Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).
Chapter 16: Snakes and More Unexpected Revelations
The next few days after their discovery about Wesley were very much the norm for the school, and that felt rather odd to Harry as most of the time there had been something weird or odd after such a revealing. Also generally there was something rather interesting a foot by mid October.
The two slightly interesting things that happened were that the Quidditch schedule was totally reworked and the announcement of the Halloween ball this year, which apparently was going to be a much bigger event then it usually was. More like the Yule ball was in Harry's fourth year. The Quidditch schedule was obviously redone to avoid the general house squabbles. The first match in November was going to be Slytherin versus Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin versus Gryffindor as had been the traditional pairing. This game had determined which house was hated more by the other in years past and had generally been the start of the real problems between the two houses. Slytherin and Ravenclaw didn't have the same animosity that Slytherin had with Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. The Ravenclaws didn't like the Slytherins particularly but there was no major hatred for them either. The next game was to be Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor followed by Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor followed by Hufflepuff versus Slytherin followed by Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw and finally finishing with Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Harry wasn't sure that finishing with that game as the Quidditch finale was exactly the smartest thing but he guessed it was better then starting with it. The best thing he could think of was that the headmaster hoped that they would have gotten over their animosity by then, but Harry found that extremely unlikely. Harry hardly thought those to be incredible considering what had been going on his previous years.
His hopes for more interesting events were answered that day where it was announced that there was going to be a demonstration in defense against the dark arts by professor Saren and it was revealed that there was going to be a school wide dueling demonstration the Friday before Halloween. While these weren't totally spectacular at least it was more abnormal then a different Quidditch schedule and a dance that he probably wouldn't have any fun at anyway.
Percy had also started sitting in on classes and judging how fit they were. But Harry hadn't heard anything about it, and thus he figured nothing interesting had come out of that yet.
Today Harry was going to be able to see one of Percy's visits because he was looking in on Leon, who only had one class. Harry was interested in seeing what Leon thought about it and what he was going to do about it since he was obviously one of Umbridge's targets. So he, Hermione and Ron decided to get to class early and ask him.
"What should I do? I am not really teaching the class any differently then it has been taught before except possibly the techniques involved." He smiled at them as he said that. "This is always how the class was taught, without house boundaries and using pensieves. So if he deems my style unworthy then he deems the class not worthy of existence. Besides what would be the point of lying to him? It's not like you all are getting hurt or even complaining or anything." Harry had to agree with him.
They had stopped using the colored pillows the previous week as everybody was now fairly used to everyone else in the class. Harry was increasingly glad that Blaise was the Slytherin in this class. He was certain that this over anything else was what made that first DA meeting go so well and what made Blaise into one of the students he trusted most out of his entire year. The only point against him was being in Slytherin. But that wasn't really a point against him at all as Leon was in Slytherin and he wasn't horrible and Harry surmised that most of them when not following the group unity and laughing when they were expected too weren't nearly as bad as they were made out to be. Even Malfoy wasn't as bad as Harry had thought, although thinking about what he was doing to Wesley, he was nearly so.
Percy entered the class at the designated starting point for the class. Of course because of Leon's rule about comfortableness, Harry, Hermione and Ron were the only students present. Plus they had changed from their robes into more comfortable clothing which for Harry and Ron was simply muggle street clothes. Hermione had worn something more like underclothes. But Harry assumed that this was because she had a class immediately after this and wanted to be able to change into her robes quickly. She wasn't the only one who did this either. Padma and Terry also wore underclothes, which meant that Terry was often in class clad in simply a tank top and boxer shorts. Once, to everyone's dismay especially his, Terry had forgotten to button them up and when he opened his legs he had flashed the entire room. Leon was the only one who didn't see it and that was only because he couldn't see.
It was that event more than anything that solidified the group together to include everyone because it was Blaise and Seamus who stood up for him, Blaise even going far enough to threaten to flash the room if they didn't shut up about it so that Terry wasn't alone in his embarrassment. No one kept it up after that, although Harry was certain this was because they all knew Blaise wasn't kidding. And while some of the girls (and Seamus) were slightly blushing at the notion, everyone still shut up. Terry had thanked him after class and from that point on all the remaining animosity in the class was gone.
