Harry ghosted invisibly through the dark and empty corridors on the way to the headmaster's office. He wasn't sure what Dumbledore wanted to test, but he was glad that the headmaster was taking a proactive approach. Harry was concerned with some of Albus' actions, and his habit of keeping secrets without realizing their significance. Or realizing it and still not letting anyone else into the loop. Harry felt that the aged wizard had been keeping things so close to the chest for so long that he had forgotten how to work with other powerful, if not equal, forces.

Harry called on the Dark and walked through the gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office, making his way up the stairs. He considered knocking, but he was still in a bit of a mood from the headmaster's earlier revelations.

Harry entered the Dark once again and walked through the door, becoming visible as Dumbledore looked up from behind his desk.

"Ah, please come in, Harry," Albus said. He gave no outward sign of irritation at Harry's entrance.

Harry sat down in the plush chair in front of the headmaster's desk. "Good evening, Albus. What juicy nuggets of wisdom are you planning to drop into my lap tonight?"

Dumbledore chuckled, his blue eyes twinkling. "I think that it is you who will be able to expand our understanding of the situation tonight, Harry. I have a theory as to why you can understand the voice within the walls, and luckily it is an easily testable one."

Harry raised his eyebrows at the old man. "Then by all means, test away," he said.

Albus raised the Elder Wand and waved it casually, conjuring a small black snake on the desk in between them.

"Please talk to the snake, if you would be so kind."

Harry was nonplussed but decided to play along. "Um. Hello there, Mr Snake. How's the weather down there?" He noticed that his voice now seemed to have an echoing hiss behind it, with just a touch of magic infusing it subconsciously. Interesting.

Harry's eyes widened in surprise when the snake spoke back. "Fear! Big creature! Want to run, cannot run! Speaker?" The snake coiled around itself as it writhed nervously but seemed to slow and regard him with small beady eyes.

"Speaker? Erm. Ok. Right. Just sit tight for a second, please."

Harry looked up at Dumbledore and tried to focus on speaking without the hissing magic. "I can speak to snakes?"

The headmaster vanished the snake and smiled at him, but Harry could detect a hint of concern under his genial expression. "It would appear so. Salazar Slytherin was famous for his ability to speak to serpents, and he was able to bind the magical capability to his bloodline so that his descendants could also speak Parseltongue, the magical language of snakes. Wizards with this inherent talent are called Parselmouths. The last known parselmouth was Voldemort himself, who is the last known descendant of the Slytherin bloodline and the Heir of Slytherin."

Harry nodded along. "Then how did I end up with it?"

"We may never know for certain," Albus said, "You are also related to Salazar Slytherin through your father's bloodline. Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus Peverell, the original masters of the Deathly Hallows, were descendants of Slytherin. They were given three fragments of divinity as part of a bargain with Death. The Elder Wand, Resurrection Stone, and Invisibility Cloak, respectively. The Elder Wand has moved from master to master by means of combat, never remaining in a single bloodline. The cloak was passed down through Ignotus Peverell's bloodline, eventually ending up in your hands. And finally, the Resurrection Stone was passed down through Cadmus Peverell's bloodline, making its way through the generations to the House of Gaunt, the last family that claimed to be the Heirs of Slytherin, where Voldemort claimed it when he tracked down the house of his maternal grandfather and wayward uncle in his seventh year."

Harry's head spun. "Wait wait wait. I'm related to Voldemort? And I'm only just hearing about this now? Dammit Albus, we really need to talk about your concerning tendency to keep things like this to yourself until it becomes 'relevant'." Harry got up and started pacing in front of the headmaster's desk, trying to control his irritation at the reticent old man.

Dumbledore sighed. "You're right, of course. I am far too accustomed to being responsible for a great many pieces of sensitive information that would cause significant damage if they were spoken to the wrong ears, but that does not mean I should not divulge them to the correct ears. I will do my best to include you in my council whenever possible in the future."

Harry stared at the ancient wizard while he let his anger and magic calm. "I am the master of my soul, Albus. I appreciate your support and advice, and I admire your power and strength of character, but I will not be manipulated or taken advantage of."

