Chapter 6: Of Pranks and Biting
Upon Harry's illustrious entrance all inane chatter stopped as the eyes of the students and staff alike swiveled to the deadly snake around their wild saviors neck. They then knew that there were two wild and deadly creatures to be cautious of now. They couldn't be sure which one would strike out to bite. The only thing they could be positive of was that only one was poisonous. While Harry might be diseased, he did not have deadly venom that would inject into the victims bloodstream upon the first puncture of the razor sharp fangs protruding from his mouth.
The unfortunate Gryffindors that happened to be at the same end of the table Harry sat down at were treated to an unfriendly sounding hiss and a bearing of fangs from Harry's new friend for their troubles. They were all sorely tempted to move down without being noticed but feared bringing on the wrath of their Gryffindor compatriot. When quiet hissing sounding quite like laughter and talking reached the ears of the students they all turned to see the source of it. Every single person had to collectively collect their jaws off the floor when they realized that indeed, Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, was indeed a parslemouth and was talking to the snake that was around his neck.
"Harry, uh, mate. Th-that snake isn't dangerous is it? It's not goin' to hurt us or nothin', right? Cause if it is, then maybe you should let it go." When Seamus noticed the fierce glare aimed at him and the growling all from Harry he decided maybe that wasn't the best approach. "Uh, well, what's it's name?"
"HIS name is Shadow and he won't do anything unless I tell him to. As long as I like you, your safe," was Harry's reply.
After listening to Harry's reply everyone decided it would probably be safer for them to just drop the matter and pay attention to their own food. If there was something Harry wanted to say to them then he'd say. Now, not everyone thought like that and at that very moment the snootiest boy in school was on his way over to the Gryffindor table.
"Hey, Forest Freak, showing support for Slytherin? And here I thought you were a Gryffindor. Of course, now we all know you're a dark wizard. You know why? Only dark wizards are parslemouths. Who would have thought that you would take after the man who killed your parents and gave you that scar..."
"Mr. Malfoy! That is quite enough!" barked Professor Black.
"No, I don't think it is. I think it's time somebody points out wonder boys similarities to You Know Who. I mean, come on! They look alike, they are both orphans, and they both talk to snakes! I bet the Potter is the Heir of Slytherin and he'll start killing off mudbloods and mudblood and muggle lovers," Malfoy yelled.
Hissing and spitting in disgust, the snake lunged for Malfoy. He was tired of listening to this insufferable twat talk about his master in this way. There was no way any good familiar would allow any human speak about their master in such a manner and this boy needed to be taught a lesson. Before Shadow could get within striking range, he felt a hand wrap firmly around his body before he was lowered onto the table with the food. Looking at Harry, the entire school saw an unreadable expression on his face and then he pounced. Malfoy went sprawling to the floor in an undignified heap, being sat upon by Harry. Said boy started to punch and tear at Malfoy. He then attempted to bite him, but was hauled to his feet by Professor Lupin and Professor Black. Leading the irate boy out of the hall, they decided it would be best to take him somewhere to calm down.
They lead the still fuming Harry in to the empty Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and made him sit at an empty desk. They were then at a loss as how to calm the boy, but saw it was not needed any longer. Now that the object of the boy's murderous rage was out of his eye sight, he was startlingly calm. He was calmly looking at the teachers, as though waiting for his punishment.
"Harry, we are not going to deduct points, but we do have to assign you a detention for 8:00 p.m. tomorrow evening. There are many things we'd like to talk to you about. Now, you can't let on that this detention is not going to be like a detention. You'll have to act like we made you do grueling and unfunny activities while you were in our care," Professor Lupin said.
"Yeah, we can't show favoritism. But there are things you need to know about us and light that needs to be shed on your past and your family. We of course also want to know about you. Yes, we know you won't be inclined to tell us much, but we hope that after we tell you what we have to say, you will trust us a little more. We will see you tomorrow. You are dismissed, but please refrain from attacking Mr. Malfoy anymore tonight," Professor Black stated.
All they got was a noncommittal grunt from the boy and a curious glance before he retreated out the door. He wasn't too sure on what to make of these two adults. They seemed to act like adults around other adults, but children around the little people. That brought Harry to his decision that they would be good subjects to observe and get to know. Of course, he already had other adult subjects. He wanted to get to know Albus and Severus as well. Mainly Severus though, only because of his interest in potions. He had discovered that the Potions Master was one of the best at this art and he should be the one he looked to for assistance.
"I hope he can learn to trust us, Remy. He's all we have left of Lily and James," Sirius said.
