Title: Harry Potter and the Queen of Serpents
Author: Sinayah
Distribution: Just Ask
Rating: PG for now but will move up to R in later chapters.
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns everything except the plot and the original characters, creatures, etc.
Authors Note: As always, I want to thank my partner in crime Zenura Ravenscar. Without her support I would've never had the courage to write a single sentence. I'd also like to thank the dedicated fans who gave me so many wonderful reviews for my other fics. I hope you enjoy this as much as the others.
Prologue
It was 11:28 on the night of July 30th when Harry Potter opened his window to admit a lone owl bearing a letter and parcel. He looked out over the neighborhood, expecting to find more of the birds winging towards him, namely Errol and Pig, the two Weasley owls that usually brought his birthday presents from the family of redheads, but there were no more birds in evidence.
Thinking that the other owls would arrive soon and answering Hedwigs impatient hoot, the raven-haired teenager returned to his small bed and sat down in front of the beautiful snowy owl. Hedwig nudged the letter she had carried in her beak towards him before hopping up to sit on the package, a clear signal that he was to open and read the missive first. Nodding his acceptance, Harry unrolled the parchment and read.
Dear Harry,
Professor Dumbledore told us that it would be unwise for us to send you your birthday presents individually under the circumstances. He also strictly forbid us to write down anything specific about the stuff that's going on in a letter and to keep correspondence to a minimum this summer. So, to ensure that you got all your gifts, we wrapped and marked everything before placing it in the box Hedwig brought with this letter. Now, don't think all is as it appears. Once we had everything in (no mean feat that!) we shrunk the box and its contents. The spell is set to enlarge after being given a password; think of the present Gred and Forge gave you in third year. As we said earlier, we're not allowed to give you any information about whats been going on in the WW but rest assured you'll know something more before the summer is over. Have a great birthday (or try at least!)
All Our Love,
The Gang
Harry was not happy, to say the least, at being kept out of the information loop. Sighing with frustration, he tossed the roll of parchment onto his desk and untied the parcel from Hedwigs leg. Free of her burden, the owl flew up to his shoulder and rubbed her soft head against his cheek. Harry smiled slightly and leaned into the affectionate touch for a few moments before putting his box of presents on the floor and saying softly, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."
Responding to the password, the box doubled in size. Harry opened it up and just stared for a moment at the brightly wrapped presents. Deciding it would be easiest to open each one as he worked his way through the box, the emerald eyed teen reached in and pulled out a suspiciously book sized package. Verifying his guess with a quick look at the label 'Love from Hermione' he unwrapped the book which was entitled "Commonly Used Dueling Spells". The title sounded interesting but for the moment Harry was more interested in the note written on the blank inside of the wrapping paper that read "Hold the book by its spine and shake it…GENTLY!"
With raised eyebrows at the strange instruction from his book-loving friend, Harry followed her instructions and held his gift by its spine and shaking it gently. From between two of the pages fell a newspaper clipping. It was an article out of the Daily Prophet about a new Educational Decree that had just been passed by Minister Fudge. The decree gave the Ministry of Magic the power to place a teacher in any position left open at Hogwarts at the beginning of the school year. At the end of the article was Hermiones' final message, "HE isn't twinkling over this."
Setting the article aside to ponder later and sending a silent thanks to his friend for once again breaking a rule to help him, Harry moved on to the next package. It turned out to be a dozen chocolate frogs from Ron with another note. This one said, "Check your cards, If you get Circe again save it for me, I lost mine." Knowing that Ron had at least five Circe trading cards, Harry took the note to be another clue and quickly found that one chocolate frog box had a C underlined as the name Circe had been in the note. He opened the box and caught the animated frog in one hand while reaching for the card with the other.
The back of the Circe card had another piece of smuggled information for him. Over the general information about the witch pictured on the front was a short message in Rons' handwriting, "The adults are guarding something." Once again, Harry blessed his devious friends for sneaking him information despite the trouble they would be in if they were caught. The teen had known that his headmaster planned to do something to prepare for Voldemorts second rise to power after his rebirth just a month earlier; but the old wizard seemed keen to keep him in the dark, which Harry thought was extremely unfair seeing as it was his head the Dark Lord wanted on a platter.
Unsurprisingly, there were no more clues or pieces of information hidden in the rest of his presents. From Sirius he'd received a knife that would supposedly open any lock. Fred and George had sent some of their new pranks, and Ginny had surprised him with a new quill she had made from one of Hedwigs feathers collected during the birds last molting.
The last presents to be opened were from the adult Weasleys and Remus Lupin. Mrs. Weasley had baked him a cake with 'Happy Birthday Harry' written in icing on top. Mr. Weasley had provided candles and a muggle lighter, the latter with a two-word note attached that said "Muggles – Ingenious!" Harry laughed lightly and set the gifts aside for the moment so that he could remove the last present from the packing box.
Wondering what his former professor had sent, Harry eagerly unwrapped the box. There was a short note taped to the outside that read, "I found these a few months ago and thought they'd make a good birthday gift…enjoy!" Even more curious now, the teen opened the box and removed two framed wizarding photographs.
