Chapter 12 – A Shocking Revelation
Headmaster's Office
"Surely you don't believe Potter do you, Albus?"
"Why wouldn't you believe him Minerva?" said Snape with his ever present sneer.
McGonagall didn't say anything but glared at the potions master.
"Ah, I think I know the reason," he said, smirking "It's because he's a Slytherin and Slytherin's are always up to no good unlike your goody two shoes Gryffindor's. Isn't that right Minerva?
Well news flash Minerva, your Gryffindor's aren't as innocent as you think they are, your three favorite Gryffindor's have seen fit to disrupt my potions class by throwing fireworks in others students cauldrons and steal from my personal potions lab," he spat.
McGonagall's eyes widened, "You're lying," she stated flatly.
"Am I now?" Snape said dangerously. "You should be glad they aren't expelled. If I had solid proof they would be expelled before you could cry foul."
"You read their minds?" she said accusingly.
"Perhaps, but right now we are talking about your accusations against my student," he said dryly.
McGonagall looked extremely flustered, "Alright fine," she snapped "I was wrong to blame the boy and I'm sorry."
Snape sneered victoriously, if that were possible, "Apology…. not accepted Minerva."
"Would it kill you to act nice for once!"
"You're just sore that Potter is in my house not yours," he said smirking "Not that I'm glad he's in my house…"
McGonagall just ignored him and turned back to the headmaster who was looking fairly amused at their argument. "What do you think, Albus?"
"I think Mr. Potter was not being fully truthful in his answers," he said carefully. "Maybe viewing the memory will be helpful?" he said, looking at Snape.
"I wish, headmaster, but all I could see was fire roaring everywhere and I couldn't spot both Potter and Austin. I tried to put out the flames but on contact with my suppressor charm and aguamenti charm, the flame intensity increased and it wouldn't stop at all. So I find it hard to believe that Potter managed to put out the fire with a simple aguamenti charm, which is taught at OWL level and added to that fact he is only a second year."
"He did suggest accidental magic," Dumbledore said frowning deeply.
Snape snorted, "Accidental magic at that level is not accidental Albus. Surely you know that!"
"I think we should view the memory. I'm sure we will get some answers from that."
"Why didn't you just read the boys mind?" Snape asked curiously, he knew Dumbledore would do it if necessary.
"Severus! That's a violation of his privacy," McGonagall exclaimed.
"I tried, but he seems to have occlumency shields," Dumbledore said, ignoring McGonagall's interruption.
"Impossible! Occlumency shields at his age are not possible. I don't think he even knows what occlumency is!" Snape said disbelievingly.
"Maybe it is a side effect of his curse scar," Dumbledore said thoughtfully, more to himself than the other two professors, "Surviving an Avada Kedavra without any side effects is too good to be true. Maybe Lord Voldemort transferred some of his powers to young Harry that night. And it is known he was the best Legilimens known until he lost his powers."
"If what you're saying is true, then what other powers he could have given Potter?"
"I don't know. But we will find out in time. What do you think Minerva?" Dumbledore said his eyes twinkling.
"Keep an eye on Potter. If what you said is true then you can also include a dark lord personality. For all you know he might have been the one to open the chamber of secrets," she said carefully, not wanting to sound like she was accusing the boy again.
"You could be right, but as far as I know, the boy is not influenced by Voldemort in anyway at all except for his talent in occlumency," he said.
"Let us view the memory now. I have several assignments to check and Merlin only knows what those dunderheads would have written this time." Snape said impatiently.
"Yes, of course Severus," said Dumbledore and summoned his pensive.
"Really Severus, you can't call your students dunderheads," said McGonagall disapprovingly.
Ignoring her comment Snape placed his wand to his temple and withdrew a silvery strand of smoke which he deposited in the pensive.
"Let us go then," Dumbledore said, pushing the pensive towards Snape and McGonagall who touched the contents of the pensive and vanished from sight. As soon as they went in, Dumbledore locked his office and went inside himself.
"Three two one go!"
"Expelliarmus"
"Mr. Potter is rather quick is he not?" Dumbledore commented as they watched the duel progress.
They saw the stinging hex hit Lillian's hand who hissed and dropped her wand.
"Watch the girl carefully now, this is where it begun," said Snape.
She slowly stood up glaring at Harry. Slowly they noticed an orange colored ring began to form around her pupils and it started to glow, becoming brighter by the second. McGonagall gasped. Just as Harry turned towards her, she raised her hands and the fire came rushing out and headed towards Harry.
McGonagall pulled her wand ready to put out the fire before it could reach Harry but then realized it was a memory. They saw Snape desperately trying to put the fire out, but to no avail. The fire just grew more powerful and he was forced to take cover. They saw Lockhart screaming and running out of the hall, pushing the students aside.
"Look at Harry," Dumbledore said suddenly.
"You can't see him, Albus," said McGonagall with a quiver in her voice.
"You can't see him but you can see his hands," Snape said quietly.
She looked carefully and gasped again. Harry hands were barely visible and they could see water gushing out with great intensity, trying to push back the flames. They couldn't see the rest of his body as the flames were flying all around him. The Snape in the memory was carefully covered near the great hall entrance as he summoned every student left in the hall and threw them out.
