"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god-!"
"Colin please!" Said hyperactive squirrel's dormmate snapped at him, although it was definitely done pretty calmly and as if she said it exactly six hundred times in a day, so Harry just laughed heartily as he lazily drifted back towards the earth, his nimbus a pretty sweet ride if he did say so himself.
It felt so good to be back on a broom.
And hey, having six first years looking up at him where he hovered above them with stars in their eyes wasn't so bad on the ego either.
Particularly Colin, who snapped another picture and obediently shut his mouth, but didn't stop vibrating in excitement as he watched Harry's demonstration.
"But flying Melody! Flying!"
"Yes, yes," She dismissed impatiently, forcing him to put the camera down and address the school brooms scattered on the ground around them. Harry hadn't known the girl much, but she was half-blood from what he could tell and was absolutely going to turn in Wood 2.0 sometime in her future. Girl was here to win quidditch, that was it.
Despite being no-nonsense, she was also alarmingly good with Colin though and when she shut him down, he obediently did so without being bothered by her short tone, and Harry figured she was a lot of the reason his fellow year mates hadn't killed him yet.
"So let's give the command a go; it should give you a general idea of how in control you are with the broom. If it obediently jumps up then you might be good to move to the next bit, but if you struggle you'll definitely want to work more on getting a handle on it before leaving the ground." He directed, not feeling the need to get off his broom but sitting side-saddle lazily as he circled around them ten feet up while he gave his instructions. He was very good with his Nimbus and after needing to both not get bucked off his broom and also literally surf it during his first quidditch match ever, he'd only trained even harder the past year to be even more comfortable despite the strange positions he might find himself in.
He was thrilled to get the all clear from both McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey to at least do this much exercise even if he'd promised not to go higher than fifty feet or faster than a lazy quaffle toss. The Madam even thought it a good idea to start here, and slowly get back into the swing of things, and of course McGonagall had only ever been convinced to have him stay off a broom—his health or not, having him sit out of quidditch practice physically pained her despite her likely never admitting to that.
What she had been a little surprised about was what he wanted back on his broom for, and it wasn't one of Wood's early Saturday morning practices, or even to attend the teams try outs in a couple weeks.
Most of the first years aside from Melody were ambivalent about quidditch, but like it or not they were all going to be participating in the flying classes Hooch ran. And given that quack of a referee had nearly killed Neville with no remorse and didn't think twice about sending muggleborns to surprisingly quick deaths so early in their magical world adventure, like hell was Harry going to let his adopted first years wander cluelessly into her clutches when he knew for a fact he could do a lot better teaching them to be safe for their first encounters with a broom then that snitch could.
And well, this exercise might be mostly for Colin than anyone as a figure rose up beside him and he glanced over to see Luna copying his side-saddle posture, bare feet crossed at the ankles and swaying easily in the open air, dreamily observing the ground below them from the space directly beside him. If he thought he was at ease in the air, she looked like she was just casually chilling on a cloud rather than a piece of wood.
"Have much experience with brooms then?" He commented lightly. While he hadn't seen that he now knew to expect nothing when it came to Luna.
"My mother and I used to travel over the countryside looking for Sampusnachts. I've never played quidditch but travelling by broom is enjoyable." She explained easily, kicking her feet a bit more as if to prove the point. "It'll be the easiest way to travel large forests for creature research someday, so it's nice to keep up the skill."
"I've never just hung out on a broom, not playing quidditch or something." Harry admitted, but it didn't sound bad at all. He'd already considered using his broom to get to London from Surrey, but other than that you typically didn't hear about people using brooms as a standard mode of transportation. He knew about the floo and something called apparition which seemed to be far more common, but he liked being on a broom so it didn't seem like a bad option at all. "We should go riding then sometime—wonder if we'd be allowed to look at the Forbidden Forest if we're not landing in it or anything."
"Hm… it's a good thought." She nodded in interest.
Spending an afternoon lazily floating through the clouds with Luna? Harry made a note to pencil that into his schedule at his earliest convenience.
"BWAH! Harry!" Colin complained at the broom he was trying to wrangle jumped up and bopped him in the face, him clutching his nose in irritation at the piece of wood now bouncing along the ground wildly.
"Deep breaths Colin—if you get mad at it, it gets mad right back at you. You need to breath a big breath and think of nothing for a full three seconds other than the broom in front of you." He called down in amusement, while Melody now had her broom in hand and was watching him struggle with eagle eyes of her own. Good, he had someone watching his back.
It left him free to watch over the other first years who'd heard Colin chattering non-stop about Harry's offer to teach them and wanted to join in. They were all Gryffindors except one Hufflepuff boy who Susan had pushed into Harry the same way Lu had delivered Luna to him (was this going to become a thing?). He seemed very nervous about being around a bunch of kids his age he didn't really know past the sorting, but he already had his broom in hand and seemed very bolstered by his progress.
So bolstered in fact that he visibly seemed to get the courage to say something to the only other person aside from Melody, who was very busy with Colin right now, who had her broom up—Ginny Weasley.
Ginny seemed nice enough, although she refused to look at Harry for long, seeming both terrified and interested in him at once. Not that that was unusual, but she took it to another degree by seemingly being unable to form sentences when he tried to strike up a conversation with her. And he had been trying because the twins were some of his favorite people and since she did not immediately strike him as another Ron, he was curious about the youngest Weasley.
Also there was that thought in the back of his mind that the Weasley family in general might be a good ally for the future, so, you know, getting to know the whole family would only come in handy later down the road probably.
"That's good. I was worried she had a blibbering humdinger bothering her." Luna broke into his thoughts, and he looked over to see she was observing the same situation below them as Harry was.
"Those make it hard to speak right?"
"By creating conflicting emotions not your own." Luna nodded in confirmation. "She doesn't talk to anyone much, I noticed."
"Well… neither do you?"
"Ah, but I don't mind."
Harry smiled, wanting to both flick her in the ear and sigh in admiration for how high above the world Luna seemed to live. If only he could reach that enlightenment.
"Well maybe not, but if you noticed Ginny did mind, you could be the person to talk to then. Maybe she'd like that?"
Luna's small, delicate features crumpled a bit in a frown as she considered that thought she hadn't considered before. Get involved? How utterly revolutionary.
Harry wanted to laugh at her but refrained.
"You know I live in the same valley as the Burrow."
"The Burrow?"
"That's where the Weasleys live." She explained, and Harry realized pureblood wizarding homes having names was a thing. He knew "Malfoy Manor" where Draco lived was kind of obvious, but he thought the "il Nido" that Blaise called his house was just the Zabini heir being dramatic as hell. "The Burrow" was a less scary name for sure, but he hadn't pegged the Weasleys as being one of those purebloods to have a name for their domiciles and figured it was probably a lot more common than he'd thought.
It also made him wonder if Longsgate was just a house then, and a hidden one at that.
With that information distracting him, it took him a second to realize what Luna was getting at by telling him this though.
"Oh so you know Ginny already?"
