87: The parsalmouth

(Ana POV)

I was walking briskly in the corridor. All the matter is still in my head. I was pissed and just wished that no one would approach me. I was at my limit. He had the audacity to call me his niece after all that he and his brother did. I mean, what kind of guts did he possess? I wanted to kill that guy so badly that it is impossible to describe in words. And with all those feelings I stomped into the great hall totally not expecting what I found there. 

(What the.....)

In the first instance, nothing felt out of the ordinary but to me who had trained to look for the unordinary, some things were different than usual. I looked around but could not find the source of the disturbance. The great hall was as packed as ever but the different thing was that there was not much noise. The kids were unusually quiet. 

(Did something happen that I don't know of.)

Obviously, there was something that I was unaware of. The great hall was never this quiet. It was not like a pin-drop silence, the kids were still talking but they were all whispering. Like they were scared of something or they were wary. That was when I looked towards my usual seat and surely Nat was there. He was sitting with his face towards me. Then he raised his hand and waved at me. 

(I'll ask him what is going on.)

With that in mind, I moved towards the table and sat next to Nat.

"So how did it go?" was his first statement.

(Always predictable.)

"How did what go." I tried my best to hide all my frustration. 

"You know what I am talking about." He made an irritated face.

(I think I succeed in hiding it from him. He must not know that the rouges were there and that they are planning something.)

"Ahhh my trip with J." (let's tease him a bit more. I might lose all my frustration as well.)

"yes." He face-palmed himself. "Of course, I would ask about your date with that bastard Jacob." And then he shouted. "I WAS ASKING ABOUT THE CRACK." 

"Oh, the crack...…. I forgot about it. Why would you need to know? I went there. You think that I could not have solved it by myself. You dare doubt your sister." I showed him my fake anger. But he was not fazed at all. His mind seemed far away. I did not know what he was thinking about but he sure was disturbed. Wait.... Was he? Now he seemed calm. What the hell was going on?

"Nat you okay?" I placed my hand on his shoulder. Because it did not matter if he was disturbed or calm, both were weird for him. The only thing not weird was if he was angry. 

"Yeah, I am fine." He lied through his teeth. "never been better." And he never said that. It was….. weird.

"Nat...…" I placed my other hand on his other shoulder and shook him. "Are you really okay?" I looked him in the eyes, but he diverted his gaze. Now I was dead sure there was something going on with him.

"Come on tell me." I urged him.

"It's nothing really. Haven't you seen the change in the atmosphere?" He asked. He wanted me to believe that his change was due to the change in the atmosphere. 

(Okay little boy. I will give you the luxury of believing in your lie.)

"yeah, I did notice that something was wrong. But what, I could not understand that at all." I asked feigning ignorance.

He simply pointed in a certain direction. That was when for the first time since entering the hall I noticed something. It was Beatris Potter and one look at her face was enough to tell me that she had been crying.

(Wait what....)

"She is a Parselmouth." He replied.

(She is...…)

"A Parselmouth." It took but a moment for those words to sink in and then in an instant all made sense. I focused a little on the whispers and what I heard was enough to make my blood boil.

"Look at her audacity..."

"Still sitting so shamelessly there."

"She should be with the Slytherins."

"Why is she sitting with Anastasia."

It was getting harder for me to hold in all the anger.

(I bet they think that she is the heir of Slytherin.)

"Everyone thinks that she is the heir of Slytherin." And that was the final nail in the coffin.

I stood up, magic power oozing out from every single orifice in my body. And then I gathered it all and shouted.

"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU ALL." And the hall immediately fell silent. I knew that it was all impulsive but this was the best thing that I could have done right now.

"Oh boy, this is going to be fun." I heard Nat. I ignored him.

