Though Harry and the other Slytherins had enjoyed the the dueling club, they decided not to attend again, mostly because Lockhart was an idiot. It turns out that Harry's dueling prowess was something that the rest of the school took as more proof that he was the heir of Slytherin because obviously the heir would be good with a wand.
Harry walked into the library, intending to read for a bit before meeting his friends in the great hall. As he entered he went to the back of the library when he suddenly heard an interesting conversation.
"The common room is the best place, no way Potter can get us from there." A voice commented. Harry, through a gap in a book shelf, saw a bunch of Hufflepuff's in Harry's year standing on the other side and talking to each other, they clearly hadn't noticed him yet. Harry recognized them as Hannah Abbot, Susan Bones, Justin Flinch Fletchley and Ernie Macmillan. "If Potter tries again then we quickly go to the common room." Ernie said.
"I don't know," Justin frowned. "I mean I get why you think it's Potter but I am not sure."
"Come on, Justin." Ernie said as if Justin was being ridiculously stupid. "He has a snake, he is a Slytherin and he doesn't even bother to hide the fact that he is a parslemouth. Plus everyone knows that he was abused by muggles."
"You definitely think it is Potter, then, Ernie?" Hannah said anxiously.
"Hannah," Ernie said in a solemn voice, "he's a Parselmouth. Everyone knows that's the mark of a Dark wizard, I mean...have you ever heard of a decent one who could talk to snakes? I haven't. They called Slytherin himself Serpent-tongue. Remember what was written on the wall? 'Enemies of the heir, beware'. We all know that Filch is a squib, maybe Potter was going for Filch but missed his target, that's probably why Filch's cat was attacked, or maybe he just wanted to send a warning to Filch. That first year, Creevey, was annoying Potter, we all saw it, he was taking pictures of him and irritating him. Next thing we know, he has been attacked."
"But...that doesn't really mean that it's Harry." Susan protested. "He's never been mean to any of us, except maybe Weasley but then again Weasley usually has it coming."
"Plus he was the one that made you-know-who disappear." Hannah added. "He can't be all that bad, can he?"
"No one knows how he survived that attack by You-Know-Who." Ernie sighed. "In case you all forgot, he was only a baby when it happened. He should have been blasted into smithereens, he should have been killed but he wasn't and we don't know why. Only a really powerful dark wizard could have survived a curse like that." He dropped his voice until it was barely more than a whisper before he continued speaking. "That's probably why You-Know-Who wanted to kill him in the first place. Didn't want another Dark Lord competing with him. I wonder what other powers Potter's been hiding?"
"I'm sorry but how stupid are you?" Harry couldn't help but blurt out as he walked in sight of the Hufflepuff's, they all jumped in their spots, looking like they just had heart attacks, though Harry wasn't entirely sure if that was because of him, Jet who was on Harry's shoulders or a combination of both. Probably the last one. "Really?" Harry said to Ernie. "Really? N...no, no. Really?" Harry said with disbelief.
"W...what do you want Potter?" Ernie said in a shaky voice.
"Alright, number the first, if you're going to talk about me then you talk about me to my face." Harry said as he stepped in front of Ernie while the other Hufflepuff's took a step back. "Hufflepuff may not be the house of the brave but I thought you were all decent enough to at least not talk about someone behind their backs. If you are not willing to say what you just said to my face then at least have the decency to keep it to yourself." Harry said, giving Ernie a look that quite clearly dared him to argue. "Now, do you want to tell me more about how I am so obviously a dark lord?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.
"N...no." Ernie said, he tried to take a step back but was stopped by Harry who grabbed him by the collar, Ernie froze while the other Hufflepuff's gasped.
"Now, you listen to me and listen carefully, I can tolerate a lot of things." Harry said, his voice nearly a whisper. "I can take pain, I can take insults. You want to call me a dark lord then you call me a dark lord, you want to insult me then you insult me. But don't you dare - don't you ever dare - say that the reason my parents are six feet underground is because of me." Harry all but growled, Ernie gulped but Harry didn't pay attention to it and kept going. "My parents, gave their lives for me, they died for me. Don't you dare disrespect their memory just so you can add more proof to your theory." Harry said as he let go of Ernie, Harry casually straightened out Ernie's clothes. "My parents died because they pissed off a dark lord, not because a one year old baby was somehow obviously a dark lord. If you truly think that that is the case then I pray to Merlin that you never have children, you'd probably kill them the second they misbehave because you would think that they would grow up to be evil or something like that." Harry said as he released Ernie after wiping some dust off his shoulders.
