What you've all surely been waiting for!
Parseltongue from here on out will be marked like this: *Hello.*
Disclaimer in Chapter 1. Will change as needed
*Oh shit.* all three snakes hissed in unison, looking up at the frightened looking McGonagall and the surprised looking Dumbledore who was pulling his wand. Harri knew who they were of course, even if their absence this morning hadn't been a factor, she could recognize the sounds of their voices even under the hissing tone of parseltongue.
*You three are so dead when I get us out of this!* she hissed softly before getting up and twirling into the path of Dumbledore, pulling on all of her acting skills. Her eyes went wide and she quickly made thoughts of desperation for her three 'new friends', she dug through her knowledge of snakes to recognize them in record time and form an argument. "Headmaster no! Please!"
"Harriet my dear. Do you know these creatures?" Dumbledore asked with a frown.
"They're my friends." She said with a nod, making sure to put a tinge of desperation into her voice. "The only friends I had before coming here!"
"Harriet you said you didn't have anything that hissed in your trunk!" McGonagall said sternly, "Lying is not tolerated at this school!"
"Professor that wasn't a lie!" Harriet defended herself, "I didn't know they were in there. Last time I saw them they were pouting because they weren't allowed to come with me to school. I had no idea they snuck into my trunk! I swear!"
"Harriet I sorry to say we can't have uncontrollable dangerous creatures here with all the student." Dumbledore said, "You'll have to send them back to the Dursleys."
"No!" Harri said, forcing tears from her eyes and intentionally speeding up her breathing, "They don't know about them! They would have killed my friends!" She looked imploringly at the headmaster, imagining several 'memories' of the three snakes behind her for the headmaster to read. She felt him skimming over them and continued, "Maybe..." she let out a weepy breath, "Maybe you can give them a chance here!" She instilled hope in her tone, "Only one of them is venomous and even then it's not strong enough to do anything but cause some discomfort to a human!"
*What?! All that work and we're not even more dangerous?!* came an indignant hiss from behind her.
"Harriet..." McGonagall started hesitantly.
"Headmaster please." Harry pleaded, "Please give them a chance!" She very pointedly thought one thought, 'How am I supposed to trust them if they take away my only friends?'
She knew the exact moment when Dumbledore read that thought because his eyes started to twinkle madly, "Very well Harriet. We'll give your friends a chance."
"Albus!" McGonagall exclaimed.
"Now, now Minerva. We wouldn't want to deprive anyone of their friends." Dumbledore said easily, "Especially friends who went through so much trouble to follow her here. As long as she proves she can control them and complies with a few rules I don't see why they can't be here. We've certainly bent the pet rule before."
"For familiars!" McGonagall cried, "Not random animals!"
"They're not random animals." Harri pouted, "They're my friends! They were the only ones who were nice to me at my relatives!" She looked to Dumbledore again her eyes still wet with tears, "I promise I can control them and I'll do whatever is necessary."
"See Minerva." Dumbledore said with a genial smile, "Harriet is being very reasonable about this. If our rules aren't followed, then we can send them home."
McGonagall sigh, "Fine, but one slip up and their gone!" Harri gave her a blinding smile and nodded hurriedly.
"Very good!" Dumbledore said happily, "Harriet dear why don't you call your friends out here so we can see them and be able to identify them later."
"Alright!" Harri said, she turned and looked down at the three snakes sticking out of her trunk, *Tell me who's who now.* she hissed harshly as she reached down carefully and withdrew each snake. As she lifted each they said their names and tried to apologize which she ignored. She kept her bright smile on as she presented the three snakes to Dumbledore and McGonagall, "These are my friends." She pointed to the snake on the left that had a black back and white belly and was about four feet long, "That's Tenrou, he's a black rat snake."
*A Rat Snake?!* Sirius whined.
Next she pointed to the center snake who was about three feet long with black and red scales and white stripe running down his back and along either side. "That's Raion. He's a California red-sided garter snake."
*You know a lot about snakes Princess.* James praised, trying to get back in her good graces.
Harriet's mouth twitched and she went on to the last snake. This one was three feet long and mostly light tan scales with white scales flecked in between, "And this is Toshi. He's a common wolf snake."
*Of fucking course I am.* Remus muttered darkly.
"My my Harriet, where did you get such a wide array of snakes?" Dumbledore asked, "I know only one that is native to England."
Harri nodded, "Yes, Tenrou lived under the Dursleys shed when I met him. Raion and Toshi escaped from a muggle testing facility and eventually wondered into our backyard. Poor things."
"I see." Dumbledore hummed, "I also heard you hissing a bit. You can speak to them?"
