The quiet, peaceful days at Hogwarts always seemed to flee as mercilessly as fallen leaves in the wind.
On Tuesday evening, the Great Hall had been cleared to make way for a long, golden dueling stage. Aiden arrived early, finding the vast hall still empty. After choosing a sturdy-looking beam high up in the rafters, he flew up, used a quick cleaning charm to clear the dust, and settled in. A dragon in human form had made the beam his perch.
As time went by, students began to file into the hall, their excited chatter filling the space. Finally, at the appointed time, a foppish, flamboyant man strode in.
"Everyone, gather 'round, gather 'round!" Gilderoy Lockhart called out loudly. He dramatically threw off his cloak, tossing it into a crowd of adoring girls. Several of them instantly began fighting over it.
"In view of the dark events that have occurred these past few weeks," Lockhart announced, winking at the students and revealing his shiny teeth, "Professor Dumbledore has specially authorized me to open this Dueling Club!"
"Lockhart is amazing, isn't he?" a boy next to Harry said excitedly. "My name's Justin Finch-Fletchley, from Hufflepuff." The friendly boy held out his hand, and Harry shook it.
"Oh, hello, I'm—" Harry began, but Justin interrupted him.
"I know who you are! You're Harry Potter! Even we wizards from Muggle families know all about you."
On the stage, Lockhart, seeing that the atmosphere had been sufficiently stirred up, shouted, "And now, let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape!"
All eyes turned to see Snape striding into the hall, dressed in a formal, well-tailored dueling uniform.
'Oh, it seems Snape came prepared,' Aiden thought, taking a sip from a glass of iced lemonade he'd conjured.
"He has bravely volunteered to give us a demonstration!" Lockhart declared.
Snape walked onto the dueling stage with steady, deliberate steps. As he walked, he suddenly glanced up at the rafters, and his eyes met Aiden's for a fraction of a second. Aiden was startled, thinking he'd been exposed, but Snape quickly looked away as if he'd seen nothing.
"I won't hurt you, my dear Potions Master, don't you be afraid," Lockhart said with a kind, condescending smile.
Snape returned the smile, but his was a chilling, creepy thing. The two wizards walked to the center of the stage, raised their wands, and gave a formal dueling salute. Then they turned and walked to opposite ends of the platform. Snape deliberately waited for Lockhart to get into position before raising his wand.
"Expelliarmus!" he said, his voice dripping with condescension. He deliberately slowed his casting, forgoing a silent spell. The powerful jet of red light slammed into Lockhart, sending his wand flying high into the air. The force of the spell blew him off his feet, and he landed heavily on the stage.
The students erupted in laughter.
"An excellent idea, Professor Snape!" Lockhart said, scrambling to his feet and chuckling. "Obviously, if I hadn't wanted to clearly demonstrate the charm for the students, you wouldn't have even had a chance to hit me." He walked toward Snape. "Perhaps we should first teach the students how to effectively resist malicious spells. This might be more effective, Professor."
Snape just stared at Lockhart with the eyes of a dead man, and the words died in the vain man's throat.
"Oh, well, that's exactly what I was about to say!" Lockhart awkwardly changed the subject. "Now, let's choose two young wizards to demonstrate. You two, Potter and Weasley!"
"Professor," Snape interjected smoothly. "Weasley's wand is a menace. It is hardly suitable for this duel. Perhaps they need more evenly matched opponents. What do you think?" After speaking, he shot another glare up at the rafters. He had definitely spotted Aiden. This puzzled Aiden, who couldn't figure out how he'd been exposed. But in fact, a careful observer would have noticed a single, conspicuously clean patch on the otherwise ancient and dusty beam.
"Now then," Snape continued, turning sharply and pointing at Draco. "Please allow my own Slytherin student to participate. Draco, if you would."
Draco climbed onto the dueling stage as instructed. The other students began to pair off as well. Harry and Draco walked to the center of the stage and, mimicking the professors, gave each other a dueling salute.
"Scared, Potter?" Draco sneered.
"You wish, Malfoy," Harry shot back.
"No dark curses," Lockhart instructed. "Only disarming. We don't want anyone to get hurt. Now, on the count of three. One... two..."
Before he could finish, Draco took the lead. "Tarantallegra!"
The charm hit Harry, and his legs began to twitch uncontrollably, as if dancing a mad jig. Snape showed a faint, knowing smile.
"Rictusempra!" Harry countered with a Tickling Charm. It hit Draco square in the chest, and he burst out laughing. As he was laughing, he caught his godfather's murderous glare from the side of the stage. Draco immediately suppressed his laughter and cast another spell.
"Serpensortia!"
A long, black snake shot out from the tip of Draco's wand and slithered toward Harry.
"Stop! That's beyond the agreed-upon limits!" Lockhart cried, rushing up and standing in front of Harry. "Let me handle this!" He tried to recall a banishing charm he'd recently read about. "Alarte Ascendare!"
The snake was thrown into the air, but instead of disappearing, it was instantly magnified dozens of times, transforming into a giant python.
"Oh, good job," Aiden, who was watching from his perch, exclaimed sarcastically.
The enlarged snake, enraged, prepared to attack the students in the stands. Aiden released a wave of pure, draconic deterrence. Both serpents on the field—the snake and Snape—snapped their heads up toward the rafters, as if sensing a true dragon was coiled there.
The moment the python's eyes met Aiden's, he cast a quick memory charm, planting the instruction not to harm anyone. The hypnotized snake shook its head, which Harry mistook for a signal to attack. He rushed forward, shielding Justin Finch-Fletchley behind him.
"Hiss... ssthee... heth... sssalath..."
In his desperation, Harry began speaking Parseltongue, trying to drive the giant snake away. But to the surrounding students, it looked like he was controlling it. The younger wizards began to scream in terror, and Snape looked at Harry with a complicated, unreadable expression.
Hermione and Ron, realizing what was happening, quickly pulled Harry away, dragging him all the way back to the Gryffindor common room.
"You're a Parselmouth!" Ron exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"I'm a what?" Harry asked, completely confused.
"You can talk to snakes," Hermione said, glaring at him.
"I know," Harry said, feeling that his friends were making a big fuss over nothing. "Wizards have lots of strange talents, don't they? Look at Aiden, he has horns."
"But Parseltongue is generally considered the mark of a Dark Wizard," a calm voice said from behind them. Aiden stepped out of a conscious blind spot, startling the three of them. "Salazar Slytherin himself was a famous Parselmouth. The story is quite well known." He raised an eyebrow at Harry. "Congratulations. In the eyes of everyone at Hogwarts, you are now the Heir of Slytherin."
(End of Chapter)
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