This is my first Fanfiction so I hope it's alright. Also, I will be using British terms and spellings because that is what I'm most comfortable and familiar with because I am British. :D

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling.

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

"ParselTongue"

Harry sat on his bed at Grimmauld Place in the darkness of midnight, his back lent heavily against the pillows, refusing to sleep out of fear. The nightmares he'd been having almost every time he slept plagued his mind constantly and the horrible prospect that might come from them was almost too much to bear.

He didn't want to see anyone else being attacked, the vision of Mr Weasley was the final straw and even though Harry on the outside didn't appear to fear the chance of him being possessed by Voldemort, on the inside he was terrified. He didn't want to fall asleep to then wake up and find out one of his nightmares had come true again. Harry also couldn't bear the fear of him being the one that had potentially done it. Ginny had said that she couldn't remember doing things for hours at a time and Harry couldn't risk that happening to him. Plus he couldn't get over the feeling he felt when Dumbledore had met his eyes in his office before apparating to Grimmauld Place. The feeling of a serpent rising inside him, wanting to bite and strike at Dumbledore had felt so strong, and even though Harry and his friends had concluded that he hadn't become a snake and somehow transported to London on the night of the attack, Harry couldn't help but feel like he had, whether it made sense or not.

Harry stared at the opposite wall unfocused through drooping eyes when he suddenly straightened up and woke from his half-asleep state to the sound of what could be best described as a moving Tractor. Harry shook his head to clear some of the drowsiness and peered over the side of the bed to see Ron lying in a crumpled position tangled in blankets, mouth open and snoring. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione all knew he wasn't sleeping well and he suspected they had told Sirius, Mrs Weasley and the twins somewhere shortly after Christmas because now at breakfast, they would all give him a look of worry or anxiousness as he came through the door but they all quickly hide their expressions from him as best as they could. He had also noticed that they had taken to looking after him in a non-direct kind of way. For instance, Ron had taken to making sure Harry slept at night by staying up until Harry fell asleep. However, this was not the case as Ron would always fall asleep before him. He didn't blame him for doing so and besides, Harry would always pretend to be asleep whenever Ron did manage to stay up anyway. Harry didn't want to feel guilty for Ron being tired and without sleep and he also wanted to have the night to himself to sort out his problems, but to do so Ron needed to be asleep.

Pulling his gaze from Ron, Harry's body swayed dangerously and he knew he had to sleep.

'…a little wouldn't hurt,' he thought wearily. His eye's stung and itched with tiredness and his head was pounding slightly which meant his body was becoming desperate to shut off. As Harry buried his head in the pillows, a great wave of relief, warmth and relaxation spread throughout his whole body and within seconds of closing his eyes, he fell into a deep sleep.

As the boy slept, a powerful presence smiled. True, he had only just become aware of the connection he shared with the boy but he was more than capable of exploiting and using it without much effort.

With this connection, he could not only gain the prophecy but also the boy himself. The anticipation was bursting inside him but he had to push it aside as he didn't want the boy to be disturbed as he slept, probing his mind with such a weak link was going to take time and the last thing he wanted was to get so far and to then be pushed back by the boy regaining consciousness.

He had no main goal for tonight; he just wanted to see how far he could get before the mind rebelled against his efforts but for the moment, he felt none and the boys mind was an open book.

He was about to retreat for tonight when he saw something that took him by surprise, well not really saw but certainly felt. His smile grew; this was not what he expected to find lurking within the boy's mind.

"So, 'The Boy Who Lived' has a dark side. A hidden side," he hissed, his voice just barely reflecting the feeling of excitement within him.

Then, an idea sprang to his head. He had been amusing himself on a book about old magic that he had acquired at the current location he was residing at when he stumbled upon some magic that sparked his interest. The circumstances to which to perform the spell though were highly unlikely and so the practice of the spell was abolished long ago, however with him and the boy connected like they were currently and with the dark presence dormant in his mind, he could perform the spell with amazing results.

When he had made sure the boy was not waking up any time soon, he focused his magic, murmuring the words required for the spell. As the words left his mouth he felt his magic surge and flood into the young boy's mind, infecting it. After a while, he felt the reaction of the spell take hold and he was pushed out of his mind as the boy regained consciousness but he wasn't worried, he had succeeded. Now he just needed to quickly perform a different spell for the plan to be complete.

Harry awoke to a strange tingling sensation spreading from his chest to the tips of his body. His scar was burning and was probably the cause of his awakening. He wanted to scream but found he couldn't, instead, a strangled sort of groaned left his mouth as he rolled around on the bed. A feeling of being stretched overcame him, pulling on him from his nose to the end of his spine and his limbs became hot and soon completely numb. He felt his body shift and change like every cell was reforming. His breathing and heart rate increased as the feeling intensified. Slowly, his body grew colder, the heat leaving him till he was left feeling freezing.

After what felt like an eternity, his scar reduced in pain and the feeling died down but just when he thought it was over, his hold body lurched forward briefly and it caused him to halt all movement till he knew for sure it had finished.

Harry felt different. His body felt strong, powerful and sleek. On his belly, he felt every rough textured of the sheets and his senses felt honed. He opened his eyes and recoiled slightly at the different colours and shapes clearly visible even in the pitch black darkness. He tried to sit up but found he couldn't move his arms or legs, in fact, he couldn't feel them at all. Curiously, he raised his head to examine his right side and what he found almost made him faint.

The sight he was greeted with was not his arm at all but a long black scaly body. He looked the other side and saw a similar thing and to his horror as he rose higher, he saw his legs too had been replaced by a long black tail.

"N-no," he spluttered, "I-I can't be a snake!"

Update:

I am in the process of editing this story. Apologies in advance if the story is a little hard to read but I'm working on it...hopefully. This chapter has been edited though.

;)