Snakes
Regulus looks at Haydn as he comes back into the living room from the kitchen, smiling ear to ear. He has his rescue snake Gloria wrapped around him, which Regulus feels is just a little dangerous. Haydn insists that it absolutely isn’t, though, and that she’s actually very friendly and attached to him.
“Who called? What happened?” Regulus asks.
“Guess who is coming over for a visit for the first time ever,” Haydn happily says, Regulus looking at him confused. “James is bringing Harry over.”
“He’s never been to your house before?” Regulus questions, Haydn shaking his head as he walks over to retake his seat on the couch next to Regulus.
“Harry hasn’t been to most places, but James has just never had reason to bring him over here, but they’re out around here and when James mentioned it Harry asked if he could come over,” Haydn explains, “Harry just started going out recently, so it’s not that crazy.”
“Yeah, I guess not,” Regulus shrugs, “It’s not that outrageous now that I’m thinking about it. Everything always happens at home with them.”
“Mhm,” Haydn hums, “He said they’ll be over in about 5 minutes, and,” Haydn turns back to look at the clock on the wall behind him, “He’ll probably get to watch me feed the kids downstairs, it’s almost feeding time.”
“Harry is going to love all the reptiles so much,” Regulus comments, “He’s going to be fascinated, especially with her,” Regulus points at the snake resting on Haydn.
“Yeah, I know,” Haydn smiles, “I’m excited for him to see them, he’s a big snake lover, isn’t he?”
“Mhm, huge, he adores snakes, I don’t know why either,” Regulus shrugs, “He just always asks for snake stuff, like if we go to the store and there’s an aisle of stuffed animals he’ll always go ‘sssssssnake, Uncle Reg!’ in the same tone every time.”
“He’s so cute,” Haydn chuckles, “You were telling me about your honeymoon before I left, continue, I’m listening.”
Regulus smiles and picks up where he left off in his honeymoon story, telling Haydn all about their trip. He’s been doing it since he got here, but Haydn has been very attentively listening the whole time. He appreciates it because it’s going to help him not unnecessarily ramble about it to everyone he sees, it’s getting it out of his system. He’s electing to ignore how Gloria slithers off Haydn’s shoulder and onto the back of the couch, laying longways on the soft leather couch.
He ends up talking about it with Haydn for the entire next 5 minutes, being stopped by a knock on the door.
“I think that’s James and Harry, let me get them,” He says before he gets up and goes out to the front door, Regulus leaning over the arm of the couch behind him to see Haydn greeting Harry and James at the door. Harry is jumping up and down greeting Haydn, clearly excited to be in his house for the first time. Haydn points backward and tells Harry something, who runs into the room trailed by Haydn and James chatting.
“Uncle Reg!” Harry cheers, jumping up and launching himself at Regulus. Regulus catches him, pulling him up to sit on his lap and give him a hug.
“Hi bud,” Regulus greets, “How are you?”
“Excited! We came to Uncle Hay-n’s house,” Harry says as he sits back to smile at Regulus, “You’re here too!”
“Mhm, I’m here visiting him too,” Regulus affirms, looking over as Haydn leans down and lets Gloria climb back into his shoulder. This catches Harry’s attention, though, because he turns around and excitedly gasps.
“Ssssssnake!” He goes over to see it but Regulus grabs him, not confident about Harry being gentle with the potentially dangerous snake.
“Mhm, it is a snake, here, you can see,” Haydn says, sitting down across from Harry on the couch, James walking up to stand behind Regulus, who looks back at him.
“Hello,” Regulus greets, “I hope you knew this was going to happen.”
“Oh absolutely,” James chuckles, “He’s fascinated, though, so if it keeps him interested I’m fine with it. I trust Haydn.”
“Mhm, Haydn knows what he’s doing,” Regulus affirms looking back to where Harry has moved a bit closer to the snake. Harry is strangely quiet, almost attentively listening to the snake quietly hiss, although not aggressively at all. He giggles after a moment, looking at Haydn.
“Gloria the snake!” He exclaims, Haydn staring at him in shock.
“How do you know her name?” Haydn very slowly asks.
“She told me!” He happily tells him, clearly not seeing anything wrong with this picture.
“The snake talked to you, buddy?” James asks, Harry looking back.
“Mhm,” Harry nods, looking back at the snake replying to her in what is undeniably parseltongue. All three adults stare in shock at the boy who just broke out into a language that he shouldn’t be able to speak. Harry looks around smiling, although it fades after a moment when he sees none of them are as excited as he is. James jumps to say something to him when he sees the slightly upset look on his face.
“What did you say to the snake, Harry?” James asks.
“I told her my name,” Harry says, clearly growing a bit hesitant, “That’s what polite is.”
