Chapter 4: Waiting
Anticipation makes the days seem longer.
Harry Potter woke in the dark of his cupboard, eyes wide open, stock still. A moment's observation in silence told him all he needed to know of the house; Mr. Dursley's snoring carried through the doors and down the stairs, Mrs. Dursley often murmured in her sleep, and Dudley took after his father. All three were sound asleep.
The six-year-old tapped on the cupboard door. The padlock on the other side rattled and popped open. It slid out of place and let the door swing wide and Harry crawled out, his socks making him nearly silent as he moved over the plush carpet. He tapped on the door to the back yard. He listened once more to confirm the state of the other occupants of the house and slipped outside.
The moonlight was pale and strong, filling the back yard with enough light to parody day. Harry cast his emerald eyes out over the hedges of his aunt's back garden and found eyes watching him back. He came forward to his patch of soft grass, where he used to nap in the afternoon every day, and sat squarely upon it with his legs crossed. The hedge came alive then and snakes of all shapes and sizes came forth; tiny shapes with black lines down their backs, long snakes with only one color, some with an extra eye and one with a second head, one with its tail split in three places. They moved soundlessly among the grass except for quiet excited hissing, some had never come before. Together they came to a stop a meter from Harry Potter and nodded their noses to the ground before him in greeting.
Harry smiled.
"Hello! My name is Harry."
It had been like this for some time. Ever since Harry had made friends that long afternoon ago, snakes had been coming to see him. Over weeks and months more and more had come until there were too many to safely hide amongst the grass under the sunlight. A blue and black snake had suggested they meet under the cover of moonlight and many agreed. Thus had their meetings become eclipsed into night.
Each week brought Harry hope that he would meet the snake from his dreams, and that they would go off together. He asked the snakes if they knew of such a snake, one long and big enough to bear him on its back. He was growing quickly and all of the snakes that came were small.
"Most snakes are small," chided the Aniliidae, his red scales soaking up moonlight. "A magical snake might grow so long, but you speak of fantasy. There has not been a snake big enough to bear away a human child for many moons."
"Perhaps a Basilisk," suggested a Runespoor.
"Fat chance," hissed its other head, "There hasn't been one bred in Britain for centuries."
The snake with three tails rattled in a temper. "The Emperor wishes to see the world! It is his desire! He has trusted us with his wish. We have not done all in our power to see it done!"
More hisses answered, and Harry made a little frown. Despite telling his name again and again they called him Emperor. In his dreams, the long green snake called him Harry, and let him climb on its back. He knew in his heart that someday that snake would come for him.
He closed his eyes and summoned his dreams. Always the great coiling shape of a snake came, in the cover of night, under the light of the moon. Its body was thick and long, heavy but graceful. The colors and patterns seemed to be diamonds in brown and black along green scales. Harry had seen them so many times.
A snout bumped against his knee and Harry opened his eyes. The hissing had quieted and all eyes looked at him now. The pencil-thin snake at his knee bobbed its snout twice.
"Have we upset you, young Emperor?"
Harry shook his head. "No, Garter. I was remembering my dream."
The small snake vibrated in excitement. "Yes! Yes! The one you always tell us—"
"Of a snake coming to bear you away on its back," continued an Asp from the crowd, "We know it well. It is our favorite story. Will you tell it again?" The many voices agreed and snouts bobbed, and Harry laughed at their eager hissing.
"Okay! Alright, everyone, hush. It begins on a night like this…"
He told them the story as he had told it many times before: in his dreams a long shape would appear (he knew to call it a snake now). The snake would gather him up on its back and bear him away, away to an adventure. It would be the greatest adventure of his life, he knew it, because when he woke, he felt he could do anything.
"As if I was special," Harry finished, just like he always did.
He gave a little sigh. It was a short story but the snakes never seemed to tire of it. Each time he told it all the snakes present gave a quiver together as though they were all being tickled at the same time.
One brown snake wriggled close and hissed something excitedly at Harry. There was so much noise from the grass that Harry missed it and asked to hear it again. The brown snake came closer, careful to duck its nose and wait for Harry to lift it from the ground, and then wound loosely around his arm. It met his emerald eyes up close and spoke again.
"Emperor, would you come away with us? We could take you on an adventure—"
At once there was a series of hisses from the ground; several snakes snapped that it was not their place, more hissed encouragement. Harry bade them be quiet and silence fell respectfully. He asked the brown snake to repeat itself a third time. This time he heard and shook his head.
"None of you are big enough for me to ride. I have to wait." There was something stubborn about the pout of his lips as he said it, "I know that snake'll come."
The brown snake bobbed its head low and hissed an apology. Behind it, the Aniliidae rose its red head.
"If we cannot bear you away, perhaps we can look for this one you speak of," he said boldly, "We know the story and you have drawn the patterns of its back in the dirt before." The look of growing hope on Harry's face spurred him to speak. "Emperor, send us on this task for you! If you command it, we will see it done!"
Around him, snakes erupted with eager agreements. All about voices echoed the same sentiment and plea. Harry's green eyes shone in the moonlight, full of hope as he hadn't felt in a long time.
"Alright!"
The hissing ceased. Each forked tongue was held with baited breath. Harry reached down and refreshed the shapes he had drawn many times before in the dirt. He didn't notice the many eyes on his every action, so consumed with remembering each detail of the scales from his dreams.
"Go out in every direction! Go look for a snake with green scales, with black and brown diamonds, with eyes like fire caught in a stone," Harry said, his own eyes flashing in the moonlight.
"Find the snake from my dreams!"
The grass was abruptly emptied. Snakes slithered off at once, each eager to be the first to discover this mystery snake. They all disappeared into the night.
Harry looked at the grass and found one lone orange snake with a strange wriggle, not moving as well as the others. He offered his arm and gently lifted the snake from the grass. It was thick as a hose and its head had two extra eyes, four in all. All four yellow eyes found Harry's.
"Thank you, Emperor. You are so warm!" It squeezed gently, like a hug on his arm. Harry smiled and rolled his palm over the snake's orange scales. It hissed its appreciation but flinched.
"Are you hurt?" Harry asked.
The yellow eyes blinked and the snake nodded.
"That's why you looked funny," Harry decided, "You were moving slower than everyone else. Show me where it hurts?"
The orange snake tapped its nose on a section of itself. The scales there were warmer than the rest of him and spread slightly. Harry imagined it had run into a rock, or a tree, or maybe somehow the snake had tied itself in a knot. But pain wasn't nice. He decided it had to go. Harry shut his eyes and sang the song his aunt often sung to Dudley.
"Pain, pain, go away! Hurts be gone. It's time to play," and Harry blew gently over the wound.
Yellow eyes blinked in amazement.
Harry smiled broadly and set the snake carefully among the grass. It took off with fantastic speed.
Alone in the back of Mrs. Dursley's ordinary garden, Harry Potter whispered a soft 'good night' to the moon, and returned to his cupboard.
End Chapter 4