Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Were you to ask little Harry how fast time passes, his answers would greatly vary. He has little to no memories of the time before he started going to school, but what little he remembers, he was either working on things his auntie told him to work on, or he was in his little cupboard under the stairs.

After the start of his education, he would say that time in school passed too quick too soon. He likes learning both for the sake of knowledge, but mostly for the fact that while in school he is able to simply be and doesn’t have to earn his living through slavery, barely disguised as chores.

It is true that he is lonely in school. Dudley makes sure he is. But a life of loneliness is much better than a life spent with his little hands, feet and back aching from being bent over a patch of grass in the garden.

Were you to ask Harry how time passes right now though, you would get an answer that it doesn’t pass quickly enough.

Ever since Professor Snape left Harry with his relatives and went back to the magical school, Harry was mostly left alone. He is still required to make meals for the family, but other than that, his aunt (finally) took over his chores and does them herself. His cousin had been banned from playing with Harry’s trunk and other magical things, with his parents’ words being ‘Dudders dearest, you must not under any circumstances touch those freakish things, since they could very well injure you!’ Harry only smiled at his cousin when Aunt Petunia warned her son and the boy(?) felt a tiny spark of vindictive pleasure at his cousin’s expanse. For he is pretty sure that none of the things he bought were designed to harm, but who is he to correct that assumption?

Back to the problem at hand.

Harry is currently sitting on his bed, watching his dearest Asa as she slithers around the clean part of the room. From time to time, she flicks her tongue, scenting the air. When she does, Harry is quick to follow her and scents the air along with her. Dust. Stale. Books. Toys. Same as it always is.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the day when his uncle will take him to the train station where Harry will take the train to Hogwarts.

And Harry is restless.

He already read the book Professor Snape gave him about the etiquette of the wizarding people and is somewhat familiar with the many things he has to do when speaking with a wizard of higher standing, with a wizard of the same status as he, or a wizard of a lower standing. The many ways of greeting between the “purebloods” and the Lords and Ladies. He is knowledgeable about the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Not that he knows how he will be able to distinguish between the “purebloods” and the remaining magical population – worry for another time. He absorbed what little the book offered about the history of the magical world. He even finished some of the books he got for his classes.

And Harry is still restless.

His magic and wand are humming softly at the back of his mind, a reminder that they’re there. A reminder that even though he is never alone.

As time passes and Asa gets bored of the same space and slithers back to her enclosure, Harry looks out the window. He sees the sun setting and suddenly feels so many emotions at the same time.

Happiness, because he is finally leaving this place. He doesn’t want to call it a home, but it is a home, for he never had anything else. There is little to no love for his relatives, seeing as they treat him the way they do, but for Harry, it is the only family he ever had. Make no mistake, Harry resents the way he was made to live by them, but they’re the only people who have always been there, a never-changing constant.

For those reasons amongst others, Harry feels fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of the new. Things will change and there is a possibility of the change not being good. What if the magical world isn’t as sweet as Harry imagines it? He’s trying not to have any hopes, but he isn’t able to stop the fluttering of his heart and the dreams and ideas that flow through his mind about the new space. As much as he hates it, he hopes for new friends. He hopes for kinship, he hopes for a space that will treat him nicely. He hopes to have an education that will aid him in life, that will ensure that he has a future. He hopes to finally be able to control his magic and actually cast spells. He hopes that he learns how to Apparate, the same way he saw Professor Snape do it. He hopes and hopes and hopes and is terrified of it.

So, Harry sits in his family house, admiring the sunset, for this is the last time he will see it from this window. At least for the next ten months. The orange light slowly fades to red and touches the face of the child. The rays reflect from the boy’s glasses and the child’s magic manifests itself, coiling around the being, resembling a loving serpent.

As the last bits of the star hide behind the horizon, a single teardrop slides down the child’s face.

Harry is woken up by the thundering steps of his uncle. They are quickly followed by a banging on his door, quickly followed by a loud ‘wake up, boy!’ and as Harry grasps the reality that today is the day when he will be leaving, adrenaline rushes into him and he is on his feet in an instant.

Asa is still sleeping in her enclosure and when she wakes up, Harry will feed her a rat. For now though, he gets dressed and heads downstairs to prepare a last breakfast for his relatives.

Eggs and bacon are dropped in a pan, the fat sizzling away. The child butters up some bread and when everything is ready, he takes a single slice and a bit of ham and eats it by himself in the kitchen. By now, his uncle and aunt have sat down at the table and Harry quickly serves them their meal. Surprisingly, they grunt a thanks at him and usher him away so they can eat. Harry does so immediately and goes to his little room to pack the last things he will need.

Asa is by now awake and asks politely for a mouse. Harry happily complies and watches as she quickly strikes her prey and unhinges her jaw to swallow the mouse whole.

Harry’s mouth aches in a particular way.

