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

Chapter 29

3rd person POV

The next morning rolled around like Neville rolled off his bed. The blonde sat up with a groan, which woke Harry up. The other boy took a look at his best friend and laughed, causing Neville to throw a pillow at him, hitting him on the chest.

"Stop laughing Potter," Neville whined and got up to get ready for the day. Harry woke the rest of the boys up and prepared his robes for the day.

Harry and Neville met the girls in the common room fifteen minutes later, and the quartet went to have breakfast. They were soon joined by Ron, who sat two benches away from them and mumbled a 'good morning' without looking at any of them. The four shared slightly confused looks but shrugged and finished their breakfasts.

The day went on as usual, with classes, lunch and more classes. But Ron's behaviour was still unusual. So far into the year, he had loved his new wand and it had fit him rather perfectly. But today, he seemed to have slight troubles with his wand again, like he had troubles with his hand-me-down wand during his first year, but his spells were coming along better. He also kept glancing at the founders out of the corner of his eye, especially Luna. This confused the founders a lot.

During dinner, they noticed, he continued to behave strangely. He did not eat his usual favourite dishes, having a completely different meal. He also ate more decently, not stuffing his mouth and swallowed before speaking. Not that they were complaining about that change, but it was so unusual to see Ron behaving like that.

They had had enough when they saw Ron actually reading his potions textbook and taking notes out of it in the library, after rejecting Ginny's offer of flying on her new broom!

Harry pulled out the Marauders map, and... he was right. When Ron sat in the library, Ron Weasley/ NH sat on the map. Ron also was a reborn person it seemed. But Harry decided to keep quite and not inform the others about his discovery.

That night when they were all in the Gryffindor common room, the other three pulled the unwilling ginger into Godric's office to confront him, Harry following them silently. Ron looked extremely nervous and uncomfortable being alone in the room with the four founders. His eyes kept darting towards where he knew the exit was. Harry gave him a comforting nod.

"What's going on, Ron? What's with your unusual behaviour today?" Neville asked him as he plopped onto the couch. Ron, still nervous, sat on a wooden chair near the walls. He let out a huff and an uncertain chuckle that continued to grow louder until it was a full-blown laugh.

Ron POV (The previous day)

I have finally found friends outside Harry and Hermione, outside Gryffindor to be honest. Currently, my closest friends, other than the pre-existing ones, were Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abott from Hufflepuff. We talked a lot and they were quite accepting of me instead of judging me because my family wasn't wealthy.

Today, Ernie has invited me to the Hufflepuff common room to work on the History of Magic assignment together, unlike the previous times we did that in the library.

After returning from the ministry, I got the book, parchment, quills and ink before leaving the common room. I found Ernie waiting for me. The pair of us walked for about fifteen minutes and were nearing the dungeons when he stopped near a dozen barrels and pulled out his wand. I looked at him in confusion as he approached one of the barrels and tapped his wand in a tune.

The lid of the barrel suddenly moved on its own to reveal a sloping, earthy passage inside it. Ernie beckoned me as he climbed into the barrel?

I followed him reluctantly and saw that the passage led upwards a little way until a cosy, round, low-ceilinged room is revealed. The room is decorated in the cheerful, bee-like colours of yellow and black, emphasised by the use of highly polished, honey-coloured wood for the tables and the round doors.

There were many colourful plants and flowers. At last, there was a large portrait over a wooden mantelpiece. It was a portrait of....

I clutched my head as I fell to my knees, a pain developing in my head and chest. The pain disappeared as quickly as it came, leaving behind a slight sting and a jumble of thoughts and unfamiliar but familiar memories.

I groaned as I stood up again, Ernie coming to my aid with a very concerned look on his face.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I am fine," I replied as I slumped into a chair, staring at the portrait of Helga Hufflepuff aka Luna Lovegood aka my older sister from my past life.

That was exactly how I remembered my rather short life as Nicholas Hufflepuff.

Flashback end

No one POV

Once the laughter subsided, Ron sat up again to look at the four he knew from his past life, since the other three used to visit the Hufflepuff home quite frequently before and during the making of Hogwarts.

"I... " Ron hesitated. Harry sighed.

"Guys, I know what going on, even if it's just a guess, " Harry said. When he was sure he had their attention, he continued, "Ron is the same as us, reborn. Though I don't know who he was... "

Now all turned to stare at Ron, who huffed and nodded.

"I am/was Nicholas Hufflepuff." Luna teared up slightly. Ron proceeded to explain how he got his memories back. By the time he finished, tears were freely rolling down Luna's cheeks, Neville was grinning at him, and Hermione and Harry were smiling warmly and welcomingly at him. Luna pulled him into a fierce hug and sobbed into his shoulder.

Salazar suddenly felt a longing for his own brother as he watched their reunion. He tried masking his feelings as he watched similar conflicting emotions filter through Neville's face, remembering his brother. Hermione, who knew them well enough to see beyond their masks, gave them comforting looks and pats on their shoulders. Suddenly Harry couldn't take it anymore, so he silently slipped out of the office, ignoring Neville's and Hermione's worried looks.

~Hi!!! I surprisingly got time to wite a good few chapters yesterday, so I could update today.

Hope you enjoy the craziness of all this, because there's a lot more craziness up ahead.

Signing off~