Meeting his eyes with a serene but serious expression, Dumbledore nodded. "In that, we certainly agree. I would expect nothing less from you, Harry. As I once said to you in the hospital wing, I can only hope that you will accept my apologies and believe me when I say that I have and will continue to act with the best of intentions. Unfortunately, you do know what they say about those."

They pave the road to Hell.

"Returning to the matter at hand, it is also entirely possible that the ability to speak Parseltongue was bequeathed to you when Voldemort attempted to sacrifice your soul and ascend to godhood. Rituals of that magnitude create a connection between the souls involved, which is why you were able to feel Voldemort's emotions and his thoughts when he fully possessed Quirrell and made his bid for the Philosopher's Stone. This connection may very well allow you to share his magical talent for speaking to snakes. Additionally, it may be a combination of the two. The connection between you and Voldemort may have awakened the potential already present in your soul. We will most likely never know the whole truth, and in this case, it does not really impact the outcome."

Harry took several more deep breaths. "I'm going to add this connection to the Dark Lord's soul into the bucket of 'things you should have already told me about'. It's getting to be a very full bucket, Albus."

The headmaster paused and nodded again. "I believe that I am finally starting to realize that. Once again, I must apologize for keeping you in the dark. I do not know what the potential consequences of this connection will be, but together we will need to monitor it closely in the coming years to determine if it can be used to our advantage against Voldemort. Now, this leads me to my final conclusion of the evening."

Harry sat back down across the desk from Dumbledore, doing his best to let go of his frustration with the powerful wizard.

"The Chamber of Secrets is rumored to be accessible only to those of Slytherin's bloodline, and specifically only those who can speak Parseltongue. With the discovery of your ability, we can now actively search for the entrance to the Chamber in a more proactive manner. Please take any time you have available this year and look for any indication of an entrance, both magical and physical. If you believe you may have found something unusual, try to speak to it in Parseltongue and see if it reacts. If it does, alert me immediately and we will make preparations to launch an assault on the monster directly. Additionally, the fact that you can understand the monster indicates that it is a serpent of some kind, and I can think of only one breed of magical snake that can live for over a thousand years and has the potential to petrify its victims."

Harry felt like he wasn't going to like whatever the headmaster said next.

"The great beast stirring in the deep is almost certainly a Basilisk."

Harry still felt off balance from the headmaster's revelations, but at least he felt like he was once again in control of the situation. He had a plan, and he felt that it was the best option available to him with the current information at his disposal. He would continue to brush against the sparks of as many students and teachers as possible, looking for the flash of malice and hungry red eyes that would indicate Voldemort's possession. He would search the school for any signs of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, although neither he nor Dumbledore knew what they were looking for. Overall, it was less difficult than it should have been to return to day-to-day life.

Harry, Hermione, and Neville walked down the corridor in between classes. Harry and Hermione continued their playful rivalry for top of every class, getting every spell on the first try and their ability to speed their minds with raw magic making short work of any homework or tests. If the teachers were aware of their abilities, they made no comment on it. Harry assumed that the headmaster must have told them some watered down version of the truth, since they didn't get nearly as much attention as they would have if they performed to this standard as normal students.

As they came around a corner, Harry tensed at the scene unfolding in front of them. Luna stood against the wall of the corridor, her books and school supplies scattered on the floor around her. Surrounding her were three third year Ravenclaw girls, a bit too close for comfort and clearly accosting her in some way.

"... don't know why they even let you into the school, Looney. Ravenclaw isn't for bat brains like you. We thought we might help you get the picture by locking you out of the tower, but nooooo you just keep finding ways to wander back in. Like an especially persistent slug finding its way back into our garden." The ringleader was grinning sadistically down at Luna's face while she taunted her, but Luna just looked up at her with a mildly interested expression.

"I'm sorry, I got distracted. This part of the castle has some lovely architecture. What were you saying?"

Harry snorted at Luna's unshakable attitude even as the girl's face twisted with anger. He was about to intervene when the temperature in the hallway dropped like a stone.

Harry raised his eyebrows and glanced at his best friend as Hermione stalked forward. Sparks of white-blue light danced in her wild hair and the air around her shimmered and warped as her power rolled off her in waves. Her eyes glowed with unsettling eldritch blue light as she approached the bullies.

