Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters mentioned in this story except for Harry's snake.

A/N: Thanks to jen c., Facade1, crater212, JadeLMSkywalker, PheonixMan, & narf1989 for reviewing! I love you all!! Keep it up!

Okay everyone, the people that actually commented on the name 'Ziggie' didn't like it at all....I thought it would have been cute but I guess I was the only one. But thinking it over a little more, i realized that Facade1 was right and I'm not sure if the snake would like Ziggie all too much, like Facade1 said, it has to be more 'manly'...lol

So everyone, please, I'm begging you, help me find a name for Harry's snake!! I've been thinking for so long and I've been to tons of name websites but I can't come up w/ anything! I wanted a magical name but none of them I've seen really seem to do 'snake' justice. If you want some more characteristics of the snake (in case it helps you think of a name for it), here's some: 'Snake' is sarcastic, but loyal. Even though he hasn't been Harry's pet for a long time, he cares a lot for him and his well-being. 'Snake' doesn't think very highly of humans, I'm not sure if you got a chance to notice yet. You'll see more of his characteristics as the story progresses.

Again, I'm begging you guys, please help me come up with a name. Here's some ideas some ppl told me, tell me which, if any, you like: Hewitt, Euclid, Zaccheus, Galen, Alexander, Miles, & Seth. I'm not sure if I like any of those names, but it's up to you guys...




***

Harry heard a bloodcurdling scream and a saw flash of bright green light.

"Kill the spare." Harry saw Cedric's surprised expression. More deadly green light and Cedric's body falling limply to the floor.

Harry saw his father hurrying and panicking. "Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off-" Harry saw a door burst open and a cackle of high-pitched laughter.

More green light.

Harry saw his mother's beautiful face contorted in fear, begging."Not Harry! Not Harry! Please-I'll do anything!"

A final flash of green light that's haunted his nightmares for as long as he can remember.

The green light faded to black and his view zoomed out revealing the Department of Mysteries and Sirius and his cousin, Bellatrix. He saw Sirius laughing. "Come on, you can do better than that!"

He saw Sirius' surprised face after being struck by Bellatrix's curse. He saw his face looking directly at him before his back arched gracefully and fell back through the veil.

Harry wanted run to him, save him, shout out to him, do something.

Just then, Harry's scar burst open with unimaginable pain. Harry screamed but his scream was drowned out by someone else's even louder unhuman screech.

***

"Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Harry woke up and sat up straight in bed hearing an unnaturally high and loud scream from downstairs.

Scrambling as quick as possible to get out of bed, only wearing his boxers, Harry grabbed his wand from under his pillow and rushed down the stairs to where he heard the scream.

When Harry got down the stairs, he saw his Aunt Petunia with the front door open, still screaming at something outside. Fearing the worst, Harry hurried outside. Seeing nothing but his screaming aunt, Harry decided to say something.

"Umm...Aunt Petunia? Are you alright? What's the matter?" Harry noticed by now, both a very grumpy looking Uncle Vernon and a bigger than ever, sleepy Dudley clad in Power Rangers pyjamas, arrive downstairs also.

Aunt Petunia was still screaming and pointing at something on the ground. Looking down, Harry barely managed to hold in his laughter. Bending down to pick up his new pet, Harry held him out to his aunt, only to have her scream get louder if at all possible.

"Aunt Petunia, calm down! It's just a snake." Harry looked down at his silver and gold snake. ~Are you okay?~ This was apparently the wrong thing to do, because by now, both his uncle and Dudley joined the screaming party.

Firstly, Harry couldn't stand any more screaming, and secondly, Harry noticed he was still half naked so he did the only logical thing---he ran up to his room. Once inside, Harry broke down into a fit of laughter. After making sure his snake was alright, Harry grabbed some clean clothes and headed across the thankfully silent and scream-free corridor, to the shower.

~*~*~*~

On the way back to his room from the bathroom, Harry's stomach gave a loud growl, and Harry grimaced.

Changing directions, Harry decided to get something to eat instead. Upon stepping into the kitchen, Harry noticed Dudley (who thankfully changed out of his much too small Power Ranger pyjamas that exposed half his stomach), a grumpy looking Uncle Vernon, and a jumpy Aunt Petunia, already sitting at the table. All of them were staring at him when he sat down and were following his every move with their eyes as if they expected him to hex them at any moment. Deciding he didn't like the glares he was receiving, Harry decided to grab two slices of toast from the plate in the middle of the table, and left quickly through the door. Harry knew he was testing his luck and couldn't avoid the inevitable. Harry closed his eyes and counted down the seconds in his mind, '5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1---'

"BOY!" an angry voice called from the kitchen. Wincing, Harry turned around to go back into the kitchen.