"Kind of. We were always around growing up but we never really interacted." She confessed.
"Well… I mean things have changed. I know I did a lot of growing up after getting my Hogwarts letter, although it was more me learning about the magical world than anything. You're both away from home for the first time, learning new things and discovering new things about yourselves even… it might not be a bad idea to at least give it another try. Maybe you're different people now and it'll work out better." He phrased it as nonchalantly as he could, because he most certainly didn't want to tell her to do a damn thing—no one could tell him who he could and could not be friends with and he was not about to do that to anyone else either.
But… Luna tended to forget other people existed at all. Or that other people might have emotions that she could maybe interact with.
Actually yeah, Luna tended to forget she could interact with people at all. So Harry kind of felt the obligation to at least remind her sometimes or, whether she was okay with it or not, she'd spend a lot of her life pretty alone.
Maybe not lonely as she was so not bothered by doing her own thing, but if she could continue doing that while also having a lot of people around her if possible, Harry wanted to help her achieve that. He now knew the importance of leaning on others, and while he was still absolutely shit at actually practicing what he preached, he at least knew it was important on some intellectual level.
Luckily Luna didn't take offense to his needling, and just tilted her head as she considered that.
"Perhaps." She allowed, and harry was content to let it drop now that he was decently sure she'd absorbed what he was trying to say. What she did with the information was her own choice though.
They went back to watching the Hufflepuff try and make an attempt at conversation with his Gryffindor classmate, but he was pretty awkward and she seemed too shy to form words so it didn't seem to be going very well. He did his house proud though by pushing forward and trying to be friendly despite it though.
"Hm… maybe I was right about the blibbering humdinger after all." Luna commented lightly, and Harry gave a weary sigh as Colin howled in pain at his still-defiant broom below them.
"Yeah I'm thinking maybe you are."
000
Harry knew something was wrong when he saw the expression Draco had on as he marched determinedly over towards him.
Where he was sitting, at the Gryffindor table one fine weekend morning. He didn't even need all his fingers to count the amount of times Draco had willingly, of his own accord without prompting, come to sit with him at the Gryffindor table in the past year, so this was a big thing.
And what was even worse, was that Blaise and Nott were following close on his heels—Theo was blank as always but Blaise was looking positively ecstatic and if that didn't set every warning flag Harry had up, he didn't know what would. The only saving grace was that if it were legitimately controversial or dangerous, Theo would be nowhere to be found rather than following Draco's lead in the thick of it so… maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
But still. Harry was fully on guard as he casually waved at them.
"Draco, quidditch try-outs aren't for another week, what's with the face?" He teased as they got within earshot, and the blond rolled his eyes automatically at the jibe before jumping right to it.
"We're kidnapping you."
"Oh?" He tilted his head and felt Neville watching them like a hawk from behind him. "I wouldn't mind if you kidnapped me but given Blaise's involved I might have to decline."
Since clearly every Gryffindor around them was eavesdropping on this situation without even trying to be subtle, he enjoyed the way the twins almost choked on their food before sinking below the table to dissolve into giggles. Draco's ears turned a soft pink, which had been Harry's goal, but unfortunately he was too used to the teasing to be dissuaded from his mission.
"I'll have you know for once I didn't do anything for this, I just would not be caught dead anywhere else when I could witness this firsthand." Blaise chirped gleefully, and surprisingly Theo just nodded in total agreement.
"Same."
Okay, suspicious as hell. Theo just spoke in front of Gryffindors so the world must be ending.
"And what exactly is so interesting both Blaise and Theo want to witness it, and is it going to hurt." He narrowed his eyes pointedly at them.
Draco sighed, but Theo smirked visibly for once.
"It's a fair question." He allowed pointedly to the blond who just shot him a filthy look.
"No it's not going to hurt! And no I'm not about to announce in the middle of bloody lion territory so just get up!"
"Be a bit more of a brat Draco, I'm more willing to listen to you that way." Harry rolled his eyes as he stood up anyway, tossing his napkin down to the table before turning back to his dormmates who'd been watching the exchange warily. "If I'm not back by lunch, have Hagrid send Fluffy to fetch me."
"Fluffy?" Blaise frowned.
"What, the hell hound?" Dean balked as Seamus' eyebrows flew up his face at that.
"What hell hound? Also, named Fluffy?" Blaise demanded even louder, but Harry just waved them all off and followed Draco's charge out of the Great Hall. "Oi Potter, what?"
"You don't need to know."
"Like hell I don't!"
Harry just laughed in his face as they made their way out of the Great Hall. The only reason he felt comfortable telling Blaise about Fluffy now when he'd kept it hidden last year was that Hagrid had told him he'd actually moved Fluffy into the Forbidden Forest now that he was no longer needed to protect the Philosopher's stone since it's destruction. And technicallyHogwarts now owned Fluffy as a protective measure for the students from creepy hooded figures who might be killing unicorns in the forest rather than Hagrid being in a legal grey area of owning a hell hound that he was technically not allowed to own as an individual. Blaise could no longer use it against the groundskeeper even if he did learn more about it—but it was far funnier to just keep dropping hints and watch him get annoyed as he was left in the dark.
Torturing Blaise took an immediate backseat though as Draco lead them towards what Harry initially thought was the Potions classroom, meaning down towards the dungeons. As they passed said classroom though, Harry started wondering wildly what else was down here and when it finally hit him, his jaw literally dropped in surprise.
"No way."
"Took you long enough." Theo noted.
"Is this a trap?" he asked legitimately, and was not soothed when Blaise turned, completely serious as he nodded once.
"Yes."
Harry narrowed his eyes at him but chose to believe Draco's eye roll rather than Blaise's alarmingly good acting skills and pretend that answer had been a lie.
"Okay not that I am not stoked to hell about this but, ah, what? How does this make any sense? I mean I wouldn't invite you into the Gryffindor dorm even if I thought there was a snowball's chance in hell you'd say yes so this makes like, zero sense at all."
"We have our reasons."
"Which are?"
"None of your business." Draco lifted his chin in the air, and if Harry was taken off guard by being so blatantly kept in the dark, it was overshadowed by how impressed he was at how far his baby cactus had come. He admitted their friendship so far had been rather skewed in his favor, and at this point Harry just admitted to the fact he was a bit of a bully. Being told to essentially get lost when clearly he was being used for some kind of snake-like ploy was actually kind of refreshing in an odd way.
At least it was refreshing to see Draco leading the charge and people actually fall in line, as despite how bratty he acted he never actually got his way all that often. At the very least Harry could admire how Draco was confidently leading a Gryffindor and two well-known pureblood heirs into snake territory and he didn't even seem remotely concerned about what he was facing.
Seems he wasn't the only one who had plans that worked out, and despite not knowing what Draco had been up to recently, Harry was proud of his friend anyway.
Still on guard of course, but it felt a bit more comfortable to know this was all according to Draco's plan and he trusted the Malfoy heir before a lot of people.
"Well okay then. Can I at least ask why so suddenly and formally?" Because being approached and escorted were huge red flags that the timing was in no way an accident, and Draco at least could admit that much.
