CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE HEIR OF SLYTHERIN
"The Heir of Slytherin." Dumbledore read.
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"Sounds quite like a lovely fellow." George said sarcastically, but not smiling.
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Arthur and Molly grabbed their daughter as if just feeling her next to them assured them that she was okay.
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Moody slapped his forehead.
"Yeah…that was a mistake." Harry acknowledged.
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Ginny brought her legs up and curled up. She buried her face in her knees though her heart skipped a beat at the proof that Harry Potter cared for her.
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Ginny tensed knowing it was Tom.
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"How is he there?" Sirius asked.
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"I don't think he's going to give it back" Tonks stated.
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"Either that or he was mental." Charlie said.
"I'd say a bit of both." Harry told the dragon trainer.
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Fred, George, and Ron exchanged confused looks. SURELY Ginny had known the teasing had just been in good fun.
Ron decided that he was DEFINITELY going to talk to his sister after this book.
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"What's not to like?" Harry said turning to Ginny.
"Meaning?" Bill asked, eyebrows raised.
"She's a Weasley. And there isn't a Weasley I don't like."
"Percy?" Ron pointed out.
"I USED to like him." Harry said. "Other than him, I find the Weasleys to be great people."
"I'm so proud." Fred fake sobbed.
"His sucking up skills have improved VASTLY."
"Professor. Read please." Harry said blushing bright red much to the amusement of the adults in the room.
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Ginny gasped indignantly.
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Remus frowned. He had heard that laughter description before…and rather recently…as if it was read already.
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Molly tightened her grip on Ginny who was avoiding looking over at the couch that held the Marauders and the Trio.
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"What?" Sirius asked confused.
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"So it was a matter of possession." Sirius said looking only a LITTLE relieved before noticing how badly Ginny was shaking. He gave Dumbledore the signal to keep reading making a mental note to talk to the girl later.
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As were all the Weasley boys' (including Arthur's).
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"Werewolves don't HAVE cubs." Remus argued. "90 percent of children born of werewolves are stillborns."
"They are?" Tonks asked confused.
"Well…depends on which parent is the werewolf." Remus corrected. "That statistic came from paternal lycanthropy."
"Why is it so high?" Ron asked.
"Probably due to the species differences between mother and child." Hermione answered Ron before turning to Remus. "Is there a way for the child to survive?"
"Well…if the child has another condition to cancel out the lycanthropy, it's possible." Remus answered.
"What if both…" Charlie started.
"Can we get back to the story?" the twins chorused.
"Sorry" Remus apologized before signaling Charlie to ask later.
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"I had as soon as I met the boy." Dumbledore confirmed before continuing.
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There was a VERY awkward silence.
"What?" Sirius asked wrapping his arm around Harry's shoulders.
Here we go. Harry thought to himself with a sigh. It was the last chapter of the last book all over again.
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"I was scared he'd try and possess Harry!" Ginny informed everyone else. "Like he had me."
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"Why does he care?" Sirius asked.
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"Why am I not liking where this is going?" Bill asked.
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"BLOODY HELL!" those that didn't know swore.
"Not again." Sirius groaned. Harry was going to have a face off with Voldemort… AGAIN!
"Is there ANY year you didn't meet him?" Remus asked the teen.
"My third year." Harry said innocently. "And the years I spent not knowing I was a wizard."
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Dumbledore smiled as he read knowing that what Harry had said was Fawkes cue.
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"Fawkes." Remus said relaxing a bit.
"What was he carrying?" Sirius asked.
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"And you're a two-faced, evil, [a few words that shouldn't even be in a PG-13 story] a*****e" Ginny added. "Now that we've got that settled…"
"GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY!" Molly gasped. "Watch your language, Young Lady….no matter how right you are."
Hermione and Harry resisted laughter at both Molly's agreement and the looks on everyone's faces as they learned that Ginny's vocabulary was a BIT more extensive than they had previously thought.
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"There a reason?" Sirius asked Dumbledore nervously. He knew that Fawkes, like his master, was quite formidable when needed to be. Plus the healing tears would be helpful.
But the hat?
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"I like Ginny's description better." Tonks said with a wink towards the redheaded girl.
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"Only difference is that Harry's a noble git and you're a sick bastard" Ron said.
