Chapter 5: Hogwarts Express and Parselmouth
Ever since Harry bought a wand from Olivander, he felt a slight change in the magic around him. He could not exactly pin point what this change was about but could guess that it was the trace being put on him by the ministry.
Now that he was being traced, he could not use his magic. At least in the muggle area where they would be able to tell that it was him using the magic.
Maybe he was wrong and it was simply them tracing the magic he used with his wand but he was not sure about that. Plus, he was a cautious person by nature.
For that reason, he drunk an aging potion, took the knight bus and went back to Diagon Alley where he took a room in one of the less known taverns in that street.
He knew for a fact that the trace wouldn't be able to catch him using any magic if he stays around other older wizards and witches.
That was why the pureblood and halfbloods had such an advantage over others.
But the downfall was that most of those kids took magic for granted and never took learning it seriously in the first place since they saw it as a part of their life and not something miraculous. Such a waste.
—————
He looked at the dozen of pillars in between platform 9 and 10.
"Selena. Can you tell me which pillar holds the strongest magical signature?" He asked asked in Parseltongue and the invisible snake sitting on his shoulders flickered her tongue in the air a times before replying.
"The third one. It should be the gateway that you talked about."
Harry nodded his head and moved toward the pillar along with his trunk which had a charm attached to it to make it light weight.
That trunk was one of the most expensive things Harry had bought in Diagon Alley. It was even more expensive than all of books he'd bought so far from Flourish and Blotts and that was saying something considering how expansive the books are in the magical world.
He personally thought that the trunk was well worth it's price considering how it held far more space than the house that he overtook three years ago.
As per his habit of arriving early, he had come to the station quite a bit early than other people. Which was one of the reason he did not see or meet the infamous Weasley family.
Not that he wanted to meet them anyway.
From what he saw in the Harry Potter movie, he knew that they were a good family who fought alongside Dumbledore and the original Harry against the Dark lord and the Death Eaters.
The original Harry might have liked them, if simply for the fact that no one had ever shown him much kindness before he came to Hogwarts. But the new Harry doubted that he would ever be that close with that family.
The train station was much more empty than he had seen in the movie but that was perhaps because he came so early than other people.
The train looked majestic to him despite the fact that he had seen far more technologically advanced trains in his past life. There was just something… magical about the Hogwarts express that was hard to put into words.
Maybe it had to do with the fact that the train had been ferrying Hogwarts students for the past few centuries and their magic had unintentionally seeped into it overtime, changing it in a way that only those who are sensitive to magic can feel.
He gave one last appreciative glance to the train before the climbed on board.
He looked at the first empty compartment and had to smother the urge to go and sit in it and moved to the back of the train.
He knew for a fact that the early compartments were reserved for the older years and the Prefects. It was one of the unspoken rules followed in Hogwarts.
He also knew that if he sat on a compartment and someone told him to get up and sit somewhere else, then that would only lead to a fight considering his stubborn and take-no-shit-from-others attitude and he would rather not waste his time fighting others when he could spend it doing something productive instead.
So he took his trunk and started moving to the back of the train and the few students who were walking around gave him a wide berth because of Selena.
And if not because of Selena then because of his use of Parseltongue. After all, even if you remove all the superstitions about the snake language, it was still a scary thing to hear.
Harry could tell that by the time he reached the school, everyone and their great grandparents would know that there was a Parselmouth among the first years who carried a snake around with him.
Which was something that Harry had planned to do.
After walking past a few compartments, he came across one where he saw two girls and one boy who looked to be about his age were sitting across each other.
From his memory, he could guess that they were Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot along with someone he didn't knew and didn't care about.
He opened the door of the compartment and had to hide a smirk as they froze after looking at Selena. Wizards and Witches.
"Is anyone sitting here?" he asked calmly and Hannah shook her head frantically before she realized what that meant. Susan gave a glare to the other girl but before they could say anything, he entered the compartment and took the empty seat.
The seat was much more comfortable than any couch back in the Dursleys.
Magic.
A few moments of silence passed before the boy cleared his throat and said.
"Hi… I'm Ernie Macmillan." He said in a voice which would have sounded calm if it had not cracked in the middle.
Harry gave him an unimpressed look and waited for a moment in order to unnerve the boy before he said "Are you…"
An unnerving silence once again descended in the compartment before Susan Bones said "You know. It's rude to not give your name when someone introduces themselves to you."