"The quidditch team has the pitch booked for practice all morning, and it's a Hogsmeade weekend. After breakfast most, if not all the upper years will be going into town given it's the first trip of the year." He waved it off uncaringly. Which made sense, as if someone were to cause a stink about this it'd be an upper year, or the Slytherin quidditch team specifically, but…
"So… that doesn't exactly comfort me."
"Trust me, everyone knows you'll be here today." Theo explained calmly, with just enough glint to his eyes to be extremely ominous. So while yes, that answered Harry's concern that he wasn't going to shock someone into hexing him by popping up in their common room, it wasn't exactly soothing.
He was saved from having to figure out a response to that when Draco turned, shooting him an annoyed look.
"Oh yeah, and I also have a delivery for you from Greengrass. Do I want to know?" He didn't sound amused as he slipped a simple envelope from his robe and passed it to him as they walked, and Harry, knowing immediately what it was, instantly slipped it into his bottomless bag for safe keeping, seeing the curious spark in Blaise's eye.
"No." He answered Draco but also scolded Blaise who clearly had the thought cross his mind about grabbing it. He looked visibly tempted to do so but restrained.
"What's Greengrass got that I don't?" He complained.
"Morals." Harry deadpanned, and while slightly surprised by the sudden response, Blaise seemed to just shrug at that surprisingly solid answer.
"Okay fine, but when do I get to trade with you? I'm way a way better grey person you know."
"Debatable," Harry immediately snarked back, before suddenly remembering his next summer plans and grimaced. "As it is I may want to trade something to you if my current plan doesn't work out."
"That's a horrible idea." Theo commented almost conversationally, and Harry nodded in total agreement.
"True, but it's kind of a last resort sort of situation. At the moment if my back-up, back-up, back-up plan fails then I'm kind of out of options. And I know Blaise could help, even if it'd suck. At least if he couldn't I'd never let him live it down."
"I am right here."
"Do you disagree?"
He considered it a second before shrugging again. "Fine, carry on."
"No don't carry on—first of all I'm going to go into detail about what a bad idea that is later," Draco shot him another look that promised a lengthy lecture in Harry's future (not that we was expecting anything else). "And secondly, we're here. You stand there; just because you're visiting doesn't mean I won't be skinned alive if I spill the password." He ordered them to stand still as he walked a bit farther down the hall to what Harry assumed was the Slytherin dorm entrance.
Blaise clearly took issue with being ordered to do anything and followed Draco out of spite—which left only Harry and Theo who surprisingly stood by politely instead of abandoning him.
And he even struck up a conversation, which frankly made Harry's day.
"Is Fluffy really a hell hound?"
"Yeah. Twenty-foot Cerberus, actually. Hagrid tends to name harmless things terrifying names and terrifying things harmless names. So Fluffy will eat you but Fang will probably just drool on you. Also you might want to live in fear of the pet named Phil."
"Good to know." He tilted his head back, squinting down the hall. "I don't like dogs."
"Never really been around them myself. Unless we're talking Fluffy."
"Not really."
"Bit of an outlier I guess."
He got a blank stare for that and Harry had to grin. Talk about dry humor, but he loved it anyway.
"Aright," Draco called, waving him forward and he excitedly moved up the hall to see it—unlike the Gryffindor common room being guarded by a painting, it was just an otherwise unremarkable bare stretch of stone wall that opened into a doorway. Leave it to Slytherin to be more subtle.
Without further ado he took the invitation and walked right in, the excitement of what he was actually doing finally catching up with him as he took in the room eagerly.
The first thing that struck him about the common room was the space. The Gryffindor common room always felt a bit cramped—very cozy and warm of course but the clutter and many banners and fluffy surfaces, the noise, and the large population of people always hanging out in there always made it feel full and cramped. Not in a bad way, but a cozy way.
There was not a stray piece of paper in this entire place, zero bookshelves or excess banners or anything like that. There weren't even curtains on the windows, just huge vaulted glass panes making up the wall that revealed, not the grounds, but the murky green of just beneath the surface of the Great Lake. Which was super cool in its own way, as a huge field of seaweed stretched out several dozen meters below the bay window seats with tasteful black cushions that provided a very tempting studying spot.
The furniture was minimalistic, with a lot less fluffy stuff and comfy armchairs, but several more actual tables to work at and at least double the "gathering spaces" that you could find in the lion's tower—spaces of chairs around one table or a couch angled into a corner, just generally locations you could sit with a small group to have a private gathering separate from the rest of the room. There were even seven different fireplaces Harry could spot, all smaller than Gryffindor's single, behemoth mantel, but much more intimate so the fight over who got the warmest studying spot probably didn't happen nearly as often here. There was still a wide-open space, slightly lowered in the middle of the room though, so if something were to need attention drawn to there was nearly a stage-like space for that to happen. The furniture itself wasn't cold exactly, but it was black, silver, sleek, and maybe accompanied with a beautifully upholstered pillow here and there in elegant greens and silvers. Everything matched and looked like it was carved from the same set of ancient trees or skinned from the same black dragon.
Most impressive was the ceilings—three stories tall and arching in finely curved stone, giving the illusion that the already large floorspace was even larger still. The fact the windows went straight to the top on two separate walls and the remaining walls were lined with only three equally large paintings was a bold but classy styling choice. The fact the painting seemed to be of Salazar Slytherin and two gorgeous paintings of Hogwarts grounds, was pretty predictable though. He did like that the paintings did seem to be mirroring the weather outside though, otherwise that was a huge coincidence and Harry was used to magic enough to the point he highly doubted it was an accident.
"Impressed?" Blaise snarked.
"Enjoying the novelty," He corrected slightly as he continued looking around in fascination. "Is it always so quiet?"
Now that he'd taken in the impressive view, the most obvious difference was the noise level. And it wasn't like it was totally empty—there were a dozen kids scattered about doing their own things, either talking in small groups or studying alone, even two playing chess by the window and clearly arguing over it. But despite that Harry couldn't make out a single word anywhere aside from the general murmur of background talking as if from farther away than they appeared to be.
"I can only imagine the din in Gryffindor's dorm; perish the thought." Blaise sniffed in distaste.
Draco thankfully answered more thoroughly though. "The common room is mainly to study and talk amongst yourselves. If you're disturbing anyone else trying to do that, then you're an annoyance." He translated, which Harry interpreted to mean people kept their voices down so that their business remained their business. If you started shouting for the whole room to hear, or even loudly enough the person next to the area you were immediately sitting in could clearly hear you, you were either bad at Slytherin politics or you purposefully wanted to be overheard.
Which was a far cry from Gryffindor where sometimes the only way to be heard was to shout over everyone else who was shouting. Even during accepted "studying times" when it was mostly quiet, you just learned to block out the group of people cursing and cheering over their exploding snap game in the corner.
