Yo! I got my first flame for this fic-anonymous of course. Apparently two OCs and no femHarry makes this a shit fic... If I didn't have over nine hundred favourites and over a thousand followers clearly invested in this, that would probably bother me. Instead I just laughed and continued watching wrestling. I mean, Great Balls of Fire? Seriously? Who the hell was paid to come up with that? Anyway, thank you to all readers so far!

A few days and virtually no answers later, Violet was making her way to the library where she was to meet Theodore, when she began hearing an odd tapping sound coming from a broom closet nearby. Frowning, she approached it cautiously. There was no trusting anything around here, especially not with Peeves and his constant, seemingly never ending tricks.

Violet paused in front of the door, but while nothing happened, she could still hear that odd rhythmic tapping coming from within. Carefully, she pulled the door open, only to blink in surprise. There was a girl inside. "Luna?"

The first year Ravenclaw looked up, eyes looking a little red, as if she had been crying. "Oh, hello Violet," she said, her voice filled with false cheer.

But Violet was familiar with the sound, having faked cheerfulness herself multiple times over the years. She knelt down, still frowning. "What are you doing in here, Luna?" she asked gently. Judging by the expression on the other girl's face, she already had a feeling she knew what the answer was.

"I was looking for-for pixies."

"Luna."

Luna's bottom lip quivered, blue eyes downcast, and then mumbled something. Violet still heard her though and moved in closer, drawing the younger girl close and into a slightly awkward hug. She wasn't used to giving people comfort. But then Luna began to cry softly, her shoulders shaking, and she buried her face in Violet's robes.

"Shh, it's alright, shh," Violet soothed, carding her hand through Luna's long hair. She knew exactly what it felt like to be locked in tiny closets. It was one of the Matron's favourite ways of punishing her. Usually it was just for a few hours, or a day, but there were other occurrences where she'd been locked in for days at a time.

This was why Violet was now claustrophobic. She absolutely could not stand small, closed in spaces anymore. But right now, Luna's comfort was far more important than her own unease of being half inside this broom cupboard.

As Luna began to calm, Violet spoke again. "Is it the other Ravenclaws?"

Somewhat hesitantly, Luna nodded.

"Boys or girls?"

"...Girls."

"Your year or older?"

"...Both." But it was clear she wasn't willing to say much more.

Respecting that, Violet pulled back and smiled gently. "Do you know my friend Hermione?"

Luna nodded. "The Smipys don't like her."

Violet blinked and then decided not to question that. "Why don't you stay close to her when you can? She's a nice girl."

Again Luna nodded and hugged Violet, before the two stood back up and stepped into the corridor. "Thank you for helping me, Violet," she said, her voice sounding as dreamy as it had when the two had first met on the train.

"Anytime, Luna. Don't be afraid to come to me if you ever need, okay?"

"Okay!" And with that, Luna skipped away cheerily.

Violet shook her head, exasperated but also a little relieved, and then continued making her way to the library as she had been doing earlier.

It didn't take her long to find Theodore once she got there. He was seated at a table near a window with Hermione. Violet paused, then approached, glad because she'd wanted to talk to Hermione anyway.

Joining her two friends at the table, Violet told them what had happened to Luna. "I hope you don't mind that I told her to stick with you when possible," she finished.

Hermione, who had been frowning as she listened, shook her head. "No, of course not. That poor girl. Don't worry, I'll try to keep an eye on her." She sighed softly, making a mental note to pay closer attention to her Housemates. Luna was a little...weird, yes, and seemed to believe in strange things that certainly were never mentioned in any book, but that really was no reason to be bullied. Especially not to an extent where she was locked inside a closet. That was just harsh.

Theodore said nothing while the girls spoke of this, merely listening, a small frown on his face. He almost looked as if he was trying to remember something, but what that was the girls didn't know. And when he didn't mention anything, the three simply continued (and began, in Violet's case) with and on their school work…

"Oh!" said Hermione, breaking the silence suddenly. "Do you two remember those creatures you could see pulling the carriages at the start of term?"

Surprised by the sudden question, both Violet and Theodore nodded.

"Well, I did some research," said Hermione. "It looks like they're thestrals. Supposedly they look like what you were all describing, and it was mentioned they're used for transportation sometimes. So it isn't that surprising they might be used for pulling the carriages too."

"But why couldn't you see them when the rest of us could?" asked Violet curiously.

