Chapter 18! Sounds Super right? I've always found eating strange french foods at fancy restaurantsto be one of the most anxiety inducing activitiesever created by man. Please review and tell me what you think of this chapter
I can't believe I am doing this again. Do I even have enough power to convince more than one snake to follow me? These were the thoughts that ran through Harry as he knelt down and studied the mark. He knew what he needed to do. He opened his mouth.
"Hello, My name is Harry Potter."
Harry ignored the stiffening of the man's body when he heard Harry speak Parseltongue. It was hardly his fault it had such a bad reputation.
"A speaker!" The mark hissed. "You are the first I have met since the egg breaker."
"What does the egg breaker wish for you to do?"
"I can lead the two legger I live on towards the egg breaker, I can drain magic and life force and feed it to the egg breaker and I can also cause pain."
"I am more powerful than the dirty egg breaker. He is merely a wraith who fears death and floats around in the woods. I am more powerful than he and I merely a child. I defeated him twice and have claimed his name as my own through the ancient magics. If you change your loyalties to follow me. I would have no requirements you would be able to live peacefully on the two legger."
As he spoke he let out a bit of his power so that he looked like a powerful speaker instead of a scrawny 11 year old. The snake considered him a moment before nodding and cutting all ties with Lord Moldypants. Lucius hissed in pain as the snake extracted herself. Harry looked up once it was done.
"Do you want me to change how it looks or are you okay with the same design?"
"Change it please."
"To prove your change of loyalty change yourself to look as a snake should."
The snake nodded in pride and changed itself till it looked the way it felt it should look. A shimmering red snake that curled around the forearm. It was a rather masculine tattoo. Harry stood up and felt a little dizzy he stumbled over to his chair and sat down. Apparently changing a snake did take up some magic. Harry waited for his vision to stop spinning and then he shook himself.
"So do you understand why I don't want people to know?"
"I admit that parseltongue isn't the most popular of abilities right now. I could understand your need for secrecy." Lucius said while never taking his eyes off the now mark free arm.
"You can tell your family you had it removed of course." Harry said. "I don't know if Draco knows anything about it but I imagine your wife does. It is good news just don't tell them how. If it got out that I speak the same language that Moldyshorts did then everyone would think I was the next up and coming dark lord and I really don't need that."
Something in that sentence made Lucius start. He looked at Harry with a strange look in his eye.
"What did you just call him?"
"Who? Oh you mean Moldyshorts. I called him Moldyshorts. I think it's a better name than the one he gave himself." Harry said. "I also call him the Dark Pastry, Lord Backwards-head, you know things like that. Really whatever comes to mind."
"Why do you call him that?" Lucius stuttered out trying not to laugh at the thought of his old master being called the Dark Pastry.
"The man gave himself a scary name so he would be feared and it worked. People were so afraid that they still don't use his name 10 years after his first defeat." Harry began. "Now I fear the monster. I would be an idiot not to but I refuse to use any of his stupid monikers. The man murdered my parents, I'm angry about that. He took away what should've been a wonderful childhood. So until I totally defeat him or he kills me I'm going to make fun of him. It's petty yes but oh so satisfying."
"You do realize that makes you a target for him and his followers?" Lucius asked.
"Yep but I was already a target. Any Dark wizard worth his salt is going to do everything in his power to destroy utterly the kid who keeps defeating him." Harry said in a flippant tone that contradicted the real fear he felt.
Lucius said nothing to that and they ate in silence. Harry tried to figure out how to eat certain things. He had never even heard of some of the food items in front of him before. While he navigated through the perils of a fancy dinner Lucius questioned him about what had happened to his mark.
"So what did you do? I always expected removing the mark would hurt more than getting it."
"I imagine if I had tried to banish the mark all together it would've killed you. I merely changed the snake on your arm so that it is no longer loyal to its creator."
"I don't know much about snake lore would you explain in a little more depth?"
"Snakes much like their Slytherin counterparts want the best possible solution for themselves. When a snake meets a speaker like myself they will often give their loyalty, their fealty, to that speaker because it has benefits for both the speaker and the snake. I, as the speaker, offer protection and they offer their loyalty to do what I ask." Harry explained. "The mark Moldyshorts created was nothing short of genius. Since he was the only known Parselmouth in Britain all snakes he met would pledge their loyalty to him which meant that they snakes in your mark would resist any kind of tampering."
