Sorry for being quiet this long... My work and my studies took most of my free time away from me. Anyhow, here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord". Enjoy!

* Review response:
Naginator, sh8ad8ow, Shattering, geetac, lou2003us, DialACow, Qatzol, ShadowCub, Slytherin Studios, fanfictionsfan, Dragon and Sword Master, nopparitari, McGeezel, bloodshound, pandora vanity, JPElles, CMVreud, Meanxruki, Guest #1, xyzman, GuardianOfTheEther, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Penny is wise, The Swordslinger, Ke1MIIR, Wyrtha, Mel, Guest #2, I have stated before - probably more than once... yes, definitely more than once - that the story will end without lady Potter being chosen.
r1ncewind1, actually, not really at this point. any ideas?
Toby860, this chapter has all of the answers )
Elyse, mhm... Might look her up...
Jokarun, thanks a lot for this.

* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form. Same with "Freezing" anime/manga series or anything else I might mix in.

"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"powered speech / true prophecies by the seer"
"spells / parseltongue"
messages

chapter 69: April 1995

"Harry?" Draconica asked as the two of them were getting ready to go to bed – Daphne, Astoria and Tracey had left for the dungeons a little while ago. The said teen mumbled something nor really intelligible to 'tell' his lady that he was listening to what she wanted to say. "I think we should announce the return of house Slytherin via the wizarding media."

"Mhm... How so?" Harry asked back. His dislike of this idea wasn't masked all that well, but it was also quite understandable as the 'Daily Prophet' had printed libel on him on more than one occasion.

"We definitely should make this announcement on our own terms, while we still can." The blond girl said. After a short pause, she continued: "By lunch time tomorrow, everyone within the castle will know that we're married and that I'm lady Slytherin. Add one more day, and the student's parents will know too. Do you really want to leave this gossip growing uncontrolled? I know, you don't like the 'Prophet', or maybe even all newspapers, but do you really want them to print whatever lies Skitter comes up with instead of your own, truthful, story?" Here, Harry had to admit that 'Nica had a point.

"Alright." He said as he headed to the table in their common room. Though it was quite late, it was better to write the article right now. His beautiful lady followed him there too, wishing to help him with writing that story for the media as much as she could... They ended up working until quite late into the night and while they did send the final version to the 'Daily Prophet' and 'Wizarding Wireless' offices, the couple wasn't sure that Hedwig will be able to reach those places before the morning news were prepared and released to the public.

~/ *** \~

"So, which table are we going to sit at now?" Harry asked as he and Draconica approached the Great hall the next morning. They were running a bit late, having slept in thanks to their writing marathon last night, but there were other students that just couldn't get up early on the Monday morning. And judging by the fragments of their conversations the couple could hear, the gossip about them being married has already spread through the castle. The rumor about the house Slytherin being active again wasn't far behind too...

"Actually..." The blond beauty began, but quickly trailed off. Thanks to the youngest male Weasley and his worshipers she'd not be welcomed at the Gryffindor table. Likewise, there were quite a few Slytherins that would commit suicide before they welcome Harry to their table. They still had an option of separating and going to their respective houses' tables, of course, but right now they didn't want to be apart... The problem, though, kind of resolved itself few moments later when yet another group of Hogwarts students arrived to the Great hall's doors.

"Harry, there you are." Cedric said as he approached his fellow Triwizard champion. "I needed to speak with you; mind joining me at the Hufflepuff table?" Glancing at Draconica, he hastily added: "Your lady is also welcome." The younger teens looked at each other for a moment and shared a nod. Then the green-eyed lord Slytherin switched his attention back to Cedric.

"Thank you, we would like that." He said, accepting the older teen's invitation. The three of them then proceeded to take the few unoccupied seats near the end of the Hufflepuff table. And while Harry's relationship with the members of the said house still wasn't as good as it was a year ago, thanks to the damn tournament, being invited to the table by Cedric meant that no 'badger' would dare to voice their disagreement with this, if he or she had one...

The two Triwizard champions chose to eat their breakfast first, so, until they were mostly done with their meals, barely any words were exchanged between them. Finally, when their plates were mostly empty, Cedric spoke:

"Father wanted me to pass this to you." With those words, he pulled an envelope from the inner pocket of his robes and handed it to the young lord Slytherin. "Not sure why father had asked me to deliver this to you this way when he could have just owled it to you; probably, he wants me to learn how to do business with people..." The true Hogwarts champion commented as Harry opened the envelope and skimmed through the message inside. And despite being related to the case against the Ministry that the four champions had launched months ago, the contents of this letter weren't even something really confidential, so, Cedric's guess was probably right.

