A magical journey that begins at Hogwarts

“But that’s precisely why I asked you to be my assistant, Professor Snape,” Lockhart said, trying to sound calm. “The Stop Charm is such a simple spell, don’t I know it?”

But sometimes verbal support is more powerful than magic. These underage students need strong hearts, not powerful spells.

Snape raised an eyebrow. He instinctively felt Lockhart was talking nonsense, but the words were so well-said that he couldn't find any fault with them.

"Can I play in the final match?"

I think Draco Malfoy can't wait any longer.

"That's brilliant." Lockhart smiled, inwardly applauding his own quick thinking, and gestured for Harry and Draco to come up on stage.

The two stepped onto opposite sides of the ring at the same time, and as they walked toward the center, they looked at each other with remarkably calm expressions.

Lockhart sensed the silence fall and sneered, "The previous dozens of duels were too complicated. This time, you two will settle the score with the Disarming Charm."

Do you understand the disarming spell? Disarm you.

Draco grinned maliciously, and Harry remained silent; they both knew this was no ordinary duel.

"Alright, let's get ready!" Lockhart said, stepping off the ring.

“Wait, Professor, could you teach me the Stop Charm?” Harry asked somewhat nervously.

This was the time he most hoped Lockhart would be reliable. If Malfoy were to ambush him later, Snape certainly wouldn't save him immediately, and Lockhart might be in serious trouble.

But if he learns this spell, he will have some chance to save himself.

“Um… well, there will be an opportunity,” Lockhart said vaguely, walking past Harry without giving him a chance to speak.

Are you scared, Potter?

“You’re dreaming!” Harry said through gritted teeth.

The two got into attack stance, and Lockhart began to count down: "Three...two...one."

"Except for you..."

"Illusion strikes."

Malfoy was slightly faster; a pale golden shockwave shot out from the tip of his wand and struck Harry hard.

Harry felt dizzy and staggered around twice before he could barely come to his senses.

He seized the opportunity and immediately shouted, "Grin and shout!"

A silver beam struck Malfoy in the stomach, sending him crashing to the edge of the ring. The pain in his abdomen made him breathe much faster.

Harry hesitated. Should he follow the rules and wait for Draco to recover, or should he strike while he was still sick and finish him off?

However, Draco clearly didn't give him a chance to think. He quickly raised his wand and roared, "Oolong out of the cave!"

A black cobra landed on the ring and crawled forward, flicking its tongue.

The onlookers screamed and quickly retreated, trying to get as far away from its attack range as possible.

Harry stared at the snake, frozen in fear.

"Don't touch Potter." Snape walked forward calmly. "I'll take care of it."

“Let me do it, Professor Snape,” Lockhart said confidently, drawing his wand before Snape could.

He was somewhat grateful to Draco for summoning such a small snake to boost his battle record; compared to the previous duels, banishing the snake was clearly more memorable.

"To ascend to heaven with wings."

The curse struck the venomous snake, sending it soaring seven or eight meters into the air before it finally fell back down.

This seemed to enrage it, causing it to bare its fangs and stand upright, searching for a target to attack.

"More trouble than it's worth." Aaron rolled his eyes. He really hadn't expected Lockhart to be unable to handle even a snake.

Wizards who have lived for twenty or thirty years, even if they have poor talent and have exhausted their potential, can barely reach the level of an intermediate mage. However, Lockhart's combat power does not match his age at all; he is practically the same as a first-year student.

In a way, the fact that he has managed to get to where he is today is a testament to his talent.

Just as the snake approached Justin of Hufflepuff, Harry inexplicably took a step and uttered an incomprehensible sound.

The snake immediately stopped its attack, turned its head to look at Harry, but its eyes were full of affection.

Professor Snape waved his wand, and the snake turned into black smoke and disappeared.

The crisis was averted, but everyone present was stunned, and their gazes toward Harry were filled with suspicion.

This is the language of snakes, and Salazar Slytherin, one of the founders of Hogwarts, happened to know this foreign language. Considering the recent rumors about the Chamber of Secrets, they didn't think it was a coincidence.

Chapter 168 The True Successor

Harry stood on the ring, surrounded by strange looks.

He didn't understand what he had done wrong. He had clearly saved Justin, but the other man's face showed no gratitude, only anger and panic.

Before he could react, Ron tugged at his robes from below the ring. "Let's go! I think we need to hurry."

Harry walked off the ring in silence, and the students quickly moved aside, as if they were treating him like some terrifying beast.

“Parsleyan,” Draco said, looking annoyed and indignant. “Harry Potter is a Parsleyan.”

"Calm down, it's just that they can speak the language of snakes. There are people like that in the magical world." Aaron looked thoughtfully at the two people walking out of the hall, a hint of excitement flashing in his eyes.

He discovered that his search for a successor to Slytherin had gone astray, and that he had made a particularly simple mistake.

This person might not be the kind of person who inherited Salazar Slytherin's will, as he thought, but rather his bloodline descendant.

