Disclaimer: Harry James Potter and related characters/concepts/items are all belongings of JKR. Unless she has signed over the rights to this stuff to me, none of this is mine. So, all Layers are kindly requested to leave BEFORE I NUKE YOU! MOVE IT!
"Speech" "Other Language" 'Thoughts' Parseltongue
Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes into you.
-- Friedrich Nietzsche:
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Before they went far however, Neville broke from his hold and looked at him
"You…you're a parselmouth?"
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Chapter 6 -- Failure of Blood
"A what?" asked Harry
"A parselmouth…someone who speaks to snakes….you told the snakes not to attack."
'Seems he did understand after all…well, guess sometimes the Old Man is right'
"I thought they were magical snakes! I mean, how else could we hear them?"
"Well, if you are a parselmouth, of course you could understand them! Pretty stupid snakes too…what is the point of having three heads that argue all the time?"
"You could understand them?" asked Harry
Neville froze.
"Yes…but…I'm not a parselmouth! How could I do it?"
"Maybe you are? Why couldn't you be?"
"But…only evil people can do that! Salazar Slytherin could do it! And so could You-know-who!" said Neville frantically.
"So what? What is so evil about speaking to snakes? People are probably afraid of it because they cannot understand it. Are you evil? Am I evil? I don't think so." said Harry.
"That still doesn't explain how we can do it."
"Who cares? Maybe it just comes randomly, like metamorphomaguses"
"Meta what?"
"People who can change their physical characteristics whenever they want to. They are rare too…perhaps its just one of those gifts…"
"Maybe…but how is it that none of us knew until now?"
"Have you ever tried speaking to a snake before?"
"No…have you?"
"I think I set a boa constrictor on my cousin once, but I didn't know I was a wizard then…and I thought it was just accidental magic until now…"
"So we can speak a language no-one else can?"
"I don't know…lets try speaking in it…"
"Erm…hello? Sshesslo?" said Neville, trying to imitate a snake "I don't think this is working…how did you do it?"
"I just spoke to the snake, it came naturally…"
"What do you mean naturally?"
"Just pretend I am a snake or something, then try speaking to me normally"
"Okay…so I am speaking to you right now and I think you are a snake…" Somehow I get the impression that this is so stupid
"You did it!"
"I did?"
"Yea, if you concentrate, you can recognize that it is parseltongue…let me try" Right…so now concentrate on my words…you should hear a hissing
"I do!" This is easy once you get used to it…how can I speak a language without knowing?
Magic?
Hahaha very funny
But it is the truth!
Yea…you think the others will hate us for this?
They should accept it…they are our friends aren't they?
"If you say so." Responded Neville, turning around. "Its cool to speak in a language that no-one else can understand. Say, what exactly was that thing anyway? I've seen a three headed dog before, but never a three-headed snake."
"Its a Runespoor. Magical snake, native to Burkina Faso"
"This is not Burkina Faso... so what in the name of Merlin is it doing wandering on the British coast?"
'You idiot! Why haven't you thought about that? You are supposed to analyze every combat situation!' "It could have escaped from somewhere…but someone could have set it after us, so I think we should be going now…" He said, beginning to walk at a brisk pace towards the manor.
They had barely gone a mile when Harry grabbed Neville and through him to the ground. The next second, a purple light flashed over them, blasting a nearby tree to pieces.
"Ahh…it seems you darling children escaped my runespoor didn't you?" Asked a voice behind them.
Harry spun around to look at the figure and recognized it immediately. Bellatrix Lestrange, closely followed by Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange.
'Not in Azkaban here eh? Just great!' groaned Harry mentally.
"What a pity those blood wards of your have weakened Longbottom…your mother's sacrifice will go to waste now…if you had a relative on your mother's side, things might be different…but now.." she said, looking down at the boy "You know, we have been waiting for this moment for 11 years….taking the wards down slowly. Even the old fool hasn't noticed what we have done here. With your absence over the school year, we had enough time to ensure that we could prepare a….welcome home party for you."
Rabastan then stepped forward. "Now….you'll be wondering, Longbottom, what exactly I want with you…well, to make it simple…we will make the dark lord returns…and we are going to need your blood…the very blood that carries your mother's sacrifice, to do it…"
"I'll never let you bring him back!" shouted Neville
"Your co-operation is, fortunately, not necessary." Said the man imperiously
"I saw you master a month ago! And let me tell you, he was weak! A pitiful spirit!"
"CRUCIO" shouted Bellatrix, holding Neville under the spell for a few seconds. "You will not speak of the Dark Lord in that way. Not even death can defeat him, and the fact that he is still alive, even if without a body, proves it."
