The Serpent that Devours Us

Chapter 10

Scrunching his eyebrows up in a thoughtful frown, Draco gave Harry a searching look. “Why would my father hold onto a muggle diary?”

“Because Riddle cursed it and turned it into a very dangerous artifact. I need it now to help save someone’s life.”

“Hm.” Draco’s grey eyes were positively piercing while he stared at Harry.

The Augurey wailed again, long and slow.

Releasing a frustrated groan, Draco finally nodded his head. “All right, all right, I’ll get that book for you, as long as you get that blasted bird out of here right now.”

“Thanks,” Harry said with a cheerful smile, not at all put off by the sound of an Augurey. If anything, hearing their calls made Harry feel warm with nostalgia. Newt had always kept a few Augureys he’d rescued over the years and hearing them call out reminded Harry of all the times he’d spent with his old mentor.

Harry found the Augurey in an oak tree right behind the cottage. It looked more bedraggled than Augureys usually did, and Harry quickly realized why. The poor thing was suffering from a serious chizpurfle infestation. Chizpurfles were tiny parasites that fed on magic from things living and dead. It was probably the reason the Augurey had moved so close to Draco’s home. It needed help to get rid of the parasites.

“I’m sorry, mate. Usually I’d let you lose in my suitcase but I cannot risk a chizpurfle infestation while my friend Tom is down there.” Chizpurfles were greedy little parasites. They’d eat a large, magical creature like a basilisk alive. Harry rummaged around in his backpack until he found a shrunken wire cage, which he enlarged with a flick of his wand. He opened the door and gestured at it. “I promise to get that infestation dealt with right away. You’ll be good as new in no time.”

The Augurey gave Harry various curious looks, but wasn’t so easily swayed by Harry’s sweet promises. Eventually Harry summoned a field mouse, killed it by snapping its tiny neck and placed the offering inside the cage. That did the trick and the Augurey spread its grey wings and soared down to the ground where it hopped inside the cage to devour the mouse.

Right after Harry closed the door and levitated the enclosure, Draco stepped out of the cottage, waving a small, black book. “Got it! I had to ask a house-elf for help, but I found it eventually.”

Harry gladly accepted the book and immediately tucked it away inside his backpack before hauling the whole thing over his shoulder. And not a second too soon, because a large shadow grew closer and closer in the overcast sky.

“Ah fuck,” Harry muttered while Draco winced beside him.

An enormous Abraxan touched down on the grass a few yards away, carrying Charis Yaxley-Lestrange, Bellatrix’s oldest child. Charis was almost a decade older than Harry and Draco so they never encountered her at Hogwarts, but Harry had heard plenty of stories of how she’d ruled over Slytherin house with a very eager wand. As rumour had it, Charis was just as talented at casting curses as her mother had always been.

And since James Potter had helped put Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange behind bars, Charis naturally had it out for Harry.

“Sorry,” Draco whispered while Charis glared at them over her nose. “I didn’t realize she was here today since mother is away for the afternoon.”