Chapter 1: Snake-Girl and Storm-Eyes

Haven's back ached.

Wetness she knew was blood ran in rivulets over the few patches of unmarred skin, making it itch and sting.

That single thought echoed through Haven's mind as she lay in the dark.

Aunt Petunia had managed to sneak some bandages to her and though she still had her magic to heal the major wounds her back continued to ache painfully.

The cupboard was cramped, more so than it had ever been before what with her new trunk and birdcage and wand in there with her.

It was easy to put up with the ache though. Come hell or high water she'd done it. She'd told Vernon where she was going, all about Hogwarts and being a witch.

A witch!

There were two thoughts then, the safe droning of 'I'm a witch' joining the ache.

She had known she was a witch before of course, Aunt Petunia had told her the first time something freakyhad happened, quietly in the safety of a house once Uncle Vernon had gone to work, but that had never truly felt real.

If she was a witch and they all knew it, why did they still blame her for the freaky things. Couldn't they tell she didn't mean to do them?

A tear slid down her face and which was carefully wiped away with the back of her hand, leaving a salty wet residue behind. she wouldn't cry, no, not over them, not when she was so close to getting out.

SLAM*

The front door banged shut behind Vernon. He was off to work then. That meant it was finally Monday and she'd be getting out of the cupboard today.

Sure enough, quiet hands came to unlock the cupboard. That was their little game, as Aunt Petunia had referred to it when Haven was still young enough not to know the reality.

This was the part the girl needed to play; of the cruelly abused orphan so that Dudley could be spoilt, so that Dudley didn't have to feel the pangs of hunger that wracked her shivering frame or the bite of the belt as a punishment for simply living.

Haven played it well.

Very well.

clink*

"Child, come out now. I think I can get you some eggs for breakfast, he won't notice. We've got some bacon to I think, and the toast edge." Aunt Petunia said, her voice hoarse and quiet as she unlocked the locks on the outside door with soft sighing motions. Her eyes flickered with some unknown emotion, perhaps, resignation.

So he'd got his way with her last night then. Though Haven hated herself for it, a glad feeling seeped through.

That glint in Vernon's beady blue eyes had been there last night and she had known the thoughts racing across neuro pathways. As an eleven year old she was growing. It was lucky Aunt Petunia had seen the glint too.

It was the first time she had ever actively tried to stop him and she had paid the price.

The cupboard was vacated as quickly as she could, stumbling from the dark and squinting as she nearly blinded herself with the onslaught of bright fluorescence that assaulted her senses. Without having to check she knew that her hair had flared to a bright white to match this fact.

Resolutely, the colour was pushed it back to be her normal auburn again, the shade she had favoured since first learning what her parents had looked like, finding her eyes, a bright emerald green, were like her mum's.

Breakfast disappeared in a heart beat, two pieces of burnt bacon, the toast edge as promised and an egg, wolfed down as quickly as she could. "Slow" Aunt Petunia warned her but Haven wasn't exactly going to listen to her aunt lecture her on the proper intake of food, not when this was the best meal she'd had in three days.

The only meal.

The child glared up at her aunt allowing her eyes to shift to mirror her aunts midnight blue ones easily. Petunias sharp features and pronounced cheekbones glared right back, there had been a time when she had tried to mirror them, the dark, voluminous hair, as if she were really her child but that backfired quickly.

Haven couldn't remember the days after that, only curling into a ball and going away for a while as the boot struck again and again, the belt coming shortly after, slicing down to the bone over and over again. All she could remember was pain in the days following the event.

That had been enough to push that foolish idea from her head.

Now, she was eternally grateful she'd told Hedwig to go to the magic school ahead of time, the owl making noises in the dead of night would have made things so much worse and the poor bird probably would've been dead.

Frowning up at her Aunt the ward noted the large purple bruise marring her slim face, the dark, harsh red marks stark on her neck, "You shouldn't have tried to calm him. He will only go so far with me." She supplied quietly, finding her voice hoarse she took a sip of her water. Only managing to take two gulps slowly before chugging the rest greedily.

"I'm fine." A breath, "I consented." Petunia ground out, turning away to apply another glob of paste making Haven flinch and shoot her a look.

Her Aunt was too used to her antics in changing her appearance by now and just rolled her eyes at the midnight opals that surveyed her figure, smiling slightly even at the blatant magic. Oh how she had improved, once upon a time she had loathed magic wielders, her jealously getting the better of her but since Haven was born… then since her sister had died, she had finally realised magic wasn't something to fear and that it was in everything, even her.

