Title: Life as a Snake
Author: FairyTails13
Disclaimer: I own nothing…but the plot.
Rating: M
Summary: What do you do when the only person you know can understand you is your most hated enemy? And I don't mean this figuratively people. Harry, after making some weird witch mad, has found himself seeing from a different angle, with no arms and with scales.
He is a snake, very literally.
How the hell is he supposed to defeat Voldemort now! Or does he want to after meeting Nagini from a different perspective.
Warnings: SLASH(Male/Male parings) Dark Harry, Snake Harry
Parings: Lord Voldemort/Harry, Severus/Remus, Draco/Hermione
Spoilers: Books one – five, I will not include book six, and though I am finally getting around to reading seven, I will not include it either. Dumbledore is alive. Also, please refer to the HP Warning on my profile, please.
Key:
"Talking"
'Thoughts'
" Parseltongue "
"Mind link between Voldemort and Harry"
A/n: Okay, I got two reviews~! Thank you, both of you.
Chapter: Hope Found in an Enemy
Harry woke the next day as the morning sun warmed up his hole. The young wizard wanted it to all be a dream, but knew it had happened, that he would not wake up at Hogwarts, would not be eating with his friends, and would not be riding the winds on his broom any time soon.
Holding back his turmoil he slithered out of his hole, looking around and smelling the world around him with his tongue and the new senses it gave him. He let the last day disappear from his mind for the moment, his survival instinct being much stronger in his new form.
He let the animal mind take over.
He licked watery dew drops off of the dead leaves around him, quenching his thirst. Next he found a nice warm rock to rest on, being sure to look up in the trees for any hint of a predator that might be bigger than him. He rested there until his hunger got the best of him.
Harry is not really sure how to hunt, but he would try, even if he is forced to eat a bug or two. At that thought he wondered what kind of snake he is, how big he is. Is he venomous, or did he use constriction to kill?
Being as slow as possible to not attract attention he lifted his head to get a look at his body. His scales are a brilliant green, a thick white line cutting through a stitch like patterns down his back, edged with a little bit of a darker green.
For once he is happy he actually paid a bit of attention to the snakes at the zoo that faithful day when he set a boa constrictor on his cousin and his friends. Emerald Tree Boa came to mind, but that is all, no eating habits or body length, he just remembered its beauty as it lay caged on the other side of the glass.
Being a boa he knew he used construction to kill and what he ate, but that did not help him with his size issue.
Giving it up he guessed that he would figure that out once he ran into a mouse or something else he knew the size comparison of, and to do that he would have to hunt. He slithered off of his rock, letting the predator in the back of his mind come forth, and could not help but feel a sense of excitement as he did so.
An hour later found Harry with a full belly and an length of about six feet, maybe more if he guessed right.
After that he is not really sure what to do next. Thankfully that is when the Slytherin part of his brain clicked into alertness. He had to find a way to talk to someone, anyone. He paused in his thinking, his serpentine eyes glaring the best they can, "Anyone but Voldemort."
As he hissed that out Harry realized he did not need to if he found a snake to talk to, hoping that they will indeed help and not see him as a snack.
It is his only hope to surviving and he really did not like that. But then again, he did not want to live the rest of his life as a serpent. The darkened wizard wants more options instead of the boxed in situation he had found himself in.
As he slithered along the forest floor Harry let his mind wonder and question. Had the Order already found out what he did?
It made his sick to his stomach that they would discover the body of the man he left there to die. They would not understand; he knew that painful truth from experience. The Order consisted of Gryffindors, Gryffindors blinded by their noble misjudgments. They only saw black and white, not the grey in between. The grey Harry had placed himself in.
And they would see him as black when they found the body, and so would the rest of the wizarding world. But then again, he remembered the end of his fourth year and his fifth year; would they label him a dark wizard again? He suspected they knew he is not as pure as he once was, but did they know more then they let on? He knew Snape is suspicious.
But then again, Snape is not pure either, maybe the potion's master would take his side if he knew just who he had become, the Slytherin he had become, "Only Slytherins protect Slytherins, no one else will..."
He muttered to himself, wishing again that he had not argued with the sorting hat in his first year, and wondering what his life would have been like if he had been sorted into the snake house.
Harry had been talking to himself and had not expected an answer.
"This is true. I guess will not be my snack."
Harry froze in place and turned to where the new voice had come from. Up in a tree, coiled over his head is another, much larger snake. From its scent he realizes that it is a female –how, he is not so sure- and he recognizes her to be another boa, a constrictor. He also detects her anger after a few moments pass by, "You better speak again little boy if you want to live."