"Yes?" Harry answered carefully.

"Yes? Yes? Is that all you have to say, boy?" Uncle Vernon boomed.

"Err....yes?" Harry tried tentatively. Uncle Vernon visibly seethed. "Don't get cheeky with me boy!" At Harry's continued silence Uncle Vernon continued impatiently, "Well? What was that thing today?"

"Oh, that was just my new pet snake that I got last night, for you know, my birthday." Harry answered emphasizing the 'birthday' to see his relatives' reaction. Uncle Vernon ignore the birthday part and decided to further question him, "Well what were you doing today hi...hissing at it?"

"Oh I was just asking him if he was ok." Harry answered nonchalantly. This was apparently the wrong thing to say because by now Uncle Vernon's face was a deep shade of purple and he boomed in a less composed fashion, "Asking it? Asking it? Have you finally gone daft, boy?"

"Well, no, but I did ask it. I'm a parselmouth." At his relatives' blank stares, Harry elaborated. "It's a wiz...person who can talk to snakes." Harry said all of this in a tone he would use if he were discussing a simple thing like the weather. At his explanation, Aunt Petunia squeaked, Dudley chocked on the sausage he was chewing and Harry thought he heard him whimper, and Uncle Vernon spluttered. Harry rolled his eyes and left his seat to go back to his room. Stomping up the stairs, Harry heard Uncle Vernon yelling something at his retreating back, but chose to ignore him this time, and slammed his bedroom door loudly shut.

With a heavy sigh, Harry threw himself face down on his bed.

~You alright?~ his still nameless snake asked. Turning around so he was facing the beautiful silver and gold snake, Harry answered, ~Yeah, sure, I'm fine.~ Taking a deep breath, Harry put a smile on his face and continued, ~So have you thought about what kind of name you want? No? Oh okay. Oh yeah, did I even tell you my name? You can just call me Harry.~

If it was possible, Harry's snake seemed to smile possibly at accomplishing its task at distracting its young master, and slithered to the windowsill where the bright and hot morning sun was shining on.

Harry looked around his room and noticed he still had closed presents on the floor next to his bed. Grabbing the nearest package, Harry took off its wrapping paper to find a medium-sized lumpy package. Opening it, Harry noticed it was from the Weasley clan. Inside he found some treacle fudge and some Honeydukes' candy. With a smile, Harry grabbed a honey flavored sugar quill and started to suck on the tip of it while grabbing the next package. It was heavy and Harry noticed a note attached to it. Opening it Harry read:

Dear Harry,

Happy Birthday! Guess what? I got 13 O.W.L.s!! Isn't that great?

I picked up your present in Diagon Alley and thought it was perfect for you. Just remember: Don't judge a book by its cover!

I'm at headquarters right now and Dumbledore told my parents to go on an extended vacation for a while because he figures it was dangerous for them right now considering they are my parents and I'm friends with...well never mind.

I can't really say more, I'm not supposed to give any details, you understand, right?

I hope your summer is going alright and please don't blame yourself, Harry. Sirius wouldn't have wanted you to. You know that.

I hope I'll see you soon,

Love From,

Hermione

Trying to ignore the annoying advice about not blaming himself, that she wrote in all her letters, Harry unwrapped the package to find a book. 'Surprise, surprise' Harry thought sarcastically. Harry laughed out loud at the cover of it. In bright yellow writing the book read 'So You've Got An Evil Dark Lord After You...by: Nathaniel Blackwell'. Harry thought this could definitely be useful.

Carefully putting the heavy book to the side for later use, Harry reached for the next package. This one was small and Harry was surprised at what the tag read at the top.

To Harry

From Tonks and Moody

Next to 'Harry' was a picture no doubt Tonks drew. It was a smiley face with a mop of messy hair at the top and exaggeratedly big round glasses and a lightning bolt on the smiley's forehead. Chuckling, Harry opened the little box. Inside was a glass picture frame with a picture inside. With a chill up his spine, Harry noticed the picture was the one Moody showed him last summer of the original Order of the Phoenix. Harry could clearly make out his parents and Sirius. Sirius looked so happy and at the time of the picture, was no doubt not thinking about how, soon, he would be spending twelve years in Azkaban. Tightening his jaw, Harry noticed a few people down from Sirius was Peter Pettigrew.

