Chapter 20

The dead don't die... or do they?

Chamber of Secrets

Upon such a dramatic scene having taken place the gang immediately made their way into their beloved study place, a sort of private common room three quarters Gryffindor and a fourth Slytherin. There was no time to light the fireplace, arrange any chairs, clean up any books or do anything else for now.

"Why didn't you tell us you're a Parselmouth?", Ron blurted out the microsecond Marley had managed to shut the door.

"I'm a what?", Harry semi-defended himself from the accusation he didn't even understand.

"You can talk to snakes.", Hermione spelled it out for him quite simply and effective.

"I know.", was a response from the boy that no one quite expected, "I mean, I accidentally set a python on my cousin Dudley once at the zoo.", he added as a charming but also alarming anecdote, "But so what? I bet loads of people here can do it."

"No, Harry.", Marley added quietly to the conversation. At the state of perhaps his closest friend looking somewhat... scared of him, Harry's alarm bells rang.

"It's not a very common gift.", Hermione elaborated more calmly, "This is bad."

"What's so bad about it?", he nervously retorted in a scoff, "If I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin-"

"Oh, so that's what you said to it.", Ron concluded, sounding naively impressed.

"You were there! You heard me!", Harry went on, each new sentence peeling off a layer of unnerve.

"I heard you speak Parseltongue. Snake language."

Snake language. Suppose it's a real thing, Harry thought to himself in that moment. A few more seconds needed to be added before the boy swallowed that clump of information like a serpent does a small mouse.

"Harry...", echoed a soft voice that might've been from an angel, but was actually from a concerned-looking Marley, who had since placed her hand on his shoulder as she tried to showcase her support.

"I... I spoke a different language... without even realizing it. How can I speak a different language without knowing that I can?"

"I don't know.", Hermione shocked her friends by not providing a solution, "But to everyone thought it sounded like you were egging on the snake to attack Justin.", she took a heavy breath with crossed arms before continuing, "Harry, listen to me. There's a reason the symbol of Slytherin House is a snake. Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth as well. He could talk to them just like you."

"Exactly!", Ron added, again, with maybe a bit too much energy behind it, "Now the whole school is going to think you're his great-great-great-grandson or something."

"But I'm not!", the boy with glasses protested, though his fighting spirit broke down immediately.

"I... I can't be..."

"Slytherin lived a thousand years ago. For all we know... you could be.", became Miss Granger's final crescendo.

"Maybe it's not a bad thing.", Marley finally spoke, providing something significant to the conversation, though it was unfortunately not at all useful, as it only further unsettled Harry.

"It is a bad thing! Everyone is going to think I'm the Heir of Slytherin! I'm... I'm Gryffindor, I..."

As his perception of himself began to crumble, he broke down with it, tears revealing themselves beneath his lenses as he jolted away from Marley's grasp and fled their private common room in a panic.

No one would see Harry for the remainder of the afternoon, minus Ron as the boy crashed into his own bed later that night. He had spent the rest of this horrid day taking a ride on his Nimbus 2000, up to a spot on a hill overlooking all of the castle and lake right next to it. With a quiet Hedwig by his side, he spent hours contemplating the meaning of everything, his left hand stroking the snow owl while his mind was racing about like a golden snitch.

"Who am I, Hedwig?"

For a second his thoughts went back to Marley, a sigh carrying heavy amounts of shame as he remembered how he talked down her support.

"What am I?"

Due to a group of rowdy Ravenclaws using up their study room the day after, the gang was forced to finish their homework someplace else, a larger, shared study room that even provided Professor Burbage as a teaching help, in case anyone needed anything. Most of the students there were Hufflepuffs, plus Ginny, Marley not being able to remember the last time she spotted Ron's younger sister. Though it's not like the girl was in the mood to chat or be friends, instead being seated quite a distance away as she scribbled something into a notebook.

"Are you done with McGonagall's paper yet?", Ron finally whispered, seated next to Miss Verpe. Appropriate question as the Slytherin instead sought knowledge in what looked like a slightly thicker magazine pertaining to Muggle pop culture. If only the girl was a year older and aware that Professor Burbage taught Muggle Studies.

"No. I got bored.", she whispered back, strangely chipper. Amongst other things Ron had quickly caught on to the fact that the girl was dealing with Harry's upset via taking things very lightly.

"This is way more interesting either way. I'm trying to read up on something called 'film classics'. Though I have seen a bunch of these with Finley already.", she proceeded to point at a printed image of the Gremlins (1984) poster, "Here. This is the one I told you about."

Gaining some curiosity as well, Hermione peeked over her page as her eyes widened.

"Is that a Mogwai?", she asked in a quiet voice.

