This update came rather quickly as I have so many ideas going at the moment. Thank you Emily for motivating me, if I fail Year 12. I'm blaming you. ;D

Anyway enjoy this longer chapter. And I don't own anything, unfortunately.

*updated*

I changed a little bit, sorry. Also...

"Regular speech"

'Paseltongue'

Thoughts

- Tayla Jane

Harry managed to avoid his relatives for most of the day. It was fairly easy, all he had to do was sneak out the back door and he was free. He only went back at around lunchtime because he would be punished even worse than that morning if he didn't finished his chores in time. He also hadn't eaten breakfast due to the hasty exit in the morning so he was rather hungry.

Thankfully when he arrived back, Vernon had left. Gone to the pub or the pokies from the way Petunia was acting. Most of the chores were easy for Harry. He had been doing the same menial work for as long as he could walk and talk. He was practically the Dursley's slave.

The afternoon was slow. He had been ordered by Petunia to mow the lawn but recently the lawn mower had spectacularly caught on fire while Vernon was using it. Harry had been blamed for the incident, even though he had been inside at the time and hadn't even touched the lawn mower in weeks.

Vernon had refused to buy a new one, saying that 'the stupid boy can use the push mower, 'It's about time he put some effort into something.'

It took three times the usual length to mow the lawn. Dudley came home from school about an hour in. He looked as if he wanted to say something to Harry but then Petunia came back outside and hurried Dudley in, glaring at Harry all the while.

Harry didn't take any notice of the glares directed at him, he was used to them.

It was late in the afternoon when Harry finally finished his chores. Luckily Vernon hadn't arrived yet so Harry was able to get in a spare moment reading the paper on the couch while Petunia was in the other room. It wasn't long after, when Vernon announced his arrival at the door.

"Petunia darling," he almost sang. "I'm home!"

Harry almost bounced off of the couch and dove behind one of the couches just in time. Barely half a second later Vernon opened the door to the living room and poked his overly large head in. He surveyed the room, his eyes passed over Harry and for a moment seemed to linger there. But they glazed over and he left without noticing the hiding boy barely a meter away from him.

Harry sighed in relief. It wasn't that he was scared of his Uncle. Not even close. He just couldn't afford to get anymore injuries as his ear was causing him more problems than he could deal with at the moment. A headache had sprung up sometime during the afternoon and it was not going away. Even after Harry had snitched a couple of Panadol from the kitchen cupboard.

He slowly made his way out from behind the couch, taking care not to make to any noise to alert his Uncle where he was. He tiptoed his way over to the door and gingerly opened it. He stuck his head round the edge expecting the worse but luckily Vernon had already headed into the kitchen. Harry sighed and pulled the door open. He quickly made his way back into his cupboard. It wouldn't be long before Vernon headed back to the living room for the nightly rugby games that he tended to watch. And Harry did not want to be stuck behind the couch for hours on end listening to rugby. It had happened before and he was not eager to repeat the experience.

Through the walls Harry could hear the conversation going on between Vernon and his wife. He wasn't particularly interested in their conversation but it was something to do and Harry wanted to know why Vernon had been singing in his awful voice while coming inside that day.

"-won a fair bit today-" Harry heard Vernon say. He had to press his ear against the wall to be able to hear them properly.

"How much?" Petunia replied, her voice betrayed her excitement.

"$200 or something," said Vernon. A squeal interrupted whatever else Vernon was going to say.

"Vernon why don't we take Duddles out for his birthday tomorrow." She asked. There was a pause in the conversation where they were talking too quietly for Harry to be able to make out the words. He wasn't really listening anyway as his stomach had suck through the floor. Harry groaned in disappointment. 'Well tomorrow going to be a waste of my time,' he thought. 'I'm not even going to be allowed outside.'

He sighed again and laid back on his small bed, not listening in on his relatives anymore. He stared blankly up at the dusty ceiling. A single spider web covered the entire left half of the ceiling. It look abandoned, not that Harry minded. He didn't like sharing his space with anyone, not even a spider.

