Disclaimer: All the usual one's apply! :)

Chapter 119

Harry grinned as he wandlessly summoned the book he had placed from across the room. He was getting much better at it. He then eyed the book in his hand. It was another elemental book that Dumbledore had told him to read this past Saturday.

It was currently Wednesday. He was going to use his free period to read what he could. He closed the curtain surrounding his bed so he wouldn't be bothered, though he doubted he would be. The rest of his dorm mates had class at the moment. (Ron was in divination.)

He had made it through four chapters when his wand warmed against his arm. He stowed the book away in his trunk and headed off to class.

Defense turned out to be exciting. Remus had turned that days reviewing into a fun exercise. He had gotten full marks.

As Harry and Susan got ready to leave and head to lunch, Remus called out to him. He told Susan he'd catch her later.

"Let's have lunch in my office."

"Sure."

As they ate, Lupin asked, "So how are all the extra lessons going?"

"Okay."

"Tonks told me you done fairly well as she taught you a little bit of healing magic this past weekend."

Harry laughed. "Did she also tell you I accidentally caused her skin to turn orange?"

"She might have mentioned you mispronounced the spell. She did say that she enjoyed dueling with you."

Harry smiled. "That was fun. Though, with her being a metamorphmagus, she managed to distract me several times - at least until I was able to ignore her neon green hair and her pig snout."

Remus peered at him. "She also mentioned your lack of a personal shield. Do you know what the trouble is?"

Harry shrugged as he finished off his sandwich.

"Let me know if you have any questions. Do you know who is teaching you this upcoming Saturday?"

"She didn't know. Are they still having the Hogsmeade visit this weekend?"

"Yes. Security is being quadrupled to protect everyone."

"I'm still not going. Maybe if I'm not there, Voldemort will stay away."

"Harry, it could do you some good to go. You could obtain some measure of peace."

He shook his head. "No. I might consider it next month, but not this month."

"Very well. How are you and Severus getting along?"

After taking a drink of his pumpkin juice, he shrugged. "Okay, I guess."

"Just okay? Is something wrong?"

"No," he answered quickly. He then sighed. "It's just he's always after me to do better, grade wise, and I try and he still yells at me. Anytime I get something other than an 'E' or an 'O' on a paper, I take it to him in order for him to get the yelling over with."

"Harry, he just wants you to do your best."

"He wants perfection and I'm not perfect. I missed one question on a review paper the other day in potions and he yelled at me for at least an hour."

Lupin frowned. "That might be because it's what he teaches, but if you want, I can talk to him about it."

"No. That will make it worse." Harry glanced at the clock. "I need to go get my afternoon books. Thanks for lunch." He then headed up to the dorm.

"Everyone gather 'round. I have a real treat for you today."

Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione. The last time Hagrid had said that, he'd introduced the class to his mani-squids.

"Harry, I'm gonna need your assistance before I take the lid off."

Harry gulped but edged forward. From the corner of his eye, he saw that even the Slytherin's were throwing him sympathetic looks.

Hagrid leaned down to whisper in his ear. "I need you to speak to 'em. Tell 'em not to bite anyone."

"Hagrid, what exactly am I going to be talking to?" he slowly asked.

He lowered his voice even more and said, "a Runespoor."

The entire class, Gryffindor and Slytherin, took about five steps back when Harry's face drained of color.

"Leave the lid on until I make sure it won't attack." He sighed. While he didn't mind the parseltongue ability anymore, especially after conversing with the ghost of Slytherin, he was annoyed at being put on the spot.

He gently knelt down beside the box. "Hello," he hissed.

From his peripheral vision, he saw everyone jump in surprise at hearing the serpent language.

"A speaker!" came the sounds of three heads speaking at once.

"If I remove the lid, will you promise not to bite anyone?" He knew from his Care of Magical Creatures textbook that the right head was poisonous.

"If you can get us some of those eggs the big man has been feeding us, we won't bite anyone."

