The Serpent Of Lord Voldemort

— CHAPTER FOUR —

The Vanishing Serpent

For several minutes Harry sat in silence, his mind spinning with the astounding story he'd just been told. He couldn't decide which was more incredible: the revelation that Snape and his father had been working together against Voldemort, or the idea of Snape being in any way connected with Godric Gryffindor.

Then Dumbledore's voice broke in on his thoughts.

'Harry,' said Dumbledore in a very serious tone. 'Why did you not tell Mrs Figg that your aunt and uncle were in Majorca?'

This was the last thing Harry would have expected the Dumbledore to ask him. A niggling feeling of worry began to creep over him. He'd been staying with Mrs Figg in part due to her declining health, and the unexplained collapse of a neighbour's house was unlikely to have brought about a sharp improvement in this. Had the shock of believing the whole family dead caused her to have a heart attack, or a nervous breakdown?

'Is -- is she OK?' Harry asked a bit guiltily.

'She'll live,' said Dumbledore. His light blue eyes regarded Harry intently.

Harry realised that he hadn't answered Dumbledore's question. 'I was afraid she'd have me put into care. She wasn't well, and Uncle Vernon hadn't left an address or a phone number for me to contact him. Even if Mrs Figg had known the Dursleys were gone, she couldn't have done anything to get them back --'

'She could have told me,' said Dumbledore.

'You know each other?' said Harry, astonished. Then an even more bizarre possibility occurred to him. 'Mrs Figg's not a witch, is she?'

Dumbledore eyed Harry strangely. 'Harry, she's your godmother.'

'She's my what?' said Harry.

'She's your godmother,' Dumbledore repeated. 'You were not aware of this?'

'No!' said Harry. 'She -- why didn't she ever say something?'

'I shall be sure to ask her that when I write to let her know you've been found,' said Dumbledore calmly.

Harry shook his head, struggling to take it all in. Mad old Mrs Figg, with her horrible cats and her cabbage-smelling house, was his godmother? If it had been anyone but Dumbledore telling him this, he would have been convinced they were having him on.

'But it's lucky I didn't tell her, then,' Harry said abruptly. 'If you'd fetched the Dursleys back, they would've been there when Voldemort turned up. He'd have killed the lot of them --'

'He would not have,' said Dumbledore.

'He killed Cedric, didn't he?' said Harry, feeling a dull stab of pain at the memory. 'And Cedric'd done nothing to him. Uncle Vernon would have yelled at him, or tried to hit him -- he wouldn't have had the sense to run away, even if Voldemort gave him the chance ...'

'Voldemort would not have killed your relations, he'd not have been able to,' said Dumbledore. 'There is a great power in shared blood. When you were sent to live with your aunt and uncle, it was invoked for your protection. Had you been in their care, Voldemort could not have come anywhere near them, or you.'

'Oh, so that's what he was going on about,' said Harry. At Dumbledore's enquiring look, he elaborated, 'In the graveyard, Voldemort told the Death Eaters he couldn't kidnap me in summer because you'd done some sort of magic.'

'And that was the first you'd heard of it?' said Dumbledore.

'Yeah ...' said Harry. 'I didn't realise the Dursleys had to be around for it to work. Do they know about this spell?'

'I have explained its workings to them quite carefully on more than one occasion,' said Dumbledore. He looked suddenly aged and careworn again. 'I had thought that during the holidays, at least, you would be safe.'

'But I'm all right now,' said Harry spiritedly, 'and I bet the Dursleys have learnt their lesson, Voldemort blew up half their house!'

Then Harry recalled what Professor McGonagall had said when she'd brought him into the office.

'D'you think the Ministry of Magic will blame you for this?' he said nervously. 'Look, I'll tell them it was my fault. Fudge won't believe me about Voldemort, but I can prove I can turn into a snake. I'll say I was avoiding the Dursleys. If you -- if you expel me for being an illegal Animagus, that ought to convince him you didn't know --'

'Absolutely not,' said Dumbledore firmly. 'You are to tell no one of this ability; it saved your life when all my precautions failed. I shall simply have to come up with some other story to keep the Minister happy.'

