Chapter Five: Egyptian Parselmouth

“Mr. Riddle! I thought something had happened to you. You’ve never been late.” Alex came into seeing distance of the COMC class and looked over at the speaker and held in a laugh.

It was no doubt the Professor, but what the bloody hell was she wearing? It was pink with purple and yellow lace. It kind of reminded her of Aunt Petunia’s bathroom rolled in one.

She saw everyone’s eyes go in between her and Riddle and she stood her ground. She was used to the attention she had gotten at her time in Hogwarts, why was this any different.

A large hand placed its self on her lower back and she didn’t feel the normal queasiness of being touched by a male. No, that wasn’t a good thing, this was Lord Voldemort.

“Sorry Professor Pinker, I was just escorting Ms. Hershey to her class.” At seeing her confused expression, Tom tightened his hold on Alex’s small waist in annoyance. “She’s a new student.” He elaborated, and the woman’s brown eyes widened and she gave a warming smile toward Alex.

“Welcome to Hogwarts, Ms. Hershey. I’m sure you’ll love it here.” She went on blabbing on how she would love it, but Alex was too distracted to listen. Riddle started guiding her over to the Slytherin section, without her consent.

A trio of girls were sneering at her and giving her a glare that she thought was rather weak, for a Slytherin that it. The leader of the trio was that tall blonde she remembered as Brenda Marigold, the one that Riddle goes out with on and off.

“Alex!” her head whipped to the side to see the 7th year Gryffindor, Addison Clayborne motioning her to come over to him and the other Gryffindor’s.

Anything was better than getting in between Riddle and his… girlfriend. She easily escaped Riddle’s hold and trotted over to Addison, ignoring the Dark Lord’s eyes on her back.

Addison smiled at her and rolled his eyes when he noticed that the Professor was still talking about all the sports, the great food, the nice students and professor that were at Hogwarts.

Alex stood next to the tall Gryffindor and nodded her head as if she were interested in everything Professor Pinker was talking about. The Slytherins on the other hand started to talk over the Professor with their own conversations.

“Is it true your going to try-out for the Quidditch team?” A girl with Gryffindor robes sneered toward Alex and looked her up and down.

Why do girls always look each other up and down? It’s like their checking each other out.

Alex shrugged and turned her gaze toward the brunette. “No. I’m going to be on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.”  Her tone was confidante and cocky, something that she would have never done in her own time back home.

Addison gave a chuckle and thumped Alex on the back, making her step forward to keep her balance. “That’s what I like to hear. Some confidence out of you.”   

“Mr. Clayborne? Ms. Hershey? Thank you for being the first volunteers for the task.” Alex looked horrified at the bin that she had no idea what was in it. Somewhere inside of her knew that Professor Pinker was not Hagrid, so there should be nothing to worry about.

Laughs and gossip flew around the students as the two Gryffindor’s stepped up to the Professor. Tom Riddle was leaning casually against the fence with his arms crossed over his chest, looking lazily at the two… or rather, just Alex.

Taking his Prefect position, Addison cleared his throat and gave an apologetic smile toward the women.

“We are terrible sorry, Professor. It won’t happen again, and we are glad to be the first ones to help you out.” He paused and looked down at Alex, giving her a quick wink. “Aren’t we, Alex?”

She nodded in agreement and looked interestingly at the crate. “Of course.”

Professor Pinker’s face was sour until the apology Addison had given her, and then it turned into a bright smile.

“Well then, I’m glad you are anxious to meet our first magical creature of the year.” Her smile held a dangerous glint that Alex didn’t notice before, but how could she notice it before when the women was dressed in colors that hurt Alex’s eyes just by looking at her?

“Meet…” She paused and threw off the purple sheet over the cage in a dramatic motion. What was inside made Alex step backward for a brief moment in shock and disgust.

“Meet the Salamander of Egypt.” There were multiple little salamanders in the cage, and they actually looked like them, with wet, black skin and long tails. They were about the size of her palm, but other than that they looked nothing like muggle salamanders.

Instead of four legs they had six with sharp claws on each… foot. Scarlet patterns were laid upon their backs, and a long, bright blue tongue was curled out of their mouth.

“Each one of these little guys has a unique pattern upon their backs that represent a special talent they possess. Their talents range from talking in English to becoming invisible to the human eye. Very fun little creatures.”  She paused and opened the top door, watching the salamanders scurry around in a fast pace.

“Can anyone name the dangerous trait they have?” No one raised their hand, well no one besides Riddle of course. He was standing so proper with his chin and hand raised, awaiting to answer the question.

“Mr. Riddle?”

“When their blue tongue turns into a yellow shade, that means they are ready to bite their victim, thus, making lethal venom to stun their prey for days.” Riddle’s eyes met hers in a smug expression and she just rolled her eyes in disgust.

