Binns's speech is taken directly from the book.
Chapter 5: Writing on the Wall
Caught up between homework, Quidditch and coir rehearsal, the kids didn't even realize when September finally passed by, up until October decided to make its presence remarked with a vengeful-storm a few days before Halloween, right on one of those days when Heidi had Quidditch practice. So, naturally after a tiring training session with Wood, the girl was soaked to the bone, covered in mud and shivering like mad as she hastily made her way towards the castle's front oak doors. She rushed into the Great Hall and up the marble stairs, up until she accidentally walked straight through Nearly-Headless Nick.
"Hi Nick! What the hell are you doing sitting in the middle of the road so that anyone can walk through you, it's not that a pleasant sensation you know," said Heidi with a forced smile.
"Oh, sorry about that," apologized the ghost in a gloomy tone.
"You don't look to good," Heidi remarked, then wondered whether it was an insult to ask a ghost that; he was dead after all, how much worse could he get?
"Ah," Nearly Headless Nick waved an elegant hand, "a matter of no importance… It's not as though I really wanted to join… Thought I'd apply, but apparently I don't fulfill requirements."
The tone he used was light, uninterested, but the look on his face told a different story.
"But you would think, wouldn't you," he erupted suddenly, pulling a letter out of his pocket, "that getting hit forty-five times in the neck with a blunt axe would qualify you to join the Headless Hunt?"
Heidi raised a delicate brow. "Nick, you're not headless," she pointed out, but that drew another angry growl from the ghost.
"So I've been told!" Nick said sharply.
Heidi sighed in frustration and tried to convince the ghost to drop the matter, she did not want a repeat of the unpleasant feeling she felt earlier, it made kissing Voldemort sound like a pleasant pastime.
"But Nick, if they don't want to let you join the Headless Hunt, I don't see why you have to be so grouchy about it," she raised a hand to stop the ghost's protest and carried on. "I mean, why humiliate yourself in trying to join a club that doesn't want you, when you cane make one of your own! One that will outrank the Headless Hunt! Think about it!" she said in a mischievous tone. "You might have them begging you to let them join your club instead of the other way around. Eh, sounds nice, doesn't it?"
Nick's eyes lit up with a fire that he himself had thought to be long dead, and the more he turned the idea over in his mind, the more he liked the sound of it.
"By the Gods girl, that's brilliant," cried Nick in delight. "Yes, why should I be the one knocking on Sir Properly Decapitated-Podmore's door, when I can have him knocking at my door to join my club?! Yes, yes, I'll build a club of my own!" Nick declared proudly.
"That's the spirit Nick!" Heidi nodded approvingly; after all, she knew better then anyone exactly how sweet the taste of revenge was. "So, what are you waiting fore? The club is not gonna build itself, now is it?!" she scolded while Nick nodded fervently and turned to leave. Then he seemed to remember something and zoomed back towards her.
"Would you like to come at my five hundredth death-day party?" asked Nick with a pleading look.
"You ghost celebrate death-day parties?" Heidi marveled.
"Yes, it's going to be held this Halloween, in one of the dungeons below. There will be quite a lot of the old crowd invite, if you want, you can bring your sister and friends along," Nick said hopefully.
"We'll be there!" Heidi nodded with enthusiasm. It wasn't every day when you got to witness a death-day party; she wouldn't miss it even if she had to drag her sister along.
"Splendid!" beamed the ghost as he clapped his hands happily. "I will be sending you an invitation in a few days. Have a pleasant day!" the ghost bowed and drifted away.
Heidi smiled cheerily and was about to turn around and climb up the stairs when a silent meow drew her attention towards her feat. There, standing like a statue set on a high stand, looking as brazen as ever, with her yellow slides burning a hole in her head, was non other then Missis Norris, Filch the caretaker's cat.
"Hello there you," Heidi bent down and patted the cat on the head. Normally, most of the students hated Filch and his cat because they always seemed to pop up when children were causing trouble, and the two were second only to Snape for the number of detentions that the students landed in. Fortunately for her, her sister, Diana, had an unhealthy obsession with animals and so had befriended Missis Norris in her first year, and therefore had managed to land herself in Filch's good grace.
"Heidi!" Filch's voice made the green eyed girl jump out of her skin. "Quick, get out of here! That Malfoy kid is coming up the stairs and I want to have a good enough excuse to put him to work!"