Hermione hesitated slightly, then said, "The book said that-that only people who have seen death and understand the-the concept of death can see thestrals. I-I haven't seen anyone die, so that's why I can't see them. But you and Theodore and Neville…"

Violet wasn't sure who Neville had seen die, so she couldn't be sure about him, but she had a feeling Theodore had seen his mother die. She had enough common sense not to ask him though, because it was incredibly obvious he didn't like talking about it.

Violet had, apparently, seen her mum die, but since she'd been a baby, there was no way she could have understood the concept of death, leading her to believe another, more recent death she had witnessed had something to do with her being able to see thestrals.

Yeah, it was probably because of Quirrell.

The topics of the Chamber of Secrets being opened and the monster within being loose inside the castle were still very widely and often discussed by those in the castle.

And they weren't likely to forget it any time soon either, especially since Filch was patrolling the area where his precious cat had been attacked, day in and day out, assigning pointless detentions to any poor soul who dared to pass through that corridor. When he wasn't snarling at students, the caretaker was attempting to clean the foreboding words that were written on the wall, but it didn't appear as if they would come off or be removed in any way, and remained where they were, gleaming brightly on the stone, still looking freshly written. Although whether those words were written in paint or blood, no one knew. Violet wasn't sure she wanted to know either.

Not long after, Violet once again found herself in the library, searching for a book Hermione had told her would help her with her most recent History of Magic essay, when she suddenly began to hear voices from the aisle behind her. That wouldn't have been at all odd if the voices didn't belong to Rose and Ron.

Though she told herself she wasn't really trying to eavesdrop, Violet heard bits of the conversation between the two anyway. They were talking about how certain students, a Hufflepuff named Justin, in particular, had begun behaving oddly around Rose, and sometimes even avoided her. Rose was upset with that and Violet frowned, grabbed her book and left the library after getting it checked out.

Did this have something to do with the Chamber of Secrets? It had to, right? After all, the students still hadn't stopped talking about it, despite the number of days that had gone by. But what did that have to do with Rose?

Unless...wait, did these people think Rose had opened the Chamber and attacked Mrs Norris? Just because she had been caught at the 'scene of the crime'? If that was their reasoning, then why wasn't Ron a suspect too?

The next day, out of a curiosity that she was cursing, Violet cautiously made her way over to the spot where the Halloween incident had occurred up on the first floor. She'd seen Filch head towards the basement, meaning the corridor would be unguarded for once, which made this the perfect time to check it out.

Unfortunately, all of that went down the tube when she realized Rose and Ron had the same idea. Dammit! Why were those two always where she went!?

For a moment Violet pondered on what to do. Should she approach the two, or should she just leave? Finally, she decided that she may as well keep herself hidden and listen in on what they were talking about. She may not have like either of them very much, and thought of them as far too brash and bold, but she had to admit that they always seemed to have the strangest and most important information. And what kind of Slytherin would she be if she didn't secretly take advantage of that? If she didn't learn anything, she would just search the area herself once the two left.

Nodding to herself, Violet pressed herself against the nearby wall and peeked around the corner cautiously, watching and listening. Rose, she noted, was on her hands and knees, crawling along the floor, staring at something she herself couldn't see from her position.

"Hey, Ron? Don't these look like scorch marks to you? See, over here?"

Scorch marks? Were they caused by the monster, whatever it was, or something else? Considering the number of days that had passed since the attack, it was hard to say for sure. Especially since they were in a magical castle full of magical things. For all she knew, those scorch marks could have been made by some sort of kitten-dragon hybrid. You could never trust anything around here.

Rose had moved to a window by this point and was saying something about oddly behaving spiders now. Violet still couldn't see properly from her position and quickly pulled her head back when Ron turned around, facing her direction. Damn, now all she could do was listen. It was a good thing those two didn't know how to keep their voices down.

They didn't say much more though. Just that something was off about the spiders, and that Ron was afraid of spiders, that they were suspecting Draco Malfoy of opening the Chamber, and that they were going to check what was apparently called Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

Violet hadn't dealt with Myrtle herself yet, but Hermione and a few of her female housemates, had told her that the ghost haunted that loo and always seemed to be crying. Weird. She wasn't particularly frightening or dangerous or anything, but as Hermione said, it was a bit awkward going for a pee when she was wailing in the next stall. This bathroom was generally avoided because of that, and was really only used in dire emergencies.

