Over double my last word count for this story... but still pretty short. I'm uploading this at 4am, and I have to work at 8:30... so huzzah. Anyway, this is what gets stuck in my head when I'm in the middle of a late night shower. I knew I had to write it down or forget it, so it's all your fault that I'm sleep deprived tonight... although the 12 hours of sleep I got last night might also have something to do with it. Anyway, enjoy!

Tomb Raider and Harry Potter do not belong to me.

"Aunt Lara?" Harry was visible from the library door as nothing more than a round face with a serious grimace. Instantly Lara knew she was going to regret this conversation.

"Yes Harry?" she indicated her interest by snapping closed the book she was reading and placing it back on the shelf. She indicated the two chairs in front of the cold fireplace and sat in one as if she had no cares in the world but for what he needed. It was an attitude that instantly put Harry on edge, Lara was never as accommodating as she was for him, but she had limits even for Harry. He knew she was researching a terrific find, and that somehow he managed to put her back up…

He cursed himself, he shouldn't have indicated that he had anything to hide, though the warm sensation under his jacket arm said otherwise.

"You have time for a few questions?" he asked as he sat opposite her and carefully placed both hands in his lap.

"Of course, dear, now what ever is the problem?"

Damn, she was being polite. He was in trouble, and she didn't even know what she was going to punish him for yet.

"I don't want you to freak out… or tell Remus about this… yet." Harry couldn't look his aunt in the eye; he was basically being as evasive as he could be. Remus had told Lara that most wizarding children (instinctively) would not look into their parents eyes while lying, evading, or being duplicitous in any way. It was a hold over from earlier days when parents could suss out the truth by a talent called oclumency, the real secrets of which had been lost through time. Though, he admitted, a few particular people seemed to have a handle on it and its converse effects.

"What is wrong Harry? I've never known you to keep things from Remus before," Lara worried. Harry was rarely secretive, preferring to get approval on his insane feats instead of a scolding. Also, he reasoned once, if he got hurt doing something Remus could patch him up right away!

"Well, he's keeping things from me…" Harry muttered, leaving unsaid that Lara was as well. They didn't talk about it, but Remus was no longer spending his moon days at the mansion, and Lara knew why.

"Harry…" Lara hesitated, still unsure as to why Remus was still being so secretive about Sirius. It had been five months now, and still no sign of the liberated wizard. She supposed they had a lot to talk over, but it was getting ridiculous.

"Never mind, listen, I just wanted permission for an aquarium in my room," Harry got out quickly, once again shifting a bit uncomfortably as something tickled his wrist under his jacket.

"Harry…" Lara smirked. "What have you got under there?"

Harry looked away, his eyes a bit wide. "What do you mean? Under where?"

"Just show me, and we'll talk about it," Lara almost let loose a peel of relieved giggles. She stopped herself before the indignity could occur, but it was close. All Harry wanted to do was keep a frog or something! She remembered the "pet" worm she tried to keep in a jar next to her bed when she was seven. She forgot to poke air holes in it.

Harry sighed and stood carefully, pulling the jacket off and sheepishly shrugged when her breath caught in her throat.

Carefully curled around Harry's arm was a thick black snake! Wound around Harry's arm like it was, it was difficult to determine length, but Lara estimated a good 40-50 cm. It lazily lifted its head, hissed something, and laid its head back down on Harry's wrist. Harry scoffed a bit and stroked the scales from the slightly raised snout ridge, between its eyes, and back down its spinal dorsal scales.

"Harry, that's an adder, they are poisonous," Lara said as if speaking to a deficient child, which she knew her small cousin was not.

"I know," Harry replied easily. "I looked it up."

"Harry, how long has that been on your person?"

"A few hours, she likes me, she likes that I'm warm." He grinned and continued petting the dangerous thing. "I researched Aunt Lara, in the past hundred years only 14 bites have been fatal, out of tens of thousands. She won't hurt me, I promise. All I want is an aquarium for her."

"All you want is an aquarium?" Lara stood carefully, no sudden movements, though the snake still tracked her movement with a swinging head.

"Yes." Harry smiled charmingly, prepared to lay it on thick, when the snake hissed something. Momentarily distracted, Harry hissed back. The snake, amazingly, seemed to take his word for it and lay back down on his wrist. He looked back up at Lara and noted the frozen shock on her features. He grimaced as if he'd been caught flooding the kitchen with the garden hose again.

"She says that the library stinks of werewolf," Harry shrugged. "I told her that's because a werewolf lives here. She seemed to be okay with it."

"She says?"

"I found her in the garden, I almost stepped on her and she swore at me like a New York cabbie." Harry smiled; he had some new insults for Neville the next time he visited. "We had a lovely conversation," he continued a bit mockingly. "And I asked if she'd like to hang around for a bit so that we could learn more about our amazing ability to transcend the language barriers!"

"Stop being a smart ass," Lara snapped. Harry blushed a bit, but didn't back down.

"Please?" He so rarely asked for anything, Lara sighed, if he really wanted to keep a pet snake then so be it.

"She'll stay in her aquarium?"

"Yes," Harry smiled, aware that he'd won.

"I don't want her slithering around the house and scaring Hilary to death. The poor man hates snakes." She shouted after Harry as the boy started to leave the library.

"That's fine Aunt Lara!" He exclaimed as he waved to someone out in the hallway. Bryce passed by Lara's line of sight as he followed Harry down the hall. The skinny tech was carrying a large glass aquarium. Lara snickered; obviously Harry was planning on winning the argument. Though the parting shot reiterated her initial trepidation, "She doesn't want to move much anyway until the baby's are born!"

"Babys?" She rushed to the door and shouted at Harry's back.

"Nu-uh! You said yes! You can't take it back!" Harry shot back as he rounded the corner, Bryce close behind him. When no other protest came she heard an inspired evil chuckle echoing down the hallway.

Sighing she leaned back against the door jamb. "He's going to be the death of me yet," she muttered. "I just know it."

I looked up the information on adders on wikipedia... en./ wiki/ Viperaberus#Description (take out spaces), and just so you know I'm thinking this is set in late October... I looked back over my story and I couldn't see that I put a time line anywhere. So now, if you can find something I missed I'd be grateful, but I'm saying it's October and Harry is nine. I'm going to start introducing more Wizards soon, Harry really hasn't had alot of interaction with various Wizards, except for Remus who is a constant. I'm thinking that Mrs. Longbottom has kept in touch, but Dumbledoor and his crew would still stay behind the scenes until Hogwarts... and I have some odd views on whats going to change and what is going to stay the same in first year!

Also, my friend just told me that some things were off... I skipped Harry's birthday, apparently that's a sin. I didn't include it because, to me, it doesn't matter what he got for his ninth birthday. He grew up in a loving home, he got presents; he can't remember never getting presents because he was only in Petunia's care for a week, tops. Also, it's boring to me to figure out what he would get. It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. I can't remember what I got for my ninth birthday, neither will Harry in a few years. Harry calls the glass case an aquarium because that's what it was last used for. A terrerium is for spiders, and I don't know what else to call it because I'm tired. And yes, I use a few big words, mostly when writing Lara or Remus. I do this because they are intellegent people and they think in those words. Pay attention, I use smaller words for Harry because he's not a walking dictionary, yet. Wait until he meets Hermione!! Until next time! Thanks for reading!