Duel Enrollment

Hissing Hatchling

"It says ...'cute little hatchling' ... 'slither with me' ... 'keep your scales shiny' and 'my eyes are deadly' ... was I hissing, Daddy?" Harry asked, he looked scared. This was something his aunt would freak out about.

The headmaster chuckled as he pulled the boy into his lap with Mickey bouncing next to him, "It's nothing to be afraid of. The language is called Parseltongue and you know someone who speaks it too." Brian pointed right at the healer.

Green eyes widened in excitement, "You speak Pars-... persel ... Perseal tongue?"

Aster giggled as Harry butchered the name of the serpent language, "It's Parseltongue and yes. I'll help you learn when you're speaking it and not English. It can be hard to tell sometimes. Just don't look a snake while talking because you will go straight to Parseltongue until you learn to control it." Aster couldn't help but smile as Harry finally met her eyes and smiled at her.

Brian smiled still holding the paper in front of the basilisk, "I knew that these toys were made all over the world with snake speaking children in mind, but I never knew what they said ... guess it wouldn't be a good idea to put a recording device in a snake's face and put it in the toy."

"Doing that would guarantee a not so friendly response. Someone who speaks Parseltongue has to check to make sure it's child friendly." said Aster who was very amused at the suggestion.

A ringing made Harry jump slightly in fear, but Brian gently patted his hair comfortingly. "It's ok, little one. It's just my phone." The headmaster smiled as he pulled out the cellphone from his jacket pocket without moving Harry from his lap and answered. "Brian here ... ok, I'll see you in a minute." Brian hung up and put the phone back. "Ok Silvia and Sophia are coming with some things. Harry, remember what we talked about with the floo?"

Harry nodded, "It's not as scary as it looks."

"Exactly." Brian with a smile that hid his worry very well. Only one week earlier he thought Harry was comfortable enough around magic to activate the animating charms on the toys, but once the wolf toy started moving he screamed and if there weren't safety charms around the home Harry would've fallen out of the tree house. Granted Brian realized the fear was actually more about the fear of dogs than magic, but Harry didn't warm up to most of his toys right away until the last couple days.

Magic was certainly interesting to Harry, but he was still nervous as if he expected Petunia or Vernon to suddenly come flying around the corner and hurt him. Really the worst moment so far was when Harry's magic flared and accidently knocked over a set of plates causing them to crash to the floor. Brian has never seen a child so scared about something they can't control, but Harry got even more fearful when Brian came to comfort him.

Unfortunately, the child's magic flared up again and the forks started dancing with the spoons. Brian couldn't resist laughing at the sight, which did calm Harry down. After all, no one laughed at his 'freakish doings' as Petunia calls them and that was a turning point for them. Harry finally feeling safe with Brian. For a while Harry was afraid that the man he liked, the man he wanted as his Daddy, would get rid of him once he found out how big of a freak he was, but that hasn't happened. No bout of accidental magic or anything swayed the man. Harry was so happy to have someone truly want him ...

The white haired healer smiled softly as Harry held onto to Brian's jacket with his tiny hands. Aster was relieved that the twins were coming. She met with them earlier that week when Harry healed more and described Harry's scars and eyesight issues ... and get more nutrition potions since Brian refuses to leave Harry. Although it really was a good excuse Aster suspected he was a little nervous about being within range of the twins by himself.