The Forgotten Hero Part II
24th August 1992
It was mid day on a hot summer day. Harry Potter and Tracey Davis were sat on a bench in the park round the corner from Grimmauld Place enjoying some quiet time away from Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Beth Davis. The two were laughing and talking with each other.
Harry was dressed in a green t-shirt and shorts. Tracey who was dressed in a purple blouse and shorts.
Tracey gasped looking down at the ground.
Harry looked at her and then looked in the direction she had fixed her gaze.
Sliding through the grass towards them was a small grass snake around one and a half feet long and around three inches wide.
"A Grass Snake, they're harmless" said Harry calmly.
"Snakes make me nervous, always have done" said Tracey nervously.
"We are from the house of snakes, and now your telling me you don't like snakes" said Harry.
"Harry, make sure it doesn't come near me, please" said Tracey.
Harry chuckled.
"All right" said Harry standing up.
Harry looked at the snake which was under two feet away from the bench.
"Stop" said Harry.
To Harry's confusion the snake stopped and raised its head appearing to understand him.
"Go away" said Harry stepping towards the snake.
The snake then lowered its head and quickly slithered away towards a large bush.
"There, its gone" said Harry.
Harry turned around to face Tracey again noticing she had gone quite pale and was looking at him with wide eyes.
Harry just looked at her with a confused look on her face.
"What's wrong?" said Harry.
Tracey just continued to look at him with wide eyes.
"Harry, what did you say to that snake?" said Tracey sounding shocked.
Harry looked at her in confusion.
"I told it to go away, you heard me" said Harry sitting down.
"Harry, have you ever talked to snakes before?" said Tracey.
Harry chuckled.
"No, why?" said Harry.
"Harry, you were hissing, you know talking in parsaltongue, snake language" said Tracey.
Harry was taken aback.
"I was what?" said Harry.
"Parsaltongue, I heard you speaking to that snake in parsaltongue, you hissed at it then it went away" said Tracey.
"How is that possible, I didn't realise, I was saying the words in English" said Harry.
"Harry, you may have heard yourself speaking in English, but trust me, you were speaking in parsaltongue" said Tracey.
"Great, another sign that I'm going dark, terrific" said Harry sarcastically.
"Harry, you're not dark, nor ever will be, parsaltongue may have been used by dark wizards in the past, just cos you speak it doesn't make you like them" said Tracey putting her hand on his shoulder.
"What should I do?" said Harry.
"Tell Sirius, he'll help you, tell my Mum and Remus if you need to as well, me Daph and Blaise will be there for you if you need it, we won't tell anyone" said Tracey smiling.
Harry smiled and nodded.
"All right, I'll tell them when we get back, we can tell Daphne and Blaise on the train, but no one else can know" said Harry.
"What about your Mother?" said Tracey.
Harry frowned.
"I'll tell her the next time I'm alone with her, I won't write to her about it, or tell her in public, that's too risky, anyone could hear us" said Harry.
"When was the last time you spoke?" said Tracey.
"I sent her a letter 2 days ago, not heard back from her yet" said Harry.
"Well, her reply might be there when we get back" said Tracey sounding hopeful.
"Maybe, come on lets head back" said Harry standing up.
"You gonna help me up?" said Tracey jokingly.
Harry laughed and offered her his hand.
Tracey chuckled and took it. Harry pulled her to her feet and the two set off walking.
They arrived back at Grimmauld Place five minutes later. Walking up the steps they opened the door and walked inside.
To Harry's surprise Lily was stood in the hallway talking with Remus.
"Mum, what are you doing here?" said Harry sounding surprised as he and Tarcey walked towards Lily and Remus.
Lily turned to face them and smiled.
"I haven't seen you since your birthday, so I thought I would come and see you" said Lily.
"I'm glad you're here, there's something I have to tell you, along with Sirius, Remus and Beth, something very important" said Harry seriously.
"Is this good news or bad Harry?" said Lily.
"A bit of both" said Harry.
Lily nodded and headed for the dining room. Harry and Tracey followed her while Remus headed upstairs to find Sirius and Beth.
Once they were all sat round the large table in the dining room Sirius called for Kreacher. A small ageing house elf with bat like ears and a crooked snout like nose wearing a dirty pillowcase appeared out of thin air with a faint pop.
"Six bottles of butterbeer Kreacher" said Sirius.
"Yes Master" grumbled Kreacher with a sour voice.
Kreacher disapparated and returned a few minutes later with six bottles of butterbeer on a tray which he placed in the centre of the table.
Once everyone had a bottle in their hands Lily looked at Harry.
"So Harry, what did you want to tell us?" said Lily earnestly.
