Chapter Three: Answers…and More Questions

Harry knew Andromeda and Hagrid were watching him worriedly when they met up at the Leaky Cauldron. He was disturbed by what Olivander had told him—from his warning about Obscurus, to Harry's apparently great powers, and the story of the evil wizard who had tried to kill him. It was so much to take in; he'd barely been aware of magic for a week and now he was a celebrity with a literal hoard of gold in the bank, not to mention his newfound powers had the potential to destroy him if he couldn't control them.

But his mind was focused most on the dark wizard, especially. Harry had a sickening feeling that there was more to that story than Olivander had let on.

They quickly Apparated back to Grimmauld Place, where Hagrid volunteered to take Harry's school supplies up to his room. Andromeda meanwhile sat Harry down at the dining room table and looked at him with a slight frown.

"Harry, is something wrong?"

He wasn't sure where to begin, but Harry's hand came up to brush his scar on reflex. The words tumbled out of his mouth in an effort to relieve some of the stress. "The one who gave me this—the dark wizard—was he—did he kill my parents?"

Andromeda sucked in a sharp breath. "You weren't supposed to find out about that yet. Who told you?"

"Mr. Olivander told me about how he tried to kill me," Harry mumbled. "I kind of put my parents dying when I was a baby together with that."

"You're even smarter than I thought," she sighed. "And far more attentive to details than most children your age. Dumbledore asked that we keep what happened a secret until he felt you were ready to know the truth, but it seems you've discovered it by yourself. There's no point in hiding it from you now."

"Why not tell me in the first place?" Harry asked a little heatedly. "I grew up thinking my parents died in a car crash, but instead they were murdered by an evil wizard."

"We thought you were too young to be told," she murmured gently, unfazed by his outburst. "That and after what happened with your muggle guardians…we thought it might be better if we told you everything that happened slowly. You were already too distressed for your own good and we wanted to be sure you were stable before we said anything."

"You mean my magic, right?"

Andromeda pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like a curse directed towards Olivander. "What did he tell you?"

"He said my magic had been suppressed for a long time, so he warned me about Obscurials," Harry swallowed tightly. "Am I—"

"No!" She said immediately, taking his hand and squeezing it firmly. "No, Harry. Kingsley had a healer check on you when you first got here. Your magic is unstable, but you haven't developed an Obscurus. You don't have to worry about that anymore."

It felt like a weight was lifted from his shoulders. Andromeda didn't take the chance to move to safer subjects though, which he appreciated. She was being honest with him about the questions he had.

"The wizard who was involved in your parents' murder and the marking of the scar on you forehead was a dangerous man, Harry. When he first rose to power…well, have you ever heard of the Nazis?"

Harry nodded. Andromeda continued. "That's who he and his followers were to the wizarding world, Harry. They were our Nazis and he was their Hitler. He set out to kill anyone he deemed unworthy of magic and enslave all but those who bowed to his every whim. He was so powerful—wizards as strong as him only come along once in a century. Even Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of our time, was wary of him. No one could stop him because he was so powerful. He killed everyone in his path."

"Your mother and father were amongst those who resisted him. He came to their house Halloween night all those years ago to eradicate your family. He intended to leave you all dead that night."

Harry nodded slowly. "But something happened. Something went wrong."

"For him? Yes," she agreed. "I don't know if it was a mistake on his part or a magic outburst from you, but whatever it was destroyed him, Harry. Even though he'd killed your parents, he couldn't kill you."

"After that, Dumbledore took you to your Aunt and Uncle's house. I..I think he hoped that they would take care of you as their own. But I suppose he hadn't expected them to be so hateful of wizards—none of us did. You were to be kept there, safe under the charms he cast on the house to hide you from You-Know-Who's followers seeking revenge."

That…made sense, although Harry was loathe to admit it. The Dursleys were horrid people. Surely a simple chat with them would have told Dumbledore that—whoever he was. Harry understood them hiding a baby to protect him from vengeance-seeking lunatics, though. Even if it meant cutting him off from the magical world, at least he'd be safe from dark wizards.

