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The Adventures of Harriet Potter: Year Two - Ch15*

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Chapter 15

 

The Mud-blood, the House-Elf, and the Parselmouth

 

“It is best to approach every situation with an open mind. Especially in times of great uncertainty. Consider all new people you meet as possible friends, as well as possible enemies. I know the typical interpretation of an open mind is a positive mind, but open means consideration of all possibilities and one should always act accordingly.”

General (ret.) Jigme Dorji Wengshuk

 

Harriet was so tired she didn’t wake up until well past noon the next day. At first, she wasn’t entirely sure why she was so tired when the memories of the previous day all came flooding back to her. She hoped it had been a nightmare, but she knew it wasn’t.

Harriet sat up and looked around. She was alone in the dormitory. Harriet swung her legs out of her bed and dressed wearily before making her way down to the common room. Unusually, the common room was crammed full of people who were all talking in subdued voices. Harriet looked around but didn’t see any of her friends.

Everyone in the room looked anxious, especially all the first-years that she could see. Harriet was sure that news of Colin’s attack had spread through the whole school by now. Nothing at Hogwarts stayed secret for very long.

“Hey, Harriet,” Harriet heard Kieran call.

Harriet turned and saw Kieran waving at her from behind a crowd near the portrait hole. She made her way over; ignoring the looks, she was getting from other students. She got to Kieran and discovered he’d been sitting alone.

“Hey, where’s everyone else?” Harriet asked.

“Hermione and Dora are working on the Potion; Scott, Marcus and Ronnie are at lunch,” Kieran answered simply as he beckoned for her to follow him.

“Why aren’t they all working on it?” Harriet asked as they climbed out into the silence of the hall.

“Well, we were going to, but… well… the simplest answer is we can’t all fit in the cubicle to work on it. Then we also figured it might be a little obvious if the whole lot of us are going in and out of there all the time,” Kieran explained.

Harriet nodded thoughtfully. “Good point,” she said impressed.

Kieran smiled.

“So why didn’t anyone wake me up?” Harriet asked. She felt a little snubbed at having not been involved in any of these latest plans and developments.

Kieran laughed. “Ronnie and Hermione said they’d tried, but you were so tired you just growled at them.”

Harriet blushed but laughed. “Yeah, yeah I guess I was pretty tired.”

Kieran chuckled, and a few minutes later they found themselves at the entrance to the Great Hall. The mood in the Great Hall seemed to reflect the mood Harriet had seen in the Gryffindor common room. There was very little laughter, just quiet muttering and whispers. Harriet felt many eyes turn towards her and the sound of muttering grew louder still. The exception was Scott who waved merrily at them from the Ravenclaw table, drawing some raised eyebrows from other Ravenclaws around him.

Harriet felt her face flush, and she and Kieran made their way to the Gryffindor table. Ronnie and Marcus made room for her.

“Rise and shine sleepy,” Ronnie teased passing a plate of sandwiches to Harriet.

Harriet took one and bit into it without really caring what kind it was. She was too hungry and had too much on her mind. As she did, she couldn’t help but notice how many people were still looking at her and muttered.

“So, I take it the news got out that Marcus and I were the ones found with Colin too?” she asked as she chewed.

Ronnie and Marcus’ faces fell.

“Guess so, looks like Malfoy was only pretending to be asleep when we were in the hospital wing,” Marcus explained. He turned to glare over his shoulder at Malfoy, who was smirking as Pansy and Pixie fawned over him once more.

Harriet noted Malfoy’s arm was still in a sling, and though she was sure it was completely healed, and Malfoy was just milking his wound for attention, Harriet sincerely hoped it was still hurting him.

“Yeah,” Ronnie added. “He told everyone in Slytherin house about it today and well… you know Hogwarts,” Ronnie said shrugging.

Harriet sighed. It was just then she noticed something else odd. While attitudes had cooled towards the refugees in the wake of Mrs Norris’ attack, it now appeared that they were being outright rejected. At the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables, the refugees were all huddled together at one end of the table while the regular students were all down at the other. The regular students were all talking amongst themselves, but the refugee students might as well have not existed. The refugees themselves were all looking miserable and silent.

Hufflepuff wasn’t quite as bad as the others. In fact, Hufflepuff looked as though it was divided fifty-fifty among the students who did trust the refugees and those who didn’t. Half of the regular students were sitting with the refugees and talking openly with them, while the rest were clustered together and stealing suspicious glances down their table.

At the Gryffindor table, fortunately, this didn’t seem to be going on at all. Harriet supposed the Gryffindors had more sense than most of the other houses. Or more likely, as Colin was also a Gryffindor, it had prompted unity within the house, refugee or not. Either way, Harriet still had to admit that if she couldn’t hear their distinct accents, you wouldn’t know any of the refugees weren’t ordinary students.

Harriet’s latter assumption was proven right when some of the refugees at the Slytherin table got up and started to leave. A group of older Gryffindor students nearby all huddled together and murmured, watching the Slytherin refugees as they left the Great Hall. Harriet put down her glass of pumpkin juice, feeling disgusted.