"I see... Please tell your father that house Potter agrees to his proposition. The further business can be discussed – let's say – on the next Hogsmeade weekend." Harry replied, purposely trying to sound as much as a hard boiled politician as he could. The older teen seemed to be caught off his guard by this for a moment, but then he nodded in acceptance.

"Alright, thank you." He said then. Harry nodded back, before turning to finish his breakfast.

The rest of the morning passed relatively peacefully for Harry, even if it seemed that every single person he personally knew wanted to know whether the rumors about his marriage with Draconica were true or not. Honestly, answering those questions every five minutes was getting tiresome. And then there were some more inquisitive people that wanted some rather personal details about the said marriage and the first night that followed it, not that the green-eyed wizard would give them any... Harry just hoped that his beautiful lady didn't have it worse – she was stuck with her Slytherin housemates, and he was not very favored by quite a few them...

Thankfully, when he saw her again at the beginning of the lunch break, it looked like 'Nica was perfectly fine, especially with Daphne and Tracey flanking her while helping her fend off the more ...importunate members of her house that were in disagreement with their bonding... After thanking the girls for keeping an eye on his lady when he himself couldn't, Harry for the second time today found himself facing a problem of at which table he and Draconica should be sitting. And this time there was no Cedric to invite them to the 'neutral' Hufflepuff table.

Daphne and Tracey, of course, wanted the couple to join them at the Slytherin table, and the green-eyed wizard had almost agreed to this, but before he could put that into the words, his lady suddenly chose to make an opposite decision:

"Why don't we sit at the Gryffindor table, Harry?" 'Nica said. Then, glancing at her friends, she added. "Sorry, girls, I promise we will join you at our table for the dinner." While neither Daphne nor Tracey seemed to be really happy with that decision of hers, they still nodded in acceptance and, after telling Draconica that it was alright, headed to the Slytherin table. Turning her attention back to her 'hubby', the blond vixen added: "Just let's sit as far away from Weasley as possible; his table manners make me lose my appetite." Harry just smiled in response as the two of them went to sit at the end of the Gryffindor table.

Too bad for them, it looked like Ronald had learned at least something while he was apprenticed under Dumbledore: he learned how to be more observant about what was going on around him. Thus, even though he was gorging himself with whatever food was still present on the table in the immediate vicinity of him, he still saw Harry and Draconica take seats at the far end of the Gryffindor table... And that made him see red.

"Potter, you traitor!" The redhead raged. "How-.. How dare you to bring that slimy Slytherin filth to my table!.." But those words didn't reach their intended target as Harry had providently raised a barrier that muffled sounds around himself and his lady so that they could eat their meal in peace. Other people in the Great hall, though, still could hear the tirade very well, and most were far from happy with the youngest male Weasley. This was especially true for the Slytherins, whom he was so generously insulting, and the professors, who saw how the boy's rage was destroying the good face of Hogwarts in front of the guests from Beauxbaton and Durmstrang.

"Mr. Weasley." Professor McGonagall hissed like and angry cat as she approached the Gryffindor table. Maybe she was having a bad day or whatever, but only a deaf and stupid person would not understand that it was better to cease doing whatever she didn't find to her liking. "What is the cause of your outburst?" Alas... it looked like Ron was a bit of such a person as he tried to argue back to the deputy headmistress:

"B-But!.. Look, what Potter-... Look at that evil b-..." Though, he did have enough of a brain in his head not to swear in front of professor McGonagall. "...That evil Slytherin he brought to our table!" All this time, the head of the Gryffindor house was standing in front of him, looking completely unimpressed with him as she tapped her foot against the stone floor impatiently.

"That, Mr. Weasley, is something well within what is allowed by the Hogwarts rules." That alone made Ronald look like he was slapped in his face with a Slytherin-themed glove, but professor McGonagall wasn't done yet: "I will also be taking twenty points from Gryffindor for your outburst, Mr. Weasley."

"B-But..!" The redhead tried to argue back. But he was quickly shut up by his head of the house's glare.

