Chapter 8 – A Parsel-what?

What If Harry reacted differently to the snake that Draco conjured during the dueling scene in "Chamber of Secrets"?

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Harry Potter narrowed his eyes as the Potions Master bent over to whisper instructions to Draco Malfoy on their upcoming match in Gilderoy Lockhart's new Dueling Club. Snape made no secret of his hatred for Harry and his persistent bullying behavior towards the boy had been returned with well-earned loathing. The Gryffindor had no idea what the man's instructions were, but he knew it was meant to either injure or humiliate him.

Harry probably shouldn't have been surprised when Malfoy cast before the countdown to start was completed, but he was and he was blasted off his feet. He immediately jumped up and cast "Rictusempa" at the blonde, causing the Slytherin to bend over, wheezing. Lockhart tried to call out instructions to the two, but Harry was only paying attention to his opponent.

"Serpensortia!" Malfoy called out. To the Gryffindor's shock, the tip of the Slytherin's wand exploded with a black light which coalesced in to a long black snake.

He realized that Snape was smiling with amusement as he said, "Don't move, Potter. I'll get rid of it for you."

Before he could cast, Lockhart said, "Allow me!" He waved his wand, and with a loud bang, the snake flew into the air and landed near the watching students. It hissed in anger and slithered directly towards Justin Finch-Fletchley, a Hufflepuff who had just introduced himself to Harry a few minutes earlier. The students around the boy screamed in panic.

Harry felt oddly calm despite the fear around him. Snakes had always been some of his only friends growing up. The garter snakes that lived around his Aunt's yard had always warned him if they felt the ground tremors when any of the Dursleys or Dudley's gang came up behind him as he worked in the yard.

The large black serpent raised up, fangs exposed. "No one move!" called Harry. "Leave him alone," he demanded of the snake. The serpent turned its head and stared at him, so Harry motioned it towards himself, but when Justin shifted nervously, the snake turned its attention back to the Hufflepuff.

Harry took a step forward and shouted "I said, leave him alone!" When the snake stared back at him with its unblinking eyes, Harry gestured towards Draco Malfoy. "That's the one that brought you here and put you in danger." The snake's head turned towards the Slytherin and the blonde boy gulped and rapidly took several steps back, his wand visibly shaking as he tried to point it at the black serpent. The snake began following the retreating boy, hissing threats. Snape waved his wand and the snake vanished in a puff of smoke before it reached Malfoy. The hooked nose man then looked at Harry with a calculating expression.

Harry ignored the Potions Master and looked back at Hufflepuff boy. "Okay there, Finch-Fletchley? The snake was pretty angry and you were the closest to him. Fortunately, it seemed willing to listen to me when I told it to leave you alone."

"You…you're a parselmouth," exclaimed the Hufflepuff boy, apprehension evident in his quivering voice.

Harry raised his eyebrows in confusion at the boy's obvious fear. "A parsel-what?"

"It means that you can talk to snakes," interrupted Hermione. She opened her mouth to explain everything she knew about it, but her dark-haired friend nodded once and began speaking again.

"Well, yeah," Harry agreed. "I've always been able to talk to reptiles, whether they were snakes or lizards. Even the tortoise and the Komodo dragon at the zoo had a few things to say to me, although the Komodo dragon's conversation was mostly about how annoying it was for people to tap on her window." He looked around, surprised by the shock and even fear he saw on the other students' faces.

"Wait, you spoke to a dragon, Potter," asked one of the Ravenclaws, curiosity about this new knowledge overcoming his fear.

"Well, that's what muggles called it. She was really a six-foot long lizard; kind of cute, actually." Harry shrugged. "Once I found out about magic last year, I figured talking to creatures must be a magic thing, but I couldn't get any animals or birds to talk back to me, just reptiles." He looked at the Ravenclaw boy. "I only found out last year that there are real flying, fire-breathing dragons out there." He grinned at the memory of the baby dragon Hagrid had hatched. "I wonder what they would have to say."

"I think that perhaps this Club is over for the night," interrupted Snape smoothly. "We've had enough excitement for one day. Everyone may return to their common rooms."

"Yes, thank you, Professor Snape," Lockhart interjected. "It was very thrilling. I'm sure the next dueling club meeting will be just as exciting." Snape rolled his eyes at the fop's hyperbole.

"Come on, Harry," Ron said, grabbing the boy's arm. "Let's go." He began dragging the boy out of the room with Hermione on Harry's other side. Many of the other students followed slowly, as if they wanted to observe the Gryffindors, but didn't want to get too close.

