Nearly

When Harry awakes for a second time, pale wintry sunlight is streaming through the high windows of the Hospital Wing. He fumbles with his glasses, the regrown bones in his right arm and hand stiff and prickly. Once the glasses are on his face, the other beds come into focus around him and Harry turns to peer over at Colin Creevy, but that particular bed is now hidden behind curtains. 

Madam Pomfrey comes bustling out of her office with a breakfast tray and Harry awkwardly starts in on the scrambled eggs with his left hand, while she examines his right. 

”Excellent”, she says after she’s squeezed and prodded it for a good ten minutes. ”All better. After you’ve finished your breakfast, you may leave, Potter.”

Harry nods his thanks. He wonders if he should ask about the curtained bed, so as not to make the matron suspiscious that he eavesdropped earlier in the morning. But before he’s made his mind up, the woman has bustled back into her office again. 

He finishes his eggs and toast quickly, then changes out of his pyjamas and back into his muddy quidditch robes before making his way to the Slytherin common room. He can’t wait to tell Draco everything he’s found out during the night. 

It turns out that, despite it being Sunday, the news of Colin Creevy having been attacked and now lying as though dead in the hospital wing has managed to reach the Slytherins — and probably the other houses as well, Harry figures — but that the Chamber has been opened once before, none of the other second year boys had found out until Harry reveals it later in the dormitory. 

”You’re kidding?” Seamus says breathlessly. ”You actually heard Dumbledore say that?”

”Yeah”, Harry says seriously. ”And it sounded like he knew who’s behind it…”

”Who?” Draco says immediately. 

”He didn’t say. He was being his usual kooky self.”

The other boys roll their eyes in acknowledgement. 

”Hey, Draco”, Blaise says. ”Didn’t you say your father knew about the Chamber?”

”Yeah, so?” the blonde mutters a little defensively. ”He wouldn’t tell me anything about it…”

”Maybe you should ask him again. See if he knows anything about what happened last time it was opened.”

”That won’t work…” Draco mumbles uncomfortably. ”You don’t know my father, he refuses to answer questions… the only way you’re going to get anything out of him is if you make him forget you’re actually there and then, if you’re lucky, he might let something slip.”

Harry gives the blonde a sympathetic smile and leans into him a little, so their shoulders bump together. Draco gives him a quick glance, acknowledging the contact but not smiling back. 

By Monday morning, the rumors about Creevy’s attack has definitely spread across the whole school. Everywhere they go, Harry is followed by relentless chorus of whispers and just like the weeks after the attack on Mrs Norris, he is once again the target of suspiscious and scared stares. 

Like that one, he thinks bitterly as Ron’s little sister Ginny comes walking round the corner at the other end of the corridor and stops dead in her tracks when she sees him. He wonders if there’s even a point giving her a friendly smile, or if that will just terrify her even more. 

Suddenly, what appears to be two monsters jump out from behind a statue and land in front of the already petrified first year and she lets out a shrill scream and drops the book she’d been hugging to her chest. 

”Just us!” one of the furry creatues exclaims and Harry immediately recognises the voice of either Fred or George Weasley. 

Ginny gives them a furious look and fumbles with shaking hands to retrieve her book from the floor, then spins on her heel and runs out of sight. 

The twins seem to deflate slightly, turning their furry faces towards each other and shrugging. Harry feels a surge of fondness for them and smiles. 

”Hey guys!” he says and starts walking again. 

The twins turn around to face him as he approaches and he can see their green eyes light up in the middle of all that fur. 

”Harry!” one of them exclaims. ”Hey, great catch — that was a well-deserved win!”

”Thanks”, Harry smiles. ”So what’s with the… fur?”

”Oh, this?” the other twin says casually. ”Just a potion we’ve been working on… We were trying to cheer Ginny up, she’s been really upset since we all found out about Colin — they sit next to each other in Charms — but it didn’t seem to work as we’d expected…”

”Maybe it’s the fur”, the other twin muses. ”We should try the other potion instead.”

”What the boils? Yeah, you might be onto something there. Harry, what do you think? Fur or boils, what’s funnier?”

”Ehm… I don’t really — Eh — Boils, I guess?”

”Good one”, one of the furry boys told his twin. 

With a distracted See you, Harry they hurry off to put their new plan into motion and Harry watches them go with an amused smirk. It was nice to know there were still someone in this castle, besides his closest friends, who weren’t dead scared of him. 

