A/N: Sorry this took so long. This chapter was supposed to be up yesterday, but that didn't quite go as planned.
"Sign Language"
"Parseltongue"
Serpentine Incident
Chapter Six
The fact that the boy in front of Evan was Harry Potter made his plan all the more sweeter. He tried to spot the famous scar, but the boy's long hair covered it. He did worry for a moment if Dumbledore was watching the kid somehow, but the fact that Harry was half snake squashed that idea. The Dark Lord would definitely like this arrangement. Evan couldn't help but smile.
Harry shrunk in his seat as he watched Mr. Rosier's expression change. The man was beginning to scare him with his smile. Perseus lifted his head and began to hiss warningly at the man. If he had any intentions of harming Harry, Perseus would bite him on the spot.
Mr. Rosier straightened his face after that. The man pulled out his stick and made Harry's empty plate disappear. He really wanted one of those sticks.
"OK, how old are you?" Mr. Rosier's signs were funny. Most of them were off.
"Six," Harry answered while trying not to giggle. Mr. Rosier just grunted with a nod.
"How did you get like this?"
"Like what?" Harry tilted his head cutely.
"Like a snake?"
"Oh." Realization dawned on Harry. "A wish."
"A wish?" I looked like Mr. Rosier didn't believe him.
"I wished I was a snake, then I became one. I tried to change back, but it didn't work, so now I'm stuck this way." Harry could tell that the old man didn't even half of what he had just signed.
He picked up the second BSL book and handed it to Mr. Rosier. "Read."
"Fine." Mr. Rosier grunted again and took the book from Harry.
The snake-boy stood and moved over to the fire next to Serenity and Perseus. Serenity had gone to sleep it seemed, but Perseus was wide-awake and giving Mr. Rosier a deadly glare.
"It's okay, Perseus," Harry hissed while petting the snake, "I'm pretty sure he's not going to hurt me."
"How do you know? You're only six." Perseus retorted.
"I'm older than you are!"
"That's not the point. Just be careful okay. There's something about him that isn't right."
"Okay I'll be careful. Promise." With that Harry lay down and fell asleep while Perseus less conspicuously watched Mr. Rosier. The man kept glancing over at Harry in between reading the books.
About an hour later, the old man stood and walked over to the dying fire. He nudged Harry awake while Perseus stayed close.
"C'mon kid," Mr. Rosier said when Harry popped an eye open. The snake-boy his at him and tried to roll over. "Your mum will be worried about you if you stay any longer. You don't want her to come looking for you again."
"My mum?" Harry mumbled.
"I think he means Miss Morgan," Perseus told him.
Harry jumped up and almost lost his balance.
"What time is it?" he signed to Mr. Rosier.
"5 o'clock," Mr. Rosier signed as he spoke.
Harry's eyes widened. He had to get home soon. He picked up Perseus and Serenity, who complained about having her long nap interrupted, and went for the door.
"Wait!" Mr. Rosier called out to him. "What about the books?"
"Keep them," Harry replied, "Study."
Harry ran out the door and raced home. He went through the back door and put his snakes down, and then he went into the kitchen.
"Where have you been?" Miss Morgan's voice came from the kitchen door.
Harry lifted his hands to sign but couldn't think of a good excuse.
"Did you go back to that scary man, Mr. Rosier?
Harry looked down and nodded slightly. Tears began to fill his eyes. He really didn't want to get in trouble.
"Harry you're not in trouble." Miss Morgan lifted his chin and wiped the one tear that had already fallen. "I was just worried. If you're going to go to Mr. Rosier's house then just tell me first. Besides I have some good news for you."
"So do I." Harry smiled.
"Okay, you first." She dragged him over to the kitchen table where they both sat down.
"I taught Mr. Rosier sign language."
"That's great, Harry," Miss Morgan exclaimed. "I'm going to start teaching again. If you want to come to school with me you can, but if Mr. Rosier says it's okay, then you can stay with him during the day."
Harry began to hop excitedly in his chair. He definitely wanted to stay with Mr. Rosier.
"But you have to ask him first." Harry barely heard a word she said. He was too busy thinking about all the things Mr. Rosier could teach him, especially how to use one of those sticks.
"Can we go ask him now?"
"No Harry. You just left from there."
"Please." Harry gave the saddest puppy dog/baby snake face he could muster.
"Okay, we'll go over there." Harry jumped up from the table and ran to the door. He didn't even pick up Perseus or Serenity to go with him.
"Harry wait!" the snake-boy glanced at his guardian for a moment. "Why don't we just take my car?"
Harry quickly ran to the car and buckled himself in. It seemed like Miss Morgan was taking way to long for the six-year-old's liking.
Miss Morgan got into the car slowly and smiled. She was enjoyed her charge's frustration. Harry hissed at her to hurry up.
They drove over to Mr. Rosier's house, which took longer than it should have, and Harry ran up to the front door. He knocked continuously until the door opened. Mr. Rosier looked angry, but Harry didn't care. He started to sign quickly and jumbled his words together. He even hissed at the same time.
"Hold on, boy," Mr. Rosier stopped him, "What are you trying to say?"
Harry took a deep frustrated breath.
"Hi Mr. Rosier." Miss Morgan beat him to it. "It seem Harry has become very fond of you, and I have decided that I want to go back to work. He really wishes to stay with you, so would you mind keeping him during the day?"
There was an odd silence as the old man thought about his answer. Harry made a pathetic face as Mr. Rosier glanced at him.
"When do you start?"
"Monday," the teacher replied, "But I have to set up some things in my classroom and such tomorrow."