"Insult my master again and I will rip your cock off." Jet hissed at Ernie, who was quite scared despite not understanding what Jet said. "I don't have hands but I will find a way."
"Thank you," Harry said to the other three Hufflepuffs, causing them to blink in surprise at him. "for defending me." Harry added since it seemed clear that they didn't know why he was thanking them. "I appreciate it."
"It...it's not a problem." Susan eventually said with the others nodding in agreement.
"It is still appreciated," Harry replied, Jet hissed for a few seconds. "Jet says thank you as well." Harry translated.
"Oh...um...your welcome." Justin said in an uncertain voice.
"By the way," Harry said suddenly. "bring yourselves and as many of your friends to the great hall for dinner."
"What? Why?" Susan asked.
"Because there is going to be a talk about the heir of Slytherin, by me." Harry said before he turned and walked out of the library.
Harry and the other Slytherins were sat at the Slytherin table during dinner, - where else would they sit - Harry sat next to Angela with Jet on his shoulders.
"Are you sure about this?" Angela whispered to Harry, having been told what he was planning to do. "It's not the most Slytherin plan." She commented.
"Blame my Gryffindor parents," Harry replied. "besides sometimes it's better to just mix it up a bit." He added with a smirk before he noticed that the Hufflepuff's were looking at him, Harry finished the last of his food before he stood up.
"Where are you going?" Tracey asked just as Angela stood up.
"You'll see." Harry said just before he and Angela walked towards the head table. They didn't go unnoticed as all of the Hufflepuff's and Slytherins looked at them, which in turn caused the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables to stare as well. "Hello Professor," Harry said just as he stopped in front of where Dumbledore was sat. "enjoying your meal?" Harry asked just as Angela stopped behind him.
"Quite so," Dumbledore said with a smile. "and what a good meal it is. I must remember to to pass my thanks onto the house elves."
"They are underappreciated little workers, aren't they?" Harry replied.
"Yes, I must say I agree." Dumbledore nodded. "Now, Harry, as much as I enjoy talking to you, is there a reason for you coming here? Not that I am complaining, of course."
"Well, yes actually, I was wondering if I could have a few minutes to talk to the students."
"Talk to the students?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Potter, what are you doing?" Snape asked in an irritated voice. "Go and sit back down."
"Now hold on," Dumbledore said before anyone could reply. "what exactly do you wish to talk to the students about?"
"The heir of Slytherin." Harry calmly answered, the closest students heard him and began whispering to those behind them and soon the whole hall began whispering. "I assure you sir, that it will be a very interesting talk."
"Hmm...and this is something you must talk to the whole student population about?" Professor Dumbledore asked.
"Yes." Harry said with a quick nod. "Just a few minutes please, sir." Harry added.
"Hmm...very well." Dumbledore said as he leaned back in his chair.
"Thank you," Harry nodded to Dumbledore before he turned around and took a few steps forward and faced the hall with Angela standing on his left. "Angela, be a dear and help me out." Harry said as he gestured to his mouth.
"Right away." She nodded before casting a sound amplifying spell on Harry's mouth.
"Thank you," Harry said to her, his voice echoing across the hall. "hello, can everyone hear me?" Harry asked out loud, he paused and waited until he could see everyone in the hall looking at him. "Oh great, hello everyone." Harry smiled. "Now, I know that many of you are likely wondering what I want and what I am doing. Well the truth is I want to discuss the heir of Slytherin." Harry said, he briefly paused to allow everyone a few moments of whispering amongst themselves. "Now, first and most important question, does anyone know who he or she is?" Harry asked. "Anyone?"
Harry looked around the hall, nobody appeared to be willing to talk, which was funny since a lot of these people seemed more than willing to talk and whisper about him before. Harry turned to Angela.
