บท 54: Potter, Heir of Slytherin!?
Once the injured had been sent off to the Hospital Wing, the remaining students gathered in front of Professor Lockhart. Disarming people didn't sound too exciting, but they felt like learning to protect themselves could be very useful against the unknown threat of Slytherin's creature. What was the use of Disarming a creature, anyways? It's not as if the thing was armed with a wand.
And they were right. Slytherin's creature was a snake, a Basilisk, in fact. Snakes are by definition perpetually in an unarmed state, but that's beside the point, and no one could have guessed for certain the creature was the king of snakes at this point.
"Let's have a volunteer pair — Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you —" said Professor Lockhart, desperately looking for someone who could distract his audience from the fact he didn't know how to cast the Shield Charm.
Snape soon put an end to that idea. Either Longbottom would simply fail to cast his spell, or it would backfire so spectacularly it would vaporize his opponent.
"How about Malfoy and Potter?" suggested Professor Snape, who obviously had ulterior motives.
"What an excellent idea!" exclaimed Professor Lockhart, completely oblivious to that fact.
Draco climbed on to the stage where the teachers were standing, followed by Potter, who trudged reluctantly after him.
"Now Harry, when Draco points his wand at you, you should do this."
Professor Lockhart made a complex sequence of movements with his wand, culminating with it flying out of his grasp.
"Ow, my eye!"
"Sorry, about that!" said Professor Lockhart sheepishly. "Could you pass that back to me? It would seem my wand is a little overexcited today—"
Daphne put her hand in front of her mouth to hide the fact she was smiling, while Oleandra nodded with a look of comprehension on her face. Those things could prove to be very slippery, after all. If there was a better medium than a wand to cast spells, she would switch over in a heartbeat. And to be honest, if her wand could find a better master, it would also do so without hesitation!
Oleandra felt her palm heat up a little. Either her wand was trying to burn her hand in protest for her traitorous thoughts, or she was feeling second-hand embarrassment which was being compounded with the fact she had dropped her own wand a few minutes earlier.
Professor Snape whispered something to Draco, but Oleandra couldn't quite hear what was being said from where she stood. After a short exchange, Professor Lockhart lightly jabbed at Potter's shoulder, saying, "Just do what I did, Harry!"
This didn't seem to elicit much confidence in Potter, but there was no time to think about it; his second duel starting!
Draco flicked his wand and cried out, "Serpensortia!"
Oleandra watched as a long and thick black snake was brought into existence, seemingly squeezed out of the tip of Draco's wand. The snake reared up, poised to strike a deadly blow.
"Amazing, he got it right on his first try!" exclaimed Oleandra.
Not to be outdone, Pansy Parkinson also cheered Draco on: "Go, Draco! Give that Scarhead a scare!"
As a responsible educator, Professor Snape moved to get rid of the snake, but as usual, Professor Lockhart had to be the centre of attention. With a nonverbal spell, he made the snake fly up ten feet into the air, but that only served to make it angrier once it fell back to the ground.
And then, the strangest thing happened. Potter began to hiss at the snake, which suddenly became docile, coming to rest at his feet.
"Evanesco," said Professor Snape with a wave of his wand, and the snake vanished with a puff of smoke.
"Potter's a Parselmouth!" whispered Daphne, her eyes wide with amazement. "That's how he beat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as a baby; he's an even more powerful Dark Lord!"
"Don't be silly," said Oleandra. "His best friends are a Weasley and a Muggle-Born. But more importantly, this means the Scriptorium's no longer a safe hideout! Potter can go in and out as he pleases!"
Meanwhile, Potter and his two friends had fled the scene, further cementing the impression that he was guilty of something.
The next day, Oleandra had found that popular opinion had once again changed. At first, she had been the one suspected to be Slytherin's heir, but now, the majority thought that it was Potter. After all, he had also been there on the day of Mrs. Norris's petrifaction, and now he was confirmed to be a Parselmouth. The ability to speak to snakes was the mark of the very worst of Dark Wizards, everyone knew that.
Slytherin might not had been evil, but he had done some horrible things and had held some… let's just say, unpopular opinions. Herpo the Foul was one of the most evil wizards to ever walk the Earth, and he was also a Parselmouth.
Suddenly, students she didn't even know were coming up to her to apologize for believing she had been the Heir of Slytherin, and some even offered their condolences in advance. In their eyes, now that the real Heir had made himself known, the fact that she had been impersonating him should have by all rights displeased Potter, which meant Oleandra was basically a dead woman!
With all of these people coming up to her, Oleandra had half-managed to convince herself that Potter was going to come and kill her himself. With much on her mind, she couldn't concentrate on her morning Charms class.
"Come now, Miss Greengrass," Professor Flitwick told her reproachfully. "Surely, you can try a little harder? I will make this chair float, and you will end the Spell. Go on, the incantation is Finite."
He waved his wand in a graceful pattern, and a chair flew up to Oleandra's eye level.
"Finite," said Oleandra half-heartedly, but the chair remained stubbornly in the air.
She wanted to run out of there right then and there to check on the Scriptorium, but Professor Flitwick wouldn't let her go until she had succeeded.
Finally, she had had enough. She had better things to do than to stay here and listen to a diminutive teacher, so she decided to use a spell she had learned to bring down fresh acorns in bulk from the branches of oak trees.
"Descendo!" she roared, slashing down with her wand.
The chair slammed down into the floor, shattering into pieces, and Oleandra stormed off.
"Twenty points off Slytherin for breaking furniture," Professor Flitwick called after her. "Though I'll give you five points for a very well executed Knock-Down Charm. This spell is usually taught to fifth-year students. Do you see what happens when you apply yourself, Miss Greengrass?"
"Though I can understand why you are feeling stressed," he murmured, waving his wand to repair the chair.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง