A/C: I'd like to thank those of you who added their thoughts about the POVs. From what you said, I'll try to stick with Melissa's POV more. NGL, it's pretty Harry-centric until chapter 100, but after that it swings more Melissa's way. I'll be sure to keep it like that for the rest of the story.

Speaking of Harry...

From an outworld perspective, life continued on as normal. Attending classes, completing assignments, meeting with friends, practicing quidditch, all of it went on as routinely as possible.

On the inside, though, a part of Harry always fell back to the struggles of this year. Despite the passing months, Caireen still refuses to leave her nest deep inside the Chamber. He had hoped with Creevey's recovery that she would come out and see him again. Alas, there was no such luck, as her guilt for hurting a hatchling was far stronger than Harry imagined. Coupling that with Harry's schedule and caution keeping him from visiting regularly, there was a constant gnawing guilt inside of him whenever thoughts of her passed by.

Then there were the struggles among his human friends. Melly continued with her usual methods. Sticking close with her Slytherin friends when in the dungeons, or squirrelling away to the library or the Room of Requirement when she was not. Though, in an odd way, that came to Harry's advantage, as being away from her sight made it easier to make certain… inquiries. Inquiries to Lee Jordan, the Weasley Twins, Uncle Sirius, the Map, and Salazar's journal ended with mostly good and useful results. Those made towards the other upper years, however (especially reconnaissance missions from under the cloak), revealed an unnerving pattern that followed too closely to Soros' cryptic reasoning for Harry's comfort.

Then, of course, there was the issue with Lovegood. Granted, Lovegood wasn't initially a friend of his; but after VATIC convened for the year Harry decided to continue his acquaintance with the younger girl. She's sweet, if peculiar. Then again, he is well-used to having strange friends, so her strange ways have started to grow on him.

-On the plus side, their growing friendship has started to spread a little into his own circles. Well, okay, it was essentially limited to Lily and Sally; but that was progress, right?-

Unfortunately, though, by becoming closer to Lovegood he has also become closer in awareness to how others treat her. The name "Looney" passed his ear more often than her surname. Not to mention that, much like Melly last year, he often found Lovegood sporting hexed appearances and taking jaunts to see Madam Pomfrey.

And then doing nothing about it.

Perhaps it's karma, Harry considered. Spend a year hiding how much your relatives hurt you, only to end up with friends doing the exact same thing. Still, this is different. There's no cupboard, no looming spectre of obliviation, just bullies being bullies. And- okay- Melly has her reasons (albeit weird and disturbing reasons), but Lovegood doesn't have that issue. At least… he hopes not. Still, reasons or not, it's not something either of them should be dealing with. Which is why Harry is motivated to get up and do something about it.

Tuesday February 23rd, 1993

Inside of a large, ill-used greenhouse, Harry spent the start of his lunch hour with his dorm-mates over a game of exploding snap. In time his patience won out as the numbers in the room started to swell. First came Hermione and Neville. Then followed Draco (thankfully on his own). After that came Soros, Flinton, and Pierce, with -surprisingly- Corin and Hyslop in tow. As the game reached its end the final pair arrived as Fred and George walked through the door with, another surprise, Ron and Jordan trailing in behind them.

"You came, too?" Harry asked the younger redhead.

Ron grinned back. "I heard my brothers whispering about pulling 'the biggest prank of the year'; and if Granger and Neville are here too, I don't see why I shouldn't come."

"That depends," Harry teased, pulling open a heavy satchel, "how willing are you to give parseltongue a go?"

Ron's eyes popped wide. "The snake language?!" He looked around at the group, finding that -beyond Jordan and the Slytherins- everyone showed no surprise at Harry's question. "You're pulling my leg! I thought all of that hissing stuff was a joke?"

"It is." One of his brothers replied.

"Well, maybe. Maybe not." The other added.

"What is true? What is false?"

"Little brother may never know."

