Chapter 9: Field trips

Luckily, the Flamels weren't exactly early risers so when Harry entered the dining hall they had just begun their breakfast. Happily greeting them he sat down on his usual seat just to discover that the house elves once more had outdone themselves. The variety of food was just as big as it had been when he had first arrived. But oh well, it certainly made a good impression.

They ate in silence for a while, before Perenelle started making a bit of small-talk, like how Harry had slept and how he liked being with Death. And it was then that Harry couldn't keep his curiosity at bay anymore.

"Um... may I ask how you got to know Death?" he asked after he had answered her last question, hoping it wasn't too impolite.

Thankfully, she just smiled, before looking at her husband, who took it as a cue.

"Of course you may, it's only natural to be curious, especially about something like that. In fact, it has much to do with what I told you yesterday. After Perenelle and I had successfully created the Philosopher's Stone in the fourteenth century, mere moments after our realisation that we had actually done it, Death appeared in the middle of the room, seemingly out of nowhere. He explained to us who he was and that we were to explain to him why we had created the stone and how we wanted to use it. Thankfully, our reasons were purely academical. Of course, we wanted to use the stone, but we never wanted to change the world or anything. We wanted to test the stone's limitations, its uses and its advantages and disadvantages. I think that was the reason why Death let us be instead of... whatever he does with people that fail to meet his standards. Because if there is one thing he dislikes it's people who want to gain power and change the world by cheating him."

Harry nodded, that much he had understood in his time here already. Death was a brilliant teacher and in fact much nicer than he seemed, even if his tone was very... lifeless, for the lack of a better word. But he absolutely hated lying, cheating and any kind of betrayal, especially if it was used to get out of bargains made with him personally. Harry could easily imagine that the people who had wanted to extend their lives for changing other people wasn't well-received.

"So, you see, our visits here are mostly check ups, should we ever decide to go against our bargain with him, using our extended lives for doing anything he doesn't approve of, he will know. And we will have a problem," Nicolas finished, smiling lightly although what he had just said didn't sound nice. But on the other hand, if they had managed to live for over six hundred years without Death ever having a problem with them they'd know what they were doing.

"And you've never done anything like that?" Harry asked, hoping that his curiosity wasn't too impolite.

Perenelle shook her head. "Never. Although it once came close..." she said, before chuckling at Harry's poorly disguised 'Tell me more'-look. "Well, do you know of the man called Albus Dumbledore?"

Harry frowned, but nodded. How could he forget the man who had tried to make him go back to his horrible relatives? But what had Mr. Dumbledore to do with the Flamels...? He wasn't that old, was he?

"So, Nicolas and I had been friends with Albus for a few years about a decade ago. Since he was very interested in studying Alchemy and we are still considered experts in that branch of magic we corresponded regularly and even met a few times. He is very ambitious, you know, so we helped him gladly in achieving more knowledge, since that basically is our purpose in life. But then he accidentally stumbled upon our research about the Philosopher's Stone and wanted to take a look. Of course, we declined, as Death had made it clear that only we were allowed to research the stone, but Albus kept trying to convince us. And as he is really good with words we finally agreed on asking Death if it was alright." She grimaced slightly as she probably remembered what had happened. "To put it short, Death had wanted to test Albus too and Albus failed the test rather spectacularly. But since he hadn't actually created a Philosopher's Stone himself Death wasn't able to alter Albus' memories or anything, so since then Albus knows of Death's existence and we had to promise to never ask something like that from Death again."

Harry stared at her for a moment, trying to comprehend everything she said. At least that explained how Mr. Dumbledore had known about Death, although Harry wasn't sure why Death had brought him here instead of speaking to him wherever they had met on Earth.

"Um... may I ask one last question?" he wondered after a moment, stopping himself from positively bombarding them with pretty personal questions. After the adults nodded, he continued. "Is there anything preventing you from doing stuff Death doesn't want you too? Besides the yearly meeting, of course..." Because as far as Harry thought, one could do a whole lot stuff in a year without Death noticing... right?

