A Mentor? pv

@Mars T'ien

It had been a few weeks since the incident in the Chamber of Secrets, when Della discovered she possessed an innate ability to speak the language of snakes. She had spent most of these weeks camped out in the library alone, not daring to go to the abandoned bathrooms again—it had been so difficult to get out the chamber in the first place.

She wanted to understand her past. Understand how she could have a rare magical ability. And what this ability meant for her. In research, she learned that most Parselmouths were pureblood, and many could trace their ancestry Salazar Slytherin. They had reputations from being crazed and strange to downright evil. Newer books explained how the famous Harry Potter had been one as well, though he probably no longer had the ability. After the events of the Second Wizarding War, more Parselmouths began to appear—maybe feeling finally safe to make their abilities known or there was a sudden upsurge in whatever gene caused the ability.

This all troubled Della. Was she related to Slytherin? She thought of her mother, a small, English from a small English town. Supposedly the Barfields had lived in Stoke since the dawn of time, amounting to very little as a family. Were any of them magic, harboring a terrifying ability? She thought of her mysterious father, a man named Devon. No trace of his existence. Was he a bad wizard? Is that why her mother never talked about him? It seemed strange that ability would randomly show up in a muggleborn—but that's what Della was. She didn't feel crazed or mad or depressed or evil. Would that come next? Was Parseltongue a charger that eventually filled her body and mind with a bleak darkness? If she didn't use her ability, could she save her humanity?

Today, she planned to take her library research in a different direction. There was a rumor that a third-year Ravenclaw was also parselmouth. She had overheard some first-year duellists talking them. They actually had a pet snake and everything! Mars T'ien. She wasn't sure exactly what they looked like, but people said Mars liked the library and he had sometimes had a snake with him. Della, as discreetly as possible, scoped the Hogwarts at the other library tables, looking for any mysterious Ravenclaw students.

Hopefully, Mars would talk to her. She would be able to judge if they were evil or mad, and maybe get some advice on how to handle her ability's reputation.