*DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER AND ANY OF ITS SPELLS, CHARACTERS, ET CETERA.*
Chapter 2: Snake... Or Not Snake?
It had been three days since Tom Riddle had been in Hogwarts. He had to admit, it was a fine school, though many things bugged him. Like how Professor Dumbledore seemed like Muggles, and how mudbloods were freely allowed the same opportunities as any pure-bloods. But even so, he couln't have happier to be sorted into Slytherin. Though he did not know much, he knew that Slytherin was the house of ambition and skill, and fit for the cunning and the bold. Tom had beamed with pride when the odd, ratty old hat had announced he was in Slytherin.
In the short of amount of time he had been in Hogwarts, Tom had managed to befriend a couple of people, of course though, those in Slytherin. There was Lestrange and Avery. They seemed like the perfect side-kicks he needed. They too despised Muggles and mudbloods, and shared the same views. Tom Riddle finally had a gang of people who understood him, unlike that filthy old building filled with stupid orphans. Lestrange and Avery were fascinated by Tom's snake, and thought he was quite brave for bringing such a ginormous reptile to school. Though he was surrounded by, what he called, followers, and what they thought, friends, Tom remained his mysterious, dark self.
One afternoon, after Potions, Tom was in the common room, stroking his, now beloved, snake, which he had let out of the cage. Lestrange and Avery weren't present, and they were too busy recking havoc in the other dormitories. Tom never found any fun in playing pranks; he felt he was above that juvenile nonsense.
As Tom was carefully examining the runes and markings on the snake, he noticed something quite peculiar. The snake was blinking. After living in the Muggle realm for eleven years, he had learnt that snakes aren't meant to blink. In fact. They do not have eye lids. So why, why was this particular snake blinking? Pushing this though out of his mind, he placed his pet back in the cage, and then set out to find his followers, his gang.
On the way, he got lost. Not surprising though, he thought, since the school was massive. He noticed that he, in fact, had reached the library. He hadn't visited the library yet, and considering it was their free period, their break, he decided to do some research, some extra exploring. He was browsing through the immense book collection for what seemed like days to him; it wasn't until he reached the 'Restricted Section' sign, when things started getting interesting, and Tom as well, started to actually find himself engrossed.
The restricted section was a very shadowy, ratty kind of place. Most of the books were very thick and heavy with volume, but were very old, tatty and were almost crumbling. Tom ran his hand along the ridges and spines of the books, scanning for something interesting. He had never seen anyone enter restricted section. People rumored that it was only for sixth and seventh years, who were studying the dark arts in particular. But this kind of genre interested him.
Tom was so busy reading each and every title of each and every book, he didn't even notice the commotion he was causing. He was awoken from his trance when the gruff voice of the librarian called him.
"And what do you think you're doing, young man?" Tom jolted his head in the direction of the voice, and there standing was none other than the, very angry looking, librarian, as well a large group of sixth, fifth, a couple of third, and a few first years crowded behind him. Tom quickly shoved the brittle book he had been studying back in the slot he had found it, and turned his full body attention to his audience. He caught a few words of what they seemed to be whispering:
"It's that odd boy..." said a short little girl in Ravenclaw.
"Yeah, I heard he quite a mystery," replied her friend.
"What do you think he's doing?" a Hufflepuff sixth year whispered.
"I think he was just lost," murmured a pudgy boy in return.
Tom ignored these comments, and decided on answering the librarian. But before he could, he was interrupted.
"This is the restricted section, and I will have you knowing that it is strictly off-limits for first years like yourself!" spat the old librarian. He was clearly very distrubed at the idea of a first year rummaging through the dark arts sector, especially a Slytherin. Tom opened his mouth to retort, but then thought better of it, and shut it. Instead, he gave a quite startling smirk, a forced smile, and with a clear, concise voice, he replied, "Of course."
And with that, he left the mysterious restricted section, shoving past those who had watched his little scene.
Later that night, Tom found it very difficult to fall asleep. He was shuffling and rolling and turning under his green covers, trying to fall asleep. Eventually he decided to go to the common room. He quite liked it; it was a very soothing room. There were large, comfortable couches, a fireplace, and majestic green artefacts places around the room. After staring blankly at the jade coloured curtains for a while, he decided to go a pet his snake. It was almost one a.m. by the time he took his snake out of the cage.
"What should I name you?" Tom whispered, stroking the smooth, scaly skin. He still hadn't come up with a name, but he thought that it was time he named his snake. It couldn't be nameless any longer. That would be stupid. He continued stroking, when he remembered something. A book, a book he had found, which had originally belonged to his filthy Muggle grandfather, Marvolo. The book was about very old Greek mythology. Not sure what else to name his snake, he decided to drag that volume out his trunk and read it. Surely there had to be something, some sort of name that symbolised his beloved pet the most.