"I can give people my mark, if you must know," another voice suddenly sounded from the entrance, making Harry jump. How did Death always move so silently?! He certainly hadn't noticed the other one's entrance, having been completely immersed in Perenelle's story. "Do not look that alarmed, I am Death, of course I can move without people hearing me. I need to reach the dead without the living hearing me."

"Y-Yes, that makes sense..." Harry muttered, failing at trying to sound not as startled as he felt. Still, after the initial shock, his curiosity once more got the best of him. "So... what kind of mark is that?"

Death stared at him. "Didn't you just say that this would be your last question?"

Harry thought quickly. "My last question to them."

Death nodded slowly. "Good, you're learning." He had began to teach Harry that it was important to always have a retort at hand even for unexpected questions or situations that contradicted things you said before. And at least some of it had obviously worked. "About that mark: Certain people" At this, he looked at the Flamels "thought of giving it the most obvious name 'Mark of Death' as it is just that. I am placing a mark on people that allows me to control when - or if - they die."

Harry frowned. "I thought you weren't allowed to decide that for yourself?" Death had also begin to teach him about how he worked, what he was allowed to do and what was off-limits and so on, so it was pretty confusing to hear that now.

"Every rule has exceptions, you should know that by now," Death chided lightly, but explained it nevertheless. "It is correct that I am not allowed to kill normal people, but once someone found a way to cheat me, I am allowed to do whatever I see fit. That still excludes the drastic direct actions - with which I mean killing - but I am allowed to test them and either delete their memories of it or, if they are willing, put my mark onto them. It labels them as exceptions, which means that they will not die of old age anymore but I will need to monitor them closely to end their life when I see fit. This link also alerts me if the bearer does anything that obviously oversteps previously explained boundaries. So you see, it is decidedly difficult to cheat me. At least most of the time..."

The last part was added in a sourly fashion which made Harry wonder if there actually was an 'easy' way to cheat Death. He did sound like there was, but for now Harry decided he had asked enough. After all, it still was Yule! Instead, he thanked Death for his answers and turned back to his now cold food, eating the last scraps of it before starting another, much lighter topic with the famous alchemists.

ooo

After the Flamels had departed the days got quiet again and Harry went back to his normal lessons with Death. Well, not quite, since Harry now had Sinistra - or Sin, as he had shortened her name after a while - to play with in his freetime and they were now starting the practical work, just like Death had promised. Sure, the 'muggle-stuff', as Harry had labelled his non-magical lessons, was still very theoretical, but finally Death allowed him to learn some easy spells, like the Levitation Charm! And he was even allowed to brew some simple potions after being taught the basics. Sure, most of these things were very simple, but just being able to finally try putting all that theory he had learned into use was completely worth it.

Because of that, Harry was very curious the day Death told him they would learn muggle-stuff more practical too.

"I have decided that you are mature enough for this now so do not disappoint me," Death had told him, making Harry swell with pride. It wasn't common that Death simply praised him. "We will be visiting a zoo today. It will be good for you to get out again after all that time. Additionally, we will repeat our lessons about some of the animals there, since it should be easier for you to grasp some of the context if you are actually able to see what I am talking about."

Harry nodded eagerly. He had never been to a zoo, it sounded like fun!

"Very well. We will travel there right away, just remember to behave and there should be no complications."

With that, Death placed his hand on Harry's shoulder and brought both of them to whatever zoo he had in mind.

ooo

The zoo in question turned out to be the London Zoo, since it was a very old zoo and the people spoke English. And Death now took him there every week, to discover a few things about the animals living there. At least about the ones that populated their compounds in winter. Harry really liked the visits, since they were interesting and the way they entered the zoo was weird, but also very funny. In fact, both of them just turned invisible at Death's Lair, travelled to the zoo and made themselves visible once they'd found a quiet corner.

But at their fifth visit, something... unusual happened. By now they had seen almost all animals that didn't sleep or anything like that in January, so today would be their last visit to this zoo in winter and Death wanted conclude it with explaining some facts about reptiles to Harry. This meant they spent most of their time inside of the Reptile House and Harry got to see a lot of lizards and frogs and even a real crocodile! Although Death didn't really told him much about the latter, saying he would explain these to Harry when he was older and could protect himself good enough to go looking for them in the wild.