Harry wondered what the other people in the class would wear today. As unlike Umbridge, Percy at least gave the students in addition to the professor a heads up before looking into the classroom. He said it was more professional that way. Of course that wasn't his greatest concern upon entering the classroom.
Leon was sitting cross-legged in the air like he always did balancing his wand on his nose. "Hello Percy, is there anything you wish to ask me while the majority of the class is getting ready?" He asked, never moving from his position and not even swaying his wand.
"Well, actually I was going to ask where the majority of the class was…" He stared at their professor as his voice trialed off nervously. Obviously he wasn't used to being around blind people especially, blind people like Leon who aren't really affected by their blindness. Everyone in the class had been used to it for a long while.
"They will all be here in about ten minutes…well maybe twelve." He said before hopping to a standing position and catching his wand out of the air in his hands. Percy looked at him amazed.
"I am curious…if it isn't too out of place to ask, how did you do that?" Percy asked, obviously intrigued.
"Nothing spectacular I simply attached a small whistle to the hilt of my wand and catch it by listening to the sound it produces. I don't think any of you would be able to hear it though. I'm sure another blind man could, or anyone with heightened senses, like the ones from my lineage but not just anyone." He smiled before showing them the end of his wand and sure enough there was a small wooden whistle attached to it that Harry had never noticed before because he couldn't hear it and it blended with the rest of the wand very well. That and it wasn't a very big whistle to begin with. Percy on the other hand didn't seem to be paying attention to the whistle.
"You're…lineage." He said in a slightly pompous but obviously worried tone. "You wouldn't be referring to your being a Dhampyr now are you?" he asked.
"Yes, I am." Of course to Harry and the majority of the school this was old news. And it didn't really shock anyone beyond the initial slight fear it produced. No one who knew Leon would ever think him incredibly dangerous. It wasn't that he magically manipulated people or anything it was just that he was so calm and understanding, and never seemed to act violent at all. No one in the class cared in the least bit at this point.
"Hmm…then I have a few questions for you related to that." Leon nodded, "Have you ever thought about drinking the blood of the student."
Leon did not lose his calming smile but responded, "I would be lying if I said the thought never crossed my mind. However I must point out that having a thought cross your mind and acting on that thought are two very different things. Besides, I don't drink blood anymore and so any talk of this is really a mute point. You can contact professor Dumbledore about that if you wish, he will corroborate my story."
While Harry was certain Percy would hold this against their professor he was surprised to see that Percy seemed impressed with that response. "Well said, I will not bring up this topic again." Harry sighed. At least Umbridge hadn't managed to poison Percy with her hatred of "half humans." He still sounded somewhat pompous and not all too likable but he was obviously not acting like the same git he had been in the past. The key was whether this was simply an act or had he actually changed. It seemed that at least Harry was right in that he was going to be fair and not hold personal grudges against people. Of course it was unlikely that he had a personal grudge with Leon, but the fact did remain that he was at least hearing the man out.
Leon smiled again, "Well back to your first question, do to the nature of this class and the innate dangers with learning this art. I allow the students to get to my class fifteen minutes after the generally designated starting time so they can change into more comfortable clothing than robes if they see fit too. Of you are wondering about this choice on my part then you may want to check the history books that have curriculum used by previous psionics professors because this, at least the allowance of more comfortable clothing in class, is often a part of that curriculum."
Percy noted something down on the clipboard he was holding before continuing. "You say this is a dangerous art? Then is it really suitable for students?" He asked.
"Well…many of the potions one learns in the Potions NEWT are deadly, and yet we still teach them. In our Defense against the Dark Arts NEWT classes we learn the unforgivable curses and what they do which is incredibly dangerous. Now given that and any number of other really dangerous things we teach students I do not believe that this is beyond what should be taught although the possibility of great harm is likely higher here and so we take more precautions so that that doesn't happen. Anything is safe enough to teach just about anyone given the right instructor and precautions." Leon's smile fell to a calm but serious expression which showed little emotion and yet wasn't stiff as many people were with such an expression.