'Voldemort wants you in trouble with the Ministry, that was his plan,' said Harry darkly. 'He was going to frame Hagrid for murdering me and get both of you sacked!'

'And it very nearly worked,' said Dumbledore. 'Quite fortunate, really, that I'd sent Hagrid abroad for the summer. Even so, Fudge would have had him taken to Azkaban weeks ago if he'd been able to do it quietly. It's good that you showed up when you did. Now that you clearly have not been eaten by a Lethifold, the Minister will be more interested in sweeping this entire matter under the rug than in hunting for scapegoats --'

'What did he want to put Hagrid in Azkaban for?' said Harry, startled. 'I haven't been murdered yet ... and it was an Aitvaras, not a Lethifold.'

'Voldemort has an Aitvaras?' said Dumbledore, standing up swiftly. 'And he brought it to your aunt and uncle's house? Harry -- do you know -- is it still there?'

'I -- I don't think so,' said Harry. 'He wanted Malfoy to change me into an Aitvaras, he never said anything about already having one.'

Dumbledore sat back down. 'I think you'd better tell me everything that's happened to you over the holidays. Start at the beginning -- when you boarded the Hogwarts Express at the end of last term.'

So Harry explained how Uncle Vernon had met him at King's Cross station and sent him on to Mrs Figg's, about gradually coming to realise she didn't know the Dursleys were in Majorca and deciding to write a letter to the Weasleys instead of telling her, that Voldemort had arrived in Privet Drive the next day; of hiding from him as a snake, but being caught, questioned and borne off to the Dark Lord's lair; how Voldemort had spoken of some mysterious task and put Harry in a tank --

'You were the serpent in the waiting room?' said Dumbledore, as close to gobsmacked as Harry had ever seen him.

'Yeah, I was ...' said Harry. 'Hang on, how did you know Voldemort had a serpent in his waiting room?'

'Professor Snape happened to mention it to me,' said Dumbledore, 'but do go on.'

Harry told Dumbledore how he'd given up on escaping, as either Voldemort or Nagini was always nearby; that he'd made up his mind to try and sabotage Voldemort's plans but hadn't been able to figure out what they were; of Wormtail's being left in his tank as a punishment and the curious episode of the chairs in the cellar.

'That wasn't a real spell, was it?' Harry asked Dumbledore. 'I was supposed to bite Professor Snape, but I only poked him, and Voldemort didn't seem to notice.'

'I imagine Voldemort was merely testing the snake to see if it truly could recognise Harry Potter,' said Dumbledore. 'He'd want to be satisfied that it was up to the job before he had it transformed into an Aitvaras.'

'I reckon Voldemort's part snake himself,' said Harry. 'He could smell the Death Eaters too, when they were scared -- and Snape was less scared than the others ...'

'Very likely,' said Dumbledore. 'Please, continue.'

'Then Voldemort sent me off with Lucius Malfoy,' said Harry. 'He was really angry -- that's when he said my father wasn't the heir of Gryffindor. Anyway, he gave Mr Malfoy a ring and said Draco was to turn me into an Aitvaras in Care of Magical Creatures. That way everyone would think it was Hagrid's fault when I bit Harry Potter. Malfoy brought me with him on the Hogwarts Express. I didn't want anybody to find out I was the snake, so I waited 'til all of them had left to get out of my cage, and stayed hidden until morning. And here I am ...'

'Extraordinary ...' said Dumbledore. 'That accounts for -- quite a number of things, actually ...'

'So -- so what was Voldemort doing?' said Harry. 'I mean, it looked as though he just sat in his study the whole summer and had the Death Eaters bring him packages.'

'To the best of my knowledge, that's all he was doing,' said Dumbledore. 'I suppose after being gone for almost fourteen years he had a fair amount of resupplying to do. Possibly he wished to have me out of the way before he made his next move and was waiting for this Aitvaras plot to come off. Certain of his supporters do appear to have been laying the groundwork for it at the Ministry ...'

That reminded Harry. 'What will we tell Fudge?'

Dumbledore thought for a few moments. 'The truth, more or less, up until the time Voldemort removed you from Privet Drive. We'll say that you were several streets away when your scar started to hurt. You ducked behind a wall, watched as Voldemort destroyed your house -- and found yourself in Hogsmeade.'