"Hagrid, do you still have some of the eggs you've been feeding them?"

Hagrid looked at him funny, so he asked the question again.

"Harry, you're still speaking in parseltongue," chimed in Hermione while giggling.

He closed his eyes and focused on the words in English. He then asked the question one more time.

Hagrid went over next to his hut and came back with a crate full of eggs.

"I'm going to remove the lid. I have the eggs. Please do not bite me or anyone else."

The class watched in fascination as Harry removed the lid, placed three eggs in the box, then gently pulled out the three headed Runespoor after they had swallowed them.

"Harry, those are poisonous," Ron said nervously.

The Slytherins backed up another five steps.

He ignored Ron for the moment. "What's your name?"

"Cisteria," they hissed back.

"Cisteria promised not to attack," he said.

"Excellent. Now Runespoor's have three heads, though that's kinda rare. Normally the left and middle head get annoyed and bite the right head off."

Hagrid glanced down at the snake that was hissing wildly at Harry. "Now, let's see. The left head is the planner. The middle head is the dreamer. And the right head is the critic. The right head is also the poisonous one."

Harry unwound the snake and set it on the ground. He was desperately fighting back his laughter at the conversations it was having. The snake was pleased it had someone that could understand it and talk to it.

He also listened to Hagrid's lesson. It was another enjoyable class. Plus, he learned more about the Runespoor than even the text book mentioned.

Near the end of class, Hagrid had Harry ask the snake if it minded being touched.

"The big man smells of animals and feeds us and keeps us warm. He may handle us without fear. You can speak, so you may also handle us. We won't bite anyone unless we feel threatened."

Harry looked around. "Uh, they said you and I can safely handle them. They also said they wouldn't bite anyone unless they feel threatened. I'd say it's safe to show them to the other classes but don't let anyone touch them."

A couple Slytherin students' laughed. So did Hagrid.

"In English, Harry."

He groaned and repeated the message in English.

At the end of class, Harry promised to visit the snake later.

As everyone headed to potions, Hermione was muttering about dangerous animals, despite actually learning something. Lavender was talking to Parvati about how Snakes were gross. The rest of the Gryffindor boys, except Ron, were talking about how cool it would be to talk to snakes.

Ron looked at Harry and rolled his eyes. They both clearly remembered his second year.

As they entered the classroom, Ron leaned over and whispered, "the Slytherin's are being rather quiet about the whole thing."

Harry snickered. "Noticed that too, huh?"

Snape strode into the room then so they immediately stopped talking.

Harry was sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace in Snape's rooms looking over his Ancient Runes assignment. Snape had mentioned to him earlier that they would be working on a few things this evening.

As it was, Snape was late, so Harry assumed the man had assigned someone detention.

It was nearly 9 p.m. before Snape had entered his quarter's.

"Why aren't you in the practice room?"

"I had homework to finish."

Snape nodded. "Head onto the classroom. I will join you momentarily."

When he entered the room, he saw several targets set up. He frowned. When Snape arrived, he asked what they were going to work on?

"During the Hogsmeade battle, you mentioned you felt yourself growing weaker as you cast because you weren't used to casting with your full power constantly. I figured we'd take a small break from the wandless magic to work on this instead."

He nodded and listened to the instructions he was given.

Around midnight, they had taken a small break.

As Harry downed his third cup of water in as many minutes, he eyed Snape from the corner of his eye. He then plopped down in a chair.

"Is it true that magic shows up in someone when they're two or three years old?"

Evidently his question had caught Snape off guard. "Excuse me?"

"Is it true that magic in someone shows up when they're around two or three years old?"

"Generally, yes, though it can be later."

"How old were you?"

"I was two and a half years old."

"Do you know how old mom was?" he asked curiously.

"She was two weeks shy of her fourth birthday."

Harry thought about that for a moment. "Then how is it possible that I summoned my bottle when I was four months old?"

