Chapter 20: Magic

Wherein Harry hears a story, and explores his gift

Harry Potter grinned from ear to ear.

He was happy because he was going back home.

The walk back to the Emperor's Nest was lit with patches of sun. The earth was warm beneath Harry's feet; he had long ago abandoned his trainers and socks. His bright green eyes took in the sight of the forest around him swarming with life. The air was full of insects and all around were animals eating them for breakfast or an early lunch. Birds twittered and darted from tree to tree catching up bugs greedily. A dragonfly danced in a circle around Harry's head and zipped off through the trees. Harry laughed and breathed in the fresh air.

How wonderful his adventure was! There had been danger and wonder and pain, and excellent surprises everywhere. He smiled to recall the days he had rode on Nagini's back, and the nights they had spent beneath the cover of stars and moonlight. He remembered the rivers they had crossed, the shallows of the streams they had followed, the steep hills and winding forest paths, and the deep, deep nights when no stars shone at all.

Harry rose a hand as if to catch a ray of sunlight filtering down from the leaves overhead.

It had been so long since the small dark cupboard and the cold indifference of his relatives. He had nearly forgotten their faces by now.

He turned his palm upwards, as if carrying liquid sun in his hands, and sighed happily.

Before he had met snakes on his journey asking him to come and bless their eggs. Now that he had found a place to call his own, snakes came to him, from all over. He felt a sense of importance and responsibility. They wanted his words! Harry had never had anyone ask him for help before. It was a wonderful feeling! It made him want to do his best to help anyone and everyone who came to seek him.

"You seem happier than usual," Indiis observed from his spot around Harry's neck. Harry turned his hand over his friend's scales. The red-and-black snake made a noise of pleasure. "So warm!" he exclaimed, and melted against Harry's sun-heated palm. Harry snickered and held his hands against his friend's colorful scales.

"When we get back we should lay out again," Harry suggested. "The sun will be high soon."

Indiis made a noise of approval and wriggled.

They passed through the well-hidden tunnel entrance to the place Harry had come to call home. The others called it the Emperor's Nest. The clearing had come to accommodate more than just the four of them. Snakes of all kinds had come just as before. There were short snakes and long snakes, snakes with bright scales and snakes the color of the rocks or tree bark, snakes with hoods and snakes with long tongues. Harry tried his best to know all their names. He named them as they rose their eyes in greeting.

"Hello! Gardner, Krait, Adder, Cobra..."

Heads dipped and nodded in time as Harry called out names. Some names he still stumbled over and as always his friends gave their assistance freely. The grass was alive with their long shapes, scales soaking in the sun. A bright orange snake wriggled through the throng and made its way to Harry's feet. Harry dropped a hand and allowed the snake to loop around his wrist. He brought it to eye level and smiled brightly.

"Hello! My name's Harry. I don't think I've met you yet. What is your name?"

The little snake dipped its nose in greeting. "Emperor! My name is Pantherophis!" It noticed the Emperor's troubled expression at the unfamiliar word and hissed quickly, "But my sire calls me Corn!"

"Your sire?"

From his place around Harry's neck, Indiis explained. "The male parent," he hissed. "His father."

"His dad," Harry echoed, unconsciously petting Indiis in thanks, "Your dad calls you what now?"

"Corn!"

Harry struggled to hold the little snake. He seemed to be having a small fit of excitement and was wriggling, making him difficult to hold. "Long ago! Emperor! You cured my grand-sire!"

Harry's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"I did?"

The little snake nodded and blinked all its four eyes. "You blew magic across his scales! He tells the story always! Of how he hurt, and how you found him in moonlight, and your breath stole all his hurt!"

The snakes on the grass were gathering closer to Harry's feet, eager to hear the tale re-told. Voices echoed from the ground for the little one to retell the story. Harry himself was curious and bid them gather 'round. They formed a great pile, snakes coiled on snakes, with a space between the pile and Harry for the little one to speak.

"Long ago, my grand-sire was among those sent to find the snake from the Emperor's dreams!" The little snake recounted how his grandfather had been eager to help fulfill the Emperor's dream but an injury from the previous day had made him slow. Harry vaguely remembered finding a slow-moving orange snake in the Dursley's back yard. "He held him and found his wound! His breath stole all hurts from him," the little orange snake was boasting. "He was healed! The Emperor cured him! His speed was returned..."

He continued but Harry hardly heard him. He was searching among the pile of snakes for something. The young man reached out his hand over Corn and a snake came forward from the many. Its scales were dulled but its four eyes still shone as Harry lifted him carefully. The little snake was vibrating with excitement as Harry held the larger orange snake.

"It's you," Harry said in wonder.

The snake nodded sleepily. It was old and the sun was high.

"I have returned to give thanks," the snake said. It started to speak but Harry closed its snout between two fingers. His grip was gentle but firm. He had never seen a snake that looked old before but this one certainly did. Its eyes were crusted and its scales were rough. The way it moved seemed to involve great effort with each contraction. Harry ran his hands over the snake's skin and searched for where it was hurt. The orange snake wiggled its nose free of Harry's fingers and shook its head.

"I am not hurt now, Emperor," it said with a chuckle. "I am only old. There is no hurt you can fix."

Harry struggled to absorb this information.

"You're not hurt? But you look..."

"I am well, my Emperor," the snake assured Harry. It turned its head to rub its crest scales against Harry's palm, Harry scratched them on reflex. "I have come to show my clutch, and the strongest of my son's sons."

The little snake on the ground turned bright pink at the praise and hid its snout in the ground.

"We have journeyed far. Stories of your travel spread to every snake. Many eyes have watched you on your journey, Emperor."

Harry was amazed. He had never known!