'Hogsmeade?' said Harry. 'How did I get there?'

'An accidental Apparition,' said Dumbledore. 'You've done it before, it's in your record with the Improper Use of Magic Office. You sneaked into Hogwarts -- there's a secret passage between Hogsmeade Church and the staff room. The entrance is through the wardrobe in the vestry --'

'Yes, I know about that one,' said Harry. It was one of the tunnels into Hogsmeade written on the Marauder's Map. Unfortunately, Argus Filch also knew about that particular passageway, which rendered it useless for Harry's purposes.

'You met up with a house-elf,' Dumbledore went on. 'Dobby, in fact. You told him that Voldemort was after you and asked him to help you hide. The next thing you remember is waking up this morning in Gryffindor Tower.'

'Er -- why don't I remember anything?' said Harry.

'We'll have to ask Dobby that. I expect he Transfigured you into something inconspicuous -- a warming pan, perhaps -- concealed you in plain sight for the rest of the summer, slipped you into your bed last night and changed you back into yourself.' Raising his voice slightly, Dumbledore called out, 'Dobby? May I have a word?'

With a sound like the crack of a whip, Dobby appeared. His goggling green eyes fell upon Harry; straight away he flung his arms around Harry's still rather grimy knees and burst noisily into tears.

'Harry Potter, sir!' wailed Dobby. 'Harry Potter is alive!'

Harry reached down and patted the house-elf's tiny shoulder. Dumbledore pulled a handkerchief from his robes and passed it across the desk to Harry, who handed it to Dobby. Dobby gave a final hiccoughing sob and blew his long, pencil-shaped nose loudly.

'I've called you here because we need your help to keep the secret of why Harry is alive,' Dumbledore told him. He explained the alibi he'd concocted, adding, 'It's doubtful you'll be questioned, but should anyone ask --'

'-- Dobby is telling them he hid Harry Potter!' squeaked Dobby triumphantly.

'Yes,' smiled Dumbledore. 'Thank you, Dobby.'

Dobby beamed delightedly at Harry and vanished once more.

Dumbledore checked his watch.

'Once your fellow students are in class, I'll take you to the hospital wing,' he said to Harry. 'You've spent nearly two months as a warming pan, after all; there could be lingering effects. I shall send Professor McGonagall to examine you as soon as she's free -- as I've already informed her you can turn into a snake, she may be given the real story of what happened to you.'

'Does she have any idea why I can turn into a snake?' said Harry.

'Not much of one, I'm afraid,' said Dumbledore. 'Your ability to resist reversal spells and your lack of Animagus training suggests some sort of inborn talent. Your speaking English as a snake seems the logical inversion of the gift of Parseltongue, yet we found no record of other Parselmouths transforming themselves in this manner. You say that you discovered this power when Mr Malfoy attempted to change you into a toad?'

Harry nodded.

'It is a little known fact that Animagi can deflect unfriendly Transfigurations by assuming their animal form --'

'But I'm not --' Harry began.

'Presumably a non-Animagus shape-shifter would be able to do the same thing. If you tried to fight Mr Malfoy's spell, you might have instinctively triggered the transformation. Rare as Parselmouths are, it's difficult to believe you're the first ever to be Transfigured against his will, but we really have no other explanation for your ability. No recognised type of natural shape-shifter changes exclusively from human to snake ... at least none that has been proven to actually exist ...' Dumbledore gazed at Harry thoughtfully through his half-moon spectacles. 'Do you know what a Lamia is, Harry?'

'No,' said Harry.

'The Lamia is a creature similar to a centaur, except that its lower body is that of a giant snake rather than that of a horse. And there is another difference, one which has a direct bearing on your situation ...'

Dumbledore conjured a large, leather-bound volume onto his desk. Embossed on the front in letters of gold was the title: A Field Guide to Natural Shape-shifters. Dumbledore riffled its pages, murmuring 'Beasts ... birds ... fishes ... myths and folk-tales ... ah, yes ... the Segregated Lamia.'