He watched as Snape sat down. "Why are you asking about this?"

"Susan and I were talking and I didn't realize that being able to use magic that young was abnormal, so I told her. She told me that I probably shouldn't go around telling people that."

"You shouldn't. And how did you not know that?"

"Why would I? It's not exactly something that's ever came up in normal conversation with Ron or Hermione. When Remus told me, he never mentioned how that made me a freak, not even when he told me about how I changed Dumbledores' and Sirius' hair different colors."

"Harry, you are not a freak!" Snape said harshly.

Harry merely shrugged. He then squinted at Snape. "I can tell you are powerful, kinda like Dumbledore."

Harry then poured himself another small cup of water, therefore he missed Snape giving him a disbelieving look.

"I am not on the Headmaster's level. I am no where close to the Headmaster's power level."

Harry squinted at him again.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Just trying out something I read about. Anyway, I'm ready whenever you are."

He saw Snape scowl but nod.

He had been trying to figure out how he had as much power as he did, but since he had no way to look at his mom, it was useless to worry about it.

Two hours later, Harry blindly stumbled into his bedroom. He was exhausted.

Without even bothering to get undressed, he collapsed head first into his bed. As he drifted off to sleep, he idly thought that maybe he should just move down here. As it was, he slept down here at least four nights a week.

"Harry, are you sure you won't go to Hogsmeade?"

"I'm sure. Have fun guys. I'll see you later."

He watched his friends head down to the village. He then went in search of his girlfriend. He found her yelling at Zachariah Smith. He stood back to let her finish.

When she saw him, she stormed his direction. "Oh, some days I'd really like to hex him to oblivion."

He snickered. "Are you still going to the village?"

"Yeah. I have to get my Aunt a birthday present. Are you sure you won't go?"

"I'm sure. Have fun."

She kissed his cheek. "I'll find you when I get back."

He nodded and headed up to the seventh floor to the Room of Requirement. It had been ages since he had been to the Founders Library. He had every intention of trying to finish the book on Skin Magic before his lesson with Dumbledore.

He had read so many books lately, his head felt like it was about to explode but he felt like he needed to make some head way through the books that Voldemort had also read while he had a free moment.

The library, thankfully, allowed him entrance so he settled into a chair and began reading.

An hour had passed when he looked up and nearly fell out of his chair. While he had been reading, the ghosts of Gryffindor and Slytherin had appeared, both reading ghostly books, and were sitting across from him.

"Gah! You scared me."

Slytherin smirked.

"Figured you could use the company," commented Gryffindor.

After he regulated his breathing, he nodded. "Thanks. Just, next time, tell me you're here." He then looked at them curiously. "How long have you been here?"

"About 45 minutes," the ghost of Slytherin said.

He merely sighed and went back to his book.

Three hours later he finished the book and sat it down. The book was actually pretty informative. He glanced at the pile of books on the table, idly wondering if there were other books that dealt with Skin Magic. He got up and began to go through them.

He managed to find a book simply titled Connection.

"That's one I wrote myself," the Slytherin ghost said. "And if you're thinking about what I think you are, it's a good one to read next."

Harry nodded and sat down to read it. He immediately cast a Latin to English translating charm over the book. It was still written in parselscript, but the words looked like English (well Latin until he cast the charm) to him.

Sometimes he still had to try to make the sentences work because eighty percent of the time, parseltongue doesn't directly translate to common words, but he was getting a lot better at it.

An hour into the book found him jumping again when a hand landed on his shoulder.

"Headmaster?" he asked as he attempted to control his heart rate ... again.

"Are you all right?"

"I will be in a minute."

"Your father's been looking for you."

"Do you know where he's looked?"

"Everywhere."

"Great," muttered Harry as he cast the tempus spell. "Er ... oops. I didn't mean to be late for our lesson. I got side tracked."

"What are you reading?"

"I ... I'd like your opinion on an idea but can I read this book first?"

