"I don't know why the other students are mean, Luna" Miss Hissy told her, "You don't deserve it. If it was my way, I'd make them apologise."

"I don't know what to do Miss Hissy," Luna shrugged, letting Miss Hissy curl around her fingers, "I wish I could make friends with the other kids in my class. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I hate it how they make fun of me."

Lying in the grass on the edge of the forbidden forest, Luna watched clouds pass and the sun set. She could see Thestrals pass overhead. She wasn't frightened by them. The place was a refuge from others who wished to do her harm. She felt safe here.

"Luna! Luna!" called out a familiar voice, it was Harry Evans again. She could see the weedy dark haired boy from a mile away.

"Hey Harry!" She called back and waved. Miss Hissy hid herself back under her sleeve.

"Luna, can I ask you something? It's important."

"Sure, Harry. Ask me anything."

"Can you speak to snakes? Be honest."

Luna scrunched up her face. She had promised her father that she wouldn't tell anyone.

"Yes, I'm a parselmouth."

"A what?

"Someone who can speak to snakes." She explained then spoke to Miss Hissy, "Come out, he won't hurt us."

Slowly, Miss Hissy came out. Luna knew she would be hesitate. She distrusted anyone except for Luna.

"Hello," Harry said to the snake.

"He can speak!" Miss Hissy exclaimed in surprise, "Another human who can speak besides Luna."

Harry pressed a finger to his mouth, "We must be quiet about this Luna. The reason why we hear voices in the walls is because the monster of slytherin is a giant snake. It could get us into trouble."

Luna nodded. She understood clearly.

"Harry, promise me that you will be careful," Severus told the boy at the start of their weekly lesson, "and that you will not do anything stupid. Hogwarts will be under lockdown until the so-called 'Heir of Slytherin' is caught."

"No, Professor." Harry said looking straight into his eyes.

Severus couldn't supress a smirk, "I see that you have been getting better at Occlumency. Maybe I should have waited until you were older to teach you that skill."

"Professor," Harry started, "Who is the 'Heir of Slytherin'?"

"That is a good question. I think you have heard Gryffindor version of the Prophecy that Minerva told you all but I believe that you haven't heard the original version. After the falling out between Slytherin and the other houses, a great seer called Yolandra made a prophecy about 'the heir of Slytherin'. The prophecy has only a few specifications and is relatively vague. There would be a direct descendant of Salazar himself who would bring the houses together in harmony. This student would be sorted into his house, a natural-born parselmouth and she explicitly specified that they would be psychologically normal. Whoever is behind what is happening at Hogwarts is just a pureblood- supremacist brute."

"But what about Slytherin's monster?"

"That is actually something different. For all his brilliance, Salazar Slytherin made a mistake of creating a beast he thought would protect the school from intruders. However, he could not control it. So with the help of his followers he locked it into a chamber. Only a parcelmouth could have opened the chamber."

Just then, Harry went pale and his eyes widened.

"Harry, I do not believe that you would have done such a thing. Nor would little Miss Lovegood. It is better than you both don't reveal your ability to speak to snakes to anyone. Not even Hermione and Ron."

"How did you know that I could speak to snakes?"

"I have my ways of knowing things, Harry. Anyway, let's begin your lesson for this afternoon. I want you to make these bottles behind us disappear and reappear using non-verbal magic."

Draco was halfway finished writing when his mind blanked. Frustrated, he scrunched the paper into a ball and threw it towards the bin at the corner of the Slytherin common room. It landed beside the bin.

"Oi!" shouted a voice behind him, it was Kimberley Waverley - the Slytherin Headgirl, "Put your rubbish in the bin. Don't throw it around."

He poked his tongue at her and refused to move.

She sighed, "Fine. Have it your way, Richie Rich. Minus ten points from Slytherin."

She swished her wand; the piece of paper lifted itself into the air then landed it into the bin. She then went back to studying for her NEWTS while muttering under her breath about how much of a little brat he was.

Draco took out a new piece of paper and tried again. It had been over two months since he had bothered to write to his father. He had no idea what to write. Nor did he really want to write his father a letter but it was his mother's request. He listened to his mother because loved him.

His father didn't like his letters anyway. He would call his stories about school boring and belittled him for not doing as well as Harry Evans did.