The first was in a group setting. Harry saw both his parents, his godfather, and their friend Remus, along with a raven haired, violet-eyed woman he'd never met who he supposed was another friend of his parents. Since a wizard camera took the picture it did not just show a still shot. Instead Harry was treated to a thirty-second scene. The picture showed his father laughing hysterically at his very pregnant mothers' attempts to extricate herself from the couch she was sitting on. Glaring at her husband, Lily Potter sat back and said something to the dark haired woman who was sitting beside her. The woman nodded and withdrew her wand from a wrist sheath. A quick swish and flick later, and it was his mother and her friend laughing while James Potter stood before them wearing nothing but his boxer shorts.
Harry laughed at his fathers' embarrassment while the scene replayed itself from its frame. Sitting it carefully aside on his now cluttered desk, the messy haired boy looked down at the second photo. It showed his mother, red hair and emerald eyes glowing in the moonlight coming through the window. She was sitting in an antique rocking chair with a newborn baby Harry cuddled on her shoulder as she patted his back and rocked him to sleep. Unbidden, a tear slid down the teenagers cheek as he watched his mother rock him. This picture, he decided, would reside on his bedside table while he was at school; and be locked safely away in his trunk with his other treasured possessions while he was at the Dursleys.
After watching the scene of his mother and himself a few more times, this picture too was placed carefully on his desk. Reaching into the box that had held the photos, he extracted the last of his birthday presents. A roll of parchment sat on top of what could have been another framed photograph but wasn't. The frame, if you could call it that, was lacquered black and set in the center was a clear stone that appeared to be filled with the same silvery fluid as Professor Dumbledores penseive had been. Laying the strange object down in front of him, Harry picked up the parchment that had come with it. Unrolling it he found a letter from Professor Lupin.
Dear Harry,
I hope you've enjoyed my gifts so far, but I think I've saved the best for last. This is what you might call a mini penseive. Made only to hold one memory, that can be played as often as you want. This mini penseive was made for you when you were six months old. It accidentally got left in my home the last time your parents visited with you before they died. Now I'll tell you the rather humorous reason behind your needing one at such a young age. You see, most of the time you were an angelic child, but you had your moods just like anyone else, and when these moods hit there were only two people who could soothe you. Those people were your mother and your godmother, and great Merlin did you ever throw a fit if they weren't available when you wanted them! When you started teething (and we'll talk about THAT later!) you were especially prone to those cranky moods and so your father bought the mini penseive and had your mother and godmother stand together in your room and sing your favorite lullaby while your father watched so that he could immediately place the memory into the penseive and seal it so that we could play it whenever you needed it.
Now, I'm sure you're anxious to try it, so I won't run on any further. This particular type of penseive plays its memory as a life size hologram so don't worry when your room suddenly changes. To activate it just press your finger to the stone and say "Play". I hope you enjoy it and have a wonderful birthday (well, I hope the Dursleys at least leave you alone.)
Your Friend,
Remus Lupin
This, Harry decided as he finished reading the letter, was probably the most special gift he'd ever received. A life sized memory of his mother singing for him whenever he wanted to hear it! He'd have to give Remus a huge thanks when he saw the werewolf next, and he'd ask about his godmother too since before now he'd never known he had one. Putting curiosity over this unknown godmother aside for the moment Harry placed the penseive on the floor in the middle of the room, touched the stone, and said "Play" before backing up to sit on his bed as the room changed around him.
He looked around the memory room, smiling but saddened, this was his nursery, and this was where his mother had died. There were two women in the room with him, and he smiled through his tears at seeing his beautiful mother, smiling and happy as she stood with the raven-haired woman who'd literally hexed the pants off his father in the first of the photos Remus had given him. Physically his godmother was the most ethereally lovely woman he'd ever seen, but as the two women stood together and began to sing he had eyes only for the earthy beauty of the redhead who'd given him life.
Harry quickly realized that the lullaby they were singing was not in English. It was no language he'd ever heard before. It was an ancient language, and as he listened he realized that while his mother knew the words of the song, she didn't understand what she was singing about, though it was obvious his godmother did. Logical thinking soon left him though, as he was caught up in the music. The sound was immensely soothing, and the unknown language of the song didn't nag at him as it usually did when he heard something in another language. Their voices rose and fell, one would fade into the background and then the other, like an intricate dance of sounds. It seemed to go on forever, but finally the women's voiced melded one last time and lowered together in volume until the last few lines came as a whisper and stopped. The green eyed boy watched the memories of his mother and godmother turn and smile at each other before facing him once again and whispering, "Sleep now Harry-love." before fading away along with the nursery room.
Sighing, Harry rose from his bed and placed the penseive in his trunk, padding it with his school robes and then putting his other gifts in with it, except for the cake, candles, and lighter. Those he left on the desk, and after shutting and locking his trunk, he sat down on the low stool that acted as his desk chair. He placed fifteen candles around the outside of the cake and lit them one by one. "If birthday wishes really can come true then all I want is someone to love me like my parents did, like my mum did." He whispered, before blowing out the candles. And as the young man changed into his pajamas, turned off the light and laid down under his threadbare blanket, the red and gold plumed phoenix who'd been watching him all evening from under its self induced invisibility nodded in agreement and took wing into the darkness.