“I’m going to find Hermione and Dora,” she said and all but stormed from the Great Hall.

She didn’t bother looking back at her friends as she left; she didn’t want to see their faces and feel guilty. She just wanted to be angry. She got into the Entrance Hall and suddenly did feel a little better now she was alone. At least she thought she was alone.

“Oh, hey, um, Potter?” asked a nervous voice from behind Harriet.

Harriet turned and saw one of the Slytherin refugees who had left a few minutes before sitting alone on one of the benches. Harriet remembered her as Kenley, the older sister of one of the Gryffindor refugee first-years, Katy, who had talked about football with Ronnie.

“Oh, um, hello. It’s Kenley right?” Harriet asked.

The older girl nodded getting to her feet. “Can we talk, umm… somewhere private…?” Kenley asked.

Harriet suddenly felt unaccountably nervous. As she did, she hoped it was just the lingering animosity between Slytherin and Gryffindor at work.

“Uh, sure,” Harriet replied.

Kenley seemed a little satisfied and started leading Harriet into a corridor. Harriet looked around nervously, and in spite of herself put her hand on her wand in her pocket. Kenley stepped into an empty classroom and Harriet followed apprehensively.

Kenley lit one of the lamps and sat on a desk, looking at Harriet in a very business-like way. “So, my sister says you and your friends are looking for the Heir of Slytherin?”

Harriet was taken aback. Was nothing ever secret at Hogwarts?

“H-how did she?”

Kenley rolled her eyes. “Katy and her friends are nosey as hell. Anyway, I want to help.”

Harriet studied the older girl closely. “Well, if you want to help why are you only asking me about it?” she asked crossing her arms.

Kenley didn’t look abashed. “Because right now you’re in the same boat we are,” she replied quietly.

Harriet let her arms down. That was a fair point.

“Yeah, we are, aren’t we?”

Kenley nodded. “And well, I guess, I have a little more to worry about than most,” she went on chewing her lip.

“What do you mean?” Harriet asked, confused.

Kenley sighed. “Well, it’s the Heir of Slytherin right…? Well, I’m in Slytherin, and I’m a Muggle-born.”

Harriet raised her eyebrows. A Muggle-born Slytherin, was that even possible?

“A Muggle-born?”

“Yeah,” Kenley muttered.

“Uh, does anyone else in your house know?”

Kenley laughed. “Well obviously like Court and Emily and the others that came with me know,” Kenley said. “But I don’t think so…”

Harriet nodded, noting how Kenley didn’t refer to herself or the rest as refugees. Harriet made an extra mental note to herself to stop doing so as well.

“Well, how do you think you could help?” Harriet asked.

Kenley shrugged. “Any way you need, I can just… keep my eyes and ears open for you guys? I wanna do something…”

Harriet bit her lip thinking. Hermione had just said the other day that they needed to use the new students from other houses. Here was one ready-made, and from Slytherin no less.

“Yeah, okay,” Harriet said.

Kenley’s face glowed as she smiled. “Oh thank you! Seriously! Anything you guys need let me know! And let Katy know too, seriously.”

Harriet smiled and nodded. She was starting to feel oddly clever. Whoever the heir was, they were probably working alone. Harriet and her friends, on the other hand, were forming a sort of group, more eyes and ears.

Harriet bid Kenley a good afternoon and continued on her way towards Hermione and Dora. She was just starting to get her good mood back when something else Harriet did not expect drove the good feelings from her completely.

The bathroom that they were using to brew the Polyjuice Potion in had just come into sight when Harriet heard it. A little cough from right behind her, the kind of cough someone gave when trying to get another person’s attention. Harriet froze and closed her eyes. She knew the voice that had given that cough. It belonged to a small-creature with bat-like ears, tennis-ball sized green eyes and spoke with a high, squeaky voice.

It was Dobby, the house-elf.

“You!” Harriet declared, and she spun around, pointing at the little elf, rage welling inside her once more.

It would be a long time before she forgave the elf that had tried to keep her from returning to Hogwarts and doom her to a life of misery with the Dursleys, never to see her best friends again. Dobby was peeking out of another classroom door, looking anxious and flinching under Harriet’s glare. Dobby stepped out of the room a little more, and Harriet let her arm fall a little as she noticed Dobby’s right arm was in a sling.

“What… what happened?” Harriet asked automatically.

“D-Dobby… Dobby will tell you inside, Miss…” the house-elf said in a tremulous voice. It looked as though he was in a great deal of pain.

Harriet sighed and stepped in after the elf. Dobby closed the door and looked up at Harriet, wringing the front of pillowcase clothing with his good hand, looking terrified.

“Harriet Potter…” Dobby said in a soft voice. “Why… why did you come back after Dobby warned, and warned…?”

Harriet crossed her arms. “You know what, Dobby? I don’t care about your stupid warning.”

Dobby flinched again at Harriet’s anger. “I don’t care that there’s something dangerous going on. If you’d kept me locked away in my room while this was going on, I probably would have starved to death. Yeah, you’re doing an outstanding job keeping me safe, aren’t you?”

