He tries harder, and comes up only with sssssahesssssa which is, he knows, the creature's unnaturally audible Parseltongue and not its name. "No. It spoke loudly and purposefully, though, for a snake; one could tell its hissing was language." He pauses. "'Cobra' comes to mind, but I think there was no hood."
"No," he says glumly, "although I can't be conclusive at the moment." Getting up, he goes to her door, and aims his wand at her mail slot. "Accio obscuranto integrae Severus Snape's stillroom books. That," he adds grimly, coming back to gingerly reseat himself, "could take weeks, to be optimistic."