The fact that he liked Diana, automatically meant that he disliked anyone who dared to hurt the girl, and everybody in the school had heard of the red head and Draco's violent breakup, which automatically put Malfoy in a very bad position with Filch.
"Sorry for the mess," Heidi apologized as she pulled herself to her feat and hurried up the stairs.
"Make sure to clean your feet next time!" Filch shouted after her. Heidi bolted up the stairs, and a few moments later she heard Filch's yells and Malfoy's protest and couldn't help it as a satisfied smirk made its way across her face. Yes, revenge was sweet. *snigger*
"A death-day party?" Hermione sounded excited while Neville looked thoughtful at the idea while Diana, as per expected, showed no interest in the subject.
"I can't go," her sister blurred out.
"What? Why?" Heidi asked annoyed.
"I'm part of the coir genius, and we've been preparing for Halloween for two months!" Diana pointed out. "I'm not gonna waste two months of practice and hard work on a party for the dead! What? Think you'll find anything interesting there?"
"No! I just want to see how ghosts celebrate, and besides, I gave my word I'll go."
"So, you're not coming to see me sing?" Diana asked offended.
"Don't worry," Heidi waved her concerns aside. "I'll stay for about five minutes and then I'm coming back to the feast."
Hermione wasn't pleased with the arrangements, but was overruled, as Neville didn't want to miss the Halloween feat, nor Diana's singing, and after the red head gave her one of those famous hurt-puppy looks, she ended up agreeing with the other two.
So, here they were, on a Friday night, in front of the great hall where thousands of students were chattering happily, enjoying the festive decorations and delicious food. Diana sent a pleading look their way, while Lavender and Parvati were sitting in the doorway waiting for the red head.
"Haven't you changed your minds yet?" asked Diana.
"We'll only be gone for like five minutes!" snapped Heidi, "if you'd let us leave!"
"Then leave!" growled Diana furiously, and so, she spun on her heals and marched pass her two friends.
Heidi rolled her eyes at her sister's childish behavior and made her way towards the dungeons alongside Neville and Hermione. There was a morbid line of candles wrapped in black ribbons, an ear-throbbing sound resounded throughout the place and the temperature lowered in degree as they closed in on the room where Nick had said his party was held.
Nearly-Headless Nick was standing boastfully in front of the door, all dressed up in black velvet drapes.
"My dear friends," he said mournfully. "Welcome, welcome… so pleased you could come…" he bowed as they entered.
It was… cold, what with so many ghosts gathered in one place, and nothing interesting seemed to be happening around. There were a few white packs of smoke-like people dancing here and there to the rhythm of a horrible sound that didn't resemble music in the slightest, there were some headless-horsemen playing golf with their head while riding ghost horses in one corner, in fact, the only interesting thing in the whole place was Peeves the Poltergeist.
Heidi had a sudden urge to go and hex the living…death out of the ghost, but Neville and Hermione dragged her as far away from the blue little man as they could.
"We're not here to ruin the party!" Hermione chastised.
"Oh, please, no one like's Peeves, if anything I'd be doing the ghosts here a favor!" Heidi countered, but followed her anyway.
"How much longer till we go?" asked Neville through clenched teeth, he was shivering from head to toe and holding onto his plover like a life saver, though it didn't seem to be doing much good.
"We can go now!" Heidi prompted. "Nick's left the door!"
Neville nodded fervently and the three kids ran out of the door, up the dungeon steps and into the great hall, where they stood gaping at the sight of it for several minutes.
The ceiling was flooded with thousands of living bats, which were flying hazardly above the candle flames; the four grand tables had been replaced with house-sized pumpkins, which were cut in the traditional Halloween way (the mouth was big enough to be confused with the entrance to a horror house), and about ten or so candles were floating merely around the pumpkin's eyes, giving it the impression that it had pupils. Dancing skeletons were rooming around the place, popping up their heads through one of the pumpkin's large eyes and scaring the children on the inside, and let's not forget the mouthwatering aroma that was coming from the great hall.
"Wow," Neville marveled. "We were going to miss this for Old Nick?" he asked sarcastically.
"There you are!" Diana came skidding towards then and rushed them off to where Lavender and Parvati were sitting - inside a giant house right in the center of the crowd.
"Hey, finally decided to join the party," Parvati greeted.
"How's Nick?" asked Lavender.
"You know, still dead," answered Heidi. "So, why are we sitting so upfront?"