Harriet pulled an innocent face, "Is that not common?" She visibly drew in on herself, "I thought maybe it would be more common in the wizarding world after I found out."
"It's not common I'm afraid, but it does show us you can control them." Dumbledore said, "Unfortunately many consider it a dark skill as it usually only manifests in dark wizards."
Harri gave them a wide eyed stare, "That sounds terrible! How can talking to an animal be dark?"
"By association with dark wizards." McGonagall said with a sigh, "Don't worry dear. No one in their right mind would accuse you of being dark, even with your friends. Maybe you can change the association." Harri nodded happily.
"Let's continue shall we?" Dumbledore said, "Now for the first condition I think it's rather obvious, venomous or not, if your friends ever bite a student or staff member then they will be sent home."
Harri nodded, "They would only try to bite someone if they attacked me, so as long as no one attacks me I don't see how that would be a problem."
"In defense of you I'm sure we could understand." McGonagall said.
Dumbledore nodded, "Secondly I think I should put a leash charm on your friends so they have so stay close to you and can't wander."
"Albus, I agree with the leash charm but maybe we shouldn't put it on her herself. Severus will have a fit if they in some way affect her potions because they can't get far enough away from her and she can't very well take them into the air when her flying lessons begin." McGonagall cut in.
"Maybe on my bag?" Harri suggested, "I got it to carry my books with me and it would have enough room for them to curl up in when I need to focus in class."
"That's certainly doable." Dumbledore said merrily, he gestured to her shoulder bag, "If I may." Harri handed the headmaster her bag.
*I feel like a bad child being talked about by his parents.* James grumbled as Dumbledore spoke the charm, making circles between the snakes and Harri's bag with his wand.
Dumbledore handed Harri her bag back, "There you go. They can't go more than twenty feet from the bag." Harri nodded her understanding, "Finally, we will need a sample from the slightly venomous snake so that we can have a counter, even if the venom isn't that strong. Do you know how to milk them?"
Harri nodded, "Do you have a container for it?"
*This doesn't sound good.* Sirius mumbled.
*Which one of us has venom?* Remus asked, Harri smirked internally. They obviously didn't do their research. Dumbledore produced a small cup with a thin film of plastic over the top. Harriet took it and in one move swooped down to pick up her father by the base of his head.
*Not so rough princess!* James hissed urgently.
*If you guys had let me in on the plan we could have found a way to avoid this.* Harri hissed harshly, *Now relax or this really will hurt.* James went limp in her grip and she squeezed at the base of his skull to force his mouth open before pressing his fangs through the top of the cup. *Keep relaxed and let your venom sacks empty.*
*Eww, venom sacks.* Sirius snickered quietly.
Harri massaged the base of James's skull as the dripping slowed before nodding and withdrawing his fangs. "Here you are headmaster." She handed him the cup before carefully putting a slightly dazed James around her neck. "Anything else? I promised a few of my new friends I would be less than an hour."
"No that should do it Harriet." Dumbledore said with a kind smile, "Run along. I'll have the house elves bring your trunk along to your room."
Harri smiled at Dumbledore agreeably and bent to pick up Sirius and Remus, "Thank you Headmaster."
"Will you need help to get to the tower Harriet?" McGonnagall asked.
"No, the older students gave us some directions and if I need help finding it I will ask the portraits." Harri said happily, at this point Sirius and Remus had both curled around an arm. She turned to leave, shooting them both a happy smile, "Thank you so much for not taking my friends away!" With that she left the headmaster's office.
*Cub was it a good idea to leave you trunk open with him?* Remus asked.
*The two compartments that have questionable items in them are protected under parselspells. He won't be able to get into them.* Harri said shortly.
*How long are you gonna be mad at us?* Sirius asked, *You said we could make as many ways into the castle as we wanted. What better way in than already being here?*
Harriet didn't dignify that with an answer; she just walked through the castle quickly, ignoring the stares she got from the few students that were still in the halls. About half way to the tower she felt something on her left wrist warm up, she looked to see the discrete woven bracelet connected to Bruce's bracelet glowing softly, it gave her a general idea on his well-being before dropping its glow, a few minutes later Clint's did the same and Harriet let out a sigh of relief.
She made the last turn toward the tower and was almost plowed over by twin red heads. "Harriet!" They exclaimed.
"You're alright!" Fred grinned.
"We were getting worried!" George added, "Its almost been an hour!"
*Oh I see how it is, they're allowed to worry for you but we're not?* James hissed huffily, drawing the twins attention to Harri's new accessories.
