A/N: chapter twooooo. Woohoooooo. This chappy is dedicated to gannep for the idea of... never mind. I won't spoil it. Anyway, this lovely person is the reason why the stuff in this chappie happened. Go follow her and have yourself a cookie. I REPEAT: GO FOLLOW gannep AND HAVE YOURSELF A COOKIE. She has some pretty awesome stuff going on, for all you fantasy luvers out there. Check out her epic story 'Blossoming.' Ily Guinevere, you are an awesome writer and an awesome person, thank you for understanding about the annoyingness of sane people and plotting world domination with me.
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"Look, I have no idea, okay?"

Albus didn't look convinced, but he didn't argue. He, Rose and Hugo were sitting together in Potions class. Rose was getting extremely irritated with Albus. He was totally overreacting.

"Al, if she doesn't know, she doesn't know," Hugo put in.

"Whatever." Albus chopped his root with a little too much vigour, causing a piece to catapult across the room and hit Professor Spinnick between the eyes. Rose stifled a giggle. Albus scowled.

"I still think you should be in Gryffindor," Albus muttered stubbornly. "You need to talk to McGonagall or something. Maybe the Hat did make a mistake."

Rose frowned. She was sure the headmistress would not take kindly to that idea. "Look, just because you wish I was in Gryffindor, doesn't mean I'm supposed to be," Rose argued. "I thought we went over this already. I didn't want to be in Slytherin at first, but this is where I am. I don't think there's much we can do about it now." It was the honest truth, for Rose has done a lot of thinking on the matter. She absentmindedly touched the pocket of her robes, where her parent's reply was tucked away. It had come that morning with Flicka. She pulled it out and read it for the hundredth time.

Rosie,

there is nothing wrong with you. If the Hat Sorted you into Slytherin, then that's where you belong. It doesn't mean you're a bad person. Remember, Slytherins aren't any different from everyone else, and they're not bad people. Being a Slytherin is definitely not something to worry about. We love you no matter what. Just try to focus on school and have fun.

Love, Mum and Dad. XOXO

Rose smiled a little to herself. This letter had made up her mind. She was a Slytherin, and proud of it.

Albus leaned over. "What's that?"

"Nothing." Rose hastily stuffed the letter back into her pocket. "But, Al, the point is, I'm a Slytherin. Just - don't fret about it, okay? I'm fine. Slytherin isn't as bad as you seem to think."

"I don't think Slytherin is bad," Hugo commented.

"Neither do I," Albus said. "I just - I wish you were in Gryffindor." He sounded like he really meant it. Rose's irritation vanished.

"I know," Rose said gently, laying a hand on his arm. "But I'll still see you around. It's not like I'm leaving forever."

Just then, Scorpius Malfoy caught Rose's gaze from across the classroom. He grinned and gave her a little wave. Rose smiled back.

"Who's that?" Albus inquired, watching as Scorpius turned back to his cauldron.

"Wha - " Rose realized she was staring at Scorpius and turned back to Albus, blushing slightly. "Oh. He's just someone I met yesterday."

"Isn't that Scorpius Malfoy?" Hugo interrupted, leaning over.

"Um, yeah."

Albus narrowed his eyes. "Scorpius Malfoy? Son of Draco Malfoy? Dad saved Scorpius' dad from a huge fire once."

Rose looked at Albus, rather confused. Why was he acting so weird? She shook her head. Another mystery.

-------after class-------

Rose sat down by herself at lunch. Everything was going well until Gilbert Bulstrode, a Slytherin second year, messed it up.

"Well, well," he sneered, sitting down beside Rose. "What do we have here? A Weasley in Slytherin, eh? How're your parents coping with that? Or have they already disowned you for not being a Gryffindor?"

"They don't care," Rose retorted, immediately sensing trouble. "What about your parents? Have they already disowned you for looking like an oversized mushroom?"

Gilbert narrowed his eyes. "Well, if that's how you wanna play," he snarled. "This is war, Weasley."

By now a small crowd had gathered to watch the argument. Rose spotted Cynthia Malfoy glancing over at the proceedings with a mildly interested expression on her face.

"Great," Rose said indifferently. She wasn't afraid of Gilbert Bulstrode, despite the fact that there was quite a lot of him. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm trying to eat my lunch, Bulstrode."