"Because the Hufflepuff hottie is sitting right over there," Lavender sighed, looking through the giant eyes of the pumpkin.
"The what, now?" asked Heidi and turned to follow the other girl's gaze.
Sitting in the gigantic pumpkin on the other side, right in front of the colossal diamond shaped eye, was probably the most handsome boy Heidi had ever laid eyes on. He had light-brown hair, dazzling grey eyes and a smile that could put Lockhart to shame any day.
"Isn't he dreamy!" exclaimed Parvati.
"Who is he?" asked Hermione curiously.
"Cedric Diggory," answered Parvati and Lavender in coir.
"He's cute," agreed Diana, "and single," she grinned widely.
Heidi turned her head to look at the boy in aw. Cedric Diggory was…probably the most attractive person she had ever seen, how come he was singly? She didn't know exactly how long she had been gawking at Diggory, just admiring his defined jaw, his gorgeous eyes and brilliant smile, but when she did come to herself, it was only because Diana snuggled close to her and whispered "You like him," in that annoyingly teasing voice of hers.
"No! I don't," Heidi turned to scowl at her sister.
"Aw, come on, give it up already! You've been ogling him for hours!"
"No I haven't!"
"Yes you have! And I never once doubted that you have good tastes when it comes to men, unlike my curly haired friend who likes two dunderheads," Diana turned to glare at Hermione who was chatting silently with Neville about something. Heidi noticed that Lavender and Parvati where nowhere to be seen.
"Where are your two loud friends?" Diana glowered at the nickname and pointed towards the pumpkin on the left in which Ron and his gang were seated.
"They wanted to take Mione with them, but I didn't let them," Diana said and turned to talk with Hermione and Neville.
Heidi, for one, didn't actually consider Weasley such a bad person like her sister always deemed him, but she too didn't like the idea of him dating her friend; especially after being such an ass to her in first year. No, he had a little bit more amending left to do before she would consider letting him close to her friend.
Heidi soon got bored with studying the Weasley pumpkin and turned her head towards the other direction in which the handsome boy was, and came face to face with his piercing grey eyes. The boy shot a dazzling smile at the sight of her while Heidi blushed furiously and lowered her eyes down towards her shoos.
Wait a second! What am I doing? She thought confused. Seriously she did not understand why she had done that! After all, he was the one who was caught looking at her (though she was about to do the same thing, but that was a minor technicality), shouldn't he be the one looking away in shame?!
Heidi lifted her head to take a quick peek at Diggory and saw to her surprise that he was still looking at her, more intently now. She turned a questioned look in his direction and the boy just gave her a warm smile and lifted his goblet towards her. Heidi, still looking baffled, smiled slightly and raised her own goblet towards him.
What, now we are having a long distance toast? She gave a silent laugh at the idea and turned to smile at Diggory who was trying to say something, but Heidi didn't understand one word.
She shock her head and pointed to her ear, hoping the boy would understand that she couldn't hear him. They boy's face fell into a pout as he gave her a sad look. Then an idea seemed to pop up in his mind, because he started gesturing at her while mouthing the words more slowly. He pointed at himself first, and Heidi clearly understood the word "I", then he proceeded to form the letters L-I-K-E with his fingers, then he pointed at her, and then at his eyes. And he mouthed it again, more slowly, and this time, Heidi understood every word: I like your eyes.
She flushed slightly and looked away embarrassed. Dang! Why did she always do that? She was not letting this boy have the upper hand on her!
Heidi turned back to smile curtly at him and mouthed the words thank you which he accepted with a brief nod and a dazzling smile.
Lavender and Parvati came back and seated themselves by the pumpkin's eyes to get a better view of Diggory. Heidi didn't actually know if she should be grateful or mad, but a strange sort of emotion washed over her as Diggory turned his head around when the other two girls started goggling at him, and for some reason she was smiling.
"Isn't he dreamy," sighed Lavender.
"I wish he'd turned those gorgeous eyes in my direction, if only for a second," said Parvati.
Yep, Heidi was definitely feeling smug.
"Com on you two! Let's eat," she prompted hoping to get the two fangirls away from Diggory.
The feast didn't pose much of an entertainment after that; the girls ate while Lavender and Parvati told Diana that Dean Thomas liked her (something she already knew), and then the two started ogling Diggory again and commenting on how dreamy he was, up until the feast ended. Diggory never once bothered to look in their direction.
