Chapter 23: Parseltongue
Lucas honestly felt sorry for Ginny. She had been tricked by Luna into coming to the Hospital Wing, then forced to be examined by Madam Pomfrey. Lucas was sure that Ginny had bruises from where Luna grabbed her. He would've felt guilty if not for the fact that it was necessary. The book could've been cursed, and Ginny had carried it with her for a few months.
Lucas sighed and looked at Ginny. "How are you feeling?"
"Horrible," she admitted. "Look, Draco, I..."
"You what?" Lucas prompted gently.
"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "Really sorry." Her eyes welled up with tears. "B-but I didn't want to! I s-swear, I didn't w-want to. H-he forced me!"
Lucas stared at her with confusion. "Wait, wait, wait." He held up his hands. "Back up. Can you explain? You're not really making any sense. Is this from the book?"
Ginny nodded, tears streaming down her face. "I th-thought that someone f-forgot it. T-then, I started writing in it. And T-tom, he... he m-made me do those things. It w-wasn't me, I swear! I-It was all him!"
"Tom," Lucas repeated. "Who's Tom?"
"H-he's the owner of the diary," Ginny explained, calming down. Talking it out had seemed to help her. "He seemed so nice, but..."
"He was manipulating you," Lucas finished. He grabbed the diary and flipped through it. It was blank, but the first page had the words, T. M. Riddle. It was faint, no doubt faded from age, but still discernable. "T. M. Riddle." It seemed vaguely familiar, but Lucas couldn't put his finger on why.
Ginny nodded. "He said his name was Tom. H-he made me attack Mrs. Norris on Halloween and Colin." She looked at the bed beside her, where Colin lay there, gripping his camera.
"I could probably find something on him," Lucas mused. "Poke around, see if I can find anything on him. Um, speaking of finding stuff on him, what house do you think he's in? He might've been a student here or something."
"He was very charming," Ginny said. "And manipulative, but you already knew that. A Slytherin, maybe? But... I mean, he could also be a Ravenclaw."
Lucas sighed. "So, I have to check students in two different houses. Great. Super fun. I should probably ask Luna for help. She's in Ravenclaw, after all. It might be a bit shifty if I ask for a list of Ravenclaw students." Not that asking for a list of Slytherin students was shifty at all. Nope. Not at all.
Ginny nodded. "Tell me who he is when you've got his identity, okay?"
"I will," Lucas promised. He turned to leave the Hospital Wing, as he had already been discharged, but Madam Pomfrey came out of her office.
"Oh, no, you don't!" she exclaimed. "You are not leaving until I give you a full check-up!"
Lucas groaned. Yep. He was screwed. Absolutely screwed. How was he going to get out of this one?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Turns out, he doesn't, because check-ups are tests used to see the history of injuries acquired throughout your life and to check your health; to see if any other problems were missed. Lucas wondered if the Mortals had their own version of one. They never did anything like that at Camp Half-Blood, and they couldn't exactly walk into a clinic to get one. That would raise all sorts of questions. Besides, the thought of having a check-up never occured to him. If he did, it would be when he was still living in a house, but that was unlikely. For as long as he could remember, his mom was insane.
Lucas gulped as he watched Madam Pomfrey read through the long roll of parchment that had appeared when she cast the diagnostic spell. Her expression was becoming more concerned as she made her way down the list. Lucas really didn't want to know what she thought of his health history. Most of them would be old - nectar and ambrosia were good like that - but the old ones weren't healed well. Sometimes they couldn't be treated in time, and they got infected. Granted, that rarely happened, but it still did. And the fractured bones were never actually treated. They just stole aspirin and hoped that it would heal. Lucas wouldn't be surprised if they healed incorrectly.
Madam Pomfrey rolled up the roll of parchment when she finished reading it and fixed Lucas with a stern gaze. "You have quite an impressive list of injuries," she noted.
"I- uh, yes, ma'am," Lucas stammered. He was so not ready for this conversation. He could almost imagine the nervousness radiating from him.
Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips. "You have a few broken bones that were healed incorrectly. Now, that is an easy fix" - she waved her wand, and Lucas felt a tingling through his body - "but the fact that you have them in the first place is very concerning. You've also had septicemia." She paused. "Multiple times. Of course, none of these are new - according to this, the last injury was a few years ago.
