All I Have Left

Chapter Twenty One

Harry, Hermione, Ronald, and I all decided to go to the library today. The whole time we sat at the table, we earned looks of fear, anger, shock, and disappointment all from students and even Madam Pince.

I had my hand in my hair as I did my homework, stressed out from the thought of my friends thinking such horrid things of me. I haven't told Harry, Hermione, or Ronald about any of it and the guilt was eating me up alive. I wanted to tell Harry, I wanted to see how he felt about things.

Suddenly, Harry slams his book shut and gathers his belongings, storming out of the library. I gather my things and follow after him. All eyes were on us, and I could hear some students whispering things about Harry to one another. I brushed it off as I exited the library, finding Harry standing by the entrance. When he sees me, he lets out an angry sigh.

"Harry, are you okay?" I ask him, already knowing the answer. He shakes his head, keeping eye contact with the ground. I let out a sigh myself.

"If it makes you feel any better, none of the Slytherin's think you're the heir." I joke, making him let out a tiny laugh. He finally looks up at me, and I see his eyes are filled with fury.

"It's just...how can they think such terrible things of me?" He asks, clearly aggravated. He runs a hand through his hair and I put a hand on his shoulder, trying to be comforting.

"Harry, can I tell you something? A secret?" I ask him quietly. He looks up at me and nods, and I look down at the ground. "You can't tell anyone."

I take a few steps back from him so I can look him directly in the eyes.

"I won't, Lila. I promise." He reassures me. I let out a long, nervous sigh.

"I think... I'm a Parseltongue." I blurt out.

His eyes go wide and his jaw drops slightly. I bite my lip out of nervousness, but decide to continue.

"I didn't know at first, but then Blaise told me you spoke to the snake in the Dueling club. I didn't think he was telling the truth until I heard everyone else saying you actually were speaking Parseltongue. And then it made sense, like the voice you and I heard? That was actually some sort of snake speaking to us or something. No one else could hear it, but we could. What if-" I tell him, but stop quickly.

I didn't want to tell him I thought we were the ones that could open the Chamber of Secrets, but he had to know. It involved him. But what if, he wasn't the one doing this? What if I was doing it unknowingly?

No, stop it Lila. You're being stupid.

"What if what?" Harry asks me, eager to know the rest of my sentence. I shook my head before taking a few moments to answer, but he beat me to it.

"Lila, we aren't." He quickly says, shaking his head.

I couldn't tell if he was in denial or if he actually believed what he was saying. To be honest, I didn't know if I believed it or not.

"Harry, I'm confused. We're the only people in the school who can speak Parseltongue. Sure, we wouldn't hurt anyone willingly, but what if we were doing it like it was..." I stopped, trying to find the right words. He looked at me awaiting to hear the rest of the sentence.

"Our alter ego?" I ask him, quietly.

He shakes his head and grabs my shoulders and starts to shake them, almost as if he's trying to snap me back into reality. I let out a small laugh at this, making him smile.

"We aren't, Lila. Don't tell anyone else about this, not even Ron and Hermione. Not even Dumbledore. We don't want anyone to hear this... theory. If they do, they might believe it. And I know neither of us are responsible. Do you understand?" He asks me, worriedly.