CHAPTER TWO: The Snake's Wings
*
The flight lasted hours, only stopping once for a bit of food, and for Quinton to give Harry a Wakefulness potion. For hours and hours Harry did nothing but follow the tiny red lights, as the sun set and the stars made it difficult to see.
It was nearly morning when the sparks finally headed towards the ground. He landed in the midst of a large ruined castle, crumbling and overgrown with vines.
The Professor pushed the button on her broom, and it popped back into Harry's vision at once, though Quinton herself was still invisible.
"The counter-potion is in the bathroom cupboard of the second dungeon, so I'm afraid you'll have to follow behind my broom. You can take your cloak off, now." She added.
Harry did so, and followed the floating broom through the ruins. After a few minutes, the broom stopped to rest on the ground before an overgrown and decrepit statue. It was of a woman, holding a long sword, and with a large snake wrapped around her. There was writing sprawled around the bottom of the statue.
"Gladium in vaginum recondĕre ex serpens in ducĕre otim." Harry read aloud, "What does that mean?"
" 'To Sheath the Sword of Snakes is to Bring Peace.'" Quinton said, as she ran a hand down the serpent's stone scales, "It is my family motto."
"Odd motto…"
"Odd family." She said it with no humour, and Harry wondered if it had been meant as a joke at all.
"You're a pureblood?" Harry asked the air, he knew she was somewhere near him.
"Yes. Though this is the house of my maternal grandmother. It would have been mine, but…" She shrugged, and used the broom to indicate the ruins, "It was not meant to be. Here it is!" She pushed something, and Harry almost jumped when the statue began to move. No, it blinked.
"I am the Guardian of this castle. Speak, if ye be sons of our house." Its voice was low, but not unpleasant. The statue moved its eyes from the invisible Quinton to Harry; it's gaze grey and irking in its persistence.
"I am a daughter of the sword," Quinton said in a matching low tone, "And I bring a son of the serpent."
"I know you, Daughter, and greet you. Serpent son, your kind have not visited for many a century."
The snake then raised its stone head, looking at Harry with the same unblinking gaze.
/Welcome, Brother… Peace to your Household./ It said in Parseltounge. Harry wondered if he should reply, before he heard himself already doing so.
"Peace to every household."
The stone snake nodded, and the statue moved aside to reveal a dark staircase heading down far below the ruined castle. The steps were weak and crumbling in some places, and the air was damp as Quinton and Harry walked into the depths.
"Professor… What was that? What did I say?"
"Merely the old courtesies, Harry. All Parselmouths remember them." She snapped her fingers, and the torches on the walls leapt into life.
"I'm afraid this isn't much, but it's all we've got for the moment." Quinton continued, as she led Harry into the first room. Long, bloodstained tapestries lined the walls, dancing with the firelight from the torches. The room was furnished with tattered couches and chairs that looked as if they would have been expensive, had they been new. Mirrors seemed to be a theme, and a great big one lay off to one side, opaque from on the dust on its surface. Its dusty-golden rim was decorated with a thousand snakes, and intertwined and writhing. Harry thought he saw one move, and reached out a hand - -
"Don't touch that!" Quinton cried, snatching his hand away from it. She was visible again. "There is a reason it hasn't been cleaned in a century!"
He nodded dumbly, and turned away, looking at the old stone fireplace.
"We'll have to inform a few people that you're here… I'm afraid we cannot contact your friends, but I'll ask McGonagall to sent them a letter. There's something for you to eat on the table, if you're hungry. But be careful not to touch anything else, as it's probably cursed.
"Really?" Harry asked, but received no reply as he walked into the kitchen. A sandwich and a glass of what was apparently milk lay on the highly decorated table. Not sitting down (the chairs looked as if they would eat him), he dove into the sandwich with relish. He was almost done when the door suddenly opened, and a snake slipped in. It was with a muffled cry that Harry realized it only had a head.
/The daughter sends you thisss…/ The snake said, shaking himself. He suddenly became visible, as did Harry's invisibility cloak on the floor. /She says to wear it and join her…/ Then it slithered away.
Harry obediently slipped into the cloak, and walked back to the room that Quinton had last been in – and stopped abruptly.
"-look out than ever. Wherever you two are, I hope its safe…" That was Sirius' voice.
"Are you sure we can't see him, Uriel?" McGonagall - tentative, somehow. Harry moved closer.
"No." A harsh, curt word – Snape.
"I'm sure… Just a minute…" Sirius said, before Quinton interrupted him.
"No, Black, I'm sorry, but Severus is right. If any of you were to come, and the Dark Lord pressed him…" She paused, "We do not want him knowing where Harry is."
Harry had moved close enough to be able to see the group. Quinton was standing in a star with five points of light. Three of them had ghost-like shadowy figures behind them, made more of smoke than flesh.
"Yes, yes, you're right…" Sirius said, his transparent shoulders lowering.
"If you wish, I can give him a message for you…" Quinton said, but Sirius looked at Snape and shook his head.
"As long as he's alright…." His voice trailed off.
"I'm sure Professor Quinton will make sure he arrives safely at Hogwarts in September. I, however, have other duties to attend to. Good day." McGonagall stepped backwards, and disappeared.
"I should go to… Remus will want to speak with you, later." Sirius paused, looked at Snape, then back at Quinton. He barred his teeth to the first, nodded to the latter, and disappeared.
"I suspect that you have already used up the entire supply of potions I sent you." Snape said, his smoky arms folded into his chest.
"Only the invisibility one." Quinton replied matter-of-factly.
"Do you need more?"
