Harry Potter and the Horned Serpent

In a Tangled Web

After the incident with the serpent, things got more tense at Hogwarts. Rumor, as predicted, was going around that either Harry or myself were the heir of Slytherin, most kept their distance, except for Ron, Hermione and Theo. But I didn't mind. Not like many were lining up to be friends with me anyway.

One afternoon, during study hall, Harry had had enough of the side-eyes and stares so he got up and walked away back to the Gryffindor common room. Poor boy. I got up and followed after Harry.

I caught up with him shortly after in the hallway. "Harry!" The boy stopped and turned to me. "Loki?" "Mind if I join you?" Harry just gave a simple nod. We took a stroll through the corridors.

"Can I ask you something?" The bespectacled boy asked as I gave him a hum in response, signaling him that I was paying attention.

"Have you ever felt alone? With no one to turn to? As if the world has turned against you?"

I stopped. I thought for a moment. Memories of my long life passing through my mind. "Follow me." I motioned to him as we were now at a courtyard. Sitting on a stone bench, I patted the space next to me, signaling him to sit. He did so.

"You wanted to know, if I knew what it's like to feel alone?" Harry nodded.

"All my life I felt alone. Ever since I was a child I felt alone. My parents adored my older brother. He was always cherished and congratulated for everything he did by my father. You see, my brother was of the more brutish type. A warrior. My father valued that above all else. He looked down upon me for my skinnier visage and for my aptitude for magic. Made me eat twice what I normally ate and made me train with my brother and his friends, in hopes that I would toughen up and become a warrior. But I never could, I would lash out. Causing mischief through pranks, using my magic to cause chaos at our home. I could never be the son he wanted me to be, so he cast me aside. Focusing more on my brother." I spoke watching a little gecko crawl up a nearby tree. Harry listened intently. "Why do you think your father treated you like that?"

"Simply put: Because I can do magic." "He hates it? "Fears it. and Its hypocritical seeing as my mother is a witch and he respects and adores her. But not me." I said somberly.

"And your mother?"

"My mother... she was stern but kind. Showing me love and compassion, when my father failed to. When she saw that my father's ways to train me weren't working, she offered to teach me magic in secret. But my father knew, but still allowed it."

"But no matter how hard I tried to gain my father's favor, it didn't matter in the end."

"Why not?" "A couple of years later, I discovered, that I would never be my father's heir, for one simple reason: I was adopted." Harry's eyes widened in shock. "Adopted?"

"It turned out that my birth father, saw me as weak and too small to be his proper offspring, so he left me to die in the cold snow. But my adoptive father found me and took me in, hoping that through me, we could mend our families' broken relationship. But in the end it never worked out. When the true was reveal I lashed out, my pranks were growing in scale and magnitude."

"Then what happened?" "My father chose my brother as his heir and I forever branded as second to him." I then turned to Harry. "So to answer your question. Yes, I know what its like to be alone."

Blood. I want blood. They all must die.

Harry and I both looked at each other with wide eyes. That voice again. The monster was out for another attack.

Kill. Kill. Kill! Time to kill.

Harry and I followed the voice through the corridor, only to find Sir Nearly-Headless Nick just hovering in the middle of the corridor. But when we looked at the floor we found a petrified Justin.