white roses // neville longbottom

eighteen

-in the girls lavatory-

"again? you mean the chamber of secrets has been opened before?" hermione asks. "of course. don't you see? lucius malfoy must have opened it when he was at school here. now he's taught draco how to do it." ron says. "maybe. we'll have to wait for the poly juice potion to know for sure." i say. "enlighten me. why are we brewing this potion in broad daylight..in the middle of the girls' lavatory? don't you think we'll get caught?" ron asks. "no. no one ever comes in here." hermione says. "why?" ron asks. "moaning myrtle." i say. "who?" ron asks. as if on cue the ghost pops out of 'her stall.' "moaning myrtle." i repeat. "who's moaning myrtle?" ron asks. "i'm moaning myrtle!" the ghost girl says. she fly's up. "i wouldn't expect you to know me. who would ever talk about ugly, miserable, moping moaning myrtle." myrtle says feeling sorry for herself. she sobs and flies back to her stall. "she's a little sensitive." hermione says.

-

"gather round! gather round." lockhart shouts walking down a long stage. "can everyone see me? can you all hear me?" he asks. "excellent." "in light of dark events of recent weeks. professor dumbledore has granted me permission to start this dueling club to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves, as i myself have done on countless occasions. for full details, see my published works." lockhart says, takes off his cape, and throws it into the crowd. three girls fight over it. "let me introduce my assistant. professor snape." he says. all of our heads turn. snape walks onto the stage scornfully. "he has sportingly agreed to help with a short demonstration. i don't want any of youngsters to worry. you'll still have your potions master when i'm through with him. never fear." lockhart says cockily. they both walk up to eachother and draw their wands, setting up for a 'duel.' "one..two..three!" "expelliarmus!" snape shouts. a white light shoots out of his wand and towards lockhart, causing him to fly into the air. he lands on his back with a thud. i cover my mouth and turn into ron's shoulder to  laugh. lockhart slowly gets up. "do you think he's all right?" hermione asks. "who cares?" ron replies. "an excellent idea to show them that, professor snape. but if you don't mind me saying, it was obvious what you were about to do." lockhart says walking towards snape. "if i had wanted to stop you, it would have been too easy." "perhaps it would be prudent to first teach the studentd to block unfriendly spells, professor." snape says, speaking just after lockhart does. "an excellent suggestion, professor snape. er, let's have a volunteer pair. potter, lestrange, how about you?" lockhart says cowardly. harry and i start to walk up. "might i suggest someone from my house?" snape asks. i stop and walk back to ron and hermione. "malfoy, perhaps?" snape says. draco quickly climbs on stage.

the young boys walk towards eachother menacingly. "wands at the ready." lockhart says. "scared potter?" draco asks. "you wish." harry says. they swish their wands down and turn their backs to eachother. they walk away from eachother before turning around quickly. "on the count of three. one..two" "everte statum!" draco shouts before he can even get to three. harry does multiple flips in the air before hitting the ground hard. "cheat." i whisper to myself. harry quickly stand back up. "rictusempra!" harry shouts. a white light comes from his wand and it has almost the same effect as draco's spell. draco sits next to snape's feet before snape rips him off the ground and shoves him towards harry. "disarm only!" lockhart says. "serpensortia!" draco shouts. a snake flies from his wand. "don't move, potter. i'll get rid of it for you." snape says pushing past draco. "allow me, professor snape. alarte ascendare!" lockhart says. the snake flies into the air. it lands being angrier than it was in the beginning. harry slowly walks toward the snake. his eyes narrow and he begins to speak to it in..parseltongue. the snake stands infront of a gryffindor boy, justin fletchleu. the snake hisses at him as he breathes heavily. the snake turns back to harry. "vipera evanesca. snape says. i look away as he sets the snake into flames. "what're you playing at?" justin asks. harry gives him a confused look 

-back in the common room-

"you're a parselmouth? why didn't you tell us?" ron asks. "i'm a what?" harry asks. "you can talk to snakes." hermione says. "i know. i accidentally set a python on my cousin dudley at the zoo once. once. but so what? i bet loads of people here can do it." harry says. "no, they can't. it's not a very coming gift, harry." i say. "what's bad? if i hadn't told that snake not to attack justin-" "oh that's what you said to it." ron says. "you were there. you heard me." harry says. "we heard you speaking parseltongue. snake language." i say. "i spoke a different language?" harry asks. we all nod. "but i didn't realize. how can i speak a language without knowing i can?" harry asks. "i don't know harry. but it sounded like you were egging the snake on or something...harry, listen to me. there's a reason the symbol of slytherin house is a serpent. salazar slytherin was a parselmouth. he could talk to snakes too." hermione says. "exactly. now the whole schools gonna think you're his great great great grandson." ron says. "but i'm not! i can't be." harry says. "he lived a thousand years ago. for all we know, you could be." hermione says.