Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!
This was one thing Harry loved about Hermione. Others saw her as very close-minded and an absolute stickler for the rules, but they didn't know she could be shockingly vindictive. Mostly because she was scarily good at hiding that part of herself.
Hermione understood that Harry felt as if he had been betrayed, and if he wanted to go around talking in Parseltongue as revenge, well, who was she to stop him? It wasn't like he was hurting anyone, after all. She'd already gotten over her discomfort with the language, and frankly?-it was about time everyone else did too.
Besides, seeing him angry was better than seeing him sulking and brooding, Hermione figured, glancing at him again as he shot Malfoy a grin, wink, and wave…
Harry didn't say a word in English to anyone other than Hermione even in class, much to the displeasure of his classmates.
They sat in Transfiguration, McGonagall lecturing them as they took notes, before having them practice the spell she'd lectured them on a few minutes before, reminding them about the correct wand movement and pronunciation of the spell.
Not in the best of moods, Harry was having a hard time concentrating, and unfortunately for him, the professor wasn't particularly pleased to see him struggling.
"Mr Potter! Enough daydreaming!"
Harry glanced up at her from beneath his fringe but didn't say a word. He was still angry, and that anger was still bubbling far too close to the surface to be good. Or healthy, for that matter.
"I expect you to pay attention," said McGonagall sternly. "This spell is vital for your future."
Now that caught Harry's attention immediately, and while he perked up slightly, he didn't move much. "Why?" he asked.
McGonagall gasped, her eyes going wide. She wasn't the only one. The entire room had fallen silent in their shock at hearing Parseltongue. "Mr Potter!"
"Yes, Professor? Please explain to me how turning a stone into a goblet is beneficial to my future. Will it help me survive this bloody tournament? Will it save my life from Voldemort? No? Hmm, I didn't think so," said Harry a little crossly.
Despite his words, he waved his wand over the stone before him, intoned the spell clearly, and watched as it reshaped into a small goblet. "There you are, ma'am. Spell completed. Next time Voldemort corners me, I'll be sure to start transfiguring stones into goblets so I can chuck them at his face. I'm sure that'll solve everything! Maybe I'll get lucky and break his nose! …Oh, wait, he doesn't have one! Wow! So useful!" he exclaimed with an almost maniacal grin.
The bell rang, drowning out the frustrated hisses, but no one other than Harry and Hermione reacted to the bell, packing their belongings and leaving the classroom before most of the others had even started to understand that class was over and they needed to move.
Once they made it down the corridor, Hermione, unable to stop her curiosity, asked Harry what he'd said in the classroom, and Harry translated for her. Hermione huffed a little once he was done, but found she couldn't exactly disagree with Harry's words. Frankly, Professor McGonagall should have said that the spell was vital for Harry's education, rather than his future.
Because Harry's future was You-Know-Who, not, well, whatever futures the rest of them had.
Over the next few days, Harry didn't stop speaking in Parseltongue. Not even in class. It didn't matter who the professor was, Harry did it anyway, until Professors Moody and Snape were the only ones to have not experienced it, since Harry hadn't had their classes yet.
Though Hermione was the first person he'd been speaking to in English, she wasn't the only one. He soon started doing the same with Fred and George, mostly because they were pretty pissed off at Ron for his behaviour.
The twins liked sitting on either side of Harry in the common room, hissing away cheerfully, pretending they were having a conversation with him in Parseltongue, even though they weren't saying any words at all (most of the time-sometimes they ended up saying something accidentally, which was always pretty funny because it would be the most random thing ever), and Harry just went off talking nonsense, or gossiping, since no one could understand what he was saying anyway.
It was pretty fun, and it made for a surprisingly great way for him to release a bit of stress and say things he usually never dared to.
Word of what was happening had already spread through the castle, and while the Hogwarts students were horrified, the Beauxbatons students were merely shocked, while the Durmstrange students suddenly grew quite polite around Harry. It seemed they, at least, understood the gravity of what was happening.
That certainly amused Harry, though he wasn't sure why Karkaroff suddenly refused to be anywhere near him. That was a bit strange.
Some people approached him cautiously, asking him to stop, but Harry just stared at them in silence until they walked away. If they didn't move and stayed resolute, he broke into Parseltongue again, enjoying watching them squirm more than he cared to admit. Harry had hardly begun, and he was already having so much fun! Revenge was rather sweet, after all.
That's it for now. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!