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. The language Quenya and most anything elven related is the creation of J.R.R. Tolkein.
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.
Chapter 4
Drakkara and Harry reappeared in an alleyway across the street from the spot where Twelve Grimmauld Place should have been. The raven-haired woman took the headmasters' letter from a pocket in her cloak and read the postscript giving the location for Order headquarters. She handed the letter off to her godson and said, "Read and memorize the first post script Harry-love, and repeat it in your head as we cross the street."
The teen did as he was asked and crossed the street with the woman chanting the address in his head. As they stepped onto the sidewalk an extra house seemed to grow up between numbers eleven and thirteen. Drakkara guided him confidently up the stairs to the front door of number twelve Grimmauld Place and knocked softly.
A moment later Remus Lupin threw open the door. The handsome werewolf seemed unsure as to whether he should be laughing, crying, or yelling and he tried to do all three at once as he pulled the woman and boy into the house. With the door closed behind them, Drakkara stood with Harry at her side, and faced her former fiancé. "Remus." She whispered softly, "Oh Merlin Remy I'm so sorry."
"I can't say that I'm not angry Kara, but you did what you had to do. You didn't know how horribly wrong things would go, and you didn't know that Albus would lie to me about what happened to you. We have a lot to talk about later, when we can have some privacy, but for now you'd better hustle your arse over here and give me a hug." The tawny haired man stated, opening his well-muscled arms.
The violet-eyed woman practically flew into Remus' arms and was lifted up and twirled around as they embraced. Long moments passed as the estranged couple held each other close and whispered together, and all but one man jumped when the silent scene was interrupted by Sirius calling, "Hey, don't I get one of those too Kara?"
Drakkara turned to her former lover and said, "Still tactless as he ever was eh?" Remus nodded at her and watched the radiant woman as she seemed to glide across the floor to be embraced by his best friend. The two hugged for a few moments before the tall man and woman stepped apart and held out their free arms and called, "Come on Moony, Harry, family hug time!"
Harry went to them and was held between his godparents, soon joined by his former professor. This was a feeling he never wanted to lose, the teen decided. He could feel the warmth of love for him and each other coming from the three adults holding him in the center of their embrace. The boy turned his head so that he could see the large phoenix now perched on his headmasters' shoulder and whispered, "Thank you Fawkes."
The group hug was broken a few moments later as they noticed a pair of red heads peeping around the corner from the bottom of the stairs. "Hey Fred, George." The emerald eyed teen called. The twins took the greeting as an okay to come down into the hall.
"Hey Harry, what's the what? We didn't think you'd be here for another few weeks." One twin, no one was sure which, said as they approached the group with curious expressions on their identical faces as they glanced at the unfamiliar woman. "Yeah mate," this time it was the other twin speaking. "If we'd known you were coming today we wouldn't have sent your presents last night."
Harry looked over at his godmother, silently asking what he could tell his friends. "Go ahead and tell them who I am love, but remember, some things need to stay secret a while longer okay?" Drakkara replied, giving him a smile. "In fact, why don't you go on upstairs and tell all your friends at once. I see another curious redhead peeking down at us. Siri, Remy, and I will stay down here with Albus and chat."
The teen nodded, but didn't immediately follow the twins toward the stairs. He walked over to his godmother first and hugged her tightly. "I'm glad you came home Ama." Harry whispered as she leaned down to hug him back and press a kiss to his forehead.
"I am too Harry-love. I am too." She whispered back as he stepped out of the hug. "Go on now and have fun with your friends. Give us adults a while to talk and then bring them down so I can meet them alright?" She watched her godson nod and smile at her before turning and heading up the stairs and out of sight.
A heavy arm wrapped around her back a moment later and gently turned her toward the sitting room. "Come on Kara, let's sit down and talk a while before the kids come back down. I've no doubt Ron and Hermione will want to look you over before giving their approval. They're very protective of Harry." Remus said, guiding her into the room.