"You can't see the girl anymore too, she's completely covered in flames," Dumbledore said.
"Look at Potter, Albus, the water's changing to ice," Snape pointed out.
He was right. The water coming out of Harry's hands was slowly changing to ice and was now pushing the fire back.
"And he does not have his wand in his hand," murmured Snape.
"Indeed," muttered Dumbledore.
Suddenly the water and ice mixture grew large covering Harry and Lillian from sight and it overpowered the flames easily.
"My god," whispered McGonagall "Look at the front, it looks like a dragons face!"
She was right, just has the water ice mixture grew in size and pushed the fire back, the front of Harry's water ice mixture changed to a dragons face and was roaring as it knocked Lillian back and disintegrated into water.
All three professors were quiet as they saw Snape running to Harry, with a look of concern and then to Lillian.
"That's the end of the action headmaster."
Dumbledore nodded and held McGonagall and Snape's hand and pulled them out of the pensive.
Once they were out and seated Dumbledore looked at Snape without any twinkle in his eyes, "What do you think?"
"She's an elemental," he said simply.
McGonagall's eyes bulged, "An elemental!"
"Yes, Minerva, an elemental, did you not see her eyes? Only an elemental's eyes look like that when they use their powers. She is clearly a fire elemental and had just lost control of her abilities," Snape said, without the usual sneer for once.
"And Potter?" Dumbledore said carefully.
"Water elemental," he said, "And if I'm not wrong, he didn't want us to find out. That's the reason he said he cast an aguamenti charm. I knew it was beyond his level to cast that kind of a charm with that much power."
"So he can't conjure water with a wand but he can control and summon it without his wand. Not much of a difference is there Severus?" said Dumbledore, the twinkle back in his eye "Though I must say he has incredible control over his ability... I wonder what else he is hiding from us?" he said to himself.
"Have you two gone mad," said McGonagall, looking irritated "We have two elementals in our school. ELEMENTALS for goodness sake…. and one can't even control her power! Aren't you worried!"
Dumbledore just smiled. "Don't worry Minerva," he said gently "Somehow I get the feeling, young Mr. Potter is going to help her control it and besides, one cannot teach an elemental to use their powers, they have to discover it on their own, the best person to help her would be another elemental. I could talk to them about it but it will not help. I for one have never encountered an elemental before."
"But Albus, what about the attacks, a student has been petrified and if these two start meeting secretly they could be attacked as well."
Dumbledore's cheerful demeanor vanished and he became serious, "You are right as usual Minerva, I must ask you both to warn your students. Don't mention the fact that we know what they are but tell them discreetly that they can meet once the culprit has been found."
Both the head of houses nodded. McGonagall looked pleased and Severus had his sneer back.
"That will be all. You can talk to them tomorrow morning before madam Pomfrey discharges them."
-x-x-x-x-x-
Hospital wing
"You are a fire elemental Freckles, - that means you have the power to throw fire, control fire, touch fire and bend it to your will. In simple terms, you are fire."
.
.
.
"Oh"
Lillian just stared at Harry, unable to believe his words. She knew what he said was true. She always had an unusual feeling every time she went close to fire. She always felt like it was calling out to her, giving her comfort and giving her warmth. Her being a fire elemental made complete sense and yet she couldn't bring herself to accept it. It was too bizarre, too weird.
"Will you stop staring at me so closely," Harry snapped. Her face was just a few inches away from his and she hadn't even realized it. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even hear him.
Harry on the other hand was feeling extremely uncomfortable by the closeness between them. When she didn't respond to him he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back.
She fell off his bed with a yelp and jumped back up, with fury in her eyes.
"Why the hell did you push me?" she demanded.
"So you're back to normal huh," Harry stated dryly.
"Huh…. What?" she said, the anger vanishing as fast as it came.
"I said, you're back to your usual short tempered, snappish, dumb self, Freckles," he said smirking.
"What the hell are you talking about scarhead," she snapped.
"Your face was an inch away from mine a minute back, any closer and I would have died. Cause of death being smell of your mouth. Now, I know you like to have close contact with me like you have proven in the past, but you really need to control yourself Freckles," he said trying to look serious, if it weren't for the twitch at the corner of his mouth.
Lillian blushed, "err… yeah… sorry about that…. And wait….wait, wait… what the hell you mean my mouth SMELLS!"
Harry winced, "Any louder and madam Pomfrey will come running out with a whip in her hand."
"Whatever you jerk, I can't believe I'm actually talking to you," she hissed and went back to her bed and sat there folding her hands, staring at the ceiling angrily.
"I can't believe it too! Now why don't you be a good little girl and go to sleep just like madam Pomfrey instructed."
"I'm not a little girl!"
"Whatever you say Freckles," Harry said, rolling his eyes.
She tried to ignore him but another question popped up in her mind and she turned towards him.
"Is there something you want?" he asked, slightly unnerved by the way she was watching him.
"Yes"
"Care to elaborate."
"How did you stop me? As far as I know, even Snape couldn't do anything to stop me and Lockhart just ran out. So how come you were able to put the fire out?"
"You don't need to know that. You should be thankful I did," he said indifferently.
"Unfortunately I am, but I want to know how could you control the water the way you did?"
