Chapter 138: Three Parselmouths
Ethan deflected Hermione's attack with a Shield Charm, effortlessly blocking the spell.
"What was that...?" Hermione began to ask, but her voice trailed off as she watched Lockhart rush down from the stage. It seemed nearly every duel had gone awry.
Harry and Draco's match was a total disaster.
They were supposed to be practicing the Disarming Charm. Instead, Draco was rolling on the floor in uncontrollable fits of laughter, while Harry was performing a frantic, jerky dance against his will.
"Stop! Stop!" Lockhart screamed as he sprinted toward them. "I said use only the Disarming Charm!"
Harry and Draco were not the only ones in trouble. Neville and Justin were both flat on the ground. Colin and Ginny were kneeling with glazed expressions, their wands flung far out of reach. Dean's hair was smoldering, and Seamus was apologizing profusely to him.
"Finite Incantatem!" Snape, who looked like he couldn't bear to watch another second, finally cast the counter-curse, bringing Harry and Draco back to their senses.
"Pinch it, that'll stop the bleeding... Help him up," Lockhart said as he moved through the crowd, assessing the damage from the first duel.
"Episkey!" "Finite Incantatem!" Ethan and several older students who knew the necessary spells helped Snape deal with the aftermath.
"I think I should teach you how to block unfriendly spells first." Feeling helpless and limited to giving verbal instructions, Lockhart snuck a glance at the busy Snape.
Deciding it was better not to provoke him any further, Lockhart positioned himself in the center of the Great Hall. "I need a pair of volunteers to step forward."
He scanned the room, his eyes lighting up. "Ethan and Miss Granger, come on up."
"I don't think that's quite right. Ethan's spellwork far exceeds Miss Granger's. It wouldn't be a suitable match."
"Malfoy and Potter. I think those two need to learn properly."
Snape looked at Harry, his smile making the boy feel extremely uneasy.
"We'll each take one. Let them demonstrate for everyone." Snape beckoned Draco forward. Lockhart called Harry to his side, looking rather uneasy.
The students stepped back, leaving enough space for the duelists while staying safely out of range to avoid accidental injury.
Having watched the earlier practice, everyone knew their own skill level and that of their peers, so they kept their distance.
Lockhart draped an arm around Harry's shoulder and led him to one side. Draco followed Snape to the other.
Ethan stood in the front row between the two groups. Aside from Hermione, the people beside him were strangers.
Lockhart pulled Harry close, whispered a few words, and waved his wand in a flurry of complex motions until he accidentally dropped it.
At that point, Snape, who had been watching out of the corner of his eye, sneered. He leaned down to whisper to Draco.
Draco nodded, sneering at Harry.
Harry looked nervously at the unreliable Lockhart, clearly wanting to ask something.
Finally, Lockhart patted Harry's shoulder, completely ignoring his anxious glance back, and pushed him forward.
Draco walked with slow, confident steps to the middle of the stage.
After the two finished their preparations, they heard Lockhart start counting.
As soon as Lockhart finished counting, Draco shouted, "Serpensortia!"
A black snake shot out of the tip of his wand.
Harry had learned nothing from Lockhart after all. He had planned to cast a random spell in response, but his mind was racing, and before he could decide which one, Draco had already finished casting his spell.
Seeing the black snake poised to strike, the crowd scrambled back. Several people screamed.
Harry stood motionless, staring at the snake.
"I'll deal with it!" Lockhart roared. He raised his wand and cast some unknown spell, but it was utterly useless.
The snake didn't vanish; instead, it became aggressive. It raised its head, tongue flicking as it scanned the crowd, preparing to strike.
"Hiss, hiss," Harry hissed at the snake. At the same time, a voice called out from beside Ethan.
He turned his head sharply. As the surrounding crowd retreated in fear, a single person was left exposed in the clearing.
The snake turned its head in confusion, torn between the conflicting commands.
One voice ordered it to stay where it was, while the other commanded it to leave immediately.
Snape stepped forward and waved his wand. The conjured snake dissolved into a wisp of black smoke, vanishing before their eyes.
He suddenly fixed his gaze on Harry, who stood before him. A knowing smile played on his lips.
Yet the moment his eyes fell upon the black-haired Nancy, the smile vanished.
The crowd kept their distance, too terrified to step forward. Instead, they watched the pair with suspicion, whispering among themselves.
"What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?" Harry was bewildered. He glanced at Nancy, then back at the onlookers staring at him.
They had only exchanged a few sentences. They had simply stopped the snake from attacking. Why was everyone reacting so strongly?
