Harry kind of felt sorry for him, then. He knew what it was like to want to cry and not be able to.
"I do believe this snake is trying to say something," drawled Snape in a loud voice. "Pity I can't understand a word. Probably he's enjoying his new form and telling me how much he'd like to stay this way. Yes, so I'll leave him, then."
"Serve him right after the way he treated Harry!" Harry heard Seamus shout.
"Yeah, well it would, but Transfiguration wears off after a while--" replied another Gryffindor.
Draco made a scoffing noise. "How ignorant can one house get? That wasn't a transfigurative spell at all. It's in another class entirely, and it won't be wearing off."
Snape was turning in a slow circle, surveying students and teachers alike. "I wonder if there might be someone present with the very special talent of speaking to snakes?"
Harry wasn't quite sure what his father was up to, but it seemed like Snape wanted him to step forward, so he did, walking uncertainly into the duelling field where Aran was still wriggling in vain, his hiss almost a moan by then. "I don't want to be a snake. Change me back, change me back . . ."
"Yes, Harry?" asked Snape, one eyebrow raised. "Was there something you needed?"
Harry's eyes went wide. "You asked me to come up!"
"Did I?" When Harry just kept staring, Snape became more specific. "Ah. Are you by chance someone with the very special talent of speaking to snakes?"
Oh. Harry got it then. That horrible article had spread the lie that Parseltongue was Dark Arts, but Snape wanted Harry to spread the truth. Publicly. Confidently. Probably as much for himself as for the others. Harry knew his Parseltongue wasn't evil by then, wasn't anything to do with evil. But he'd never declared that, really. He'd just used it and hoped his school mates would understand. Most of them had, he thought. But now it was time to show them that he wasn't ashamed at all, that he had nothing to be ashamed of.
"Yes," said Harry loudly, turning around in a slow circle to direct his words to students and teachers alike. "I am someone with the very special talent of speaking to snakes!"
"How very fortunate for Professor Aran," drawled Snape. "I dare say he'll be vastly pleased to have a fellow Parseltongue speaker on hand."
"He can't understand English right now," Harry murmured.
"They can," said Snape quietly, a slight gesture indicating the audience. "And as for him, he can understand you alone. Remember that."
Nodding, Harry dropped to one knee in the grass. "Hallo there."
The snake had been slumping by then, but at Harry's hiss, Aran's head snapped up and began swaying from side to side. "You."
"Nobody else can understand you, you know," said Harry. Feeling like this might take a little while, he shifted to sit cross-legged. "You're sssspeaking ssssnake language."
Aran physically recoiled from the suggestion, his long tongue flickering like he was trying to spit something out. Stupid git, thought Harry. Should have figured it out by himself by now. "Yessss, ssssnake language. Tell me, do you ssssuddenly feel like a creature of darknesssss?"
Hmm, he'd been trying to say evil but probably snakes didn't really have that concept.
"Thisssss wassss done to me," hissed Aran, his body coiling in fury.
Noticing Snape tensing, Harry made a gesture to say that everything was fine. Then he returned his attention to Aran. "I know you probably have instinctssss now, but if you bite me you'll never get changed back. Think about it."
Aran subsided into the grass, his hiss becoming plaintive again. "Tell him to change me--"
"Thissss wassss done to you," Harry interrupted. "But my ssssnake language was done to me, too." Of course, that might not strictly be true; Harry knew Snape didn't necessarily agree that Voldemort had transferred the power to Harry, all those years ago. But it might be true, so . . . "Did it make me a creature of darknesssss? You kept ssssaying it did."
"Done to you?" Gaining more control over his new muscles, Aran slithered in a circle.
"Yessss," hissed Harry, his own fury growing even as Aran's seemed to fade. "I didn't assssk for it. I didn't know I had it. And I didn't need you trying to shame me for it, or make it hard for me to learn!"
The snake blinked several times in a row. "I . . ."
"Yeah, you were horrible," accused Harry. "And it'd sssserve you right if my father never did change you back. How would you like that, eh? A sssssnake for daysssss and nightssss and dayssss and nightssss?"
Hmm, interesting how forever had come out.
"No, pleasssse," begged Aran, his hiss low and piteous. "He hassss to change me back. I don't want to be a ssssnake. He won't leave me like this, will he?"
"Why wouldn't he?" Harry leaned forward a little. Strange how everyone was staring at him, but for once it didn't bother him. "You called him a creature of darknesssss. And now you expect him not to bite you back?"
No word for mercy, either, thought Harry.
"Noooo." Aran slumped low in the grass. "He can't. Noooo."
"I've no idea what he'll do. But I could assssk him, if you like." Harry waited until the snake had nodded glumly. "If you asssssk me, first."
"Pleasssse."
"Is sssssnake language a creature of darkness?"
Aran hissed in a breath, hesitating. But then he admitted, "No. I wassss wrong. I ssssshould not have ssssaid that."
Harry jumped to his feet and faced his father again.
"Well, that snake seems to have quite a lot to say," prompted Snape in a clear voice. The slight murmurings in the audience abruptly ceased. "Anything in particular?"
"For some reason," said Harry loudly, "he doesn't think Parseltongue is evil any longer!"
"As indeed it is not."
"Here, here," called McGonagall from her chair. Glancing that way, Harry saw several other teachers nodding. And the students were picking up on the mood, he saw.
"Also, he wants to be changed back," added Harry.
"Imagine that." Snape lightly tapped his wand against his leg. "What do you say, Harry?"
"Um, well, it's up to you, obviously."
"No. It's up to you," said Snape. "What Aran said about me isn't terribly important in the greater scheme of things. You're the one he wronged, week after week." You're the one he attacked, the one he unwittingly gave to Lucius Malfoy, Snape's dark eyes said.
"Oh." Harry turned back to the white snake trembling in the grass. This time he didn't crouch down. "I get to deccccide what happensssss to you."
Aran lifted his head slightly. "Pleasssse . . ."
Harry knew he was probably being too soft-hearted, but the last thing he wanted was for this snake to hang about Hogwarts. Knowing Aran, the man--ha, the snake--would be too frightened to leave the grounds and face the wilds of Scotland. He'd be afraid of getting eaten, just like Sals still complained now and again about Hedwig. Though at least that had fallen off a lot ever since Harry had applied repelling charms to her new box.
And what if Aran did get eaten by something? Harry didn't need another death on his conscience.
"I'm doing thissss for me, not for you," he hissed, still standing. "And you're never to talk about me or my nesssst-matessss again, do you undersssstand? If you do, you'll get a lot worsssse than happened today."
"Never--"
"And I don't want to ssssee you again," continued Harry. "You're leaving here sssstraight away."
The snake nodded, the motion eager. Harry got the feeling Aran couldn't wait to be gone from Hogwarts.
"Change him back, then," Harry told his father, looking him in the eye.