A/N I don't own Harry Potter. Thanks for reading. I love reviews. Enjoy!
The morning after Harry arrived in 1978 he woke early so Slughorn could take him to Diagon before class started. Severus, whom Harry was surprised to see up at this hour, gave him a strange look when he settled his rucksack on his back. Slughorn was only slightly subdued by morning and the emerald eyed wizard resisted the urge to react the way he wished to the continuous prattling.
The Gringotts goblins gave him a vicious sneer as soon as he entered the bank. He was beckoned to, a surprisingly younger looking, Griphook's office. Slughorn had a bit of his own shopping to do and agreed to meet Harry outside the bank.
"What are you doing here, Mister Potter?" Griphook asked with a sneer, glaring through his beady eyes.
"Just getting some money to do a bit of school shopping," Harry answered carefully, a hint of a smile peeking out from his features schooled to convey his 'golden boy' fasade.
"What are you doing in this time?" Griphook asked through bared teeth. He looked as if he wanted to facepalm, but that was probably too plebian for a goblin.
"Well, about that, I don't exactly know," Harry said with a sheepish smile. "I was wondering how that would work. Would I still be able to access my vaults?"
"The vaults you own in the future are most likely still in possession of their original owners, but I suppose we could do an inheritance test for any vaults or titles not currently in use."
"Alright," Harry said ", I'd also like to invest some of the gold I carried with me." The goblin called forth a few others. Luckily for Harry, there were a few vaults that had been married into the family between now and Harry's time or had remained untouched.
They made sure everything in these vaults ended up with Harry in the end, so they didn't dramatically alter time. Everything Harry had now was put under the name Harrison Grey and his investments were sound since he knew which businesses profited in the future. They switched the cash flow into his card to the new vaults. He was not as wealthy as he once was, but he had more than enough to last through his last year at Hogwarts.
He still had nearly thirty minutes before he was expected to meet Slughorn, so he slipped in Knockturn Alley. He had to find out how he got here and if it was even safe to go back at this point. The shadows all had eyes and even as Harry relaxed at the feel of magic, the alley was saturated in it, he kept up his guard.
The bookstore was shady at best, but Harry had a feeling it would be just what he needed. The man that sat behind the cluttered counter had shoulder length hair the color of the sun, bright even in the minimal lighting of the shop. He hardly looked old enough to have graduated from Hogwarts, but the way he held himself made Harry think he was perhaps older than he appeared. His eyes were downcast, trained on the tome propped against another stack of them. They flickered up to asses Harry when he stepped up to the counter and the time traveling wizard contained a gasp. The mans eyes were red as blood.
His beautiful face was shadowed with confusion and his lips twisted into something akin to a smile "Hello, may I help you?" his voice was an ethereal purr and Harry immediately took a liking to him, even if he sensed that the man wasn't to be trusted.
"I hope so," Harry said smiling coyly. "I'm looking for something on time travel magic."
The beautiful man frowned, his eyes apprehensive. "That kind of magic is quite dangerous. It can be detrimental to time and space if used incorrectly."
Harry sighed ", I know. It's undoing the magic that I need the books for." The man's eyebrows nearly shot into his hairline.
"Is it?" he left the rest of the question off at Harry's sheepish nod. "I may have a few books that would help." He drifted to an obscure corner of the room and ran his hand along some wicked strong cloaking wards. He slipped a few from the shelf, replaced the wards and set them back on the counter. "They're very expensive," he warned an excited Harry.
"I have the money," the dark haired wizard assured him and handed the man his Gringotts card.
"Be careful," the man said in parting. "Much can be effected by a singular event."
Harry was haggling with a less than honest man over the price of rare potions ingredients when he heard it. A young, panicked voice squeling and then muttering about cruel wizards. As the shop owner readied Harry's potion ingredients and supplies he located where the voice was coming from.
Three shifty looking boys, late teens, early twenties were gathered around something talking lowly and letting out jeering laughs. Upon closer inspection Harry realized the voice was that of a snake. The little thing was coiled up and hissing, looking as if those boys would be in deep trouble if there wasn't inches of glass between them. He was tempted to remove the glass, like he'd done with a snake at the zoo, but killing three men was probably not the best thing to do his second day back in time.
