Slytherin's Heir.

During my time at Hogwarts so far, I've learnt two things: Halloween is a dreadful day, and 'mud-blood,' which literally means 'dirty-blood,' was a racial term towards individuals like me who didn't come from a magical family.

I couldn't fully express how I felt when I heard the word 'mud-blood,' and it wasn't very significant at the time because there were far more pressing concerns. Someone apparently opened the infamous 'Chamber of Secrets,' and Mrs. Norris, the cat owned by Hogwarts caretaker Mr. Filch, was the first victim. And, according to the whispers I heard, muggle-born pupils like myself would be next in line.

I wasn't sure if it was an elaborate prank by a sick individual. But, I wasn't going to take any chances with my life. And I just had the right tools to ensure my safety -- my spell coding ability.

...

On November 9th, I, like many other Hogwarts students, was certain that someone or something was targeting the muggleborn kids studying here, because a first-year Gryffindor named "Colin Creevey" had been found petrified near Hospital wing the night before. He wasn't dead, thankfully. That tiny fella was one of my favourites since he always had a cheerful demeanour. He was a passionate photographer as well.

But this incident also made me vigilant and eager to modify a batch of defensive spell.

I already had the "Wingardium Leviosa" charm and the modified "Protego" charm. With just my thoughts, I could conjure a shield and manipulate surrounding objects. My wand was also tweaked to increase my magical strength if necessary. What I didn't have was a warning system or a quick reaction speed.

I decided to add a method named "bullet time(self)" under the class "Wizard(Human)" after an hour of deliberation. Its purpose was to increase my perception speed to the point where even a bullet would appear slow in front of me. In addition, under the class "Spell," I created a spell function called "danger()." The spell method would be active at all times, alerting me to any incoming dangers such as projectiles, hostile action, or any unknown creature near me, and call the "bullet time(self)" function, which would speed up my perception and allow me to react quickly by conjuring shields or moving out of the way to protect myself.

I needed to come up with a means to produce magic for the spell without exhausting myself because the spell method would be operating all the time. And I came up with a solution in the form of a stone. I took an average stone from the Black Lake's shore and placed it on one of the blank squares that emerge whenever my power is activated. I also added some properties to the stone, similar to how I modified my wand, such as "unbreakable," "mana storage," and "mana source."

The first attribute was that it made the stone unbreakable, the second attribute was that it allowed the stone to suck and store ambient mana in the air, and the third attribute was that the stored mana could be utilised to power the spell. I had no idea at the time that what I had built was effectively a portable ward.

I was able to optimise my "danger" spell mechanism such that it could distinguish between friends and foes after a week of struggling with the numerous situations of unneeded "bullet time."

...

Surprisingly, November was rather calm following the tragedy. Pupils, particularly muggleborn students, were concerned at first. However, the month-long quiet had allowed them to relax their vigilance, and Hogwarts had returned to its usual cheery condition.

It was all nice until Professor Lockhart decided to start a duelling club on December 17th. All four houses' pupils were invited. Professor Lockhart's ability to teach us anything meaningful was a big question mark for me.

I was standing with Luna on one of the corners. Luna was usually shunned by the girl due to her "unique" characteristics and proclivity for revealing unpleasant realities. I was the only student who didn't mock her, and I would occasionally engage in conversation with her.

"Gather around, gather around!"From the opposite end of the duelling platform, a booming voice rang out. Professor Lockhart was the one who said it.

"Can everybody see me?" Said Lockhart as he walked along the platform. "Can you all... hear me? Excellent."

The whisperings stopped. He turned around and explained, "In light of the dark events of recent weeks, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little duelling club to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions. For full details, see my published works."

He paused and threw his over coat at some girls I didn't recognize.

"Let me introduce my assistance, Professor Snape," he remarked as Professor Snape walked onto the stage from the other end. "He's graciously consented to assist me with a quick demonstration. I don't want any of you to be concerned now. When I'm done with him, you'll have your potions master."

When he said it, I almost burst out laughing. Professor Snape, I assumed, was far more capable than Lockhart. I was waiting for Lockhart to make a fool of himself.

Just as I thought, after doing the ceremonial greeting, as soon as Professor Lockhart finished the countdown he was shot with an 'Expelliarmus' spell. It was powerful enough to knock Lockhart a few feet as he landed on his back.

Professor Lockhart's well-being was discussed in whispers throughout the room. I wasn't concerned because it was all his fault to begin with. He had clearly exaggerated his ability, and now he was paying the price for it.

After a few seconds, Lockhart stood up and smiled like nothing happened.

"An excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape," he said as if he already knew the outcome, "But if you don't mind me saying, it was pretty obvious what you were about to do, and if I had wanted to stop you, it would have been only too easy."

"Perhaps it would be prudent to first teach the students to block unfriendly spells, professor." Said Professor Snape.

"An excellent suggestions, Professor Snape!" Professor Lockhart said. "Uh, let's have a volunteer pair."

He paused and scanned through the students.

"Potter, Weasley, how about you?" He asked.

"Weasley's wands causes devastations with the simplest spells," Professor Snape interjected. "We'll be sending Potter to the Hospital wing in a matchbox."

"Might I suggest someone from my own house?" Professor Snape added. "Malfoy perhaps."

Without waiting for Professor Lockhart's reply, he gestured Draco Malfoy to join in the duel.

Lockhart looked concerned as he walked to Harry's side and wished Harry "good luck".

Malfoy had a smug look on his face as if the world owed him something.

"Wands ready," Lockhart said. Harry and Draco did the ceremonial greetings and walked back to their side.

"On the count of three cast your charm to disarm your opponent." Lockhart announced. "Only to disarm!"

"We don't want any accidents here!" He added.

"One."

Both Harry and Draco turned to face each other with their wands ready.

"Two."

Draco threw the spell "Everte Statum" flinging Harry a few metres back before Lockhart could count to three. It appeared that Harry had lost, but he was back on his feet a few seconds later, and without wasting any time, he pointed his wand straight at Malfoy and exclaimed, "Rictusempra!"

Malfoy was thrown backwards, spinning a few times in the air. The blow had thrown him off, but Professor Snape grabbed him by the collar and forced him to face Harry.

Malfoy regained his composure and raised his wand at Harry, yelling, "Serpensortia!"

A long black snake shot out of the tip of Malfoy's wand, fell heavily on the platform between them, and raised itself ready to strike. Harry froze, it was not clear if he was afraid or because of something else. He was just staring at the snake.

Professor Snape was about intervene when Lockhart said, "Don't worry, I'll take care of that."

After then, Professor Lockhart cast a spell on the snake. The snake shot 10 feet into the air before landing on the floor with a loud smack. It slithered directly toward a Hufflepuff student, enraged and hissing violently, then lifted itself again, ready to strike at any moment.

At that very time, Harry, who had inadvertently approached the snake, began hissing. I had no idea what he was doing, but judging by Professor Snape's terrified expression and the expressions of some older pupils, I knew it wasn't something good, or at least not something that was viewed as good. The snake calmed down after a few moments. Professor Snape, who had recovered from the shock, used a spell to vanish the snake.

Later that day, I learnt that those who could communicate with snakes had a specific moniker. Parselmouth was their name. Because Voldemort, or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," was a parselmouth, the talent was considered bad.