"How? I've never noticed anyone watching me!"

The snakes in the grass dispersed at once, and Harry suddenly remembered. Snakes were such good hiders! They could nearly turn invisible if they stayed still long enough. They were small and slim or had excellent camouflage. He bid them show themselves and the grass was full of snakes again.

Harry felt guilty. Here was a snake from long ago come to see him, and thank him. He had even brought his grandson. Harry had nothing to give him in return! He wasn't hurt and so Harry couldn't heal him again. He thought quickly. What was something special that he could do?

The sunlight flickered as clouds passed overhead and Harry was struck with inspiration.

He set down the old snake and ran to find some twigs. Gathering them in his arms, he returned, and drew a circle in the sand with one stick. The others he lay together in a pile.

"Stay back," Harry cautioned as a few curious noses came closer. They retreated at his warning.

Satisfied that the circle was clear of noses and flickering tongues, Harry made a show of drawing a huge circle in the air with his stick, then pinched the end. Fire came to life between his fingertips and caught the end of the stick. He turned it carefully to grow the flame. The snakes in the grass watched with wide eyes.

Harry smiled at his captive audience. All the snakes seemed to really like it!

He waved the stick in a circle, drawing a ring of smoke. The snakes hardly blinked. The fire at the end of Harry's stick rose and rose. Harry stuck the unlit end in the sand by the circle. Careful not to break the line, he reached out and pinched the end of another stick. Flame erupted eagerly and soon the pile of sticks was a small fire. The snake called Corn danced in delight. Around him, others made similar wiggles of joy, and they came crowding closer and closer to the warm circle. Harry felt his cheeks sting from so much smiling. Voices came all together, hissing praise.

"How fantastic!"

"Fire! The Emperor can make fire!"

"It's magic!"

"What a warm spot...!"

Corn's voice stood out among the many. "Emperor! Emperor! What else can you do?"

The question gave Harry pause for thought. He had never considered making the little fire or turning sticks without touching them as odd. It had always been a part of him, something he had done since before he'd left the Dursley's. Now he saw that it was something different, something special. It was something that made him unique. He held his palms out and a smile stole over his face. It was his gift.

Harry held out both hands and beckoned to the smoke drifting lazily upwards from the small campfire. At first, nothing happened. The longer he concentrated, the more Harry could tell something was going to happen. The thought made him excited! He actively thought about how he felt when he pulled fire from air, and how he moved things without touching them.

The smoke curled and twisted and turned away from the sky, floating towards him.

Harry drew from the smoke until a small black cloud hovered before him. The snakes on the ground were watching in awe as the cloud turned from black to grey and white. Harry gestured gently, shooing the cloud over the fire, where the smoke drifted up into it. He held out both hands and paused to focus, to gather that feeling inside him.

The small cloud broke into a small downpour. The rain fought with smoke and sparks flew from the fire before it fizzled and died.

The grass erupted in praise. Snakes which had been watching from afar came close now. Harry laughed to see them all so excited around him, wriggling and hissing with delight! Nagini had rose from her rock in the sun and was slithering close. Sahensha had spat out a bundle of bones and was carefully drawing near, mindful of how his very presence sent most snakes scattering in fear. It was a testament to how amazing the Emperor was that none of the others paid him any mind now. For the first time he mingled with the smaller snakes without causing distress. All eyes were upon Harry.

Harry had never this way in his whole life! He stared at his hands as though seeing them for the first time. This was something he could do that was special. Corn had said his breath was magic. Perhaps this was magic, too?

He looked around at the grass full of snakes. "Is this magic?" he asked. Several voices began to speak before Nagini's heavy coils bore her to the front of the crowd. Her amber eyes seemed to sparkle.

"This is magic, Harry Potter," she confirmed. "It means you are a Wizard."

"A wizard, huh," Harry said, waving a hand. He gestured stubbornly at an unmoving stick from the ground, the one he'd lit the end of and stuck in the sand. It didn't move. His patience ran out and he plucked it up, holding it aloft above his head.

"That means I should have a wand or a staff, right? Wizards and magicians have them. I've seen them before in films." He waved the burnt end of the stick.

Nagini and the rest of the snakes ducked at once. Sahensha looked around curiously and also lowered his head, though nothing happened. He wondered what sort of game it was.

Harry regarded his stick in disappointment.

"It's not a good wand," he decided, and threw the stick.

"You did not need a stick before," Indiis observed.

"Perhaps he needs one now," Nagini suggested, amber eyes darting between Harry and the ground.

Sahensha lifted his head. Now that Harry wasn't preforming magic, the other snakes quickly gave the big snake a wide berth to come forward.

"Who are you to tell the Emperor what he needs?" he asked, drawing murmurs of support from the many other snakes. The voices quickly echoed the Basilisk's sentiment.

"The Emperor knows what He needs."

"It is not our place, not our place!"

"Please," Harry called out, "We don't need to fight. Everybody settle down!"

At once there was quiet. Some times, he didn't like that all snakes wanted to call him Emperor and treated him differently. Other times, it was nice that they all listened to him. This was such a time.

"Right. Everybody listen up! I don't want snakes to fight each other anymore. We all have to get along and be friends. That means no being rude to one another, and no name-calling... and no making someone feel bad. Alright?"

"Your word is Law. We hear, and obey," Indiis hissed, and dipped his snout to the earth. The other snakes followed his example and Harry laughed to see them all with their flickering tongues tasting the soil.

"Come on! None of that—let's relax! I don't need a stick anyhow. I've never needed one before. Does anyone want to see more magic? I want to see what else I can do!"

The rest of the day Harry Potter spent listening to the familiar sound of hissing and exploring the new feeling of using magic in ways he'd never thought of before.

End Chapter