Dear Harry,
Thank you for the update. I am pleased to hear that your studies and Quidditch are both going well. However, it is interesting that I received an update directly from the school's mediwitch and not from yourself about your recent injury. Skelegro is truly a nasty potion, did you tell her to add lavender to counteract the taste of the troll toe? Next time you lose some bones, first of all, try to collect them, and secondly inform me of the injury as I know some less nauseating remedies than that potion. I am glad to hear you have recovered. Perhaps you should think about returning to muggle sports, however. They seem much less dangerous. I am concerned about the quality of education you are receiving. Your lackluster Potions training is bad enough but this Lockhart man appears to be completely incompetent. I will have to remedy your Defense studies over break. (Yes Ms Granger may look over those notes, as I know she will ask.) Why was he allowed to vanish your bones? I should have insisted you go to Durmstrang.
About your first inquiry - you know I did not attend Hogwarts myself, I have never heard of the Chamber of Secrets before. I advise you to try to figure out when it was made or when the first rumors of its existence arose. Then perhaps you could interview someone who was there at the time. A first-hand account would be the most helpful in separating facts from rumors. You need to figure out what creature is in this Chamber.
As for your second inquiry - it is truly a shock to me as well. I did not think you had the bloodline to inherit creature-speaking. There are very few bloodlines on the continent, in fact, which are known for such a thing. I had a great aunt who could communicate with cats, but she was the only one I have ever met. You should look into the Potter family history, it is likely that there was a marriage with some non-English wix in the recent past. I believe I've heard somewhere that there are Potters from India. I am excited to witness your new gift in action. Think of how much easier it will be to collect venom for your potions lessons. And no, before you ask, this does not mean you are allowed another pet.
Enclosed are your usual apprenticeship projects and readings. I know you are busy, but if you finish them before the winter break, we can see about the extra-curricular project you mentioned in your last letter. It is an intriguing idea for sure, but might I remind you of its expensive cost. Will the recipients be comfortable with such a cost?
I know you care about them, but I must also urge you to be discreet. As you've already noticed, Parseltongue is regarded as very Dark and evil magic by the populace. Eyes are watching you closely. Do not give anyone any reason to spread further rumors during this time. Keep your head low, focus on your studies, and assist the professors (safely) in catching the real culprit behind this.
Please send me the heirloom ring I gave you. It is dangerous to keep it at school with all this drama. I know you would be devastated if you lost it.
Have a peaceful rest of term, I will see you at Yule.
A.A.
...
"Oh Harry, don't let those insecure bullies get to you!" Hermione cried, frustrated as yet another person walked past their table, hissing and pointing at Harry.
"It's fine, Mione. Honestly, it doesn't bother me too much. It's not my fault they don't like an ability I was born with. It's like making fun of the color of my skin. They're just being snake-ist."
"Good. But I - or we, all of us, want you to know that we're here for you. If you need to talk. About anything. We don't care if you're a parselmouth and we don't care about anything else you might be dealing with -" She paused, ready for him to take the bait. He didn't.
"Do you think maybe parseltongue is the reason why you're always so cold? Because snakes are cold-blooded animals? Or is it from something else?"
"I didn't realize I was always cold?" Harry frowned. He put a hand against his forehead.
"Never seen you without a jacket or a robe on, mate," Ron said.
"Huh," Harry said. "I guess so. I dunno."
Hermione frowned and pushed forward.
"What about how your eyes are always glowing!?"
Harry hummed and looked at her, his face blank and not betraying anything.
"I dunno."
Harry shifted under her steely gaze. He felt bad about lying to his friends. He'd thought about telling them. Harry didn't think they would care too much, considering he was pretty open about using his less-than-legal abilities around them already, like shadow-traveling and his bond with Hedwig. But his mama's letter wouldn't leave his thoughts. He had to be careful, now that the school was suspicious of his parseltongue abilities. Everyone was accusing him of being the Heir of Slytherin. What if someone found out? What if someone went after mama? What if his friends didn't like that he had maybe killed a couple of people, resurrected many more, and had once possessed a government official just to make him violently pick his nose on public TV for a prank? Well, he was certain Ron at least would support the last one. But Hermione was a stickler for the rules. And Luna abhorred violence. And Ron did have strong morals. What if his friends left him?
Harry had a lot of people in his life. But the truth, he'd discovered, is that dead people couldn't compare to living ones. It was a part of why he had insisted on attending Hogwarts in the first place. The hugs from Lily were affectionate, but cold and non-corporeal. His mother wasn't his mother anymore. She was a simulacrum of what Lily Potter once was - a little too focused on death and violence and revenge to ever be able to help raise him. The Potters acted how Harry figured they should have acted, their personalities stitched together by Harry's limited knowledge of them. They were echoes of their final moments, not full people anymore.
They were more like Hedwig, the ravens, his shadows, all sentient beings and his friends in an abstract sort of way. But the dead were dead. They didn't have personalities unless he wanted them to.
Harry wasn't sure if his mama, Alabasandria, counted as a real living person. Shadowed and frosted and apathetic to most things, older than any other wizard Harry had ever heard of. Lacking some endearing quality in living people that Harry couldn't quantify. She wasn't closed off - it was more so that she simply was not. Not warm and affectionate. She didn't understand how to be so, why such a quality was desirable. He didn't fault her for that, but it was a truth about her none the same.
The living had this emotional, fiery quality to them that he wanted, needed, desired.
Harry couldn't lose his friends.
"Mione," Ron murmured to Hermione, interrupting the interrogation and Harry's downward spiral. "Don't push it." Luna put her hand over Hermione's and the girls had a silent, heated argument for a moment, before Hermione huffed and let them carry on. Louder, he said. "Let's talk about something else. The Chamber, did your mum have any ideas on that, Harry?"
Harry couldn't lose his friends.
"Mione," Ron murmured to Hermione, interrupting the interrogation and Harry's downward spiral. "Don't push it." Luna put her hand over Hermione's and the girls had a silent, heated argument for a moment, before Hermione huffed and let them carry on. Louder, he said. "Let's talk about something else. The Chamber, did your mum have any ideas on that, Harry?"
"She recommended we talk to someone who was there when Slytherin made the thing," Harry explained. He sent Ron and Luna a grateful smile. He would tell them later, he promised himself. Maybe next year.
Ron gave him a nod of understanding back. Him and Luna were always cool about Harry's frantic avoidance of certain things. He loved that about his friends.
"But - but that was centuries ago! They're all long dead, I don't even think there are any ghosts that old!" Hermione cried.
Harry shrugged. "Maybe we could find someone from when it opened last time? That was only fifty years ago." Meanwhile, his head was buzzing with ideas. Why settle for talking to anyone other than Salazar Slytherin himself? But where would his body be?
She huffed. "Well, I'd better start researching then. Oh, but I hope the Heir is discovered soon. I'm getting awfully worried."
"Do you reckon it's Malfoy?" Ron suddenly asked.
"I doubt it," said Luna. "He seems the sort to brag about that, isn't he? I don't think he'd be very good at keeping it a secret."
"Well that was my only lead," Ron said. "Don't worry, Hermione. After Christmas we'll figure something out. Try to enjoy the holiday, yeah? Even if you'll still be studying."
....
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