Again Percy seemed rather impressed with his response. "Right you are, and since you seem knowledgeable about the subject and have given me no reason as of yet to doubt your conviction or your ability I will simply have to watch the class to see how you are doing and whether in fact you are taking the precautions necessary or not." Leon smiled again and nodded. It was then that conveniently the remainder of the students started to walk in.
Padma and Terry were wearing their usual undergarments, both carrying bags with robes in them so that they could simply throw them over them and head off to wherever she went to after class, which seemed often to be the library with Blaise and now Michael, as Terry had a class after this one, which Harry hadn't known until Padma had told him as his class was in the direction of the Ravenclaw common room. Harry noticed that Terry was wearing the kind of boxers that did not have a slit in the crotch. Apparently he had learned his lesson. Justin shoed up wearing fairly standard Muggle street clothes like Harry and Ron, and Ernie was wearing jogging shorts and a t-shirt. Michael and Seamus entered next almost alongside each other. Michael was wearing shorts and a tank top and Seamus was wearing more street clothes.
It was Blaise that caught Harry's eye more than anyone else because he had chosen to wear nothing but jogging shorts. It wasn't that Harry normally was in the habit of noticing scantly clad men, but something in his mind clicked as he saw him and he couldn't help but notice that Blaise had virtually no hair at all aside of the hair on his head and, Harry presumed, the hair that all men had. The thing that clicked in his head and made him notice this was what Blaise had told him that first class about having an Indian ancestor. His great great grandmother, Harry thought, that would make him one sixteenth whatever that woman was… Harry realized that that could be enough. He also noticed then that Blaise skin was slightly darker then most of the other people's in the room. Not so dark that one would notice a difference unless they looked but dark enough so that it didn't have pinkish sections at all, it was all one solid color. Harry was certain that where he or Ron might get sunburn, Blaise would get a tan, Lucky bastard! Harry thought. He, like most people, hated sunburns.
During all of this Percy looked continually more annoyed at the dress of each student as they entered the room. Harry could see why, Percy had always been obsessive about things being done according to the rules and this was certainly not in any rulebook Harry had seen nor had it ever been told that this was allowed. Then again no where had Harry ever heard of a rule that disallowed instructors to change the dress code for their class, and if there was then it is likely that Hermione, or if not her then one of the other prefects in the class would have brought it up when he first told them about it.
Of course it could also be that everyone was wearing actual comfortable clothing and Percy was stuck in those horrible ministry robes which looked incredibly uncomfortable to Harry. Harry snickered at the thought of Percy wearing anything but a robe. It seemed so wrong on the old Percy but he wasn't sure about the new one. Somehow Percy's new look made the formalities look strange on him. He no longer needs the formal robes to look powerful. Harry concluded. The robes seemed superfluous or even counterproductive. They almost made him look too much like his position. They separated him from every one else in a way that would not help his position at all.
As soon as everyone had gathered together Leon started the class. "Today we are going to be working on mind speech and telempathy." He spoke directly into their heads. Everyone in class was used to this by now and could easily tell the difference between when they were thought too and when they were spoken too. Percy looked confused. "For the remainder of the class you will not be allowed to speak you must find another way to communicate. Preferably this should be using mind speak like I have been doing with you for the entire semester but if you cannot accomplish that then anything will do."
"Now doing mind speech isn't something I can really teach you since we all think differently. And since really all mind speech is, is simple thought projection it is difficult at best to have a universal way of doing it. The suggestion I have for you is to not try and make them understand what you are thinking simply send it to them m in a way that makes sense to you and then let their mind figure it out. Likely you will figure out how to telempathically end emotions to each other before actually speaking that's ok but should be done sparingly especially with those not trained in the ways of the mind. As many people will not be able to tell the difference between theirs and your emotions." He then smiled, "I trust that you all have enough of a grasp on how projection works from everything we have learned in this class. But here is another slue and one that I think we all understand. When you put your thoughts into a pensieve you are in fact projecting them. This is relatively simple and I have no doubt that most of you will figure it out. Ask me for help if you need it and for now figure this out. Oh and I recommend doing it with your friends out of class as you will probably have more in common in thought process then with the others which in this case makes learning a lot easier."