When he came back with the book though, his snake, the beautiful, large, shimmering emerald snake was no where to be seen. Tom dropped his book on the ground, making a loud thud, and then went ahead, searching every corner of the common room. It couldn't have slithered out, you needed a password. It couldn't have gone far, it was huge, and, sadly, not that fast. And couldn't blend that easily... could it? Tom grew growingly worried by the minute, lifting pillows, crawling and checking under couches. He was in one dark corner, in a small walk-in robe where they kept extra uniforms, when he was crawling on hands and knees, and looked up. He saw something that both stunned him and scared him to death.
When his eyes came to level with what was standing in front of him, he was absolutely petrified. Because, what was standing there was not a snake, nor was it someone from the dorms. No, it was a girl. Tom would have screamed, in fact, he was screaming on the inside. But on the outside, he was calmly taking it all in. The girl looked about his age. She was slightly shorted than him, and had a slim, pale body. Her face had the most enchanting features. She had big, bright green eyes that seemed to glow in the dark. Her hair was jet black, and flowed down just past her shoulders. She had an odd scar gashing through her left brow. But what most stunned him was her beauty. Though her hair was a tangly mess, her clothes nothing more than simple rags, her feet bare, a little bit of dirt on her cheek, she was beautiful, and Tom hated himself for thinking so. The girl stared at him with her big eyes, and he just stared back. Both were equally confused.
Tom finally took a step. He cleared his through nervously, looked around to make sure no one was around, and then looked back the the ample girl. At first he was sure this was one of Lestrange and Avery's pranks. But now he wasn't so sure.
"H-Hello," Tom stammered, unsure. The girl showed no reaction. Seeing this, Tom continued.
"What are you doing in the boys' dormitories?" he asked her, politely as possible. As she looked like some homeless hag from the side of the road, he wasn't sure what to expect. The mysterious girl did not reply for a while. Thinking that maybe she was a prank, Tom turned to go back to bed. This is stupid, he thought. But just as he turned his back, he heard a soft, husky voice.
"Nagini," it said. Tom turned his head back to the girl. "My name is Nagini. Nagini Nigrum." She was only whispering, but Tom strained to hear he exotic, raspy voice. Knowing her name, though, did not make him any less confused. Though Nagini seemed to understand.
"I am your snake. My animagus." She said this in such a-matter-of-fact way, as if Tom was supposed to know what she meant.
Just then, Tom heard a noise coming from the dorm.
"Riddle? Who are you speaking to?" He heard Avery's tired voice ring through the door. Tom turned his attention back to the gi- Nagini. He thought this was quite a peculiar name, definitely from another language.
He turned it time to see Nagini shape-shifting. He had never seen anything more spectacular. It was beyond spectacular, quite frankly. Nagini suddenly started shading into deep green, scales forming on her pale, smooth skin. Her complexion changed form into more, er, reptile like. Her hair grew shorter and shorter, until it was completely gone, and her arms and legs all stuck together until she was, well, a standing snake. Then, just as Avery entered the common room, Nagini landed with a thwack on the ground. All Tom managed was a stutter in reply to what Avery said next.
"Riddle?! Are you talking to your snake?"
"Er... Yes. Well, no. I was discussing her point of view. Yes, for her name."
"Ah, so she's a female, is that right? And how did you find this out?" Avery was more than suspicious now. Tom looked nervously at Nagini. Though everything else had changed, the same striking eyes of the girl he had just met was the same. She blinked in response, hissing, her tongue licking the awkward air.
"Well, you see, I was reading, and well, I found out that this kind, of, well, snake complexion was feminine." Tom smirked at Avery, in hope that he believed him. The last thing he wanted was losing his reputation for talking to some random snake-girl, or a snake, or nothing for that matter.
"Oh, I do see," Avery replied, very much awake now. "And what might be her chosen name, may I ask?" Tom smiled mischieviously at Nagini, and then at Avery.
"Nagini." Tom said, quite confidently. Avery gave him a funny look, and then turned to face the slithering snake.
"Well then. We should probably get some sleep now. Er, why don't you put your sn- I mean, Nagini in her cage now?" And with that, Avery turned on his heel and strode out the door to the dorms.
Tom had just finished locking up the snake cage, when he looked back to examine his, odd, very odd, pet.
"I don't know who or what you are. And I don't know what you said," he murmured, arms crossed. "But you are very intriguing indeed. I have a feeling Hogwarts will be a lot more interesting now..." Tom subtly smiled at Nagini, and walked out the door, leaving the girl trapped in the snake blinking in return.