Harry managed to avoid most of the crush and panic leading up to the Yule Ball by hiding in the library, claiming to be working on his clue. That it was true didn't really seem to count for anything, so he took to avoiding Hermione and Ron even when he was in class. He didn't bother with the stuff normally available to students – Professor Moody had asked him to stay after class the other day and then handed him a pass for the Restricted Section. It was kind of creepy, actually – usually the Defense professors tried to kill him. With Harry's luck, Moody would end up turning out to be a homicidal maniac in disguise.
Madam Pince hadn't wanted to let him at the books but she hadn't had any choice – the spells she used to detect forgeries all came back negative. After spending a horrified minute or three looking at the number of books he needed to go through, he used a bastardized version of the Point Me charm (Point Me book on strange screeching languages returned as a surprisingly number of titles if the crazy spinning of his wand was anything to go by) and then had to walk up and down every isle, stopping at each place his wand pointed straight at a title. It took nearly an hour for his wand to stop returning anything but the titles in his hand. It took another two hours to put even a dent in his stack, and by then he had ruled out Trollish, Gobbledegook, the Harpy tongue (which didn't actually have a name), Siren Song, and Manticore Screeching. He was almost about to put them back and head down to dinner when he hit the jackpot.
Each book on the various languages was imbued with a spell that, when you tapped the rune anchoring it with your wand, would play you a sample conversation. He had no sooner tapped the 'water' rune in the middle of the page on Myrfolk when the horrible screeching he'd only ever heard from that damn egg played, but softly enough that he didn't feel like his ears were bleeding. He quickly tapped the rune a second time and read the passage about the various Myrfolk clans, pay particular attention to the fact that there was a very sizeable clan in the Black Lake at Hogwarts.
Snapping the book shut and shoving it away from him, he rested his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands, thinking. He could go back to his dorm and grab the egg and find a place to listen to it underwater, but that would mean braving Hermione, Ron, Colin, Dennis, and the Weasley Twins, which was something he wanted to put off as long as possible. Nodding to himself, he grabbed the books and returned them to their proper places before going to see Madam Pince.
"I was wondering if you could help me?" Harry asked nervously. He flinched when Madam Pince glared at him before motioning him to go on.
"I was wondering if there was a charm to help someone find books on a particular subject?" She continued to glare, but Harry kept on. "It's just that I tried to use Point Me and it took a really long time to find all the things I asked it to point at."
She looked a little surprised, and Harry couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing, because she was still glaring and her lips were still pinched. But she nodded at him and came out from behind her desk, and he sighed with relief. Following her into the Restricted Section, he drew his wand when she did, listening attentively when she started to speak.
"You weren't actually far off with the Point Me," she said sourly. "The charm you want is Find Me, and instead of causing your wand to point in the right direction, it will cause the books to glow. Only you will be able to see it, so I won't bother to demonstrate the actual charm. Just use this wand motion when you cast."
The wand motion was a circle that started on the left and continued around until the circle was completed. Harry practiced it a few times until Madam Pince nodded her approval, then cast the charm.
"Find Me underwater survival," he said, twirling his wand. He grinned when he saw several books light up. "Thank you."
Madam Pince just nodded before turning around and heading back to her desk to terrorize more students. Harry was just glad it wasn't him. He grabbed the five books lit up by the spell's glow and carried them back to his table. He started with Underwater Spell Techniques (Know How Your Spells Will React Underwater) by Tilda Kirker, finding quite a few tips on how to predict how spells would react, and how you only needed to think the words to cast in water. It also listed casting spells underwater as a good way to build up your proficiency at wordless casting. The next book was useless – Know Your Water by Foren Riven was all about the different compositions of water and how they affected weather, potions, and (of all things) eye color. The third book (Deep Thinking by Ula Wentern) was actually a tale about a Sea Serpent, but just as Harry was about to shove it away in disgust, he noticed the word parseltongue.
'Parseltongue is a rare and little known gift – there are only a double handful of documented parselmouths, and we have only barely scratched the surface at what they can do when casting magic in the language of snakes. One of the more interesting things we do know, on the other hand, is that parselmouths are able to take on aspects of snakes, allowing them to survive in environments unsuited to humans. There are snakes that can withstand high temperatures, breathe underwater, breathe poisoned air, and many more things, and with a simple application of parselmagic they can take on these aspects at will.'
Harry stared at the passage blankly before reading it again. The words didn't change.
He hastily flipped through the book until he came upon a picture of a strange tablet filled with twisting symbols. The text underneath read 'the only known guide to parselmagic – found 378 in Rome'. When he looked at the picture again, the symbols had stopped twisting and looked like the rest of the book.
:Parselmagic is the easiest magic to use – you simply imbue the words you speak with your magic, and it will be as if you cast a spell.:
It was short for all that the tablet was covered in writing, but from what he could tell parselwriting was built phonetically, which was interesting and probably very confusing for any non-speaker trying to translate it. He chuckled under his breath at the thought.
Well, that was definitely sorted then. He sighed in disappointment. It was still two weeks until the Yule Ball, and he really didn't want to deal with everyone's panic and excitement over the damn thing for that long. But it looked like he didn't really have a choice. It wasn't like he could actually practice parselmagic on school grounds - Dumbledore was sure to get wind of it and then Harry would have to sit in his office while Dumbledore sighed and looked disappointed and made cryptic comments. He had enough to deal with.
He managed to work on his homework in peace for a whole five minutes before the inhabitants of the common room noticed him. Or, the female inhabitants did. The whispering immediately picked up as they pointed discretely (but not very) at him and hissed at each other from behind their hands. Apparently they were trying to figure out if he had asked anyone yet, judging by the way everyone kept shaking their heads.
Ron and Hermione dropped in beside him on the couch, and he breathed a small sigh of relief. Even if they weren't getting along perfectly, he knew that they would watch his back.
"Well, mate, looks like the birds have noticed you don't have a date," Ron said sagely, giving a nod to the room. Harry sighed again and slumped a little further into the cushions.
"Have you given any thought to who you're going to take, Harry?" Hermione asked, trying and failing not to sound bossy. "It's very important you know. Tradition states-"
"I have a date."
He said it loud enough that the whispering stopped in response. Ron and Hermione gaped at him.
"Who is the lucky girl, mate?" Ron asked, leaning forward eagerly. Hermione huffed at him but looked just as interested.
Harry smiled and shook his head before turning back to his essay.
"You're not going to tell us?"
"Nope. You can find out with the rest of the school."
"But we're your best mates!"
"And the look on your faces are going to be hilarious," Harry said, feeling impish. For some reason, he couldn't wait.
