Severus sighed deeply as he poured himself another cup of black coffee and Minerva muffled a snort when he practically inhaled it.
His summer had been so peaceful. No Potter, no Dark Lord, no children, well aside from Draco. He had spent half his time brewing potions, writing scathing entries and replies to Potions Weekly and the other half draining the Malfoy's expensive extensive collection of wine. Lucius had been one of his closest friends at Hogwarts, steadfast in a way that the lestranges simply weren't and that friendship had also grown with Narcissa who was definitely the more ruthless out of the two.
It was the Black madness, he was sure of it. The only member it had seemingly passed over had been quiet and steady Regulus. Severus still found himself wondering what had happened to him sometimes late at night when his mind was half drowned in a bottle of whiskey. Perhaps the black family madness hadn't skipped him after all.
That did nothing to ease his worries when he remembered that Potter was also descended from the Blacks. It was not reassuring to think that brat might also be cursed with madness on top of her bad luck and mad Potter hair.
Severus reached across the table for another blueberry scone because the first day of classes always made him want to jump off the astronomy tower and he would be damned if he didn't let himself have his favourite breakfast before suffering that hell. He had just begun buttering his scone when he ran a cursory eye over the Slytherin table to see if there had been any shifts in power although he doubted it. Mr Blishwick had been the leader of every court he had been a part of since first year and he honestly doubted anyone from the 1st-3rd years would be interested in challenging Potter for -
Severus had been a spy for 13 years, had been a member of the dark lord's inner circle for even longer and had been able to keep his loyalties from two of the most skilled legilimens of their time. Three if you counted himself for he tried to not analyse his own subconscious too deeply and preferred to crawl through life like a particular sardonic embittered flobberworm. He was a master of self-control and yet when he looked in the direction of the Slytherin table he actually dropped his knife in surprise.
Said piece of damned cutlery nicked his hand and Severus had to muffle a string of curses whether in relation to what he had seen or the knife he didn't know.
Because Eliza Potter, twelve years old Eliza Potter, half blood, blood-traitor, girl-who-lived Eliza Potter had just become the Queen of Slytherin.
She sat contentedly with her court around her, she studied the slytherins with possessive eyes and satisfaction sat in her smile. In one night, one night, she had taken over Slytherin. Had dismantled a court of seventh years and taken claim over the entire house. A feat that had only ever been seen once prior 50 years ago. Potter looked absently over the staff table scrunching her nose in distaste when her gaze landed on Lockhart. Severus could relate to her hatred of the man but he wasn't going to let a perfect opportunity to find out what had happened last night slide.
Catching Potter's eye he attempted to slip into her surface level thoughts only to have to stop himself from physically recoiling. For instead of the admittedly usually well-organized mind of Potter's he was met with darkness. There was a door behind him, a key in the lock, the door he had used to enter her mind. But before him lay darkness. Before him lay nothing. And it was hungry. He was suddenly overcome with the sense that if he stayed here for much longer the darkness would devour him and he would become nothing too.
Severus had never exited a mind so quickly before. When he came back to himself he was clenching the table with white knuckles and Potter was staring at him from across the hall with an eyebrow raised and a mischievous smirk on her lips.
He looked away quickly and glanced at the headmaster who was jovially talking to Minerva, blissful in his ignorance over what manner of creature Hogwarts housed in its walls.
Severus returned to his scone.
~
After the fight her court had wasted no time in asking her why she had kept her parselmouth abilities a secret. And then they had to spend a further half hour explaining exactly what parselmouth abilities were and the history behind them. Then they had spent a further half hour plotting over how revealing these abilities, at least to the house, will have affected her standing as parselmouths were apparently revered by darker families. By the time Eliza finally got to sleep it was in the early hours of the morning and although a lacking sleep schedule wasn't anything new to her she still clung to her coffee at the Slytherin table like it was a lifeline in the morning.