Dobby’s lip wobbled. “Oh, Harriet Potter… Dobby said he was sorry; Dobby is sorry still, Miss! Dobby thought he could stop Harriet Potter at the train but yet again—”

“THAT WAS YOU!?” Harriet yelled making Dobby jump and cover one of his over-large ears. “You stopped us getting on the train!? We almost got killed by the Whomping Willow thanks to you! That’s twice now you’ve nearly killed me rather than saving my life!”

Tears were beginning to flow down Dobby’s face. “And-and then… not even Dobby’s Bludg—”

“WHAT!?” Harriet thundered, not caring that someone might be walking by outside the room and hear her. “You made the Bludger try and kill me?!”

“N-not kill you, Miss, just… injured enough to go back home—”

“No, you listen here, Dobby!” Harriet went on, too incensed to put up with the elf’s excuses. “That makes three times you’ve tried to ‘save me’ that have ended up nearly costing me my life! Stop trying to save me, Dobby, please! You’re horrible at it! I’d probably be safer if you were trying to kill me!”

Finally, Dobby broke down in sobs. He sank to the floor hunching over and sobbing as best he could with only one usable hand. The sight of it was so pitiful that all her feelings she had built up since last summer melted away. Harriet sighed and sat down on the floor.

“I’m sorry…” Harriet said in a hushed voice. “I… I’ve just… there’s been so much going on it’s hard to handle—”

“You’re right, Harriet Potter, you’re right!” Dobby wailed. “Dobby only wanted to keep Harriet Potter safe, but Dobby has failed, Miss! And… and Harriet Potter is right Dobby hasn’t protected Harriet Potter at all, and done much more harm than good, Miss…”

Harriet bit her lip as she watched the elf. Her eyes drifted down to his arm.

“What happened to your arm, Dobby?”

Dobby looked down at it and looked away. “Dobby… did a bad thing, Harriet Potter, a very bad thing. Dobby did something very bad to his family, Miss, and had to punish himself accordingly.”

“You broke your arm?!” Harriet gasped.

Dobby didn’t say anything. He merely kept staring at the floor.

“Oh, Dobby…” All anger Harriet had felt against the elf evaporated. She wanted to hug him, but she was sure it would hurt his arm even more.

“So… it if is alright with Harriet Potter, Miss… Dobby… Dobby would like to help Harriet Potter in any way he can, Miss he… he could watch over Harriet Potter when he has time…?”

Harriet blinked. “But… won’t your family not like that?”

Dobby gave the tiniest of smiles. “What Dobby’s family doesn’t know, won’t hurt them, Miss. And they never told Dobby he couldn’t, though Dobby supposes that’s because they never suspected Dobby would, Miss…”

In spite of herself, Harriet smiled. She bid Dobby farewell, and the elf vanished in an ear-splitting crack. It was the same crack Dobby had made when he disappeared after smashing the pudding in the Dursleys’ kitchen. Any other time Harriet would have found the memory unpleasant and found herself getting angry again but somehow, as she finally made her way to the door to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom, Harriet laughed.

Harriet slowly pushed open the door and looked around. “Hermione? Dora?”

There was scuffling from the far cubicle, and the door opened a little, Dora’s tell-tale blue eye appearing in the crack.

“Oh, Harriet, it’s you,” Dora said, opening the door wider.

Harriet smiled and squeezed in. They had set the cauldron on the lid of the toilet, and by the sound of it, Marcus had conjured some waterproof flames in the bowl to heat it. Hermione and Dora were tearing up the knotgrass bundles and adding them to the cauldron.

“How’s it coming?” Harriet asked.

Hermione grimaced. “It will be slow. We’re only to the point of adding the first ingredients…”

“Well, we have to start somewhere, right?” Dora asked and shrugged.

“So, I have news…” Harriet said.

“What’s that?” Hermione asked looking up from the cauldron.

“Well, I think our list of allies is growing. I just had Kenley, from Slytherin,” Harriet said giving Dora a nod, “stop me outside the Great Hall and ask if she could help.”

Dora’s eyes went wide with excitement, but Hermione’s narrowed in thought.

“Brilliant!” Dora said. “I like Kenley!”

“But, how did she know?” Hermione asked.

Harriet shrugged. “She said her little sister, Katy, overheard us or something. She said we should talk to Katy too because she’s ‘nosey’ apparently.”

Hermione nodded, still looking like she was thinking hard.

“That’s not all though,” Harriet added. “I just ran into Dobby too.”

“What?!” both girls asked at once, looking stunned.

“Yeah, just down the hall,” Harriet said. “He… it was him who stopped Ronnie and me from getting on the train, so we had to ta—er… get to Hogwarts another way.”

Dora and Hermione both crossed their arms. Harriet knew they still wanted to know how exactly Harriet and Ronnie had got to Hogwarts without taking the train. Harriet had sworn to Professor McGonagall not to say anything, and given how important Professor McGonagall’s favour was to her at the moment, Harriet wasn’t going to betray that promise.

“And that Bludger yesterday was him too,” Harriet added.