Of course it ended up being that the students grouped together by house, which would have left Blaise alone had Justin and Ernie pulled him to them. It was all as well was Harry was about to pull him with the Gryffindors anyway.
Harry tried to ignore Percy, who looked more confused than anything and concentrate on what he was doing. He knew that while he was under no obligation to learn to communicate directly from mind to mind that that was the ultimate point of this exercise. He also knew that he was going to have to learn this one on his own, as even if there were a common way of doing it, he still wouldn't be able to communicate nearly effectively enough without talking without already being able to do it in order to really help each other. He knew that pensieves were similar to what he was doing and he knew that it was fairly simple because Leon had thought it was and he seemed to be a really good judge of this.
Of course none of this helped Harry succeed in what eh was doing in anyway as he had no idea where to start. It's not like he could take a memory out of his head with his wand and put it in someone else as if there were a pensieve. Actually he didn't know that he couldn't but he also saw no reason to wan to. He would lose the memory and they would gain it and besides that couldn't be mind speech because Leon was doing it without a wand.
Of course Hermione and Padma got it first and before he knew it both of their voices appeared in his head nearly simultaneously.
"I wonder how far we can do this from?" Padma voiced.
"I have no idea…" Hermione thought back.
"Good, good, good, you both figured it out! Congratulations that two of you so I guess you all gain twenty points." Leon thought.
This short conversation was more of a distraction then anything. The next projection was even more of a shocker though, and if that conversation was a distraction this was a red herring. It seemed like a random thought more then an intended message but the message itself was clear as, "Wow, I never noticed how cute Justin was before…" appeared in Harry's mind in Seamus' voice.
Harry froze for a second, before looking around. No one else reacted. "Did you just project that to me?" Justin's voice appeared in his head too then quickly, "Yes I did it!" in the same voice.
What sounded like Seamus stammering followed. "Um…I…um…wait I just did it too didn't I? Why didn't I see this before? It's so easy!" Harry was not finding this easy at all and his apparent ability to intercept the other communications in the room was becoming incredibly irritating.
"Yeah it is, let's see if we can annoy Ernie?" Harry heard. Harry looked at Seamus where he was sitting and a mischievous grin on his face.
It continued this way for the rest of the period and by the end not only was Harry the only person who had not figured out how to project his thoughts, even Ron had. He was also listening to every communiqué in the room simultaneously, which was making it even more difficult to concentrate on what he was doing.
Eventually he heard Ernie's voice in his head and for some reason even above the other chatter he could tell it was directed at him. Well at least I can still receive things and understand them. He thought. "You need any help?" He asked.
Harry wasn't sure how to respond, he wanted to mind speak back but he didn't know how. However Harry did realize something as son as he stopped trying to mind speak how he was the other voices in his head stopped. He wasn't sure what this meant but it appeared that he had in his attempts to actually speak that he had learned how to intercept other mind speeches without them knowing about it. Now if only he could figure out how to actually do it himself?
"Ok I'll take your lack of response to mean yes." Ernie said to him again. He then walked over and took Harry's hand. "Physical contact is what helped me get it in the first place." Harry wasn't sure what to do but he thought it couldn't hurt after all he hadn't been successful at all without it.
"Now I think you may be trying too hard, the first thing that…"
"They are not speaking our language, and it is difficult to see what they are doing." Harry and Ernie both jumped at the sudden audio intrusion. It seemed that they were the only people in the room that noticed.
"What was that?" Harry thought quickly. Ernie didn't respond, instead he looked like he was going into shock. Harry then realized why. That was parseltongue…Which means…OH MY GOD!
Suddenly Harry heard the voice again and at the same time Ernie snapped out of his stupor. Confirming to Harry was he now suspected. "We must keep going they are not doing anything related to what we seek. The master will be mad at us yes if we do not hurry. We must find Dumbledore. We must find the enemy, death to him."
At this both Ernie and Harry jumped up off the floor startling everyone else and ran out of the room both in the direction of the headmaster's office both ignoring all the yells after them. Harry not longer cared about anything other than getting to the headmaster. Apparently there were snakes sent by Voldemort in the walls and they were trying to kill him.
