Two Snakes Walk into a Library... PV Hanako Tone Reopened

@Hanako Tone

English ⋆ Parseltongue

Mars couldn't help but raise their eyebrow at his evident shock. What, was being a Parselmouth that easy to figure out? As someone who'd grown up in the middle of a muggle city, it wasn't like there were snakes around willy nilly for them to meet. They hadn't even happened across one before coming to Hogwarts.

A pang went through their temple. Wait. Was that right? Mars furrowed their brow, a slight frown appearing on their face. It had to be... Estella and Kyron would never have snakes. But maybe... their parents?

Another pulse banged through their skull. Mars winced, shaking the thoughts away. No. Well, maybe. But even if, they'd definitely been too young to remember. Better not to think about it. Thinking about their parents always hurt.

"No," they replied to Hana, "It's usually pretty hard to learn anything magic-related as a Muggle-Born."

They smirked when Hana asked what gave it away though.

"What, didn't notice you replied to my question?" they teased, "Try to be a little more aware, huh?" The kid was kind of growing on them. He had the kind of attitude that was fun to tease, that was inconsequential and silly. Maybe part of it too was the knowledge that he was like them—they always said like attracts like after all.

They really didn't expect him to seriously answer them though. Mars crossed their arms over their chest, sitting back in the middle of the piles of books. They traced the way Hana began to stack as he talked, building them into a place of books.

They frowned when he mentioned they should make it less obvious. Huh, why? It really didn't seem wrong. How much harm could a little snake-charming do?

But then, he started listing the figures. Mars' eyes widened as they listened—oh, oh! How could they have missed that? They knew these figures, and somehow they'd forgotten something so consequential to their identities? Mars cursed themselves a little, making a mental note to flip back through their History of Magic textbook. Just a fun little Ravenclaw quirk.

So that was why there were negative connotations. That why Hana was being so cautious. In a spark of rare genius, Mars realized what he was doing—building them into a secret little room of their own.

"But that's correlation, not causation," Mars muttered under their breath. Their own grip on their arms had increased. Already, they were annoyed at this new-found prejudice in the wizarding world. They looked up as he announced the end of his "lesson," brow furrowed. They had about a million questions.

Hana didn't move. Mars regarded him carefully, prying their fingers from their skin. He opened his mouth again.

Control it? Peers, friends, family turning on them? Mars' frown deepened.

We hide. That's just how it is.

That sentence reverberated through them, shaking something at their core. Their temple ignited, skull burning from the inside out. Suddenly, the air seemed thicker. A swell rose at the back of their throat. They might have sworn they could smell smoke.

Something, someone, inside them screamed.

"That... doesn't seem fair," they said slowly, not looking at him. For some strange reason, the thought of hiding it, of somehow connoting that they were ashamed of this new-found ability, of something that might very well be defining, was suffocating. They felt sick at the prospect of never speaking it freely, of never screaming it at the top of their lungs, of feeling the scratching hoarseness rip through their throat into the open air.

They known of this ability for a few days. They'd lived their entire life without it. But somehow, they knew they'd never be able do that again. It was like magic. One taste and you never go back.

"I don't mean to say I don't understand," they said, quickly amending their statement, "Obviously there's good reason to keep it hidden. I just... I just... don't know if that's possible." They winced at their words. Would that even make sense to Hana? They didn't want to insult him by implying he didn't have good reason to hide. They just... something demanded that they speak. And speak proud.

A whispering voice in their ear, a warm feeling on their back. Something smiling deep inside them saying, "Good. That's my kid."

[font=PT Sans]A muggle-born! A muggleborn? That wasn’t possible, right? Hanako could understand them lying about their real name, but their magical blood? C’mon. He supposed this was what he got for not having the best history at telling truths, but he couldn’t find a reason for them to lie about this, apart from just making an excuse for not knowing what a Parselmouth is. He was almost certain that being a Parselmouth was something only magical folks had. But perhaps Mars is a rare case of Parselmouth appearing in muggle-borns. He couldn’t know everything there is to Parselmouth related things. With this in mind, Hanako’s interest in the Ravenclaw grew. “ Hmmn, you’re forgiven for not knowing, then”. But alas, he kept this little fasciation towards himself.

Hanako raised an eyebrow at Mars’s sudden shift. They suddenly frowned as if they remembered something unpleasant. He didn’t say much, thinking it was not his business to know what that was about. For all he knew, they were merely cringing at the memories of their first meeting.

"What, didn't notice you replied to my question?" they teased, "Try to be a little more aware, huh?"

