Disclaim Her: nothing being made for profit, everything is J. K. Rowlings yadada

:Parseltongue:

Harry was gasping, pain shooting through his ribs from the over exertion that he was putting his body through. The sound of pounding feet and loud shouts reverberating through his body. His brain buzzed and his body felt like it was going into shock; everything slowing down and speeding up all at once. He honestly didn't know how he could have been so stupid but here he was, regretting every decision that led up to this burning in his eyes and chest.

Harry had been allowed time to himself for the day as his Aunt and Uncle decided it was high time for them to go into town for a get together with a couple of their friends. He could care less for the reason of their departure and honed in on the keywords 'alone', equating it to a small sliver of freedom he rarely experienced from his relatives. The Dursley's didn't bother pawning him off to old Mrs. Figg, feeling that a couple hours away from the house didn't equate to paying the old woman to hold watch over him. Best of all, Harry was going to be truly alone as Dudley was staying at friends for two nights. Something about good behavior in school that would have had Harry rolling his eyes if he didn't want to get a smack from his Aunt. So he did it when they left.

Being left, alone, of course, didn't mean he was able to touch anything of the Dursley's things, eat any of the Dursley's food or have fun in general. Harry, however, was going to take what he could get of, well, being abandoned. No looking in the gift horse's mouth and all that or whatever. Keeping in mind all the restrictions given to him, he decided to have a lazy day in the backyard. Sitting in the sun and just not worrying of the overwhelming presence of his nasty relatives for once sounded beautiful. Grabbing the small amount of food left to him by the Dursley's for his breakfast (a water bottle, a sad ham sandwich, and a bruised apple) he sat in the grass just watching the clouds. Finishing the water with a gulp and standing up, Harry walked over to a couple of bushes and placing the bottle underneath the bush for later. He could store some hose water and hide it in his cupboard. He already had three others hidden in his pillowcase, though never staying in the same place for long in case his Aunt and Uncle cottoned on.

Harry inhaled deeply the air around him as he leaned back in the corner of the Dursley's fence, his place hidden by a couple of bushes but not completely shadowed. He sat there for what felt like minutes, temporarily satisfied with the meager nourishment, before being hazily pulled from the meditation he had slipped into. Blearily opening his eyes he found that the sun had moved significantly from where it was last. Pushing up his glasses, he made an errant guess at the time being around late noon, maybe 5 p.m.

'Guess I feel asleep,' he thought, cracking his neck from its odd positioning. A sound caught his attention as something rustled the leaves in the bush to his right. Curious, Harry scooted closer to get a better look and came face to face with the triangular head of a grass snake.

The two froze at the sight of the other, only broken by the snake's tongue flickering in and out. Up close he could make out the individual green and black scales of the small snake, wondering if they were as smooth as they looked.

:This is where the heat is gathering then, interesting,: a quiet voice mumbled. Harry jolted at the sound, unsure of where it was coming from.

The sudden movement caused the snake to arch its small body, its mouth opening and closing.

:What a jumpy human,: the voice hissed, almost sounding like laughter. Harry narrowed his eyes, falling to the only conclusion that the snake was the source of the voice.

A snake is talking to me. The thought of the snake talking, to him of all people, had him widening his eyes in amazement. The grass snake moved from its place in the bush, slithering closer to Harry's drawn up knees and making its way up his legs. He could do nothing but stare entranced as the animal used Harry as a perch.

'At least grass snakes aren't poisonous,' Harry thought, curious as to why a wild animal was not reluctant in the least at being near him.

:Smells of snake, powerful, big, warm. But why so small in form?: the snake questioned, drawing nearer to Harry's face causing him to giggle and chuff hoarsely at the feeling of the flickering tongue near his ear.

:Ah! The human makes noise, speak now child of the King,: the snake said eagerly, pushing his nose into Harry's cheek insistently. It seemed the snake held no fear in its small body, continuing to twine casually across Harry's shoulders. Black eyes locked onto green.