Sirius heard and nodded his agreement. "That's putting it mildly. Kara, be prepared to informally adopt two more kids, because both Molly Weasley and I can tell you that if you take one, you take all three." He sat down on the couch and patted the cushion beside him, wanting her and Remus to sit with him.
The woman laughed lightly as she put her trunk down and draped her cloak over it. She sat down between her old friends before replying, "So I gathered, from the way Fawkes described their many adventures. It seems we have the next generation of Marauders on our hands." The two men chuckled, in full agreement.
"Well my dear," Albus interjected from his armchair across from the trio. "I trust you had no problems collecting young Harry? The boy seems to have taken to you quite fast."
Drakkara beamed at the old wizard, "No trouble at all once he'd read your letter and gotten a little urging from Fawkes. He's starved for affection Albus, and knows when it's being offered to him. The only problem we might have had was Petunia, and she closed up as tight as a clam once she remembered me."
The four adults continued their conversation, keeping their discussion mild and restricted to topics that wouldn't break the lightheartedness of the reunion. More painful discussions would come later, during the Order meeting that night, and when the remaining Marauders and their long lost friend could have a private talk between the three of them.
* * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, Harry was happily reuniting with his friends. Hermione and Ginny had jumped on him the moment he entered the room, hugging him and babbling questions. Struggling for breath, the raven-haired teen said, "Whoa, need air! Let's sit down guys, I want to hear what's been going on. After that I'll tell you about the surprise I got today."
"Did you get our notes with your presents Harry?" Hermione asked, and continued when he gave a nod. "Well, that's about all we know. We've been here for a couple of weeks now, but no one will tell us what's going on. We hear bits and pieces if we're careful not to be seen, but the adults are really tight-lipped. We knew something big was going on this morning because Professor Dumbledore came in looking like he was going to his execution. He locked himself away with Sirius and Professor Lupin and put all kinds of wards on the door so we couldn't eavesdrop."
Harry nodded, knowing that the headmaster had been telling his godfather and the werewolf that his godmother wasn't dead and had come back to England. "I can explain that for you…" He started, but was stopped by the twins.
"Uh-uh Harry my lad. First you're going to tell us who that utterly gorgeous woman is that you were hugging." Fred, or was it George, exclaimed. "Oh yes, we must know now! Ron, you really need to see the beautiful creature that brought him here. Makes Fleur Delacour look like a dog!" The second twin agreed.
Hearing the twins' praise of his godmothers' beauty Harry could only laugh. He noticed his friends looking at him with a collective expression of 'Well? Explain. Now!' and sat back, smiling as he began his tale. "Well, I got an unexpected birthday present from Fawkes this morning…"
"Who's Fawkes? If he's giving out beautiful women as birthday presents I really need to meet him!" One of the twins asked enthusiastically.
Hermione glared at the redhead and shushed him, gesturing for Harry to continue. "Fawkes is Professor Dumbledores' phoenix. Anyway, I was getting ready to mow the front lawn when I saw this woman standing at the fence staring at me. I recognized her from the mini penseive Remus sent me for my birthday. That 'beautiful creature' is my godmother, Drakkara. She's been in hiding since the night my parents died because the Death Eaters were after her."
"I didn't know you had a godmother Harry, why didn't you tell me? And if she's been hiding from Death Eaters all this time, why did she come back now, just after You-Know-Who returned?" Ron asked, somewhat disgruntled that there was something about Harry he didn't know.
Harry raised his hands in a peaceful gesture, "Hold on Ron. I didn't know either until last night. Remus sent a note with the mini penseive that told me the woman with my mother in the memory was my godmother. I don't know all about her or anything yet, just what she told me, and she asked me not to tell parts of that. All I can tell you is that except for Dumbledore, everyone was told she died along with my parents that night. That's what the headmaster was telling Sirius and Remus earlier, that she was alive and had come back."
Hermione was the next to ask questions, "What do you think of her Harry? Do you like her?" The ever-curious brunette gave her friend a quizzical look.