Most of her peers didn't drink coffee which she honestly couldn't comprehend, how was pumpkin juice in any way or form better than a steaming cup of black coffee? She was greatly amused when Snape tried to sneak into her mind, probably trying to find out what happened to Blishwick. She was very thankful for Blaise's birthday gift, the look on Snape's face was priceless when he was faced with her occlumency barriers.
Anyone who entered her mind would find there was only one entrance, and seemingly no exit, just swathes of darkness stretching for miles and a key in the lock of the door. When faced with darkness the human reaction was to turn around and head to safety. In the darkness of the cellar at the orphanage Eliza had never had the luxury of escaping. Devil children needed to be punished after all. She used to find the dark terrifying, when she was younger she had thought if she was left in there long enough she would simply dissolve into the darkness around her.
However soon the dark became a comfort. There was a certain peace to being at one with nothing.
Thus it became the perfect barrier to protect her mind.
She was still laughing over his shocked face when they made their way to their first lesson of the year, Herbology with the hufflepuffs where Professor Sprout had them re-potting mandrakes. After that was Transfiguration with the Gryffindor's where Eliza took great pleasure into transfiguring her beetle into many different buttons in a myriad of colours. Once Daphne had gotten the hang of it the two girls had begun a competition to see who could transfigure the most garish button whilst Theo poked his beetle as it scurried across the desk.
After lunch they all headed towards their first defence against the dark arts lesson sharing despairing looks. Eliza had unfortunately sat down and read every single one of Lockhart's books and had taken great pleasure in writing down cutting notes in the margins of all the books. The books weren't even good enough to meet the standard of a novel never mind a textbook and she really wasn't looking forward to attending the class. Depending on how observant the twit was Eliza could just do self-study in the lesson. In fact she would have to sort something out for the older Slytherins, how they were meant to take their exams with such a-
Eliza's train of thought was cut off when a strange tiny blonde Gryffindor popped up in front of them rocking back and forth on his heels.
"Alright Eliza? I'm Colin Creevey, I asked the hat for Slytherin but it told me I belonged in Gryffindor" he said excitedly bobbing closer and Eliza exchanged puzzled looks with her court.
"Can I- can I have a picture?" he said holding up his camera hopefully.
"A picture" Eliza echoed blankly. He nodded and it looked like he was about to release another torrent of worthless babble so Eliza decided to cut him off for all their sakes.
"No" she said simply, nodding in parting and briskly walking away. Her court waited until they were a respectable distance away before bursting into cackling laughter. Eliza rolled her eyes fondly and ushered her still sniggering court into the classroom taking the seats at the back of the class. Eliza slid into her seat and began piling all of Lockhart's books in front of her one by one into a giant tower. In direct opposition Theo had taken out absolutely none of the books and simply plastered an innocent expression on his face when Eliza tilted her head in question. Daphne had taken her books and placed them on the desk to form a sort of battlement in front of her, probably so she didn't have to look at the real thing.
When the entire class had ushered in Lockhart finally arrived standing at the front staring out at the class, the portraits of himself hung around the room wearing the same exact expression.
It was creepy.
"Me" he said gesturing to the portraits "Gilderoy Lockhart, order of merlin, third class and five times winner of witch weekly's most charming smile award – but I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her"
If he was expecting people to laugh he was sorely disappointed.
"I thought we'd start today with a little quiz, to see how well you've read the books" he exclaimed cheerfully not deterred by their lack of enthusiasm and handed out the test papers.
"You have thirty minutes, and start!"
Giving into morbid curiosity Eliza read the test.
What is the Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?
What in your opinion is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?
On and on it went, all the way to what his ideal birthday gift would be. Theo had slumped over the desk, probably asleep and to her left Blaise had started reading her copies of Lockhart's books and let out quiet sniggers every few moments. Sighing Eliza picked up her quill and began answering the questions
Your favourite colour is pink; it's not just for witches!
