Struggling to survive at Hogwarts

Chapter 81 Exposure: Another Petrification Incident

Thea watched as Draco swaggered toward Potter and said menacingly, "Aren't you going to admit defeat yet, Pott!"

Harry coldly replied to Draco's provocation, "Dream on!"

Sure enough, that little rascal is still a little rascal, even though he saved me once before!

Then, the two bowed to each other and assumed a dueling stance.

Lockhart also reminded them, "I'll count to three, then disarm them. I can only disarm them; I don't want anything to go wrong. One... two... three!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Draco immediately cast a spell.

Suddenly, a black snake appeared on the stage!

Draco looked at the snake with a smug expression; he had been wanting to try this trick for a long time.

Harry seemed startled by the sudden discovery of the snake and didn't move for a moment.

Snape, seeing something was wrong from behind, immediately stepped forward and said, "Don't move, Potter, I'll deal with this snake."

Before Snape could even utter the spell, Harry, who had been standing there in a daze, did something that shocked everyone:

"Hiss...hiss...hiss...hiss"

Harry faced the snake and made a strange sound!

Seeing the snake crawling towards the young wizard who had just spoken to him, Harry panicked and immediately raised his voice.

"Hiss... hiss... hiss!"

With Harry's efforts, the snake stopped.

"Oh!"

Snape reacted quickly, and a spell struck the snake precisely, instantly turning the black snake to ashes.

Harry was relieved and looked up at everyone, only to meet their surprised and uncertain gazes.

"...What tricks are you playing?"

Justin Finler (who had just been talking to Harry and nearly been attacked by a snake) finally snapped and yelled at Harry.

Harry was completely bewildered by the commotion. He tried to explain, but the stares from the audience forced him to back away.

Thea received Harry's pleading look, but there was nothing she could do, as Snape was keeping a close eye on Harry!

Thea didn't think she could withstand Snape's spell once she made any move...

And so, Thea could only watch as Harry turned and walked away, while Hermione and Ron hurriedly caught up with him.

“Harry, you didn’t tell me you were a Parseltongue!” Ron exclaimed excitedly.

"Parsleyan?" Harry asked, puzzled.

“Parsleyan is the ability to talk to snakes,” Hermione explained.

“So what? There are definitely many other people here who have that ability!” Harry said firmly.

“…No, Harry, this ability is special. Legend has it that only Salazar Slytherin possessed this ability. It’s very possible that you are his descendant…” Hermione said with difficulty.

“How could that be?... But I just told the snake not to attack Justin!” Harry was extremely shocked and tried to defend himself.

"You...you were protecting him?" Ron asked, puzzled. "Brother, you just spoke the language of snakes. Almost everyone thinks you ordered the snake to attack him!"

Harry was now completely shocked; he could almost imagine what he was about to face.

Recalling Thea's cold attitude just now, Harry felt even more aggrieved. Weren't they... friends?

How could she not believe in herself?

----------

Harry and his two companions left midway through the event, leaving the young wizards stunned by the sudden news.

Unfortunately, the Duel Club's first event ended rather abruptly.

Although the event was over, the news that Harry spoke Parseltongue quickly spread throughout Hogwarts.

At first, it was just that the young wizards present said in a surprised tone that Harry spoke Parsley;

Then other students who were unaware of the truth also got involved and began to isolate Harry in various ways, attempting to use this method to highlight their own innocence.

Finally, this behavior escalated, evolving from verbal attacks to passive-aggressive behavior!

Wherever Harry went, almost nothing grew.

But as soon as he left, the crowd behind him immediately began to whisper among themselves.

Perhaps they didn't mean any harm; they simply disliked Harry and wanted to satisfy their own darker side by suppressing him.

But harm is harm, that's a fact, and there's no denying it.

------

Hagrid?

Harry looked at Hagrid with some confusion, wondering why the other was carrying a dead chicken.

"Oh! Harry!" Hagrid was overjoyed to see Harry, and immediately held up the dead chicken in his hand to explain to Harry:

"Perhaps some animal killed my rooster; this is the second time this month. I'm planning to ask Dumbledore for leave now; I need to buy a few roosters."

Hearing Hagrid's explanation, Harry was also a little curious about what animal had killed the rooster. He was about to ask Hagrid for his guess when he unexpectedly heard that familiar voice again!

"...slaughter...blood..."

Harry's heart tightened. He quickly said goodbye to Hagrid and went back to look for the voice.

Harry walked through corridors and stairs, finally stopping at a corner:

The headless Nick was frozen in mid-air, motionless, while not far away was the stiff body of a little wizard!

"…No…"

Harry stared in disbelief and instinctively went to the young wizard's side to check on him.

"Got you, Potter."

You're definitely going to get fired this time!

A sinister voice sounded behind Harry, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.

Before Harry could explain to Filch, his attention was drawn to a line of spiders flying away quickly, and he unconsciously followed them to the windowsill.

That direction... seems to be the direction of the Forbidden Forest...

Professor McGonagall rushed over and, upon seeing this horrifying scene, she hurried forward to check on the young wizard.

Upon discovering that Harry had been petrified again, Professor McGonagall stood up and looked at him with a complicated expression.

“I swear I absolutely didn’t do it…” Harry tried to defend himself.

"...Let's go, Mr. Potter, Professor Dumbledore is waiting for you."