Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. He and all other characters in his world belong to J.K. Rowling. I'm just borrowing them. I have complete control over Damien however. Unless he bites me, in which case he goes to Animal Control.
The day was hot. It was in the middle of summer, and sensible people were safely in their house, drinking cool drinks. And those that weren't were wishing that they had a cool drink to drink.
The little black haired boy crouched behind a shed on Number 4 Privet Drive belonged to the latter group of people. Inside the immaculately cleaned house, the family was watching the telly, relishing the air conditioning and sipping lemonade. Outside, in the heat the boy crouched behind the only shade he could find, sweat running down his face, trickling into his bright green eyes.
The boy looked no more than 6, his hair, cut short and covered in beads of sweat, sticking up every which way. Through his baggy clothes you could count every rib. One of his thin shoulders was visible through the collar of his huge shirt. His trousers had holes in the knees big enough to stick your hand through and were completely covered in dirt. Through the holes, you could tell his legs were covered in dirt as well.
The boy glanced around before sitting. He knew that he was supposed to be doing the weeding, but he thought that it would be alright to sit down briefly. A hiss from behind made the boy shoot straight back up. Behind him in the shade was a snake, bright blue and longer than him. He froze. The serpent slowly raised his head.
"I wasss enjoying my resssst" The snake hissed at the boy. "You disssturbed me." The boy drew back.
"I'm sssssorry" The boy said. "I didn't mean to disssturb you"
"That doessss not make it better" The snake replied. "I wassss having a pleasssant dream. I wassss chasssing a juicy rodent. My fangssss were almosssst upon it before you woke me up. I am now hungry. You ssssshall have to do inssstead." The serpent advanced upon the boy who crawled back.
"Pleasssse" The boy whispered. "I bet I don't tasssste good. I'd probably wouln't fit in your tummy too." The snake's tongue flickered into the air.
"You sssssmell fine" It countered. "And I could kill you now and then sssslowly eat your body. Then you would fit in my sssstomach." The boy trembled. "I will not eat you today, boy. I'm sssure you have a family that would misssss you if I did. It wouln't do for Mugglessss to find me." The reptile turned back to the shade from which he came.
"They wouldn't" The boy replied. "And what are Mug.. Mudglessss?" The snake slowly turned around.
"Who wouldn't what?" He inquired. "And Mugglessss are people like you, only they don't have magic." The boy stared at the snake.
"Magic is real?" He asked the blue reptile.
"Of courssssse, how elssse would I talk to you?" The serpent told the boy. The boy looked puzzled.
"I don't know. I've never talked to a ssssnake before."
"You are what humansss call a Parsssselmouth. Why I don't know, it doesn't even seem to desssscribe the language. And who wouldn't what?" The snake asked.
"What?" The boy replied, still on the revelation of magic.
"When we were talking of me eating you, you sssssaid they wouldn't. Who wouldn't what?" The boy thought back.
"My family. They wouldn't miss me. You sssssaid they would missssss me if I got eaten. They wouldn't." The reptile had opened his mouth to reply when the back door flew open.
"Boy!" Uncle Vernon shouted. "Those weeds aren't weeding themselves!" The boy and the snake both jumped. The boy started to get up, to move away, but he was too late. Vernon had already came stomping over.
"What's this?" He asked the boy. "Lazing about on the job?" Vernon would have continued on were in not for the fact that he had caught sight of the bright blue reptile. "Snake!" He cried before diving in the shed for a spade.
"Run!" The boy hissed. "He'll be back soon!" The snake slowly nodded.
"I am called Damien. If you talk to othersss of my kind, they can convey a message to me. They will know who I am." The snake hissed back.
A loud sound from the shed made the boys attention turn away from the snake. Vernon came out of the shed bearing a rusty pair of pruning shears. He roughly pushed the boy out of the way before coming to a jerky stop. Where there once was a snake there was only a patch of bare dirt. Vernon turned on the boy.
"You freak!" He yelled. "You made it disappear!" And with that he grabbed the boy by his shirt and dragged him inside.
From the shadows of the shed Damien watched sadly as the boy who had saved his life was thrown into a cupboard. With a shake of his head the snake closed his eyes. A few seconds later air flew into the space he once occupied with a small pop.
Years later, Hagrid delivered a Hogwarts letter to the boy called Harry Potter. By that time, the boy had convinced himself it had all been a dream. He had forgotten completely of the blue snake his uncle had tried to kill years before.
More than twelve years later, in the middle of a battle, Damien recognized the now grown boy that had once saved him and threw himself on his master's wand to keep him from shooting the boy with a killing curse. By then his scales had turned from bright blue to dull black, and his master had given him a new name. But deep down he was the same Damien who made friends with a black haired, green eyed boy that day twelve years ago. For that boy Damien would gladly give his life. The only problem was that for the last four years his master had called him Nagini.
A/N: What if Nagini has a heart after all? Maybe that heart is hidden deep inside, along with the name he was once called, Damien. Maybe Harry Potter kept that heart beating and the least he could do was repay him.