Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Told in Drabbles of at Least 100 words, Max 1000 words.

"Here we are." Hermione opened the door to the pet shop and led Tom right inside.

Hermione bent down to Tom's height and fixed his coat. "Okay Tom, go ahead and look around."

Tom briefly glimpsed around the entire place and then patted his way in the back of the shop.

Hermione watched him go and stepped up to the front desk. She smiled at the clerk and told him she would like to buy whatever her son chose. The old clerk merely smiled and started on getting the paper work ready.

Hermione gazed around for Tom and saw him toward the back, peering in some kind of tank. Was this a good idea? She thought back to just yesterday when she announced to Ron that she wanted to do something more for Tom.

"I want to give Tom a pet."

Ron looked at his wife over the newspaper. "What did you have in mind," as he turned the page.

"Well, I was just going to take him with me to the local pet shop."

"Dear," he placed the paper down, walked over to Hermione, and placed his hands on her shoulders. "What brought this on?"

Hermione gave a long sigh. "Tom has already been here a month, Ron. He's been cooped up in the library this whole time." She bit her lip in slight agitation. Was she being a bad mother? Did she not make him feel welcome enough?

Ron just laughed at her. "I remember a certain someone doing the exact same thing," he was grinning from ear to ear at the memory.

Hermione huffed. Well, her husband was right. She recalled spending hours upon hours in the library, reading, learning, memorizing, in yet she still spent time with her family and friends. Oh, the adventures they had, and the adventures only intensified with magic.

"I think a pet is a jolly good idea. The pet might get him to open up some more. Merlin forbid if the kid spoke more than just a few words a day."

Hermione couldn't help the small smile at that. However, it was worrisome. Tom barely spoke. Hermione was determined more than ever now to fix the relationship with their son. Maybe a pet would do just the trick.

Brought back from her thoughts, the brown haired witch scanned the store for her son once more. She spotted him and his gray coat near the back of the store, still staring into the same tank when they had first arrived. Curious at this she slowly crept behind him. She noticed from the reflection that Tom's lips were moving. As she got closer, she definitely heard his voice. What was going on?

"Tom," she said softly and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. Tom instantly flinched and looked up at her, his green eyes slightly wide. "Did you find something"?

Tom relaxed a bit and looked back at the pet in the tank. Hermione bent down to his level and peeked inside wondering what could possibly have gained the young boy's attention.

A snake? That's what he wants? The small serpent was all black; it's scales extremely slick and shiny. Its small, pink, forked tongue slipped out of its mouth every few seconds.

Hermione watched Tom as he simply stared at the creature. It was as if the small animal entranced him. She could swear that his mouth was forming words...they just, didn't make sense.

"Are you sure, you want this snake as a pet"?

Tom looked to her once more. Hermione could tell right away. Yes he did. She could read it in his eyes. That is all Herminie needed as she talked to the clerk, and in just ten minutes they were walking back home.

Hermione held his hand while the other held the much smaller tank that held the snake. "So what are you going to call it"?

"Her."

"Excuse me."

"The snake is a girl."

She watched him holding the tank tightly to his chest as if to warm the small container with his body. Well, snakes did hate the cold.

Hermione smiled at him correcting her. That meant he liked it, right? "Her. What are you going to call her?"

Tom looked inside the container and again he spoke but his words sounded off. Her eyes widened at the sudden realization. Why didn't she think of it before? Some smart bookworm witch she turned out to be.

Tom looked at her and squeezed her hand to get her attention. Hermione almost missed it but she knew it was there. A slight smile made its way to his lips. This was the first time since Tom has been with them that she has seen him smile.

"She says her name is Nagini."

Tom is a parselmouth.

Thanks for reading.