Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the Patil Twins and also Harry Potter.

Parts of this chapter are quoted from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

A/N: This is going to be a short story. It's probably going to be limited to about three chapters, and I don't really have plans to extend it beyond second year. But I had this idea a while ago, and I thought it was a story that deserved to be told, so here we go. If anyone wants to write a continuation when it's done, be my guest.

Chapter 1

Parvati Patil watched helplessly as Gilderoy Lockhart, master creature wrangler (and master heartthrob) somehow botched a simple snake-banishing charm, sending the conjured serpent flying ten feet in the air and back down to the duelling stage. Padma had pointed it out first, but now that she was watching, Parvati noticed that Professor Lockhart's spellwork had had some definite holes in it all year. She wasn't sure what to make of that.

Regardless, disoriented and angry, the snake lunged towards Justin Finch-Fletchley, rearing up, fangs poised to bite him on the face. Parvati's mind raced. Should she help him? Would Padma? Papa would be so angry if they exposed their family secret, especially with the Chamber of Secrets being opened. Madam Pomfrey could treat snakebites, right? It wasn't like it a was a magical snake—well, conjured-magical, but not magical-magical.

Afterwards, she wasn't sure if she would have done it, but she felt like she was just about to call out herself when Harry Potter ran at the snake and yelled clear as day, "Sai-achass seeheth."

If Parvati felt helpless before, she was frozen with shock now. The snake flopped down and turned back to Harry, but she barely noticed. Her mind went blank, refusing to process what she had just heard. Harry Bloody Potter was a Parselmouth? And he had just announced it to the entire school? She looked over at Padma. Her sister was staring with wide eyes like she'd just seen a demon, and she knew she must look the same. (Granted, a lot of their classmates did, too, for a different reason.)

A moment later, she was reminded that her classmates did not, in fact, know what Harry had said. All of them were freaking out, and Justin was freaking out the most. He yelled at Harry, "What do you think you're playing at?" and then bolted from the Hall.

Professor Snape vanished the snake, but the murmurs were rising around them. Parvati jolted when Lavender grabbed her arm tight. "Oh, Merlin did you see that?" she squeaked, then dropped to a whisper. "Harry Potter's a Parselmouth!"

"Yeah," Parvati said absently, pulling away. She looked over to her sister again, and no words needed to be exchanged between them. We need to talk to Harry. "Just a minute, Lav."

She wrested herself from her friend's grip, but unfortunately, Hermione and Ronald Weasley were already dragging a clearly confused Harry out of the Great Hall, the crowd parting to let them through. The twins couldn't follow and catch up without attracting attention, not to mention how her fellow Gryffindors would react. It was good in that those two would at least tell the boy what the fuss was, but bad because she doubted they would endear him to Parselmouths in general. Hadn't that been what Papa warned them every year?

They pulled away from the crowd, who were nervously dispersing back to the dorms. "Now what?" Padma asked once they were sufficiently alone.

"We'll have to talk to him tomorrow," Parvati said. "I'll try to catch him at breakfast and tell him to meet us after classes."

"And hope Weasley didn't fill his head with too many lies," Padma added.

"Do you have any idea how that happened?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, sis," she said. "Papa said he didn't think there were any Parselmouths left in Britain."

"Except the Heir of Slytherin," Parvati pointed out.

Silence passed between them, and Padma gave her an enquiring look.

"No, that doesn't make sense," she concluded. "Not with how tight he is with Hermione. And why this year? Why not last year, or better yet seventh year?"

"Good point. I guess we'll just have to keep an ear out, like before."

They went to bed with Parvati not having a chance to talk to Harry. She didn't really consider talking to Hermione. Hermione had been so on-edge since the Chamber of Secrets was opened that Parvati wasn't sure how she'd react. No, it was better to talk to Harry first.

The next morning, however, Harry was no more accessible to Parvati. While most of the school was avoiding him, Hermione and Ronald were still sticking close to him—probably to protect him from the rest of the school, which was all well and noble of them, but made it much more inconvenient for her. He managed to come in and out of breakfast without leaving her an opportunity to talk to speak with him—without attracting attention, anyway.

Parvati's next plan, to pass Harry a note in Herbology class, was scrapped when Professor Sprout cancelled the class on account of the blizzard. And on Sunday, she and Padma would be taking the train back home for Winter Holidays. She was running out of time, she thought as the Gryffindors trudged back up to their Common Room. Harry continued sitting with Hermione and Ronald, while Parvati tried to keep half an ear on him, hoping for an opening while chatting with Lavender and the other girls.

