Harry sleepily followed the rest of Gryffindor up the stairs to the Common Room, wherever that would be. It was his first night at Hogwarts, and as exciting as everything had been he was starting to flag. Between the food - more than he'd had in a single sitting in his entire life - people being happy to see him, and the idea of learning actual magic, the day was starting to catch up to him. As a result, despite trying to stick close to Ron and Percy, he found himself slowly slipping to the back of the House until he was the last one on the staircase. Still, he wasn't that worried. It's not like something could go wrong here. It was a magical castle for teaching magic, with - apparently - one of the most well respected wizards in the world as Headmaster. What was there to be worried about on the first night?
As he thought that, the last person ahead of him stepped off the staircase...and the staircase began to move. Startled, he grasped the banister as the staircase swung to a different position, putting him in a completely different part of the floor than the rest of his House.
"Harry!" Ron called out worried. "You alright?"
"I'm okay!" Harry managed to call out. "What happened?"
"The stairs move sometimes!" Percy called out calmly. "It's nothing to worry about. It's a bit roundabout, but it shouldn't be too hard to meet back up with the rest of us."
"Can't I just stay here until the stairs move back?" Harry asked worriedly.
"That'd be well after curfew, they don't move that often," Percy corrected. He then proceeded to shout directions to Harry of which way to go.
"Are...are you sure that's a good idea?" Harry called out worriedly.
"One of the other Prefects will be around to meet you, don't worry!" Percy called back as he proceeded to lead the rest of the group up the stairs.
"Don't worry about it, Harry!" Fred - maybe - called out.
"If you're gone too long, we'll come find ya!" George - possibly - added.
"We know this castle like the back of our hands!" Fred added as they each looked at the other's hand.
"Huh, that's new," George observed as he pointed at a spot on Fred's hand as the group moved out of sight.
Far from reassured, Harry did his best to follow the directions Percy had given him. "Okay, so...down the corridor, take a left, past the armor take a right..." He frowned as he found his way to a corridor that ended in a door. "Or...was it past the armor on the right?" he asked in confusion as he pulled the door open, only to find a bathroom. "I think I took a wrong turn..."
"I should say so," a female voice said behind him.
Harry let out a startled cry as he spun around and leapt back, landing on his back as he looked up at the ghost of a girl a little older than him, her arms crossed across her chest as she floated over him.
"This is a girl's bathroom...and you're a boy!" the ghost declared angrily. "You definitely don't belong here."
"I'm sorry!" Harry yelped as he scrambled to his feet. "I'm just a little lost-" He tried to sidle past her towards the door.
"What's a boy doing over her alone on the first night anyway?" the ghost girl demanded angrily.
"The stairs-"
Before Harry could finish, the door slammed shut to the sound of a wicked cackle. Letting out a yelp of fear, Harry lunged forward and grabbed the handle, only for the door not to budge.
"Peeves!" the girl hissed angrily. "Just what do you think you're doing! You're supposed to leave my bathroom alone!"
"Aww, is Moaning Myrtle upset her little visitor got found?" a mischievous voice asked. "Naughty naughty..."
"Oh, you're going to get it for this, Peeves!" the girl declared as she flowed through the door. "Just wait until I tell the Baron-"
Harry, for his part, was tugging desperately on the door, his eyes darting back and forth as he looked for a way out. Between how tired he was and the sudden scare, he was in the middle of a full blown panic. "Why won't this door open?" he demanded in what he thought was a high pitched shriek.
However, just as he yelled, his eyes fell on one of the water taps, one with an odd design on it reminiscent of a serpent. And in his panic, his magic expressed in the only way it could...to give him a way out.
As the handle slipped out of his hands, Harry fell backwards into a hole that suddenly opened in the floor. With a terrified scream, he disappeared down a pipe just before the hole closed up behind him. The girl then stuck her head through the door. "...where did he go?" she asked in confusion.
At the bottom of the pipe, Harry landed roughly on the moist ground, hearing the sound of snapping bones. He tensed himself, terrified he'd broken something...but he wasn't actually in any pain. Looking down, he saw the sound was because he'd landed on a pile of small animal bones beside what looked like a massive glittering blanket. Shivering in the damp, he picked up the blanket only for part of it to part from the rest. He wrapped it around his shoulders, barely noticing the scaly quality of it as it was helping him stay a little warm. Uncertain what else to do in the dimly lit corridor he found himself in - there was no way he was going to climb back up the slide - he made his way down the corridor. "Well, it's got to come out somewhere...right?" he asked hopefully.
Eventually, he found himself before a massive door carved in a relief of serpents, the carvings so realistic they seemed almost alive. Unsure what else to do, Harry knocked on the door with one hand. When nothing happened beyond the echoes, he spoke up. "Hello? Open up?" he asked hopefully.
The serpents on the door began to writhe, sliding through the locking mechanisms until the door slowly swung open. Across a massive chamber, Harry saw a large carving of someone's face. Uncertain what else to do, he stepped in. "Is anybody here?" he called out worriedly, his eyes briefly on the snake carvings.
The sound of grinding stone caught his attention. Turning, he saw the mouth of the carved face was slowly opening into a massive gap...and the sound of something slithering could be heard. Before long, a massive reptilian head emerged from the mouth, followed by a long body bulging with muscle under shimmering scales...
As Harry gazed up at the largest snake he'd ever seen, he suddenly realized the 'blanket' he'd grabbed was actually the snake's shed skin. He tried to release it, but his fingers wouldn't move. He desperately hoped the snake wouldn't be upset about that...then again, he'd talked to the snake at the zoo... "H-hello?" he spoke up uncertainly.