"If you don't wish to serve a week of detentions with Filch, you better be quiet, Mr. Weasley." She hissed, and, once seething Ron had sunk back to his seat on the bench, she turned sharply on her heals and went back to the professors' table.

Down the Gryffindor table, Harry and Draconica continued their lunch as if nothing really happened: thanks to the minor wards the green-eyed wizard that raised around them, they haven't heard the 'chosen one's' rant; and while they still saw him arguing with professor McGonagall about something, they quickly decided that it was not something they wanted to care about. Nevertheless, the young lord Slytherin still got a faint desire to give Ronald a piece of his mind with his fist because... because something was telling him that the redhead had been insulting his lady.

Once the two of them had finished their meal, the two teens headed out of the Great hall and back to back to their married quarters in order to get ready for their afternoon classes... And, maybe, have a little bit of private time just for themselves. Alas, that plan went out of the window as soon as they walked through the doors of the Great hall: waiting for them next to the Hogwarts' main staircase there was...

"Mother?" Draconica asked in surprised, totally having not expected to see Narcissa in the castle or anywhere this soon. "What brings you here?" Harry managed to restrain his surprise a little bit better, even if seeing this woman now was just as unexpected for him, so he only said:

"Lady Malfoy?" The said witch let out a small, barely-noticeable sigh and walked up to the young couple. Stopping just a few feet away from them, she spoke:

"Now, now, Draconica, dear, do you really think that just because your father has this damned tendency to act before he thinks I will stop caring about you, or will no longer want anything to do with you?" Then she turned to Harry. "And, lord Potter, or, should I say, lord Slytherin..." The last few words were whispered so that only the three of them could hear them. "You can call me Narcissa." Upon receiving his nod of acknowledgment, she continued: "Why don't we all retire to one of the meeting rooms and have a little heart to heart talk about the last few days of your lives?"

"But!.." Draconica began protesting weakly.

"Don't worry, dear, I've talked to your professors. You will be excused for missing your classes this afternoon." Then, Narcissa leaned forward and whispered into her daughter's ear сonspiratorially: "Oh, and I want to hear all of the details about your 'first night' too."

"Mother!" The young lady Slytherin cried out indignantly as she blushed bright-red. Still, she allowed lady Malfoy to drag her and her hubby away to those meeting rooms...

~/ *** \~

The next morning Harry and Draconica chose to sit at the Slytherin table again, and as it was the case during the dinner yesterday, Tracey, Daphne and Astoria were sitting between them and the rest of their housemates – while none of them were yet to actively try to chase the young couple away, there still were a few individuals that were strongly against their union among the Slytherins.

As it always happened, sometime around the middle of the breakfast, the owls carrying the letters and other correspondence, including the today's print of the 'Daily Prophet', arrived. And just a quick scan of the newspaper's front page was enough for the green-eyed teen to see that the article he and his beautiful wife had written to provide the information about the return of the house Slytherin in the way that was the most advantageous for them was finally printed.

No, their article itself wasn't on the front page – no thanks to most recent propaganda campaign to keep the current Minister's and his cabinet's popularity high – but the third page wasn't too bad either... It took the people in the Great Hall but a couple of minutes to reach this article, and the lord and lady Slytherin could observe their reactions moments later.

The more neutral reactions of simple shock that such an Ancient house that was thought to be gone was revived came mostly from the professors and the Beauxbaton and Durmstrang guests, though quite a few of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students. Some of the more detached from the politics Gryffindor and Slytherin students also had such reactions.

There also was a group of students that were simply fueling the Hogwarts' rumor mill with new and outrageous ideas about the young couple that about the Ancient and Noble house of Slytherin already. And a considerably small number of people – most of whom were from the circle of Harry's and Draconica's friends and acquaintances – were happy for them. The rest, though...

On one side of the Great hall, Ronald Weasley appeared to be raging in the most disgusting way about the evil wizards encroaching the world. His display had made professor McGonagall angry again, which resulted in the redhead losing a number of points and getting a detention... There, just down the Slytherin table, a number of purebloods were protesting against the fact that a mere half-blood could become a lord, especially of an Ancient and Noble house...

And at the professors' table, professor Snape was clearly imagining placing Harry six feet under in a bloody and gruesome way, but knowing his dislike for anything even remotely connected with the name 'Potter', no one was surprised about this... More surprising, though, was the hate that was now etched on Moody's face, when he directed his gaze at the young lord Slytherin. And Harry just could not think of a reason for this: the retired auror captain surely didn't look like someone who can be prejudiced to such extent...

