Chapter 39: Fissure

No one cared about the dueling club. Ivan, Ron and Hermione led Harry out of the Great Dining Hall, followed by Colin and Ginny.

People quickly moved away as if they were afraid Harry was going to attack them.

Harry looked a little perplexed, he didn't know what was going on. They didn't explain anything to him as they dragged him into the empty Gryffindor common room.

Then Ron pushed Harry into an armchair and said, "You speak Parseltongue, why didn't you tell us?"

Harry asked, surprised, "I speak what?"

Ron repeated, "Parseltongue! It means you can talk to snakes."

Harry said, "I know I can, this is the second time I've done it. Once at a zoo I accidentally let a big snake out and my cousin Dudley.... It's a long story, but I bet a lot of people can do it."

Ron while frowning, said, "They can't, it's not common, Harry."

"Yes, it is bad!" said Ginny, who was sitting next to Ivan.

Harry asked, "What's wrong with it? what's wrong with everyone? Look, if I didn't tell the snake not to attack Justin...."

Ron looked at Harry and said, "So that's what you told him."

Harry, hearing Ron's words, looked confused as he said, "Ron, what do you mean? You were there, You with Ivan, Hermione, Colin and Ginny, you were all there, you heard me."

Colin said at that point, "Actually, I just heard a whistle. I don't know what you said."

Ron explained to Colin, "That's Parseltongue, Colin! It's the language of snakes!"

Harry, wide-eyed, said, "You said I used snake language?"

Ron nodded and said, "Yes, none of us understood you. You could have said anything. No wonder Justin was so terrified, and listening to your voice it was like you were cheering for the snake."

"Yes!", Colin and Ginny nodded in unison.

Harry glared at them and said, "But I didn't know I could speak another language!"

Ron shook his head.

Colin and Ginny had a look of horror on their faces and Hermione sat to the side and pulled a book out of a pile and read it quickly as Ivan sank into his thoughts, Harry wondered what he was thinking. The atmosphere grew heavier and heavier.

Harry suddenly exclaimed, "Well, would you like to tell me that it's wrong to stop a snake from killing Justin? Justin didn't join the ghosts, so what does it matter how I did it."

At that point, Hermione finally said, "It matters a lot!"

Hermione turned the book to a certain page and showed Harry, "See, it says here that Slytherin could also talk to snakes, he was the first person to know Parseltongue, that's why Slytherin's house symbol is a snake."

Harry opened his mouth in surprise as he looked at the book in front of him.

Ron nodded as he listened to Hermione's explanation and said, "Exactly, Harry, so now the whole school will think you're the heir, especially since the chamber has been opened."

"But I'm not, I didn't open the chamber," Harry said in a panicked tone.

"I believe you, Harry!" said Ginny in a shallow voice.

Hermione said calmly, "We all believe you, but it will be hard to prove it to the others, Slytherin lived over a thousand years ago, and for all we know you could be his heir!"

"That's absurd, so that's why everyone else was avoiding me," Harry said.

Harry stood up and looked at Ivan, who had not yet spoken, and said with a glimmer of hope, "Ivan, you don't think I'm the heir to Slytherin or that I opened the Chamber of Secrets, do you?"

Ivan, seeing that Harry had spoken to him, said, "Of course not, I'm not really surprised that you know Parseltongue. Although knowing Parseltongue is very rare, you are not the only one, there are many wizards who can do it besides the heirs of Slytherins. I can name a few if you wish."

Ivan's words made Harry feel relieved, but Ivan didn't mention that wizards who knew Parseltongue were all evil without exception.

"This really doesn't matter, but what I want to know is what spell Ron used," Ivan said as he looked at Ron standing next to him.

Ron stammered as he said, "Wh, what?"

Ron's face turned red as he said, "It was just a disarming spell, maybe my wand made him change."

Ivan waved his hand impatiently as he said, "Come on, Ron! That's what I told Snape so he wouldn't ask any more questions. If a broken wand could make a disarming spell turn into such dark magic, then dark wizards would be walking around with broken wands."

Hermione, hearing Ivan's words, looked at him in surprise and exclaimed, "What did you say? dark magic?"

Ivan nodded as he replied to Hermione, "Yes, the spell was definitely dark magic. That's why Snape asked Ron if he had been in the restricted area, he must know that spell."

"But I haven't..." said Ron, alarmed.

Ivan, as he stared at Ron, said, "Who knows! Maybe it's not you."

Ron repeated, a bit confused, "It wasn't me?"

Then, Ron jumped up in fury and confusion as he said, "Ivan, what do you mean? you think I'm someone else and I used the Multijuice Potion to become Ron?"

Ron gave a harsh laugh, while Colin and Ginny cowered in fear on the couch, and Harry and Hermione looked puzzled, not knowing exactly what Ivan was referring to.

Hermione said hesitantly, "I don't think Ron could have been impersonated by someone else. Ivan, you're probably under too much pressure from current events."

Harry shook his head as he said, "Today must be April Fool's Day, I saved Justin and now I'm considered the heir to Slytherin, and now Ron is suddenly a dark wizard."

Ivan, however, said, "However, it is a simple task for dark wizards to control a person's mind."

"What the hell do you mean?!" exclaimed Ron loudly.

"Where were you on Halloween, when the first attack happened?" asked Ivan coolly.

Ron said angrily, "I was apologizing to Myrtle the crybaby in the damn bathroom!"

Ivan smiled slightly and said, "There's no one to prove it! And where were you when the second attack happened?"

Ron replied to Ivan, "Inside the school infirmary with Percy, of course, since due to the ridiculous spell you deflected, my brother's arm bones disappeared."

Ivan shook his head and said, "Tell the truth, Ron, you left the school hospital shortly after we left and no one knows where you went."

Ron looked a little hysterical as he said, "If students are attacked and if no one is with you when it happens, then all the students would be suspected of being the heir of Slytherin."

"But you're the only one who can use a broken wand to cast a dark spell, aren't you, Ron?" said Ivan as he narrowed his eyes.