Chapter 7: Sahensha

Harry makes a Big friend.

Harry's hands pressed warmly into Nagini's sides. Her strong coils bore them steadily along under the light of the day now. They had not stopped for want of water or food. Harry was so excited he didn't feel the rumble of his stomach or the ache of his throat. His wide emerald eyes strained to stay open, staring at everything that they passed. The trees rippled by, grass swayed, new animals appeared and disappeared between strange and curious shapes; plants and rocks and dirt, all. Nagini bore her human charge silently all the while though Harry's voice expressed awe and wonder. The red and black Coral snake around Harry's shoulders answered his friend's many questions.

"There! Indiis, what are those?"

"Quorra. They are magical rabbits. They are quick and delicious."

"What is that tree called?"

"An elm. The one behind it is oak, and ahead of us, more oak."

"I've never seen cats like that before!"

"Those are feral, they belong to no human. Avoid them; they like to eat snakes."

"Oh," Harry said, eyes alighting on another new figure in the forest, "We'll stay away from them, then. What's that?"

The sun was high in the sky when Indiis' tongue finally tired and Harry asked Nagini instead. The larger snake did not answer at first, so consumed in her task, until Harry patted her scales for attention.

"Can you hear me?"

"Yes," she said finally.

"What's that?"

"Ask the small snake," Nagini hissed.

"Indiis is asleep," Harry reported, his fingers ghosting over his friend's red and black pattern, "and I'm curious. Can't you tell me some things?"

"I will try, Harry Potter. What do you want to know?" asked Nagini.

"Where are we going?"

The big snake slowed but did not stop. Her body gave a gentle roll as she moved them over a protruding tree root in their path. Harry watched her body tense and relax in order to keep them gliding along the ground.

"Your scales are rough but sleek," he said, pressing his palm along her back. "How did you grow so big?"

"I have always been big," Nagini bragged, then asked in a teasing tone, "Why are you so small? Will you always be small?"

Harry crossed his arms and puffed out his cheeks.

"Hey! I'm just small because… because I'm small, okay?"

Nagini sensed her passenger was offended. She stopped completely and looped a gentle circle around the boy. Her nose came up under Harry's crossed arms to unfold them and she met his green eyed gaze. "I am sorry, Harry Potter. I am glad you are small. It would be difficult to carry you if you were very big. I would have to swallow you and drag you in my belly."

"The way you did when I was a baby?"

The big snake blinked.

"That was many moons ago. You are not so small now."

"That's right," Harry said as a smile broke across his face, "Now I can ride you. So I'm big enough, see?"

Nagini's head tilted and Harry found she seemed pleased with the turn of conversation. He held on tight to her body as she started off again into the grass.

Harry sat up on her back and was mindful of low hanging branches and loose vines. He was distracted a long while by the sights he could see sitting straight up on Nagini's back. It was so wild! He thought of the garden with its hedges chopped into straight lines and now found it very strange. Everything around him looked beautiful and free. Harry went to ask his question and found his breath stolen away. Instead, he sank back down, holding Nagini's sides with care, and lay his head down on her back. Indiis woke from his sleep and coiled on Harry's back where the sun shone. The green Python took care not to jostle either of her passengers as she slithered in silence.

The moon came and left the sky. The sunbeams lighted on plant and animal and rock, and Harry had questions about every thing he could see. Indiis patiently answered each question best he could until his tongue tired. Harry napped often.

When they could see the moon again Nagini finally slowed. Harry thought they must have travelled halfway around the world and yet the world looked very similar to the bit of England he knew back where the Dursleys lived. "How far have we come?" he wondered aloud. Indiis shrugged as much as a snake could shrug.

"I do not know, Emperor," he said. "I have never been here before, and I do not know the way back."

Harry looked up into the sky. The last sunbeams were retreating behind cloud when Nagini stopped, her long coils aching and hot. Harry slipped from her back for the first time in days and sucked in a breath at the feeling of foreign dirt under his feet. Around his neck, Indiis hung like a living necklace, bronze eyes cast out around the area.

