Here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord", enjoy!

* Review response:
raw666, do you think they would believe that their master isn't of the purest blood?
Penny is wise, obsessivegirl73, Hanzo of the Salamander 2.0, Awsomeness7, Taboo22, thanks, folks!
Highvalour, and why should you be surprised?
Aura Knight-Lyrin, no, never played that.
First Lady Lestat, you will get that soon enough.
RE5 forever, I think I have enough stories to write right now. But I will look into 'Species'...
Still Not Dead Yet, he he he.

* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form.

"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"spells / parseltongue"

This chapter was not beta-read. Yet.

chapter 20: Parseltongue?

The first day of the spring semester passed quietly and without accidents. Aside from Snape being his usual self, of course. Unfortunately, when it comes to the life of one Harry Potter, good things never last long...

Tuesday started like it was to be another peaceful day, but it all changed a little after three in the afternoon, when the third attack happened... The scion of house Potter was in the library, doing some research for potions in hopes of avoiding 'displeasing' professor Snape with his 'inadequate' brewing skills, when a loud scream was heard. And judging by the sound, it was coming from another floor. Even though it was a clear sign that something was wrong, Harry couldn't help but get interested. So, collecting his things, he he left the library and headed to where the scream came from.

As the young Gryffindor descended onto the third floor, he saw a large group of students, mostly Hufflepuffs, surrounding something in a tight right that didn't allow the green-eyed wizard to see what caused this. But the whispers, that could be spelled out over the noise of the agitated public, indicated that there was another attack, a double one this time: Justin Finch-Fletchley was petrified, and Nearly Headless Nick was ...damaged.

Not a minute later the headmaster with the escort of various professors arrived to the corridor and had the students to return to their dorms. As the crowd was dissipating, Harry saw that Justin was indeed petrified, while sir Nicolas, instead of his normal pearly-white appearance of a ghost, looked to be black and smoky and was floating motionless and horizontally about six inches off the floor... But knowing that he should follow the order, lest he wished to be punished severely for disobeying in the current situation, the young Potter turned around and headed back to the Gryffindor tower...

An hour later rather disturbed professor McGonnagal entered the common room of 'her' house. Almost instantly all conversations in the room – about what happened to Justin and Nearly Headless Nick – ceased, as the entire house looked at their head, waiting for what she had to say, but the transfiguration professor herself wasn't sure where she should start.

"As you all know, today another attack on a Hogwarts student happened." Professor McGonnagal said finally. "We all had hoped that the after the ...incident with Thomas White the attacks would stop, but, unfortunately, this not the case. As such, the enforced curfew is back, until the one behind the attacks is rendered innocuous. Also, no one is to go anywhere outside the dormitory alone: in such troubled times we should stick close to each other... Is that clear?" She asked.

"Yes, ma'am!" The students of the house Gryffindor chorused. The Scott witch nodded.

"I would also like to ask, does any one of has any information about how the attacks are made? We would be very thankful for any help you can provide us." She said. Everyone remained quiet as no one knew anything about these mysterious cases of petrification. "Very well, before I return to the stuff meeting, I will try to answer so questions you may have."

"Do you know what is attacking ...students?" A fourth year girl Harry didn't knew asked. McGonnagal made a wry face: even if she had expected his question, she didn't want to answer it, especially since there wasn't much she could say...

"Unfortunately, at this moment we do not know that, but the evidence is pointing to the attacker not being a human." Harry had to force himself not to snort: that, if you were to believe the legend about the Chamber of Secrets, was obvious from the beginning. "It also seems that whatever creature is doing this, it is not capable of human level of intelligence, thus there must be someone who controls it – someone who calls himself the heir of Slytherin." Somewhere in the depth of the room Ginny Weasley, currently possessed by Tom, who wanted to see what the Hogwarts staff was doing firsthand, flinched. McGonnagal noticed the flinch, but, thankfully for Tom, couldn't tell that the girl was possessed. "Don't worry, ms. Weasley, we're doing everything in our power to protect you, and I promise that the one behind the attacks will be caught and dealt with soon." 'Ginny' nodded.

'Fat chance there, woman.' Tom thought. 'But, they are suspecting that I control the beast. Of course they don't know what the beast is and that it's me behind the attacks, but still... I need to be more careful, not to blow my disguise.' Having heard everything he wanted – he was sure that there would be wild guesses about how the attacks were made, but they would never guess correctly, not before he was a living wizard again, when no one will be able to stop him – Tom canceled the possession, not forgetting to create a set of memories for Ginny: it would not do if he was caught because his 'host' had a missing memory.

"Do you know what kind of a beast is doing this?" A fifth year boy asked.

