Chapter 4: A Charming Breakfast.

Thanks for all the reviews.

There is a guest reviewer that is advertising illicit stuff on ffn. I try to delete him when I see him, but I am not getting any notices for my ffn reviews, I have to check in the app for them, and I missed him this time. Sorry. I don't condone his shit, just so you know.

Also, Isobel isn't British, so she will not cuss in British slang.

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"How could you forget you have a Horcrux in your head?" his godfather all but yelled, staring at him as if he were the craziest person on the face of the earth. Who forgets something like that? That was insane.

"Well, I mean, I simply forgot. It's been gone for 21 years. I didn't need to think about it, did I? Now it's back. Dammit. I had to die to get rid of it last time," Harry said, defending himself.

And he honestly, truly did just suppress the memory. It was something he had put into the recesses of his mind, or he couldn't sleep at night. It was one of the reasons he became a curse breaker so that he could go out and forget about the distressing event of him dying. He didn't so much forget as just didn't think about it.

"We're gonna have to figure out a way to get that out of your head without you dying this time," Sirius said, taking some deep breaths and calming himself down. He'd put on his thinking cap, and try to figure out what they could do to prevent that. He was having a hard time grasping the concept that his godson was a time traveling Horcrux. It was surreal.

"I would very much appreciate that. I don't want to die again. It was traumatizing the first time around. I don't want to do it again." He too would be thinking of ways to not do that. He was a curse-breaker, though he never worked with living beings. It was the dead he specialized in. He never even ran into any other Horcruxes, he tended to shy away from them. Too many bad memories tied with that lot.

"Isn't basilisk venom one way to get rid of a Horcrux?" his godfather suddenly asked, looking at Isobel, who hissed at him and snapped her jaws. She lunged at him and made him jump back as far as his chair would let him.

Harry grabbed her and held her tight.

"I'm not biting you," she said to Harry. Even if there were times she wanted to, she wasn't going to do it now.

"I'd rather not stick venom in my head, thank you very much," Harry said, petting his agitated snake to calm her down. "Don't worry," he said to her in parseltongue, "I'm not going to let you bite me."

"Good, I like having you around, asshole," she hissed back at him, curling around his body.

Those two speaking to each other freaked Sirius out something fierce. Parselmouths still had evil connotations. Seeing the large snake twist itself around his godson, did a number on him as well. It took him a couple of minutes to calm down. Finally, he said, "No, I mean to get rid of the other ones."

"That was my plan. I was going to gather them all up and destroy them all at the same time," the man/teen stated, going over the plan in his head. He still had to remember where the other Horcruxes were. He knew one was in Hogwarts, but he didn't remember where. Maybe the Room of Requirements? He vaguely remembered flying for his life. Didn't he save Malfoy's life? He remembered that part. There was Fiendfyre. He remembered that now. Now that he remembered where, he just had to remember what.

He never knew where the one Dumbledore got was, and he couldn't remember what the last Horcrux was. He knew Neville got it, and he knew it was a living thing, but he didn't remember what it was… A snake? Yeah, that was it. It was Nagini. Maybe Isobel could get her last.

"That sounds like a good plan. It's a good thing you have your snake," Sirius said, still freaking out over the snake wrapped around Harry.

"What else did you want to know about the future?" Harry asked, changing the subject away from his untimely demise. He really didn't like thinking about it. He had suppressed it for a reason. That and the conversation he had had with Dumbledore in the in-between. That was not worth remembering, it just brought up conflicting emotions.

"How did I die?" Sirius inquired, not making Harry feel any better.

"You don't really want to know that. It was kind of pitiful," the younger in body man said. He's still felt survivor's guilt over Sirius's death.

"You mean I didn't die heroically, fighting for my life?" questioned the other man in a jokingly manner.