This is very likely true; the monster in the secret chamber is a basilisk, and Salazar Slytherin's descendants have inherited his Parseltongue ability.

He can communicate with snakes without any difficulty and command them to do things, making them the perfect match.

"Aaron, you've misunderstood me."

Parsleyan was originally the ability of Salazar Slytherin, one of the founders of Parsleyan, but now it is Gryffindor who possesses this ability.

Harry Potter doesn't deserve this ability at all, and with so many people in the Great Hall, he's probably convinced he's Slytherin's successor; he's probably incredibly smug about it!

"I don't think so. His expression just now didn't seem fake."

His ability to speak Parseltongue might just be a coincidence; you wouldn't expect Harry Potter to be Slytherin's heir, would you?

Draco pondered for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "I don't think so. At least the heir of Slytherin won't mix with Muggle-born wizards."

"That settles it then. Harry just happens to know Parseltongue." Aaron didn't seem to care. He could also speak Dragon Language, and he wasn't arrogant about it.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked as she walked over.

“None of your business, Granger.” Draco’s lips curled into a cold smile. “You’d better watch out, Harry Potter is the heir to Slytherin.”

Do you think he'll release that monster and let it...?

“Draco,” Aaron gave him a warning look, “she’s a good friend of mine, and your words won’t have any effect on her.”

“I was just trying to scare her,” Draco said sullenly, then called Crabbe and Goyle and walked out of the Great Hall.

Hermione leaned against the edge of the ring, her fingers carefully groping behind her back for something.

Harry's spell did work; Draco lost a few strands of hair when he fell, which were the ingredients for the last Polyjuice Potion.

“Um…Aaron, there’s something I’d like to ask you.” Hermione tried her best to remain calm. “Have you been very busy lately?”

I didn't mean anything by it, it's just that I rarely see you outside of class anymore.

"Pretty much, but it's not just you, Draco is the same way," Aaron said helplessly. "There's a complicated matter that I need to spend some time on."

But thanks to Harry, I have a new idea, which saves me some energy.

"Do you need my help? If you need an assistant, I can..."

“That’s not a good idea.” Aaron shook his head with a smile. “Thank you for your kindness, but you can’t help me, and I don’t want you involved.”

After saying that, he walked towards the side door.

"Wait." Hermione mustered her courage and stood in front of him. "Tell me, what are you doing?"

Aaron looked directly into Hermione's eyes, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Well, if I had to say, I'm quietly protecting this school."

You need to keep this a secret; only you know about it right now.

Hermione's heart sank slightly, and she subconsciously clenched the golden hair in her hand. "Then I won't disturb you doing such a great thing."

Aaron returned to his Slytherin dormitory, where he first dispelled the Disillusionment Charm and checked on the two roosters in their cage to see if they were in good condition.

This is something he has to do every day; he absolutely cannot lose these two amulets before finding the hidden enemy.

He then lifted the green curtain on the wall, revealing the clue wall he had organized.

Compared to the scattered clues before, there are now many more names on the list, but more than half of them have been crossed out with a black line.

These are the excluded groups. First, there are Muggle-born wizards, who cannot be the heirs of Slytherin. Second, there are some half-blood and pure-blood wizards, who usually get along well and have nothing unusual about them.

There must be one of the remaining people who is the heir to Slytherin. Originally, we were going to use the process of elimination to investigate slowly, but now we have an extra clue that can speed things up: Parseltongue, besides Harry Potter.

The heir will certainly not reveal himself, but his family background can never be hidden. Anyone who is related to Slytherin is a possibility. He may be a pure-blood, or he may be a half-blood, or he may be more likely to be a half-blood.

“Interesting, really interesting.” Aaron chuckled and stroked the dragon. “Abe, this is quite a huge project!”

If conditions allowed, I would really like to conduct a census; that might narrow down the number of suspects to within ten.

Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor common room.

Ron and Hermione told Harry the history of Parseltongue, which made him somewhat doubt himself.

Because he can hear the sounds of monsters in secret chambers before they kill, the Sorting Hat suggested he go to Slytherin last year during the Sorting Ceremony. Moreover, he is a Parseltongue speaker, one in a million in the wizarding world.

All these factors combined make him seem like the heir to Slytherin.

But he really wasn't. He knew very well that he hadn't ordered the monster in the secret chamber to do anything, and he didn't even know what the monster was.

The problem is that people don't think that way. Salazar was a person from over a thousand years ago, and his bloodline has not been broken. Even Harry can't be sure if he is Salazar's great-great-great-great-great-grandson because he knows almost nothing about his Potter family.

The next day, in the Transformation Classroom.

The Transfiguration course for this semester is over, and Professor McGonagall didn't have much to say, so she simply let everyone arrange their own time.

But many people didn't read the book or write anything; they just stared at Harry Potter and whispered among themselves from time to time.

Once again, Harry felt the strange looks directed at him, and even though he was mentally prepared, he still felt extremely aggrieved.

Perhaps only Ron and Hermione, who were sitting across from him in the entire classroom, could understand him, but their comfort was insignificant compared to the doubts of most people.