Harry had very few possessions. Last year he had more, but Vernon had gone into one of his drunken rages. He had tried to drag Harry out of his cupboard by his feet and when Harry had resisted he had been beaten black and blue. Nearly everything he owned had been burned that night. Apart from the clothes on his back and whatever he had managed to grab while begin dragged out.

The lesson he had learnt was not to care about anything. Not when all of it could be taken away from you at a moment's notice.

He didn't bother to head out for dinner. Even from under his covers Harry could hear Vernon already yelling. Something about rugby and bastards. Harry just tucked his thin blanket over his head and vainly tried to ignore the noise. So he could get some decent sleep before the hell that was tomorrow.

Dudley's birthdays were always the worst. Vernon would be unusually nice to his son while he would treat Harry as if he was something disgusting stuck on the bottom of his shoe. Petunia would be much the same. Harry would be lucky if he only got out with one or two injuries that year. Dudley couldn't even try to intervene or his 'special' day would come crashing down around him.

Dudley had tried to stop the violence once. He had ended with a broken leg for his trouble. It was on that birthday, Dudley's 9th. That they had come up with a plan. If Vernon could see Harry being bullied by Dudley, then maybe that would be enough. But Dudley hadn't even had the chance to help Harry that morning. Vernon had been on him within seconds of him walking in.

Harry ignored the world and drifted off to sleep.

He woke slowly.

It took several seconds for Harry to realise what was wrong. The house was silent around him. Not even the usual snoring could be heard. Harry quickly lifted himself off of his bed and leaned over to the grill in his door. He peeped through but from his limited view he could confirm anything. As he was stepping back he bumped something, making it clatter across the floor.

A look downwards revealed a Tupperware container with a note taped to the top of it. Whatever was inside of it was so shakily made that Harry could hardly tell what it was. Probably made by Dudley then.

Harry opening the note and read it carefully. The letters were shaky as if they had been written in a hurry.

'Harry,

Father was in such a bad mood this morning that I asked if we could just leave without you. We're going to the zoo because Father says there's been an incident with the glass cage of the boa constrictor. Hopefully we'll be heading to breakfast afterwards.'

Harry rolled his eyes at his cousin's words. Dudley never stopped wanted to eat. He focused back on the letter.

'Sorry about the quality of the food in the container, it was the best I could do. And I really mean it. That was my second attempt and the first was rather black.

We should be home around 4 but expect earlier.

Dudley'

Harry place the letter on his bed and picked up the container. What was inside looked something like a scrambled egg on soggy bread. Except there were pieces of eggshell in it, and something green.

Harry scrunched up his nose. He didn't really want to risk it, but he hadn't eaten anything last night before and probably wouldn't get anything unlike that night.

He tried a bit, avoiding the eggshells and the green bits like the plague. It wasn't too bad, kind of flavorless. Considering some of Dudley's other creations it was practically divine.

'4 huh.' Harry thought. 'That means I have...' Harry glanced at his watch. It was old and battered but he liked it. It was Dudley's old one but it had been given to Harry on one of his birthdays. Not that Vernon and Petunia even knew.

The time read 12. Harry couldn't suppress the surprise from spreading across his face, this was the first time he had ever slept in. Every other time, his Uncle or Aunt would yell and drag him out if he didn't get up on time to cook them breakfast.

He finished off the late breakfast curtsy of Dudley and laid back on his bed. He waited for a few seconds before springing off of the bed.

Oh stuff it, he thought.

He lent against the door and gingerly unscrewed the brackets that held the grill in. Removing the grill was the easy part, it was reach the lanyard that he always had trouble with. His arms were only just long enough to be able to reach it and even then it was a bit of a stretch.

Finally he had the lanyard. It was barely a second later that Harry heard the key in the lock of the door. He froze, his survival instincts abandoning him in his surprise. A holler from the front door made them kick back in.

