DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or any of it's Characters, and if you would be so kind as to review I would be very happy. Thank You
Chapter 13 -- A New Bond
It had been several hours since Neville left Harrington Palace and Harry was busy storing and organizing everything in his wonderful trunks. Taking a glance at his watch, Harry couldn't help but smile as he realized that it had only been several minutes since Neville's departure. It would definitely take some time to get used to this time delay function. Harry had spent all this time in only one compartment, the potions lab, and he wasn't even half way done yet. Modeling his storage cabinets after Snape's, after all if the slimy git was anything, he was a competent potions master. Along the way of organizing all the ingredients, Harry was making another list of ingredients that he was either missing or was low on, He wanted to have the most comprehensive potions lab in all of England. Thinking about how his lab would look once finished, a little smile came across his face at how jealous Snape would be if he knew Harry had this lab.
Stepping back into his closet, Harry turned around and closed the lid then shrunk the trunk. After picking it up off the ground, he slipped into his trunk bracelet and watched it as it disappeared. Taking the smaller trunk out of the bracelet, he walked over to the far corner of his closet, just under where are his suits were hanging, and placed it against the far wall where it was hidden well under his clothes, as long as it was shrunk. He thought this would be a good time to do a little field test. Leaving his closet, he walked over to the foot of his bed and re-opened his larger trunk and entered it. Pressing the last button, he watched as the door changed into an all gold door with the Potter crest in blazing white. Opening the door, he was blown away again.
The small four bedroom living quarters that he was expecting was not what he was actually looking at. This looked like a small mansion, in fact from where he was standing, it looked bigger then Malfoy mansion. Thinking he would take the time to explore this place further later, smirking to himself, he wondered how extravagant Mister Whitehead made this place, he made his way over to the huge walk in fireplace to see a small note hanging from the mantle. Picking it up, he read.
H.
Please Remember, when flooing in from a registered Floo, you are the ONLY one who can enter. Of course when flooing from another trunk, anyone you grant access too by keying them into the trunks wards will be granted access. That goes for anyone leaving the trunk to a registered floo connection as well. So if you and four friends wanted to leave this trunk and lets say go to the Leakey Calderon, that would be fine, but leaving the Leakey to return to this trunk, you would be fine but your friends would be in grave peril. With that being said, the name of this trunk is Harrington One and the smaller trunk is Harrington Two.
Best of luck again H. and don't be afraid to use this trunk for pleasure as well as business. Merlin knows if anyone deserves to let loose every once in a while, it's you!
Forever your servant
H.W.
Harry set the note down back on the mantle and he thanked Merlin for Mister Whiteheads generosity, he was going to be floating a lot of business his way, it's the least he could do for everything his family has done for him. Glancing at the mantle, Harry spotted a small pot, hoping it was floo powder, he wasn't disappointed as he scooped up a small handful and stepped into the fireplace. "Harrington Two" he clearly stated and was whisked off, stepping out in a smaller version of the mansion he was just in. A huge smile spread across his face as he spotted the similar gold door with white Potter crest on it and made his way over to it.
Just like he thought, as he got closer, he spotted the small monitor with the four small black buttons except there was a gold button that he didn't recall seeing in the larger trunk. Looking out at the monitor, he realized that his experiment was a success. Not only did he floo into this trunk, but he did it while the trunk was shrunken, thus leaving him an excellent hideout. While looking out the monitor, he pressed the gold button and watched the trunk rise, slightly squishing some of his suits. He couldn't wipe the stupid grin off his face no matter how hard he tried as he pressed the gold button again and watched the trunk shrink again.
After flooing back to Harrington One, Harry stepped out his trunk, then re-shrunk it and placed it in his bracelet as he thought to himself, "man I am super lucky." He was tired after getting his potions lab in somewhat order he decided to take a little nap. Seeing how he just saved about five hours doing work in his trunk, he could waste a few hours sleeping to make up. Taking a running leap, he jumped on his huge master bed and set his glasses down on the nightstand and closed his eyes. Even as he slept, he still wore that stupid little smile, it was like it was permanently stuck to his face. The last thought that crossed his mind before entering the dream world was, "I love that Mister Whitehead"
Harry woke up several hours later to an alarm ringing, he sat up quickly, fumbling for his glasses as he jumped out of bed, wand at the ready thinking someone had triggered the wards surrounding Number 4, in actuality it was his cell phone that was ringing like crazy on the opposite side of his room. Realizing his mistake, he made his way over and answered the phone.
