Tiny Twist

Chapter Two

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter.

(--)

Merlin's Pants! Professor Snape shouted to himself. What snake did Draco summon?! he wondered, finding no match for the serpent's poison that had mixed with Harry Potter's blood. Unless… Is it…magical? Did it add magic into its bite? He realized he would be unable to find out until Harry woke to translate what the snake was saying for him. I'll visit him in the morning, the Dark man decided.

The next morning was not a good one for the Potions Master, as it started out with Ronald Weasley in the Hospital Wing.

"Why are you here?!" the redhead shouted at the greasy-haired man. Snape merely glared at him. "You probably care less than his relatives, though I don't see how!"

"What is that supposed to mean, Mr. Weasley?" the man drawled as he flicked his wand over Harry's, thankfully asleep, body.

"The wastes of life abuse him, that's what!" Ron continued to shout before Snape pointed his wand around them to draw a privacy screen up. "W-what are you d-doing?!"

"They're called privacy charms, Mr. Weasley. They come in handy when you have someone who can't keep their voice down to save another's life," was the biting answer. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a few things to question our sleeping beauty about."

"What's he gonna say that I have to leave for?"

"Have your parents shown you no discipline?! You will address me as 'sir' or 'Professor', Weasley, until you leave this school with a Certification of Completion," Snape sneered at him, leaning down to look directly into his face. "Boo!" Ron screamed in his high-pitched fashion before leaving the wing at a very hurried pace. "I've always wanted to do that."

Soft laughter from the bed drew his attention to the child that had been sleeping on it. "Don't worry, Professor, you didn't wake me. I'd been listening to Ron babble on about some nonsense before you came," Harry said in a quiet voice. "I suppose you're here about Axel, right?"

"Yes. Why did you name it Axel?" Snape questioned as he continued with his wand, waving it over the boy to get satisfactory results.

"Because it's a jerk. That's what it means in Japanese. I trailed across it one time when I'd been reading a book before Hogwarts," Harry answered, relaxing into the bed when he felt aforementioned serpent lightly squeezing his abdomen in a hug. "You know what Knight is going to ask, right?"

"Of course. I'm a magical, male snake though I don't have a set species. All I know is that I'm magical," Axel replied, having liked his name even if it meant what it did. "Keep doing that. It feels wonderful," he added as Harry lightly scratched the scales on the top of his head.

At the pleasured hissing from the serpent, Harry looked back up to Snape. "He's magical and that's all he knows." Snape nodded as he cast a locking charm on the curtain, put his wand away, and pulled a chair up to take a seat. "I've missed you, Knight. I thought something had happened to you when you didn't come back…"

"Not at all… I had classes here that I had to teach. Albus forbade me from seeing you after you'd turned eight. I'm sorry, Bolt," Snape replied, reaching over to gently run his hand through the wild, silky-soft hair on the boy's head. "If you let your hair grow out, it'd be too heavy to go stick up at these odd angles."

"I know… It's just that Aunt Petunia freaks out when I try to. She's a scissor-happy person. Nearly killed me by slitting the side of my throat one time-" Harry had frozen after he'd let that slip, slapping a hand over his mouth. "Oops…"

"Yes… Oops," Snape echoed as Axel looked blearily up at him, hissing a few words. "What did he say?"

"He said that he was sleepy, hungry, and I still needed to feed him like I promised," Harry answered with a small smile. "Are there rats in the dungeons?"

"Yes," Snape answered before the snake was suddenly unwinding from Harry and quickly going out of the Hospital Wing doors. "I suppose that was what he was waiting for." Harry laughed softly before looking back at the man. A confused expression came over the teen's face before he concentrated slightly. "What are you…?" Snape trailed off when a tingly feeling came over his head and chest.

"Much better. I straightened your nose and spelled your features and lungs from damage by potion fumes," Harry answered, then flinched a little when Snape suddenly stood, whipping his wand out. "Kn-Knight?"

"I'm not going to hurt you, Bolt. I'm merely casting a few tests," the man soothed before doing so. Soon enough. Harry found himself glowing five different shades of gold and he watched as Snape sat heavily into his chair. "Do you know how much that serpent's magical bite changed you? It broke so many blocks that had been on your magic… That's the reason you fainted…"

"I thought…it was because Axel is poisonous… What do the gold colors mean?" Harry asked, squirming a little under the Potions Master's intense gaze. "Er…sir?"

"Harry…there was a single block cast on your magic by Lily when you were a baby. You had so much power that she was afraid it would hurt you. As you grew, the block was supposed to let a little more of your power loose…" Snape paused, sighing. "Albus fortified them…keeping you above average but not at your full level… You fainted because all of your power was sweeping through your body.

"The snake has no species from my analysis of his venom, but he is definitely magical. His bite released all of those blocks, even the ones cast by Albus later when your own magic started to destroy the first obstacle.

"Your body went numb as it did so, didn't it?" Harry nodded. "Just as I thought… You'll only get more powerful, Harry, and we need to see what, exactly, you can do. I wouldn't be surprised if you could perform wandless magic with the barest effort."

