Hey Potter fans! New story from me, one that will be different from my normal (that is no slash – the world is coming to an end!)
Review and tell me what you all think, I'm dying to know!
Disclaimer: Was never mine, is not mine, will never be mine – except for the plot ^-^
Oh, expect updates every two weeks on a Friday unless I say otherwise. And if you want, you can join my Yahoo! Group, the Dragonwings lair.
Feel free to join!
The link is at the bottom or on my bio page ^-^
~ * ~ = ~ * ~ ~ * ~ = ~ * ~ ~ * ~ = ~ * ~
"spoken"
'thought'
~parseltongue~
:: Part I ::
[ 23rd July 1996 ]
A cool breeze blew down the narrow lane. A young man approached the shop from down the street. He lifted his hand to the glass to block the glare of the afternoon sun. He nodded his head as if he was verifying something and proceeded to enter the shop.
The bell jingled lightly from over the door to announce that the teen had entered. He walked down the row between the shelves, glancing around, taking everything in. His eyes rested on the girl behind the counter in the back the shop. She sat there oblivious to all flipping through a magazine with some teen idol in the newest fashion strutting across the cover.
After waiting a few seconds the teen cleared his throat causing the shop attendant to jump.
"Can I help you sir?" Jess, as her name tag indicated, called out to him.
The boy at first not quite sure how to place his request attempted the direct approach. "Got any spell books?" He scratched the back of his head before he brushed his hair out of his eyes, the scar on his forehead remained concealed behind his long bangs. "Particularly ones that specialise in defence and deception?"
She gave a nod before turning and indicated for the young man to follow her.
~ * ~ = ~ * ~
The adolescent made his way through the doors of the small hotel's lobby only to be greeted by a rather angry Vernon Dursley. "Boy," the purple-faced man growled, "where have you been?"
"Walking around," the boy answered nonchalantly quite used to all of the mans usual antics.
The man's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I will not allow you to ruin our holiday with your," the man looked to have swallowed a lemon while he continued his rant, "abnormalities. Your aunt and I have been kind enough to take an ungrateful brat with us," he left out the fact that it was a family package for four regardless, "because your freak friends could not take you. We could not very well leave you behind," they feared he would blow up the house if left to his own devices. "I have told them that you have come down with the flu, so you will stay in your hotel room and do nothing that draws attention to yourself! Do you understand me boy?" The man was practically spitting at the teenager.
"Yes, Uncle Vernon," the smirk on the teens face never wavering.
"Now even if the hotel is burning down around your ears you will stay in the room or so help me," the man threatened. "Do you understand?" Vernon punctuated the question with boxing his left ear. The man never heard the threatening hiss coming from the boy's sleeve.
"Yes, Uncle Vernon," the boy appeared to be completely unaffected by the pain nor the threat.
"Good, I don't want to see you for the whole fortnight," the man grumbled before turning and making his way to the lifts. The teen caught a muttered statement, "should have drowned him while we had a chance..."
~ * ~ = ~ * ~
Harry Potter sat on the balcony of his hotel room watching the waves crash against the shore. The tranquillity of it calmed him and he inhaled the ocean air breathing deeply. His poor excuse for a family had left him to go and see the sights of Sydney.
Harry smirked as he put his feet on the table and relaxed in the shade with the books he had purchased from the girl in the shop. Earlier on the day he picked up the books he had bought several small trinkets among other things. A beautiful black and silver snake curled contentedly around his neck and arm. Harry smiled at his newest friend as he fingered the serpent amulet he had bought from a small shop in a dark alley. Quite a large number of the enchantments on it were considered highly illegal. It was commonly owned by spies and assassins, the perfect tool for those who wished to hide in plain sight. One of its more desirable charms hid the wearer's magic from detection, including, but not limited to, the ministry's detection of underage magic.
Harry sighed wearily. The façade of being unfazed by his uncle's harsh words weighed heavily on his shoulders. He was envious of his friends' luck at being free to go where they wanted, but he did not hold it against them. It took all of his effort not to allow his mind to drift to Sirius and the whole Department of Mysteries fiasco. Voldemort constantly haunted his nights to the point that Harry found it easier not to sleep, lest his cries were to wake up any of his neighbours. On the positive side, the Ministry was acknowledging Voldemort's return, so the campaign to discredit him in the media was off, though the papers had yet to retract anything they had wrote.
The green eyed boy's mind drifted to the dark veil... his hands clenched around the book he was holding and he screwed up his eyes. 'No, I won't think about it! Not any of it.' He then doubled his search effort.
~Massster…~ the two metre long snake hissed quietly.
~Yes Sssassskia~ Harry turned to watch the snake.
~What are you looking for?~ her tongue tasted the air as she tried to view the book.
~A better way to sssheild my mind~ Harry hissed. ~Occlumency is not infallible~ he finished morosely.
~I can help you~ the snake whispered just barely audible.
~How my pet?~ the boy queried.
~Sssome sssnakesss know old magic. Our magic. Ssserpent magic~ her head turned to look directly into his eyes almost as if she were judging him.
~Ssserpent magic? How doesss that work?~ he asked genuinely curious.