"Yeah.", Marley gave back nonchalant, "A whole bunch of films actually include proper creatures from the Wizarding World, you know. 'American Werewolf in London', 'Ghostbusters', 'Labyrinth'..."

"You saw a lot of movies for a witch that only went to the theatre twice.", Ron added, sounding somewhat accusatory.

"I know.", the lass shrugged, "You could say that the experience rekindled my interest in the topic."

"Holy smokes, they made a movie about Beetlejuice?!", Ron suddenly blurted out, his whisper no longer very whisper-y.

"That's rather dangerous, actually.", Hermione scolded Hollywood, "Making people aware of Beetlejuice can be a real danger."

"Maybe we should stop this conversation now before someone makes the mistake of uttering his name a third time?", Marley finished off the topic, her expression that of a responsible, annoyed mother. While her friends quieted down, secretive chatter from the neighbouring table became audible and, as Harry turned around to investigate, he found that a couple of Hufflepuffs that previously stared in his direction now averted their curious gazes. Sensing and, well, seeing that the boy was hurt by this, the Slytherin girl closed her reading material.

"Just ignore them, Harry. They don't know what they're talking about.", she assured him softly with a smile. Yet it was a gesture that had no effect, as his guilt got the better of him.

"Are you leaving?", Ron correctly identified his actions, that being him packing his things.

"I'll see you in the common room.", Harry spoke in a defeated mumble, "Bye, Marley."

Unable to say or do the right thing to help, his friends merely sat there and watched as Harry left, drawing eyes from everyone else including Ginny and the nosey Hufflepuffs.

On his way out something motivated him to halt. Maybe he should go back and talk it through with the people that trusted and liked him. Especially Marley, who, behind her façade of nonchalance, had been scanning Harry all day, hoping to spot a sign that he might talk to her about it. After all, it's... well, it's Marley.

"...anyway, I told Justin to hide in our dormitory. If Potter and Verpe marked him as their next victim, he'd better keep a low profile."

Hearing those words from the rude Hufflepuff students prior mentioned, Harry's heart made sure to skip a beat or two. Taking a few steps back he was now close enough to eavesdrop behind the impressive stone arcs separating study room from hallway.

"But why would he attack Justin?", a female voice added.

"Well, Justin let it slip that he's Muggleborn. I'm sure Potter and Verpe are already making plans in secret."

At the nasty words being uttered Harry realized that the curious stares from before did not just pertain to him, but to the girl sitting across from him as well. Did Marley even know she was suspected alongside him?

"And you definitely think it's him?", the girl voice continued, "He's the Heir of Slytherin?"

"Well, it's one of the two. It'd make sense for Verpe since she's an actual Slytherin, but Potter is the one talking to snakes. That's the mark of a dark wizard. Have you ever heard of a decent one who could talk to snakes? They called Slytherin himself the Serpent Tongue."

"Harry always seemed so nice though. Maybe he's been putting up an act. Maybe he's even manipulating her to get what he wants."

At this theory in particular Harry boiled with rage.

"And I always thought he's a good wizard since he made You Know Whom disappear."

"That's probably why You Know Whom wanted to kill him in the first place. So that he wouldn't have to compete with another Dark Lord."

That final verdict caused Harry to leave for good, fired up with emotion from head to toes, feelings of guilt for dragging Marley into this, shame that he might have a connection to Salazar Slytherin, panic as to who he might be deep down inside. It was mostly Marley though. Accusing him of using her in any way... of lying to her about his true identity... it almost tore him apart. And it almost broke the waterworks, were he not to run into a certain half-giant carrying a dead rooster.

"Hello, Harry. You alright there?", the beefcake inquired in a jolly tone.

"Hagrid...", was all the boy could stutter at first, "...what are you doing here?"

"Second one killed this term.", the man declared as the held up the animal carcass, "I reckon it's a fox or a blood-sucking bugbear. I'm on my way to Dumbledore's to ask for permission. A little charm 'round the old hen coop."

He paused in his ramblings as he took a proper look at the clearly unnerved boy standing in front of him.

"You sure you're alright there? Look awfully hot and bothered."

"I'm fine... it's nothing.", Harry responded with his eyes averted, "I better get going. Lots of... studying..."

Forgetting to properly say goodbye, Harry simply sprinted off into some hallway, not even the correct one to get to the Gryffindor common room. Where was he even going? And what would it matter, anyways? The whole school thought of him as some evil mastermind, set of harming Muggleborns, alongside his... bewitched... manipulated... evil... girlfriend or something.

He finally came to a halt, allowing the tears to show as he briefly took off his glasses, wiping his eyes with the corner of his Hogwarts robes.

