Harry peered under his bed the next day, smiling a little as he listened to Nagini's breathing.
He had always been an early riser, and at the same time he would stay up till the moon was setting every night. He hated having to sleep, like a petulant child, and it took him more time then normal to fall into oblivion when his thoughts were always racing about his skull till the wee hours of the morning.
He crept downstairs, avoiding the creaky step near the bottom, and slunk in to the kitchen to make a cup of tea like he did every morning. He would read till the rest of the house was up, then he would make breakfast, since he couldn't stand his aunt's cooking.
Once he had mastered his mind control magic and liberated himself of most of the chores the Dursleys had assigned him Petunia had been the one to cook, at least until Harry had declared after the first meal that she was forbidden to ever cook again. At least while he was there.
After breakfast Vernon went to work, Petunia was outside tending her garden, one of the chores he had hated most, and Dudley was cooped up in his room playing computer games. Harry went back to his small room, closing the door behind him. Nagini was already up, coiled on his bed and looking grumpy.
"You left me," she said as soon as he turned around.
"Sorry, but you were asleep when I left. I didn't want to wake you, not when you looked so cute."
Nagini looked affronted, making spluttering noises. "I, I do not look cute, human boy. I am a boa constrictor, a fierce, dangerous creature, not cute."
Harry hummed vaguely, sitting next to her. "Are you hungry?" he asked, feeling that was more pressing then the other questions he wanted to ask.
"No, luckily for you I had been fed before you freed me," she said, still slightly grouchy.
That meant he had time to figure out how he was going to make that door. He tentatively asked the question that had been bugging him since last night. "Nagini, yesterday you said something about magic users, like me. What do you know?" His heart was beating in his chest like it was trying to escape, and he felt rather light headed from nerves, though of course you couldn't tell it by looking at him.
Nagini set her head in his lap and he stroked her head, liking the feel of the smooth scales beneath his palm. It helped calm him. She sighed.
"I myself have met few wizards in my life, and never spoke to any of them. All I know is what I heard from other snakes who had been outside, who would visit sometimes. They spoke of how wizards hide themselves from the humans, they fear them and what they would do to them if they were discovered. They are cowards," she said, "but you seem different. You have a much bigger aura of power about you then any wizard I have seen. You seem destined for leading, not following like most."
Harry nodded, distracted. Of course she wouldn't know much, having been in a zoo her whole life.
"They also mentioned a powerful speaker they knew of. They called him Voldemort."
Harry felt his heart jump at the name, though he'd never heard it before. "Voldemort?" he asked, eager to learn of a person like himself.
"Voldemort... Well, I had heard that wizards divided their magic in to two types. Light magic, and dark magic. I do not know why," she said, "it seems stupid to do that. Once you have two different but similar things, you will have arguments about which is better. The wizards have been having wars over dark magic for as long as it has existed. Wizards who speak the snake tongue, descendents of the first speaker, Salazar Slytherin," she said, voice rather awed, like when people spoke of celebrities they were enamored with, "They have always been seen as dark, and snakes as evil creatures. Voldemort, being a speaker powerful enough to do something about it, was the leader of the dark wizards during the last war. It ended with his disappearance 9 years ago."
"What happened to him?" Harry asked.
"No one knows," Nagini said, "It was Halloween night, and he was going to kill a light family named Potter. The man and woman died, but somehow he could not kill the child. He has not been seen since, and that child has been hailed as the savior of the wizards."
Harry's mouth was dry. "What was the child's name?" he asked, feeling sick to his stomach. It couldn't be him, he thought. It was stupid of him to be this nervous...
Nagini thought a moment. "The child's name was Harry. Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived."
-_+cynicalclinicalcynical+_-
After that, Harry had worried the thought that there was a good chance that he could very well be this 'Boy-Who-Lived' all day. He hadn't told Nagini his last name yet, and until he was sure he didn't really want her to know. There were a lot of Potters out there, and even more Harrys, so there was a good chance there were a few Harry Potters, and he just happened to have the same name as this savior.
His relatives had told him his father was a drunk, that he and his mum died in a car crash with him in the back, the only survivor, which was where he got his scar. He didn't even know what they looked like. But, his relatives were the kind of people to hate magic and all that was related to it. It wasn't too far a stretch to think that he was this boy savior, and the car crash story was a cover up so they could try and keep him ignorant of magic, though fat lot of good it'd done.
But if he was the savior of the wizards, what was he doing with his imagination-hating aunt and uncle? They were the worst sort of people he could think of to raise a magic baby. He should know.
Harry sighed. He and Nagini, who was invisible, had left the house for some fresh air, and to give Nagini a chance to be in a space bigger then any she'd been in before. She was excited, asking Harry questions about things they passed in the street. He tried to answer with out sounding like he was distracted, leading her to the park he went to whenever the Dursleys were being particularly annoying and he needed alone time. It was almost always empty, since most of the equipment was rusted or falling apart, but the swings were nice and there was a dense thicket of trees behind it, where he could broach the subject of his identity without witnesses.
He took a breath, figuring he should just spit it out, get it over with.