He continues to watch her as she works the mouse down, swallowing her little by little, until not even the tip of the mouse’s tail is visible and it is nothing more than a lump in Asa’s body. Content, the snake lies and watches Harry in turn, who then jumps into action, packs up his clothes and makes the bed. After putting all his books away into the trunk, the last one to go is Asa. Harry needs to hide her in the trunk as well, since he wants to make sure his family doesn’t know about her at all.

“You must hide for a little, alright? Just until we’ve found a place in the train,” Harry whispers to her. “I need to make sure you’re safe from the people here.”

Asa watches as her Master reaches into her home and pats her. The mouse she got from him was tasty and filling and she is so, so happy to have such a kind Master. She basks in his attention, his magic moving through her, slowly aiding her in becoming stronger, bigger, faster, better for her Master. A little request like this is nothing.

“Of course, I shall be quiet for Master.”

He nods and smiles at her, stroking her scales in a way that makes her body twist to meet his touches.

Harry lifts her cage, making sure that it is surrounded by clothes as to lower the risk of it getting destroyed and following his wishes, he feels as his magic cushions the cage even more, making it much more durable than before. The seller in the store said that the enclosure is guarded, but Harry worries and his magic simply delights in making his wishes come true.

With all things packed and ready, he carefully manoeuvres the trunk down the stairs. It’s a heavy thing, filled with all the things he will need in the near future, so his arms ache by the time he gets the trunk down. His family watches him as they slowly make their way to the car and with a grunt, Harry opens up the boot of the car and lifts it is.

As they make their journey from Surrey, Harry is gazing out the window, watching the buildings and people pass by. It is relatively a short journey, and they make it to London in no time. Uncle Vernon parks the car at the train station and Harry takes his stuff out.

“Well then,” Harry’s uncle grunted, “get out of my sight, boy.”

Aunt Petunia watches him with narrowed eyes and thin lips pressed into a line and doesn’t offer a single word as a goodbye. She simply puts her hand on Duddley’s shoulder and turns them both around, back to the vehicle.

And so, Harry is left alone. Standing in the parking lot with only his things to keep him company. Of course, he was aware that they didn’t like him, but the mere fact that they didn’t even say goodbye? It stings. It saddens him and Harry feels so, so sad.

The magic around the boy(?) comes to life, sensing the strong emotions Harry feels. It circles him, tries to nudge him to life up his mood, but that doesn’t work. It croons in Harry’s mind, sending love and care and joy and everything positive it can, but it is sadly no match for the lack of love from one’s family.

Suddenly, Harry’s sadness turns into sour anger. Let them leave, he thinks viciously, let them go, for who will help around the house? His magic is dripping with intent and sensing this, he gives his permission and finds himself at least a little satisfied with the fact that their car doesn’t seem to start.

Harry turns around and amongst the crowds, and he heads off to find the Platform 9 ¾.

Eventually he makes it onto Platform 9, where he stands for some time, trying to look for anything that would give off magic. People pass by him and nobody seems to find anything strange about the fact that an eleven-year-old boy is standing alone in a crowd so big. Harry does wonder about that but currently has bigger issues to face right now.

After some time of simply looking, he finds himself staring at a large family full of gingers. They all carry the same things he does along with cages, owls and rats. At the front of the small group is a woman who leads a small girl by the hand. The others, presumably her kids, follow her at a speedy pace.

Harry’s magic appears and it sees how the family has little flames of magic on them. The woman has a larger flame, but for the others, the most it sees are small embers of something that could once turn great. It doesn’t however waste time on others, rather it nudges its Master to follow them. The non-magical people around Master remain ignorant of Him, just as they were doing so before. It knows that its Master dislikes the attention of others and so it did everything to hide them.

Heeding the call of his magic, Harry goes after the family. They stop in front of a stone pillar and after looking around, the plump woman rushes her children to the pillar. The eldest one runs forward and Harry cringes, preparing to see a crash and spilled things. The teen starts his run and just as Harry is closing his eyes, so he doesn’t have to see-

Whoosh.

And the boy is gone.

Harry blinks.

Still gone.

By now, the others started forming a line and started running at the wall too. Next to go were twins, by the looks of it.

Sensing his chance, Harry ran up to the woman. “Excuse me, ma’am?”

The lady jumped but then looked at him. In front of her stood a child, no older than her youngest son, in tattered clothes, holding onto a trunk full of supplies for a school she knew so dearly.

“Ah, hello there. Can we help you, young man?” she replied, already guessing what he would be asking for. After all, not many muggles were running to walls, simply for the sake of it.

“Do you know how to get on the Platform 9 ¾?” asks Harry in his most respectful tone of voice, “I s-saw you going through, and I just,” he swallowed, “I just wanted to be s-sure this is the right way.”

Hearing this, the woman smiled even more at him.

“First year then?” Harry nodded. “Good, good, of course we will help. My Ron is also a first year.” She pointed at the last boy of the family still on this side of the wall. The boy in question smiled sheepishly at Harry and mumbled something that resembled a hello if one were to strain their ears.

