Check first chapter for summary, disclaimer, and other warnings.

Chapter 21 – Snakes
posted June 9th, 2020

Wotcher!

Auror Academy is tough! Even if some wartime veteran seems to have taken a liking in me, he still works each and every one of us to the bone. And me further then. Perhaps he thinks that the training will diminish my clumsiness?

And when I have a few days open, I try to visit Charlie. And when he has some, he comes as well. Maybe we can to keep our developing little couple, but it sure eats at every waking moment. And even the sleeping ones. I rarely have time to think about John, these days.

Although I should. His first letter home was almost a plea for help. And I'm eternally thankful that dad answered it by flooing the school directly. And after a brief but intense talk with the Headmaster, he returned home and left the old man so that he may rein in the bullies. Because allowing them to torment a child over something he has no control over was bad. Almost as if he had participated himself. But it took an angry parent rant to bring his responsibilities back to mind.

Thankfully, because Snape was happily taking part in the bullying, he was put on probation just as the students – half of them "slimy snakes" Slytherins, but only half because most of the students participated, even in Gryffindor.

And why would all those people bully my little brother? (and it's a good thing dad went, as I wouldn't have kept my calm and would have made good use of the spells I'm learning this year).

Apparently, either because of his perfect hearing and uncanny singing ability, because of his musical capacity, or because of his other Animagus shape (still not disclosed to yours truly), he's able to speak to snakes.

Given the bad rep of such an ability, it's no wonder the school shunned him. Even his friends. Especially his Gryffindor friends, indoctrinated as some are that everything related to reptiles is Evil – capital E intended.

And I didn't even have to make the research myself, because John did it: other parselmouths exist. However, they seldom advertise their ability, just because one of them went down the wrong way and became a dark lord.

John had some help navigating the library, in the form of the pathological underdog-supporter Hermione Granger, as well as a couple of her housemates: Su Li and Luna Lovegood. The first was bullied by another girl with a Chinese name, in Chinese, and the subject was deemed private. But the petite girl was thankful for the help and stayed friend with the bookworm. And the same happened with Luna, but in plain English.

It is Hermione who suggested other uses for a wizard with a magical voice: the Voice – again, capital V intended. This is from the novel Dune, and Hermione lent her copy to John for inspiration, because nothing exists on the subject in the whole library.

And with three new friends, it took almost no time for them to find out about his little night strolls with his cello. Hermione was floored, but quickly analysed the pros of the situation, and extracted a few books about Musicomancy – apparently, Dumbledore wasn't that far from the truth when saying that music was a magic in itself.

The most impressive one, named Music of the Spheres, was about the fact that the whole universe can be seen as a collection of strings vibrating together. An analogy particularly interesting for a string player, who'd then be able to interact with matter by playing his instrument.

Su was entranced by the music… and the musician. John seemed hesitant to describe the girl's reaction, except that she now stays close to him almost all the time – well, all their free time together, since they don't share house or classes.

And Luna reacted like I did when I first heard him play: she cried. John wanted to stop right then, but she interrupted his interruption, asking for more. As I did years before, she seemed to find the music helpful to mourn her dead mother.

To be continued in next chapter: Reptiles...