"It feels so strange," Harry breathed, taking several steps just to push the dirt around with his toes. He laughed when a black beetle scampered over the leaves on the ground. Everywhere life was moving around him and his wide eyes tried to take everything in; the soft hooting of birds above, the quiet chirping of crickets, the hum of breeze moving through the woods, and everything else. It was so interesting and different that Harry would have missed Nagini's departure, had Indiis not nudged him with his snout.

"Hey!"

Nagini turned to her human and gave him a disgruntled hiss.

"Quiet," she scolded, "I will hunt now. The Aniliidae will keep you safe." Harry trotted around to catch up with her as she turned away.

"Wait, wait! You've been carrying me all this time. Can't I help you? You must be sleepy."

The Python nodded wearily.

"Tired," she agreed, "but hungry. I will hunt. You will see. Stay, Harry Potter. I will come back."

Harry felt his stomach turn as she left. Part of him wished dearly that she would never leave. He had waited so many nights for her to finally come and bear him away from the Dursley's. Harry felt struck with homesickness in her absence. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he missed exactly what Indiis was saying. The smaller snake mentioned words like 'hunt' and 'safe' and 'return soon' but Harry hardly heard him. He departed as well and suddenly Harry was truly alone in a strange place.

At first he took small steps back until he was leaning against a thick oak. His green eyes cast left and right looking in the sparse light between night and day for something familiar. All he could see around him was grass, the tall trunks of trees, the foliage of the forest. It was nothing like the Dursley's back yard or the front garden. Fear crept under his skin as he tried to recognize where he was. Everything was unfamiliar here. There were no straight walls boxing him in. There was no sharply trimmed hedge fencing him off. Harry was in the wild now and it took several minutes of breathing and looking and listening to calm down.

Although the uneven arms of the trees reached out in a jumble toward the sky they were sort of like a roof. Harry let his eyes sweep along the treetops and realized not one of them were straight. The branches were all crooked and bent. No straight walls at all.

Then Harry looked at the bushes where Nagini had slithered through. They were completely untamed, with bits growing every which way, leaves reaching up towards the sky, branches stretching out their arms wide. No square hedges here!

Harry found it was easier to breathe as he replaced the things he expected to see with what was before him.

He stopped trying to find familiar things and took in the sight of where he was.

Many animals made noises in the early night. It wasn't the subtle rush of automobiles or the din of the television: it was the chirping of crickets, the rustle of grass, the croaking of frogs and toads. Birds and bats winged in the evening air after flies and mosquitos and every type of bug. Harry's eyes searched up to the canopy of the forest and found the leaves speckled with dim light. The wide old oak Nagini and Indiis left him by stretched tall and far but starlight shone through its branches. His fear finally evaporated and he looked around the forest with new eyes.

It was cool and dark but not suffocating like the cramped cupboard under the stair. A flash of inspiration came to Harry that lit up his smile like the light of a full moon. He never had to go back! He was free! A gush of joy in his chest brought a burst of happy laughter to his lips. The sound echoed in the forest and another sound answered it.

"Hello? Hello?"

Harry heard the voice calling, not far from where he had last seen Indiis and Nagini, and followed it. It was not a girl's voice, so it was not Nagini. It was not Indiis's voice either though it was the voice of a boy. Perhaps it was another snake? Harry walked faster, excited to make a new friend.

The voice called out again. "Hello? I can smell you. Are you there, Emperor?"

"I'm here," Harry answered as he reached the tree. It was certain to be a snake, Harry thought, and felt himself relax a bit. No one else called him that. He brushed away a low-hanging branch from the oak.

Harry stopped walking, confused. He had come to the place where the voice had spoke but there was no one there that he could see.

"Hello?" he called, some fear finding him again. The voice did not answer.

Harry kept one hand on the great tree and took careful steps around its trunk, wide emerald eyes searching for a snake on the ground or wrapped up on a tree branch. It was tough to see in the dark.

