The Rebirth

Serpent Child

After explaining all that he had seen to Ron and Neville with the assistance of Hagrid, Harry got ready to leave with Ron.

"So that's what I know. That Jack Croft helped Bellatrix give birth to Ivy in Azkaban, an' then carted her off to be with Vol-Voldemort." Hagrid suppressed a shudder as he said the name.
"After that, I left - she was only a baby, and they was trying to make her another servant because Bellatrix was in prison - no, I had to protect her. But I got back, and she was already gone."
Neville comforted Hagrid, patting his arm on his shoulder.
"It's not your fault mate, you did what you could. She's got evil embedded in her blood - what's all that about Latastei?"
At that point, Hermione burst through the door, a pile of books in her hand.
"I've got it!" She cried, looking manic as she moved her windswept hair out of her face.
"Ivy wasn't born - she was made. Latastei criança ; she's a serpent child."

----
A shocked and confused silence fell over the adults in the room: Ron had his usual confused expression, Harry seemed too dumbfounded for words, Neville was fumbling with the button on his jumper, and Hagrid's eyebrows threatened to join together permanently as he was frowning so much.
"Sorry for bursting in like that, Hullo there Neville." Hermione smiled awkwardly.
"Don't worry Mione, he knows what's going on - at least he did. What the hell do you mean, she's a serpent child? Take a seat and explain." Ron beckoned Hermione to a wooden stool.
"No, we need to go, we need to tell Ginny. Then we'll all figure something out, but for now we need to go. Neville, Hagrid, we'll update you later,"
Hermione turned to leave, readjusting the pile of books held in her arms.
"Well come on! We have lots to discuss." She beckoned Harry and Ron hurriedly, who quickly followed her.
They left Hagrid's, with rushed goodbyes to Neville and Hagrid, who still were very confused.

The trio held hands, disapparating into the cold air.

---
"Finally! Tell me what you've all found out." Ginny greeted them at the door, looking quite sleepy.
"You look like you've been busy." Ron said as he looked over at the table, where masses of paper lay all over the table.
"Sorry about that, I've been looking at some new strategies for Quidditch - got to get my work done at some time," Ginny swished her wand, and the papers flew into a neat pile. "So, what have we found out?"
"Ok so I did some reading, because I was sure I've heard Latastei before - and I was right, it comes from the word Vipera Latastei - it's a kind of serpent. Then criança means child: it translates directly to serpent child. And it makes sense, does it not?" Hermione began to show pictures of the snake from the books, as Harry, Ron and Ginny all nodded in agreement.
"It would make sense how she was able to speak a different kind of parseltounge - she's more closely related to a snake than anyone who is able to understand the language." Harry rubbed his forehead as he began to comprehend it all. Hermione continued.
"It's not just that. To create a serpent child, it creates masses of dark magic, and rare ingredients - how could Bellatrix have got that if she was in a cell all day long?"
Ron suddenly stood from the sofa. "Jack Croft! Harry, tell them what you saw in the Pensieve - if anyone was helping Bellatrix, it's him."
Harry explained to Ginny and Hermione what he had seen. When he finished, Ginny groaned in anger.
"I knew we couldn't trust him! The lying little git, trying to act clueless when we came round, always knew he was a -"
"Ginny! Calm down, I don't think he's as bad as you think. Otherwise why would he have told us about her? Remember, Ivy came to his house - he must've looked after her for a bit when she was younger, so she must've figured he'd spill something; he's probably dead now, if we're completely honest with ourselves."
Ginny calmed down a bit after this, realising that Hermione was probably right.
"OK, so we know that she's a serpent child, and that Jack helped Bellatrix create her when she was in prison - God knows how he did that, but an inside job would always make it easier, especially when they support Voldemort."
A momentary silence was created once she boldly said the name, but was soon broken by Hermione lifting another book. This time it was a pale blue one, with peeling lettering and a broken spine.
"It's not just that. The idea of a half human half serpent comes from Greek mythology - Echidna was a half woman, half snake. She had poison in her, and if Ivy's anything like her, she's carrying some pretty dark magic in her." Hermione turned the page to reveal an image of Echidna.
"Bloody hell, at least Ivy doesn't look like that."
"Well of course not Ron: she's still got some of Bellatrix's DNA." Ginny rolled her eyes, leaning on Harry's shoulder.
"So what now?"
"Now we figure out what her purpose is - and we destroy it."