"You did die fighting for your life alright, but it wasn't in any way heroic. You were fucking around and not taking anything seriously," Harry said with an angry bite to his tone. He was still very upset about the way that fight had gone. He was upset at himself, Remus, Dumbledore, the Death Eaters, Voldemort… the list went on. He was upset at everybody involved with that fight. Even Fudge in a way. Especially Bellatrix and Sirius.

"I'm always Sirius," joked the younger man.

"I'm not bloody well joking, Sirius. You were not taking the fight seriously and it got you killed," Harry said, slamming his fists onto the bed in anger. Not that they made much sound or much emphasis, but there wasn't anything else to slam his fists into. He looked at his godfather with such anger in his face that Sirius jerked back.

"Calm down, Harry. It was over years ago," Isobel stated as she tightened around him in a hug. She didn't like it when he was this angry. He tended not to think clearly. It was up to her to calm him down, so he didn't do anything stupid.

"We're in the past. It can happen again," he reminded her in parseltongue, causing Sirius to shiver.

"Fine, fine. I wasn't paying attention and it got me killed. At least tell me it was somebody important that killed me," the other man said, holding up his hands in a placating manner. He was eyeballing the two on the bed wondering what they were saying. It wasn't fair they could talk to each other and not share with him.

"Only if you consider Bellatrix important," Harry said, taking deep breaths, trying to calm down. Isobel loosened her coils and relaxed on his lap.

"I was killed by my own cousin," Sirius said, derisively. That was the last person he ever wanted to be killed by. Voldemort, he can handle. Heck, Lucius, he could handle. But Bellatrix? No. Sure, she was quite the hellfire in her own right, but she was his baby cousin.

"Yup."

"Damn."

"That's what you get for fucking off," Harry said in a chastising manner. He really wanted to get his point across that his godfather needed to pay attention to what he was doing if he was going to get into a fight again. He did not want to lose him in the same way.

"I'm gonna have to stay away from Bellatrix, I guess," Sirius said in a joking manner again, which kind of pissed Harry off.

"Or just bloody well pay attention when you fight," the other man spit out. "War is coming unless I can stop it. And you need to pay attention to that, even if we can't get you free, which I'm going to do my very best to try. I just have to find that stupid rat," he said, taking another deep breath. "Speaking of rats, Kreacher, we need to find something for Isobel to eat." He was done with the subject of death for the night.

"Kreacher will do what he can to find something for the snake to eat," said the house elf, who had been quiet up till then. He had been enjoying someone taking his master to task. He missed the days when his mistress would do just that.

"Thank you," hissed Isobel. She was getting quite hungry. There wasn't much to eat at the Dursleys. She had picked off one of Mrs. Figg's cats, but Harry had yelled at her for that.

"She says thank you," said Harry to the elf. He might not like the elf much, but he didn't dislike him either. Well, not as much as Sirius did. Still, he was a grumpy old sod.

"Mistress Isobel is too kind," said Kreacher. With that, he popped away to look for something for the snake to eat. He returned a few moments later with one of the dead ferrets that they used for Buckbeak. "Will this be working?" he asked, only for Isobel to snatch it right out of his hands.

She moved so fast that she startled Sirius right out of his chair. She left Harry's lap and curled up on the other side of the bed to enjoy her treat, working her jaw to swallow the ferret down.

"She thanks you," Harry said, watching her work the ferret into her mouth. He laughed as Sirius stood from where he fell. "Well, I'm knackered," he told his godfather. "You've learned all you can from me tonight. Just remember to shore up your Occlumency so that nobody can get anything out of your head." He was very concerned about this. The last thing he wanted was Snape or Dumbles knowing he was from the future.

"Don't worry, I'll definitely be working on that," said Sirius, tapping the side of his head. "I don't want Snape rummaging through my head any more than you want him to learn about you."

"Good."

"How is your Occlumency?" Sirius asked him, tilting his head as if that thought had just occurred to him.

"Airtight. Not even Snape can get in. As a matter of fact, I have him to thank for how airtight my Occlumency is," Harry said with a chuckle, remembering the disaster those lessons had been, though he was unsure when they had taken place. Was it this year, or next? All he remembered were the headaches from those lessons.