Harry at that point decided he had enough, and started laughing.
"You think you know better boy?"
Harry looked straight into the eyes of the death eater "Voldemort is a coward, and he flees from death like a little child"
"You dare speak his name you insolent fool? You dare put his name on you half-blood lips child?" she shouted.
"Did you know that Moldyvoldy is a half-blood too? Yeah, old Tom Marvolo Riddle is his real name…has he been feeding you bullshit that he is pure-blood?" spat Harry
"CRUCIO!" she shouted.
Harry tried apparating, but to his dismay, there were anti-apparition wards keeping him in place. The curse hit him head-on, and he bit his tongue so that he would not scream. Blood filled his mouth, but despite the immense pain, he did not give her the satisfaction of his scream.
"Is that the best you've got?" he said once it was over.
"You want more boy?" she spat "because I'll gladly give it to you!"
Neville, prepare to run to the manor hissed Harry, with the death eaters watching in horrified confusion.
but…
Just do it you idiot! he said. Then he turned towards Bellatrix. "I think that perhaps I should teach you how it is truly done…CRUCIO!" he said, channeling as much of his magic into the curse as possible. The death eater started screaming and writhing on the ground, whilst blood came out of her mouth and eyes. Neville started running, and that snapped the other two death eaters out of their daze.
"Get him you fool!" shouted Rodolphus, casting a nasty looking disemboweling curse at Harry.
Rabastan made to follow Neville, but he fell to the ground as a blasting curse from Harry passed over his head and smashed a nearby tree into pieces
"Leaving so soon?" asked Harry, looking confident and not betraying any of his inner panic. "Just when the fun began."
A duel immediately began, as the furious death eaters began pummeling Harry with spells. The boy barely had enough time to dodge and block, only managing a few counterattacks in between.
Bellatrix's blood-stained face had a maniac gleam to it as she cast crucio after crucio, laughing when the boy dodged them.
'Damn…I am never going to survive unless I act fast…' thought Harry as he dodged another lethal curse coming from the inner-circle death eaters. He then spotted a large tree that had almost been uprooted nearby. 'That ought to do it…I hope.' "ACCIO" he shouted, pointing at the tree. It started moving as if a giant was nearby, and slammed with immense force on the ground near Harry, forcing Bellatrix to fall on her feet to avoid it.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" shouted Harry, pointing at the prone form of the female death eater. He watched with glee as the green light struck her body, he looked at the flash of recognition, fear and acceptance in her eyes as the unforgivable stuck her. He was overcome by a feeling of euphoria as he felt his dark magic sucking the soul from her body. The feeling was quickly replaced with pain as he felt the bone in his arm being smashed into thousands of pieces from Rabastan's curse.
He barely blocked the next few curses, as he concentrated on numbing the pain in his arm. Then, he looked up and saw one of the death eaters near him.
Rodolphus stepped towards him with a dangerous glint in his eye. "You are too much trouble boy…AVADA…"
He never managed to finish the incantation, as a red stunning spell hit his back and sent him to the ground, unconscious. Five more red lights raced towards Rabastan, who managed to block the first four, but was knocked out by the last one.
Harry looked at the uniforms of the Aurors that congregated the area. He felt someone helping him up.
"You alright?" asked one of the wizards.
"My left arm is smashed, but otherwise I am fine sir." he answered.
"Hey, these are the Lestranges!" shouted one of the aurors "and this one is dead!" he added, pointing at Bellatrix's corpse.
"What happened?" asked one of the aurors.
"They ambushed us…I distracted them so Neville could get help." said Harry.
"You…distracted them boy?" asked one of the aurors, not believing that a 12 year old could do such a thing.
"More like dueled them…" he answered, wincing from the pain in his arm.
The auror just let out a snort, and went over to tell to one of his colleagues to take down the anti-apparition wards.
"How did she die?" asked a black-skinned auror that Harry recognized as Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"Avada Kedavra" answered Harry.
"Who cast it?"
"I did." said the boy, looking straight into the eyes of the wizard, whose eyes widened in surprise. He made to say something, but at that moment, the figure of Albus Dumbledore appeared at the area.
"Ahh…Harry. I think it would be best if you came with me now. Don't worry, Neville is safe at Hogwarts." said the old wizard.
"But sir, he is a witness! We need to que…" tried to interrupt one of the aurors.
"That will not be necessary" said Dumbledore "he needs to heal, he can be questioned later."
"But he has cast an unforgiv..."
"I said it is not necessary. Now come on Harry."
