~Parseltongue~

'thoughts'

emphasis

Ten year old Seren, known as Sarff to her snake brethren, couldn't wait for her upcoming birthday. After all, Mother said that she would learn how to properly work with Vormund in a wizarding school once she turned eleven. What made for even more excitement, was that it was Dudley's birthday and Seren would be accompanying them to the local zoo since her normal care-taker had hurt herself.

Seren wouldn't say anything, but she had a feeling all those cats were out to get poor Mrs. Arabella Figg.

After making a large breakfast for her relatives, and getting whatever scraps they deemed her worthy of, Seren was told to wear her best clothes so that she wasn't an embarrassment on 'Duddy-kin's' special day.

'Spoiled prat. I hope I'm never like that, and any children I have as well!'

Once they picked up a friend of Dudley's, they made their way to the zoo. As much as she hated the thought of spending the day with the 'family', Seren couldn't help but be excited; she'd never been to the zoo before!

Once they'd gotten inside, Seren was pretty much left to her own devices. She decided to spend the last bit of her time in the reptile house, so she ran all through the zoo to be sure she saw everything before going to the reptiles' habitat. Once there, she was struck by the beauty of all the exotic snakes that lay behind fragile glass walls.

A particularly pretty Burmese Python caught her attention due to its mutterings of not being able to see the marshes of south-eastern Asia. Walking to its tank, she looked around to be sure she was alone before inquiring as to why the handsome thing had never seen the humid and wet marsh of its true home. The python seemed surprised to have been spoken to so politely by a human.

He lifted his head and blinked at the young girl. ~A witch, perhaps?~

~Yes, Mister Python, but I haven't been to school yet.~

He nodded softly. ~Ah, what's your name, little witch?~

Seren smiled at the lonely python. ~I'm Seren, but my Den name is Sarff. Given to me by Mother Adder of the wooded Den near my human home.~

The large python nodded again. ~Hello, Sarff, I have no Den name due to living in captivity. Although a few keepers have taken to calling me Uparaja. I've been told it was what the Burmese called their Crown Prince.~

~A regal name for a handsome serpent.~

~And yours is quite lovely as well, young witch, especially for one not born of scales.~

Suddenly Seren was shoved from her place in front of the glass by her whale of a cousin and his friend, shouting for aunt and uncle to see what the python was doing. Uparaja hissed angrily at Dudley and his friend for the mistreatment of the Speaker he had been conversing, rather nicely, with. When the two boys began banging on the glass, Uparaja struck the glass harshly with his fangs bared; Dudley and his friend jumped back in fright before moving forward to taunt the poor caged python. From the ground where Seren had fallen, she cradled her now badly sprained right wrist and glared at her cousin and his friend.

Uparaja was hissing in agitation and twisting his long and thick body chaotically, attempting to see the child Speaker who had been shoved from the view of his tank glass. ~Sarff! Are you all right, little Sarff? Are you there? Please answer!~

Without answering the highly agitated python, Seren willed Vormund to vanish the tank glass causing the two taunting buffoons to fall into the tank's pond. Seeing that the glass was gone, Uparaja moved quickly and slithered out of the tank, twisting frantically in search of the young girl. Upon seeing her lying on the ground, holding her wrist delicately with tears gathering at the corners of her bright jade eyes, he slithered happily over to her before curling the entire length of his body around her petite frame. Hissing soothing words into her ear, flicking his long, forked tongue gently over her wounded wrist and occasionally giving a light squeeze of reassurance eventually got her to calm down; an occasional sniffle of her button nose was all that she allowed herself to show as her aunt and uncle helped the two boys out of the python's exhibit.

The zoo security, that had come over in all the ruckus, stopped to call in the snake keepers to assist the little girl that the python had wrapped himself around. The Dursleys kept their distance from the 'Freak' while the keepers tried to get near her to extract her from the coils of the near twenty-foot reptile.

Uparaja was having none of that.

The kind child Speaker, that had been so polite, was wounded and upset; he wasn't about to let anyone near little Sarff and he would use his body as the shield that would hide her from nasty Walkers. He'd been rather taken with the child, he hadn't met anyone that kind in many years; let alone a Speaker. This line of thought led to Uparaja's repeated attempts to bite the keepers that attempted to remove him from Sarff's petite body. The keepers were getting fed up with his behavior and had gotten a dart-gun before Seren had realized that her new friend was in danger.

"No! Don't shoot him," She shouted at the keeper with the gun, startling him with her vehemence, "He's not doing anything wrong. He's protecting me because I got hurt when my cousin shoved me from where I had been standing."

She hissed softly to Uparaja, so that no one would realize it was her. ~It's alright, let me show them. They can make it better.~ She extricated her right arm to show everyone the swollen, purpling wrist that she could no longer move.

~Fine, Sarff, but I will not leave your side... But I am too heavy aren't I?~

~Vormund can make you a little lighter but not too much. Just try to keep most of your weight off me when I stand, Okay?~

As Uparaja nodded quickly, Seren attempted to stand using only her left hand; Uparaja wrapped a few coils, near his head, around her arm and shoulder so that she wouldn't bump her wrist and hurt herself further. Allowing most of his lower half too remain on the ground, he used his strong body muscles to assist Seren in standing. When one of the female keepers had seen how bad her wrist was, the brunette had run off to retrieve one of the vets; she was now returning with their senior primate vet who could at least set and wrap her wrist to ease the pain.

