Heart of Fire, Soul of Ice

Heart of Fire, Soul of Ice.

Chapter two: Odd behavior.

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I awoke with a feeling of impending doom. While that was hardly a new feeling, I had no obvious reason to feel like this right now. I probably should have gone back to sleep. I guessed it was pretty early still, and a quick glance on my watch, after I had put on my glasses, confirmed it. However, I wasn’t sleepy at all, so I got up, and decided to go for a walk. It has been too long since I was able to walk peacefully in the hallways, I thought, and pulled my Invisibility Cloak out of my trunk, and draped it around me, before rummaging through my stuff to look for the Marauder’s Map. It had been delivered by owl a week after the school had ended. I suspected Dumbledore.

Once I had found it, I slipped out the door, as quietly as possible. The other boys were usually heavy sleepers, but one can never be careful enough. The corridors were silent and I just wandered around, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. A glance at the map showed that Filch was chasing Peeves around in the dungeons, and Mrs. Norris was with him. Smiling faintly, I sat down in a windowsill and looked out at the lake. I wonder what Peeves did this time, I thought and watched the moon be reflected in the water.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” a voice asked from behind me, and I jumped, looking down at the map. It wasn’t showing anything. The person behind me chuckled. “It’s a nice cloak you’ve got there, Mr. Potter, but they don’t always hide you from detection,” he said, and sat down next to me in the sill. “What are you doing up?” he asked. I shrugged, and pulled the cloak from my head. “I’m not tired,” I said, feeling a bit sheepish, “so I thought I’d go for a walk. That’s all, Professor Pyre, I wasn’t up to something.” Pyre chuckled again and turned to look out the window. The way the moonlight reflected in his eye was positively eerie, like if it was a mirror, not an eye.

“I saw you talking to Professor Snape at dinner last night, and I know he’d be delighted to tell you that I’m a troublemaker,” I said, looking down at the map again. It still didn’t show anything. Pyre smiled slightly. “Yes, he did mention that, but I can’t seem to see the problem.” He turned towards me, and I noticed that he had both his ears pierced. I’d never seen that on a man before. Pyre smiled again. “Besides, Mr. Potter, I never listened to my own teachers, so why should I listen to someone else’s?” I had to smile at that. The professor seemed relaxed, so I figured I could ask him some questions. “What house were you in at school, sir?” Pyre chuckled softly. “I didn’t go to school. I’ve had private tutors, or so you could say...”

I blinked, surprised. This was the first time we’d had a teacher who hadn’t been to Hogwarts. “Oh…” I said, trying to think of something to ask. “How did you see me? I mean, most people can’t see through Invisibility Cloaks.” I had to ask that. It had nagged me for a while now. Pyre smiled again, and looked out the window, focusing on something I couldn’t see. “I can’t see through them, Mr. Potter. I could hear your heartbeats, so I knew there was someone there, and all humans have different scents, so I could tell it was you.” He rose swiftly, with a grace that simply was impossible, and straightened his cloak. “I have very sharp senses, you see.” Smiling yet again, he turned to me. “Don’t you think you should go back to your dorm now?” he asked.

As I got up and was straightening my own robe, I decided to ask a last question. “Professor, if you don’t mind me asking, why aren’t you in bed?” Pyre smiled again, even if his apparent amusement didn’t reach his eye. “Because Mikael decided to go to sleep in my bed, I don’t fit in his, and I can’t hardly sleep on top of him, can I? If I did, I wouldn’t get any sleep at all…” He turned and left, not making a sound as he walked. I went back to the Gryffindor Tower. As I entered the common room, I realized what Pyre had meant with his comment about getting no sleep, and by the time I crawled back in bed, I was willing to bet that my face was redder than Ron’s hair. There was definitely something really strange about Pyre.