"Like I said before, we do not know what is petrifying the students, but because of Salazar Slytherin's affinity for snakes, we believe that this is some kind of a serpent. Unfortunately, there are no know species of the magical snakes that can petrify that can live in Scotland." The transfiguration professor replied. "Any other questions?" First year girl, Helen was her name, raised her hand.

"When will everyone be cured?" She asked in a bit shaky voice.

"As the key ingredient for Restorative Draught is extract of mature mandrake, we will have to wait for another two-three months, but I promise that we will cure everyone who was petrified." Professor McGonnagal replied. Many students, mostly the first years, sighed in relief as didn't want to lose their friends... There were several more question, that the transfiguration professor answered to the best of her ability, before she headed out of the tower to rejoin her colleagues for the staff meeting.

~/ *** \~

Despite everything the Hogwarts staff was doing to protect their students, Wednesday ended with another tragedy: Tracey Davis and Slytherin seventh year John Freeman – while a son of a squib mother and muggleborn father, he was tolerated by the house, as he was both physically and magically strong, and, though not the brightest student, had good work ethics that allowed him to earn quite some points for Slytherin – were found petrified on the second floor on their way to the library.

This caused even more panic and distress among the students: the Slytherin's heir was now targeting even 'his' own house, and whatever he was using to accomplish the 'cleansing' was capable of damaging even a ghost. Truly, magic at its darkest...

Taking into the account the danger that was now lurking in the castle, Harry decided that it would be a good idea to stop centralized meetings of the DS, and let each hose hold their own get teach ins in the common rooms for the time being... The idea wasn't liked much by the members of the Defense Study Group, but everyone understood that this was done in hopes of protecting them: common rooms were the safest places right now.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the scion of house Potter was worrying about the safety of his classmates more than the staff did: other than teachers or (rarely) prefects escorting their students to and from their classes, nothing appeared to have been done to ensure that no new attacks happen...

And the board of Governors was suspiciously quiet: it was two days since the attacks resumed, and no one had appeared to even ask simple 'how can this be happening?' yet. Most likely, though, they were somehow kept in the dark about the tragedies happening at Hogwarts, which meant that either the 'heir' was trying to keep the investigation into the attack as weak as possible, or the staff didn't want the world to know that they were incapable of keeping children safe... Either way, this was not good.

~/ *** \~

Thursday evening, though, passed without anyone joining those already petrified, but everyone was as tensed as they were the day before, and didn't dare to breathe even a single sigh of relief, not to jinx the situation... The situation was so bad, that even potions master Snape wasn't picking on the Gryffindors and, for once, appeared to be a fair professor.

Lockhart, though, tried to use situation to get more popularity, telling every soul that was willing to listen that he already knew who was behind the attacks, and that he was just waiting for the right moment to catch the perpetrator red handed. Surprisingly enough, there was a couple of students that still believed every word the blond pounce was saying...

Right after the DADA lesson finished, Harry was approached by two Slytherin witches. While he and Draconica were friends, even if they still tried to keep this as private as possible, Daphne truly was nothing more than an associate for the scion of the house Potter.

"Can I help you, ladies?" The green-eyed wizard asked. Both girl nodded, almost simultaneously.

"Potter..." Daphne – the dark-haired witch – began. "I know that you are not like the rest of the headstrong Gryffindors that would rush to destroy the danger in front of them without thinking, but if... if you decide to go after... after the monster from the Chamber... wearewillingtohelpyou." She finished a bit too fast for Harry to understand properly.

"What Daphne wants to say is that we are willing to give you a limited assistance, should you decide to protect the school yourself... After all, if the situation with the attacks is not resolved soon, Hogwarts will be closed, and we all will have to continue our education elsewhere... Plus we want the one behind the attacks to pay for what happened to Tracey." Draconica said.

"...Thank you." The young Potter replied unsure: he hoped that the situation would be resolved by the proper authorities, as he sure as hell didn't want to face the monster from the Chamber of Secrets or its master.

"Well, our escort is here." The blond witch said, nodding towards the head boy and a female Slytherin prefect standing by the door. "Good luck with having Lockhart protecting you." She added, before she and Daphne joined the rest of her housemates, all of whom were eager to return to the common room. Harry just sighed.

Harry sighed yet another time, as he glared at the empty parchment, hoping that the Potions essay would write itself. He had had a row with Ronald Weasley earlier this afternoon – the redhead though that he was a dark wizard and will kill them all just because he had a civil conversation with the Slytherin witches – and now he was in no mood to do his homework.

Suddenly he heard a yelp full of pain and turned right in time to see Parvati faint and fall down onto the table she was leaning over while looking through her notes. Since almost everyone in the common room was either first or second year, the general reaction to what happened to the Indian witch was to scream and hope that someone else would resolve the situation... Harry, though, knew how to keep his head working under any circumstances.

