Chapter 1

He could hear the rain softly pelting on the glass of a single window and the slight howl of the wind as a heavy storm rose outside. The trees stretched their stiff husks and brushed the roof with iron branches as cold gusts shifted through their fluttering leaves. Deep burgundy walls loomed over the square room shred in darkness and a soft ticking sound seemed to ebb from the depths of the small space.

A soft whisper escaped from the lithe body slithering smoothly over the ancient wooden floorboards and turned the Dark Lord's thoughts toward the beautiful creature he'd recently met in the dark forests in the bowels of Albania. He smiled to himself and laid his book down on his lap after checking the page number and sitting back, waiting for the legless animal to approach.

She started coiling herself gently around her Master's ankle, nearly anxious to curl into the heat she could feel radiating from His body. He shifted his leg slightly to accommodate her entire length sliding up to gather on top of his lap and touched the tips of his long fingers to her gleaming scales as they passed by. She tasted the warm scent near his shoulder with her forked tongue flicking out and wound herself closer to him when he placed his hand protectively against her cold shape. Her Lord bade her welcome in smooth parselmouth once she was motionless.

"I am not uncomfortable." The Dark Lord added, sensing her worry through the tight bond of their minds. He pressed further into her thoughts and found something he did not expect.

She was hiding something from him, he realized as the giant snake quickly recoiled from the reach of his probing mind. He frowned and slid a finger beneath her elongated jaw, bringing her beady eyes level with his own.

She blinked slowly and he sensed her defeat and curiously, a small pulse of fear underneath. He frowned in the darkness and felt her brushing her consciousness against his again, unhurriedly offering the information with air of (fake) distant reptilian indifference to hide her rising anxiety.

While processing her unspoken confession calmly and organizing his emotion in order to form a reply, he could feel her squirm underneath his gaze.

An animagus?

He found her scaly hide with the tips of his fingers and took hold of her forcefully, lifting her away from him. He felt dread rise in his chest, even embarrassment. He had treated her like a pet for a few days now. He was acutely uncomfortable now.

Her coiled body started crawling, her scales swallowed by milky human skin melting and changing into a severely distorted shape. The magic glow in the air was almost tangible and the dim room gleamed an emerald hue for a moment before turning the light inside out and shedding the couple of humans in darkness again.

Her knees pushed deep into the plush cushion of the chair as Nagini straddled the Dark Lord with her hips. Silence enveloped them as their eyes ate at each other.

"We are the same reflection." She broke through the taut air with a husky hiss rolling elegantly from her tongue. Her accent so heavy, he almost had trouble deciphering.

He stayed silent but placed two fingers gingerly on the almost translucent skin of her forehead, plucking roughly through her memory and drawing truth from her submissive mind, searching for anything else he might have missed.

He saw that her loyalty was undoubtedly his and that she kept her single secret tightly balled up fearing that her Lord would reject her. He had adopted a snake without sensing that she was animagus. How thick had he been? What else had he missed? His mind reeled with a riptide of doubt for a moment.

She liked the proximity of their special relationship for the past couple of weeks and did not regret her deceit, but he could not find arrogance festering in her primal heart. She must have been in the body of a reptile for a very long time.

Lord Voldemort decided then to let his frown disappear into a subtle smile and let Fate have it's way this once, with his approval. It wasn't too bad. It could possibly have more pros than cons.

He looked up at the girl settled on his lap, her weight sinking him down into the soft cushions; her icy body was pressed to his and her hands rested twisted together in a knot on his chest. She cocked her head slightly while watching him with dark lidded eyes smouldering like embers stolen from an eternal fire. She was in the superior position, but she knew she was not. He felt her pulse flutter as he released his vice grip on her shoulders.

"My Lord," she breathed in a heavy voice, her flushed lips parting slightly. "Accept this as an immortal pledge." Her voice was steady and her eyes dead serious. He blinked and brushed his fingers over the glowing white skin of her shoulders, curious as to the nature of this random being. She tipped her head down and pressed her forehead against his, satisfied with the subtle sign of his approval. Nagini's lush hair tumbled around their heads like a ravenous curtain and he felt her hot breath on his skin, making his palms tingle. She pressed her lips to his in a tender first kiss and slid her hands into his sprawled fingers. She took control of the moment when he hesitated.

Voldemort broke away and moved his hands into the hair at the nape of her neck, twisting through it and crushing her face roughly against his own until he could feel her teeth hungrily trying to keep up with his pace. She made a sweet high pitched noise at the back of her throat and he felt her shifting closer, her hands drawing small circles on his torso. She fumbled clumsily with the buttons of his heavy riding robe before managing to slide her fingers inside, breaking their embrace for air but only finding her breath hitching in her throat when he flicked the hair draped over breasts away. He seemed to notice her nakedness for the first time.