*

The third week of December a new notice appears on the noticeboard in the common room and Harry and Draco walk out of the dormitory and join the other students already gathered in front of it, murmuring in excitement. 

”What’s going on?” Harry asks Seamus who is standing on tiptoes and craning his neck to get a look at the noticeboard over Blaise’s shoulder. 

”Oh, hey, Harry, Draco”, the Irish boy says, glancing over at them. ”They’re starting a Duelling Club!”

”A duelling club?” Draco repeats with interest and smoothly weaves his way to the front of the small crowd to read the notice for himself. 

”First meeting tonight”, Blaise informs Seamus and Harry. ”I wouldn’t mind going. Some duelling lessons might come in handy one of these days…”

”You reckon Slytherin’s monster can duel?” Seamus quips. 

Blaise gives him a withering look. 

”Who cares”, Pansy speaks up from behind Harry. ”It’s not like any of us are in danger, anyway… I mean, we’re in his house!”

Harry barely refrains from rolling his eyes, but makes sure to avoid looking in the girl’s direction. Draco comes weaving his way back to them and confirms what Blaise has already told them. 

”Did it say who’s giving the lessons?” Harry asks. 

”No”, Draco says with a frown. ”But still… Can’t hurt to have a look, right?”

”Yeah, I guess…”

Later in the evening, at eight o’clock to be exact, the boys make their way back to the Great Hall to find the four dining tables gone and replaced by a long, golden stage lit by thousands of candles floating above it. 

”I wonder who’ll be teaching us?” they hear Granger ask a few feet away. 

Harry glances over, accidentally locking eyes with Ron who is standing next to the frizzy-haired witch. 

”Someone told me Flitwick was a duelling champion when he was young, maybe it’ll be him”, Granger continues, unaware that Ron is busy returning Harry’s pinched smile.

Suddenly, the redhead’s gaze flickers from Harry’s and finds a point over his shoulder instead. His smile falters immediately and his ears go bright red. Harry frowns as the other boy quickly looks away, and turns around to find Draco glaring at the Gryffindors. Harry gives him an exasperated look.

”How many times do I have to tell you”, he mutters. 

”I don’t know what you’re talking about”, Draco says immediately, then sniffs haughtly and looks away.

”Gather round, gather round —!”

Harry’s stomach plummets and he groans, turning towards the golden stage where Gilderoy Lockhart is now waving an arm and grinning like a lunatic. 

”Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent —!”

”Can we leave?” Harry hisses, close to Draco’s ear. 

”Wait”, Draco murmurs, his lips twitching. ”This might get interesting…”

Harry gives him a questioning look, but the blonde merely nods towards the stage. Harry looks over again, and this time he feels his spirit soar slightly again, because Lockhart has now been joined by none other than Professor Snape and Harry is pleasantly surprised to find his black and white presence next to Lockhart’s plum-coloured robes and golden curls quite comforting. 

Whatever Lockhart might subject Harry to, at least Professor Snape will be able to sort it out again. Not to mention, they might actually get to see Snape beat the obnoxious prat in a real wizard’s duel.

”Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Duelling Club, to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourself, as I myself have done on countless occasions — for full details, see my published works — Now, let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape!”

Harry can see Professor Snape’s lip curling already. Oh, this is going to be brilliant!

”Okay, we can stay…” he murmurs. 

Draco gives him a knowing look and smirks coolly.

”Snape tells me he knows a tiny little bit about duelling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin”, Lockhart continues. ”Now, I don’t want you youngsters to worry! You’ll still have your Potions Master when I’m through with him, never fear!”

Harry lets out an incredulous huff as Lockhart gives them all one of his biggest grins and winks at some random student in the crowd; if Professor Snape was looking at him like that, Harry would not be smiling… He’d be running in the opposite direction!

Lockhart and Snape turn to face each other on the stage and Lockhart gives a deep bow, twirling his arms extravagantly as he does so. Snape glares, then gives him a terse little nod back. There is an excited murmur amongst the students and a few titters. Snape shoots the crowd a sweeping glance of pure venom, and the Hall is dead quiet after that. 

Harry and Draco exchange an excited look.

”As you can see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position”, Lockhart states. 

Harry turns back to the stage. Both professors are indeed brandishing their wands like swords in front of them. 

”On the count of three we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course!”

”Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that”, Harry murmurs and Draco snickers quietly. 

