Slither of Danger [2]

Chapter Thirteen

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The news of Harry being a Paraelmouth spead like wildfire throughout the school. Everyone dodged him as if he was a virus they did not want to catch. All, except Hermione, Ron, the Weasley twins and I, and probably his Quidditch team too. So, the next morning I insisted on walking with Harry, in search for Justin. Harry wants to make it clear to him that he tried to stop the snake from attacking, not encouraging.

We walked in total silence through the hallways. Herbology was canceled due to the blizzard. I fold my arms under my winter cloak and observed the darkness inside the castle.

Perfect weather to lay in your bed and watching movies. Or reading a book.

"Are you scared of me, Leila?" Harry suddenly asks, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Mmm?" I looked at him in pure confusion.

He sighed and repeat the question. "Are you scared of me?"

I shook my head, frowning. "No. Why would I be?"

He motioned all around him. "Look around you, Leila." I saw no one besides us. "Everybody's avoiding me, because they think Salazar Slytherin might be my distant relative. They think I may be the Heir of Slytherin, because I was at the scene when Mrs. Norris got petrified. And now I think I told that snake to attack Justin."

"But you didn't...right?"

He shook his head. "No. I didn't. I told the snake to leave him."

I slowly nod my head. "Do you know what got the people spooked?"

We turned around the corner when Harry answered. "Because I can speak snake language."

I nod and shrug at the same time. "Yes. But mainly because when you talked to it the first time, it faced Justin, as if you told him to attack him or something -"

"But I didn't." He cut me off, sounding frustrated.

I loudly exhaled a breath. "I know, Harry. But it looked different from our point of view. We have the right to be suspicious."

"Yeah, whatever." He mumbled.

I pursed my lips at his reply and looked forward. The door of the library came into view. "Maybe he's in there. Catching up on homework."

"Okay. Let's look."

We entered through the door and past a grumpy-looking Madam Pince, who was grumbling something about overdue books. We had to avoid a few knocks on the head as the books zoomed past us at a rapid speed, faster than they must be. Finally, we saw a group of Hufflepuffs huddled together at the back of the library. As we drew near, the obvious stated that they were not studying or doing homework, but gossiping. I felt a hand pulling me back behind the shelf. I looked at Harry. "What's wrong?"

"They are talking about me." He whispered.

I gave him a look. "You know what happened last time when you made an assumption like that. Maybe they are talking about how us Ravenclaws have beaten them at Quidditch. Or maybe they are talking about the Chamber of Secrets. I mean, it has been the talk of the school.

"I'm serious. Listen." He dragged me closer until we were within earshot.

"So, anyway," A boy with dirty blonde hair said. "I told Justin to hid up in our dormitory. I mean to say, if Potter's marked him down as his next victim, it's best if he keeps a low profile of a while. Of course, Justin's been waiting for something like this to happen ever since he let slip to Potter he was Muggle-born. Justin actually told him he'd be down for Eton."