"These are very concerning." Madam Pomfrey glanced at him, concerned. "A child as young as you are shouldn't have these injuries. So, of course, I need to know more. Can you tell me a bit about your childhood?"
Lucas stared at her. Oh no. No, no, no. She did not just imply that. Why would she-
He stopped that train of thought. Of course, Madam Pomfrey would connect it with child abuse. What else was she supposed to think? Oh, he must've been chased by psychos for the better part of his life?
He could just picture Madam Pomfrey's face if he said that. That would surely get his mental health checked.
Lucas straightened up and met Madam Pomfrey's stare evenly. He couldn't tell her. He had to make her back off. What people would do if they found out... No.
"I don't see any reason to tell you," Lucas said in what he hoped was a steady voice. "I hardly think that what happens outside of Hogwarts is of your concern."
"We could get you help-"
"I don't need help," Lucas snapped. "I'll thank you to not poke around in my life."
He got up and left the Hospital Wing, taking the diary with him. Madam Pomfrey was left staring at him in shock. Maybe that was a bit overkill. Well, at least it did the job. Lucas didn't think that Madam Pomfrey would be bothering him about this anytime soon.
Lucas stopped in the middle of the corridor. He needed to find Luna. They needed to find out who Tom M. Riddle was yesterday. He had already forced Ginny to attack Mrs. Norris and Colin. Who knew who he was going to attack next? Sure, Ginny was now being treated, but the book could fall into someone else's hand.
He shook his head. What he needed right now was the Maurader's Map. He had no clue as to where Luna was. With that thought in mind, he started walking to the Slytherin Dungeons as quickly as he could.
"Ashwinder," he muttered as he got to the entrance. The stone wall opened, and Lucas darted in. He ignored everyone inside, for the most part, making a beeline to the Boys' Dormitories.
"Well, hello to you too," Theo said as Lucas rummaged through the trunk. "Can't make time for your friends?"
"Sorry," Lucas apologized as he grabbed the map. "I just have some stuff to do."
Theo sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You know what? I'm tired of this."
"Of what?" Lucas asked.
"All this!" Theo looked like he didn't know who to point at. "You disappear for times at once, and you're never honest about what you were doing! I mean, I thought we were your friends? Or is it because you think you can't trust us?"
Lucas stared at him. He obviously hadn't been doing a great job at hiding it. But it wasn't as if Lucas wanted to keep secrets from everyone. True, he had Luna and the twins - and back at Camp, he also had his brother - but that didn't make it any easier. Lucas wanted to just tell everyone - no secrets involved. But he didn't want to imagine the backlash. He knew how the Wizarding World treated people who were different. How would they take the fact that demigods exist? There had to be a good reason why Hecate told him to keep both worlds apart.
"I can't tell you all of it," Lucas said, looking down. "I'm sorry, but I can't." He stressed the word.
"Just tell me a little bit," Theo replied heatedly. "That's all I'm asking for. At least let me know what's going on."
"Okay." He could do that. He just had to tell him about Riddle. Maybe Theo would know something. "Um, so, when I was getting my books at Flourish and Blotts, we met the Weasleys."
"That was in the paper," Theo noted. "What does this have anything to do with you disappearing doing... Merlin knows what?"
"I'm getting to it," Lucas said impatiently. "Anyway, I saw my father slip a black, tattered diary into Ginny's cauldron." He walked over to his bed and picked up the diary. "This book. I was worried since my father was in a bad mood earlier - and we have a ton of dark objects in our manor, so I asked Fred and George to keep an eye on her. They did, and yesterday night, after they asked to talk to me in private, they gave me this." He waved the book in the air. "They nicked it off Ginny," he clarified. "I told them to get Luna to trick Ginny into the Hospital Wing because I didn't know what the book could've done to her."
"And now..." Theo trailed off. "Okay, I'm guessing you got her into the Hospital Wing. What are you going to do now?"
"I need to find Luna," Lucas replied.
"Luna," he repeated. "Luna Lovegood, daughter of Xenophilius Lovegood? Who people have started to call Loony Lovegood?"
Lucas chucked the diary at him, which bounced off his forehead. "Yeah. I want her to help me find out more about Tom Riddle."
"Tom... Riddle?" Theo asked.
"He was the one who cursed the diary," Lucas explained. "He made Ginny attack Mrs. Norris and Colin Creevey."