When I woke again, I found that I was the only person in the dorm. For a moment, I was worried, but then Ron came bursting in, still in his pajamas and with his hair wet. I guessed he’d been showering. “Good morning!” he said, sitting down on his bed and changing to robes. I smiled. “Good morning to you too. What time is it?” “Breakfast has just begun,” came the muffled reply from underneath the robe. I changed quickly into my own robes, and we went down to join the rest of the school.

The breakfast was as noisy as ever, and I found it impossible to concentrate on what was being said, so I just nodded and made affirmative noises every now and then, while I looked around at the other tables. Professor Pyre wasn’t there, I realized as I looked at the Teachers’ Table. Mikael was there, though, talking rapidly to Snape, who looked as though he wanted to strangle the assistant. Knowing how Snape usually was, he probably did want to do something unpleasant to Mikael. Mikael seemed completely oblivious, smiling cheerfully and offering the Potions teacher an apple. I had to chuckle. I wonder if Mikael really is that clueless or if he’s doing it on purpose, I thought, and looked over at the Slytherin table.

In that instance, Malfoy looked up from his plate and met my gaze. I found myself completely unwilling to look away, because those silver eyes seemed to hold a pain and sadness no teenager should have to know. It lasted only a moment, and then he was back to his usual smirk. I looked away and turned my attention to my toast, which had been ignored for a while. Still, I couldn’t forget the turmoil of emotions in Malfoy’s eyes. What happened to you this summer, Malfoy?

Three days later, just after lunch, I, Ron and Hermione ran in to the Defense Against Dark Arts classroom just in time. We had been distracted by Peeves, who had been his usual annoying self. The professor looked up from the massive book on his desk and gave us a half-smile. “Ah, there you are. I believe all students are present and accounted for, then?” When nobody said anything, he nodded. “Good. Now, open your books on page 17 and read the section about dangerous humanoid and half-humanoid creatures.”

The whole classroom was silent. I wasn’t really surprised, though; there was something about Pyre that made me think that disobeying him would be a very bad idea. I guess the rest of the class felt that way, too. The door opened and Mikael came in, wearing pure white robes today, floating an inch or so over the floor. The classroom was immediately filled with whispers as the rest of the students discovered that. Professor Pyre looked up from his book and gave him a very annoyed look. “Mikael!” He said sharply. Mikael stopped, hovering in the air. “Hva? Did I do something wrong?” As he said that, I realized that he wasn’t originally English. I should have guessed that before. Hermione probably had. Pyre was still glaring at his floating assistant, who just looked confused. “You’re floating again!” Mikael laughed when Pyre said that, a silvery sound that rang through the classroom. “Oh, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again…” Pyre just gave him a long-suffering sigh, and turned back to his book.

I smiled softly, remembering Pyre’s comment from earlier. There was obviously more between the two of them than was visible. Pyre suddenly spoke up, startling the entire class. “I think we are ready to move on now. The creatures I am going to show you today are sentient. They aren’t actively hostile against humans, but they will attack if provoked. I happen to know that several of the younger and rasher members of the race has joined Voldemort.” The class gave a collected gasp as he said the name. Pyre only snorted. “The two I have brought here are neutral, but they have agreed to show themselves to you, so you can learn to deal with them, should you ever need to.” He gave a signal to Mikael, who nodded, and opened a door in the back of the room.

The creatures that came into the room were unlike anything I’d ever seen before. While they looked like humans from waist and up, they had the lower bodies of two giant snakes, black on the male and green on the female. The female was wearing a top of some sort, while the male was bare-chested. I looked at the rest of the class, wondering if they were as shocked as me. I often felt like the rest of the wizarding world knew much more than me. However, the only one who wasn’t staring, was surprisingly enough Parvati, who had her hand in the air, an intrigued expression on her face.

“Yes, Ms. Patil?” Pyre asked, brushing his hair behind his ear. “Are those Nagaes?” Parvati asked. Pyre nodded. “Yes. Or rather, the male is. The female of the race are called Nagini. Very good, Ms. Patil. Five points to Gryffindor.” I froze totally when he said that. Voldemort’s pet snake was named Nagini. I remembered that clearly form the dream I had in the beginning of my fourth year. Hermione nudged me. “Are you okay?” she whispered. “Yeah. I just remembered something. I’ll tell you later,” I answered.