“That is what is polite, that’s right, but how did you talk to the snake, sweetheart?” James presses, “Did you do anything different than when you talk to me?”
Harry shakes his head, giggling, “No, I just talk to her. She said I’m special to talk to her.”
“You are, that’s very special you can talk to her,” James nods, rubbing Regulus’ shoulder before whispering to him, “I’ll be right back, I’m going to call Lily.”
“Mhm,” Regulus assuredly nods, still in mild shock that Harry is talking to Haydn’s snake. He barely speaks English, so where on Earth he learned parseltongue Regulus doesn’t know. Haydn also looks completely shocked, eyes wide staring at Harry.
“Is it ok if I talk to her?” Harry asks Haydn, audibly a bit upset, “I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s ok Harry, you can talk to her. I think she wants you to talk to her,” Haydn tries to reinforce, Harry looking back to the snake and asking her something in parseltongue. Haydn looks up at Regulus, who just shakes his head in disbelief. It doesn’t feel real, hearing a boy Harry’s age speaking fluent and very coherent parseltongue. Normally that language is heard in a negative context, but Harry just seems to be having a pleasant conversation with the snake on Hadyn’s shoulder who is paying attention to whatever he’s saying. James yells into the room a minute later, Regulus looking back to see him leaning into the room with the phone to his ear, phone cord pulled tight.
“Is it alright if Lily comes over?” He asks Haydn.
“I don’t mind, I think she needs to see this,” He agrees, James nodding before going back into the kitchen. Regulus looks back at Harry, who is also looking back at where his father was.
“Is Mummy coming?” He asks Regulus.
“Mhm, your mum is going to come visit,” Regulus affirms, “Are you going to show her how you talk to the snake?”
“Yeah, I’m going to show her so she can see I’m special,” Harry tells him.
“Mhm, you’re very special,” Regulus leans over and gives him a kiss on the head. He’s trying his best to act as normal as possible around Harry, knowing that he isn’t very sure that what he’s doing isn’t bad. It isn’t, it’s just shocking.
Regulus hears James talking on the phone in the other room, quiet enough that Regulus can’t really make out what he’s saying. He’s making sure that Harry doesn’t get overzealous with the snake. It’s still dangerous, whether Harry is able to communicate with it or not. Although it doesn’t work well, Gloria gets down from Haydn’s shoulder and settles into Harry’s lap.
After only about a minute, James walks back into the room, Harry looking back at him.
“Daddy! Come here!” Harry calls at him, James walking up and staring down in shock at the snake for a moment before he can cover up the expression.
“Oh, uh, that’s good, bud. The snake isn’t too heavy for you?” James asks, clearly a little nervous.
“No! She’s not heavy Daddy,” Harry assures him, “I’m strong!”
“You are, kid, you are,” James ruffles his son’s hair, looking over at a knock on the door. He immediately leaves to go open it, coming back into the room a minute later with Lily behind him, smiling at her son.
“Mummy!” Harry cheers, “Hi!”
“Hello sweetheart,” Lily greets, walking over and giving him a kiss on the head, “Who is that there in your lap?”
“Gloria the sssssnake,” Harry tells her, “She’s very nice.”
“Oh, she is? That’s good, that’s very good,” Lily nods, crouching down next to Harry. Gloria picks her head up and looks at Lily before looking back at Harry. Harry smiles at the snake, pointing at Lily and speaking the hauntingly even parseltongue like he did before, the snake looks at Lily a second time, Lily much more fearful when it hisses at her, standing up and stepping back a bit. James wraps an arm around her shoulders, although Harry just laughs.
“Where are you going?” Harry asks his mother, “She said hi! And I can talk to her, Gloria said that’s really special.”
“She’s right, that is special,” Lily nods, walking back to crouch next to her son, quietly asking him, “Do you know why that’s special, honey?”
“No, why is it special?” He questions, looking confused at his mother.
“Because not many people can talk to the snake like you do, Harry. Mummy and Daddy can’t, Uncle Reg can’t, Uncle Haydn can’t. You’re very special because you can do something a lot of people can’t,” Lily explains, “But can you tell Mummy if you’ve ever heard someone talk to you like you talk to the snake before?”
Harry thinks about it for a minute, but shakes his head, “Mummy I’m talking to the snake like I talk to you.”
Lily nods a moment, clearly thinking about telling him but deciding against it, “Ok, alright. How about you stay here with the snake for a little bit while Mum and Dad go talk for a moment, ok?”
“Ok,” Harry nods, watching as Lily gets up and follows James into Haydn’s kitchen. Regulus turns his attention back to Haydn, who taps Harry on the shoulder.