"Harry is Salazar's descendant?!" Hermione could hardly believe it. "And there's actually another one! Two Parselmouths appearing out of nowhere!"
"You spoke Parseltongue, Harry. We couldn't understand," Hermione said, looking at him with pity.
*Parseltongue? The Heir of Slytherin? I'm not!* Harry rushed to defend himself.
The implications struck him immediately. He remembered the rumors about the Heir of Slytherin, that he had been the prime suspect when Mrs. Norris was attacked, and he felt the room start to spin.
"I'm not! I didn't attack Ron!" he shouted desperately.
Whether anyone believed him, however, was another matter entirely.
Clearly, they did not. His words failed to reassure them, only fueling the rising panic.
"He attacked his own best friend. What's to stop him from coming after us? I want to go home. This is terrifying!" Terrified voices rose from the crowd.
Of course, Harry wasn't the only one facing this treatment; Nancy was being shunned as well.
However, Nancy was faring much better than Harry because, when the first attack happened, many people had seen her at the Halloween feast the entire time.
Although he kept saying he had gone to the ghosts' Deathday Party, only Ron and Hermione could verify it. Furthermore, there was a period after the party when their behavior was impossible to explain.
With no way to defend himself, Harry managed a miserable smile and slumped to the ground.
"All right, all right. That wraps up today's Dueling Club. Everyone, head back." Lockhart avoided Harry's eyes entirely, shouting to the students as they moved away from the center of the Great Hall.
The other students left the Great Hall quickly, chattering as they made their way back to their respective common rooms.
Soon, only the two professors, Harry, Hermione, and Ethan remained in the Great Hall.
Ethan watched Nancy's retreating figure, noting how lonely she looked. Several of their classmates looked as though they wanted to approach her but didn't dare. However, just as she was about to step out the door, a few girls walked over to join her.
Snape swept his gaze over the small group and was the first to leave the Great Hall.
Hermione stepped forward. As she drew closer to Harry, she heard him muttering the same words over and over. "It wasn't me. I'm not the Heir!"
"I know it wasn't you. When Mrs. Norris was attacked, you were with me. Besides, you couldn't have attacked Ron either." Hermione patted his shoulder, her voice soothing.
"Do you believe me too?" He looked at Ethan expectantly.
"Of course. I know it wasn't you," Ethan said with conviction.
"Professor Lockhart, what about you?"
Lockhart shifted his gaze evasively. "Well, of course I believe you."
"Take Potter back. You look exhausted, too. Get to bed early tonight." Lockhart turned and hurried away.
"Heh." Harry let out a self-deprecating laugh. He climbed slowly to his feet, brushing aside Hermione's hand as she tried to pull him up, and staggered toward the Gryffindor common room.
"Come with me. I don't think I can hold him up by myself," Hermione whispered from behind Ethan.
"All right."
They followed Harry, watching him struggle up the long staircase to the eighth floor.
When they reached the Gryffindor common room entrance, Hermione shot Harry a worried look as he climbed through the portrait hole. She quickly said goodbye to Ethan and followed Harry inside.
It was getting late, dangerously close to curfew. Ethan walked briskly, his mind racing the entire way.
There were far too many suspicious details about Nancy. The first time they'd seen her, she was staring blankly at a wall. Had she discovered something? Was she the one who released the Basilisk that attacked Ron?
If that were the case, how did she know how to open the Chamber? If not, did that mean the diary had fallen into someone else's hands again?
Ethan didn't know how the others in Gryffindor were treating Harry after his return, but the Slytherin common room was buzzing.
Students were heatedly discussing the possibility that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin.
"Ethan, you're back so late. What else happened after we left?"
"Is Potter really the heir? He's a Parselmouth, so he must be a descendant of Salazar. Did he really release the monster in the Chamber to attack the cat and Weasley?"
When Ethan entered, Draco pulled him aside, made Goyle get up from the chair, and gestured for Ethan to sit before firing off questions with barely contained impatience.
"Professor Lockhart asked me to help escort Potter back to the dormitory. Nothing happened after you left."
"As for the heir issue, I don't think it's him. As for who it is, I don't know either." Ethan wasn't about to give a definitive answer while they were in the common room.
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1. Harry Potter: Satan? Nah, Just My Family Crest = CHAPTER 299
2.Marvel: Cosmic Forger of Infinity = CHAPTER 209
3.Harry Potter: Beyond Good and Evil in the Wizarding World = CHAPTER 301
4.Harry Potter: Reborn as Draco Black = CHAPTER 136
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