Eventually, Harry got up and left the Common Room for some reason, leaving Hermione and Ronald behind playing chess. She considered going after him right away, but decided that would be too conspicuous. Instead, she waited a few minutes, then made an excuse about needing to go to the library. That finally got her away from her housemates so she could try to talk to Harry in private.

Except she didn't have any idea where he had gone. After wandering around for a bit, she decided to head towards the Transfiguration Classroom, since that was their next class. Hopefully, she could catch him on the way. And this time, her luck held out, as just as she started down the corridor, Harry Potter stomped past her in a huff.

"Oh, Harry! There you are!" she called after him. He didn't slow down, so she jogged to catch up and called again, "Harry!"

He slowed his steps and looked over his shoulder. "Huh? Oh, hi Parvati," he said distractedly. "Hey, I don't suppose you've seen Justin anywhere?"

"Justin? No," she said. "And no offence, but I don't think he'll want to talk to you after last night."

"I don't care. I need to talk to him." He took off again with fast strides, leaving her hurrying to catch up.

"Harry, what's wrong?" she asked him. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Because everyone thinks I tried to attack him! I need to tell him I didn't so maybe we can clear things up. Someone should have noticed that I was telling the snake to back off from him."

Parvati hesitated. Should she? It really should be both of them, but Harry didn't sound like he was in the mood to listen anytime soon. It was her best shot. Sorry, Padma, she thought. She glanced over her shoulder to be sure they were alone and then told him in Parseltongue, "I know, Harry, but no one else could understand what you were saying."

And Harry answered, "That shouldn't matter. All they had to do was look and see that it stopped attacking after I talked to it, but apparently Ernie didn't get that."

Parvati struggled to speak for a moment. It wasn't what he said. It was the fact that Harry had so easily switched to Parseltongue without the slightest reaction, and only switched back when he said a proper name. She was so dazed that all she could say was, "Ernie?"

"Yeah," he grumbled. "He was going on about how I'm definitely the Heir of Slytherin, and Justin's been scared of me ever since he told me he was muggle-born."

She collected herself and tried again: "Didn't he tell you that at the start of the year? That was way before the Chamber of Secrets was opened."

"I know!" he said, his Parseltongue getting a bit too loud. "I don't why everyone's freaking out so much. When have I ever said anything against muggle-borns?"

"Shush!" she said, looking around for any eavesdroppers. "Never, as far as I know, but not everyone's going to get it. Everyone around here thinks Parseltongue is automatically the mark of a dark wizard. Why do you think Padma and I haven't told anyone?"

He glanced over his shoulder, confused. "Told anyone what?"

She blinked. "That we can speak Parseltongue."

Harry stopped dead in his tracks and spun around. "You can speak Parseltongue?" he said with entirely too much surprise.

Parvati shook her head, utterly lost. "Um, yes? Harry, we've both been speaking it for the past minute."

He stared at her, mouth hanging open, and then, inexplicably, his expression shifted to one of anger. "Is this some kind of prank?" he hissed. "Did Fred and George put you up to this?" He didn't even switch back that time.

"What? No!"

"Yeah? What about Malfoy? Is he trying to mess with my head?"

"Malfoy? Why would I do anything for that git?"

"Well, why else would you be doing this? Come up to me and pretend you can speak Parseltongue to, what? Get me to admit I'm the Heir of Slytherin or something?"

"Pretend? Harry, what are you talking about? We are speaking Parseltongue!"

"Parvati, we're speaking English!"

"No, we—Wait, you really can't tell the difference between English and Parseltongue?" she asked.

"Well, I…" He stopped, thinking, with a worrying realisation creeping over his face. "I don't…"

"What?"

"Last night…I didn't know I was speaking it until Ron told me."

"You mean you didn't know you could speak to snakes?"

"Well, I did, but I'd only done it once. And I didn't know it was anything weird—well, weirder than usual."

That…that would explain a few things, she thought. She stepped closer to him and put her hands on his shoulders so he had to look her in the eyes. "Okay, Harry, listen. Really listen to the sounds," she told him. "Ignore the words; just listen to the sounds ungatas seesh—"

"Bloody hell!" Harry jumped back from her, lapsing into English again.