Theo whistled. "That's some seriously dark magic, alright. Shouldn't you turn it in or something?"
Lucas snorted. "What would the professors do about it? No, what would Dumbledore do?" He shook his head. "Last year, a troll got in. Something happened with Quirrel that no one informed us about. What's next? I mean, there's already been attacks going on, and they won't do anything!" Lucas took a deep breath. "Sorry, I'm just frustrated."
"It's fine." Theo bit his lip. "Maybe you should go out for a bit. Calm down."
"Yeah." Lucas picked up the Maurader's Map, tapped it with his wand and muttered, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." Lines appeared on the previously blank parchment, and Lucas grinned, seeing Luna's name near the library. "Yeah, I'll definitely do that."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Lucas had ended up asking Luna to help, and then, they had snuck out to the Forbidden Forest to spar. It was the only place suitable for sparring without anybody noticing, and they weren't too worried about the monsters. They had Celestial Bronze weapons, and they were pretty good in a fight. It took his mind off what was happening lately.
They sparred for a few hours until they were covered in sweat and were aching all over.
"Ow," Lucas muttered as he sat down on the ground. "Forgot how much it hurts when you land on the ground multiple times."
"Forgot?" Luna asked.
"Oh, give me a break. I haven't sparred for a while." Lucas plucked a few blades of grass.
"Yet you still beat me a few times."
Lucas shrugged. "Luck? I mean, every time we spar, one of us wins. It's never a tie, but there's no certainty as to who wins."
Luna hummed in agreement. "True. Hey, do you think there are Plimpies in the Black Lake?"
"I don't know." Lucas looked at her. "Why?"
Luna smiled. "Well, I'd like to try my hand at a bowl of freshwater plimpy soup."
"That..." Lucas didn't want to know what it'd look like. "That, uh, sounds... nice."
"It is." She narrowed her eyes. "You don't believe me, do you?"
"I do!"
"Bullshit." Luna tackled him, starting another sparring match.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A week later, a new message had been tacked to the notice board in the Common Room. Slytherins were huddled around the piece of parchment that had been pinned onto the board. As Lucas and Theo headed over, Pansy bounced over to them.
"There's a duelling club now!" she exclaimed, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I wonder who's teaching it. The first meeting's tonight. Oh, it'll be useful..."
Lucas noticed that Daphne was staring at the note with a look in her eyes that he didn't like. Her lips curled into a grin that was close to feral. Lucas made a mental note to never face her in a duel. He wasn't a coward - but he had self-preservation. He had a feeling that Daphne would be brutal.
"It'll definitely be useful," he agreed, tearing his eyes from Daphne. "I mean, with the attacks, it'd be smart to know how to defend yourself."
The four of them all wanted to go, so they headed up to the Great Hall at eight o'clock. The long dining tables had disappeared, replaced with a long, gold stage that was lined against the side of one wall. It was lit with thousands of floating candles above, and the ceiling was pitch black. Most of the school seemed to be there - all of them clutching their wands and looking very excited. None of them were as hyped as Daphne, though.
"I think it might be Flitwick who'll be teaching us," Theo guessed. "He used to be a duelling champion before he taught Charms."
"He's small," Lucas noted. "Bet that makes it hard to hit him."
Pansy cuffed him lightly on the back of his head. "Be nice."
"It was a joke!"
Lockhart walked onto the stage with deep plum robes, and Lucas groaned. His mood brightened considerably, however, when Snape walked on, with his usual robes of black. If anyone could set Lockhart straight, it would be him. Lucas was pretty sure Snape hated Lockhart with every fibre of his being.
Lockhart waved one of his arms for silence. "Gather round, gather round!" he called out. "Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!
"Now, Professor Dumbledore has permitted me to start this little duelling club, to train you all up in case you ever need to protect yourself as I have done on countless occasions - for full details, see my published works.
"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape." Lockhart flashed a huge smile, and Lucas nearly choked. Assistant. If looks could kill, Lockhart would already be dead. "He tells me he knows a tiny bit about duelling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a brief demonstration before we all begin. Now, I don't want any of you, youngsters, to worry - you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"
"I'd pay for Snape to kill him," Lucas mumbled to Theo, knowing that Pansy and Daphne would disagree.