He read aloud to Harry:

... a most peculiar legend, the earliest mention of which is found in volume seventeen of Radolphus Pittiman's biography of Uric the Oddball: Uric the Oddball Visits the Holy Land:

"... our guide claimed that the Lamiae were a people made up wholly of women, mothers bringing forth daughters without need of a father -- but Uric said it wasn't so. An old Efreet once told him that just as a family of good blood may produce a Squib, so may a Lamia bear a son. Such offspring, invariably abandoned by the mother, can take on the appearance of human infants and be adopted by unsuspecting travellers. For whilst in the female Lamia, human and serpent are for ever joined, in the male they are for ever apart: he shifts at will from one to the other ..."

'You think I'm one of those -- those Separate Lamia?' said Harry. 'But I had a father, I look just like him! And my mother wasn't some kind of -- of snake woman!'

'That is rather the problem with that theory,' Dumbledore admitted. 'Of course, you could still be a Segregated Lamia if both your parents had ancestors who were ones ... but the Segregated Lamia has long been considered mere myth. Uric the Oddball is -- er -- a less than reliable source, and no living example of such a shape-shifter has ever turned up, in the Middle East or anywhere else. Until now ... It would be fascinating to see what the Order of Circe might make of your case ...'

For a brief instant, Dumbledore wore an expression very much like Hermione's right before she went scurrying off to the library. Then he gave a regretful sigh.

'... but in the current climate, presenting a paper on it would be utterly out of the question. In any event, we may never find out for certain why you can transform into a snake. Nobody knows how the first werewolf became a werewolf, or why some wizards are born Parselmouths. The Slytherin family believed they were descended from Gorgons ... but it hardly seems likely that a wizard encountering such a creature would survive to have a child with it ...'

Remembering what he'd learnt of Gorgons in Defence Against the Dark Arts, Harry was inclined to agree. A rare and dangerous type of hag found mainly in Greece, the Gorgon had snakes growing out of its head instead of hair and a deadly gaze similar to that of a Basilisk. Luckily most of them were happy enough to keep to their desolate island homes (rendered unplottable by the Greek Ministry of Magic) and be left alone.

'But for now, hospital wing,' said Dumbledore. He stood and ushered Harry out the office, following him onto the moving staircase.

'I don't have any robes or books or anything,' said Harry as they descended. 'My trunk's at Mrs Figg's, unless the Dursleys took it back.'

'I have your trunk,' said Dumbledore. 'It will be brought to your dormitory along with your new set books for this year.'

'What about Hedwig? Ron said you'd got her -- is she all right?'

'Hedwig is fine,' said Dumbledore. 'She's in the Owlery. I'll send her to visit you when I post the letters I'll be writing.' He beamed down at Harry. 'Your godfather will be extremely happy to know you're still alive.'

Harry and Dumbledore stepped off the revolving stairs and set off down the corridor. Just as the stone gargoyle had hopped back into its place, a voice called, 'Headmaster!'

Professor Snape was hurrying towards them.

Harry watched his approach with an odd mixture of emotions. Had Harry met up with Snape as little as an hour earlier, he would have yanked out his wand and cursed the Potions master with the worst hexes he could manage, believing that Snape was responsible for passing Voldemort the information that had led to the deaths of Harry's parents. Now Harry knew Snape was responsible -- but he had done it solely as part of James Potter's plan to stop Voldemort murdering countless other witches and wizards.

Something of Harry's thoughts must have shown on his face. When Snape's gaze fell upon him, a flicker of puzzlement replaced the infuriated expression he customarily wore in Harry's presence. Then the anger returned, stronger than ever.

'I have come to report a theft,' Snape said. 'Last evening, a pet snake belonging to Draco Malfoy vanished from the Hogwarts Express. He tells me it was in its cage when he left the train. I have questioned the house-elves; they claim the cage was empty when they transported it to the Slytherin dormitories. The Bloody Baron has assured me that Peeves had nothing to do with it. This leads me to suspect that it was taken by a student as a prank.'

Snape stared pointedly at Harry. Harry didn't say anything, although he could have denied stealing Malfoy's snake with perfect honesty. Harry hadn't stolen the snake, he'd been the snake, sent to Hogwarts with Malfoy on Voldemort's orders, to kill Harry Potter.

