Harry awoke to being doused in water. Spluttering, he turned up to find Mr. Dursley above him holding a dripping bucket, a cruel smile on his lips. Laughing darkly at the boy's reaction, the older man tosses the bucket aside.
"I'm sure you thought that you would get to come with us if nobody could watch you, boy." he drawled, watching Harry gasp on the floor. "But we certainly can't reward you for such things, no, and we also cannot leave you alone in the house; you might set the whole thing on fire and then where would we be." Harry had recovered enough to notice that he was laying somewhere that smelled of gasoline, but he couldn't quite focus yet. His uncle continued on.
"We could tie you up outside, but if the neighbors saw you there would be questions. And we can't have that. But the shed, it seems, is the perfect answer." Finally, in his swimming, blurry vision, Harry could see that his was in, what had to be, the small garden shed in the back of the house. Pots and fertilizer lined the shelves on the wall, and he shared the concrete floor with the lawnmower. "It's small, enclosed, and far enough away from the house that even if you set the shed on fire, you won't damage the house.
"Once I lock the door there will be no way out, but I will admit to taking some cautionary measures anyways." Vernon grinned as he kicked a chain on the floor, one end attached to a post in the corner, the other attached to Potter's foot. "I'll let you out after the party tonight, so NO FUNNY BUSSINESS." Nearly spitting his last words, Mr. Dursley slammed the door shut. Harry could hear the lock click in place and the Dursleys drive off.
The boy didn't move for a long time, knowing that anything he did would cause excruciating pain. Already it was difficult to breathe and Harry was pretty sure his left shoulder was dislocated. Finally, Harry gathered his courage and attempted to sit up. Pain attacked him as his destroyed body struggled to move. The boy screamed, but kept going, struggling through the agony. He could feel a wetness on his side, spreading as he moved, and something in his chest grated painfully. But eventually, Harry managed to sit upright and take stock of his injuries.
Harry's first action was to remove his shirt to see the damage. It took several attempts, but he was patient and, finally, got it off. His entire body was covered in bruises; some old and fading, but most very new and still growing. The wetness on his side was nasty gash bleeding slowly. not looking too serious, Harry pressed his shirt against it and moved on. The worst bruising was on his left side and from touch, and experience, Harry could tell that the damage went through the muscle and one of his ribs was out of place.
Deciding that relocate his rib and shoulder, lest they become stuck, Harry stood up. Shoulder first, so that he had full motion to adjust the rib, he grabbed one of the shelves with his bad arm and yanked backwards as hard as he could, ignoring the pain as much as possible. With an audible pop the shoulder slid back into place replacing the sharp pain with a dull ache. Breathing heavily, which hurt, he check the full motion of his arm and was relieved to find everything in order. Rib next, the boy grabbed a shelf above his head and hung there, taking deep breaths. after the third, excruciating inhale another pop could be heard as the rib returned to its proper location.
Feeling some relief, Harry sat back down. This was not the worst he had ever been beaten, but it was certainly high on the list. The shed was also a new addition. Harry could already feel sweat dripping into the cut in his side, making it burn. He was sure that the shed would become Mr. Dursley's favorite place to put Harry; it was hot, cramped, dirty, and was effective in keeping the boy in one place. All Harry could do was sit and wait for them to release him.
Several hours past in excruciating slowness. Harry was too hot to sleep and too sore to move, and so he sat there as a combination of pain, hunger and dehydration made the small room spin. It was sometime after noon before anything happened. Harry was dreaming about how wonderful it would be to have a glass of cold water, or even a sip from the hose, when he heard a small hiss. At first, the boy thought he had imagined it; he had, after all, been it this shed for hours and was quite sure the heat had gotten to him, but the hiss sounded again. This time Harry could pinpoint the source of the noise. To his right, he saw a small hole at the bottom of the shed, where a rather large snake had slipped through.
'Please don't be venomous, please don't be venomous,' thought Harry muddily, but the zig zag pattern of the scales was undeniable, even to Harry's blurry vision; it was a venomous adder. The boy cursed his luck, of the three snakes native to England, he just had to get the only poisonous one. The snake was obviously agitated that it's home was being occupied by a large, sweaty human, and it's tailed flick as it hissed again. Harry was sure he was going nuts now, because he'd swear that he could understand the snake.
"Go Awayssss..." hissed the snake, his head rearing back. "Or you ssssshall regretsss it."
"I would leave if I could," replied the boy, his voice hoarse from dehydration. "but I'm stuck in here; so if you want to bite me go ahead. It not like I can stop you."
The adder, which had been preparing to strike, halted, instead bending it's head to the side like it was confused. "Never havessss I hear a human that ssspeak the tongue of sssnakesss. Man, who are you to know my wordsss?"
"My name's Harry, Harry Potter." muttered the boy. He was trying very hard not to think about the ramifications of a talking snake. "I don't know about any snake language, but it sounds like plain English to me."
The viper came closer, sliding near Harry's knee. "I have heardsss of magic men whom sssspeak freely with sssscaled onesss. Perhapsss Harry Potter is a magic mansss."
'If I were magic I would use it to get out of here, not to talk to snakes,' thought Harry dryly. Keeping his thoughts silent he instead said, "If I'm a magic man, I'm not a very good one."
A quick tongue flick tickled the boy's leg as the snake touched his leg. When Harry didn't flinch, the snake climbed onto him and leisurely made his way up to the boy's chest. "Thissss one would not know, I have heard only ssstoriesss." whispered the snake. "Many talessss older than the oldessssst sssnakesss and I am young, only two matingsss old."
Sitting on top of the boy's heart, the adder lifted so that its ruby eyes were level with his. Harry, who by then was getting quite worried about the venomous snake crawling on him, stayed very still as, from this close, Harry could make out the individual black markings on the silver snake.
"Ssstill," continued the viper. "Harry Potter isss very interesssting. I wouldsss very much like to accompany you." Harry blinked, and blinked again, not quite sure what to make of the reptile's request.
"Like a p-pet?" the boy stammered stupidly.
"Nothing likesss those loud, fithy beastsss that man chainsss in hisss yard. I have no interssst in being Harry Potter'sss ssslave." The snake leaned even closed to Potter, their faces nearly touching. "I wouldssss be your familiar, your friend. We would work together to get thingssss we both dessssire. Issss thisss acceptable?"
Harry nodded. He was not entirely sure he had made the right choice, but he was alive and he was pretty sure the snake didn't plan to bite him anymore, rather it appeared he had made a friend, so it couldn't be all bad.
"Then the bond hassss been ssstuck." announced the snake, obviously proud of itself. "Thisss one and Harry Potter ssshall be assss one until the Great Sssserpent devourssss ussss all."
Harry shivered at the thought of being devoured by a giant snake, but decided not to ask about it. A different question formed on his lips instead. "So what do I call you?"
"Ssscaled onesss have no need of namessss, ssso if Harry Potter wishesss for one, he mussst give it."
Harry had never named anything before, aside from some of the characters in his dreams, and he knew very little about snakes and good names for them. So while he thought, the adder moved up and curled himself lightly around the boy's neck.