"What are you talking about?" Harry said trying his best to look confused.
"Oh stop that!" she said irritably.
"Stop what?"
"That!"
"What!"
"That….. That!"
Harry growled irritably, "You are making absolutely no sense whatsoever. Now will you tell me in proper terms what in heavens name should I stop!"
"Oh, forget it. Clearly you are dumb, so I won't bother explaining," she said huffing and turned around showing her back to him.
"What… the hell!" Harry said angrily, completely baffled by her behavior. Sighing irritably he pointed a finger at her and fired a jet of water at her making her shriek and fall off the other side of the bed.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT POTTER!" she yelled, completely drenched, glaring daggers at Harry.
Harry quickly cast a switching charm on his clothes to the change them to the ones the matron had put out and quickly slid under the bed sheet. He knew madam Pomfrey would have heard her yelling and would be out any second.
"Why in Merlin's name are you yelling Ms. Austin!" came the shrill voice of madam Pomfrey.
"Right on time," Harry thought, under the covers, sniggering uncontrollably.
"Madam Pomfrey, Potter drenched me in water," she said waving her finger at the sleeping figure of Harry.
"Don't be ridiculous, the boy is sleeping and you missy, are making a racket!"
"But, ma'am," she protested.
"Enough, that boy has always kept his nose clean and I cannot believe he would do something like this! Obviously you just wanted to put him in trouble!"
"But…."
"No arguments, now change and go to bed immediately," she said and cast a drying spell on her. "If I hear another noise, you'll be going straight to the headmaster! Now change!"
Harry could hear Lillian grumbling at the matron and muttering insults at him. He grinned in delight. Things couldn't have gone better. After a minute or two he heard madam Pomfrey going back to her office and Lillian sliding into her bed.
A minute later he was debating whether to peek out and check on Lillian. But before he could do anything he felt something smash his stomach and knock the wind out of him.
Groaning in pain, he stumbled out of his bed holding his stomach. He looked up and saw Lillian standing on the other side, a smug expression on her face.
"You're going to pay for that," he choked out, plotting her death in his head.
"Well you deserve it," she snapped.
"You're the one who yelled not me," he said, slowly straightening up, the pain ebbing away. "Must you always settle your arguments physically?"
"It's the fastest way," she said shrugging.
"Hit me again and I'll show you faster ways of dealing with morons," he muttered under his breath.
"Say something Potter?" she said, her voice low and threatening.
"What do you want now?" he said sighing.
"Answers"
"Answers to what?"
"Are you an elemental too?"
"Why do you ask?" he said in a neutral voice.
"Because….! Because I saw you okay! I saw all that water just pouring out of your hands just like the fire out of mine. No matter what you think, I'm not dumb. If one can just make fire come out of their hands and be called a fire elemental then you can call yourself a water elemental," she exclaimed.
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Fine you're not dumb, but I think I'm entitled to keep my secrets to myself and not share them with you or do I have to share them with you?" he said, looking pointedly at her.
"No," she muttered, "you're right. If you don't want to tell then don't," she said looking defeated.
Harry groaned, honestly this girl had a way of making him answer all her questions without much of an effort. She didn't even have to try! If it were someone else, he would have flat out refused or cursed them by now, even Blaise. "But you're right. I am a water elemental with the ability to change water into ice as I found out today," he said "Now is there anything else you want to ask?"
"Can you control it?" she asked curiously.
"Somewhat," he replied vaguely.
"Can you teach me? I don't want to loose my temper and burn everything in sight."
Harry stared at her incredulously, unable to believe that she actually wanted him to teach her. "I – I don't know," he said, at a loss of words for once.
"Why?"
"It was different for me. You said you had a few incidents when you were young and now you can walk threw fire without harming yourself but you can't conjure fire. Water is different, you use it everyday and I didn't realize I was an elemental until last summer when water kept jumping and clinging to me randomly."
He took a deep breath, "you can try meditating and concentrate on a ball of fire on your hand. It might take sometime to actually manage it but don't give up, though with a temper like yours I doubt you'll be able to do it," he said, not knowing why he had to try and insult her every chance he got.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," she said sarcastically. "But still couldn't I do it with you around? I mean you can obviously overpower me if I loose control and I don't want that to happen with my friends around."
"Hmmm, maybe I can help you if I want to but you cannot tell your friends, god forbids, your pal Weasley will come up with start spreading some other rumor about me. Harry Potter seduces witches, beware!"
Lillian laughed, "Wow, who knew you were capable of cracking jokes."
"I wasn't joking," he said dryly.
"Yeah, well fine I won't tell them. So will you help me?"
"I'll think about it. I think you should be more worried about your safety right now, with the apparent heir of Slytherin running around trying to kill Muggleborns, it won't be safe for you to roam around the castle. Maybe once he or she is caught I might help you."
Was it his imagination or did she look a little flustered and nervous when he mentioned the heir of Slytherin. "Why you looking so nervous all of a sudden," he asked her.
"What?" she squeaked, "Oh, nothing, I was just thinking about something," she said quickly, a little too quickly.
"Ok she's definitely hiding something", he thought.
"I think I'll get some sleep, we have class tomorrow and we'll have to deal with all the questions," Harry said glumly, thinking about Creevey and Lockhart.
