Chapter 3
"The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock..."
- Proverbs 30:19
Harry craned his short neck as he looked round and round the forest. He was sitting around the neck of Feroz, a large man with bulging muscles and one of the best hunters in the village. James was ahead with Shuntab, the highest shaman mage. Harry giggled and pointed here and there as he saw glimpses of the tigers that lived mostly peacefully near the village. He saw other things that he knew the others didn't. The fire salamanders up on the trees, small birds with feathers like camouflage, silver skinned snakes disappearing among the foliage.
The small procession marched on until it was time for lunch. Feroz massaged his neck after Harry had jumped off. The boy had bounced around, his short legs kicking while they walked through the dense forest. He had more energy than the rest of them put together.
Harry jumped into James's arms as soon as his father sat down for the noon meal. They had brought cured meat so they didn't have to waste time hunting for food. Harry chattered in his mixed tongue about the animals.
Shuntab smiled down at the boy. He had picked up a few English phrases himself just to understand half of what the boy was saying. He took out his singing pipe and handed it to the boy just to make him stop.
Harry grabbed the pipe and started playing. Soon the rest of the men stopped to listen. James never ceased to be amazed at the sounds Harry managed to produce from a crude wooden pipe. The melody was high and clear, lifting the spirits of the weary men.
From beneath the shrubs, several miles away, a slumbering creature awoke.
The creature slid into the clearing without disturbing the guards at the parameters or the wards Shuntab had set.
Harry was playing a different tune, a haunting melody that brought tears to the eyes of the villagers. It reminded James of the Irish mourning chants at old-fashioned wizarding funerals.
The creature's coat was not camouflaged but nobody still noticed it until it striked. Within a flash, it wrapped its long body around the intent Harry, whose magic working through his own music brought different pictures inside his head.
An old man in a casket, with the same hair as his father. A mark in the sky over a house, a green skull with a snake slithering from its mouth. A hooded figure, surrounded by others wearing dark cloaks and masks of skulls; at his feet, a large snake lay twined.
Harry opened his eyes only to find himself staring at a snake in the face. It flickered its tongue as if tasting the air. People around him were mesmerized into inaction. James choked out a breath. He had not seen the creature at all until Harry's song faded.
'What manner of creature are you, child, that you sing of death from the hand of my master?' The snake whispered to Harry, its voice low and musical.
Harry gulped, the pipe forgotten in his hands. 'I'm from the same land as he,' he whispered back, unable to break free from its gaze. He had heard stories from his mother about the Dark Lord.
James started at hearing his son hiss. Parseltongue? The ability was rumored to be passed down to the descendents of Salazar Slytherin himself, one of the greatest Dark Wizards ever known and the most powerful of the four Hogwarts founders.
The men around him, even the rarely surprised Shuntab, all drew back. There have been rumors from the oldest men, rumors they did not want to tell the foreigners, about an English man who had come to speak with the snakes a long time ago.
'He left me,' the snake said mournfully. 'He changed me then left me, and I have been lonely for his songs.'
'Don't be lonely anymore. I'm here, now. I'll talk to you if you wish.' Harry automatically tried to placate the snake.
It hissed, as if trying to tell if Harry speaks true.
'I know what you have come for,' it seemed to hesitate. 'I know you are my master's enemy.'
Harry shrugged even as the snake's body coiled tighter and tighter around him. 'But I am not yours. We don't want to hurt you. We just want to stop You-Know-Who from hurting others.'
The snake hissed and suddenly let him go. 'Follow me, then, child.'
James quickly pointed his wand at the snake, but it ignored him. Harry shook his head at his father, and without a word, scrambled after it.
The men left behind argued whether they would follow or not. Feroz the hunter was the first to start for the boy, following James as he bumbled through the forest to reach his son. Shuntab also left, his footsteps steady and silent. He was surprised and afraid, but no trace of it showed on his face.
The python led Harry towards a small cave, just big enough for him to crawl through.
"Harry, don't," James shouted. "It isn't safe."
Harry smiled at his father. "It'll be fine, I promise." And he took hold of the python's tail and slithered through the cave, like a small snake himself.
James wanted to blast the cave apart so he could enter the opening. But Shuntab held him back. "Your son is the only one who can do this, James."
It took awhile for the Hindi to sink in. But James finally gave in. "Lily will kill me if anything happened."
Inside the rock, the cave opened into a bigger clearing, just enough for Harry to sit up.
The snake circled a couple of rocks in one corner. Harry crawled nearer. Between the rocks was a single egg, slightly smaller than a chicken's with a thin layer of shiny substance.
'My master took it from my clutch and changed it. The other eggs hatched except that one. He said I would be rewarded if I guard it. I have been guarding it a long time.'
Harry looked at the egg. It was vibrating. 'Would you mind very much if we took it?' He asked as politely as he could.
The snake slithered around the egg and did not answer immediately. 'I have been guarding it a long time. Take it then, snake-child. Take it and reward me.'
Harry extended a hand towards the egg before his brow crinkled in thought. 'What would you like as a reward? I don't have many things with me.'
'You have a stick that can put me to sleep,' the snake replied. 'I just want to rest. Can you help me rest, snake-child?'
Harry gulped. 'O-okay.' He took the egg carefully and placed it inside a pouch at his belt. Then he helped the snake to get comfortable in its own nest, and took out his wand. 'I'm very sorry,' he whispered.
'Hush, snake-child. I have been guarding my master's egg for countless summers. I am the oldest of my kind in these forests. It is time for me to rest.' The snake coiled around itself, and waited.
Harry didn't know of any spells to kill painlessly, so he held his wand and chanted the same mourning melody as before, thinking of how old and weary the snake was, and its wish to sleep. Inside his mind, he saw through the snake's eyes as it met a young man with black hair who could speak its tongue. Then it watched as the years passed by, as its young grew old and died, their young growing old and dying, and always it would be left alone to watch over the single egg.
When the song faded, Harry opened his eyes. A mist of light had drifted from the tip of his wand to surround the snake. When it disappeared into nothingness, he knew the snake was dead. Harry ran a finger down its silky head, saying goodbye before he started to crawl out.
James was waiting by the entrance and scooped him up in a big hug. "Circe, you're alright!" He looked like he didn't believe it yet.
Harry hugged back, suddenly having a hard time holding back tears. "It didn't hurt me at all, dad. It's a good snake!"
Then he remembered the egg, and wiggled down from his father's arms. "It gave me something before..." his voice trailed away while he dug through his pouch. With a wan smile, he held out the egg to his father.
James stared at his son's hand. From beneath his coat, the horcrux detector jangled.
