"Hey!" Harry yelled at his hated potions' teacher, hands clenched. "Why did you that? It wasn't hurting anyone!"
"It was a dangerous serpent, Potter," Snape said with a sneer.
"It was just – "
"Be quiet, boy!" Harry flinched at that comment then scowled at himself. "15 points from Gryffindor for talking back to Professor!"
Lockhart came forward, his ever present grin perhaps a bit forced. "Yes, well I believe we've all experienced enough excitement for the evening. I call the session of the Dueling Club to a close!"
Whispers broke out around the Hall as Harry started to walk back to his friends. They had barely left the room before Malfoy called out, "Potter! How's it feel to wield some power for once?" Malfoy laughed at him while Hermione and Neville stepped up to Harry's side. "Going to set your pet snake on the Mudblood there next time?"
"How dare you!" Neville yelled striding forward face quickly turning red. Harry was a bit slower on the uptake but quickly moved to support his friend. He may not have recognized the slur but he figured it was bad to get Neville that mad that fast.
"Nev?"
"Hermione. He's saying Hermione has dirty blood," Neville hissed through clenched teeth. His wand's tip was glowing white in his clenched hand. Harry's face froze and he turned to stare at Malfoy.
"Careful there, Longbottom, Potty," Malfoy said with a mocking grin. "Professor Snape is just – "
"Catch!" Harry thumbed the activator on the Slugvomit and tossed it at Malfoy's head. The blond proved his intelligence by reaching up a hand to grab the projectile. Harry's grin had an evil little fringe to it as the runestone sent a dull yellow glow into Malfoy's hand. The smirk on the boy's face was wiped away an instant later as the runestone disintegrated and he doubled over throwing up slugs all over the hallway. "You might want to wash your mouth out Malfoy." Harry turned and stalked away with Neville and Hermione following along after a final glance at the Slytherin.
None in either group noticed Daphne and Tracey watching the confrontation from the sidelines. "I have to admit, I'm impressed," Daphne said to her friend. "I know there have been some rumors about Potter but between the snake and how he handled Malfoy…he has a lot more potential than I had expected. Right, Trace?" Tracey barely even responded, she just kept staring at the floor in front of them. "Trace?"
"What?" Tracey looked up, shook her head and focused on her friend. "Oh, right. Potter. Yeah, that was pretty cool. It's nice to see the ponce taken down a peg even if it is by a Gryff. We should really be able to police our own."
"Agreed." Daphne nodded and started to walk back to the dungeons with her friend. "Being a parseltongue isn't going to do the boy any favors though."
"I can't stand this!" Harry snarled as he slammed his book closed causing Neville and Hermione to jump. "There's nothing on the Chamber. There's nothing on the lineage of Salazar Slytherin. There's nearly nothing on parseltongue beyond 'a very rare ability to speak to snakes'. REAL helpful there!"
"Harry, you need to calm down," Hermione said reaching for his arm.
"Don't tell me to calm down, Hermione! You're not the one that half the school is looking at like an insane Dark wizard! And if I can't prove I'm not then what the hell am I supposed to do?!"
"Harry, we know this is frustrating," Neville said in an overly calm voice, "but throwing a temper tantrum isn't going to help at all."
"I know!" Harry flopped down into his seat, crossed his arms and scowled. "I know – I'm sorry. I'm just tired of them all whispering behind my back and running the other way when I walk down the corridor."
"Harry…I've been thinking…" Hermione ventured softly. Harry and Neville turned to her with raised eyebrows. "Well…it's possible the Slytherins know more about who the Heir is then they let on right? I mean it would stand to reason that the Heir would be in their house after all. So…what if we snuck in and got them to talk?"
"What like use the Ninja or my dad's Cloak?" Harry asked leaning in.
"Well we could do that but we couldn't really interact with them or steer the conversation at all…so I was thinking," Hermione said taking a deep breath. "What if we used polyjuice?"
Neville whistled. "Merlin. We are a horrible influence on you, Hermione."
"What's polyjuice?" Harry asked looking between the two.
"It's a potion," Hermione explained. "It's a potion that when you drink it it will turn you into someone else. You need a bit of the target. Either a hair, skin or blood sample though I imagine hair is the least disgusting. It takes some time to brew and there are some rather rare materials…"
"Hermione, you know that's supposed to be a NEWT level potion right?" Neville asked.
Harry on the other hand was trying to decide if there was an easier way. 'An Illusion, twined with a Physical wrapped in a Alteration and…' He sighed. "Damn. I think I might be able to make a runestone that could do something similar but I don't think we'd be able to use too many spells without dissolving it. And it would have to be keyed to a specific target which couldn't be changed without an entirely new etching. It's probably easier just to brew the potion."
Hermione nodded while Neville just shook his head. "You guys really are insane. Oh well, if we're going to do this let me know which ingredients we need to owl order."
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