If your ambition is in your books it's not that much of a secret is it? Trick question
Greatest achievement? I'd like to say actually getting the defence position at Hogwarts but considering how very low that bar is set...
Half an hour later Lockhart collected in the test papers and flicked through them looking oddly nervous as he read through some of them. She had no doubt that any Slytherin were particular kind in their answers. As Lockhart moved on from the tests she nudged Theo awake when Lockhart plonked a large cage on his desk.
"I must ask you not to scream" said Lockhart in a low voice "it might provoke them"
Despite herself Eliza looked up in interest as Lockhart whipped off the cover.
"Yes, Freshly caught Cornish pixies!" he said dramatically. A Gryffindor at the front of the class snorted incredulously. Eliza was disappointed herself, her standards were so very low and he still failed to meet them. Evidently this was not the reaction Lockhart was looking for as he then decided to actually release the pixies and let them run amok in the classroom.
It was pandemonium. The classroom descended into chaos as the pixies rampaged through the room and left destruction in their wake. Lockhart stood in the middle of the room and brandished his wand bellowing
"peskipiksi pesternomi"
It did nothing.
Not surprising considering it wasn't a real spell.
The bell rang and everyone ran out of the room including Lockhart who paused at the door turning to look at Eliza
"Well I'll just ask you four to pop them back in the cage shall I?" he said, sweeping pass them and swinging the door shut. Eliza sighed and pulled out her wand aiming a quick imobulus at a pixie that was trying to steal her ink pot.
"Anyone up for some target practice?" she asked quirking her lip into a small smile.
Her court grinned and they spent the rest of break firing different spells at the pixies seeing who could hit the most as they dumped them back into their cage.
"You know" Blaise said as they shut the cage door "we could forget to lock the cage, it would be a terrible accident"
Eliza traded glances with the rest of her court and they all headed out of the classroom leaving the cage door open behind them.
Apparently when Lockhart came back into the classroom all of his portraits had been destroyed. It was truly a travesty.
~
"Hello professor!" Eliza chimed striding into professor Snape's office Friday evening after a whole week of lessons. Snape grimaced, eyes shutting in exasperation as though he thought if he couldn't see Eliza then she would simply go away.
Eliza took a seat on the desk across from him swinging her legs childishly simply because she knew it would annoy him further.
"I have a proposition to make" she said jumping into the reason she was there.
"Of course you do" Snape seemed to mutter to himself before finally looking up at Eliza "what do you want?"
"I want quite a lot of things professor but I'm afraid you can only help me with one of them" Eliza said liltingly.
"After a week of lessons with Lockhart I can officially say he is not a sufficient teacher for second years let alone those who will be sitting their OWLS and NEWTS at the end of the year" Eliza began and smirked in victory when Snape reluctantly nodded in agreement.
"I can't possibly have any of my Slytherin's suffer like that so I have an idea. If you could draft a syllabus the fifth years and seventh years could follow and open your office up on Friday nights for a couple of hours to help any struggling students the pass rate for this year would increase drastically" Eliza explained.
It was a good idea. She and her court had come up with it today over dinner when they heard the amount of complaints about Lockhart. Blaise had asked her why she simply couldn't just get rid of Lockhart instead of bullying Snape but doing that would have benefited everyone. She didn't like everyone, just her Slytherins. So they could self-study following the syllabus and approach Snape if they had any trouble who was no doubt a very competent defence teacher if the rumours were true. She just had to get him to agree.
"And why should I expend my time, my already severely depleted free time, on this" Snape questioned looking at her drolly.
"We've had to suffer through incompetent teachers year after year and I have never felt the need to step in before" he commented shuffling papers on his desk.
"I'll do your marking for you" Eliza offered grinning when his head snapped up.
"What"
"I wouldn't mark my own year if you were worried about bias although you are not a teacher I would have thought would care about that. I can mark first through fourth years essays though in exchange for your time" she explained still swinging her legs as Snape looked like he was actually considering it before shaking his head sharply.
