Hello there, everyone. Neko here, coming at you with a brand new story.

There are a couple of things I want to say before this story begins.

First of all, I don't have an upload schedule and updates get uploaded when they are ready. Of course reviews might encourage me to write faster (hint, hint :3)

Also, I want to do a shout out to the people who are helping me with this story.
First we have my good friend Seth's Kiss, who has been a huge support. (Go check them out, they're a great writer)
Then we have ShayMe00. She is my go to person to bounce ideas off on this fanfic.

Both are wonderful people, so show them some love if you can.

After this AN, I tend to put my future AN's at the bottom of the chapter. It's for the people who only come here to read the story (which is completely fine). I'm beyond honored that people take their time to read what I put down.

I already know where I want this story to go, but suggestions are always welcome. That said, don't be shy to send me a PM or leave a review. I read all of them and I'll answer any question you have.

As the main characters are children, this story will remain rated T for now (swearing may occur). But I plan on going through all the years in Hogwarts. So when our beloved characters grow up, there will be pairings and the rating may go up then. Don't worry, I will be very clear once it does.

I think that's all for now.

Strap yourselves in and enjoy the story.

Love, Neko

'thoughts'

"parsel"

"normal speech"

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"Stay back!" screamed a woman.

She was facing several wizards with their wands drawn against her. Behind the woman hid a small seven year old child.

But despite her warning call, the wizards didn't care and advanced on her. Without hesitation they attacked, throwing several deadly curses to the woman and her child.

The woman grabbed her daughter and jumped out of the way, narrowly dodging the curses.

The woman had no means to defend herself as she wasn't a witch and so didn't have a wand. This, however, didn't mean that she couldn't use magic. She wasn't just an ordinary human. She was known as creature called a Monarus.

A Monarus is a rare creature, bordering on extinct. They looked completely human, but they had the ability to transform into their true form, which is exactly what the woman did.

Normally, a Monarus is a non-violent creature, but when their loved ones are threatened, no task was too great to protect them.

The woman transformed in a short flash of light.

Her entire body was now suddenly covered in a bone-like armour. But that wasn't the only change. On her head she gained two long antenna. And the most noticeable change were the beautiful wings on her back. The wings were shaped like that of a butterfly and the new look was a sight to behold.

In this form, the woman had access to her elemental magic. Hers was ice and when the wizards fired the next round of curses at her, she retaliated by firing off ice shards at the wizards.

The little girl hid away from the battle, scared for her life and that of her mother's. But she could do nothing but watch as her mother battled the wizards. She was too young to transform herself to help her mother out.

The battle seemed even, but the woman was outnumbered and soon she began to tire. With her armour, the Monarus could take a few curses without getting harmed. That didn't mean, however, that she was completely immune to their effects. Plus her armour started to wear down from the continued assault.

When the woman was hit with a rather nasty curse, she dropped to the ground from the pain. Taking this opportunity, the wizards advanced to the place where the little girl was hiding. They had no intention on sparing either of them.

Seeing this, the mother quickly got up again and drove the wizards back. But she knew she was fighting a losing battle. So she did the only thing she could think of to keep her daughter safe.

She used her elemental magic to create a huge ice barrier between her and the wizards. It wouldn't hold long, but it would give her the time she needed to do what she needed to do.

"Jewel." the woman called, mentioning for her daughter to come to her.

The girl, now known as Jewel, did as told.

"Listen to me, sweetheart. You're going to have to leave me behind."

"What? No! Mother, I can't do that!" Jewel replied, horrified.

"Yes. Yes you can. You have to. These people won't stop coming after us. Now that they have found us, they're never going to give up, no matter where we hide to. You need to run and stay out of sight."

"But mother…"

"No, Jewel. I know this is hard, for both of us. But if you stay here, we'll both be killed. If you leave, then at least you'll survive. I've taught you how to survive, I believe in you. So, promise me. Promise me you'll survive, no matter what." she said, desperation clear in her voice.

"I will, I promise. But there has to be another way." the girl cried, knowing what her mother was intending to do.

"There is no other way, sweetheart. I will keep them busy and you run. You run and you keep running and you don't look back. Do you understand?"

"Y-Yes mother. I promise."

Jewel was crying very hard now and it hurt her mother to see her daughter this way, but she knew she didn't have a choice. The woman hugged her daughter tight, and when she let go, she turned back towards the wizards, who were almost through the barrier.

"You need to be strong now. And don't ever forget that I love you." she said with her own tears in her eye.

"I love you too, mother." Jewel answered.

Time was running out fast. Jewel gathered her strength and stopped her crying. She glanced at her mother from behind and said one last thing before she bolted; "I'll survive no matter what, mother, I promise."

And she was gone. Jewel ran and didn't look back, but she could hear the sounds of battle behind her. She wanted to go back, but she couldn't, so she kept running, like she had promised. Even after the sounds of battle were far behind her, she kept on running.

How long she ran, she didn't know. All she knew before she passed out from exhaustion, was that she was far away from where she wanted to be and that she would never see her mother again.