~I will teach you. It'sss magic available to thossse who ssspeak our tongue~
~When can we ssstart? I am going to die if I can't get tall dark and creepy out of my head soon~
~Now, young massster. I will protect your mind, no one will invade it. I won't allow it~ the young snake paused as if to get permission.
Harry gave a brief nod, ~ok, let'sss do it~ he tried to hold still.
~Relax young massster, I won't allow you to come to any harm~
Harry leaned back into the chair and closed his eyes. He felt his familiar, Saskia, slither down his body, from his neck to his feet, and back up to his neck, and then around his head. He sighed as he felt something brush his mind before he felt shields wrap themselves around it.
~ * ~ = ~ * ~
~Ssserpent magic isss older than all sssourcce magicsss. The power isss within you. Once you can control thisss magic, you will be able to do wandlesss magic, young massster. It came before all thessse sssilly notionsss of lightsss and dark. All you will ever need isss the right incantationsss~ Saskia said.
~Ssso I won't ever have to ussse my wand again?~ Harry asked.
~That dependsss, young massster. It mattersss whether or not you can ussse the long forgotten magic of the ancientsss. Sssalazar Ssslytherin was legendary for thisss magic. I think you, young massster will be greater than he. You have power in you. Deep inssside of you. It isss almossst limitlesss, I will be honoured to teach you. It may takesss time, but we are patient~
~Sssoundsss like you want to work me to death, my friend~ Harry hissed before giving a light chuckle.
~Not death, I jussst want to make sssure you will alwaysss be sssafe~ Saskia hissed back wisely.
~Very well, let'sss ssstart. We've got loadsss of time here and no one will notice or care about what we do~
~ * ~ = ~ * ~
[ 6th August 1996 ]
Harry watched in amusement as his uncle's face grew a deeper shade of purple the longer he stared at him.
"You – you freak!" The man spat at him.
Calmly, Harry wiped the spit off his face and just raised an eyebrow at his uncle, a double-pierced eyebrow. His uncle hadn't been lying when he had said that he hadn't wanted to see him for two weeks.
In that time, Harry had mastered the basics of serpent magic and had started to experiment on himself. His hair, once completely jet-black, was now highlighted with bright blues and forest greens and had silver tips. Harry had grown his hair, but he had magicked it to be always spiked. Harry had placed two eyebrow bars in his right eyebrow, one metallic black and the other metallic green, which at times looked blue. He had transfigured his old clothes into newer ones creating an entirely new wardrobe, complete with the necessary baggy jeans, metal belts and chains, tight leather trousers, fitted shirts, t-shirts, numerous boots, trainers and other shoes, a long black coat and a black leather jacket. And to top it off, to complete his new look Harry had outlined his eyes in black eyeliner.
Harry was down in the lobby waiting for the Dursley's on the last day at the time that they had been told to catch the coach to the airport. He dressed in casual baggy, black pants and dark green t-shirt, silver chains hung from his hip. Around his neck he had a snake pendant charmed to look real, it acted as a mind link between he and Saskia. After spending two weeks with only her, he had grown rather fond of their conversations. Harry had charmed the deception serpent amulet to stay attached to the bottom left of his shirt.
Saskia was currently back in his bedroom at Privet Drive. Harry had mastered the serpent magic's travelling (similar to apparation) and made a trip to the Dursley residence to redecorate his room, ~as part of a test~ Saskia had spoken, amusement evident in her hiss. To Harry and Saskia, the changes were apparent, to anyone else, it was the same small, dull, lifeless colour that it had always been.
"Now, now Uncle Vernon, I didn't think you liked to be associated with anything not 'normal'," Harry said as he waved a finger at him.
"What the hell do you mean, boy?" Vernon spat at him again.
"Just that normal people don't spit at their nephews who've been ill for two weeks nor do they look like they want to hit them," Harry said, raising his eyebrow again.
"We'll talk about this when we get home," Vernon said, as he pushed the boy towards the waiting vehicle.
~ * ~ = ~ * ~
Harry entered his room and proceeded to heal the bruises from his uncle's stress release. Vernon rarely hit him, and Harry knew that he had pushed him too far at the hotel and he was sure that the man had been boiling under the surface for the entire flight home.
He walked over to his familiar and stroked her scaly back taking in the improved room. The walls changed to suit his mood and at the moment they were a deep forest green with a starlit ceiling. Harry had enlarged the room to give him space for the different sections. In one corner he had created a large study area, where the walls were covered in full bookcases. In another, there was a little kitchen with a fridge, storage cupboard and some simple cooking equipment. Of course, there was his bed and his wardrobe that had been converted to a walk-in closet.
Harry turned to his snake, hissing ~Now Sasss, how long do you want to bet that it will take for them to ssend Hedwig? They ssshould remember that I return today, and sssend her back~
~I don't know, young massster~ Saskia hissed back ~How about a little magic lesson? I should teach you how to change into your animal form~ Saskia hissed after a moments pause.
~Cool, let'sss ssstart~ Harry grinned at her.
~ * ~ = ~ * ~ ~ * ~ = ~ * ~ ~ * ~ = ~ * ~
So, anyone care to tell me what they thought of this? (There's a wonderful purple button down there – what can I say, I'm addicted to reviews)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_dragonwings_lair/