Viper Weed (Remix)

Chapter 2

Harry amused himself through the rest of the day by reading through a few textbooks on Defense Against the Dark Arts, since he really couldn't face reading Herbology textbooks at the moment.

When evening came (he knew lessons had finished because he luckily had a very nice pocket watch from Hermione in his bag), he got a visit not from his friends, but from someone entirely unexpected.

When there came a knock on the door, Harry yelled ‘come in' without thinking. Surely only a few teachers and his friends would know of his location, let alone his password? However, he was unprepared for the silver haired young man that stepped in instead.

"Malfoy." Harry whispered menacingly, his eyes narrowing. For a moment Draco looked a little worried, but that passed and he moved easily from the door and slumped on Harry's bed. From his seat by the window, Harry scowled openly at him. This was his room, and although he had only occupied it for a few hours he was feeling increasingly protective of it.

"Potter." He replied casually, kicking off his shoes and resting his legs on the bed, arms behind his head.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" Harry said threateningly.

"My, my Potter. We have quite a temper don't we?" He said calmly, not displaying the same wariness the staff had shown towards him. Harry frowned, anger building in his chest.

"I have every reason to be angry at you Malfoy. It's because of you that I'm like this." Harry got slowly to his feet, thinking idly of the best way to kill the boy in front of him.

"I'll have you know that Snape said he would personally cut out that tongue of yours if you hurt me. Since you're rather a new hybrid, he agreed that the laws protecting you don't quite exist yet." The other boy said smugly. A low growl slipped out of Harry involuntarily.

"So why are you here Malfoy?" Harry asked again.

"It's part of my punishment for letting this happen to you."

"More like extra punishment for me." Harry muttered angrily, sinking back into the windowsill.

"Its not exactly a field day for me either Potter. I have better things to do than hang around a plant boy all day."

Harry was having a difficult time restraining himself from physically attacking the other boy. Although he had pulled back and sat down it was only a method of controlling his anger. Taking deep breaths, Harry closed his eyes and tried to imagine that Draco wasn't there. Unfortunately the other boy didn't seem to want to co-operate with the illusion.

"I hear they had to tie you up Potter. What did you do? Snap your jaws at them?" Harry's eyes shot open, and he took a few quick strides over to the bed before grabbing Malfoy by the collar of his robes and dragging him onto the floor. From there he heaved the boy up and pressed him against the wall, not pausing to wonder at his new found strength.

"Look, Malfoy." Harry spat. "If you hadn't stolen my glove and then enraged that bloody plant then I wouldn't be like this. This. Is. All. Your. Fault." He said, punctuating each word with a shake. Even in this position, Draco had the audacity to sneer at him.

"Looks like I enraged more than one plant, Potter." Harry just stared at him for a moment.

"Argh!" He growled, pulling away and trying to restrain the urge to hit the boy. Draco shrugged, unconcerned, and flopped back onto Harry's bed. Harry paced the room, rubbing his temples. Merlin the boy was infuriating.

"Anyway, as I was saying, Dumbledore informed me this morning that I was going to have to look after you in classes and such until you can control yourself. Since we have practically the same schedule anyway it seems you're stuck with me." Draco said with an insincere smile at Harry's obvious horror in response to his statement.

Harry just continued to pace. Control myself? What the devil does Dumbledore think I'm going to do? Sprout vines and run rampage?! Harry growled in frustration.

"Your silence in this matter isn't reassuring." Draco said, still sounding completely unconcerned. Harry forced a smile and turned to look at the other boy.

"It's all fine. Just fine. I'm a bloody plant, and I'm stuck with you for god knows how long. Everything is just fine and dandy." He spoke through gritted teeth. He briefly considered sitting down, but just as he neared the window, Draco's next comment set him pacing again.

"You know, Snape has taken up the task of studying you." Draco said blandly from where he was laying on his back and staring at the ceiling.

"Studying me!?" Harry said angrily. "He's probably going to bloody dissect me!"

"Hmm, yes, he did say it would be preferable to spending time in your company, but Dumbledore gave quite precise orders against that." Draco said, gesticulating lazily. "Oh, Potter, what's the time?"

"6:37…why?" Harry asked, pausing to examine the pocket watch. Draco suddenly sat upright.

"Ah, we're late. I'm supposed to bring you to see Professor Sprout and Professor Snape down in the greenhouses. Oh, and you were meant to have got food before, but never mind you'll manage." Harry just growled in response, and followed the other boy through the castle and down towards the greenhouses.

On their way there they were greeted by a few people, and he listened to Draco talk lazily about his family and wealth, all the while offhandedly insulting him. Harry disliked Draco even more this year. Instead of the outright insults he'd suffered before, Draco just insulted him as if he didn't even think of it anymore. In many ways this made Harry feel worse than when Draco was trying to insult him. At least it had just sounded like insults rather than offhanded fact.

When they arrived, Harry found Professor Sprout talking quietly to Snape, who was standing and looking rather out of place in the greenhouses. Harry caught a few words of their conversation before he entered.

