Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

Meeting Parsyl

Ryua skipped down the front stairs the next morning, shielding her eyes against the bright sunlight coming in over the forest. Although Ron had been at breakfast, Hermionie had left early, and Harry was nowhere to be seen. And seeing as how Ron refused to talk about Harry at all, Ryua decided she ought to go find him herself. "Don't you dare eat those grapes Parsyl." Ryua had filled her bag with some fruit and cheese from breakfast, guessing that Hermionie's small stack of toast wouldn't be enough to feed two people.

"Morning Hermionie, Harry!" she said.

"Oh, good morning." Hermionie replied.

"Potter, how the blazes did you get your name in that Goblet?"

"Not one to mince words are you?" Harry sighed. "I didn't."

"Didn't?"

"Someone else did."

"Who? Johnson? I didn't know cheating was part of the Gryffindor requirements..."

"No, Angelina didn't, she was just as surprised as everyone else. Moody thinks it was some powerful wizard."

"Hmm, yeah, to get across that age line of Dumbledore's, he'd have to be. Say," Ryua said, pulling some apples out of her bag, "Feel like some more food?"

"See, I told you people would believe you!" Apparently, Hermionie had been trying to make Harry feel better about no one believing his story.

"Yeah..." Harry said slowly, torn between stung pride at being proved wrong and relief that Ryua wasn't about to ditch him too.

"What? Don't like apples? I grabbed a banana and some grapes too, although you might have to wrestle Parsyl for those... How about some cheese?"

Harry gave a very small grin, although as it was the first smile he'd worn since dinner yesterday, both the girls were very pleased to see it. "Yeah, some cheese would be good. But, who's Parsyl? I've never met her in the school."

"My snake, of course. She's a real lazy beast, always getting carried around, not to mention fed by every first-year Slytherin that comes near her... I can't believe I've never introduced you, just a minute..." Ryua rummaged around in her bag for a second, seizing Parsyl's middle and drew her out, trailing grapes. "Here. Now be nice Parsyl, you won't be able to boss Harry around."

Harry really did smile when he picked up Parsyl. Recognizing a kindred spirit, she immediately became much better behaved than usual, arranging her coils familiarly around Harry's forearms. [Greetings, Parseltongue.]

[Uh, hello...]

Although snakes don't have the proper equipment for laughing, Parsyl clearly did. [Not used to talking to the Serpentine Children, are we?]

[Well, not really, I suppose. Or at least, not having them talk back. I set a python loose on my cousin once, before I even knew I was a wizard...]

[Well done on that account.]

[Thank you.]

[You are courteous, for a human.]

[For a human? Just how many of us do you talk to?]

[Well, you're the first I've had a true conversation with, to tell the truth. My mistress, although she can understand you speaking in our language, cannot tell more than my most basic meanings.]

[That must be frustrating. Wait, Ryua can understand what I'm saying?]

"Yep!" Ryua said cheerfully, starling a very confused Hermionie. "Can't speak it though, and I can only understand wizards and Basilisks."

"Weird."

[She's really quite considerate, for a human. Not at all like the Lord.]

[Lord?]

[Of course, Harry Potter. The Dark Lord. The one called He Who Should Not Be Named. My mistress and her family have never spoken his name, but I have heard his voice, as only snakes can.]

[You mean Voldemort's alive somewhere?]

[Not truly, not yet, although we of the Serpentine have always been aware of his spirit haunting the world. But you knew this already, did you not?]

[Yeah, I suppose... listen, it's been really cool talking to you, but Hermionie's feeling rather left out by this point, so I'm switching back to English.] "Sorry Hermionie, I didn't mean to ignore you like that..."

"Oh, it's quite alright," she said in a slightly shrill tone. It had been rather eerie to watch what appeared to be a hissing contest between Harry and a rather large cobra for five minutes, not to mention the fact that Ryua jumped right in like they were speaking perfect English to each other. "Er, Harry, are you sure that snake's perfectly safe?"

"Safe? This lady? No more than Professor McGonnagall or Ryua is safe. Oh," he said contritely at the expression of fear crossing her face, "she's not going to bite me, or you, and definitely not Ryua, don't worry. Although, I wouldn't want to be the person making life difficult for Ryua... Parsyl's easily offended, and very protective." He said, handing the moon-white cobra back to Ryua.

"Of course she is! She's mine, after all. Harry, I don't suppose you could teach me to speak Parseltongue, could you?" Ryua said wistfully.

"I don't think so. Apparently, it's an inborn trait, runs in certain families. You either have it, or you don't."

"Or have it halfway."

"True. Ever read about that, Hermionie?"

"I don't think so." Hermionie seemed much more relaxed with Parsyl set down on Ryua's other side and the conversation switching to books. "Although, it's not like many people study Parseltongue, it's not exactly common enough to make comparisons on."

"Well, there are two Parselmouths alive today, Hermionie, plus me to throw a little extra into the mix. Maybe you should be the first to publish a theory on it!"

"Oh, come on, as if You-Know-Who would ever consent to a study. I can see it now: 'Ah, Mr. Dark Lord, I wonder if you could say a few phrases for me in Parseltongue?' 'Of course, my dear... Kill the Mudblood, my snake!' Or something like that."

"Well, maybe you've got a point there." Harry said, an apple in one hand and a small orange cheese in the other. "Still, it would be kind of cool, wouldn't it?"

"Sure. Right. And Fred and George are tied for Head Boy."

"Yeah, maybe it wouldn't work so good." Ryua said as she pulled a handful of grapes out from under a protesting Parsyl, who was trying to soak up the morning sunlight. "We'll have to find you some other obscure thing to write a novel on, then."

"Oh, ha ha. Didn't it ever occur to you that I might not be destined to be some braniac author of complicated magic texts?"

Harry and Ryua looked at each other. "Nope!" they said, starting to giggle.

"Well, maybe you're right on that one," Hermionie said, laughing with them.

Author's Note: I didn't expect this chapter to be so long, I had meant to fit a bit more in. Unfortunately, I then realized that Parsyl and Harry hadn't met yet, so their conversation just kept building. It's a wee bit confusing, but I really don't feel like rewriting it, I've got another chapter yet to edit.

Thank you to Athena Diagon Cat, JeannieBeannie33, and whoever else I've forgotten for reading my story.

Thanks to AshleySnape for taking the time to find my story and read my little footnotes.

A really big thanks to raven dragonwing for writing, like, a novel in the review section. Are you the same dragonwing who reviewed my story before you got an account?