Parseltongue will be placed in italics

Also, I made some minor changes to the previous chapter in response to one of the anonymous comments I got. Harry did not get contact lenses as part of his disguise. I still had him get hair dye because it is stated in the books that he looked a lot like James, so he probably would be recognized if he went to Diagon Alley without any disguise.

Chapter 3 – Potter Cottage

Harry and Sal appeared inside Potter Cottage. Harry felt queasy and doubled over. As he was regaining his bearings, the house-elf Dinky popped to their location and asked, "Who are you and how did you get into Potter Cottage?" Unsure of who would else would have a portkey to the Potter residence, he asked, "Is it Master Potter?"

"Yes, I'm Harry Potter."

Sal popped his head to see what was going on. Dinky's eyes widened and he snapped his fingers, flinging Sal across the room.

"Stop!" Harry yelled. "That is my friend. Don't hurt him." Harry watched as Dinky rushed over to the nearest wall and began banging his head against it. "What are you doing?" Harry bounded toward the elf. "Stop that!"

"Dinky hurt Master Potter's friend and must be punished for it." The house elf began hitting himself again.

"No, don't punish yourself. You had no way of knowing Sal is my friend. And whenever you think you should punish yourself, ask me first and I will let you know if you should be punished."

"Thank you, Master."

The house-elf then showed them around the house. "Downstairs in the basement is a potions lab. We are not going to go down there because it is not safe for Master Potter. There are many dangerous potion ingredients there. Here on the first floor, there is a dueling room in the back."

"Cool, can I see it?" Harry asked.

Moments later, Dinky led Harry and Sal into a large room. "I thought we were going to the dueling room," Harry said sullenly. "There is nothing here." What Harry had thought would be a room with two elevated platforms, separated by a fair distance, where two duelists could stand and fire spells at each other, was only an empty room.

"That's what a dueling room is. It has an open space for the duelists and reinforced walls to prevent stray spells from damaging the house. What did Master expect? A room with elevated platforms, where two duelists could stand and fire spells at each other?"

Harry's cheeks turned red and he looked down.

"Bad house-elf made Master embarrassed. Should Dinky punish himself?

"No, it's okay. I was just a little surprised by the dueling room. I'm still getting used to all of this magic stuff. Can we continue the tour?"

"The next place that you should see is the library, on the second floor," continued Dinky. "There is a small collection of books on magic in the back, and toward the front there are many muggle books. You might find some books you like there."

When they reached the hall with the staircase, a voice called out, "Harry, is that you?"

Harry looked up to the staircase, where the noise came from. There was nobody there. He shot over to Dinky, almost bowling him over, and cowered behind him. "Who are you? Are you upstairs?"

"That was your mother speaking, in the portrait next to the staircase," Dinky answered. Realizing that Harry would not know anything about magical portraits, he added. "Magical portraits are somewhat sentient and contain the memories that the witches and wizards in the portrait had before it was made, as well as anything the portrait observed after that."

Harry looked up and saw the portrait of a witch and wizard. He darted toward it and tried to give it a hug, but it was too high up on the wall. "Mom? Dad?"

Lily spoke again, "Yes, I'm Lily and this here is James. It's good to see you again. How long has it been since we saw you, and where have you been these past years?"

"It has been nearly seven years since I began living with the Dursleys."

James began shouting. "What the bloody hell were you doing with those … with them?" He censored himself when Lily nudged him. "The will said you were supposed to go to Sirius Black or Remus Lupin, and it specifically said you were not to go to the Dursleys. Was the will sealed?" He briefly paused to wait for Harry to give confirmation. Once Harry nodded, James continued, "Do the goblins know who sealed the will? The only wizard I can think of who could have done that is Dumbledore. And how and why did you run away?"

"Yes, the goblins said that it was Dumbledore. And I ran away because the Dursleys were mean to me," Harry said, downplaying his treatment at the hands of his relatives. "I got away when I learned that I am a Parselmouth, and this snake, Sal, told me about the wizarding world. I bought a train ticket to London and went to Gringotts, and the goblins gave me something that brought me here. And I don't know anything about Remus, but Sirius was thrown into Azkaban for supposedly telling Voldemort where you were hiding and then killing Peter. I know he was not given a trial, however, because some blood test that the goblins performed showed that Sirius is my guardian, which they said would not be the case if he was found guilty in a trial."

Lily replied before James could go off on a tirade about how Sirius would never do such a thing. "First, you should know that many people don't trust Parselmouths because a few Parselmouths were evil. It's stupid, but you will find, if you haven't already, that many witches and wizards lack common sense and believe that being able to talk to snakes makes somebody bad. You should hide the ability from those who you don't fully trust. Also, Sirius did not tell Voldemort where we were. We were hidden under the Fidelius charm, which allows only one person, who is designated as the secret keeper, to tell anyone where we were hiding. Peter Pettigrew was the secret keeper, so he is the only one who could have betrayed us to Voldemort, unless we changed secret keepers after this portrait was made (which is possible but unlikely). You will need to find out more about what happened to all of them; the goblins may be able to help."