Harry just felt tired. It was so much to absorb…his whole childhood had been a violent lie to keep him safe from a different horror—and barely worked.

Andromeda seemed to sense that he was feeling overwhelmed and squeezed his hand again. "Go get some rest, Harry. I'll get started on supper, alright? My husband and daughter will be joining us tonight. She goes to Hogwarts too—you can ask her about it, if you like."

Sleep sounded wonderful right now. With a bob of his head, Harry stood up and went upstairs to his bedroom- that was still an odd thought—passing by Hagrid on his way there. The half-giant gently clapped him on the shoulder, though the force was almost enough to make him trip. Harry closed the bedroom door behind him and made straight for the bed, setting his bag down on the desk next to it before flopping onto the mattress with a low groan.

"You are troubled."

He turned to see the amber-eyed snake, who was slithering out of his bag and watching him. "You heard it all, didn't you? It's…it's just so much…"

"It would seem there's a lot being hidden from you," she agreed. "I trust the witch and the giant. Their intentions are honest—they do not lie to do you harm. Even you must know that this knowledge could not have come to you at a worse time. You have not yet recovered from what you endured at the hands of the brutes."

Harry nodded. Andromeda and Hagrid were good people. Kingsley, Olivander, and McGonagall too, even if he didn't know them as well. All of them were practically strangers, and yet they had his best interests in mind.

The serpent slithered over to him and coiled up on his belly, studying his face closely for several seconds. "You can't keep worrying about what might have happened if you stayed, Harry. Try to think towards the future now."

He couldn't stop the slight upwards twitch of his lips. "Aren't you a little young to be saying things like that?"

"Aren't you too young to be bearing such scars?" She hissed in response. "My body and mind are young, but my instincts…they give me a different kind of insight. What do your instincts tell you, Harry Potter?"

He closed his eyes, absently lifting one hand to stroke the emerald scales comfortably seated on his belly. "I'm not really sure, but…maybe if I'm going to move on, I need to stop thinking so much?"

She made a sort of purring hiss—laughter, he realized from her tone. "Perhaps not that. If you stopped thinking so much, you wouldn't learn as quickly as you do. But do not focus on those things that hurt you."

"Maybe I should just name you Conscience," Harry joked. "You're turning into my voice of reason."

"Oh, hush," she flicked his wrist with her tail tip good-naturedly. "I will pick my own name when I'm good and ready, thank you very much. Besides, the male mind is incapable of comprehending the deadly beauty of a female's. We wouldn't want you to go mad, would we?"

That drew a snort from him. "No, we would not."

He felt her slither to the pillow his head lay on to hiss in his ear. "Sleep now, Harry. I shall wake you when it is time to feed. I shall protect you while you rest."

And he did. Harry fell asleep a few minutes later, feeling the tension slip from his body as he willingly gave into the comfortable darkness of slumber.

When he awoke a few hours later, Harry could smell something mouthwateringly delicious coming from downstairs. He was eager to see what Andromeda had made for dinner this time—he'd come to find over the last week that her cooking was phenomenal—and rushed out of bed, much to the amber-eyed snake's chagrin. Harry let her slither onto his arm and secure herself on his shoulders before he made for the door, but not without grabbing one of the books Hagrid had bought for him—a thick, impressive piece titled, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them—1989 Edition", by Newton Scamander.

He was starving for dinner, but also for knowledge; the secret of his magical, slithery companion had been plaguing his mind ever since her birth—or creation? He wasn't sure which, but Harry knew that he had played a huge role in her being born. He just hoped that one of the two books Hagrid had gotten him would have some answers.

"I know you're eager to eat, but please don't forget about me," said serpent hissed in his ear.

Harry grinned. "You're hungry too?"

"Oh, please! I'm always hungry and you know it!"

He only laughed a bit and whistled sharply. "Kreacher!"

There was a momentary pause before a loud crack sounded, and then the grouchy House Elf was standing in front of Harry with the perpetual scowl on his face. "Yes?"

"Could you go find another rat?" Harry asked. "She's hungry again."

Kreacher nodded. "Kreacher will find the worm's dinner."