“Right, dearie, what you want to do, is simply run through the wall. No need to be afraid, the wall is spelled that you just appear on the Platform you need.” She explained. “Make sure you move out of the way when you do make it through, so nobody crashes into you.”

Harry thanked her and thought that was the end of it. Instead, the woman continued. “Go ahead now, Ron will go after you.”

He looked at the witch, then back at the wall. Gathering his courage, Harry lined up perfectly with the pillar, took a deep breath and took off.

He was pushing his cart in front of him and as the wall was nearing him, he squeezed his eyes shut, the fear of crashing into a solid object making him almost stop. But he pushed on and eventually touched the “solid” wall of bricks.

A sensation washed over him, something the likes of Apparition, but heavily muted.

When he next opened his eyes, he gasped out loud. Be that as it may, nobody around here heard it, for the sight that awaited Harry was something he would imagine being in a fantasy movie or a book. In front of him was a majestic train. A red train engine was at the front of it all and behind it, compartment after compartment. In the air were owls, flying to their owners, sounds of shouting, laughter, greetings and tearful goodbyes. A whistle was blowing every once in a while, and students were filling the train wagons.

Harry was so taken by the scene, he didn’t even notice when a pair of hands shoved him away from the place he was standing at. Startled, he whirled around and hissed at the threat. Immediately the hands released him, and Harry came face to face with a boy from the family. He was the best dressed one, his hair in curls and with a look of shock on his face which quickly morphed into an annoyed one.

“Don’t stand here, kid. The others could come through and hit you.”

And just like that, Harry calmed down and the boy released a breath he didn’t know he was holding in. When he saw the undoubtedly first year student staying there, the boy had to warn him about the dangers of staying at that particular position. However when he touched the other boy, he felt as though he made a grand mistake. Never in his life had the red-haired prefect felt so threatened. It was akin to standing in front of a predator, his brain suggested and his flight-or-fight instincts chose the first option. Alongside the hissing, he felt a foreign oppressive magic press on him and felt lightheaded. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think, he couldn't-

And then he could. He quickly released the boy, gave him the warning and tried to appear as though he wasn’t shaking in his boots.

Harry felt a bit bad for the other teen, but when he opened his mouth to apologize, the other one sent him such a glare that Harry hurried away, all thought about thanking and waiting for the woman from before gone from his mind.

Instead, he once again turned his attention to the magnificent train he had in front of him. Harry admired it for some time more and then noticed that it was almost eleven and quickly boarded the compartment closest to him. He found a cubicle with nobody inside and claimed it for himself.

He found his trunk to be much lighter than before and lifted it with ease above him, where a space luggage was found. This was of course after he took out Asa from her cage and let her drape around him, her small body hidden in the loose shirt he wore. Her head was poking from one of his long sleeves and he pet her head.

“The travel was good? Are you hurt anywhere?” inquired Harry, watching as his familiar flickered her tongue and tasted the magic-charged air around her.

“Most pleasant, Master.”

And with that, Harry continued rubbing her head and gazed out the window at the people, at the families and crowds waving the train their goodbyes. At the small siblings that were trying to catch up to their older brothers and sisters, at the worried mothers and fathers who tried to not show their emotions that their children were leaving.

At the people in question who just moments before felt something none of them could describe.

Those, that caught a glimpse of the black-haired wizarding child or interacted with him couldn’t simply connect the feeling of magic and the student. For it is simply impossible for one so young to have such a powerful magic that it leaves the others straining themselves to point out who excludes it and causes other to unconsciously part themselves before him. To empty out the compartment because he might want to sit by himself. To look somewhere else but him. To ignore the hissing coils of magic rearing its head and opening its jaws to potentially swallow people whole, should the wielder wish so.

Should there be someone who could still remember the year 1938, they would think that they felt this kind of power before. That they saw a child who also had black hair and who also wielded a power like this. The power to part, the power to submit.

Unlike this child, who wanted to disappear, that child drew the attention to himself.

Mere 53 years of difference.

The beauty of the Scottish Highlands pass by and Harry takes turns in between reading some of his books, to admiring the quickly passing nature, to petting Asa. The train ride itself is slightly bumpy, but nevertheless, it is comfortable and it leaves Harry relaxed and he finds himself without the fear of the unknown. Instead, the anticipation he is filled to the brim with, has taken a turn for the better and he is simply feeling excited for what is to come.

Currently, he has a book on his lap, the “Transfiguration for beginners” as the title calls it. He has read all of the books he will be using in his lessons at least once, but he wants to simply skim it again, so he is better prepared for his lessons. He doesn’t want people to think that simply because he was raised by the non-magical side of his family, he is anything less than others who had the privilege to be raised amongst their wizarding kin.

Dearest Asa is resting, her bond calm and relaxed in the boy’s mind. He lets his hand rest upon her head and feels her responding unconsciously as she bumps against his palm. The calm of his familiar along with the bumpy ride is making him slightly tired and he gives in to the urge to simply close his eyes and descend into dreamless sleep.

