Aspen in the Sunlight - A Year Like None Other

"Did I?" When Harry just kept staring, Snape became more specific. "Ah. Are you by chance someone with the very special talent of speaking to snakes?"

Oh. Harry got it then. That horrible article had spread the lie that Parseltongue was Dark Arts, but Snape wanted Harry to spread the truth. Publicly. Confidently. Probably as much for himself as for the others. Harry knew his Parseltongue wasn't evil by then, wasn't anything to do with evil. But he'd never declared that, really. He'd just used it and hoped his school mates would understand. Most of them had, he thought. But now it was time to show them that he wasn't ashamed at all, that he had nothing to be ashamed of.

"Yes," said Harry loudly, turning around in a slow circle to direct his words to students and teachers alike. "I am someone with the very special talent of speaking to snakes!"

"How very fortunate for Professor Aran," drawled Snape. "I dare say he'll be vastly pleased to have a fellow Parseltongue speaker on hand."

"He can't understand English right now," Harry murmured.

"They can," said Snape quietly, a slight gesture indicating the audience. "And as for him , he can understand you alone. Remember that."

Nodding, Harry dropped to one knee in the grass. "Hallo there."

The snake had been slumping by then, but at Harry's hiss, Aran's head snapped up and began swaying from side to side. "You."

"Nobody else can understand you, you know," said Harry. Feeling like this might take a little while, he shifted to sit cross-legged. "You're sssspeaking ssssnake language."

Aran physically recoiled from the suggestion, his long tongue flickering like he was trying to spit something out. Stupid git, thought Harry. Should have figured it out by himself by now. "Yessss, ssssnake language. Tell me, do you ssssuddenly feel like a creature of darknesssss?"

Hmm, he'd been trying to say evil but probably snakes didn't really have that concept.

"Thisssss wassss done to me," hissed Aran, his body coiling in fury.

Noticing Snape tensing, Harry made a gesture to say that everything was fine. Then he returned his attention to Aran. "I know you probably have instinctssss now, but if you bite me you'll never get changed back. Think about it."

Aran subsided into the grass, his hiss becoming plaintive again. "Tell him to change me--"

"Thissss wassss done to you," Harry interrupted. "But my ssssnake language was done to me, too." Of course, that might not strictly be true; Harry knew Snape didn't necessarily agree that Voldemort had transferred the power to Harry, all those years ago. But it might be true, so . . . "Did it make me a creature of darknesssss? You kept ssssaying it did."

"Done to you?" Gaining more control over his new muscles, Aran slithered in a circle.

"Yessss," hissed Harry, his own fury growing even as Aran's seemed to fade. "I didn't assssk for it. I didn't know I had it. And I didn't need you trying to shame me for it, or make it hard for me to learn!"

The snake blinked several times in a row. "I . . ."

"Yeah, you were horrible," accused Harry. "And it'd sssserve you right if my father never did change you back. How would you like that, eh? A sssssnake for daysssss and nightssss and dayssss and nightssss?"

Hmm, interesting how forever had come out.

"No, pleasssse," begged Aran, his hiss low and piteous. "He hassss to change me back. I don't want to be a ssssnake. He won't leave me like this, will he?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Harry leaned forward a little. Strange how everyone was staring at him, but for once it didn't bother him. "You called him a creature of darknesssss. And now you expect him not to bite you back?"

No word for mercy, either, thought Harry.

"Noooo." Aran slumped low in the grass. "He can't. Noooo."

"I've no idea what he'll do. But I could assssk him, if you like." Harry waited until the snake had nodded glumly. "If you asssssk me, first."

"Pleasssse."

"Is sssssnake language a creature of darkness?"

Aran hissed in a breath, hesitating. But then he admitted, "No. I wassss wrong. I ssssshould not have ssssaid that."

Harry jumped to his feet and faced his father again.

"Well, that snake seems to have quite a lot to say," prompted Snape in a clear voice. The slight murmurings in the audience abruptly ceased. "Anything in particular?"

"For some reason," said Harry loudly, "he doesn't think Parseltongue is evil any longer!"

"As indeed it is not."

"Here, here," called McGonagall from her chair. Glancing that way, Harry saw several other teachers nodding. And the students were picking up on the mood, he saw.

"Also, he wants to be changed back," added Harry.

"Imagine that." Snape lightly tapped his wand against his leg. "What do you say, Harry?"

"Um, well, it's up to you, obviously."

"No. It's up to you," said Snape. "What Aran said about me isn't terribly important in the greater scheme of things. You're the one he wronged, week after week." You're the one he attacked, the one he unwittingly gave to Lucius Malfoy, Snape's dark eyes said.

"Oh." Harry turned back to the white snake trembling in the grass. This time he didn't crouch down. "I get to deccccide what happensssss to you."

Aran lifted his head slightly. "Pleasssse . . ."

Harry knew he was probably being too soft-hearted, but the last thing he wanted was for this snake to hang about Hogwarts. Knowing Aran, the man--ha, the snake--would be too frightened to leave the grounds and face the wilds of Scotland. He'd be afraid of getting eaten, just like Sals still complained now and again about Hedwig. Though at least that had fallen off a lot ever since Harry had applied repelling charms to her new box.

And what if Aran did get eaten by something? Harry didn't need another death on his conscience.

"I'm doing thissss for me, not for you," he hissed, still standing. "And you're never to talk about me or my nesssst-matessss again, do you undersssstand? If you do, you'll get a lot worsssse than happened today."

"Never--"

"And I don't want to ssssee you again," continued Harry. "You're leaving here sssstraight away."

The snake nodded, the motion eager. Harry got the feeling Aran couldn't wait to be gone from Hogwarts.

"Change him back, then," Harry told his father, looking him in the eye.

Snape's lips twisted. "Now you know why I left the decision to you. I might not have spared him, but I knew I could rely on you to treat with justice even those who deserve none." The man began waving his wand in loops and swirls as he muttered in Latin.

The change back wasn't gradual. Aran popped back into existence in one fell swoop, standing with his arms crossed indignantly. A bad position, as it turned out. Harry wasn't sure where the man's tattered clothes had gone, but somewhere in the shift to snake and back, they'd vanished entirely.

Harry heard a high squeal that he recognised as Larissa's. When he glanced the way, he saw that Draco had grabbed her and was holding her in front of him, his hand clapped over her eyes. Catching Harry's eye, the Slytherin boy gave a wry shrug as if to say, I guess she is just a little girl, after all.

The students by then had broken out into raucous laughter. Aran standing there buck naked was funny enough, but the fact that he didn't seem to realise he had no clothes only made things all the more hilarious. Several students were turning bright red from laughing so hard.

"Come on, give us a show, then!" shouted Seamus.

That seemed to snap Aran out of his daze. He looked down in panic, then blushed purple. One hand shot down to cover his privates while the other began waving wildly, stammered spells falling from his lips. But he didn't have a wand any longer; it had vanished along with his clothes.