The Parselmouth and the Basilisk {Jade Book 2}

Chapter 1

Dear Blaise. My quill paused and I considered what to write next.

That my father and I were having a wonderful summer? That he had spent the whole holidays obsessively checking for any record of my mother in wizarding history?

I began writing the first thing that came into my mind.

Dear Blaise,

I hope you are alright.

Father says I am a Parselmouth, I keep forgetting to tell you. That is someone who can talk to snakes.

I'm fine here, I suppose, but it is rather boring sometimes. I am so glad school is starting back soon, I don't think I can stand this much longer!

Father says we will visit Diagon Alley to buy my school things next Tuesday, do you think I might be able to meet you there?

Another thing - have you seen our list of school supplies? It's ridiculous! Almost all of our required reading is Gilderoy Lockhart books. I suppose our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is a massive fan of Lockhart or - Merlin forbid - Lockhart himself!

Anyway, I do hope it'll be a good year of school - and a safe one, too, not like last year.

Please write back soon,

Love,

Jade Evans

Satisfied, I rolled up the parchment and handed it to Lily, my Barn Owl that I had unknowingly named after my mother.

"To Blaise," I told her, opening my window. She soared out.

I lay down on my bed, thinking about the events of the day - which weren't much. Father had spent the whole day shut up in his room.

I had read books and done some study for the coming year.

Then I just waited for the inevitable call from my father, because he had thought of another place Lily's name might be.

"Jade!" he called.

Right on cue.

I walked to his room and opened the door. "Yes, Father?"

"I still haven't found anything, but I have an idea. If you take your Invisibility Cloak and go to the nearest Muggle school, you can use their - their computers to look up Lily's name and her ancestors. Only do it if you want to, of course, but it would be good to know why the Hat told you she was descended from Slytherins," he explained.

I had nothing better to do, and besides, I was bored, so I accepted. Anyway, it sounded as if it might work.

And there wouldn't be any issue with locked doors - Alex and Theo had taught Mimi and me how to pick locks when I was 9.

"Yes, Father. I'll do it. I'll leave now. Bye!"

He waved and then shut the door to his room.

Back in my room, I picked up my Invisibility Cloak and my lock-picking essentials, then off I went.

I still didn't know the streets all that well, so I went to the main road and followed it until I reached a school.

I walked in the gate.

It appeared to have a couple of buildings.

I entered the one with administration and searched for a room filled with computers.

Finally, I found it. I broke in and then sat down at a computer.

There was one account for each student, but I simply found the one called 'Guest' and clicked on it. I typed in 'guest' as the password.