Who really cares that he knows that?

“Excellent answer, Mr. Riddle. Three points awarded to Slytherin.” The Slytherins around him all gave him approved nods and Alex snorted in amusement.

“They act like they won the bloody house cup.” Addison laughed and the Slytherins all glared toward Alex, who in return ignored them completely.

“All right, Ms. Hershey, you first. Grab a salamander and take care of it the rest of the class period.” Alex brushed away a stray curl and stepped up to the crate, her eye was on a certain salamander with unique swirls on its back. 

She reached in the cage, but retreated when she heard a blood chilling scream. Whipping her head around, she saw that it was Brenda Marigold, looking at Alex in horror.

“What the bloody hell is your problem?” She snapped at the blonde who had already gotten on her nerves in the first five minutes of meeting her.

“You’re not putting on gloves?” Alex looked at her blankly and blinked stupidly.

“No, is that a problem?” Brenda gave an intake of amused air and flipped her wavy hair over her shoulder, looking at Alex with disgust.

“I guess it doesn’t surprise me in one bit. But not every woman is a tomboy like you.” Brenda smiled sweetly and motioned with her hands for Alex to continue her task.

Alex narrowed her eyes at her and pursed her lips ready to make a comeback, but Addison placed himself between the two girls and put his hands on her shoulders.

“Don’t let her get to you, Alex. Ignore her and she’ll get bored.” Addison’s brown eyes were warm and the Potter heir calmed down… just a bit.

Reaching into the crate, she gently scooped up a small salamander and held it up to eye level. It really was kind of cute. Its eyes were a soft blue, split like a serpents.

“Hello, sssnake ssspeaker. I’ve never met a Parssselmouth before.” Alex’s eyes widened, how did this little guy sense she was a Parselmouth? She met Riddle’s eyes and he pushed off the gate and stood up straighter, looking at Alex with an unreadable face expression.

Did he hear?

“Oh dear, it looks like you picked a salamander who speaks Parselmouth. You can pick another if you wish.” Professor Pinker looked at the salamander in Alex’s hand in barely hidden repulsion.

“Err, that’s alright Professor. It’s cute.” She could feel Riddle’s eyes on her and she didn’t dare to meet them. It didn’t matter that he would forget all about her when she left; it was just the thought of him pressuring her into questions all the time that made her get a headache.

“Alright then, you can settle down over there and study your little creature.” Alex cradled the small reptile and made her way over to the clearing.

For the rest of the class she whispered back and forth to the little guy without anyone knowing. She kept her awareness open and whenever someone came by she stopped talking to it. His name was surprisingly Fern, an odd little name for an Egyptian Salamander.

Too bad she never saw the turquoise eyes watching her from the dark shadows.

###

Two weeks had passed and Alex was fitting well with this past time in Hogwarts. Her classes were going by fine, and she meet a lot  of new people.

Her classes were all 7th year, all except for potions. She had potions with Godiva and Professor Slughorn, unfortunately. But other than that, she was doing fairly well with her grades. 

She had met two new people that she hung around constantly with Godiva. Unity Clifton, a 7th year Slytherin who she had hung around with in COMC, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Unity was pretty smart with shocking red hair and golden eyes. No one really talked with her in Slytherin house because she was a Muggleborn.

And then there was Taylor Lester, a 7th year Ravenclaw. Talk about smart… well considering she was in Ravenclaw was a big hint. Although she was smart, Taylor was a very self-conscious person. She had glasses and she was short and plump. Alex considered her beautiful though, with her long brown hair and navy blue eyes.

Alex had avoided Brenda Marigold and her two lackeys as much as possible. Although she had heard Brenda call Alex and her three friends the ‘misfit group’ and Alex had slapped her across the face in anger. She had lost Gryffindor 20 points that day, but she was happy despite the consequences. 

And Tom Riddle was another whole story. Ever since that day in COMC, he had avoided her at every possible turn. Alex didn’t complain though, it was just less work for her. Even if she noticed that he was studying her with those eyes of his.

As far as revenge on Brinley Rusti and Chavi Saffron, her room mates, she was still thinking of a possible plan with Taylor, Godiva, and Unity’s help.

The Great Hall was full of chattering students who had just come from their last classes of the week and Alex was sitting at the Ravenclaw table with her trio of friends. She rather liked the Ravenclaw house, with Pipa Harrison in it and not to mention her rather handsome brother, Grover Harrison.

Pipa, the Head Girl and the fiancé of Addison Clayborne, was the most natural person Alex had seen in this time. She told it like it is, and she wasn’t afraid of what others would think of her. Alex had tried to convince her to try-out for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, but with all her Head Girl duties she wouldn’t be able to have time. Although she was amused at Alex’s attempts to convince her.