Completely disregarding the point, Gilbert lowered his voice conspiratorially, an evil smirk on his face. "So... can the Weasleys finally afford more than hand-me-downs, or are you still living in the same dump your idiot dad - "

"What was that?" Rose dropped her fork and turned slowly to face Gilbert, her voice deadly calm. The students around them watched in anticipation. "What did you just say about my dad?"

"Why, just that he used to live in a dump! I was wondering if he still lived there. He's only famous because he followed Harry Potter everywhere, you know."

"And what about your dad? Or did he die as soon as he set eyes on you?" Rose demanded through gritted teeth. In the crowd of watching Slytherins, someone snickered.

The grin vanished from Gilbert's face, replaced by a look of cold fury. "You don't want to mess with me, girl," he snarled.

"Yeah, well, don't mess with me and you might just finish the term in one piece," Rose retorted icily.

Surprise flickered in Gilbert's watery blue eyes. He was obviously not used to getting this kind of lash back from his victims. But he quickly masked it with a sadistic grin.

"Watch your words, Weasley. You wouldn't stand a chance against me. Considering your father's comically poor brain, I'm sure you - "

"That's it." Rose got to her feet, pulling out her wand. Cold fury pulsed through her veins. No one was gonna insult Dad and get away with it. Especially not the sorry excuse for a human being that was currently watching her with an air of bored amusement.

"Get him, Weasley!" Someone in the the rapidly growing crowd yelled.

"Whatcha gonna do, girly?" Gilbert asked lazily, pulling out his wand and twirling it in his fingers before pointing it at Rose's chest. "Poke me? By the way, is that stick a hand-me-down?"

"Leave her alone, Bulstrode."

Rose whirled around at the sound of the familiar cold voice. Her heart skipped a beat. Scorpius Malfoy was pushing his way through the crowd of onlookers, glaring at Gilbert. Someone wolf-whistled.

"Well, well, well," Gilbert sneered, eyeing the new arrival. "If it isn't the great Scorpius Malfoy. Looks like you've got yourself a boyfriend, Weasley. You gonna let him fight your battles?"

"No, I'm not." Rose turned to glare at Scorpius. "Stay out of this."

Scorpius blinked. "Rose - "

"Leave." Rose turned away from him, ignoring the nagging sense of guilt inside her. "I mean it. I don't need your protection, Malfoy."

"Expelliarmus!"

Rose dove to the side as Gilbert struck. Narrowly avoiding the streak of red light, Rose whirled around and yelled out the first thing that popped into her head, inwardly praying that it would work. She had heard someone say it once, but she had no idea what it would do.

"Serpensortia!"

The spell did not have the desired effect, to say the least.

A long black serpent erupted from her wand and landed on the floor. There was a collective gasp from the onlookers. Several people screamed. The crowd backed away, tripping over each other in their haste to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the snake. Rose froze, horrified. What in the name of Merlin had she just done?

The snake hissed, revealing two rows of wickedly sharp-looking fangs. It turned its diamond-shaped head towards Gilbert, who was frozen in his seat, his face drained of all colour.

"What the hell, Rose?" Scorpius muttered, pulling out his wand.

Rose came out of her trance with a start. She looked up at the staff table. Some of the teachers were starting to shoot suspicious looks in the direction of the Slytherins. The crowd of people was blocking the snake from their view, for now at least. Rose gulped. She could get expelled if she didn't do something about this mess.

Gilbert gave an extremely un-manly squeak. The serpent swung at him, its fangs bared. Gilbert fell off the bench and narrowly missed being decapitated. He dropped his wand and it rolled away under the table.

The serpent reared its head, poised to strike again. Scorpius raised his wand and started to say something, but Rose instinctively knew it would take more than a mere spell to get rid of the snake.

Then she did something so foolish it was laughable. She didn't know why she did it. She didn't even really think about what she was doing

She yelled at the snake, with as much authority as she could muster. "Stop!"

And crazily, impossibly, the snake obeyed. It lowered its head and backed away from Gilbert, turning its red eyes to Rose expectantly, as if awaiting orders.

"Leave," Rose told it, amazed at her luck.

The snake vanished into thin air.

Rose blinked and looked around at the horrified faces of her fellow Slytherins. Then she realized the entire Great Hall had gone silent. Everyone was staring at her. Professor McGonagall and a couple other teachers were making their way towards the Slytherin table.

