Oh God Not Again!

Chapter Nineteen

Note: Snape is fully aware of Harry's distaste for gaining points, but since he desperately wants Slytherin to win the House Cup, he is willing to play along since he knows it would take a bloody miracle for Dumbledore not to hand Harry the Cup on a silver platter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

"Harry, I'm glad I caught you," Percy said eagerly, springing up as Harry descended the dformitory staircase first thing the next morning.

"Given you appeared to be waiting for me, that's not really all that surprising," Harry said yawning. "Still, at least you didn't try waking me up this time."

"Yes, well…I wanted to ask you what the hell you thought you were doing?"

"Going down to breakfast?" Harry suggested.

"Not right now," Percy said impatiently. "Last night."

"Weren't you there?" Harry asked innocently.

"No, I was…busy…" Percy said, looking a little embarrassed.

"With Penelope?" Harry smirked.

"That is none of your concern, Harry," Percy said stiffly, his ears reddening.

"I'm just teasing, Percy; I'm glad you have a girlfriend," Harry said sincerely.

"Thank you," Percy gave Harry a small smile. "I'm going to be honest with you: You are a huge disruptive influence and I'm fairly certain that I should at the very least dislike you. For some reason, I don't. Mum seems determined to make you a part of our family, as do Ron and the twins. You yourself don't seem all that opposed to the idea. As such, it always unnerves me when you do things like this and either put yourself in danger from vigilantes who want to 'stop you' because they think you're the Heir of Slytherin now or just outright hate you."

"I appreciate that Percy," Harry told him. "I'm not trying to worry anyone; I just think I know what I'm doing."

"You think?" Percy repeated faintly. "You THINK? Now I'm even more worried..."

"You're a Parselmouth!" Hermione exclaimed as Ron and Neville shoved Harry into an empty classroom. Harry really didn't' want to have this conversation, now or ever, but he was thankful his friends at least had the sense to make sure he wasn't overheard.

"So I announced last night," Harry said neutrally.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Ron demanded, upset. He seemed to be even more worked up than he was last time, although it had been awhile so Harry wasn't positive. Perhaps it was because last time even though Harry's unexpected ability was the same, this time Harry had known about it, what it was called, and exactly what being a Parselmouth implied so it was more like he had been deliberately keeping this from them? That was all true, but Harry didn't think Ron would appreciate if Harry told him that he didn't feel like dealing with the hassle of telling him and having to worry about Ron keeping something this big under wraps. Ron would never purposely expose his secret, but he was also about as subtle as Voldemort, if less violent.

"Everyone always freaks out when they hear about it," Harry explained. "And really, how often does the subject of talking to snakes come up in daily conversation?"

"You'd think it would be something you might want to mention when there has been a basilisk going around petrifying people for the last few weeks," Neville sounded a little annoyed.

"I know, I know," Harry agreed wearily. "But it really isn't that big of a deal. I haven't been anywhere near the basilisk and aside from occasionally hearing it moaning about how it wants to kill people as it rushes past me, I haven't seen any indication of her presence."