Naturally, Snape wasn't to know this, despite the fact that he had unwittingly helped prepare the snake for its mission. Harry fought down a wild urge to ask Snape how his leg was feeling and to advise him that if he could smell more frightened next time, perhaps Voldemort wouldn't single him out to be bitten.

'I'll have Mr Filch keep a watch for it and give out a notice to the school at lunch,' said Dumbledore calmly. 'But as I recall, Mr Malfoy already has an owl. No special permission was given for a second animal, or for an unusual pet such as a serpent. I must therefore insist that when the creature is found, it be brought straight to me.'

Snape's eyes narrowed. He looked from Harry to Dumbledore and back again. Harry had the horrible sensation that Snape really was having a go at reading his mind. Snape, however, merely said, 'Of course, Headmaster.'

Dumbledore and Harry went on to the hospital wing. Dumbledore informed Madam Pomfrey of Harry's purported stint as a warming pan and asked her to verify that he had suffered no permanent damage.

Madam Pomfrey felt Harry's forehead, peered into his eyes, patted his hair and pushed it aside to inspect his ears. She took his pulse, then turned his hand over and gripped it hard, apparently checking that all the bones were present and in their proper shape. Finally she had Harry recite the alphabet, backwards. This wasn't nearly as easy as it sounded -- Harry narrowly missed skipping over Q.

At the end of the examination, Madam Pomfrey seemed somewhat perplexed. She gave Harry a dose of nasty-tasting Wizard Tonic and a pair of pyjamas, directing him to a bed in the back of the ward with screens pulled around it.

Harry lay there feeling rather let down after the morning's excitement. His mood improved considerably when Madam Pomfrey returned with a breakfast tray that included kippers and stewed tomatoes as well as the usual hospital wing porridge, and even further when Hedwig came swooping into the ward. She fluttered down onto Harry's bedside table at once, hooting ecstatically, bobbing her head and ruffling her wings. Harry had never before seen her act so much like Pigwidgeon. Madam Pomfrey looked on disapprovingly, but as Hedwig's visit had been given the OK by Dumbledore, said nothing.

Harry stroked Hedwig's feathers. 'I'm sorry I left you -- I didn't have a choice. I would've come back sooner if I could, honestly ...'

At lunch Ron and Hermione came to see him, the latter with a gleaming silver prefect badge on her chest.

'People are saying that you were changed into a warming pan by a house-elf!' she said. 'Is that true, Harry?'

'Yeah,' said Harry loudly for Madam Pomfrey's benefit. Then in a softer voice he said, 'No, I was a snake, but Dumbledore doesn't want anybody to know.'

He told them how he'd spent his holidays as Voldemort's pet and of being dispatched to Hogwarts to murder -- himself. Ron and Hermione listened wide-eyed, Ron giving a nervous twitch whenever Harry mentioned Voldemort's name.

'So that's how you hid from everyone for so long!' said Hermione. 'We've been looking for snakes. I -- er -- told Dumbledore you could transform ...'

She glanced at Harry anxiously, as if afraid he might be angry with her.

'That's all right, I would've had to tell him when I got back anyway,' said Harry. 'Just don't tell anyone else, whatever you do.'

'And Snape was there?' said Ron. 'D'you really think he's on our side?'

'For a while I was sure he wasn't,' said Harry.

He recounted what Voldemort had told Lucius Malfoy about Snape and the heir of Gryffindor, and what Dumbledore had told him. Harry's throat grew tight as he explained what his father had done. Even though he understood why James Potter had wished Voldemort to go on believing he was Gryffindor's heir, Harry couldn't help wondering how things might have worked out differently if Professor Snape had instead been permitted to follow his own inclination and tell Voldemort the truth.

'But now You-Know-Who knows your father wasn't heir of Gryffindor,' said Hermione, sounding petrified. 'That means he'll be searching for the real heir! You'll have to start being very careful, Ron ...'

'Me?' said Ron in astonishment. 'Why'll I have to be careful?'

'"Old Gryffindor families",' said Hermione. 'You Weasleys --'

'Oh, that,' said Ron. 'Nah, don't worry, it's only our family that've all been in Gryffindor. Most Weasleys are -- most Weasleys haven't been.'

