I'm finally back home and with regular access to a computer! yay! Hopefully, you didn't miss me too much.
Here, have some minimal plot advancement, as a treat.
September 18th, 1988
"Harry!" a brown blur tackled him barely a step into the house, sending them both falling backwards into Mr Wright's legs, only saved from hitting the floor by him reaching down to steady their surprise hug.
"Happy birthday 'mione," he wished, muffled against her hair, "I gotta breathe though."
"Sorry!" His fuzzy-haired best friend chuckled and let go of the tight grip her arms had around his neck, stepping back with a grin, "I'm just excited. We're going to the zoo! There's so many animals I want to see, do you think they have guides? I have so many questions."
"Uh- I dunno, never been to the zoo," Harry shrugged.
"Let's go, mom! Dad!" She turns to the door and smiles up at Harry's guardian, "hi Mr Wright!"
"Hello, happy birthday Hermione," he smiles down at her and ruffles her hair like he does Harry's, getting an annoyed look for it, "excited?"
"I'll show Harry all the coolest animals!" She announces, nearly vibrating in place and making them chuckle.
"So long as you don't run off on your own," Mrs Granger warns as she comes to greet them, her husband right behind her.
"We have lunch reservations, so there's no time to get lost in the zoo," Mr Granger adds.
"Yessir," Harry nods along with Hermione only to get pulled by the hand right past Mr Wright and out of the house.
"Hurry up!" Hermione yells behind them at the adults, making Harry giggle at her unusual energy. She grins at him and squeezes his hand, and he can't help but grin right back, "this will be the best birthday."
He can only agree.
"They're cute," Michael heard his ward point out from where he, Jean and Hugo hung back a few steps, letting the kids enjoy the tour with some relative privacy.
"Did you know Lemurs have a female-dominant society?" Hermione asked, another tidbit of the animal trivia that wouldn't stop leaving her mouth since they stepped into the zoo. It was kind of adorable, especially when Harry clearly hung on to every word, "they also have two tongues!"
"How does that work?" Harry asks, looking like he's trying to imagine the logistics of having two of the same appendage by moving his own tongue around his mouth.
"Um- I don't know," Hermione frowned and the parents traded looks, seeming a little worried.
"We can look for a book about it later," Harry suggested with a shrug and Michael watched Jean and Hugo's postures relax slightly when their daughter answered the suggestion with a bright grin and a nod of agreement.
"Come on, the nightlife habitat is this way!" Hermione drags Harry away from the lemurs and out the door, the adults obligingly following behind.
"Thank you for doing this," Jean's voice caught his attention and he looked away from the kids to look at her, a little confused, "Hermione hasn't had many friends, it means a lot to see her get along with someone her age."
"Nothing to thank me for, I'm glad they get along," Michael shakes his head, "they're good for each other, I caught them climbing the front yard trees the other day."
"Bless that boy for making her leave her books for even a moment," Hugo jokes, but he can tell from their expressions that they are indeed happy with their daughter's friendship.
"Mom! Mom! Look!" Hermione's cal cuts into their conversation and they step closer to the kids as they enter the nightlife habitat, the change in lighting taking them a moment to adjust before they can spot what the nine-year-old is pointing at.
"It's tiny," Harry points at the bush baby. It's sitting on a tree branch, though it's quickly spooked away by a larger one.
"That's a male one, they're bigger," Hermione whispers and Michael absently wonders how many animal books the child had consumed in preparation for the birthday excursion.
"What's that?" Harry asks after a few more steps.
"Naked mole rat," Hermione informs after reading a plaque. They trade a look, "It's ugly."
"Really ugly," Harry agrees and the children's giggles last all the way to the next exhibit.
"It's huge," Hermione whispers, pulling him to the next enclosure. It's a forest-like one, with a fallen log and a very long snake wrapped around a branch, looking as bored as Harry guesses a snake can look.
"I wish we could see it unrolled, I bet it's longer than Mr Wright," he points out.
"King Cobras are usually around 19ft, it's probably longer than both my parents combined," Hermione corrected, moving a little to the side to read the plaque.
Harry stared at the snake as it moved its head, turning from staring at the right to the left and still looking kind of sad.
"Bet it's not fun to be stared at all day," He taps the glass slightly to try and grab its attention but nearly jumps back when the snake suddenly rears up and looks straight at him.
"You ssspeak!" A wispy, male-sounding voice leaves the snake's mouth and Harry can only stare as it slithers down the tree branch, eyes not leaving his.