Snape was glaring at Lockhart as if he had destroyed his classroom. His lip curled up in such a way that should've sent Lockhart running.
Snape and Lockhart turned to face each other and bowed. Well, Lockhart did, with a lot of hand twirling. Snape jerked his head irritably. Then, they raised their wands, both like how you would hold a sword.
"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative condition," Lockhart explained. "On the count of three, we will cast our spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."
"Really?" Lucas drawled. Snape looked like he was about to murder someone. Lucas really hoped that it would be Lockhart.
"One, two, three!"
The two of them swung their arms above their shoulders. Snape shouted the Disarming Charm, and Lockhart flew backwards, smashing into the wall.
Lucas snickered. Some of his housemates cheered. The crash wouldn't have killed Lockhart - he hit the wall with his back, not head, but it would give him a nasty bruise.
Lockhart unsteadily got to his feet. His hat had fallen off, and his hair was sticking up in different directions. Even so, he still looked ridiculously handsome. It was infuriating.
"Well, there you have it!" he exclaimed, stumbling onto the platform. "That was a Disarming Charm - as you see, I've lost my wand - ah, thank you, Miss. Brown. Yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was obvious what you were about to do. If I wanted to stop you, it would only be too easy. However, I felt it would be instructive to let them see..."
Lockhart stopped talking, which was good. Snape looked like he was a second away from actually casting the Killing Curse on him. Instead, he said, "Enough! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me..."
They worked through the crowd, pairing up students. Lockhart paired Neville with Justin Finch-Fletchley, but Snape made a beeline for Potter and Weasley.
"Time to break up the dream team, I think," he sneered. Lucas was surprised he even knew the words "dream team." His eyes glittered coldly. "Weasley, you can partner Finnigan. Potter-"
Lucas watched Potter move automatically towards Hermione.
"I don't think so," Snape said with a cruel smile on his face. "Mr. Malfoy, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, Miss. Granger - you can partner Miss. Bulstrode."
Lucas's mouth dropped. What? He had no problem with being paired with Potter - if it was Weasley, he might've complained - but Hermione with Millicent Bulstrode? Hermione would be in some serious trouble. They might be the same gender, but Bulstrode had to be at least twice her weight.
He walked over to Potter, mumbling "Good luck" out of the corner of his mouth to Hermione. Hermione looked at Bulstrode nervously and gave her a weak smile, which was not returned.
Lucas looked at Potter, who looked at him warily.
"Face your partners!" Lockhart instructed, "and bow!"
Lucas and Potter barely bowed, choosing to incline their heads, keeping their eyes on each other.
"Wands at the ready!" Lockhart shouted. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent - only to disarm them - we don't want any accidents. One... two... three..."
They both swung their arms over their shoulders, but Lucas managed to cast his spell first.
"Expelliarmus!" he shouted. The spell wasn't as powerful as Snape's, but Potter's wand flew out of his hand and clattered to the ground.
Potter scowled and grabbed his wand from the floor, yelling, "Rictusempra!"
Lucas dodged the jet of silver light - it hit Zabini, and Zabini doubled over, gasping. His partner, Adrian Pucey, stared in confusion but didn't do anything.
"I said disarm only!" Lockhart cried over the heads of the duelling crowd, but it was no use. Lucas noticed for the first time that the entire place was a disaster. Lockhart tried to defuse the problem again. "Stop! Stop!"
Snape came forward and yelled, "Finite Incantatem!" A haze of green smoke hovered over the scene. Neville and Justin were lying on the floor, breathing heavily; Weasley was holding up a pale Seamus, apologizing for what his wand had done. However, Hermione and Bulstrode were still moving - Millicent had Hermione in a headlock who was whimpering in pain. Both of their wands were left on the floor, forgotten. Lucas went over and pulled Millicent off Hermione, which was hard since she was at least twice his size, but it was easier than it might've been.
"Dear, dear." Lockhart swept through the crowd, looking at the aftermath of the duels. "Up you get, Macmillan... careful there, Miss. Fawcett... pinch it hard, it will stop bleeding in a second, Boot...
"I think I better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," Lockhart decided, standing in the middle of the hall, embarrassed. He looked at Snape, who looked at him with a gleam in his eyes, and Lockhart looked away. "Let's have a volunteer pair - Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley - how about you?"