His rest was abruptly cut short as he suddenly heard a banging on his compartment’s door.

Before Harry could gather his bearings, the door shook open and in jumped a boy. He was a red-headed thing, all gangly limbs and leftover childish fat still in his cheeks. His robes, Harry noted, were quite tattered, but patched pretty neatly and Harry was sure that whoever fixed those clothes tried their best. Scattered on his face were a number of freckles and with a slight start, Harry recognised the other as one of the redheads who helped him cross to the correct platform.

But Harry wasn’t the only one who got startled. His magic, previously laying dormant, woke up along with its Master and quickly readied itself to be of use. The same thing went for Asa, who, sensing her master’s quickening pulse, reeled herself up and opened her mouth to display her fangs and black interior of her upper jaw.

The redhead quickly turned around and started stuttering, his eyes squeezed shut. “H-hey, sorry for barging in, man. It’s uh, it’s my brothers you see.” Harry would bet that he meant the twins, without a doubt. “They said that uh, Lee Jordan – one of their classmates – has a giant tarantula. Horrible animal that, let me tell you.” And Harry won his imaginary bet.

“I’m Ron-“

And the newly named Ron froze in the middle of his sentence, causing Harry to frown. “Are you okay?”

“Mate, don’t be scared and don’t move.” Ron made a calming gesture. His face, previously so red turned a sickly pale colour. Harry looked at him worriedly. “You uh, you have a highly venomous snake near you.”

“Oh, you mean Asa?” inquired Harry. He reached out a hand to calm the said snake down, but Ron made a panicked noise.

“Asa?” the redhead asked. Slowly, his hands lowered back down, but he was basically plastered on the door and watched as Harry slowly guided the snake back to a spot next to him.

“Yeah, s-she’s mine. Don’t worry though, she won’t bite or anything. S-she just got startled.”

Ron’s face went through lots of different expressions, but finally settled on befuddlement and slowly but surely, red started to seep into his skin once more. Harry noted that it went horribly with his red hair.

Harry observed the boy and Ron noted that the other one had his neck bent at a rather awkward angle and when the unnamed first year opened his mouth and spoke, he had longer than normal fangs. Thin, too.

Other than that, the student sprouted black hair, and his green (green, green, green!) eyes were hidden behind circular glasses. His body was rather thin and he was clutching a book in his hand. The other one stood still on the snake’s body and the serpent seemed to calm down under the touch.

The longer Ron spent in his presence, the more he felt like he was being seized up. And not by the black mamba next to the boy. There was something different about this boy that screamed out danger and caution. The air in the compartment was fresh, but Ron felt as though he couldn’t breathe properly. Something was in the air. Something was starting to choke him and although nothing present here was squeezing his neck, it felt like something was wrapped around his throat and was pressing on his windpipe.

“…-is Harry-”

Ron snapped back to the present and felt as blood was rushing back to his face. How weird and embarrassing.

There was simply nothing that could have stopped the blood flow.

Harry in turn watched as the boy seemed to snap out of his weird trace and he tried to offer the other boy his name. However before he could get his surname out, the boy hurriedly reached for the door’s handle and with a barely-there “bye”, he practically ran out of the compartment, leaving Harry alone once more.

And so, Harry was left reeling.

“That wizardling smelled strange,” commented Asa. “There was a trace of something like a rat on him, but he tasted scared. A wizardling shouldn’t taste like that.”

Harry glanced at his familiar as she slithered to his lap and wound herself around his hand, so that her head was resting on his shoulder.

Harry was about to respond to her when the door rattled again.

And again, Harry looked up.

Instead of Ron, as Harry was expecting, Harry saw a girl open his door.

Her hair was rather bushy, and she sprouted some unfortunate teeth. Unlike Harry, she was already in her school uniform and her eyes searched for something.

“Can I help you?” asked Harry, quite confused as to why all of a sudden everybody seemed so interested in his little cubicle.

“Yes,” answered the girl. “Neville lost a toad, I’m wondering whether you have seen one?”

“No, s-sorry, I haven’t a clue as to where it could be, but it isn’t here.”

“Hm.” The girl replied, once more taking in the whole of Harry’s space. Before he could get anything out of himself, the girl spoke up once more. “I reckon you would wanna change. We are slowly arriving at Hogwarts.”

Harry frowned. He wasn’t aware of the distance they have travelled, but he would take her advice. “Thank you,” he replied. The girl briskly nodded and closed the door, seemingly to search other cubicles for the animal.

At that point, Harry was getting a bit annoyed. What was up with people barging in, not even bothering to say hello or anything?

Nevertheless, he closed the curtains and changed into his school robes. They were fully black, with a cape and a hood, but otherwise the main parts were just plain black trousers and a shirt.

Harry glanced at himself and felt rather proud. Even though he had those robes on many times before, this time, it really felt… official. It felt like a new chapter of his life.

“Master looks great,” Asa hissed excitedly. “Master looks great and he will impress the other wizardlings and magicals. They will know of your Magic and of you.”

