Who Is the Rightful Heir?

Chapter 2

Misled

Salazar's POV

Father and I talked for a few hours when he visited me. He told me of everything that had been going on in the wizarding world, thinking I didn't know. I couldn't let him know the fact that I had been outside of the castle, roaming around. Father would be devastated to find out his son was disobeying once again.

"There was one thing I wanted to ask you about though. The black book."

This took my interest. I thought he wanted the black book to be for Meredith Grakshaw. "I already gave it to her."

"I know that, but I want to know if the book was terribly hard for you to read in the beginning."

I shook my head. "Sure I only had a few spells and a couple of potions my first day, but a lot of the same words were repeated, making everything simpler as time went on. If I hadn't been disobeying half of the time it probably would've been a lot easier."

Father nodded in a slow and almost sad way. Then, he left swiftly without a good-bye. I stood, wanting to stop him, but couldn't think of anything to say before he was long gone.

"Your father walk out on you?" The sultry voice of Meredith Grakshaw went through my ears as she came into the doorway. Her smirk was wide and clear now and the black book was clasped tightly in her right hand. Without invitation she sauntered in and sat herself down on the chair I always sat at. It was obvious she was trying to make me angry.

"No, he didn't." I told her as I sat in the other armchair, trying to get used to its unfamiliarity.

"I believe he did. I didn't hear an exchange of good-byes. Clearly a walk-out."

I glared at her and stood. "Never talk to me like that." I hissed. "My business with my father does not involve you at all. Do you understand?"

Meredith Grakshaw looked at me strangely. It was like she hadn't understood what I had said. It was like she couldn't speak or understand Parseltounge.

"Can you repeat that?" She asked. "I didn't quite catch it."

"Leave. Leave now and don't come back." I hissed at her.

Even though she most likely didn't understand my words, she got the message. Coolly, hiding any evidence of confusion, she walked out of my room, closing the door behind her. Interesting.

"Londe!" I yelled.

Immediately a house elf wearing a pillow case as a skirt and nothing else except for some measuring tape around his neck appeared in front of me.

"You called for Londe, my prince?" Londe asked.

I kicked him to the ground then picked him up by his neck. "Go find Draco Malfoy, Londe. Tell him to come to my chambers at once." I growled. "No dilly-dallying either of you. Come back with him for I'll have another task for you if you accomplish this one."

I threw the small being on the ground and watched him scramble to his feet and run out the door with fear. I smirked. I hadn't threatened or hurt a being in months. It felt good to get back to old habits.

Voldemort's POV

If Salazar was telling the truth, then I had a problem. Somehow, Meredith wasn't able to read the book. Why? She was a descendent of Salazar Slytherin himself. All descendents had the ability to speak in Parseltounge. Or did they?

I grabbed a scrap piece of parchment and dipped my quill in the red ink I used, dragon's blood. It was thicker and my letters looked so much better when I used it instead of an ordinary wizard's black ink. I was no ordinary wizard.

My quill started scratching against the parchment as I wrote down my idea. Meredith said that she was descended from Morfin Gaunt because of some unruly act of his with a muggle named Suzanna Greenhill. Suzanna Greenhill apparently had the child, whose name, gender, and everything else was still a mystery to us all. Apparently, the child of Suzanna had a child of their own, Meredith Grakshaw. But, would it be possible that somehow the language of the snake had been forgotten on her side of the line? If there were enough muggles in the line it was probable. The mixture of the DNA's could have somehow deleted the ability or weakened it.

A knock at my office door broke my thoughts.

"Enter." I told them.

"Sir, may I have a word with you?" Meredith entered the room and sat down in one of the chairs in front of my desk.

I gave her my thin lipped smile. "I was just about to summon you."

Meredith smiled to me. "I have just spoken to Salazar. He's only had limited company lately so I figured I could go see how he was doing. But, the conversation we had wasn't very friendly."

Meredith paused to cross her legs.

"Go on." I urged her.

"Well, you see, sir, he doesn't really like me all that much. The whole time he was biting back his anger while telling me to leave. You could tell he wanted to curse me, badly. But, instead he was able to tell me to leave his room. He also said his life had been better without me, hinting that I should leave the castle for good."

I studied Meredith before I could believe her. There was nothing to study. Her mind was skillfully hidden away from anyone except herself, keeping me from finding out the truth. Giving her a truth potion would only make her think I didn't believe her. Instead, I would have to bring in my son and question him.

Salazar's POV

Draco and I were playing another game of wizarding chess, but on a new board with a black queen. It looked like Draco was winning, but I had a trick or two up my sleeve that would demolish him in less than five minutes. Though, I would use them in good time.

"Check." Draco told me for the sixth time. I was getting really annoyed at the word.

Slowly, I took his bishop that challenged to take my king with my queen. It had been a simple move.

"Care for anything to drink, Draco?" I asked him politely as I watched him take another one of my pawns.

