I am not the heir of Slytherin, I am Slytherin.

Chapter 27

The next morning

Harry woke up and completed his morning routine before grabbing his bag and entering the common room, where he found Neville snickering over a piece of parchment. Harry blanched. This could mean only one thing - Hogwarts was in for a prank. He needed to warn the girls.

"Hey Harry!" Oh no, Neville had noticed him.

"Good morning Neville," Harry said, plastering on a fake smile and walked to sit next to the boy who had a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

"What are you doing, 'Ric?" Harry asked, keeping his voice void of any emotions.

"You know exactly what I am doing Sal, don't you?" Neville asked with a grin. Harry shrugged and opened his mental link with the girls, alerting them to be careful.

"Neville Longbottom, don't you dare!" Shrieked Hermione, hurrying down the stairs, followed by Luna.

"Neville Longbottom might not dare, but Godric Gryffindor sure will," Neville replied cheekily, expertly dodging the pillow thrown his way.

"What prank are you planning 'Ric?" Luna asked, settling down beside him.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Neville winked and left the Gryffindor common room.

"This is no good. I am contemplating skipping breakfast today..." Harry muttered.

"But if we are not there, the prank will get out of hand," Hermione replied before dragging Harry for breakfast, Luna hot on their heels.

****

When they all arrived for breakfast, only 2 Gryffindors, 2 Slytherins, 4 Hufflepuffs and 12 Ravenclaws were there with the exception of Professors Snape and McGonagall. McGonagall stood up and gave Luna her schedule before returning to her seat.

By the time the four finished their breakfasts, the rest of the students arrived, chatting and eating. With a quick head count to make sure that there were at least seventy people, Neville whispered something the others could not catch. Immediately, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and the Slytherin quidditch team stood up together in a daze and moved to the front of the room, standing right in front of the Head Table. They began singing as one.

"The great great great great Gryffindors,
When I see them, my heart soars.
They are courageous and quite brave,
Strong and willing to the grave.

They are best at everything,
That is why we all sing.
When you want to know who's best,
Just look at the Gryffindor crest."

As soon as the song finished, they got out of the daze and began blushing Gryffindor red. Once everyone got over the shock, they, except most Slytherins, began laughing like mad. Harry was torn between laughing at the nine people and glaring at Neville for pranking Slytherins. The said nine immediately rushed out of the hall without sparing a glance at anyone.

Snape and McGonagall, though the latter enjoyed the show, immediately turned to the Weasley twins, who put their hands up in surrender and announced, "Unfortunately, we weren't the masterminds behind this amazing prank. We have competition."

"And would you happen to know who they are who have provided you with competition, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley?" McGonagall asked in her no-nonsense tone.

"We do not happen to be fortunate enough to know any others who will be able to assist us in such pranks," the twins said as one.

There were sharp intakes of breaths at the head table at the thought of the one(s) behind this prank teaming up with the two of them.

***

The four sat down for lunch after the morning classes when the young lady with bubblegum-pink hair whom they had seen in Dumbledore's office came rushing into the Great Hall.

"Auror Tonks, how may we be of assistance," Professor McGonagall asked, rising to greet the young auror since Dumbledore was at the ministry.

"Madam Bones asked me to escort Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom, Ms. Lovegood and Ms. Granger to the ministry to witness the execution of Bellatrix Lestrange and for them to collect their awards for capturing a Death Eater. The Headmaster is at the ministry already," Nymphadora Tonks replied.

"Very well, Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom, Ms. Granger and Ms. Lovegood, you are excused from your afternoon classes for the day," McGonagall

The four of them quickly grabbed a few pieces of food before hurriedly following the auror to the gates of Hogwarts, where she handed a portkey handkerchief to them. They all disappeared and reappeared in the atrium of the ministry.

"Ah, hello. I am, as you probably know, Cornelius Fudge, the minister of magic. It is an honour to meet you four," Fudge welcomed the four. Though he said this to all of them, his eyes lingered on Harry, once again.

The four gave a curt nod to him before following Sirius, Dumbledore, the aurors, unspeakables and the other ministry officials to the department of mysteries. The ministry seemed to have a secret route to reach there quickly and in mass. Soon, they were standing in a large, circular room. Everything in here was black including the floor and ceiling - identical, unmarked, handle-less black doors were set at intervals all around the black walls, interspersed with branches of candles whose flames burned blue, their cool, shimmering light reflected in the shining marble floor so that it looked as though there was dark water underfoot.

"The Death Chamber," An Unspeakable announced and one of the doors slammed open. There were steep stone steps after steep stone steps. In the middle of the room was a dais where an archway stood.

The Death Eater was brought in, restrained and guarded by several aurors. Lady Longbottom reached there soon and gave the four a polite nod, her eyes lingering on the males, not knowing about the identities of the female founders.

An unspeakable made everyone stay away from the archway as the Death Eater was pushed forward. She shot nasty looks at the people around her, especially Sirius and Augusta. She were shortly gone, pushed through the archway...

People began returning to the Atrium of the ministry. Harry saw the Weasleys, including those from Hogwarts, there. Ron and Ginny waved to them enthusiastically, while Fred and George mimicked them with narrowed eyes. They definitely knew something was up.

The Malfoys were also there, Neville noticed. Draco was glaring at them as they sat on the chairs on stage. Narcissa seemed indifferent, though Harry noticed a few unshed tears in her eyes, while Lucius was politely greeting the high up ministry officials.

Dumbledore, Fudge, Madam Bones and a woman in pink who (in Harry's opinion) looked like a toad, climbed onto the stage after them. Luna was sitting at the very end of the row, followed by Hermione, Neville, Harry, Madam Bones, Dumbledore, Fudge and the pink lady.

Fudge claimed the podium and gave a long and boring speech that the four zoned out on until they heard their names. They stepped forward and received their awards with small smiles on their faces. The crowd, to Harry's displeasure, went crazy when he was called forward.

After the ceremony was over, they went back to where their friends and family were (Hermione's parents had been brought in by Sirius, for the ceremony).

When everyone else had left, Sirius took Harry to Gringotts to claim the Lestrange Lordship and Heirship.

~Hi... I recently read about how the pacing of fanfics affects the quality of them and how people do not get invested if the pacing is not good.

So, I wanted to ask, how is my story paced? Too fast? Too slow? Do you really like it? Please let me know so that I can sleep peacefully at night. Hope you enjoyed this new chapter...

Signing off~