Snake

> ...serpents are often used in the worst kinds of Dark Magic, and are historically associated with evildoers.
>
> An anonymous member of the Dark Force Defence League, as quoted by Rita Skeeter, *HARRY POTTER "DISTURBED AND DANGEROUS"*, *Daily Prophet*, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

A **snake** (also called a **serpent**) is a long, thin, legless, carnivorous reptile. The snake was the main animal for the Slytherin House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.Template:Creature

## Snakes in the wizarding world

 File:Slytherin-2.jpg
The snake was the official symbol of Slytherin House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, relating due to the fact that the founder of Slytherin House, Salazar Slytherin, was himself a Parselmouth, a wizard with the rare hereditary ability to communicate with snakes.

Many magical species of snake existed in the wizarding world. The Ashwinder was a magical fire-dwelling snake that was born out of the flames of any magical fire that was left to burn unchecked. They only lived for an hour and laid their eggs before collapsing into dust. The Runespoor was a three-headed snake native to Africa, with each head possessing its own evaluative function and venomous fangs, which were known to be long-lived, and their eggs were used in Potion-making.

The most feared of these snakes however was the Basilisk, a monstrous gigantic serpent known as the "King of Serpents", and the mortal enemy of spiders. It was an incredibly powerful beast of dark magic, whose stare was capable of causing death upon any living being who came into direct visual contact with, or petrification through indirect visual contact. It was illegally bred by Dark wizards, through the hatching of Chicken eggs beneath toads.

Apart from the Basilisk, snakes on the whole were often associated with the Dark Arts, a sentiment which was both true and untrue. Many Dark wizards, such as Herpo the Foul, Salazar Slytherin and Tom Riddle, were all Parselmouths, wizards with the ability to communicate with snakes. Riddle himself, better known as Lord Voldemort, also owned a female pet snake called Nagini, who also served as one of his Horcruxes, as well as having his symbol the Dark Mark, as the ghoulish image of a terrifying snake coming out of the mouth of a skull.

The Snake Summons Spell (*Serpensortia*) was a transfiguration spell which was used to conjure snakes out of thin air. Its counter-spell was the Snake-Vanishing Spell (*Vipera Evanesca*), which was used to vanish the conjured snake in a puff of thick black smoke.

The skin of the Boomslang, a highly venomous green snake, was one of the ingredients used in the brewing of Polyjuice Potion. Snake fangs were also a common potion ingredient, such as in the Cure for Boils, Wideye Potion and the Strength Potion. An unidentified orange snake was used as one of the ingredients in the Ageing Potion.

Snakes were easier to conjure from nothing than any other animal, apart from birds.

Furthermore, the curse Fiendfyre was capable of conjuring cursed and immensely destructive and dangerous flames of enormous size which could manifest in the shapes of fiery serpents, along with other beasts such as dragons and Chimaeras.

## History

During the 1988–1989 school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the then Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor Patricia Rakepick, taught her fifth-year DADA students how to perform the Snake-Vanishing Spell, mostly to help them deal with and defend themselves against dangerous and venomous species of snakes.

On 23 June 1991, during a trip to a zoo in Surrey, Harry Potter accidentally set loose a male boa constrictor on his cousin Dudley Dursley when using Parseltongue to speak to it and accidentally vanishing the glass with magic.

In 1992, during the first (and last) meeting of the Hogwarts Duelling Club led by Gilderoy Lockhart and Severus Snape, Draco Malfoy used the Snake Summons Spell to conjure a snake out of thin air whilst duelling Harry Potter. After Lockhart foolishly provoked it, the snake became aggressive and turned on the other students watching, forcing Harry Potter to speak to the snake in Parseltongue unwillingly, much to the shock of everyone watching and himself, which was the first time he became aware of his rare and strange ability. The snake was subsequently vanished by Snape with Snake-Vanishing Spell in a puff of black smoke.

During the 1992–1993 school year, the Chamber of Secrets was reopened, unleashing the Serpent of Slytherin, the Basilisk which previously belonged to Salazar Slytherin, upon the Muggle-born students of Hogwarts, which resulted in many Hogwarts residents being petrified. After the petrification of Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley (along unwillingly with Gilderoy Lockhart) into the Chamber of Secrets to stop the attacks. After Ron and Lockhart got separated, Harry ventured into the Chamber, where he met the disembodied soul of Tom Riddle, who revealed himself as Lord Voldemort and commanded the Basilisk to kill Harry. Harry managed to slay the evil beast using the Sword of Gryffindor and then used the Basilisk's fang imbued with its venom to destroy Tom Riddle's diary, one of his Horcruxes.