Deciding to amuse the reptile, Harry let out a rough sound from the back of his throat. Already knowing the disappointing outcome the small child tried to push into sounds the words in his mind. He went for something simple since every outcome he could remember had only resulted in him staring frustrated at his reflection in the bathroom mirror and making aggravated coughing noise. He furrowed his brows, focusing on the word and trying to form it on his lips.

:HuhheEllo?:

:Hello speaker.:

The amazement filled Harry's chest, briefly replacing the panic, as his eyes roved the unfamiliar street.

Being able to speak, even if it was to a snake, had made so many emotions bubble up in his body he didn't know what to do with himself at the time. He had felt light headed at the possibility of voicing himself, to say words that had been previously trapped in his throat. He unloaded nine-years of speech to the snake on his shoulders, who was utterly content to bask in the dimming sunlight and share his body heat. The snake did not speak much about himself, being a snake was not particularly eventful, but his blunt comments were interesting to interact with. It was a nice break after so much cold silence.

Harry gave out an exhausted laugh as he remembered the tone he could hear behind the snakes' words. Maybe he was reading too much into the animal, being the first being he could speak fully with, but he could almost swear the snake was almost human like in his expressions. Well as much as a snake was able to make expressions.

Harry whipped his head around to view whether he had lost his pursuers and breathing a sigh of relief when he didn't see anything suspicious. Looking around he was able to piece together a vague idea of where he was. Picking the more familiar direction-was that the park over there?-and hoping for the best and that he'd be back at the Dursley's before sundown.

His thoughts were stained with bitterness as he thought of why he was running himself ragged in the first place. Harry broke into a run in what was hopefully the direction of the park not wanting to take a chance at getting caught.

:How old are you by the way?: Harry questioned, stroking the snake's small head.

:Most snakes have no care for their hatchday, though I do know that in human etymology I am of 12 years of age,: said the snake.

:You're older than me!: Harry exclaimed, laughing at the thought.

He felt as if speaking to the snake would never lose its fun. It was a splash of color on the monotony of his life so far. A dam had burst inside Harry, his words babbling and sometimes stammering over one another in his attempt to say everything at once. The magical child, however, was left unguarded in his fun to the front door banging open and the loud laughter of children making its way to the backyard.

:It is above the average age of snakes of my species,: the snake said, soundly oddly proud at outliving the rest of its species.

:Survival of the fittest I guess,: Harry commented, nodding his head and tilting it to the side to see the different colors of green the snake's scales became. :How many different snakes ha-:

"What are you doing freak?"

He wasn't supposed to be here.

Harry felt his heart stutter as he looked quickly at his sneering cousin and two of his friends. They weren't supposed to be here. His eyes darted down to the toys he could see in the boy's hands; they must have gotten bored of Piers things and went in search of Dudley's toys instead. They weren't supposed to be here.

'Oh god, how much did they see?' Harry thought vehemently.

The full impact of what he was doing and in front of who made Harry's breathing quicken. He abruptly stood up, making sure that the snake was at least partially hidden from the three children's eyes in his oversized shirt. The bullies had no restrictions in ganging up on helpless kids at school and on the playground so Harry had no doubts in his mind that as soon as the snake was in their grasp they'd probably fling him into oncoming traffic.

"Got something in your throat Potter? Can't quite make out what you're saying there," taunted Malcolm, putting a hand to his ear. Piers and Dudley laughed uglily at this.

Malcolm was one of the few in Dudley's gang that Harry had the misfortune to have thought was a nice person, but soon found out had the most pleasure mocking his muteness. He mixed yelling louder and exaggerating his movements as if Harry had no clue what he was doing. As if Harry was stupid.

"Yeah speak up Potter! Couldn't quite hear you, maybe try yelling what you say," said Piers.

Then there was the rat faced Piers Polkiss. The first to start up fights and the first to leave, cackling at whatever petty act Dudley punched his way into. Harry glared at the three of them, nostrils flaring. It wasn't fair, it never was.

"Ooooh you got him mad Piers," Malcolm laughed, elbowing Piers good-naturedly.

"Isn't it sad since Potter can't make friends so he has to force himself on animals? Probably just likes acting all freakish!" said Piers.