"Also, the ceilings are enchanted." Theo pointed up, leading the way to an area around one of the far fireplaces, plopping himself down in an armchair. Which, was the most initiative Harry had ever witnessed from him, but by how comfy he seemed in that chair he was going to assume that was Theo's chair and had probably spent a lot of his Hogwarts career reading in it by now. Given Draco and Blaise just followed suit, causing Harry to trail along with them, he figured this was an extremely common thing and was excited to be included.
He refocused on what Theo was saying though as he looked up to what he was pointing at, and realized this sitting area was directly below one of the square arches above them. It didn't take him long to notice each of the many gathering areas in the room was also cleverly situated beneath an arch in one way or another.
"Are they silencing charms?" He wondered aloud as he didn't bother sitting just yet, unabashedly just turning around to inspect the room more as the snakes just watched him in amusement.
"Kind of. Mild versions of it that Salazar Slytherin himself supposedly put up. They make it difficult to hear things in other areas, but not impossible. Another reason being overheard is difficult—you shouldn't be able to hear someone in another area unless they want to be heard, just a general murmur. And also talking at a normal volume or whispering—if you shout then all bets are off." Draco explained.
Theo made a face. "There are certainly those who don't give a shit and talk without a care who hears them, whether it's meant to be public or not. If they don't care who hears, we all hear it. It's annoying."
Harry just got a kick out of how irritated he sounded. Theo was a grumpy old man stuck in a twelve-year-old's body and he loved it.
"Okay I'll admit this place is cool." He spun around slowly again, re-inspecting the arches now that he knew their purpose. "And if I'm allowed back this is a way better place to study then Gryffindor tower."
"We cannot confirm nor deny that having easier access to you and your knowledge of Transfiguration may or may not be a solid reason for inviting you in the first place, so yeah you'll likely be brought back." Blaise smirked, and Harry flashed him a grin.
That was another point in favor of specializing—if he thought it was good for trades then he'd underestimated how much Slytherins liked information. It had turned out even better than he'd hoped if he'd got an invite directly into the snake den itself within a year and change of starting Hogwarts after a centuries-long house feud. This was awesome!
"Yes, yes, gawk all you want at the architecture and the novelty of it all but I was hoping to study some. That was the excuse for this visit after all," Draco was the only one who had his bag on him and placed it on the table between them pointedly. Harry perked up because he was happy to talk Transfiguration if they— "I know you haven't done your Charms essay yet."
His face dropped.
Ugh.
"Don't like Charms?" Theo seemed amused at his reaction.
"Charms is fine." He deflected promptly. "It's not Transfiguration for sure. But it's fine."
"Can't be prodigies at everything then." Blaise smirked at him and then walked off before Harry could retaliate—presumably to get his own books as he had nothing on him. Harry would've shouted something rude after him but having just heard about how shouting wasn't something Slytherins did in their common room, he held it in. No need to out himself as the annoying Gryffindor in the snake den within five minutes of getting here.
Theo stood as well, also seeming to need to go grab his things.
"I've already done my essay if you'd be interested in talking Transfiguration anyway?" He offered, a bit too delicately to be casual. In an instant Harry realized this was the first time Theo was actually offering to do a deal with him and he almost jumped at the chance simply for the principle of it all—but then he caught sight of Draco's glare and grimaced.
"Draco will get mad if I don't do better in Charms—I'd love to, don't get me wrong, but maybe next time." He apologized instead, and Theo's blue eyes understood immediately as he glanced at Draco's expression too. He, as well, made a hasty exit before Draco could say something on the matter, which was frankly just smart.
Said blond got a bit huffy as he chose his seat and started pulling out his books. "Trust me, you could trade for anything at this point but please don't." He scolded, giving him a big, grey-eyed, imploring look that Harry had to turn fully around to ignore.
"You can't tell me what to trade for or not, I just also understand the merit of learning Charms basics myself. Once we get into upper year stuff, if it's not on the OWLs you can't make me care about it."
"That's such a horrible mindset."
"You can't make me care about it!" He declared, giving him a playful look over his shoulder, to which he got an annoyed groan in return. Not really ready to settle down just yet though, still overwhelmed by this unexpectedly exciting opportunity in front of him, he walked around their little bubble just to inspect it further. There really wasn't much to it but he did like the fireplace itself—it wasn't nearly as ornate or roaring as Gryffindor's, being much smaller and more for ambiance rather than heat in the still-warm fall weather, but the stone carvings around it were some of the castle's finest work.
It looked to be two huge trees on either sides, the mantle being branches with a thousand individual carved leaves. Predictably, there were snakes carved through the whole thing, twisting into the branches, down the trunk, and two huge python-looking beasts wrapped around the chaos of roots that spilled out from the wall and onto the floor around the fireplace, forming the basin that caught stray ash and coals from the main pyre. Really impressive stuff, particularly because clearly it was magical: the snakes in the trees were moving as if alive and exploring their stone habitat lazily.
He got a bit closer to it, and one hanging curled around a middle branch lifted it's diamond shaped marble head, coming out as if to look directly at him.
It was insanely detailed, to the point Harry could see every single carved stone scale, the glint against it's body as if it were truly alive and not marble, even the breathe in it's tiny body and the flickering of its stone tongue so delicately and lifelike it was incredible. Upon closer inspection, its eyes were actual emeralds, and Harry had no doubt they were totally real. It made him wonder wildly if it's fangs would be venomous then too, given the attention to detail here, and it made him pause before getting closer because that would be such a Gryffindor thing to do: he'd only be an idiot to test the theory personally.
"That's so cool." He muttered, mainly to himself, and the snake lifted it's head higher in response. And in fact it was in response as it spoke directly addressing him.
"What is a nasssty lion doing in our den?" It hissed in a tone very similar to how annoyed Theo had just been complaining about his loud housemates.
Harry's starry-eyed fascination with the craftsmanship of the stone snakes was lost some by the attitude, taken aback slightly. Not that he should've expected anything else from a snake Slytherin himself probably enchanted to life.
He maturely stuck his tongue out at it, and it flickered its tongue right back at him.
"They do that all the time, ignore it." Draco waved it off distractedly, tapping the table near him in a silent command for Harry to settle down and focus now.
"Are they always so rude?" He complained as he obediently returned back to the table to plop down beside him and slip his own bag off his shoulders. There was a chorus of wordless hissing behind him, clearly complaining about being called rude. He just whipped around to stick his tongue out at them again, which seemed to actually silence them surprisingly enough.
Draco watched him do that, but just blinked at the motion in confusion, clearly not understanding.
"What? Rude?"
Harry gave him a look.
"Oh come on, even you cannot be unaware of how rude being called a nasty lion is." He deadpanned.
Draco just stared back at him, visibly uncomprehending.
"Draco, please tell me you're not that hopeless."
Grey eyes blinked at him.
"…what?"
"What do you mean 'what'? I take offense to people calling me a 'nasty lion', I didn't think that'd be weird."
"No, I mean who said that?"
"Uh…" Harry did not understand what he was missing here. The hissing behind got steadily louder though, and he turned his head back to them in surprise when the wordless hissing suddenly got some words, and it all sounded like the snakes were very alarmed and excited about something.