-----------------------

(Beatris POV)

I was so done with everything in my life. I thought that nothing could go wrong whenever I was in Hogwarts. But now a lot of things had gone wrong. The First was dobby. He had tried to get me expelled from the school once and then he had tried to kill me once. And now this. Because of some stupid power that I did not even know that I possessed, the whole school thought that I was the heir of Slytherin. And they were avoiding me of that. Ron had not talked to me in days. The only friend I had left was Hermione or at least that was what I thought until Nathan approached me. Boy, I was not expecting that. I did not expect Nathaniel Morningstar to come up to me and console me. And the face that he made at that time, No matter how hard I tried, I could not get it out of my head. Why the hell did God make him so handsome damn it. And if he did then what the hell happened to his personality? But whatever. Right now I had to go to the great hall and Hermione was not with me. She was most probably already inside the great hall. But I did not want to go inside without her. I hated the looks that the students gave me. I needed her right now but she was nowhere to be seen. 

(get a hold of yourself Beatris. It's okay. Just walk in as if nothing happened.)

I opened the doors to the great hall. As the door opened, I immediately noticed two things. First, all the noise that was coming from the great hall instantly died as I entered. Every student turned and looked toward me. And second, every student on the Gryffindor table move sideways so that I would not have any space left to sit. I felt heat rise to my face and then water gathering behind my eyes. I immediately bent my head downwards so that no one would see me tear up. But I was also sure that they had already seen me. I quickly moved towards the only empty seat at the Gryffindor table. Ironically the only place left was with Nathan. No one wanted to sit with me and no one wanted to sit with him. So that was the only space I had to sit. I walked hurriedly towards it. Usually, he would not even allow me to sit close but right now he did not even look up as I sat right next to him. He was not doing much. He was ignoring me as usual but at least he was not criticizing me like the rest. In this brief time, my opinion of him had improved by leaps and bounds. But no matter what he was still below the borderline between a decent human and a jerk. I wiped my eyes using my arm.

*CLACK CLACK  CLACK *

I heard some footsteps. I ignored them.

"So how did it go?" I heard Nathan talk. I kept my focus on my food.

"How did what go." It was Anna. I did not know where she had been for the past few days. No one had seen him. And I had also heard her conversation with Martel.

"You know what I am talking about." They continued their conversation.

"Ahhh my trip with J."

"yes"

I ignored the rest of it. Why was I even listening in? It wasn't until I heard these words did I notice took an interest.

"She is a Parselmouth." Nathan pointed towards me.

(What???? HE IS TELLING HER. Now She is also going to look at me with that gaze.)

I was not mentally prepared to hear her criticism. But what came next was even more shocking.

"A Parselmouth." I heard him say.

"Everyone thinks that she is the heir of Slytherin," Nathan explained. 

(Why are you telling her this you jerk....)

I heard her het up and then....

"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU ALL." She shouted with all her might. 

(What???) 

I was not expecting this.

------------------------

(Nathan POV)

I got up, breathing heavily.

(This again)

My chest was tight. I could not breathe properly. I hated this feeling. It had started some time back. And now it was getting worse. I did not know what it was. I could not understand what it was. I felt as if I had felt the same thing once before but…. I could not remember when or why. But nowadays it had come back and it was worse than ever. I got up from the bed and poured myself a glass of water. I knew from the experience of a few days that even trying to sleep was a wasted effort. I knew that I would not be able to sleep. This was what was happening for a few days. And I hated that.

(Well can't do anything about that. Okay, Nathaniel Morningstar. Move your ass.) I got up from my bed. I came to the center of the room and then I was on the ground with my hands in front. 

"One... Two... Three….." I started to do pushups. I had no idea what time it was or when was the sun going to rise. I had to get myself busy. It was the only way I was going to get rid of this shitty feeling. And then I did not know when I fell asleep.

The next day I took my classes, and Everything went as usual. The day was boring and the students were criticizing Potter for something she had not done. So just the usual.

But what I was not expecting was the thing that sis did after hearing about Potter. So, let me tell you what happened.

I was sitting at the table. It was that darn thing again. I had no idea what was wrong with my body. But one thing was for sure I hated it. As sis entered the hall, I did two things. 