"Hello?…..oh hey Nev, what's up?" said Harry
"I am just leaving Mrs. Taylor's house, she is an old friend of my Gran's and she is an amazing Herboligist, she gave me tons of ideas to get started, I have GH1 and GH2 all mapped out and ready, I was going to stop by Diagon Alley and pick up everything we need, do you want to meet me there, it would be a lot easier carrying all these supplies back if you brought one of your cool new toys, if you know what I mean." Neville finished as Harry just laughed.
"Yeah, Nev…no problem, in fact I just made a rather extensive shopping list of potion ingredients that I need to pick up as well, lets say I'll meet you at Magical Menagerie in twenty minutes, look for Mister Harrington, if you know what I mean."
"Okay, but why there? Why not meet at the Leakey?" asked Neville
"Well mostly cuzz it won't be as busy as the Leakey, and I need to buy some new perch's for Hedwig to go into my new toys." Harry answered as Neville agreed and both hung up their phones. Harry smirked as he spoke out loud to himself. "He's only had that cell phone for a couple of days and he already knows how to use it better then me."
After jumping in the shower and getting dressed in a nice pair of black slacks and a nice dress shirt, Harry took a look at himself in the mirror and was happy with what he saw.
After making sure he had everything he needed, he walked into the closet and enlarged his smaller trunk, pushing some of his suits down the rack a little so as not to squish them every time he resized his trunk. Before walking down he called out to Winky.
"Yes Master Harry, what can Winky be doing for you?" replied the little House Elf.
"I will be heading to Diagon Alley with Neville to pick up more supplies, we will both be heading back here in a few hours and we are expecting misses Krista and Jennifer to join us as well for dinner. Can you please have something prepared for us, say around seven thirty, that would be most excellent." asked Harry.
"Of course Master, as you wish, any requests?" asked the little Elf.
"Not at all Winky, anything that is made by you will be very delicious, so why don't you surprise us." Harry finished with a beaming smile as Winky blushed and stared at the ground as she simply nodded. Before she disappeared, Harry could have sworn he saw a little hint of a smile. Making his way down into the trunk, he shrunk it, then walked over towards the fireplace before changing his appearance to James Harrington and took one final look at himself before grabbing some floo powder and calling out, "The Leakey Calderon, Diagon Alley" before disappearing in the green flames.
Stepping out of the floo in the Leakey Calderon, Harry quickly took stock of his surrounding environment, not spotting any immediate danger, he gave a quick nod to Tom the barman and made his way out back to the hidden entry way to Diagon Alley.
The Alley wasn't that busy tonight, mostly the older crowd, not many Hogwarts students milling around at this hour. Harry quickly made his way to Magical Menagerie and entered the store.
After a quick scan of the store, or at least from what he could see from the entrance, Harry couldn't see Neville anywhere yet, so he decided to take care of business. Making his way towards the owl sections, he was momentarily distracted by a few girls in the isle over who let out a small scream. Pulling his wand in a flash, Harry made his way to the opposite isle in lightning time. Expecting the worse, he was surprised to see three girls that must have been around the ages of twelve or so looking at him with horrified expressions. Stowing away his wand while looking past the girls with a confused look on his face, the three girls pushed past him, as they did they murmured, "first that ugly pitiful excuse of a pet, then that freak brandishing his wand at us, I mean really." finished the first girl just as the other girl spoke. "I don't understand why they even have those in here, who would be dumb enough to actually spend their gold on such a hideous creature."
As the girls turned and vanished down another isle, Harry looked over to where the girls had come from. Sitting there in a rather small glass tank, was a rather large black snake with slight gold coloring around the head that spiraled all the way down it's long body. Looking further down the isle, looking for this hideous creature that was previously mentioned, Harry was at a loss. I Mean surly those girls weren't talking about this snake, understandably, snakes are not considered fluffy cute little animals, but ugly, hideous, and pitiful excuse for a pet? Harry just couldn't see it. Shaking his head at how ignorant wizarding England has become, Harry wondered if this prejudice against an entire species had anything to do with that bastard Tom Riddle?