All three of them turned at her approach and took an involuntary step back at her appearance. "Granger, what are you-" the ringleader stammered.

Hermione grabbed the older Ravenclaw by her shirt collar and wrenched the taller girl down with impossible strength so that they were face to face. Icy crystals crawled over the surface of the floor and up the walls as she spoke.

"I don't care why you are going after Luna," Hermione's voice came out in a frozen hiss, her magic saturating her words and making them reverberate hauntingly through the corridor despite the low tone. "I don't care what justification you have invented in your cruel, pathetic mind. If you ever touch a single hair on her pretty little head again-"

Luna giggled. "Aww thanks Hermione! I think you're pretty too!"

"-I will come for you. One dark night, when you've forgotten all about hurting Luna, when you are safe and warm in your bed, you will wake up and my face will be the last thing that you see before I make you wish that you had never been born. Leave. Luna. Alone."

She shoved the ringleader back roughly, although not hard enough to make her lose her footing. Shaking and stumbling under Hermione's aura and the terrifying glow from her blazing blue eyes, the three girls fled as fast as their legs would carry them.

The glow around Hermione receded as she breathed heavily, the air in the hallway returning to normal as she reeled in her power. The bright blue light in her eyes faded as she looked at Luna and then down the corridor where the girls had escaped. She sighed heavily as Harry approached.

"I probably shouldn't have done that," Hermione said. "I should have just told a teacher or something. But I just… ugh. Are you ok, Luna?"

"Oh yes! They had so many wrackspurts, but you managed to get rid of a few for them! Good job, Ice Queen!"

"I… ok Luna. I'm glad you're alright. I'm sorry that they were bullying you. Do you think you'll be fine going back to Ravenclaw tower alone?"

Luna nodded, smiling brightly. The diminutive blond gathered up her remaining school supplies and bounced forward to give a surprised Hermione a hug before skipping away.

Hermione turned back to Harry and Neville, looking a little nervous. Harry just grinned at her.

"Like Luna said, great job Ice Queen. Those bullies had it coming, and I'm not sure I would have been able to find the right balance of scaring them without hurting them too badly. Normally when I fight with Malfoy, it's just for the fun of metaphorically stomping on him like a bug."

Hermione relaxed a bit and fell into step beside him again.

"What if they tell a teacher or something? I shouldn't have used my power like that."

"Meh. The teachers must already know. And the girls won't want the teachers finding out about them locking Luna out of the Ravenclaw common room. Even if they do try to frame us, what are the teachers going to do? Take house points? Write us a strongly worded letter? Albus needs us for his war against the Dark Lord. He won't risk alienating us over a few bullies."

"It still doesn't feel right," Hermione said, although she was looking more relaxed and actually smiling slightly.

"Hmmmm I think that you're lying. I think that deep down, you loved getting to put the fear of God into those awful bullies. Or maybe the fear of you, I suppose. You're the Ice Queen, all shall love you and despair!" Harry said, laughing at the horrified but embarrassed expression on his best friend's face.

"Galadriel didn't take the ring, Harry. That was kind of the whole point."

"Whatever. Restraint is overrated."

The muted noise of the crowd far below drifted up to Harry as he circled the Quidditch pitch. As per usual, the game was dreadfully boring. He would hang out and keep an eye on the other seeker and the snitch, making sure not to get clipped by a bludger or something, then when Oliver signaled that he was ready for them to win the game Harry would catch the Snitch. Very exciting stuff. He was almost wishing for another murder attempt, just to give him something to do.

In a twist of irritating irony, a bludger almost took his head off because he wasn't paying attention. He rolled and dropped to avoid it.

Instead of heading off to look for another target, the bludger reversed directions and shot back right for him like it was being attracted by a magnet.

What the hell.

Harry dodged again, channeling magic into his Nimbus to zip away from the bludger with significant speed. Contrary to normal bludger behavior, it tracked him like a heavy iron missile and followed him as he looped around the field. Harry couldn't sense any type of foreign magic on it outside of the normal charms, but something was clearly wrong with it.

Harry waved at Oliver as he zoomed past. The older boy's eyes widened as he took in the bludger's non-stop attempts to murder his seeker. Harry heard the whistle for a time-out soon after.