"Worm?!" She hissed furiously as the elf vanished with another crack. "Why that crotchety old bag of bones! I ought to—"

"Easy," Harry soothed her, stroking her scales. "I'm sure he's just annoyed by how you petrified him the other day."

"Well maybe he needs to be petrified again," she glowered at the spot where Kreacher had been a moment earlier.

He only smirked and shook his head as he walked downstairs, book in one hand, snake on his shoulders, and his mouth nearly hyper-salivating for dinner. He was a little nervous about meeting Andromeda's family, but he expected that they were probably a lot like her.

He did not expect the pink ponytail bouncing around the kitchen.

Harry stopped at the entrance to the dining room, staring at the energetic girl who couldn't have been much older than himself. Her hair was a stark contrast to Andromeda's light brown, as was her rather informal attire; a black t-shirt with the words "Tuff Puff" on the front and dark blue jeans. She was lean and barely any taller than Harry was, but with a childish energy the like of which he'd never seen before.

Even his slithery companion was watching this new individual with a rather dumbfounded expression, with her head tilted to the side like an owl. Meeting Hagrid hadn't fazed her this much.

Eventually, the bouncy pink ponytail stopped moving long enough to catch sight of Harry and stared at him. She had big brown eyes and a rather adorable button nose, but that was as much as he could take in before the ponytail squealed and bounced over to him excitedly.

"Hey, you're the Potter kid mum told me about!"

Harry took a step back on reflex, feeling more than a little alarmed at the bouncy pink suddenly in his face. She snatched his free hand faster than he would have thought possible and shook it with an eager grin. "Nice to meetcha! Name's Nym—or Dora, just don't call me by my full name! I hate it! Oh, and when you join Hogwarts, try to bribe the Sorting Hat or something so that you end up in Hufflepuff! We'd be super hyped to have you around!"

"Hu'wha?" Harry managed. He was a split second from running back to his room. This girl was way too much for him to handle. The serpent's head was reared back—not in a striking position, but just out of sheer bewilderment.

"Nymphadora Tonks, what did I say about jumping him like that?" Andromeda appeared behind the girl with a stern look on her face.

As if Harry couldn't get any more surprised, the girl's hair suddenly changed from pink to dark red. "Mum! Don't say my full name in front of him!"

"I told you to behave yourself!"

"It's Harry Potter, for Merlin's sake!"

The pair began to argue, leaving him to watch them warily. He was about to retreat to his room—maybe he'd come down when things were quieter. But Harry jumped when a finger tapped his shoulder and he spun around to find a tall man standing behind him with a slight smirk on his face. "Best leave them to it, lad. No stopping them once they get started."

The man ushered Harry past the arguing mother-daughter scene and led him to the kitchen table, where Andromeda's cooking was already waiting to be devoured.

Despite still being able to hear the two arguing witches around the corner, the man grinned. "Harry, isn't it?"

When he nodded, the man held out one hand. "Ted Tonks. I'm Andromeda's husband and Dora's father."

"Nice to meet you," Harry replied. "Does that happen a lot?"

"If you're talking about the arguing, then yes," Ted admitted, looking rather amused. "If you're talking about Dora's boundless energy, also yes. And if you're talking about her hair's penchant for changing colors unexpectedly, that is also a yes."

Harry glanced back in the girl's direction, noticing that her hair was slowly bleeding back from red to pink. "How is she doing that? Is it a spell?"

"Of a sort," Ted chuckled. "Dora's a Metamorphmagus."

"I'm not even going to try and pronounce that," Harry muttered.

The man laughed. "It's a mouthful, I'll admit. She has the ability to change her appearance at will without a wand or a potion, though most of the time it's a reaction based on her emotions."

"Are all of you Meta…y'know?"

"No. It's a rare ability," Ted explained. "Usually only pops up every few generations. I'd even go so far to say it's as rare as your own ability, Harry."

"My…? Oh, you mean how I can speak to snakes?"

"Indeed. That is known in the wizarding world as Parseltongue—you would be called a Parselmouth for being able to speak that language naturally."

