Title: Serpentine

Summary: Harry's relatives never raised him. In fact, they abandoned him the day they found him on their doorstep. It's going to be a very different Harry Potter than Albus Dumbledore expects who shows up at Hogwarts ten years later...

Warnings: 1. This is a SLASH fanfiction. It contains yaoi. Male/male relationships. People who dislike fanfics like that should press that lovely back button right now.

2. I can promise you that Harry is NOT a Gryffindor here. Nor is he likely to leap before he looks. So sorry to disappoint.

3. Harry. Is. DARK. In. This. Fanfic. I don't care if you think he's OOC. He's supposed to be.

4. There will probably be character deaths. Please, do not flame me if your favorite character dies. You have been warned.

5. I'm not experienced in writing human characters. If you don't want your eyes burned out by massive OOCness and bad character writing, you'd probably be better off reading someone else's writing.

Disclaimer: -sigh- I wish I owned Harry Potter. I'd have written a better ending to the series. Joanne really disappointed us all with hers.

OoOoO

Zephyr was trying not to gulp for air. He was trying and failing not to hyperventilate. Not even Aylen's soft hissing and insistent nuzzling at his neck was calming him down. He couldn't tear his gaze from the cat. It was hanging from one of the torches by its tail. It was stiff as a board. Was it…dead?

"Aylen," he whispered hoarsely. "Is it…" He swallowed hard, trying to control the tremor in his voice. "Breathing?"

"I can't tell, not from here. We have to get out of here, koishii. Now. Quickly!" Aylen hissed, nudging her head against his chin with all the force she could muster. He grunted at the hit, but he still couldn't bring himself to move.

"What does it say?" he muttered, suddenly focusing on the red words on the wall. What were they written in? Was it blood or extremely convincing paint? "'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened…'" Zephyr read, leaning closer to the message

"Zephyr! Move! Now! Someone's coming! We've got to go!" Her distress finally seemed to register with him. He shook his head as though rousing himself, and turned to run.

Not a moment too soon. He could her faint, approaching footsteps behind him – student or teacher, he had no way of knowing – and then a horrified gasp. "Mrs. Norris! Who did this to you?!" It was the caretaker – the owner of the cat.

Zephyr didn't dare look back. "Aylen," he whispered. "What's the Chamber of Secrets?"

"I'll tell you later," she hissed faintly, sounding somewhat shaken. The young serpent shook her head, coiling more tightly around Zephyr's neck. "Next time I tell you to run, run, you foolish hatchling," she added, more fiercely. "That's what you're like – a hatchling, making useless noise, not listening when you're told what to do, not knowing what's going on around you. Pay attention next time – because next time you may not be so lucky."

Zephyr was surprised, to say the least, at this rant from the normally gentle serpent. Her words had a distinctly dark ring as she finished speaking. They were quiet for a while, as he jogged lightly down hallways and corridors on his way to the dungeons. Then, as they were nearing their destination, he murmured, "You know what did that to the cat." Aylen was silent, so he went on more softly still, "And you're afraid of it, so you won't tell me what it was."

"Not afraid, koishii," she sighed unexpectedly. "Merely cautious. Because you don't want to know what could happen if you were to run into her."

"'Her'?" Zephyr questioned, curiosity stirring. "It's a 'her'?"

"Yes, little speaker. She is more dangerous than you can possibly imagine."

"What is she?"

Aylen was quiet. He had begun to think she wasn't going to answer, when she hissed softly, "She…is the Guardian I told you about, little speaker. Do you remember?"

"Vaguely," he admitted.

Her bright yellow eyes flared for just a second. "'Vaguely' will have to be good enough for you, until you are ready to know the whole story – or rather, legend."

Zephyr sighed, but let it rest, knowing Aylen wouldn't speak another word on the subject. Then he brightened. Maybe Draco would tell him more.

OoOoO

"'Guardian', eh?" Draco leaned back against the headboard of his four-poster, frowning thoughtfully. "Well, I don't know what that might be. And I don't know what's up with the cat, either. But I can tell you about the Chamber of Secrets." Zephyr leaned toward him, seated on his own bed.