"What's the deal, Ron," asked Harry. "Why were they looking at me as if ordering the snake not to attack someone was bad?"

"It wasn't that you saved Finch-Fletchley," interrupted Hermione, keeping pace with the two boys. "It was the fact that you were hissing and speaking to a snake. Many think that's a dark trait."

"I was hissing? Huh, it sounds like English to me. But how can saving someone from being bitten by a probably poisonous snake possibly be dark," exclaimed the astonished boy.

"Because Salazar Slytherin was a parselmouth," replied Ron. "That's why a snake is their House symbol. And You-Know-Who was a parselmouth as well. And with the whole 'Heir of Slytherin' scare going around, people will think it's you."

"Oh for goodness sake," Harry said, stopping in the hallway. "My Mum was muggle-born. I was raised by muggles and never even knew I was a wizard or that magic was real until my eleventh birthday. And suddenly people will think I'm dark at twelve years old because I can speak to reptiles? What kind of sense does that make? Why would I be judged by what language I can speak rather than by my actions? Have I ever acted dark or evil? No! In fact, I just saved a boy from being bitten! How is that dark?"

The crowd of students following the trio had paused when Harry had stopped and were listening to every word. Justin Finch-Fletchley was also a muggleborn wizard. He had a place reserved at Eton when he received the Hogwarts letter and his life changed dramatically. His parents had raised him with a strict code of conduct, and listening to Potter, he realized that the Gryffindor was right; the boy had saved him from being bitten so why was Justin questioning whether the boy was evil?

Justin stepped around the other students and towards the trio. He shook off Ernie Macmillian's hand when the boy tried to grab him and keep him from getting closer to the Gryffindors. "Potter," Justin called out.

Harry turned and looked at the Hufflepuff. "Yeah, Justin?"

Justin gave a half bow. "Thank you for calling out to the snake and stopping it from biting me. I don't know snakes that well, but it looked a lot like a Black Mamba. They're very poisonous."

Harry's face broke into a shy smile at the other boy's gratitude. "I'm happy I could help," he replied. "If it was poisonous, it's almost a shame Snape got rid of it before it could bite Malfoy for bringing it here."

Justin couldn't help grinning back at the Gryffindor's infectious smile. "He would have deserved it. He jumped the count in your duel and then summoned a possibly deadly snake. I'll bet they don't even deduct any points from him."

"Probably not," Harry replied. "Somehow, Snape always lets his House get away with things. I'm just glad you're OK and no one got hurt."

"Well, thanks again," Justin replied. He stepped back to join his House mates, who closed around him in support.

Harry nodded and started back down the hallway, feeling a lot better about the night. He didn't mind being judged by his actions, but the Wizarding world didn't seem to want to do that. Snape wanted to judge him based on his father's actions before he was born and most of the students wanted to judge him on things he couldn't even control, like Voldemort's death or speaking to snakes. It was frustrating.

Fred and George Weasley caught up to the trio as they continued towards their House. "So you're not the Heir of Slytherin then, Harry? That would be pretty funny if you were; a Gryffindor as the Heir of Slytherin. Plus, Snape would be furious." The two redheads laughed at the man's imagined chagrin.

Harry snickered at their enthusiastic faces. "Sorry guys, but didn't Slytherin die like a thousand years ago? The way everyone seems to be related, probably most witches and wizards have a little Slytherin blood in them. With my Mum being muggleborn and me being proud of her, even if I were an heir, I don't think I would be a very good one, especially since I count Hermione as one of my best friends. I would be very upset if anything happened to her or any other muggleborn." The girl in question beamed at Harry.

The Hufflepuffs broke off at the next hallway to go to their House. Potter's comments made a number of them re-think their immediate assumptions when he hissed at the snake.

"What were you thinking, thanking Potter," muttered Ernie to Justin.

"It was the right thing to do," responded his House mate. "It was Malfoy that summoned the snake, and I'll bet it was because Snape told him to do it. Potter didn't have to do anything when Lockhart's spell blasted it into the crowd, but he did. Based on his gestures, he was obviously calling it away from me and then pointed out Malfoy to it. So what if he can speak to snakes? St. Patrick must have had a way to drive them out of Ireland. Maybe he was a parselmouth as well."

"But parseltongue is known to be a dark trait," objected Hannah Abbott.

"Because two dark wizards used it against people?" Justin shook his head. "They also both had two hands. Does that make everyone with two hands automatically dark? Because that's basically what you're saying. And as Potter pointed out, his Mum was muggleborn. Why would he be against them? Granger is one of his best friends and she's muggleborn. I've never seen Potter do anything dark and until I do, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt."

