Cut Scene #2, A Mystery Parselmouth (Chapter 7)
"Yet you think it's worth it?"
"I think so. Even if I didn't, I'm committed to it now. I've no interest in backtracking."
"I'm sure you could easily win your housemates over if you tried. They're only children. They'd be easy to manipulate."
Delphi heard the unspoken words there: all eleven-year-olds are easily manipulated, he could manipulate her with as little effort as it would take for her to manipulate her peers, and there was very little chance that he wasn't already manipulating her far more than she even realized. She paid all of it no mind; she would get to the bottom of this, and if there were danger ahead, she would disentangle herself before it drew too near her.
"I don't want to trade what I've already achieved for what I might achieve instead. I don't mind being the outcast so long as I get what I want. Besides, Slytherin doesn't have the power it would like to pretend it does; Slytherins' assets are their money and political influence, and more of that slips outside of the house with every generation. Harry Potter could easily change that once and for all. I'm a Slytherin; I know it, I feel it, and I'm proud of it. But I'm not the kind of Slytherin that the rest of them are. They're... they're not worth it. They don't have anything to offer that I can't find somewhere else."
"So you don't mind all the time you're spending alone?" he asked. There was no expression on his face at all; just the blank slate of a man listening without passing any judgment. "I've seen you at meals; you're a veritable outcast. I can't imagine things are easier in the girl's dorm than they are in public." Now, there did seem to be a hint of disapproval in the way he surveyed her. "I had expected you to be popular."
That surprised her. Why in the world would he have ever expected that? Because of her appearance? Surely not because of her family name or her Death Eater parents; there had always been a good chance that her parent's reputations might've already ruined hers before she ever came to the school--even, perhaps, among the Slytherins.
"I'm sure you know who my parents are, professor. I might've been able to earn the Slytherins over by playing things safe, but the rest of the school would never have liked me after what happened to the Longbottoms... But they like Harry Potter." As the words escaped her, Delphi couldn't help wondering herself how much of it was true. How of her motives were the logic of it all? How much of her decision was wrapped up the knowledge that there really was more to gain by being Harry Potter's friend than just another popular Slytherin girl, and how much of it was just that she couldn't stand to lose out on having something that she'd already set her mind to have? How much of her actions were done in the pursuit of advantage, and how much of it was simply a desire to win in spite of almost certain odds?
Part of her still cursed her decision to ever place that bet with Draco.
"And they'll always like Harry Potter," Delphi pressed on. "Even if he disappoints the entire world, all of Britain will still love him because of what's in that book." She nodded toward Modern Civil War. "He would have the brightest future of our generation even if he was the greatest dunce. Positioning myself against him for no reason would offer very little gain. Positioning myself close to him, on the other hand... Well, I expect that Harry Potter will always be a very good friend to have." Delphi's gaze fell for a moment, and so too--just for a moment--did the protective wall of logic she had built around her motives. "And I like him. He's nice."
Quirrell raised a very skeptical brow. Until these last words, he seemed to be following along with her argument; this, though, earned the faintest hint of a sneer. "Then read the book, Delphini. You need to know what's in it--because of who you're making friends with, because of who your parents were, and because of where the world is heading. Knowledge of the last twenty years will be very important in the next twenty, I am sure."
Delphi nodded. Why he was being so clear about the purpose of this book and so oblique about the purpose of the last five, she did quite yet understand. She would've appreciated it... if it weren't for the fact that it made her just as suspicious as everything else. "I understand, sir."
"As for the other Slytherins, you are right about one thing: even if you aren't truly one of them, I daresay you are a true Slytherin. Unless I am very much mistaken, this school will become a very dear home to you. I certainly always felt a connection to it, even if I didn't always quite understand I." He surveyed her very closely for a moment, and then his eyes met hers. His gaze seemed so much more intense than it ever had before; Delphi barely suppressed a shudder. "Get to know the castle. Explore the school. Use what you've learned already to see what other secrets you can ferret out. Hogwarts has a thousand years of history, and even the greatest wizards who have passed through its halls haven't learned everything. You, I think, will have more success in this discovery than most."