~/ *** \~

"Have you managed to get the newspapers for me, Wormtail?" A low hissing voice asked from the shadow-covered armchair as a shabby man entered the room. The said man lowered his head in a deep bow, before giving his answer:

"Of course, master." Then, after a brief pause, he added: "But, I'm afraid, you'd not like what is printed in it, my Lord." A moment later 'Wormtail' was hit by a deep red curse that made him drop on the floor, writhing and crying out in pain. A few seconds passed, before the curse was lifted.

"You dare to decide for me, what I would or would not like, Wormtail?" The same hissing voice asked threateningly.

"Of course not, my Lord!" The shabby man quickly replied, his voice full of fear. There was a pause that lasted for a few seconds. Then, the mysterious entity in the armchair ordered:

"Give me the newspaper and leave get out of my sight, Wormtail. I do not wish to see you any more right now." The shabby man bowed deeply, before crossing the room and handing over the today's copy of the 'Daily Prophet' he stole from some hag in the nearest and quite seedy magical pub. And once his Master had this damn newspaper, Wormtail hurried out of the room, not wishing to experience another Crucio for his Master this soon.

Opening the newspaper with his stubby and covered in ugly scales arms – alas, this homunculus body was all that he had at the moment – Voldemort began his morning reading: just because the world thought he was dead, killed by that damn Potter brat, didn't mean that he should not be up to date with what was going on, especially since the day of his rebirth was quickly approaching.

And almost immediately his eyes were drawn to the mention of his ancestor's name: Slytherin. Deciding that this article was more important to him than the latest political game of that bufon Fudge, he skipped the first two pages and went straight to reading that article. And just a few lines of text later, Voldemort was already overflowing with such a rage that he absolutely needed to curse something. Alas, Wormtail had already let the room, just like he had ordered him a few minutes ago, so he had to satisfy himself with burning the curtains with a masterful application of low-power Fiendfire.

No, no matter how angry he was that the Potter brat had claimed Slytherin lordship, that wasn't entirely unexpected – he himself had been the Heir before his death, after all. And what had angered Voldemort so much was the fact that this half-blood somehow managed to get the magic of the Ancient and Noble house to accept him as a Lord, whereas he, the heir by blood had been denied when he tried to claim the very same lordship at the end of his fifth year.

Still, the Dark Lord thought, the Potter would die in but a couple of months, after serving his final purpose of giving him the new, superior body to walk among the mortals again. Then he will have to kill the tart that Lucius only daughter had turned into, and he will be able to get the lordship back by the very same rite of conquest he had lost it to.

Having the lordship that rightfully belonged to him by the Potter brat was humiliating, but he could live through it. No, the worst part was the damage this article would do to the army of his followers: many might begin to doubt him and might not answer his call when he was finally revived. Oh well, it was always bad, when the pure magical blood was spilled, but those fools to even think about betraying him would need to be made an example of.

Calming down a little bit, Voldemort decided that he could plan re-enforcing his regime over those that followed his cause a little bit later – even though the newspaper was tainted by the Potter's name, it still held valuable information that he was yet to read from it. And what kind of a fool he would be if he didn't use all available information to his advantage? Yes, even if loosing the status of Slytherin's heir had cost him a lot, the war was not lost yet, and sooner or later he will emerge victorious with the world, finally rid of the muggle filth, bowing to him!

~/ *** \~

The next couple of weeks was quite tiresome for Harry and his beautiful mate. Mostly, because the two of them found themselves under the dual assault from those believing into whatever nasty crap the Hogwarts rumor mill was spreading at the time and those who hated him for the fact that he was now lord Slytherin, whether because they thought he was not worthy of it, or because of their prejudice against anything even remotely connected to that name. And there were a few people that just simply hated the green-eyed wizard for the fact he was still alive...

Eventually – like it had happened every other time – the rumor mill had found fresher things to gossip about and the crazy idea of how he had obtained his lordship and his delightful wife had phased out of everyone's attention. And while the haters still loathed, most of them were no longer going out of their way to act on their hate. Sure, there were a few thickheaded idiots, but they were of no real danger to either him or Draconica and could be, well, ignored.