As soon as the feast ended the five were among the first to leave, with Ron's group bringing up the front, followed closely by a group of Ravenclaws, among whom stood Parvati's sister, Padma.
"Padma, did you see Diggory?" asked Parvati when she laid eyes on her twin. Something told Heidi that the Hufflepuff boy was not going to leave the girls' minds anytime soon.
Padma turned her head to answer her sister, and because of those few moments of aloofness, she knocked straight into Ron.
"Hey! What gives?" Padma asked indignantly.
"Are you okay sis?" Parvati was quick to come to her aid.
"I'm fine. Weasley! Mind moving out of the way!" Padma snapped.
Ron did as he was told and let the two girls up front. The Patil twins gave an unladylike gasp the moment they saw what was in front.
"What? What's all this commotion about," Diana pushed her way to the front of the line. There scribbled on a wall between two windows, stood a sinister looking message that seemed to have been written in blood (or something similar):
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE
And sitting right underneath it was…
A piercing scream which echoed off the wall tore from Diana's throat at the sight of the stiff cat, hanging upside-down.
"Missis Norris," she sobbed, hand's clapped over her mouth and eyes widened with tears threatening to break loose as she gazed upon the grisly scene.
"What's going on here? What's going on?"
Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd, no doubt attracted by Diana's scream. Then he saw Missis Norris and fell back clutching his face in horror.
"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked. "My cat," he sobbed heartbreakingly. Diana was at his side instantly.
"Mister Filch-"
"They killed my cat! They killed my cat, Diana! They killed her!" he boomed pointing at the masses of students gathered in the hall. "I'll kill you!" he shouted and made to grab one of the students but a commanding voice made him stop in his tracks.
"Argus!"
Dumbledore had arrived at the scene, with a few of the staff members trailing slightly behind him. In seconds, he had swept past Diana and Filch and detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.
"Come with me, Argus," he said to Filch.
"My office is nearest, Headmaster," interjected Lockhart. "Just upstairs; please feel free —"
"Thank you, Gilderoy," said Dumbledore.
The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart, looking excited and important, hurried after Dumbledore; so did Professors McGonagall and Snape while Filch brought up the rear, sustained slightly by Diana.
Heidi sighed and strolled after the pair, while Hermione and Neville trailed silently behind her.
They entered Lockhart's office, a place which wasn't dear to any of the four kids, and Dumbledore sat the cat up on Lockhart's desk and began examining her. Diana gently guided Filch to a chair and helped him lay down while she sank in the one beside him.
"It'll be okay, mister Filch, Dumbledore will fix this," Diana assured.
Heidi, Neville and Hermione, awkwardly sat themselves next to them, feeling nothing less then unwanted visitors interrupting a private mourning ritual. The three watched as Dumbledore and McGonagall studied the stiff car, which in Heidi's opinion looked deader then Nearly-Headless Nick had ever looked throughout all the times she had seen him, though she hoped that it wasn't true, if only to stop Diana's and Filch's anguished sobs.
Lockhart, as per always, began ranting about random hexes and curses he had seen and boasting about the fact that his presence alone would have been enough to save the poor dead animal, much to everyone's disgust since Filch started weeping harder. Diana sent him such a hateful look, that the narcissistic Professor glued him mouth shut at once.
After what seemed like forever, Dumbledore finally lifted his head from the cat's stiff form and turned to speak to Filch in a kind voice.
"She's not dead, Argus."
Diana's head shot up at the words, a hopeful expression replacing the distressed one.
"Not dead?" choked Filch, shooting a confused look at Mrs. Norris. "But why's she all — all stiff and frozen?"
"She has been Petrified," said Dumbledore. "But how, I cannot say."
"Those vile little pests did it!" shrieked Filch. "They hate her! They wanted to kill her!"
"No student could have done this," said Dumbledore firmly. "It would take Dark Magic of the most advanced —"
"They did it! They did it!" Filch was uncontrollably howling now, a mad expression on his face.
"Argus!" Dumbledore silenced the man with a glare. "The students do not posses the mental capacity nor the magical one to do such a deed!"
"My cat has been Petrified!" Filch shrieked, his eyes popping. "I want to see some punishment!"
"We will be able to cure her, Argus," said Dumbledore patiently. "Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris."
"I'll make it," Lockhart butted in.
"No you won't!" snapped Diana.
"Excuse me," said Snape icily. "But I believe I am the Potions master at this school."
