The Parselmouth- Next Heir of Slytherin

Normal Speech

Thoughts

/Parseltongue/

Chapter 1: The Zoo

Harry Potter couldn't believe his luck. It was his cousin, Dudley's, birthday today, and his usual sitter, Mrs. Figg, was unable to care for him because she broke her leg. He felt a bit sorry for her, but honestly didn't care all that much if it meant he didn't have to stay at that place. It wasn't nearly as bad as the Dursley's, of course, but he knew they would either take him with them on Dudley's birthday trip, meaning they wouldn't mistreat him like they would at home because there were people around, or they would leave him at their house alone, which meant he'd get a break away from them. They decided to take him with them, since they didn't trust him alone with their things. Harry didn't mind. The Dursley's would hardly want to be seen with him anyway. He spent most of the time they were wandering around following behind them, only close enough to where he wasn't going to be left behind.

Harry was enjoying the exhibits, and was on his best behavior the whole time. He enjoyed learning, regardless of what his grades said (his aunt and uncle always hit him if he did better than Dudley in class, so he learned very quickly to dumb down his test scores), and he found the information provided by the zoo fascinating. The only thing he didn't like about the zoo was, well, the fact that it was a zoo. It was animals locked away in cages in some sort of mockery of their natural habitat. If it had been something more akin to a wildlife preserve, he would have no problems with the zoo. But this was just a show for idiots like his cousin to enjoy. Harry sympathized with the animals- after all, most of the time he was locked up in a cage of his own. He wished there was something he could do for the animals, but, being just a ten-year-old boy, there wasn't. He sighed as they entered the last exhibit of the zoo.

The reptile exhibit. This was one of the rooms he was most excited to see. He may have hated the cages, but he loved reptiles, especially snakes. Something about them just… called out to him. As his cousin made his way over to a massive boa constrictor, Harry made his way to the opposite side of the exhibit. He looked at a few different snakes and read their descriptions, then saw one that caught his eye. It was a bright emerald green snake, who had scales that appeared to be hundreds of tiny feathers all over her body. She had a unique appearance, but what stood out to Harry the most was that her scales appeared to be the same color as his eyes, only there were hints of black along the edges. Her eyes were speckled black and green as well. He glanced at her plaque next to the glass on her cage.

Female Atheris Hispida

"The Spiny Bush Viper"

Located: Lutunguru, Kivu, Africa

49 cm long

b. 1989 in captivity

Beneath that was a short description of the snake, what their venom is like, how long they live, how they reproduce, etc., but at this point Harry returned his attention back to the viper in front of him. He noticed that she was reared up, and seemed to be focused on him.

"You are gorgeous," Harry whispered. "I wish I could take you home with me. Not that it'd be any better than this place, but, hey, at least we'd have each other." He chuckled bitterly at himself, and rested his head against the glass, staring at the snake.

/Yessss, sssspeaker… Take me with you…/ Harry heard a soft, feminine, hissing voice say to him, He jumped back, started. He glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then he stepped forward again and whispered softer.

"You,,, you can understand me? And I can understand you… What's going on?"

/Yessss, I can underssstand you. You are a sssspeaker. Lisssten closssely when you sssspeak. I have heard of onessss like you before, but I have never sssseen one myssself. But, if you have the power to sssspeak with me, then you have the power to help me essscape. And I will be forever indebted to you, young massster./

Harry was in shock, but was also excited. What were these powers he had, and how would they help this snake escape? Would they allow him to escape? He whispered to the snake again, but this time, he focused on what he was saying, but realized that he was actually hissing.

