𝓼𝓾𝓷𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓮 {𝓭. 𝓶𝓪𝓵𝓯𝓸𝔂}

𝟐.𝟓

"might I suggest someone from my own house? malfoy?", snape questioned, quickly turning around on his heel and signaling for malfoy to get onto the stage.

"p-professor lockhart!!", evelyn suddenly started. "perhaps I could stand in for harry?", the shy girl offered.

"ms. gardener, I believe that you'll have your chance next round. let us see the famous harry potter in action", snape grinned.

evelyn looked over at harry, who was already walking onto the stage and facing malfoy. he gave her a small smile as she watched in anticipation.

"scared potter?"

"you wish", harry retorted.

like snape and lockhart, they both lifted their wands, turned around, and marched away from each other.

lockhart then warned the two second-year boys. "on the count of 3, cast your charms to disarm your opponent. and only disarm!"

"one...two...".

without another second, malfoy yelled, "everte statum!"

harry was hit by a wave of magic, making him flip multiple times in the air before landing on his side. gasps were heard as they all saw harry prop himself up with his arm, standing to cast a spell at malfoy.

"rictusempra!", harry shouted, shooting another ray of magic at malfoy, forcing the boy to twirl and fall onto his bum.

laughter was heard as snape harshly picked malfoy up the ground by his collar. whispering in his ear, malfoy suddenly started grinning.

evelyn then felt a lump form in her throat as malfoy casted another enchantment.

"serpensortia!"

a snake suddenly shot out of malfoy's wand. it hissed, snaking it's way over to harry.

"stay still potter. I've got it handled", snape mocked, walking over to the slithering creature.

"hold on! I've got it!", lockhart bravely announced as he pointed his wand at the snake and said, "alarte ascendare!"

the snake then whooshed into the air, flopping back down on the ground, and angrier than ever. it hissed at all the people around it, making all the students back away slowly.

it suddenly stopped slithering and inched closer and closer to justin-finch-fletchley, a fellow hufflepuff.

"p-professors! d-do something please!", evelyn pleaded. if the creature had gotten any closer to her or justin, she would've screamed.

before snape had taken action, harry started making sounds that were close to that of the snake itself. as if understanding harry, the snake had turned to look at him, closing it's fanged mouth and looked like it was waiting for harry's next command.

the entire room much less shocked, had their jaws dropped to the floor.

harry potter had just spoken parseltongue.

snape quickly burned the snake while everyone was still in their trance.

"what are you playing at?!", justin asked with a face full of terror.

harry didn't answer as he looked at both professors, who just stared back. the students were suddenly dismissed, as only the trio and evelyn stayed behind to consult harry.

ron hurried over to harry, gripping his shoulder tightly.

"you didn't tell me you were able to speak to snakes!!"

"oh..yeah...I mean, last year when the dursley's took me to the zoo, I actually set free a boa constrictor that's never been to brazil before", harry casually said.

"it's never been to brazil before??", ron questioned.

"guys! focus!", hermione reminded.

"it was quite interesting though! you were slithering like the snake itself", evelyn lightly laughed.

"wait, I wasn't speaking normally??", harry questioned.

"not at all! you were like sssssss and sssss and hissss", evelyn said, trying her best to demonstrate what harry sounded like, although it wasn't very accurate.

harry, ron, and hermione both looked at the girl with a funny expression.

"ahem. anyways, you must be careful harry. people are going to start thinking that you're the slytherin heir, since slytherin heirs are the only ones that can speak parseltongue", hermione reminded.

"but I'm not! I'm not even a slytherin—". suddenly harry stopped. he had remembered that in his first year, the sorting hat had told him what a fine slytherin he would be. yet harry had asked to be put into another house, since he didn't want to be labeled as evil or any of the sort.

"I would just watch out harry", hermione warned. "we know you aren't. but from the look on justin's face, others might not think so".

"it's okay harry, we believe in you", evelyn smiled, patting harry's shoulder.

"thanks guys". harry smiled, but his thoughts were jumbled, as poor harry, didn't know what was coming for him.

—✼—

"did you hear? justin-finch-fletchley and headless nick were recently petrified!! just like the first-year, collin creevey!", one whispered.

"wasn't collin the boy that kept taking pictures of harry potter? I once heard harry tell him to move away, he seemed very annoyed by him. poor boy", another whispered back.

"and a while ago, I heard that harry was speaking snake language. justin was terrified!! he thought the snake was going to attack him!"

"do you think that maybe harry's the...", the gossiper looked around before continuing to speak. "maybe harry's the slytherin heir...?"

the other gasped while ginny's brows furrowed. the red-haired girl picked up her pace and walked to her next class.

'it's okay. it's okay', ginny mentally comforted herself as she gripped onto her diary tighter.

'I'll just ask tom once I'm done with class'.

┌─────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────┐

└─────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────┘