There was a very awkward pause.
"You may go," Dumbledore said to the children.
"Are you gonna be okay, mister Flinch?" asked Diana concerned.
Flinch smiled a rare smile and nodded mutely.
"See you tomorrow," Diana said and headed for the door, the other three walked silently behind her.
That night, for the first time since kindergarten, Diana slept in Heidi's bed. And as though her sister's tormented sobs weren't enough, Voldemort too looked angry in her dream. He actually bit down hard on her lip and the next morning when Heidi woke, she found her bottom lip bleeding, something which unnerved her throughout the entire day.
Filch became unbearable for the next couple of weeks and spent most of his time guarding the corridor on which the sinister writing was. Diana would come to keep him company from time to time, and when he didn't patrol the corridors, he had a gloomy expression on his face to rival Nearly-Headless Nick, and would pass out detention to students, like Snape gave points to the Slytherins in class.
Diana too, was moody and started ignoring school for the first week or so after the attack. She would spend most of her time at Hagrid's or with Filch and sometimes didn't even come to classes, something which earned her a talking-to from McGonagall.
Hermione had become more of a book-addict then she ever was before and spent most of her day in the library. The girls found out one day that what she was actually doing was searching for a copy of Hogwarts a History so she could read about the Chamber of Secrets.
"Why didn't you ask me?" Heidi inquired looking strangely at her. "You know I have a copy, right?"
"Will you please lend it to me!" Hermione implored.
"Sure," Heidi nodded. "Right after we get back from Binns' class."
"Sis, did we have homework?" asked Diana in a panicked voice.
"Don't worry dunderhead, I wrote your essay as well," Heidi said looking critical at her sister. Hermione shot Heidi a disapproving glare, but didn't comment.
Binns's class was as boring as ever. It was one of those classes for which Diana thanked the gods that she had bought a self-writing quill, because she was always among the first to doze off when the teacher opened his mouth and started droning on and on about goblin rebellions and the like. Truth be told, Diana couldn't actually remember how exactly was it that she passed the first years final in History of Magic and didn't even want to.
About half an-hour into the lecture, when a deep stupor had settled across the student body, Hermione decided to interrupt the professor's uninteresting ramble about some rebellion or another by raising her hand. Binns looked shell-shocked.
"Miss — er —?"
"Granger, Professor. I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets," said Hermione in a clear voice.
Diana woke up with a start as Lavender's head, which had been seated on Diana's shoulder, shot up in curiosity. Neville nearly slipped under the table, while Heidi turned to look quizzically at her bushy haired friend. Professor Binns blinked.
"My subject is History of Magic," he said in his dry, wheezy voice. "I deal with facts, Miss Granger, not myths and legends." He cleared his throat with a small noise like chalk slipping and continued, "In September of that year, a subcommittee of Sardinian sorcerers —"
Diana was about to resume her early interrupted afternoon-nap, when she heard Binns say:
"Miss Grant?"
Then Hermione say:
"Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?"
"Well," said Professor Binns slowly, "yes, one could argue that, I suppose." He peered at Hermione as though he had never seen a student properly before. "However, the legend of which you speak is such a very sensational, even ludicrous tale —"
Diana sat up properly in her chair, her full attention turned towards Binns, as was that of every other student in the class. Binns looked overwhelmed by the amount of interest his persona was being subjugated to.
"Oh, very well," he said slowly. "Let me see… the Chamber of Secrets…"
"You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago — the precise date is uncertain — by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school Houses are named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution."
"For a few years, the founders worked in harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang up between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy. After a while, there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school."
"Reliable historical sources tell us this much," he said. "But these honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing.
"Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic."
Silence accompanied the end of Binns's speech. Every student waited, anxiously for the professor to resume talking and reveal more about the subject that had retained their interest for the past week. Unfortunately Binns did not say anything more related to the subject for the rest of the class, not even when Hermione persisted with her questions, did Binns do much more then dismiss the whole thing off as some nonsense told to frighten little kids.
"Do you really think there's a Chamber of Secrete?" asked Diana after class in a drowsy voice.
"It's Hogwarts you're talking about. If Voldemort get's to make an appearance while stuck on the back of someone's head, would it really surprise you that a chamber exists that no on knows about?" Heidi stated simply.
"I seriously don't know what to think," Hermione mussed. "I want to see what Hogwarts a History has to say about this."