Harry smiled at her, his heart filled with warmth and love for the tiny being. He once again pet her head and watched as she curled and uncurled around his arm until she was satisfied with her position. Her head found his neck and she rested there, enjoying the warmth this particular place provided for her.

Dressed, Harry once more tried to get some much-needed sleep. He closed his eyes, listening to the engine running and relaxed his body and mind.

His rest was once more cut abruptly short, as he heard a knocking on his door.

At this point, he was more than slightly irritated. This trend people of knocking and waking him up was starting to get beyond annoying. Bloody wizards and their lack of regards for one’s rest and peace.

He looked at the door sliding open and his instincts took over.

He locked his eyes with the eyes of the intruder, deadly green matching the grey of the other. The boy-child-young-snake-predator-child-boy opened his mouth, his fangs protruding and he felt himself make a noise he knew wasn’t possible with normal human anatomy. He hissed at the other being.

In response to him, his magic once more readied itself, this time pushing power into its vessel and conduit. Asa grew slightly larger, her golden eyes turning like Harry’s. The magic made sure that her powering up was visible to any and all.

The other boy, who barged into the compartment, held his breath. He was sure not to make any sudden movements, as his instincts whispered to him that should he move, it wouldn’t end very well for him. The other two who came with him stood outside the compartment, their brains registering the danger of the being in the cubicle.

“C-cut it out, Potter!”

The familiar voice cut through the fog inside of Harry’s brain. With a bright red flush, he calmed down, put Asa away and begged his magic not to bring unwanted attention to him.

Embarrassed, Harry lifted his eyes from the ground to take in the intruder. While the fact that he was annoyed at the other remained true, it wasn’t the boy’s fault that he was the third one to barge in today. He was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time, and Harry wasn’t an animal to lose his mind over something as dumb as that.

Turns out, the intruder was none other than Draco. The blond boy appeared to be started, even frightened and he was clutching his wand in one arm. The other was gripping the handle of the door. He was already dressed in the wizarding robes, his hair once more slicked back which gave him a proud and slightly pompous visage. Nevertheless, Harry was ashamed of himself to react in such a way, no matter who it could be.

“Ah- Heir Malfoy, I’m s-so sorry.” Harry started apologizing and willed Asa to stay put and not to move. “You startled me and I overreacted, I apologize.”

Draco gave him such a look, that Harry felt judged even for things he didn’t do.

“It’s fine, Potter.” His face twisted in a weird way. “And call me Draco, Potter. We already established that we could be friends, no?”

“Oh.” Harry gaped at the boy. Was it going to be this easy to make friends at Hogwarts then? “You s-should call me Harry then. It is only fair.”

“Gladly,” Draco smirked.

When entering the compartment where he saw the Potter Heir, Draco didn’t know what to expect. Or rather, he expected a standard reaction to him – a greeting, some small talk before they made it to the famed castle and perhaps if the Heir was feeling up to it, he would invite Draco to stay for some time. At that point in time, Draco didn’t really care. He was simply making sure that his connections were kept up. The visit to Potter was only supposed to be that.

Being exposed to such magic and sight, Draco felt faint. Never before has he seen something like this before, never before had he felt something like this before. The sight of the open mouth with the black upper jaw and fangs exposed and extended beyond what would be acceptable paired with the eyes, the colour of the killing curse (not that he had seen one in real life, but the books talking about it were more than thoroughly descriptive) were enough to take his breath away.

He couldn’t help but feel fear and he has been working on taming his emotions. It was instinctive, it was primal and it was so, so very real.

Harry on the other hand was feeling quite out of his element. What do you do with friends? He never had one before and the few snakes don’t count, as they weren’t human and lived by different standards than Harry’s kin.

“Would you like to s-sit down?”

Harry blurted out and hoped and prayed that his invitation wasn’t taken as an offense. The books about magical culture weren’t talking about these things. They talked about greetings, about proper addressing and such, but inviting a new friend to do stuff with someone wasn’t said.

Draco eyed the dark-haired boy and sat down.

Harry smiled at him.

“How have you been?” Harry asked, and just like that, slowly but surely, the awkwardness between them vanished and Draco was coming out of his shell and started showing the version of himself that was present in Diagon Alley. The carefree version of the pureblood Heir that he was supposed to be.

Time passed by quick and after some time, the two boys who accompanied Draco went back to where they came from. Neither Draco, nor Harry paid them any mind and were only talking to each other.

“What subject are you looking forwards the most?” inquired Draco.

Harry hmm’ed. “I reckon Defence against the Dark Arts. It s-seems quite interesting to me.” He looked at Draco and shot back, “what about you?”

Draco beamed at him, “Potions. Severus teaches them and his love for the potions were very inspiring growing up. He tutored me a few times and he is rather strict, but when you prepare yourself and read ahead, you should be fine.”

