The Girl Who Lived

Chapter 23

As soon as Raven trotted downstairs, the infamous trio came rushing into the common room. "You're a Parselmouth? What didn't you tell us?" Ron grabbed at Harry's robe, Raven's eyebrows furrowing as she walked down to stand beside her brother. "A what?" she asked, Hermione looking exasperated. She would too, if she were surrounded by idiots.

"He can talk to snakes." The bookworm simplified, the twins tilting their heads at the same time. "We know." they spoke at the same time, before Raven continued on. "We accidentally set a python on our cousin Dudley once at the zoo."

"Once. But so what? I bet loads of people here can do it." Harry finished, their friends looking between them before Hermione shook her head. "No. They can't. It's not a very common gift, Harry. This is bad."

"What's bad?" Raven was lost. So was Harry, by the looks of it. "If I hadn't told that snake to not attack Justin-"

"Who's Justin?"

"Oh, so that's what you said to it..." Ron spoke, the three ignoring Raven. She'd get her answers later. "You were there! You heard me." Harry argued, Ron quickly replying with, "You were speaking Parseltongue. Snake language."

"I spoke a different language?" Ron nodded to her brother's question. So what if they spoke Parsel-whatever? It's a snake language. "How can I speak a language, without knowing I can?"

"I don't know, Harry. But it sounded like you were egging the snake on, or something." Hermione piped up. "Harry, listen to me. There's a reason the Slytherin symbol is a serpent. Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth, he could talk to snakes too."

"Exactly." Ron added. "Now the whole school is going to think you're his great-great-great-great grandson or something."

"But we're not." Harry argued. "We can't be." Raven added.

"He lived a thousand years ago. For all we know, you could be." Hermione sighed.

Without another word, her brother grabbed Hedwig, his outerwear and his broom, taking off. "I guess he'll be back..." Ron spoke up awkwardly, looking over to Raven. "Yeah, sure, whatever. I uh, I'm gonna go get some fresh air." she mumbled, grabbing her sketch pad and pencils before retreating. The rest of the day went by silently, but Raven could feel the eyes on her. Every time she looked up, students were openly staring or whispering about her, pointing fingers if they were brave enough. Even Malfoy didn't approach her, though it was after lunch, so she wasn't too worried about anything.

Study hall was even worse for the twins. More so for Harry than Raven. When the staring became too much, she watched as he left before writing a few more sentences when she heard it: "-Justin let it slip to Harry that he was muggle-born." a boy spoke. "And you definitely think that Potter is the heir to Slytherin?" a girl asked. There was a pause before the boy spoke again.

"Hannah, he's a parselmouth. Everyone knows that's the mark of a dark wizard. Have you ever met a decent wizard who can talk to snakes?"

"But Harry always seemed so nice... and he was the one who made you know who disappear."

"That's just it. He got rid of him so he wouldn't have to compete with another dark-"

Raven's textbook slammed down on the table next to the boy's hand, the sound echoing throughout the hall. Everyone stopped what they were doing, staring at the female Potter whose face was as calm and blank as Snape's. Her chest heaved as she inhaled, and she spoke. "In case you all have forgotten," she started, addressing the entire room, though her eyes focused solely on the boy's. "I was there with Harry. We fought Voldemort together. I'm also a Parselmouth, for those of you wondering. I could be the heir to Slytherin for all you know, or perhaps neither of us are. If we wanted you dead or injured, we would have done so already."

Her emerald eyes left his, glaring at anyone who dared to look at her before stalking off to the courtyard. Her thoughts were muddled. How could people be so ignorant and idiotic? Harry wouldn't even think of hurting an innocent person. She admired her brother for being quiet, she could see the things he wanted to say but unlike her brother, Raven didn't have a censor. She spoke what was on her mind eventually, and if it took the attention off of Harry, she'd be glad to suffer through whatever Harrowing experience the students put her through.

Her footsteps faltered when she heard the voice again. She always ignored it, tried her best to stay away from where it was. Eventually it'd stop, but it was closer than ever. It seemed to come from the walls. Her feet followed the sound, her body on autopilot as she trailed down the halls. She turned the corner, seeing Harry crouched down in front of a boy from Hufflepuff. She broke into a sprint, grabbing her brother by the shoulders frantically. "Are you alright? What happened? Oh dear, please tell me your arm isn't broken again. Wh-" she kept listing off things that could have harmed him when he placed a hand over her mouth. "I'm fine. I don't know what happened, but I think he was Petrified."

"Caught in the act." a gruff voice spoke. Looking up, the twins saw Mr. Filch glaring at them. "I'll have you out this time Potter, mark my words."

Harry stuttered. "N-No. Mr. Filch, I-it's not what - you don't understand -" his voice died. Looking down, Raven gave a little squeak and moved out of the way, the twins watching a line of tiny spiders soldier on past them, up the wall and out the window.