Parvati nodded to him. "Can you hear it now?"

"You…you really can speak Parseltongue?" he said.

"Yes, that's what I was trying to tell you. Also, that was English."

But Harry ignored that comment, instead demanding, "Then why didn't you tell everyone I told the snake to back off from Justin?"

"Oh yeah, great idea," she scoffed. "How do you think the school would react if they knew there were three Parselmouths running around? And still English."

"Look, Parvati, I…I still need to talk to Justin," he said lamely.

He turned and hurried back up the corridor where he was going before. Parvati raced to follow. Unfortunately, they didn't get very far. In fact, they only got around the next corner. Parvati saw them first, and she screamed when she did. "HARRY!"

Harry looked where she was pointing and groaned. "Oh, no…"

It was Justin, petrified on the floor. And, somehow, so was Nearly-Headless Nick.

And then, as if that weren't enough, Peeves came by, and then all hell broke loose.

"ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!"

Parvati and Harry were cornered by their classmates before they could get away. It wasn't lost on them that Parvati had been found with Harry when the attack happened, which didn't bode well for her. She tried to defend him, but there was so much yelling that she couldn't get a word in. The corridor only quieted down when Professor McGonagall pushed her way to the front of the crowd and got things under control. Once she dismissed everyone to their common rooms and made arrangements for Justin and Nick to be taken to the Hospital Wing, Parvati rushed up to her.

"Professor McGonagall, it wasn't Harry!" she pleaded. "I was with him the whole time. We just found them like that. And he didn't attack him last night either—"

"Thank you, Miss Patil," McGonagall stopped her, "but this is out of my hands. Potter, the Headmaster will need to speak with you directly about this. And I'm afraid you will need to come, too, Miss Patil."

Parvati and Harry looked at each other nervously as they followed her. Surely, Dumbledore would understand, right? Everyone said he was very fair, not to mention brilliant. He wouldn't punish them without evidence—she hoped.

To Parvati's surprise, Dumbledore wasn't in his office when they arrived, and McGonagall shut the door behind them. She marvelled at the room for a moment. It was large and round, filled with strange silver instruments on little tables that must serve some purpose, though she couldn't guess what, and the walls were lined with books and portraits of past Headmasters and Headmistresses.

"Well, McGonagall must believe us," she told Harry encouragingly. When he didn't respond, she asked, "Harry?"

He jumped. "What?" Harry seemed to be distracted by the Sorting Hat, which sat on one shelf.

"I said McGonagall must believe us that we didn't do it. She wouldn't have left us alone if she thought we were attacking students."

Harry didn't look convinced. "Er, maybe," he mumbled.

But just then, of all the rotten timing, Parvati nearly jumped out of her skin when the large and very sickly-looking bird behind the, suddenly burst into flames, moments before Dumbledore himself entered the office.

Harry started stammering denials, which gave Parvati just enough time to get her mind back in gear to realise just how unusual that sight was, and she blurted out, "Is that a phoenix, Professor."

Harry stopped and stared at her in disbelief, but Dumbledore smiled. "Very astute, Miss Patil," he said. "Fawkes is a phoenix—and he has been my faithful companion for many years."

Harry's head bounced back and forth between the two of them. "What?" he said.

That led to an impromptu lesson about phoenixes while Dumbledore tended to the now-tiny chick before he sat down and told the pair flat-out that he didn't believe they had anything to do with the attack on Justin and Nearly-Headless Nick, which left Parvati wondering about the point of the whole meeting. He didn't ask for their side of the story, and he didn't ask them any probing questions—well, not exactly. He gave them the opportunity to speak, but it didn't seem like a good time to say anything under the circumstances—at least that was what she thought. She wasn't sure about Harry.

"I must ask you, Harry, whether there's anything you'd like to tell me," he said gently. "Anything at all."

Harry paused at Dumbledore's question—entirely too long, in Parvati's opinion, though he had plenty of reasons. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Would he tell Dumbledore about her being a Parselmouth. It wouldn't be so bad if it were Dumbledore, but she'd still rather he didn't.

Finally, "No," said Harry. "There isn't anything, Professor."

"I see," Dumbledore said. If he was disappointed, he didn't show it outwardly, but her gut told her he knew something was going on. "And you, Miss Patil?" he said, turning to her. "Is there anything you would like to tell me?"

Parvati hesitated too, but only for a moment. "No, Professor."