Still, Violet decided it was best for her to leave before Filch returned and she ended up getting caught. It would be too suspicious if she just happened to enter the loo now too, and there wasn't really anywhere to hide in there, meaning the other two would notice her pretty much immediately.

So with that, Violet turned and made for the stairs and luckily, she acted just in time because she ended up passing Prefect Percy Weasley along the way. He eyed her suspiciously but said nothing, so she simply ignored him and headed downstairs towards the dungeons.

Now that she was safely alone, Violet allowed herself to fall into thought. So, the two were suspecting Malfoy, huh? She supposed she couldn't blame them, going by the Draco's reaction when they'd discovered the attack and those words written on the wall. He hardly hid his disdain towards Muggles and Muggleborns.

But in Violet's opinion there was absolutely no way Draco Malfoy would be able to do something like this without bragging, and brag was something he hadn't done so far, meaning he probably didn't do it. But that hardly narrowed down the suspect list. The only lead she had was those supposedly oddly behaving spiders. But how did that correlate with the attack?

At this point in time all anyone could do was wait and see what happened next, and Violet was no different in that regard.

As the days went by, Defence Against the Dark Arts only grew to be an even bigger joke than it started off as. Lockhart didn't teach them a thing!

Violet figured it was less because he didn't want to and more because he just...couldn't. Instead, he would spend lesson after lesson reenacting different passages from his many questionable books. And even that was a huge waste of time because all he really did was brag about all the stuff he claimed he did to help people.

Salazar, even Quirrell, who certainly hadn't been the best teacher, had been better than this! ...Maybe that was just because of Voldemort though.

Choosing to study Defence on her own that year, Violet allowed herself to fall into daydreams and thoughts that week and soon found herself wondering what the Dark Lord was doing at this moment. Had he found a way to come back yet? Or had he taken someone else's body over like he had Quirrell's?

She knew, even now, that these thoughts were absolutely insane. She knew, logically, that she probably should tell an adult the truth of what had happened the previous year. She knew that, but she couldn't. Well no, it wasn't that she couldn't. It was just that she...didn't want to. And all that did was baffle her even further.

That Saturday morning was the first Quidditch match of the season-Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and Violet made her way out to the stands along with everyone else, noting the dark clouds in the sky with a frown and hoping it didn't start to rain. Although, going by the chill in the air, she supposed there was a chance it might snow instead.

Seated between a silent Theodore and an excited Parkinson, Violet was hardly surprised to see Malfoy emerge onto the field with the rest of Slytherin's team as their new Seeker-he'd hardly shut up about it, practically vowing to beat Rose. Violet hadn't ever seen Malfoy's skill on a broom, but she certainly hoped his bite was better than his bark.

The match began and as she watched, Violet realized that as much as she liked to fly and enjoyed the matches, she doubted she would ever actually play herself. Not because of skill, since she had no idea what sort she may or may not have, never having tried, but simply because playing didn't interest her. She preferred to watch.

Slytherin started things off, leading by a pretty good amount at first, before it became clear that there was something wrong. One of the two bludgers seemed to be acting oddly, streaking after Rose only while ignoring all the other players on the pitch. Though Violet was new at this whole Quidditch thing, even she was sure that this wasn't normal.

Had someone tampered with the ball then? One of the Slytherins? It was possible, seeing as it was after a member of the opposite team. But shouldn't Madam Hooch have checked all the balls before putting them in play? Was that not a thing that happened? Why not?

Gryffindor soon began catching up with Slytherin's score, their play style changing after a quick time out. Rose went around dodging the bludger on her own, while the Weasley twins-the Beaters, focused on keeping the other-normal one, away from their team, helping their Chasers earn more chances to score. Dammit.

Violet's eyes kept returning to her twin sister, watching her weave around and away from the strange bludger, silently impressed with her skill. But even as she admitted that, Rose lingered in a single spot for too long and ended up getting hit in the arm or elbow, causing Violet's own arm to ache just at the sight alone.

Still, she wasn't particularly concerned, she told herself. Thanks to magic and potions, Rose could be healed easily enough, so there really wasn't any reason to get upset or worried.

Theodore glanced beside him, fully aware of what Violet was thinking right now and knowing that she had no idea she had tensed up, green eyes locked intently on her sister. She was a good person, he knew, even caring for the sister who very clearly hated her very existence. Rose didn't deserve Violet's sympathy, he thought to himself a little bitterly.

