It's your fault."

Those three words had Grace Riddle's hand clenching, heart racing, and a desire to strike pumping in her veins. Yet she held back and instead turned to face the woman who had been one of her temporary replacements. "I fail to see how."

Snape's lips twitched as she watched with unblinking eyes. "I heard all about Nagini, the poor girl you toyed with for all those years before breaking her heart. If you had shown just the slightest inkling of empathy she wouldn't have gone through with her plan."

"Oh? So, you've spoken to her then hm? Really gotten to know the situation and her mental state for the past few decades. This wasn't a sudden change Snape. She has been delusional for some time now. If anything, this is your fault."

Anger erupted in the younger woman's eyes, "And how do you figure that?"

"You were the one who insisted upon my removal, published enough half-truths to have both myself and Dumbledore removed from Hogwarts, and then failed to do anything more than fulfill your own desires. Where were you when Harry was walking about alone in Hogwarts?"

"Doing my other duties." Serena countered, "I cannot follow a student around all of the time. I had other responsibilities."

Grace huffed with disbelief, "Oh please, we both knew what he was going to do, knew he was the only one who could access the Chamber. You knew he had lessons. You should have been there ensuring his protection."

Snape shook her head with defiance, "We both know he would have found some way around it. Besides he chose to spend his time with Lockhart, if he was that eager for her assistance then…"

A slap rang through the hallway as Riddle's hand made contact with the other woman's face. Her own was red with anger, eyes blazing. "If you so much as imply he deserved this, they will never find your remains."

"I am not implying anything!" Serena countered with just as much anger. "I am outright saying that Harry clearly needs to reconsider who he is spending his time with. A fraud and buffoon or someone so fixated on anger, aggression, and pride she can't see her own fault in anything."

"Perhaps I am not the only one who cannot see their own faults Snape."

With that the woman turned and continued towards the Slytherin common room leaving the other in silent contemplation.

****

Cleopatra swallowed nervously when their Head of House walked through the doors and closed them behind her. There was a calculated calmness in her movements but also something almost predatorial in them as well.

Not that she blamed her. How quickly many of them had turned against her, how quickly they had believed the 'evidence' that had been presented and 'jumped ship' as it were.

The blonde wondered what Professor Riddle's retaliation would be. Detentions for those who had sided with Snape? A massive reduction in House Points? A ban on Quidditch for the foreseeable future?

"I am disappointed." Her words cut like a knife through flesh and every student, even those who had chosen to believe the woman, flinched. "I understand that there was a panic at Hogwarts, that fear was around every corner, but I thought that the 'House of the Cunning' would put more effort to thinking for themselves rather than believing every rumor and article written in the paper."

It was true, and they all knew it. Save for a handful of students everyone had eventually turned onto their Head of House. A few whispered words from Professor Snape, a handful of paragraphs in the newspaper had been all it took.

"There will be no punishment." She announced, earning shocked stares and soft whispers among the gathering. "Given what happened I cannot blame anyone for seeking safety through any means necessary. Even if I were to hand out punishments it would feel more like a vendetta and would encompass a good portion of the student body not just those present. The Headmistress and I believe it is best to put aside such reactions."

One hand, Cleopatra identified as belonging to a timid first year, was raised and gestured towards. "What uhm, is going to happen to the one responsible?"

"For now, they have been taken to Azkaban and await trial."

Another question from a different student was called out, "Is it true you found the Chamber of Secrets?"

Grace nodded, "It is, and for now it will remain sealed until such time as every inch has been checked and cleared of dark Magic or corrupting influences."

This earned grumbles bordering on outrage to which the woman's eyes narrowed. "All of you were so scared just days ago and now you are ready to run to the very place which contained the monster responsible for all of the petrifications?"

Her subtle accusation earned silence for a few moments before Cleo herself raised her hand, "Is there any truth to Harry Potter being involved?"

Some looked to her, others to their Head of House who stared back in contemplation. "Why would you think that?"

"He has been missing since a few nights ago and someone said they saw him in the Medical Ward." One student answered.

"And he's a Parselmouth!" another quickly blurted out, earning a hushed silence and laser focused attention by Riddle.

"What did you say?" She asked in a deathly calm tone.

The abrupt change had the teenager shrinking backwards where they stood, "I… I overheard him in the bathroom that night and saw him hissing then the passage opened. A couple of us were there."

Excited, if a bit stunned, chatter began from virtually everyone in the room while the youngest Malfoy merely stared in shock. Potter, a Parselmouth? It was an incredibly rare trait and if it were true…

Glancing to her right she shuddered at the look on her older sister's face and was glad not to be on the receiving end of Pandora's displeasure.

_____________________

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