The Admiral of Hogwarts

Even if I had seen similar scenes in movies before, witnessing it live was still incredibly shocking. At least, Hugo had never seen a professor whose skills were this awful.

"Let me handle this!" Lockhart shouted with a bright smile on his face, under the watchful eyes of everyone in the hall. He raised his wand, waving it threateningly at the snake. Suddenly, a loud bang echoed, and the snake not only didn't disappear but leaped more than ten feet into the air before crashing back onto the floor.

Enraged, it hissed and flicked its tongue, slithering directly towards the huddled students. Then, it raised its head, baring its fangs, and assumed an attack stance.

At this moment, Harry, who was closest to the snake, suddenly stepped forward, making a strange hissing sound.

Immediately, the snake went limp, becoming as pliable as a thick, black, water-filled hose. It raised its head and fixed its eyes on Harry.

When it was all over, Harry looked up, grinned, and gazed at the students nearby.

He had expected to see expressions of relief, confusion, or gratitude, but was surprised to find that everyone wore a look mixed with disgust, terror, and anger.

"Get away! Stay away from us!" A terrified fifth-year Hufflepuff girl suddenly raised her hand and pointed at Harry, while others began to echo her shouts.

Amidst these cries, Harry stood helplessly on the platform, a look of unease on his face.

"Don't be afraid. I believe you haven't done anything wrong." Professor stepped forward, waved her wand, and the snake turned into a wisp of black smoke and vanished. Then, she gently patted Harry's shoulder and gave him a very kind smile.

"At least, I don't think you were encouraging the snake to attack your classmates."

After this incident, the duel naturally came to an abrupt end. Amidst the whispers and stares of the surrounding people, Harry and Ron rushed out of the Great Hall as quickly as possible.

Then, everyone else gradually left the hall, discussing the events that had just transpired as they walked.

Hugo had no interest in joining such boring gossip and speculation, so he quickened his pace towards the Ravenclaw Tower.

Unexpectedly, as the three of them passed a corridor on the third floor, they saw Harry frantically waving at Hugo and them from the doorway of an empty classroom.

"Hey, over here!" Harry whispered, then led them into the empty classroom, where Ron was sitting at a desk, looking miserable.

"Why do you both look so glum?" Hugo joked, looking at Harry, who also had a troubled expression. "You don't actually think Harry speaking Parseltongue is a serious issue, do you?"

"Isn't it serious enough?" Ron's eyes widened, but he quickly adopted a knowing look.

"You might not be aware of this since you're not from wizarding families, but in the wizarding world, someone like Harry who possesses this skill is called a Parselmouth, and this ability is considered a unique skill of evil dark wizards."

"It's just a language! How can you consider a language to be evil?" Hermione's face showed confusion.

"And even though we couldn't understand what Harry said to the snake, we could at least tell that he was trying to stop it from attacking."

"Unfortunately, there are too few people willing to think like us," Ron said with a helpless shake of his head, then explained.

"The reason why Parseltongue is a symbol of evil is simple: because being able to speak to snakes was Salazar Slytherin's famous ability. Therefore, Slytherin House chose a snake as their symbol."

"Although I strongly dislike Slytherin students and cannot accept some of Slytherin's ideas, I don't think that Harry, who possesses the same ability as Slytherin, is an evil person," Hermione said very fairly.

"It's just a coincidence or an accident. Everyone is just being too sensitive."

"Actually, I think so too, but everyone else won't think that way," Ron said with a helpless shake of his head.

"Because Parseltongue represents dark wizards, a fact that is widely recognized in the wizarding world, especially in the current situation. People might think that Harry is the Heir of Slytherin who released the monster from the Chamber of Secrets."

"But I'm not!" Harry said. He felt a kind of inexplicable panic. "You'll find that's hard to prove," Hermione, who had been studying wizarding history recently, said.

"He lived over a thousand years ago; as far as we know, you could very well be his descendant."

"My sister is right," Hugo added at this time.

"Your family, the Potters, has a long history in the wizarding world. Considering the complex intermarriages within the British wizarding community, it's not entirely impossible that you have Slytherin blood."

"Hugo is right," Ron added at this time. "For example, my family has basically intermarried with most of the families in the British wizarding world."

"Are you kidding me?" Harry asked with wide eyes. "Are you saying that the Weasley family is related to the Malfoy family?"

"Although I don't want to admit it, there really are some family connections between us," Ron shrugged and said. "If you really want to say it, Draco Malfoy could be considered a distant cousin of mine."

Ron paused here to let Harry calm down slightly after hearing this shocking news, then continued.

"Pure-blood families are all related to each other. Especially today, the families that can still maintain pure blood have very limited choices when choosing a spouse.

"So, I think things should be like this," Vineto concluded after hearing this. "What Harry did just now should have just awakened some kind of power flowing in his bloodline, and he was trying to rescue everyone—"

"Therefore, I don't think this is a bad thing at all. I'm even a little envious because Harry has mastered a kind of knowledge that no one else has mastered." Saying this, Vineto looked at Ron and asked.

"You don't think Harry will become an evil dark wizard just because he speaks Parseltongue, do you?"

"Of course, I certainly don't think Harry will become evil because of this!" Before Vineto could finish speaking, Ron immediately and loudly stated his position, but then lowered his voice and said, "But the others—"

"Harry, you're not living for others," Vineto said to Harry, turning his head after hearing Ron's words, encouraging him.

"You know, we Ravenclaws tend to value knowledge more than students from other houses. Therefore, for us, knowledge and skills themselves are neither good nor evil; it just depends on how you use them."

"You're right. For example, when I used Parseltongue just now, I was trying to stop the snake from attacking everyone, instead of using some evil dark magic—"

After being told this by Vineto, Harry, in a rapid-fire manner, expressed to Hugo and them his determination that he would not use this knowledge in evil ways.