"Y-you understand me?" Harry whispers, wide-eyed and confused.
The snake shakes its head up and down on what he figures is a nod for something without a neck. Or are snakes all neck? He should ask since apparently, he can talk to it.
"How come you can speak?" He steps forward again, nearly pressing his face to the glass.
"I could alwaysss ssspeak, hatchling," The snake coils up and raises its head until it meets the height of his eyes, "but you are the first to underssstand."
"Whoa!" Hermione exclaimed, bumping into his side to stare at the snake, "It's so shiny, I bet it just moulted."
"What?" Harry breaks the staring contest with the snake to look at her, a cold feeling spreading over his belly at the thought of his friend having seen him talk to the snake.
"It's when they change skins," She explains, and he nods, trying not to look like he wants to puke.
The snake seems to lose interest after a moment, slithering back to the tree trunk and slipping into it through a crack in the wood.
"Come on, let's see the lizards," Hermione drags him away.
Michael had been waiting for his ward to approach him since the end of their zoo trip. Something had clearly spooked him, likely when he excused himself to the bathroom and left the kids in the Grangers' hands to visit the reptile house - for some reason the idea of seeing snakes didn't appeal to him - and came back to a very quiet Harry. The boy had apparently shrugged it off by lunchtime and the kids enjoyed Hermione's birthday meal with the usual enthusiasm, filling themselves up with cake at the end, but he could tell there was still something nagging at Harry if only by the number of glances being repeatedly cast his way on the ride back home.
He leaves it alone, letting the boy come to him on his own time and instead sending him up to check on his homework before classes the next day. Hermione's birthday fell on a Monday and they had to celebrate a day early, but he also bought the girl a little something for Harry to hand her at school since he figured it usually went by unremarked due to her previous lack of friends.
"Mr Wright?" He looks up from the book resting on his office desk, leaning back on the chair as he does. Harry didn't knock, but they had an agreement that open doors needed no knocking and closed ones were to be respected which had worked out well enough so far.
Getting the child to call him Michael or Mike, on the other hand, seemed more like a hopeless cause every day that went by.
"Yes?" He prompts, scooting the chair back from the desk to give the boy his undivided attention.
"I- something happened," Harry started, fidgeting in place by the door, "at the zoo. Something frea- um, magic, I think?"
"That's alright," he assures in an even tone, catching the correction but not remarking on it, only glad it was there in the first place and his ward was on his way to stop calling himself or magic things freaky. "Do you want to talk about it?"
He watches those wide green eyes dart up at him to study his expression and keeps it as open as possible, but is still surprised when Harry steps fully into the office and sort of shyly waddles over to him, climbing sideways into his lap and hiding his face on his shirt, knees bent and bare feet tucked between his thighs and the arm of his office chair. There's no crying this time but a sudden surge of affection for the child seeking his comfort still makes him wrap his arms around the boy a little tighter.
"You won't be mad?" Harry asks, mumbled but still audible.
"Of course not," he assures, resting his chin on top of the boy's head, "promise."
"I talked to a snake," Michael can't help but freeze for a moment at the declaration, but hums in response when the child in his lap tenses up at the lack of an answer.
"Did it talk back?" He asks after a moment, frowning slightly.
"Mhm," Harry nods, "It said it always talked, I was just the first to understand it."
"That's interesting," he says distractedly, mind going a mile a minute through his memories of every wizarding book he'd read so far in search of something to do with talking to snakes, but coming up blank, "we'll have to see if it's any snake or just that one, it could be magical for all we know. Still, if you can talk to snakes, there's nothing wrong with that," he makes sure to point out firmly.
"Really?" Harry all but whispers, all insecurity due to expectations created by the Dursleys.
"Really really," Michael insists, "it'll probably be dead useful if one ever attacks you."
"I guess," small shoulders shrug and drag against his shirt but the boy makes no move to leave.
"We can run some tests another time, how about that bedtime story now?" He suggests, wanting to get his ward's mind off of things before the child started overthinking, "Which one should we read today?"
"Dilly the Dragon Learns to Fly!" Harry answers enthusiastically, the boy's fascination with dragons clearly growing at every letter exchanged with Draco.
He knows the two are in cahoots to convince the Malfoys and himself to visit a dragon reserve, but Michael refuses to cave before at least next summer, or at least before having read any and all dragon-related literature in order to make sure Harry would be safe during such an adventure.
"Dilly the dragon it is," he agrees.