"Hello…" Harry called again. A very small part of him hoped the voice would not come back. "Is anyone there?"

There was a shift in the leaves from the other side of the tree. Harry knew at once that something was hiding in the forest just beyond where he could see. He sucked in a great breath, eyes focused on the shadows of the woods, and crept slowly over the thick tree roots.

A patch of scales glimmered in the dim starlight. Harry's jaw dropped.

Laced through the dense undergrowth was a snake with deep sea blue and green scales. Its head was hidden from sight but Harry knew instinctively that it was a huge snake. It was woven in the spaces between foliage and root, and in the darkness of night it was nearly impossible to see. He could hardly believe that all the glimmers he could see were connected to one body. Harry felt his heart fluttering in his throat as he stepped out in front of the oak.

"My name's Harry," he whispered. "Who are you?"

The slithering slowed and from the bushes came a snout wide enough for Harry to sit on.

"I am Sahensha." The name revealed long white teeth to Harry, thicker than his fingers, and a purple-black tongue. The soft rattle of Sahensha's speech reminded Harry of something from long ago. He took a step forward bravely.

"Are you hiding because you're hurt?" he asked.

The scales stopped moving and Harry nearly lost sight of him in the dim light. Then the snake inched forward, and Harry looked curiously at patterns he had never seen before in rich purples from the snake's closed eyes—

Harry gasped. Those weren't patterns.

"Your eyes!"

"Yes," the huge snake agreed. "They do not hurt. But when the scars healed they closed over my eyes. I cannot see." He slithered closer and Harry could see his tongue darting out almost constantly to taste the air. The lines that ran from Sahensha's crown down over his eyes were not patterns but old dried blood.

It must have hurt terribly. Harry felt his heart hiccup in empathy.

"How did it happen?" he asked softly.

The great snake's coils twisted as it recalled a distant memory. Sahensha was quiet a long while before he spoke. "I remember feathers. And pain. Something scraping and scratching at my head. But that was long ago."

Indeed the dips and lines in his scales seemed hardened and rough, old and crusted with age.

"My eyes have been closed since I could smell. I hear clearly, though," Sahensha said. "I have heard whisper and rumor, Emperor. Can you heal my eyes?"

As more of Sahensha emerged from the bushes Harry could make out the brilliant red streak atop the snake's head.

"Does your head hurt?" Harry asked, "Or are those red scales?"

"They do not hurt," Sahensha answered, "They itch. Soon they will break, and I will have a beautiful crown." The big snake's snout was at Harry's feet now. His coils were tall, nearly to Harry's thighs from the ground, and more and more of him kept pushing out slowly from the undergrowth. Harry wondered if he was even bigger than Nagini. He would have to judge by the light in the morning. Sahensha finally lay docile, all his thick coils still save for the rise and fall of gentle breathing. His breath was warm across Harry's ankles. "Can you heal me, Emperor? I would swear on my fangs to never look upon you."

"What? Why wouldn't you look at me? And what does that mean, to swear on your fangs?"

"It is a promise," the big snake replied, "To swear by the fang. If I break such a promise, it is said that my fangs will fall out in recompense." He seemed to pause, uncertain for the first time, his purple-black tongue tasting the air. "If… you cannot… If the rumors are false, I will go."

"No!"

Harry jumped. He hadn't expected his voice to be so loud. The snake flinched, too, but Harry dropped to a knee and rested his palm on his new friend's nose.

"No," he repeated softly, "Don't go. I don't know if I can fix your eyes, but I don't want you to go without me trying first. How can we know if I don't try?" Harry ran his fingers over the scales. He was careful to avoid the deep purple streaks where blood had dried in cruel forked lines down over Sahensha's eyes. It was a long journey, but the big snake seemed charmed, making a contented hiss and nudging up into Harry's palm carefully. Harry rubbed the snake's nose again and blew gently over his closed eyes.

Sahensha stilled. Harry waited. The big snake breathed slowly. Harry could see the end of his tail twitching in the starlight.