Mr. Rosier looked at Harry who was bouncing in anticipation.
"How long?"
"Half the day usually."
At this point, Harry was signing 'please' repetitively.
"Alright the boy can stay with me."
Harry jumped up in the air and hissed happily. He didn't notice Mr. Rosier looking at him oddly and Miss Morgan looking at him embarrassedly.
"Thank You," Harry signed after his happy dance.
"Thank You," Miss Morgan said also.
Mr. Rosier just nodded and watched them walk to the car.
When they got home, Harry couldn't sit down. He was so excited about spending the day with Mr. Rosier that Miss Morgan didn't know what to do with him. She settled with letting him jump and run through the house until he passed out from exhaustion. Even though Miss Morgan couldn't talk to snakes, she was sure Serenity was just as relieved as she was to see Harry asleep.
Evan sat on his couch sipping some Irish coffee. He was just about to upstairs when Potter came back with that teacher woman. He had made the mistake before of calling her his mum, but he did quite know how long Potter had been with that woman. She acted enough like his mother.
Well, they had come to his doorstep and asked if Potter could stay during the day. Evan hesitantly said yes, but in his mind he was thinking about how easy they made his plans. Evan knew the boy would ask to learn magic as soon as he stepped through that door the next day. The only problem was that he didn't know how the boy would do the spells. He knew that the Dark Lord did some of his spells in Parseltongue, but Evan wouldn't be able to tell if Potter pronounced the spells right.
He would just have to wait until he got the spells' right effect to know if the incantations were pronounced correctly. If that didn't work, he could just go over the theory. He had enough books in his library to teach the boy that.
What about potions? Evan was an expert in dueling, but he couldn't say the same for his potions skills. He would teach the boy simple one and worry about the other after Potter learned to properly duel.
After he finished his cup of coffee, Rosier went into his library to look for elementary spell books. Why he had Hogwarts textbooks in his library, he didn't quite know. All he knew was that he wanted the boy to be prepared – to join the Dark Lord that is.
The next day Miss Morgan came to drop off Potter and his two snakes. The boy was as eager as he anticipated, but Evan was ready for him. He handed the boy a few first-year books and sent him towards the couch.
To his surprise, Potter devoured the books in a span of three hour. Evan just read the Daily Prophet while the boy looked up occasionally and signed a question.
"Mr. Rosier," Potter's sign accompanied a hiss to get his attention. "When will I get a wand?"
"When you're older," the Death Eater replied without signing. He knew enough to understand the boy and signing only slowed him down. "For now you will practice the wand movements with a fake wand and use mine for incantations.
Potter's eyes widened in excitement and Evan smirked. "Don't get too excited, boy. You'll only use my wand after you have all the movements right."
Potter slumped a bit but jumped back up. "How will I say the spells?" Damn this kid was smart.
"You'll hiss them apparently. When you get good enough you'll be able to do the spells without words."
"When do we start?"
Evan smirked again. He summoned the fake wand, then handed it to Potter. The boy practiced all the movements from the books with Evan's help. It was a good thing Potter was a fast learner because Evan was not a very patient teacher. After a while, the boy began to his. He assumed from the concentration on the serpentine face that Potter was saying the incantations.
They stopped only to eat lunch, which Evan had to reprimand Potter five times during because the boy kept rushing. Potter soaked up every lesson like a sponge.
The boy's snakes seemed to sleep the entire time. The smaller one woke only to roam outside for a while then came back and wrapped itself around Potter's neck.
They had gone through five spell books by the time the boy's guardian came to pick him up. Evan knew the woman didn't like him very much, but she tolerated him. He didn't mind. As long as she didn't interfere with his plans, the Death Eater would tolerate her too.
They went on like that for the next few weeks until something odd happened. Potter was practicing with his fake wand while hissing the spell when Evan's coffee cup exploded on the table.
They both jumped and Potter stared wide-eyed at the shattered pieces.
"I'm sorry," the boy signed quickly after throwing the fake wand on the table.
"Concentrating a bit too hard there." Evan fixed the cup with quick reparo. He smirked at the boy's accidental magic.
Potter shook his head and turned the book around so Evan could see the spell. It was the Reductor curse.
The Death Eater grabbed one of the first-year books and turned to another spell. He spotted the Lumos spell and knew it would test his theory.
"Do this spell." Potter complied and after a moment of hissing light emitted from the fake wand. "Now without the wand."
Potter looked questionably at him, Evan didn't leave room for argument. The boy put down the fake wand and after a few tries, a weak light began to form in the palm of his scaly hand.
Potter began to jump up and down at his accomplishment. Evan was only a bit surprised that the snake-boy could do wandless magic. He was the Boy-Who-Lived after all. The Death Eater just didn't expect it this early.
"Alright calm down boy." Evan stopped the six-year-old from knocking over the coffee table. "Don't get too excited over a bit of wandless magic. You still need to practice with a wand. That kind of spell-casting will take a lot of you."
Potter gave a serious nod of the head and picked up the fake wand again. There was no more spontaneous magic that day, but Evan could tell the boy was secretly trying. Sly little devil.
That day, Evan decided it was time to start teaching the boy Potions.
A/N: Wow over 2300 words. I hope this chapter was worth the wait. Typing while you are sick is not a pleasant experience. Thanks to everyone who stuck with me for this chapter and to all my wonderful reviewers.
Next Chapter:
A few months later found Harry, Miss Morgan, Serenity, Perseus, and even Mr. Rosier sitting at a dining table full cake and Harry's other favorite foods. Everyone except Mr. Rosier had on birthday hats. Somehow, no one could convince the old man to wear anything with bright colors.