It was fortunate that Ernie was prefect because they were stopped by at least four order members who were patrolling the halls. Ernie simply showed his badge and said he had urgent business to discuss with the headmaster. Harry was too worried about what this meant to care about anything else. There were snakes in the walls of the school sent by Voldemort. That meant that it was possible for him to get snakes into the school, which meant any number of bad possibilities for all of them.
When they reached the headmaster's office they were presented with a new problem. "Do you know the password?" Ernie asked quickly.
"No, but I know it's always some form of sweet." Harry responded. "Shouldn't you know it since you're a prefect?"
"The prefect's aren't told the headmaster's password, unless we are called for something." Ernie said rather agitated now. "What are we going to do?"
For some unknown reason it was that which clicked the other part of this in Harry's mind. Ernie was a parselmouth, he had to be.
Suddenly Harry was filled with a rage that he could not control or even simply feel. It wanted Ernie's blood. It was years of pent up rage directed at who knows what and this had been a breaking point Harry didn't even know he had.
Harry grabbed Ernie right there in the hallway by the gargoyle statue that led to the headmaster's office. He slammed him into the wall there and stared him down. To anyone who was watching it would have looked ridiculous, Ernie was at least half a foot taller than him with broader shoulders and more obviously developed muscle. He could have easily pushed Harry off or even lifted him up and done the same thing higher on the wall. But Harry's rage, shown through his entire being, had frozen him. Harry knew that, he knew that he had power to do whatever he wanted to him, and what he wanted to do was make him feel pain.
"You are a parselmouth!" He spat in Ernie's face.
"Um…" was Ernie's entire response. The normally confrontational boy was anything but as he obviously understood all the ramifications of this moment.
"What about our second year? What about the basilisk? What about that snake!" With each question he shoved Ernie into the wall again. "That means you could hear what I said to it! That mean's you could have told them that I was telling them the truth!"
"I…I…" Ernie stammered.
"Is that all you have to say? I! I!"
Ernie let his body go limp. Harry realized that even with his rage he could not hold Ernie's weight entirely so he let the boy fall to the floor. He looked like he was about to cry, this made Harry happy. He would like nothing better then to see this boy who had caused him so much trouble his second year cry.
Ernie sat there for a little while right there against the wall next to the gargoyle statue and the headmaster's office before saying. "I was about to do the same thing." He said, "I was about to tell the snake off Justin, but you beat me to it. I hesitated because I was afraid and in the split second I had taken to think and decide to do it you had already done it." He looked more somber now then Harry had ever seen him.
"I saw how Justin reacted. I knew that he wouldn't understand what was being said, but the way he yelled at you, the way the room went completely silent. It scared me. I was just this close to doing exactly what you did. But for you it was simply saving someone. For me it was saving my best friend, only to realize that had I done what I intended I could have lost him as a best friend." A tear fell down his face as he said this. "After that the rumor's started flying and I was already scared. You se I had grown up in a wizarding household I knew what everyone thought of parseltongue. I had thought that if I used it to save someone that people might not immediately jump to bad conclusions about me, but then everyone but your friends jumped to those conclusions about you. And I knew that I wasn't nearly as likable as you were, not only that but you were still 'The Boy Who Lived' and I was just this random Hufflepuff." He then looked straight into Harry's eyes.
"I was scared, it was totally irrational but I thought that because you had been found that everyone would immediately start suspecting everyone else. I knew what that could mean, especially after hearing Justin, who was terrified, talk about you in our dorm. That was why I started those rumors because I thought in my panic that if I was obviously against everything than there wouldn't be any suspicion of me. What I should have realized was that there was no suspicion of me in the first place."
"Oh I wouldn't say that Mr. Macmillan." Both of them were startled by the headmaster's voice Harry out of his rage, although he was still a bit angry and Ernie out of his apologetic trance. Dumbledore then stepped out of the now open Gargoyle statue, a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. "Although I should like to know why two of my finest sixth years one of whom is a prefect were fighting in the hallway outside of my office when they are supposed to be in class." His smile didn't falter as he said this, it sounded casual as if he hadn't heard the apology and walked into the hallway to find Harry standing over Ernie with a look of rage on his face and wasn't admonishing them for not being in their class where they were supposed to be.