”One — two — three —”

”Expelliarmus!” Snape roars clearly, swinging his wand around and over his head and a flash of scarlet light shoots out of the tip of it and hits Lockhart straight in the chest. 

The students get a quick glimpse of the stunned look on the man’s face before he disappears from view behind the stage, Snape’s spell having literally knocked him off his feet. 

”Oh, wow!” Harry laughs. ”That was brilliant!”

Lockhart’s head pops up from behind the stage again, his wavy blonde hair now standing on end, his hat nowhere to be seen. Another laugh bubbles up in Harry and he has to press his fist against his mouth to keep it in. 

”Well, there you have it”, Lockhart says shakily and heaves himself up on the stage again, staggering slightly before regaining his confident stance. ”That was a Disarming Charm —”

”I have to learn that”, Harry mutters excitedly and Draco nods in agreement. 

”— as you can see, I’ve lost my wand — ah, thank you, Miss Brown — yes, yes an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don’t mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do and if I had wanted to stop you, it would have been only too easy! However, I felt it would be instructive to let the students see…”

”Oh, he did not just say that…” Draco whispers, staring wide-eyed between the grinning Lockhart and the now murderous-looking Snape. ”Now Severus will definitely kill him…”

Lockhart seems to have noticed the same thing however, because he quickly declares the demonstration to be over and instructs the students to get into pairs so that they can practise the Disarming Charm for themselves. 

”Want to pair up?” Harry asks Draco. 

”Sure”, the blonde says, blushing a little.

”Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you”, Harry murmurs with a wink. 

Draco gives him a half-hearted glare and huffs. 

”Face your partners!” Lockhart shouts from the stage. 

Draco’s blush deepens, but so does his glare. Harry frowns, wondering why the blonde would get angry with him — it was only a joke!

”Wands at the ready!”

Draco snaps his wand up in front of him, the almost black wood cutting his pale face into two scowling halves. Harry quickly mirrors him, his stomach churning with unease. 

”When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent — only to disarm them — we don’t want any accidents. One… two… three…”

Harry swings his arm around like Snape did, but before he has a chance to bring it down again, a jet of silver light shoots out of Draco’s wand and hits him hard in his side and he doubles over. His wand slips out of his grip and clatters to the floor, but he quickly manages to grab it again before it rolls away. The Rictumsempra charm Draco hit him with spreads through his body like rolling waves of unrelenting, torturous electric torrents of tickles and he gasps around his uncontrollable laughter. 

”I said disarm only!” Lockhart’s voice rings out in the sudden ruckus in the Hall. 

Harry grabs his wand hard flicks it up towards Draco and chokes out the only spell he can think of, Tarantallegra, and watches in satisfaction as the blonde starts tap dancing jerkily on the spot. 

”Stop! Stop!” Lockhart screams. 

”Finite Incantatem!” Snape roars. 

The tickling charm leaves Harry’s system just as suddenly as it hit and Harry gets to his feet unsteadily, taking deep, wheezing breaths and blinking tears from his eyes. Batting them off his cheeks quickly before anyone sees. 

A haze of greenish smoke hovers over the Hall and several students are struggling to get to their feet just as Harry had done. Seamus is giving Blaise a hand, babbling frantic apologies and attempting to flatten the other boy’s uncharacteristically wild hair. Blaise quickly bats his hand away and shoots him a glare while wiping soot from his face with the sleeves of his robes. 

”Dear, dear”, Lockhart says, weaving through the crowd, his anxious eyes skittering over the students. ”Up you get, Macmillan… careful there, Miss Fawcett… pinch it hard, it’ll stop bleeding in a second, Boot… Oh dear, well, I think I had better teach you all how to block unfriendly spells… Let’s have a volunteer pair”, he adds quickly after a hopeful glance in Snape’s direction was met with a venomous sneer. ”Longbottom and Weasley, how about you?”

”A bad idea, Professor Lockhart”, Snape murmurs maliciously and glides over to the other man. ”Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest of spells. We’ll be sending what’s left of Mr Weasley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox… How about a couple of students from my own house… Potter, Malfoy!”

Harry and Draco exchange a glance, but Draco quickly looks away again. Harry feels his stomach churn again. I don’t know what I’ve done wrong…

”Excellent idea!” Lockhart says and gestures for the rest of the crowd to clear a good space in the middle of the Hall to give them room. 

”Now, Harry”, he says, pushing and pulling on him until he’s standing in the perfect spot. ”When Draco points his wand at you, you do this —”

He starts swirling his wand around in a ridiculously complicated fashion and suddenly drops it. It clatters to the floor and Harry bends down to pick it up and hands it back to him. 