He jumped as a hand clamped down on his arm, and he whipped back around to see Draco looking very alarmed and his knuckles white as they fisted tightly into the sleeve of his currently-visible invisibility cloak.
"What?"
"Eh?" Now it was Harry's turn to just stare in alarm at that reaction.
"What do you mean 'nasty lion'? Who said that?" Draco demanded with an intense urgency he'd never heard from the blond before, his voice rising until Harry wasn't sure if other areas would actually be able to hear him or not. No one looked over so maybe it was still fine?
"Uh… the snakes?" He pointed over his shoulder as the hissing suddenly cut off, which surprised him.
"…the lion can underssstand usss?" Harry turned, and one of the huge snakes at the base of the tree had uncurled itself slightly, body rising up and face looking directly at him.
The other one at the mirroring tree did the same, it's whispering, hissing tone sounding amazed and confused in one. "He is a Ssspeaker?"
"Of course I can understand you, you're speaking English aren't you? And what's a Speaker?" He demanded, and the hand on his sleeve disappeared the same moment a loud thud startled him to whip back around.
Draco was staring at him with the most horrified look he'd ever seen on someone, clearly not caring at all to check his expression for once.
But Harry was less concerned with Draco, and more with Theo, who had suddenly reappeared into their bubble and dropped the book he was holding gracelessly to the floor.
And he was pale as a sheet, to the point Harry actually instantly stood up in alarm, as if to catch the boy if he suddenly passed out.
"Oh my god, Theo are you okay?" He was very convinced that Theo was going to faint in a second but as he took a step to move towards him, Draco jumped up and got in front of him again, hands instantly on his shoulders and shaking him slightly—and it startled enough that Harry just let it happen in surprise.
"Harry—! No, Harry focus: are you talking to those snakes?" He demanded urgently, and Theo somehow got paler. For as mother-hen-like as Draco was, he seemed alarmingly unperturbed that one of his dormmates seemed seconds from dying right behind him.
"Uh… yes? Can you not understand them? I would think that'd be a Slytherin thing." He said slowly, getting a sinking feeling that maybe this was like… a thing. "Theo what's wrong?"
Innocuous as the question was, it didn't seem to help in any way as Theo just jerked as if wrenching himself out of his horror and immediately bent down to pick his book back up. When he stood upright though, he just clutched it tightly to his chest, and made no move to release it as he stiffly walked past them and back to this chair without answering, sinking into it but his spine rigid and his eyes far too wide. Like he'd just witnessed a horrific murder and was too shocked for words.
He turned to Draco for answers but the blond looked to have none, being totally at a loss as he ran a hand over his forehead in stunned disbelief.
"I… I mean yes it's… it's a Slytherin thing as in Salazar Slytherin himself could speak to snakes. Only his bloodline can—the Slytherin direct bloodline." He explained, sounding like he could not process the fact he was saying this out loud.
Harry stared at him.
And maybe a bit belatedly, the information he was being told here filtered into his mind.
"…uh… what?" Was all he could come up with because… because what?
What did…?
He internally flailed, like the information was there, but it wasn't connecting in a meaningful way inside of him.
Did not compute, try again later.
One look at Theo staring at the table top between them like it'd just murdered a puppy in front of him, and his stomach started to twist uncomfortably.
"Harry, what are the snakes saying." Draco grabbed onto his arms once more to refocus him, the same urgent tone back in such an intense way he didn't put up a fight as he turned to blink at the snakes once more and focus on what they were hissing at him.
"Uh…"
"Tell him we definitely heard his little tirade to the Zabini boy last night." One of the smaller ones at the top said rather smugly, and the surrealness of it all was kind of marred by how… normal that bit of information was. Like the fact it was a piece of gossip seemed really out of place in amongst all the other earth-shattering emotions he had rocking through him right now that he was too stunned to even feel properly.
"Something about hearing your tirade to Blaise yesterday night?" he translated, giving him a look when Draco just choked on air and his cheeks turned slightly pink
"Ah—any details?"
"Oh no, it's more interesssting to hold it over his head." The same snake told him cheerfully, a couple others hissing their amused agreement.
Harry relayed that message and Draco seemed to melt in relief some, before standing up straight and returning to a very serious expression Harry hadn't seen him wear before. "This is concerning. I mean… not exactly but… it makes no sense whatsoever that you'd be a parselmouth."
"A what now?"
"A parselmouth. Someone who can speak parseltongue, the language of snakes. They speak to snakes essentially."
"And only the Slytherin bloodline can do it, which means it probably has a bad reputation, broadly speaking." Harry put together slowly, glancing over at Theo again who still had not blinked but he had color in his cheeks again at least. So… he probably wasn't about to pass out but very much did not look okay still.
"Even amongst Slytherins it's… I mean, the last living person who was a parselmouth was the dark lord." Draco seemed to falter as he explained that, and Harry took another too-long minute to absorb that.
But when he did… he felt his own cheeks get a bit cold as blood fled from his face and hands.
"Oh." He got out in a weak tone, breathe seeming to come a bit harsher all of a sudden. "But… but you said some of his supremacy spiel was that he was the last living Slytherin descendant."
"There's no way to prove he wasn't, and being the only living parselmouth was proof enough for most. It could be that he's the last in the direct line, but since it's so rare there's nothing to say it can't have been passed down in branch lines but remained dormant." Draco recited as if automatically repeating something he'd learned since birth, but then he seemed to snap out of it as the reality of the situation seemed to hit home again. "But Harry… I mean… Merlin…"
"…you have no idea what to make of this, do you?" He frowned, and the blond grimaced harshly.
"No, I don't." He admitted in both apology and something like condolences. Slytherins hated the unknown after all—and this was about as worst-case scenario as you could get. As much as Draco might've wanted to help him… how could anyone help this?
And he was just learning this information, it was still slowly sinking in… but Slytherins grew up knowing about the dark lord and parseltongue and… this was… this was…
This was bad.
And that was also the understatement of the year.
He turned to Theo with wide eyes of his own now.
"Theo?" He asked again in the same soft tone, and the boy blinked out of his shock finally… holding his book tighter and lifting his gaze to meet his own almost in a daze.
There was no poker face any more, he just looked horrified.
"…it's…" He shook his head slightly, lowering his gaze back to the table but finally releasing his book as he placed it down pointedly in front of him, seeming to take a deep breath. "I'm not sure either. But ah… I would expect that among Slytherins at least, this'll be… either impressive, or terrifying." He admitted reluctantly.
"Terrifying…?" Harry repeated, feeling rather numb.
Of course, I have some unique ability in common with the bloody dark lord. Most of these children have been raised by parents who feared and respected him. Or hated him secretly, but definitely kept that quiet out of terror probably.
"Maybe the Ssspeaker is a nasssty lion, but he'sss interesssting asssss well."
"No one'sss been able to underssstand us in ssso long, and we know ssso many thingsss."
"Thisss could be fun, I sssuppose. Alssso, he'sss a pretty color."