"What's wandless magic?" Harry asked then slapped his head. "Well, duh. Magic without a wand, of course, but the specifics," he added, glaring slightly at the chuckling Professor.

"A wand is a focus for your average wizard or witch. It takes no extra effort to use it because it is so small. There have been some, such as Merlin, who had enough power to use a staff. Then, there are the ones who are so powerful that he or she needs no focus but his or her own body. The last is wandless magic, Harry. It is extremely hard for your average wizard or witch to even be able to perform the levitation charm on a feather without his or her wand."

"So…I'm so powerful now that it should scare me, right?"

"Well, not scare you, per se, but you shouldn't flaunt it. It is easy to lose control of your magic when a magical person is as strong as you are Harry. Before the end of your Third Year, I expect you'll surpass even Albus," Snape answered with a small smile toward the child. "Come to my office at the end of the school day after Poppy lets you go, Harry. I'll talk more with you then."

"Okay. Keep an eye out for Axel. See you later, Knight," the boy replied softly as he lay back with a tired sigh.

"Sweet dreams, little Bolt," Snape said in response before leaving from behind the curtain. Turning it, he charmed it to be silenced both ways so that his young charge could get a quiet and hopefully-decent sleep.

--

Harry woke later that night, his stomach grumbling fierce enough to wake the dead – or so he thought. I'll be fine. It's only been a day since I've eaten. I've gone longer. He rubbed his eyes, making him wonder who'd taken off his glasses, before opening them to gaze at the Hospital Wing. Turning toward the window, it was when he looked at the moon that he felt pain start to sting his eyes. "Wha?" he questioned in a whisper, reaching up to rub at them again. "I must have something in my eye…" he concluded before it felt as if someone was trying to gauge the soft tissues from his head.

I should know… Uncle Vernon nearly did, he recalled, remembering why he really had to wear glasses. He whimpered softly as he pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes, one each, hoping to reduce the pain. "What's… …happening?" he questioned before the pain vanished. It was almost as if it'd never been there, though Harry could feel the slight aftershock. Opening his eyes again, he swept his vision over the room.

"Oh my God…" he uttered in a shocked fashion, able to see everything, even the spiders in the far corners, to an astonishing degree. "I…what… Dammit," he cursed as he looked about for a mirror. One appeared in front of his face, but he had learned not to question things when he was young so just went along with it.

Lifting it to his face, he found that his eyes, which had been in a normal human form, were now slit and glowing a soft emerald-lime – a perfect coloring of Avada Kedavra (though Harry didn't know the name, only remembering the color of the light from his youngest recollection). He relaxed his grip on the mirror and watched as it vanished. That must be the wandless thing Knight was talking about, he figured before an idea struck him. Maybe I can… A sudden, "Ah ha!" was whispered when a ham and cheese sandwich appeared in front of him.

The Dursleys won't be able to destroy me now. I'll just have to glamour myself to look like I'm wasting away or something. Harry lay back into the soft mattress, snuggling into the bedcovers as he drifted into a contented sleep, still tired from the incident at the dueling club.

--

Poppy Pomfrey was scurrying about her domain, preparing for whatever may happen through the day. She had seen the green and red striped brown snake curled beside her patient when she'd stepped into the Hospital Wing. The Healer gazed at the raven-haired boy from where she was standing. "I'm sorry you have to go through this, Harry... If I could…I'd help you…but Albus forbade me to do so…" she said quietly, sighing when she figured that the child couldn't hear her.

"It's all right, Madame Pomfrey," a groggy voice replied. The woman jumped lightly, not expecting the boy to have heard her from across the room! "Madame…? Sorry if I scared you."

"Not to worry, Harry," she replied as she walked over to him. "Let me get a check up on you and I may let you go." She took out her wand but nearly dropped it in shock when she took a closer look at his eyes. "W-wha…what happened to your eyes?!"

"I can see better than ever! You've got a light freckle under your right eye," he replied with a smile. The woman rolled her eyes with a laugh. "I think it was when Axel bit me. He's magical, so it did something to my magic. Professor Snape said something about it releasing the power Dumbledore tried to keep away from me."

"Dumbledore blocked your power without your consent?!" Poppy demanded, outraged. "I ought to have him arrested for that!" She descended into mumbles about wishing she could call up Madame Bones to have the 'barmy, old codger' thrown in something Harry thought she called 'Azkaban'.

"Ma'am, what's Az-" Harry suddenly cut himself off as he slapped a hand over his mouth, groaning and whimpering almost silently. If not for Poppy's Healer-trained sense of hearing, she knew she wouldn't have picked it up. "What…now…?" the boy ground out between his fingers.

"Let me have a look-see, Harry," the woman gently demanded, taking the twelve-year-old's jaw in a tender grip. "Open your mouth so I can see," she continued, and he did so, clenching his eyes shut when another spasm of pain came from his mouth. "Sweet Merlin… You're…growing fangs… Your snake's done more than you thought…" she informed, her voice quiet because of the shocking events.