"Enervate!" The spell was enough to revive Parvati, who tried to sit up, almost falling back onto the table in process, all the while clutching her head as if she had a mother of all headaches. "What happened, Parvati?" The young Potter asked. The girl only moaned in pain in response. "We need to get her to the Hospital wing. Can someone call professor McGonnagal here?" ...Just some five minutes later agitated transfiguration professor entered the Gryffindor common room, immediately heading to the armchair where Parvati currently was.

"What happened here?" The Scott witch asked. Neville was the first one to reply.

"Parvati suddenly screamed and fainted." The scion of the house Longbottom said.

"It appears that she had had a very powerful traumatic shock for a reason unknown." Harry continued. "And as she fainted, she fell onto the table, and had her stomach bruised. I revived her, but she is barely able to speak as she is in pain, and I'm not sure how to help her as I'm afraid to make the things worse. We need to bring her to the Hospital wing." Professor McGonnagal nodded.

"Very well." She said, using her wand to gently lift the Indian girl into the air. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom, I want you to come with me so that we can explain the situation to madam Pomfrey."

"Yes, ma'am." Both boys replied, and followed the transfiguration professor as she levitated Parvati towards the Hospital wing...

Once 'Poppy', with the help of powerful medical potions, made the pain Parvati felt go away, and healed the bruise the girl had, professor McGonnagal decided to question the girl, hoping to get at least some insight into what had happened. Unfortunately for her, all that the Indian witch remembered was seeing a yellow disk, before an unimaginable pain made her black out.

As it seemed that whatever happened to Parvati would remain a mystery, the transfiguration professor decided that it was time for her to bring the two 'lions' that accompanied her here back to the Gryffindor common room, and then to finally finish grading those damned essays on inanimate to animate transfiguration...

They were about to leave, when professor Flitwick, followed by professor Sinistra and two Ravenclaw prefects – both levitating petrified bodies of Hogwarts students – entered the Hospital wing.

"Thanks Merlin, you are here Minerva!" The Charms professor exclaimed. "Unfortunately, I'm bringing only bad news... There was another attack." He said in a whisper, pointing to the two unmoving bodies the prefects were levitating.

"Who?" The Scott witch asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Padma Patil and Amanda Greendale." Harry had never met the second girl, but from her appearance he could tell that she was a fourth or fifth year student. "These..." Professor Flitwick continued, while pulling a box of polished metal plates from his robes. "...Were found next to them scattered on the floor." He made a small pause. "Ms. Greendale wanted to work on her runes in the library tonight, and ms. Patil, being interested in Ancient runes, tagged along." McGonnagal just sighed: the 'heir' was at work again, petrifying her students, and they still could do nothing to stop him...

"...Twins' bond!" Harry suddenly exclaimed. Everyone in the room turned to look at him. "What happened to Parvati was caused by the attack on her twin sister." Professor Flitwick nodded: he had seen the Gryffindor witch in the Hospital wing, though she was yet to see her petrified sister as she (Parvati) was sleeping, thanks to a dose of Dreamless sleep potion madam Pomfrey gave her.

"Five points to Gryffindor for astuteness." The Charms professor said, before McGonnagal ushered her students back to their common room.

~/ *** \~

The attack on Padma sent the student body into panic – even though she was from India, she was a pureblood witch, and if the 'heir' attacked her, then no one was safe anymore! Of course, there was a myriad of theories who was behind the attack and how they were made, but all of them were so outrageous and ridiculous that no one would believe them...

The great danger that the beast from the Chamber of Secrets presented caused the underground commerce of Hogwarts to bloom as venturesome students were selling amulets and other magical trinkets that, according to them, would protect from the attacks (that surprisingly stopped after the one on Padma and Amanda).

While the general populace of Hogwarts was either spreading the rumors, all of them ridiculous in their nature, or trying to make money on the fears of others, or was just afraid of every shadow they came across, thinking that the beast from the Chamber of Secrets was hiding there, Harry decided to do his own investigation into what was attacking the students. Of course, Neville and Hermione were with him there, as were Daphne and Draconica, even if the young Potter was yet to officially ask for their help...

So far they only knew that the beast was most likely a serpent of some sort, so they were going through the tomes about various magical snakes and creatures related to them... Currently, the green-eyed wizard was reading about a tropical and very poisonous snake called Ormr... Turning the page, he saw a drawing of the said snake.

"You sure are pretty." He said, rubbing his finger against the drawn snake's back. The snake stared at him, while the two Gryffindors and two Slytherins next to him gasped. "What?" He asked.

"Potter... You... You can speak parseltongue!" Draconica said in a shocked voice.

That's all, folks!
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