"For a hefty price," interjected James. "Just make sure they don't try to swindle you."

"Ignore James. The goblins are not as bad as their reputation would make them seem, and they are too savvy to risk losing your business in the future by overcharging you a few Galleons now. Anyways, it seems likely that Dumbledore is interfering in things he has no business in. That could become an issue because he is very influential in the wizarding world – among other roles, he is the headmaster of Hogwarts, the school that most witches and wizards in Britain go to. Once Dumbledore realizes you are no longer with the Dursleys, he will probably do everything he can to get you back under his control, so you will need to remain hidden as long as you can. You must learn how to defend yourself against legilimency, which is basically mind-reading, before you encounter Dumbledore."

"Mind reading?" asked Harry. "Is there anything magic can't do?"

James responded "It's not exactly mind-reading, and those who know Legilimency would be insulted if you make that comparison. A more-precise analogy would be that it is like watching a movie of one's memories. And there are a few things that magic cannot do, such as bringing the dead back to life – although many necromancers have tried – and conjuring food or gold."

"I think that was a rhetorical question, James. But back to what I was saying, Dumbledore knows Legilimency, so you will need to be able to defend yourself against it. You will also need to learn about wizarding customs and laws because you cannot be ignorant of them when you reenter wizarding society, and you should learn some wandless magic, which is easier to learn if you begin before you first use a wand."

Harry listened to what his parents' portrait told him, and he realized that he had a lot of work he needed to do before he could let any witches or wizards know where he is. But first, he asked if Potter Cottage had a phone number, so that he could keep in touch with Hermione.

Lily answered, "Before we went into hiding, we disconnected the phone lines here and we set up wards blocking incoming mail. Those wards should have faded by now, so you will have no problem sending and receiving letters."

After Harry finished talking with the portrait of his parents, he bounded up the stairs to the library and ran to the back of the room, where the books involving magic were kept. He gazed upon the shelf of books of all different sizes and colors, and was drawn to a book with a shiny gold cover and a worn-down leather binding.

He picked up the book and read the title: "The Potter Family." He began skimming through the book, and not too far in, his eyes fell upon a legend of one of his ancestors, Ignotus Peverell. Not bothering to look around for a table or chair, Harry sat down on the floor in front of the bookshelf and read the story of how Ignotus and his two brothers Cadmus and Antioch created the Deathly Hallows – the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility – and convinced everyone that they received the items from Death.

The following morning, Harry returned to Gringotts to try to contact Remus and to solicit the goblin's help in getting a trial for Sirius. He met with Griphook again.

"Good morning," began Harry. "I encountered a portrait of my parents in Potter Cottage, and there were a few important things that I found out that I will need your help with. First, Sirius Black was indeed innocent of at least some of the crimes he was accused of. My parents' secret keeper was Peter Pettigrew, not Sirius Black, so he could not have betrayed them. How would I be able to get him a trial? Also, my parents told me that their will listed Remus Lupin as the second choice for my guardian after Sirius. Do you know what happened to him, and could you contact him?"

Griphook pounced on the opportunity to embarrass the Ministry. "I will definitely help you get a trial for Sirius, but we are going to need to be careful how we go about this. Finding that they sent an innocent man to Azkaban would severely damage the Ministry of Magic's credibility. Unfortunately, many of the Ministry employees would be more concerned with making sure they are not brought down with the scandal than with ensuring justice is achieved. If the individuals responsible for Sirius' imprisonment find out too quickly that we are trying to get a trial for him, I would not put it past them to have Sirius killed before he could prove his innocence. After all, dead men tell no tales, and the word of a portrait would not be accepted in any court of law." He gave a small chuckle before he continued. "One of the few people who might push for a trial, and is high enough in the government to have a chance at succeeding, is Amelia Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I will send her a note saying that Sirius did not receive a trial. I will not, at least for now, mention that Pettigrew was the secret keeper because that information would likely make it obvious that you were here."

Harry found that assessment reasonable, and while he did not know who Amelia was, Griphook seemed knowledgeable enough about the ministry, so he just nodded and let the goblin continue.

"Regarding your second inquiry, I do not know where Mr. Lupin is. The best way to contact him would be to send a postal owl to him. Owls have magic that can allow them to locate individuals who are receiving a letter or package. He is a werewolf, but that would not cause any difficulties in sending an owl because the full moon was a little over a week ago, and werewolves are no different from any other witch or wizard when there is not a full moon. I can send the note for you if you would like."