The next morning the students were practically buzzing. At first Violet assumed it was due to Rose losing all the bones in her broken arm, thanks to Lockhart's incompetence. Then she found out it was due to something far worse. Colin Creevey, a first year Gryffindor, had been attacked and petrified in the middle of the night, just like Filch's cat Mrs Norris.

According to Tracy Davis, it was supposed to be a secret but it had gotten out somehow and now everyone was talking about it. She claimed she'd seen Creevey herself, having gone up to the Hospital Wing in the middle of the night due to an emergency she refused to elaborate about.

"He was so pale," she told them in the common room, "and frozen stiff. He looked like he was dead. I think Madam Pomfrey realized I saw him because she surrounded his bed with curtains and told me not to say anything."

By the end of that day rumours that the Chamber had been opened before were circling the school too, even though that was actually technically true, not that many knew it or anything. But why was this happening now? And even more, what sort of threat did a cat and an eleven year old boy have against Slytherin's monster? Sure Creevey was a Muggleborn, but Mrs Norris was just a cat. Why attack her...?

When classes resumed the next day, Violet began to notice something a little concerning. Ginny Weasley looked awfully pale, tired, and frightened. Violet didn't really have anything against the Weasleys, just the ones who bothered her, and since Ginny hadn't ever done anything wrong, Violet found that she was genuinely worried for the girl. She cornered Fred and George outside the Great Hall before dinner that evening.

"Violet!" they greeted in unison, grinning when they saw her.

"How lovely to-"

"-see you again!"

"What can we help you with?"

Violet couldn't help but smile-these two were beyond infectious with their smiles and laughter. But she sobered up quickly enough. "I'm sorry if I'm intruding or being too forward, but I was just...wondering if everything's alright with your sister? She doesn't seem well."

Fred and George's smiles faded to concern almost instantly and they frowned, exchanging a long look before turning back to her to answer.

"I think she's having a hard time adjusting to being here," Fred said slowly.

"She's been having nightmares, apparently," said George.

"The attacks on Mrs Norris and Colin are probably only making it all worse."

"She always did like cats, and she and Colin are in the same year and House, so they have classes together too."

Violet nodded as she listened. "Has she been talking to anyone about this? Any friends or something?"

"I don't know," the twins said together.

"She doesn't talk about any friends with us."

"She's always writing in her diary though."

Well, a diary was certainly better than nothing, but talking to an actual person would surely help her more, right? Maybe the reason Ginny was so focused on that diary was because she didn't have anyone else to talk to? Maybe she was having a hard time making friends because she was so used to being around so many of her brothers all the time?

Still worried, and wondering why on earth she had been placed in Slytherin instead of Hufflepuff, Violet approached Ginny after dinner outside the Great Hall, not wanting to draw too much attention to herself.

Ginny looked worse from up close. Her skin was so pale, her brown eyes very wide, and even her fiery red hair looked less lively. She didn't look anything at all like the blushing girl Violet had met at Flourish and Blotts over the summer, and that only worried her all the more.

"V-Violet? What-?"

"I'm sorry, I just...I just noticed you don't look well. Are you sick?" There, that was a nice, innocent way to start this off, right? No need to let her know she'd been asking her brothers about her.

Ginny shook her head quickly, but wrapped her arms around her torso in a gesture that showed she was attempting to protect herself in some way-it was a gesture Violet recognized very well. "I-I'm not sick!"

"I just wanted to make sure," said Violet, trying to keep her voice slow and gentle. She felt like Ginny was going to run off like a frightened animal if she made the wrong move here. "I'm worried about you, you know?"

Ginny blinked. "You-you are?"

Violet nodded. "Of course. That's why I wanted to make sure you weren't sick. If you are, then I hope you go to one of your brothers, or the medi-witch. But if you aren't, then I hope you still get some rest, maybe have some chocolate. Chocolate always helps, don't you think?"

Slowly, Ginny nodded, gazing up at her with those oddly wide, brown eyes. "Violet..."

"Well, I should go-I still have homework I need to do," Violet said, trying to sound casual. "Come find me if you ever need to talk, alright? And there's a girl-Luna Lovegood, you might know her, since she's a Ravenclaw in your year. She needs some friends too, you know. She's a bit odd, admittedly, but she's sweet. And you don't have to tell any of your brothers either. If they ask, just tell them it's girl talk. That'll scare them away quickly enough."