The notorious Dark wizard Tom Riddle, better known as Lord Voldemort, had Nagini, the Maledictus from the carnival, as a pet and one of his most faithful servants, also serving as a Horcrux. Riddle acquired Nagini at an unknown point, although she played a huge and pivotal role in his return to power and his mission throughout the Second Wizarding War.

In December 1995, Nagini attacked and severely wounded the British Ministry of Magic employee Arthur Weasley whilst he patrolling the Department of Mysteries on the night-shift. In the spectacular duel in the Ministry Atrium at the climax of the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Voldemort turned to a snake the fiery rope that Dumbledore had attacked Voldemort with, serving as both an attack against the Headmaster as well as a distraction so that he could Disapparate and Apparate behind the Headmaster and attack him with the Killing Curse.

## Language

Main article: Parseltongue
Template:Dialogue a-b-a-b

Snakes all over the world spoke a language called Parseltongue (with apparent regional variations, as a Brazilian snake once used a term rendered in English as "*amigo*"). To those who did not speak it, Parseltongue mostly sounded like barely-audible hissing, easily dismissed as ambient noise by one who was unaware of a snake's presence.

It was possible, though arduous, for humans (and, presumably, other Beings) to learn this language; noted wizarding genius and scholar Professor Albus Dumbledore learned to understand it, but never managed to speak it, while a young Ron Weasley managed to speak a few words but never made an effort to expand his vocabulary.

A small percentage of wizards possessed an innate knowledge of this eldritch tongue, and were called Parselmouths; this ability was long associated with Dark wizards in the wizarding world's eye, as three of the most notorious Dark wizards of all times, Lord Voldemort, Salazar Slytherin and Herpo the Foul, were Parselmouths. Other Parselmouths included Corvinus Gaunt, Marvolo Gaunt, Morfin Gaunt, Merope Gaunt, Delphini, and due to soul contamination from Voldemort's Horcruxes, Harry Potter.

## Species of snake

Basilisk - FBcases.pngBasiliskBoa Constrictor.jpgBoa constrictor
* Fenny Snake
* Spitting snake
* Arizona coral snake
* Selma

## Notable snakes

Serpent of SlytherinBoa at Zoo.jpgBoa constrictor at the zoo
* Morfin Gaunt's second snake

## Behind the scenes

* The ability of even mundane snakes to communicate with Parselmouths and hold meaningful conversations with them implies that even non-magical snakes are notably more intelligent in the Harry Potter universe compared to the real world.
* Snakes are an enemy in Template:LEGO and Template:LEGO and also an ingredient for the Ageing Potion.
	+ In the same game Snake Marks are used as keys to open or move something. These can only be used by Harry Potter and Tom Riddle because they speak Parseltongue.
* Some snakes in the magical world seem to be different species undiscovered in the Muggle parts of the world. Nagini's form once turned into a snake, for example, was as large as a Boa Constrictor, but her venom suggests that she was more akin to a supersized viper (though a prehistoric viper-like serpent of this size did exist in the Muggle world). And the Basilisk was obviously no common serpent (though it may be a mutated, magical version of the ancient 50-foot serpent).

## Appearances

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* Template:CB Template:C
* Template:COG
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* Template:SOD Template:Mention
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* Template:TBB Template:Mention
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* Template:PM
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* Template:HPV Template:Mention
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* Template:HPPU
* Template:LEGO
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* Template:TCG
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* Template:WBS
* Template:WBP
* Template:HPK
* Template:FBC
* Template:HM
* Template:WU
* Template:PAS
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## Notes and references

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1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Template:COS
2. ↑ Template:Wikilink
3. ↑ Template:PS
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Template:FB
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Template:COS
6. ↑ Template:GOF
7. ↑ Template:GOF
8. ↑ Template:HM
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Template:HM
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Template:COS
11. ↑ Template:PM
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Template:LEGO
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Template:LEGO
14. ↑ Template:WBS - see this video.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Template:DH
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Template:PS
17. ↑ Template:COS
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Template:COS
19. ↑ Template:COG
20. ↑ Template:OOTP
21. ↑ Template:OOTP
22. ↑ Template:WW
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `HBP10`
24. ↑ Template:CC
25. ↑ Template:DH
26. ↑ Template:POA
27. ↑ Template:COS
28. ↑ Template:CB