As Harry continued his walk towards the back of the store towards the owl accessories, those girls words kept floating to his forefront thoughts. By the time Harry reached his desired section he was literally fuming. How dare those little bitches, who were they to throw judgment on a completely different species. For all they knew, that snake in it's culture and world could have been considered quite the specimen. Then it hit him, and hit him hard, like a brick in the face. How could he have been so stupid, he spoke parseltounge. If you were going to have a pet, what better then one you could actually converse with. Making up his mind right there on the spot, Harry turned on his heal, and made a bee line towards that glass tank.
As Harry got closer, he had a horrible thought, what if this snake didn't like Harry? What if he wanted nothing to do with him? All of a sudden Harry grew nervous, almost as if he was walking into an interview or something. As he approached cautiously, he took a glance around to see all who could hear him, I mean he didn't want Lord James Harrington to be known as a parselmouth. No one was around at the moment, Harry pulled his wand, then cast a wide range Muffliato, just in case anyone walked by while he was talking. At the notice of a spell being used, the snake coiled up towards the back of the small glass tank.
" Ohh great, here we go again, if it isn't the girls screaming, it's the ruddy boys trying to harm me or scare me, when will the stupid people learn that they will never sell me and just set me free or put me out of my misery." said the snake in a slightly outraged yet very annoyed tone of voice.
At hearing this proclamation, Harry let out a small chuckle as the Snake straightened up and looked Harry dead in the eyes.
"Could it be? No, no, it just isn't possible." the snake kept repeating over and over. Harry decided to intervene.
" Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear, if you would allow me, I would like to buy you. Wait that didn't sound right, what I meant was, I would like to take you away from this horrid place. I would consider it an honor if you wanted to hang around and become a friend, but if you don't like me or something, I will take you to wherever it is you want and let you free." Harry finished somewhat bashfully. He hoped that all came out in parseltounge, he couldn't tell sometimes, after all it just sounded like English to him.
Harry looked up shyly waiting for a response, he looked the snake in the eyes as the snake finally spoke.
"How is this possible, there hasn't been a human that can speak our language in centuries. I mean I heard rumors while on the hunt but those were all about the utmost of evil creatures, and I don't sense that in you." Finished the snake.
"Why thank you, and I am not, but I can answer all those questions for you, but it is an extremely rare gift and I am considered much the freak in my world as those stupid humans call you for having this ability, so If you wouldn't mind, do you think we could get out of here and continue this conversation in private?"
The snake still looked absolutely bewildered, it didn't know what to think, a human that can speak their language and was offering help to escape this dreadful place. Really, what was there to think about.
"I would be honored to get to know you, but I accept your offer for freedom if I find out your evil or something." the snake reminded him as Harry chuckled before the snake talked again. " my name is Alissa, and I can't believe this is happening." she finished.
Harry laughed even more, "Of course, a female, with that attitude, how could you not be. I do have a question though, are you a poisonous breed?" Harry asked.
"I am, but my bite wont kill unless I empty my venom sacks completely, which leaves me quite defenseless." Alissa replied.
Harry nodded before adding, "I pledge my magic that I will never willfully harm you if you do the same, I would really hate to be bitten, if you know what I mean." Harry declared embarrassedly.
Alissa simply nodded before she said, "You are a strange wizard but I agree to make said pledge. I would also hate to be bitten by you." Harry chuckled again at hearing that, he had a feeling that they were going to get along just perfectly. As Harry looked around to see if he could spot an associate, he decided he should explain his actions before he offended her and ruined their relationship before it ever got started.
"Alissa, I want you to understand that I am in no way ashamed of you and I will explain everything to you in private tonight, but some of the things you might hear me say to this ignorant associate is merely for image sake. I know that probably doesn't make sense to you but I promise I will explain tonight." Harry finished just as the associate spotted Harry waving his hand to signify that he needed assistance.
As the associate got closer, he heard Alissa say, "I understand, you will not offend me, just get me the hell out of here!" Harry started busting up suddenly as the associate looked at him like he was crazy or something.
"Can I help you with something sir?" asked the associate kind of rudely until he realized this young man was wearing Armani and just pulled out a Gringotts wallet, and they only give those out to the filthy rich. He thought quickly before speaking again.