“Harry, I have to take Gloria back, ok? I need to bring her downstairs and feed her,” Haydn tells him, holding out his arm and letting Gloria crawl up and lay around his shoulders again.
“Oh, ok, can I come see the other ones?” Harry asks, “She said there were other ones too.”
“Mmm, ask your parents first,” Haydn says as he gets up, Harry scrambling to get up and rush into the other room to talk to his parents. Regulus gets up and follows after him, walking in to see James and Lily looking at their son excitedly jumping up and down.
“Please please please? I want to see them!” He begs, James and Lily exchanging a look before James agrees.
“Alright, but you need to listen to Uncle Haydn, do what he tells you so you don’t hurt the reptiles, ok?” James says, Harry enthusiastically humming and nodding.
“Do you want me to go with him?” Regulus asks, James looking up and contemplating it a moment before shaking his head.
“No, it’s fine, we want to talk to you anyway,” James says, ushering his son away, “Go on, bud, don’t leave them waiting.”
“Yay!” Harry happily runs out of the room, Regulus hearing Haydn talk to him as they get further and further away. The room stays quiet until they’re sure Harry is out of earshot, James starting.
“Reg what the hell are we going to do?” He questions, “Where did he learn that from? How did he get the ability to speak that and that well?”
“James, I hate to say it, but I think you know where he got it from,” Regulus comments, walking over to lean back against the counter, “You-Know-Who was a fluent parselmouth, and we don’t know what happened that night. Maybe that got transferred to him somehow.”
“Ugh, I don’t even want to toy with that idea, I don’t want to think that he had any lasting impression on Harry,” James stresses, sighing and rubbing his eyes for a moment. “Should we tell Dumbledore? I feel like this is something that’s worthy of at least a bit of concern. I mean, if he gave him this ability who knows what else he left him with.”
“I hate to say this but I would, Dumbledore will likely know more than I do,” Regulus agrees.
“I thought that only pureblood descendants of Salazar Slytherin were parselmouths,” Lily comments, “I didn’t even think a half-blood could speak the language.”
“Well, it’s magic, so they certainly hold the ability to inherit it. That’s probably something a pureblood family made up to make themselves feel special, they love doing that,” Regulus remarks, “Probably the Gaunts, that’s the family parseltongue runs in.”
“You know more about it than Lily and I do, that’s for sure,” James comments, “I know near nothing about parseltongue except for it’s not associated with anything or anyone very good.”
“It’s not inherently bad, at its core it’s just a language. It just happens to be hereditary in the purist pureblood line there is other than mine,” Regulus adds, “The way Harry is using it is very innocent, he just wants to talk to snakes. It probably explains why he loves snakes so much, though.”
“Yeah, that makes a lot of sense now,” James sighs, turning and resting his forehead on the top of Lily’s head, despite needing to crouch down awkwardly to do it. Lily doesn’t move, just letting her husband rest against her and exasperatedly sigh again.
“There’s nothing you can do about it, James, nothing that’ll make it go away. It’s not hurting him, clearly, he’s very happy about being able to talk to the snakes. Do what you can, tell Dumbledore, and then just leave it be,” Regulus suggests, “It could just be an effect of living through a killing curse, you have no idea.”
“I know, that’s what’s absolutely terrifying,” James stands back up straight to look at Regulus, “We don’t know what it is, what if it’s something much worse and we don’t know?”
“Then there’s nothing we can do about it,” Regulus emphasizes, “We’re doing what we can, James, you can stress about it but there’s nothing more we can do.”
“He’s right, honey,” Lily agrees, taking James’ hand and rubbing his arm with her other hand, “There’s nothing we can do but just keep it in mind and go on as normal.”
“Yeah, remember what happened earlier with Harry? How upset he got immediately?” Regulus reminds him, James nodding while Lily looks between the two of them confused. James looks over and explains first.
“Earlier, when Harry spoke it for the first time, we all looked at him really shocked and he got visibly upset because we weren’t excited like he was,” James informs her.
“Oh, yeah, very Harry of him,” She nods, “Then that just shows we should probably not act as if it’s some big deal because there’s nothing we can do to fix it. Better off-”
“Daddy!” Harry screams down the hallway, running into the kitchen crying. He hugs his dad around his waist, crying, “Uncle Haydn got mad at me.”
“Why’d he get mad at you, bud?” James asks, rubbing Harry’s head. Harry doesn’t say anything, James asking again, “What happened?”
Harry doesn’t answer again, Regulus looking back and seeing Haydn walk in, holding his hand up with a snake intertwining itself in his fingers.
“What did he do?” James mouths at Haydn.
“We were downstairs with all the reptiles and I told him to stay by me because I have some dangerous ones down there I don’t want him getting close to but he wandered off to see him,” Haydn holds up the snake in his hand, “And wanted me to take him out. I told him no and he got frustrated and vanished the glass by accident.”