"Neville do you know anything?" asked Diana.
"No, I can't say I do. I'll try asking my Granny about it, maybe she knows something," he promised.
"Pf, I read the Hogwarts a History paragraph referring to the Chamber of Secrets," Heidi said annoyed.
"You HAVE?!" both Hermione and Diana boomed at her.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Hermione asked disbelieved.
"Because there's nothing interesting in it," Heidi assured. "It's mentioned that the chamber was supposedly opened fifty years ago and the culprit was already caught and punished, but there's no information with regards on who exactly opened the chamber, or any mention of the room itself. If you ask me, it sounds like a whole lot of fairytales."
"But that's important!" protested Hermione. "The fact that the chamber has been opened before, is important! It practically proves that it exists!"
"No it doesn't!" Heidi countered, "Because Hogwarts a History does not refer to the incident as The Chamber of Secrets but as the mysterious attacks! There is a separate paragraph regarding the chamber of secrets, where it is specifically stated that the school had been thoroughly searched a number of times and no such place has ever been found!"
"But maybe you need to be related to Salazar Slytherin in order to find it," argued Neville.
"What for?" asked Heidi in a disbelieved tone. "What good would it do if you were rela-" she stopped mid sentence, something between shock and puzzlement made its way across her face. "Unless," she said still deep in thought.
"Unless?" asked the other three kids.
"Unless you're a Parselmouth!" Heidi exclaimed.
"A, what now?" asked Diana perplexed.
"A Parselmouth! Someone who can speak to snakes! Salazar Slytherin was famous for that trait. There was a whole page in which they blabbed on and on about his ability to talk to snakes and his familiar…snake (I forgot its name). They said he could perform spells while speaking in Parselmouth and therefore, never bothered to learn how to cast them nonverbally, since no one could understand him anyways, and he was rumored to be the only Parselmouth in existence," Heidi explained.
"He could talk to snakes?" Diana said in aw. "Wow! I wish I could speak to snakes."
"Actually that's a trait that only dark wizards are rumored to posses," Neville told her.
"But it all adds up!" cried Hermione excited. "Don't you see! It all makes sense!"
"What makes sense?" asked Neville befuddled.
"Not really," said Heidi. "While I do admit that a chamber which could be opened only by a Parselmouth would indeed fit the description that Binns gave us, there was no mention in Hogwarts a History that Slytherin ever used Parselmouth in such a way. As far as the book's concerned, he only used it to talk to snakes and as means to replace nonverbal spells, because, apparently, nonverbal spells are weaker then verbal ones."
"Honestly Heidi, do you think Slytherin would tell the other founders everything he could and couldn't do in Parselmouth?" countered Hermione.
"No, but I'd still think it's stupid to built a chamber that can only be activated by Parselmouth!" Heidi insisted. "For one, it would indeed stay hidden from the other founders, but doesn't that apply to the heir as well? He'd have to spend all his free time hissing around the castle and hoping that he'd somehow, by some twisted miracle, manages to find the stupid door, and let's not forget that Hogwarts is a big place, hide it in one of its secret passageways and you're bound to not find it again."
"What if the location was passed down from generation to generation?" Neville persisted.
"That could work," Heidi begrudgingly agreed.
"But who could be the heir?" asked Hermione.
"I know who!" Diana said. "Draco Malfoy! His family has been in Slytherin for decades! He's the most suspicious of the lot."
"Diana, just because you hate the boy now, doesn't automatically mean he's a bad guy!" Heidi chastised.
"I'll have to agree with her on this one," said Hermione. "He is the most suspicious of the lot!"
"He dated a half-blood!" Heidi snapped. "He came in our house, a Muggle's house, and shock hands with Muggles and Half-Bloods! You can't seriously say he's prejudicial!"
"He called Hermione a Mudblood!" Diana protested. "He is prejudicial!"
The argument didn't stop for most of the day. Neville, Hermione and Diana were convinced that Draco Malfoy was the Heir of Slytherin. Diana was mostly saying so just so she could have another reason to hate the blond boy, while Neville and Hermione were being more reasonable with their choice by blaming it all on his family history.
Heidi still though it was a stupid idea to built a camber that could only open if you spoke Parselmouth and kept sustaining her point, though there was a cruel way in which Voldemort smile the following night when she told him her suspicions that made her doubt her choice… and her sanity for believing that a dreamed up figure could actually talk to her.