That got a small smile out of Ginny, who nodded almost hesitantly before quietly thanking her and walking away quickly. Violet watched her grow, her frown returning. Something was definitely off with Ginny but it was hard to say if it was just loneliness and homesickness or something else.

The days went by without incident and November passed into December, bringing cold days and a lot of snow. It was on one of these cold, snowy days in mid December that the students of Hogwarts learned about a Duelling Club that was starting up and oh yeah, that definitely gained a lot of interest, especially considering what had been going on recently.

Figuring it would be interesting, and feeling rather curious, Violet and Theodore looked at one another, shrugged, and decided to attend, deciding it may as well be worth it...only to begin regretting it immediately when they found out Lockhart was the one behind the entire thing.

They thought it would be Professor Flitwick, who had apparently been a duelling champion when he'd been younger. Lockhart though... That couldn't be good. Although, it helped a bit to know that Professor Snape, Lockhart's assistant, was taking part too. That meant there was actually a chance for it to not end up being a total waste of time!

The many students stood around the large platform that had been placed in the centre of the table free Great Hall, and watched with interest as the two professors faced one another and bowed, Lockhart with much unneeded exaggeration that would surely get him killed on an actual battlefield.

In fact, he was too slow to recover and react as the duel began and was almost instantly disarmed by a much quicker Snape, who stood there stoically, dark eyes displaying a disdain very few could see. Violet couldn't blame him.

"Well, Professor Snape," Lockhart said pleasantly once he was on his feet and armed again, "I must say it really was all too obvious what you were going to do, and it was hardly going to be a challenge to step in and stop you..." he trailed off, paling just slightly. Snape looked absolutely murderous right now and Lockhart was smart enough to back down quickly, realizing he would probably end up getting killed if he continued.

The Slytherins who weren't infatuated with Lockhart exchanged smirks. And as much as they didn't like Snape, members of other Houses did the same, unable to help themselves.

Seemingly desperate to put some distance between himself and Snape, Lockhart quickly announced that they would be splitting them all off into pairs so they could attempt to duel one another, and practically sprang to the opposite end of the Hall. And this left all those standing on Snape's side of the Hall gulping in apprehension.

Most of the pairs he put them in really weren't all that bad, but some of them left much to be desired.

"Granger and Bullstrode." Snape didn't pause to see anyone's reactions. "Nott and Zabini." Now he smirked. "Weasley and Malfoy." He noted the two glare at one another, ignored it, and moved on. "Potter and...Potter."

Ah. Well then.

"Does everyone have a partner?" Lockhart called out, blue eyes sweeping over the large group to make sure for himself. "Yes? Good! On the count of three, then... One...two...three! Begin!"

Rose attacked half a second too early and Violet, used to dodging attacks, only just managed to side step the bolt of red, telling herself she probably should have paid closer attention to what the spell was. She'd been too focused on their Defence professor's count and hadn't heard the spell Rose had called out. Although, she supposed that was her own fault for taking her eyes off her opponent. She'd learned not to do that a long time ago, but she'd still done it anyway.

Violet retaliated, Rose dodged, and they went back and forth like this, neither of them actually managing to hit the other, irritatingly enough. Violet didn't like that they appeared evenly matched. Not at all.

Suddenly, there was a bang and a cloud of smoke, and Lockhart started screaming at them all to stop, which only about half of them did. Taking charge, Snape merely waved his wand once, negating everything and vanishing the smoke at the same moment.

Neville and Finch-Fletchley were both on the floor panting, Ron looked quite ill and Malfoy's face was ashen, Hermione was standing as far as possible from a glowering Bullstrode, and Theodore looked triumphant while Zabini appeared rather sullen. Everyone else was in various states of disarray, showing Violet that she'd been one of the lucky ones by coming out unscathed.

Lockhart looked around at them all in dismay. Clearly this wasn't going the way he'd thought it would. He sighed. "Hmm, perhaps it would be for the best if I taught you all how to block spells."

No one bothered telling him that was something he was supposed to be teaching them in class anyway.

Lockhart, not wanting to face Snape again, but also not really allowed to face a student himself, decided to choose two of them as a demonstration pair. He suggested Rose and Ron, but quickly agreed when Snape countered with Violet and Rose instead. He seriously did not want to argue with that man. And besides, the girls were twins. It would be very interesting to see what ended up happening with this.

