"Ron, we need to find out who the real heir of Slytherin is as soon as possible," Harry said, looking a bit troubled. "I feel like everyone's looking at us differently now. And remember what Colin said today, and Justin Finch-Fletchley—"
"Don't mind them," Ron said with disdain, clearly annoyed by the whole situation. "People here believe anything they hear. Besides, you're a Gryffindor. How could you possibly be the heir of Slytherin? Doesn't make any sense at all."
"Ugh, it's just bad luck that we happened to be there..." Ron suddenly paused, a puzzled expression on his face. "Speaking of which, mate, I just remembered something. You brought me there, saying you heard something. What was that about?"
Harry nervously glanced around to make sure no one was nearby. "I told you before in the dormitory... I heard someone saying they wanted to kill!"
Ron looked blank. "When?"
Harry gave him an exasperated look. Was Ron half-asleep back then and not paying attention to what he'd said?
Harry took a deep breath and recounted everything in detail—the time he heard the voice in Lockhart's office and the time he heard it again after Nearly Headless Nick's ghostly deathday party.
"...I think it was the voice of that monster," Harry said seriously. "But I'm definitely not the heir of Slytherin. Those attacks have nothing to do with me. Ron, you have to believe me."
Still processing Harry's story, Ron waved his hand with a laugh. "Of course! Who would suspect you? Don't worry, mate, I believe you."
Harry looked gratefully at Ron, who gave him a thumbs-up.
...
In the shadows of the corner, Hermione carefully listened to Glenn recount the conversation.
"Harry can understand the snake's language? He's a Parselmouth?" Hermione turned to Glenn, who had finally stopped eavesdropping on the two.
"If that's true, then it makes sense why they always seem to appear at the crime scenes faster than anyone else," Glenn remarked.
"Glenn, do you remember? The day we discovered Hagrid's chickens had been attacked," Hermione said seriously, recalling some details. "That night, when you walked me back, we ran into Harry. He was asking if we had heard anything."
Prompted by Hermione's reminder, Glenn nodded as he remembered. "So, at that time, the serpent had already been awakened by the heir of Slytherin. And if Harry were truly the heir, there would have been no reason for him to share that information with us."
"Furthermore, based on our previous analysis of the serpent's actions, it's highly likely that the serpent was being controlled by the heir," Glenn said. He had previously shared his observations and this theory with Hermione.
This was because when the serpent had been fed a few grenades during the attack, it had been about to strike him furiously. But its aggressive behavior had suddenly stopped, and it retreated after a brief pause.
To Glenn, this was highly unusual and inconsistent. At that moment, he had clearly felt the killing intent emanating from the serpent.
The serpent's state before and after retreating was completely different. To Glenn...
...it was as if someone had suddenly issued it a command.
Including these actions and the serpent's behavior of biting its tongue to write the bloody message on the wall, Glenn had long suspected that someone was controlling the serpent to attack young wizards. And now, the heir theory only strengthened his suspicion.
"Unless the heir has lost their mind, such actions—like exposing their ability to understand the serpent's language, which would easily arouse suspicion—are extremely unwise."
"No need to follow them any longer." Glenn had heard everything he needed from Harry and saw no reason to continue observing him.
"Shouldn't we consider the possibility that Harry is deliberately acting against expectations?" Hermione asked curiously. Normally, Glenn wouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly.
"A person's face and body language can lie, but their physiological responses cannot," Glenn replied. With his cold reading skills and heightened perception, all the information Harry displayed was laid bare to him, allowing him to make a definitive judgment.
When Harry answered Ron's questions, his blood flow, heartbeat, sweat levels, and the secretion of various hormones in his body all indicated that he was genuinely excited and confused.
Hermione had complete faith in Glenn's words. If Glenn said so, there was no reason to doubt it.
"Then what about Ron? While I know the Weasley family is a pure-blood family, they've always shown great interest in the Muggle world and have never discriminated against Muggles," Hermione continued as they started walking back before Harry and Ron had even left the girls' bathroom.
"He has no suspicion either. That Weasley has never hidden his thoughts, let alone schemed anything," Glenn said, holding Hermione's hand as he continued his analysis. "I also agree with your impression of the Weasley family. From my year-long observation, Percy Weasley, as well as the Weasley twins and this Weasley, are all friendly toward Muggle-born wizards and are generally considered good people."
"Although, aside from Percy, their grades are generally poor, and they're rowdy and mischievous, they're undeniably well-regarded among the young wizards."
Hermione spread her free hand. "I personally admire Percy. I don't know much about Ron, but George and Fred are definitely the kind of troublemakers that Gryffindors both love and hate."
"What about Ginny? She's a Weasley too."
"It's precisely because I haven't observed her enough to make a definitive judgment, combined with the unusual events happening recently, that I find her highly suspicious."
"Ugh, if only you were a girl. Then you could befriend Ginny with me and observe her closely," Hermione said with some regret. "She's such a sweet child."
Glenn was silent for a moment before saying slowly:
"Actually... I can become female if necessary."
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