His staunch support convinced the other Hufflepuffs to at least take a wait-and-see attitude about the Gryffindor's unexpected ability.

In another hallway, the Ravenclaws were also discussing the evening's events. "Can you imagine if Potter can speak to actual dragons? I'll bet every single dragon preserve would be out to hire him."

"With their long life spans, just think of the knowledge they might have accumulated," said Cho Chang. "And Potter would have access to all of it." Many Ravenclaws looked slightly covetous at the idea.

"In India, snake charmers are highly respected," revealed Padma Patil. "There are four species of venomous snakes that are quite dangerous and many people are bitten every year. A parselmouth who could capture snakes without injury would be celebrated and honored there."

"In south Asia as well," added Su Li quietly. "The same vipers are found there. A parselmouth would be highly respected."

"I wonder whether Professor Flitwick has more information on parselmouths," said Cho. The Ravenclaws hurried back to their Common room, eager to speak to their Head of House.

Down in the lower levels, the Slytherins waited until they were safely concealed in their Common room before speaking. "A Gryffindor as a parselmouth," muttered Marcus Flint. "It's an insult to our House."

"A half-blood Gryffindor with a mudblood mother at that," sneered Draco Malfoy.

Flint whirled on the second year blonde. "This is your fault, Malfoy," he growled. "You tried to beat Potter again and you failed, yet again. Now everyone knows that the Heir isn't in Slytherin. Your ineffective rows with Potter are responsible for everyone learning about that."

The second year was immediately defensive. "Wait a minute, how dare you blame me for this!"

"We can blame you because you caused the situation," replied Edmund Spiers, a Seventh Year Prefect. "If Potter had been a Slytherin, his parseltongue abilities would be to our advantage. Instead, because you conjured a snake that Potter could control, it appears that Slytherin House superiority is in question."

The glares of the other Slytherins finally began to make an impression on the Second Year boy. He had tried and failed to beat Potter yet again, and with every loss, his respect in the House diminished. Now there was a parselmouth, a Slytherin ability, outside of the House, and Malfoy was responsible for that becoming known. He decided to go to his dorm room and write a letter to his father. The elder Malfoy would know what to do to fix this situation.

In the Gryffindor common room, a number of students wouldn't meet Harry's eyes, but others seemed intrigued by his hallway comments.

"Why didn't you tell us you were a parselmouth," asked Ron, obviously miffed at the revelation.

"I didn't know it was unusual," shrugged Harry. "Like I said, I only learned that magic was real when Hagrid delivered my Hogwarts letter on my eleventh birthday. Before that, my relatives always said that magic didn't exist."

"Wait," said Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch Keeper. "You didn't know anything about magic until you were eleven? What about all those books describing your adventures over the years?"

"Pfft" responded Harry in disgust. "I never even knew about them until this year. Every single one of those books is a lie. I was raised by my muggle relatives. I never even heard about the Wizarding world until I got my Hogwarts letter. Hagrid took me to get my supplies, and then he wouldn't let me buy all the books I wanted, so I came to school last year pretty much blind and dumb."

He looked around the room. "My relatives told me that my parents were unemployed drunks before Hagrid came." He was a little gratified by the outraged gasps heard around the room. "He was the one that told me how they were really killed, so at least I finally learned the truth. Since I knew nothing, why would I know what's considered dark and what's considered light? It's not like it's discussed in class, is it? Yet you all seem to think I mysteriously know what took you a lifetime to learn. I have no more knowledge than the average muggleborn."

"But You-Know-Who was a parselmouth," objected one of the older Gryffindors.

"Yeah, and he was also a wizard," replied Harry. "Does that mean that every wizard is automatically evil?"

Alicia Spinnet spoke up, "Well, that might explain Fred and George." The Quidditch team laughed at their identical mischievous Beaters.

"Oi!" the twins responded. They looked at each other and then grinned impishly.

"As two seriously evil dark wizards to another seriously evil dark wizard," started George.

"We welcome you to the evil wizards club," finished Fred. The both bowed in unison to Harry.

Harry couldn't help but grin at their antics. He straightened up and tried to put on his poshest airs. "Let us schedule time in one of our next secret evil wizard club meetings to develop our long-term plans for world domination in pranking the masses, my seriously evil dark comrades."

"Oh Merlin help us," groaned Alicia. "There's three of them now." They Gryffindor common room erupted in laughter, a very welcome diversion from the day's events.

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