Witches Are. Witches Do.

Chapter 2

Harry looked around the classroom in confusion as everyone's attention was focused solely on her.

"Why didn't you ever tell me you were a parselmouth?" Hermione said in a much too loud of a voice in the otherwise silent classroom.

"I'm a what now?" Harry stared at her best friend in disbelief. "The Minister was talking English just now. I'd have noticed if he'd been talking snake."

Minister Riddle chuckled, which was a surprisingly rich sound. He leaned back in his seat, clearly over the previous shock that had come over him. "Parseltongue often sounds like English for a parselmouth when they're just discovering their powers."

"But I'm not a parselmouth," Harry said helplessly, staring at Minister Riddle with wide eyes. "I'd have noticed by now, don't you think?"

"Have you ever met a snake before?" Minister Riddle asked with a curious tilt of his head.

Harry frowned as she thought back to her childhood at Potter Mansion. They had extensive grounds she'd loved exploring with her siblings. They'd seen all sorts of wildlife, of course. Lots of birds and squirrels and rabbits. Occasionally a deer or badger or fox in the distance. But never a snake, now that she thought about it. Snakes were rather shy and preferred to hide away from humans, didn't they?

Minister Riddle gave her a knowing smile when Harry came to the quiet conclusion that no, she had in fact never met a snake in person before in her entire life. "What is your name?" he asked, never looking away from her for even a second.

"Harry Potter. I mean, Harriet Potter, but most people call me Harry." Harry couldn't stop her cheeks from heating up a bit.

Minister Riddle's eyes widened briefly. "Ah yes, you're James Potter's eldest daughter. Lily Evans is your mother, correct? She's an extraordinary Healer." Minister Riddle fell quiet for a moment as he seemed to think deeply, his brows furrowing. "I am not familiar with either of their lines to know if they once had a connection to Salazar Slytherin. I shall visit the Department of Genealogy immediately following this meeting to do some digging."

Harry nodded and could barely refrain herself from shrugging. Only her grandmother Euphemia's many admonitions that shrugging was unbecoming for a young lady stopped her. If only Euphemia was there to see her efforts had eventually paid off, no matter how often Harry had proclaimed she'd rather not be a proper lady at all if that meant she wasn't allowed to do all the things her brothers could.

Minister Riddle got up from his chair and looked around the classroom before he gave them all a smile that made his already handsome face somehow even more attractive. "I've come here today to talk to you young women about the Coven System. Since I am its architect I always like to meet the latest Hogwarts students on the cusp of womanhood so I can personally explain why the Coven System is necessary."

For the next ten minutes Minister Riddle gave them a well-rehearsed speech about the Coven System. How it worked, why it had been implemented and how successful it turned out to be. Harry barely heard a word, her mind entirely occupied that apparently she was a parselmouth but had never known that until now.

How was that possible? No one else in her family was a parselmouth, that she knew of. The Potters could trace their lineage back for dozens of generations, all the way back to before Hogwarts was even founded. And Lily Evans was a muggleborn. Or was she? Was there something hiding in her ancestors that no one knew of?

Harry startled out of her thoughts when the other girls started applauding. Without knowing what was going on, Harry joined them.

"Thank you." Minister Riddle gave a short bow. "Does anyone have any questions?"