Harry sighed before looking round the table at everyone.
"I can talk to snakes" said Harry causing everyone else bar Tracey to gasp.
Half an hour later Harry had finished telling them all the events from the park.
"And you've never done this before today?" said Remus.
"Never, I didn't even know I was speaking parsaltongue until Tracey told me" said Harry.
"We can't tell anyone else about this" said Sirius.
"Dumbledore may have some answers" said Lily.
"No, I'm not trusting him with this, the only others I will tell are Daphne and Blaise and that's it" said Harry.
Sirius nodded.
"Given how he has acted with Harry so far, I wouldn't trust him with this information" said Sirius.
"Sirius is right, it would be better if we kept this from Dumbledore, and anyone else if Harry chooses" said Beth.
"I would prefer that" said Harry.
"Then I think this matter is finished" said Remus.
Lily finished her butterbeer and stood up.
"I need to be getting back" said Lily walking over to Harry.
Harry stood up an hugged her.
"Goodbye, I'll write soon, but please don't tell anyone about this, not Father, not Charles, not Dorea, not anyone" said Harry.
Lily nodded.
"All right, but don't speak to any more snakes, especially at school, I don't like this" said Lily.
"Neither do I, but I can't do anything about it" said Harry.
Lily kissed his forehead and let go of him.
She said her goodbyes to the others before walking towards the fireplace to use the floo network.
After she had left Harry and Tracey went upstairs to Harry's room. Upon entering the room they sat on Harry's bed in silence for a few minutes.
"That went well" said Tracey.
Harry chuckled.
"Well at least they can keep a secret, and Daphne and Blaise will too, but that's it, no one else must know of this" said Harry.
Tracey nodded.
"Just avoid using it or mentioning it at school, we don't want to give anyone else an excuse to start spreading rumours about you again" said Tracey.
"True, its best we don't mention it after I tell the others on the train, that way I can get it out of my mind" said Harry.
"Are you sure?" said Tracey.
"Yeah, I'd rather not think about being a parsalmouth if I can help it" said Harry.
"Well even if you don't want to think about it, being a parsalmouth is a quality of Slytherin, Salazar Slytherin was one" said Tracey.
Harry smiled.
"So, why exactly do snakes make you nervous?" said Harry.
"None of your business" said Tracey pretending to sound threatening.
"Come on tell me, I could always ask your Mum, and I doubt she wouldn't think about making it as embarrassing as possible" said Harry.
"You wouldn't dare" said Tracey sounding shocked.
"Only if you tell me why" said Harry.
"One slithered into my bed while I was sleeping when I was younger, it woke me up and felt horrible, I haven't liked them since" said Tracey sounding annoyed.
"That's it?" said Harry smirking.
"Yes, that's it" said Tracey sternly.
"All right then, I'll have to cross snakes in your bed off my pranks list" said Harry jokingly.
"You better do" said Tracey mock threatening.
"Or what?" said Harry with mock seriousness.
"Or I'll get Daphne to perform a certain spell on you, you shouldn't need more explaining than that" said Tracey.
"She wouldn't" said Harry.
"Oh she would, once she finds out you put snakes in her best friends bed, she'd show you no mercy, you'd get the frozen treatment" said Tracey.
Harry chuckled nervously.
"Definitely crossing it off my list then" said Harry.
"Good" said Tracey smirking.
The two continued to laugh and joke around for most of the afternoon before heading downstairs for their dinner.
"Has Dumbledore gone nuts?" said Sirius looking up from his evening prophet.
"What?" said Remus sat opposite him.
Sirius turned to Daily Prophet round so the front page was visible to Remus.
From book writing to teaching
Gilderoy Lockhart, Order Of Merlin First Class, 5 time winner of Witch Weekly most charming smile award has announced he is taking over the Defense Against The Dark Arts Job at Hogwarts school next week.
The job has been available since the end of term last year following the suspicious disappearance of the previous DADA teacher Professor Quinius Quirrell. On his new job Gilderoy Lockhart told reporters.
"I am thrilled to take on this job and teach the next generation of witches and wizards how to fight the dark arts like me, for more details see my published works"
Underneath the main headline there was a moving photo of a blonde haired man dressed in magenta robes flashing smiles at the camera.
"So that's why we had to buy all those ridiculous books for DADA, I thought the new teacher would just be a fan, didn't think Gilderoy Lockhart would be our new teacher" said Tracey looking at the paper.
"The man is a joke, I only read 3 pages of one of his books before putting it down, there full of rubbish" said Harry.
"That bad huh" said Tracey dryly.
"I think your right Sirius, Dumbledore has lost it" said Beth.