/What sssshould I do to help you essscape?/

/Ussse your magic. I can feel it flowing through you, it'ssss what allowssss ussss to sssspeak together. Placcce your hand on the glassss, and will it to disssappear. Focussss… Then when it issss done, I will sssslide under your sssshirt, and you jussst have to will the glassss back. Ssssoundssss ssssimple, right?/ the viper chuckled a bit at her joke. Harry gulped a bit, nervous about doing this "magic" for the first time. If what the snake said was true, and right now she seemed like the most trustworthy person he ever met (not that that was saying much), then it was the reason he was speaking to her right now. He thought for a few moments, then decided that he should try concentrating on the glass, and try speaking like a snake at the same time. He could tell the glass to disappear. At the very least, he knew that speaking like a snake was magical, so it was worth a shot, right?

Harry placed his palm on the glass, scrunched up his face, and concentrated. /Disssappear…/ he whispered. /Disssappear, glassss…/ It took him only a few seconds before he felt… something flow through him, from his chest to his palm, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that a small circle of glass around where his hand was placed had disappeared. He glanced around as he felt his new friend slither into his shirt sleeve and wrap around his upper arm. For once, he was glad his clothes were too big for him, as they hid the viper from view. /Thankssss,/ he heard her whisper in his ear. Harry closed his eyes again and focused on bringing the glass back, whispering /Come back, yessss, return, glassss…/ and, while it took a bit longer than pushing the glass away, it eventually reappeared, and it looked as flawless as it had before. Harry was practically brimming with excitement at the possibilities of what this could lead up to. He glanced around once more to see if anyone had noticed him, then he carried on, looking at some of the other reptiles on display.

The Dursleys stayed for another half hour or so, then decided to go home. Luckily, Harry had managed to stay out of trouble, so he would probably get to eat tonight. He wondered how he would feed his new friend, but then figured that, being a snake, she could probably hunt for herself. Granted that she had never been in the wild before, but her instincts would probably make up for that.

On their way out of the exhibit, Harry overheard a security guard talking to a man who appeared to be the manager about a missing snake. They were trying not to start a panic, seeing as how the viper was poisonous, and it took all of Harry's self-control not to giggle at the two running around like chickens with their heads chopped off, looking for his new friend.

Later that night, Harry was once again locked in his small cupboard under the stairs. His good behavior got him a small meal of bread, cheese, and water. He ate it quickly then went to his cupboard so he could speak to his new friend.

/Sssso,/ Harry said to the snake, who was wrapped around his arm and hand. /I never did get your name. What issss it?/

/I've never had one./

/Oh? I didn't know mine for yearssss before I heard it. I wassss alwayssss "freak" or "boy" to thessse people. What would you like your name to be?/

/Hmm… I'm not ssssure. I've never really thought about it much. Why don't you choossse for me? You'll give me a good name, Massster, I know you will./

Harry thought for a few moments. /How about… Elisssabeth?/

/That ssssoundssss perfect, Massster./

/Good, I'm glad you like it. And pleassse, call me Harry. We can be partnerssss, you don't need to call me massster./

/Okay. Thankssss… Harry./

Harry smiled down at Elisabeth as she curled up on his chest. He had to be up early the next morning to start making breakfast, so he was lying down, close to falling asleep. He figured he would be able to talk to her some more tomorrow while he worked on his chores.

Over the next few weeks, Harry and Elisabeth grew closer. As it was summertime, Harry didn't have school, but now he had almost twice the amount of chores to do. Luckily, most of them were outside and away from the Dursleys, so he could talk with Elisabeth for hours every day. They bonded over the fact that they both were locked away for their whole lives, and that one day they would escape. Harry had to stop Elisabeth from attacking his relatives whenever they were near him, especially when they hit him, or called him names like "freak" or "worthless boy." He knew one of these days he wasn't going to be able to restrain her, but for now she was content that he was happier with her around, and she did as he wished and didn't attack, since it would probably mean more trouble for him in the long run right now.