"-got to be careful. The boy's a walking disaster, and now he's got the power to back it up." Snape muttered.

"Hush, here they are." Sprout said quietly, but by this time Harry had stopped paying attention. A feeling of coming home had been building ever since he'd stepped out of the castle, and now he was through the threshold of the greenhouse warmth and humidity struck him, and he felt just so right and happy that he stopped in the doorway and drew a deep breath. Behind him Draco muttered something rude before elbowing him in the back.

"Bloody hell Potter, got your feet glued to the ground or something?" Came the sharp voice. Jerked momentarily out of his trance, Harry stepped into the greenhouse properly. However, he missed Professor Sprout's greetings, because he had just spotted something, or rather several something's at the far end of the room.

Ignoring Snape's orders to come back, he drifted gently towards the Viper Weeds that were sitting sleepily in their pots, eyes closed. When he approached however, they began to open their eyes, and watched him avidly as he drew close. Harry noticed that the shades on the plant were different, and there was a strong new color running down the spine of the plant along the same line as the brown freckles. When Harry thought about it, this new color was really more like a visible scent to him.

"I'm back." Harry said dreamily, unconsciously slipping into Parseltongue. The plant nearest to him slithered its long stem forwards and flicked out its slitted tongue in greeting, and Harry found himself reciprocating the action. Reaching out a hand he drifted a fingertip along the jawbone of the tiny reptilian plant, and it practically crooned in happiness. All around him the plants were leaning forwards and clamoring to be touched, repeating the word ‘back' in their sibilant voices.

Harry didn't notice that anyone else was near until the Viper Weeds unanimously turned their heads to look past him, the hisses changing from joyful to warning.

"Simply amazing. I've never seen anything like it before." Professor Sprout was standing beside him gazing in wonder at the plants. For a moment Harry found himself narrowing his eyes at her and hissing before shaking the feeling of threat off.

"Mr Potter, may I ask what you said to them?" She asked. Harry frowned.

"I just said, ‘I'm back'. Didn't you hear me?"

"I am surprised that you have not yet learnt to distinguish between human tongues and Parseltongue Mr Potter." Snape's voice floated icily down from behind him. Harry spun round suddenly, having not noticed the older man come up. This time he really did hiss, and Snape flinched and took a step back. When he stopped, he noticed that all three people were giving him very odd looks. Snape and Sprout were giving him identical looks of mistrust and fear, but Draco was just looking at him with clearly unveiled curiosity. He wondered briefly what it was that the teachers knew that Draco didn't.

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The four of them were soon sitting in Professor Sprout's office drinking tea. Snape sat not saying a word, appearing to be deep in thought. Sprout and Draco were currently in a mild conversation about the properties of Mandrake root.

Harry however, sat withdrawn, cradling a plant pot containing a single Viper Weed. He had eventually acquiesced to leave the greenhouse, but only if he was allowed to take one of the plants with him. After a brief internal debate, he had chosen the one he had stroked when he'd first approached. Sprout had been reluctant to see the plant leave the protection of the greenhouse, but Harry had assured her that it wouldn't bite, and that it would be fine with him. Or rather he'd simply held onto it and answered her questions with brief nods or short answers.

Professor Sprout's office was at the back of the greenhouses, in a room that joined onto the school and opened out to the grounds. It was reasonably small but was cosy, and joined to her suite of rooms. Naturally it was filled with dried plants and other vegetation either alive and growing or bottled and preserved.

Harry didn't really take in the room though, as he was more absorbed in the plant before him. The Viper Weed was primarily one vine-like stem topped with the head of a snake. Off it were tiny leaves, and at the base of it were several thinner tendrils that burrowed underground and curled around the stem.

The actual plant was a similar luminescent white to Harry's skin, and down the back of the stem ran a stripe of brown freckles. The plant's eyes were a vivid green, as were the tiny leaves. The tongue that flickered in and out of the pointed teeth was also a similar green, although much darker.

Dreamily, Harry ran a fingertip up and down the creature's jaw, trying to fight the urge to flick out his tongue in reply to the Viper Weed's own twitching one. Occasionally the plant would repeat the word ‘back'. Harry noticed that although it was Parseltongue, it had an odd lilt to it that reminded him of the smell of growing things.

After a moment's hesitation as the plant repeated ‘back' yet again, Harry leant close towards it and began speaking in Parseltongue.

"I'll see if I can bring you up to my room…or should I move down to the greenhouses? I want to be somewhere I can grow properly." Harry paused for a moment to consider what he'd just said. ‘Grow properly'? What the hell am I thinking? Oh Merlin, I'm even starting to think like a plant.


The plant looked at him steadily and unblinkingly for a moment before repeating a string of his words.

"Bring back room, bring back room room. " Harry frowned. He couldn't be sure it understood him, but at the moment he just felt the need to keep speaking to it, keep being around it.