"I know Dumbledore is a bit nuts anyway, but I never thought he would be this bad, who in their right mind could look at Gilderoy Lockhart and think him able to teach" said Sirius.
"Well he could teach some people how to smile for a camera, or how to use witches hair products, he looks a master at that" said Tracey.
Everyone else laughed.
One week later Harry and Tracey found themselves on Platform Nine and Three Quarters at 10.30 with Beth waiting for Daphne and Blaise.
"Where the hell are they?" said Harry.
"Daphne said they'd be here for 25 past 10, we've been waiting here for 10 minutes" said Tracey.
"Oh there they are looking towards the barrier to see Daphne and her family making their way towards them followed closely by Blaise and his Mother.
"Thanks for waiting guys" said Daphne.
"Come on we better find a compartment, I have something important to tell you" said Harry.
"Okay" said Blaise nodding.
They said goodbye to Beth, Daphne's family and Blaise's Mother before boarding the train.
After a few minutes they found a compartment near where their families were stood.
Harry locked the door.
"So what's this important news then Harry?" said Daphne.
"I'll tell you in bit, how was your summer?" said Harry.
"Good, went to France for 3 weeks, loved it" said Daphne.
"Nice, what about you Blaise?" said Tracey.
"It was all right, went to Italy again to see my grandmother" said Blaise saying the last part a bit distasefully.
"You don't like her?" said Harry curiously.
"Can't stand her sometimes, she speaks perfect English yet she insists on me speaking perfect Italian, I can barely speak Italian, so we don't have many conversations" said Blaise.
"What about you two?" said Daphne.
"Well" started Harry.
"Interesting to say the least" finished Tracey.
"How so?" said Blaise.
"That's the important thing I need to tell you, but I'll tell you when we set off" said Harry.
Blaise and Daphne nodded.
The four continued to chat before the train set off.
They stood at the compartment window and waved goodbye to their families who were all grouped together.
Harry waited until the noises of students moving around outside the door to their compartment had stopped.
"Okay, this will come as a bit of a shock, and you have to keep it a secret" said Harry.
"We won't tell anyone Harry" said Daphne.
"Yeah, your secrets safe with us" said Blaise.
Harry nodded.
"I can talk to snakes" said Harry.
Daphne and Blaise gasped.
Harry then spent the next twenty to thirty minutes explaining what happened that day one week ago.
By the time Harry had finished explaining Daphne and Blaise were still a bit shocked by it all.
"And you've never noticed this before, surprising" said Blaise.
"Never, but like I said, we keep this a secret, I don't want the wrong person finding out about this" said Harry.
Daphne moved next to him and placed her hand on his arm.
"Of course Harry, you know we'll keep this a secret for you, and we'll always be here for you when you need it" said Daphne.
"I know, that's why I couldn't ask for better friends than you guys" said Harry smiling.
"That's what friends are for remember, they look out for each other" said Tracey.
"Yeah, they do" said Harry
There was a knock at the door.
Harry turned to see Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger standing outside looking through the glass.
Harry stood up and opened the door.
"Hey Neville" said Harry smiling.
"Hermione" said Harry nodding his head.
"Hey guys, Harry have you seen your Brother and Ron?" said Neville.
"No why?" said Harry.
"Been looking for them everywhere, the Twins, Percy and Ginny are on the train, but we can't find those two anywhere" said Hermione.
"Well we haven't seen them, wouldn't want to preferably" said Blaise.
"I'm sure you'll find them further down the train, knowing those two they're probably looking for someone to wind up" said Daphne.
"I'm sure they won't be winding people up" said Hermione.
"If you say so" said Tracey sounding disinterested causing Hermione to huff in annoyance.
"Come on Neville, lets look somewhere else" said Hermione.
Neville nodded and the two walked away.
Harry closed the door.
"What makes her think we'd know where those two numbskulls are?" said Blaise.
"Well I am Charles brother, she probably doesn't know I haven't exactly seen him since I left Potter Manor" said Harry.
"Looks like she needs to keep up with the times" said Tracey.
"Never mind about her, have you guys seen the new DADA teacher" said Daphne.
"Yeah, he's a joke" said Tracey.
"Picked up one of his books, put it down after the third page, they're dreadful" said Harry.
"That they are, I mean look at the titles, Holiday With A Hag, sounds like a kids story rather than a defence textbook" said Blaise.
"Probably is, and his camera smile is creepy, I might vomit if he does that in classes" said Daphne.
"And he has a love for witches hair products by the look of it" said Harry.
Daphne and Blaise laughed.
"Use your own joke Potter, not steal mine" said Tracey jokingly.
The four laughed.