The bespectacled teen nodded and replied, "Yeah 'Mione I do. She…She feels like I always thought a mum should. I knew when I saw her at the fence that she loved me, it was written all over her face. She gave Aunt Petunia a good telling off when she saw the differences between me and Dudley, and she hugs me and calls me Harry-love. Not to mention she gave me a really cool birthday present!"
He held up his wrist so that his friends could see the snake coiled around it. "This is Siranev. Her parents are Kara's familiars." The teen looked at his serpent friend and hissed to her, "Siranev, these are my friends. Would you mind uncoiling so they can see you better?" The snake hissed agreement and slithered up onto the boys' hand so that the others could get a better look at her.
"Wow, she's really pretty Harry. I've never seen a snake with her coloration before, what kind is she?" Hermione asked, reaching out cautiously to run her forefinger across the serpents' skin.
Harry shrugged in an 'I don't know' fashioned and repeated the question in Parseltongue to Siranev. The snakes' reply was for him to ask his godmother as she could explain it better. After relaying his familiars' comment Harry could almost see his friend file the question away to be asked later. While the boys and Hermione examined the serpent, debating over her origins, Harry heard Ginny ask, "Can we see the penseive memory Harry?"
The emerald-eyed teen stood up and pulled his shrunken trunk from his pants pocket. "Umm, we'll have to get someone to un-shrink my trunk first Gin. I put all my presents in it after I opened them last night."
The soft-spoken girls' question had caught the attention of the others and they all looked curious. The twin closest to Harry took his trunk and sat it against the wall before pulling his wand and reciting the engorgement charm. The emerald-eyed teen thanked his friend and rifled through his belongings to find the small penseive. "Ah, here it is." Harry said, holding the object up while he closed his trunk and placed the penseive on its lid. "Everybody sit back on the beds. It plays like a hologram."
When the five teens had splayed themselves across the two beds Harry pressed his finger to the stone on the penseive and said "Play." As he scurried over to sit on the bed occupied by Hermione and Ginny the bedroom around them changed as the memory started to play.
Harry saw his friends look around them at his old nursery and heard their gasps when they caught sight of Lily Potter and her best friend standing beside the memory window. The two women started singing their lullaby and it seemed as if everyone was holding their breath in awe of the beautiful music. Harry watched the scene with a happy smile lighting his face, letting the sound of his mother and godmother wash over him.
The memory finished and faded out with a whispered "Sleep now, Harry-love." The dark haired boy turned to his friends and asked, "What did you think?" The teens responded with much praise for the beautiful song and the equally lovely women who sang it. Surprisingly it wasn't Hermione, but Ginny who asked what language the women were singing in, and Harry responded that this was another question they would have to put to his godmother.
"Speaking of asking Kara questions, we've been up here a while. Why don't we head downstairs and I'll introduce you guys to her." Harry asked, wanting his friends to meet his godmother and at the same time make sure she was still there. The bespectacled teen still didn't trust that her appearance wasn't just a really nice dream.
The others swiftly agreed and they trooped down the hall, coming to a halt quickly as they heard a crash from below followed by extremely loud cursing. "Uh oh, sounds like Tonks is here and woke up the old banshee." Ron stated as they cautiously came down the stairs to see what the fuss was about.
They reached the entrance hall in time to see Remus and Sirius attempting to close the curtains over one of the portraits, who seemed to be reciting Draco Malfoys' litany of nasty names for Harry and his friends. Harry saw his godmother stalk out of the sitting room in response to a particularly derogatory comment aimed at Remus. "Good Merlin! With the filth you're spewing you still dare to call yourself a lady Cassiopeia Black?"
The portrait of an older woman who resembled Sirius, and by the name must have been his mother, started in surprise before spewing back at the raven haired woman, "YOU! I REMEMBER YOU! FILTHY WHORE! YOU DARE TO WALK INTO MY HOME AGAIN AFTER WHAT YOU DID HERE THE LAST TIME?"
"You'll find I dare quite a bit Madam. And if you don't shut your foul mouth right now, and keep it shut, I'll see how well your portrait takes to a repeat of the last spell I cast on you. Somehow, I don't think you'd come out of it as well as the last time, do you?" Drakkara replied calmly, and held up her left hand, which was wreathed in violet flames.