"I know Siri, I know. I'm sure that eventually we will win his trust. It will just take sometime. If I had known his family treated him that way I would have demanded that he be removed from his care and given to us. I don't care about the lycanthropy, Severus makes me the potion. I am harmless and I could have been locked up away from him or we could've sent him elsewhere when I went through it. It would have been one night a month. We could have sent him to the Weasley's. He seems to get along with Ron. The first boy he talked to would be a Weasley, of course that is a good thing. He'll be a good influence on him," Remus said.
After the uneventful return of Harry and the Professors to dinner, everyone retired to bed for the night. No one seemed to pay any attention to the black haired, green eyed boy that was sitting in the shadows of the common room, waiting for everyone to fall asleep. He had sent Shadow on a scouting expedition and was eagerly anticipating the return of his snake with the location of the Slytherin house. If he couldn't attack Malfoy, then he'd prank him.
Hearing a voice at the door with hissing under qualities, Harry slipped out the portrait hole. Easily finding his snake, he followed him on his way to the dungeon. When they stopped at a stone wall, Harry was about to turn around figuring he had been mislead when the snake hissed at him that this was the entrance. This brought Harry to a dilemma, how did he get into the common room? He didn't have the password. In his anger he hissed at the wall to open up in parslemouth and was equally shocked when the wall slid out of his way. It must have been set to open to any parslemouth, well, that worked just fine for him.
After entering the common room, Harry headed up the stairs, keeping his eyes open for the door labeled first years. When he found it, he eased the door open and tip toed over to the beds holding the sleeping boys. All he had to do was find the shockingly white colored hair to know which bed Malfoy slept in and he was ready to start his prank. Pulling out a bag that he had kept concealed until know, Harry reached in and pulled out many live, white animals and arranged them on and around Malfoy's bed. He then proceeded to put a spell around the areas that held the animals so they and Malfoy could not get away. After that was through he dyed Malfoy's hair pink and along with his bed sheets. He felt as though he could kiss Hermione for showing him the library where he found the book that told him how to do this. Once he was thoroughly satisfied with his work, Harry left and went back to Gryffindor Tower and slept the best he had in years.
Again Harry was woke up by the arguing of his dorm mates as none of them wanted to be the one to wake Harry from is slumber. Although he was highly amused by this it also bothered him. He didn't like them thinking that he was going to attack him any minute. He liked them and would not attack them simply because they woke him up. He decided to just let them bicker and surprise them by going and taking a shower without being told to and putting on a clean robe. He couldn't wait for breakfast to start, he wanted to find out what Malfoy's reaction was to his prank. He didn't think he would be very appreciative of it. Slipping out the door, he was slightly disappointed that they didn't even notice he had gotten up and left already.
"NO!! I don't care if he likes me better, I'm not waking him," Ron yelled.
"Uh, guys, I don't think we need to worry about waking him, he's gone already," Neville tentatively replied.
"WHAT!?! And we didn' notice? He's goin' to think we're a great bunch of prats. How could we not notice! Look, he took clothes and he would have had to walk right by us. What if we offended him? I mean, this is the second time he's woken to us bickerin' over who would wake him because we were all to chicken to do it," Seamus said.
After all the boys were dressed and ready, they waited to see if Harry was going to return. They finally decided that he had probably headed down to the Great Hall and that they should go down there and apologize for being unobservant and rude for thinking ill of him. They realized that they were friends and that Harry would never do anything to hurt them. Upon entering the Great Hall, they were treated to the sight of a barricade keeping the Slytherins and Gryffindors apart, well, all but two. Harry and Malfoy were in the middle of the hall and nobody seemed to be able to get close to either of them. They appeared to be yelling at each other, but then the fight degraded into an all out brawl and then Harry did something that had them all gapping. When Malfoy wrapped his arm around Harry's throat from behind, Harry ducked his head down quickly and bit down hard. He then proceeded to vigorously shake his head like a wild dog as blood gushed into his mouth and down his chin. He only released him when Malfoy's arms went slack because he was trying to get away.
About the time Harry released Malfoy the magical barriers were brought down by the combined efforts of the teachers and the headmaster, but the magic had already had it's affect. Young Harry Potter gave a lazy, triumphant grin to them all and then passed out cold on the floor. He left the students with disbelieving looks on their faces, the teachers shaking their heads and rolling their eyes, and Malfoy wailing in pain and holding his injured arm. Of course he did look pretty funny with pink hair and pink pj's with white ferrets following him around.
TBC
I have been so bad! I know! I know! I haven't updated in over and month and when I do the chapter is crap! I just can't seem to get myself into this story any more. Oh well, in the next chapter we learn why Remus and Sirius are already in the story. Hopefully this won't take me a month to write.
Please review. I would really appreciate at least 10 reviews for this chapter. I'll accept anything, good comments, bad, outright flames about how crappy my story is! Please! I'm desperate!