Okay, as you probably should know by now, nobody on this site owns Harry Potter unless they somehow have the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling.

"Parseltongue"

"Normal Talk"

Thoughts/emphasis/Animal talk

Enjoy!

Harry boarded the Knight Bus angrily, his aunt Marge having pissed him off by insulting his late parents. The snake from before was back, and Harry had lied to Stan by saying that it was his pet, and Hedwig had gone flying into the night in disgust. There was a large black dog, apparently communicating with the snake, but the dog had fled when the bus showed up.

"So, where are you going? Did you find your owner?" Harry asked, and the snake shook its head. Snape hadn't really found what he was looking for, but had been too busy trying not to get killed by Black to see what else was nearby in that cellar, although it reeked to high heaven of Pettigrew and arousal.

"No, I have not. I'm staying with you until I do, or until you must go without me," he said, and Harry's eyes widened.

"You know about Hogwarts? We're bound to find your person there!" he said gleefully just before the bus came to a screeching halt. Snape had coiled himself around Harry's arm, and was thankfully safe from the force of the momentum, albeit still nauseated.

"There you are," Cornelius Fudge greeted. "We were worried about you, Harry!"

"Fuck off, moron," Snape spat angrily, baring his fangs.

"Hey, what's with the language all of a sudden? He's the minister of magic," Harry objected, and Snape glared at him.

"He put the wrong person in jail. A teen's godfather was put in jail for a crime the illegal animagus commit," Snape explained, not revealing everything.

"Sir, what's an animagus?" Harry asked, and the minister immediately became confused. "The snake said that you put an innocent man in prison for a crime that an illegal animagus commit, and the animagus escaped without a hitch."

"An animagus, dear Harry," Fudge explained hesitantly. "Is a witch or wizard that can transform into an animal. May I see your snake?"

"Okay," Harry said warily handing the snake over. Fudge looked the snake over for a bit, and smiled knowingly.

"I see," he said at last. "So that's how it is. Tell him that if he will supply the illegal animagus and the veritaserum, then we will do the rest."

Harry was confused, but translated anyways. "Wait, are you – are you an animagus?" Harry asked, and the snake nodded. "May I meet you in person?" Snape shook his head – he couldn't blow his cover with Potter yet. He needed to keep it as secret as possible for as long as possible.

Two weeks later Harry set off for Diagon Alley. The snake had told him that he had a way of getting the forms filled out and retrieved, and Harry trusted him, although he didn't know why. He guessed it was because the snake had said he knew Harry's mother, but feigned deafness on the subject after that. He did elaborate, however, as to why Sirius Black was Harry's godfather – James was Sirius' best friend.

"Harry, this is insane!" Ron cried out finally. "Can you believe this? Unbelievable!"

"Ron, could I borrow Scabbers for a bit?" Harry asked, suddenly recalling a discussion he'd had with the snake animagus. "The snake wanted to see Scabbers, to see if Scabbers was an animagus. He thinks he knows Scabbers, or possibly."

"No," Ron said possessively, and the trio finished shopping.

"Hermione," Harry said as they got back to the Leaky Cauldron, "If I find one bite mark on the black snake in my room, or on Hedwig, that cat will have to go."

"He won't, will you, Crookshanks?" Hermione crooned, and the cat purred happily. Snape glared at the cat as the trio walked in, and slithered up to it as the cat leapt down.

"Peace, feline," he began, and the cat sniffed him. "I'm an animagus. I'm sure you've met a large black furry … not exactly associate of mine, but we are working together to catch the same criminal for killing our best friends."

"I know. The black dog told me, Sirius I think his name was. How can I help? What does the criminal look like?" Crookshanks asked, and Snape grinned.

"Meet me once we get to school. You'll know where to find me by my smell, and possibly a shed skin or two," he replied vaguely, knowing Harry was listening.

The rest of the summer passed uneventfully, and Harry was often puzzled as to the whereabouts of his new snake friend, albeit it was a loose version of the term. He wanted to know the man's wizard form, but alas, it had gone missing soon after the meeting with Crookshanks.

"I'm telling you Harry, your snake and owl and Hermione's cat are trying to kill Scabbers!" Ron screamed.

"No," Harry said stubbornly. "Capture him. I heard the snake talk about it one night – something about criminal and Azkaban. From what I heard, Black was framed for a crime that an illegal animagus commit."

"Whatever," Ron scoffed. "I'm starting to wonder if Snape was that weird black snake. I mean, he is real snake-like, and his hair is black and all…"

In the Hogwarts staff room, Snape sneezed. He grimaced, the old Japanese urban myth coming into play of someone talking about you behind your back and sneezing as they did so. He began plotting his next moves – term started in less than a week, and there was still no sign of Black or the child, or so McGonagall reported. Snape knew that she had gotten the child to safety, away from Pettigrew. Now all he needed was to give the child the Ocarina and to let the girl know that it would react with her surroundings if she played the right melodies.

"Something wrong, Severus? You're being awfully quiet back there," Professor Sprout smiled warmly, and he looked in another direction to avert their gazes. He couldn't bring himself to tell them that the missing child was his – it would show bad parenting on his part, and he didn't even know what the girl looked like except that she had his hair.

"Is this about Sarabella?" one of the others teased, and Snape snapped.

"You leave her out of this!" he yelled as he gave the wizard a bone-chilling glare and stormed out of the staff room to go to his office.

He'd lost Lily to James, and now he'd lost Sarabella, both at Pettigrew's hands. He'd had more than enough of that fat gaki getting in his way and ruining his life. He transformed into a snake, and slithered into the covers to let his eyes converge with tears he'd been holding back for more than a month now.

Elsewhere in the castle, the small child was sleeping under the watchful eye of Nymphadora Tonks. The auror had responded to the call from Dumbledore, and had been ecstatic at having a hand in protecting her until term started. She vaguely recognized a box near the girl's nightstand, but had no idea what was in it – a spell was put on it so that only the first-year could open it.

Tonks grinned in delight. As soon as the child was at Kings' Cross and safely on the Hogwarts Express in the same car as Professor Snape, then she could relax from this whole issue. Her plan: apparate to the station, and drop the child off at the entryway of the train with strict instructions for her to find a black-clad adult wizard in a certain box car. The child whimpered in her sleep, and Tonks gently began cradling the small girl, singing softly.

"Nobody's going to hurt you here," Tonks murmured gently. She couldn't have been more wrong.

Still can't figure out who her dad is? I finally figured out who I wanted it to be. It's not who I thought.

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