A Parselmouth. Well, at least now Harry had a name for that talent of his. He smiled at the amber-eyed snake still comfortably settled on his shoulder, who was noticeably calmer now that Dora wasn't rambling in their faces.

Ted's eyes trailed to the snake, though he took care to avoid her eyes. "How did you get her?"

"I made her," Harry admitted. "I guess. The snakes in the garden at my Aunt and Uncle's house told me how."

"Fascinating," Ted murmured. "Have you read about her species yet?"

"No, but I was going to," he hefted the large book in his hands, which Ted quickly took note of. The man chuckled.

"'Fantastic Beasts', eh? A good read. Yes, I imagine you'd find something about her in that book."

A sudden crack next to them had Harry jumping, but he relaxed when he saw that it was only Kreacher. The House Elf had a squirming, fat rat in his grubby hands.

Ted raised an eyebrow, but Harry grinned. "Thanks, Kreacher. Just set it down."

"Hurry, or I'll eat you too!" The snake hissed, practically throwing herself off of Harry's shoulders to the floor just as Kreacher dropped the rat. She darted after the fleeing animal with surprising speed, snapping her fangs into its back leg. The rat squealed, but before it could retaliate, she threw her body around it in coils to constrict her prey while her venom did its work.

Kreacher muttered something under his breath and disappeared again. Ted watched the emerald snake as she quickly killed and devoured her dinner. "Hmm. Dinner and a show."

Harry grinned, but his attention was gained by the entrance of Andromeda and her daughter, who's hair had, by now, changed back to its original vibrant pink.

She smiled at him, unabashed despite her argument with her mother. "Sorry about jumping you, Harry. I was just super stoked to meet you. You're all mum talks about whenever she drops by the house this last week."

"It's alright," Harry said. "You just caught me by surprise."

"That's a talent of mine," she giggled. "Anyways, let me try this again. Name's Nym. Or Dora. Just don't call me by my full name. It's too much of a mouthful and I hate it."

"Harry," he responded in kind.

"Oh yeah, who's your friend?" Dora asked, tilting her head to look past Harry and at the emerald snake who was now devouring a rather fat rat.

He shrugged, following her gaze. "She's my familiar…kind of. She wants to pick her own name, though, so I don't really know what to call her right now."

Dora grinned. "My kind of girl! Strong and independent, eh?"

Harry snorted. "With a mouth to match."

The snake turned to face Harry, her mouth still half-full with rat, and leered at him- sending a message that said plenty despite her current inability to fire a retort in his direction. Harry just smiled at her sheepishly. She probably knew he was only joking. Probably.

"Right, well it looks like your friend has beat us to dinner," Andromeda said. "Let's start eating, shall we?"

They sat down at the table and did just that. Harry had just finished filling up his plate when the emerald snake slithered up the chair leg and lay herself in his lap. He snorted at the prominent bulge in her belly and rather content expression on her face.

Dora, who was sitting next to him, grinned at the serpent. "She looks happy."

"She's always happy when she's full," he said, letting a small smirk reach his face. "And so am I."

With that, he began to eat in earnest and the family around him did the same. For several minutes, the only sounds in the dining room were those of the silverware. It was quiet, but nice, Harry thought.

The fact that he didn't have to worry about Dudley or Vernon stealing his food had a lot to do with it. Plus he could get seconds and thirds if he wanted to.

Once they'd eaten their fill and had begun to nibble at what was left, Harry began to ask Dora some questions about Hogwarts. He was dying to know more about the place.

"There are four houses," she explained. "New students get sorted into one each—the other members are like your family while you're at Hogwarts since you dorm with them and such, but don't be afraid to make friends in other houses as well! It gets boring if you only know the people you dorm with."

"The four houses are Hufflepuff," Dora patted the words on her shirt with a proud smirk. "Best of the best. Then you've got Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. The Gryffs are pretty cool—bit thick at times, but they're okay more often than not. The Claws tend to keep to themselves most of the time. You'll want to get to know a few of them though—makes studying for exams so much easier."

She sighed and tilted her head back. "Then there are the Snakes…"

Harry raised an eyebrow as the only snake in the room gauged Dora with a daring eye. Daring her to say anything negative about snakes, he bet.