"So any magic done on them not done by Voldemort himself would have very little reaction?" Lucius asked.
"Yes. Voldemort designed his mark to have many uses. It can lead his followers to him, which no doubt you both have felt his call. He can use them to cause extreme amounts of pain a method of torture I suppose you could say. That isn't the worst part of that little mark though. He made it so the snake on your arm connects directly to your magical core."
"What does that mean?" Severus asked with a strained voice.
"Moldyshorts was draining every single one of his followers of their magical power. It also allows him to kill any one of his followers with a thought. It is an awful thing but I can't help but respect the amount of planning that went into it." Harry said. "He created a sentient magical snake that would follow only his bidding and would resist tampering or removal. It was nearly foolproof the only thing I imagine he didn't plan on was another Parselmouth."
"Can snakes change their loyalty then?"
"Can Slytherins?" Harry asked. "If a snake meets another speaker, which is very rare, the snake can change its loyalty if it thinks that the new speaker could offer better protection or is generally more powerful. So instead of getting rid of the snake which would've killed you. I gave it the option of changing its loyalty to me."
"Does that make you my master now?" Lucius asked.
"No. If I was a despicable kind of person then yeah I could've done that but I didn't. I offered the snake a deal. He, or in the case of your snake She, changes her loyalty to me and in exchange they will live a comfortable life. They will have no fear of me asking them for anything and they will be safe of their human's arm. The hardest part is proving I'm more powerful."
"So in essence I have a sentient snake living on my arm that used to have the ability to kill me but now it just lays there relaxing?"
"Pretty much. Congratulations it's a girl." Harry said with a smirk.
It could be noted that there were many times one would forget that you were speaking to an eleven year old when speaking to Harry Potter. At times he was like a bitter old man, one who been through hell and back, at other times he was like a self-conscious 8 year old. At this point in time Harry was acting more like a 30 year than an 11 year old. This was easily explained but not easily understood. A child had to be intelligent as well as forced to be an adult at a young age for it to happen. Which is exactly what had happened to Harry.
Both men looked a little sick at the idea of the megalomaniac having been draining away their magic. It seemed however that the boy in front of them wasn't joking about it. Instead he was trying to eat his food without making a fool out of himself. Lucius decided to move the conversation forward.
"So Mr. Potter. How are you feeling about coming to Draco's party?"
Instead of answering Harry turned to Severus and with a devilish smirk asked an innocuous question.
"Severus. Is Mr. Potter the correct name now?"
Snape scowled looking down into his food.
"Harry. I have honestly no idea what the proper name is to use. I suppose it depends on whom you are with." Severus said. "You have more names than Albus I think."
"No I think we have the same number."
"No he has five and you have six. You have one of the most pretentious names I have ever read." Severus argued.
"What is your name then?" Lucius asked intrigued.
"Harry James Peverell Gryffindor Slytherin Potter at your service. One of the richest men in all the British isles and only known survivor of the killing curse." Harry said with a pompous tone.
For the third time in a space of an hour Lucius Malfoy was stunned silence. The Gryffindor wasn't really all that surprising. The Potters were known descendants of the Gryffindor line. After the last war it would make sense that the head of house could fall to Harry. The Peverell name that one sounded strangely familiar but Lucius couldn't quite place it. The one that really hit him was the Slytherin. How on earth had he gotten that title?
"That's quite a name." Lucius said since he really had no idea what to do with all of this information.
"I like it though it is a bit pompous. I mean the last guy who started touting around the Slytherin name became evil and insane." Harry answered. "I wonder if the name is cursed or something."
"I highly doubt someone went through the trouble of cursing a name." Lucius said.
"I'll have to look into it." Harry resolved. "So what does happen at a birthday party? I've never attended one so I'm unsure of the details."
"Well for Draco's normally we have a nice meal and then while we are eating Draco's favorite kind of cake he opens his presents." Lucius said. "It's a rather simple thing nothing too extravagant."
Harry nodded and the conversation moved on. They discussed Hogwarts mostly. Who was going to teach DADA next year now that Quirrel had 'passed on'? Harry fought not to shiver at the reminder of that particular event. Once lunch was over they separated ways.
"Have fun with your freedom Mr. Malfoy. Don't waste it, not all are so lucky." Harry said right before Snape used his magic to make them disappear.