3 December 1992, Hogwarts
Before making a scene, it was better to be absolutely sure, "Sure, Milly. How are you doing with that spell I taught you? Are you still having problems with it?"
Well, Harry knew for a fact that Millicent hated the nickname Milly since Pansy always kept calling her Silly Milly whenever she messed up something. And well, she and Harry barely interacted with one another, and since she started joining Malfoy's group, she would have been in deep trouble if he heard that Harry was teaching her anything, really.
So, when she didn't grit her teeth and didn't deny her being with Harry, in front of the people who were essentially Malfoy's enforcers, Harry knew immediately that she was an imposter and so were Crabbe and Goyle.
She nodded, "Yeah, I think I'm getting it, but I really need to ask you a few questions."
The Potter scion repressed the urge of rolling his eyes at her pathetic attempt at changing the subject. Hermione really wasn't cut out for the whole deception thing, was she?
Harry really should just expose them, and he definitely would. But doing so would earn him the enmity of the Golden Trio. They barely even spoke to Harry this year, and he wanted to keep it that way. So, why involve himself when he could pin it on someone that they already hate, like Malfoy, who was glaring at the trio, probably thinking that they were betraying him or something? He might as well also lead them on a bit, especially since they were doing this because they're probably thinking that Harry is the heir of Slytherin or something similarly absurd.
So, instead of yelling out that there were intruders in the house, he smiled at them, "I'm always available to help my housemates. What do you need help with?"
Crabbe was the one who asked that time, "The Chamber of Secrets."
Well, that was easy, "Yeah, Slytherin's infamous chamber. It's a shame people are using it to spread fear the way they did. I'm not sure, of course, but my guess it would be the fact that Slytherin tricked the other founders and hid his magic in the chamber to do it."
This was honestly the theory Harry had come up with, and he didn't mind sharing it."
"Wait, what? I thought he made it to house the beast that killed muggleborns. I mean, Mudbloods, sorry," Goyle exclaimed.
"Goyle, did you forget? You can't say that word in here. It's against the rules. Malfoy might get away with it because of his father's influence, but I don't think you can do it. Even then, he's been reprimanded a lot of time in private and the prefects have even contacted his mother."
Yeah, the way their eyes widened amused the Potter scion but instead of answering the questions and revealing house secrets, he continued, "As for your question, the whole blood purity thing started appearing after the Statute of Secrecy was put in place as a way to preserve nobility in a world that was full of wizards. Before then, there were only nobles and peasants, whether they are magical or not. Slytherin wanted to ban peasants from entering the school. I can see his point to be honest."
Millicent looked aghast, "What? How could you say that?"
Damn, Hermione really wasn't subtle, "Well, it's not about them being lesser, it's about them being uneducated. A thousand years ago, peasants didn't know how to read, how to write, how to behave. They were farmers, and workers, that only thought about how to survive the following winter. Just bringing them up to speed to learn any magic was too time-consuming and Slytherin wanted to bar them from entry. However, the other founders refused since that meant that any sign of accidental magic started a witch hunt at the time, and a lot of muggleborns burned to death back then. So, instead, they came to a compromise, to have a basic exam before starting a magical education, which is available for everyone, but if they failed it, they would have to attend basic classes before they could start learning. If they failed these, they were expelled. No one was happy about it, but it was the only compromise that they could reach."
"I never read that in any books," Millicent replied.
Harry grinned, "Because you're probably reading in the public history section. If you take a look at the research books in the back, especially the ones from before the statute of secrecy, you will see it. For some reason, people have made it very hard to find out about the founders."
Seeing Millicent wanting to argue back, Crabbe interjected, "And the Chamber?"
"Oh, right. I got a bit overwhelmed. It's a bit of a theory of mine, but I think that Slytherin tricked the other founders. The main selling point of Hogwarts was the library. The four founders sacrificed their family spells and their research to build the foundation of the libraries. The founders shed their family names and created the fake ones that we know. Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff, these aren't real names, and the real ones were scrubbed from all texts, probably with a spell of some sort. And since nobles greedily wanted the knowledge, they enrolled their heirs, which is how Hogwarts started. What I think happened is that Slytherin only shared a portion of his family legacy and hid the rest in the chamber for his heir to access. He essentially swindled the other founders of their family legacy for a fraction of his own. It does fit his character. The whole monster thing could just be some kind of protection for anything attacking the castle, but not the students. Definitely not the students."
Goyle was gritting his teeth, probably insulting Salazar Slytherin under his breath. So, that must be Weasley then, "So, the monster. What do you know about it?"
"Well, everything, really. It's pretty obvious when you know where to look."
"You got that from just two attacks?" Millicent interjected.
"No, you only have to look back on the events where the chamber was opened the last time, around fifty years ago."
"What?" the three impersonators exclaimed.
"Well, yeah. People don't want it to be spread, but around fifty years ago, the chamber was opened. Over a dozen muggleborns were petrified, but the attacks stopped when one died, and the school almost closed. They put the entire thing on a troublesome student and expelled him, even if the beast he had didn't match the pattern. I think it was an Acromantula or something. They should have been expelled anyway, but they just put it all on him so that the school wouldn't close. And since the attacks stopped, they all put it out of its mind. But since that information is documented, it's easy to find a clear pattern, and adding in the current clues, the nature of the beast is easy to figure out."
"So, what is it?" Crabbe asked excitedly.
"Well, that would be telling. Honestly, I was hesitant until Longbottom started to speak in Parseltongue."
"You think he's the heir of Slytherin?" Millicent asked.
.....
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