Amulet of time 1: The Age of The Founders

Chapter 25: The Snakes' Report

After the second round of butterbeers the group made their way back to Hogwarts. They didn't want to get back too late as they still had to get ready for the ball. Instead of taking the thestral drawn carriages, they decided to walk, as it was a nice day, considering it was the middle of winter. A thin layer of snow covered the ground, and about half way to the castle Ardwick bent down and grabbed a handful and threw it at Christabel. The girl gave a rather undignified squeak before grabbing some snow to retaliate. Before long all seven of them were engaged in a snowball fight. They had broken into two teams, boys against girls, and the girls definitely had the upper hand. Ron put it down to them having more people on their team, but Harry thought it was more likely because they had the only two Slytherins. They had better strategies than the boys, which most likely came from Slytherin cunning. Eventually they all collapsed on the ground, worn out and laughing.

As they were making their way back across the grounds, once they had calmed down a bit, Harry heard a low hissing coming from behind a nearby clump of bushes. Motioning for the others to continue, he moved closer to the foliage and looked around the side of the bushes. Slytherin was stood with his back to him, talking to the snake Harry had seen in the Chamber of Secrets. If he listened carefully, he could just make out what was being said.

*Are you sure that's what you saw, Kiriani?*

*I am sure, master. I was in the hospital wing when he arrived*

*How long did it take the elf to heal him?*

*About an hour. She said if it happened again she would be unable to heal him on her own*

*Strange…Who else could help her with elven healing magic?*

*I do not know, master*

*And you're sure he had a heart attack? It wasn't heart burn or heart break you heard?*

*I am sure master. I believe her precise words were "Godric, you cannot be continuing with this strain. This heart attack was worse than the last, and if it is happening again, I am not being able to heal you on my own"*

*Thank you, Kiriani, your help is invaluable. If Godric is weak, and one more duel will be the end of him, I can take over Hogwarts quicker than I thought. Tell the others, I will move on August 1st*

*Yes, master*

Slytherin turned back towards Hogwarts too fast for Harry to hide, and the founder's eyes landed on the hiding boy. Gritting his teeth, Harry stood up straight and faced the annoyed man.

" Mr. Potter, what are you doing here?"

" I'm sorry, sir, but I heard hissing noises and thought I would investigate. How is it you can talk to snakes like that?"

Harry was trying to cover his tracks by looking interested in the founder's gift. He had to convince the man that he didn't understand the conversation he had just had with the snake. If Slytherin found out he was a parselmouth, he would find a way to silence him.

" I am a parselmouth, Mr. Potter. I can speak the snake language, parseltongue."

" Sir, how come when we did the knowledge sharing spell at the start of the year, I didn't get the knowledge of how to speak parseltongue?"

" The same reason you didn't learn how to speak elvish from Rowena and Godric. The spell only shared human based knowledge. Any languages or magic of other creatures wasn't shared."

" I see. Sorry to disturb you, sir, I'll go back to the castle now."

Harry made a quick retreat, wanting to get out of there while he still could. At least he had had one question answered. He had been wondering why he hadn't learned Lolide's language from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. As he moved away from Slytherin, he could hear the snake speaking to him again.