Quickly putting the picture frame away, Harry noticed there were only two packages left. One was a rather large one with royal blue wrapping paper with twinkling stars and a silver bow on it, and the other one was a smaller package with plain brown paper around it. Deciding to leave the big one for last, Harry grabbed the small package first. Opening the note that was attached to it, Harry read:

Dear Harry,

This belonged to Sirius and I thought you'd like to have it. Please don't blame yourself, Harry, it's not your fault.

I hope you enjoy your birthday.

Remus Lupin

Half-annoyed that everyone told him not to blame himself when it was clearly his fault, and half-curious to what was inside the box, Harry opened it up. Inside were a lot of cotton balls and Harry furrowed his brow in confusion. Harry flipped the small box over so that the contents would spill out of it.

*cling*

Something shiny fell to the floor. Bending over to pick it up, Harry gasped. He was holding a beautiful golden locket. The face of it was the beautiful part. On the front of it you could make out a small stag, a werewolf, a big dog, and a tiny little rat. The locket was obviously enchanted because all of the little animals were moving around. Harry noticed the dog was currently wagging its tail and barking although no sound came out of it. Harry chuckled under his breath seeing the stag and the werewolf playfully fighting. The stag was carefully using its antlers to push the werewolf back. Harry was a little angry to see the rat scuttling around until it looked like it left the picture on the left side. Turning the locket around to see where the rat went, Harry noticed an inscription reading 'Marauders - All For One and One For All'. At this, Harry made an angry sort of noise in the back of his throat thinking about Peter Pettigrew and how wrong that statement was. Wondering if the locket had anything in it, Harry carefully opened it up and gasped again. There were two pictures inside. On the left side of the locket, there was a wizard photo of all of the marauders when they were a little younger than Harry. In the picture, Sirius was currently giving Remus bunny ears while Remus didn't notice. James was playfully waving at the camera and Peter was watching them all happily. Remus finally seemed to notice Sirius' bunny ears and annoyingly swatted his fingers away all the while smiling. With a sad smile, Harry's eyes drifted towards the next picture on the right side of the locket. It was a picture of the marauders again but this time they were older. This picture however was of only Remus, Sirius, and his dad. 'Peter was probably busy kissing his master's feet' Harry thought angrily. Harry noticed that Sirius was happily bouncing a baby on his knees and laughing. Sirius was completely focused on the baby (that Harry noticed was himself) and didn't notice the picture being taken. It looked like Remus and James were playing wizard's chess, and they were both wearing expressions of complete concentration. With a gasp, Harry noticed a beautiful woman with long red hair stepping into the picture and sitting herself in his father's lap looking at Sirius and baby Harry with a smile playing on her lips. Harry continued to look at the moving picture for a few minutes before sadly closing the locket with a *click*.

Brushing away a stray tear that escaped his eyes, Harry carefully put the locket with the fine gold chain around his neck and reached for the next package. This one was a lot larger and was a festive, royal blue. It had little silver stars twinkling back at him as well as a large silver bow at the top. Wondering who this could be from since he already got presents from all of the people who usually give him something, Harry carefully took off the wrapping paper. After doing that, Harry noticed it was a beautifully carved dark wooden box. Opening the box carefully, Harry peered inside and gasped. Harry was looking right into the silvery-white substance that he'd seen a couple of times before. Carefully reaching into the wooden box, Harry lifted out a shallow stone basin. It was very beautiful with odd runes and symbols on the side of it that Harry couldn't recognize. Inside of it, Harry could see a substance that wasn't quite liquid and wasn't quite gas. It was dense, so Harry couldn't see the bottom of the basin. It was a Pensieve.

Harry was just gaping at it for a while. Harry knew Pensieves were very expensive. Not even Snape had one; he had to borrow Dumbledore's last year when teaching Harry Occlumency. Harry noticed that once again, he neglected to open the attached note before the present itself. Reaching for it now, Harry carefully unfolded it and read:

Dear Harry,

I hope you are enjoying your birthday. If I know you correctly, you have already opened the attached package. I figured it is a perfect gift for you; you no doubt must have a lot on your mind.

I want you to know that you can always come talk to me or one of your friends; for instance Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley. Even if you don't talk to anyone, please Harry, at least use the Pensieve. It is not good to leave your feelings and emotions bottled up.

Please don't blame yourself for your godfather's death as you must be doing now.

Albus Dumbledore





Please review and tell me what you think! Was it horrible, bad, okay, good, or super? Please tell me...

Also, if there's anything specific you'd like to happen in this story, let me know! Again, I'm begging you guys, please help me come up with a name for Harry's snake.

Thanks again, everyone!