He swallows and hisses back, "If that is all it takes, sure, why not."
She hangs her head a bit further out of the tree, in a way, glaring at him, "Oh, you most defiantly grew up around humans, didn't you?"
It was really more of a statement over a question, "What gave me away…"
She rolled her eyes at him, "Not most wild snakes have even heard of Slytherin, let alone their relationship with the outside world. What happened, did you owner decide you had grown too big?"
His Slytherin side took the chance she gave him and he found it much easier to lie as a snake, not worrying about facial signs, "I guess, I went to sleep in my cage and woke up here."
She slithers down further to the ground until the rest of her body falls to the ground, He realizes right off the bat just how much bigger she is, over twice his size. "It displeases me how humans try to make us their pets and when we grow too big they just dump us off somewhere expecting us to know how to hunt and to live in the wild."
He kept an eye on her as she circled him, a bit weary, "Did it happen to you?"
She stopped, "When I was about your size, but my current master found me before I could starve. He takes very good care of me."
He is sure that if he is a human he would have been blinking in confusion, "Than why are you all the way out here?"
She let forth what sounded to him like a giggle, a demented giggle, but a giggle none-the-less, "He's out here, or I would not be here."
After she had spoken is when he finally noticed the many new scents in the forest. He could taste their magic in the air and it made blood race in fear. Harry tensed and froze when the larger snake tightened her body around him, "Calm down, the moment they kill me is the moment of their death."
Not meaning to, but on humans instinct he rubbed his head on her, shivering as if someone had just soaked him in ice cold water. "Who are they?"
She hissed calmingly to him, "My master's followers, Death Eaters," when he tensed again, an odd motherly feeling came to Nagini, shocking her. She again hissed soothingly to him until he is lax against his form once more.
Harry finally spoke again when he found his voice, "My owners talked about them a lot."
She turned her head to him, as if to look at him in shock, "You understand English?"
His mind quickly came up with an excuse, cursing his self for slipping, "I'm sixteen years old. Ya kind of learn."
She did not speak for a moment and he feared he had slipped again; he did not even know how long his species lived, but when she spoke again it is with praise, "I underestimated you young one; when my master comes and gets me, I want you to come with us."
When he finally realized just who her master is his mind worked overtime until he knew this is the only way he would survive in his new form despite his earlier revelations.
Making up his mind finally he spoke, "But I don't even know your name…"
She gave him a look he could only translate into a smile, "My name is Nagini. Now you know my name, what is yours?"
He said the first name that came to him, "Drake, my owner called me Drake." and then wondered why it that name had been the first on his mind.
She bobbed her head, not noticing his inner turmoil, "Okay Drake, why do you call the person who left you here your owner and not your master?"
He smirked, for the first time that day feeling comfortable, "He may have bought me, but I in no way bowed or served him."
Harry felt something rub his head and realized it is the end of Nagini's tail, "Good answer. Master will like you Drake, you have a bite to your tongue."
He felt his face warm up and wondered how that is possible, "He's a speaker?" He paused, "I mean, that is the only way I believe he would understand me…"
Nagini seemed to puff up with pride, "Yes, he is a speaker."
The smaller green snake could feel the joy radiation off of her and could smell it even better. At that moment his perspective of his parent's killer changed a bit. No one can possibly be that cruel if they care so much for another person, even if that person is a snake. His thoughtful moment, however, is cut short as he hears footsteps coming towards them.
The young human-turned snake moved his head in the direction and saw a tall hooded figure walking to them. He shrunk up against Nagini's much larger and more dangerous form without realizing he had done so. He quickly noted his actions when the older snake hissed soothingly to him, almost in a purr, calming him down, "Drake, it is only my master."
Despite what he had just told himself Harry could not see the man any differently. He still sees the cold blooded killer he had witnessed come back to life, the one that has made his life a living hell.
So when the Dark Lord spoke, harry could not help but jump, "There you are Nagini. It's time to go."
To keep Harry from freaking Nagini did not move to her master like she knew he wanted her to, "How did the raid go?"
Harry could not see Voldemort's face but he could hear the sneer in his voice, "Better than I thought it would have, them only being trainees," He paused and when he speaks again his voice is a bit gentler, "It seems you have made a friend Nagini."
Harry found his voice missing at that point, so it is all he could do to stare as Nagini spoke for him, "This is Drake, his owner left him out here to die."
Harry could now feel the Dark Lord's eyes on him and barely held back the shiver that threatened to run through his body, "How intelligent is he?"
