Chapter 24: Some of August
A look in the day of the life of one Emperor of Snakes. Harry is ten now. Next year he'll be eleven, eligible to receive a letter from Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Back on the ground, Harry said good-bye to the group of Kraits. They had milled about, looking around the Nest, before leaving for familiar territory. Baalsam's sire had not requested his youngest follow.
The black snake shook his head. He was not his sire's anymore; now, he belonged to the Emperor.
The human boy had busy days. He rose with the sun and made tiny meals, sometimes of meat, others of fruits and mushrooms, seeds and berries. Baalsam was surprised to learn that the Emperor took a meal every single day, sometimes more than one! But, he was a human, and not a snake, the great Python Nagini explained.
Some days snakes would bring their eggs for him to bless. Other days they came to bid him come to their nests. After that, the Emperor would play with his friends as the sun climbed to its zenith. When the sun rose directly overhead everyone found a place to catch the most light. Some slept, some dozed. As the sun began its descent, snakes would rise and begin to explore the Nest. Most were awake at sunset. Groups of snakes left to hunt, or to explore the surrounding forest.
In dusk the Nest was mostly emptied. At moonrise it was full again. Snakes came back with full bellies or new friends. They gathered around the still-warm Sun Rock to hear their Emperor speak.
Baalsam had nearly jumped out of his scales to see the Emperor draw fire from nothing. It was amazing! Flame, commanded by the Emperor's fingers, came to life and lit the air around them. The bright orange fire burned in a long circle, a snake of heat and light, and wound itself into a circle above the Emperor's head, mirroring the round moon above. Lit by firelight, the Emperor would tell stories.
The best story was the oldest. An Asp had told Baalsam of how all snakes knew it, of how their Emperor had dreamed a dream of the future, and how they searched for years before finding her, the snake that saved their Emperor from his imprisonment.
Nagini lay coiled closest to the Sun Rock on those nights.
Baalsam learned to live to life as one of the Emperor's friends instead of a life as Nothing. He learned to look upon the Basilisk without fear, as the Emperor did. Sahensha kept his killing gaze behind milky white eyelids, but grew fond of the tiny black Krait who could meet his eyes. He asked Indiis endless questions, to which the red snake patiently answered. When the Emperor left the Nest he offered Baalsam a place on his wrist to cling.
The black Krait learned the names of all other snakes, practicing right alongside his Emperor. Harry was happy to help him learn as he had.
"Indiis is Aniliidae. Nagini is Pythonidae, or Python."
"I am Ca... Caeruuuloo," Baalsam said uncertainly, the syllables difficult for his tongue. Harry corrected him. "Caeruleus. Caeruleus. We call you Krait, and your name is Baalsam."
"And you are Haaeeey Potta, Emperor."
"Hae-ree," Nagini instructed. "Harry Potter is his name."
"Humans have strange names," mused Baalsam. Sahensha snickered.
They were practicing names of magical snakes when a commotion occurred in the trees above. Harry looked up to see fur and feather collide; a squirrel had run into a raven. They both dropped to the Nest floor, dazed. A hungry Adder darted forward and Harry lost sight of the squirrel. The black bird squawked loudly. Baalsam felt himself shifting and suddenly his teeth were buried in feathers.
Harry laughed and clapped. "Very good!"
The little Krait kept his teeth tight in the bird's body. It soon stopped flapping. Instinct took over and Baalsam opened his jaws.
Indiis came to coil on Harry's shoulder.
"Summer will end soon, Emperor Harry," he announced.
"Why is that?" Harry asked as he watched their friend make his first meal.
Indiis nodded to the sky. "Ravens fly. This is an early sign. Soon all the trees will turn colors. The grass will turn yellow, then grey. All the world will sleep then."
Harry looked to the sky. Great white, fluffy clouds were beginning to come from the horizon.
"Winter," he murmured.
"Yes. The cold will come," Nagini agreed.
Baalsam burped; a feather flew out of his jaws. He felt so full! His entire body had stretched and stretched and he had finally swallowed the raven whole. Now his coils were heavy and bulky. His neck burned from where the muscles there had pulled and pulled. Everything was sore! It was difficult to move. Baalsam made a plaintive hiss.
Several other snakes nearby laughed at the sound; they knew well his discomfort. Nagini left the Emperor's side to help him along.
"I am so full," he whined as she came close. "My sides will split."
"It was a good kill," Nagini said, "Your bite is strong, little one. Do not move so. Your sides will not split. Rest." The Krait shifted, making himself comfortable in the grass where he had made his meal. Nagini had brought one long loop of her body to circle around him. He felt safer behind the thick wall of her body.
"When I die, put my body by the Sun Rock," Baalsam groaned.
Nagini nudged him sharply with her snout.
"You will not die. This is a big meal, it will take time. Stop speaking of death."
The little Krait swallowed his complaints. Best not to anger the great big python currently looped around him.
Harry wandered over to his friends to watch Baalsam digest. His little friend had never made such a big meal before. His inexperience was showing; he had swallowed up the bird far too quickly. Harry knew that from watching Indiis eat. Small snakes were better suited to smaller animals, but then they had to eat more often.
"Next time eat something smaller. That meal will probably keep you full until the cold season," Harry observed. "Then you only have to eat one more bird before you sleep."
Baalsam blinked his green eyes. "Sleep?"
"The long sleep."
Nagini's head appeared over one of her huge coils. Her tongue flickered out once.
"This one is just hatched, Harry Potter. He does not know."
The Emperor brightened at that.
"That's right. Let me tell you about the long sleep." He came to rest against Nagini's side, his warm arms tucked over the python's body so he could touch the end of Baalsam's tail. "When the birds leave the skies comes the cool season. Everything begins to sleep: trees lose their color and go bare, the grass gets thin, and the big animals begin to hunt. The skies will become all grey and white for days. When you see the first frozen rain come..."
"Frozen rain?"
"Snow," Harry explained, "I'll show you, if you aren't asleep when it happens. When the snow comes, it's a time to sleep. Last cold season everyone found a place to burrow in the Nest and went to sleep for days. It's the longest nap ever."
He tucked a lock of scarlet hair back behind his ear. "Indiis was afraid for me because I don't have scales to keep out the cold. But I showed him my fire that keeps me warm." Harry drew a circle in the air with one finger. A long tongue of fire followed and unfolded around him. It flickered and sparked but held its shape. Baalsam lifted his head to see better. The bright orange-red flame was coiled around the Emperor in an endless loop, a circle of flame.
The black snake thought of when he had received his Name, and of the golden circle that had shone in the Emperor's eyes then. He brought his nose to the ground in reverence.
The sound of Harry's laughter made him look up.
"That's exactly what Indiis did when he saw! He wasn't afraid for me, then." Harry's fire disappeared into smoke. The smoke curled, black and then grey, then wisped upwards into nothing. "Everyone keeps me safe during the warm seasons. Sahensha has saved me with his stare. Nagini has protected me with her body. Indiis has kept me from eating bad mushrooms and weeds. But they all sleep during the cold season. Then it's my turn to protect them."
Baalsam nodded. His whole body felt stretched and full. Harry had stopped petting his tail and was standing.
"Emperor! Where are you going?" the little snake asked.
Harry smiled.
"You don't know it but you'll probably sleep for a day. Big meals need big naps to digest."
The black Krait yawned, his eyes feeling heavy.
"Will I wake before the cold season? I want to see the frozen rain."
Nagini hushed him. "Shut your eyes. Sleep. You will see the frozen rain."
The green-eyed snake nodded drowsily and bid as he was told. Before long sleep stole him and he dreamed of white clouds and grey skies.
End Chapter