"You're a second year Potter, you can't expect me to believe you have such a grasp on potions-
"no offence sir but until you get pass OWL level you really don't learn about the nuances of potions, I've read ahead and I have practically an eidetic memory – at least when it suits me. I assure you I won't have any problems, you could even test me if you wanted"
Snape looked like he was seriously considering her offer which just proved how hellish those essays must be to mark when he nodded in agreement
"Don't make me regret this Potter, I'll have the syllabus drafted by Monday"
Eliza's face broke into a splitting grin and she hopped off the desk.
"You have no idea how much they'll appreciate it Professor, it's a pleasure doing business with you" she nodded at him not even bothering to shake his hand before leaving.
"Oh and don't worry about me marking the work, I can already forge your handwriting"
Snape actually face palmed behind her and Eliza muffled her laughter until she escaped into the corridor.
It was always nice when things went her way
~
Things were not going her way.
It was no wonder that Snape had jumped at the opportunity to shave of half of his marking and she no longer had to question why his marking was always so vicious, some of these students truly were the height of idiocy. Even though it was obvious the Slytherins were benefiting from it, barely two weeks in and already there was an improvement in their knowledge and even morale. She knew they were all quite pleased to have her as a leader.
She was still dodging that Creevey boy in the corridors as well but Malfoy had also stopped speaking to her and Eliza felt like those two things balanced out quite nicely so even Malfoy wasn't the one causing things to go wrong this time.
No things were not going her way because of Dumbledore. Well, she had also been hearing a weird hissy voice in the walls these past few weeks and the disconcerting feeling of eyes following her but she had promptly decided that that was not her problem.
It was the first week of October when she had gotten a note from Dumbledore requesting her presence this coming Saturday in her office. The headmaster requesting her presence couldn't mean anything good for Eliza and she had been mentally prepping herself all week. Theo was less than pleased with her decision to go alone but Eliza had pointed out it would be far more suspicious if she requested another member of staff to be present in the meeting. Especially when she was supposed to admire Dumbledore is all his heroic glory. She had told them all about the events of last year and how she suspected Dumbledore was grooming her to be the perfect soldier. They hadn't broached the subject of the dark lord but privately she had asked Theo if his grandfather would be willing to answer a few questions for her.
Theo reluctantly conceded to her points but he, Daphne and Blaise had been sticking closer to Eliza the past week in their worry. Eliza didn't really mind their sudden closeness and even found herself coming to enjoy the soft brushes of touch. Blaise's playful shoving, Theo's steadying presence and Daphne's comforting touches.
It was nice.
Although perhaps the oddest reaction to the news, when the news had inevitably reached the other Slytherin's ears, had come from Roman Selwyn, a current sixth year. He had taken her aside early Saturday morning before breakfast and shuffled uncomfortably before her unwavering gaze running a hand through his messy blonde hair.
"Listen, I don't know what you're up to Potter but I know you're playing the long game so word of advice. Don't look into Dumbledore's eyes. It's not well known but that lemon drop loving fool is actually a-
"Legilimens?" Eliza finished amused "thanks for the warning Selwyn but I've already started on my occlumency"
The blonde stood there for a few seconds stupefied before shaking his head with a laugh.
"Of course. Just look after yourself kid, it's been a while since Slytherin has had such a good leader" he said with a cheery smile and a wink before walking away.
Usually Eliza hated being called 'kid' but it seemed like Selwyn really was just that nice. Shaking her head at the strange encounter she bid goodbye to her court and set off to her meeting with Dumbledore.
Eliza stared blankly at Dumbledore from across the desk as his words filtered in one ear and out of the other.
"And after last year's events my dear girl it would be completely understandable if you no longer wished to be in Slytherin house, I realise how hard it must be to live with permanent reminders of Voldemort and all you've lost. I'm sure if you were resorted you'd be in Gryffindor. You would have another thing to connect you to your parents" he said in a grandfatherly tone and Eliza didn't even try to mask the muddled frown on her face.
