Volume 1
- Parseltongue! I gave out in shock, feeling a wild craving for Potter and some kind of carnivorous hunger, in his direction. And the snake's tongue itself knocked me out of the rut. In his entire life, Tom has never met anyone with this rare and unique gift. Draco, on the contrary, met one while on vacation in India… But to find such a talent not just in England, but right under my nose, at Hogwarts, was too unexpected for me.
And the confidence that Potter is not the bully who controls my basilisk has been greatly shaken. No, well, anything can happen. Could it be that, without having at least some kind of a brilliant mind, Potter turned out to be an insanely brilliant actor? Can. And therefore, I no longer felt the same confidence in his innocence.
Heck! What a bad time the younger Weasley got caught by Dumbledore. If my diary, in its previous state, was still in her hands, I could have noticed any oddities behind Potter much earlier! Eh, but my diary is a huge oddity in itself. I could not figure out what the old director had screwed up in it. But for this purpose, I even "accidentally" bumped into Ginny in the hallway. Well, to get to the diary and put a couple of particularly powerful charms on it.
- Calm down! Potter hissed, not noticing everyone's attention to his person and bringing me back to reality. Smart thoughts, and I don't have any others, I'll think a little later. The main thing now is to turn the situation in the right direction for me. Although, the situation turned out to be very good anyway. Here it is more likely not to turn it over, but to benefit from it.
And I decided to start with a couple of dirty curses that would shut Potter up and not allow him to do something else on emotions. Fortunately, Professor Snape succumbed to the general mood of shock, not having time to help Potter or prevent me.
"I didn't expect that from you, Potter. - I gave out a bit sarcastically, killing the snake with a cutting spell. Even if it wasn't necessary at all, but I didn't mind adding weight to my words, the sight and smell of blood. - And I've already begun to consider you a worthy heir to the founder, and you're so... Gryffindor-like. - Putting more disappointment into my voice, I drawled.
"... what are you talking about, Malfoy?" - Not fully realizing my words, the boy asked me hostilely. Eh, but he doesn't even suspect How he's playing along with his words. Most of the students, even after his hissing, looked at the guy in a superstitious society, and after my words… Yes, even Potter's friends began to look at him strangely. And he's also helping me blacken my own name here!
- About nothing. - I quickly gave out, allegedly scared by such a desire, but "quickly pulling myself together." Such fearfulness may spoil my image in the eyes of others, but against the background of the "Great and Terrible" Harry Potter, a little timidity on my part will look quite natural. Yes, and I, by such an action, almost squared Potter's "awfulness". Many children were already literally trembling with fear, peering at the skinny figure of the national hero.
The fame of the serpents was too unambiguous. Why, every second Dark Lord of the last millennium had this gift. I don't know, to be honest, how it is connected at all, but facts are facts. Almost all the great dark magicians who decided to get their hands on power in one place or another had the gift of talking to snakes. Perhaps the gift itself somehow affects its bearers. Tom Vaughn also became a Dark Lord at a more mature age, and after all, initially this title was not included in the plans of a teenager.
- Draco. - Snape covered me with himself, getting into a kind of fighting stance, but continuing to keep his wand lowered. Hmm, as soon as Potter understood the wand in my direction, the dean immediately decided to act. Apparently, he succumbed to the general mood, exaggerating the danger of Potter. And my feigned fright, I'm sure, forced him to act much more radically. - Potter, put down your wand. - The professor gave out tensely, expecting aggression. But it worked out, Snape's seriousness scared the Gryffindor and he lowered his wand.
A tense silence reigned, the children were afraid to breathe once again. Potter looked around the crowd of students with a puzzled look. Zlotopust somehow, with his sixth sense, felt the seriousness of the situation and was silent. Only Heroy's friends stood out from the crowd, trying to get close to the platform.
Actually, very soon they did it. Granger and Weasley grabbed the frozen Potter by the arms and led him out of the hall at the pace of a waltz. They had no problems with this. The crowd of schoolchildren parted in front of Harry, allowing the golden one to pass quietly. Well, how calm, it's hard to walk calmly when your back is hypnotized by a frightened crowd, but they coped. The younger Weasley even started explaining something to Potter, squeezing his hand harder and harder.
It turned out to be an interesting picture, but I am, in principle, satisfied. It remains to make sure that Potter's reputation does not rise to the previous level of a national hero by the end of the year. Well, there is already information about the Potter family to gain a foothold in the minds of children, and something else interesting can be thought up during this time.
The main thing is to deal with the basilisk. Even if the murderous gaze of this snake is not fatal for snake eaters, but the snake has enough ways to kill its target without a glance. But after today, Potter, if he is still playing with a snake, can set the basilisk on me. And for me... it will be very difficult to fight back. Not in the narrow corridors of Hogwarts, where there is absolutely no room for maneuver, and the snake can stupidly move in a straight line.
It's decided, tonight I will still visit my old friend. At the very least, even if it comes to a battle, I can use the expanses of the Secret Room to my advantage. And I'm not going to reduce everything to a full-fledged battle. The same Avada turns out for me just as well. And the third is unforgivable, even if not in full force, but it acts even on monsters of the highest class of danger.
And I will still have time to prepare a sacrifice for the snake. There's enough filth crawling in the forbidden forest right now for me to be able to feed the king of snakes. The main thing is to correctly calculate the time of the entire operation. I won't be able to maintain transfiguration on the corpses of magical creatures for a long time, and the search for these creatures may still cause some problems.
It will be unpleasant if I stay in one of the corridors of Hogwarts with several carcasses, for example, of the same centaurs. Let nothing prevent me from turning those into the same stone again, but all my disguise will go in one place. The paintings in the corridors will immediately notice this anomaly.
Eh, but I also need to get out of the living room unnoticed. After lights out, Snape will check the presence of all students in their seats anyway. And after the check, there will be no escape, not through the main exit, right through dozens of surveillance and alarm charms. And you can't get out through the window, they are enchanted, and they mostly go straight to the bottom of the lake. You can only look at the squid here, and only if the weather is bright enough, and he is not hiding.
Need to think… And hope that the secret passages known to me from Tom will not fall under the attention of our dean. No, I was sure that he knew about them and would even put them under surveillance. Another thing is that the charms in them may well be an order of magnitude easier to overcome than at the main entrance. And this is a chance! Tom has learned a lot of ways to hide or just bypass the alarm system in his time.
And I had already managed to test these methods during my love affairs, so I had some confidence in my own abilities… However, I won't climb through the main entrance anyway. It will take a long time to mess around. And it will be quite easy to skip any spell. Snape has already proved his skill in charms, and you can't deny that in wit ....