"You know about the four founders of the school, right?" Draco said. Zephyr nodded. "Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff. The story goes that three of them got along great, and one did not. Three guesses who," the blonde boy added with a roll of his dove gray eyes. "Anyway, they say that Slytherin wanted to weed out the Muggle-borns; stop them from coming to the school. The others disagreed, and he decided to leave the school. But supposedly, before he did, he built a secret chamber, underneath the castle. Then he sealed it, until his heir returned to finish his work."

Zephyr frowned. "But…who is his heir?"

Draco shrugged, spreading his arms and turning his palms upwards in the universal "you got me" gesture. "Dunno. Some say it's just a legend. They don't believe in it at all. They tease each other about it, if you listen. 'Be careful you don't accidentally fall into the Chamber of Secrets!'"

The black-haired boy heaved a frustrated sigh and threw himself backward so he was sprawled across his bed. "This is going to bother me," he muttered.

"You and me both, Zeph. You and me both," Draco said. Zephyr heard him shifting his blankets, as if getting ready to settle for the night. "Good night, brother."

Zephyr had to smile at the reminder that they were blood-brothers now. "Good night, brother," he replied. But even as Draco turned over and shut off his bedside lamp, Zephyr remained wide awake. It had to be close to midnight – but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep his eyes shut.

A soft hissing invaded the silence. At first he thought it might be Aylen, hissing in her sleep, but then he realized that the voice was different. It was whispering to itself, it would seem. Most of the words were too soft for him to hear clearly. But when he finally heard one word, his blood ran cold.

"…Kill…"

OoOoO

"Run this by me again," Evan muttered, running his hand over his face. "You were up late, and you heard hissing."

Zephyr nodded, staring desperately into his brother's violet eyes through the mirror. Draco was beside him, listening to the story while ruffling sleep-tousled blonde hair and yawning widely.

"You couldn't hear most of what was said," Evan went on. "But then you swear you heard it say, 'kill'."

"That's right."

"Are you sure you aren't just freaking yourself out over nothing?" Evan asked with devastating calm. "Maybe you didn't hear what you thought you heard. Besides, it may not have been hiss –"

"It was!" Zephyr snapped. Evan's eyes widened fractionally. Zephyr immediately felt guilty, and opened his mouth to apologize. But the words stuck in his throat when Evan's amethyst eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Fine," he said coolly, and Zephyr was reminded that it was early and that even Evan had a temper – and he could lose it. "But even if it was, it may have been Aylen, or," he added, raising his voice a bit as Zephyr opened his mouth to interrupt, "someone else may have a snake as a familiar."

"I don't think one of the other boys has one," Draco put in. "But Zephyr hides Aylen well. Who's to say someone can't hide another snake just as well – if not better?" Evan nodded.

"She would have smelled it," Zephyr said.

"Okay, then not one of the second years," Evan said. "One of the older or younger boys."

"Adrian would know," Draco muttered through another yawn. "We could ask him over breakfast. Let's go down, Zephyr. No point in chasing what isn't there."

"Yes, go eat breakfast," Evan said. Zephyr turned to look at his brother questioningly. "Eat breakfast," the brunet repeated. "Go to your classes. When you're done, at the end of the day, we'll talk some more." The Darkness Elemental let out a long sigh.

"Wait!" Zephyr blurted before Evan could go. He received two questioning looks. Before he spoke he glanced around to make sure the other boys were sound asleep. He lowered his voice to a murmur as he went on, "The sixth? Have you found them?"

Evan shook his head slowly. "The bond gets stronger every once in a while," he sighed. "But so far…whoever they are…they haven't realized their powers yet. And they probably won't, for a while yet." The brunet's head turned. "I have to go. And so do you. We'll talk again later." Then he vanished from the mirror.

OoOoO

Evan threw himself onto the couch without any grace whatsoever. He let out a low groan, rubbing his forehead. "What a nice day I'm having," he muttered to himself. "Stryker and Xavier still aren't speaking, and Zephyr gets into more problems than I can keep track of." He paused, then added in somewhat thoughtful tones, "And I think I'm getting a migraine on top of it all."

"You sound like you're in a terrific mood," a deep, amused voice said. Evan looked up to meet warm deep green eyes and a faint half-smile.

"I'm on Cloud Nine, here," Evan said, his words dripping with sarcasm. Deidrick chuckled softly, straightening from his almost doubled over position. He'd been leaning over Evan, and was surprised he hadn't freaked the newest Elemental out.