But the most interesting animals in the Reptile House certainly were the snakes. Harry was just looking at the black mamba, the deadliest snake they had if he was to believe the sign next to it, as he suddenly heard something like a faint whisper.

"Stupid humans, always watching... How would they like being watched all day...?"

He stared at the snake, because although it certainly shouldn't be possible, it seemed as if the snake had just spoken... And now it turned its head, as if noticing that it was being watched as it looked directly back at him.

"What are you looking at, punk?", the animal hissed, making Harry jump.

"I'm sorry...!", he apologized reflexively, before noticing that he had just hissed himself! He wasn't sure if he would have noticed it right away if he wasn't so accustomed to hearing whinnying or barking and understanding what was said when he talked to Thestrals and Grims, but he was certain that he hadn't spoken English right now, even though he had understood himself perfectly well...!

The snake certainly proved that theory a moment later as it raised his head now a little.

"Oho... You are a speaker? Then pardon my bad manners, please. I am so used to all of these staring humans that I didn't notice."

Harry stared a moment longer, now feeling terribly confused. So he did the only thing that came to his mind: He ran back to Death, who had been trailing behind so that Harry had time to look at all the different species of reptiles before talking about them in detail.

"Umm... Do black mambas fall into the category of animals I should be able to talk to...? Like Thestrals and Grims?", he asked at once, making Death blink twice in surprise - or at least Harry thought this might be how Death expressed surprise - before answering.

"No, they certainly do not. In fact, next to Thestrals and Grims there are only few other creatures you should be able to talk to, all of them magical. Why are you asking me this?"

Harry frowned. "Well... I think that snake over there talked to me..."

He went back to the black mamba with Death in tow.

"Ah, so you decided to return? You know, it is very impolite to ignore someone who is speaking to you," the snake hissed.

"I'm sorry, I... didn't know I could speak to snakes," Harry apologised once more, making Death look back and forth between him and the snake.

"Well, that is interesting," Death said after a moment, even sounding slightly surprised, which basically meant that he was more surprised than Harry had ever seen him be. Although when he continued he had collected himself again, making his words sound as neutral as ever. "Speaking to snakes is not something you get from being associated with me. In fact, it is an inheritable skill of humans only few wizards and even fewer muggles possess."

Harry blinked. "Muggles can speak to snakes too?"

Death nodded, now fixing his gaze on the black mamba who was looking back at both of them. "There are certainly a few who can, although most of them have inherited this gift through wizards or squibs in their family trees, who in turn once had Nagas in their family trees. But it is not as rare as most wizards tend to think. Most people simply are not interested in showing off their ability. Some out of egoistical reasons, some out of fear." He turned to Harry, who by now was pretty confused.

"What are Nagas?", he asked the first questions that came into his mind. "And are there people who can speak to other animals too?"

Death was quiet for a moment, which either meant he thought about answering or he wouldn't answer at all. Thankfully, he currently was in his teacher mode, which meant he answered most of the questions Harry had patiently.

"Nagas have been snakelike creatures that lived thousands of years ago. Many magical snakelike beings like the Basilisk and the Runespoor have evolved from Nagas, although the Nagas themselves have gone extinct about one thousand three hundred years ago," Death explained slowly and since they already had talked about the basics of evolution Harry at least somehow understood what Death meant. Basically these creatures must somehow have had children with humans who in the end kept the ability to speak to snakes. But Death wasn't finished yet. "Considering your second question: Yes, there are quite a few animal tongues some human can understand, but I have rarely heard of a case where someone was able to speak multiple languages naturally."

Not giving the Nagas much more thoughts after this initial explanation - Harry simply wasn't as interested in Biology or History to truly care much about creatures that had lived thousands of years ago - Harry instead went for the new questions the second answer brought up, glad that there were enough people around providing background noise as to them being able to talk openly about magical stuff here. "What kind of other animals can humans speak to?"

"Well, the way Parselmouths can speak Parseltongue - these are the correct terms for people who can speak to snakes and their language - is also being done with animals like birds, cats, mustelids and fish. The four heraldic animals of the houses of Hogwarts for example are not simply symbols to their respective personalities, but in fact are the animals the founders conversed the most with. One of the reasons why Hogwarts was such a big success was, that the four humans who built it had quite an extraordinary ancestry to begin with. The first students were sent because their parents wanted to know if it was true that the founders could speak to certain animals. Although only Salazar Slytherin had no qualms about showing off his ability, so he is the best known Speaker of the four."

