Chapter 86: Parseltongue
The argument in the cloister faded into the ordinary noise of Hogwarts. Edward would have preferred the rest of the term to do the same. Instead, Quidditch supplied the next reminder that the castle could turn dangerous without warning.
Slytherin played Gryffindor beneath a sky the color of wet slate. Edward sat three rows above the pitch with Pansy and Theodore, listening to Draco boast about the Nimbus 2001 until Madam Hooch released the balls and the teams rose.
For the first few minutes, the match looked merely vicious. Then one Bludger stopped behaving like a Bludger.
It passed a Slytherin Chaser, curved around a Beater, and drove straight at Harry. After he dodged, it turned in an arc too tight for its speed and came back at him.
"That is not normal," Theodore said.
Edward watched the ball rather than the players. It ignored easier targets. Each time a Beater knocked it aside, the iron sphere recovered and returned to Harry as if the rest of the match did not exist.
"Someone tampered with it," Edward said.
Pansy leaned closer. "Who?"
"I do not know."
He could feel magic on the Bludger only because the object was enchanted by nature. He could not separate its ordinary spells from the alteration at that distance, much less identify whoever had made it. Guessing a culprit would be no better than Draco guessing that Harry had opened the Chamber because he could speak to snakes, except Harry had not done that yet.
On the pitch, the Bludger struck Harry's arm. The crack reached the stands. Harry nearly fell from his broom, recovered, and still managed to catch the Snitch before Madam Hooch stopped play.
Slytherin lost. Draco landed furious enough to complain about Potter, the referee, the weather, and Gryffindor's luck in one breath. Edward let him finish.
"His arm broke," Edward said.
Draco's complaint faltered.
"The Bludger was following him. That matters more than losing a match."
By evening, the professors had sealed the rogue ball for examination. Edward heard no result. That uncertainty stayed with him when posters appeared for Lockhart's new Dueling Club.
The Great Hall filled long before the announced time. Lockhart had arranged a raised platform beneath the floating candles and arrived in violet robes bright enough to compete with them. Snape stood beside him in black, looking as though attendance had been imposed by a court sentence.
Edward joined Draco near the front. After the Bludger, the promise of controlled practice sounded reasonable. Lockhart's opening speech made it less so.
"A duel," Lockhart announced, "is where instinct, courage, and elegance meet. Fortunately, I possess all three in unusual quantity."
Snape's expression did not change.
Lockhart invited him to demonstrate. The result lasted only a few seconds. Lockhart raised his wand with a flourish. Snape answered with "Expelliarmus!" and sent both wand and professor sliding across the platform.
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The hall erupted in laughter.
Lockhart stood too quickly, fixed his hair, and declared that the demonstration had shown precisely what he intended. Edward heard Draco choke beside him.
Pairs were organized next. The room grew noisy as students faced one another with wands raised. Snape moved among the Slytherins, correcting stances. Lockhart moved everywhere else, offering advice no one had requested.
Draco looked across the platform at Harry.
"I want Potter."
"You want an audience," Edward said.
"Both."
Snape eventually paired them anyway, perhaps because separating them would only delay the challenge until a corridor offered fewer witnesses. Harry and Draco took their places. Snape stated the limits twice: disarming spells and defensive work only. No conjured creatures. No curses. Stop when instructed.
Draco nodded.
Harry nodded.
Edward distrusted both nods.
Their first exchange was ordinary. Harry's Disarming Charm passed Draco's shoulder. Draco's struck Harry's sleeve but failed to pull the wand free. They reset while students shouted from both sides.
Then Draco's expression changed.
He had heard something from the Slytherin ranks, perhaps a taunt or encouragement. Edward could not tell. Draco raised his wand before Snape gave the next instruction.
"Serpensortia!"
A snake struck the platform and coiled at once.
The students nearest it scattered. Lockhart stepped forward, wand raised, but Snape moved between him and the snake.
"Do not," Snape said.
The snake lifted its head toward Harry.
Edward's wand was already in his hand, but he did not cast. Snape was closer. A careless fire spell in a crowded hall could turn one dangerous animal into several burned students.
Harry stared at the snake. His fear did not vanish, yet his posture changed. He made a low series of sounds that did not resemble any language Edward knew.
The effect on the snake was immediate.
Its raised body eased. Its head turned away from Harry.
Then Justin Finch-Fletchley, trapped close to the platform by the retreating crowd, moved suddenly. The snake twisted toward him.
Harry hissed again, louder.
Justin went pale. To everyone who could not understand the sounds, Harry appeared to be urging the animal on.
"Nobody move," Snape ordered.
He cast before Edward could decide whether help was needed. A controlled spell caught the snake and flung it away from Justin. Edward added a narrow Incendio only after the creature landed in clear space, driving it back from the nearest students without trying to incinerate it. Snape ended the threat a moment later with a second spell.
The snake vanished.
Silence took its place.
Justin stared at Harry.
"What were you saying to it?"
Harry looked confused. "I told it to leave you alone."
The answer did not help.
Whispers spread from the Hufflepuff side first. Parseltongue. Slytherin. Heir. Dark wizard.
Edward watched the words move faster than evidence ever did. Harry's expression changed as he realized that everyone else had heard hissing where he had heard speech.
Hermione reached him first. Ron followed, positioning himself between Harry and several students who had begun backing away.
Draco stared openly. "You can talk to snakes?"
Harry ignored him.
Lockhart attempted to recover the room by praising the quick reactions of everyone involved. Snape cut across him.
"The club is finished for tonight. Students will return to their common rooms with their houses. Mr. Malfoy, remain."
Draco's satisfaction vanished.
Snape turned to Edward as the crowd began to move. "You waited until the platform was clear before casting. Good. You also cast after I had engaged the creature. Less good."
"I thought it might break toward the students."
"And if your fire had crossed my spell?"
Edward had no useful answer.
"Exactly."
Snape moved on to Draco, whose explanation for ignoring the rules became quieter with every sentence.
Edward left with the rest of Slytherin. Behind him, Harry was still trying to convince Ron that he had not known Parseltongue was unusual.
Draco caught up near the dungeon stairs after Snape dismissed him with detention.
"Potter speaks the language of Salazar Slytherin," he said. "You cannot tell me that means nothing."
"It means he can speak to snakes."
"That is not nothing."
"I did not say it was. I said it does not tell us why."
Draco frowned, frustrated by the distinction.
Edward understood the temptation. Parseltongue was rare, tied to the founder of their house, and dramatic enough to make every other fact feel small. But the rogue Bludger had taught the same lesson days earlier. An unnatural event could be obvious while its cause remained hidden.
Harry's ability was evidence of something.
It was not yet evidence of the thing everyone wanted it to be.