Her Lord glanced up at her with hooded eyes and a jet black curl fell into his face. She moved her hands smoothly up his neck and cupped his jaw in a loose hold, her nails dragging through his hair and pulling him into another silky kiss, but he would not be distracted for long. He pushed her back easily and returned his gaze to her chest, his eyes flashing dangerously. Nagini rolled her head back and gasped as she felt him caress the swell of her plump breasts, he lingered indecisively before taking her hardening nipple into his mouth and rolling his tongue over the sensitive flesh.

The sound of rain cascading against the windowpane grew louder but did not fold the soft groans and sighs into its beating depths. The Dark Lord bent his pet back over his knees and started trailing his thin lips over her stomach, leaving a burning path on her pallid skin. He held her legs firmly at his sides and took pleasure in the greedy way she writhed against him, her lean muscles and ribs evident in the weak light. He could sense her willing his attention to drop lower but he merely smirked and sat back again, waiting for her to catch on.

Nagini pulled herself upright after noticing the lack of attention and nudged her hips against his blatantly.

The Dark Lord chuckled deeply and stood up abruptly, carrying the woman against him towards his quarters nearby.

Merlin's beard, he was glad she was not fat or ugly, he thought happily. Flashing her his most reserved smile.

Page 435. He remembered as he heard the heavy book hitting the floor.

She giggled and squirmed in his grip as he neared the four-poster bed, trying to twist away from him but he held her flush against him, easily dominating the struggle. She did not seem bothered by the rejection of her playfulness and leaned back, pulling him off balance and making him fall on top of her with a quiet grunt.

Before her Lord could frown, Nagini captured his lips with her own and hastily ripped his robe open, exposing his marble skin to her. She could feel his hardness pressing against the inside of her thigh as they churned together in their intimate embrace and smiled triumphantly against his hair as he was exploring her neck with bared teeth. It felt to her like she had won for a fleeting second.

The Dark Lord groaned meaningfully and pushed himself up on his elbow, glaring into her excited eyes.

"We are not the same reflection, Nagini." He hissed and felt her mind offering him a calm explanation in response after a moment of quick consideration. She had meant that they shared a soul, poured into separate bodies.

Almost like a Horcrux, he thought.

"No." She replied patiently, "Like a mate."

Almost like a Horcrux, he thought. Making a note on the wall of his skull.

She closed her eyes and hid the moment in her memory before running her palm up his abdomen and loosening the final buttons of his robes. He gripped her wrist and pulled her hands away from him, pinning them over her head before shoving his knee between her legs by means of parting it. The sea of the materials of his robes hung around her and spilled over the bed.

All words were now lost. Nagini moaned in anticipation and spread her legs wider, holding onto him with her legs as he settled against her again. Lord Voldemort bruised the side of her neck with his demanding kisses and groaned as she bucked into his weight, her impatience stemming from the pool of heat building in the pit of her stomach. He took his sweet time following a slick trail down her breast and drawing whimpers from her throat. She kissed his collar bone as he finally drove into her and tried her best to meet his powerful thrusts. She soon found herself pinned down beneath his body, so she resulted to twisting her wrists free from his distracted hold and exploring everything she could reach as he forced his girth into her.

The wave of her first orgasm caused the walls of her orifice to clench down on him in a delicious way and he buried a fist in her hair, bringing the coils to his nose and closing his eyes as he let her take over.

Nagini guided her Lord's open palms up the curves of her agile form as she sat on top of him now, determined to satisfy him completely. He glided his thumbs over her nipples and pinched lightly, making her gasp and causing a low growl to resound in his chest. She took hold of his moist shaft and impaled herself on it again, grinning as she took notice of the animal emotion crossing his aristocratic features. She started slowly, grinding her round hips against him. His face contorted in ecstasy as she pulled him out completely only to sink slowly back over his length again. She could feel her second crescendo approaching and rocked their hips together easily, throwing her head back and muttering a pitched string of foreign curses and spells. She could see her Lord's eyes glaze with ardour as if she was in a trance and vaguely felt him sitting up, biting into her shoulder before taking a damaging hold on her hips and ramming himself into her body, burying his seed deeply within her.

The world returned to them and they stilled in the darkness.

A fat drop of crimson rolled from beneath Voldemort's parted lips and into the valley between her breasts like a hot tear. He returned to the mark he'd made and suckled on the sweet flesh tasting of her blood. Their bodies were covered in a sheen of sweat, entwined closely and he could hear her panting subside but her heart racing still. Nagini cradled her Lord to her chest and encircled him lovingly with both arms.

"As one." She hissed into his ear before carefully shifting from his slack hold, his eyes lowered to her legs and found further blood stains between her thighs.

How special a gift – he thought distantly. The walls of his mind hardening again.