The snake lowered its gaze to look down upon him. "Greetings," it - no, he, the voice was definitely masculine - responded, the hissing voice calm and definitely in control. "What brings you to my domain?"
"Uh...I got separated from my Housemates because of the moving stairs...and got lost," Harry responded uncertainly.
The serpent seemed to chuckle to itself. "A common occurrence, especially on the first day of term," he responded indulgently. "I can assist."
"You know the way from here to Gryffindor Common Room?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Gryffindor?" the serpent asked in surprise. "You are not in Slytherin?"
"N-no," Harry stammered, trying to sound firm but all the more uncertain. "The...the Hat said I could be great in Slytherin, but...the ones I'd met who got sorted there are..."
The serpent let out a hiss that somehow sounded like an annoyed grunt. "Indeed."
"And...the one who killed my parents was in Slytherin...so I told the Hat 'not Slytherin'."
The serpent lowered its head until it could look Harry in the eye...but somehow he wasn't as afraid as he had been. "I cannot blame you for your choice," he offered regretfully. "Salazar would have been overjoyed to teach you...but he would be disappointed to see what his House has become."
"Salazar?" Harry asked, confused.
"Salazar Slytherin, one of the Founders of this school," the serpent explained.
"You knew the Founders?" Harry asked in surprise.
The serpent chuckled. "I was Salazar's familiar before he bound me to the school as part of its defenses, to guard it and the students." He seemed to grow maudlin. "Though part of that binding has not always been pleasant..."
"Why not?" Harry asked in confusion.
"Part of it was to ensure I could adapt to how the world changed beyond the school," the serpent explained ruefully. "As such, I must obey any order a 'Speaker' gives me, even if I do not agree with it. At the beginning I understood that, as the time between 'Speakers' was vast, and the world could change drastically over the course of centuries..." He glanced away. "But the last 'Speaker'...he used that to make me attack the students...even kill one to fuel his dark magic and quest for immortality." The serpent's coils writhed. "As much as I enjoy the hunt of proper prey...to have that order twist my mind until I saw students as prey while under his influence...if I could get my coils on him when he wasn't able to 'Speak'..."
"That's horrible!" Harry declared, aghast. "No one should be forced to act like that, especially with their mind being twisted, that's just horrible! You should be free to do what you know to be right, whatever a 'Speaker' says!"
The serpent turned to Harry, a look of surprise on his face. "Not many would say that of one like me," he admitted, warmth in his voice. "But no 'Speaker' would give me that order, to free me from control of 'Speakers'..."
"If I were one, I would!" Harry stated firmly. "It's only right!"
The serpent's expression became warm, as though he were almost smiling. "Might you indulge me, to hear such a thing?" he asked hopefully.
Harry drew himself up. If he was going to give this serpent the experience of a 'Speaker' giving him the order that freed him as a pleasant memory, he was going to do it right. "I, Harry Potter, hereby order you to put the duty to the school and students you have chosen and what you know to be right before the orders of any 'Speaker', past, present, or future!"
To his surprise, the entire chamber rumbled as what felt like a large surge of magic released...and the carved bust the serpent had crawled out of shifted, the mouth turning up at the corners in a smile. The serpent shivered all over, and then wriggled as though stretching. "My thanks...Speaker..." he all but purred.
Harry blinked in surprise. "Wait...what?"
"My apologies for not explaining first," the serpent offered apologetically. "But with the power I represent, even as much as you avowed what was right, I feared you might be tempted to do otherwise if I told you that you were a Speaker before you gave the order. 900 years to that binding, and that one as the last Speaker..."
Harry swallowed convulsively. "It...it's okay," he allowed. "I suppose I would take any chance at freedom after something like that, too..." His mind turned back to how eagerly he'd embraced the invite into the world of magic when Hagrid rescued him from the Dursleys. "Kinda did..."
The serpent took a much closer look at him. "Hmm...poorly treated, badly fed, barely socialized...and yet still you cling to what is right...someone should be taking better care of you. One such as you doesn't come along every century..."
"Uh...thanks?" Harry offered uncertainly.
The serpent lifted its head, turning away in thought. "Hmm...I am to do what is right above what Speakers said, even past ones...and I did swear to protect both school and students..." A decision made, the serpent's head lowered as it slithered towards Harry. To Harry's immense surprise, it began to shrink down as it approached him. By the time the serpent reached him, it was no thicker than his arm and only about twice as long. The serpent's head then lunged forward into the right sleeve of his robes as it began coiling around his arm, sliding up and over his shoulders before coiling around his left arm. When it finally stopped moving, its head rested just inside the left sleeve of his robes, its body was coiled comfortingly around his left arm, and the end of its tail was curled gently around his neck. "I can guide you to Gryffindor Tower," the serpent spoke up. "I know all the secret passages of this school, Harry Potter. This way." He applied pressure to Harry's arm to indicate the direction.
"T-thanks," Harry offered warmly as he followed the directions. "Don't suppose you can help me find my way to classes, too?"
"Absolutely," the serpent responded. "You need looking after, and someone needs to make sure you are healthy and well. I owe you a debt for freeing me, so gladly will I take that job."
Harry managed a smile. "T-thanks...uh..."
The serpent chuckled softly. "In Salazar's time, I was called K'vin. Not sure what that would be in the modern tongue..."
"Kevin?"
The serpent was silent for a time. "...I hate English..."