"Certainly, my dear boy. Head on down to the warded classroom. I'll be along shortly."

"Can I meet you there in an hour?"

The Headmaster smiled and nodded.

Severus was in a fit of rage. He'd been looking for Harry for four hours. He knew the boy wasn't going to Hogsmeade so he wanted to work with him on wandless magic before his lesson with Albus.

But so far, every point-me and location spell fizzled. Even the spell on the boys necklace didn't respond, which annoyed him even further because even if Harry had been in the Room of Requirement, it would have told him.

With a sigh of frustration, he stormed into his rooms - only to be brought up short by Harry sitting on the couch reading a book.

"Where have you been?" he demanded.

"The library," Harry said casually.

"Do not lie to me!"

Harry put the book he was reading down. "I'm not lying. I was in the library. Professor Dumbledore found me and said you were looking for me."

Severus fumed but glanced at Harry. The boy didn't seem to be lying but there was no way he was telling the complete truth.

"Sir? Did you need something? When the Headmaster told me you were looking for me, I figured it would be easier to just wait here instead of hunting for you."

Severus narrowed his eyes. "I wanted to work on wandless magic with you but you are already late for your lesson with the Headmaster."

"I'm going to be meeting him in about ten minutes. Is that all you needed?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Hagrid told me about the Runespoor. Were you okay talking to it?"

"Yeah, although, Malfoy caught me alone after potions class and told me that I shouldn't show off like that."

"Show off?" asked Severus as he raised his eyebrow.

"Malfoy said talking to snakes is a skill that every Slytherin wants." He rolled his eyes. "He said it in that superior smug way of his. Sometimes he makes me want to hit him. Although, he did also warn me that it may cause some people to think I'm Voldemort's apprentice or something, too. Anyway, I told Cisteria I'd be down this weekend."

Severus frowned, unsure what to comment on first. "Who, in Merlin's name, is Cisteria?"

The boy laughed. "The Runespoor."

"They're poisonous."

"Just the right head."

A thought crossed his mind. "Are you able to control her?"

"Ha! No! She'd probably bite me if I tried. Why? Do you want some kind of ingredient or something?"

"How do you not get bit if you can't control her?"

The boy laughed. "I asked her politely to not bite me."

"That's it?" asked Severus in disbelief.

"Yep. Anyway, I'm going to head to the warded classroom. I'll see you later."

Severus nodded and watched as the boy fled. He would ask Albus where he had found him, but he had a suspicion that the Headmaster would lie.

He then headed into his potions lab where he was immediately brought up short.

There, sitting on the lab table in three different jars, was the shed skin of a Runespoor.

He wondered when Harry had done this but figured he would ask later. As he made sure the jars were sealed properly, he figured that maybe, this time, he'd let Harry get away with the library answer.

At least for now.

A/N: I meant to publish this yesterday, but I got hit with another migraine, so I wasn't able too. I didn't do much of anything but sleep in a dark room the entire day.

Anyway, I enjoyed writing the scene with the Runespoor. Had quite a bit of fun with it actually. Off the top of my head, I can't remember what I have next. *Accepts the flogging.*

Annnddd if you figure out what Harry and the ghost of Slytherin were talking about, shhhhh. Don't tell! We don't want old Voldy to get wind of it. *shifty*

Oh, and I was asked if Harry had asked Dumbledore and Remus to give Snape actual custody, the answer is no. I have a scene dependent on that fact coming up too. (Even though it was discovered that Snape is Harry's actual father, Sirius (Harry's legal guardian for a while) had left guardianship to Dumbledore and Lupin, and they haven't corrected that yet, though Dumbledore did tell Harry a few chapter's back that whenever he was ready, they would transfer it over.)

Anywho, I'm off to the gym to walk in place for an hour and then this evening, I'm gonna edit the next chapter. :)

*sets out lots of prezzies for reviews*

Thanks everyone who has reviewed so far! :-) *big gigantic hugz*