"I've heard you sing," he said. "Maybe that's all you need – just some time to sing, and maybe play the Malfoys' piano."

Evan was quiet, considering. "Maybe," he conceded.

"I'll leave you to think about it, then." In a few moments, the blond man had left the room.

"Two of my friends are warring, and my brother's in danger. It's almost enough to make me want to hit someone," Evan sighed, to him self again. Or so he thought.

"You've never struck me as the violent type." He yelped and twisted, trying to see who was behind him this time. He wound up falling from the couch to the, thankfully carpeted, floor. Muttering curses, he got to his feet, embarrassed when he heard Stryker's soft laughter. She must have come in without him noticing. Or maybe she'd been here all along.

"I'm so cool," he muttered sarcastically, mentally berating himself for dropping his guard and falling off the couch. Then, suddenly struck by inspiration, he sang, "Too bad I'm a loser."

Stryker raised an eyebrow, recognizing the song. "I'm so smart," she sang in reply. "Too bad I can't get anything figured out."

Evan grinned. "I'm so brave," he sang, raising his chin a bit. "Too bad I'm a baby."

"I'm so fly," she gave back, and they sang together, "That's probably why it feels just like I'm falling for the first time." He held out a hand in invitation, and she hesitated only for a second before taking it and allowing him to twirl her.

"I'm so clean," she sang as she did the accompanying spin, "It's really amazing."

"I'm so clean, too bad I can't get all the dirt off of me," Evan sang, unable to keep the smile off his face. His happiness was intoxicating, and Stryker found herself smiling back.

"I'm so sane, it's driving me crazy," she responded, throwing her head back.

"It's so strange, I can't believe it," Evan continued, and again they finished in unison, "Feels just like I'm falling for the first time."

They were silent after that, just giving each other calm looks, despite the fact that they were both somewhat out of breath. After a moment, Stryker said softly, "You sing well."

He couldn't have stopped his smile even if he wanted to. "You're not so bad yourself." Was he imagining the faint blush that bloomed at his words? She cleared her throat and looked away. "We should sing together again sometime," he added.

The corners of her mouth turned upwards faintly. "Sure." He took her hand and jokingly kissed her knuckles. Definitely a blush, he thought as the faint pink color across her cheeks deepened. "I enjoyed our song and dance, Miss Stryker," he said, dropping her hand and taking a low bow.

He was almost certain what happened next was only a figment of his imagination. His heart gave a jump as he felt slender fingers brush the back of his neck and slide around to touch his shoulder, before Stryker said softly, "So did I." Then she was gone, her footsteps nearly silent. When he straightened, he stared after her.

Evan was left wondering what had just happened, and why the back of his neck was tingling.

OoOoO

I shouldn't have done that, Stryker thought, shutting her bedroom door gently. She slumped against it, cradling her hand to her chest as her heart beat hard and fast against her ribcage. Her fingertips were prickling, and though she rubbed at them the sensation didn't fade. Really shouldn't have done that. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," she muttered through clenched teeth, raising a faintly shaking hand to run her fingers through her short black hair. "Idiot. Moron. What a stupid move."

She couldn't believe herself. She'd never done anything like that. Not even towards Xavier when they'd been together. It had been an affectionate gesture, and she never used affectionate gestures. Never! Not for Xavier or Deidrick, not for Hana or Rose. Or…well…the sixth probably wasn't called "Rose" anymore. It had, after all, been two hundred years since they'd last saved the world.

What was happening to her? She felt like such a damned schoolgirl whenever Evan was around. So self-conscious and…and…

Damn it! I don't want this! Her eyes were stinging as if she was about to cry. I've turned into such a complete pansy, she thought angrily, blinking back the tears of fury.

Why?! She wailed inwardly, only just stopping herself from screaming the thought out loud. He's just a friend! Maybe the best friend I've ever had, because we're so alike, but still just a friend. I don't want this…

"Shit," she cursed, sliding down the door to curl up in a fetal position. She buried her face in her knees. After a while, she lifted her head and whispered into the room, "I don't want to lose Evan…he's…the best friend I've had in a while."

And I hope it will stay that way, she added silently. But only time will tell. And time…unfortunately…probably isn't on our side.