"Nagini?" he asked as they walked towards the trees.
She slithered over, the shimmer all that betrayed her presence before she spoke. "Are you finally going to say what has been bugging you?"
Harry stopped, standing in the clearing near the center of the trees. He dropped the invisibility spell, so he could see her if she got angry and attacked.
"I never told you my full name, did I?" Nagini shook her head.
"It's Harry James Potter."
Nagini was silent, and Harry continued, babbling now but unable to turn his mouth off.
"I've never known my parents, my aunt and uncle say they died in a car crash, and I have this weird scar on my forehead, see, look," he lifted his bangs. "I know it's stupid to think I may be this savior but I can't help but think it's a possibility, I mean... I just... You won't be mad, if it is me, would you?"
Nagini suddenly started laughing, writhing on the ground, and Harry stood shocked. He'd expected to have to fight to the death over it, not... this.
"Oh, Harry, Harry, you were really worried about that? Please, you act like you were the only one to come to that conclusion." She slithered over to him, wrapping around his legs, and Harry had this sudden sense that he was being hugged.
"It was the obvious thing to think, and I am only surprised that you got so worked up about it. Even if it is you, and I will grant you that there is a high chance it is... I still would not hate you for it."
Harry suddenly felt weak as relief and a small amount of shame washed over him.
"I mean," she continued, "if it is you, you were only a baby and had no control over what you were doing. If you did kill Voldemort, it is because he tried to first and you were probably acting on instinct. I do not blame you," she said, "and I will always be on your side, no matter what. You saved me, gave me freedom and your trust, and for that I will always be your friend."
Harry felt his throat constrict, hot tears in his eyes. To go from having no friends in the world to this... He didn't deserve her, if he was willing to believe she would kill him. He hadn't trusted her, not completely, not until this moment when she had stated so bluntly her own trust in him.
He finally broke down, crying in the first time since what felt like forever. Sinking to the ground, he wrapped his arms around Nagini, and she held him in her coils until his tears had dried.
-_+cynicalclinicalcynical+_-
Back at #4 Harry and Nagini had been talking about how to make the door. He figured they should make a test one first, to see if it would even work. But to do that they needed to figure out how to make the thing first.
They had chosen a part of the wall, behind the door to the room where they would put it and they had an atlas open in front of them, trying to choose a destination. Eventually, Harry just flipped to a random page and stabbed down with his finger, landing on a tiny place that fit under his finger called...
"Albania?" Harry said, peering at the little country that lay between Greece, Italy and Romania. Nagini was watching curiously, having never heard of these places before.
"It's as good as any place, and at least it's on the same continent. Now..." he slid the atlas away and focused on the wall. He closed his eyes and envisioned what he wanted the magic to do, to shape a door that led to the forests of Albania, somewhere hidden. Placing his hands on the wall, he let the magic flow from him, shaping it to his will. He felt the wall shift under his fingers, but he kept his eyes shut and concentrated.
When he felt the flow of magic stop, he opened his eyes.
Where previously there was a plain wall an arched wood doorway now stood, small but large enough for a small 10 year old to get through. There was no actual door, instead a curtain of sorts fluttered in a nonexistent breeze. Harry reached out his hand, feeling a sense of elation grow within him at the sight of his work.
"Who will go first?" Nagini asked, moving closer.
"I suppose I should test it first, to make sure it's safe." Harry went and fetched a sock and a piece of string, tying them together and sitting back in front of the door. He tossed the sock past the curtain without ceremony, waiting a moment before tugging it back. When the sock came back same as before, dragging bits of soil and dead leaves, his heart leaped.
"Is it safe?"
"I believe so." Harry pulled the curtain back. Behind it, though, all you could see was the hall. He felt confused, letting the curtain drop. "Maybe..."
He dropped down and went through the curtain. And he tripped over a fallen branch.
He looked around at the vast forest he found himself in, and he whirled around, seeing a matching doorway behind him just sitting there, not attached to anything. He pulled back the curtain again, seeing nothing but trees. He stuck his head through, and he was back in his room.
As soon as his head appeared Nagini slithered through the door, and he pulled back to the forests of Albania. She was examining their surroundings, and Harry turned back to the door, thinking of how he could prevent other animals or a person from getting through to his room and freaking out the Dursleys. Maybe a kind of shield...
Nagini hissed worriedly behind him. "Harry, something is coming."
He spun around and saw a brief glimpse of a whirl of fog racing toward them before his head exploded with pain, and he sank to his knees, screaming.
-_+cynicalclinicalcynical+_-
AN: Well... this took a while to write, and I'm still not completely satisfied with the 'I'm Harry freaking Potter' scene. At least not the beginning. Next chapter... well, we'll see what happens.
Important! Thank you to all who followed, favorited, reviewed or just made a mental note to keep an eye on this story! Or even if you just read it. I'm grateful for every bit of support you guys offer up, and it keeps my head above to waters of the sea of despair, and keeps me from deciding that I'll never be writer material.
Again, thank you, and if you would tell me whatever thoughts you have about the story they'd be appreciated.
