After Harry finished speaking, he noticed something was wrong with the mood. The smile slowly faded from his face, and he asked in confusion:
"Um... what's wrong? Doesn't that count as a magical talent?"
Hermione pressed her lips together, her face a little pale. She looked like a miniature Professor McGonagall:
"Harry, you spoke to a snake?"
Harry fiddled with a blade of grass and said uneasily:
"Yes... but that should be pretty normal, right? I think most wizards can talk to snakes. It's nothing special."
"No! Harry, I'm afraid this is far more... significant than you realize!" Hermione finally lowered her voice. "Because talking to snakes was one of Salazar Slytherin's famous abilities.
"It's called Parseltongue!
"That's why... the symbol of the Slytherin School is a snake."
Harry's mouth fell open.
"Harry, you mustn't let anyone find out you can speak Parseltongue! Otherwise, everyone at school will think you're his great-great-great-great-grandson or something..."
"But I'm not," Harry said, seized by a panic he couldn't explain.
"You'll find that difficult to prove," Hermione said. "He lived over a thousand years ago. For all we know, you could very well be his heir."
Harry's face suddenly turned even paler than Malfoy's. He gave a couple of strained chuckles, turned to Zhang, and asked in a slightly trembling voice:
"Zhang... is that true? Only... only Slytherin's descendants... can... can talk to snakes?"
Zhang Xiao couldn't help laughing. His laughter seemed to dispel the gloom, and Harry's spirits lifted despite himself. Could... could the all-capable Zhang really come up with a counterexample?
Then he heard Zhang Xiao's merciless words:
"Hermione is right. Parseltongue really is an ability unique to Slytherin."
Harry immediately deflated like a punctured ball, his whole body drooping. He remembered how, during his Sorting, the Sorting Hat had said he