"I'm sure my parents would be proud of me no matter what house I belong to headmaster" Eliza said with self-assured confidence. Dumbledore smiled in response (probably glad she adored her parents) but it seemed he wouldn't rest until she agreed.
"Be that as it may I'm sure you would find yourself a home in Gryffindor Eliza"
The familiarity in which he said her name drove her insane. Having grown tired of Dumbledore's machinations Eliza steeled her gaze.
"I have found a home in Slytherin headmaster. I'm afraid you cannot abandon a child in an abusive household and not expect her to develop a bit of cunning" she said lightly and popped a lemon drop into her mouth before bidding Dumbledore a good day.
She might have reawakened his suspicions but there really was only so long she could deal with the old fool.
~
Samhain was upon them before she even knew it and soon the castle was once again swept up in the festivities. The strings of bats and floating pumpkins only served to remind her of what traditions her people had lost and further fuelled her determination of learning about the Olde Ways. The Slytherins attended the headache inducing feast in subdued silence. Samhain focused on the individual, on connection to oneself and the ancestors, a time of reflection and so to respect that the Slytherin house partook in a 'dumb feast' this year after much discussion between Eliza and the members of the house.
They ate in silence.
It was noticeable amidst the raucousness of the main hall, a quite protest and silent respect for the old traditions. Selwyn had worked closely with her to implement this, it was one of the small group traditions they could still get away with and he had a much more nuanced knowledge of the olde rites than she did, his help had proven to be invaluable.
Their silence lasted until they had all left the great hall and then they all began happily chatting to one another as they made their way down the halls to return to the dungeons, Eliza and her court leading the house as they walked. But all the chatter and bustle ended suddenly when Eliza reached a crowd of people amassed in the corridor standing in an eerie silence.
Because there, hanging from one of the brackets on the wall, hung the petrified stiff form of Mrs Norris. Behind the cat, shining wetly in the fire light were words painted on the wall
'THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE'
The silence was broken by Malfoy who had shouldered his way to the front to stand next to Eliza.
"Enemies of the heir beware, you'll be next mudbloods!"
Eliza whirled on Malfoy, a hundred chastisements at her lips but she was cut off before she even began by Dumbledore.
"Come with me Argus" he said to the distraught caretaker who had been wailing about his cat "You too Miss Potter" he said his usual merry blue eyes darkened and cold.
Lockhart led them all to his office where Dumbledore placed the cat on his desk examining it. Snape was shooting her confused and wary looks, two emotions Eliza could relate too. She had nothing to do with this and whoever did do it was going to pay for making her life just that bit harder.
"She is not dead Argus" Dumbledore said softly cutting off Filch's inane drabble "she has been petrified, but how I cannot say" he finished before turning to face Eliza.
"Where were you tonight Miss Potter?"
"Oh Albus!" McGonagall burst surprisingly coming to her defence "you can't possibly think Miss Potter had anything to do with this it's- its ludicrous" she said angrily towards the aging headmaster.
"I can confirm she was at the Feast headmaster, sitting with her sycophants" Snape said with a sneer but Eliza still appreciated him coming to her defence. Dumbledore nodded in acceptance before levelling her with one last question.
"Is there anything you wish to tell us Eliza?"
No more Miss Potter then.
"Other than the fact I'm deeply upset you would think me capable of such a thing Headmaster, no, there's nothing" she said cocking her head and had to hide a satisfied smile when a brief flash regret crossed his face.
"I am sorry Eliza, do forgive an old man of his mistakes"
Eliza nodded in acceptance like he had moments ago and pasted a sweet smile on her face.
"Now why don't you go back to your commons, Severus you can escort her"
Dumbledore dismissed them and Snape swept out of the room leaving Eliza to trot behind him. They walked in tense silence until they reached the dungeons nearing the commons entrance.
"You didn't have anything to do with this did you?" he asked quietly.