The two of them left the Head's Office feeling nearly as unsettled as when they went in. Even if they weren't in trouble, the fact remained that another student and a ghost had just been attacked by the Heir of Slytherin, and they still hadn't had the conversation they needed to about Harry's newfound ability.

Once they had got a few paces away from the door, Harry finally spoke to her again. "You didn't tell Dumbledore you're a Parselmouth," he said softly.

"Because it's not my secret to tell—not really," she replied. "It's Padma's, too, and our family's. I told you because we were both going to tell you later anyway. And thank you for not telling him yourself, Harry…but why didn't you?"

Harry hesitated even longer this time. "I don't know," he finally said. "It didn't feel right. Not knowing what's going on with…" He waved his arm around vaguely. "…anything. I didn't know what would happen—if it would make things worse or something."

Suddenly, her sister rushed out of the shadows and grabbed her in a hug. "Parv! There you are! What happened? Are you in trouble?" Padma demanded.

"Mmph. Hi, Pad," Parvati grunted as Padma did her best to squeeze the life out of her. When Padma backed off, she collected herself. "We're not in trouble," she said. "Dumbledore believed us that we just found Justin and Nick like that." She lowered her voice and added, "I mean, it's not like there would be two Heirs of Slytherin running around, right?" She glanced at Harry. "I told him just before."

Padma looked around quickly. "Oh, good, so you know about us?" she asked in Parseltongue.

"Erm, yeah. Kinda weird, no offence, but—"

"There, now that's Parseltongue," Parvati interrupted.

"Wait it was?" he said in surprise, jumping back to English.

But before they could continue, Padma stopped them: "We should go somewhere more private."

They hurried down the corridor to reach an empty classroom, checking to make sure Peeves wasn't about first. "Okay, spill," she said.

"I only had time to convince Harry I could speak Parseltongue," Parvati told her. "He never learnt to tell the difference."

Padma looked at Harry in surprise. "That can happen?"

"Apparently," she said.

"Hey, I'd only done it once before last night," Harry protested. "I just thought it was magic somehow. I didn't know it was a language. Anyway, is this Parseltongue? I'm trying to listen, but it's hard to do that and pay attention to what you're saying."

"Yes, this is Parseltongue," Parvati said.

"Right. I tried doing it again last night, but I couldn't. Nothing would come out."

"And you lost it just then," Padma said.

"How is that happening?" he demanded.

"I don't know. Maybe you're overthinking it?" Padma said.

"Or maybe it's because we learnt it when we were younger," Parvati suggested.

"I still can't really tell if I'm doing it right," he said. "Is this it?"

"Yes," they both said.

"Okay…ugh, I don't even know why I want to," he griped. "Everyone thinks I'm a dark wizard, now."

"Not everyone," Parvati protested. "I don't think many people in Gryffindor do. And it can be useful sometimes."

Harry grumbled and didn't seem to believe it. "So, how can you speak Parseltongue?" he asked. "Ron said it was really rare, and only Slytherin was really known for it."

Both twins rolled their eyes. "English," Padma said. "And only Slytherin is known for it in Britain," she informed him. "Parselmouths are more common in India. It runs in our family."

"We're not super-common, mind, but we could have expected there to be more than just us at school there," Parvati added.

"So, how does that work?" Harry asked slowly, making an effort to get the language right. "I mean, you saw how Justin acted last night, and Ron said everyone thinks Parseltongue is a sign of a dark wizard. So did Ernie, in fact."

"That's because you—" Padma started, but she stopped and switched to English. "Sorry, not enough words. That's because you grew up in a Christian country—or at least, that's what Papa says. Snakes don't have the same associations in India that they do here. The ideas of pride, cunning, and treachery come from the Biblical stories—you know, the Slytherin traits. But in India, snakes symbolise death and rebirth. You can see associations with healing sometimes even in the West, but they're much stronger there. You could easily have a Hufflepuff associated with snakes in India—maybe more easily."

Harry suddenly perked up at that. "So you're saying a Parselmouth doesn't have to be in Slytherin?" he said, looking the most eager he had all day.

"Well, we're sure not," Parvati said. "Just because Salazar Slytherin was one doesn't mean anything. The Sorting Hat put you in Gryffindor for a reason, just like me."

In flash, Harry looked very nervous. "Er…well…"

"What?" she asked.