"Where are my children learning this language?!" Molly demanded.
Arthur, Bill, and Charlie whistled innocently.
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"Get out of there." Sirius demanded sounding scared.
"Sirius. I'm right here." Harry reminded him.
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"DON'T OPEN YOUR EYES!" Hermione and Ron shouted.
"I'm right here!" Harry reminded them wondering just how many times he would be saying that this chapter.
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"Does that mean that the glare is useless?" Sprout asked.
Remus nodded.
"But the venom is still one of the deadliest in the world." Snape added.
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"Does that hat know how to kill a basilisk?" Arthur asked.
"Actually, I think it did." Harry admitted.
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"Huh?" everyone asked.
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"Okay. I've heard of pulling a rabbit out of a hat, but this is a BIT much" Hermione said.
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Jaws dropped. A twelve year old had just killed the deadliest snake in the world.
"Well…congratulations Ginny." Tonks said.
"Why me?" Ginny said. "Harry's the one who killed it."
"Not many boys these days would slay a dragon for a girl…let alone a basilisk."
Harry wasn't sure what he wanted. On one hand, he wanted Dumbledore to continue to get out of this VERY awkward situation with all the Weasley brothers looking at him. On the other hand, chances were the bite was coming within the next sentence or two.
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"Why?" Molly asked confused as Dumbledore had stopped as he read the next sentence quietly. He had known that Harry had skipped a part, but hadn't seen that part when he had used legimency on the boy.
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Harry braced for the explosion. He wasn't disappointed.
"WHAT?!" Remus, Molly, Arthur, McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, Snape, Tonks, Moody, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Ron, and Hermione shouted.
Sirius, to everyone's shock, fainted to the floor.
"He took that rather well." Ginny muttered under her breath.
"I'm grounded when he wakes up, aren't I?" Harry asked Remus.
"Good chance." Remus answered looking like his brain was going a mile a minute.
"How in the world did you survive that?" Snape asked.
"It should be explained…um…should we wake him up?" Harry suggested while motioning to his godfather.
"We can't use magic." Charlie reminded him.
"I'll get some water." Ginny said getting up to get a glass to pour on the fainted convict.
"Why the bloody hell didn't you tell us about that?!" Ron said.
"I told you what you needed to know: the basilisk was dead." Harry said.
Ginny returned with the water and poured it on Sirius' face. The animagus spluttered and got up off the floor.
"What happened?" Sirius asked.
"You fainted when you learned that your godson was bitten by a basilisk." Moody said.
Sirius turned to his very much alive godson.
"Where?" Sirius asked wanting to see the scar.
Harry, despite there not being a scar, rolled up his sleeve and pointed to above his elbow. The only scar on that arm was the one from last June.
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"Fawkes saved you." Sirius realized as he gripped his godson tighter. Harry winced. Just as he had expected, Sirius was gripping him tighter now that when Voldemort had attacked in the last book.
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"HE WAS NOT FORSAKEN!" Ron and Hermione chorused angrily.
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"Little slow on the uptake." Fred chuckled.
"Not the brightest bulb of the bunch as the muggles say." George added.
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"Strange behavior for a book." Tonks said.
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"Little on the late side." Fred chuckled, feeling a bit better that Riddle's memory was gone, the basilisk was dead, and his sister and brother-in-all-but-blood were alive.
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"You have NO idea how happy I had been to hear your voice as well as that message." Ron told Harry.
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"The look on your face." Harry chuckled. "Between Fawkes and the sword…"
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"You should have said yes." George told his brother.
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"What? Didn't want to hold onto Ginny?" Fred teased.
"I figured it was better for both of them to stick together." Harry defended.
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Everyone laughed at how stupid that had sounded as a wizard had said that.
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"No need to sound disappointed." The twins chorused.
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"YEAH!" the twins chorused before double-hi-fiving Harry.
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"Awkward." Bill said looking a bit uncomfortable.
"It just gets worse." Harry hinted thinking of that night in the prefect's bathroom.
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"Hospital wing sounds like a good suggestion." Charlie said.
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"That works too." Charlie said.
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"Um…can we hold any lectures until after the next chapter?" Harry suggested. "It should be the last one."
"It is indeed." Dumbledore confirmed.
"I'll read." Sirius said.