'Well, my great-uncle Ronald -- I was named after him -- he was a Ravenclaw. And -- and Mum had a -- had some cousins in Hufflepuff ...'

Ron's ears had gone bright red. Hermione gave him a sharp look.

'Anyway, we're not old Gryffindors,' he said hurriedly, 'not like the Longbottoms. I wouldn't want to be in Neville's shoes if you're right. Or Eleanor Branstone's -- she's a Hufflepuff, but there've been Branstones in Gryffindor for ages. It was a Branstone who became Head of house after Godric Gryffindor was murdered. Or Vidge Atkins --' Ron looked suddenly horrified. 'If You-Know-Who kills her, we'll have no one to play Keeper!'

'Vidge's our new Keeper?' said Harry, interested.

Although the Quidditch season had been cancelled last year, Angelina Johnson had decided to get a head start training future players. Harry had been too preoccupied with the Triwizard Tournament to pay much attention to her programme, but Vidge Atkins was difficult to overlook: a huge girl, as tall as Ron and rather heavier, in spite of being two years behind him.

'Yes, and I'll be taking Alicia's place as Chaser,' said Ron. 'Fred and George bought me a Nimbus 2000! Second-hand, but they mended the tail, it hardly lists at all now. Mind, they probably just felt sorry for me because everyone thought you were dead --'

'How can you talk about Quidditch at a time like this?' demanded Hermione. 'Neville and Eleanor and Vidge could be murdered! We've got to warn them!'

'I dunno, Hermione ...' said Harry slowly. 'Neville's panicky enough as it is, and Eleanor and Vidge are a bit young to be worrying over something like that. And how would you explain how you'd found out Voldemort was after them?'

'Well, I'll certainly be having a word with Professor McGonagall,' said Hermione severely.

*

Professor McGonagall herself turned up in the hospital wing that evening to discuss Harry's condition with Madam Pomfrey.

'I didn't see any signs of injury due to mis-Transfiguration,' Madam Pomfrey told her. 'Although I'm no expert ...' Madam Pomfrey hesitated, then said, 'If I didn't know better, I'd say he was suffering from nervous exhaustion. There's no way he could have remained conscious whilst a warming pan, is there?'

'No, of course not, he'd have no brain to be conscious with,' Professor McGonagall assured her. 'Being Transfigured into an inanimate object can be very disorienting for precisely that reason, particularly if the subject is already in an over-excited state. I'll have a quick look, though, to be sure nothing else is the matter with him ...'

Professor McGonagall took Harry into one of the private rooms at the end of the hospital wing. As soon as the door was shut, she fixed him with a gimlet stare and said, 'Potter, why didn't you tell me about this before?'

'I was afraid I'd be expelled,' said Harry, not quite meeting her eyes. 'I mean, I couldn't prove I wasn't an illegal Animagus.'

He expected Professor McGonagall to begin telling him off. Instead she gave a weary sigh. 'Just as well you didn't, I suppose. One of the first people I'd have consulted with would have been Professor Moody.'

Professor McGonagall had Harry describe how it felt when he changed shape and his experience of being a serpent. She watched him transform, then turned into a cat herself to sniff at him and lick his face. She tried various reversal spells, which only worked when Harry chose not to fight them.

'Are you feeling up to being Stunned?' she said. 'I'd like to see if the Transfiguration can be reversed when you're unconscious.'

'Yeah, OK,' said Harry.

He sat on the edge of the bed and changed into a snake.

'Stupefy,' said Professor McGonagall.

There was a flash of scarlet light. Harry felt as if Aunt Petunia had finally succeeded in catching him a blow with her frying pan. He swung his head from side to side to clear it.

'Potter?' said Professor McGonagall.

'Hang on, I'm still awake,' said Harry.

Professor McGonagall gave a slight start. 'You really can talk when you're a snake ... Let me try Stunning you again, I hadn't wanted to use full strength.'

'Stupefy,' she said, more firmly this time.

Her spell left Harry numb and thoroughly dazed, but conscious.

'Still didn't work,' he said blearily.

'Stupefy!' shouted Professor McGonagall.