"It gets creepier when you do that." Ron confessed.

"It's not that hard, Ronnekins. Just repeat after me. I am a skunk butt."

Ron screwed his face, but gave it a hesitating try. "I am a skunk butt."

Now it was Harry's turn to gape. "Okay, seriously, are all Weasleys geniuses at languages?!"

"What'd you mean?"

"That was perfect parseltongue!" He exclaimed to Ron.

Everyone now turned to Harry, half of them feeling confused more than anything.

"Wait a moment," Hermione cut, "are you saying you actually speak the language?"

"Well-"

"Oh my god!" Flinton exclaimed, her eyes gleaming. "This is it, isn't it? I knew she was hiding it from us! Is the Chamber real, then, too?!"

Pierce followed after her, looking about the room. "Wait- If that's true, then shouldn't Melissa be here, too?"

More people started talking over each other. Frustrated, Harry raised his voice over the group. "Everyone! Listen up! I'll answer your questions only once. Now, the short answer is that, while some of you have been hissing as part of the joke, a few of us have been learning parseltongue through a book. No- the book is not here." That last part he gave a pointed look to Hermione just as she opened her mouth to ask that very question. "It's a very old book written by a parselmouth from a few centuries ago, so it has to be stored in a special way because of the magic put into the book to keep it safe. Also, no, no one here was involved in what happened to Creevey. Whoever found the Chamber of Secrets, if they actually found the Chamber of Secrets, it wasn't because of the parseltongue book or anyone else in this room.

"The reason why I'm telling you all this is because I'm planning something and, even though some of you have requested to not learn parseltongue, for my plan to work it will be easier on all of you to learn a few special phrases and spells."

There came a pause in his speech, allowing others to murmur to each other or make small inquiries over the reveal. While they did that, Harry emptied his satchel of notes, chalk, sweetgrass, horsetail, a pair of orange candles, and a palm-sized oval of turquoise. Once done, and finding the murmurs fall into a lull, Harry stood straight and clapped his hands together.

"So, here's the situation…"

8:00am Friday, Potions Classroom

The fourth year class of Slytherins and Hufflepuffs entered the potions lab with a dragging sense of trepidation. During their double period on Tuesday, the group was assigned the ageing potion. A difficult and time consuming concoction, to be sure. It was especially difficult as the potion requires a precise sixty-four hour simmer before its final steps can begin.

Hence why they had to show up an hour early for class.

"I don't think I could have had breakfast, even if I wanted to." Adrian admitted to the others. "If the potion isn't the right colour now, I'll fail for sure. There's no way I'll have time to repeat it."

"You will be fine." Domonkos patted him on the shoulder. "I am sure we all did well."

Amy strode ahead of the group, commenting "Only one way to find out" as she went over to the simmer station to find her potion. Finding hers, Amy peaked into the cauldron. The others watched with bated breath as her shoulders dropped, then came a relieved sigh that the whole group could feel. She turned to the others with a smile."Pale lilac. Mine's good to go."

The others approached their own potions and looked inside. Seeing the contents, Adrian's eyes narrowed. "I think mine is darker than yours."

"Mine, too." Melissa added. She glanced across the cauldrons, finding Jacinth's cauldron in a similar state, and Warrington's looking more murky grey than purple.

Jacqueline looked at their darker contents and shook her head slightly. "You did take a little longer to finish. Maybe wait fifteen minutes before starting? Oh- Warrington, I think your shrivelfig was minced thicker than required. An extra eighth or quarter teaspoon of powdered snake scales ought to counter it?"

"You think?" The boy frowned at his own cauldron, then gave a defeated sigh. "Suppose I'm doing that, then."

While Warrington went off to find more snake scales, the rest of the class got set up at their stations. Then, at the right moment, they each have to put in the next, possibly silliest ingredient in all of their class history.

Step 8. Add two teaspoons of mashed, unbruised banana. Stir six rounds clockwise for the potion to turn a dark pine green.