The rage fell out of Harry then and he realized that it didn't even feel like his own. He looked down at Ernie who looked pitiful sitting there on the floor and he felt for him. He wasn't sure what had happened, why he had done that. He remembered doing it but he couldn't think of a reason. He certainly didn't want to hurt Ernie now, after all he was one of his friends and even if they were not close, he had backed Harry up the previous year when many did not. Then he remembered what he had heard in class.
"We were working on mind speak in class today. And I was having trouble with it so Ernie offered to help me. We had just started when I heard something. No one else appeared to hear it and it was something about not being able to understand us and not being able to see anything."
Ernie stood up at this point, "I heard it too, yeah it was something like that I don't know I was concentrating pretty hard at that point." Dumbledore made no response to Ernie's admonition to him that he had in fact heard what Harry had heard. Ernie continued, "But then we both kind of stopped in shock I guess, snapping out of it only when we heard what they said next. They sad that they needed to find you, than I think they said they intend to kill you."
At this Dumbledore lost both his smile and his twinkle and said. "Thank you for this information." He said, "Now I suggest that you work out your differences, as it seems like you both have quite a bit to talk about, and I think that professor Saren would agree." With that he whisked himself down the corridor in what for Dumbledore was a quick and urgent matter.
Harry and Ernie just looked at each other they both seemed at a loss as to what to say. Harry wasn't sure what Ernie was thinking but he was feeling guilty. Certainly he had a right to be annoyed with the boy, even angry after what he experienced that year, but what he had done? Grabbing him in rage? He didn't know what came over him. Eventually he just settled on, "…sorry."
Ernie looked surprised, "Why are you apologizing to me?"
Harry wasn't sure how to respond I'm sorry …for shoving you against the wall? …for wanting to punch you in the gut over and over again? …for enjoying seeing you cry?
He couldn't decide so he decided to just let it go. "What are you going to do now?"
"Nothing, I can't afford for this to get out." He sounded very stern. "It would ruin me."
"Everyone knows about me? And after a while it doesn't seem to matter anymore. Even last year when they were trying to make me look bad they didn't concentrate on that at all." Harry said as they started walking to nowhere in particular.
"But you're the boy who lived. If nothing else you defeated You-Know-Who. What do I have? I'm just a pureblooded Hufflepuff with too much ambition for his own good. I'm surprised I wasn't sorted into Slytherin. The hat highly considered it."
Harry remembered his experience with the Hat and then thought of Leon. "The only reason I wasn't sorted into Slytherin was because I told the hat I didn't want to be…" He said. It was the first time he had ever told anyone except Dumbledore that, even Ron and Hermione didn't know.
Ernie looked surprised. "I think that was part of why I wasn't put in it as well. It mentioned me being too scared and then put me in Hufflepuff where I would have people to help make get over my fear."
"Let's go to the Room of Requirement so we can talk in private." Harry said.
"About…"
Harry looked at him, "What just happened and what we are going to do about it now that at least Dumbledore knows."
"We? And he won't tell anyone will he?" Ernie looked scared.
"He might. But no one who will care." Ernie didn't look very relieved by that. "Remember what that boy Devon said, about trusting snakes? I think that was for you as much as for me."
Ernie thought for a bit. "I don't know, but if you have any thoughts I'll listen to them. Oh…and thanks for not going crazy on me and telling everyone."
"You call what I did not going crazy?"
Ernie smiled, "Well…but you didn't tell anyone."
Harry smirked. "Why is it that all you prefect people have screwed up priorities?"
Ernie simply raised his eyebrow then shrugged. Then they walked off towards the room of requirement. Harry was certain that he had made another new friend.
Afterthoughts
I just wanted to get this out, the thing with the Defense against the Dark Arts stuff will be next chapter.
Oh and if you are reading this story please review even if it is just to say hi. I am becoming less and less motivated to read the story because I only have a few reviews after logging over 100000 words… So if you want delays of less than two weeks to a month please review.
