The teachers had barely dismissed the students from the welcome back feast when the alarm had sounded. A few had immediately left, but most milled around chattering with everyone they hadn't tracked down on the train ride back. The Heads of House waited patiently for the Hall to clear.

The alarm that the Headmaster had been carrying with him at all times during winter break abruptly blared an annoying buzz, causing panic among the teachers, who fled out the door to the hall, heading for the second floor. To the shock of the younger teachers, the Headmaster moved fast enough to lead the pack.

Unfortunately a large flock of curious students ran behind them, eager to see whatever caused this behaviour in the teachers. It was not a long distance, but Albus was panting a bit after managing to get to the bathroom first. The teachers came to a stop around the immobilized Nearly Headless Nick and the petrified Justin Finch-Fletchley.

Students came to a stop a few feet away, the ones in back milling around, trying to see what was happening. The Headmaster entered the bathroom and approached the now closed entrance. He waved his wand, activating the charm that would show him who had opened the entrance. Severus and Lucius watched from the doorway. They were all quite speechless when Miss Granger's image appeared next to the sinks for a moment.

"That makes no sense." Lucius muttered.

Severus, however mulled over all the events ... her sudden, unexplained abilities. Her 'interest' in Tom and Harry.

"Do you think she was possessed – like Quirrell, then?" Severus asked, trying to remember if there had been any other clues in her behaviour. But other than her irritating habit of being a 'know-it-all', there was nothing.

Albus stared at the slowly dissipating figure of the girl pensively. "Yes, she is muggleborn and only twelve ... hardly likely to have done these things unless under control of someone else. 'The Heir' – we need to know who it is, and quickly."

They turned at the sound of angry shouting from the students. Poppy and Minerva were carrying Justin away on a stretcher, past the horrified students.

Ernie McMillian was pointing at Harry and hysterically denouncing him as the culprit. "... and you almost killed him with that cobra before winter break! You're a parselmouth and a Slytherin ... you must be the Heir. You found out Justin was a muggleborn and decided to get rid of him." Ernie backed away as Harry strode forward with fury in his eyes. "...just so you know – my family have been purebloods for nine generations..."

"I don't care about that. My mother was a muggleborn and she died to save my life ... defending me against the Dark Lord. Why would I have any issues with muggleborns?" Harry glared around at the uncertain faces. "I was in the Hall with all of you when the alarm sounded and came up here along with everyone else ... I never left the hall. How could I have done this?"

"That's right ... we were sitting right behind him, along with Martin and Cho ... he couldn't have petrified anyone." Fred broke in. George nodded firmly as well.

Other voices also spoke up, challenging the idea that Harry Potter could or would do this. Severus stepped forward – he had waited, letting Harry defend himself and was relieved that Harry had done so quite effectively and mentally promised he would show the twins some really good tricks for having jumped in to defend him as well.

"Well, if you are done with your impromptu trial of my son ..." The students turned guiltily toward their most feared professor.

The Headmaster came forward as well, "You need to remember – a person is innocent until proven guilty."

Lucius fought not to sneer and smothered a derisive snort at that. Perhaps in Albus' ivory tower it was that way ... "I am giving everyone their first History of Magic assignment for this new year. I'm quite sure that Mr. Potter would not have been accused ... or even thought of as a culprit if he was not a parselmouth. I want everyone to research where the ability came from." Lucius smirked around at the surprised faces. "I'll give you a hint ... it did not start with Salazar Slytherin ... and is not confined to his line." There was sudden whispering and even Albus looked intrigued. "Let all the members of your houses know that are not here."

With that Albus shooed them to their dorms, whispering and muttering.

Albus, Lucius and Severus went up to the infirmary. Justin was now behind the curtains with Colin. Nick was being settled in a corner of Poppy's office by the ghosts. Mrs Norris was laying on a bench nearby – on a nest of blankets Filch had carefully made for her. Poppy sat beside the two boys, looking helpless – as well as looking aggravated by the helplessness.

There was a heavy sigh from the Headmaster. "Bring the girl to my office, if you please." He said to the two Slytherins. He beckoned to the tearful Minerva and Pomona Sprout, asking them to go settle their students, if possible. He went to his office with an unhappy Flitwick.

Lucius and Severus went to the Ravenclaw tower. "Why couldn't he send Flitwick?" Lucius grumped.

