Harry looked at the vanished king cobra and smiled, turning to look at Ron and Hermione. But just then, he suddenly realized that while he had seen the fearful looks from the surrounding crowd earlier and thought they were afraid of the snake, now that the snake had been dealt with by Snape, those people were still looking at him with fearful eyes.
Only then did Harry suddenly realize that these people were actually afraid of him.
But why?
Harry at this moment didn't know that he had unconsciously spoken Parseltongue and controlled the snake just now, so he didn't understand why everyone else was afraid of him, looking at him as if he were something terrifying.
"What kind of monster are you!"
Hearing this, Harry turned to look at the speaker.
Harry recognized him—the speaker was Justin Finch-Fletchley, in the same year as himself, though he was a Hufflepuff student. Looking at him, Harry frowned slightly and said, "I don't understand what you mean."
"You just gave yourself away! You were talking to the snake just now—that was Parseltongue, the mark of Slytherin's heir! You're Slytherin's heir! Mrs. Norris and Lovegood must have been attacked by you!"
At these words, the others also began to clamor. Actually, most people didn't know what being able to talk to snakes meant, but with Justin shouting like this, everyone reacted. Just as Justin said, Harry had been present at the scene whenever an attack was discovered, and now they'd discovered he possessed Parseltongue—naturally, the most likely person to be Slytherin's heir who opened the Chamber was Harry.
A Hufflepuff girl couldn't hold back and screamed as she fled the dueling club's small hall. With the first came the second, and students fled one after another.
Seeing this scene, Harry instinctively wanted to grab Justin to explain, but was pushed away by the nervous Justin, who looked at him like he'd seen a venomous snake and couldn't wait to escape.
At this moment, Ron and Hermione came to Harry's side. Ron said with a somewhat complex expression, "Harry, you just spoke in snake language—that was Parseltongue. Legend says only those with Slytherin bloodline possess this ability, which is why they suspect you're Slytherin's heir."
"Parseltongue? Slytherin's heir? But I'm not... I'm not Slytherin's heir, I..."
Before Harry could finish, a hand pressed on his shoulder. This hand was very strong and immediately calmed Harry down.
"Harry, calm down."
Turning to look at Sean standing beside him, among their peers, Sean was notably tall, probably half a head taller than Harry. Harry looked up slightly at Sean, took a deep breath, and said, "Sean, you know about Parseltongue, don't you?"
"That's right, I know about Parseltongue. As Ron just said, the Parseltongue I know about is also a unique ability of Slytherin, and some descendants of Slytherin's bloodline have also possessed this ability." Speaking to this point, Sean looked at Harry, whose expression was somewhat complex, and continued, "However, Harry, the magical world is full of wonders.
Moreover, how did Slytherin get his Parseltongue? He learned it, or perhaps inherited it from his own ancestors—no one knows for sure. Therefore, your Parseltongue might have been acquired for some other reason, which doesn't necessarily prove you're a descendant of Slytherin's bloodline, does it?
Taking a step back, even if you are a descendant of Slytherin's bloodline, as long as the recent incidents weren't your doing, you have no need to worry about anything or feel inferior. These concerns are unnecessary. What you need to do now is hold your head high. If you encounter people who misunderstand you, you can explain if you're in a good mood, and if you're not in a good mood, just ignore them. Given time, the rumors will collapse on their own."
Listening to Sean's words, Harry finally became calm and peaceful. Just as Sean said, the incidents weren't his doing, so naturally he had no need to worry or explain anything. He just needed to follow the plan to investigate the truth and find the real Slytherin's heir behind it all, and his innocence would naturally be proven.
With that, everyone went their separate ways.
Sean and Blaise walked toward the common room. On the way, Blaise said to Sean, "Sean, you successfully encouraged the Savior again."
"Harry's been under quite a bit of pressure lately. It's good to comfort him when we can."
"But Sean, do you really think the Savior isn't Slytherin's heir? He really can speak Parseltongue."
Hearing Blaise's words, Sean immediately replied, "I don't think Harry is Slytherin's heir. I've always felt that Slytherin's heir is someone else. As for Parseltongue, as I said, it doesn't necessarily require bloodline to possess. Actually, if someone listed out the pronunciation and corresponding English translations, ordinary wizards might not be unable to learn it either."
Hearing this, Blaise blinked, as if he hadn't thought of such a method.
Looking at Blaise, Sean smiled and said, "Actually, there's one thing I'm somewhat worried about. Many people saw Harry's performance just now, and I believe those upperclassmen in our house should know about it too. A suspected Slytherin's heir who can speak Parseltongue is in Gryffindor—what do you think their reaction will be?"
What reaction?
Blaise imagined it and couldn't help but shiver. That would be truly terrifying.
The two arrived at the entrance to the Slytherin common room, spoke the password, pushed open the door that appeared, and walked in. If it were before, upon entering the Slytherin common room, they would hear noisy sounds, but at this moment, when Sean and Blaise walked in, the Slytherin common room was terrifyingly quiet.
The upperclassman Slytherins who were usually nowhere to be seen were now rarely present in the Slytherin common room, including those from the Slytherin Brotherhood reserve organization.
In Slytherin, you could be indifferent to Voldemort, even express that you didn't like Voldemort, and aside from those extreme pure-blood supremacist believers of Voldemort, no one would trouble you.
But if you expressed in Slytherin that you didn't like Salazar Slytherin, or as in this case, told them that Slytherin's heir was in Gryffindor, that was absolutely unacceptable to the Slytherin wizards.
"Sean, you're back. Perfect timing—we need to have a good talk about this Slytherin's heir business!"
(TL NOTE: Unfortunately, my LOTR: Playing Minecraft in Middle-earth book was mistakenly flagged as spam on Webnovel and removed. I'll re-upload it under a different title by today at the latest. Thank you for your patience!)