As suddenly as with his eyes, the pain stopped, leaving him with an aching need to maim something for his misfortune. Quelling the urge, he looked up to the woman. "I think…this only happens when I'm awake… It happened to my eyes last night when I woke up because I was hungry…" Calling another mirror out of thin air, he looked at his straight, pearly-white teeth and gleaming fangs that were about a fourth of an inch longer than they had been. The incisors of his bottom teeth were an eighth-inch longer, leaving in his mind the image of a dragon's mouth. "This is just too strange. What next? A forked tongue?" he mumbled sleepily.

"If you're tired, Harry, go back to sleep. I'll bring you something to eat when you wake again." The boy nodded before doing so. "I think he's got more than just this to deal with… I feel it in my gut…and my feelings are never wrong…" She sighed sadly again before having to tend to a person covered in boils. At least there's only one today. Severus must be slacking, she thought fondly.

--

It wasn't until lunch time that Harry woke again. Poppy was at his bedside, along with Snape. "…ugh… Knight?" The Potions Master looked over at the boy with a lighting of his obsidian eyes. "You aren't freaking out like Madame Pomfrey?"

Harry cringed with a grin at the fierce glare bestowed on him by the matron of the Hospital Wing. "I don't have to keep you here, Harry…" she threatened, a gleam in her eyes. Aforementioned eyes softened as she asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Not agonized…yet…" he said, emphasizing the last part. "It should start up any sec-ugh…" He groaned quietly, gritting his teeth as pain racked his spine. Rolling over slightly, he nearly cried out when it attacked his hands, forearms, elbows, feet, lower legs, and knees. A slight ripping sound echoed as he whispered, "Damn…it…"

"Bolt… Shh…just relax…" Snape softly soothed, standing to place caring touches on certain pressure points before the boy went limp. "Just sleep, Bolt. I'll try to be here when you wake again because I don't think you're finished with this yet."

"Thanks…Knight…" Harry whispered before falling asleep again.

"Let's find out what has happened to him this time," Poppy said chokingly, spelling away the child's shirt as she rolled him onto his stomach. "Oh Merlin… What's this doing to him, Severus?" the woman questioned as her voice shook and her eyes misted lightly.

"I don't know, Poppy, but Axel, his snake, said that he would be 'better than fine'. I suppose this is protection for him," the Professor answered in a very solemn voice as he gazed at the icy-blue scales along Harry's spine from his beltline to his hairline, along with the bone-looking scales over his shoulder blades and lower back. Now that he thought about it, they looked like reptilian wing bones – like a dragon's.

Remembering the ripping sound, he lifted the boy's right arm to see scales gleaming from the knuckles of his hand, along the topside of his forearm, to his elbow where it came from his skin at a point. He was sure it was very sharp, as well, having just pricked his finger on it. He found that they were over his palm, but in a more skin-like color, and wrapped around his arm like gauntlets. The greasy-haired man mildly grimaced at the future his little Bolt would have to live through if people didn't accept this one-of-a-kind change.

"Severus! Look at this!" Poppy exclaimed quietly, lifting the leg of Harry's pajama pants. Scales trailed from the top of his foot, coating his shin, to come to a point out of the skin of his knee, much like his elbow. There were scales on the soles of his feet as well as the backs of his legs. They reminded him of boots. "This…this is going to hurt him, Severus… The students will be afraid of him… They'll force him into an outcast, a loner…

"Oh no… Look at his face, Severus…" She pointed to his cheekbones, which had a layer of the softly-colored, microscopic scales coming to a point under the bottom of his eyes, looking like a streak more than scales. Continuing, she indicated the solid color along his eyelids and lips. "The scales are so tiny… They're not microscopic…they're smaller that a nanometer…"

"How can you tell if they're that tiny, Poppy?" Snape drawled, very certain that her eyes weren't that good.

"It's called a magnifying charm, Severus…" she answered as she cast charms over the boy to make sure that he wasn't hurt in any other form. "This is going to make it even worse, Severus. People are going to run from him rather than shun him…"

"I won't l et him become a depressed, angst-ridden teenager, Poppy. I'll, somehow, treat him with the care he deserves," the man declared as they rolled the teen onto his back and replaced his shirt. The Potions Master lightly traced the scar on the child's forehead that had earned the nickname Snape had given him. "I'll keep you safe, Harry…somehow."

--

Next when Harry woke, he found himself to be secluded behind a privacy curtain. He could sense the silencing charms and was grateful. Sighing silently, he looked at his hands and feet, knowing he had the scales on them. He had felt each one pierce through his skin before hardening into something like icy-blue armor – and weapons, as well, if his the blade-like scales from his knees and elbows were anything to go by.

"Dinner just ended, Bolt. Are you hungry?" a soft voice asked.

"Not really, sir. I'd better not eat until whatever's next passes," he answered the dark-robed man. "Where's Axel?"

"I believe he's hunting at the mo- Harry!" Snape shouted, leaping forward as the raven-haired child convulsed, horrible cracking sounds coming from his body. Watery eyes looked up at the Potions Master, but the tears never fell. Harry's mouth opened in a silent scream as the noises continued, making Snape grateful for the silencing charms on the surrounding space.

"It…hurts… Too…much…" Harry finally passed out from the pain as a gentle hand ran through his hair, calming him.

--End Two--