"A terrible idea, Professor Lockhart." Snape glided over, his black robes making him look like an oversized bat - or maybe a vampire. Lucas had heard rumours about that. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest of spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the Hospital Wing in a matchbox." Neville's face turned even pinker. "How about Malfoy and Potter?" he asked with a cruel smile.
"An excellent idea!" Lockhart announced, gesturing to Lucas and Potter to go into the middle of the hall while the crowd backed up. Lucas had a feeling that something was going to go wrong, and it wasn't going to be pretty.
"Now, Harry," Lockhart said, "when Draco points his wand at you, you do this."
Lucas wasn't sure what the spell was supposed to be. Lockhart raised his wand, made a complicated wiggling action that Lucas was sure would be impossible to memorize, and he dropped it. Lucas snorted as Lockhart quickly snatched it back up, saying, "Whoops - my wand seems to be a little over-excited."
Snape moved closer to Lucas and muttered, "Conjure a snake."
"What?" Lucas hissed. "Conjure a snake? I don't know how to conjure a snake!"
"The incantation is Serpensortia," Snape murmured. "Just point your wand at him and say the word. It's one of the easiest spells to conjure living things."
Lucas wanted to point out that conjuration wasn't taught until much later, but he knew Snape wouldn't listen. Well. It wasn't like he would get in trouble for conjuring a snake. Besides, it'd be fun to mess with Potter.
Potter looked nervous. "Professor, could you show me that blocking thing again?"
"Scared?" Lucas teased. He tried not to think about his doubts. One of the first rules of casting spells: the spell will only work if you believe it will work. You can have the word and wand movement correct, but it won't work unless you tell yourself you can make it work.
"You wish," Potter retorted out of the corner of his mouth.
Lockhart cuffed Potter cheerfully on the shoulder. "Just do what I did?" Lucas wanted to throw up.
"What, drop my wand?" Potter had just earned himself a new level of respect from Lucas.
Lockhart wasn't listening. Lucas took a deep breath and prepared to cast the spell.
"One... two... three!"
Lucas swung his arm over his shoulder and yelled, "Serpensortia!"
There was a little recoil from the wand as the end exploded. A thick black snake shot out of it and landed loudly on the floor. It raised its head, ready to strike. The crowd screamed, backing off, and Lucas stared at the snake in surprise. Well, that worked. He wasn't expecting it to.
"Don't move, Potter," Snape said lazily. He was obviously enjoying the sight of Potter's discomfort. "I'll get rid of it."
"Allow me!" Lockhart declared. Lucas groaned internally. Yep, things would start to go downhill. Lockhart raised his wand and pointed it at the snake - there was a loud bang; the snake flew ten feet into the air instead of vanishing and landed back on the ground with a loud smack. Furious and hissing loudly, the snake slithered towards the nearest person - Justin Finch-Fletchley - and raised itself, exposing its fangs.
At this point, Lucas wasn't sure what had happened. He ran towards Justin, pulling him out of the way, but he didn't realize that he had run several feet in two seconds. He could feel the stares, but the snake was still getting ready to attack. Then, Potter strode forward and shouted, "Leave him!" The snake suddenly turned docile and slumped to the floor. Potter grinned and turned to Justin, but suddenly the smile slid off his face.
Lucas realized that everyone was still whispering. Only, they were talking about Potter, and they were afraid of him. His superspeed had been forgotten for the moment. Lucas supposed that was a good thing, but the thing was, he didn't know what Potter had done.
"What do you think you're playing at?" Justin yelled at Potter, storming off.
Snape walked towards the snake and vanished the snake in a puff of black smoke.
Theo, Pansy, and Daphne had walked over to him. "How'd you do that?" Daphne asked. "That was so cool!"
Lucas frowned. "Do what?"
"Oh, don't play dumb," Theo said. "No secrets, remember? Oh, and I also told them about our conversation earlier."
Lucas stared at them. "I honestly don't know what you're asking about." Before they could yell at him, he added, "There are two things you could be asking about!"
"The way you ran," Pansy said. "How'd you do it? One second you were on the stage - and the next, you were pulling Finch-Fletchley away from the snake."
Lucas hesitated. "Not here," he said. "I'm not talking about it here. Not with this many people."
"Alright." Theo led them out of the Great Hall and into the corridor outside, but upon seeing Hermione, Potter, and Weasley there, they headed to the Dungeons.
