It turned out that Britain had a bad string of luck with Parselmouths in the past; not only was the Hogwarts founder with a bad reputation a Parselmouth, Voldemort and some evil bloke named Herpo the Foul were as well. They proved themselves to be a rotten lot but their existence didn't erase people like Paracelsus and Asclepius. That would be like saying all blondes were horrible just because the Malfoys existed. Heri did wonder where her ability came from though. Any inheritable magical traits had to come from her father's line (since her mother was the first witch in her family), but as far as she knew Potters didn't have anything that could be called a bloodline trait beyond the infamous Potter hair. She'd have to get a look at the family grimoire that she had left in her bank vault. More study into the subject of serpents and people with power over them led Heri back into mythology and magical creatures. The nagas of South-East Asia were a semi-aquatic species of magical beings that had the capability to mate with humans. The offspring and descendants of such unions almost always had the ability to talk to snakes. Other creatures, like lamiae, gorgons, and yuan-ti, shared this trait. Heri wondered if the Slytherin family came from such a union. There was a long list of gods that were associated with snakes and other reptiles as well. There was Apep, Set, Ningizzida, Apsu, Agni, Sobek, Cien-Tang, Typhon, Indra, Marduk, Moma, and Ophion, among others. All of them had fascinating stories, but it was Ophion that caught the brunt of her attention. It turned out that there was another variation of the Greek creation story wherein Ophion and his wife Eurynome ruled Olympus before they were overthrown by Kronos and Rhea. Now that she was thinking about it, Heri wondered where the primordial gods and the titans lived now that they no longer had Olympus. Were they on another plane of existence? Or maybe they still were on Olympus but they just weren't running the metaphorical show anymore. Maybe it was like grandkids moving in with their ageing grandparents and taking over the running of the house while the older folk eased back from responsibility. Maybe they were in the big retirement home in the sky, playing bingo and shuffle-board while reminiscing about the good ol' days when nectar and ambrosia were only two Drachmas for a whole barrel instead of 25 for a pint. Indelicate whispering distracted her from her flight of fancy. Heri looked up from the book she was reading and gave the table of gawking students next to her a bland look. They looked away hurriedly as she gathered up her books to find a quieter spot. The accusations got more fervent when Justin ended up petrified as well. Heri didn't know how they explained her attacking another person of her House, but it was apparently another mark against her. Heri snuggled into one of Hagrid's enormous chairs contentedly, Enoch cuddling up to her on one side, Ignis, her dragon figurine on her other side. It was a few days until Christmas and she was spending the bulk of the snowy holiday evenings in the cosy cottage. A large fire in front of her, a bowl-sized mug of cocoa warming her hands, Hagrid telling amusing stories beside her; Heri was inordinately pleased. As Hagrid got up to refill his mug of mead, Heri remembered that today was Winter Solstice. Taking up one of Hagrid's special holiday fruitcakes, she tossed the pastry into the fire and sent well-wishes to the gods of Olympus, praying they were having a restful a Solstice as she was having. It might have been her imagination, but Heri felt a wave of gratitude wrap around her. Even though students weren't supposed to go around by themselves anymore, Heri still found time to sneak away. Ever since Halloween, she had been visiting Myrtle in the second floor girl's toilet to experiment with her odd power with ghosts. So far, they had discovered that not only could she touch them, but while she was in contact with them they were temporarily physical. Myrtle had a wail of a time revelling in being able to feel things again, crying in joy the first time she had picked up one of Heri's books. This time though, a great flood of water stretching over half the corridor that looked as though it was still seeping from under the door of Myrtle's lavatory greeted her. Holding the hem of her robes over her ankles, Heri stepped through the great wash of water to the door bearing its out-of-order sign and entered. Myrtle was crying, if possible, louder and harder than ever before. She seemed to be hiding down her usual stall. It was dark in the loo because the candles had been extinguished in the great rush of water that had left both walls and floor soaking wet. "Myrtle, what's happened?" Heri called out. "Who's that?" sniffled Myrtle miserably. "Come to throw something else at me?" Heri waded across to her stall and said, "It's Heri. Who's thrown something at you?" Technically speaking, even if something had been thrown at Myrtle, it wasn't going to do her any harm, but it was still rude. Don't ask me," Myrtle shouted, emerging with a wave of yet more water, which splashed onto the already sopping floor. "Here I am, minding my own business, and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me!" "Who would ever want to though?" "I don't know. I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death, and it fell right through the top of my head," said Myrtle. "It's over there, it got washed out . . ." Heri looked under the sink where Myrtle was pointing. A small, thin book lay there. It had a shabby black cover and was as wet as everything else in the loo. She picked it up and saw that it was some sort of diary. Absently flipping through the pages for possible clues, she was disappointed in finding that it was completely blank. "Why would anyone want to flush it in the first place?" Heri wondered aloud. Shaking her head, she tucked the diary in her bag (she wasn't about to waste a perfectly serviceable notebook!) and changed the subject. "Well, I doubt they'll be coming back to the metaphorical scene of the crime. Would you like to read that new action-adventure book I promised you? I got it in the mail just after class."
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