Elisabeth shared what she knew about magic and talking to snakes, which honestly wasn't much, since she was brought up in a zoo. But, apparently some wizards were born with the ability to speak "Parseltongue," the snake's language. Those who could speak it were called "Parselmouths," or "Speakers." Apparently it wasn't very often that snakes found Parselmouths to talk to, as even amongst wizards it was not a common gift. However, Elisabeth was taught about them from her mother when she was younger, as Parselmouths could either be a great ally, or someone who uses and controls snakes for his or her own ends, without any regard to the snake. Elisabeth said that she trusted Harry, and that he had won her loyalty when he rescued her from the zoo. Harry was happy enough just to have a friend who at least somewhat understood what he was going through.

Elisabeth didn't know much about magic, but she did tell him that some Parselmouths could focus their magic through speaking Parseltongue, creating "Parselmagic," like what Harry did when he freed her. She didn't know anymore than that, but Harry decided he would try more Parselmagic whenever he had the chance. One day while trimming the Dursley's hedges, he made sure no one was looking, then he picked up a leaf off the ground, focused on that same feeling he had when he was freeing Elisabeth, and said /Burn./ It took him a few tries to get that same sense of power, but he was finally able to sense that same power flow from his chest, through his arm, and out his hand, causing the leaf to burst into bright green flames. The flames didn't hurt him, it was his magic creating them, after all. After a few seconds of burning, the leaf crumbled into ashes and the fire went out. He giggled, and Elisabeth hissed approvingly. /Well done, Harry. You're a natural at thissss./ Harry thanked her and he practiced on a few more leaves and twigs throughout the day. After a couple weeks, Harry was able to do a few basic spells, or at least that's what he thought he was doing. He was able to /burn, freeze,/ and even /lift/ things via Parselmagic, though the last one took him significantly longer for him to master. He also found that he had an easier time tapping into the source of his powers, what he was now calling his "magical core," something he read about in a fantasy novel a while back, when Elisabeth was around, as opposed to when she was out hunting for food. He thought this could be because he was worried about her when she was gone, or because it was easier for him to focus on speaking Parseltongue rather than English when she was around. He wasn't sure why it happened, but there was no real way for him to find out, and Elisabeth had no idea either. So he just let it be for now.

Harry was having no luck so far when it came to teleporting, something he thought of then was eager to try, in the back garden one morning, out of view of his nosy aunt. He was called in to clean himself up and make the Dursley's lunch, when that fateful letter arrived.

A/N: So, about my previous story, The Deal, which hasn't been updated in a while. I made a longer post about it here: topic/167441/126277251/1/#126277251 and I linked it in an A/N in the story. If you want to add any input or advice on what you'd like to see in that story, post it there or in the reviews of TD and I'll consider putting it in if I feel like it suits the story. But, basically, since the beginning of January I've been taking an EMT course, which I finished (and passed) earlier this month. It took up basically all of my time, so I didn't have time to update it. I'll get back to writing it soon enough, but I think I'm going to start it over again. I feel like the flow of the story wasn't smooth enough and wasn't heading in the direction I wanted it to go it. I may have Harry go back in time further, I'm not sure yet, but the basic events will remain much the same. I just want to give a bit more development, make Harry and Lucy a bit darker (and give Harry a reason to be dark), and, like I mentioned before, I'd like to improve the flow of this story. Thanks to all the support people have given me on that story, I hope that the rewrite will be even better than the current version.

A/N 2: Some story spoilers ahead. I was inspired to write this story purely because I saw a picture of a bush viper, thought it was awesome, and thought about how cool it'd be to have one as a pet and to be able to speak Parseltongue with it. So I just sort of started writing this one after doing a bit of research on bush vipers, and some more ideas came to mind, and now this story is going to be about the Peverell brothers being descendants of Slytherin, Harry being the Second Heir of Slytherin (after Voldemort), and Harry teaming up with Voldemort after Voldy redeems himself (I don't want to give too much away, so I'm going to keep this a bit vague). There are some other plot points in there that I've thought of, but I don't really have an end purpose to this story. So there may be a point in which I stop updating simply because I don't really have an idea of where to go from where I'm at. Any criticism and ideas for the story are welcome. If you've read this far, thank you, and I hope you're enjoying the story.