Parseltongue

The Great Hall was filled with young witches and wizards screaming.

Quite a few girls had fainted outright from fright, and even Snape had gone pale.

Of course, Snape was not afraid of a snake that was just a billion times larger than usual. The fact that the Engorgement Charm had affected it proved that the snake was not a fantastic beast and had little resistance to magic. A single spell would be enough to kill it.

But with such an enormous panic breaking out, what if the students got hurt?

He could not help resenting Flint. The useless idiot-who had taught him to use an Engorgement Charm on a summoned creature?

But Flint had already been knocked unconscious by the enormous snake he had conjured.

"Calm down!"

Snape had no choice but to cast a spell on his voice so that every student could hear him. This was probably the only time in his life he had spoken so loudly, and Harry felt as though his ears were filled with nothing but Snape's voice. It made him feel sick for quite a while.

"Ginny, run!" Ron's face was frantic. Like Percy and the twins, he wanted to rush forward and pull Cyrus back, but the students were all fleeing. Nearly a thousand people were packed together, carrying them farther away like a rip current.

Hermione was in a complete panic. She had no idea what to do, her mind utterly blank, until Harry called to her.

"Send me over there, Hermione!"

"What?"

"Send me over to Ginny!" Harry shouted urgently.

"But how?"

"Use the Levitation Charm on my clothes." Harry quickly came up with an idea.

"All right, got it!" If Hermione had been a little calmer, she would have realized that rather than sending Harry over, she could simply bring "Ginny" back. But her mind was not working now, and all she could do was follow instructions.

Fortunately, she had not forgotten the incantation.

"Wingardium Leviosa-"

As Hermione raised her wand, Harry immediately felt as though something had hooked his clothes and was carrying him up into the air.

His view suddenly rose. He saw Hermione's panicked face and Ron, who had been with them before the crowd separated them, desperately trying to reach Ginny, only to be tripped by Draven. George and Fred were being held back by Lee and Wood. Percy was not particularly strong, and Harry only caught sight of his struggling face before the crowd swallowed him up...

Harry soon felt the world spinning around him, and then he slammed heavily onto the stage, landing between Ginny and the enormous black snake.

"Harry?"

"Potter?"

Cyrus and Snape spoke in surprise at the same time.

"Why did you come over here, Harry?" Cyrus asked calmly.

"I-" Harry tried to speak, but he had twisted his wrist in the fall, and the pain made him suck in sharp breaths.

"Don't move! Potter, Weasley-let me-" Snape took a step forward, his heart in his throat, afraid that the slightest movement from Harry or Cyrus might provoke the snake.

He did not dare cast a spell to kill it outright, either. A venomous snake remained dangerous even after death. Even a severed head could sink its fangs into someone's body!

But Harry did not think he needed to listen to Snape.

He could talk to snakes!

Without thinking any further, he took a step forward and looked straight into the black snake's eyes.

Cyrus watched Harry's small figure from behind. He could tell that Harry was actually frightened himself. But Ginny Weasley was his best friend's sister, so he was willing to risk his own life to save her.

Naturally, Cyrus did not need his help. "Harry, you don't have to-"

But Harry had already opened his mouth and begun making hoarse, terrifying sounds-

The Great Hall fell silent at once. It was far more effective than Snape's Sonorus spell.

The enormous black snake immediately quieted down and lowered its head against Harry's chest, looking utterly docile.

"It's all right now, Ginny..." Harry breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to stroke the black snake's head. Then he turned around, and only then did he realize something was wrong. All thousand people in the Great Hall were staring at him in horror.

"What's wrong?"

Harry looked utterly bewildered.

But before anyone could answer him, Cyrus had already grabbed his wrist and pulled him down from the stage.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't talk. Just go!" Ron rushed over and grabbed Harry's other hand, while Hermione hurried after them.

Everywhere they went, people hastily cleared a path. They avoided Harry as though he were the snake itself.

They remained silent all the way from the ground floor to the tower, and only once they had reached the now-deserted Gryffindor Common Room did Ron begin asking questions.

"You're a Parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us?"

"I'm a what?" Harry did not understand, but he had clearly realized that something was wrong.

"A Parselmouth!" Cyrus acted as though he had only just discovered this astonishing fact. "You can talk to snakes!"

"I know," Harry said. "I mean, that was the second time I've done it. Once, at the zoo, I accidentally let a python out, and it went after my cousin Dudley-it's a long story. The python told me it had never been to Brazil, and I let it out without realizing. I didn't mean to. I didn't even know I was a wizard back then..."

"A python told you it had never been to Brazil?" Ron asked weakly.

"What's wrong with that?" Harry said. "I bet loads of people here can do it."

"You're wrong, Harry." Cyrus shook his head. "Very few people can understand the language of snakes. Very few, and it's bad."

"What's bad?" Harry asked. "If I hadn't told that snake to calm down, it might have attacked you!"

"Oh, so that's what you said to it?"

"What do you mean? You were there... you heard me speaking."

"We couldn't understand you. I heard you speaking Parseltongue-the language of snakes. You could have been saying anything. From the way you sounded, it was as though you were egging the snake on. It was chilling, you know?" Cyrus said.

Naturally, he possessed that ability himself, but unlike Harry, he had much greater control over his Parseltongue.

"Of course, I know you would never hurt me, but they won't see it that way."

Harry stared at him, dumbfounded. "I was speaking another language? But-I didn't realize-how could I speak another language without knowing it?"

Ron shook his head. Both he and Hermione looked grim, as though someone had died. Harry did not understand what was so terrible.

"But even if I was, so what? You believe me, and that's enough. You know I was trying to save you, don't you?" he said to Cyrus. "So what does it matter whether I can talk to snakes?"

"It matters a great deal," Hermione finally said in a hushed voice. "Because talking to snakes was Salazar Slytherin's famous ability. That's why the symbol of the Slytherin School is a snake."

Harry's mouth fell open.

"Exactly," Cyrus said. "Now everyone in the school will think you're descended from Slytherin, his great-great-great-great-grandson or something... They'll think you're the heir of Slytherin who opened the Chamber of Secrets."

"But I'm not," Harry said. A fear he could not explain rose inside him.

"You'll find that difficult to prove," Hermione said. "He lived over a thousand years ago. For all we know, you could very well be his heir."

"Not to mention-" Cyrus looked into Harry's eyes and pressed his lips together. "Not to mention, rumors have never needed your permission."

Harry was struck at once by a silent force.