Harry smiled at him. “I read everything I could, some books even twice.” The blond boy eyed him, “twice? Talk about over-achieving… Surely you had some other things to do.”

Harry blushed again. “My uh, my relatives didn’t really pay attention to me after Professor S-Snape took me to Diagon Alley and I didn’t really have anything to do, during the rest of the summer.” He looked out of the window, “sso I was reading. I wanted to be prepared.”

“I see.”

Draco hummed and joined Harry in observing the darkening sky. “By the way, Harry, what is up with your speech?”

“My s-speech?”

Draco turned his stare at the boy and his grey eyes found Harry’s. He wanted to find out what the deal was with the boy and his earlier reaction to him walking in. None of the wizards he met so far in his life were like that. His Father had talked about the Dark Lord sometimes and he did mention that in the later parts of his life, he seemed more and more like a serpent rather than a man.

What was up with Harry Potter and his serpentine nature?

“Your speech, Harry.”

Harry looked at him briefly but moved his eyes out the window again. This time, he wasn’t observing the sky, rather, he looked as though he was staring into nothingness.

“I had a hard time growing up. Ssome kids in my neighbourhood didn’t like me, s-so they made sure none of the other kids liked me. I got used to talking to myself and to others that didn’t s-shame me.”

Draco frowned. Harry Potter was shamed? The Harry Potter?

“Surely not.” He replied incredulously.

“Yeah.”

“…Sorry to hear that.” The blond boy mumbled out after some time.

The atmosphere inside the compartment turned somber. Harry’s hand found Asa and he simply let his hand rest upon her. She was a calming presence to Harry and a simple touch was enough to ground him in the present and to stop his mind drifting back to those days spent in the garden, only talking to snakes and not having the right (as his uncle and aunt called it) to talk to others. It was a dark and depressing period of time and also since it were his formative years, the prolonged s’s made themselves right at home in his vocabulary, no matter how hard he tried to get rid of them.

“I’m working on it, though.” Harry spoke up after some time. “I don’t want to s-sound like this, and it is unfair and I don’t like that it makes-s me different. I didn’t ask for this.” His hands balled to fists, and he worked hard on calming himself down, not wanting to slip into the self-pity he worked so hard to get out of.

“Is there anything I could do to help?” Draco offered. He didn’t know why he spoke up, however for some reason, he didn’t want to leave Harry in this. Somehow, he felt that if he did, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.

Neither the boy nor the Master noticed a tendril of magic sneak back to where it came from.

“I, uh… I don’t really know actually?” Harry pondered. What would actually help? “Maybe just talking?” he blushed as he said that.

“Sure.” Draco replied. Easy thing to do, with Harry being as interesting as he was.

“Anyways,” the Malfoy child continued, “what house do you reckon you’ll end up in? I’m going to Slytherin, I’m pretty sure. All Malfoys were there and I don’t plan on breaking that tradition.”

Ah, right, the houses. Harry thought about it even at the Dursley’s.

“I don’t really know honestly. For s-some time I thought Gryffindor, but honestly now I’m not so ssure. Certainly not Ravenclaw, I don’t have the drive for that house. Hufflepuff is a maybe for me, same as S-Slytherin.”

Draco pictured Harry as a member of each house. Ravenclaw was honestly something Draco was considering for the other boy, since he had mentioned he already read so many of the book they had to read. But again, he knew the other boy only for a short period of time, so who was he to say anything about his intelligence.

But what about Slytherin? The second he imagined Harry in green colours with a crest of a snake on his chest, he suddenly was so certain about it, that he didn’t even know why he would try to fit him into any other house. Paired with the incident from before, it would make perfect sense. Draco privately made a small bet with himself and he was so sure, that he didn’t even think about what he would do were he to lose.

“I suppose we’ll see.” He commented and Harry nodded.

“We will.”

Suddenly Asa, tired of being ignored for so long and interested in the being her Master was talking to made herself known. She unwound her body from her Master’s arm and observed the blond boy.

To Asa, he wasn’t as interesting as her Master was (nobody ever could be), but he was so much better than the other two people Harry met. His magic, while not that potent yet, was simmering inside his heart and Asa could taste that it was quite dark. Of course not as dark as Master’s, but it would be worthy to be Master’s companion.

Draco sensed that something was observing him and subtly looked around the compartment. Nothing, nowhere. He eyed the other boy and suddenly locked eyes with round golden ones.

They belonged to a dark body made of scales and twists. Were he any other wizard, he would let out a yelp, but since he was Draco Malfoy, his only reaction was him freezing.

“You have a snake?” Draco asked, his tone tense and he slowly reached for his wand.

While he was supposed to be a part of the house of the Serpent, his logic won over his pride and when faced with an unidentified animal, it was better to be safe than sorry.

“Ah! Yes, ssorry, I forgot to introduce the two of you.” Harry held his hand out and prompted Asa, “come out, sweet, I want to show you a new friend.”

Draco turned pale.

Out of the sleeve of Harry’s robe came out a serpent. It was black, not that long, still a hatchling, but the round eyes made Draco suspect that it wouldn’t be a regular snake.