Not exactly Stunned, but not truly awake either, Harry let out a feeble moan and, more on instinct than anything else, wriggled under the pillow to hide. From the soft, feathery depths, he could dimly hear Professor McGonagall saying, 'Potter, are you all right? Enervate!Enervate!'

'I'm fine,' said Harry poking his nose out. 'You almost had it that time, though. Try it with a bit more magic ...'

'Now that is peculiar,' said Professor McGonagall. 'You seem to be quite hex-proof as a snake ...' She eyed her wand uneasily. 'I don't think we ought to experiment with stronger spells at present. Back to the ward, Potter. You should get some rest.'

She reached for the doorknob.

'Hang on, I need to ask you something,' said Harry, slithering from beneath the pillow and turning back into himself. 'You know how Voldemort wanted to kill my dad because he thought he was heir of Gryffindor?'

'I'd known that He Who Must Not Be Named suspected James was the heir,' said Professor McGonagall. 'I hadn't known that James had put Severus up to egging him on.' The tone of her voice implied that, had she done so, she definitely would have had something to say about it.

'But now Voldemort's found out he wasn't,' Harry ploughed on, 'Hermione reckons he'll be looking for someone else. Neville and Vidge may be in danger, and Eleanor Branstone ...'

'You're not to concern yourself with that, Potter,' said Professor McGonagall sharply. Harry opened his mouth; she raised her hand to silence him. 'I'll speak with Dumbledore. You may be certain he'll take the appropriate precautions. But stopping You-Know-Who is none of your concern. Your father had his whole life ahead of him, he should never have been allowed --' Professor McGonagall's voice broke. Her eyes were strangely bright. 'I realise we haven't done the best job of protecting you in the past, but --' she swallowed and went on in a more normal tone, '-- but this year, you need to concentrate on your O.W.Ls.'

*

Madam Pomfrey let Harry leave the hospital wing next morning after a final check-up and another spoonful of the revolting Wizard Tonic. Ron and Hermione showed up at the ward to accompany him to breakfast. When they reached the Entrance Hall, Ron said, 'You go on, I want a word with Neville. And Hagrid's really keen to see you, Harry.'

Hagrid wasn't the only one keen to see Harry, judging by the number of people craning to catch a glimpse of him in the Great Hall. Harry hadn't been gawped at so much since his first week at Hogwarts. Even Snape turned to glare at him for a second or two before going back to haranguing a blonde Slytherin girl, who appeared utterly bewildered by his behaviour. Snape must have been in an especially foul mood: normally students in his own house were spared the worst of his temper. Hagrid himself was waving energetically at Harry and Hermione from the front of the Hall. He came down to meet them at the Gryffindor table.

'Harry! Yeh look awful!' he said by way of greeting.

'I, er, don't think being a warming pan quite agreed with me,' Harry mumbled.

'Ah, well, don' worry -- food an' fresh air'll soon set yeh righ'.'

Hagrid grabbed a dish of scrambled eggs and another of fried mushrooms, dumped the lot on Harry's plate and topped it off with half a jar of orange marmalade. Harry suddenly realised that he was hungry enough to actually consider tucking into this bizarre concoction.

As he pulled up his chair he said to Hagrid, 'How'd you get on with that job you were doing for Dumbledore? He said he'd sent you abroad over the holidays ...'

'Oh ... coulda bin better, coulda bin worse,' said Hagrid evasively.

Once Harry had eaten several forkfuls of egg and mushroom (doing his best to pick out the bits that hadn't been touched by the marmalade), Hagrid headed back for the staff table. Harry noticed that the blonde witch Snape had been remonstrating with was sitting there beside him.

'Who's that woman next to Professor Snape?' he asked Hermione.

'That's Professor Millarca,' Hermione said, 'the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.'

At that moment Ron cleared his throat behind them.

'Neville's got something to tell you, Harry,' he said.

Harry twisted his head to see Neville Longbottom fingering his prefect badge nervously.

Neville drew a deep breath and said, 'You can't say You-Know-Who's name any more, Harry -- I'll have to take points from Gryffindor if you do.'

'I don't reckon Dumbledore will let you,' said Harry, 'as it's him who told me to say "Voldemort".'