"No. Harry has… other ways."
"I know about that damned cloak." Snape said, frowning. "If you do need--"
"We're fine, Severus."
"Very well. However, I will say it bluntly, it would be folly to give it to him, Quinton."
"We have already discussed-- "
"It's too great a risk!" Snape snapped, "It could get him killed, or more likely, you."
"I'm surprised you care." Quinton said, ice edging her voice.
"It doesn't matter what I think of him," Snape growled, "I would prefer if we locked him in detention for the rest of his life, but Albus was right. We will need him." He looked uncomfortable for a minute, as if admitting this fact took more willpower than anything else he'd ever done.
"Quinton…" He started again, and then paused. He was pale. "Is there Dragon's Bane in your area? There is a shortage, and I'm running out…"
"I'll get you some."
Snape nodded, then stepped out of the circle. The last light went out.
"Harry?" Quinton sounded tired. Harry slipped off the cloak.
"How much did you catch?" The Professor asked wearily as she sat down upon a tattered couch.
"I saw Sirius…"
Quinton nodded, and said nothing else as she stared at the floor. Harry shifted his weight uncomfortably.
"What were you talking about?" He asked finally.
"You."
"And why was Sirius there? And – and – Snape?"
"Professor Snape."
"Sorry, Professor Snape."
"They were here because they both needed to hear about you."
"But… Sn--"
"I wish you two would stop." Quinton growled, "It is getting annoying."
"Sorry?" If there was anything that Harry was to learn, it was that Quinton could confuse him instantly.
"Never mind. Don't mind me, Harry, I'm being bitter. Your bedroom is the door down the hall from the kitchen. It's a bit damp, but…" She shrugged, "You'll be fine. Go get some sleep."
Harry nodded, and retreated to do so.
*
When Harry awoke, he at first couldn't tell where he was. When he remembered, he couldn't tell what time it was. He supposed that it would be hard to tell in a dungeon with no windows.
He hopped out of bed, put on his glasses, and headed toward the kitchen. There were voices, all talking at once. And when Harry stepped into the kitchen, he saw at once why.
Many, many snakes were all gathered in the room, slithering and slipping over the floor, the table, and the counters. There were small snakes, large snakes, and medium-sized snakes. There were green snakes, and black snakes, and brown snakes. There were so many snakes that Harry thought he had walked into a zoo.
Quinton was sitting at the table amongst them, speaking lowly in Parseltounge and writing down something as all the snakes spoke to her at once. There was something odd about the say she spoke, like it was forced and she didn't know all the words. One snake had wrapped itself around her head, and was whispering into her ear. She looked up, saw Harry, and looked back down at her parchment.
"Good morning, Harry." She said. Her voice was hoarse.
"You're a Parselmouth?"
"No. Not naturally. I learnt." She said something to a small grass snake on the table, and it nodded.
"You learnt?" Harry asked. He didn't know that someone could learn to be a Parselmouth.
"Yes. Being an Animagus has its advantages." She didn't smile, but her eyes twinkled.
A snake nudged Quinton.
/Nothing from the second quarter./ It said, and then slithered its way out of the kitchen. All the snakes began to speak once again.
"One at a time! One at a time!" Quinton cried, and began to write hurriedly on her parchment.
This conference went on for about half an hour, most of the messages like: "One muggle walked through section B20." None of it made any sense to Harry, but he was still fascinated. He had never seen so many snakes in one place, and many of them nodded to him and said Hello.
A particularly long and very old snake stopped by Harry's feet on the way out.
/You remind me of Thomas./ It said, looking at Harry with piercing yellow eyes, before it left the kitchen.
When Quinton was done, and all the snakes gone, the Professor held up a long parchment filled with her whispy, spider-like writing.
"The grounds are secure for now." She said, "You should be fine for when I go to Diagon Alley."
"You're going to Diagon Alley?"
"Yes." She did not need to add 'And you are not.'
Harry nodded, though he felt a little disappointed.
"Don't do anything, don't say anything, and don't touch anything if you don't want to loose a few fingers. Understand?"
Harry nodded again, and looked worriedly at the chairs.
"Good. I'll be back shortly." Quinton stood and pulled on her black over-coat. With a little 'pop' she was gone.
*
It was a long and interesting summer living in the dungeons of Quinton's ruined castle. Upon exploring, Harry found that the dungeons were much bigger and far more elaborate than Harry thought at first, and he pondered over how big the rest of the castle would have been had it still been standing.
Quinton, though fascinating, was not very good company, as she was frequently missing, and when she was there she was lost deep in thought.
So Harry counted off the days until he could at last return to Hogwarts. He had four days left on his calendar, when someone else joined their presence.
Harry was awoken by harsh words that morning, and arguing in the other room. He couldn't make out the words, but one of the voices was Quinton's. The other was familiar, but he could not place it.
He moved to the wall and put his ear against it.
"Eavesdropper!" Squeaked the shrunken head on the wall, but Harry ignored it.
"—four days. It's safe now." Quinton's voice.
"It is not safe. It is never safe."
"If you need my help, then come here! If you stay for three days, then we'll be leaving anyway, and--"
"It's still dangerous. Harry…"
"Is a smart kid, who you won't pose any danger to."
There was a short bark of a laugh, and then a long pause before Quinton continued.
"You need to come, you can't stay there."
"I don't think--"
"Come. It's alright."
And thus Harry spent three days with Snape.
*
The Next Chapter to Come: 'The Return to Hogwarts'
A.N. Please excuse my Latin – I can't speak it, just use a dictionary. So it's probably completely wrong.