“Draco, meet my familiar, Asa.” He smiled at Draco and the boy in question noted, slightly hysteric, that his fangs once more grew. “Asa, meet Draco Malfoy. A friend.”

“Greetings, wizardling. I am Asa, Master’s familiar.”

Draco’s mouth opened in shock. It wasn’t enough that Harry bloody Potter was a Parselmouth, but he even had one of the more deadly beings as his familiar? A black mamba?

In the back of his mind, doubts about Harry going anywhere but Slytherin disappeared. Whoever heard of a Parselmouth being anywhere else other than in Slytherin?

“You-you are a Parselmouth??”

Harry looked at Draco as the other boy pointed his finger at him. Oh, he suddenly remembered, Professor Snape mentioned not to make this known. Darn.

“Don’t worry! S-she listens to me and she won’t harm you.”

Hearing this, Draco calmed down. After all, what is more than a reassurance of a Master and a Parselmouth that their snake won’t harm him?

“Right,” he coughed, “nice to meet you then, Asa.” And with that, Harry’s snake turned to look back her Master and hissed something.

“If you want, you can pet her,” offered Harry. “She said that it is okay for you to do so.”

“Oh, alright then!” Draco exclaimed, excited. If only Mother was here, Draco thought, she would faint!

With that, he extended his arm slowly and paused some distance between himself and the serpent, letting the animal make her move. He moved with caution still, but with trust in Harry and in Asa.

The said serpent flicked her tongue and slowly bumped her head against his hand.

Draco smiled, delighted, and stroked her scaly body. She was pleasant to the touch and suddenly, Draco felt the need to have something similar to this. He wanted a familiar and he wanted it to be of the serpentine family as well.

The snake in question basked in the attention. Harry smiled at both her snake and at the other boy and was glad that at least they would all get along and he wouldn’t have to hide Asa.

Suddenly a chime was heard and Draco looked up. “It looks like we’ll be there shortly. I’ll go get my things and we can meet outside of the train? My compartment is two wagons down from yours.”

“I’d like that,” Harry replied.

With that, Draco bid him a bye and went back to where he came from to get his remaining things.

Harry turned to Asa and whispered to her, “I have to put you back to your nest for now, okay? We’ll be arriving soon and I don’t want you to get hurt if anything happens to me.”

Asa sent an affirmation through their bond along with displeasure. “If anything happens to Master, I should be there with you. Not be hidden away.”

“I thank you, Asa, but this time, you will have to go back, okay? I promise that as soon as everything is sorted, I’ll come back for you immediately.”

Asa hissed, not convinced, but willing to follow Master’s order. Seeing that, Harry put her back to her nest and back to his trunk. He didn’t know if he should reach for the trunk or no, since there were no instructions.

As though hearing his worries, a parchment suddenly appeared.

Harry grabbed it and read its contains:

‘First year students are to leave their belongings in the train. As soon as the Sorting Ceremony is completed, belongings will be transported to their respective dorms.’

Well then. Issue solved.

Harry felt the train slowly slowing down and older students began forming a line to get out of the wagon and sending one last warm goodbye to Asa, he joined them.

When the train came to a stop, the energy of the student body was almost visible in the air. Happiness and excitement were one of the few things Harry could taste on his tongue. Laughter and murmur was heard all around him and then the door opened. Quite quickly, all of the people inside the train made their way outside, where they once more re-grouped and found all their friends and in some cases, loved ones.

Harry quickly jumped out when it was his turn and looked for the distinctive white head his new friend sprouted. He began looking in the direction that Draco mentioned and moved there when the boy finally got out of the train.

Draco, while in the presence of his group of friends began looking for Harry as well. When he saw the boy(?) make his way to him, he quickly waved at Harry and beckoned at him to join their group.

When Harry did finally come to Draco, he noted that he was surrounded by many of kids their age. He got slightly nervous, seeing as he didn’t want to leave a bad impression on Draco’s friends – he didn’t know whether he would be in a house they shared and he simply didn’t want to make the blond look bad because he chose to be Harry’s friend.

“Harry! Good, you made it.” Draco exclaimed. He then gestured at each of his friends and began introducing Harry.

“Guys, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Heir Potter.” Some of them widened their eyes, one of the boys opened his mouth and one of the girls cowered their mouth. Harry narrowed his eyes – he needed to figure out what was causing this. He figured he’d either ask Draco later or maybe if he got the chance to talk to Professor Snape.

“Harry, this is Crabbe and Goyle.” The duo of the boys, one of which was the one who opened his mouth at the mention of Harry, were rather plumb. Harry didn’t want to judge based only on their appearances, but he couldn’t help but think them as not the smartest. Regardless, the boys grunted something that could resemble a hello if one was to strain their ears a bit.