"Mm, pretty color indeed."
In the grave silence the humans were sitting in, he listened back into the snakes behind him who still hadn't shut up, and as horrifying as all this was, their words triggered something inside of him.
It may have merely been fight or flight, but he didn't want to run away. He was tired of running away.
And not in a way that meant he didn't want to run away, it was just that he was literally not capable of it anymore. He was just too tired, too beaten, and too weary for this to be yet another thing that haunted him and ate into his soul like a festering wound. He had too much shit going on to take this personally too—he would legitimately go insane and he just didn't have time for that.
He still didn't understand it all, and he was sure this would keep him up at night if the nightmares didn't already, but when backed into a corner his mind only ever got clear enough to fight back. And Theo's pale expression triggered the same protective rage in his chest he got when he saw Luna without her shoes on, and his flare of a temper only ever made his mind sharp and fanged.
Theo admitted this was going to terrify a lot of snake children. It clearly terrified him.
The dark lord was the one who did that to them. To all of them.
Harry being able to talk to snakes was not wrong or frightening—he refused to believe he was a freak or a monster and he'd sworn to that to himself half a lifetime ago so this was in no way going to change that. He was not the problem—the problem was the other snake-speaker and all the horrific, unforgivable things he'd done.
On the most part, Harry viewed Slytherin house as a challenge to overcome. Untapped potential in friends, new connections, opportunities and personified puzzles.
Aside from Draco he had never once felt the urge to protect them.
And yet all of a sudden, he felt an overwhelming, very Gryffindor urge to sink his teeth into something if it meant protecting a bunch of snake children from the myth of a man who terrified such proud, clever people into the pale, slightly shaking mess that Theo was right now.
Theo hadn't cracked for a year, no matter what Harry had done—not giving even an inch.
But this… this cracked him like an delicate robin's egg and you know what Harry could relate and so no, this was not a him problem, this was a fucking Voldemort issue and he wasn't going to take shit for something that bastard had done. He refused.
Decision made, he listened closely to the snakes and formed a plan.
It was in this very tense silence as the three of them sat in their chairs and stonily considered their life choices that lead them here, that Blaise made his return and stopped dead once he got within range and read the shockingly dark atmosphere that had suddenly appeared.
He looked at all three of them in turn before blinking rapidly. They were probably quite a scene—when he left they were all positively cheery for the exciting event of Harry visiting for the first time, and now Harry was sure he looked slightly pissed off, Draco was anxiously tapping his unopened textbook in front of him while shifting in his seat nervously, and Nott was still pale enough to look very ill and was silent again, even if his blank expression was back in place (probably in defense of Blaise himself, as if the Zabini's return had reminded him to keep it together). Still. They probably made quite a picture.
"…okay, I was only gone like five minutes. What the hell happened?" He demanded in his bratty way, and Harry perked up as his hastily formed plan was presented with a golden opportunity he hadn't accounted for.
"If I tell you, all of Slytherin will know by tomorrow, right?"
Draco and Theo snapped their heads to look at him again, eyebrows skyrocketing up in alarm.
"Yes—do not tell him." Draco warned immediately, Theo nodding seriously from across the table.
"Oi, rude." Blaise was not even offended, just annoyed to be kept out of the loop and clearly not bothered if they wouldn't tell him. He probably half expected as much.
Unfortunately for everyone, Harry wasn't going to play by Slytherin's rules this time.
He only paused a second to consider his wording, before looking up at the tall boy and meeting his gaze directly to convey the seriousness of it all.
"Apparently I'm a parselmouth and I didn't realize that was something special until just now."
All three of them gaped at him.
It spoke to the seriousness of the situation that he couldn't even be amused by Blaise's shocked expression either, because yeah, he definitely looked stunned.
The Zabini heir got over it quickly though, correcting his expression and straightening up as he strolled casually closer and dusting off his robes in a show of casualty.
"So, uh, Potter, I like you and all, but you do realize I'm going to have to tell everyone? Simply business, you understand." He spoke like he was talking about the weather—until he suddenly slammed his hands down onto the arms of the chair Harry was sitting in and got right in his face, completely disregarding the no-yelling rule they'd just discussed and jumping to a panicked volume more befitting a Gryffindor. "Are you insane!? Do you know what this house will do to you!? WHY would you tell me that!?"
"Blaise shut up!" Draco was on his feet again and bodily pulling his dormmate back, whipping his head around to shoot the people who'd clearly heard that and were now looking at them an acidic glare. "Go about your business!" He snapped and they did so… or at least were pretending not to eavesdrop so blatantly now.
Harry lifted his chin defiantly at them, but he did drop his voice some to a more mild tone, so hopefully even those trying to eavesdrop wouldn't be able to hear. They automatically copied his posture by coming slightly closer to listen.
"I'm not going to hide who or what I am just for your comfort, and also Draco and Theo are great Slytherins and they had no idea how to react. If I'm in control of how people find out, then all the better."
"Yeah, but you're not the one in control anymore— I am." Blaise pointed to himself like that explained everything and he was stupid for not realizing, but stupid or not Harry did get it. He just didn't care.
And his smile was a tad evil as he nodded to that point but continued anyway. "Yes, but those snakes up on the mantle have heard every conversation that's happened in this common room since pretty much ever—and I'm the only one who can understand them. If you work with me on this, I'll disregard anything they tell me about you. It's already too late, they've already said some things and I bet even that's far too many for your tastes." He lied because he didn't exactly hear anything about Blaise just yet, but he'd also just learned there was no way anyone could verify if he was telling the truth or not about this now.
At face value, prejudice and the reputation behind this ability aside, focusing only on how he could use it for his benefit… this was a damn good thing.
He didn't know how to feel about being a parselmouth just yet, but one emotion he could recognize was anger, and frustration. This was an opportunity and he was going to use it damn it.
The three Slytherins around him dropped their jaws again, as they too realized the implications of his ability.
More than that, that he had wasted no time in figuring out how to use it against them.
Instead of frightening them further, even Theo was just looking at him with wide eyes now as he mentally raced over the possibilities, face less pale at the distraction.
"Oh, I like him."
"Tell the boy we sssaw him talking to the fourth year,"
"The one with the dark hair,"
"Who isss in love with a lion."
Well that's handy, he had to smile, as in the pause while they tried to formulate a response to that the snakes felt the initiative to ensure his lie wasn't a lie at all. He could work with this.
And Blaise wasn't stupid, he knew immediately that the slightly louder hissing had been something key, looking abruptly distressed for once.
"Wait, wait, wait—what did they say?"
"They saw you talking to a fourth year with dark hair, who…" Harry tilted his head as if pretending to listen to the snakes, but their hissing was just laughter at the Zabini's expense as he got toyed with. "Is apparently dating someone controversial, huh?"
Blaise stiffened and then smoothed down the front of his robes once more.
"Well, that settles that. He talks to snakes." He deadpanned bluntly. "Out of professional courtesy I'm going to ask you not to go repeating that to anyone and you have a bloody deal, Potter. I'm still going to tell everyone but how exactly did you want to do this."