So Harry did the one thing that never failed to scare people away. He spoke ", Hello, beautiful." The boys glanced back at him nervously, then fled, but he paid them no mind.
"A speaker!" the little snake, now that he was listening it was clearly female, hissed excitedly ", I didn't know there were any left."
Harry smiled softly at the little snake. "Do you have a name?"
"I don't speaker, but you could give me one," she said hopefully ", Do you have a name?"
"My name is Harrison, but you can call me Harry" he said and after thinking for a moment ", I shall call you Kali."
"Thank you, Harry," Kali said, wriggling with happiness.
"I'll be right back," Harry hissed. He picked up his potion supplies and asked the shop owner ", How much for the snake?"
"That thing?" the man shuddered. "Take it if you dare, it's killed every man who's tried to remove it and the thing doesn't seem to be affected by spells. It'd make bloody good armor if anyone could hold it still enough to skin."
The man gaped when Harry marched right up to thee tank and unlatched it. Kali slithered right out and looped around his neck. He nearly collapsed into a fit of giggles at the shop owners face. Kali certainly did.
"Thank you, Harry," she said, once she composed herself. "May I bite you?"
"May I ask why you'd like to Kill me so soon after I've saved you?" Harry asked, he would never understand snakes.
Kali did the snake equivalent of an eye roll. "I wouldn't bite you with venom. I just want to be your bonded."
"My familiar?"
"Yes, that's what wizards call it," Kail said, rubbing her snout against the side of his neck.
The wizard sighed simultaneously loving and cursing his innate recklessness ", go for it." Kali sank her fangs into his neck and he felt his magic reach out and find the core every living thing had. Their magic twined around one another, then retreated to their bodies with a rush.
Kali pulled her fangs out and hissed ", Now we belong to each other, My Harry." Under any other circumstances the emerald eyed wizard might find this statement creepy, but he could feel it was true. He just nodded and smiled.
If Kali herself hadn't been enough Slughorn's face and the blissful silence that fell after Harry told him she was his familiar made his little trip to Knockturn worth it. Upon returning to the castle Slughorn ussured him to Dippet's office.
Harry translated a conversation between Kali and the headmaster. The perfect little snake she was, Kali had Dippet eating out of her metaphorical hand within the hour. She slithered onto Dippet's desk so he could pet her. They even had Dippet convinced that snake's licked for kisses like puppies. Well, they did, sort of, but when Kali licked the Headmaster's hand it was to sent him and make sure he wasn't a threat to her Harry. Slughorn blinked at Dippet incredulously when he bid Harry and Kali a good day and they headed off to class. He didn't reveal his parseltongue ability since he could talk to Kali through their bond, but he wouldn't deny it if anyone were to ask.
At first the other students attempted to talk to him; Kali fixed that fast. He was a seventh year, so the younger Slytherins left him be anyway and the older ones didn't seem to mind him as long as he got good grades and didn't make Slytherin look bad. Severus was a bit wary of Kali the first time they met, but since he saw her constantly he seemed to be the most adjusted to her. The other houses were afraid of snakes in general, but one more slimy snake didn't draw as much attention as one might think. It left most of Hogwarts completely indifferent to him.
Class was mostly the same. They actually had a competent DADA teacher, but Harry, who'd been training to fight Voldemort since he was eleven, breezed through the class. He and Hermione had been studying runes on their own before they drifted apart. For classes Harry chose Ancient Runes, Care Of Magical Creatures, Herbology, DADA, Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration.
The first truly exciting thing to happen was in Transfiguration. A much younger Mcgonagall announced about a week in that they would begin their seventh year projects. Their projects were to encompass what they learned over all in Transfiguration with both a practical and written part. They were due at semester. It was up to them what they chose, but it had to be cleared with her before they began.
Harry got a devilish smile and approached Mcgonagall's desk. He whispered something to her and her eyebrows rose to her hairline. With a wave of her wand a silencing bubble materialized around them. She signed off on magical parchment and he slipped from the room with his ever present rucksack. He was was on his way to the library, the first to search the books for his transfiguration project. He would need it too. Harrison Grey was going to become an animagus.