Harry and Ginny Potter are happily married, while young Lily is about to begin at Hogwarts. Little does she know what awaits her there…"

"Normal speech, and parseltongue"

"A snake is speaking"

Thoughts

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SNAKE SPAWN

CHAPTER ONE

Harry was downstairs cooking sausages, already-cooked bacon sitting on the table, when Lily came down the stairs dressed in a tartan skirt and a black hooded shirt with a white skull-and-crossbones emblazoned across the front.

"Morning, Dad," Lily greeted him as she slipped into her place at the table.

"Morning, Lils," Harry replied, shooting his daughter a quick smile before turning back to the sausages. "Mum still sleeping?"

Lily snorted.

"Naturally." Her voice was slightly snide; Lily believed in getting the most out of the day, much as Harry himself did, and so she was rather disapproving of her mother's sleeping habits. Harry shot her a stern look.

"Sorry," Lily said, not meaning it.

While superficially Lily appeared to resemble her parents, the knowing were aware that she in fact looked remarkably like someone else. True, Lily's hair was black, like Harry's, but it was sleek and smooth; and her brown, nearly black eyes were not like her Uncle Percy's, as people said; and her high cheekbones and amazingly fair skin were not merely random genes. In fact, Lily's hair, eyes, skin and general appearance belonged to her secret great-great-great-uncle, little Lily Riddle's half-uncle, before baby Lily was adopted and became an Evans. Lily Molly Potter, to put it bluntly, was the spitting image of one Tom Marvolo Riddle, who later became far too ambitious and took on the title of Lord Voldemort.

Needless to say, the Potters had not been happy with this development. Lily had been about six years old and Ginny had been acting strangely around her. When Harry asked her what was wrong, Ginny spilled out her horrified feelings and Harry, upon looking at his daughter, had realised that, indeed, Lily looked like a small Tom Riddle.

Harry had then remembered something that Albus had said, that he had dismissed at the time… the students at Hogwarts had shortly thereafter been greatly amused when a furiously angry Harry and Ginny Potter had stormed into the hall and begun to scream at the headmaster.

Albus had admitted that some thirty years ago he had tried to trace Tom Riddle's family tree and discovered the true identity of one Lily Evans, at the time a sixth year at Hogwarts. He had never felt it necessary to tell her who she was, as she would have undoubtedly found it distressing; and so it had only been he who had known that it was her own uncle who had caused her death.

Albus had then been afflicted by a strong bat-bogey hex before Harry and Ginny took it in turns to yell at him.

Lily herself didn't know who it was that she resembled so much, in both face and form. Few people knew of Voldemort's true identity, and even fewer remembered what he had looked like before mutilating his soul and gaining his monstrous appearance. She had been greatly confused, not to mention hurt – although she did her best to hide these feelings, being the reserved child that she was – when her mother had avoided her. Harry had explained to her that Mummy was going through as hard patch right now and that it wasn't her fault, and that Mummy would soon be back to normal. Indeed, Ginny was soon back to her ordinary self, and so the matter was for the most part forgotten.

To be sure, Harry and Ginny both worried a little when Lily began carrying snakes about with her, crooning at them at odd moments, although since Harry himself had the odd chat with a serpent their was only small. Lily enjoyed dressing in black, but since it was her color and, as she had phrased it, "super-cool" and told them to watch Men In Black this too had only caused a small amount of worry. What worried them most was Lily's reserved, ambitious personality, so like Tom Riddle's in some respects. Harry and Ginny had resolved to do the best they could to support their baby and show her the right path, but sometimes they wondered if their efforts would pay off.

Still, Lily was only just turned eleven, so they had a while yet before they would become seriously worried.

"Your mother works hard," Harry began sternly, "she has a perfect right to get some extra sleep if she wants to."

Lily sighed.

"I know, Dad," she said lightly. "You've told me before. Can we go into Diagon Alley today?"

"Why?"

"I need to get Emperor some more dead rats."

Harry winced. Too much information.

"What does Emperor say?"

"Rats!" the cobra proclaimed imperiously, slithering out into the kitchen. "I want rats, Harry! For the love of Asclepius, get me some rats!"

Harry paused and slowly turned to regard the haughty snake with suspicion.

"Asclepius," he said slowly. "The Snake God." Being friends with Hermione meant you found out about things whether you wanted to or not (and if she was on an 'ancient Greek myths and legends' jag, like she had been when she'd told Harry about Asclepius, it was more likely not). "How in Merlin's name did you find out about him?"

Somehow Harry found himself gazing accusingly at Lily as it clicked.

"You've been reading to him again ,haven't you?"

"Give me rats, Harry."

Lily frowned, ignoring Emperor.

"That book I got from Auntie Hermione," she agreed pensively. "It was interesting, but no one here wants me reading things out to them, so I read the cool bits out to him."

"She does," agreed the cobra. "Regular little fountain of knowledge, this one, and increasing every day. I don't mind. Cobras are supposed to be smarter than other snakes. Now that we have had this conversation, can I have some rats?"

"Fine!" Harry yelled in Emperor's direction, sick of the interruptions, "I'll get you some bloody rats! Now shut up!"

He had whirled as he yelled, which was why he ended up shouting in Ginny's bemused face.

Oh, gods, Harry groaned,immediately blushing furiously.

"Er…"

"Morning, Harry," his wife said calmly, but still looking bemused. "Weird conversations you have. Morning, Lily sweetie."

"It was Emperor," Harry explained, still feeling mortified. "He kept telling me he wants me to get him some more dead rats."

"I see," Ginny stated. "Harry love, did you know the sausages are burning?"

Harry swore in a way that would have put Lily's Uncle Ron to shame and spun around to rescue the sausages. Lily smirked in amusement as she picked up Emperor and sat him on the table, feeding him bits of bacon until Ginny noticed.

"Lily, stop giving Emperor our breakfast," she scolded. Emperor, who being a cobra understood more than most snakes, gave her a baleful look.

"Don't glare at Mum," Lily told him.

"That better not have been a complaint about me," Ginny said, hearing the hissing and being well-acquainted with her daughter's habit of muttering abuses in parseltongue. Lily gave her an injured look.

"It wasn't! It was telling him not to glare at you," she protested. Ginny sent her an apologetic look.

"Sorry sweetheart."

"Sausages!" Harry announced, dumping the plate on the table with a flourish. One sausage rolled off the plate onto the table, leaving greasy stains on the tablecloth.

"In-deed," Lily drawled.

"Nice work, Harry," Ginny said dryly, staring pointedly at the errant sausage.

Harry glared at his disrespectful daughter.

"Quiet, you," he ordered, pulling out his wand and levitating the sausage back into place before removing the stain.

"How come Mum gets to say stuff like that but I don't?" Lily demanded.

"Because your mother terrifies me. Ow!"

Ginny had whacked him in the arm.

"Sorry, Gin."

Ginny was about to reply when an owl landed on the kitchen table eyeing Emperor warily, and held out a leg with an envelope emblazoned with the Hogwarts crest.