“He sent that mad Bludger after you? Are you sure he’s trying to save you?” Dora asked, though her lip was starting to twitch as though she was trying hard not to laugh.

Harriet rolled her eyes. “Well, he apologised and promised he’s not going to try and ‘save me’ that way again… but he has promised to keep an eye out for us, too.”

“Well, he sounds sneaky enough anyway,” Hermione said. She didn’t sound very approving of Dobby yet, and not very inclined to forgive him either.

Harriet shrugged. “I figure every little bit helps.”

Dora nodded. “I agree. Though I’ll give him some extra credit for breaking Malfoy’s arm,” Dora went on; wearing her dark, mischievous grin she always wore when she imagined terrible things happening to people who annoyed her.

Harriet forced another laugh, but this time it wasn’t her discomfort at laughing at other’s misfortune that gave her pause. Instead, she felt like she had just figured something out. Dobby had said he’d done something terrible to a member of his family, and so had to break his arm. It was the same arm that Malfoy had broken when the Bludger ran into him. The very same Bludger that Dobby had sent after Harriet.

Was Dobby the Malfoy’s house-elf? Was Harriet foolish to trust the little elf? Had Malfoy ordered Dobby to send the Bludger against Harriet? If he had, had it been an accident that the Bludger hit Malfoy? Had Dobby done it on purpose?

Harriet gave her head a little shake. All the questions and developments that had occurred over the past twenty-four hours were starting to give Harriet a serious headache. Instead, she simply picked up Moste Potente Potions and proceeded to help Dora and Hermione prepare the ingredients for phase one.

* * * *

November passed into December in a mundane fashion, given all that had happened. There were no more attacks, and students were starting to warm to the new students once more. Kenley and Katy both insisted daily that they had not heard anything more than rumours from other students, and Harriet had seen neither hide nor tennis-ball eyes of Dobby since the day after Colin’s attack.

The only change Harriet noted was the sort of black-market trade that sprang up throughout the school in the wake of the attack. It was comprised of magical amulets and other items that all promised to protect their owners. As a sign of the hysteria, even pure-bloods such as Neville Longbottom were buying them.

After finding him in possession of a pungent green onion, an amethyst crystal, and a rotted newt tail, Kieran tried to reason with Neville that as a pure-blood he was the least likely to be attacked. However, Neville quietly retorted how the first attack had been Filch’s cat, and Neville himself was almost a squib, and stormed off, clutching his newly bought defences.

Fortunately, the Polyjuice Potion was coming along well. All they needed now was the bicorn horn and the boomslang skin. This was the part of the plan that Harriet was the most nervous about, as it meant they had to break into Professor Snape’s private potions stores. They had initially come up with a plan of creating a diversion during a Potions lesson to enable one of them to sneak into Snape’s stores and steal the ingredients that way.

Fortunately, that part of the plan didn’t happen. The day before they were to carry out the diversion, Scott had a moment of clarity and pointed out that Harriet had an invisibility cloak. This meant all they had to do was wait until Professor Snape was out of the room, sneak back into the classroom and steal what they needed. And so after watching for Professor Snape to leave the room after the next Potions lesson, Harriet simply threw on her invisibility cloak that she’d kept hidden in her bag, waited for Professor Snape to leave, snuck into the room, and took the remaining ingredients they needed.

It was yet another moment in carrying out their plan that made Harriet feel both relieved that nothing had gone wrong, and even more nervous that something was about to go wrong. Harriet took it as a mark of how much faith Professor Snape put in the amount of fear he instilled in all students at Hogwarts that his private stores were not locked.

Hermione was quite pleased. “Well, now that we have these,” She said adding the two ingredients to the potion, “it should be ready in two weeks’ time.”

“About time, too,” Ronnie said. “I still can’t believe Malfoy targeted Colin… what had Colin ever done to him? Well okay, he took pictures of Malfoy after he broke his arm but…”

Harriet shrugged. They’d had this discussion several times before, and it had never produced an answer. Harriet was sure that the fact it was Colin who had been attacked had merely been a coincidence. It could have just as easily been Fred or George that had been petrified instead. How was Draco supposed to know that Colin had snuck into the kitchens that night?

There was also the fact that Draco was in the hospital wing at the time of the attack, but Hermione found that alibi shaky at best. Madame Pomfrey and Miss Momori had both been asleep when Professor McGonagall, Marcus, Harriet and Colin arrived in the hospital wing. Malfoy could have easily snuck out to perform an attack and picked Colin after discovering him roaming about. At that, Harriet had to admit she had a point.

As the Christmas holidays neared, a distinct air of excitement began to fill the school. However, it wasn’t the same excitement that had filled the school before Christmas the previous year. Instead, it was an anxious desire to leave.

Almost every single student signed up to take the Hogwarts Express home for the Christmas Holidays. The main exceptions to that, of course, were the new American students. Harriet did overhear some saying that they would be going to stay with their surviving families in Hogsmeade, but by and large, most of them would be remaining at Hogwarts.

Outside of that, the only Gryffindors that would be staying were Harriet, Kieran, Hermione, and all of the Weasleys except Ginny. Marcus was going home because he didn’t want his father to spend Christmas alone, and none of them held that against him.

