When Harry returned to the Horned Serpent common room, the first thing he noticed was the lack of commotion – there was scarcely another soul to be found. He craned his neck to check the time – several minutes past six. Everyone else must be in the mess hall having their dinner, Harry thought to himself as he paced back and forth in the room.

He felt his stomach rumbling, but after mulling it over for a few minutes, he managed to stave off the temptation to join his housemates downstairs. Mister Floyd gave him specific instructions to return to his common room, and figured that it would be for the best to remain there in case any faculty came looking for him. He sighed as he took a seat near the fireplace – if he couldn't eat, at least he could warm himself up after spending at least an hour in the chilly labyrinth underneath the castle. Even a small cup of hot chocolate or spiced chai – his mother's favorite tea – would have hit the spot.

His reasoning proved sound; no more than ten minutes elapsed before he heard the familiar sound of stones grinding. The person that came to fetch Harry was indeed a faculty member as he expected, but it was perhaps the last one he would have guessed.

"Professor Lupin!" Harry gasped, the surprise evident in his face.

"Hello Harry," replied the Defense professor in a tired voice. "We need to talk." Harry could see the lines of concern on Lupin's face… whatever they were about to discuss, it wasn't going to be particularly pleasant.

"I'm… not going to be in trouble, am I?" Harry stammered. Fighting tears, he looked down on the floor.

Lupin forced a smile. "No, I assure you that you're not in any sort of trouble." Although his voice remained kind, his expression darkened somewhat. "I will need for you to follow me to my office; from there, we will floo to the headmaster. There will be some… difficult questions that you'll need to answer; you will need to be as truthful and through as possible."

Harry felt the rush of tears stinging at his eyes. "It's about Samantha, isn't it, sir?" He looked up at the Defense professor. "I really want her to be all right."

Lupin gazed kindly at the frightened lad. "I know you do, Harry. I know you do."

Harry tilted his head. "What about Nova? She wanted to see me after dinner tonight… it sounded kinda important."

"It may be important to her," sighed Lupin, "but it'll have to wait. A student's career is at stake… perhaps her very life." He gestured toward the hall that led to the dormitories. "If you're quick, you can leave Miss Woodward a brief note explaining your absence. She'll understand. Besides, the night's still young, so I suspect there will be ample opportunity for her to say her piece later in the evening."

Harry nodded, and dashed toward his room. Less than a minute later, he scrawled a quick note:

"Nova,

I'm sorry I was unable to meet you in the Mess Hall as planned. Something urgent came up, I'm afraid. If you can, please wait in the common room until I return. It should not take very long.

Sincerely,

Harry"

Harry placed the note on top of the large circular table in the center of the common room, and left with Lupin without another word.

Several minutes later, Harry found himself in Professor Fontaine's office. He had never used Floo Powder before, finding the method of near-instantaneous transportation both somewhat confusing and strange. He turned his head, coughing out bits of the dusty green substance that he threw on the flames in the fireplace in Lupin's office.

In addition to the Headmaster himself, several other faculty members had gathered for what most likely was going to be a very serious conversation. Harry recognized Professor Lupin, Mister Floyd, and Professor Goode, but there was one person that he didn't recall seeing – not even at the Start of Term feast.

The man had a complexion of mottled caramel, and wore his long raven hair in a simple ponytail. He was dressed in a simple brown vest, blue jeans, and black cowboy boots. His complexion and facial structure indicated that he was at least partly of indigenous American descent. Although Harry couldn't quite put his finger on it, this man had a certain aura that none of the other faculty members possessed.

Fontaine broke the silence. "Thank you for joining us on such short notice, Harry. I assume you know why we've summoned you here?"

Harry turned to face the headmaster, and nodded. "You're welcome, sir… and I think I know why… it's about Samantha Goldfarb."

Fontaine nodded; then Professor Goode spoke up. "Correct, Mister Potter. I'm afraid to say that Miss Goldfarb is quite ill, and her future at Ilvermorny is, erm, cloudy, at best."

Harry's heart sank. "She'll… pull through, won't she?"

Goode shrugged. "She's in a stable condition in the infirmary, yes… but her magical faculties are rapidly diminishing. We cannot guarantee they will return – at least fully."

"So… she'll have to be expelled?" gulped Harry. "Please tell me that won't happen to her…"

"Expulsion is such a harsh term," sighed Goode. "Perhaps disenrollment would be more appropriate. If our worst fears are realized, she would no longer meet the requirements to continue to study magic. And that's a shame, because most of the Ilvermorny faculty – myself included – have found her to be studious and respectful. We'd sorely hate to lose her, as would many of her housemates."

"Now Harry, I need for you to recall the incident as completely and accurately as you are able," beckoned Fontaine. "As I'm sure Professor Lupin has already advised, you are not in any sort of trouble… you're here for Miss Goldfarb's sake."