Choosing not to argue, since she was quite curious herself, Violet stepped onto the platform, facing Rose who was standing at the opposite side with Lockhart beside her, speaking words she couldn't hear and making strangely elaborate gestures that had Rose's brow furrowing in confusion. Violet herself had Snape next to her, who leaned into her to speak into her ear.

"The incantation for the shielding spell is Protego. The wand movement-" he went on to describe it, repeating himself a second time before he squeezed her shoulder and stepped back out of the way, saying nothing more.

Wait, had that just been a show of support from Snape? Weird.

The girls faced one another and bowed, neither of them taking their eyes off the other. They'd never had much interaction before and both of them were genuinely curious to see where the other stood in terms of skill and power. They didn't speak, which was odd on Rose's part, since she liked to brag. That just told Violet that her sister was actually taking this seriously.

Good. She needed to.

Rose smirked and Violet's eyes narrowed as she braced herself, expecting a cheap shot like before. Lockhart began his count, hit three, called for them to begin, and the girls had only just opened their mouths when for some reason unknown to, well, quite literally everyone, Malfoy decided to interfere, a scathing glare locked on Rose. (He was still bitter about Slytherin losing the Quidditch match.)

"Serpensortia!"

A large snake shot out of the end of Malfoy's wand, hitting the floor with a heavy sounding thump. With many cries and gasps of shock, everyone quickly backed away from the serpent, staring wide eyed as it uncoiled its body and then raised itself to strike.

For a moment nothing happened. No one spoke, and no one moved, and then a very enthusiastic Lockhart rushed forward and cried out an incoherent spell, sending the snake into the air with a bang. When it landed it was obviously and unsurprisingly not very happy, and rose up, facing a very pale Justin Finch-Fletchley who it was closest to, hissing at him viciously.

And then Rose stepped forward quickly. "Leave him alone!" she cried, her tone panicked.

The snake rose up even higher and now everyone was staring and muttering, fearful and shocked looks on Rose rather than the snake. Violet, not wanting the poor snake to get trampled on, because these people seriously weren't ever careful enough, knelt down and held out a hand.

"Hey, c'mere. You'll get hurt over there," she called out. She was sure the snake would listen to her-they always did.

And sure enough, the serpent lowered back down, turned, and slithered over towards her, coiling around her arm and up to her neck where it would be much safer and out of the way.

Naturally, all this did was shock everyone even more. The Potter twins (who didn't seem to realize they'd done anything strange) were both Parselmouths!?

"What the hell are you playing at!?" Finch-Fletchley demanded angrily, furious gaze locked on Rose. Violet had at least gotten the snake away from them, but Rose couldn't say she had done the same, since the thing had only looked like it was going to attack. But the boy didn't wait for an answer of any kind and hurried out of the hall, wanting to get away as quickly as possible.

Ron, looking so pale his freckles looked darker than usual, silently dragged a rather confused Rose out while other students left in droves, loud chatter breaking out the moment they stepped out into the Entrance Hall. Soon enough the only ones left in the Great Hall were the Slytherins, all of who were looking at their Head of House, waiting to see what he was going to say, unable to believe any of this.

Snape paid them no attention and slowly approached Violet, who still had the summoned snake wrapped around her shoulders. She was speaking to it quietly, the hissing echoing throughout the silent Hall. He simply stared at her for a moment, thinking, remembering, and then spoke abruptly.

"You're all dismissed."

"But-"

"Return to your common room immediately. Now." He had no desire to deal with this in front of the others. Not until he was able to figure out what on earth was going on himself.

Not wanting to argue with a clearly very unhappy Snape, the Slytherins left now too, many of them glancing over their shoulders, all of them more than a little confused…

Once Snape and Violet were alone, Snape, eyes still lingering on the snake, spoke again. "Are you aware that you are a Parselmouth, Miss Potter?"

Violet looked up at him and frowned. "Parselmouth?" This was the first time she'd heard that word. "If...if that means being able to talk to snakes, then yes."

"How long have you had this...ability?"

"Forever? Or for as long as I remember, I guess. And before you ask, Professor, I had no idea Rose could do this too."

Snape inclined his head slowly. "I see. And why have you never mentioned that you are able to speak Parseltongue before?"

Violet looked down and shrugged somewhat awkwardly as she continued to pet the snake. "It isn't something I really like talking about, sir." She didn't elaborate. She had absolutely no desire whatsoever to get into what had happened when the Matron had found out she could speak to snakes. If she'd been hated before, well, the end result had been far worse than just a bit of hatred.