"Merlin's beard, Rose," Scorpius said, shattering the silence. "You're a Parselmouth?" He shook his head, staring at her in disbelief.

Rose did a double take. Parselmouth? Merlin's beard, indeed. She wasn't a Parselmouth. No way.

"I don't - " Rose started to say, but she was saved by Professor McGonagall.

"What's going on here?" The headmistress asked, pushing her way through the crowd, which now consisted of over half the school.

"Weasley made a snake attack Gilbert and then she hissed at it, and it went away, Professor," Cynthia Malfoy reported smugly.

What? Rose hadn't hissed at it. She had yelled at it. In English. Right...?

McGonagall fixed Rose with a piercing stare. "Is that true, Weasley?"

"I - I - "

Scorpius interrupted. "It was an accident, Professor," he told McGonagall. Rose shot him a grateful look. "Rose didn't mean to cast the spell. Bulstrode attacked her first."

"I see," McGonagall said. "Very well. Bulstrode, go to Madam Pomfrey and get something for shock. Weasley, you come with me. The rest of you," she raised her voice and scanned the silent Hall, "back to your lunches, now."

Gradually, the Great Hall became noisy again as people began to settle back to their meals. Rose followed McGonagall out of the Hall, consciously aware of the curious stares directed her way. She kept her eyes on the floor. Terror was starting to catch up to her. What on earth had she just gotten herself into? She was most definitely going to get expelled. That miserable thought did nothing to lift her spirits.

She followed McGonagall up the winding staircase to the headmistress' office, feeling as though she were walking to her doom. McGonagall entered and sat down behind her desk, gesturing for Rose to sit on the chair in front of it. Rose sat down and studied her knees. She could feel McGonagall watching her, but she didn't look up.

"Explain," McGonagall said after a moment of tense silence.

Rose did her best, telling McGonagall exactly what had happened, or at least, what she thought had happened. When she finished, McGonagall sighed.

"I don't suppose you know what you did," the headmistress said.

"I - I don't really know, Professor," Rose managed, still looking at her knees.

McGonagall sighed again. "No, I don't suppose you do," she mused. Rose looked up, surprised.

"Weasley," McGonagall continued, "do you have any idea what Parseltongue is?"

"I think so, Professor," Rose replied, slightly bewildered. Wasn't she getting expelled? "It means you can talk to snakes, right?"

"Yes. You know Harry Potter, I presume. He's a Parselmouth. How you got that power, I have no idea. Do you have relatives that speak Parseltongue, by any chance?"

"N-not that I know of. But wait - Professor - was that Parseltongue, what I just did?"

"I believe so." McGonagall readjusted her hat. "I assume you were not aware of the effect that particular spell would have?"

"What - ? Oh. No, Professor." Rose had been so blown away by the fact that she was a Parselmouth, she had momentarily forgotten about the situation at hand.

"Very well. Just be more careful with that in the future. Don't pick fights you can't win, and definitely don't use spells like that."

"No, Professor. It won't happen again."

"Excellent. Good day to you, Weasley." McGonagall rose from her desk, crossed the room and held open the door.

"Good day, Professor." Rose walked out and slowly made her way back to the Great Hall, feeling like her brain was on the verge of exploding. Maybe the fact that she could talk to snakes was the reason she got Sorted into Slytherin. But was being a Parselmouth a bad thing? Uncle Harry was a Parselmouth. But then Rose remembered something. Harry got the power because he had had a piece of Voldemort's soul inside him. He wasn't born with the power. So where did that leave Rose? Maybe she had a Parseltongue-speaking great-great-great-great-great uncle four times removed or something.

Rose shook her head. Everything was so confusing. Her brain was definitely going to explode sometime soon.

At least she hadn't been expelled.
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A/N: sooo! Yessss. gannep gave me the Parseltongue idea. Follow her and have yourself a cookie. (Have I already said that?) ILY gannep . (Have I already said that?) anyway, hope you lovely little rainbow unicorns enjoyed the chappy. DO NOT WORRY THE FLUFF IS COMING. THREE CHEERS FOR SCOROSE. (Hip hip hoooorraaaayyy!!!) comment and vote and continue being awesome unicorns. Ily