Delphi was baffled, but she didn't dare show it. Besides, she was fairly sure she'd just had a teacher give her permission to go snooping out of bounds. That was not a offering to reject. "I will, sir."
"Very well. Before you go, there is one last thing." He rose from his desk and walked to the far corner of the room, where stood a antique globe that she'd never once seen him actually use. "You misplaced something, Miss Lestrange."
Craning her head to see what he was talking about, Delphi's eyes went wide as she watched him pluck what looked from the distance to be a black length of rope from one of the legs of the globe stand. She didn't say anything as Quirrell carried Boros back to her; no one was supposed to know she spoke Parseltongue, and she was loathe to be caught like this. Damn the snake's wandering.
Quirrell let the little snake slither out of his hands and onto the desk in front of Delphi. Boros hesitated before slithering toward Delphi, who didn't waste a moment in gathering him up and tucking him out of sight beneath her sleeve. "Snakes are not a welcome pet here at Hogwarts, as I'm sure you will recall from your letter this summer. Take care that he is not found wandering again."
Delphi's brow furrowed. "But how did you know--"
Again, Quirrell raised a brow. "Because I watched him slither out of your bookbag at the end of the last Defense lesson. You'd do better to keep watch of him, considering all the owls. And Delphi? I'm sure you understand that there is a certain... suspicion around wizard who keep snakes as pets."
"I do. I won't let him get caught again, sir."
"Good. Then you may go."
With Boros wrapped around her forearm, Delphi shoved her books into her bag and hastily bid her retreat.
As soon as Delphi found herself a properly seclude alcove, she shoved her narrow body into its confines and pulled down her sleeve to glare at her snake. "Boros!" she hissed at him in a language she all but forbidden to speak. "How could you let yourself get caught? You were supposed to be careful! If you can't take care of yourself, you can't be loose!"
Boros stared at her for a moment, not speaking. Delphi felt a twinge of panic. What was wrong with him? Had something happened? "Boros?" she pressed. "Are you alright?"
"I'm... confused," the snake hissed in a tone of voice that Dlephi had never heard before. Snakes were always proud creatures, never ones to show any weakness short of on their dying beds. That Boros sounded so weak and disoriented now... What had happened to the poor little beast?
"What about? Tell me, and I can help!"
"There's a gap," he hissed quietly. "I think... my memory is gone."
"You're not old enough for that. You only hatched this summer, Boros. How can you be losing your memories? What don't you remember? What do you remember?"
"I remember... a man." His tongue flickered out to taste the air. "A man who could speak, as you do. But... I can't recall his face, or where we were, or why."
Delphi couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Another Parselmouth? Who? Not Quirrell?"
"No," Boros hissed, and for all he had sounded confused until now, suddenly he sounded very sure. "Not the man who returned me to you. I remember him, as well, but the man who spoke... He was someone else. Someone..." He trailed off, not finishing the thought. Delphi worried.
"You shouldn't leave me again, Boros," she said quietly. "If there's another Parselmouth here, we're at far greater risk of being caught. And I can't imagine who it could be! Quirrell is suspicious enough, I would almost have been willing to believe it was him, but if you say it's not..." Dephi shook her head. "I don't understand. I always thought I was the only one. How many of us are really hiding this? How many people have you ever met who could speak to you, Boros? How many have you ever even heard of from other snakes?"
"Only you," Boros hissed. "And now the man."
Delphi sighed. Things were getting more complicated all the time now that she had come to school. A part of her almost missed the lazy summer days that she'd left behind. "Alright," she said. "Stay with me from now on. And if you remember anything else, please let me know. If there's another Parselmouth here..." Just as Boros had, Delphi let the words die before reaching her lips.
If there was another Parselmouth somewhere at Hogwarts, they might be the friend that Delphi had been longing for her entire life, someone who could share a part of her that she'd never once believed anyone would ever be able to.
Or they could be the single greatest danger to her in the entire school. Only time would tell.