Ginny, on the other hand, was heading back to the Burrow to go to Egypt with Mr and Mrs Weasley. Percy had written to their parents to tell them how Ginny had been looking so off-colour this year, and that sun and warm weather might do her some good. It was one of the odd moments when whatever issues Harriet and the others had with Percy over his little power-trip earlier in the year; he did seem to be genuinely worried about Ginny.

Aside from the refugees, Scott was to be the only Ravenclaw staying behind. Harriet had been sure Dora would be the only Slytherin, but they were all surprised at their stroke of luck. Not only was Draco staying behind for the Christmas holidays along with his cronies Crabbe and Goyle, but Pansy Parkinson and Pixie Fanfarró were remaining behind as well, as was a first-year, Wendy Aarons. According to Dora, the Aarons were old family friends of the Parkinsons and the Fanfarrós, and Wendy seemed to be in the same mould as both Pansy and Pixie.

With all these factors adding up, Harriet almost couldn’t believe their luck. The holidays would be the most opportune time to carry out the final stage of their plan. They had been only going to use the potion to imitate Crabbe and Goyle, but they had now decided to copy Wendy as well. This way they could also investigate Pansy and Pixie. They didn’t think either Pixie or Pansy was the Heir of Slytherin, but they were undoubtedly nasty enough to support whoever it was, and they very close to Malfoy too.

However, just before the end of the term, something happened that finally distracted Harriet from the subject of Draco, the Heir, and the Polyjuice Potion. It happened as they were passing the bulletin board in the Gryffindor common room.

“Hey look,” Marcus said pointing it out as they made their way down to breakfast. “Duelling lessons.”

“Duelling lessons?” Hermione asked, going on tip-toe to try and read over the heads of the crowd that had gathered.

“Looks like it. The first lesson’s tonight,” Kieran said.

“That’d be fascinating,” Hermione said. “And could be very useful for the future, it might help us get ahead in Defence against the Dark Arts.”

And so, at eight-o-clock, Harriet and her friends waited around in the Entrance Hall while the Great Hall was being set up for the lesson. Finally, the doors opened and the waiting students filed inside. The house tables had all been cleared away, and in their place was a large, golden stage.

“Does anyone know who’s running this?” Dean Thomas asked, looking around with interest.

Harriet shrugged, and Hermione piped up. “Well, I heard that Professor Flitwick was a duelling champion, maybe it’ll be—”

Hermione was cut off when a collective groan swept over the group as Professor Lockhart bounded up onto the stage and spread his arms wide in welcome.

“Hello there! Gather round everyone! Can you all hear me? Can everyone see? Marvelous! Now, given the events that have happened in recent weeks, I’ve obtained permission from Professor Dumbledore to train you all in proper duelling in case you ever need to defend yourselves. I am, after all, Defence Against the Dark Arts professor!”

Professor Lockhart waited for a laugh that never really materialised.

“Now, let me introduce my assistant for tonight, Professor Snape!” Professor Lockhart gave a toothy smile as Professor Snape also stepped onto the stage. “Now, Professor Snape here tells me he knows a little thing or two about duelling, but don’t worry all you Potions lovers, I promise to leave him in one piece.”

Professor Snape was getting the same sneering look he got whenever he was about to give out a particularly nasty punishment. The sort of look that gave Harriet chills. In fact, Harriet was wondering how Lockhart could look so cheerful. The look Professor Snape was giving him now was the same look a lion would give a wounded gazelle.

“Who do you wanna win? Lockhart or Snape?” Seamus asked.

“Can’t we want them both to lose?” Ronnie asked, triggering widespread sniggering amongst the Gryffindors.

“The first step to any proper duel,” Professor Lockhart went on. “Is to bow to your opponent.”

Lockhart turned and bowed deeply to Professor Snape. Professor Snape didn’t return the bow. Instead, he just gave a curt nod of his head. They then brandished their wands the way Harriet had seen fencers on television prepare to duel.

“And now that we have our wands in the standard position for combat, on the count of three we will cast our spells. Neither of us will be aiming to hurt or kill of course,” Lockhart went on.

Given the look in Professor Snape’s eye, Harriet sincerely doubted that.

Lockhart gave the countdown, but the moment he had even twitched, Professor Snape pointed his wand and cried, “Expelliarmus!”

A jet of bright red light shot from Professor Snape’s wand, hitting Lockhart square in the chest and lobbing him backwards into the wall. Lockhart’s wand flew from his hand and hurtled towards Professor Snape who caught it deftly.

The Slytherins, in particular, cheered though Harriet did notice quite a few Ravenclaws joined in as well. From talking to Scott, Harriet had gathered that most of Ravenclaw house found Lockhart to be a joke, and so she was sure their reaction had a lot less to do with Professor Snape winning than Lockhart losing. Hermione, however, was bouncing on the balls of her feet, her hands over her mouth and looking anxious.

