Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter One: Prologue
A young man, sixteen years old, sat on the floor of his family's living room. He wore a playful smirk on his face as he absently stroked his pet snake's head in his hand. The rest of his reptile's long body was draped around his neck and shoulders, wrapped around his stomach, and laying on his lap. The creature's large, twelve foot body was mostly black, with a back adorned by emerald colored diamonds outlined by silver. Its forked tongue slithered in and out of its mouth slowly, almost lazily, as if almost too tired or bored to actually hiss properly.
The boy abruptly threw his head back and laughed, unknowingly disturbing his snake's position. The reptile made its discomfort known as he glanced upwards, throwing the boy an agitated look.
*Sorry,* the boy hissed.
"What is that bloody snake saying about me now?" the boy's father asked.
The young man looked up with an unconvincing innocent expression that didn't fool anyone.
"Nothing Dad," he responded, trying to keep the innocent façade. It was broken, however, when a dubious smirk crept onto his face.
"Now listen here young man, if you and that ruddy snake don't start-"
"Adrian," the gentle voice of his wife cut in, "he's just having a bit of fun. Leave them alone dear, and go back to reading." When the boy's father returned to his book, his mother caught his eye and gave him a subtle wink, emitting a small chuckle from the boy which immediately made his father's head snap back up. The boy quickly changed the subject.
"Where's Adrianna?"
His father grunted and shrugged. Refusing to honor his son's question with a verbal answer after he and his snake continued to conspire against him and plot his demise. His mother rolled her eyes and her husband's antics and shared a knowing look with the boy.
"She's with Lydia."
"Really?"
"Yes, I believe so. I think they're with their trainers. She'll probably be back late tonight or tomorrow morning."
The boy nodded and went back to simply thinking and listening to Sheila's contented hissing.
The family's quiet evening was abruptly interrupted by insistent pecking at the window. His father nodded towards the glass pane and the boy scrambled up, easily carrying his 12 foot pet across the room to let the owl in. Once it was relieved of its burden, the bird left through the window it had come in.
"It's for me," he proclaimed quietly as he ripped the top open. "It's odd that she didn't stay for my response."
"Who's it from?" His mother questioned.
The boy smiled at her as he began to read the letter's contents. "Who do you think it's from?" He responded.
"What's it say?" His father grunted.
The boy kept reading though – either ignoring, or not hearing his father's inquiry. When he had finished, his hands fell limply at his sides, the letter falling to the ground. His usually carefree expression gave way to grim apprehension as he looked first at his concerned mother, and then held his father's gaze. As Adrian raised his left eyebrow, prompting his son to speak, the boy dropped his eyes to the ground for a split second before he raised them again and spoke.
"They found me."
A/N
Thank you so much for reading! I love reading AU stories, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Please let me know what you think!
~Lilah