”Whoops”, Lockhart says and grins as if he didn’t just make a huge fool of himself in front of everyone and Harry stares incredulously at him. ”My wand is a little over-excited!”

Snape smirks, then turns to Draco and murmurs something. Harry frowns, glancing uncertainly at Lockhart. Is it even worth it to ask for another demonstration? Even if he manages to the wand movement without dropping his wand, it probably isn’t a proper move anyway…

He decides to try and do what Snape did when he disarmed Lockhart instead. 

”Ready boys?” Lockhart says. ”Three — two — one — and go!”

”Serpensortia!” Draco bellows quickly. 

Harry gasps as the blonde’s wand seems to explode, hurriedly steeling himself for the assault, but nothing happens… But the crowd gasps and a few students even scream and whimper. Harry frowns in confusion, but then he looks down and sees it… a long black snake slithers towards him on the floor. Harry blinks. 

”Don’t move, Potter”, Snape says lazily and strides forward. ”I’ll get rid of it…”

”Allow me!” Lockhart shouts excitedly and Harry’s heart stutters — No —

But before he can even open his mouth to protest, Lockhart has shouldered past him and blasted the snake several feet into the air. But instead of vanishing, it lands heavily on the floor again and doesn’t look too happy about it either… It raises itself up and opens its jaws wide and hisses furiously… Disorientated and enraged, it turns on the nearest student, who happens to be a paralysed-looking Justin Finch-Fletchly, and bares its sharp fangs —

”No”, Harry mumbles. ”Don’t…”

And as if pulled by some invisible force, he feels himself move forward, closer to the snake and by some weird miracle, the snake seems to stop its attack and hesitate, turning its head towards Harry, distracted by his sudden proximity probably… 

”It’s okay”, Harry murmurs soothingly. ”Just calm down…”

The snake slowly shuts its huge mouth again and slumps back to the floor. Harry feels a surge of relief. He looks up at Finch-Fletchly, grinning and expecting to see a similar expression mirrored in the other boy’s face. But instead, the boy stares at him just like that time in the courtyard. Harry’s grin quickly falls. 

”What the hell do you think you’re playing at?” the hufflepuff boy squeals before doubling out of the hall. 

”What —?”

”Don’t move, Harry.”

He wheels around and sees Snape stride up to him and vanishing the snake with a simple flick of his wand, before turning to the crowd and bellowing, ”Duelling Club is over, everyone back to their dormitories! Now! — Not you, Potter —”

Harry stumbles to a halt again and looks up at his Head of House uncertainly, but Snape doesn’t meet his gaze at all. Instead he silently urges the rest of the students on with one of his sternest glares. Draco is the only one who resists it and stays, shuffling worriedly on the spot. 

”You too, Draco. Harry will join you shortly, go wait for him in the dormitory”, Snape says. 

Draco only hesitates for a second, but then he quickly shuffles out of the Great Hall, leaving Harry alone with Snape and the weight in his chest. 

”Am I in trouble?” he says quietly. 

Snape’s eyes finally flickers down to meet his. He isn’t glaring anymore, not exactly. But Harry can’t really read his expression at all, and for some reason that feels worse. 

”Sir?” he adds. 

”No…”

”Then why —?”

”How long have you known?”

”What?”

”Have long have you known?” Snape repeats. 

”Known what?”

”That you’re a Parselmouth.”

”I’m a… what?”

Snape visibly takes a deep breath, his chest rising and falling gently under all his black layers. 

”I — I don’t — I’m a what?”

”You’re a Parselmouth, Potter”, Snape says sharply. ”You didn’t know?”

”No”, Harry exclaims earnestly. ”What does that mean? I can — I can talk to snakes? They can understand what I’m saying?”

”You are able to speak parseltongue, yes.”

”Parsel… Parseltongue? Wait, no — I don’t — I can’t — I wasn’t speaking a different language! I just told the snake to calm down! But it… it did seem to understand me…”

”You told the snake to calm down?” Snape repeats quietly, his dark eyes glittering. 

”Yeah”, Harry says and frowns. ”You heard me. Didn’t you… Didn’t you hear…?”

”All I heard was parseltongue. But that’s interesting. You really thought you were speaking English, you didn’t notice the shift at all?”

”No…”

”Very interesting. Have you ever talked to snakes before?”