"Angela, do you know who it is?" Harry asked her.
"No, I can't say that I do." She replied.
"Hmm, me neither." Harry said as he turned his attention back to the hall. "But I'm pretty sure that between us all we can work it out together. We just need to look at this using logic." Harry smiled. "Not rumors and theories, not guesses, logic and facts, that's what we need. Now, suspects, we need a suspect. You know who I think might be the heir of Slytherin? Harry Potter." Harry said, causing most of the students to gape at him and look at him as if he had just grown two heads and a tail. "I mean think about it, it makes so much sense to blame Harry Potter." Harry continued. "I mean the boy is a parslemouth for goodness sakes, and he was abused by muggles, what more evidence do you need?" Harry chuckled, only to pause when Jet began hissing. "Oh...hmm, my friend over here makes some good points." Harry said to the hall. "I mean, isn't Harry Potter a halfblood?" Harry snorted. "I'm pretty sure that most of the population of the wizarding world knows that his mother was a muggleborn."
Harry paused and watched as some people actually looked like they had just remembered that, he was so very much tempted to start releasing a chain of insults that would likely get him several detentions but he was able to control himself.
"Hmm, also if I remember correctly then when the year is over then Harry Potter is going to go and live in a home with another halfblood and a muggleborn, a home that he chose to go to, one that he chose to go despite having several pureblood families offer him a place in their homes." Harry continued. "Plus, it can't really be Harry Potter, if people really thought about it then they would have noticed that since Harry Potter came to Hogwarts there has been less people using the word 'mudblood'."
Harry paused once more and looked around, he saw realization hit many people, especially the older years that had experienced Slytherin's using the word 'mudblood' whenever they could get away with it. It was at that moment that many of them realized that the word had been used a lot less since Harry Potter came to Hogwarts. If Harry looked back then he would have seen the same realization in many of the teachers.
"Yeah, and Harry Potter is tired of speaking in the third person so I'm going to start speaking normally now." Harry replied. "Now, Harry Potter, AKA me, is obviously not going to be the heir of Slytherin when he's a second year who openly walks around with a snake, that's be like saying 'hey, look at me, I'm a death eater, look at my mask'. Also, I am not as stupid as whoever is claiming to be the heir of Slytherin."
"What is that supposed to mean?" One Ravenclaw student asked.
"Well, let's imagine for a moment that I am the heir of Slytherin." Harry calmly replied. "Now, if I was the heir of Slytherin then when do you think I should start my attacks?"
"What do you mean 'when'?" One Hufflepuff student asked
"I mean what I mean, when should I start my attacks?" Harry replied. "Should I do it in my second year of school? That seems like a good idea, doesn't it? I mean if I start in my second year then I will have all muggleborns and halfblood out of he school by the time I graduate. However, I can't help but notice a slight problem with that, anyone picked up on what it is?" Harry asked the hall. "You." Harry pointed to a first year Gryffindor boy who had raised his hand.
"You would have a greater chance of getting caught?" He guessed.
"Exactly," Harry smiled. "if I start in my second year then I could get caught, and if I don't then it could happen in my third, fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh year. No, it would have made much more sense if I started in my seventh year, I would be able to take out a good amount of people and quickly escape if needed. But that's not the only stupid thing about the attacks, first of all, do we even know that the attacks were done by the real heir of Slytherin?"
"Who else would it be?" A sixth year Slytherin asked.
"A fake?" Harry shrugged. "An imposter, a delusional idiot who thinks that he is the heir of Slytherin. Just because the message says that it is from the heir of Slytherin, doesn't mean it is actually from the heir of Slytherin. If the message said it was from 'James Potter' then would you all believe that my father escaped from the grave?" Harry said, raising an eyebrow, when nobody responded he continued speaking. "But let's just say that this person is the real heir of Slytherin, in that case Slytherin's heir is an idiot if his - or her - choice in targets is any indication. If I was the heir of Slytherin then I promise you that my first target wouldn't be the cat of a caretaker, nor would my second be a first year with a camera. I'm sure many of you can think up better victims off the top of your head.