"I'm sorry sir, I have been really swamped out here today, I didn't mean to take it out on you. What can I help you with tonight?" said the associate in a much more pleasant tone.
Harry chuckled silently to himself as he thought, "what a suck up, it's funny how quickly they change when they see a Gringotts wallet, I will have to thank Whiplock again for that.
"There are several things I need actually. I need two top of the line owl perch's as well as your best self serve water and food bowls. I would also like to purchase this snake here and this list of supplies." Harry finished as he handed over a small list of items he needed for his potions stores.
The associate looked over the list before speaking, "That wont be a problem sir, but did I hear that you wanted to buy this snake?"
"Yes, that's right, Is there some kind of problem with that?" asked Harry with a curious tone.
"Well no…of course not…it's just…well… I mean, it's a rightful deadly snake and it hasn't allowed anyone to get close to her, I've had her for months with no prospected buyers whatsoever." said the associate.
"Then the way I see it, it looks like I'm doing you a favor by taking her off your hands. So enough with all this chit chat, I really don't have the time for it. Please place her in a box, I won't be needing a tank or any other container and might I make a suggestion?" asked Harry as the associate nodded as he cast Accio and a large brown box that soared to his feat as he opened the glass tank and levitated Alissa into the box before Harry continued.
"It seems to me that if you had this snake for as long as you have, maybe you shouldn't get anymore snakes to sell here, It doesn't give you any business and scares the regular customers and I'm sure the snakes don't like it either." Harry finished as he watched the associates expression change to actually ponder that thought.
"You know, I never really thought about it like that before. I think you might be right, I have only sold three snakes since I opened this shop and the other two were food for other animals." The associate handed Harry the box sealed with Alissa inside as he continued. "I will go complete your order and meet you over at that counter over there to square your payment."
"That will be most appreciative, please spare no expensive on the two perch's, nothing but the best for my Familiar." Harry saw the grin on the associates face as he practically ran to finish his order. Harry chuckled to himself as he made his way over towards the counter the associate mentioned. On his way to said counter, he ran into Neville who looked slightly flustered.
"Hey Nev, what's wrong mate? You look a little frazzled." Harry asked as Neville sighed as he ran his hand through his hair.
"Oh nothing, just the Leaky was packed for some reason and it took forever to get here. Hey what's in the box?" Neville asked.
"Only my new Familiar, well that is if we get along well enough, I'll explain later. I am almost finished up here and then we'll hit The Golden Greenhouse and then I need to pick up a whole lot of stuff at the Apothecary." Harry declared as Neville simply nodded as the Associate was making his way back to the counter.
"Here is everything you requested on your list in this bag and in this bag are your owl supplies." declared the associate as he handed over the two large bags as Neville helped Harry by grabbing the two packages as Harry paid for everything, thanked the associate and picked up Alissa as he and Neville made for the exit.
Once they made it outside, Harry dragged Neville off to the side, right next to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour which was not very crowded at the moment. Harry pulled out his trunk, re-sized it then put it on the ground. Before he opened it he turned to Neville and said.
"Nev, Hang back a second, I am going to go down real quick and drop off these packages, I might be a minute or two, if you want, you could get some ice cream while you wait, my treat."
"Nah, that's okay Harry, take your time, I'm gonna go over my lists of supplies while I think of what to do for GH3." Finished Neville as he pulled out some parchment and a quill and started scratching away. Harry simply chuckled as he opened the lid and press the last black button and entered the trunk.
When he got to the bottom of the stairs, he quickly made his way to the door and entered. After setting his packages down on one of the couches he set the box down and opened it up to let Alissa out.
Alissa slithered out and took a look around while stretching out completely before she turned and faced a smiling Harry.
"Ohh it feels so good to stretch, I can't remember the last time I've been able to stretch like this." said Alissa
Harry just chuckled as he finally got a good look to how big she actually was before speaking. "I am sorry Alissa, nobody deserves to be cooped up and caged like that, are you hungry or anything?" Harry asked curious.
"No thank you, I ate yesterday, I should be good for a couple more days. I realized that you never said your name?" asked Alissa
" I know, that was because I didn't want to lie to you, I promise that I will explain everything tonight but I do have to finish running some more errands, feel free to explore the place and rest wherever you like. We will have a nice long discussion in a few hours or so okay? Oh and by the way, my name is Harry. See ya later." Harry finished as he made his way to the door.