“Next,” Draco continued, “is Blaise Zabini.” The newly named Blaise Zabini was a boy a bit taller than the rest of the group. He had a dark skin and prominent on his face were high cheekbones. His mouth was set in a smirk that made him look like he was on a big secretive joke that only he himself was aware of. “Pleasure to meet you, Potter.” With a start, Harry noted that the boy didn’t use the proper greeting required of an Heir. Perhaps not a fan of the rules and traditions?

Standing next to Zabini was a thin pale boy, who wasn’t quite as tall as Zabini, but still towered over most of the group. He had dark hair and his dark eyes were focused on Harry in an unwavering focus. It sort of unnerved Harry. “…good to meet you, Heir Potter.” His voice was airy and had a melodic quality to it.

The last two people were girls. One of them had a face that was slightly pug-like, but there was a sort of beauty in there. Her dark hair was quite short and she tried to appear quite uninterested, but her glances at Harry betrayed that. The other girl was a blonde, who had blue eyes and unlike her friend, she actually was quite uninterested.

“The one on the left is Pansy Parkinson and next to her is Daphne Greengrass,” Draco finished his introduction. Parkinson greeted Harry and Daphne only looked at him, nodded and looked away.

“Pleassure to meet all of you, my name is Harry Potter, Heir to the House of Potter.” He tried to mind his words and truly focused on his pronunciation. He was quite happy to hear that he stumbled on his s only once and other than that, the sentence came out quite clear.

At his words, the children properly looked at him. Zabini’s smirk deepened and Nott looked at him as though he was a puzzle to be solved. The first two boys Draco introduced didn’t pay that much attention to him and Parkinson once more put her hand on her mouth. Greengrass stared at him a second longer than she did on their introduction.

Then a voice boomed out, “First years! First years come here!”

With that, their group moved towards the voice and Harry was startled to see a giant of a man. He had a big stature and on his head was a long and full beard. His hair was long too and didn’t appear very well maintained.

“Firs’ years! First years!” he continued shouting and soon, the group of the first-year students became larger and larger. Harry noticed the red-headed boy from earlier and tried to wave at him, which wasn’t reciprocated, but outright ignored, as the other boy averted his eyes from Harry. Said boy frowned, once more privately lamenting about the rudeness of the other.

Not far behind Ron was the bushy haired girl. She was walking with a boy, who appeared to be more nervous than all of the first years combined. He was clutching a toad in his hands and Harry tried to recall his name – Nilan, Nevan, Neville? Harry supposed he would simply have to wait and see.

When the giant saw that the first years were all present, he led them to boats along the edge of the giant lake.

“No mo’ tha’ six on a boat, firsties. Go on, hop on!”

Harry watched as Draco’s friend group split and he found himself on a boat with Draco, Zabini, Nott, Crabbe and Goyle. The two girls wandered off and Harry saw them talking with some other girls.

When they all boarded, the giant got into one boat as well and was the first to take off. Harry startled slightly when the boat began moving itself and they soon started sailing. He gripped the side of the boat and watched in anticipation the nature around.

They rounded a corner and there it was.

Hogwarts.

In all its glory and beauty.

Harry suddenly understood people who fell in love at first sight.

The castle was truly massive. Towers upon towers were visible, windows lit up and casting a beautiful glow on the structures. Even from this far, he made out so many details and he found himself giddy about the prospect of exploring the castle. He knew that no matter how long he would stay there, there would always be something hidden. Looking downwards from the castle, Harry followed the stairway and saw the destination of the boats. His heart was beating and he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the castle.

“She really is beautiful, just as Father said,” Draco sighted breathlessly. Harry moved his eyes from the castle and looked at his boatmates, all of which had a look of admiration on their faces. Harry didn’t judge them, because he was pretty sure his face looked the same.

Suddenly he felt time slow and something flowed through him.

Outwards, nothing happened. The boats were simply moving forward and nothing other than them was making small waves appear on the surface of the lake.

Inwards however, something touched Harry’s heart, Harry’s soul.

Sensing this, the calm force that was Harry’s magic, which was silently crooning to Harry the whole way to Hogwarts woke up and rushed to come to Harry’s aid.

For the first time, it was beaten.

The force of the foreign magic wasn’t harmful. Rather, it was simply exploring, looking at Harry at his most basic, stripped away of his defences. When it finished his exploration, it vanished, not before leaving an echo of a hug and a message whispering “welcome, children, welcome wizardlings, you will be safe here, you are loved, you belong, you are worthy, you are beautiful.”

Tears sprang into Harry’s eyes and he felt the sensation leave. His magic returned to him, flowing through him and making sure he was okay and safe. When it didn’t find anything harmful, it returned back into the space next to Master’s soul and cocooned it in a warm hug.

Quickly dabbing at his eyes, Harry looked at the other boys in his boat and found none of them as affected as him. He first observed Draco and then slowly observed each boy and with a surprise, he found Nott observing him, his face a blank thing with a calculative look in his eyes.

Harry quickly shook it off and returned to watching the castle, the warm sensation still buzzing in him.

He was ready for whatever was to come.