"I can't believe this is an actual step." Melissa muttered under her breath. Alas, believing is the only viable option as it is honestly written that way in the textbook. With a bit of mashing and ten minutes to kill, the lilac potion got a little lighter, hopefully enough for a successful addition. "Well, here goes nothing."

Two teaspoons and six stirs later, the potion indeed turned green. It was closer to regular pine than a dark pine green, but, honestly, that ought to earn at least an A for the potion. Huh, well I'll be damned.

With a release of tension, Melissa cast the final spell to solidify the effects, then filled two phials with the potion for presentation. She walked by her friends (most of whom had already presented their potions and now looked a few years older) and flashed them a hopeful smile before arriving at Professor Snape's desk. As per usual (for this year) Snape sat straight-backed against the chair with arms at his side. Melissa didn't bother trying to hand the phials to him, knowing his odd new habit around her, and instead left one on the table and held the second up for inspection.

On the other side of the desk, Snape looked at the potion with a grimace. "The colouring of your potion is… adequate. You may now test it and I will gauge its effectiveness."

The young witch nodded at the instruction and uncorked the phial, downing it in one go. Her body felt a bit queasy, like it was shifting to adjust to the potion. When it settled, her focus returned to the professor to hear the results. Now brandishing a wand, he muttered the age identifying spell in her direction. A shimmer of yellow light hit her heart, after which it spurt out and solidified in front of her chest as a number in the forties.

"Eww." She flinched at the aged number. "I'm not going to look this old for long, am I?"

She looked back at the professor, finding him to be distinctly unnerved by the result. He said nothing in answer, just kept flicking his eyes between the number and her face. The odd quiet caused Melissa to shift where she stood. "Uh, profess-"

*BOOM!*

Melissa jumped sideways as an explosion rang through the room. Feeling safe on the other side of the desk, she whirled to face the source of the boom. The Slytherin side of the class had gone up in smoke! People coughing and moaning all the while. Snape, already moved around the desk, launched a spell to clear the smoke and find the perpetrator. It wasn't hard to find, actually. You just had to look for an old man with a long, grey beard. "Warrington! There had better be a good explanation for how you managed to blow up an ageing potion, of all things!"

"I- I don't know!" The boy (man?) wheezed. "I was just getting the banana ready while it simmered the extra scales and-"

Snape grabbed the mortar of scales before Warrington could finish. "Extra scales?" He inspected the contents, eyes narrowing. "These are Calliophis nigrescens scales, not Oreocryptophis porphyraceus! How did you even gain access to these?!"

"They were just on the shelf, I-"

"I don't want to hear any excuses!" He looked about the room, finding half the class groaning and white-haired from the effects. "All of you hit by the blast are to report to Madam Pomfrey immediately. The rest of you, finish your potions or leave!"

The class scrambled at the command. Most of them packed the bags quickly, or as quickly as their old bones could manage, and fled out the door. Melissa followed suit, biting her lips from laughing when she saw the full effect of the explosion. Especially at Jacqueline whose glasses added to the Old Nan vibe. "I think it's safe to say that I'm the youngest looking one here."

"You probably feel the youngest, too." Amy groaned against the wall. "My back is killing me."

That moment made Melissa snort. "Do you all need help getting up to the hospital wing?"

"No, we can manage." Jacqueline assured her. "Though if you could give Professor Flitwick our charms essays that would be appreciated."

"Sure no problem." The Slytherin contingent passed their homework to her, Jacinth, and Adrian -as they had been in line behind her during the explosion- then ambled off to the hospital wing.

Adrian watched the slow procession with a grimace. "I hope they'll be alright."

"They'll be fine." Jacinth answered casually. "I'm just glad none of us got caught in that mess."

"Hear, hear!" Melissa shrugged the now-fuller satchel onto her shoulder. "Let's say we grab a late breakfast before charms?"