"I'll try pet, I'll try." He said, smiling dazedly as the plant repeated the words.

"Try bring back room, try, try." Harry nodded in response, and it imitated him, dipping its head.

"Potter, what are you telling it?" Draco's voice cut through his thoughts and Harry scowled at him before turning to Professor Sprout.

"Professor, can I bring this plant back to my room? Please?" Harry asked, trying his best to be persuasive.

"Actually Harry, I was going to suggest it myself. I think that being around the Viper Weed is obviously making you feel more comfortable. I do want you to be careful though, and you will not, of course, be able to take it outside your room. It is still a dangerous plant, although we are willing to make a special exception in your case." She said with a kind smile, although she was evidently worried.

"Are you sure that that is such a wise decision Pomona?" Snape interjected quietly. Sprout looked at him appraisingly.

"Can you think of a better solution?"

"A better solution to what?" Asked Draco, irritated at being left out of the conversation, and curious too. He had not missed the agitation of the teachers around Harry.

"Nothing dear." Sprout said dismissively.

"I suppose that until a more suitable solution is found, this one must remain." Snape said, massaging his temples, his dark eyes distant. "However, I refuse to be responsible for any consequences that arise from your decision."

"Of course Severus." Sprout nodded and turned back to her tea. Harry looked at her thoughtfully.

"Do you think I could teach the Viper Weed language?" Harry asked tentatively.

"Can you speak to them already? And foremost, do they understand you?" Harry frowned before replying.

"I think so. It keeps repeating words I say." Now it was Sprout's turn to look thoughtful.

"Could you ask it to do something…say to nod its head at Mr Malfoy here?" She asked curiously. Harry complied, and leaned towards the small plant.

"Would you mind doing something for me? It's just a quick experiment. Could you nod your head at they boy over there? The light colored one." Harry asked. The plant looked at him for a long moment before complying, another string of words spilling from its jaws.

"Experiment nod light one back, bring room try." Harry smiled as it dipped its head at the surprised Draco.

"It keeps repeating these strings of words. Just now it said ‘Experiment nod light one back, bring room try.'" Harry relayed the plant's words to the room.

"Really? Then it would appear to be learning Parseltongue. I suggest that you try to speak to it as often as possible, even if it is only repeating what you say. As I'm sure you know, little is known about the Viper Weed, since it is a relatively new discovery, so any information like this is good for our research."

Professor Sprout suddenly noticed the clock on the mantelpiece, which was reading 8:19, and turned to the two boys.

"Boys, it's quite late. I think it's time both of you return to your rooms. I'm sure that Professor Snape would not mind accompanying you and seeing you stay out of trouble." She turned to Harry. "Mr Malfoy, you are to escort Harry here at 9 o' clock sharp. I need to tell you how to look after the Viper Weed, as they need a lot of care."

With that she shooed them out, but not before Snape had asked for a word. Sprout told them to wait outside whilst they spoke. Dutifully, Harry and Draco filed out of the room and stood outside the door.

It was already dark outside, and the stars were shining against a cloudless sky. Harry walked far enough away for the teachers to be assured that they weren't listening before edging quietly back to the door and pressing his ear to it.

"What are you doing?" Draco hissed at him.

"I'm eavesdropping, what does it look like?" Harry hissed back. "Now be quiet to I can hear what they're saying." Draco scowled at him before edging up and pressing an ear to the door himself.

Voices slowly filtered through, and to his surprise Harry found that he had no difficulties in hearing what was being said, even through the thick wooden door.

"-difficult matter. My concerns are that Mr Potter will express a deep reluctance when the times comes that the plants are to be harvested. If you allow him to bond with that creature you will have deep problems discovering their properties to full effect." Came Snape's voice. Harry was sure he heard Pomona sigh.

"I understand Severus, but the boy has to have some companions. He is not exactly going to be allowed to roam free all over the school is he? I think that it will help him."

"You are looking at the loss of an entire batch of plants Pomona. You've seen what he can do. And I know for a fact that those plants weren't easy to obtain." Snape said quietly.

There was more conversation, but Harry had already drawn away from the door and was hugging the plant pot close to his chest. The Viper Weed hissed at him before nuzzling up against his cheek.

"What happened Potter? I couldn't hear a thing." Came Draco's voice from behind him. Harry shivered before turning to the other boy, his eyes glowing oddly in the darkness, mirrored by those of the plant in his arms.

"I didn't think about what's going to happen to the plants. They're going to harvest them and cut them open. I know what it would feel like…they'd cut down the middle with a knife. I never thought plants could feel pain before now." Harry said dully. Draco just looked at him with something that bordered on concern.

"Come on Potter, they're just plants. It's not like they're going to be cutting you up and cooking you. I wish I could see the day." He added. Harry raised those weirdly glowing eyes towards him.

"Yeah. Of course. Just plants. Look, Snape's come out now." Draco didn't miss the falsely bright tones in Harry's voice, but couldn't think of anything to say, so instead turned to watch his head of house walk towards them.
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