Chapter 86: Parseltongue

"Harry, I have some thoughts about the voice you heard last time," Arthur said to Harry after everyone had consumed the potion.

Harry was curious when he heard Arthur say that.

It had been a week since they were in Professor Lockhart's office, and he hadn't heard the voice again. He had started to think it was just his imagination.

But now Arthur mentioned having some ideas, and Harry was excited to hear Arthur's ideas.

"I believe that it might be the sound of an animal. Some wizards can understand the languages of magical creatures," Arthur pretended to analyze.

"So today, we're going to test it out and see if it works with my idea."

Harry didn't know how Arthur planned to test it, so he simply nodded subconsciously.

The others also looked curious, their eyes set on Arthur.

Arthur took out his wand and gently tapped the chair behind him.

The chair quickly changed into a mouse, squeaking at Harry.

"Can you understand what it's saying?" Arthur asked Harry.

Harry shook his head in confusion.

Then, Arthur changed the chair into a bat, a horned lizard, and a toad, one after another, allowing Harry to try to understand their language.

But he failed with all of them.

Arthur decided it was time to reveal his true intentions and transformed the chair into a snake.

"Ah!"

Two screams sounded out as Hermione and Cho were startled, staring terrified at the snake and keeping their distance.

The snake hissed, its vertical pupils fixed on Harry.

Harry started to panic.

He now thought that Arthur was trying to prank him.

In a distressed tone, he said, He now thinks Arthur is trying to make fun of him. He said sadly if Arthur has any ideas, so he can make changes.

Seeing that Harry was frozen in fear, Arthur thought he should push him a bit further.

Controlling the snake, it slithered towards Harry, the front half of the snake's body rising upright.

"Don't come any closer!" Harry screamed in panic, but the sound he said was completely different.

It was a chilling, hoarse voice filled with coldness and cruelty.

The snake obediently stopped, no longer advancing toward Harry.

Harry finally breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't know if his words had commanded the snake or if Arthur was controlling it.

However, he soon noticed the shocked and unbelieving stares from the others.

"Harry, you're actually a Parselmouth! You never told us," Fred exclaimed in astonishment.

"What am I?" Harry asked, bewildered.

"Parselmouth!" George sounded in. "You can speak to snakes. Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth."

Harry was completely confused, but then he remembered when he released the Brazilian boa constrictor at the zoo when he was younger.

The boa constrictor had spoken to him and mentioned never having been to Brazil.

Arthur interrupted Harry's thoughts and said, "It seems that the hoarse voice you heard that day belongs to a snake, Harry."

Arthur had also heard what Harry said to the snake, probably due to his bloodline, allowing him to understand what Harry had said.

But a single sentence wasn't enough; he needed more language to communicate with magical snakes in the future.

Smiling at Harry, Arthur seemed very friendly, but Harry couldn't help but shiver as if something bad was about to happen.

"Harry, I'm very interested in this Parseltongue ability. Can you teach me?" Arthur asked.

"But I don't even know how to teach someone. I did it instinctively," Harry said hesitantly. He had no idea he had spoken the snake's language earlier.

"No worries, I have some special methods," Arthur said, completely unconcerned and with a glowing face.

Next...

"Ah! Arthur, help!"

The twins and the two girls stared in shock as Harry continued to scream in torture. He was tightly bound by the giant snake summoned by Arthur.

"Harry, don't speak to me. You should speak to the snake, use different words, don't just repeat the same sentence," Arthur instructed.

That was Arthur's special technique—binding Harry up like a dumpling and keeping him continue to communicate with the snake, allowing Arthur to learn more words.

Helpless and entangled, Harry reluctantly obeyed Arthur's request and occasionally uttered some words, attempting to communicate with the snake.

Harry's pitiful appearance, with tears and snot, shocked the others. They made up their minds never to provoke Arthur in the future. His methods were too extreme.

Especially Fred and George, who had been thinking how to successfully prank Arthur just moments ago.

...

But now it seemed better to forget about it. They couldn't afford to mess with someone so powerful.

For a whole hour, Harry was in a state of extreme despair.

Finally, Arthur released him when he realized that Harry had been repeating the same few phrases without raising new words.

"Arthur, please spare me," Harry pleaded in agony as the snake loosened its grip.

He walked up to Arthur, his face filled with pain.

At that moment, Harry's clothes were covered in slime, releasing a nasty smell.

Covering his nose, Arthur cast a cleaning and freshening charm, restoring Harry's clothes to their original state and eliminating the stink.

Then, with a solemn tone, he spoke.

"All of this is for the greater good, Harry! You must be prepared to dedicate yourself to magic."

Harry looked at Arthur with resentment.

Yes, he was dedicating himself to magic, but why did it feel like he was sacrificing himself for Arthur's magic?

However, Harry didn't dare to voice his thoughts.

He had already witnessed Arthur's methods of tormenting people. If he complained, he might become Arthur's target, and then he would have nowhere to cry.

Arthur knew that Harry wouldn't agree to his request today, and he had already learned quite a few snake language vocabulary.

It was time for him to digest it properly.

From that point on, Arthur resumed normal teaching. As compensation for Harry, he even taught him the Dangling Jinx.

This made Harry feel slightly better.

...

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