"Maybe another firewhiskey or two. You actually have the good kinds, not that cheap crap that we got when we were at Hogwarts."

"We weren't allowed to get anything imported from anywhere without it getting searched by the old kook. Otherwise I probably would have when I felt like it."

"Hmm, was there actually a bad boy in the Harry Potter back then?"

I smirked. He didn't know any of the secrets I had done back then. Neither did anyone else, including Albus. The memories had been too well hidden, even when my memory was messed with. "Remember Granger?" I asked.

"Of course, the one I snogged to get her killed. What about her?"

"Fourth year I found her in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. She and Ron had been in another one of their fights about Krum. We talked a bit and apparently she had no real liking for the foreigner or Ron, but she wanted some reason to make Ron mad at her so he would ignore her more often. She hated how he liked her."

"But they were going out at some point." Draco remembered.

I laughed. "Very good, Draco, but remember the old man had messed with our minds. He made a story out of our lives. He placed memories that said Ron and Hermione liked each other, but when Hermione got mad enough she was strong enough to ignore the fake feelings. That was one of the times. She took me for comfort, but more comfort than just a good hug."

Draco's eyes grew huge. "Your first time was with a mudblood?"

Again I laughed. "You think you were the one to only get the action at Hogwarts? There were plenty others before her, Ginny, Cho, the twins, Fleur, and many others."

This time Draco had to laugh. "I never thought you as that kind of person."

"Albus' version of you didn't, but the real version of you knew."

"What are you saying?" Draco had an eyebrow raised and was clearly curious. But before I could answer, two Death Eaters barged into the room, grabbed me tightly, and dragged me out of the room, leaving Draco there stunned at what just happened.

Voldemort's POV

"Let me go you worthless pieces of shit!" my son's familiar voice yelled from down the hall. "When my father hears about this…" It was about time they silenced him.

The Death Eaters brought the livid teen into my office and set him on the remaining empty chair in the room. Meredith was watching him intently as the Death Eaters tried to keep him down. Finally, one had the sense to bind him to the chair.

"Boy!" I yelled at him. The single word made Salazar stop long enough to look at me and notice where he was. Then he slowly calmed down, rage still showing a bit. "I do not need a fourth stupid result of your idiocy."

Either the silencing charm had been taken off of him or he did it himself, but he was able to speak. "I doubt you need me for that anymore." He sneered.

"What is that supposed to mean, Salazar?" I hissed.

"Why don't you ask the girl that's sitting next to me?"

"Meredith?" I turned to her.

"I have no idea of what he means, sir. I do not believe I have given you any idiotic results."

"What are you talking about, Salazar?" I questioned my son.

"Don't tell me you don't know. Have you even tried to speak to the girl in our language?" He asked me.

I looked to Meredith and asked her the question that I didn't really want to ask. "Can you understand me?"

Meredith bit her lip and looked at the ground. When she looked up she was smirking at the boy. "Of course I can understand you, my lord. I am a descendent of Salazar Slytherin. All descendents can speak the language."

I nodded to her and frowned at my son. "You should be sorry for your wrong allegations. Make sure you have a way to prove yourself before telling me. Crucio."

Salazar slightly twitched in his chair as I placed the curse upon him, but he face was calm and eyes open. In the corner of my eye I could see Meredith was amazed at his ability to withhold the pain. But she had never endured the curse in her life. She had no idea how long it took the boy to be able to hardly show any pain. Once I lifted the curse from the boy he was breathing in small gasps and Meredith was looking at me.

"Leave. Now."

Salazar's POV

I was glad he made me leave his presence. I had no care to be there. Maybe Draco was right. Maybe I should leave the place. Father wouldn't notice. Meredith Grakshaw would get her chance to rule and ruin. Who would miss me?

I slammed my door shut when I got into my room. Draco had left already but was smart enough to pick up the empty bottles of firewhiskey he had drunk. Without delay, I summoned my bags and sat them on my bed. I rushed as I filled a bag with clothes, a bag with books, a bag with my extra potions, supplies, and a cauldron, and a smaller bag with a few odds and ends. The bags were shrunk and placed into the pocket of my cloak as was the real black book.

Before I left, I made sure to leave my mark. Down went the cabinet filled with my expensive liquids. Slashes were made in the bed's pillows and blankets. Every piece of both chess sets broke into millions of pieces. My second cauldron was split in two, making the in-progress potion splatter on the floor. My desk and chair were in splinters and the bookshelves were on the floor, surrounded by the books I had decided not to take.

Satisfied with myself, I apparated out of the room, out of the castle, to a secluded spot I had found a month ago. Everything else that I needed was already there. All I did was empty my pockets and fall asleep on the leather couch, too tired to walk to the bedroom.

A/N: It's been forever since I've updated... isn't it always... I probably lose readers when I update so slowly, but I'm always so busy. Hopefully my schedule will open up more in the future, leaving me more time to write and update so you can all read and review.