He didn't like Harry Evans. The son of a mudblood prostitute was smarter than he was and had the benefit of being famous. He also had the benefit of not having a father who would lock him in closets for hours or lash out at him when irritated. Harry was friends with the worst kinds of people: that blood traitor Weasley and the know-it-all mudblood girl. He also caught him talking to the strange girl who was apparently his cousin. It was a shame that Harry didn't choose to be friends with him instead.

He wrote his father the smallest of letters.

'Hi Father

I have nothing interesting to tell you.

Bye.'

Draco then put it into his pocket and would go to the owlery later to send the letter by his owl, Razorbeak. His father would not be happy with the letter but the man was never happy with him anyway. It didn't matter what he did, it wasn't good enough. The only thing the last letter said was that he had heard that the 'Heir of Slytherin' was back and that Draco should just mind his own business. His father also told him that when the last time the chamber had opened fifty years ago a mudblood had died. It unsettled him. Maybe his father did have a hand in this. His father was selfish and mean but he didn't like to think of his father as a monster.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Crabbe and Goyle enter the common room. Something was wrong, they seemed a little disorientated and fearful.

"Hey!" He called to them, "Come here and sit with me."

They both took one look at him and the follow his orders. Somethings never change.

"Where have you both been? I've been looking for you both everywhere."

"Sorry, we had detention from Flitwick," replied Goyle in a way that Draco found too formal coming from Goyle, "He made us write lines."

Draco snorted, "I didn't know that you could write. Or read."

Crabbe and Goyle just looked at each other. It was clear they had no idea what to say.

"I have no idea what is wrong with you guys." Draco said, "But I'm getting worried. Dad might take me out of school if he feels like this whole thing with the heir is getting worse. He's always wanted to send me to Durmstrang."

"Do you want to go?" Crabbe asked gingerly.

"No, it's too far from home and I don't speak German."

"Do you have any idea who could be behind this?" Goyle replied.

Draco sighed, "I told you both before. I have no idea but father told me the last time it was opened fifty years ago, a mudblood died. So I bet it's a matter of time before one of them's killed this time... I hope it's Granger."

They both looked horrified. Then something strange happened, Crabbe's hair became redder and there was a faint mark appearing on Goyle's forehead. They both looked at each other and panicked. Before Draco could say anything, they were running away.

It was definitely an odd day for Draco Malfoy.

There was nobody around to hear Ginny scream. Nobody went to the first floor girl's bathroom very often and the ghost was gone, so it would be a good way to let out her frustrations.

'Stop doing this Ginny,' said a voice in her head, 'I won't be destroyed. You've been having problems lately, let me help you again. Stop throwing me around.'

"NO!" she screamed and continued to pelt the evil diary into the toilet. However, no matter how hard she tried it would not become wet. Nor could she shred it.

'You leave me no choice.'

Suddenly, Ginny was struck down with a sharp, excruciating pain. She withered on the floor for some time before the pain grew worse and she fell unconscious. Only this time she reawoke on the bathroom floor unmoved. Instead of blood, her hair and clothes were soaked with water. She was weak but strong enough to stumble away, leaving the diary behind.

June 1978

"Do it Severus."

"Yeah, Sev. Take the final plunge."

"Hit her."

"Hurry up and finish her."

"Finish that muggle filth."

He stared at the young muggle woman in the ground. He was frozen in dread over what he had just seen. Her beautiful blonde hair was tussled and her clothes had torn. He huddled in a foetal position on the cold soil. She was crying hysterically. There was nothing around besides them and the forest. There would be nobody to save her.

"Please… Let me go…" She pleaded to the men around her. Her pleas were met with harsh laughter.

Severus did not know what to do. He was young and being a Death Eater was harder than he imagined. There was no way he would do to her what Malfoy, Macnair or the others did. However, he did not have the bravery to save her.

Instead, he brought out his wand and pointed it at her head. He said the words and a green flash of light came out of his wand. He put her out of her misery.

He didn't remember much of what happened afterwards. However, he did remember with great shock when he opened a muggle newspaper two days later to find an article on the violent murder of a beautiful young woman. Her body was found in the middle of the forest by a forester. The article included a picture of the familiar blonde woman who was only a year older than him. Her name was Annie and she was a waitress who studied literature. She disappeared after leaving the train station nearby.

Severus left the pensive feeling shameful. Albus was beside him with a sad look on his face.

"The past is the past, Severus." He said gravely.

"Then why are you making me revisit it? It's cruel."

"Because, you're the only Death Eater who has come forward with their experiences at their own will. I need to get names. I need information."

A/N: Please tell me what you think. And please no boring feminist rants.