Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 16: Here Be Dragons (Pt 2)

26 November 1994
The Forbidden Forest
1:00 a.m.

The raven flew through the dark forest in silence until it found what it was searching for: a large open clearing that had been prepared for several tents ... and five enormous cages. The corvid landed on a tree branch and took in the scene. Then, as if suddenly aware it was under observation itself, it turned its head towards the subtle movement that had caught the bird's eye ... only to find an eye of a different kind staring back.

"CAW!" cried the raven, which was so startled that it nearly fell from its perch. For just ten feet away was a sinister floating orb, jet black except for a single glass eye-lens, that was hovering in mid-air as it regarded the bird's presence.

Simultaneously, deep beneath Hogwarts Castle, a young man with a lightning bolt scar watched the raven's image in a silver mirror.

"And good evening to you too, Little Brother."

The raven fluttered its wings and cawed again as if to register its disapproval at being caught by the hidden Eye-Spy. The Eye-Spy said nothing in response. It simply rotated silently and turned back to watch the clearing below. There was a soft whirr as the lens focused in on the massive and deadly creatures encaged down below.

The bird hopped up and down on its branch a few times as if indignant at the Eye-Spy's presence (and, by extension, that of its owner). Then, it jumped from the branch and glided down towards the clearing below. The raven circled the clearing a few times before coming in for a landing. But instead of a raven's talons, it was Jim Potter's trainers that touched down onto the forest floor. He was dressed in black from head to toe and even had a hood pulled up over his head. Back in the Prince's Lair, Harry was mildly impressed. Jim's attire suggested more forethought than he'd believed his twin capable.

Carefully, Jim crept forward towards the nearest cage, the one containing the Hungarian Horntail. Like her sisters, the Horntail's mouth was bound shut with a magically-reinforced iron band, lest the magnificent beast set the entire forest ablaze with her fury. Jim looked around to make sure he was unobserved (other than the Eye-Spy, of course). Then, he softly cleared his throat.

"Hello. Can you underssstand what I am sssaying?" he hissed.

The Horntail's only response was an angry growl, followed by a short puff of flames from the creature's nostrils. Not enough to be a danger to Jim, thanks to the bindings, but enough to frighten him. Even from here, Jim Potter could feel the intensity of the dragon-fire, and he did not relish the thought of facing this or any of the other dragons when they were free and able to breathe fire to their maximum ranges. Which, according to Ron's research, could reach over 100 feet for a Horntail.

Jim hissed a few more phrases in Parseltongue before finally concluding that communication was impossible. Not one to give up, however, the Animagus took a single step before shifting to his raven form and flying over to the next caged dragon to repeat the experiment with the Chinese Fireball. Though the Fireball was far more serpentine than the Hungarian Horntail, the results seemed the same.

Jim made his way around the camp to visit each of the remaining dragons and confirm that none of them seemed capable of understanding Parseltongue. Disappointed and somewhat annoyed, Jim turned and looked back up towards the floating Eye-Spy before making a rude gesture in its direction. Then, the raven took wing once more, up over the treetops and then back to Hogwarts. The Eye-Spy tracked the raven's path before turning and floating away from the dragon-handler's encampment and back to the castle.

The Prince's Lair

"Huh," muttered Theo, who was observing the mirror that had been enchanted to receive the Eye-Spy's feed from over Harry's left shoulder. "Looks like our Lion has a bit of Snake in him after all."