"Okay, see you then Harry" called out Alissa as Harry left closing the door behind him.
After a minute in thought as she slithered around loving every minute of her newfound freedom, she came to a sudden conclusion, "His name was Harry, could it be?"
Stepping out of his trunk, Harry quickly closed the lid and re-shrunk his trunk and stowed it in his bracelet as he watched it disappear. A huge smile broke out across his face, no matter how many times he watched the bracelet disappear, he never got tired of it. Sitting across from Neville who was still busy scratching away.
"You ready to hit The Golden Greenhouse Nev?" Harry asked as Neville quickly stowed his parchment away and jumped up out of his seat. Harry smirked at the gleam in Neville's eye at the thought of a mini shopping spree in his favorite shop.
"Absolutely, I am. I haven't been this excited since Gran let me have my very own Greenhouse at Longbottom Manor. Thanks again for letting me plan all this out for you Harry, it's great practice for me for later in life, I never told anyone this but, one day I hope to replace Professor Sprout someday." Neville finished with a far away look in his eyes.
"Are you kidding me Nev, I should be thanking you, I am going to be learning so much from you, I would be completely lost here without you. As for you taking over Professor Sprout's Teaching job, I cant think of anyone more qualified in this area then you Nev. You know, if I make it out of this war in one piece, I might try teaching Defense Against The Dark Arts, then not only will we be blood brothers but colleagues as well." Replied Harry with huge grin at that thought.
Neville laughed at that as the two made their way to Neville's little slice of heaven in Diagon Alley as he thought about Professor Potter and Professor Longbottom. "I like the thought of that." said Neville as the two strode down the Alley.
Several hours later, a very tired Harry and Neville popped into Harry's bedroom back at Harrington Palace, thanks to the assistance of one House Elf named Dobby. Harry was starting to feel a little tired from all the shopping but Neville was so in his element in The Golden Greenhouse, that he actually looked more energized then he did before they started shopping. As he watched Neville plop down in a chair at the table, he pulled out some parchment and a quill and continued his scratching away.
Glancing at the clock, Harry knew that they were supposed to have dinner in around a half hour from now but he still had to discuss things with Alissa and he needed to unwind a little bit, and as much as he loved spending time with Jenn and Krista, they tended to leave him emotionally drained sometimes.
"Hey Nev, I'm supposed to send Dobby to pick up the girls in about thirty minutes or so, but I need to go down and sort things out with Alissa and I think I am going to take a long relaxing bath before getting dressed for dinner. Seeing how you are so engrossed in your GH plans, I figured you might want to maybe get started down there now." Harry asked as he watched Neville excitedly jump from his seat, grasping the parchment with a wicked gleam in his eyes.
"That sounds like a perfect plan Harry, I have to set up GH2 before I even start planting anything and that will take a little while. I will start mixing the special soil mixture that Mrs. Taylor recommended for GH1." Said Neville as he followed Harry into his closet.
"Okay Nev, but don't get to carried away, two, three hours tops okay. In the back of the main room, you will find all the tools you need in those storage cabinets as well as some overalls to change into, I wouldn't want you to embarrass yourself the first time meeting Krista & Jennifer with soil stains all over your clothes." Laughed Harry as Neville simply nodded.
"Will you be bringing out Alissa at dinner time, I would love to meet her. I think it's super wicked that you have a snake Familiar now, I mean if I could speak snake language, you bet your ass I would how a few snake Familiars." Said Neville as he watched Harry pull out his trunk and enlarged it as he pulled open the lid.
Laughing at what Neville just said, Harry and Neville walked down into his trunk, pulling the lid closed as they entered. Reaching the bottom, Harry pressed the button to open The Herbology compartment and turned to face Neville as they watched the Green door float into view down the hallway.
"That does seem to make sense though, doesn't it? I mean who turns down a Familiar that they could actually converse with? I have a feeling though, that most people will not see it that way. I will get yelled at for being evil and more rumors will fly about, but really I don't care. As long as she and I have an understanding and as our bond deepens, all the haters can go to hell." finished Harry as Neville laughed as he made his way to the door.
