amnesia | d.m.

chapter 18

"What's a parselmouth?"

"It means you can talk to snakes," Ambretta answered. "Just like Harry Potter. He speaks parseltongue as well."

"What?" I said with confusion. "So...it must be common then right?"

"No. It's extremely rare!"

My blood ran cold as my thoughts shifted back to the familiar man I had just visioned.

"Did you see something?" she asked curiously as she studied my expression. "You definitely weren't completely awake. It was weird, you just stopped speaking and you were just standing there frozen, and you looked quite terrified even."

"Yeah..." I trailed off as a chill ran up my spine. Yes, I saw Voldemort and his pet snake. But I couldn't tell her that, as much as I wanted to, I couldn't. I ran out of words to say as I was still feeling the chills that I felt moments ago.

"Well?"

"I'm sorry," I stammered. "I have to go find Harry." I quickly turned on my heels and ran from the courtyard.

Problem was, I had no idea where Harry even was. Or Ron, or Hermione. It was the middle of a school day. They could be in class, in their common room, or anywhere else in the castle. Maybe I should just go straight to Dumbledore.

I quickly sped over to Professor McGonagall's classroom, hoping she could tell me if Dumbledore was available as I hadn't spoken to him since the hospital. When I reached her classroom, I found her busy. She was in the middle of teaching a class.

"Great," I whispered with defeat as I made my way back to the Great Hall, feeling bad that I had completely abandoned Ambretta.

When I reached, I found her sitting with a bunch of Slytherin girls munching on some fruit. Her face held an expression of boredom as she stared out at the nothingness in front of her. I rushed over and quickly sat down in front of her, snapping her out of her daze.

She glanced up at me with confusion. "Terra, what the hell is going on?" she whispered questioningly.

"I'm sorry," I fumbled for words. "This is just...a lot for me right now. I have to talk to Dumbledore, maybe he can help me."

Ambretta glanced over at the Slytherin girls then moved a little further down on the bench so we were not within earshot of them anymore. I followed her actions and moved down further too.

"I know but Terra, I saw what I saw. And I heard you as well. You were speaking parseltongue."

"How is that even possible? I can't speak any language other than English."

"You sounded just like Harry. It was quite creepy...and horrifying if I'm gonna be honest."

"My whole life in a nutshell is horrifying, Ambretta." There was no lie there. I was casually living my life with an evil father on the loose and half my memory lost in my brain somewhere. And to think I was more terrified of the O.W.L. exams coming up.

At the sound of this, Ambretta cracked a smile. "You're a strong girl, Edwards. Do you know that?"

Did I?

"No, I don't actually think I am but I appreciate the compliment." I chuckled as Ambretta rolled her eyes. "By the way, when did you ever hear Harry speak parseltongue?"

"It was second year," she answered. "Our old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was teaching us how to duel. Him and Snape selected Harry and Draco to duel each other."

"Draco?" I asked incredulously. "This must be good."

"It was. The task was to disarm the other, so Draco decided to present Harry with a serpent. Harry began speaking parseltongue instead. And it was in front of our entire class. Everyone heard, and everyone thought he was the heir of Slytherin for a long time."