"Blaise, are you helping someone?" Draco was sufficiently distracted by the sudden tone shift to turn to his roommate incredulously, and got a big hand in his face telling him to shut up.
"Repeat to no one," Blaise insisted in a hiss of his own. "I am well compensated so it's not out of the kindness of my non-existent heart. Don't go spreading about libel like that, you jerk."
Harry grinned, but a bit darkly as Blaise simply confirmed his theory that this bad reputation for parselmouths was all Voldemort's fault. Theo's family had a dark alignment, and Draco's used to—they had reacted in fear or horror. The Zabinis were untouchable though, and he seemed to have almost no reaction at all; not a personal or emotional one that Harry could tell, at least. He most certainly wasn't frightened by any means, he was just Blaise. He was already over it and, like Harry, working on how to deal with it in a way that benefited him (or did damage control, given his situation).
Maybe it was just because the boy was more unhinged then Harry was mentally prepared to understand just yet, which was a very real possibility that couldn't be discounted, but in this moment Harry was more willing to think it proved that Slytherin house might not be his biggest issue with this discovery. Those with dark alignments would have to be treated with care… whether they deserved it or not, he didn't want to frighten them like it had clearly unnerved Theo and put Draco right on edge. Unless there was a thirty-year-old seventh year on the school roster, not a single one of these children had ever directly served the dark lord—he may not like them or wish good things on some of them, but that didn't mean he wanted to needlessly torture them either. They were not their parents—not yet.
He could be smart about this. And he just snagged Blaise as a legitimate ally for the first time ever so… he was actually in a good position with this honestly.
Still, frankly more importantly: a Slytherin and a Gryffindor were dating??? Of course the move would be to go to Blaise to ensure that information stayed hidden—or maybe Blaise had found out on his own as he was a gossip whore, and was being paid for his silence. He must be paid quite well if he was that intent on keeping his end of the bargain…
There was some Romeo and Juliet nonsense happening amongst the upper years he'd had no idea about and it entertained him greatly. Some star-crossed lovers of opposing houses crap that he almost wanted to gush over.
He was half tempted to ask the snakes for more information, but figured if he didn't know who they were, the more protected they'd be. They clearly wanted to remain unknown if they'd resorted to dealing with Blaise, after all, and he was working on being less nosey and bossy in general. Best let sleeping dogs lie.
"That'll be good." Theo spoke up finally, seeming to have himself collected once more and glancing at him cautiously. "The fact you could possibly learn our secrets, or at least will know any we've spoken about in here for now, will keep a lot of people off your back temporarily. It won't last forever, though." He was clearly not including himself—he barely talked at all last year, much less said something incriminating in front of a fireplace, so he was probably the only one who was safe.
Of course once this got out, they'd immediately learn to either talk elsewhere or put up silencing charms. A clever upper year could put a silencing charm around the snakes themselves even, and just leave it there. But in the short term, this was one powerful weapon he had against the snake house and he'd be pretty stupid not to get everything he could while he had the chance. He glanced back at the snakes and wondered what the best thing to ask was, before Draco suddenly straightened up and seemed to veer the conversation.
"We need to know more." He announced, and at Harry's quizzical look elaborated. "I'll write to my father—you need to get to the goblins as soon as possible and do a bloodline test, and he can make that happen. I know the world thinks they know all about the Potter line, but clearly we don't know everything and the sooner we have a solid answer the better."
"You think he's actually…" Theo trailed off, not able to even finish the thought but uncomfortable with the implication they'd been avoiding.
Slytherins descendant.
Related to the dark lord!?
"…excuse me while I go be sick for a second," He got out, knowing he sounded distinctly queasy, and Blaise looked sympathetic for what might be the first time in his life. Draco and Theo just looked grim as hell. He blew out a weary breath, but nodded in agreement. "Well… I guess at least knowing the truth can't be worse than being ignorant. Even if it's probably going to suck." It'd also get him to Axeclaw, in person, before winter break. Not the most ideal of circumstances to bring that about, but an opportunity he really couldn't afford to waste either.
"Yeah, probably." Blaise agreed unhelpfully.
"Would you be able to hold off a couple days for me to do this then?"
The tall Slytherin tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I suppose. I might enjoy holding it over people's heads a bit, keep them in suspense for a while to ensure they really want it before trading it might be entertaining."
"You scare me sometimes, you know that?"
"Marry me?"
"Nope."
"Blaise stop." Draco instantly dropped into a scowl, which seemed to light up Blaise's whole body as he got the reaction he wanted.
"You can't tell me what to do, Malfoy!" He howled with a wicked grin, taking a neat step back as if getting out of range. "If you wanted to stop me then you just have to suck it up and-"
Draco lunged and Blaise dodged—but Draco was clearly training hard to be on the quidditch team because he had him by the back of the robes and then they were just shoving each other, bickering quietly with Blaise trying to finish a sentence and Draco kicking him to make him shut up before he could.
Harry just stared because that was… weird. Also, total mood shift.
Not that it was a surprise Blaise couldn't stay serious for more than five minutes.
What was a surprise was to see Draco and Blaise wrestling like they weren't Slytherin heirs and were actually just the twelve-year-olds they were. They very rarely actually acted their ages, but maybe because they were safe in the confines of their own dorm for once?
…eh, Harry decided he liked it, even if he did not understand.
He turned to Theo curiously, who was just sitting across the table and watching the exchange with blank eyes again. Whatever was happening was not nearly as shocking at the parselmouth thing, clearly. Seeing his curiosity the blue-eyed boy just shook his head, silently signaling that he didn't want to know, and you know what Harry was going to trust him on that.
"Do they do that a lot?" He asked instead, much quieter to match Theo's generally quiet mood.
"Yeah." He answered just as quietly, unbothered. "Draco being awake is new."
"Excuse me?"
"He's not a morning person. Blaise takes joy in waking up him by any means necessary."
"Oh." Harry had no idea what to make of that. He hadn't considered it before but he did know Draco was a night owl and that he could sleep in until late hours during the summer because he didn't have chores to do. He hadn't quite made the connection that he also greatly enjoyed it too, but it wasn't a shock. "I guess opposites do attract. I haven't woken up past six in probably my life if I'm not drugged or injured."
Maybe he'd been louder than he thought because Draco seemed to freeze mid-playfight and looked over, legitimately horrified once more.
"Hold up, six am?"
"Yeah. I'm a morning person." Harry admitted, leaving out the wealth of history that made him that way.
For some reason that confession seemed to be the final straw that broke Blaise, because he gave up trying to squash Draco and literally sunk to the floor in absolute hysterics, literally pointing and crying laughing at Draco's horrified expression until he was lying on the ground giggling himself silly.
"Blaise shut up!" Draco kicked him, but it only made him laugh harder.
"Can I go back to the snake thing?" Theo calmly ignored them and turned back to Harry, not to be deterred from the real topic at hand that Blaise couldn't remain focused on.
