Viper Weed (Remix)

Chapter 8 ... Lead Viper


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"Could you stop chewing on that dumb blonde's glove please?" Harry asked the plant. It in turn blinked slowly at Harry and let Draco's gloved finger loose.


"Thank you. What's your name? Or are you called ‘Viper' like all the rest?" He asked politely.


"Viper…" It hissed slowly, looking at him unblinkingly. Harry turned to speak to Rabbit.


"Is your friend all right? It seems a bit…"


"Viper is in awe of you." Rabbit replied nonchalantly.



"Oh Merlin. So I'm a celebrity even in the plant world." Harry said, exasperated. He was sure he even heard a chuckle (plants can chuckle?) from Rabbit.


"Well Viper, the plant next to you is called Rabbit. He suggests that I name all of the plants in this room, but I have no idea how." Harry paused. "Could you do me a favour and not bite or hurt the blonde boy over there who's meant to be looking after you unless he does something completely out of order?"


Slowly the plant nodded, and Harry turned back to Draco.


"Done. It won't bite you unless you try and hurt it." Harry said in a slightly provocative tone.


"All right Potter. Although I'd say from looking around the room that you might want to extend your endless generosity and help some other rather less competent people than me." Draco sneered.


Harry looked up to find that he was right. All around the room the plants had turned their attention from him to attack those trying to measure them. Neville in particular was having a great deal of difficulty, which Harry was surprised at, considering that the boy was normally very good at Herbology.


"There is Viper leader. By the boy you're looking at." Rabbit hissed at him.


Harry inhaled sharply. Something told him that this was important, that it would be important that he spoke with that plant that Rabbit professed to be the leader of the group. He walked over, his senses prickling and heightening as he came closer to the plant. He was sure now, so sure that this had been the plant that had bitten him first, that this was the thing that started it all off.


Neville hadn't noticed him yet, and Harry wondered vaguely the best way to ask if he needed help. Over the delightful smell of the greenhouse; it was mixed earth and damp and the humidity of growing things that made him feel quite at home, he could smell Neville's sweat and mild fear as he tried desperately to keep any unprotected skin away from the snapping plant.


"Do you need any help?" He asked, making Neville jump before relaxing at the sight of Harry.


"If you can. It just doesn't seem to want to do anything. It already shredded the tape measure." Neville said mournfully, holding the tatters of the measuring tape up.


"I'll see what I can do." Harry replied.


The plant in front of him was bigger than the others and more developed. The green of the leaves and base of the main stem was deeper and darker, as were the freckles; they came out more of a dull grey than brown. The most shocking thing was that unlike the other plants that all had vibrant green eyes, the eyes of this plant were much darker and more mysterious.


"Hello. I hear from Rabbit that you are the ‘leader'." Harry greeted it, dipping his head and flicking out his forked tongue slightly.


"Yes…" Came the reply, a far cry from Rabbit's voice.


"Rabbit said I should name the plants." Harry said. All he got in reply was a slow dipping of the head.


"Listen." Harry began. "I'll come back in the evening and we'll have a proper talk. But in the meanwhile could you refrain from biting this boy? He has to measure you, not hurt you." Harry paused to think. "He does need one of your leaves though."


The plant looked at him for a moment before dipping its head again. Harry watched in fascination as one of its leaves slowly became unattached and fluttered down to the earthy workbench.


Harry flicked his tongue at it in a goodbye before assuring Neville that it wouldn't hurt him anymore. When he returned to his plant he sat in contemplation."She's interesting. She said that she is one of two."


"She was part of a family, but she was moved along with us when we were still small." Rabbit hissed. Harry just nodded. "She knows all about the tales. She can tell you why you were changed."

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Harry left Rabbit with the other plants at the end of the lesson and promised to return later that evening. His other lessons passed in a dazed mixture of Draco's confusingly flirtatious comments and his thoughts on the Viper Weeds. He was sure that Draco was just testing out his Veela charms, and getting him back for making him one, but for some reason he couldn't get the damn boy off of his mind.


He was also equally sure that there was a lot that the plants weren't telling him. Rabbit hadn't answered when Harry had queried him about the tales, but Harry had made him promise to try and pass on the language he'd learnt to the other plants so that Harry could find out himself.


Ron, Hermione and the other students all kept shooting him odd glances, and he found that he was becoming rather annoyed with it all. Not only that but coupled with Draco he found himself twitchy and irritable by the end of the day, wanting nothing but to go outside and spend time with the plants.


So it was that lessons didn't end soon enough before he was outside surrounded by the plants and that delicious growing smell that filled his nostrils and caressed his skin each time he entered the greenhouse. He used to hate the humidity and heat of the place, but now he found that he couldn't get enough of it.


The plants were clustered on one table hissing excitedly to each other when he entered. He swept his eyes over them again, noticing small differences about their jaw shapes and colouring that he hadn't before. He could easily pick out Rabbit from the clusters of them, and walked towards him.


What surprised him was the variety of greetings that he received. The plants were far from staring at him blankly now. Instead he received various ‘hellos' ‘good mornings' (despite it being afternoon. Harry made a mental note to teach them the words ‘evening' and ‘afternoon'.)


"Harry. I told them all the words I know, like you asked." Rabbit hissed at him. "They would like names given."


"Give me some time to think of some and get to know them first, ok? I can't remember names and straight off like you." Harry replied before turning away from his plant and looking for the so-called leader.


"You bit me." Harry said pointedly. "And you need to tell me why." The plant dipped her head.


"That is correct. We needed to pollinate you, to change you into us." Harry noticed again how different this plant's voice was. "We needed one who spoke like a snake, one who was strong, and one who was young. There are tales that tell us that we would know which one it would be."


"Hmm." Harry replied, sceptical. "That still doesn't explain why you needed to change me into some plant hybrid."


"There has been fire." The plant began. At this, Harry pricked up his ears, reminded of his dream. "There has been death. I was told when an evil magic comes there must be a strong plant."


Harry frowned. What the plant was saying sounded absurd, but it all rang a bell somewhere. Especially the mention of ‘evil magic'.


"Are you saying this has something to do with Voldemort, The Dark Lord extraordinaire?" Harry joked.


"Yes! Harry hybrid must bring him down."


"I already knew that I was meant to destroy Voldemort. Everyone's been telling me that since I was eleven. What does that have to do with me being a plant?" Harry said despondently. Despite his irritation though, he was feeling more at home than ever sitting and talking to these plants.

"Not just destroy. First you must find the big Viper. Viper will tell you all then."


"'Everything'." Harry corrected automatically. "You mean a giant plant don't you? There were sightings in the Daily Prophet." He said quickly, thinking. "That's a newspaper by the way. It has words and printed letters and is sent all over the world for wizards to read. That's why Hogwarts, that's this school, brought you here. So they could study you and find out more."


"You have already heard of the giant Viper? This is good." It nodded emphatically. Harry snapped his fingers suddenly, startling them.


"That's it. You can be called Nightshade." Harry said suddenly, before blushing slightly. "Sorry, I was trying to think of a name for you."


"Nightshade thanks Harry Potter." She said, dipping her head at him.


"I've been meaning to ask you. I can…suck the power and magic away from other wizards. Is this meant to happen? I mean…I think I nearly killed Draco Malfoy when I did it to him, and now he's become a Veela." Harry paused. "Actually, thinking about it, that in itself is rather odd. I thought he was a pureblood."


"Harry can already suck magic? You are very strong. If he is Veela…you must have changed him too. You must speak to giant Viper. You need to find Viper soon."


~~~~~~~~TBC~~~~~~~~~

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