Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or the plot.

Prologue

The snake opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.

And they widened. Harry stared back, and it didn't take him long to figure out he was having a staring contest with a Boa Constrictor.

"You…" it hissed.

The snake…spoke? Harry gazed at it with something like terror; until he shook his head while thinking he must've imagined it. Of course it hadn't. Or, the staff of the zoo must've planted a message recorder inside the tank just to mess around with the visitors. After all, everyone knows snakes can't speak.

Harry decided to go along with the ploy then creating a ruckus instead.

"Me?" Harry pretended to gasp, while gesturing at himself. He wondered if he should've pointed at someone else, but opted against it.

"There'sss no need for these pointlesss shenanigansss now," it commented, and for a moment Harry wondered how well thought out the staff put into the recordings; "for you a ssstrange one, Harry Potter."

And just like that, Harry Potter's playful persona vanished.

"How the fuck do you know my name?" Harry demanded in a harsh whisper, as he advanced towards the reptile. He got so close that his nose was pressed against the smooth, hard glass, and you could just make out the faint outline of the vapour of his breath on the tank.

The snake made an odd, rasping sound, which Harry took for as its laughter. His fists clenched and unclenched with rage, and Harry could feel that familiar swirl of fury starting to bubble up in the pit of his stomach. If there was one thing Harry hated, it was to be laughed at.

Just as quickly as the rasping came, it stopped, making Harry freeze.

"Danger lurksss around you, ssson of the Lily," observed the snake, morosely; "I can sssense your power – and hisss – and I can feel your hatred, your anger. You've been alone all your life, and you ssseek for revenge, no?"

At Harry's stunned expression, the snake clucked his tongue, laughing again, but this time, Harry didn't bother to react.

Instead, his mind was focused on several things at once. Like how he tried to play with the other children from his town, but they all rejected his offers, and when people in peculiar dresses called him monster and demon, and when those same oddly-dressed people would chase after him, while throwing rocks and pebbles.

Harry shut his eyes as those painful memories replayed themselves in his brain. He nibbled his lower lip, as he recounted the years of torment he had been put through. The memories of being attacked were the worst, because they had been undeserved. However, he had gained good stamina by running from the weird people in cloaks, but it still didn't stop the insults that had been thrown his way.

Demon…

Monster…

Devil's Spawn…

Then he saw himself gathering those people, and burning them all alive.

Harry gasped as his eyes snapped open with horror.

"What am I?" he whispered brokenly to the snake.

However, before it had a chance to even reply, a loud voice interrupted their conversation.

"DUDLEY! MR DURSELY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"

Harry didn't have enough time to react as Dudley barged past him, making him fall to the floor. Embarrassed and ashamed, Harry glared heatedly at Dudley's back, but that changed a second later into a smug grin as Dudley and Piers were suddenly taken by surprise when the glass of the tank vanished.

He didn't know how it disappeared, but he was glad it had. That showed Dudley, it did.

Then Harry's attention was distracted, as a large Boa Constrictor slithered by him. It stopped, its head turning to Harry's direction.

"You are the vessel of You-Know-Who," it revealed, and Harry blinked at the snake.

"You-Know-Who?" echoed Harry, wondering who on Earth that was.

The snake nodded, as it replied, "You are the container of Lord Voldemort."

Then the snake glided to the exit, leaving behind Harry on the floor, and a screaming chaos in its wake.

A/N: This is a prologue and therefore it is short (other chapters will be longer). This is un-betaed, but I hope it comes to scratch. There will be dramatic differences from this to the first book, and probably the whole series. At the moment, there won't be any pairings. I got the container idea from Naruto, and I wonder if I'm the first to do this with Harry. (There will be no Naruto characters involved with this story).