"Yeah, alright then, good night," she said.
"And Freckles"
"What!" she snapped at the use of her most hated nickname.
"You better not tell anyone about me."
"Don't worry, I won't."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The next day, Harry was cornered by his head of house and told that he was not allowed to leave the common room unless they had class in fear of being attacked. Somehow, he felt there was an underlying meaning to that warning.
At lunch, much to Harry's relief Dumbledore satisfied everybody's curiosity by announcing that the incident between Harry and Lillian was just a small case of accidental magic and nothing more.
Ron as usual had spread rumors that Harry had done something to Lillian during their duel which earned him a punch straight to the jaw in middle of the great hall by Lillian. That was one of the best moments of Harry's life in Hogwarts. Weasley number six was so confused and stunned he just stood there unmoving with his mouth wide open. His twin brothers had actually thrown a few peanuts and pieces of paper in it and he didn't even realize.
Christmas was approaching and Harry felt somewhat great. He always felt brilliant during the winter and now he knew why. It was the season which matched his element. He briefly wondered how Lillian must be feeling during the winters but the thought vanished from his head instantly when he felt a pillow smash against his head.
He turned around ready to blast Blaise with his super jet, as Blaise called it, which was rather lame. But it turned out to be Malfoy.
"Malfoy! You better have a good reason….." but he couldn't complete his sentence when he felt another whack from behind him which turned out to be Blaise. "That's it you two are going down," he swore.
Both Malfoy and Blaise grinned and yelled at the same time, "ATTACK!" and then ensued the biggest pillow fight in the history of the Slytherin second years. They ran around their dorms and entered Malfoy's room which brought Nott into the picture too, who sided with Harry.
Smacking and rolling on the ground they didn't realize when they entered the common room. Suddenly Harry smacked Blaise across his face. Blaise fell back and they all heard a loud shriek and curse.
It was Daphne Greengrass. Blaise jumped up completely red and embarrassed, while all the other boys were laughing their heads off. Crabbe and Goyle just looked confused.
"Awww, Blaise and Daphne," Draco said batting his eyelashes.
"You all better run, or you're going to loose something precious," she threatened pulling out her wand.
All of them laughed and for the next five minutes kept jumping around the common room, dodging hexes from Daphne and Tracey, who had joined in just for the sake of it.
Harry and Nott managed to sneak up behind them and snatch their wands out of their hands.
"Well now... Guess who has to run," drawled Nott, twirling Daphne's wand in his hands while Harry just grinned.
Both girls shrieked and ran to their dorms but found the way blocked by Malfoy and Blaise who were grinning widely with pillows in their hands, "Pay back time," said Blaise.
"PANSY, MILLICENT, BRING WANDS AND PILLOWS AND GET DOWN HERE NOW!" bellowed Tracey.
"Not Bulstrode!" cried Draco, horrified "She's enough for all of us!"
"That's why we called her," said Tracey, smirking evilly.
Soon the entire Slytherin second year batch was involved in a heavy battle with pillows and mild hexes, which was soon broken up by professor Snape, who looked furious at the Gryffindor type behavior. Who would have the thought that the Slytherin's were actually capable of having fun!
All of them giggling and laughing scrambled up to their rooms to avoid the wrath of Severus Snape. Harry couldn't think of any other time where he had so much fun. Sure he usually didn't behave like that, but hey, he was allowed to break loose once in a while wasn't he. But he was most surprised that Draco and Blaise and reached some kind of truce and were seen talking quite peacefully without insulting each other for once.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Elsewhere three Gryffindor's were bidding their time in a girl's bathroom, more specifically moaning Myrtle's bathroom and were brewing a NEWT level potion.
"I'm telling you Ron, Potter isn't the one attacking Muggleborns," said Lillian exasperatedly for the 100th time that day.
"Oh, come on Mary, he hates you, he hates his Muggle relatives, it has to be him or Malfoy. But Potter fits even better."
"I hate to say it but Ron makes sense," said Hermione.
"Oh, come on Hermione! Not you too!"
"Think about it logically, we saw a black haired guy who looked a lot like Potter running up the stairs and then we see a petrified cat. Then we all know that Colin was annoying the hell out of him and what next…. Colin's attacked! He survived an attack from the dark lord when he was a baby and nobody knows how. And you said it yourself, he's a really powerful wizard and we shouldn't annoy him and you won't give any reason as to why!"
Lillian growled, "I said that because he told me to warn you Ronald. You've been spreading all these fake rumors about him… anyone's bound to get pissed… and I know he's powerful because I was there when he bought his wand and the reaction was tremendous. Usually when we get our wands we feel warmth in our hands or a wind blowing right?"
Hermione and Ron nodded.
"Well…. when he got his it was like a hurricane had just passed by."
Hermione's eyes widened considerably while Ron just looked sour.
"So why do you think he's not capable of attacking Muggleborns?" demanded Ron.
"Because he isn't alright! I know him better than you think," she snapped "Now let's get on with the potion and once we get the answers we want you'll see I'm right," she said stubbornly.
"And since when did you start talking to him? Sneaking around with him in the dead of the night are you?" sneered Ron.
Lillian growled and drew her fist back to deliver a punch but Hermione stopped her.
