Speak a Different Tongue

Chapter 1

Harry didn't think he'd ever get used to the feeling of being pushed through a narrow tube. When he opened his eyes, he found himself on a country road, large beech trees offering shadow from the July sun.

Three weeks he'd managed to stay with the Dursleys before he'd concluded sitting around wasn't going to help him find the remaining four Horcruxes. He was supposed to join Ron and Hermione at some point, probably after his 17th birthday, but so far Harry hadn’t heard any concrete plans and he was getting anxious.

Dumbledore had left him with a momentous task and Harry didn’t have a clue where to begin looking for the Horcruxes. He needed information and one place Harry was sure he’d find information was at the site where Voldemort had tried to kill Harry to make his final Horcrux. Of course, by now Voldemort had turned Nagini into Horcrux number six, but that didn’t take away from the fact that the attack on the Potters had been an attempt to stop the Prophecy while also ensuring Voldemort’s own immortality.

The Potters’ home in Godric’s Hollow mattered.

That is why Harry was absolutely sure he’d find some kind of information or some clues there. And why wait until he met up with Ron and Hermione at some unknown point in the future? Why stay at the Dursleys all day every day doing absolutely nothing useful when Harry could just pop over to Godric’s Hollow and have a little looksee for himself?

Harry would simply use his invisibility cloak to keep himself hidden, take a look around and then get back to the Dursleys before nightfall. He knew how to apparate, after all, even if he hadn’t passed his official test just yet.

Harry glanced around, pulled his invisibility cloak closer around himself, and started walking, wand in hand. His parents' house, or what was left of it, was supposed to be somewhere at the end of the long road leading into the village. Something heavy settled in Harry's stomach. He dreaded seeing his parents' house, the place where they'd died, where Voldemort had almost killed him. But he was also certain it was a significant place that needed further investigation.

Something black, like a shadow, moved under a beech tree to Harry's right, and Harry stopped dead in his tracks, raising his wand. The tree's branches waved at him in the warm summer wind, assuring him he was alone and quite safe.

Harry sighed, and continued his walk.

And then the birds in the trees around him stopped singing their summer songs.

Harry halted again, and glanced around. The shadow was back, and it moved, and Harry recognized the looming figure.

But before he could wrap his lips and tongue around a curse, a jet of red light shot from Snape's wand. Something hard struck Harry in the chest and he was thrown backwards, his body falling to the ground as his mind fell into complete darkness.

*~*~*~*~*

Footsteps. Distant.

A flash of red light illuminated Snape's face in the shadows of giant trees.

Footsteps. Closer.

Cold stones, rough and rugged beneath his palms. Red eyes staring down at him.

Breathing. Close.

Light and warmth as Harry opened his eyes, his mind slowly drifting back into consciousness.