He petted the big snake expectantly. "Did it work? Can you see?"

Sahensha blinked open his heavy eyelids and Harry saw for the first time the mangled eyes, misshapen and folded, creases of broken flesh yellowed with age. He looked straight into the big snake's gaze.

"No," Sahensha lamented, "I cannot."

"Let me try again," Harry insisted, sitting on the ground and pulling the big snake's snout into his lap. He caught Sahensha's thick head in two hands and took a deep breath. This time he blew over both the snake's eyes, not stopping until all the air was rushed out of his lungs. He sat back, a little dizzy with the effort, and blinked a few times.

There was a pale pair of round, yellow eyes blinking back at him.

"Run, Harry Potter!"

Nagini hissed furiously from the grass behind him. Before he could reply or move, Harry found the great thick length of Sahensha rising up around him in a blue and green cocoon. He felt as though he had been swallowed behind a great ocean wave as the forest disappeared from view, replaced by the great coils of Sahensha's body. Two voices called his name in a panic. There was a deep rumbling sound from all around him and Harry realized his new friend was hissing. Harry patted Sahensha's scales urgently. "Wait! Wait, what are you doing?" The scales slowed, but remained wrapped over him protectively. Harry pushed his head up over the thick coils and caught sight of two familiar shapes writhing worriedly ahead. "Sahensha, see? Those are my friends; Indiis and Nagini." He thought about the names snakes often and said, "They are called Aniliidae, and Python. You know them."

The massive snake finally relaxed enough to let Harry climb out from its coils. He jogged to where Nagini and Indiis were hissing frantically.

"You must run, Harry Potter," Nagini chided, sounding terrified. "Hide your eyes! That is Basilisk, King of Snakes."

"It will eat us," Indiis agreed. "We must flee!"

"Sahensha wouldn't eat us," Harry said simply. "He's my friend." He turned back to face the giant snake.

The Basilisk emerged fully from the foliage. He was an arm's length shorter than Nagini but twice as thick, with scales of deep blues and greens. The deep purple grooves from claw marks had become flat patterns in Sahensha's natural scales, like the echo of forked violet lightning. His yellow eyes were open wide but something glossy seemed closed over them. Harry only caught a glimpse of it because Sahensha was looking around and making quiet exclamations of wonder.

Nagini and Indiis kept their own eyes averted cautiously but calmed as they listened to the larger snake. The soft hissing of delight sounded just like Harry.

"So bright! Everything has different patterns! Incredible!" Sahensha dipped his snout to a root, his entire body twitching with anticipation and excitement. "What is this? I have smelled it many times before and touched it. How is it called?"

"That's a root to a tree; it's brown," Harry answered, pleased with himself for knowing, "And you're all blue and green. Except your crest scales, up on your head, where you said it itches. Those are red. Wait, you can't see them… here," he pointed out a flower with a similar color. "These match your scales on the top of your head. Red."

"These, that smell sweet! I have always wondered how they looked. What are these called?"

"Those are flowers! There are more, I don't know all the names but Indiis has been teaching me. These are lavender, violet, poppy, and mint…"

Harry came closer and closer as Sahensha writhed with joy, taking in everything clearly for the first time. Behind them Nagini and Indiis held a whispered conference. When Harry and his newest friend slowed down their exploring enough, the two snakes had touched their snouts to the ground. Curious, Harry patted Sahensha's side and trotted back to them.

"What are you two doing?" he asked. They looked rather silly with their noses in the ground.

"Forgive us, Emperor," Indiis said, "We chose fear over belief."

"Huh?"

Nagini lifted her snout from the dirt a bit, her warm amber eyes blinking up at him. "We assumed you, like all others, would flee the Basilisk's gaze." Harry looked back to Sahensha, whose wide yellow eyes blinked back at him. "What does that mean?" Harry asked.

The Basilisk turned away slowly, casting its newfound sight around the canopy of the forest. It stilled and in the dim starlight Harry nearly lost sight of it.

Something fell from the treetops. It did not get up.