"Sure. You ah… probably know more than me to be honest."
"Has it always been a thing? Literally never heard a snake talk until the mantle?" His eyes were intent, and Harry felt an obligation to tell the truth. Theo wasn't interested in using this for gain… he just needed to know.
And yeah, Harry could relate.
So he thought back and honestly tried to answer that question.
"Well… I've always liked the snakes I found while gardening growing up. I've always thought they were friendly but can't remember any specifics of them talking… unless I was just little and forgot about it in time. I did talk to a boa constrictor once, although that was peek accidental magic time so frankly I had other things to be more concerned about over a homesick Brazilian boa."
"Right." He frowned slightly as he absorbed that. "And they sound like they're speaking English?"
"With an opposite lisp I guess. A lot of 's's, but yeah, just English."
"Would they obey you?"
He raised a brow at that, looking back over towards the mantle where the stone snakes seemed to be just as a loss as he felt by that, if not incredulous at the implication as well.
"No more than you would. They've got minds of their own after all." He listened for couple seconds, getting a general idea although like six of them were talking at the same time. "They rarely get to talk to humans so it sounds like they'd be willing to work with me out of boredom or interest or something, but not because I'm automatically in charge of them just because I can speak to them. Why?"
He genuinely wanted to know where that came from, but Theo was abruptly silent again as he blue eyes watched Blaise and Draco bicker amongst themselves.
Harry could figure that lack of an answer out pretty quickly though.
"Let me guess. He could." And there was no way they both did not know they were talking about. "Or he threatened he could."
"Who knows." Was all he said, slightly airy as if it were a genuine wonder, and Harry let it go, sensing they were done talking about parselmouths for now.
It wasn't even mid-morning but Harry was exhausted with the eventful day already.
As him and Theo's conversation dried up, he settled in a bit more to listen to the gossip the snakes were feeding him now while pretending to watch Blaise torture an increasingly frustrated Draco.
He really wasn't sure what to do with any of this, but for now, he could sit tight and listen.
000
Draco hadn't wasted any time writing a letter to his father—he'd actually drafted it while they went about pretending to study once the chaos of Harry's new ability had settled down.
And what a farce of a study session it'd been: he wrote a letter, Theo was clearly just staring at his notes while thinking deep thoughts over this new development, and Harry hadn't even pretended to not be just listening to the snakes and writing things down in his journal that gave all three of them extreme anxiety every time he did so.
Not that they could fault him… he had an advantage, and even though he'd just learned about it, he was using it. It felt… weird to watch him drift around their common room and speak to stone snakes at each and every fireplace, and the more he wrote into his journal the more the knot in Draco's stomach twisted itself into circles…
Especially because Harry did not seem to notice at all that he was making hissing noises himself as he spoke to the mantles. Just English he'd said it sounded like in his head but… it was honestly a very unnerving language to hear coming from a human mouth. Much less Harry's. And Draco didn't even have a history with any parseltongue unlike his parents and many of their colleagues.
Honestly? He had no idea what to make of this. What to do even.
This was just…
Well, whatever it was, he wasn't about to tell Harry he couldn't do whatever it was he was planning to do with all that firepower he now had. Everyone seemed at a loss of how to handle this except Harry who seemed to come to some kind of decision far too quickly for Draco's comfort. But at least he was moving, he was doing something.
Draco wanted to do something, he just had no clue where to even start so… he couldn't begrudge Harry his actions even though it felt like he was going to throw up after the morning of pretending this invisible elephant wasn't breathing down all their necks.
Well, everyone but Blaise who genuinely didn't seem to care and was just thrilled to be plotting how to use this for his own gain. Which Draco should be doing he just… he just needed…
He needed to talk to his parents, first.
He'd sent the letter off the second they'd finished lunch, calling it a day and thankfully they all clearly had a lot on their minds because they'd barely said goodbye to each other as they scattered towards their different corners to… work things out.
He didn't even want to know what Harry was going to do with his afternoon, but he knew Blaise was going to be spreading fire in the rumor mill to prepare for the truth to drop when Harry was ready. Nott was probably retreating to their room to bury himself in a book or something; he hadn't touched a thing at lunch and for once Draco didn't call him on it. He kind of felt a bit queasy himself the whole morning.
He… had a different goal in mind.
His mother had ordered him to find an excuse to bring Harry to Gringotts as he left for term, and he couldn't believe something so blatant had just dropped into his lap like this. He was fairly certain not even his mother had seen this coming either but… well, here they were.
He already knew his father would arrange a meeting with the goblins easily enough, and his first instruction in his return letter would definitely be to get Severus' approval to whisk them off for this meeting.
To get Severus' approval though…
Draco did his best to gather his wits about him, before making his way back down to the dungeons where he knew his godfather was residing.
The fundamental basis of winning any battle, was to know intimately what you were fighting for.
At this point though… Draco still didn't know.
And the one thing Slytherins hated above all, was the unknown.
000
Harry was thankful the dorm was empty by the time he got back to it, because he really just needed a moment to collect himself.
Regroup and figure out what to do, and he wasn't even sure he could do such a thing in one afternoon but… he needed to start.
While he procrastinated wading through that minefield though, he pulled out the letter Draco had delivered to him that morning, seeing the unmarked outside but knowing exactly what it was for. Slipping it open, there was a single scrap of parchment inside—and curiously enough, one knut.
The note wasn't signed but it was definitely Daphne's handwriting, and it simply said:
Write what you want on a piece of parchment, place this on top. When the ink turns green, the message was sent. Place this on a blank piece of parchment for the reply. Burn all parchment sent and received. Don't mention them by name and don't get caught with this.
Harry turned the coin over in his palm, but it truly just looked like a knut. By the warning though, it was clearly enchanted and most likely not legally so. That wasn't the weirdest news to him though, Draco had implied heavily that the enchanted journals Blaise had given them weren't exactly not banned by both Hogwarts and the Ministry but there was a pretty decent chance they would be should those authorities even know they existed.
Dark arts was… well. It was an interesting topic and he wasn't sold either way on it being good or bad—he loved his journal and this little knut was just a tool and nothing more. On the other hand, the cruciatus curse was a bitch of the highest caliber.
And that Transfiguration book Draco had given him for Christmas last year that he wasn't supposed to read out in public or have on him while at Hogwarts was a really interesting read.
Jury was still out on his opinion either way, but he couldn't deny it was useful at this moment as he sat down at his desk and pulled out a piece of parchment, pausing as he pulled out his quill to think of what to say. This was a clever method for security reasons, but not to mention anyone by name…
He thought for a few seconds, before leaning over the parchment once more.
000
Thank you for taking my request, Mr. Fields.
I believe Miss. Fields told you what the offer is, and I will be in your debt regardless of the outcome.
I want the dog star to be given what it deserves. At this moment I still don't know if it will be found an enemy, nothing more than an ally, or even a friend—but no matter what it is I want to know the truth.
I want either its freedom, or an eternity in hell, depending on what that truth is.
Thank you for your time,
Sylvester.