The Oath of Secrecy

When the other two nodded eagerly, he picked up the Blood Quill and wrote:

Harry Potter is a parselmouth.

Trying not to wince from the sharp pain in his skull, he handed the page over to Hermione, whose jaw dropped. "You are?"

Harry nodded.

Curiously, Theo looked over at the page, and smirked smugly. "I already knew that."

Hermione scowled at him.

"But how, Harry? I thought only the descendants of Salazar Slytherin can speak parseltongue! Or, are you -?"

"Maybe," Harry said, "It's kind of hard to know, what with the time lapse, and everything. But yes, I can speak to snakes. And it's a secret, so don't go telling people...I could be in a lot of trouble if you do."

Hermione frowned. "Why?"

"Just...a lot of people would get the wrong idea, Hermione. Voldemort -"

Theo flinched.

"- was a parselmouth too, and a lot of people make incorrect assumptions about the skill. The oath will keep you from writing anything, but you have to swear you won't say anything about it either."

Her face softened. "Of course, Harry." Without hesitation, she signed her name below the page, wincing a bit at the pain.

She handed the paper and quill to Theo, who did the same and handed it to Harry.

Harry drew his wand. "Nonscribere." And with that, the red-scripted promise faded into nothing.

"It's still there, well, rather, in one of the pages of my diary, now," Harry said, "A simple revelio charm will reveal it, but only if I, the secret sharer, cast it. Your turn, Theo."

Theo hesitated before taking the paper and the quill, but steeling himself, he resolutely wrote down his secret.

Theo Nott's father, Thaddeus Nott, was a Death Eater.

Upon seeing it, Hermione gasped.

"Malfoy's father was too," Theo said defensively. "Besides, it's not like I agree with him or anything. I'm friends with the bloody Boy Who Lived, after all."

Hermione seemed satisfied with that, but seemed uneasy when it came to her turn. "I don't really have any secrets..."

Theo scowled at her. "You can't back out now, Granger."

"We won't judge," Harry said softly. "This is an exercise in trust, all of this is. If we can't trust each other, who can we trust? That's the point of all this. That's the point of our pledge."

Hermione nodded, resolved, and took a deep breath as she scribbled down,

Hermione Granger has a crush on Cayla Martins

Harry's eyebrows went up when he saw the statement. "The waitress? Oh, I suppose that explains...right. She's pretty...I guess."

Meanwhile, Theo scowled. "That's a muggle, isn't it? You have a crush on a muggle?"

Hermione looked at him, outraged. "That's what you're upset over!?"

"Look, Granger, I don't care if you fancy girls. I happen to fancy girls too, and unless Harry's over here's queer, then we've all got that in common. But muggles," he scoffed.

Hermione was gaping as he signed his name.

Harry stifled a laugh as he signed his name and handed the page back to Hermione, who performed the spell.

Meanwhile, Harry took the Blood Quill back and placed it in its little black box.

"Can I change the password?" he asked curiously.

Theo nodded, and tapped the box twice. "When you're ready."

Grinning, Harry hissed, :Open.:

The box clicked, and he looked up to see his friends staring at him with undisguised fascination.

"Oh, it sounds brilliant!" squealed Hermione. "Go on, then, say something else!"

:Something like this?:

She was grinning stupidly at this point, and Theo, despite looking slightly uneasy, seemed to be quite excited by the sound as well.

"How does it work? Do the snakes just understand you?"

Harry nodded. "I don't really know how it works, though."

"Do you have to learn new words?"

Harry shook his head. "I just...know it. It's hard to explain. But it's more natural than speaking English, even. It just kind of flows."

Hermione looked incredibly happy. "Oh, you'll have to show me so much more! I want to see you talk to a real snake! Ooh, can you cast spells in parseltongue?"

"I don't know, actually. I'll have to try sometime."

Hermione nodded avidly, and he took the piece of paper from her, folding it and placing it between the pages of his diary

He hesitated before placing it in the pocket of his robe.

"I know you're putting a lot of trust in me by letting me be the one to keep it..."

"We trust you," they both said at once.

Harry smiled bashfully. "I'm honoured to have your trust, really, I am."

The other two looked a bit awkward, at his sincere confession.

Oblivious to the awkwardness of his words, he asked "Now, who wants to try breaking the oath?"

Hermione and Theo looked at each other reluctantly.

"Right," Harry said a moment later, "I guess that leaves me."

He retrieved a regular quill from his bag, and a plain piece of parchment and began to write Hermione's secret:

'H- '

"Well?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"I can't do it," Harry said, amazed, "I try to move my hand to write the words, and it doesn't work - my hand just goes stiff and feels a bit numb."

Hermione's eyes were sparkling with an excitement. "Excellent!"

Theo nodded with her. "I'm impressed."

Harry nodded, satisfied. "Now, onto our second order of business – shall we finalize our plans for the year?"

The other two nodded in agreement, and Hermione spoke up first.

"I certainly think we should focus on finishing the occlumency training."

Harry smiled. "Finishing what we started – I like the sound of that. I trust you both have been practicing over the summer?"

Hermione nodded avidly, but Theo looked at them sheepishly. "Sporadically."

"It's ok, Theo, we'll be patient," Harry said kindly, "Even if you need to catch up a bit, though, by my estimates, we really only need another month or two of practising together. As long as you keep practising on your own, I think you'll both be able to say that you occlude quite effectively."

His two friends looked very pleased, and Hermione had retrieved a notebook and was beginning to write things down.

"So, by November, you think?"

Harry nodded.

"And on the subject of meditating," Theo spoke up, "I was thinking it might be worthwhile to look at researching human transfiguration."

Hermione looked excited at that. "You mean, to become animagi?"

"Precisely. From what I know, meditation is a big part of the early stages. And I've heard it can take years, so why not start early?"

"That could be fun," Harry said thoughtfully. "We should start that right after we finish working on our occlumency together. Hermione, do you think you could do a bit of research ahead of time?"

She grinned. "Of course!"

"Also," Harry said, "I have a list of spells I want to teach you, and...we should continue duelling practice...at least once a week, I should think."

The other two nodded.

"I'll join you," Hermione said, "But on the condition that you do more than blow each other up. Honestly, it's ridiculous. You say you want to learn dark magic, but practically all you've done is learn how to make things explode!"

Theo grinned, and Harry looked bashful, yet thoughtful.

"I have a couple of bone-breaking curses -"

.....

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