Harry stared at Death, almost greedily absorbing this information. Sure, it still had a lot to do with history, but this time, it was stuff that actually still existed! Not just some magical being that might as well have come out of a fairy tale!

"Anyway, it is not why we are here today. Please tell this snake your goodbyes, we will continue talking about this particular gift of yours once we are back at my lair. For now, let's get back to your knowledge about snakes in general..."

Harry sighed, knowing that nothing he said could change Death's mind now, so he said good bye to the snake. But at least he would know more about snakes in general afterwards and he could ask a lot more once they had returned home...

ooo

It was hard to hold back his curiosity until they had reappeared in Death's Lair, but Harry barely managed. Not that this didn't mean he continued his questioning immediately.

"So... about being a Parselmouth... Is there anything I can do with it? I mean, besides being able to talk to snakes?"

"Yes, in fact there is. Speaking an animal's language combined with the magic each witch or wizard possesses can result in interesting outcomes. They can for example give orders to their respective animals and temporarily heighten some of their senses - for example one can get an extraordinary eyesight for a while if one can speak the language of birds of prey. Most speakers also have some weak but permanent ability which was passed down through many generations from their inhuman ancestors. In your case we are talking about slightly heightened regenerative abilities, meaning that your wounds heal a little bit faster than those of other people. But it's not something to get excited over, it's not really noticeable if you don't know what to look for."

The last sentence surely was added because Harry was positively delighted in hearing about what positive aspects came with his ability, but he didn't mind. It was cool enough to be able to speak to some non-magical animals at all and maybe even get some of their senses. As he had learned just today, snakes had a really good sense of smell, which might not sound as cool as being able to see really good, but he was sure it could still be a very interesting experience.

"So... can you teach me something of it?" he asked curiously, but as Death shook his head, his elation deflated slightly.

"Since I am not a human I do not possess any kind of ancestry like that and cannot speak to animals. My Thestrals can, though, so if I want to know anything they may translate for me."

Harry nodded sadly. Since Death only rarely used his skeletal appearance in front of Harry it wasn't always easy for him to remember that he wasn't just a very powerful wizard but in fact something completely inhuman. Harry didn't know what to call him and Death himself didn't provide any type of name here, so for now, he was just Death. No species attached. But still, it was frustrating to hear that even Death wasn't able to do just anything...

Maybe he noticed Harry's dejected face, or maybe he simply hadn't finished talking, but Death continued to speak. "That does not mean, however, that you will not be able to learn anything about it. In fact, I have an idea about a fitting teacher for you." Harry's eyes shone with new hope. "But before I will introduce you, you will have to master your summoning skills to my satisfaction."

Harry stared at him, surprised about the change of topics, and a little bit frustrated, because he didn't really like the summoning practise. He did like summoning his parents or people he knew, but unknown people? He wasn't so sure about that... So he hadn't really tried before...

"I know you do not like it a lot, but it will be a necessity for you to learn about Parseltongue. So, do we have an agreement?"

Harry thought about it for a moment, knowing that he couldn't step back once he had accepted it. But his curiosity got the better of him, so he nodded after a moment.

It would be hard work to meet Death's expectations, but the reward was just too tempting. He would live through it.

Hey there, I'm back again! So sorry for the lack of information these last months!

I'll probably not repeat this anymore, so... just one last time: As you probably all noticed by now, the updates for this story (and Snake Whisper) have slowed down very much. Reason is still my real life, I'm working fulltime now and just moved closer to my workplace, so I obviously have a lot less time by now.
But I'll still do my best to keep writing, updates will just stay slow most of the time...

Other than that... I hope you liked this chapter, it introduces Harry being a Parseltongue a bit earlier than the books did but oh well... He will soon have a fitting teacher for it. Wanna guess who it will be? ;)

Thanks to all readers and followers, as well as people who favourite this. Special thanks to all reviewers! :D

Regards, Violet-san