"Of course I didn't" Eliza scoffed "I wouldn't stoop to petty parlour tricks and stupid arrogant behaviour that would make my life harder" she said scornfully.
"I hate that I find that reassuring" Snape quipped and merlin the stress must be getting to him because that almost sounded like a joke. They stood outside the common room and Eliza inclined her head biding the professor goodnight.
"I now need to go and return order to the house professor" Eliza said sighing running a hand through her messy dark hair.
"I wish you luck" Snape said quirking his lips into a half smile and disappeared around the corner. Eliza shook her head and stepped into the room.
She was immediately met with a cacophony of noise, people hurling insults across the room at each other, muffled whispers and inflammatory statements filling the room. Her court were stood worriedly at the edge of the room obviously waiting for her and were unexpectedly joined by Selwyn. Eliza approached them quietly making them jump when she finally appeared behind them.
"Eliza!" they said worriedly checking her over to see if she was okay. Eliza endured their fussing for a few moments before she turned to Selwyn.
"Do you know any spell that will make me louder than this rabble?" she said looking at him.
"I can cast it on you if you want?" he offered pulling his wand out of its holster. Eliza eyed the wand for a few moments before nodding sharply. It wasn't a nice feeling being held at wand point but at this point she just wanted to be rid of the noise. Selwyn cast the spell and gave Eliza the thumbs up to speak.
"Everyone listen up" she said surprised when her voice echoed across the room loudly. It made many people shut up in surprise but a few irritating individuals carried on regardless. Sighing Eliza brought her fingers to her lips and released a piercing 'New York' whistle she had only ever seen on TV.
Everyone was quiet then.
Eliza nodded to Selwyn to get him to drop the charm before she turned to address the crowd of her slytherins.
"In light of the ominous, and dare I say tacky message, we now know the heir of Slytherin is walking Hogwarts' halls. And no, it is not me" she said seriously knowing that as a parselmouth she would be the prime suspect.
"I want to believe that none of you would threaten our house in such a way, by increasing the ire of everyone in the castle, by being foolish enough to place us in harm's way with such a foolish obvious plan but someone has, slytherin or not. And we must deal with the consequences" Eliza said strongly.
"Be vigilant, be careful, and be safe. And for merlin's sake in times like these don't spout your blood purity rhetoric. Not only is it miserably wrong but it is also damaging. We are slytherins and we are family. And you do not hurt your family" she commanded and was pleased to see many nodding in agreement, even Malfoy looked abashed at his actions.
"We are entering troubling times so please remember to look after yourself and that if nothing else I am always here to help" Eliza finished hoping that her words at least offered some modicum of comfort.
She would weather this storm like she had the last and she would come out stronger because of it.
~
Albus Dumbledore sat in his office and sighed, deeply troubled.
He had suspicions of course. Had had suspicions since he had seen Eliza Potter for the first time in Severus' memories but after last year he had felt his worries ease. She was still a hero, still listened to him – she would not have faced Voldemort otherwise.
But the chamber of secrets has been opened and all his worries returned full force.
He had an inkling about what had happened that night, that night were little Eliza Potter defeated Voldemort but he desperately wanted to be wrong. His theory had yet to be confirmed but now, now he worried he was right all along.
What effect would one soul have on another?
Albus thought sometimes he could see it in her. In the questioning tilt of her head, in the dogma in which she attacked anything she put her mind too. Thought he could see scraps of someone else, something else in the way she knotted her tie and the way she drank coffee unlike the rest of her peers.
Thought he could see patchworks of Tom Riddle in the way her eyes sometimes flashed so cruelly, an echo of him in the way she smiled.
An entire history woven into her soul that had come back to haunt him in the form of the opening of the chamber.
Shaking himself out of his musings Albus ate another lemon drop, storing the pensieve back in the cupboard along with all his recollections of the boy that Tom Riddle used to be.
He held out on the hope that he would one day be proven wrong.