Harry turned his head and gazed at her alongside Senela and waited for a moment before she started squirming under his gaze before saying "Then it's a good thing because I'm a rude person by nature." in a tone that made it clear that it was the end of the discussion.
He leaned back on his comfortable seat closed his eyes as Selena hissed in his ears. "Why are you scaring those kids?" in a humorous tone and he smirked back at her.
"To create a reputation for myself." He hissed back in parseltongue and didn't have to look to know that his three classmates had gone pale.
Wizards and witches and their superstitions.
And as enthralling as it was to watch others go pale at a few words spoken in Parseltongue, he had a feeling that this was going to get old pretty fast.
—————
From the silence in the compartment and the low whispers in which his three classmates talked with each other, Harry had a feeling that this trip was turning out to be far more tense for them then they had initially expected.
The silence and the whispers stretched on until the door of the compartment opened and one Hermione Granger pushed her head inside the compartment with a young and shy Neville Longbottom trailing behind her.
Hmm… that didn't happen in the movie. In the movie, she came alone when she entered Harry and Ron's compartment. Has the timeline somehow changed because of him.
It was entirely possible that there are rumors about a Parselmouth roaming the train and Neville might not want to go on a search all alone.
Or was it possible that the things in real life would be a bit different than in the movies?
"Excuse me." Little cute Hermione said "Has anyone seen a toad. Neville's lost his somewhere on the train."
His three classmates shook their heads before she turned to look at him and her eyes widened as she saw Selena for the first time.
"You… you have a snake around your neck." She said in a composed voice which shook a little and Harry could already see Neville turning pale behind her as he caught sight of the snake as well.
No doubt the story about the scary Parselmouth had already spread through out the train.
Harry gazed at her for a moment before he said "Thanks for telling me" in a calm manner which must have infuriated her.
"You should know that snakes are not allowed in Hogwarts. I read it in Hogwarts: A History." She said in a haughty tone and Harry could see the four other watching this conversation grow a bit nervous at this.
"Albus made an exception for me" he said calmly and Hermione's eyes widened once again.
"You mean Headmaster Dumbledore. You know it's rude to take his name without using proper subtitles right?" she said haughtily and Harry could understand why she made no friends until the troll incident.
He had a feeling that she was trying to look more confident in order to make new friends but she was a shy little girl so she didn't really know how to look confident which was why she was coming off as a little arrogant.
He stood up to his full height and looked at Hermione in the eyes as Selena hissed from beside him in order to intimidate her. Good Selena. Always ready to scare other children.
He had a feeling that if he was Voldemort then Selena would undoubtedly be his Bella.
He walked forward and Hermione stepped back until she was pushed on the wall of the compartment before he said "Then it's a good thing that I'm a rude person." And then turned to look at Neville who looked like he was ready to fight for the girl who had been helping him despite being scared of the boy who he knew was a Parselmouth.
Harry could respect this boy. Even if just a little bit. Neville was a sacredly little cat but at least he had the guts to stand up to him while the other three simply cowered in fear.
"Your name is Neville I presume?" He asked and the boy nodded meekly.
"What is the name of this toad that you lost."
"Tre… trevor" he gulped Harry dove into his mind to search for Trevor's image without the boy knowing about it.
When he got the image for the toad, he took out his wand from the Wand Holster attached to his right forearm and put the image of the toad in his mind and put all his will and intent on finding and bringing the toad to him and hissed "Accio Trevor" in Parseltongue and gave a wave from his wand.
Nothing happened for a moment and his audience looked at his worryingly as he had no doubt that they were wondering if he had put some curse Neville or not.
And then a small object sailed from the other end of the train before landing on Harry's left palm.
He saw his audience's eyes widen and smirked inwardly before passing the toad to the boy.
"Thank you." Neville squeaked as he held his lost pet once again and Selena hissed from his side.
"Mind your toad around Selena." Harry said in a quiet voice which still rang in the apartment as he went back and sat on his seat before closing his eyes.
Hopefully the peace would last a bit longer this time.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Fortunate_Soul
Fortunate_Soul Some people might call that revealing that he was a Parselmouth was a dumb idea.
And I would even agree with them had the circumstances been any different.
But as of now, after living alone with Selena for three years without any other friend, she had become irreplaceable to him.
Mostly, I just don't want to follow cannon where when the Heir of Slytherin storyline starts, oh *gasp* look. Harry is a Parselmouth. How convenient.
So...... yes.
As always.
Thanks for reading :)
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