The boys agreed to the suggestion and swung over to the great hall to grab a few portable snacks before heading to class. They made it there in good time. After a few minutes of munching on apples or muffins, the bell chimed and the second-years exited the charms room. Spotting Harry amongst the crowd, she gave the boy a quick wave, beckoning him over.

He blinked once, then tilted his head "You look different."

"Ageing potion." She supplied. "Just to give you an idea of what to expect me to look like in the future."

"I guess so." Harry's lips flicked up into a smile. "Though I bet the others look a lot older."

Wait- "What?"

He leaned in closer, eyes glinting conspiratorially. "Word of advice, Melody. Don't bother going to the infirmary after class. Just go straight to lunch."

"I-" What? "Um, okay?"

"Great." He said with a grin. "I'll see you then."

11:00am, Charms Classroom

It was exceptionally hard to pay attention during class. Harry's -or should she say Houdini's- words spun around her mind. A weave of web whose strands she could only just make out. How did he know? Warrington's explosion was an accident. …Wasn't it?

Even if it wasn't, her friends had gotten hit by it. Harry wouldn't do that to her friends! Unless… No. No one's crazy enough to purposefully get hit by a bad potion. Especially when the problem stems from a faulty ingredient. That's potentially suicide! So how-?

Melissa grunted lowly under her breath. I'm going to get a headache trying to figure this out.

12:07pm, The Great Hall

"Well don't you all look… exactly your age." Melissa muttered, dumbfounded, at the quintet of Slytherin yearmates sitting contently at the table.

Amy offered her a small smile. "We lucked out. The effects faded just before we reached the infirmary."

From across the table, Rusalka and Garrick narrowed their eyes at Amy. Meanwhile, Jacqueline and Domonkos showed no reaction at all. Hmm, how about that.

"That's a relief!" Adrian replied, settling himself down.

Jacinth, of course, noticed part of the obvious. "Where's Cassius, then?"

"Still in the infirmary, I imagine." Jacqueline answered. "Since he was right there when it exploded he must have gotten a stronger dose of the effects."

"I'll bet." Melissa answered, in no way ignoring the annoyed look on Rusalka's face. She looked Jacqueline dead in the eyes. "Shame he grabbed the wrong snake scales."

A frown formed on the other girl's face. Was it nervousness or was it guilt? "Yes, that really is a shame."

Domonkos waved off the two witches before more could be said. "Accidents happen. I'm sure he'll be better before our next class. Could you pass me the roast beef?"

Understanding the segue, Melissa and the conspirators dropped the subject, moving on to other things -mainly, lunch. For herself, Melissa didn't speak much, and tried to keep to her usual selections. The usual, though, did have the addition of sniffing the contents of her food and drink before consuming them; but, really, can you blame her? Something's up. But what?

"Attack."

"Attack?"

"Attack?"

"ATTACK!"

Melissa bolted upright in her seat. Panic and confusion writ on her face. Did… Did Domonkos just mutter in parseltongue?

Did three hidden voices just hiss back?!

Catching her eye, Domonkos flickered a smirk. Then quickly, subtly, had one finger tap his lips.

What the ever-loving-?

A slew of shrieks erupted around the room.

Everyone looked up from their meals in alarm. The vast majority did so out of confused concern. A select few, the screamers, had bigger things to worry about. They jumped out of their seats, holding their ankles or waving wands at… something. Somethings. More people, all across the student seats, did the same as the shrieks continued. People started looking under the benches, yelping and backing away as the masses were spotted. Writhing creatures; long, short, thick, thin, black, brown, green, yellow, orange, hissing, spitting, rattling- SNAKES!

Everyone backed away from their seats. Some ran about in confusion or clutched to each other in fear. The fear heighted as the snakes followed after them, striking against their victims. Luckily, for most, they were able to dodge the snakes' notice. Yet an unfortunate few couldn't say the same as groups of snakes seemed to target the same children over and over again.

