A Snake Named Voldemort

Chapter 14

After the comment about Snape, Tom's illness lost all its humor once again when the man shuddered and curled up into himself. It was a shock to see this powerful man struck down this way. Harry pulled out his wand and levitated the man a moment so he could pull the covers out from under him. He settled Tom back down on the bed and pulled the covers over him. He no longer seemed to be awake. Damn. Harry was hoping after mentioning Snape Tom would give him a better idea. Didn't he have a Healer or something among his Death Eaters?

Something bumped up against Harry's leg.

:Nagini,: Harry breathed when he found the snake nosing him.

:Is Master all right?:

Harry hesitated before he reached down and stroked Nagini's large head. :I'll help him. Nagini, are there any House Elves here?: Harry had yet to see them.

Compared to Voldemort when he was a cobra, Nagini displayed little human expression on her face, but her voice portrayed confusion. :House Elves? Of course. Their names are Sprit and Sprot.:

Harry took a moment to try and translate the names into English and called for the Elves. Two lanky, near identical beings dressed in two pieces of the same table cloth popped into the room. Clearly, they were twins. Before Harry could even open his mouth to explain himself to the Elves, in synchronous motion, they bowed low to the ground.

"Master Harry, what can we do for yous?" the two asked at the same time, producing a strange resonating sound.

"How do you know me already?"

"Master told us—"

"—about yous yesterday when—"

"—Master returned."

Harry stared blankly at the volley of remarks. Who knew the Weasley twins had doppelgangers in a pair of House Elves? He shook his head. They were also remarkably well spoken for House Elves, as well. Leave it to the Dark Lord to find servants who were grammatically correct.

"Oh, well, good. I need you to keep a watch on your Master. He's very sick. I'm going to find a way to help him."

"We promise—"

"—to take care of Master."

Harry sighed. "Thank you." Harry turned back to the sleeping Tom. His face was pale now, and there was a small wrinkle between his eyes that indicated his sleep was not very restful. Harry tucked the green silk comforter in tighter around his shoulders.

:I'll be back, Tom,: he hissed in the soothing cadence of Parseltongue. He didn't know if he heard. Nagini bumped his leg again.

:I'm coming with you.:

Harry looked at her. :You sure you don't want to stay here?:

:I cannot help him here.:

Harry nodded and allowed Nagini to wrap herself around him. It suddenly occurred to him that he was completely out of his element and had no idea what he was going to do now. This was not the right time to act and think like a Gryffindor. It was Tom who thought it was some side effect of the potion...Harry had to trust he knew enough to be right. Snape had been the first person to pop into his head because he was one of the only Potion's Masters he knew, but he was also going to be the most uncooperative in all likelihood.

Would Professor Slughorn be a better choice? It might be the safer option, but would probably be a waste of time considering the poor professor's guilt and fear of Voldemort and the probability that he would know nothing of what could be wrong. And, Harry had to admit, Snape's knowledge of all things potions was far superior to Slughorn, who was too distracted by his collecting habits to stay locked up in a dungeon all day with research.