"Oh, how so?" Sirius asked, sensing a story he wanted to hear.

"If he wasn't such a shitty teacher, I wouldn't be as good as I am," was the only answer he got.

"That doesn't make any sense," the other man said, frustrated. He really wanted to hear that story. Anything that brought Snivellus down a peg or two was good in his books.

"And I'm not going to tell you tonight, I'm knackered. I'm ready for bed," the time traveler stated, pointedly making for the door to hold it open.

"Fine. Goodnight, Harry," Sirius said, going to the door and leaving.

"Goodnight, Sirius," Harry said, closing the door behind him. "Well, that went as well as could be expected," he said, going back to the bed and picking up Isobel.

"It didn't go as bad as I thought it would go," she said, curling back up on his lap, having finished swallowing the ferret. There was a telltale lump in her coils.

"I thought for sure he was going to take it much worse than he did," said Harry, putting her down and getting his nightclothes. He really was tired. He didn't even know if Hedwig had made it here. He'd have to check in the morning.

"He did joke quite a bit," said Isobel, coiling up in a tight ball, to keep the warmth of his body heat in her body. She too was tired now that she had food in her.

"No, that's what I expected him to do. He jokes about everything. It's one of the reasons he got killed, remember?" he reminded her.

"How come you can remember his death, but you can't remember your own?" she asked, agitated that he never told her about him dying over a Horcrux.

"His death was traumatic, but mine was much more so. Besides I remember it, I just don't think about it," he said, pulling on his pajama bottoms and coming back to the bed. He put her back on his lap and started stroking her back. "I'm thinking about it now. I'm going to have nightmares tonight for sure. I expect you to wake me up when I start thrashing around." He just knew it was going to be a long night.

"We're going to have to do something about that fucking Horcrux in your head. I don't want you to have nightmares. We won't know if they're yours or his," she pointed out, going up to his scar and sniffing around with her tongue. It did have a taint to it that it hadn't before. It smelled like the necklace from earlier.

"Don't tell me about it. I already know. Now that I realize that it's in my head, I have vague memories of him being in my head all through 5th, 6th, and 7th year. That's one of the reasons I remembered. It's how Sirius died," he said, once again. He was still petting her, more for his comfort than hers.

"Yes, you said that earlier when you were talking to him," she pointed out. "So, your plan is to collect all the Horcruxes and then get rid of them all at once. And you expect me to bite them? Have you ever eaten a fucking Horcrux? Those things are fucken yucky." If she could have made a face she would have, but her tone was enough to convey her disgust.

"I'm sure I can just milk your venom and drop it on them. You don't have to actually eat the things," he said with a chuckle. He could just imagine her trying to bite all the artifacts. She'd have to adjust her size. In her bigger form she could swallow them whole.

"Oh, well, thank you then," she said with great relief.

"You're more than welcome. Let's get to sleep. It's been a long day," he said, putting her on the bed and laying down, so she could get comfortable on his chest once he was settled.

And with that, the two of them went to bed. They'd figure out the rest in the morning.

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Harry, surprisingly, slept through the night without nightmares. He chalked it up to Isobel's presence. He wanted to think that her being there chased the nightmares away. First, he went to see if Hedwig had made it here. Noting that she had and spending a few minutes with her, he went downstairs to the dining room to see if anybody was there. This time Isobel was proudly displayed upon his shoulders.

"Must you carry that snake with you everywhere you go?" asked Ron, throwing his napkin on his empty plate. He must have been the first down. He was already done eating. Isobel seemed to be making him not want seconds. That would be a first.

"Yes, I absolutely must. I told you she's my bonded familiar," said Harry, petting the snake as he sat down at the table.

"Shut up, you fucken moron," said Isobel, hissing at Ron, moving her head towards him. She wasn't going to do anything to him but scare the bejesus out of him.