"Look, we have to stop arguing with each other. We have to find out who the heir is and not fight amongst ourselves. And frankly I don't want to be killed," Hermione said calmly, stirring the potion.
"Fine," muttered Lillian, glaring at the red head "Add an anticlockwise stir Hermione, the potion needs to be a little brighter," she said suddenly, glancing towards the potion.
It was Hermione's turn to glare at Lillian. She simply hated the fact that Lillian had a natural flair for potions and was better at it than her. While she would do everything by the book, Lillian enjoyed experimenting with the ingredients and modify her potion to make it better. She wouldn't help but feel jealous of her abilities in potions. If there were another teacher other than Snape, he or she would be singing praises about her talent in potions.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Christmas holidays arrived and Harry was left alone again, except this time Draco was staying back because his father had some work and unfortunately even the Weasley's, Granger and Austin were staying behind.
Harry spent most of his time researching new spells and curses in the library and also kept a look out for dark curses. His wand helped him in that department in a freaky sort of way. Every time he would come across it would whisper 'evil', scaring the living daylights out of Harry.
He had almost been thrown out of the library once for yelling out loud when his wand had whispered to him. Even after all this time he wasn't quite used to its random whisperingness, as he called it. He had compiled a book on dark curses and the list was growing everyday. He couldn't believe what half the curses could do, there were spells that could replace your internal organs with acid, spells which could make your skin just melt away, some which would sever the arteries in your heart resulting in a very slow and painful death, a curse with could liquefy your brain and the list just grew longer and longer. When Harry found a book on the unforgivable curses, the whispering had reached a new level of loudness, he'd resisted the urge to take his wand and bang it over his head.
He had gained unlimited access to the entire restricted section and was quite pleased about it. Lockhart did have his uses even if he was a complete moron.
It was Christmas Eve and Harry had just made Lillian's Christmas present and had just given it to Hedwig who would deliver it at midnight. Chuckling to himself he made his way across the grounds back to the castle. If a teacher saw him now they would certainly give him an hour long lecture on his sense of clothing. He was wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans in such cold weather. He had thought about wearing winter clothing but decided against it as it made him feel extremely stuffy and uncomfortable.
Suddenly he heard a gale of laughter and a couple of bangs. At first he thought of just ignoring it but then he heard the sound of someone crying. Slowly walking around the corner, he spotted that disgusted him. Three red heads with their wands out were around a red haired girl.
His temper rising he made his way slowly towards the Weasley boys.
"Really Ginny, what makes you think mom will want a Slytherin in her house?" spat Ron.
"Mum won't, mum won't leave me because I'm a Slytherin," she whispered tears dripping down her cheeks.
"Ah, come on Gin-Gin, maybe if you let us experiment on you we could put in a couple of good words about you and mum might just accept the fact you're in Slytherin," said one of the twins grinning widely.
"No, go away," she said drawing her knees to her chin.
"How could you Ginny!" cried Ron suddenly. "How could you let the hat place you in that pathetic house," he said and pointed his wand at her and sending a yellow curse at her leg, which he recognized as the stinging hex.
"Hey, Ron, we agreed on no physical harm," George said hastily.
"Yeah, chill Ronnikeins," said Fred grinning, not even giving a second thought to how Ginny must be feeling.
"Really sad, when one's own family members decide to emotionally traumatize their own little sister for just being in a different house," said Harry with barely suppressed fury. Watching them had brought back memories of Harry hunting to the forefront of his mind.
All three Weasley's spun around. "Potter," Ron spat.
"Weasley's," Harry replied coolly, clutching his wand tightly. "I wonder if Granger and Austin know how you're treating your sister Weasley number six."
Ron turned red with fury. "It's three on one Potter," Fred said confidently. "You better get out of here or you're going to pay."
Harry laughed and walked towards Ginny, who was watching them with wide puffy red eyes.
"Hey, Ginny," he said gently, "Why don't you go back to the common room and I'll deal with your brothers alright?"
She nodded, her brown eyes filled with fright and gratitude and Harry helped her to her feet, "And don't listen to your brothers, no matter what you do, good or evil, a mother will never stop loving her children."
She nodded and whispered, "Thank you," before running back to the castle.
"What would you know about parents Potter," sneered Ron. "You don't have any," he said laughing nastily.
Harry looked the Weasley boys coldly. Ron was looking smug and the twins were putting up looks of fake bravado.
Harry raised his wand, "You three are pathetic. Gryffindor's are supposed to be brave, honorable, helpful, and all that stupid shit. What you have done today is disgraceful. You insult your own sister, curse her and make her believe her mother hates her," he said in anger.
"You don't know how much she cries in the common room do you? You're all so narrow minded that you can't see a sister who is suffering, but instead all you see is a sister who has apparently betrayed you by being sorted into a house you hate, when she had no control over it."
Harry took a deep breath, "Pathetic," he said and before they knew it he had fired three stinging hexes at their thigh.
Ron had a look of utter loathing on his face and rushed towards Harry fists raised. One of the twins sent a disarming hex at him while the other sent a jelly legs hex.
Harry easily blocked the hexes and sent Ron flying back with a hurling hex. He then sent a flurry of stinging hexes at the boys causing them to yelp in pain each time it hit them. Five minutes later, all three Weasley's were panting and wincing every time they moved with their wands lying abandoned beside them.
