"You should tell Dumbledore about this," Scott said to Potter. "It's an important clue."
Potter immediately shook his head on reflex. "No!"
At that, Granger pressed her lips together.
Her expression was a lot like Professor McGonagall's. She shot Potter a sidelong look. "Harry, maybe you really should take Trollope's advice and tell Dumbledore!"
"It's nothing important. Maybe I just heard wrong." Potter was clearly resistant.
"I don't understand what you're worried about, Potter," Scott said calmly. "It's not a big deal. You might not know this, but some wizards are born with unusual talents."
He deliberately gave Potter a puzzled look.
"You can simply understand the language of a certain animal. Slytherin was famously a Parseltongue, after all. So why couldn't there be Cat-tongues or Dog-tongues?"
"That's true, Harry!" Weasley said. "Slytherin was a Parseltongue. He could talk to snakes. It's really famous, but I forgot to tell you."
He was clearly excited. The freckles on his face seemed to grow even redder as he kept patting Potter on the shoulder.
"Of course, you can't be a Parseltongue! Parseltongue is a Dark Wizard's trademark!"
He grinned at his own joke, laughing in an almost comical way.
"You're Harry Potter! The Boy Who Lived!"
He didn't notice Potter's expression instantly turn fearful, or the unease in his eyes.
Potter quickly lowered his head to hide it, but Scott still caught it.
"Harry?" Granger had noticed something was wrong, too.
"Right, Wood needs to see me... about the Quidditch Match... I have to go find him!"
Potter suddenly made a few flustered excuses. He didn't even say goodbye to Scott, just turned and hurried away.
"Harry?" Weasley looked dumbfounded. He stared at Granger. "What's wrong with him?"
"How should I know?" Granger frowned deeply.
"I'll go check on him!" Weasley said,