"You tell your snake to leave me the hell alone," said Ron, leaning back as far as his chair would let him. There was fear in his tone. Why wouldn't there be? It was a deadly snake. Anyone would be scared.

"Isobel, leave Ron alone," said Harry in a condescending manner. "He doesn't like snakes or spiders."

"That's because he's a fucken moron," said Isobel, coming back to rest on Harry's shoulder, making everyone sigh in relief.

Ginny was whimpering but holding her seat with Gryffindor courage. She had fear in her eyes though as they never left the snake. She was silent as she watched. She didn't want to attract attention to herself.

Harry just chuckled and served himself up some eggs and bacon. He wasn't going to hide Isobel from them. They would have to deal with her sooner or later.

"What the hell did your snake say about me?" the belligerent boy said, pointing an accusing finger at the snake.

"None of your business," said Harry, taking a bite of bacon. It was crispy, a bit overdone in his opinion, but not everyone liked it the way he liked his, so he endured. He understood that Mrs. Weasley was cooking for her family and not catering to him.

"I'm making it my business," said the redhead, thumping a fist on the table. "She's probably talking about me after all," he grumbled.

"What is said between me and my snake, is between me and my snake. Besides, you wouldn't like what she said, so I'm not going to tell you," said Harry, smiling at the other teen in a kindly manner, which bordered on contemptuous.

"You just keep her away from me," said Ron, slumping in his chair. He folded his arms in a mulish manner and looked at the table in defeat. He really didn't like this new Harry, or his snake.

"If you leave her alone, she'll leave you alone. It's as easy as that. Do you think your simple brain can handle that?" asked Harry, getting tired of the hotheaded redhead.

"What did you call me?" Ron asked, snapping his head up so fast it popped.

"I called you simple because you seem to be having a hard time grasping this basic concept. Leave her alone, she'll leave you alone," the time traveler stated, eating some of the greasy eggs, wishing he had cooked his own breakfast and vowing to either get Dobby here or cooking for himself next time.

Ron just huffed and left the room. He wasn't going to win this argument. He was plotting on how to rid Harry of the snake though. He was positive it was the reptile's fault that Harry was being such a bastard.

"I don't see why you have to have that snake here anyway," said Molly, watching her humiliated son leave. She was upset that Harry was standing up to Ron and not cowing like he normally did.

"Mollywobbles, we've been over this. It's Harry's bonded familiar. He is allowed to have it here, and anywhere he goes," said Mr. Weasley, putting a hand on her arm in a placating manner. They had talked about it for the better part of the night. His wife was as hardheaded as they came.

"He shouldn't be allowed to have a dangerous animal around us normal people," said Mrs. Weasley, she too throwing her napkin on her half-full plate.

"Wow, you sound just like my Aunt Petunia," said Harry, making his eyes widen in shock. He wasn't really surprised. He always knew there were similarities.

"Don't compare me to your malicious aunt," said Molly heatedly.

"But you sound just like her. Normal people, indeed. What constitutes a normal person? What makes me abnormal? Is it because I have a snake? Is it because she's my bonded familiar? If that's the reason, then I'm glad to be abnormal," Harry said, petting Isobel on the neck and cooing at her, just to piss people off.

"Thank you, Harry," she said, and moved to hiss at Molly, "Bitch," who moved back, but grabbed for her wand.

"Hear, hear," said the twins, banging their forks on the table.

"Oh hush, you two. You two aren't any more normal than he is," said Molly, waving in the general direction of Harry and Isobel. She stood and scowled at the twins.

Hermione and Ginny were watching with wide eyes, they didn't dare interfere. Molly would handle this. Arthur was just shaking his head and eating the last of his breakfast, he was running late as it was. While he felt sorry for the twins, it didn't do any good to get in the middle of the fights between them and Molly. The twins usually came out on top anyway.

"And we're proud of it," said Fred, puffing out his chest.

"Very proud of it," said George, copying his brother.