"So." Theo gave him a look. "How'd you do it?"
"I honestly don't know," Lucas replied truthfully. He had never gone that fast before. Sure, Lucas could outrun a mortal easily, but that was usual for demigods. He was nowhere as quick as Luke, who could run an entire mile in a minute. "I've never done that before."
"Oh, wonderful," Theo said sarcastically. "You're lucky Potter's a Parselmouth. Otherwise, the entire school would be focused on you."
It took a second for that to register in Lucas's mind. "What?" he asked. "Parselmouth. As in someone who can speak Parseltongue?"
"Yes!" Pansy looked at him in concern. "How come you don't know what a Parselmouth is?"
"I do!" Lucas sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Things were starting to become more and more complicated. "I just..." He looked at them. "You can't tell this to anyone. I mean it. You can't tell them about it until I say you can."
"Okay?" Daphne looked at him quizzically. "What's going on, Draco?"
"I didn't realize he was speaking Parseltongue," Lucas told them. "I thought he was speaking English. I... I'm a Parselmouth." It felt good to get even more things off his chest. He knew that they wouldn't think that it would change anything.
Theo's eyes widened. "Yeah, we definitely don't want anyone catching wind of that. If they reacted that bad to Potter, who knows how they'd react to you?"
"Start a witch hunt?" Lucas suggested. "A one-man witch hunt?"
"That's really not funny," Pansy said. "They'd probably accuse you of being the heir of Slytherin. You are a Slytherin."
"Yeah, that'd make sense, if not for the fact that-" Lucas cut himself off. "Nevermind. Hey, did you know that was my first time conjuring something?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"How will you stop me?" A pale man with black hair and a blurred figure smiled coldly, twirling Lucas's wand. His green and silver tie shimmered. "You can't. You're only a second year."
Lucas hated him immediately. "I will." He clenched his fists. "I will stop you."
"You can't," he mocked. "How would you stop me, Tom Marvolo Riddle, the Heir of Slytherin? As a Pure-Blood, you shouldn't be stopping me." Riddle leaned forward and whispered, "You have to let the Basilisk purge the castle of the Mudbloods."
The scene faded, and Lucas was enveloped in complete darkness. He spun around frantically, trying to see where he was, to no avail. He felt like he was blind, and he didn't like it one bit.
"Hello?" he yelled, still whirling around. "Anyone?" There was no answer, but a low hissing echoed around him, and there was the sound of something heavy dragged across the ground.
The hissing gradually became louder. "Must kill... must remove the threat... must KILL!"
Lucas jolted awake, covered in a cold sweat and his heart thumping erratically. He sat up quickly, scanning the dark dormitory, almost expecting to be attacked. He eyed the shadows. They seemed like they were moving - monsters that were out for his blood. One seemed like a Cyclops holding a large club, the other almost seemed like a hellhound-
Lucas shook his head. What was he thinking? The wards around Hogwarts would keep any monsters away. Besides, he had a knife with him. He could take on any monster. Maybe not an entire group (if that's what they were called), but a few? No problem.
He snorted as he wondered what his friends would think if they knew he slept with a knife under his pillow. They'd probably think he was a psycho or something like that.
Lucas rubbed his face. He wasn't sure what he was dreaming about. It just didn't make sense. The first half could happen, but he was pretty sure that no place could be in total darkness. Unless he shut his eyes, but his eyes were open in the dream. If he even had eyes when dreaming.
He sighed. "Why can't just have a normal life?" he mumbled. "Away from all of this danger. I should've said no while I still could."
Lucas bit his lip, thinking about what had happened. At first, there was a man, telling him there was no way he'd beat him...
Lucas turned to the black diary lying on the bedside table as he remembered what the man had called himself. Tom Marvolo Riddle, the Heir of Slytherin. Salazar had complained about Riddle. He had even said his full name.
He shook his head. "I'll check to see when he came to Hogwarts tomorrow after classes." Lucas laid back down and pulled the covers over him. Within a few turns, he was sound asleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Lucas stared at the large book. He was lucky that he only had to search through a bit. The diary didn't seem too old - maybe a century or two, which narrowed it down significantly. That meant he only had to look at male students in the 19th and 20th centuries.