"Um, Harri?" Fred started.
"What's with the snakes?" George asked.
"Did the headmaster give them to you?" Fred questioned, leaning forward to get a better look at them.
Harri giggled, "No the headmaster didn't give them to me. They are my friends, they decided to stow away in my trunk to come along to school with me."
"And the headmaster is letting them stay?" They asked incredulously.
Harri nodded, "After he put a leash charm on them of course."
"Wicked." Fred grinned.
"What's their names?" George asked.
"This is Tenrou, Raion, and Toshi." Harri said pointing to Sirius, her father, and Remus in turn. All three snakes lifted their heads and got their first real looks at Harriet's mates.
"Hey!" Fred said with a jaunty wave as George grinned, "Nice to meet you!"
*This is them huh pup?* Sirius asked, his tongue flickered out, scenting the two. *Being a snake is weird. They smell like laughter.*
*They seem very nice princess.* James said.
*Yes very good choices cub.* Remus added in.
Harri rolled her eyes at the Marauders, *So glad you three approve.*
"You can speak parseltongue?" George asked with a raised eyebrow, Harri blushed and nodded.
"That's awesome!" They exclaimed.
"What are they saying?"
"Can you persuade them to help with the pranks we planned earlier?"
*Pranks?* all three Marauders perked up instantly.
Harriet laughed at their enthusiasm, "I'm sure they can be persuaded to help. And they were just talking about you two. Apparently to snakes you smell like laughter." She scrunched up her nose, "Whatever that smells like."
"Awesome!" They crowed.
The twins led her the rest of the way to the tower, whispering in low voices about the pranks they had begun planning on the train. The Marauders threw in their ideas every so often and Harriet relayed them to the twins who soon proclaimed the snakes Marauder worthy which made the three erupt into hysterical hissing laughter. Finally, they made it to the tower and the twins promised to meet her tomorrow morning at the entrance to the great hall for breakfast.
Harriet went straight to her room and, after quick introductions of herself to Pavarti and Lavender, ignoring Hermione, and assuring them the snakes were safe, she climbed into bed fully dressed with a set of night clothes and her shoulder bag. The three snakes slithered off of her as she set about closing the curtains, sealing them, expanding the space, and putting silencing charms up. Then she took the bag and ran a diagnostic spell on it, she cursed in parseltongue when she found listening charms and a tracker, she disabled them quickly.
When it was completely clear Harriet glared at the snakes, "Turn back now!" In the next instant all three were transformed and sitting at the end of her expanded bed, watching her warily. "What the hell were you thinking?! You don't spring shit on me like that! I'm pretty good at improvising but if I had been just a bit slower and Dumbledore just a bit faster he could have killed you!"
"You're not mad we're here?" James asked, "You're only mad we didn't tell you?"
Harri snorted, "Of course! I need to know things like this so I can plan for them! I hate going into things without all the variables!" She let out a big sigh and brushed her hair back out of her face, "Why would I be mad you guys were here?"
Sirius and Remus shared confused glances as James went on hesitantly, "Um, because we're being overprotective and hovering?"
"You already told me you would be." Harriet reminded him.
"No one wants their parents with them at school?" Remus tried.
Harri grinned, "Most people don't have parents who are more likely to get them in trouble themselves than scold them for getting in trouble."
"I guess that's true." Remus mumbled.
"So you're really not mad?" Sirius asked.
"Mad that my backup is easier to get to now? No." Harri said, "I am mad that you didn't tell me or include me in the planning process! I mean really? You aren't even venomous!" She looked to her father, "And I see that you're the one transfiguring Remus since he can't do it on his own. Did you even look up the effects of long term transfigurations on werewolves?" She put her hand over her face and let out a small groan. "Alright, walk me through your thought process."
"We did look some stuff up." James said a little sheepishly, "Just not any of that." Harri looked up at him with a sigh and waved him on, "We wanted to come with you but wasn't sure how. Only Remus was really qualified to teach but we knew that he wouldn't be able to be too close to you without Dumbledore doing something. We did toy with de-aging ourselves but we figured that would end badly." Harriet gave a small snort which the Marauders glared at. "So we decided we could come as your pets. I and Sirius still had our second animagus transformation to use and I was the best at transfiguration so I knew I could transfigure Remus without problem so we went with that. We knew it had to be something you could carry around easily and were going to go with something like gerbils but we remembered you could talk to snakes and figured this would be better!"
Remus nodded, "We wanted to be able to communicate without having to constantly change back and forth or rely on miming and figured we could be good spies as well."