"I like this knew Harry who doesn't care what others say about him. The moody, brooding Harry wasn't much fun." laughed Neville before he continued. " As for what the others say about Alissa, who cares, let them talk, it's only jealousy. As far as I'm concerned, if she's a friend of yours, then she's a friend of mine. I will even give her a kiss smack dab in the middle of the Great Hall." Neville finished as he opened the door and walked in closing it behind him.
Harry just chuckled at the thought of Neville kissing Alissa in the middle of the Great Hall in front of everyone. Shaking those thoughts away, he pressed the last button and watched the golden door float into view. As he entered the living quarters, he called out for Alissa as he closed the door behind him.
Walking in to the huge entrance hall, Harry still hadn't fully explored this compartment yet, but seeing how Mister Whitehead had elaborated on the other compartments, Harry was curious what he did to the living quarters. The main thing he was hoping for was an immaculate restroom that he was now absolutely addicted too. Funny, he had always been accustomed to whatever meager means was afforded to him, but now, having not only the ability, but the money to literally do and have whatever he pleased, well there's just no going back from that.
Walking past the huge fireplace, Harry made his way across the hall and opened a door and stepped inside. Looking around to a rather large living area with plenty of comfortable seating, it had two massive staircases on either side of the opposite wall from the door that met in the middle on the second landing. Looking up he studied the beautiful woodwork on the landing banister before his eyes drifted around this living area. He noticed there was another door off to the side and he decided to check this door out before heading up the stairs.
Opening the door, he looked onto a very exquisite kitchen, complete with a very large dining table. Exiting the kitchen, he made his way to the stairs to investigate the second floor. As he reached the second floor hallway, he peered down the hallway and spotted another set of stairs on the far side of the hallway. There was four doors on either side of the hallway and as he made his way to the stairs, he peeked inside each door and what he found were three moderate sized bedrooms and one large bathroom on each side. Walking up the stairs leading to the third floor, they spiraled up and when he reached the third floor he spotted two doors. One was all the way down this third floor hallway and the other was just to the right of the stairs.
Peaking in the door that was closest, he observed another Bedroom, but this one was massive. It had a huge living area, complete with small table and a nice plush sofa. There were two other doors in this room that Harry assumed were a bathroom and maybe closet. Quickly closing the door, he made his way down the Hallway to the last door. Opening it slowly, he walked inside and strangely felt right at home, it was kind of weird. Walking over to the bed, he took a seat and leaned back and was instantly smothered in comfort. This bed was actually better then the one he had outside this trunk, and a smile came across his face.
Sitting back up, he noticed that this room was slightly bigger then the one previous but it felt so comfortable, it also had two doors but this time he wanted to investigate. Opening the first one, it was much like he thought, a nice sized walk in closet. Now the moment he was looking forward to, the master bathroom. Crossing his fingers he opened the door fast with his eyes closed. Waiting a second, he finally opened his eyes and he wasn't disappointed, the bathroom was gorgeous. It wasn't very large but it had a decent size tub with Jacuzzi features and over to the other side it had a five head shower that was also decent size. The floor was made of marble and seemed to be heated, as he made his way around the little wall where he guessed the toilet was located, He finally spotted Alissa, coiled around the base of the toilet, apparently asleep.
"Allisa,…… wake up…….. Alissa,….. I'm back" said Harry as he walked back over towards the tub and turned on the water as it began to fill, Harry turned back around to watch Alisssa slithering over towards him. Catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror, he almost forgot that he was still wearing his disguise as one James Harrington and figured he should explain before removing it.
"Alissa, I mentioned before that I would explain everything to you and I am going to do just that right now. First, I mentioned that I did not want to be seen with you in public due to others impressions, but like I also said, I am NOT ashamed or embarrassed of you. It's just this, what you see, is not the real me. I wear this disguise in public so I can go about my business in peace. I am going to introduce you to the real me, don't be startled." Said Harry as he pulled his wand and cast the spells and charms to remove his disguise.
As Alissa watched Harry's earlier spells fade, she soon was staring into the greenest eyes she had ever seen on a wizard. Her glance looked a little higher and her earlier calculations seemed to be spot on, she just couldn't believe it, what were the odds.
"Harry Potter" Alissa almost whispered as she started blinking rapidly and backed away from Harry slightly.
Harry was at a complete loss of words at here recognition of who he was, so much so that he stood there gaping at her before his mind caught up and he spoke.
