Serpents and Parseltongue

[Julie Stahlhut]

No: HPFGUIDX 46836

I know -- long time no post (been finishing my Ph.D. dissertation, 
believe it or not!)

I'm wondering what people think about the generally poor 
reputation assumed for both serpents and Parselmouths in the 
HPverse; I'm not convinced they always hold true even in canon.  
F'rinstance:

*  The snake that Harry encounters in the zoo in SS/PS is hardly 
evil; when Harry speaks to it, it escapes its imprisonment, 
presumably to go home.  It never attacks any people.  Okay, it 
scares the bejabbers out of Dudley, Piers, and some other 
zoo-goers, but that's not the snake's fault; it never bites or 
menaces anyone, and it's downright grateful to Harry.

*  The snake in the dueling scene in CoS slithers towards Justin, 
but there's nothing supernaturally monstrous about it; it's just an 
irritated wild animal that has been materialized in a bad place, 
and it merely acts in a snake-like fashion.  Dangerous, yes.  Evil, 
no.

*  We also have little evidence that even the basilisk would kill 
except for food, had it not been controlled by Tom Riddle.  Yup, 
it's a monster carnivore of the wizard world, just like Fluffy or 
Norbert, and it's a deadly predator.  But, it doesn't seem to have a 
big enough brain to be malevolent when not under Riddle's 
control.

So -- Maybe Harry did get his Parselmouth fluency during 
Voldemort's attack, but the fear it inspires among other wizards 
seems based completely on prejudice due to the Slytherin crowd 
having used it to control serpents and make weapons of them.   
Could there be other good Parselmouths besides Harry?  And, 
will we see wizards who can speak other animal languages, for 
good and/or evil?

Disclaimer:  I'm a big fan of bugs and snakes and hate to see 
creepy-crawly critters maligned.  If Hagrid had a sister who was 
an entomology geek, she'd probably be me.  :-)


Julie