Disclaimer: It is not mine. My book is still stuck in my head, and will likely remain there…

"speech"

'thoughts'

"parseltongue"

A/N: There will be some derogatory language in this chapter toward a homosexual couple. This is in no way a reflection of my own personal opinion.

Chapter 6

Seth made his way toward the largest concentration of human magic he could sense. It was about one hundred miles north of the den that he had been living in for the past four years. There was only one other area that had more human magic, but that was at least 250 miles from the den. During the three days that it took for Seth to reach the magic area, he wondered what it would be like to be among humans once again. The only humans he truly remembered anymore were his relatives, and they had not been worth pissing on if one of them had been on fire. He also knew that he would have to hide his appearance, since he doubted that even among the magic users it was common to have snake-like features. He would try to blend in as much as possible while he was there.

By the time Seth reached the edge of the forest on the third day, it was already evening. Since he would be able to use his basilisk for to blend in with the shadows at night, he decided to wait until then to go to the small town to learn what he would need to know in order to blend in the following day. With around an hour left until it was truly dark out, Seth scouted the nearby forested area for a suitable temporary den. He eventually found a smallish cave that, while too small for his full basilisk form, was just the right size for while he was in his lamia form.

Once he had gotten the den set up, it was dark enough out that Seth felt safe in approaching the town. He switched to his snake form, since its coloration was better for blending into the shadows than his human form, and made his way over. Stopping about one hundred yards from the nearest building, Seth settled in to observe the humans.

Seth's main goal for the evening was to see how these magic users dressed. Several of the humans had referred to their clothing as robes. The garment would start around a person's throat and extend all the way down to their ankles. There were some subtle differences between the clothing of males and females, but they were quite similar for the most part. Most of the people that he could see were wearing boots of some kind on their feet. There were also garments that went on over their main clothing that were called cloaks. Many of these cloaks had hoods that could be pulled low over a person's face. A cloak would be extremely useful to Seth for hiding his unusual features. He had also noticed a few people who wore gloves on their hands, even though it was a mild summer evening. All of these coverings combined would make it possible for Seth to hide his scales and serpentine features from the humans.

The humans also wore pouches on their waists that seemed to contain some form of currency. While living in the forest, Seth had not needed any money, and now that he most likely would, he was not sure what he would do to get some.

While he was quite curious to find out more about these humans, Seth forced himself to wait for the following day before venturing in. Turning around, he headed back toward his temporary den. When he got back, he had a hard time falling asleep. Once he finally managed it, he dreamed of what could happen the next day.

HPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLV

Seth was awake before sunrise the next morning. He changed back into his human form and went out to hunt, as he had not eaten since he had left home and was getting hungry. After a satisfying meal, he took some leaves and changed them into suitable clothing for a visit into town. It had taken Seth nearly a year to be able to change one thing into something else, but now that he could, they stayed that way for around five or six hours before reverting to their previous state. Hopefully by that time, he would have gotten some money somehow and would be able to buy the necessary clothing.

Making his way over to the town, Seth made certain that was completely covered from prying eyes. By the time he reached the town, there were already quite a few people out and about. While he got a few wary looks at first, soon people started to ignore him. This suited Seth, since it allowed him to listen in on conversations while he made his was around town.

"…and Abby said that Mary said that…"

"…said that they would have the newest one out by…"

"…there are 29 knuts to a sickle and 14 sickles to a galleon. Why can't they just use pounds like…"

"…cannot believe these prices!"

"Oh, I know. I had to make a healing potion just the other day, when I realized that I was out of bat spleens. When I wet to got some from the apothecary, he wanted three whole sickles for a pound! (A/N: I have no idea on proper pricing…) I might as well have gone out and harvested them myself for that price!"

Seth heard all that he needed to, and quickly turned away from the women. He headed toward the building just up the street that the women had come from, which he was assuming was the apothecary. His mind was working furiously as he entered the shop. Not many basilisks would have anything to do with humans of any kind, and if there was anything that he could easily harvest from himself while in basilisk form that was sold there, he could likely make a deal with the sales clerk. From what the women had been saying, it might solve his money issues.

Browsing through the shelves, Seth did not find much until he came to a shelf that had a shield over it. There were several parts of a basilisk listed, including powdered fang, venom, skin, and various organs. While he obviously could not donate some of those, Seth figured that he could find a way to milk himself of some of his venom. The phial that they had in the store was rather small and only half full. The price it was listed for was 300 galleons per ounce. Recalling the one person muttering to herself about currency, he figured that this was a fairly large amount of money for such a small thing. Since Seth did not know how much it would cost to buy all of the books that he wanted, as well as the necessary clothes, he decided that before he even started gathering, he would see how much money he would need. Heading out of the apothecary, he turned toward the bookstore.

As he was walking along, Seth noted a confrontation that was taking place a short way in front of him. He slipped into the shadows and crept forward for a closer look. The best way, at least to Seth's mind, to learn about people was to see them at their worst, as well as what they are like every day. There were two men who were obviously romantically involved with one another that were backed against the side of a building by five others.