“ Hmmmmmm, can’t recall. Nope” he deflected with ease, masking the embarrassment with a straight face and empty grin.

Being done with his small tower of books didn’t manage to uplift the rather heavy atmosphere. One Hanako wished he was too stupid to understand.

"That... doesn't seem fair," they said slowly, not looking at him. As if sensing Hana’s almost immediate response, they continued, "I don't mean to say I don't understand," they said, quickly amending their statement, "Obviously there's good reason to keep it hidden. I just... I just... don't know if that's possible.". Their words made Hana shut his mouth once more, taking note of the rather uncomfortable silence that followed after. Clearly, he was having trouble finding an appropriate response to that.

His first response was to say ‘oh sure, it is! Just look at me! Literally, no one knows about this unless they were a Parselmouth too’, but even without saying it out loud, it wouldn’t make much difference. Hanako didn’t think this was a mere case of ‘ I don’t know how to do that’ , and more of a ‘I don’t want to do that’. Big difference. How curious that they were so against the idea of hiding it.

Hanako made a quick guess that they’d just follow along with whatever he said, considering he holds all the information they were looking for. Parselmouth was a new thing to Mars, wouldn’t it be normal to accept whatever was said about them? He glanced at their uniform, confirming they were blue and not red. So definitely not a stereotypical reckless Gryffindor that does stuff for lols. ( this is just on the assumption Mars is wearing a uniform, but as Hana ic received knowledge that they were a Ravenclaw somehow (thus the pigeon nickname), it’s an assumption that he got the information from their uniform BUT I may be wrong so if I am, just ignore this tad bit)

He stopped himself from digging in Mars’s insistence on not keeping their talent a secret, thinking it was not something he had any business in. They were decisive, at the very least. So, Hanako doesn’t need to dawdle here any longer. “Fear has a tendency to stick around. The mess these 3 people caused, they’d forever be remembered by it. Being a Parselmouth was just an extra. They caused more mess by their own twisted ideals than their connection to snakes. But what can you do, you know? I wasn’t surprised to see people try to group any similarities these three had and connect them to something they don’t entirely understand enough. Gives them a sense of safety, maybe? Ehh, I wouldn’t know. I’m kinda a genius myself. Anyway, 'dark wizards equal Parselmouths'. Seems easier to understand than researching every single Parselmouth case available to prove themselves wrong, right? “

Left and right, there were book towers, just tall enough to shield them from curious people. “ Anyways~” he continued, “ you don’t have to be like me. This may come as a shock to you, but I’m kind of a coward. While the bad rep Parselmouth has is a big factor, I have my own reasons for this” He looked down to the clean floor, an image of his grandmother's sad frown came to mind.

She too was not fond of this life of secrecy. Their earlier frown almost seemed to resemble Hanako’s grandmother whenever she talked about their Parselmouth status. Like every instruction to keep it hidden was a hard pill to swallow themselves. Not wanting to stay too long in memory lane, he dug into his pocket and pulled out a trusty old ballpoint pen, one of muggle’s greatest inventions.

“ Like I have my own reasons, you have yours. Who am I to tell you what to do. The best I can do is show you stuff that can make it easier for you.” with pen in one hand, he scooted closer to the Ravenclaw and gently extended his other hand.

(If hand is given:

Although surprised that Mars was willing to give their hands in the first place, he moved on and began to jot down a few scribbles on their palm. If Mars was the ticklish type, he would give them a quick glare and continue on their scribbling, eager to finish it as well.)


(If hand isn’t given

“Cmon, let me write on your hand.” noting down that Mars was not so willing to extend their hand, Hana sighed. “ Unless, you follow the stereotype that Ravenclaws never go anywhere without a quill and parchment. Parchment works too, but You'll need to burn it later on, okay? Swear that you will” he pressed seriously. A note was far too dangerous to leave behind willy nilly.

Once he had some sort of paper material in his hand, he started scribbling, handing the same paper over to Mars right after he was done. )

Whichever surface Hana managed to write on, the same words will be written on them:

2f ♀xtoilet - sink - ‘open’
28/11 - 0800

“ I hate taking notes, so hopefully you’ll be able to figure this out. I’ll meet you there, and we can talk more. I don’t like talking about this stuff here” he scooted away from the Ravenclaw and placed back the pen in his pocket. He looked ready to get up, but stopped suddenly to give Mars one last look. “ This isn’t free, you know. Everything you need to know about this ability in exchange for your silence. Sounds fair?” [/font]

@Mars T'ien