16th September 1988
Dear Draco,
I met another witch today, but she wasn't as nice as your mum. She asked all sorts of questions about rituals and holidays and made Mr Wright sad, so I don't really like her. He wants me to have tutors now, to know the stuff she asked about. Do you know any good ones?
Did you ask your parents about the dragon reserve? I'm going to the zoo this weekend and it's sort of like a place for animals where you can see them up close, I've never been but I'll tell you all about it after! It's for Hermione's birthday so it's gonna be great.
Anything fun happen this week?
Kind regards,
Harry.
18th September 1988
Dear Harry,
Mother says she'll send Mr Wright a list of tutors. I guess it makes sense that you don't know any holidays since you lived with muggles, I'll have to ask father to invite you for Yule.
Father said we're too small to go see the dragons but I think that's silly, everyone's small next to dragons! He did say maybe next year though. You have to tell me what sorts of animals are at the Zoo, I bet none are as cool as magical ones. Maybe we can go to the reserve on my birthday.
Pansy got in trouble with her parents and can't visit, so I'm really bored.
Best wishes,
Draco.
19th September 1988
Dear Draco,
The Zoo was so fun! They have all kinds of animals, there's tigers and monkeys and even penguins! They're so cute and like to swim, and the monkeys throw stuff sometimes but there's a glass so it doesn't hit anyone. There's also snakes! Are there any magical talking snakes?
Kind regards,
Harry.
21st September 1988
Dear Harry,
I guess muggles can have some decent ideas. You'll have to show me to a zoo sometime since we can't go to a dragon reserve yet. There's no talking snakes, but father said there's a language some wizards speak called parseltongue that lets you control snakes and it's a rare magical gift. Did you talk to a snake? That would be so cool! It would only be cooler to talk to dragons.
Best wishes,
Draco.
September 24th, 1988
He was trying to sit still, he really was, but it was hard to stop fidgeting as they parked by the zoo. He waited almost a whole week for this, since Mr Wright was busy with work, and they decided it would be fine to go back to the zoo and test their theory since talking to it in a place full of people was better than having some shop person's attention on them. Besides, they had no idea where to find a snake shop, so the zoo was really the best bet unless they wanted to go hunting for a snake in a forest or something.
"We're almost there," Mr Wright pointed out when Harry kept pulling his hand forward to the snake place and he felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment at giving him trouble, "you're fine, just slow down a bit for this old man, yeah?"
"You're not old," Harry frowned up at him and earned himself a laugh as they stopped right in front of the place they came to visit, "um, are you okay?"
"Fine," Mr Wright didn't sound quite fine but Harry was too excited to be almost at the snake cage to ask more about it. He pulled on his guardian's hand again and pretty much dragged him inside.
"Look, it's here!" He rushed them to the glass, tapping it once to get the snake's attention but failing to even make it open its eyes, "Hi, Mr Snake!"
He felt Mr Wright let go of his hand and looked up to see his guardian bring it up to his head, looking like he was in pain.
"Mr Wright?" Harry reached up a hand, but didn't quite know what to do with it and put it down, not liking the sight of his guardian hurting one bit.
"Fine, it's just a headache," Mr Wright waved him off and he nodded, looking back toward the snake, "can you understand me, Mr Snake?"
The snake finally opened its eyes and uncoiled from its bead of leaves on the floor, raising its head up.
"Hello, ssspeaker," it hissed back, and Harry jumped when a pained noise came from behind him, looking to the side to see Mr Wright leaning on the glass with one hand and pressing against his forehead with the other, "you returned."
Harry heard Mr Wright take a deep breath before he started to kneel by his side, still looking a little pained, eyes wide and staring at the snake. Was he scared? Did Harry speaking to the snake scare him?
"I-I'm sorry, I don't have to-" he tripped over his words, looking back at the snake to avoid Mr Wright's eyes, "It's too freaky, isn't it? I won't do it aga-"
"Not freaky," Mr Wright cut him off, wrapping an arm around his back and making Harry snap his head back up and towards him, "you're magical, it's fine, I promise. It's just-" his guardian squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head a bit before opening them again, entirely focused on the snake.
"Your nessst mother ssseemsss dissstresssed," the snake pointed out in the background.
"What is it, then?" Harry insisted.
"I can understand it too."
I didn't plan on the cliffhanger but it's there now so we all have to deal with it I suppose XD
Also, Harry spent eight years being pushed around and avoided and looked at with disgust so, after a little bit of reassurance and physical affection, is it really a surprise this touch-starved baby is becoming a cuddle bug? He really looked at my planned scene and went "that's nice but I want cuddles".