Chapter Seven: Spying and Prying

The next morning at three forty five Tom and Severus hid amongst the shadows of the living room and watched as Harry came down stairs with Sali wrapped around his neck and wearing only a pair of ripped up jeans. Which had both men staring blankly at the teen's lean body; the years of Quittditch had done wonders for his body without giving him bulk. The teen cleaned the entire downstairs doing more then what was on the list moving silently. He was agile and caught a vase that Fawkes knocked over and set it quickly back where it had been before turning to the Phoenix.

"Fawkes what are you doing down here I left the window open for you and Hedwig," Harry said softly as he dusted off a bookshelf.

"I was investigating the house and the grump is not in his room," Fawkes trilled at the teen.

"First off you're not supposed to be in the house except the bedroom, secondly he's probably just brewing a potion or reading a book somewhere, he can't stay in his room all the time," Harry said rolling his eyes, "Now shoo before he sees you and I have to send you guys away," waving the Phoenix off he traced Sali's head and hissed out a sigh, "One good thing about doing thiss twice a day is he watchess me when he makess me redo it."

"You have it bad," Sali hissed out laughingly, "Why are you doing more then the lisst ssayss?"

"He didn't hit me," Harry hissed out, a small smile on his face, "He'll not notice that I've done thiss but it makess me feel better."

Severus looked at Tom who was intently listening and sighed, yet Tom covered his mouth when Harry suddenly jerked spinning around looking for the source of the noise. The teen's fingers seemed to have electricity sparking between his finger tips as he narrowed his eyes and scanned the room. When Harry sent Sali down to find who was in the house Tom saw the snake slither over to them and then back to Harry.

"Was just a mouse," Sali lied out hissingly which made Harry relax and the sparks to stop before he turned and started cleaning again falling back into his silence, "Why did you jump so?"

"Fight or Flight instinct kicked in," Harry said with a shrugged. As he saw the snake watching him he turned and hissed to him, "You have to understand Sali I don't back down from a challenge, never been able to, why do you think he catches my eye? He's a challenge."

The two waited until Harry finished before they saw the teen wander off back up to his room to put on presentable clothing as breakfast started in ten minutes. They went back to their room and sat down before Tom translated what had been said, "He likes when you watch him clean you're focusing on him, and Sali says he has it bad, and he did more then you asked because you did not hit him. He likes you because you challenge him."

"He's a very loyal brat isn't he," Severus said with a sigh. He understood now why Harry did as he was told the way he did the teen felt he was only of use to him as a maid, "Okay so… what now?"

"Go to breakfast, and watch him – oh I know! I'll transfigure myself into a snake and pretend to be your familiar so I can watch! Just call me Salazar." With that Tom transfigured himself into a pure black snake about three feet in length and curled around Severus's arm he would watch how the teen acted and see if he could possibly lure him into a conversation.

Once down at the table Severus saw Harry sitting and that Sali was curled around the teen's neck still, "Good Morning Potter," he said which made Harry look at him in shock. He never greeted the teen during meals. Sitting down he made a plate and watched as Harry took very little to eat. When Tom slipped down his arm and slithered across the table he had to suddenly wonder what type of snake Tom was.

"Who are you?" Sali hissed at the approaching snake, mouth open in a striking position until his tongue caught the scent of Tom then he shifted and dropped his head down to rest on Harry's collar bone, "Hello my old friend, I didn't recognize you."

"Thiss iss your sspeaker?" Tom hissed out making Sali nod his serpentine head and Harry to look between the two curiously, "Hello young Sspeaker."

"Hello," Harry hissed back his eyes darting to Severus who was eating. He did not want to get yelled at for talking to the man's pet but he could not help it, "What iss your name?"

"Ssalazar," Tom hissed out before moving over and pushing a bowl of fruit towards Harry with his tail, "Eat up young Sspeaker, you need your sstrength."

"No thank you Ssalazar I'm not really hungry," Harry hissed back quietly until Sali nipped his throat again. He glanced down and got a narrowed eyed look from his snake.

"Eat now," Sali ordered softly, "You eat lessss then I do in a day."

"I don't need much fo- uff!" Harry started to hiss but somehow Tom got his tail around an apple and smacked it into Harry's mouth. Blinking down at the snake he took a bite of the apple and swallowed it before saying, "That wass-geh!" Tom got toast in his mouth that time. Glaring he sat back and ate the apple and piece of toast.

"Salazar leave him alone," Severus said with a sigh. He reached over and pulled Tom to his side of the table by the tail and gave him a scolding look. Looking up as he heard Harry choke again he saw that Sali had forced a roll in the teen's mouth, "You really should eat more."

"I-eh!" Harry had gone to say something but Severus levitated a spoon with oatmeal in it and forced Harry to eat it. Pulling the spoon out of his mouth Harry coughed and shook his head, "I'm fine."

"An apple, a single slice of toast, a bit of a roll and one bite of oatmeal is not breakfast," Severus said. Standing up he walked around the table making a plate he set it in front of Harry and went to sit back down, "Neither of us will leave this table until you eat everything in front of you."

Harry's eyes went wide and he began to eat, 'No he can't do this to me now I was just getting used to the silence, don't pretend to care about me now please,' he thought as he ate. When he finished he felt sick and looked up to see he was getting a slight smirk sent his way which made his cheeks tint pink. 'He is up to something,' he thought before squeaking in surprise as the larger snake wrapped around his waist.

"Harry we need to talk," Severus said calmly which got the teen to stop looking at the snake to look at him in shock, 'Why is he –oh…I called him Harry,' the Professor thought.