"Is it fun to act like you're possessed? Spitting like a boiling kettle?" jeered Dudley, poking his tongue out and spitting at Harry in a cheap imitation of the smaller boy.

Harry wiped away a few speckles of saliva that had landed on his cheek. Staring down at the hand in disgust he moved it to his side, clenched in anger. They weren't supposed to be here. The air surrounding the four boys became heavy, charged with almost tangible energy which only seemed to grow as Dudley swaggered closer. Harry narrowed his eyes at this action, skeptical that it was going to be any good for him. He felt a flicker of movement in the large shirt he was wearing.

"Stupid little Potter, friendless and alone," said Dudley, trying to loom over Harry with the few inches he had on him.

"What's that you got there?" asked Dudley, his eyes flickered from Harry's face to his neck. The fat Dursley child reeled back before scoffing. "Let's see what happens when we take your little snake from you."

Dudley pushed Harry suddenly into the fence, Harry's head making a loud bang on impact. Dazedly Harry pushed the snake from under his shirt, into the bushes, and hopefully out of sight. Buzzing filled his head as his anger built, the air imitating the sound in his mind. They weren't supposed to be here.

:Step off Dudley,: Harry said lowly, the buzzing getting louder.

"Whatcha going to do freak? You can't do shit all with your spitting," said Dudley. "Think you're so clever at your little weird animal whispering. What good is it going to do you when your snake is dead?"

At this the other two children circled Dudley and Harry as they focused on each other, searching the ground and violently stomping the nearby bush. They weren't supposed to be here. Harry tried getting past Dudley, to stop them but was roughly smacked back again.

They weren't supposed to be here.

:LEAVE ME ALONE!: Harry snapped. Snarling, lips pulled back over a too wide jaw showing sharpened canines. Green eyes glowed eerily as power pulsed behind them.

The sight stunned the three in their tracks, with Dudley's two friends briefly shooting each other with stunned looks. What was this?

:Isn't it enough that you bully me? Run me out of school and make me an outcast?: Harry angrily spat out these words, stalking forward at the trio who stumbled back at the oppressive power that pulsed from the smaller boy.

:For the laST TIME, LEAVE ME ALONE!: At this shout a final pulse rippled from within Harry's core, flinging the boys aside.

Harry felt drained of everything, eyes unfocusing on his surroundings but focusing on the moaning children before him on the ground. His vision blurring at the edges, blood biting at the back of his throat. The three were slowly gaining back their bearings, with Dudley scowling up at Harry, revenge in his eyes.

'What was happening? What was he doing? WhyWhywhwyhywhywhywywhywhywhywhyw,' Harry thought, legs knocking together in fear. His mind blanked suddenly with only one goal in mind.

Run.

And run he did, knowing fully well that the three would be on his heels as soon as they got themselves together.

Harry's head start didn't last long as only a couple blocks from the park he was promptly jumped by Piers and Malcolm. The three fought briefly before slamming the smaller boy onto the ground and pinning his arms firmly secured underneath their bodies. Harry tried kicking and pulling away but the two were too much for him. He had to stop struggling just to get in a couple of calming breaths in before the pummeling that was going to ensue.

"Freak did you really think you were going to get away?" asked Dudley, standing over Harry and cracking his knuckles in what he thought was menacing.

Harry bared his teeth up at him, pulling against the two and trying to spit at his cousin. Dudley just laughed and punched him hard in his stomach. Harry was left breathless, his hearing full of Dudley's two cronies snickering. If only he could pull out whatever had knocked back Dudley and his gang before. If he fought back against the pain maybe he could do it again.

"You're stupid hissing is really pissing me off!"

Another swing, this time at his chest causing Harry to hack and cough. More laughing. Another fist and more pain. Before it had felt like flexing a muscle in a part of him that he didn't even know existed. Somewhere below his lungs. He searched quickly but was sidetracked by a fast approaching fist.

"Just shut up and stay mute!"

This punch hit just below his throat had Harry almost dry heaving. Desperately he groped and gripped onto something that didn't feel real but too real at the same time and pulled. Suddenly, he was going through a tight, tight tube and then he was somewhere else entirely; staring up at the setting sun and laying on something cold. Sitting up he gaped at the view before him.