Now, you all blame me and accuse me of being the heir of Slytherin, and why? Because I'm the famous second year celebrity, I am the easy target, none of you want to actually take the time to think about it and just want to blame me, well fine. Why don't I start accusing you lot?" Harry said before he turned to the teachers. "Professor Sprout," Harry said. "can you name me a random student from my year please?"
"Oh...um..." Professor Sprout frowned, having not been expecting to be put on the spot, she glanced at the Hufflepuff table and picked the name of the first student she saw. "...Ernie Macmillan." She said with a shrug.
"Ernie Macmillan, he could definitely be the heir of Slytherin." Harry said as he turned back to the hall.
"What?!" Ernie shouted with pure disbelief as many people looked at him. "I'm not the heir!"
"You could be," Harry said as if talking to a child. "you are a pureblood, aren't you?"
"What?! I am but..."
"And...you know several different muggleborns, scouting your targets were you?" Harry continued.
"What?! I...I wasn't..."
"Oh and I seem to recall that earlier you were trying to spread your 'lovely theories' about me." Harry cut him off. "Theories about how I was a dark lord because of an ability that I was born with, and what else did you say? Oh yes, I remember, you said that the reason you-know-who came after my parents was because he didn't want a future dark lord to grow up and compete with him." Harry said, his face the epitome of calm, even though his eyes were an different story entirely. Many people gasped and everyone looked at a red faced Ernie who shrunk under all their gazes. "It sounds to me like you could be the heir and were simply trying to push more attention on to me so you could work in the shadows and silently take us all out, one by one."
"I...I wasn't!" Ernie protested.
"Oh, come on Ernie, it's obvious. Just got to look at the facts." Harry smirked before turning back to the teachers. "Professor Flitwick, a student in my year please."
"Oh...um, Hermione Granger." Professor Flitwick answered.
"Oh, I could see her as the heir of Slytherin." Harry nodded in a thoughtful manner.
"What?!" Hermione screeched. "I am a muggleborn!" She pointed out.
"And I am a halfblood, if I can get blamed then why not you?" Harry shrugged. "Plus it does make a certain amount of sense, you spend a lot of time in the library, you must be doing your best to become a powerful witch. Maybe you're not even really a muggleborn, you could be a pureblood disguising herself as a muggleborn to avoid getting caught." Harry said, he waited for a response but apparently he wasn't going to get one as Granger was gaping at him with disbelief. "Alright, last one," Harry said as he turned to Professor McGonagall. "can you give me the name of a student please?" He asked. Professor McGonagall's lips thinned slightly before she eventually nodded.
"Ronald Weasley." She said, interested in how he was going to try and spin this.
"Oh that's the best one yet." Harry grinned as he turned to the Gryffindor table.
"I am not the heir of Slytherin!" Ron said in an offended voice.
"You sound really defensive, Ron." Harry lightly commented. "And it does make a great deal of sense to accuse you of being the heir of Slytherin."
"How?!" Ron demanded.
"Well, first of all you are a pureblood."
"That proves nothing, I..."
"And you hate me." Harry cut him off. "Ever since we've met, you have hated me. You've constantly tried to one up me, and failed to do so, you've spread stories about me being a dark wizard and have even tried to attack me, something that can be confirmed by everyone who had attended the first day of the dueling club along with Professors McGonagall and Snape. Maybe you saw my parsletounge ability and was angry at the possibility of their being someone else who could be the heir. Maybe you can actually understand parsletounge and simply pretend you can't, maybe you went to Gryffindor to draw attention away from yourself. After all, who would suspect that the heir of Slytherin would go to Gryffindor? It's the perfect plan." Harry paused and looked at the hall, he could see all were paying attention. "Do you guys know what the point of that little exercise was?"
Harry looked around the hall, nobody seemed to know the answer, or at least nobody seemed to be willing to give the answer. Harry shook his head before he continued speaking.
"It's to show you all how I felt, listening and pretending not to notice you all talking about me. You all want to act like little children, you want to blame and point fingers. You want to point fingers at me when you think I can't hear or when you are with your friends but when it matters, when it truly matters, then none of you are wiling to stand up and speak about what you believe. Well, now is your chance to prove me wrong. Does anyone here really think that I, the halfblood son of a muggleborn who will live with another halfblood and muggleborn at the end of the year, am the heir of Slytherin? If any of you really, and I mean truly, think that I am the one who will attack you and your family and your friends then stand up and let everyone know that that is what you believe. Go on." Harry said as he spread his arms out and waited.