The wizard grabbed Harry's arm, and the boy soon felt the squeezing feeling he had come to associate with apparition. The feeling stopped and he saw Hogwarts castle in the distance.
"Would you like for me to conjure you a stretcher Harry?" asked the old wizard.
"No sir, it's only my arm, I can walk"
It was not long before Harry was, once again, under the attentions of Madam Pomfrey.
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Harry woke up the next morning to the sight of Neville's grinning face. He reached for his glasses on the nearby desk and put them on.
"You've made front page news!" said the boy excitedly, thrusting a newspaper at his lap.
Last Death Eaters Captured!
Yesterday afternoon, a floo-call came for Aurors to move to the Longbottom estate. The cause was an apparent attack by former Death-Eaters and Dark Wizards, Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rasbatan Lestrange. Whilst details are vague, authorities claim that the dark wizards were held off until the Aurors arrived by Harry James Potter, who will enter his second year at Hogwarts this coming September. Bellatrix Lestrange is reported to have been killed whilst dueling Mr Potter. The Lestranges are reported to have been inner-circle death eaters under the command of You-Know-Who, and were the last of the death eaters to remain at large. Crimes committed by the Lestrange family include….
Harry put the newspaper down.
"Glad to see they aren't mentioning exactly what I used in that duel" he said.
"I heard some of the aurors saying that you used the killing curse on Lestrange?" asked Neville.
"Yea…it was a kill or be killed situation, and I don't really think they will condemn me for killing a mass murderer...how did they get there anyway?"
"I reached home and used the floo to get them…they came in through that, and then run off towards the grounds where you were fighting."
"Good thing too, they came just in time. So what is going to happen now that the blood wards are down?"
"I don't know…I think they are going to cast some other wards, and the ministry has offered some auror protection…but Dumbledore said that it wouldn't be necessary…anyway, me and Gran are staying in Hogwarts for the summer until everything is sorted out. You are too, at least, until you go to the Weasleys."
"Cool…so, any idea when I will get out of here?"
"I think you should be able to get up now, but you know Pomfrey…."
"Then best I leave before she notices eh?" He asked, getting up and sneaking into one of the changing rooms.
"Right…so, have you had any breakfast yet?" Harry asked when he came out
"No…I just woke up half an hour ago…Madam Pomfrey handed me the newspaper… I'm starving now."
"Good…follow me then, I know how to get into the kitchens. I am sure that the house elves there will give us something to eat."
"There are house-elves at Hogwarts?"
"Of course! How did you think all the food was cooked and all the corridors were cleaned?"
"Magic?"
"Well...house elf magic certainly. Now lets go."
And with those words, the two boys scurried out the hospital wing, before Madam Pomfrey could notice they were up.
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"Those house elves certainly like serving people!" said a rather full Neville as the two boys left the kitchens via a painting of a bowl of fruit.
"They are rather useful when you sneak out at night and you're hungry eh?"
"And with our invisibility cloaks…a late night snack is easy to get…so what should we do now?"
"We could get started on that group thing you talked about…"
"Yea…I still haven't received any replies from the others about that…but anyway, where do we start?" said Neville
"How about a name?"
"Mmm…Lion Pride?"
"Too Gryffindor centred…how about Potter's Infernal Legion of Ultimate Doom?"
"Haha…how about…Wizarding Army of Five People?" said Neville laughing
"We could add more people later on…"
"Yea…so we could have it named Wizarding Army of Five People, More May be Added Later!"
"Okay…seriously now Neville."
"Ermm..Guild of the Fearless? Defence Association?"
"How about a simple name?"
"Simple? Okay…Magic Hand? Doomspell? or, if you want, simply the company!" said Neville.
"We'll see…we should decide on a name all together."
"So you're going to teach us right?"
"And help you teach yourselves" added Harry. "We can be a secret group, we can have power…"
"We can tort..I mean prank malfoy" added Neville
"And Crabby and Goyly…"
"And Snape"
"and kick Mrs Norris"
"We could use the help of the twins you know…" said Neville.
"You know…this reminds me of the group that my dad had…they called themselves the Marauders…"
"There you have a good name…we can pick something similar!"
"We need a place to meet though…I think I know one…the elves call it the come and go room…or the room or requirement…it is on the seventh floor, opposite the painting of Barnabas the Barmy. It is really a cool room, it will give you everything you need. It changes you see, by magic. So if you need a training room, it gives you a training room. If you need somewhere to hide, it will give you somewhere to hide…"
"Damn…that's a good room. How come I've never heard of it?"
"It only appears when you need it…you have to walk in the corridor three times thinking of what you need for the door to come up…come on, I'll show you.
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