"Because he wouldn't be able to take the long walk to the Headmaster's office without giving in to the urge to ask Miss Granger about why we want to question her on the way there." Severus sighed.

The two Professors arrived to the Ravenclaw door. The eagle tried to give them a riddle and was treated to a sneer and the over-riding password.

"Didn't you know the answer, Severus?" Lucius teased as they entered the common room.

Severus flushed. "I would have worked it out eventually, but we don't have the time." He snapped.

Cho and Martin were in the room, talking intently with Hermione and Mafalda. Padma, Marietta and Lisa were trying out a charm that Padma had found that would change their eye color temporarily.

The room fell silent as the two Slytherins walked to the center.

"Miss Granger, may we have a word with you? Your Head of House will be there, of course ... nothing too serious – a paperwork issue ..." Severus had had more than a decade of experience extricating students from their peers. He usually didn't care if he terrified or embarrassed them, if they weren't Slytherins. In this case, though, if the girl was possessed ... no sense alerting the Dark Lord if he was there inside her head.

Hermione stood, confused by what could be the issue. She'd felt dizzy and disoriented after the welcoming feast. She'd wandered the hallways and then come back to the dorm. She'd knew she'd gone to Professor Lockhart's office, though the trip was hazy in her mind and she couldn't remember where she'd been between the hall and the corridor outside the office.

She'd given him ... something, oh, yes – a late Christmas gift. She remembered him thanking her for it.

She followed the two silent teachers to the Headmaster's office. Severus and Lucius were unsurprised to find a grim Amelia Bones and Hugo Savage sitting on either side of Filius.

"Ah, Miss Granger ... please have a seat, if you would." Albus waved at a chair and sat in one next to her. "We have a bit of a mystery, my dear. You know there was an attack, and Mr Creevy was petrified?" At Hermione's hesitant nod he continued. "There was another attack this evening ... Justin Finch-Fletchley was attacked and petrified."

Hermione stiffened, flashes of what seemed a badly remembered dream played just out of reach of her memory. She shook her head ... none of her horrid nightmares while at home mattered here.

"Will he be alright, Professor?" She asked in a small voice. She was becoming alarmed ... why was she here?

"We had an alarm set on the room where the Heir was operating from." Albus didn't want to give away more information than necessary. "I'm afraid that when it went off after the feast when Justin was attacked – the alarm said it was you."

Hermione shook her head frantically. "No ... no. I would never do anything like that. After I left I ..." Hermione realized she wasn't sure where she had gone, at first. "I went walking down the corridors and went to Professor Lockhart's office ... to give him ..." once again she could not remember what she had given the Professor. "umm ... his Christmas present. Then I went to the dorm." Her voice was shakey.

"What was your present, Miss Granger?" Hugo unerringly aimed for the part of her story she seemed most hesitant about. He asked gently, but firmly.

Hermione paled, and her eyes locked onto his. "I don't remember." She whispered. "Why can't I remember?" Tears were falling now.

Lucius had been casting revealing spells and other diagnostics on the girl behind her back during all this, acutely aware that Madame Bones was watching his every move with an air of suspicion.

"No sign of possession – at least not now." Lucius said, ignoring Hermione's gasp of horror. "However there are traces of a recent obliviate or memory charm."

Hermione looked at the Professors and Aurors frantically, while they discussed what to do next. Hugo finally pulled his own chair closer.

"My dear, you are obviously the victim of this attacker as well. We need to catch him ... and we need your help." Hugo took one of her shaking hands in his and patted it. "I am a rather good Legillimans – I can look at your memories and see if there are any clues. I would ask one of your Professors ... but the only ones with the talent are Professor Snape – and while he has unmatched skills as an Occlumens ... his Legillimancy skills are rather like a sledgehammer. Professor Dumbledore is a fair Legillimans ... but I promise I am better at it."

Hermione looked at the Headmaster in surprise. He smiled sheepishly. "I can't get 'Outstandings' in every subject, my dear ... I'm afraid the best I can offer is an 'Acceptable' in this."

Hermione looked at Hugo carefully. Dudley spoke highly of this man, and she'd heard story after story of his adventures as an Auror ... he was one of the most respected man in the Ministry – in some ways better liked than the Headmaster. She definately wanted them to know that she'd not been the guilty party ... this might be the only way to do it. She nodded slowly. "Alright, if you feel you must."

"Severus, do you have a calming draught on you she might have?" Hugo asked.