"And perhaps most importantly of all," added Lupin, "this is strictly confidential. What we discuss in this room, stays in this room. I needn't elaborate on what could happen should word gets out…"

Harry took a deep breath and nodded. "Samantha and I were cleaning partners for our detention. We were dusting these enormous bookcases in the Wand Selection Chamber, but they held wand cases rather than spellbooks. I think it was the third one we were on… it was near the middle of the left side of the room. She was dusting off the wand cases, and I was dusting off the bookcase itself…"

Harry paused, and saw that every single faculty member had their eyes on him the entire time. They were clinging on to his every word – Professor Goode paused from time to time to write notes.

"I'm not sure what I did exactly, but I think it was the third bookcase that we were cleaning… I used a stepstool to climb on top of it. I must have hit something on the wall with my elbow, because first I heard the sound of stones grinding against each other, and then the bookcase flipped around to reveal a dark passageway, filled with creepy bugs and snakes. It's a good thing Samantha knew that lumos spell or whatever it was called, because we couldn't see anything without it! We spent a good ten or fifteen minutes trying to find a lever or a loose stone or something that would get us back from where we came, but nothing we tried worked!"

Despite being assured he was in no trouble, Harry began to tremble with fear. "So we did the only thing we could… we proceeded down the passageway. It was so cold and dark… and it had a rather unpleasant smell, too. We thought that the tunnel would never end, but we pressed on anyway. We finally saw a faint glow on the other side, so we picked up our pace and found this room that must have been magically lit because we couldn't find a natural light source. There was a waterfall on the opposite side of the room, and a pair of staircases that went up either side of it. So we took the right side, and that's where we met this snake… a Typhon. I was able to talk to it, though I can't explain how…"

Fontaine steepled his fingertips and nodded. "Harry… can you describe this… Typhon to me?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, sir. It was pretty big for a snake, like it was as long as a crocodile, and nearly as wide. Its scales were bright red, almost blood-red. Its underbelly was golden, and it could move very, very fast… and its front fangs were coated with this orange stuff… the same color that oozed out of Samantha's wound just above her ankle." He averted his eyes for a split second. "I don't think it appreciated our presence, but it at least seemed to respect me. It was able to communicate to me in a way that was something between a hiss and a growl, yet I could understand it very clearly; and it understood me just as well. It told us how to escape and return to the castle, but apparently it wanted to make a meal out of Samantha so it chased after us and bit her. She cast some sort of knockback spell which bought us a few precious seconds to escape, but she was quickly losing her strength. I had to carry her part of the way back, until I made my way upstairs. I then found Mister Floyd, who told me to return to the Horned Serpent tower, while he took Samantha to the infirmary."

"And how did you speak to the Typhon?" inquired Fontaine. "Did you hiss, or speak English, or perhaps another human tongue?"

Harry shrugged. "It seemed like English to me, sir. I don't think I'm capable of making those sounds."

Fontaine's eyebrows furrowed ever-so-slightly. "Ahh. Thank you, Harry."

Mister Floyd cleared his throat. "If anyone deserves blame for the incident, it should be me. While I pride myself on my multitasking capabilities, I'm not omniscient. When I heard the bookcase rotating, I turned around to see what the commotion was, but it was already too late. Although their detention was not yet finished, I had no choice but to dismiss my remaining charges so I could more fully focus on finding Mister Potter and Miss Goldfarb."

He sighed. "After ensuring that the other students were evacuated, I tried to activate the bookcase in an attempt to retrieve Mister Potter and Miss Goldfarb, but the activating mechanism must have gotten stuck as it would not budge. I tried some repair spells to reset it, to no avail. So I did the next best thing – I returned upstairs to look for other faculty to assist me with my search." He gestured toward Lupin. "Thank Merlin I bumped in to you when I did, Remus."

"The bookcase you're referring to is quite unusual, Keith," admitted Fontaine. "Not just anyone can activate the mechanism…" He let out a raspy sigh. "Based on Harry's story, I can say with a high degree of confidence that this young man is a Parseltongue. Only those with knowledge of that arcane language can activate that bookcase."

He cleared his throat. "Long, long ago – during Ilvermorny's infancy in the early 17th century, there was a schism much like the one at Hogwarts. Ilvermorny was founded on the principle that anyone magically-gifted can study here. Isolt Sayre was our great founder, and was constantly at odds with her blood supremacist aunt, Gormlaith Gaunt. Gormlaith left the British Isles with the intent to usurp control of the fledgling school of magic. Although she was ultimately stopped, she did leave her mark before falling to a Pukwudgie arrow. She created a hidden passageway under the castle which would serve as the home of the fearsome Typhon – and the passageway was enchanted in such a way that only a fellow Parseltongue can activate it, and unleash the magic-eating serpent. You see, Parseltongue is the hallmark of the Slytherin bloodline. The Gaunt family, which is intimately connected to Slytherin, is the very same one that spawned the Dark Lord."