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Two years passed and Jewel was now nine years old. And in all that time, she was on her own. After she had lost her mother, she didn't trust anyone, be it a muggle, wizard/witch or other human creatures.

She was still a small child, she didn't grow much in the last two years. It was most likely the result of malnutrition. Her mother had indeed taught her to survive on her own, but that didn't mean it was easy.

Jewel avoided populated areas like the plague and tended to stay in forests and nature filled areas, where humans usually didn't venture.

In the last two years Jewel learned a lot about herself. Her mother never told her who her father was, but she knew it had to be a powerful wizard. The amount of magic that a Monarus could use, depended on the parents. Her mother possessed elemental magic, so Jewel knew that once she gained her true form, she would be able to use that as well.

Besides elemental magic, a Monarus possessed two other abilities that were unique to their kind. The first one was that she could understand and speak any human language. The second ability was a passive one, no matter who was in the presence of a Monarus, a person could not tell lies. It was an ability that they could not control and that is why they were so few of them left. People don't really appreciate not being able to tell lies and that's why a Monarus is a hunted species.

But the reason Jewel knew her father had to be powerful was because she could talk to snakes.

Monarus's only knew human languages, not animal ones. So Jewel figured out on her own that her father would have likely had this ability and it passed on to her. But it was an unusual language, it came with a special kind of magic that she could use whenever she wanted.

At first she didn't think much about it, but after a close encounter with some rather unfriendly witches, Jewel learned that she could use this magic to defend herself. She would only have to say what she wanted in the snake language and it would happen.

For instance, when she had to escape the witches, she wanted to protect herself from their magic. When a curse was thrown her way, she yelled for them to stop. Because she yelled it in the snake language, the magic reacted and stopped the spell in its tracks.

After that Jewel started to experiment and quickly learned the boundaries of what she could do. Her magic wasn't as powerful as a wizard's/witches', but she could do mostly anything they could do.

When she befriended a snake in the forest where she lived in, he told her that the language was called Parseltongue and her ability to do magic was Parselmagic. The snake, called Thoro, taught her everything about Parselmagic, including how to change into a snake. Any person possessing the Parsel ability, had the skill to turn into a snake.

And after practicing hard, she managed it.

Normally a person with Parselmagic would turn into a non-magical snake, but perhaps it was because of her creature blood that Jewel turned into a magical snake. Just like herself, her snake form was petite. She was a pure black in color, with icy blue swirls running over her entire body. She was a variant of the Ice Snake, which meant that, unlike a normal snake, she was more comfortable in colder environments.

Which was why she was all alone now. Thoro had moved on to warmer areas as winter had arrived and the snow had started to fall.

Food was getting harder and harder to find, because of the cold weather. And soon she had no other option but to face her fear and venture into a human town.

'I can do this. I'll just stay a snake and as soon as I get what I need, I'm out of there. I can do this.' she told herself, gathering her courage.

Jewel didn't bother to learn the name of the town she went in, she was focused on only one thing; finding food.

She only needed food, because the cold didn't bother her, a benefit from being an Ice snake.

She predicted that she could hunt some rodents near the houses. It disgusted her, but her options were running out. She made a promise and she would do anything to keep it. Even if that meant that she had to eat rats as a snake.

But her predictions were wrong. Even the rats and mice have seem to seek out warmer places and Jewel wasn't quite brave enough to look for them inside a house.

"Seems like I won't be eating again today. I hope I'll have better luck tomorrow." she sighed sadly.

She started heading back to her forest when a strange sound caught her attention.

Giving in to her curiosity, she went to investigate.

To her surprise, the sound came from a small boy, hiding in the bushes in the garden of a house. He was crying and seemed to be in pain.

Jewel found it strange to find someone outside in the cold. The entire time she was hunting in the town, she didn't see any human outside. It was late in the evening after all.

Jewel stared at the boy a few seconds, which she regretted instantly. The boy had noticed her.

She panicked and turned around to flee.

"Oh, please don't go! I'm sorry I startled you." the boy called out to her.

"It's nothing personal, boy. But I just can't trust a human." Jewel said, not expecting the human boy to understand her.

"I see. I don't blame you. I find it hard to trust other humans as well." the boy answered sadly in Parsel, completely taking Jewel off guard.

Parcel magic, she learned, was extremely rare. The chances of ever finding another person who had it were so very slim, almost impossible.

"You…. You can speak Parsel?" Jewel asked cautiously. She turned her head to look at him, but she kept her body ready to flee.

"I don't know what Parsel is, but, yes, I can understand you."

"What are you doing outside? And why are you crying?"

'I might just as well ask. I can't turn away now, now that I've spoken to him. Besides, he's just a little boy. What harm can he do?' she reassured herself.

"I can ask the same of you. It's freezing outside! Snake's get hurt in the cold, don't they?" the boy asked with concern.

'That's weird. Why would he care about that? He probably doesn't, he's just avoiding my question. I need to get out of here.'

"The cold doesn't bother me. Goodbye."