There was many awkward shifting from students but none of them seemed willing to stand, they would look at each other and look at Harry and look at the teachers that were still sitting at the table but none of them were willing to stand up, despite many of them easily blaming him before.
"That's what I thought," Harry snorted as he lowered his arms. "you all are members of the noble houses of Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. You should be behaving better than a bunch of gossiping housewives. You think Salazar Slytherin would approve of the way you have been acting? Oh, you don't care about him? Then how about the other founders? Do you think the brave and noble Godric Gryffindor would approve of you talking behind my back when you think I can't hear and then shying away when you have the chance to have your voice actually matter? Do you think that Rowena Ravenclaw would approve of you all acting like sheep and simply going along with what everyone is thinking? With simply going with the easiest explanation without even thinking about the possibility that you're wrong? Or do you guys think that the Helga Hufflepuff, a woman who was known for being kind, would approve of you all talking behind another students back and treating him like someone who would kill you just because he is bored? Huh? Is anyone going to answer?!" Harry yelled out the last part.
Many students openly refused to meet his gaze, some looked apologetic, some looked ashamed, some looked guilty. Harry took several deep breaths while Jet whispered comforting words into Harry's ear. Angela placed her hand on Harry's arm, silently asking if he was okay, when she received a nod she removed her hand and stepped back so he could continue.
"Let me tell you guys something about Harry Potter," Harry continued after taking a deep breath. "yes I am the easiest person to blame, why? Because I have an ability that I was born with, one I didn't even know was 'bad' until the age of eleven. Oh and what else? Because my best friend is a snake? Grow up, you are not five year old children. Snakes may be evil symbols but the animal itself is exactly that, an animal. Born no eviler than a dog or a cat, it poops and eats and does what it has to do to survive, just like any other animal or person.
And right now this snake has been more loyal to me than most of the school, the first time you guys turned on me for who I am was when I first came here and you all realized that I spoke parsletounge. Before that you were happy to meet the boy-who-lived, you wanted to express your gratitude because I apparently saved you all from Voldemort." Harry was tempted to roll his eyes when he saw many people gasp and shiver at the name. "Apparently you all weren't appreciative enough to at least give your savior a chance." Harry said in a cold voice, his words piercing through his audience like arrows. "I had to have an article written just to get you all to stop judging me for the year. And now you have all turned on me again because you seem to think that I, a twelve year old boy who shares a trait with Slytherin, would not only attack a caretakers cat and a first year boy but also write a message in blood that would guarantee that everyone would suspect me. Is this ignorance or do you guys just don't care? Should I expect you all to turn on me again next year? Huh?
I said I would tell you something about Harry Potter and I will. Harry Potter is best friends with a snake, Harry Potter is also a parslemouth and a Slytherin. Do you know what else Harry Potter is? Do you know what else I am? I am the guy who loves his owl, the guy who likes animals in general. I am the proud son of Lily Potter née Evans who is probably the most famous muggleborn of all time. If I do something then you will all know, because I don't hide. I am proud of who I am and I am proud of my heritage.
If you all wish to accuse me then at least have the decency and balls to accuse me to my face and for Merlin's sake please have the brains to at least think about it before you do it." Harry let out a deep breath before he turned to Angela and gestured to his mouth, she understood what he was asking and removed the amplification charm, Harry nodded in appreciation before turning to Professor Dumbledore. "Thank you for giving me a few minutes of your time." Harry nodded to him before he turned and began walking with Angela following after him, all eyes followed as Harry Potter walked out of the great hall.
A.N: Hi guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter. I am sort of sorry because that just turned into a giant rant, but in my defence I really didn't like how the school turned on Harry in his second and fourth year. Like I said in the last chapter, this was a simple thing that I wish Harry did in canon. Honestly a few minutes of talking from Harry with the right words and the sheep of the wizarding world would probably try to make him a Hogwarts house after him.
Anyway, thanks for reading and feel free to leave a review.