Harry summoned their wands to him. "So effective against weaklings, the stinging hex is it not?" he said coldly. His hands were shaking with anger at them and he wanted nothing more than to cause them more pain but he restrained himself. "You three are hopeless at a duel. And here you thought you could beat me just because it's three on one."
He sent a punching hex at each of their faces and gut. "I should tell you, I could do ten times worse if I wanted to," he said grimly and was very satisfied to see the fear in their eyes.
"Now, you shall leave your sister alone. If you want you can either apologize to her or stay away from her or you'll be answering to me, do you understand?" he said so coldly that all the three boys just nodded quickly, extremely frightened by the gleam in Harry's eye.
Satisfied Harry straightened up, "Good, but before I leave…." He turned around and punched Ron hard in the jaw knocking him out. "Ahh, that felt good," he said rubbing his knuckles and turned around and left leaving one unconscious boy and two scared twins behind.
During dinner that night McGonagall summoned Harry to the head table where Ron was standing looking extremely smug and the twins were looking uncomfortable.
"Yes professor?" Harry said politely.
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley came to me this evening with various wounds and claimed to have been attacked by you. Is this true?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about professor," Harry said innocently.
"Do not lie to me Potter, I myself saw you walking into the hall and a minute later the twins carrying Mr. Weasley who was unconscious," she snapped.
"Perhaps they had a fight amongst themselves and saw fit to put the blame on me?" said Harry. "I might have been at the wrong place at the wrong time, that's all."
"What are you accusing Mr. Potter for this time Minerva?" said Snape who had just arrived.
"Mr. Potter has attacked all these three boys and is denying the fact that he did," she said irritably.
"Is this true Mr. Potter?"
"I think what professor McGonagall is trying to say is that she caught me preventing these Gryffindor's from attacking one of our house mate's professor Snape," Harry said blinking innocently.
"Is that true, Mr. Weasley?" Snape said turning towards Ron.
"He was interfering in a family argument," Ron said rudely.
"10 points from Gryffindor for speaking rudely to a professor and detention with Mr. Filch after Christmas," said Snape smirking at the red faced Weasley.
McGonagall glared at Ron furiously, "What argument did you have Mr. Weasley?"
"An argument about how ashamed they are that Ginevra Weasley is in Slytherin and how her mother would hate her because she is in Slytherin and hexing her because she's a Slytherin," said Harry with a little anger in his voice before Ron could say a single word.
McGonagall turned on the three boys shocked.
"Is- is this true?" she said, her voice trembling. Even Snape was looking angry.
"He's lying professor," said Ron confidently, assuming McGonagall would favor him.
"Fred?" she said looking at the twin.
Both the twins looked down shame faced, "Its true professor, but we didn't curse her at all. We were only joking around."
"I don't believe it, my own students attacking their own sibling," she said furiously. "50 points from Gryffindor and a week's worth detentions for all three of you with professor Snape!"
Harry couldn't help but laugh. McGonagall rounded on him, "A detention with Professor Lockhart for attacking another student Mr. Potter," she said.
Harry looked outraged, "That's not fair!"
"You should have brought the matter to the attention of a professor instead of taking matters into your own hands Mr. Potter," she said severely.
"Alright professor, next time I see a student being attacked, I'll just sit back and enjoy the show," he spat and turned around and headed back to his common room leaving one smiling and one flustered teacher behind.
He glanced back at Snape and gave him a betrayed look for not supporting him but Snape just smirked and didn't say a word. Harry couldn't understand that man, he would say he would support and help every Slytherin but when it came to him he would just ignore him and never look him in the eye for some reason.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Christmas
Harry and Draco were sitting comfortably in the common room opening their presents.
"You forgot one Potter," said Draco pointing to a medium sized box with colorful wrapping. "Trust me Draco, you don't want to open that one," he said grinning.
"Why not?"
"It's from Austin," Harry replied.
"Austin?" Draco said looking disgusted, "Why would that mudblood be sending you presents?"
"Don't say that word," said Harry sharply "And it's not a real gift, it's a prank gift."
"Hmmm, whatever, we'll get Crabbe or Goyle to open it later then," he said dismissively.
"Whatever," Harry muttered and banished his gifts to his room except for the one Austin had sent.
"Hey, my dad didn't send me a gift!" exclaimed Draco.
"Really?" Harry said, mildly amused by the blondes reaction.
"Yeah….. Maybe he forgot," he muttered "Or maybe it's something dangerous," he said his face lighting up. "Well see you around Harry, got to write to my dad."
Rolling his eyes, Harry got up and made his way to the great hall for breakfast. Harry couldn't help but gasp when he entered the great hall. It was beautiful. There was huge beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the corner of the hall, there were balloons floating all around and Peeves was busy bursting each of them when they came near him, laughing like a maniac whenever one reached him. Professor Flitwick was enchanting the ceiling to make snow flakes fall.
Impressed Harry went to the Slytherin table to eat. Dumbledore and McGonagall seemed to be in deep conversation. Snape was looking sour as usual and kept glaring at everyone around him. Vector and Sprout were laughing and Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet of wine.