"WHY YOU LITTLE-!"

A steely grip caught his wrist just as he yanked it in. It held him there for a moment before his arm was yanked out. Not prepared for the sudden burst of strength Harry slammed into the door, his arm sticking all the way out. His glasses fell off of his face leaving him blind to what was coming. Vernon released his arm and Harry quickly drew his arm back in. He moved back away from the door and waited. It wasn't long before his Uncle wrenched the door open although it was considerably longer than usual because of all the fumbling he was doing in his anger.

From what he could see through his blurry vision, the open door revealed a purple faced man who look as if they were ready to murder someone. Harry stayed silent and waited, not wanting to provoke Vernon any more than he already had. Vernon continued glaring at Harry before moving away from the cupboard and headed for the front door.

Harry didn't move from where he was.

It was about a minute later than Vernon came back inside. He was carrying something heavy if the grunting was anything to guess by.

The huge blurry shape only just fit through the small doorway. Vernon had to crouch to fit in and once inside he couldn't even stand up. He placed the heavy thing on the end of Harry's bed and pulled the sheet off of it. Harry didn't take his blurry vision off Vernon.

From what he could see, Vernon looked like he was smirking which was a strange thing in itself.

A voice came from the hallway.

"Vernon dear, I don't think-" Petunia began. She was cut off.

"Shut up!" Vernon said venomously. "I'm done with this freak!" Petunia was wise enough to stay silent. Vernon left the cupboard, glaring back at Harry as he did so. He slammed the door behind him and bolted all three locks behind him.

Harry only bent down when he heard Vernon and Petunia leave the hallway and head into another part of the house. He heard no sign of Dudley.

He fumbled for his glasses on the floor being extra careful of his now throbbing hand. They were right next to his left foot.

He picked them up and checked them to see if they were broken, thankfully they weren't. If they had been he would been going around with broken glasses for a couple of years until his head got too big to fit in them anymore.

He gingerly placed his glasses back on his face and glanced over at what Vernon had placed in his cupboard.

It revealed a small snake curled up in a glass tank. The snake lifted its head and seemed to appraise him with intelligent eyes. Harry froze, not daring to move a muscle.

He quickly glanced at the glass tank it was in. For the size of the snake it was rather small tank barely big enough to hold it. Harry could help the twinge of pity he had for the creature. There was glass lid on top of the cage, but it didn't look study enough to hold the snake if it wanted to get out.

He dropped his eyes back down to the snake and waited.

It was the snake that make the first move.

'Hello,' it hissed.

To say Harry was surprised would be a bit of an understatement. He made a sound that sounded something like a cross between a squawk and a yelp. He jumped back forgetting for the moment that he was in a very small cupboard. The constricted space caused him to bash his head on the back wall. He fell forwards back onto the bed clutching his head as it throbbed painfully.

The snake watched him as he pressed his face against the mattress and moaning quietly in pain.

'Well that wasss sssstupid,' it commented.

'It's not like I did it on purpose,' Harry mumbled into the mattress. His headache was even worse now.

Harry lifted his head and looked curiously at the snake.

'How is it that you can talk?' He asked.

The snake stared at him but didn't answer his question. 'Would you pleassse open this cassse?' It asked.

He eyed the snake considering the possibility of it eating him. Which was slim, but still there.

'Yeah okay,' Harry conceded. He shuffled over to the end of the bed and carefully lifted the glass lid off. He gently placed it down the side of his bed, putting it out of the way. Harry settled himself down onto the head of the mattress, leaning against the wall.

'I'm Harry,' he said. There was a pause.

'The namessss Nagini,' the snake hissed. When Harry didn't say anything more the snake slithered itself out of the tank and onto his bed. Ignoring Harry it curled up into a tight ball and proceeded to fall asleep, or something similar anyway.

Harry let himself relax. It looked like the snake wasn't going to turn on him. He soon started to doze off.