When the vet came near, Uparaja gave a warning hiss to the middle-aged man before Seren slid the delicate fingers of her left hand over his head as it rested on her left shoulder; he eased up on the man and nuzzled his head into her neck. The keepers were lost and confused as to why one of their most temperamental pythons was all lovey-dovey with a child. Once the vet had finished wrapping her badly swollen wrist, he stepped back and smiled kindly at the nearly eleven year old girl; amazed that the snake was so content wrapped around what parts of her small body he could be without causing her to fall under his weight.

The elderly security guard had gotten blankets for the boys to wrap up in. Said boys were now glaring hatefully at Seren and the Burmese from where they stood shivering and cowering behind the elder Dursleys.

When the keepers once more attempted to take the python from Seren's body, Uparaja revolted angrily; snapping at who ever dared to come within a foot of them; that was his current striking range since his upper body was wrapped carefully around the child. Seren looked at them with a small smile and said innocently, "He doesn't want to leave me, I think he likes me."

Vernon just about birthed a cow, "You get rid of that thing this instant, we don't need any freakish-ness in our house, girl! We already take care of you, I will not add a man-eating snake to that! You hear me?!"

Uparaja made a lunge at her walrus faced, whale of an uncle, hissing and spitting in outrage. "Uncle Vernon, I don't think he liked that..."

"I don't care what it likes, that- that thing is nothing but trouble. Just like you, girl; disrespectful, disobedient troublemaker! Get that thing off of her so that we may go home. Now!" Vernon was nearly purple and entering the danger zone of possibly popping a blood vessel in his forehead. Seren found that look fascinating on him.

"But, Uncle," she said quietly, tilting her head innocently, "He's like the friend I'm not allowed to have."

The four keepers, two security guards and vet all turned to pierce Vernon with glares of varying degrees of hate and incredulity. He spluttered but recovered and spat, with barely concealed venom, "That is not my fault. If you were a better behaved child, the other children's parents would allow you to be friends with them. Even your teachers report having to keep you separated from the others due to your destructive nature. Now, be rid of that creature so that we can leave; I'll not have you ruining Dudley's birthday due to your disobedience."

The two women of the group of zoo workers narrowed their eyes; while their male companions may have somewhat bought the excuse, they were having none of that. They looked to each other and nodded in silent agreement.

The lovely curly-haired brunette, Anneliese Faust, was a German zoo transfer, with a soft spot for all things children, and she was not about to let that darling little ravenette go home to an, at least semi, abusive home without protection. And it seemed that the native Brit, Amelie Vicker, thought so, too. "Sir," Anneliese said, catching everyone's attention with her slightly thick German accent, "It seems as though Uparaja is unbelievably attached to your darling niece. He is extremely picky with who handles him at any given time, and that he so willingly attached himself to this adorable young girl, it seems he's trying to tell us its time for him to be released."

"Yes," continued Amelie, "He's nearly twenty, that's entering the final years of the average wild Burmese Python. He needs a good home, see, and he doesn't cooperate very well with his keepers any more. So if he's obeying her, and already so attached, I don't see anything wrong with him going."

She had spoken rather quickly and tossed in a proven fact to make it seem like giving away exotic snakes was a normal everyday occurrence. Annaliese had to smother her grin as Vernon Dursley's face became slightly glazed from the almost round about way Amelie was talking. "And, good sir, He can hunt the rodents and pests that surround your house."

Seren spoke up, giving her best cute face, "We have a large area of woods behind our house, could he find food there, too, Miss?"

"Oh! But of course, even though he was born and raised in captivity he'll have no problems hunting for himself. And if you have any questions or concerns you can just call one of us. I'm Amelie Vicker and this," she turned quickly, her shoulder length, cocoa brown braid swinging in time to her twist, "Is Annaliese Faust; she was transferred from a German zoo specifically for her reptilian knowledge." Annaliese nodded her head happily, causing her waist length, dark chocolate curls to bob from her high pony.

Seren had caught the underlying hint that Amelie had given; the two ladies would help with anything they could, and that offer was extended past snake care tips.

Petunia, just wanting to leave and avoid any more scrutiny, spoke shrilly, "Well, if it can get rid of pests and rodents, fine. Perhaps he can help keep our garden clear of the nuisances. Can we leave now?"

The security guards looked confused as to why the ladies were letting the young girl take such a large reptile home with her, their fellow keepers had caught on when they'd seen Seren's eyes widen at the hidden offer of help and the vet decided 'not his primates, not his problem'. One of the guards cleared his throat, "Of course, ma'am, sorry for any trouble."

As they were leaving, Seren asked the kind ladies what she could provide for Uparaja; she was told to keep a small pool of water for him. And then Annaliese and Amelie slipped their numbers- work, homes and cells- into her pocket as Uparaja used his lower body muscles to help walk along; he was still partially coiled around her, but he managed to make himself weigh as little as possible with a little help from Vormund. Either way, the pair looked rather funny as they walked and slithered along in time with each others movements; it nearly looked like Seren had a really long and thick snake tail.

No need to make things look any more suspicious than they all ready did, after all. She felt slightly better that she'd gotten back at Uncle Vernon, just a little.

And after that exciting trip to the zoo, Seren had to sit in the very back of the car so that Uparaja didn't 'attempt to eat precious Duddy-kins'. Now all she had to do was introduce him to the Den, keep a large tub of water in her small cupboard and await her wizard school letter. It couldn't get much more exciting for the young Speaker.