The Serpent’s Heir

She approached during lunch.

Not in the shadows. Not quietly.

She walked straight up to the Slytherin table, eyes sharp as iron.

Students turned. Silence fell.

"Harry Potter," she said. "You're not just the Heir."

He stood slowly. "Excuse me?"

"You're the Catalyst."

Her Name is Rowan Ashvale

Sixteen. Gryffindor.Halfblood.Seer's blood in her family, three generations back.

Harry had seen her — in the background. Smart, steady, not dramatic. Nothing to suggest a connection.

But now?

She rolled up her sleeve.

A partial mark curled across her inner forearm — incomplete, soft, shadow-like. Still forming.

"I dream of the Vale," she said. "But not Selene."

"Then who?" Draco asked.

Rowan's voice dropped.

"Her brother."

The Forgotten Name

She opened a leather book. Not magical. Personal. Worn.

Inside: sketches of the door, the runes, the other mark.

And one word, centered in ink:

"Kaelen."

Harry's breath caught.

Theo whispered, "The first bearer."

Rowan nodded.

"Selene was not the only one sealed. She sealed someone else with her."

Harry sat, dizzy.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I heard a voice last night — and it wasn't Selene's."

Rowan looked straight into his eyes.

"It said you're the reason he'll wake."

The Other Mark

That night, Harry opened the black book.

On the last page, new ink had bled in — without movement, without touch.

Two names:

Selene Vale — The KeeperKaelen Vale — The Forgotten Flame

And beneath them, a final line:

"He was bound. She was buried. But only one was meant to return."

Harry stared at the last sentence.

Then at the mark on his hand.

It was changing again.

And it no longer felt like it belonged to Selene.

End Scene – Voices in the Void

Far beneath the castle, the door pulsed.

And for the first time, a second voice answered Selene's.

"He remembers me.""The chain is reforming."

"Soon, sister… I will burn free."