Grover on the other hand, was attempting to court Alex into a romantic relationship. He was very handsome, but she didn’t know if she wanted a relationship like that yet. Not to mention she thought of Ron whenever she leaned toward accepting his advances. She had wondered what he and Hermione were doing at the moment. Dumbledore had told her not to mention anything to them, but how would they react in knowing she wasn’t at the Dursley’s?

With a moan, she took a spoonful of vanilla ice cream that seemed as it was just freshly made. Whenever desert came around, she would always have the vanilla ice cream with just one spoonful of strawberries on top.

“You’ll start gaining weight with all that ice cream you eat, Alex.” Unity confirmed, smiling when Alex just shrugged and dug back into her ice cream.

“Are you kidding me? Alex eats like a pig and she doesn’t even gain one ounce of fat on her.” That was Taylor, she was always jealous of Alex’s eating habits and not gaining one pound.

“Maybe if you eat what you want, Taylor, you might loose some weight. Not that you’re fat or anything.” Alex shut her mouth, that didn’t sound too good.

Taylor’s eyes started to tear up and her glasses slipped down her nose. “No! Taylor, that’s not what I meant. I’m just saying that you never eat.” Alex threw her two friends a quick, helpless glance, but they gave her an amused look.

“Did you know that if you don’t eat, you just gain more weight?” Godiva spoke up, aiding Alex in the situation.

Taylor perked up and looked over at Godiva, the Gryffindor Goth. “Really?”

“Yeah, you just have to eat healthy foods. And award yourself once in a while… like Alex does every ten minutes.” Green eyes glared toward Godiva, and they woman just gave her a smile.

“I didn’t know you were so funny, Godiva.” The black haired Goth was about to respond when her eyes narrowed to a spot behind Alex.

Said witch turned around to find Tom Bloody Riddle behind her. Did she just jinx his absence?

“Good evening, Alexandra.” His eyes were locked on her, ignoring everyone else around her.

Alex gave a curt nod and turned back to her ice cream that was starting to melt. Godiva gave a giggle on how she was acting toward him and then stopped when Riddle gave her a fatal glare.

“I suppose your mouth is too stuffed with deserts to form a proper greeting.” Alex threw down her spoon and swiveled in her chair, glaring at Riddle.

“And I suppose you just came over here to grace us with your… charming presence. I’m afraid it wore off when you opened your mouth.” Alex gave a sweet smile and cocked her head to the side.

Tom Riddle was bloody hot. She couldn’t deny that, but he was such an arrogant, Dark Lordy thing, prick. He was standing there with his black hair in his left eye and his eyes were glittering with amusement.

“I know you consider me charming, Alex. But I’m afraid that I’m not here for your pleasure.” Alex growled and his eyes sparked dangerously in…. some emotion she couldn’t describe.

“Then what are you here for?”

“For my own pleasure, of course. There is a dance coming up next week, and I want you to accompany me.” He drew a blood red rose and offered it toward her.

Alex seethed in anger. That was no question that was an order. She was aware of the silence behind her, but she kept her glare on Riddle.

“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I will have to decline. But I’m sure your overly large ego will accompany you.” Snorts of laughter filled the hall, and some noses of surprise where heard from the ladies who thought Tom was just this prince charming and she was a fool for declining him.

With that she turned back around and ignored the magic crackling in rage behind her from the Dark Lord.

###

Tom seethed in rage and in surprise. No one, no one, ever rejected him. No one, but her. The same one that was on his mind for the past two weeks.

He had watched her from the shadows, studying her every move. And he was even more surprised when he first met her on how different she was from everyone else. The magic around her was strong, alive, unused, and it begged her to use it. But she was oblivious to it, turning a deaf ear on it.

He wanted to teach her, to show her how to master her own magic. She would be strong if she would just listen to him. Instead they had to bicker back and forth like an old married couple. Although he did enjoy someone with some silver tongue and intelligence to throw words back at him. But really, she didn’t even give him the time of day.

Not to mention he was suspicious of her. Not only does she have the most unusual green eyes, knowledge to skip a year, a cursed scar, but she was also a Parselmouth. And that certain trait was not passed on to anyone besides the Slytherin line. But he knew for certain that he was the only Slytherin heir around.

Alexandra Hershey, also known as Alexandra ‘Pott’ (as she once slipped) was a mystery, and he would solve her.

He watched as Grover Harrison and his ‘gang’ started to laugh at him being rejected.

‘No matter’

“Well, if you are going would you save a dance or two for me… please?” He watched as she glanced over her shoulder at him, and his heart skipped a beat.

She really is beautiful.

“If I go, yes, perhaps I will squeeze some time in for you. Don’t get your hopes up, though.” Tom smirked and laid down the rose beside her plate.

And she will be his.

His black Hogwarts robes blew out behind him as he swept away.