After a pause, Snape explained what exactly it meant to be a Parselmouth. Explained how only those descended from Salazar Slytherin himself possessed the skill, and how no person since the Dark Lord had such a skill, which meant both she and her sister were going to have to be more careful now, lest this information end up in the wrong hands.

Voldemort was a Parselmouth too? Violet tried not to react to that revelation, wondering why she liked that thought. Too bad Rose could do it too. Somehow, that made it feel less...special.

"I will have to vanish that snake, Miss Potter," said Snape. "Summoned animals are always more dangerous than their counterparts. I cannot, in good conscience, allow this snake to remain here, Parselmouth or not." He saw the expression that crossed her face, the sudden sadness that appeared in her eyes. He clenched his fist, remembering his friend. "Do you desire a pet, Miss Potter?"

Violet half nodded, half shrugged. "Yes," she said honestly. "But we aren't allowed to keep snakes here, according to the rules. And the Matron doesn't allow pets either."

Snape hummed lowly, making a mental note to discuss this with the Headmaster. The old man was no doubt going to want to speak to him about what had happened anyway, he knew. Sometimes he truly cursed his position.

As expected, it didn't take Albus particularly long to call Severus to his office. "Severus! Come, sit. Tea?"

"No thank you, Headmaster."

"Very well." He sipped from a teacup himself, set it back down on his desk, then said, "Now, what is this I hear about both young Violet and Rose being Parselmouths?"

"It is as you heard," said Severus. "They both possess the skill, and demonstrated it as well." And in a clipped tone, he recounted what had happened and what Violet had told him afterward.

"I see..." Frowning, Albus stroked his long beard in thought. He hadn't been surprised to hear one of those girls had that ability-he'd even been expecting it, but the other was an unexpected surprise. "How strange," he murmured to himself.

"Ah."

"Yes, Severus?"

"Violet desires a pet-a snake, I assume, but is concerned due to the rules in place, and the Matron of that orphanage you left her in." He saw the expression on the Headmaster's face-the protest, and his eyes narrowed. "You put her twin on the Quidditch team last year," he reminded the Headmaster, "gave her their...father's Invisibility Cloak, and have allowed her to get away with a great number of things."

"Severus," Albus began in a mollifying tone.

Severus shook his head and stood. "If you are going to show obvious special treatment towards one of them, Albus, you may as well do the same with the other. And you can't say that only cats, toads, and owls are allowed here as pets. Weasley has a rat that I distinctly recall one of his brothers owning before him, and I have heard from Minerva that Jordan brought a rather large tarantula with him last year."

Albus sighed, but nodded. "Very well, I shall be sure to think about it. Snakes, Severus, are generally far more dangerous than any of the other animals, rats and tarantulas included."

Satisfied with that for now, Severus left the large round office and made his way down to the dungeon, trying not to compare either of the Potter twins with the Dark Lord. Parseltongue was a very...unnerving language, especially for those who had once served the Dark Lord, willingly or not, and he had to admit to himself that it was rather disconcerting that there were now two in the castle capable of speaking in that same tongue.

Meanwhile, Violet took her sweet time in returning to the common room, unsure of how everyone was going to react to her and what had been revealed earlier. They already didn't get along particularly well, most of them ignoring her as she did them. Others spoke to her coolly or treated her with disdain. Very few thought of her as an actual peer and honestly speaking, she didn't want to lose the little bit of recognition she'd managed to get.

When Violet stepped into the common room, she hesitated in place, noting the many pairs of eyes on her. But their gazes didn't hold any malice. Instead they were filled with...awe. Not all, of course, but many of them.

Cautiously, Violet made her way over to Theodore, who smiled at her and shifted over so she could sit next to him, conversations slowly resuming and picking up wherever they'd left off before she'd entered.

The Slytherins couldn't believe they had an actual Parselmouth in their House! They'd grown up hearing of the ability, hearing how the Dark Lord had had it too, had used it, had commanded it, and now they too had someone who possessed the same skill. To a great number of them, particularly those who came from very old Pureblooded families, simply being in the presence of a Parselmouth was meant to be considered a great honour.

Though Violet didn't realize it at the time, it was at this very moment that a fair number of her housemates stopped being resentful that she was one of them.

That's it for now. Shit, it's been a while since I last wrote a chapter this long. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!