”Not that I remember. Maybe when I was little. We get them in the garden in the summer and I used to try and catch them sometimes, before daddy caught me and told me to leave them alone… I don’t remember talking to them though…”

”You think your fathers know you’re a Parselmouth?”

”No, they would have told me. They don’t keep secrets from me.”

Snape raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t comment. Instead he starts striding towards the doors, his black robes billowing behind him. 

”I’ll walk you to the Common Room. Let’s go.”

”Sir?” Harry says tentatively as they’re descending the spiral staircase to the dungeons. ”How can I speak a language without knowing I can?”

”That is a very good question, Potter”, Snape says and then remains silent until they reach the secret doorway to the Slytherin Common Room. ”The others are surely waiting for you to tell them all about what happened tonight. I will return in exactly ten minutes to make sure everyone is in their dormitories, and anyone who isn’t will get a week’s worth of detention. Make sure to pass that along to your friends. Good night, Potter.”

Harry watches Snape disappear into the shadows of the corridor and even after the man has been swallowed up by the darkness, he remains outside the common room, holding his breath and listening to the echoes of the man’s footsteps. He then takes a deep breath and whispers the password. The wall rearranges itself and allows him entrance. 

Just as Snape predicted, every slytherin who had attended the duelling club — and a few who hadn’t — are sitting around in the common room when Harry enters. They all start chattering excitedly when they see him, asking a hundred questions at once. 

”Snape says we’ll all get a week’s detention if we don’t go to bed”, Harry says loudly. ”Right now.”

There’s a murmur of disappointed mutters and sighs around the room. 

”Sorry, just passing on the message”, Harry says and shrugs, then quickly makes a beeline for the boys’ dormitory. 

Draco waits until the others have all gone to bed, then slips out from under his covers and sneaks into Harry’s bed with him. Harry’s heart skips a beat and his belly flutters as their bodies fit together on the suddenly small bed. 

”W-what are you doing?” Harry whispers. 

”Tell me what Severus wanted”, Draco whispers back, snuggling a little deeper into the mattrass, his hand brushing against Harry’s under the cover. 

Harry swallows thickly, his fingers twitching slightly with the tension of trying not to move his hand away. 

”He wanted to know if I’d known — before tonight — that I’m a… uhm… a —”

”A Parselmouth”, Draco whispers breathlessly. 

”Yeah…”

”And did you?”

”No. I had no idea. I didn’t even know there was such a thing. I mean I’ve heard of Parselmouths, I dunno where, but I’ve heard about them at some point, or read about them somewhere, but I just thought they were like snake charmers, you know? I didn’t know they speak snake language…”

”Parseltongue.”

”Yeah. That. I hadn’t heard of that before…”

”It’s kind of cool”, Draco whispers. 

Harry peers into his face for the first time. His silver eyes are glittering in the dim glow from the green lantern next to Harry’s bed and Harry’s belly flutters again. 

”I mean, it’s bad, but it’s also kind of cool that you are. It’s a very rare gift, you know…”

”Yeah? That’s cool — wait — what? Why’s it bad?”

”Well, now people will definitely think you’re, you know…”

”What?”

”You know… Slytherin’s heir…”

”What’s that got to do with anything?”

”Severus didn’t tell you?” 

”Tell me what?”

”Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth too. He was famous for it. That’s why we have a serpent as a symbol… and, like I said, it’s a very rare gift, and it’s, you know… hereditary…”

”Of course it is”, Harry mutters, the butterflies in his belly turning to lead. 

”Now the whole school is going to think you’re his great-great-great-great-great —”

”Yeah, I get it.”

”— great-grandson.”

”Yeah, well, I’m not”, Harry mumbles churlishly. 

”How do you know?”

”What do you mean? Of course, I’m not!”

”He lived about a thousand years ago —”

”So? Both James and Lily were gryffindors and neither one of them could talk to snakes!”

”You know that for sure, do you?”

Harry feels a surge of annoyance and quickly pulls his hand away from Draco’s and slams it down on top of his chest instead, pretending to readjust the cover, then turns his face away.

”Sorry”, Draco mumbles after a moment’s tense silence, but Harry says nothing. 

After another tense moment, Draco leans in close and brushes a feathery kiss against Harry’s cheek before quickly slipping out of the bed again. Harry holds his breath and listens to the rustling of the covers as the other boy settles into his own bed again. 

”Good night”, he whispers quietly when he’s almost sure Draco has fallen asleep.