He sighed. It had been hard enough to convince Madam Pince to lend him the book. Apparently, it was "super old" and had to be treated with great care. Eventually, Lucas made her cave by promising that he'd be very, very careful with it. Anyway, it wasn't like he would toss it in the air while doing cartwheels or make origami out of its yellowed pages.
Lucas stared at the book. There was no way he was going to flip through it, one page at a time, regardless of how less it already was. What was that spell again? Lucas recalled that Flitwick had said something about a charm that would help you find the part you needed in a book the previous year. He drummed his fingers against the table, trying to think.
"Anazitisi," he muttered. "It was Anazitisi. To seek." Lucas drew his wand and pointed at the book, muttering, "Anazitisi Tom Riddle."
The cover of the book twitched but didn't move.
Lucas glared at the book. "Are you kidding me?" Of course, it wouldn't work. The book was much larger than the book Flitwick had given them to practice the spell on. He pointed the wand at the book again and said with more force, "Anazitisi Tom Riddle." This time, it flipped open and stilled after a few seconds. He looked at the page. Written at the top was Tom Marvolo Riddle. Below it was a brief overview and a picture of him.
Tom Riddle, born on December 31st, 1926. He began attending Hogwarts in 1938 and was sorted into Slytherin. He is an English half-blood wizard. Riddle was given the position of Prefect and Head Boy during his time at Hogwarts, as he was a model student who got perfect marks in every test.
Lucas stared at the page. 1938. Not quite as old as he thought, but he managed to get a date and some background. He noticed the linking word. Is. That meant that Riddle was still alive.
"If he's alive," Lucas muttered, "why does Lucius have his diary? No - why is his diary empty in the first place?"
He shut the book (lightly - otherwise, he'd probably never be allowed to set foot in the library again) and returned it to Madam Pince. He was about to leave when he heard a few Hufflepuffs talking in whispers.
"Yeah, I heard that Potter's a Parselmouth," a blonde-haired boy said.
"You weren't there?"
"No, Cyrus. I was in detention, remember?"
Cyrus nodded. "Right. Forgot about that. It's probably for the best that you weren't. I mean, you're a Muggle-born, right?"
"Shhh!" The boy glanced around worriedly. "Not so loud. Remember when Potter came over to Ernie's group this morning?"
Lucas scoffed and rolled his eyes. Why was Parseltongue considered to be an evil ability? It was a tool, like a knife. Would a knife be considered evil? It all depended on the user.
He turned around, only to bump into someone. The book they were holding fell out of their hands, and Lucas caught it out of reflex. It was a transfiguration book.
"Sorry," he apologized, handing the book to the person.
"It's fine," he apologized. "I shouldn't have walked so near you."
"I should've been more careful," Lucas countered. His eyes widened, recognizing him. "You're Diggory?"
"Yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'd prefer it if you called me by my first name, though."
"Cedric, then." Cedric Diggory was the most popular boy of his year. He was very tall, with chiselled features, dark blonde hair, and bright grey eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"Returning a book." He waved the book in the air. "Seems pretty obvious. You?"
Lucas snorted. "I was looking at this book. It was pretty old - must've been here since Hogwarts's founding. I had to convince Madam Pince to let me borrow it."
Cedric grinned. "She's pretty strict," he commented. "Sometimes it does more bad than good."
"Which is why studying in the Common room is better," Lucas muttered. "Only, I usually study with my friends, and a majority of them aren't in Slytherin."
"Any of them in Hufflepuff?" Cedric asked casually, returning the book.
"You?" Lucas suggested. "I mean, I know we're technically not friends... maybe acquaintances?"
"Friend is fine," Cedric said. "You seem nice enough. Is it too much to ask you to cheer for Hufflepuff?"
Lucas stared at him. "Definitely. How am I supposed to choose who to cheer for? Now, I'll have three houses."
"Three?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, I'm not cheering for Slytherin," Lucas said. "Bit of rebellion on my part. Besides, I play for Slytherin."
"Right. The... Seeker."
"Yeah."
"Okay." The conversation was turning very awkward. "I guess I'll see you around?" Cedric asked.
"Yeah." Lucas turned to leave but turned back as a thought hit him. "Does this mean I can ask you for help on my homework?"
Cedric chuckled. "Sure."