"They're…well, there are two types of Slytherins—the ones who are tolerable and the ones who are prats. The tolerable ones are alright; they mostly keep to themselves, like the Claws. I'm not going to go into details about the prats because mum would ground me for saying bad words."

Andromeda raised an eyebrow. "You know, I was a Slytherin."

"Yeah, but you're one of the good ones," Dora said easily. "If you ever meet Marcus Flint or one of his bunch, then you'll see what I mean. He's a prat in every meaning of the word."

"If you're quite finished worrying my house," Andromeda grumbled, turning her eyes to Harry. "Anyways, all of the houses have their own good and bad qualities, but don't worry about which one you're sorted into, Harry. You'll still be welcome here, regardless."

"But definitely try to make it into Hufflepuff," Dora grinned, unabashed by her mother's annoyed look.

Ted only chuckled at the back-and-forth between his wife and daughter. "I think that's enough house scouting for tonight, don't you think?"

"Oh yeah!" Dora exclaimed suddenly, catching Harry off-guard again. "Pull out that book so we can look up your friend! I wanna know what she is!"

Andromeda pursed her lips and glanced at Ted, who merely shrugged. "How about you two go to the living room so Andromeda and I can clean up here?"

Dora didn't hesitate to snatch Harry's wrist and practically drag him—he barely managed to pick up his serpent friend as he was yanked from his chair—to the living room. He had totally forgotten the book on the table, but he was surprised to find that Dora had apparently snagged it along with his wrist.

She sat him down at the couch and plopped herself right next to him with the thick book in her lap. Harry cringed when he realized how close they were—he was not used to people getting this close to him unless they were trying to beat him senseless. His body tensed up on that conditioned reflex.

Dora apparently picked up on that because she had only opened the book up halfway when she paused and glanced at him, frowning slightly. "Is something the matter?"

Harry was subconsciously leaning away from her and barely managed to stutter. "I-I um…"

"What?" She tilted her head in confusion. Harry froze when Dora leaned her face closer to him, perhaps to hear him better.

"…Too close…" The words escaped his mouth in a shaky breath.

"Oh!" Dora's eyes widened and she quickly scooted away to the far side of the couch—giving Harry lots of room to feel more comfortable. "Sorry! Didn't know you were claustrophobic!"

That wasn't nearly enough to describe how he felt about people getting so close in Harry's opinion, but it would do for now so long as she realized he needed the distance. There was no way he was going to tell her exactly why he didn't like being close to people—no chance in hell, no sir—so he would let her assume that he just didn't want people getting that close to him.

He relaxed just slightly as the amber-eyed serpent, who had coiled herself around his arm, slithered over his neck and let her tongue gently flick his cheek. She hadn't retaliated against Dora since the girl realized her mistake so quickly. Harry didn't mind animals getting this close—animals never hurt him. They had always been the ones to help him. Brief touches from people were…okay. He was slowly getting better about those.

But being pressed up against someone? Absolutely not. It was too early for that.

Dora chewed her lip thoughtfully for a moment before she lit up. "Ah, how about this?"

She placed Scamander's book between them and opened it up, so they could both read it; a good solution given the situation. Dora scanned the glossary while Harry made himself comfortable and the amber-eyed snake settled in his lap where she could look at the book.

"Let's see…aha! Magical Reptiles and Amphibians start on page 237…"

She skipped to the page and then moved on to the chapter that was solely about snakes and serpents. Each animal had a detailed biography with an image of the creature in question, the latter of which moved around the page. Harry regarded each of the creatures eagerly—even if most of them looked nothing like his snake.

There was one snake that was jet-black and had large, silver horns at the base of its skull. Another was literally made of fire and yet another had feathery wings that shimmered with a myriad of colors.

"Horned Serpent…no, there's no mention of them petrifying their prey," he muttered. "Runespoor…also no, she doesn't have three heads…"

"Thank you for stating the obvious," the serpent replied dryly.

He smirked at her while he and Dora continued to scan the book. There were over twenty magical snake species that he knew nothing about—with most of them, he had to read in detail to determine whether or not they were related to the snake in his lap.