'Well at least I'm away from Dudley,' Harry thought idly, holding onto what he now knew to be roof tiles. 'Now how the hell am I going to get down from here?'

Continuing to scale the roof for dear life, Harry, slowly made his way around in search of a better option of accessing the ground other than jumping to his doom. Peering down from his position he guessed that death was very likely at this height. Oh joy.

Again he tried to find where he could be, searching for anything familiar. Harry struck gold in finding the street of Privet Drive only a street or so away, the park catching his eye seeing that he had disappeared not that far of a distance. Shuffling carefully he was able to slip from the roof onto a nearby windowsill and that if he jumped to the left-and prayed to all god's out there-would let him grab onto a fire escape. With this plan in mind Harry leaned forward, counting in his head his jump but his concentration was broken by shouting from the ground.

'It's like some great deity not only wants me dead but as unhappy as I can possibly be before I kick the bucket,' Harry thought. Because there they were, the trio of bullies that did not know when to quit when weird incident after weird incident made them fall flat on their asses. He pulled back his top lip sneering down at them.

Harry could just make out Dudley mouthing obscenities up at him while Piers and Malcolm made crude hand gestures behind their fat leader. Harry just flipped them back off, waiting for them to scuttle back home which they did when they noticed he wasn't going to budge from the rooftop. He gave a sigh of relief as he was able to release the death grip he had on the window sill, jumped to the fire escape and scaled down quickly. Harry's feet hit the pavement with a dull thud and he rolled his eyes as he made his way back to the Dursley's home. This was not his day.

Harry knew the snake was just a snake that had shown up out of nowhere, that left at the imminent threat to its life. It didn't trouble him in the slightest that he would most likely never meet the animal again, even after bonding with it as much as he could within the time he had had with it. Harry was content to have been able to have that magical discovery and have someone finally listen to him. Chuffing out the air that had been lying heavy in his lungs Harry shifted under his single blanket, wincing slightly at the panging in his body.

A smack to the head a couple lashing by his Uncle's belt left him sore but unbroken. His Uncle's red blustering face stayed at the forefront of his mind as he pushed the pain back. It was the worst his Uncle had dealt him with. Though there was that one time Aunt Petunia had swung at him with a pan. He ground his teeth, darkly thinking of hissing at his family to frighten them but dismissing the thought. What good was scaring them when they'd just punish him afterward like they had today. A small grin broke out on his face as he remembered how Dudley had spilled the beans on why he and his friends were even chasing Harry.

Their faces that were previously red at the thought of the 'm' word being uttered under their roof to explain how Harry ended up on the roof of a three-story building became deathly white at the mention of Harry hissing at a snake. Immediately Dudley had been sent to his room with his Aunt Petunia behind him, leaving the two alone for Harry's punishment to be dealt with. That brief moment of fear at something that had flowed so naturally out of him was oddly satisfying but the emotion was diminished quickly.

Harry never thought he deserved the punishments he gained from his relatives. But at this point, he was wondering what he was doing wrong. Gulping dryly, he shut his eyes a determined feeling growing in his bones. He was tired-so very tired- but he was even more tired of being treated like this by people who were supposed to value him. Family meant nothing and he was going to grow beyond them. Harry pressed his hands to his face in aggravation, noticing the absence of his glasses. Patting down his lumpy mattress he came up short of them. He fell back onto his small bed with a huff. Normally without glasses he was useless, the world devolving into a big blob of colors. He had even walked into a door or two before his relatives were generous enough to give him those shoddy glasses.

'With my glasses gone why can I bloody well still see?'

AN: Am i making harry act like the 9 year old he is? I think canon harry is actually p smart having to observe for most of his life, before hogwarts MADE him stand out and then inevitably shrink back into himself for some normality w ron. I mean hes not a prodigy but hes analytical n critical. Common sense and all that from being muggle raised. I know big words dont equal small child but i cant help being descriptive? *huff*

Also i think i might update once a week since i have a good flow rn but dont want to leave you hanging when i run out. :0 tho there may be a dry spell in the coming weeks since i have finals upcoming