"We'd rather be abnormal than normal any day," said Fred, grinning at Harry.

"Isn't that the truth," said George, glaring at his mum.

"Hear, hear," said Sirius as he came into the room. "What am I agreeing to?" he asked as he sat next to Harry, on the opposite side from Isobel.

"The fact that everybody here is normal except me, Fred, and George. And now you, I guess," replied Harry, still petting Isobel.

"What the fuck am I? Chopped Squid?" she asked, flicking him with her tail.

"Sorry, I thought you were normal," Harry hissed back, making everyone tremble, even the twins and Sirius. It was going to take time for them to get used to him speaking in parseltongue.

"Being normal is overrated," said Sirius, grabbing a plate and some food.

"They're complaining about my snake again," warned Harry, looking sorrowfully at his cooling food. Greasy food was even more unappetizing cold.

"Let them complain. This is not their house and I already said you could have it here," Sirius said, warming up his plate of food and chowing down. He was late coming to the meal, because he slept in. He, unlike Harry, did have nightmares last night.

"Well, I'm off," Mr. Weasley stated, getting up from the table and kissing Mrs. Weasley on the cheek. "I have to hurry. I'm already running late. Behave yourselves, children." And with that, he left.

"Harry, you'll be cleaning with the rest of the children today," said Molly as she waved her wand and started gathering up the dishes from the table. The plates all floated to her and started stacking in a pile.

Harry grabbed his plate as it started floating away. He wasn't done with it yet. He would get Sirius to warm it up. He was starving.

"No, I don't think I will," said Harry, setting his plate in front of him. "I've got other things I need to do and not one of them is cleaning. Besides, there's a house elf in residence who's supposed to be doing that."

"That house elf is old and needs to have his rest," the older woman stated as if that were fact.

"Well, that's easily solved. Dobby!" he called into the air. He wanted the elf here anyway, and now was as good a time as any.

In popped Dobby. "What can I be doing for you, Master Harry?" he asked. He was looking particularly colorful today. He was wearing an orange and green striped child's shirt with purple and pink plaid boy's slacks. The socks were nothing to sneeze at either. They were multicolored monstrosities.

"See this house here?" Harry asked, making a circular motion indicating the house. "It needs help. Do you think you can be hired for the summer to finish cleaning it?"

"Dobby would be more than happy to work for Harry Potter, sir," the tiny excitable elf said, bouncing up and down at the prospect of it.

"Harry Potter, how could you enforce a house elf to work for you?" said Hermione, completely affronted that he would do such a thing.

"Did you hear me enforce him to do anything? I just asked him if he wanted to be hired for the summer. Hired. Did you not hear the word hired?" Harry asked, looking at her with disdain. "Speaking of, Dobby, how much do you wanna charge me for hiring you for the summer?" he asked, turning his attention back to the elf and ignoring the bushy-haired girl.

"Dobby will be charging you 2 sickles," Dobby said, looking like it was far too much.

"5 sickles. A week," Harry stated, looking firm.

"3 Sickles for the month," Dobby said, wringing his hands.

"6 sickles a week," Harry said, giving him a smile.

"Master Harry is not being knowing how to negotiate," the elf said, giving him a shrewd look.

"I'm just going to keep going up unless you take me up on my offer," the man/teen said, folding his arms in a 'don't mess with me' manner.

"Master Harry is being driving a hard bargain. Dobby will take 5 sickles a week," the elf said, his ears dropping at not winning.

"Wonderful," said Harry, clapping his hands together.

Then Dobby noticed the snake around Harry's neck and froze. His eyes went wide, and his mouth hung open. He looked like a rabbit in view of a predator.

"Don't worry Dobby, she's not going to hurt you. You have to trust me on that," Harry said, as Isobel sniffed the air around the elf. She had heard so much about this elf. She wanted to get his scent.