After finishing his food Harry was about to leave the hall when he spotted Crabbe and Goyle hurrying towards him. "What's up, you two?" Harry said walking out of the great hall.
"Hey Potter," greeted Goyle panting.
"Potter? Since when have you started calling me Potter?"
"Err…. Yeah… sorry," Goyle stammered.
"Never mind," Harry said rolling his eyes "You going back to the common room?"
"Yeah"
"Well let's go then," Harry said and headed back to the common room.
"Say, pot…. Harry," said Crabbe.
"Yeah"
"Do you know who the heir of Slytherin is?"
"It's me," Harry replied instantly.
Both Crabbe and Goyle stopped in their tracks, shocked.
"I-I-its you?" stammered Crabbe.
"Maybe, maybe not," he said shrugging, "But if I told you who it was, I'd have to kill you," he said looking them straight in the eye.
Both the thugs were looking extremely nervous and scared. Suddenly Harry started laughing loudly, "The look on your faces," he said chuckling.
"Yeah very funny, Harry, lets get going," grumbled Crabbe.
Harry stopped laughing and looked at Crabbe curiously.
"What?"
"Since when did you start talking so much?" Harry asked suspiciously, "Usually it's always a grunt or a nod."
"Err… Yeah… Well…" muttered Crabbe, looking very nervous.
"Oh well, whatever, none of my business anyway," dismissed Harry as they reached the entrance to the Slytherin common room. "Pureblood," he said facing the wall.
"Honestly they can't put any decent passwords can they, like Weasley is a moron or something like that," muttered Harry. He didn't notice Goyle clenching his fists.
Malfoy came bounding down the stairs, "Oh, there you are Harry; I've got something cool to show you."
"Say Draco, do you know who the heir of Slytherin is," asked Goyle.
"How many times have I told you two, I don't know! Though I wish I did, I would help the guy," said Draco.
Harry frowned at them, "What's with you two, trying to find out who the heir is all by yourselves are you? I thought you didn't care as long as you weren't attacked?"
"Err… no… we just wanted to know," said Crabbe lamely.
Before Harry could question them further, Draco interrupted, "My dad sent me my Christmas gift and you won't believe what it is!" he said excitably.
"Hmmm, what is it?" Harry asked curiously, not many things made the Malfoy heir so excitable.
"First you open the gift that mudblood sent you then I'll show you mine," he said.
"Are you crazy!" said Harry incredulously "There might be poison gas in there!"
"Ok then, Goyle, open that gift on the table near the fireplace," said Draco.
Goyle looked extremely flustered, "It's Harry's gift why can't he open it?" he said.
Draco narrowed his eyes, "Since when have you started questioning my orders Goyle?"
Looking at Crabbe helplessly Goyle slowly walked towards the box and opened it. There was a hiss and with a yelp Goyle leapt back.
"What happened?" asked Harry eagerly.
Slowly Goyle turned around and Harry and Draco burst out laughing. Goyle's face was completely blue and yellow and green tentacles were sprouting from his face.
"I can't believe she came up with this on her own?" said Harry.
"Why not?" Crabbe asked indignantly which Harry mistook for confusion.
"She's dumb, I'm sure Granger had something to do with this," said Harry simply and turned towards Malfoy completely missing the look of fury that passed on Crabbe's face. "Your turn Malfoy, what's the cool gift your dad sent you?"
"Oh yeah, check it out," he said opening gesturing towards one of the tables. He went next to it opened the covering. Crabbe and Goyle gasped while Harry just peered at the glass box.
"That's a snake," gasped Goyle, the tentacles on his face comically bouncing up and down.
"Yep," Draco said proudly, "Dad says it makes me more Slytherin. It's a viper but without the poison so I can scare as many Gryffindor's as I want," he said grinning widely. "What do you think Harry?"
Harry just stared at the snake curiously and the snake stared back.
"Hello," said Harry.
"You are a speaker," the snake hissed.
"Yes, do you like being inside this glass chamber?"
"No, I dislike it very much, these humans have removed my poison," the snake hissed angrily.
"I'm sorry, but don't worry, you're new master will take good care of you."
"I want food, I am hungry," it hissed.
Harry turned back towards Draco, "You're snake's hungry, Draco. Got something to feed it?"
Draco and Goyle looked terrified while Crabbe just looked confused by the way Draco and Goyle were acting.
"What? What's with those faces?"
"You… you're… you're a Parselmouth!" exclaimed Draco.
"Huh, what are you talking about, I was speaking in English."
"No you weren't, I heard you, you were speaking Parseltongue, all I heard was hissing," said Goyle looking really scared.
"Wow... that... that's cool," replied Harry "I never knew I could speak Parseltongue. I mean I spoke to a snake once in the zoo but I never realized I was speaking in a different language!"
"You're a dark wizard!" shouted Goyle.
"Stop yelling stupid things tentacle face. You don't even know the definition of a dark wizard and I don't get what the big deal is!"
"Big deal," replied Draco faintly "Salazar Slytherin was famous for being a Parselmouth!"
"I know," Harry replied confused as to why they were reacting like that.
"You know! So it is you! You are the heir of Slytherin!" exclaimed Goyle.
"Of course not you dolt, just because I can speak parseltongue, doesn't mean I'm the heir," he scoffed.