Melissa, like the others, backed away from the table as a pair of asps approached her. "Please don't! Don't bite me!"

The snakes paused, shaking their heads before answering. "Speaker said not to attack you."

"We are to guard you."

"Guard me?" She looked around the room, taking in the screams and jumping students. She also took in the widened looks of surprise of classmates and upper years staring at her in shock. Houdini, I hope you know what you're doing. "I understand. Here." She bent herself down with arms extended to the ground. In surprising levels of understanding the snakes did not hesitate as they coiled up her arms and draped themselves onto her shoulders.

"Does your speaker have any instructions for me?"

The snake on her left hissed in assent. "You must not prevent us from striking any mice-humans that approach you."

"Mice… humans?" Is that a word she just hasn't learned yet?

"Humans that smell of mice. Speaker has marked them."

What the hell does that mean?! How do you-? What-? But who even-?

"BENNETT!" An angry female voice shouted. Melissa turned to see the (unfortunately familiar) faces of Regina Rowle, Manon Avery, Samuel Runcorn, and Duncan MacNair; and stepped back as she noticed Rowle and MacNair had their wands drawn. "You stupid, mudblood bitch! I don't care how you did it, but call off these-"

The snake on her right launched against Rowle's face once she got in reach. The girl shrieked and stepped back, trying to wrenched the snake off her nose. The girl's friends moved to hex the beast off, only to jump and dance across a swarm of snakes converging around them.

Melissa stared in mute horror as the swarm bit at the four students, comprehension dawning. Okay. So that's who. Ah… maybe I should get out of here...

12:38pm, the corridor beyond the Great Hall.

Melissa clicked her tongue, feeling heavy and awkward in a way that wasn't just due to the various snakes wrapped around her body. "Tck. So… Made some friends?"

Beside her, Luna Lovegood crooned as she stroked an adder coiled to her arm. "They are quite lovely, aren't they? I think I'll call you Nigel." She giggled as the snake's head pushed closer to her hand.

The two stood in silence as the clamour continued. They watched as a few of the remaining students managed to escape down the corridor. Another emerged, but instead of running, he walked over to them. Seeing the two, Harry smiled. "Nice friends you've got there."

Melissa narrowed her eyes at him, her mind a buzz of white noise. Luna, on the other hand, merely answered in a similar beat she had before, and 'introduced' Harry to Nigel. Harry, with a smile full of cheek, greeted the snake as he would any person, then casually leaned against the wall between the two girls. The now group of three (or nine if you count the snakes), watched passively as more students screamed and ran out of the room.

"I don't see what everyone's shouting about." Luna commented. "They're really quite friendly if you treat them gently."

"That's the lesson, I think." Harry eyed a young Ravenclaw boy who, after emerging from the room, stared wide-eyed at the snake-adorned witches. Their eyes locked. "People that treat others gently are met with friendship; and people that treat others cruelly are met with vicious retribution."

The boy gulped, nodded shakily, then fled down the hall.

The exchange had Melissa sniff a sharp intake of breath. "Houdini?"

"Yes?"

"I was only joking about it at the time, but you going full Honey Badger is legitimately terrifying."

Harry hummed at the remark. "Hmm. …Thank you."

Melissa looked down at him. Incredulous, and slightly horrified. Then forced herself to look away as realization dawned on her. Don't fuck with a Honey Badger. Noted.

Notes:

Notes I have about the ritual Harry uses to summon the snakes:

Crescent waxing is good for animals.

Orange Candle: Represents Attraction, Stimulation, Control, Personal Strength, Authority, Luck, Ambition, Property deals

Plants: Horsetail (snake charming), sweetgrass? (calling spirits) (wormwood does the same, but it's a snake repellant), Cloth of Gold (Understand Animal Languages)

Turquoise: Creative expression, peace of mind, emotional balance, communication, friendship and loyalty. Charka throat.