At first, I made sure that my face was the usual. I had to hide it from sis as much as I could. Because I knew that she was going to be worried about me. So I tried my best to hide it.

And the second thing was that I noticed there was something different. She was angry and not like the regular angry. She was...….. frustrated, depressed. 

(Something must have happened.)

I tried to talk it out of her but my plan failed miserably when she noticed that something was wrong with me as well.

(Damn..... she is too sharp for her own good.)

I needed leverage and I used whatever was close to me. And the closest thing that I could use was Potter.

"It's nothing really. Haven't you seen the change in the atmosphere?" I tried my best to change the topic, hoping that she would buy it.

"Yeah, I did notice that something was wrong. But what, I could not understand that at all." And it was a success.

(Yes I succeeded in changing the topic of the conversation.)

I pointed towards Potter and I knew that she would find out that Potter had been crying. Then she would console her and I would be saved.

"She is a Parselmouth." He told her.

I saw all the blood in her face left and she turned pale upon hearing that. 

(yup, use that big brain of yours and link the things together.)

I gave a little push to speed things up.

"Everyone thinks that she is the heir of Slytherin." And yes, surely, I saw the dam burst. She placed her hands on the table and stood up. And then she shouted as loud as she could.

Immediately everyone in the room got quiet.

I could not help but grin like a madman.

"Oh boy, this is going to be fun," I spoke. She ignored me.

"Now say that I am the heir of Slytherin. I dare you all." Sis spoke.

(They are all so dead.) 

It was fun and I was barely holding in my laughter.

"Wait….. why is she saying that she is the heir of Slytherin." I heard a whisper. I turned around to face Beatris.

(the hell did she just say...)

I could not believe my ears for a while and simply looked at her clueless face.

"What?" She was blank.... OH MY GOD, SHE WAS BLANK. My grin grew even wider.

(ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW? SHE DID NOT HEAR IT...)

"What did sis say?" I asked her, not even hiding my excitement...

"Ummm Ummm." She backed off.

"Tell me, Potter…. Quick." I urged her.

"She said that Now say that I am the heir of Slytherin. I dare you all." She repeated the exact words.

"NO NO NO NO....…. BEFORE THAT." I Shook her.

"SH-sh-shs-sh-she said...…. Shut the hell up you all." She replied with innocence in her eyes.

(OG MY GOD...…. THIS IS AMAZING. She is even more amazing than sis. Truly…. She truly is the girl who lived.)

"A Parselmouth through and through aren't you Potter." My grin was now touching both ears.

"What do you mean by that?" She was still confused.

"What I mean is that you are probably the only one in this room who understood what she said," I explained to her.

"Wait how is that possible... How can I understand and cant? I mean she....."

"Beatris." I cut her. "She was speaking in Parseltongue," I told her.

"huh?" She probably could not wrap her head around what I had just said.

"if you want to brandish her as the heir of Slytherin, then I think I am more eligible than her." I heard sister say.

"Beatris... You are not the only one with that strength. Sis is also a Parselmouth." I spoke in the simplest of terms so that she would understand.

---------------------

(3rd Person POV)

As these things were happening in the great hall, there was a kid in the school who was not in the great hall. Walking as fast as his little legs could carry him, he reached the bathrooms. He opened the door and then entered. Lucky for him Martel was not there. Probably visiting some other toilet. The boy did not care at all. He sat on the ground and pulled out a diary from inside his cloak. And then he opened it and wrote.

"What next Mr. Tom."

The text vanished from the paper after a moment.

And then a text magically appeared on the blank page.

"Face the book towards the sink." The boy did as he was told.

Then there was a sound that came from the seemingly empty diary. It was like the hiss of a snake and then suddenly a secret passage opened from the sink and something poked its head from inside the sink.

*HISSSSS*

The monster hissed. 

The words appeared in the diary again.

"It is yours to control." 

"I will only do as you wish Mr. Tom." Augustine wrote in the diary and the words disappeared.