"How- how long have you known you can speak to snakes?" asked Draco.
"Hmmm, I told you, I spoke to a snake in the zoo once and this is the second time, but I don't get what's the big deal, so what if I can speak to snakes, I'm sure loads of other people can speak it too."
"No, they can't! Being a Parselmouth is the mark of a dark wizard and the last known parselmouth was the dark lord. If anyone apart from us finds out you're in big trouble! Makes you even more qualified to be the heir, since half the school thinks you're the heir anyway," said Draco.
"Well then none of you are going to squeal on me are you? I had enough of rumors being spread about me and I don't need more," Harry said, narrowing his eyes, his entire demeanor changing from confused to threatening.
"No, of course not," replied Crabbe nervously.
"I-I got-gotta go," stammered Goyle, "My face hurts," he said and pulled Crabbe along with him and rushed out of the common room.
"What's up with those two?" Harry said staring at them as they literally ran out of the common room.
"Forget those idiots," snapped Malfoy "You're a bloody parselmouth!"
"Okay look Draco… Yes, I can speak Parseltongue and you gaping at me is not going to change the fact that I am a parselmouth! So just forget about it and just don't tell anyone else, alright?"
Draco hesitated for a moment and then nodded.
"Good, now I'm going to bed, I have detention with Lockhart tomorrow and I need my sleep if I'm going to survive," he said, trying to lighten up the mood.
Draco grinned weakly as Harry went up the stairs. Just as Harry vanished from sight the common room entrance slid open and Crabbe and Goyle came in, looking as confused as ever.
"Back so soon?" Draco asked them.
They just nodded dumbly. "Good, I'll be in my room," he said and then added under his breath, "After all I have an important letter to write."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The fake Crabbe and Goyle ran all the way to moaning myrtle's bathroom. Crabbe's hair was lengthening slowly and Goyle's hair was turning red. Seconds later in place of Crabbe and Goyle were Lillian and Ron.
"I told you," said Ron panting.
"Told me what?"
"I told you he's the heir of Slytherin."
"Oh, come on Ron, just because he can talk to snakes doesn't make him the heir of Slytherin does it!" she said exasperatedly.
Ron goggled at her, "Are you crazy, he said it himself that he's the heir, and then he spoke Parseltongue, MARK OF A DARK WIZARD!" he yelled making all the tentacles on his blue face wiggle.
If the situation wasn't so serious she would have burst out laughing.
"Listen Ron, so what if he spoke to the snake! I know he's not the heir, it's not like him to attack muggleborns and besides, he did help stop Quirrell last year," she said.
"Why are you defending him, you hate him."
"I'm not defending him," she said annoyed, "I'm just telling the truth."
"You like him," accused Ron.
"What! Are you crazy!" she shrieked, "Why do you think that!" she demanded whipping out her wand unconsciously.
"Err… sorry, wasn't thinking," he said nervously, eying her wand, knowing how good she was with hexes. After all he had been at the receiving end too many times.
Lillian just sighed, "Whatever, lets go and talk to Hermione," she said and hurried to the bathroom.
"Hermione… Hermione are you still in there?"
"Go away!" Hermione squeaked.
Lillian and Ron looked at each other.
"What's the matter?" asked Ron. "You must be back to normal by now, we are."
Moaning Myrtle glided suddenly through the stall door. They had never seen her looking so happy.
"Ooooooh, wait till you see," she said gleefully. "It's awful-"
They heard the lock slide back and Hermione emerged, sobbing, her robes pulled up over her head.
"What's up?" said Ron uncertainly. "Have you still got Millicent's nose or something?"
Hermione let her robes fall and Ron backed into the sink. Her face was covered in black fur. Her eyes had turned yellow and there were long, pointed ears poking through her hair.
"It was a c-cat hair!" she howled. "M-Millicent Bulstrode m-must have a cat! And the p-potion isn't supposed to be used for animal transformations!"
"Uh-oh," said Lillian.
"You'll be teased dreadfully," said Myrtle happily.
"Ron?" said Hermione sniffing.
"Yeah Hermione?"
"What happened to your face?"
If it were possible Ron's face became even more blue and Lillian covered her mouth to prevent herself from laughing.
Hermione looked at her and her lower lip trembled, she was about to cry again, "You... you're laughing at me aren't you?"
"No, not at you Hermione, never at you," she said before Hermione started crying again. "I'm laughing at blueberry boy over here."
Hermione gave a small laugh and then started to cry again, "I'm going to look like this for the rest of my life!" she wailed.
"Its okay, Hermione," said Lillian quickly. "Ron will take you up to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey never asks too many questions ..."
"Why me!" demanded Ron.
"Coz you're blue in the face," she said immediately.
"Why can't you come with us!"
"I have some things to do," she said evasively.
"What things?" Ron said immediately.
"Ron, if you consider Hermione as your friend take her to the hospital wing and tell her what happened in the Slytherin common room, I'm sure you'd love to tell her that we found out who the heir of Slytherin is!" she snapped and rushed out of the bathroom.
As soon as she left the bathroom, she ran towards the astronomy tower. She was extremely worried and needed a place to calm down and think. After all what would Ron and Hermione say if she told them, she understood every word that Harry had said to the snake!