He hesitated with that same look on his face. He looked even more nervous than she'd felt when she told him she was a Parselmouth. He couldn't have another huge secret, could he? Well, he probably could. He was Harry Potter. But one that made him that nervous? He finally said, "It's just that…Hermione said I could be related to Slytherin and not know it since he lived so long ago. And you could've got Parseltongue from your family in India, but if the only family in Britain to have it was Slytherin's—"

"So?" Parvati cut in. "I know you didn't attack Justin, Harry. And I don't believe you attacked Colin or Filch's cat, either. We believe that family is import, but that doesn't mean you have to be just like him."

Padma nodded: "And besides, you can be a Parselmouth and not get it from your family, too, just like muggle-borns don't have magic in their families."

He sighed. "Thanks, girls," he said, even though he didn't exactly sound like he believed it.

"So, what did happen?" Padma asked. "Everyone's talking about how Justin was attacked, and you were there. Then, I asked Professor McGonagall, and she said you said you found him like that."

"We did," Parvati said. "Harry was looking for him, but he and Sir Nick were both on the floor when we ran into them."

"Why were you looking for Justin?" she asked turning to Harry.

"I wanted to tell him I'm not the Heir of Slytherin, and I wasn't trying to attack him last night." He crossed his arms. "Fat lot of good that did."

"And you didn't see anyone else around?"

"No," Parvati said.

"Well, I saw Hagrid, but he couldn't be the Heir of Slytherin," Harry agreed.

"No, that'd be ridiculous," Padma said. "Besides, he's been here for ages."

"And I'm guessing no one in the classrooms heard anything?" Parvati asked.

"No. Well, I thought I heard a snake a little while before Peeves shouted."

"A snake?" Parvati asked.

"Yes, I thought it was odd because it sounded big—and hungry."

"You think it was a snake?" Harry said.

Padma shook her head: "I don't know. It was probably just my mind playing tricks on me, honestly. Sounded bigger than it really was. Besides, I never heard of a snake petrifying anyone. A Gorgon could, but we'd notice if there were one of them running around."

"So, we still don't have any idea who the Heir is," Harry said with a sigh.

"Afraid not," Parvati told him. "Your guess is as good as ours."

He sat in one of the seats, looking defeated, but after a moment, a thought struck him. "There aren't any other Parselmouths in the school, are there?" he asked.

"Not that we know of," she said, "but they probably wouldn't advertise it, just like us. Why?"

"Well, I'm not the Heir of Slytherin. And you're not the Heirs of Slytherin. But people think the Heir of Slytherin is a Parselmouth, right?"

"I suppose. If it is the Heir and not just someone trying to scare us. But no, we don't know who it could be. Papa's asked around the other Purebloods about it, discreetly, and they all said the only family line in Britain that's known for Parselmouths is—"

"Slytherin's," Harry finished.

"Right, and they're supposed to have died out," Padma said.

"What about Malfoy?" he asked.

"Malfoy?" Parvati asked.

"Yeah. Didn't you hear him on Halloween? 'You'll be next, mudbloods.'"

"Sure, but Malfoy? The Heir? I doubt it. Purebloods love to brag about their heritage. If the Malfoys were related to Slytherin, they'd have told everyone—maybe not now, but a couple generations ago."

"What about Malfoy's mum—or grandmum?" Harry said quickly. "Maybe Malfoy senior is the one who opened it last time because he was the first Malfoy who was an Heir."

The twins looked at each other. "Er…" Padma thought. "I don't think so, but I'm not sure. I can try asking Mandy. She's usually up on that stuff. We probably won't know anything until after the holidays, though."

Harry looked thoughtful at that, as if he had an idea for an answer, but finally, he said, "Yeah, we might have to wait."

"And we need to get to class," Parvati pointed out.

Harry stood, very reluctantly, to follow her. She could guess what he was feeling. He had the solidarity of not being the only Parselmouth in the school now, but everything else had got worse, and they still had no idea who was behind the attacks. The Heir of Slytherin, if that's who it was, was still out there.

"Oh, and Harry, listen," she added. "We wouldn't've minded much if you told Dumbledore, but please don't tell Hermione and Ronald that Padma and I can speak Parseltongue. If it got out, well, you can see what it would be like."

"Yeah, I get it," he said. "I won't tell them."

"Thanks. And hey, don't worry. I'm sure Dumbledore will figure something out," she said hopefully.

"Uh huh. I hope so," he agreed.