Severus gave him an affronted look. "I don't know why I let you insult me in this manner." He said icily. He handed over a vial, muttering that he was a Potions Master for Merlins sake, of course he had potions on him at all times. The others chuckled, glad to have a reason to lighten the mood a bit.

"Because I'm an old man and can get away with it." Hugo answered cheerfully.

Hermione quickly calmed with the potion in her and looked at Hugo sleepily.

"I want you to stay calm and when you hear me cast the spell – you will feel my mind enter yours ... just don't fight me. I promise I'm only looking for the attacker." Hugo raised his wand and cast legillimans in a calm but firm voice. Minutes ticked by as Hugo gazed into Hermione's transfixed eyes.

It seemed forever, but at last he withdrew and sank back into the chair.

"Did you find what you needed, Sir?" Hermione asked hopefully.

"You were rather well-obliviated ... and at your age, we can't mess with your memories – it would cause serious damage. But I may have gotten some clues." Hugo answered. He turned to Filius. "If you would see Miss Granger to her dorm..." Filius knew a dismissal when he heard one and grimaced, but took Hermione away.

They all turned to Hugo when the door closed. "I could see flashes of her in the bathroom you mentioned ... alot of what I could see were dreams – or nightmares of a brutal nature. The chase ... her leaving the area where Mr Finch-Fletchley was found is clearer, but it goes blank when we get to the teacher's office ... then she's going down the halls to the dorm in the very next memory."

"Professor Lockhart doesn't seem the type to attack a student – unless she insulted his robes." Severus sneered.

Albus frowned. "It's not much to go on ... and while it's suspicious that her memories of being in his office are gone – it doesn't necessarily mean that he he's the 'Heir'."

Lucius and Severus looked horrified at the idea of Lockhart being the 'Heir'. "I'll turn in my Slytherin tie if he's related to Salazar." Severus muttered, with Lucius nodding in agreement.

"I'm willing to bet my favourite bunny slippers against your favourite fuzzy socks that Lockhart obliviated her. But beyond that – I really can't say why or what he Obliviated from her mind." Hugo frowned.

Madame Bones leaned forward. "Well, we still don't have the attacker, and we do have another victim. A muggleborn, again." She looked at them sternly. "We did say we needed to do something if another attack occured. We'll need to have a meeting with the Chief Aurors and see what we feel we need to do."

"The Board of Governors will be notified by me of events ... you'll need to contact them before making any changes at the school." Lucius' tone wasn't actually threatening – but it did remind them that the school was a completely separate entity from the Ministry.

Amelia cocked an eyebrow at Lucius, and nodded shortly. Hugo stood, sighing. All of this was quite exciting ... and exhausting.

"I hope we can get this resolved before any action is necessary at all." Albus stood. He didn't want Aurors crawling all over the school – or even descending into the Chamber. They needed to find the Heir before confronting the basilisk, though he regreted not being able to enlist Hugo in this – Hugo would be into the chamber before he could even try to stop him.

The Aurors left and the three Professor looked at each other. "We need to watch Lockhart ... closely."

"Alright, but I might get motion sickness watching his color patterns every day." Lucius sneered, making at least Severus snicker.

Albus grimaced, but smiled. "I must be slacking a bit if you're complaining more about Lockhart's robes than my own."

"Don't feel you need to take up the gauntlet and start a 'color clashing contest'." Severus glared at the Headmaster. "We only need one hideous set of robes to look at at a time."

Albus smiled sadly and sent the pair away. He could only see a worsening of the situation before it could get better. Although the children would be unpetrified in a couple months and be relatively unharmed ... parents always took a dim view of a threat to their offspring. Wizarding families understood that a magical education in an enchanted castle was somewhat hazardous by it's very nature. Muggle parents – and even halfbloods – tended to be less sanguine about things like this.

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Lucius entered his classroom, Jarvis Pucey scurrying behind him. Pucey had needed to do some quick research after being told of the school-wide assignment Lucius had given. Luckily Lucius had all the books he needed lined up for him to read quickly.

The upper years – fifth and up had all come up with the right answers – at least some of them had ... and had shared the information with their friends. Lucius wasn't worried about that – as long as the information was shared, the truth would be known.

This class was the second years. Once again Lucius was glad that each class had all the students from that year – he hated repeating himself.

"Well ..." Lucius clapped his hands together and gave his nervous students a challenging smile. "Did anyone uncover the secret to where the gift of Parseltongue came from?"