"Plus you said they had good senses of humor!" Sirius butted in, "I didn't believe it but after our first change we were out in the garden and ran into some garden snakes. They were pretty funny!"
Harri smiled a bit at that before raising an eyebrow, "That's it? You didn't look up what snakes you were turning into our anything?"
"You were leaving in a month! We didn't want to take up unnecessary time being undecided so we just focused on generally being a snake, not a specific kind." Sirius said, he pouted, "If we had I would have focused on a cobra or something."
Harriet face-palmed, "If you didn't look up what kind of snakes you were going to be what did you look up?"
James brightened, "The spell that would hide our magic so we would feel like normal snakes! We didn't want McGonagall catching on, it should also hide our names on the Marauders Map so your mates don't get suspicious."
"We also looked for the golem that you used to kill off James and Sirius." Remus added, "That way I could 'die' and no one would come looking for me."
Harri sighed, "Well at least you thought that through." She did a quick switching spell on her clothes so she was in her pajamas. "Now, if you guys are going to be staying in the girl's dorm I have some extra rules."
All three looked offended at where this was heading, "We aren't perverts!" Sirius growled.
Remus crossed his arms over his chest, "At least not that kind!" James and Sirius both glowered at him, "Oh shove off. I shared a room with you two for seven years, I know you aren't all vanilla." He looked back to Harriet, "But we aren't into little girls. That's just wrong."
James nodded, "It would be like looking at you with anything other than familial love." Sirius let out a sound of agreement.
Harriet rolled her eyes at them, "I know that idiots. This is for my peace of mind and yours. I know logically you wouldn't get anything out of it but just imagine if you accidently saw something because you were just with me and one of the girls just started undressing. I'm sure you'd feel terrible even if you didn't mean to." They deflated a bit at that and nodded. "Alright, I'll more than likely leave before sunrise and last time the others all woke up after the sun was up so mornings won't really be a problem as you'll come with me. When we come back into the dorm room, you'll have to be in my bag until I give you the all clear. I'm also going to put a spell on you that will make your vision go fuzzy if you ever happen to look at someone nude."
"What?!" Sirius shouted.
Harri snorted, "Come on Siri, it's not like you're going to be getting any stuck as a snake and hiding at a school."
"Just agree to it Sirius." James muttered, "I don't like where this conversation is going, I don't want to talk sex with my daughter."
"Fine." Sirius pouted.
Harriet drew her wand, "Don't worry, I'll take it off when we get home for the summer." She cast the spell on each man in turn before nodding, "All done."
"Why do you even know a spell like that?" Remus asked.
"Last time around there was a bit of a ruckus sixth year, the twins had come to see a game and were on their way to talk to me when the they caught some idiots peeping on me in the Quidditch locker room." Harri said, "The twins almost hexed the life out of them before I stepped in. A week later George had invented this spell, he snuck in and put it on all five of the boys and refused to take it off until they got on their knees and begged for my forgiveness. Being the peeping perverts they were it didn't take them long to do so, especially since it works on pictures too." She sighed with a far off look in her eyes, "Good times."
Sirius chuckled, "He sounds a bit vindictive."
Harri shrugged, "Actually, George is usually the mellower of the two. He only gets riled up when you've done something to someone he cares about. Fred is the one who normally needs pulling back. He's the bolder one." She sighed and leaned back, "We better get some sleep for tomorrow, knowing my luck and what happened last time it bound to be eventful. We'll have to look up long term transfiguration effects on creatures this week. The full moon is next Wednesday."
"How are we going to handle that if I need to go run?" Remus asked worriedly.
"I'll sneak you guys out to the shack the night before and claim you needed some time to hunt." Harri said, "Dad or Sirius can carry my bag with them so you won't technically be breaking the leash spell." She hung said bag above her on the headboard, "It won't be too much of a problem."
"Wait, needed time to hunt. You're going to feed us off the table right?" Sirius asked, looking a bit sick.
Harriet snickered, "Oh of course Siri, but you know how staying in your animagus form long term can affect you. Some days you'll just crave a nice juicy mouse and who am I to say no to my favorite pets." She waved her wand and a small white mouse appeared in her hand, she held it up by its tail toward the three men. "Yummy looking right?" The three men looked sick and Sirius nearly shrieked when Harri tossed the squirming mouse at him. Harri cackled and thanked Merlin that the silencing and sealing spells still held on her curtains. She looked at the three loyal Gryffindors who were willing to become snakes to protect her and smiled, this unexpected development was certainly going to be interesting.
Tenrou is actually Japanese for the Dog star or Sirius, Raion is Japanese for lion, and Toshi is a Japanese name meaning intelligent.