Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 48: Goodbyes

13 May 1993
The Great Hall
8:00 a.m.

On Thursday, it was the Slytherins' turn to applaud (though far more politely than the rambunctious Gryffs had for Jim Potter the previous Monday) as Draco Malfoy entered the Great Hall for breakfast. He glanced over at the Hufflepuff table and nodded almost imperceptibly at Justin, who nodded back with the same level of discretion. Then, the Malfoy Heir made his way to the middle of the Slytherin table where he took a seat by himself. Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other in surprise at their mutual snubbing, at which point they both noticed that Pansy Parkinson had not come down for breakfast yet.

"Draco," said Harry evenly from a few feet away. "Welcome back."

"Thank you," the boy said. "My father sends his regards." At that, several nearby Slytherins looked at one another sharply.

"Please tell him I return them," Harry replied.

"Are you free this afternoon after lunch?" Draco asked as he started loading his plate. "There are some matters I wish to discuss with you."

"Of course. We, um, don't actually have a DADA class anymore - it's been cancelled for the remainder of the year - so that hour's free."

Draco nodded and ate quietly by himself.

The sight of the boy who had once been such a social animal now sitting alone caused a quiet buzz among the Slytherins which only ended when something even more unusual happened. An enormous horned owl with black and gold plumage of a breed none of the students had ever seen before swooped through the window and down towards the Gryffindor table to land in front of Jim Potter. The boy s surprise was exceeded only by that of his housemate, Parvati Patil.

"That s my Uncle Gupta's owl, Indra!" she exclaimed. "Why is my uncle sending you owls all the way from India?!"

Jim ignored the girl while taking the message from the owl's talon. After tossing the great raptor a slice of bacon, he watched it fly off and then opened the letter. He read over it carefully twice before turning to look up at his mother who was sitting at the faculty table staring at him in surprise.

Twenty minutes later in Lily Potter s Office

"You want to go to India!" Lily said in shock.

"Yes, Mum, I want to go to India," he replied almost placidly. "Gupta Baskar is the uncle of two of my classmates. He's also one of the most respected healers in the world and someone who taught himself how to speak Parseltongue. And he's invited me to India for a month this summer to study with him."

"Study what, exactly?" she asked suspiciously.

"Parseltongue, for a start. He wants to spend time talking with a natural Parselmouth to see if there's any differences that might change how Parselmagic might work for us."

"Parsel-magic?"

"Yeah, apparently there are some spells you can say in Parseltongue. Mainly healing spells, but also a few combat spells. Actually, pretty much any spell that has a lot of S's in the incantation."

"I don t know about this, Jim. After everything that's happened, do you really want to ... flaunt your Parseltongue like this?"

"I'm not flaunting it, Mum! I'm just ... refusing to live in fear of it." The boy looked away for a few seconds. "There's another reason I want to go. Actually, two reasons. Gupta Baskar isn't just a celebrated healer. He's also a celebrated mind healer. I ... need to see one, I think. And if I can go to one who lives on the other side of the world instead of somebody here that just sees me as the Boy-Who-Lived, that's ... that's better right?"