The lack of any attacks, political or otherwise, coming from Lucius Malfoy, desiring to get his hands on the Slytherin family - something that he might have had a chance to, had he not disowned Draconica - were still worrisome, though. The young couple was following Moody's advice and were exerting constant vigilance, but now, after three weeks on their toes, it was beginning to take its toll on them...

Anyhow, the end of April arrived before long, and one Saturday morning all four Triwizard champions were told to stop by Hagrid's cabin at four in the afternoon so that they could be given some information about the final task of the tournament. And even though they weren't specifically told to bring the orbs they had obtained during the second task, Harry thought that those were important for the task and, after consulting with the beautiful vixen of his wife, decided that he should bring his one with him anyway.

Surprisingly enough, it turned out that he was the last one to arrive to the designated meeting spot, even if it still was five minutes to four: Cedric, Fleur and Victor were already there, listening to whatever event from his sport career Ludo Bagman was talking about politely, but without any real interest... Upon seeing Harry approaching their group, the head of the department of Magical Sports and Games stopped retelling his youthful adventures to his 'audience' and, instead, announced:

"Now that we are all there, gentlemen... and, of course, mademoiselle Delacour, let's move ourselves to the Hogwarts' quidditch pitch." Then he began walking somewhere. After a few moments of not understanding what was going on, Harry realized that they had hidden the aforementioned pitch under some rather powerful wards so that the champions won't be able to learn any details about the task before the organizers of the tournament allowed them. And a subtle but rather powerful compulsion cast on every student on the Hogwarts ground ensured that there weren't any people wondering where the hell the pitch had disappeared.

Mr. Bagman led the group to the edge of the wards surrounding the Hogwarts' quidditch pitch, which for the moment appeared just as if it had never been build there – there was just a grassy plain there. Then the Ministry official proceeded to bring each of the champions over inside the wards. Harry was the last one to be allowed in, but he didn't mind it.

Quickly scanning the area with his eyes, Harry saw that other than some bushes growing on the ground, nothing changed here: the hoops were still present and the tribunes didn't change their usual appearance either... Ludo walked over to stand a few feet in front of the four of them.

"Growing up nicely, aren't they?" He asked, nodding towards the bushes. "They should be over nine feet tall by the time of the task..." Switching his attention to the two Hogwarts students, he added: "But don't worry, once the tournament is over, you will have your pitch back in the pristine condition." After a short pause he continued: "Anyhow, someone here wants to make a guess, what the third task will be?" The green-eyed lord Slytherin was about to voice his thoughts when Victor Krum spoke:

"A maze." Was all that the surly Bulgarian said. Mr. Bagman beamed at him.

"You are very much correct, the task indeed will be taking place in a magical maze. But don't think that this is all." The head of the department of Magical Sports and Games made a step towards the four champions. "This maze will be filled with powerful magics and dangerous creatures that you will have to overcome on your way to the victory – that is to say, you will need to reach the center of the maze and claim the Goblet of Fire... Good, now then, do you remember the orbs you had retrieved at the end of the second task?" All four champions nodded in response.

"I take it, ve vill need them for this task?" Fleur asked.

"Indeed." Mr. Bagman replied. "The numbers etched on those orbs are the numbers of your starting positions – don't worry, none should have any noticeable advantage over others – but the orbs will also act as keys. There will be a number of gates in the maze, and your orb will be able to open the gates with the same number on them for you."

"So, if we somehow manage to acquire all four orbs, we will be able to open any gate in the maze?" Victor asked, immediately making the other three champions cautious around him.

"You can't." Ludo said. "Until the end of the third task, the orb will stay with the one who had picked it during the second task. They can be neither taken from that champion by force, nor can they be given out of one's free will. And the only place where the two champions will be able to meet is the center of the maze – by that point, you will have no need for others' orbs anyway." The Bulgarian quidditch star nodded.

"I see..."

"Good." The head of the department of Magical Sports and Games said. "Do you have any other questions?" As it turned out, there was quite a few. Mostly, those questions were about the time limit for the task; who would win, should all champions be incapacitated before reaching the Goblet; and the value of the point earned over the first two tasks. Mr. Bagman did his best to answer all these questions without giving away too much information about the third task... In the end, it was close to the six in the evening, when the champions had all of their questions answered and were guided away from the maze.

That's all, folks!
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