Lockhart finally got to his feet and looked distinctly winded. “Uh-g-good spell to show them, Professor Snape. That was the “Disarming Charm,” useful little spell. As you see, I’ve been properly disarmed—”

He held out a hand to Professor Snape who looked as though he’d rather the wand into Lockhart’s ear than hand it back, but he returned it anyway.

“—though if you don’t mind my saying so, it was the most obvious spell to use and I could have blocked it quite easily. However, I thought the students would appreciate it better if they saw the actual effects.”

Professor Snape’s knuckles went white on his wand, and his face looked as though it had turned to stone. It seemed Professor Lockhart had finally realised the danger he was in because he cleared his throat and declared it was time for the students to pair up and try the Disarming Charm on their own.

Harriet paired up with Ronnie and Marcus with Kieran. Scott and Dora made their way over, and Scott paired up with Hermione while Dora ended up pairing with Dean and looking disappointed for some reason.

“Everyone paired up? Wonderful! Now, everyone face their partners and bow.”

Harriet and Ronnie bowed to each other and tried as best they could to imitate the stance Professor Snape had adopted, as they were sure Lockhart’s had been wrong. Remembering vividly the effect Professor Snape’s spell had on Lockhart, Harriet admitted to herself that she was a little nervous. She didn’t want to hurt Ronnie if she cast her spell right. She also didn’t want to be hurt in return.

“Now, when I count to three, everyone attempt to disarm your opponent. Only disarm! Now, on the count of three then everyone! One! Two!”

Before Lockhart could say “Three!” there was a flash of light and a shout of pain from nearby that made everyone look around. Harriet gaped as she saw Kieran sprawled out on the floor, clutching his bad leg, a look of agony on his face. Most of the Gryffindors rushed over to him. Marcus and Scott managed to get one of Kieran’s arms over his shoulders and pulled him over to the stage, sitting him up on the steps.

“What happened?” Harriet asked, putting her hands on Kieran’s cheeks, trying to see if he was okay.

“H-hit by a—” Kieran started to explain, but he winced and doubled over, grabbing his leg.

Harriet didn’t know what to think. She had never seen Kieran this hurt or rattled before. He would often look serious if something bad were happening, but he never let the pain show like this.

“Sorry O’Brien, guess I got a bit excited and missed,” called a deep, slow voice from the nearby group of Slytherins.

It was Crabbe, who was looking almost triumphant as he smirked at Kieran. Quite a few Slytherins were laughing, and Draco was patting Crabbe on his broad shoulder. Marcus took a step towards Crabbe, reaching for his wand but Kieran grabbed the back of Marcus’ robes, stopping him and shaking his head.

A few feet away, Harriet could hear the third year, Cormac McClaggen, who had offered to deal with Slytherins for Harriet and Marcus after the last Quidditch match growling. “That little… I’ll—”

“Easy mate… we can deal with him in time, but not in front of Snape,” the other boy, Chris Jerome said with a nod to Professor Snape.

Professor Snape was looking down at the crowd. He was almost unmoving, except for his eyes which were darting back and forth between Kieran and Crabbe.

Hee, that were convenient wadn’it?” asked an angry, cynical voice from amongst the Slytherins. “Of all the people for yer spell to just happen to hit it was him, eh? And it would just happen to hit that leg?”

The first-year, black-haired Slytherin boy who Harriet recognised as Cian Whelan, stepped from the crowd. Crabbe and Goyle both cracked their knuckles as they usually did when they wanted to look threatening, but Cian didn’t back down as the tall figure of Ardghal Coghlan stepped up behind him. Though he was a bit lanky, his height did seem to give Crabbe and Goyle a little pause.

Professor Snape meanwhile seemed to have decided how to handle the situation. “You want to be more careful with your aim, Crabbe… I’m embarrassed to see a Slytherin miss like that,” was all he said before turning away and striding back to the middle of the stage.

The Gryffindors all glared at Professor Snape. Harriet wanted to throw something at the back of his head. While he mostly ignored her, the way Professor Snape treated her friends was starting to anger her more and more.

“Well, uh, maybe we should try this again, maybe with, er, different partners,” Lockhart suggested. “Professor Snape and I shall move amongst you and split you all up.”

This time, Professor Lockhart paired Harriet up with AJ. Over on the Slytherin end, Professor Snape had paired Crabbe and Goyle up with Cian and Ardghal. Harriet wasn’t sure that was the best idea. All four of the boys looked ready to kill their opponents.

Professor Lockhart climbed back on the stage and once more gave the count to three. What followed next was utter chaos. Spells shot everywhere, and hardly anyone hit their partner. Harriet and AJ ended up laughing as their own disarming charms hit each other at the same time and their wands both leapt from their hands.

Professor Lockhart called for a halt, and Harriet looked around. She laughed to see Goyle looking stricken as his feet did a little jig against his will. Crabbe meanwhile was doubled over on the floor clutching his stomach and looked as though he was having difficulty breathing.

Finite Incantatem!” Professor Snape cried.

At once, Goyle stopped dancing, and Crabbe slowly got to his feet. Professor Snape was looking furious that he was in a situation where two little upstarts had shown up some of his prized students, but as they were also Slytherins, he apparently didn’t want to punish them.

