19 A snake and a parselmouth
"How will we destroy these Horcruxes " Lupin asked curiously.
"There are two possibilities, either fiendfyre" Jen answered and at that the other people in the room all shuddered; the fiendfyre was extremely dangerous to handle and not something they at all wanted to have to use. "Or a very potent poison, and as I indicated a Basilisk is the only thing I know that has potent enough a poison to influence such dark objects" she continued
Black and Lupin looked expectantly at Severus "I can no longer brew anything due to a curse Lucius cast on me, but even if I could I do not know any manmade poisons that are potent enough to compare to Basilisk poison."
"So unless we can find somewhere safe enough to cast fiendfyre, we need to check if Harry was right and Slytherin indeed had a Basilisk in the cellar" Black said smiling wryly.
"Wouldn`t put it past the man" Severus muttered "he was famous for being a parselmouth as you know, and a Basilisk would fit his image perfectly. We should ask the elves to assist our search, they know everything about Hogwarts" he concluded
In the end the Horcruxes were put in a safe place for the duration, and the company concentrated on enjoying their holiday. The fact that Harry was there kept Severus and Sirius from bickering too much, plus Remus`s and Jen`s shared experiences as part humans helped them become friends fast. As such the holiday was spent reading, playing with Harry and soon enough there was time for presents. Black had of course gone overboard, and Harry was inundated with gifts. The boy seemed totally at a loss but at last the gifts were all unpacked, except one "My sister has unexpectedly sent Harry something that she says could be useful, but I don`t know what it is" Jen said holding a small box out to Harry. The boy opened it up, and in the box was a beautiful little snake. It hissed at Harry, who hissed back softly.
"My son is a parselmouth"? Severus said weakly, "that is an incredibly rare ability". Harry looked up from his snake briefly asking "is it a bad thing, being a parselmouth whatever that is"?
"It is the ability to talk to snakes, as you did now" Severus explained "it is not directly bad, but many people consider it in a negative way. Especially as the dark Lord was the last known parselmouth".
"I don`t think you should worry about it" Sirius said "with your fame, people will talk about you anyway. You will need to develop a thick skin before long."
Severus cleared his throat meaningfully as Harry seemed ready to burst out in an angry tirade. "Harry does not want to be famous; he has changed his name in order to escape that."
Jen gave the two a sympathetic smile saying "I don`t see how he can stay anonymous, he is very recognizable with that scar. Well maybe if you choose to break his mother`s charm and revert him to his real looks that might help". Seeing Severus and Harry looking at her uncomprehendingly she exclaimed "you didn`t know Lily had charmed his looks"?
The others all shook her head and she looked shocked "I can sense a powerful charm on his looks, I don`t know what it does exactly, but I know he does not really look like this" she waved her hand at Harry. I can show you how he would really look, but I`d probably end the charm in the process. If you asked maybe Flitwick could manage a temporary fix, just so you can see what Harry really looks like?