Several hands went in the air ... some hesitantly, others even more slowly. To his surprise, Granger's was not one of them. She looked a bit cowed and nervous. Lucius wondered if being questioned by the Aurors and the Headmaster had made her hesitant to draw futher attention ... even in class.

"Miss Patil." Lucius pointed at the Ravenclaw of the pair of the twin sisters.

The girl smiled her rather sweet smile and stood. Lucius noted that Dudley was sitting behind her and eyeing her with a rather sappy look. Lucius sighed ... at least she was a Ravenclaw, and after all – they were only twelve – this would be one of a long line of crushes, most likely.

"Parseltongue is reputed to be exclusive to those who can trace their lineage back to those with naiad blood in them ... water beings who were worshiped in alot of temples – both Roman and Greek, but also by the Celts who worshiped at various wells and springs where the naiads lived." Padma smiled at Lucius' approving nod and the award of 5 points to Ravenclaw and sat.

"And why would this impart the gift of Parseltongue to their wizarding descendants?" Lucius asked. More hands in the air. To his surprise Weasley had his hand up, though he looked a bit like he was volunteering to wrestle one of Hagrid's pets. "Yes, Mr Weasley?"

Ron stood, flushing with embarrasment and cleared his throat. "Umm ... I read that if a wizard or witch is descended from an elemental ... like a sylph or a naiad or such – that they might have the gift of talking to animals that are associated with that element. The descendant of a naiad, would likely be able to talk to a snake or maybe another water animal that has enough magic in it. Just as a sylph descendant might be able to talk to an owl or a phoenix."

Lucius nodded and Ron sat in relief. "Very good, Mr Weasley. And 5 points to Gryffindor." Ron got some backslapping and nudges for that.

"Did anyone note how the ability came to Salazar Slytherin?" Lucius smiled, Draco had his hand in the air at last. As he was the only Slytherin waving a hand, he could call on him without difficulty. He was, after all, trying to include all houses. "Mr Malfoy?"

Draco stood, happily. He was well acquainted with Slytherin history long before attending Hogwarts. "Salazar's father was a Warlock living in the Fen country. He met and married a priestess from a local temple ... many thought she was a maened or a sylph, but she was the daughter of a naiad who lived in the spring that formed a stream that still runs by the temple. The temple is now the Oceanid Institute home base – they study water magic and magical water creatures all over the world. Parseltongue is considered to be a branch ... a very small and rather specialized branch ... of water magic."

Lucius fought down a proud grin as Draco took a seat. "Well done Mr Malfoy, and five points to Slytherin. Does anyone know where to find Naiads, now?"

At last, to his relief there was a Hufflepuff hand up, among the numerous Ravenclaw ones. "Yes, Miss Abbott?"

Hannah stood shyly. "Naiads still live in the springs and streams on magically protected lands. The Oceanid Institute looks for places for them to live when they are about to be pushed out of areas where muggles live too close. There aren't very many that live outside of magical protection here in Britain. One place is in Holywell – in Wales, at the shrine to St. Winifred. The Well has quite a few Naiads living there." She giggled a bit. "There are quite a few magical children that come from there, that seem to have water magic that are likely children of theirs."

Lucius nodded happily – a full set of Houses had managed decent answers. "Very good. 5 points to Hufflepuff as well, then."

"Now then, I realize that parseltongue has become unpopular in Britain – indeed in much of Europe. This is because of the Dark Lord having the ability. However parselmouths can be found in most of the world, because naiads, and their oceanic cousins the nerieds can, of course can be found everywhere. The ability is, as has been pointed out, only one branch of water magic and certainly can be found in anyone with the lineage – both good and bad wizards."

As Lucius continued the lecture, ennumerating many other parselmouth wizards and witches from other countries. He continued with the many abilities possible to be inherited from sylphs and nymphs and even maeneds. He felt that addressing only parselmouths would be a mistake – seeing that there were many abilities inherited from elemental beings would lessen the idea of parseltongue being so very significant.

He was relieved to see most of the children accepting that the abilites inherited did not define the wizard, although Ernie McMillian seemed a bit sulky about this. A few – like Zachariah Smith were skeptical, perhaps. Zabini looked positively militant, though Crabbe and Goyle had their usual confused faces in place. Neville worried him, though. Several times he thought the boy would burst out in an angry rebuttal of what was said, but he remained silent, instead.

