Chapter 23

Harry Potter was tired. At first when he started the year he thought that his classes will not be as bad as they were before since Snape was no longer teaching Potions; however, his hopes were destroyed when the greasy Slytherin Professor started assigning him detentions every week. At first Harry was surprised that there were no points deductions and he wondered why Snape gave him so many detentions but he learnt after the first one, as the former Potions Professor was making him practice the Defense against Dark Arts spells for three hours straight, trying to make Harry a better dueler. As the first month had ended, Harry was almost done with the second year material.

On thirtieth of September 1992, Harry Potter's classes for the day ended and the boy decided to take a walk. The boy visited his owl Hedwig and then was walking back to the Great Hall when he heard some noises in the grass. "Who is there?" asked the boy but saw nobody. He looked closely at his surroundings and then spotted a large dark green snake that lay in grass.

"Hello? " he asked skeptically. Harry was about to dismiss the snake but then saw that the beast crawled towards him and lifted a portion of its body above the ground. "Hello Harry, I came to warn you that something wrong and dangerous will happen in the castle this year. Be ready"

Harry was surprised that he could talk to the snake and sat on the ground. "Do you understand me?" asked the boy

"Yes I do." Harry was puzzled a bit at how he could speak to a snake and why it wanted to talk to him.

"How did you know that I would even understand you?" Harry was now thinking that the snake was up to something not good and wanted to know what it planned.

"I heard from one smaller snake in your garden that it sensed that you are a speaker. The serpents can sense if the wizard is a speaker or not. I normally would not mind that but once on my travels I found a house elf that relayed me some information about the dangers this year. However, his master returned and killed him and I was lucky to escape"

"Hold on a minute, how could the elf understand you?" by now Harry was extremely suspicious of the snake that just appeared out of nowhere and now claimed to warn him about some danger.

"I am not a regular snake, my species is called boomslang and were named by one African wizard three millennia ago. Our species is one of the few that have any magical properties, our skin is used in potions and we can communicate with other magical creatures, like elves and unicorns. However, when it comes to humans we only can talk to speakersss" the snake replied and the boy was not really confused.

"All right, you might be correct but why should I trust you?" asked Harry

"I have not killed you yet, have I? I wish to help you Harry Potter, even snakes now know of your legend. As far as the danger, I heard that the room will be open again and that its monster will kill the new magicals" Harry now understood what the snake was talking about, someone was about to wipe out the muggleborns.

"Do you know where the monster is or what it looks like?" asked Harry

""I don't know. The snakes don't know its name" Harry looked at the snake again.

"All right, do you need anything else?" asked the boy

"I wish to help you in your mission" told the snake and coiled around the snake. Harry felt strange not only talking but also allying himself with this small snake but also decided that if he had an owl as one, why not this small snake.

"Harry, what are you doing here?" Harry heard a girl's voice and saw Minerva Granger standing a couple meters away from him.

"Hello Minerva, I was just thinking about school" Harry tried to lie but then saw that the girl made a more serious face. She then smiled and made a smirk.

"Harry, what did the snake tell you?" The girl sat on the ground and looked at the meter long poisonous snake. "Come here, baby!" The girl called the snake.

To Harry's surprise, the snake understood her and crawled quickly with elegance to the girl. Minerva put the boomslang on her lap and petted the snake. "You can talk to them?" asked Harry in a surprised voice

"Yes Harry, I learned of that ability when I was three and found an garter snake in my garden. I quickly bonded with Scales but after two weeks of friendship with her, my mother found out about it and was furious. I near saw the snake again as my mother forbid me to talk to snakes. Naturally, I found others and learned about their lives more" Harry was surprised that the girl, who was extremely shy in classes and an even bigger social disaster that Hermione felt so relaxed while being in the presence of the serpents.

The two sat and looked at the snake. It opened its mouth and showed its tongue, after which it climbed inside the cloak of the girl as the snake decided to be its pet. After it coiled around the girl, while hidden from the outside world, it showed its head and looked at Harry.

Harry and Minerva then decided to return to the castle but as they approached it, they saw Ronald Weasley with a couple other Gryffindors looking at them. Before the boys could see it, the snake hit itself completely. Harry felt that he would need once again to prove to he group that they should not mess with him or his friends. The four Gryffindors and two Slytherins took their wands out and prepared to fight.