"Dobby bes trusting Harry Potter. Dobby is not sure if he be trusting what is on Harry Potter's shoulders," Dobby said, trembling from head to foot, as most were wont to do when a large deadly snake was sniffing them.

"Just trust me. She's not going to hurt you and you don't have to do anything for her except occasionally find her something to eat," the dark-haired man said, patting Dobby on the back in a reassuring way.

"As long as she not be eating Dobby," Dobby squeaked as the tongue of the snake came closer to his head.

"I like him," Isobel said, withdrawing from sniffing the elf. She didn't mean to make him so scared, but she really wanted to know someone that Harry had nothing but good to say about.

"I promise you she won't eat you," Harry said, petting the snake and winking at Dobby. "You have my word as a wizard."

"Dobby will take you at yours word," the elf said, nodding his head decisively. With that, Dobby popped away and started cleaning #12 Grimmauld Place. He would trust the Great Harry Potter.

"Why did you go and do that?" asked Molly from her place near the kitchen entrance. "Now I have nothing for the children to do." She looked at said children, who were all slumped in relief that they didn't have to clean anything.

"They're teenagers, Molly. I'm sure they can figure out something to do on their own," said Sirius as he continued to eat his breakfast.

"I have things I need to do anyway," said Harry, still tending to his familiar. "And I'm not going to be cleaning this house."

"What could you possibly have to do?" asked Hermione. Not that she wanted to clean the house. She'd rather be reading what's in the library. However, she had to have Sirius's permission, and she didn't have that.

"Well, for one, I need to get my homework done," said Harry as he started lamenting over his cold breakfast now that Isobel was tended to.

"Why on earth would you need to do your homework? You've had a month to do it," she asked. To her that was unforgivable.

"I didn't get much time to do it at the Dursleys and I needed to revise," he stated. It was something he had done over the last few days, under Isobel's advice. She said he would appear too smart if he did his usual work. He needed to know what level a 5th year student was supposed to be at.

"Why would you need to revise?" asked the bushy-haired witch. She just had to know everything.

"That's my business," said Harry. He elbowed Sirius, who looked at him quizzically.

"You do know you can tell me anything," said Hermione. She went to reach for his hand, but Isobel hissed at her.

"Back off, bitch," the snake said, snapping at the reaching hand. She didn't want the girl to touch Harry. She was a nosy girl, and Isobel didn't want her anywhere near her friend until such time as the girl stopped asking questions that were none of her business.

"So you've said," said Harry. "Yet I find it strange that you don't feel you can tell me anything."

"Are you going to keep throwing that in my face?" she asked, getting shirty. She snatched her hand back and huffed that she wasn't getting the answers she wanted.

"Every second of every day," he confirmed.

She just grumbled and left the room, Ginny hot on her heels.

"There seems to be a lot of that going around," said Isobel, watching her go. "You're just making fucking friends left and right, aren't you?" She was laughing at him in her tone.

"Not that you're much help, what with your hissing and snapping at them. Besides, do I care what they think?" He hissed back. "They're just teenagers."

"Yes, and you're a big bad 38-year-old. How do you feel about making teenagers cry?" she asked, still laughing at him.

"They are not crying, they're just being pissy," he said, elbowing Sirius again.

"So, Harry, do you really have to do your homework?" asked Sirius, looking at him questioningly. Why does his godson keep elbowing him?

"Actually, I really do," Harry said, gesturing to his plate which held cold food.

"I thought you were going to let us know what went on this summer," said Fred, who had been waiting patiently all morning to hear about the snake and Harry's summer. George nodded along with his twin. They weren't known for their patience.

"I suppose you could talk to me while I eat," said Harry, looking to Sirius to cast a warming charm on his food.

The man did so, and said, "You know you can do magic here, right?"

"Shite, I forgot," Harry said, remembering they were in a magical household.

They all settled down to talk about the mundane things that had happened during the summer. Harry told them the story about Isobel coming up to his relatives' house and meeting him and how they bonded. It was their story, and they were sticking to it.