That day, the three bullies spent much of their morning classes glaring at Hermione, angry that she had not been scared of the snake. When recess began, they approached her. "What did you do to that snake to get it to attack us?" "Why were you not afraid of it?"

"I did not have anything to do with the snake," Hermione answered honestly. "But why would you be afraid of it? The grass snake, or Natrix natrix, is non-venomous and rarely bites. What are you, a chicken?"

"How dare you!" responded the bully who was tripped by the snake. She then tried to punch Hermione, who dodged and began running away. Hermione knew that the bullies were faster than her, so she just tried to get close enough to a teacher to be safe from them. She looked around for any adults, but saw that the nearest one was by the playground a few hundred meters away, and she realized that she would not be able to get there quickly enough.

She was concentrating on getting away, and moments before the bullies could catch her, she vanished. She appeared on the other side of the school, panting heavily and sweating profusely. Less than a minute later, while the bullies were arguing with each other about how Hermione could have slipped away from them, a group of obliviators from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement showed up. They used Legilimency to determine what magic the three bullies had observed, and they replaced the memory of Hermione disappearing with a memory of Sal attacking them again. Fearing another snake attack, the bullies decided to pick on someone else instead.

Later that afternoon, Harry met up with Hermione at the park in London. As soon as she saw Harry, Hermione said, "I have read a lot about grass snakes, but nothing seems explain the behavior of your snake yesterday? Why did it attack the bullies?"

"I asked him to. This is Sal." Harry pointed to the snake hanging on his shoulders. "He has been my pet for many years." He hoped that his lie would placate Hermione enough for her not to wonder why the snake understands him.

"Wow, it's amazing that he just knows what you want him to do. Anyways, you said yesterday that you were going to figure out a way for us to keep in touch?"

"Yes, I'm going to be living in a home in Norwich," Harry continued, giving Hermine his new address.

"Why are you moving to Norwich?"

"My parents owned a home there. It has plenty of paintings and there is a library upstairs."

"Ooh! Were there any good books there?"

"I was just reading a book about my family history, and there was a very interesting legend about the Peverell brothers."

"About William Peverell, the knight who fought with William the Conqueror in the Battle of Hastings?"

"Who? No, it was about Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus Peverell. In the legend, they – "

Sal hissed, "I don't think you should be telling this story. It is about magic."

"But muggles have stories about magic. And they believe that the legends aren't true," Harry hissed back.

Hermione leaned closer, trying to hear what Harry was saying, but he definitely wasn't speaking English – or any other language she recognized. It sounded like he was hissing words, as if Sal could actually understand him.

"But are there any muggle stories about the Peverell brothers? It would be too risky for you to tell the story."

Hermione furrowed her brow; did the snake just respond to him? It almost seemed like they were having a real conversation. What if he actually could – no, that isn't possible.

Harry paused for a moment to think of an excuse, then turned back to Hermione. "Sal seems to think that I should not tell the story because it is too morbid; its main subject is Death."

Wednesday September 6

"Pay attention!" Hermione's teacher yelled at her.

Hermione looked up and muttered an apology. She saw the writing on the blackboard, but was not processing any of it. She was still thinking about her teleportation away from the bullies, which was not making any sense. This was not the first time something weird happened to her; she had previously summoned a book that was too high up for her to reach, and she had reappeared in a library after she had left it. Every other time, she had managed to come up with an explanation: maybe the book had fallen, and maybe she had wandered back into the library without realizing it.

But this time, nothing was making sense. There was no logical way she could have gotten away from the bullies and appeared on the far side of the school, and Harry definitely wasn't just hissing to his snake; he was speaking some other language, and it seemed to understand him back. The more she thought about it, the less sense it made. After a few hours of fruitlessly trying to explain it – and being yelled at a few more times to pay attention – she realized that she was not getting anywhere. There had to be a better way of going about this. Maybe there was a book... or maybe if Harry had figured out how to speak to his snake, he might have a better idea of why weird things kept happening to her.

She drafted a letter to Harry, which she sent as soon as she got home from school.

Dear Harry,

Hi. How's your new home? Is it better than the one in Surrey was? Oh yeah, your aunt and uncle were arrested for how they treated you before you left. Why didn't you tell anyone about them sooner?

There is something I wanted to ask you about. Were you actually having a conversation with your snake yesterday? How did you learn to do that? I've never heard of anyone who could do that.

Also, a few weird things have happened to me, and I was wondering if you could help me understand them. Yesterday, when the bullies were about to attack me again, I somehow teleported to the other side of the school. Other inexplicable things have happened to me as well – last year, I somehow made a book on the top shelf fly to me when I could not reach it. Do you have any idea how any of that happened?

I hope you're enjoying your new home. Please write back soon.

Hermione