"How do you know who I am?" Harry said although from the tone of his voice, you could tell he was still a little shell shocked.
Alissa seemed to be a little shell shocked as well but recovered faster then Harry and actually starting laughing, although it sounded kind of funny to Harry, he wasn't sure if she was laughing or having some kind of panic attack or something. After several seconds past, Alissa finally calmed down, turning kind of serious, she peered into Harry's eyes and scooted closer to him before speaking.
"You should know better then that, there are very few creatures who do not know the story of one Harry Potter, as for my species specifically, you are legendary! I still can not believe this is happening to me, I prayed and prayed for freedom, and when that future looked bleak, I prayed for death, and now I am given the choice to have my freedom anywhere I choose, or become the Familiar of none other then The Harry Potter. Give a girl a second to compose herself here, your lucky I haven't dropped dead from all the stress." Finished Alissa with a little bit of mirth in her tone.
Harry laughed at that before he started to digest everything she just said. As he opened his mouth to say something, he was interrupted by Alissa.
"Before we go any further, could you possibly get me something to eat, you said you would be back in a couple of hours, but it was more like days." said Alissa as a sudden realization came over Harry and he stood up abruptly with a look of panic and called out.
"Dobby!" Harry said with panic evident in his tone as Dobby silently appeared as Alissa backed up a little as Harry continued to address Dobby.
"I need you to do two things for me right away, the first is I need you to get me a refillable food bowl specific to snakes right away. The second thing is I need you to visit Mister Whitehead, the Trunk creator and ask him if there is anyway to remove the time delay function temporarily or if there is any way to modify the time distribution." Harry declared as Dobby disappeared instantly as Harry turned to address Alissa again.
"I am so sorry Alissa, I forgot about the time delay function that exists within this trunk, where it truly was only hours outside, in here in was much longer, and I am very sorry, If we can not adjust this problem, I will never leave you in here when I am not present, I promise." Harry declared as he felt extremely guilty for what he had done. What a way to make a first impression on a new familiar, introduce yourself, barely, then abandon them for little over a week, without food or water. Harry suddenly shuttered at the thought of what would happen to him if he had done the same thing to Hedwig. She would probably nip his ear right off his head.
Alissa was inwardly smirking, the rumors that she had heard growing up in the forest about this individual in front of her did not do him justice. He was extremely noble and caring, yes these were some of the traits that had been rumored but to even a snake, especially one that he had just met. She was very good at reading people's intentions and true feelings, and she knew that the remorse he was feeling were his true feelings. Before she could speak to reassure him that she was not upset just really hungry, they were interrupted by Dobby's return.
After hurriedly setting down the rather large square dish on the floor in front of Alissa, Dobby made his way to Harry, and handed him a note. Alissa slithered over to the dish, and as she got close, huge juicy dead rats appeared instantly on one side and water on the other as she began to feast before Harry began to read.
Dear H.
My utmost apologies for not clarifying the details regarding the time delay function, so let me do so now. First, yes you can adjust the time delay but can not extend the time longer then the 1 hour to 1 minute ratio. But you can lower it all the way down to no time delay at all. Most importantly, anyone keyed into the trunks wards can do so and each compartment can be set for different time delay options simultaneously. While in the compartment you wish to change, walk over to the monitoring screen near the door, and place your hand on the actual monitor screen for five seconds. You will then hear a small series of beeps then follow the on screen commands to the options of your choice.
I again apologize for not explaining this to you for I have a very similar trunk and I never change the time delay and forget that you might need to on occasion. If you have any other question, please feel free to drop a line.
Your friend
H.W.
Harry's smile practically lit up the entire room as he began to chuckle very loudly, startling both Alissa and Dobby before declaring, "Bloody Brilliant! Thank you Dobby for running those errands for me, and so quickly, Alissa and I both appreciate it." Harry finished as Dobby blushed before nodding and disappearing as Harry smiled.
"Alissa, do you mind if I unwind in the bath while you finish eating and then we can continue getting to know one another?" Harry asked as Alissa turned her head towards Harry and nodded before returning to her re-filling food platter.
As Harry got undressed and entered the Jacuzzi Bath, he instantly began to relax as he waited for Alissa to finish her meal. Oddly he was looking forward to the impending conversation. Harry had a feeling, this was the start of a beautiful relationship.