Harry Potter and the Serpent Items: Part 8

“Harry?” Luna asked from the other side of the door.

Harry hastily opened the door, realising that Luna was quite possibly the only person he could talk about this with without sounding alarm bells in their head, and was surprised to find that Luna’s father wasn’t with her. “Where’s...”

“He went home.” Luna smiled at him, “Too many notes to write up to hang around all day having fun. I wanted to say hello before you left.”

Harry just nodded, knowing better than to question Luna on anything though he had had no intention of going anywhere until he’d worked out some sort of plan. “Hi. Come on in.”

Luna nodded gracefully at his welcome and entered the room, her eyes resting briefly on the rest of Harry’s things and a small smile forming at the sight of Hedwig, before coming to land on the bracer.

“I was right,” Luna breathed, except that Harry had this weird sense that the girl he was speaking to wasn’t Luna, which made no sense considering that it looked and sounded like his friend, “You do have one.”

“One what?” Harry asked, wondering what Luna meant by that.

“Serpent Item.” The girl stated matter of factly, closing the door behind Harry and waving her hand.

“What’s a Serpent Item?” Harry asked as a purple glow surrounded the door. “And what’s that for?”

“We won’t be heard now.” Luna stated matter of factly, “Now, you need to listen to me carefully. Over a thousand years ago, when Hogwarts was still young, the Muggle populace were terrified of witches and wizards and between their actions and those of others of our kind, the school became unsafe. So Salazar Slytherin, in an act of great love for the school he’d helped to build, used a tome translated from an Ancient Egyptian wizard’s text to create the five Serpent Items. One for each of the founders and a fifth, whose owner would be found in due time.”

Harry nodded his understanding of what she’d told him so far, “And this bracer’s one of them?”

“The five items are the Dagger, the Comb,” She gestured to the comb in her hair, “The Bracer,” She gestured to the item on the bed, “The Pendant and the Helm.

“This,” Harry held up the bracer, surprised, “Belonged to a Founder?”

“No. The Serpent Bracer was eventually claimed by one of the Teachers who worked under the Founders.” Luna shook her head, “The Comb belonged to Helga and was passed on to her female descendants. The Pendant was Rowena’s and it was a symbol of the knowledge and power in the school for many years before being squirreled away safely. The Helm belonged to Godric and vanished along with Salazar’s Dagger during the final battle between the pair and Salazar hid the Bracer after Powel, the man who held it, was killed protecting the school.”

Harry examined the golden bracer. It didn’t look that old. Considering that it had been down in the Chamber for thousands of years, he would have expected it to be dirtier, or damaged in some way. It was possible that whatever Salazar had done to make it a ‘Serpent Item’ had made it indestructible, supposed, but surely after all this time the enchantments on it would have worn off?

A thought hit him. Was it possible that the spirit of the Bracer was the teacher who had been killed while using it? Then another one hit him.

“Wait, you never told me what’s so special about these things or how they helped the Founders defend the school.” Harry informed Luna, shaking the bracer at her and trying to ignore the mental image of the spirit inside getting nauseous. “I mean...” Harry stopped at the strange look the other Item holder had on her face and put the Bracer back on.

“You don’t know very much about Voldemort’s reign, do you?” She asked after a few moments where silence ruled supreme.

Harry shook his head, wondering why she sounded so disappointed and why he felt so guilty.

“Tell you what.” Luna, her expression matching her tone, “You look into why we need to be very careful with these, and when you feel you know enough, write to me. I’ll know where you’re staying after all.”

With that Luna turned to leave.

Harry would never be quite sure what possessed him to blurt out the thing he said next, but before she could lower the spell on the door and exit the room, Harry asked, “Does yours possess you too?”

Luna stiffened and turned to look at him, as if examining him carefully, as if she wasn’t certain if he was suddenly going to bite. “You have blackouts?”

Harry nodded.

“Wake up having done things you don’t remember and couldn’t do if you tried?”

Harry nodded again.

“Sometimes in different locations?”

When Harry nodded a third time Luna frowned slightly, “I suppose if I did it then it’s possible he did too...”

“Luna?” Harry asked, trying to resist the urge to put the Bracer back on.

Luna’s eyes flickered from the Bracer to Harry’s face and back again then the girl let out a heavy sigh, “While you’re researching, see what you can find on Powel Redgrave. That might give you some more answers.” When Harry nodded for yet another time, Luna turned, dispelled the magic on the door and left, leaving Harry with more questions.

At least, he thought locked up and headed downstairs, he now knew what his bracer was. That it was a magical item made by Salazar Slytherin narrowed down the search radius quite considerably. There couldn’t be very many out there, at least he hoped there wasn’t. And even if there were there probably weren’t many that had been influential during the First War.