The green boa suddenly felt very offended, thankfully Nagini's next words kept him from forgetting who it is that is before him, and biting back with his comment, "I would have eaten him by now if he is not up to par."
He turned to her and gave the larger snake a look and sarcasm dripped from his next words, "Gee, thanks. I just love being talked about like I'm not here. Make me feel as if I'm back in my cage, a nice warming feeling mind you."
Nagini grinned at him and the Slytherin in the back of his mind huffed at how slow he is being, chiding him for not acting as the wizard he has become over the last few years. She had been trying to get a reaction out of him the entire time, "If you hadn't of frozen I would not have had to talk for you."
He glared at her for a moment. "Great, I have a chance to live and it is with a sarcastic female twice my size."
A deep chuckle behind him nearly made Harry jump in shock, the sound of the Dark Lord's laughter sending a shiver down his spine that he could not stop, "So he does have brain. I suspect you want to bring him with us."
Nagini gave a snort, "Well of course I do. He is turning into a bit of entertainment."
Harry is getting ready to say something back when Voldemort pulled out his wand. Harry tensed and hid behind Nagini as best he could before she even had time to react. When she spoke it is in shock, "Drake! It's alright; he is just going to shrink us. How else do you think he travels with me?"
At her words her felt utterly stupid, though he feels that his reaction is warranted from past experience of having that bone-white wand pointed at him, "S-sorry," he quickly amended, "the last time someone pointed a wand at me it did not end well on my part, I was just acting on reflex…"
She blinked at him, pity peeking out of those golden eyes, "I should have guessed that your owner is a wizard when you talked about Slytherins…" her voice trailed off, "and when you said your owner talked about Death Eaters."
Voldemort cut in, amazement and pride sounded in his voice, "You understand English?"
Harry looked at him in shock, not expecting such emotion in his enemies' voice, "Yes, a little."
The Dark Lord nodded, satisfied with the new snake, "I'll try to warn you next time I pull out my wand. Now we had better get going before the Order of the Flaming Chickens get here."
Harry could not help but laugh at that and cocked his head at his unknowing enemy. "Not to small please, I already have a size issue compared to Nagini."
Voldemort chuckled and waved his wand. Harry felt his world grow smaller and looked to Nagini to see her shrinking to the same size, about three feet. He then followed her lead and slithered up the offered hand.
As he did it dawned on him that his head is not splitting open in pain. His scar did not hurt. As he settles on the Dark Lord's surprisingly buff bicep, he wonders why. What did that old witch do to him to make the link between him and Lord Voldemort practically disappear?
As far as he knew, the older wizard did not even guess that he had just let Harry Potter, the bane of his existence, onto his arm. He settles his head down to gather warmth and thinks, 'This is going to be very interesting from now on.'
~!~
Harry had just started to dose off from the warmth radiating off of Voldemort (much better than the cold forest) when the cloak he is hiding under is taken off. He nearly screamed at the sudden cold, "Bloody Hell!"
He found himself tightening around Voldemort's arm to get back some warmth. A chuckle however reminded him where he is, "I can understand you not liking the cold, but I do like the ability of having both of my arms."
Harry laughed nervously, "Sorry, I was almost asleep."
When he got no more than a thankful grunt in return for his apology Harry looked up at his enemy for the first time and realized that the older male is not longer wearing a hood, and also quick to note that if he had not of already know who it is he would not have recognized him.
Looking down at him with laughter are the same serpentine red eyes he remembered from that day at the Ministry, but a handsome, thirty-some-year-old face is something he did not recall, nor the fact that he had a head full of hair, however snowy white it is.
If anything he had thought he would have dark hair like his younger self, but then remembered that he is in his seventies. Coppery green eyes meet bloody red and Harry looks away ashamed, knowing that he had been staring, "Sorry…"
Again the Dark Lord chuckled, "It is fine, I know I don't look like normal humans, never will again, no matter the amount of potions I take."
A mournful tone had entered the Dark Lord's voice, shocking Harry again with an emotion other than rage and hared. This is a part of him Harry never imagined could exist. And yet, something the Dairy Tom had said came back to him, 'I was always able to charm the people I needed.'
The boy-who-lived wondered for a moment if he is just being charmed and his identity is known, but then the more rational side of his brain, the side that is not currently weighed down with shock, tells him that he would have already been killed if his identity is truly known. He knows Voldemort is a cruel man, but even he would just get it over with instead of prolonging the inevitable.