“Goodness!” Professor Lockhart said as he helped some other students to their feet. “Perhaps the next lesson should be how to block unfriendly spells!”

Professor Lockhart bounded up onto the stage and drew his wand again. However, he took one look at Professor Snape who had regained his bestial, hungry look and cleared his throat.

“Uh maybe with some volunteer pairs?” he suggested looking around. “How about… Ahh! How about Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley here?”

“I would advise against that, Lockhart,” Professor Snape said. “Longbottom is dangerous enough trying to walk, let alone cast a spell.”

Again Harriet’s insides burned. She didn’t know who she should be madder at, Professor Snape, or Crabbe. She looked back at Kieran who was still grimacing in pain and decided on Crabbe. Kieran finally got to his feet with the help of Marcus and Scott, leaning hard on his shillelagh.

“Ah, how about Malfoy and O’Brien? Since O’Brien is already right here?” Professor Snape suggested; his lip still curled.

The Gryffindors once again looked furious, but Kieran just turned and took a deep breath before he made his ways as best he could up the stairs.

“That’s a good sport there, O’Brien, can’t let a little sore leg slow us down, eh?” Lockhart said putting a hand on Kieran’s shoulder.

Kieran merely grunted. Professor Lockhart attempted to demonstrate how to block a spell, but Harriet found it rather silly. Not just because Lockhart dropped his wand, but because Kieran had proved on their very first night at Hogwarts that he already knew how to perform a shield charm.

Professor Snape meanwhile was sneering and whispering something in Draco’s ear. The fact Draco sneered as well did not make Harriet feel any better. She was starting to regret their decision to join in this fiasco.

Finally, Professor Snape and Lockhart stepped back. Kieran and Malfoy both gave little jerking motions that resembled bows and raised their wands.

Lockhart smiled broadly. “One! Two! Three!”

Kieran cast his shield charm, but Draco instead cried, “Serpensortia!”

Harriet gasped as instead of light, a towering, black snake shot from the end of Draco’s wand. It bounced off Kieran’s shield charm and hissed angrily, spitting, its fangs bared. It was at that moment that Harriet felt her mouth fall open even more as she heard a voice over all the other gasps and exclamations going on around her.

Where am I? What did I hit? What are all these monsters?!

To Harriet’s horror, she realised it was the snake. She was hearing the snake talking. Only once before, Harriet had heard a snake speak. At least, she thought she had heard it speak. It had been during her cousin Dudley’s eleventh birthday party. She had accidentally released a boa constrictor that had chased her cousin and his best friend, Piers Polkiss. As the snake left, Harriet could have sworn she had heard the snake thank her. But this was more than just a breathy hissing; this was real speech.

“Allow me, O’Brien,” Professor Snape said, raising his wand at the snake.

The snake spun to face Professor Snape, baring its fangs. “Get back,” the snake hissed angrily “Get back, or I’ll bite!

“No, allow me!” Professor Lockhart said and aimed his wand at the snake as well.

A loud bang noise rang out, and the snake flew straight up in the air and landed hard on the stage.

Ow!” Harriet heard the snake hiss, and it spun around more, thoroughly enraged. “In danger, under attack, strike, save myself, fight back!

Harriet shouted out as the snake turned and seemed to focus on Justin Finch-Fletchley. Harriet didn’t know what made her do it. Before she knew what was happening, she had propelled herself forward and shoved Justin hard out of the way. Before the snake could strike Harriet yelled as loud as she could, “STOP!”

The snake stopped. The entire room stopped. Not a single person moved as Harriet looked the snake face to face. Harriet swallowed.

“Don’t hurt anyone here,” she said to the snake. She didn’t know why she was talking to it; snakes weren’t supposed to understand people. And yet

They hurt me. So many monsters. I’m scared.”

Harriet stared in wonder. The voice could only be coming from the snake, but its lips weren’t moving. Harriet couldn’t read anything in the snake’s blank, expressionless face.

“I… I know you’re scared,” Harriet said. “They didn’t mean to hurt you; they’re scared too.” She went on, trying to calm the snake.

It seemed to be working. The snake dropped its aggressive posture and just curled up, its tongue flicking in and out.

“That’s right,” Harriet said. “You’re safe; I won’t let them hurt—”

But before Harriet could finish, a jet of white light hit the snake. It gave off a scream of agony and vanished in a puff of black smoke. Harriet gaped and turned to see Professor Snape standing a few feet away; his wand pointed at the spot the snake had been. However, his eyes were locked on Harriet instead.

Suddenly, Harriet felt her rage spill over her.

“What did you do that for!?” She shouted at Professor Snape, not caring that he was a teacher. “He was just scared! He was hurt and alone and afraid! He didn’t want to hurt anybody! He was just scared!”

Professor Snape did not say a word. Nor did anyone else in the room. Someone was tugging on Harriet’s arm. It was Ronnie, and her eyes were wide.

“C-come on…” Ronnie pleaded.

