Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 31: Aftershocks

"But what about Evie, mum?"

"Jim!" Lily said more forcefully. Then, her face softened. "You go on. I'll take care of Evie." Jim hesitated. "And then, we'll have treacle tart!" At that, the boy's face lit up with a smile. Lily kissed Jim's forehead and then sent him on back towards the manor house. Once he was out of sight, she walked over to pick up the boy's toy broom. Then, she looked down at the grass snake which seemed to be waiting patiently. For a long moment, she stared at it angrily, as if it were the snake's fault that her son was a Parselmouth with all that entailed. Then, with a sudden flick of her wand, the snake was sliced neatly in two. Lily vanished the remains and then turned back towards the house.

18 December 1992
An hour before dawn

Jim stared up at the darkened ceiling of the Gryffindor dorm. He'd barely slept a wink since the previous night's disaster. He'd made a promise at the age of six to never reveal that he was a Parselmouth, and while he certainly didn't regret using that hated and nearly-forgotten power to save the lives of his classmates, it was heartrending to see that everything his mother had warned him about was true – nearly everyone seemed to hate and fear him now because of Parseltongue's terrible reputation. Worst of all, not only was he exposed as a Parselmouth in front of his peers, but it was under circumstances which seemed to prove that Harry wasn't a Parselmouth. And that meant that Ron was probably right. Jim's ability to speak to snakes was something he'd acquired from Voldemort. A part of the Dark Lord was inside him and had been all along. Was that why he'd been drawn to Mr. Nemo's Occlumency book? Was that why he'd been such an immature prat for so long? Was that what possessed him to call Hermione Granger a "Mudblood" the year before? Jim looked over sadly at Ron's empty bed once more, and then he pulled himself up and started getting dressed for his morning workout.

"Jim?" said Neville sleepily. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Sorry to wake you, Neville. I'm just going for a run."

Neville tried to process that for several seconds. "Jim, there's four feet of snow on the ground outside."

"I know. So, I'll just run up and down the stairs for an hour or so instead."

"Oh," said the other boy. He watched in silence as Jim pulled on some Muggle sweat pants that he used for his morning workouts. "You know, it will get better, Jim. Ron will come around. So will everyone else,"

"Ron and everyone else thinks I'm You-Know-Who Reborn, Neville." Jim paused. "Come to think of it, why do you not think that?"

Neville shrugged. "Because I know you. It's idiotic to think that you might be a dark wizard, especially after you tried to beat up You-Know-Who last year with karate."

"Taekwando."

"Ah," said Neville, who was not conversant with Muggle martial arts techniques. "And anyway, it's ... extra idiotic to think you're a dark wizard just for being a Parselmouth."

Jim gave a sad smile. "You're being pretty broad-minded about it. Especially since last September, you were ready to jump me in the Common Room for that prank I played on Harry with the boggart."

"Gryffindors are supposed to do what's right instead of what's easy. Back then, it was right to stand up to you when you were being a prat to your brother. Now, it's right to stand by you when everyone else is being a prat to you." Then, Neville smirked a bit. "Mind you, there is a certain ... poetry to this. I mean, you have been suggesting that Harry was a future dark wizard since his Sorting and with a lot less actual evidence than being a Parseltongue."

Jim sighed. "Believe me, Neville," he said ruefully. "I am well aware of the fact that I seem to be paying off all my accumulated bad karma at once."