The portrait quailed at the threat before speaking again, this time at a normal volume. "You wouldn't dare!" She seemed to be trying to think of something to add to her statement, but nothing else came forth.
It seemed that Drakkara would, as she glared at the picture with a slightly evil smirk on her face. "I dared it when you were alive to curse me back. I wouldn't let you get away with hurting my friend then, I wouldn't question my daring when a mere portrait of you is screaming filth at anyone and everyone in this house, not to mention in front of my godson and his friends. My deal is this; you stay on the wall as long as you behave as a nice, quiet portrait. If you let one nasty comment pass your lips again and I hear about it, I'll burn you off the wall so fast you won't even have time to realize you've ticked me off. Do we have an agreement Cassiopeia?"
The portrait didn't answer immediately, and when it looked like she was about to start screaming again Drakkara lazily trailed one flaming finger across the bottom edge of her picture, leaving a singed line in its wake. "Alright! You win!" Mrs. Black called out before stalking to the back corner of her portrait and sulking.
Remus and Sirius quickly closed the curtains, sighing in relief. The dark haired man glared at the closed curtains for another moment before turning to Drakkara and embracing her for a moment. "Thank you Kara, both for now and…" Sirius trailed off, raising his right hand and turning it so the back was facing her in a gesture they both understood.
She took his larger hand in both of hers and smiled, "None needed Siri." Drakkara gave the hand a squeeze and let go. Turning to the teens, who had at some point during the conversation been joined by a red haired woman she thought must be the majority of the childrens' mother, and another woman, older than the teens though not by much, with short pink hair done in spikes. "Well, now that the old bat's taken care of, why don't we adjourn to the sitting room for introductions?"
The group followed her lead and got comfortable in the sitting room. "Drakkara, I'd like to introduce you to Molly Weasley and Nymphadora Tonks. Molly and her husband Arthur are the parents of all the redheads you'll see running around here, and Tonks is an Auror with the Ministry. Ladies, this lovely woman who has so generously relieved us of Mrs. Blacks' loudly voiced opinions, is Drakkara Vanimaer. Among other things she is young Harrys' godmother." Albus made the introductions easily as he sipped his tea.
Harry, who was sitting on the floor between his godparents' feet, introduced the younger members of the group. "Kara, these are my best friends Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, and George. No one knows which of the twins is which so you'll have to ask them. Umm, never take anything edible from either of them, their idols are the Marauders. Guys, this is my godmum Drakkara."
"It's nice to meet you all." The lovely woman said, nodding to each person and ruffling her godsons' hair. "All these redheads seem familiar, but I have to think." She cast her eyes on Ron and the twins, muttering softly, "Weasley, Weasley, red hair, freckles. Red hair, Gryffindor…OH! You must be my cublings' younger siblings, and his mother." She smiled delightedly.
Remus and Sirius were both chuckling as they remembered what, or rather who, their friend had remembered, but Molly was giving Drakkara a curious look. "Cubling?" She asked.
The raven-haired womans' smile grew broader as she explained. "Your oldest, Bill, was a first year in our seventh. We got to know each other quite well over Christmas that year and he followed me about until I graduated. I called him my cubling because he tagged behind me like a little lion cub, not to mention he was a Gryffindor."
"Oh yes, I remember Bill came home from his first year rather sad and told me his best friend had graduated. He told such tales about the pretty seventh year girl and her friends. I must admit I've always thought he made her up because of the stories he told about her. Things like riding unicorns through the forest and singing with phoenixes." The older woman laughed, shaking her head in amusement.
Drakkara threw a sideways glance at Albus before remembering he couldn't put her in detention anymore and replied, "Well, I don't know what other stories he told you about me, but that one's true enough."
The whole group, including the headmaster to a mild degree, gaped at her in disbelief. She sighed and said, "I'll let the cubling tell you the story later. I think I've shocked enough people for today. I'm assuming he's in the Order and coming to the meeting tonight?"