Again he realized he is staring and quickly relays what had just been said to find a to say to stop making him look so stupid, dumbly mumbling an, "Again?"
Voldemort sat down on what Harry guessed is a bed, "Let's get this straight, Drake. I am by no means considered a nice person by the rest of humans."
"That is only because they fear what they do not understand master. They do not understand the darkness; they are so wrapped up in the light. They will never see the gray shades in between." The voice of Nagini startled Harry as he glanced at her resized form on the bed next to her master.
Voldemort rolled his eyes, "Stop sugar coating it Nagini, I am an evil man."
Nagini glared at him, "Only because society has formed you to into such. What if it is the other way around and dark is considered the good and light is considered the evil?"
Harry could not help but cut in as he coiled down Voldemort's arm, not believing he is getting ready to defend his enemy but not being able to stop himself from proclaiming his beliefs, ones that have been on his mind most of the last two years.
"It would not matter. There would always be war, no matter which society sees as evil. The way I understand it, human's will always need something to hate, and something to live for."
As he reached the silk blankets he let himself sigh in content, it is much better than slithering around on the cold ground where rocks and sticks rough up his smooth scales. When he finally looks up a Nagini and Voldemort he could not help the "What?" that left his mouth.
Nagini moved her body over Voldemort's lap to get a better look at the smaller snake, "Once again it seems I have underestimated you Drake. You seem to be a lot smarter and insightful than I thought." She smirked at him, "I am glad I did not eat you. That would have been a waste."
He glared at her, "I love how you assume me stupid."
Voldemort grunted and leaned back on a fisted hand, "You usually have to, so forgive us for assuming."
"Are you sure you are as evil as you think you are?" Harry could not believe the words that had just left his mouth.
Voldemort snorted, rolling his eyes in a truly rare display of emotion, "I am a murderer, does that not make me evil? I kill without remorse, without giving it a second thought."
Harry had to rethink who he is talking to, biting back a comment about murder, that now seems very stupid as he remembers the body in his old bedroom, "Than you are truly a snake than, inhuman, a demon." He whispered, "But what can I say, so am I."
He does not regret what he has done, years of pent up aggressions being eases when that one spell left his lips, but it is not only what he has done that hits him full force, but also what he has become.
Harry is no longer human, and is not sure if he is willing to tell the one person who could help him who he really is. So easy, it would be for Voldemort to kill him now, no amount of luck could save him now. Yet, his Slytherin stirs, the ambitious side of him waking up and setting his mind into motion.
Maybe if he got Voldemort to trust him…
He cut that thought down before it got any further. Though dark magic now fills his core Harry knows he can not be evil like that. Self defense, war even, is one thing, but using the masks he has upheld all his life to do more than protect himself and in fact hurt someone else, even his greatest enemy, will make him no better than Dumbledore.
Harry's thoughts are cut short and he lets out a cry of shock when his world suddenly became larger than it had been before and he realized he is his original size again.
Getting over his shock quickly he peeks at the wizard who is already putting his wand away, a indescribable look on his face, "I must know why you defend me, Drake."
When Harry does not answer right off the Dark Lord gets up, not seeming to have actually expected one. The site up the Dark Lord pulling off his battle robe, and the many layers that lay under it, revealing a fit body and pale skin Harry's teenage mind goes overboard, supplying him with images he currently wants nothing to do with.
Forcing himself to look away Harry decided to answer, as any distraction at this point is a good one, "I was just dumped off in a forest, and you are offering me a new home. I feel I am obligated to be on your side."
Distracting his mind even more, Harry is glad when he suddenly feels Nagini rub up against him. He looks to his in only slight confusion when she seems to snuggle up against him on the edge of the bed. He is shocked by this until he looks around and sees no cage.
A new realization strikes him, and his teenage mind squirms from behind the blockages he is quick to enforce at that thought. They would be sleeping with Voldemort.
He blushed as his perverted teenage mind pushes some images past the imaginary wall as he sees a semi-naked Dark Lord in the corner of his eye. He nuzzled his head up against Nagini at that point, trying to go to sleep and forget the site. "Thank you Nagini."
She looked to him at his whisper, her golden eyes frowning, "Do not think me yet young one."
The bed sunk again and the heat of a warming charm made Harry sigh in content until he could feel the body of the Dark Lord lay down next to him and Nagini. He tensed but Nagini did her soothing hiss again, until this time he fell asleep.
TBC
A/n: Edited 2/25/11
Fixed grammar, a little tense problem and added some detail as it was sadly lacking.
Thank you for reading this,
~FT