Hermione had taken Harriet’s other arm, and Harriet finally let them pull her from the Great Hall. Marcus and Dora followed while Scott tried to help a still hurting Kieran down from the stage. Cian and Ardghal both hurried over, assisting Kieran down the stairs too. Harriet bit her lip; she shouldn’t be leaving; she should be trying to help Kieran also. However, neither Ronnie nor Hermione lessened their grip on Harriet’s arm as they pulled her towards the entrance hall.

The crowd parted quickly to let them all pass. Half the faces looked awestruck, while the rest were looking at her as though she was diseased. Harriet felt her anger bubbling up again. So much had happened in the last month since Colin’s attack. She was tired, confused, and angry.

Hermione and Ronnie steered Harriet into the first empty classroom they came to. Dora and Marcus slipped inside behind them, and they shut the door. Ronnie and Dora were looking quite stricken, Hermione anxious and Marcus confused.

“What’s going on?” Marcus asked looking around.

“Harriet… why didn’t you tell us?” Ronnie asked, breathing rapidly.

“Tell you what?” Harriet snapped. “What’s wrong with everyone?!”

“Harriet, you’re a Parselmouth!”

Harriet blinked. “I’m a… what’s a Parselmouth?”

“You can talk to snakes,” Dora added. However, unlike Ronnie, Dora’s face was showing more wonder than fear.

“I, well, I guess I can… I think I did it once before, but I’m not sure, it was just a fleeting thing…”

“This is bad… oh, this is so very bad,” Ronnie said, slumping into a chair and running a hand through her hair in thought.

“What’s bad? I stopped the snake from attacking Justin! What’s bad about that!?”

“We know, Harriet!” Hermione said in a calming tone. “Harriet, please relax and just listen.”

Harriet took a deep breath.

“Harriet, you spoke Parseltongue, snake-language, in front of almost the entire school!” Ronnie said, looking more serious than Harriet had ever seen her look before.

“I… what?” Harriet asked. “I spoke another language?”

Everyone nodded.

“And that’s… that’s bad…” Ronnie said.

“Why? What’s bad about talking to snakes?”

“Because talking to snakes is a very rare gift,” Hermione said in a tiny voice. “The only family line ever known to be able to talk to snakes…” Hermione took a deep breath and continued. “Was Salazar Slytherin’s.”

SURPRISE! Mwahaha! You all thought I was going to wait another two weeks! Well, I was going to... but Chapter 17 is coming along well, so I decided to give you all Chapter 15 as well and move things along even more! Soon... soon it shall be spring break, and I shall be able to write and write and write! :D

Cover art by Momagie

Kieran O'Brien, Marcus Van De Lakk, Scott McIntyre, Cian Whelan and Ardghal Coghlan property of :iconnight-miner:

Kenley Tyler property of :iconlittlebityamelie:

Dora Flamel property of me!

Pixie Fanfarró and Adele Jackson property of Hasboro

All other characters property of J. K. Rowling

Original concept by :iconnight-miner: and :iconlittlebityamelie:

Proof reading/editting by :iconnight-miner:, :iconlittlebityamelie: and :iconh-a-cooke:

Link to Chapter 16: The Adventures of Harriet Potter: Year Two - Ch16
(All characters and locations within belong to J.K. Rowling unless otherwise stated.)
Chapter 16
The Third Attack
“A little honesty can go a long way.”
General (ret.) Jigme Dorji Wengshuk
Harriet felt her whole world go reeling. Hermione might as well have pulled the rug out from under her feet. She shivered and sat down in one of the chairs.
“I… I have an ability that only Slytherin’s family had?” she asked, not wanting to believe it.
Dora nodded. “In fact, Salazar Slytherin himself was called ‘Serpent-Tongue;’ that’s why our house animal is a snake.”
Harriet shivered once more. It wasn’t possible, it just wasn’t possible. How could she be a descendent of Salazar Slytherin? She was a Gryffindor, wasn’t she? Professor McGonagall had praised her for showing true Gryffindor spirit in going after Colin, hadn’t she?
“But… I


Link back to Chapter 14: The Adventures of Harriet Potter: Year Two - Ch14
(All characters and locations within belong to J.K. Rowling unless otherwise stated.)
Chapter 14
The Petrification of Colin Creevey
“In times of a troubled mind I often find a simple hot tea, jasmine in particular, is the best cure. However, nothing will speak to a troubled soul more soothingly than the simple power of music.”
General (ret.) Jigme Dorji Wengshuk
Professor McGonagall drew her wand and pointed it down the hall. Harriet squinted as a blinding flash of white light filled the corridor. She blinked and just got her vision back in time to see a streak of pearly-white light shoot off down the hall and disappear up the stairs.
“Right, that’s the Headmaster notified, he should meet us at the hospital wing,” Professor McGonagall said as she moved to Colin’s feet.
Marcus solemnly stood at Colin’s head and knelt, taking hold of Colin’s shoulders while Professor McGonagall
© 2013 - 2024 the-mind-of-kleinnak
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Leopold002's avatar
Interesting as always. And Harriet finally knows she's a Parselmouth.

Before I forget, Draco's reation to having a muggle born in Slytherin should be fun.