Albus nodded, "Yes, Bill will be dropping by tonight. I'm quite anxious to hear him tell this story. It's not often one of my former students surprise me later in life with things they did in school, right under my very nose. I believe riding a unicorn will tie with three fifth year pranksters becoming illegal animagi." He looked pointedly at Sirius with a smile showing through his beard.
The adults and three of the teens laughed at the headmasters' mild dig at Sirius, and Ron muttered in a low voice to Harry and Hermione, "And he hasn't even heard about the things we've done yet." The comment was heard though, and rather obviously ignored by the old wizard.
The group conversed easily for several hours, mostly about everyones' past exploits at Hogwarts. At about five o'clock, Molly excused herself to get dinner started, refusing help from Tonks, Drakkara, and Remus, and their conversation of the best played pranks at school came to a halt. Fawkes, who'd sat silently on the back of Albus' chair the whole time, suddenly flew over to land on Drakkaras' knee and trilled at her. "I believe young Hermione wants to ask you something Drakkara. She's been fidgeting and glancing at you for five minutes now." The large bird commented.
"I'd noticed Fawkes. I was waiting for her to scrape up the courage to ask me whatever it is she wants to know. Since you've decided to enter the conversation, is there anything I can get you? If you're staying for the meeting it might be more comfortable if I conjured you up a proper perch, I imagine your feet are getting cramped." She replied, stunning everyone who hadn't yet seen her speak to the phoenix.
The brightly colored bird seemed to consider the offer for a moment before trilling again. "Yes, a perch would be nice thank you. I could use some bread and water too if you wouldn't mind. Perhaps Vrisan and Narasi could join me for a drink until the Order members start to arrive. I dare say you'll want them back on your arms when Alastor gets here. Siranev is welcome too of course, if she's ready to leave her chosen for a short while."
Drakkara nodded and spoke in English to the group. "Could one of you be a dear and get some bread and a shallow bowl of water from the kitchen?" She asked politely. Tonks started to get up, but one of the twins beat the slightly clumsy Auror to the task. The violet eyed woman stood up and withdrew her wand, closing her eyes to form a mental picture of what she wanted before pointing her wand at an open space behind the couch she'd been sitting on and muttering a spell.
An elegant perch, suitable for a bird as large as Fawkes appeared instantly. On either side of Fawkes spot on the perch was a branch of polished wood with smaller branches forking out at about the phoenixes eye level and slightly below the forks was a tray for the bread and water. Drakkara walked around and settled her avian friend on the perch and grasped the two wooden branches so that her own familiars could slither down her arms and onto their own perch.
"Harry-love, ask Siranev if she wants to come over and visit with Fawkes and her parents. They're going to have a snack while we talk." The teen hissed in Parseltongue to his companion and brought her over to his godmother when she replied in the affirmative. He allowed the serpent to join her parents and hissed a greeting to the older snakes. When the twin, Fred, as he identified himself when Drakkara thanked him, returned with the requested food and drink, the dark haired woman set the items on the tray for the animals and settled herself back on the couch.
The group was still looking at her with a bit of awe, and they'd added Harry to their scrutiny once he'd displayed his gift as a Parselmouth. "That's better, they were getting a bit bored with our conversation I think." She turned her eyes on Hermione, who was fidgeting even worse now and smiled at the girl. "Hermione, Fawkes noted that you looked like you wanted to ask me something. I assure you I won't bite your head off if there's something you'd like to know."
The girls' chocolate brown eyes lit up and she started babbling her questions, making the others smile and chuckle. "Umm, I have a few questions actually. First, were you actually talking to Fawkes, having a conversation? Second, can you tell us what type of snake your and Harrys' familiars are? And third, can you tell us what language you and Harrys' mum were speaking in his penseive?
Drakkara laughed merrily when Hermione had finished. "My you do have a thirst for knowledge don't you. Let's see, your first and third questions tie together somewhat so I'll answer those first. Yes, I was having a conversation with Fawkes, and I understand him just as if he were speaking English. In the wizarding world, you would call me a beast speaker as I can converse with most magical creatures. But mine is not an actual wizard gift."
