"It's curiously marvelous event, is it not?" Dumbledore asked as he walked into the room.

"Yeah," Calla removed her hand from Fawkes' head, "It's really pretty if a bit sad,"

"Indeed," Dumbledore smiled at her, "I apologize for not being here when you arrived. Two new victims have appeared only one of them is a ghost,"

Calla's eyes widened before narrowing as Candy Pop pulled her to him. Candy Pop scowled at the aged headmaster, "You believe Calla did it."

Dumbledore shook his head, "No, I do not."

Calla figured out why he had them come up here, "You want me to stop using my ability to speak to snakes."

Dumbledore looked a bit surprised for a few moments before nodding, "I do. It will help the students relax."

"Headmaster, I understand your worries, but I'm not going to stop," Calla stared at the old man with a frown on her face, "Being a Parselmouth is not a bad, it's the people with the ability that are bad. Parseltongue is no diffrent from any other language only it deals with snakes rather than humans. Would you tell someone to speak only English when they know French and are talking to a Frenchmen? No, you would not,"

"Miss Potter, the English magical community view the ability as dark," Dumbledore said as if that would make it any less stupid.

Calla snorted as Candy Pop said, "And in India, it is considered a great gift due to how many snakes inhabit the country. Hell, you can find many countries that would love to have a Parselmouth if only to deal with their snake problems. That doesn't even cover the fae."

"Parseltongue is not dark nor is it light. It simply is," Calla added earning a smile from Candy Pop.

"If that's all, Headmaster, Calla does have a class to get to," Candy Pop said earning a nod.

"Of course," Dumbledore waved them off, "Please go on, I just hope you'll avoid using that ability for a while,"

"Why would I use it when there aren't any snakes around?" Calla retorted causing Candy Pop to chuckle.

They left the office and Candy Pop shook his head with a frown, "I don't really get why he asked you not to use it other than the fact that it scares the other students."

"You don't think he might know about the soul piece or have some inkling about its existence, do you?" Calla asked making Candy Pop pause a bit.

They looked at one another for a few minutes before Candy Pop decided, "I'll talk to Jay about it and see what he wants to do."

"If he does, do you think he might try something?" Calla asked making Candy Pop's frown deepen.

Candy Pop picked her up in a hug, "We won't let him do anything to you, Little One. If he tries anything, we'll kick his ass."

After dropping Calla of at her next class, Candy Pop called Jason, "Jay."

"Pop, what happened?" Jason asked sounding worried, "Did Calla get hurt?"

"No, she's fine," Candy Pop shook his head lightly, "Another attack happened, Dumbledore called Calla up to his office,"

Jason growled a bit at that, "He thinks she's the one behind the attacks?"

"That what we thought, but no, he doesn't think she's behind the attacks," Candy Pop leaned against the wall, "Instead, he asked her to stop using Parseltongue,"

"Idiot," Jason muttered as the sound of something metal hitting a wooden table, "What did Calla say?"

"She refused and explained why his fears of the ability are unfounded," Candy Pop smirked a bit, "She can be pretty sassy when she wants to be,"

Jason laughed sounding pleased, "Good. Though why did you sound uneasy when you called me?"

"Dumbledore might know about the soul piece or have some idea that it may exist," Candy Pop decided not to beat around the bush, "Calla brought that to my attention when I was taking her to the next class. It makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?"

"I don't like it, but Calla might be on to something," Jason sighed, "This is going to make things more complicated,"

"But we'll weather the storm like always," Jason chuckled at his reply, "What should Jane and I do?"

"Watch Dumbledore, but otherwise continue on as you are," Candy Pop had a feeling this would be the plan, "Has the fangirl angle given you any more information?"

"Not at the moment, she just seems invested in writing in a rather crappy journal," Candy Pop hated how good the brat's acting skills were when it came to pretending that she knew nothing, "I'm going to have Calla or Vivian steal the journal before Christmas break so we can look it over,"

"Hopefully that will give us the information we're missing," The sound of metal tools clicking together reached Candy Pop's ears, "Calla's been sticking to her plan?"

"Yeah, she's determined not to actively worry you anymore than you already are," Candy Pop snickered a bit, "Of course, she's being a hellion to those two brats that decided to bully Luna and to those idiots that think she's the heir. You would think they'd know better than to try and bully her,"

"English Magicals aren't very smart, so it isn't too surprising that they'd forget what happened with the arrival of new information during a stressful situation," Jason sighed again, "I wish her ability to use Parseltongue hadn't come out like that, but at the very least, she prevented anything horrible from happening,"

"Mhmm," Candy Pop relaxed a bit, "So how are things going with the whole Sirius business?"