He landed on the pitch with the rest of the team and had to sidestep as the bludger slammed into the ground where he had just been standing. As he let his magic loose just enough to predict the bludger's path, he kept up a constant dance of steps and hops to avoid the bludger's continual attempts to bludgeon him into paste.

"Hey Olly, do you think that you could do something about this?" Harry asked casually as he spun in place and let the bludger fly past him for the seventh time in the last few seconds.

The rest of the team stared at him with disbelief for a few seconds before the Weasley twins advanced on the murderous bludger and tackled it to the ground on its next pass.

"Alright team," Oliver started, "someone has clearly tampered with that bludger. I'm going to talk to Madam Hooch, and we'll see what we need to do."

Harry stood awkwardly with the rest of the team after Oliver left, Fred following him with the bludger as it tried to escape and resume its mission to grind Harry's bones to dust.

When the team captain returned, it was not with good news. "They checked it and the bludger hasn't been tampered with, at least not with any magic that Madam Hooch can find. Weird behavior aside, nothing seems wrong with it. If we stop now, we will forfeit the match. Can you just go catch the Snitch as soon as we end the time out and we'll call it a day, Harry?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I suppose. Not much else for it really."

The rest of the team looked mildly miffed at the reminder that their positions were ultimately useless when Harry could just catch the Snitch at any time. They were constantly alternating between loving him and hating him, unable to reconcile their desire to win every game with their desire to be useful to the team. Harry simply didn't care. He could probably get out of his agreement with McGonagall now that he was in his second year, seeing as he had already won the cup for them last year, but it was kinda fun to mess with both the other teams and his own, so he would probably keep doing it until they kicked him off or he got bored enough.

They all kicked off as the whistle blew, the bludger immediately tracking Harry as he sped away. Harry circled the pitch again while he let his magic reach out subtly and locate the Snitch down near the goal posts on the other end of the field. He made his way over, looping and corkscrewing to dodge the persistent iron cannonball as he closed the distance between him and the tiny golden ball.

He slowed slightly to match the Snitch's speed as he approached, reaching out and snagging it just as an explosion of pain wracked his body. He had been focused on the snitch for a moment too long and the bludger had finally succeeded, slamming into his side with the force of a freight train. He gritted his teeth as his magic automatically fixed his shattered ribs and punctured internal organs. Even if it healed fast, it wasn't exactly pleasant.

He heard the whistle to end the game and landed with the rest of the team again, letting the twins once more do battle with the rogue bludger.

As attempted murders went, this one was actually kind of weak.

Harry awoke at some point during the night to the sight of two round, bulbous green eyes about an inch from his face. He (once again) managed to stop himself a moment before disintegrating Dobby into dust.

He still tossed the elf off of him like a rag doll, though.

"I should have known! No wonder I couldn't sense the magic on the Bludger. So, tell me Dobby, why are you trying to kill me? And why shouldn't I just put an end to you now to avoid the hassle of future attempts?"

"Not kill you, sir! Never kill you!" Dobby moaned pitifully. Harry let his magic envelop them and hardened it so that the sound would be muffled. He didn't want to wake up the rest of the boys in his dorm room. "Better to be sent to the hospital wing, or even better St Mungo's, where Harry Potter would be safe!"

Harry controlled his murderous impulses. Barely. "I can't tell if you are the worst assassin ever, the most incompetent bodyguard on the planet, or just an idiot. There is no universe where I would be safer while I was injured. If anything, I wouldn't be able to defend myself. I'm not going to kill you right now because it would feel like kicking a puppy for chewing up my shoes, but dammit Dobby just leave me the hell alone!"

The diminutive elf just continued to cry on the floor.

"Ugh. Do you have any more information about the Chamber of Secrets? I already know about the Basilisk and who is opening it, I just can't find them or the Chamber. Do you know where Voldemort or the entrance to the Chamber are?"

Dobby looked shocked but just shook his head numbly.

"Then get out of here, before I change my mind about the whole murdering you thing."

Dobby popped away and Harry flopped back down on his bed with a weird sense of Deja vu. Why did these things always happen to him?