Disclaimer: Sadly, I own absolutely nothing that you might recognize. :(

Master of Tongues

Part One: Pet Shop Terrors

As the owner of the only magical pet shop in Diagon Alley, Annie Malsella was accustomed to encountering odd individuals. It was inevitable in her line of work. From tiny, veiled hags who tried to sneak off with all her goats to towering half-giants who wanted dragon eggs, Annie had sold her animals to many a strange person. Somewhere along the way, she had ceased to be surprised by the characters that found their way to her shop.

Which was why, when the little mismatched group composed of one tall man in black, another one in white, a boy, and a girl, walked into her store around lunchtime in late August, Annie gave them no more than a passing glance and welcome. She would have ignored them completely until they found an animal to purchase if she hadn't caught sight of the peculiar stuffed toy in the girl's arms.

The humans it belonged to were relatively uninteresting, even for foreigners. The toy however, it was such an odd little thing that she could not help but stare. Pinkish white with the ears of a hare, the tail of a rat, and a bright red, mark, a jewel perhaps?, in the center of its forehead. It was a true oddity.

As the owner of Magical Menagerie, Annie made it her business to be aware of every single magical species that could be legally permitted into England. Yes, the thing was a stuffed animal, a mere toy, but all stuffed animals were modeled with some likeness to a real animal. This thing however bore no resemblance to any beast that she had ever seen, heard, or read of before. Ever.

What was it? She wondered, watching at the still creature keenly.

It was when the little girl began to send nervous, flustered glances in her direction, drawing the attention of her companions, that Annie realized just how avidly she had been staring at the toy. Feeling immensely foolish, she offered the girl an apologetic smile which was tentatively returned.

Really, Annie, she scolded herself, as she turned away and busied her hands tossing some cheese to the dancing mice. She determinedly ignored the area of the room the group had migrated to. It is just a toy, she told herself sternly. You are nearly fifty, you have no use for toys.

And with that in mind, and hungry squeals, shouts, and caws filling her ears, Annie began the long process of feeding each of the animals. It was a long process, and usually took several hours, but slowly one by one, the animals fell silent. The silence wouldn't last long, it never did. Once everyone had digested their foods, her shop would go back to being its usual lively self, which was exactly how Annie preferred it. The silence tended to make her feel a bit jumpy.

A faint hiss, a sound she would not have even noticed had it not been lunchtime, caught her attention.

Annie frowned, looking up from the bucket of dead blow flies she had been about to dump in to the cage of her large purple toads. One toad gave a loud ribbet of protest. She hushed it and dumped the rest of the flies into the cage, all the while listening for the soft sound again. Everything was silent.

Annie frowned. I must be hearing things again, she decided watching the now-immensely-pleased toads snack on the flies. I really should make that hearing appointm—

Her head jerked towards the back of the shop as a hiss, louder than before, met her ears again. Apparently, she wasn't imagining it. She closed locked the toad's cage and listened intently, trying to place the sound to an animal. It was most likely one of the snakes, she realized after a moment. She kept a few in the back of the shop for the few individuals who cared little about the creature's less than pleasant reputation.

But they shouldn't be so loud, she mused worriedly. Each of the snakes was kept in a custom made cage at the very back corner of the store. She should not be able to hear them at all from her current location, unless…unless one had escaped. Her heart skipped a beat twice as she realized something else.

There were still customers in her shop.

Dropping the bucket, Annie weaved her way through the cages of numerous magical beasts to where she had last seen the group. They weren't there. She would have heard them if they had tried to leave, and they hadn't passed her while she was feeding the animals. Which meant that they could only have gone further back into the shop. Closer to the snakes.

She sped up.

Annie caught sight of them as she rounded a glass tank filled with orange poisonous snails. The four foreigners were crowded around a large cage placed at the left corner of the room. It contained one of her snakes, a rare breed from Brazil, extremely poisonous, but only two feet in length. The one in black looked annoyed, the white one was grinning, the girl looked confused, and the boy was crouched down next to the cage, as close to the snake as he could get. None of them looked terrified, poisoned, or on the verge of death.

Annie's shoulders sagged in relief.

Good, no one had been bitten. The Ministry still had no excuse to start breathing down her neck to get rid of them. She was about to address the group, ask them if they needed any assistance when she heard another hiss.

It took her a moment to realize that the boy was talking to the snake. And that the snake was answering.

For a second, Annie was sure that her hearing was acting up again. She was at that age after all and it wouldn't be the first time she heard something that was not there. Then the man in black made an odd sound, something like a half growl, half hiss. The man in white gave a whistling hiss in reply. Even the girl, the toy still clutched in her arms, joined in with a soft hiss at the snake.

Annie's back hit the cage of her jeweled tortoise, stopping her from backing away any further. She stood there, pale, shaking, gaping soundlessly at the group who had not yet noticed her.

Four people who could speak Parsletongue? Four? And all of them were in her shop?

The girl noticed her finally. Her jade green eyes widened with surprise and concern.

"Um, are you okay ma'am?" She asked, her words slightly hissed.

Annie didn't have the strength to answer, but it didn't matter. The toy opened its mouth and replied for her. "She's gonna faint!"

Annie decided that this was all just a nightmare. A very twisted nightmare.

End Part One of Three