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THERE WAS A large platform lined up in the middle of the Grand Hall with a sheet covered over it and a small staircase to walk up onto it. Students filled the hall, chatting amongst themselves and waiting for Lockhart to join them for whatever he had planned with this.

Everyone focused their attention to Professor Lockhart once he stepped upon the platform, strutting with a robe on and his wand in his hand.

"Gather round!" He walked up further so everyone could see him. "Can everybody see me? Can you all hear me?"

"Excellent," Lockhart muttered.

Lockhart turned around to walk in the other direction. "In light of the dark events of recent weeks, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Dueling 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 took off his robe and threw it to a few of the girls on the other side of the room. They gasped as they tried catching his robe, but one girl managed to get it before them.

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," Snape slowly stepped up to the platform.

"He has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration," Lockhart continued. "Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry. You'll still have your Potions Master when I'm through with him."

"Never fear," Lockhart and Snape headed towards each other. Snape quickly placed his wand in front of his face and so did Lockhart before both bowing to each other.

They went their separate way and turned back around, aiming their wands at each other to get ready for casting their spells. Professor Lockhart began counting down by three to get ready, but Snape took this opportunity to quickly fire a shot at Lockhart.

"Expelliarmus!" He threw Lockhart to the other side of the platform, and he fell right on his back.

"Do you think he's alright?" Hermione questioned.

"Who cares?" Ron scoffed as him, ( Y/N ) and Harry smiled at the sight of it.

"An excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind me saying it was pretty obvious, uh, what you were about to do," Lockhart scoffed, heading towards Snape again. "And if I had wanted to stop you, it would've been only too easy."

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

Professor Lockhart sighed. "An excellent suggestion, Professor Snape. Well, let's have a volunteer pair."

"Um, Potter, Weasley, how about you?"

"Weasley's wand causes devastation with the simplest spells," Snape sighed. "We'l be sending Potter to the hospital wing in a matchbox."

"Might I suggest someone from my own house? Malfoy, perhaps?" He shrugged, signaling for Draco to step up besides him.

Lockhart then walked away muttering to Harry, "Good luck, Potter."

"Thank you, sir."

Harry and Draco headed towards each other, putting their wands up in front of them.

"Scared, Potter?" Draco spat.

"You wish,"

They then put their wands down besides them and started walking away from each other, getting into a starting position with their wands aiming at one another.

"On the count of three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent, only to disarm," Lockhart stated. "We don't want any accidents here."

"One. Two-"

"Everte Statum!" Draco yelled, throwing Harry across the platform with a thump.

Ron and Hermione gasped while Draco smirked in triumph.

"Hey, can you make Malfoy pee himself again? 'Cause now is a great time," Ron whispered to ( Y/N ).

"Ronald!" Hermione spat.

Harry quickly got up, aiming his wand at Draco once again. "Rictusempra!"

A bright light came from Harry's wand and Draco fell just like Harry did, only harder. The students laughed as he looked up to Snape, who pulled him back up harshly.

"I said, disarm only."

"Serpensortia!" A green light came from Draco's light and a snake swung out and slithered onto the platform, hissing at the students and quickly slithering over to Harry.

"Don't move, Potter," Snape walked away from Draco. "I'll get rid of it for you."

"Allow me, Professor Snape," This made Snape stop on his tracks with a sigh.

"Alarte Ascendare!" The snake flew up and hissed some more before coming back down and facing the Justin boy Harry was talking to earlier.

Something strange was happening to Harry. It was like he could understand what the snake was saying, he was almost hissing like one and it understood him. The snake turned away from Justin and around to Harry, everyone looked at Harry with wide eyes, knowing what was happening.

"Vipera Evanesca!" Just like that, the snake was gone.

"What are you playing at?" Justin snapped.

Harry frowned in confusion, turning to Lockhart for answers who only shrugged.

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AFTER THE DUELING Club, Harry and the others ran into the Gryffindor common room trying to process what just happened. Harry had spoken to snakes before like at the zoo with Dudley last year, but that just felt different. Ron and Hermione were wondering if it had something to do with the heir.

"You're a Parselmouth?" Ron questioned, throwing his arms up. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I'm a what?" Harry frowned.

"You can talk to snakes,"

"I know," Harry replied. "I mean, I accidentally set a python on my cousin, Dudley at the once."

"Once. But so what? I bet loads of people here can do it,"

Hermione shook her head. "No, they can't."

"It's on a very common gift, Harry," Hermione explained.

"This is bad." ( Y/N ) nodded. She didn't know anything about this Heir of Slytherin of Parselmouth business, but by how everyone acted around it, it seemed to be something people feared.

"What's bad?" Harry questioned.

"If I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin-"

"Oh,  that's what you said to it,"

"You were there. You heard me, right ( Y/N )?"

She just shrugged.

"I heard you speaking Parseltongue. Snake language," Ron snapped.

"I spoke a different language?"

"B-but I didn't realize..." Harry  sighed. "How can I speak a language without knowing I can?"

"I don't know, Harry, but it sounded like you were egging the snake on or something," Hermione replied.

"Harry, listen to me. There's a reason the symbol of Slytherin house is a serpent. Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth. He could talk to snakes too."

"Exactly," Ron nodded. "Now the whole school is going to think you're his great-great-great grandson or something."

"But I'm not!"

Harry sighed. "I can't be."

"He lived a thousand years ago," Hermione continued. "For all we know, you could be."

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( Y/N ) SAT WITH Hermione, Ron and Harry during their study. Ginny, Ron's younger sister was also at their table writing on some parchment for her classes. Harry was receiving a couple stares from some other students in their class who thought he was the Heir of Slytherin.

He sighed and turned back to Hermione Ron, and ( Y/N ). The three just shrugged as a couple more students gave him some dirty looks.

Ginny also looked up from her book before quickly looking away. Harry closed his and put away his feather and stood up from his seat. "I'll see you back at the common room."

As he left Harry could hear a couple of kids from Hufflepuff whispering about how they think he might be the heir and what happened with Justin at the Dueling Club. They also brought up how You-Know-Who didn't want another dark lord competing with him, so that's why he went to the Potter's.