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Voldemort, now a spectre once again, finally reached the gates of Riddle Manor. It had taken him the better part of a year to travel all this way. He could only travel by night in this form – too many muggles were about most of the time, and sunlight seemed to weaken him. He wasn't as weak as he had been after the defeat at Harry Potter's infant hands, though - to his relief.

Feeding on the unicorns had strengthened him considerably, even after being disembodied once again. Now he was once again inside the Riddle Manor. He noticed the flowers at the base of his father's headstone and stopped. He wondered who would do that. He could think of no one ...

He drifted on up to the Manor house. Nagini was still there, as she had been last Christmas when he'd visited in Quirrell's body. She was in a cold stupor once more, but she hissed a welcome.

He went back to the sitting room he'd fixed a bit last year. He needed to plan, once again, and think of ways to get stronger – find old friends who had remained loyal ...

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It was almost February, Neville thought, why had no one done anything yet? Was everyone blind? They were most certainly deaf. He talked to Ron and Hermione, telling them that Harry was almost certainly the 'Heir'. Hermione shook her head and Ron just looked at him with a bit of pity. Dudley – who usually was nearby and would overhear his remark kept on about his 'obsession' with Harry.

Even Seamus and Dean, who were not purebloods and quite vulnerable to a possible attack weren't listening. Ernie and Zachariah, who'd been the first to suspect Harry were now deaf. Ernie felt that as a pureblood he needn't worry – no matter who it was. Zachariah said that he wasn't convinced that Harry wasn't a Dark wizard, being a parselmouth, but on the other hand didn't think Harry was the Heir.

"Like he said – his mum was a muggleborn. He might be dark ... most likely is, but he's not after muggleborns." Smith sniffed in disdain. He wasn't listening to reason either.

Others pointed out he'd been in the Hall during the attack. Had they never heard of henchman? Potter was surrounded by them.

Zabini seemed the only one equally infuriated by Lucius' speech in History of Magic. He'd talked loudly in the common room – insisting that Lucius was a traitor for saying parseltongue was not a trait only Slytherin descendants had – that it was not the mark of a dark wizard.

Most of the other students had eyed him silently. A few had said that it was a special gift ... but perhaps it was not as exclusive as Slytherins would like to think. Zabini fumed. So many of the Slytherins were fence-sitting, waiting to see how the wind was going to blow, before committing. His mother counseled patience ... to keep trying – when the Dark Lord returned he could say he'd remained faithful and he would be the obvious choice for a leader in Hogwarts.

Zabini looked around at the noncompliant fellow Slytherins. He knew who he'd be practicing his first Cruciatus' on.

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The Horcrux gritted Lockhart's teeth and fought back a frustrated scream. The voice was doing it again. Taking over the idiot blonde Professor's mind had been laughably easy – he only fought back in the morning – but at that time Lockhart was suprisingly strong.

"Not the light blue one ..." the voice of Lockhart in the back of his head whined."It clashes horribly – take the dark blue coat – it has a wonderful design that sets off the white lace."

The Horcrux counted to ten in Hindi and then Urdu as well. Every morning it went this way. He'd finally learned to do his teeth and hair right so he wouldn't hear nerve-shattering screaming about hair care and sensitive scalps ... or weeping about how hard it had been to get his teeth perfect and now this fiend is ruining them. If it had been possible to crucio Lockhart without enduring the curse as well ...

No matter - he could do the morning washing up now in relative silence ... but choosing something to wear ... the complaints were non-stop and always caused severe migraines.

"FINE ... I'll wear the bloody dark blue coat, just shut up!" The Horcrux shouted, feeling like an idiot for having to shout at himself. He got the coat on and looked at the numerous cloaks in trepidation. He usually picked up three before guessing right and had to listen to lectures about shades of color, draping and length.

The Horcrux picked up a dark blue one that seemed the same shade as the coat, sweating in nervousness.

"Ooooh, that one is just right ... it really shows off the hair." Lockhart's voice cooed at him.

The Horcrux was absolutely furious at how relieved he was. How had it come to this? ... that any part of Lord Voldemort could cringe at a ponce like Lockhart. He snarled at his reflection.

"Wow – that look is quite fierce – we should use that on the cover of our next book...!" Lockhart chirped.

The Horcrux gritted Lockhart's teeth again and slammed out the door to teach a class – someone was getting hexed today, even if it made Lockhart look competant.

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