No Mouth But Some Serpent's

Chapter 6 - Moons and (Would-be) Stars

Ah, good, the last chapter worked in with the rest of the story instead of changing it entirely. We are back on track now.

Thank you again for the reviews! Review responses up in LJ this afternoon.

Chapter Six: Moons and (Would-be) Stars

"Do you think he'll use the snake to cheat on exams?"

"No, I bet he uses it to plot the deaths of innocent people!"

"No, I bet he uses her to help him..." And Harry couldn't hear the last word, as the sentence trailed off in a burst of laughter.
Harry kept his eyes forward and his feet moving. He had known this would happen when he revealed that he was a Parselmouth. He had known. And he'd done it anyway. At least he had practice ignoring this kind of thing from the first three weeks of school, when he'd done his best to ignore his Housemates.

"I could hex them," Draco, walking beside him, offered in a low voice.

"All of them?" Harry asked dryly. They were passing a group of fourth-year Ravenclaws, who hooted loudly and hailed the "Snake Prince." Harry fought the impulse to hunch his shoulders. "Then you'll have three-quarters of the school reeling around with boils on their noses and legs locked together. And you'd land us in detention besides."

"We could do it," said a voice behind him.

Harry turned and glanced at Marcus Flint. The older Slytherin's eyes were burning, and he had his wand drawn. He hadn't fired any hexes at anyone yet, but from the look on his face, it was only a matter of time.

Harry wasn't sure what to make of Flint, nor the rest of Slytherin House. He'd annoyed them by ignoring them the first few weeks, and by not retaliating when they jinxed him. But since the moment he revealed he was a Parselmouth, they seemed to have closed ranks around him, determined to protect him as one of their own.

Harry enjoyed it, while trying not to, mostly because it puzzled him. He was sure it had to end soon, when their annoyance at him outweighed their pride that there was someone with Slytherin's talent in their House. Or when he told Flint that he had a Nimbus 2001 broom. Flint knew he was planning to play on the Quidditch team. He didn't know about the broom yet.

There hasn't been a right time to tell him, Harry defended himself.
"Of course there hasn't," said Sylarana. Since his show in the Great Hall, she'd taken to hissing aloud more and more often, not caring if anyone heard her. Draco, as always, tried to peer under Harry's sleeve at her; he never seemed to understand that a Locusta was both highly dangerous and highly unpredictable. "Keep telling yourself that, if it makes you feel better."

Harry didn't respond. He didn't feel like arguing in his head, and speaking with Sylarana in Parseltongue in the halls made him feel self-conscious. The other Slytherins had assured him they didn't mind. That only made Harry mind more.

They walked past two older Ravenclaw students, who half-turned towards Harry and smirked at him. "Maybe he keeps the snake on his pillow," one of them whispered, voice low and vicious.

"There's some pillow talk."

"He's touched in the head," said the other one, and snorted.

"Thinking he can control that beast at all. I bet the snake's just waiting until a certain point in the year, and then she's going to devour everyone in the school."

The return laughter had a nasty edge that made Harry more concerned than usual. Joking about him was one thing. Spreading rumors that Sylarana wanted to hurt the students might result in them trying to take her away, and that would result in someone getting hurt.