They flipped another page and two more pictures of snakes were revealed. One was a bright emerald with a red crest of feathers and ominous yellow eyes, and the other was a cobra with a crossbones pattern on the bottom of its hood. Before either Harry or Dora could begin to read, the amber-eyed snake in his lap hissed at the first image.

Harry stared at her in surprise. "What is it?"

"That's a male," she hissed. The tip of her tail was vibrating aggressively.

He blinked at the picture of the emerald snake with the red crest. "Is that what you are, then?"

Harry wasn't so sure about that. The moving image of the animal looked nothing like his friend aside from the color. The red crest might have been something specific to males, but there was something about those yellow eyes that were just…well, evil. They were a burning, pale gold that looked hungry and cruel—nothing like the soft amber of his friend.

Dora flicked her eyes down to the biography and began to read. "It's called a Basilisk. 'Perhaps the most curious and dangerous of all magical snakes, the Basilisk is a snake born from a ritual consisting of placing a chicken egg beneath a toad. It is known as the King of the Serpents and can reach lengths of up to fifty feet long, in addition to possessing one of the most lethal venoms in the wizarding world. What makes the Basilisk unique among snakes is its ability to kill anyone who looks directly into its eyes, although it is said that looking indirectly will petrify a person.'"

Harry and Dora stared at the snake, who flicked her tongue at them. "Well, don't look so surprised. My eyes aren't that strong, yet."

"She probably can't kill anyone with her eyes yet because of her age," Harry murmured. Dora eyed the serpent warily, but nodded. She began to read again.

"'The Basilisk's scales are tough like dragon hide and repel most offensive magic. The male is said to have a red crest upon its head, although this is merely speculation since no live Basilisk has been seen in well over a hundred years.'"

"That's what you think," Harry joked.

Dora grinned. "'Given its dangerous abilities and tendency to be used by dark wizards, the Basilisk is classified as a XXXXX Magical Creature the highest and most lethal rank amongst all magical beasts. It's said that the Basilisk answers to now one but Parselmouths, or those few wizards who are born with the ability to speak with snakes.' Well, that explains why she listens to you. 'Because of its aggressive temperament and killing capabilities, the breeding of Basilisks has been banned since medieval times. The only man known to have successfully controlled a Basilisk was a founder of Hogwarts, Salazar Slytherin.'"

She leaned back and stared at the snake in his lap. "A XXXXX Class Magical Beast? That's crazy. That's up there on the danger scale with some kinds of dragons."

"Well, what did you expect?" The serpent huffed as she tilted her chin up arrogantly. "Some common worm?"

Harry was focused on a different detail. If the information in this book was true- and he had no reason to believe otherwise—then it was illegal to create a Basilisk. And although Harry really didn't care if he got into trouble for creating her, he was anxious about what would happen to her.

The wizarding world did not want her to even exist. What would they do now that she did?

He stiffened as he realized why Kingsley and McGonagall had been so uptight about his friend despite tolerating her. Would they try to take her away from him once he got to Hogwarts? What if he had to leave her behind when he went to school and someone tried to get rid of her?

No. He wouldn't let them touch her. She was his friend. She had saved his life. He didn't care if she was illegal—they could shove it if they tried to hurt so much as a scale on her head.

"Harry?"

His head jerked up when Dora snapped her fingers to get his attention. She was watching him with a confused look. "You good?"

"Um, yeah," he replied. "Cheery."

If she realized he was just saying that to cover his troubled state, Dora didn't say anything. Instead, she closed the book and grinned at Harry, mischief twinkling in her eyes. "Say, why don't I tell you about two of my best friends at Hogwarts? I think you'll love them—greatest pranksters there are. I'll even introduce you when we get to school."

He was grateful for the distraction and Harry couldn't help but let the worries leave his mind as he eagerly listened to Dora about their soon-to-be shared school. Yes, he had a feeling he wouldn't mind getting to know the two great pranksters she called Fred and George. Gryffindor's twin-tacular masters of mischief, she dubbed them.

Oh yes, Hogwarts was sounding more appealing by the second.