Douglas glanced at Harry, chuckled, then turned to Dumbledore and said:
"Mr. Potter is a Parselmouth!"
The office fell silent at once. Phineas on the wall (Phineas Black was the first Hogwarts headmaster to have graduated from Slytherin) looked at Harry in astonishment and muttered:
"Impossible. How could Slytherin's heir be a little lion? Impossible..."
This time, the other portraits did not stop him either. They all looked at Harry in disbelief.
Through Dumbledore's half-moon spectacles, Harry saw a pair of piercing blue eyes, sharp and bright, and his heart trembled.
Fortunately, Dumbledore only looked at Harry once before turning back to Douglas.
Douglas was not nearly as nervous. He found a chair, sat down, and said:
"I tested it. Although I've never heard Parseltongue before, it really does sound like a snake..."
Dumbledore straightened up and said kindly:
"Have a seat, Harry. What would you like to drink? Tea or juice? There's no need to be so nervous..."
Harry, who had been imagining all sorts of things, did not immediately register Dumbledore's words.
"Ah! Sorry, Headmaster, I... you..."
Douglas smiled and pointed to a chair.
"Don't be nervous. Sit down first. Professor, some juice for us, please. The food we had at Hagrid's was a little greasy."
Dumbledore tapped the desk twice, and two glasses of juice appeared on the tables beside Douglas and Harry.
Seeing how relaxed Douglas was, Harry felt considerably calmer. He quickly thanked Dumbledore and sat down.
Douglas watched Dumbledore's little display. Damn it, he got to show off again.
With his current level of Transfiguration, Douglas could not yet do something like that so effortlessly. For now, he could only undo relatively simple Transfigurations with a snap of his fingers.
Dumbledore noticed Douglas's barely perceptible curl of the lip and chuckled as he picked