Warning: Clichés ahead... nothing major, though.


+ 02: A New Friend +


July 31st turned out to be a rainy day. Harry woke up early in the morning, and immediately went to close the window. There was a small puddle on the floor, the wind having caused it to rain inside. The parquet floor hardly appreciated the water, so Harry quickly wiped it with an overlarge T-shirt he never wore.

Hedwig had returned at some point, and was now perched on top of Harry's wardrobe, sleeping. Harry took the opportunity to clean her cage, wishing he were allowed to use magic. A quick Scourgify would have easily gotten rid of the owl droppings. Not that Harry minded the minor chore; Hedwig was his most faithful friend, after all.

After he finished with the cage, Harry headed downstairs for some breakfast.

The Dursleys once again fell silent the moment Harry entered the kitchen, and did not resume their conversation before the sixteen-year-old had left the room to go back upstairs. Harry found his relatives' behaviour quite amusing, not that he was complaining. Had the Dursleys continued their earlier abuse of him, Harry did not know whether he could have taken it, after Dumbledore had revealed he was aware of the events in the house. If he was totally honest with himself, Harry was quite sure he would have snapped, and cursed the damn Muggles, had they attempted to physically attack him. He was done being Dudley's boxing bag, not to mention Vernon's scapegoat. The obese man had used to blame everything bad that happened to him or his family on Harry, regardless of how ridiculous the accusations had been. It had been Harry's fault Vernon had gotten in a car crash. When the house was broken into by some random burglar, Harry had been at fault. Vernon had forgotten to pay an electricity bill, and Harry had somehow caused his uncharacteristic forgetfulness.

Returning to his bedroom, Harry spotted an owl hovering behind the now closed window. He hurried over to let the bird inside, only to realize there were four owls waiting for him. They must have travelled together, for none of them had been there when he had first left.

Harry recognized two of the four birds; Errol was the Weasley family owl, while the tiny but hyper Pigwidgeon belonged to Ron.

Each owl carried a letter, but there were no packages. Harry quickly untied the messages, noticing they were all from different senders. One of them was from the Ministry, and another from Hogwarts. The teen did not need two guesses as to what the Ministry letter included.

Deciding the leave the O.W.L. results for last, Harry opened the letter Errol had (miraculously) delivered. It was from Ron.

Harry,

I'm sorry I haven't written earlier, but Dumbledore once again forbade Hermione and me to contact you. Only the fact that it's your birthday today made him relent and allow us to send you a letter each.
So, how're you doing, apart from the obvious? Are the Muggles treating you better than before now that they've been threatened? I should hope they are!

There's not much going on here at the Burrow. Hermione arrived a week or so ago, and she's been driving me nuts with her constant fidgeting about the O.W.L.s... as if she has anything to worry about. I think we'll get our results in a couple days' time, so the wait's nearly over.

But I guess it's time for me to get to the point... so, Happy Birthday! Only one more year till you're of age! It'll be great, being allowed to do magic outside of school, right?

I would've sent you a gift, but Dumbledore said you were not to be sent any packages. I wonder what the old man's problem is... but don't tell Mum I said – well, wrote – that!

I really hope you'll be allowed to join us when we go to Headquarters next week, to spend the rest of the summer there. If not, then I'll see you on the train.

- Ron

So Dumbledore was behind the lack of post. Well, that really did not surprise Harry. But why had the old man disallowed the sending of packages? Was he determined to make Harry's summer as boring as possible?

Shrugging, Harry picked up the letter that had arrived with Pig. Unsurprisingly that one was from Hermione.

Dear Harry,

I don't know what Dumbledore is thinking, but he wouldn't allow Ron and me to send you any mail until today. I'm sure he has his reasons, but it's still odd.

Nevertheless, Happy Birthday! I hope you're doing all right, despite everything. At least your relatives should be behaving, what with Moody's threat hanging over their heads! I'll give you your birthday present when I next see you; hopefully that will be at Headquarters before September.

I can hardly wait to see how I did in my O.W.L.s! Ron said the results should be arriving very soon, though he didn't mention where he'd heard that. I'm really nervous... I'm sure I made some stupid mistakes that will have dropped my grades. Ron keeps saying I'm going to get all Outstandings, and that definitely is not helping. Well, I guess I'll just have to wait.

When are you planning to visit Diagon Alley? Perhaps we could arrange to go on the same day.

Love,

Hermione

Hermione's letter made Harry smile. It was so like her to worry about exams she had definitely passed with high grades.

He couldn't help noticing neither of his friends had actually mentioned Sirius's name, although they had both clearly referred to his death. Dumbledore had probably gotten them to believe it was best to not bring him up when writing to Harry. Or perhaps the Headmaster had simply forbidden them to directly mention him. It would be just like Dumbledore to do something like that. Maybe he wants to make it seem like I'm some weakling who cannot get over such a great loss. Or perhaps he really believes I'm not able to move on by myself. Honestly! I'm not some baby who can't do anything without help or advice.

His smile turning into a scowl, Harry opened the letter from Hogwarts. It was just the same old note reminding him that term would start on September 1st. The supply list contained no surprises either.

Finally Harry got to the letter from the Ministry and pulled out his O.W.L. result sheet.

The results were better than he'd dared to hope. He would be able to attend all of the N.E.W.T. classes he would need to have any chance to get into the Auror training!

ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS

Pass Grades:

Outstanding (O)
Exceeds Expectations (E)
Acceptable (A)

Fail Grades:

Poor (P)
Dreadful (D)
Troll (T)

HARRY JAMES POTTER HAS ACHIEVED:

Astronomy: A
Care of Magical Creatures: E
Charms: O
Defence Against the Dark Arts: O
Divination: D
Herbology: A
History of Magic: D
Potions: O
Transfiguration: E

Harry could hardly believe his eyes. He had gotten three Os, and only two fail grades. He wasn't the least bit surprised or disappointed to see he had failed Divination and History. Whoever cared about those two subjects, anyway? Divination was rubbish, while Binns made History incredibly boring.

But how in Merlin's name had he managed to achieve an Outstanding in Potions? Charms was a slightly smaller surprise, but it was unexpected.

Well, Snape won't be happy to see me in his N.E.W.T. class, thought Harry. Not that I exactly like Potions... but I'm not going to drop it when I've somehow managed to pass the O.W.L. with such flying colours!

Harry wasn't at all sure he wanted to become an Auror any longer, due to the events of the summer. What were the odds he would ever have the time for anything other than the war? School he would have to finish, but work was an entirely different matter. Besides, assuming the Prophecy was fulfilled and Harry was not the one to die, why should he continue on the same path by working as a Dark Wizard catcher?

I guess I better go on a walk or something, and get my thoughts in order...

Not caring about the rain, Harry left the house and headed towards a nearby park. Once there, he sat down on one of the swings, closing his eyes. It was surprisingly relaxing, sitting in the rain with no one around. The weather kept the Muggles indoors, and as far as Harry knew he was the only magical person living in the neighbourhood. Well, Mrs. Figg was a Squib, but were Squibs considered magical? Harry had no idea about that. On one hand, they were born to magical parents... but on the other hand, they didn't have any magic of their own. Harry snickered as he suddenly recalled Filch and his Kwikspell letter. It really was no wonder the caretaker hated the students; they had something precious he could never have.

Soon though, Harry was beginning to get cold, the rain having soaked him. Even though it was in the middle of summer, the water was far from warm. Shaking his wet hair away from his face, Harry stood up. But before he could take a single step, he heard hissing from somewhere near his left ankle.

"Watch it! You almossst ssstepped on me, you clumsssy human! I ssshould bite you for that!"

Startled, Harry looked down at his feet. There, mere millimetres from his left sneaker was a beautiful, brown and black snake. It was about two feet long, and its eyes were even blacker than Snape's. On its back was the distinctive zigzag pattern of an adder. However, Harry could sense the serpent was magical, in some way.

"I apologize, I did not sssee you there," replied Harry in Parseltongue. "Pleasse do not bite me; I mean no harm."

"A Ssspeaker!" the snake hissed, sounding astonished. "I did not know there wasss a Ssspeaker around here. Don't worry, I will not bite sssomeone like yourssself. Not many humansss know the ssserpent language."

"Asss far asss I know, there isss only one other Parssselmouth – that isss to sssay, Ssspeaker – alive today."

The snake looked thoughtful. "It isss an enormousss honour to meet a Ssspeaker... would you consssider taking me with you? I would be beyond delighted to have you asss my companion," it then requested.

Harry was taken aback by the request. Could it do any harm to accept? Hardly. "You wissssh to join my company?" he asked, wanting to be sure he hadn't misunderstood.

"Yesss. It isss quite lonely here, with only lesssssser sssnakesss for company."

"Lesssssser sssnakesss?"

"I am the only magical sssnake around here, you sssee. The othersss don't like me much."

Just like the Dursleys and I, thought Harry. Well, I fail to see why I shouldn't take this snake as my companion...

"All right, you're welcome to come with me. I am only too familiar with your sssituation with the othersss."

"Thank you," hissed the snake, and slithered up Harry's leg, finally curling around his left arm. With some amusement Harry noticed the snake had chosen the exact spot where the Dark Mark would be located, were he a Death Eater.

"What would you like to be called?" Harry asked the snake. "Do you have a name I could call you by?"

The snake seemed to consider this. "I do not. You are free to name me."

Harry didn't need long to come up with a name. "How about Balthazar, or Zar for short?"

"That sssoundsss perfect. Balthazar it isss."

That decided Harry started towards Number Four, Balthazar around his arm. The teen wondered what the Dursleys would do if the saw his new friend. Perhaps it would be best to keep Zar hidden from their eyes.

Hogwarts was an issue of its own. How would the others react to Harry Potter having a snake companion? Sure, they already knew he was a Parselmouth, but that might in fact make things worse. He'd probably end up hated or feared again. Oh, well. Hopefully Ron and Hermione would understand even if no one else did. Dumbledore... the man could do anything, really. Zar might be in serious danger from him. Harry would have to find a way to protect his friend from malicious approaches. Would Flourish and Blotts have any books on spells that would serve that purpose? He'd need to remember to find out when visiting Diagon Alley to shop for school supplies... It would also be nice to know whether Zar was indeed an adder, albeit a magical one, or something completely different.

Seems like I have two new problems to solve... oddly enough, I don't mind these ones.


A/N: Even shorter than the first chapter... but this is a super speedy update. Next chapter will be considerably longer, and take a lot longer to write.
I wasn't originally planning to give Harry a second animal friend, but the idea just popped into my mind, demanding to be used. Well, Balthazar will certainly make things more interesting!