Lucas walked out of the library with the intent of finding Ginny. He had promised to tell her when he had found out more about Riddle. Reaching a corner, Lucas stopped. He felt like he shouldn't go down the corner, but he ignored it. It wasn't like anything was going to kill him, right?
When he passed the corner, he was met face to face with a pair of blurred yellow eyes.
A/N
So, I probably shouldn't have left you guys on that cliffhanger, considering what I'm about to do. I've decided to take one or two months off to plan ahead. When I started, I kind of just jumped in without thinking, and while writing this has been enjoyable, I often feel like I can't write anything, and because of that, it slows down my updates. So, as I said earlier, I will take one or two months off to plan ahead and write some chapters, so I'm more ahead. But this chapter was my longest yet, so you get that, I guess. This chapter is 6039 words long. I wrote it in two weeks. What the fuck is wrong with me. It's also the only edited chapter in the entire thing.
I mentioned in the last chapter that the demigods made a plan to get Ginny safe, even if they don't know what the attacks are. It happens off-screen, though. In the book, Ginny was pretty remorseful about what Riddle forced her to do. So I added that even if she hadn't been under his influence for too long. And because she regrets what Riddle made her do, she tells Lucas about him.
So, someone mentioned that it'd be more realistic if Madam Pomfrey gave him a check-up. After thinking it over, I agreed. It would also create a point that could be used against Lucas. The first two paragraphs are basically him mulling over the idea of a check-up. The rest is Madam Pomfrey interrogating him. If you haven't picked up on it yet, Madam Pomfrey thinks he's being abused. Also, septicemia is blood poisoning. It's when bacteria get into the bloodstream. I think it's pretty likely when you're on the run. I mean, all those dirty alleyways... blegh. Anyway, Lucas makes her back off by playing the arrogant toerag. Which he hasn't been doing a great job of (or maybe that's my writing).
So, I realized Theo and the rest of Lucas's friends probably wouldn't be too happy about him keeping secrets. So I had a confrontation between Theo and Lucas. They made up pretty quickly (maybe a bit too quick?), but Lucas can't tell him everything. There's really not much to say here.
I really wanted to write some Lucas and Luna bonding time, so I had them discuss the pressing stuff off-screen and write them fooling around instead.
The Duelling Club. The highlight of this chapter. The whole reason it's called Parseltongue. I decided that Daphne should be the dueller in the group. She's genuinely interested in duelling, and so, she's very excited about the club. I think Lucas would have some sort of self-preservation, and he can see that Daphne would be a formidable opponent in a duel. The rest goes on pretty much the same until when they're paired up. Lucas and Harry are paired together, but Lucas only does Expelliarmus. Harry is the one who casts a jinx/hex (I don't even know anymore. Too much work to categorize them.).
Now, I believe that Lucas wouldn't try to learn how to conjure things in his first or second year. So I wrote Snape as the one who gave him vague instructions to cast Serpensortia and let him figure it out on his own. And this is when one of his demigod powers makes an appearance.
I really wanted to write him using one of his powers, so here you have it. Lucas pulls Justin Finch-Fletchley away from the snake without even realizing that he used that ability. It doesn't go unnoticed, but it's quickly forgotten in favour of Harry's ability to speak Parseltongue. It's then that Lucas realizes that he didn't recognize that Harry was speaking Parseltongue.
Then, Lucas is dragged out and faced with another confrontation. I felt like he wouldn't have used his speed on the run, so he just discovers he can run that fast. Lucas also reveals that Lucas is a Parselmouth. I don't think their friendship would end if Lucas told his Slytherin friends about it. And of course, being a son of Hermes, he has to make a joke about it.
The dream was kind of messy. The first part is a mix of the future and an influence from the diary. Lucas hasn't been writing in it, but I feel that he would be more sensitive to it. The second part was a regular demigod dream. And yes, it was about the Basilisk.
I made up a spell in this next part. Lucas is trying to find more about Riddle, so he uses this spell on the book. Anazitisi is a Greek word meaning To seek.
I have been waiting months to start the friendship between Lucas and Cedric. No, seriously. I had the scene all planned out. And yeah, he notices how good-looking Cedric is. I decided I was going to add more diversity to the Wizarding World. Lucas is bi. Deal with it.
Is the pair of blurred yellow eyes the Basilisk? Yes. Am I going to elaborate? No. You'll just have to wait a few months.