Harry tilted his head in confusion. "Do you know Parseltongue, sir? The Typhon says it's very rare for humans to understand it, let alone children…"

For the first time since the meeting started, Fontaine actually smiled. "I'm afraid not, young man." He beckoned for Harry to join him at his desk. With some hesitation, Harry took a few methodical steps toward the Headmaster's desk, and stopped just a pace away from him. "Harry, may I show my colleagues something? I promise I shall not harm you."

Harry simply stared at Fontaine for a couple of seconds before nodding. "Go ahead, Professor."

"Thank you, Harry," replied Fontaine. He gently raised a hand and brushed away a bit of Harry's dark, messy hair and exposed a scar that sort of resembled a backwards Z. He then looked at Harry. "Do you know where this scar came from?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know much about my past… my uncle Roger and godfather Sirius didn't seem to like talking about it." He then sighed. "All I know is that it came from this demon named Lord Voldemort when I was still living in Magical Britain… the same dark wizard that claimed my parents' lives. He tried to destroy me as well, but my parents were able to place a protective spell on me which caused his killing spell to backfire..."

Fontaine nodded. "I can't say I blame Roger or Sirius for not wanting to discuss your past in great detail. It's a lot for a young boy for yourself to handle. A lot…" He sucked his lips inward and puffed out a small sigh. "You're a strong boy, Harry Potter. I do think a large part of their reluctance is more about them than it is with you. I know your Uncle Roger personally – he did work for me some years ago, in fact… he was very, very fond of your parents."

"The Headmaster is right, Harry," added Lupin. "Roger, Sirius and I still grieve the loss of your parents. Lily and James weren't merely friends to us – they were family. And by extension, you are our family. While you're not ready to know everything yet, you'll have to be patient with us because it's just as painful for us to discuss the subject of your parents, even ten years later. I hope that makes sense."

"I think so," replied Harry. "I knew that you were all friends back in the day; I just had no idea that you were that tight."

Lupin smiled. "We had something special going on for sure." His smile broadened. "We did what we could to make your, erm, no-maj Aunt Rhonda feel included – she might not have our gifts, but never once did she express any jealousy or bitterness. Even more than your mum, she acted as the voice of reason of the outfit. I'm not sure if she ever told you, but her ambition was to be a barrister in non-magical Britain… if it weren't for the Marauders, she very well could be a politician of note back home!" His face drooped with a touch of sadness, though his smile didn't fade completely. "Rhonda is a good woman… smart woman. I'm sure the thought of her wishing to be magically-gifted has crossed her mind at least once. She'd have made a terrific witch – that, I have no doubt."

Fontaine nodded at Lupin, before turning to address Harry. "When The Dark Lord attempted to cast the Killing Curse on you, he did not know that you were protected with a love-based charm. As his body was physically destroyed, he inadvertently left his own mark on you – the scar which you bear – and some of his essence is effectively inside you, including the gift of Parseltongue." He smiled bitterly. "He may be destroyed physically, but spiritually is another thing entirely."

Harry arched an eyebrow. "What about Samantha now? I told you all I know… can she be saved?"

The gaunt Native American stepped forward. "I am Joseph Haatali, Professor of Shamanism. What Miss Goldfarb really needs are phoenix tears. The power of phoenix tears can negate the Typhon venom; however we are not fortunate enough to have a phoenix on school grounds. There are some traditional Navajo rituals that I will try on the girl, but there is a chance her magic will be permanently impaired."

"Is it possible to get a phoenix to the castle?" asked Harry.

"My Hogwarts counterpart, Professor Dumbledore has a phoenix in his menagerie," Fontaine said in his usual silky voice. "However, even if he is able to come here to administer the antidote to the child, it'll almost certainly be too late. Professor Haatali may be able to preserve some of her magic, but if it's diminished to the point where she cannot cast even the most basic of spells without difficulty, then she cannot be allowed to proceed with her studies."

Harry felt his heart sink again. "I told her that she would not lose her magic," he whispered. "I don't like breaking promises…"

"Harry, she's not going to remember it if we have to make the decision to disenroll her," Fontaine replied. "She will be obliviated, and will return to her no-maj family."

"And the hatch on the first floor," Harry added, heart pounding. "I didn't shut it! Can the Typhon escape?"

"The hatch has been shut, and the serpent has been contained," Floyd said. "As a safety measure, I recommend not using the Wand Selection Chamber for manual labor going forward."

Fontaine nodded. "After this incident, I am inclined to agree." He gestured toward Lupin. "Remus, I think we've gotten all we needed from Mister Potter. Would you mind escorting him to the Mess Hall for a quick meal, and then back to the Horned Serpent tower?"

Lupin nodded, then turned to Harry. "Let's go, Harry. I'm sure you've worked up quite the appetite, and you're probably ready to rejoin your friends back in your common room."