"Damn faggots. You shouldn't be allowed around decent people!"

"Cocksuckers! Why don't you do the world a favor and just die!"

"Of course, it would be bloody Slytherins that allow perverts like you to exist!"

While other jeers and taunts were being thrown at the unfortunate couple, another pair of men who had been strolling along overheard what the group was saying and swiftly made their way over to them. One of the men had the whitest blonde hair that Seth had ever seen, while the other had rather greasy black hair. The blonde was extremely hansom with mercurial silver eyes, high sharp cheekbones, a straight nose, a strong chin, and sensual lips. His companion was as homely as he was gorgeous. He had intense black eyes, sallow skin, a beaky hooked nose, rather thin lips, and yellow teeth. However, despite his appearance, there was something about the second man that commanded respect from those around him. When the couple that had been cornered saw the pair approaching, the relief in their eyes was quite obvious to Seth.

"Well, well, what do we have here," questioned the blonde.

"It looks like a bunch of mudbloods and blood traitors to me, Lucius," came the rejoinder from the black haired man.

"Ah, I had been wondering what that foul stench was." The blonde, Lucius, sneered at the five who had been attacking the couple. "I suppose that the obvious homophobia that runs rampant through them should have been a dead giveaway, not to mention the substandard insults that indicate a grievous lack of intelligence. Did you ever manage to get anything through their thick skulls into their miniscule brains, Severus?"

"They were Gryffindors, Lucius. Their minds are incapable of grasping anything that is even slightly subtle, let alone the fine art of potion making." Severus glared at the offenders, who visibly shrank away from the feared potions master. "May I suggest that you get out of my sight before you start making a useful contribution to potions…as ingredients!"

The five troublemakers scampered off like death was on their heals. Their obvious terror had Seth stifling snickers in his hand. While he had to admit that Severus' glare was the most intimidating one he had seen from a human, it had nothing on Salriss' glare when he was angry. Of course, it was rather difficult to beat the stare of a creature that truly can kill you in such a way.

The elder pair watched the troublemakers run off with satisfied expressions, then turned to the couple that they had rescued. "Misters Flint and Parkinson, are you all right?"

"Yes, sir. We're fine now, thanks to you. I am ashamed to admit that they caught us completely off guard. My fiancé and myself were out looking for our engagement rings and were not thinking of potential trouble. Thank you very much for you timely intervention."

"You are quite welcome, gentlemen. Next time, however, do not forget to watch yourselves. With all of the mudbloods running around with Dumbledore's approval these days, it is not surprising that their prejudices are infecting our people more and more. We all do what we can to keep them from spreading. Congratulations on year engagement, boys. May your lives together be long and fruitful."

The four conversed for a few more minutes before going their separate ways. Seth used this time to try and leave without drawing any attention to his self, but before he got more than a few steps away, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"And what do we have here? Another troublemaker, perhaps," came a low voice. Seth slowly turned around and saw Lucius and Severus had come up right behind him. He thought that it was Lucius who had spoken.

"I want no trouble, good sssirsss. I sssimply wasss in the wrong placsse at the wrong time." Seth had never been more conscious of the hiss that had developed in his voice due to the fangs that had carried over from his transformation. From the look on Lucius and Severus' faces, it was quite noticeable to humans as well. Lucius grabbed Seth's arm and dragged him into a nearby alley. He pulled out a stick of wood and held it in a threatening manner on Seth. He was guessing that it was supposed to be a weapon of some kind, and while he was curious as to what kind of damage a stick could do, he had no interest in having the man demonstrate its use on him, so he kept perfectly still and his manner was unthreatening.

"Who and what are you? What do you want," Lucius demanded in a hard voice.

"My name isss Ssseth. What I am isss quite complicated, and it would take far too long to tell that tell jussst now. Asss for what I want, I merely wisssh to learn about your kind without drawing trouble. Obviousssly that lassst did not happen."

Lucius smirked. "If you truly mean no harm, take down your hood, so I may see who I am dealing with."

Seth hesitated for a moment, but he knew he was beaten, so he brought his hand up and pulled his hood down. His face drew gasps from both of the men standing in front of him. Seth allowed a hint of a smirk to appear for a moment at their reactions. From what he had seen earlier, it took quite a bit to rattle the two, and he was pleased that he had been able to do so. To their credit, Lucius and Severus managed to pull themselves together fairly quickly.

"Lucius, I do not believe that this is the best place to be holding this conversation," Severus told his friend while he glanced around nervously, looking for any of Dumbledore's people.

"I have to agree, Severus. I believe that it would be best to return to the manor." Lucius pulled a pendant out from underneath his robe and turned to Seth. "This is a portkey. If you would take hold, we will be transported to somewhere safer." Not liking that he had to trust these two humans, Seth reluctantly placed his finger on the portkey when the other two did. The next moment the three of them were gone.

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