“Oh,” James nods, pushing Harry away from him so he can crouch down in front of him, “Harry, did you not listen to Uncle Haydn when you were downstairs?”
“No, I did,” Harry sniffles, “I listened!”
“Harry, I know you don’t want to get in trouble but you’ll get in more trouble for lying to me,” James advises, “Tell me the truth, Harry, did you listen to Uncle Haydn when he said to stay by him?”
“No,” Harry shamefully admits, crying, “I don’t want to go home! I want to see the snakes and lizards!”
“Well, we don’t have to go home, but if we go back downstairs I have to carry you because you showed us that you can’t listen to Uncle Haydn,” James reasons, Harry stamping his feet.
“No! I want to walk!” Harry protests, “I don’t want to be held, I don’t want to be held, Daddy!”
“Either you have to be held or we have to go home,” He calmly tells him, “Because you did something dangerous I need to hold you so you don’t get hurt, it’s only to keep you safe-”
“No! No no no!” Harry screams, hitting his dad across the face and running over to hug his mum, James closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before looking over at Harry, who Lily isn’t saying anything to but has a hand on his back.
“Harry, come here,” James firmly asks, although not meanly, “Come here please.”
“No!” Harry yells, his voice muffled by Lily’s shirt, Lily tapping Harry on the arm.
“Go, Harry, go,” She urges him, Harry dragging his feet as he walks over to his dad, hanging his head and crying.
“Can you look at me, bud?” James calmly requests, Harry looking up at him, “Thank you for looking at me. You know that it’s not ok to hit ever, even when you’re really upset. You could really hurt me and it makes me upset when you hit me. I need you to apologize for hitting Daddy.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” Harry cries, running into his dad’s arms when he offers a hug, “I don’t want to go home! No home please!”
“I think you’re tired, buddy,” James picks him up, ignoring him as he kicks and squirms, “Calm down please, Harry, do you want to say goodbye to Uncle Reg and Uncle Haydn?”
Harry shakes his head, not looking up from where he’s now buried in his dad’s shoulder.
“Ok, that’s alright,” James agrees, walking over to Regulus and giving him an awkward side hug, “It was good seeing you, Reg. Sorry for the abbreviated goodbye but I think someone needs a nap”
“You too, and I get it, I’m seeing you soon anyway,” Regulus replies as James walks over to Haydn and awkwardly moves his arm around for a minute before just settling on giving him a high five. They share goodbyes, Lily following him behind him and saying goodbye to both Regulus and Haydn too. Harry is still crying, not wanting to say anything to either of them. Haydn walks them out to the front door, Regulus walking into the living room and sitting on the couch, waiting for when Haydn walks back into the room.
“I am not done with feeding all my reptiles, so you’re welcome to come downstairs with me but I just don’t want any of them to starve,” Haydn says, chuckling. Regulus nods and gets up, following after Haydn downstairs and keeping his distance as Haydn feeds the second half of the room one-handed, which is honestly impressive. “Harry is something else,” Haydn comments as he begins feeding, “He’s lucky he’s cute.”
“He is absolutely lucky he’s cute,” Regulus agrees, laughing, “He was tired today, though I could tell. He only hits when he’s tired, and you could see it in the way he dragged his feet.”
“You know him better than I do, I would have never been able to tell,” Haydn answers, “I just figured he was mad, our cousins hit all the time.”
“Yeah, Harry doesn’t hit, he normally says things rather than hits. You saw the way James was, he won’t raise a kid that hits,” Regulus tells him.
“I cannot believe that he’s a parselmouth, though, I’ve never even heard that spoken before, it’s haunting,” Haydn remarks.
“I’ve heard it before, it’s a terrifying language, regardless of how it’s being used. I used to hear You-know-who use it with his snake, it definitely was a little more than shocking to hear Harry speak in the same language that I have only heard from the most terrifying dark wizard in history. Just a little bit jarring.”
“I could imagine,” Haydn nods, “Scary.”
“Terrifying,” Regulus concurs, “Anyway, enough worrying about that, nothing we can do now.”
“Mhm, I agree,” Haydn goes quiet for a minute before asking again, “So, you’re starting teaching soon, right?”
“Mhm, I am, next week,” Regulus smiles, excited to talk about something he’s been looking forward to for a while now.
“Tell me about it, what are your plans?” Haydn asks, Regulus launching into what he plans to open his year with and how he wants to make a classroom he would have loved in school. Haydn just listens, and that’s why Regulus loves being over his house so much, Haydn is always down to talk about anything he likes.
Plus, it could never be boring with new reptiles every week and a nephew who can talk to snakes.