Harry Potter: The Saviour's Awakening

I will show that upstart kid his place, thought Vaisley furiously. She raised her wand and silently cast, ' Serpensotia !'

Before Harry could even comprehend what was going on, he felt something slam into him. His eyes widened when he saw three king cobras coiling around his body, positioned to strike. The students in the Hall, who had until then been cheering for him, became uncharacteristically still and silent, not breathing a word. There was thick panic in the air.

"How's that for a change, Potter?" screamed Vaisley in uncontrollable fury, unable to handle the humiliating defeat. "Let's see what a duelling champion can do now!"

With that, she cast a banishing charm at him. Harry had been completely still the whole time, having been immobilised by the three very poisonous snakes. Mentally, he was terrified, so he couldn't dodge the banishing charm. He fell on his butt, the three snakes hissing in pain and displeasure and just when they were about to bite him, he acted.

Harry didn't know what made him do it, but it was something inherent in him, something natural, so he said in a commanding voice.

" Stop! Do not bite me. Let go! "

Much to Harry's shock, the three snakes hissed again and replied, " Yes, speaker ." They slithered away and were promptly vanished by Professor Snape, who had a shocked look on his face too.

Harry himself was frozen. What the hell was going on? How was he a Parselmouth? That skill was really rare and there was no one in Magical Britain who had that ability anymore. Sure, there were Parselmouths in the past, the most prominent of them being in the Slytherin family, but they had all died out, hadn't they? Harry didn't know much about Parseltongue except that it was quite feared in Magical Europe, especially Britain, but never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that he was a Parselmouth himself!

His eyes widened when he saw that everyone was staring at him in shock and fear. Oh, Merlin; the Chamber of Secrets fiasco. This was not good; not good at all.

And the worst part was that they had every right to suspect him. He didn't have a single Muggle-born in his group of friends. While he was cordial with several Muggle-borns like he was with the rest of the school, since he didn't really talk to people much in the first place, it was never a priority to befriend them. He had never labelled his schoolmates based on their blood-status, so it never struck him until now. All his 'friends' he usually hung out with his age were purebloods. He knew that he was not related to Salazar Slytherin, but the Slytherins were hardly the only Parselmouths in the world.

What was worrying was the fact that he had discovered this ability in front of half the school and there was no way to prevent it from being leaked out.

This was bad… really bad.

.....

"He's a Parselmouth, Albus," said Severus Snape quietly as he sat down on the chair in front of the headmaster's desk.

Albus Dumbledore closed his eyes in defeat. Oh, how he wished he was wrong, but he doubted there was any other theory that would fit. Was it really Harry who had opened the Chamber? It seemed more and more likely as time went on.

"But - but surely not!" cried Professor McGonagall, spluttering in disbelief. "He's a Potter! He can't be a Parselmouth!"

"I saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears," Snape replied, his tone bland as always. "Hundreds of students saw it as well. Miss Vaisley, though she lost her temper, performed her role admirably, but somehow, I didn't believe you when confided in me, Albus."

"You mean this was planned ?" asked McGonagall, aghast. "Albus, how could you? Is that why Miss Vaisley was only suspended for a week and not expelled?"

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I had suspected that young Harry was a Parselmouth, but I had no way to prove it," he said quietly. "That's why I granted Gilderoy permission to have this little Duelling Club. I requested Severus orchestrate an event that would force Harry to reveal his talent if he's put in a tight spot. Being strangled and nearly bitten by three very poisonous snakes will offer a great incentive to protect yourself, which is exactly what happened. People who are scared will commit mistakes, which I confess, has happened to me as well.

Smart, Harry may be, but he's still a twelve-year-old boy. He would never have seen this coming. Also, I've noticed a pattern in him. Ever since he won the Under-13 International Duelling Championship this past summer, he has become too sure of himself. Being accepted into the accelerated program and his exceptionally high grades have made him arrogant, and such people tend to overlook things. I simply took advantage of it."

"B-But why did you want to find out if he's a Parselmouth in the first place?"

Snape's mind was ticking as he put the pieces together. "Do you think he's responsible for the opening of the Chamber of Secrets?"

"That is a possibility I cannot discount," answered Dumbledore, as he sighed heavily. He closed his eyes, feeling the worst he had felt in eleven years. Where had he gone wrong with the boy? Was it all only because of the Dursleys? Was placing Harry there such a terrible mistake that he couldn't fix? Would the boy have turned out better if he had been allowed to grow up with Sirius and Amelia? He had always said that being smarter than most men made his mistakes that much larger, and this was yet another reminder of the burden that was thrust upon him. He had seen too much death and destruction in his life. What he wouldn't do to finally see lasting peace…

"No!" said McGonagall flatly. "I refuse to believe it. The son of James and Lily Potter attacking Muggle-borns! No, this can't be true, Albus!"

"It's probably closer to the truth than you realise, Minerva," said Dumbledore, sounding old and weary. "The boy hates Muggles. In fact, I have never heard him utter the word 'Muggle' without using the word 'filthy' as a prefix. From what I've observed, hating Muggles and Muggle-borns go hand in hand."

McGonagall was shocked and not a little disappointed. Snape's face was impassive, but his eyes had widened marginally. This was not what he had expected from James Potter's son. Mentally, he was cackling with glee.

He wondered how his old nemesis would feel about this! Potter's own son hating Muggles and Muggle-borns; Potter's own son turning into a murderer, deciding to kill innocents… Oh, delicious irony! Perhaps he could celebrate this day with a bottle of vintage wine as well. What a perfect way to toast to James Potter's misery, even if the bloody bastard was dead. No matter; there was still Sirius Black's misery he could watch.

"We need to keep a very close eye on him," murmured Dumbledore, after a while. "Tell the rest of the staff, the Head Boy, Head Girl and all the prefects to keep an eye on his activities. Perhaps it's a blessing that the holidays are approaching soon. It will give me some time to think and also re-check the castle's protective enchantments."

"What?" snarled Snape. "Are we going to let him get away with this? I say we call the Aurors immediately and have the boy thrown in Azkaban! He should be expelled for this!"

"We don't have any proof to back up our claims, Severus," said Dumbledore, pointedly staring at the man under his half-moon spectacles. "Being a Parselmouth isn't illegal and I know for a fact that the Potters aren't related to Slytherin. Besides, I don't want to give up on him; he can still be redeemed. I will talk to him soon to find out the truth."

"Then how is he a Parselmouth?" asked Snape testily.

"Of that, I'm not sure," Dumbledore replied, staring at the ceiling and stroking his beard. He wasn't going to be sharing his theory about the Horcrux in the boy's scar with anyone. How he wished he had more of Harry's blood! It would have given him more time to study the soul piece using the instrument he had seen in the Department of Mysteries which could detect souls, but it was not possible to extract blood without detection anymore. Blood was highly dangerous in the wrong hands and nearly every magical family, old or young, took care to ensure that their blood was safeguarded by performing magical rituals.

Albus Dumbledore closed his eyes in defeat as Fawkes trilled softly.

....

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