The class spent a while taking notes on Nagaes and Nagini. I was more interested in watching the two of them. [That human is watching us,] the male muttered softly. The female nodded. [I’ve noticed. I wonder why?] The male chuckled. [He probably haven’t seen anything like us before. It’s an interesting scar he has, isn’t it?] [Yes, it is…] the female agreed, and slid closer to him, examining him slowly. [He’s Harry Potter!] she suddenly exclaimed. The man’s eyes widened. [The Harry Potter? The one in the prophecies?]

I stared at the two. They obviously knew something I didn’t. [What prophecies?] I asked, without thinking. The two of them, as well as the rest of the class turned and stared at me. I wondered what I had done wrong. The Naga looked at me. [I wasn’t aware that you were a Parselmouth, Harry Potter.] I hadn’t even realized that they were speaking Parseltongue. Pyre came up to us and spoke to the two of them in a language I didn’t recognize. They left, accompanied by Mikael. “You’re dismissed, class. Mr. Potter, stay behind, “ Professor Pyre said. The class scattered and left, although Hermione and Ron did look worried as they left.

“Am I in trouble?” I asked as soon as the classroom was empty. Pyre walked over and closed the door. “No, Mr. Potter, you’re not in trouble. Not yet.” He sat down in his chair and motioned for me to sit down in Mikael’s chair. “Not all of the creatures I bring here will appreciate having their private conversations listened in on, or interrupted. Even if they do speak a language you can understand.” I looked down at my shoes. “I’m sorry, professor. I wasn’t thinking. They said something about a prophecy, and I just acted instinctively.”

“There’s nothing wrong about that,” Pyre said, “but sometimes you must avoid doing that.” He smiled. “My natural reaction to being touched, for an example, is to bite. But as long as I work with Mikael, I need to hold back, because he is extremely tactile, and loves to touch people.” I must have looked like a fish on land, because Pyre laughed slightly. “Yes, I do react like that. I’m supposed to. It’s part off my training, and if I am unarmed, I use my teeth. It’s in my nature.” He smiled softly and pulled his hair into a ponytail. I took the opportunity to study his ears. I had suddenly noticed that his ears were pointed, something I hadn’t been able to see with his hair covering them.

“Is there anything interesting about my ears, Mr. Potter?” Pyre asked, the tone in his voice most amused. I look back down at my shoes, blushing. Getting caught staring at a teacher’s ears were most definitely embarrassing. “They’re pointed…” I said, and wanted to kick myself. As if he didn’t know. Pyre chuckled again, as he seemed to do often. “Yes, they are. They’re supposed to be. It’s part of why my hearing is so good.” As he spoke, one of his ears twitched. I was fascinated. “Why are your ears like that? I mean, human ears aren’t pointed.” Pyre chuckled and leaned very close to me, close enough for me to feel his breath wash over my ear. I must have been red as a phoenix. “True,” Pyre whispered softly, his voice sending shivers down my spine. “But I’ve never said I was human, have I?” he asked, and promptly licked my ear. I fell off my chair.

When I got up, he was gone, and I was alone in the classroom. I shook my head, trying to understand what had just happened. Pyre had licked my ear. No one had ever done that to me before. It felt odd. I looked at my watch and realized I was late for potions. Not wanting to deal with an angry Snape, I hurried out in the corridor, only to run straight into Malfoy, who looked like he’d been standing there for a while. “Watch where you’re going, Potter!” he snapped and walked off. After a while, he stopped, turned and glanced at my ear with an odd expression on his pale face. Then he left, and I was alone again. I groaned. He saw! I thought, shivering. I didn’t know what was worse, Pyre licking me, or Malfoy seeing it. Not until I joined Ron and Hermione did I realize that Pyre had distracted me from asking about the prophecy intentionally.

-TBC