"This is where your third question ties in. The language Lily and I were singing in is called Quenya, an ancient, formal language understood by all sentient magical creatures. I was born to an ancient race of magical beings and raised speaking both Quenya and English. The reason I understand what you hear as phoenix song when Fawkes trills is that he's actually speaking the phoenix version of Quenya." She finished the explanation, smiling in anticipation of the next question. She'd purposely been vague on the origin of the language, just to get the brunette to ask.
Hermione was practically bouncing in her seat as she absorbed the new information, "What people were you born to? I've never heard of that language before, where did it come from?" She asked, brimming with curiosity.
The older woman laughed at the girls' obvious excitement. "Now that would be telling Hermione. I'm a bit like your headmaster in the fact that I never give all the answers. You have an admirable thirst for knowledge, and from what I've heard you're a great lover of books and research. Rather than answer those questions, I'll give you a challenge. If you can find out for yourself the origins of Quenya, and the people I was born to by the Christmas holidays, I will submit your essay on both to your History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures professors for extra credit. I dare say the O.W.L. examiners might even be interested in it."
"Now you've done it Kara. She's gonna have Ron and me in the library helping her research before the Sorting Ceremony is finished!" Harry complained, joined with a heartfelt groan from his redheaded companion. The adults laughed heartily over the boys' complaints and the brunette girls' enthusiastic grin.
Sirius leaned over to muss his godsons' hair and said, "Keep you three out of trouble though won't it? It won't be an easy assignment either, I know for a fact. Kara made us do it too when we found out she could talk to animals and asked about it."
Ron decided to contribute to the conversation now and asked, "Are you going to make us research the snakes too Kara? We do have to study for OWLs sometime." It was said jokingly, but there was an underlying dread in his eyes at the prospect of more research.
"No Ron, I'm not going to make you research the snakes. You wouldn't find anything on their particular breed. Harry and I are the only two people who've bonded with this type of snake in about two hundred years, and no ones ever written about them because they're so rare." She replied, settling back for what she hoped would be her last explanation of the day.
"Vrisan, Narasi, and Siranev are Parsels. Being Harrys' friends I assume you've researched the terms Parselmouth and Parseltongue. Well, those terms came from snakes like Harrys' and mine. Parsels are an ancient and rare breed of serpent. They have a vast array of magical powers, and it's said that the first Parselmouth was gifted with the ability by his familiar, a Parsel. They're also one of several types of magical creatures that bond with their companions. Siranev accepted Harry as her chosen when I presented her to him earlier. Vrisan and Narasi have been with me since I was a small child." She looked over her shoulder to see the three snakes and the phoenix seemingly at rest on their perch, knowing they were speaking in the silent way of magical creatures.
When she looked back, she found Albus stroking his beard in silent contemplation. The old man caught her looking and gave her a grin. "Well Drakkara, I do believe I've learned more about you today than I've learned in the whole twenty odd years we've known each other."
Drakkara laughed heartily, "And you still don't know it all, oh omniscient one. You're just as clueless about my native language and my heritage as the others are. I've no doubt when you get back to Hogwarts this evening you'll be starting your own research into Quenya and its origins, hoping to beat Hermione to the answer." She answered the old wizard with a cheeky smirk.
Albus' reply was said in the same cheeky tone, "Now Drakkara, it's not nice to point that out in front of the children. The only reason I get any respect in my own school is because they haven't yet discovered that I only pretend to know everything. Just you wait young lady, the first time one of these children gives me cheek I'm sending them straight to you."
"I'll be sure to stock my office with lemon drops and magical gadgets that no one knows the purpose of then. I'm sure I can convince Fawkes to sit in on my conversations with students and give me hints on how to make children feel better while being punished and, given enough bribery, what spell you use to make your eyes twinkle like that." She replied, sticking her tongue out at the headmaster childishly while the others rolled with laughter at the banter between the old wizard and his former student.