"Oh. Okay. Just… stay safe, okay?" the boy answered, looking defeated. He stared at his feet and tried to not cry again.

Every instinct in Jewel told her to leave, to get away, back to the safety of her forest. But the look of hopelessness in the boys eyes, it reminded her of her own.

So rather than running, she turned towards the boy and came a little closer to him.

"What about you? Aren't you cold?"

The boy snapped his head back towards Jewel, surprise and confusion clear on his features. It took a moment before the boy composed himself and answered.

"I'm very cold."

"Then what are you doing outside?! This is where you live, is it not? Get back inside, before you get ill."

Jewel confused herself, she shouldn't feel concern for this human boy. She should stay away and leave him be. But it had been such a long time since she had spoken to someone other than a snake. It seemed like so long ago since she last had a conversation with another human being. She couldn't bring herself to leave.

"I'm being punished. I have to stay outside until they decide to let me back in the house."

His answer just brought up more questions.

"What did you do to deserve THIS? And who are they?"

"My uncle and aunt. I dropped a plate when I was cooking. Normally my uncle would just hit me and send me to bed without food, but today was different. Somehow I fixed the plate, like it never broke. I just wanted it to be fixed and then it was. … They called me a freak and threw me outside. They told me I couldn't go back inside until they let me back in. And I don't know why I'm telling you this, because I never wanted anyone to know." the boy ranted, getting upset.

"I have that effect on people." Jewel answered vaguely. "But that's horrible. I don't understand why accidental magic should be punished. It's not like you have control over it. You're a young and untrained wizard, of course something like that is bound to happen. But I guess this is normal for humans. They're all the same, cruel and unforgiving."

"Wait. Magic? Wizard? What are you talking about?"

"You don't know? You're a wizard. You're a Parsel mouth and you used accidental magic, there's no way you're a muggle."

"Me? A wizard? No way. And what's a muggle? How do you know all this. And.."

"Whoa, whoa! Back off!" hissed Jewel angerly.

In his enthusiasm, the boy crept closer to Jewel until they were near. It was too close for comfort, so Jewel assumed a defensive position.

The boy leapt back as if bitten.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, I mean no harm. But what you say makes no sense. I mean, I know I'm not normal. But I'm just a freak, right?"

And at that moment, Jewel decided she would help the boy. She knew what it was like to feel like a freak, to be alone, to be an outcasted and punished for something you can't control. Plus she knew the boy wasn't lying when he told her he meant no harm.

'I'm sorry, mother. But I can't keep going on alone. I know I'm going to take a huge risk, letting myself get close to someone. But I can't walk away from this.'

"What's your name, boy?"

"Harry."

"Well, Harry, get me some food and I'll tell you what I know."

"Once I can get back inside, I'll see if I can get some food for you."

It was getting really late, midnight had already passed.

"Has this happened before? That they left you outside for so long?" Jewel asked after a few moments of silence.

"They have locked me out of the house before, but not this late and in this cold. I wouldn't be surprised if they left me outside for the rest of the night. Lately their punishments have become more severe. And again, why do I keep telling you this? I don't want to talk about it!" Harry replied, getting really upset.

"I'm sorry. That is my fault. You see, I have an ability that is unique to my kind. No being alive can tell a lie in my presence. It's not something I can turn off, I have no control over it. My ability will compel you to tell the truth."

"Oh. That's…" Harry couldn't find the right words.

"There is only one thing you can do, to avoid telling things you don't want to tell me. But it will require some time to learn."

"Please teach me. I need to be able to lie to survive in this place. I don't want to tell what I feel and what I think to the Dursleys. They'll kill me for sure if they knew."

"Isn't it better that I leave then? I don't want to get you killed." After hearing this, Jewel lost confidence about staying with Harry. She'd rather be alone again than get her new friend killed.

'Wait. Since when did he become my friend?' she asked herself, but didn't have time to think about it because Harry immediately answered.

"No! Please don't go! You're the first person I met who talks to me like I'm not a freak. And you know what's really going on with me. I don't want you to leave. Please." Pleaded Harry desperately.

"… Okay. I won't leave. I'll stay with you. But you have to promise me one thing. I have never trusted a human before. I want to trust you and stay with you, because, honestly, I'm starting to go insane from loneliness. So, promise me. Promise me I can trust you and that you'll never betray me. If you can do that, I'll do the same."

"I promise." Answered Harry without hesitation.

Jewel was in silent shock. After her mother died, she had been on her own. She stayed away from any human contact, because when she did come in contact with them, they would hurt her. And yet here she was, talking with this boy. Not only that, but she would place her trust in him. She was terrified and it went against every instinct in her body.

'But I don't want to be alone anymore.'

And with that the deed was done.

"Then you have my word as well. I'll teach you everything I know. We'll stay together and we'll have each other's back."

Hearing those words, Harry smiled at her with tears in his eyes. It took Jewel by surprise.

"W-What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I finally have a friend. And I won't be alone anymore. It's been a long time since I felt happy."