Disclaimer: As much as I wish otherwise, I do not have the creative genius of JK Rowling and therefore do not own Harry Potter.

Author's Note: Wow! You guys seem to like this- nearly 1000 hits already! I am inspired to write another chapter. Big thanks to you all- especially those who reviewed and here's the next chapter! Sorry if it's a bit short- it's just that I had a certain ending in mind and I could only write so much leading up to it. More next chapter, but here's this one:

CHAPTER TWO

With one last glance around the room and his dead relatives, he focused on trying to get out of there. It was worth a try. He needed somewhere to go, somewhere he would be wanted…

Suddenly his body was gripped by the worst pain he had ever felt- and that was saying something. It felt like he was being shoved through a narrow tube. His eyeballs were being forced into his head, everything hurt, something would break soon…

CRACK! The pain stopped as quickly as it had begun. Harry opened his aching eyes to see a blurred mass of greens. He rubbed his eyes, then wished he hadn't as they stung harder. When he finally opened them again, his vision had cleared and the mass of green had become a forest. Well, it was somewhere else. That was a start. He still didn't know where it was- but at least it wasn't Number Four Privet Drive. It was cold, though. He shivered, trying to think himself warm. It worked- despite the baggy, tattered summer clothes he was wearing, which did not help.

He decided to go exploring. He had nothing better to do anyway.

After walking a little while, he stopped. He was aware of movement in the undergrowth. Before long, a small snake emerged from the plants. It reared up, regarding him carefully.

"I'm not gonna hurt you." That was true. He did not want to get on the bad side of this guy- he didn't know whether or not it was poisonous. To his surprise, the snake seemed to understand him. And he got the shock of his life when it began talking back.

"Who are you…" Harry stood there for a moment, just looking at the reptile.

"Er," What did one say to a snake that spoke perfect English? "I'm Harry…"

"What are you doing here…"

"Erm, I…" actually he didn't really know. Why was he here, of all places? Why hadn't he gone somewhere nice "I ran away from somewhere". Well, it was true.

"Are you in league with It?"
"What's It?" the way the snake had emphasised the word got Harry's attention.

"Ssssurely you know?"

"'Fraid not, I'm kinda new here."

"It lurks in the darkessst placesss. It's alwaysss sssearching, alwaysss killing..."

"Sounds like a really nice guy."

"Are you here to help usss?"

"Erm, not exactly." Harry felt uncomfortable. Sure this thing was killing loads of helpless little animals, but what was he, Harry meant to do about it? He was having a little mental battle. One side of him was adamant that it wasn't his problem, the other equally insistent that it was. Eventually, the latter clouded, whispering to him that if he had dealt with the Dursleys, then he could easily deal with this. The lighter half of him crumpled under the force of the blackness. "Where do I find this guy?"

The snake had led him as far as it dared. Then it had fled, taking some of Harry's confidence with it. Great. Still he'd promised himself he'd kill this thing. But with every step, his resolve faltered a little more until it followed the snake. But by this time, Harry was lost. There was no turning back.

He crept slowly forward. The trees grew closer together here, and there were no animals. Everything was silent, every sound made by his feet amplified.

There was a rustling in a nearby bush. "Who's there?" Harry whispered. He didn't dare talk any louder. Terror gripped him as a black shadow slithered towards him…

Ooh, my first ever cliffy! I'm evil, I know. Update will come pretty soon- but I have a lot of homework and another fic to work on. And next chapter will be set in England, so you'll have to wait a while before you find out what's happened to Harry. Again, I know I'm evil. It's actually kinda fun.