Perhaps they were right. Perhaps he was the Heir, without even being aware of it. Maybe that's why the Sorting Hat considered putting him in Slytherin last year. Maybe Marley was right, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing. Maybe he would've been happy there. He would've had her, at least. He would've had... he would've had...

At this hurricane of emotions and thoughts rampaging through his brain, close to a corridor's edge decorated with a torch pillar, Harry...

Wait, what was that he thought of earlier? Marley? His "evil girlfriend"? The boy scoffed. Silly thought. Marley his... evil... girlfriend... his... girlfriend... Marley...

"Harry?"

As if having conjured her like Beetlejuice, the thought of the girl alone seems to have manifested her somehow, plopping Marley into the same hallway right across from him, the light of the fiery torch illuminating her... nicely. Beautifully, even.

The more rational explanation was that the girl had followed him and asked Hagrid for directions, though for the twelve-year-old struggling with an identity crisis it wasn't exactly peak rationale hours.

"Oh no, you've been crying...", she whined, stepping closer as Harry struggled to find even a single word in his head.

"I- uh- eh-"

"It's okay. Come here.", despite her own, suppressed feelings on the subject, Marley still powered through and offered her friend a hug, one which, to Harry, felt as soft as clouds, warm as an sunlight, and with her breath in his ear, a strange frenzy burned though his stomach – no, the entire abdomen – even his chest and now his head and everything else-

"I know it sucks when everyone thinks badly of you.", she calmly continued, completely and laughably unaware of Harry's overt blush, "But you're not a bad person. No matter what you are or where you come from, you're still..."

At last, she did finally catch onto to his weirdly sharp stare, the colour on his cheeks, and the slightly gaping mouth. From this strange encounter, the two kids not too far apart from one another, Marley's features took on some red as well.

"Harry, what... what are you... why are you staring at me?"

"They think it's us.", finally ruptured from his mind, his heart beating irrationally as he listened to his own words, "I- I mean they think that you and I... that we... that we're the ones doing... bad stuff."

Well, seldom has there been a poorer choice of words. Though perhaps it was exactly the right one. After all, with the two now this close, with all that emotion rushing through his mind... maybe it wasn't so bad. Maybe Marley being his girlfriend sounded... good?

Interrupting the tense encounter, Leaghon quite suddenly burst from its locket, annoyingly swirling in between the two tomato faces before suddenly taking a turn into a hallway nearby.

"Leaghon?", the girl asked, Harry sensing that a pit of disappointment grew in his stomach as... something wasn't happening. Wait, what did he want to happen?

Then his thoughts came crashing down upon hearing what sounded like a proper alarm, produced in a high-pitched tone by the floating pixie nearby. One look exchanged told him Marley was just as much in distress as her pet.

"What is it?", he asked her in a plump tone.

"That's not good.", she merely gave back, racing for her magic creature as Harry followed right behind.

Though after a few steps, the boy suddenly halted.

Kill...

Kill...

Kill!

Time to kill!

"Harry?", the Slytherin asked as she took note of his brief stop. Now it was his face that reeked of concern.

"The voice... I can hear it again."

As if the first sign hadn't been enough of an indicator, the two youngsters now more or less dashed in the approximate direction of wherever Leaghon was leading them, alongside with what Harry had been able to hear just now.

After a few stairs had been passed they found themselves in the same corridor, structurally, though obviously a dozen or so turns removed from where their... strange conversation took place. Slowing down at almost the same time, Marley froze on the spot as she saw where her pixie was soaring about – obnoxiously swirling around the floating corpse of what looked like a... corpse. A... dead... ghost?

"Sir Nicholas...", the girl whispered in pure shock, having grown quite fond of the quirky spectre. It was, for reasons unknown, that the man once killed via unsuccessful decapitation had been murdered once again, his lifeless eyes hanging open from the head dangling by only a strip of translucent flesh.

"Not just him.", Harry added, his voice a lot more dour than worked up. Behind the double corpse a petrified body lied on the stone floor, one that both Harry and Marley immediately made out to be boy she tried to harm with a snake yesterday – Justin Finch-Fletchney.

"Caught in the act. The demon pair strikes again!", the crooked voice of Argus Filch sounded, the man having fallen short a minute or so before making himself a suspect. As Leaghon hurried back into the girl's locket, Harry struggled to find a proper defence.

"No, Mr. Filch – y-you don't understand-"

Not that he could've persuaded him of their innocence, but by the time he had blurted out those words the cranky, old geezer was gone already, leaving the supposed duo of destruction with two and a half dead bodies and a line of spiders that for some reason decided to escape via a nearby window into the dark of night.