'Oh,' said Neville, reddening slightly. 'Right.' He took the empty seat on Hermione's other side and busied himself buttering some toast.

Ron sat down by Harry, wearing a disgruntled scowl.

After breakfast, as Harry, Ron and Hermione were recrossing the Entrance Hall, their path was blocked by Crabbe and Goyle. Harry (who had assumed that Malfoy merely had a few sneering comments to make about his summer as a warming pan) was taken aback at the sheer rage that twisted the pale boy's pointed face when he stepped forward between his two hulking companions.

'You took it,' said Malfoy, and there was nothing at all bored or drawling about his voice now. The venom with which he spoke was frightening.

'Took what?' said Harry, for a moment honestly having no idea what Malfoy was talking about.

'You took my snake! Off the Hogwarts Express! If you don't tell me where you've hidden it, right now --' Malfoy drew his wand.

'I never laid a finger on your snake,' said Harry.

This was technically the truth, although Malfoy clearly didn't believe a word of it.

'Had you remembered to feed him that morning?' Harry asked innocently. 'Perhaps he went looking for something to eat.'

Malfoy's face grew visibly whiter. As Harry was well aware, the snake had been given no food whatsoever in its entire stay at Malfoy Manor. Pressing his advantage, Harry continued, 'He's probably off to the lake to find a nice frog. I'd get after him straight away if I were you, before he's eaten by the Giant Squid.'

Malfoy turned a lighter shade yet.

'Or Hagrid feeds him to one of the Skrewts,' Ron put in, obviously enjoying Malfoy's discomfiture. 'I bet Hagrid knows all about catching snakes. Course, after the way you tried to have Buckbeak executed, he's not likely to help you.'

Malfoy didn't bother replying to this. 'C'mon,' he said to Crabbe and Goyle.

The three of them hurried off. Harry watched them go, not nearly as pleased as he normally would have been to see Malfoy in such a flap. He hadn't given a second's thought to what might happen to Malfoy when the snake went missing. With a cold feeling in his stomach, he recalled the screams of the Death Eaters who had visited Voldemort's study that summer.

'Malfoy's going to be in loads of trouble for losing that snake,' he said quietly. 'Voldemort was furious with his father. Told him this was his last chance and he was holding him personally responsible --'

Before Harry could say any more, Ron whipped round and seized him by the shoulders, snarling, 'Will you stop saying the name?'

Harry angrily wrenched himself free. He opened his mouth to tell Ron that he was being as stupid and superstitious as Professor Trelawney with her death omens and that he, Harry, would call Voldemort by whatever name he liked. Then Harry remembered how miserable he'd been the previous autumn when he and Ron hadn't been speaking to each other, and choked back his words.

'Ron,' said Hermione in a pacifying tone, 'You-Know-Who's been trying to kill Harry since he was a baby. I don't think Harry's not saying his name will do anything to change his mind.'

Ron looked abashed at this.

'Sorry,' he muttered to Harry.

'Why was You-Know-Who upset with Lucius Malfoy?' said Hermione.

'He -- I'm not sure, actually,' said Harry. 'He smelled angry from the time he took me out of my tank. Then when Mr Malfoy came in, he started shouting about my father not being the heir.'

'He blamed Lucius Malfoy for that?' said Hermione, frowning.

'I dunno ...' said Harry. He strained his memory, trying to bring back the details of the conversation he'd overheard in Voldemort's study. 'He said my dad was no more Gryffindor's heir than Mr Malfoy was -- that Snape and Wormtail had been wrong. Oh, and before that he said he'd been talking to Madam Turpin.'

'Madam Turpin?' said Hermione keenly. 'I knew there was something fishy going on with her! What did he say about her?'

'That she'd almost got the Triwizard Tournament called off,' said Harry.

'I don't see what that has to do with Lucius Malfoy either,' said Hermione, extremely puzzled.

'Maybe Vol-- maybe You-Know-Who was just taking it out on him,' shrugged Harry. 'But Mr Malfoy smelled really scared. He carried my cage with him everywhere at the Manor, until he gave it to Draco. I wonder if Malfoy's told him about this ...'