Chapter 22: Parseltongue

On Friday night, Chris and Harry were watching the stars and talking in the common room. 

For last few weeks Harry was joining Chris on her late-night stargazing. 

This time, Harry was telling her about his Uncle, Aunt and cousin, the Durselys. 

"And then this weird thing happened..... Aunt Petunia cut my hair very badly, I didn't like it at all and the next morning I saw my hair was grown back. She was so furious. I didn't know, that time why she was so scared..." 

Chris laughed. 

"Oh... and another day, I accidentally set a boa constrictor on my cousin Dudley at the zoo. " Harry laughed. "Though I didn't mean to." 

"You set a snake on your cousin? Why?" Chris asked as she stopped laughing.

"Oh.. It was telling me it had never seen Brazil and I sort of set it free without meaning to.." Harry laughed again but looking at Chris's surprised face, he stopped. 

"Do you know what that means Harry?" 

".... Er... .." Harry didn't know what to say. 

"That means you can understand the snake language. Can you speak it too?" Chris asked getting excited. 

"What? No.. I never spoke any different language and I mean there will be many Wizards who can understand snakes...." 

"No Harry.. the snake language is very different... it's called Parseltongue... I have been reading about Salazar Slytherin when I found this. It's a very rare gift and many think that only Salazar Slytherin or their descendants are capable of speaking this." Chris's expression changed suddenly. 

Harry got scared realising what it means. 

"But... How can be?... I mean... I'm not the heir of Slytherin.." 

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"Relax Harry.. I'm not saying you're the one who opened the chamber but I've just realized something, in that case, the actual heir will be a Parselmouth too." 

"Really?" Harry asked surprised. 

"I hope so. Let's see if our Draco can speak Parseltongue?" Chris smiled. "At least we got a clue for now." 

"Chris! Can I tell you something?" Harry asked uncertainly. 

"Yeah?" Chris raised her eyebrows. "You've another clue?" 

"No... It's just. Last year the Sorting Hat... wanted me to put in Slytherin." 

"Then how did you ended up in Gryffindor?" 

"I asked for it. I heard that Slytherin is the house of dark wizards. So when he said I'll be good Slytherin, I refused to be there... even Ron and Hermione don't know about this." He sighed. 

"So? You think you're the heir of Slytherin?" 

"No. Of course not... But do you think that I'm..." 

"A dark wizard?" Chris chuckled. "No Harry. You're thinking it in a wrong way. Well.. here is the thing... When I was getting sorted, the Sorting Hat told me that I'll be good at every house and asked which house do I want to be in? I asked it to decide and it put me in Gryffindor. But the point is, it thought I'll be a good Slytherin too because I'm ambitious, determined and a born-leader. And as much as I know, you also have these qualities. So yeah it was right you could've been a great Slytherin. You don't have to be dark to be in Slytherin, Harry." 

"You really see things in a different way," Harry said. 

"Yes. That I do. Listen, Harry, if you decide to be a good person then no one can stop you. Just stop thinking that you're bad." Chris said seriously. 

Harry nodded. 

In the second week of December, Professor McGonagall came around for collecting names of those who would be staying at school for Christmas. The Weasleys, Harry and Hermione were staying, so Chris also signed the list and informed her father. Hermione insisted her to stay when she heard that Malfoy was staying. She said the holidays would be the perfect time to get a confession out of him. Chris agreed but she was more concerned about Ginny. After Colin's incident, Ginny was having nightmares every day. Chris thought, although Ginny was not talking to her, she should not leave Ginny alone. She was trying to keep an eye on Ginny just in case she has another panic attack.

After few days, Chris was returning from her class, walking across the entrance hall when she saw a small knot of people gathered around the notice board, reading a piece of parchment that had just been pinned up. She made her way towards the board when she saw a notice about a duelling club. 'So they want to prepare everyone.' Chris thought as she went back to the dormitory. 

So at eight o'clock that evening, she hurried back to the Great Hall with the first years then she and Luna joined Harry, Ron and Hermione. The long dining tables had vanished and a golden stage had appeared along one wall, lit by thousands of candles floating overhead. The ceiling was velvety black once more and most of the school seemed to be packed beneath it, all carrying their wands and looking excited. Chris was excited to. She never participates in a duel. "I wonder who'll be teaching us?" said Hermione as they edged into the chattering crowd. "Someone told me Flitwick was a duelling champion when he was young .... maybe it'll be him." "That'll be great. Professor Flitwick is my favourite teacher." Said Chris enthusiastically. "As long as it's not ..." Harry began, but he ended on a groan: Gilderoy Lockhart was walking onto the stage, resplendent in robes of deep plum and accompanied by none other than Snape, wearing his usual black. "Really?" Chris snorted. Luna was watching everything very attentively.

Lockhart waved an arm for silence the crowd and called, "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent! Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little duelling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions .... for full details, see my published works." 

"Great. Of course, we're here to listen to his heroics." Chris said sarcastically. 

Hermione glared at her and Chris hurriedly looked away.