Indiis rose his head. "That is why many flee, Emperor," he hissed softly. "It is death to look into the Basilisk's eyes."

Harry had trotted over to where the owl lay unmoving on the forest floor. It was still warm.

Sahensha tucked his coils all together. He had never felt guilt before for obtaining a meal; this time it was different. He had used his eyes specifically to kill for the first time. What would be the judgement of the Emperor? Would he take back the gift of sight, to spare the lives of others? Would he banish Sahensha from his side? He suddenly did not know which fate was more detestable. The Basilisk coiled nervously and bowed its nose.

"Wow, it's really dead," Harry said as he pulled a feather loose from the owl's wing. "Nagini, can you show me how to eat it?"

Yellow, amber, and bronze eyes looked up in amazement.

Their Emperor stood over the fallen owl. Harry did not seem filled with disgust at the sight of a dead animal, nor did he seem horrified at the ease with which the owl had crumpled from its perch. There was no judgment in Harry's eyes. Just hunger.

Indiis silently renewed his vow to remain at the Emperor's side. Nagini marveled at how lucky she was to have come upon the little Emperor. Sahensha bent his snout to the dirt and swore by his fangs that he would share Harry's life.

Harry wondered what his friends were thinking as they looked at him. He was hungry, and he knew Nagini and Indiis had gone to eat earlier.

"It was nice of Sahensha to show how his eyes work. Maybe you can show me how to eat this? I've seen the human way to pick apart a bird; I don't think I'll like the feathers, though."

"Where should we go now?"

Indiis watched his Emperor finish scraping his blunt teeth over a bone. They had made much of Sahensha's returned sight, rendering seven magic rabbits lifeless. Nagini had eaten three whole before her hunger was sated, Sahensha had taken two and Indiis one. Nagini sleepily instructed Harry on how to strip the fur from the magical rabbit's flesh.

Harry had shown off his skill in making a fire, making warmth for his new friend to curl around, and to turn the meat over. The others had swallowed their meals whole. Harry had tried and felt sick. Instead he stuck the strips of rabbit and bits of owl through a thin branch. Then he toasted the outside crispy over the fire as he had seen his aunt do with marshmallows in winter time. This was much more agreeable and Harry heartily ate most of his meal. He was careful to put out the fire once his meat was darkened. Harry watched until the last ember fizzled and turned to smoke. Then he gathered the remaining bones he'd stripped the meat from.

"I want to keep these," Harry said, "They'll make good snacks for later." He had broken a bone and found the insides soft and savory, good to suck on.

"Burn them," Nagini disagreed, half-asleep from her meal. "Others will smell them. Trouble may come."

Harry laughed and rubbed the deep blue-green scales of the Basilisk. "Indiis promised to protect me. So did you and Sahensha; I'll keep the bones."

"As you wish."

The Python gave a final hiss of content and slept. Harry looked over the lumps in her body and in Sahensha's body. He rubbed his own belly and turned to Indiis.

"Why don't I have a big lump like all of you? I ate plenty."

"I do not know," Indiis said for once. "I cannot say."

Harry shrugged his shoulders, not curious enough to pursue the line of thought, and leaned back against the pile his new friends had made. Nagini had twisted into neat coils. Sahensha had looped himself into a great fat knot. Indiis was small enough to lay against Harry's back as he climbed over the two large snakes and nestled amongst their sides. His emerald eyes shone as he leaned back his head and stared up at the canopy. Above was an intricate web of shadow and starlight. Harry sighed happily as his eyelids grew heavy.

Everything was better than he could have hoped. His adventure had begun! He had three friends now. He was free to go wherever he wanted! No more staying put under the stairs. No more adults making sure he didn't leave the front lawn. He could eat anything Indiis said was safe and he didn't have to share. Everything was exciting! His friends showed him new things, taught him names and words, and promised to protect him. Harry didn't know which felt more full, his heart or his stomach.

"I promise to protect you, too," Harry murmured, and dreamt.

End Chapter