Gesturing for her to remove her shirt, one of Dudley's old ones, ratty and far too big for her malnourished figure even with the adjustments she'd made to the sizing with her needle and thread, she retrieved more balm.

Naturally Haven did as instructed, moving it over her head and allowing Petunia to rub some balm over the long, striped belt wounds, partially healed by magic but still obviously open and seeping yellow pus.

Jolting, as the cold seeped into the flesh, the hairs on her arms standing up. Fighting the shudder she breathed in and out slowly. Instead she let her mind drift, panning around as a distraction, taking in her surroundings. Each detail came into stark reality and at the same time so separate to herself; the designs on the counters and implements. This was normal, easy even, she knew how to handle this - just trace the pattern. Beginning again, she tried to ignore m the familiar pain settling into her bones.

The kitchen was bare but she listed off what she could see anyway, the cracking floral wallpaper, spotless white kitchen counter, the cloth still sitting to the side, the dents and fissures in the wooden table and freshly mopped tiling on the ground. The lemony scent wafted up; of the cleaning supplies, the chalky balm and coconut of Petunias shampoo.

Her eyes traced a certain fissure in the hardwood table she sat at as her aunt finished and allowed her to put on her shirt again.

"Go change, you may go out today but be back before four and do not mention your outing, you will say you have been in your cupboard all day, are we clear." Aunt Petunia instructed sitting to smooth her curls which stood at odd ends as she gently massaged her temples with nobbled fingers.

Haven didn't bother answering, she simply stood and walked to her cupboard again, selecting some of her best clothes, the ones with the least holes that she had put time into cinching to her size, even embroidering a little rose into the corner of the black t-shirt, they weren't amazing, the jeans were still too big, as was the hoodie, but they couldn't be worse than her usual ratty clothes so they'd have to do.

Shrugging on a backpack, having filled it with her most interesting books purchased in Diagon and her art pad, her feet padded for the door hastily. Before Petunia could change her mind.

Haven knew exactly where she was headed.

A chill breeze swept through stray auburn strands of hair as she stepped off the bus, walking straight into the zoo entrance, waving to Zoë, the zoo receptionist who waved back at her in greeting and not stopping until she reached her favourite area, the snake habitat.

"You're back!" the baby boa hissed to her from its mothers otherwise empty cage. The empathetic girl still couldn't believe the snake hadn't taken her eggs with her when she had been set free by Haven to go to Brazil.

This one was the only one to survive.

"Yes hatchling, but I won't be coming back, not for a while, I've been set free for a few months, I can go to a boarding school for people like me." She hissed back, not bothering to be quiet as it was a school day and early so nobody was around.

Her bag was placed on the ground and her sketch pad retrieved smoothly while the snake replied with an hiss, "you're leaving?". Somehow managing to sound distraught as the red and grey hatchling reared up to put its head to the glass mournfully. The 'you're leaving too' left unsaid.

"I'm sorry, but I can't stay here, this way I can be free. I hate to leave you hatchling, you know that." Was hissed back, she took to curling her legs onto the bench, beginning her outline, tongue caught between teeth in concentration.

"Take me with you then, I've never been to Brazil but I don't want to go there, besides, it gets so lonely here." It begged and Haven started, sitting up to look fully at the boa who now looked at her, slitted eyes somehow portraying the snakes emotions.

"I can't, I don't even know if they allow snakes, and if they don't then you would have to stay here or on the grounds where I can't protect you hatchling, please understand." She begged of it.

"I can stay silent, I am adept at being hidden, take me with you speaker, I can protect you against your foes." It claimed, slithering over to some rocks and flowers and sinking into them to illustrate exactly what it was talking about. Haven chuckled at the snakes antics.

"Alright," she conceded, probably far too quickly but who was she to deny the adorable hatchling, "but you can't eat my owl and I'll tell her not to eat you too." Was quickly added, giving in just as they both knew she would. That was part of the reason that she had come today, hoping that the hatchling would want to be free too.

Laying her fingers on the glass, the hatchling slithered up to it putting it's head once again to the glass but this time in thanks. She'd been working ever since Diagon Alley for this very purpose. Having vanished several of her toy soldiers, or setting them on fire in the process. Glass was different but she thought she'd probably figured it out.

Shooting the snake a reassuring smile her hand was removed from the cool glass. Instructing the hatchling next to pose for her. It had been a wish for months( to draw the snake but there hadn't been the opportunity. The snake proudly hissed in delight, shifting into a threatening stance and allowing Haven to attempt to capture on paper the way the fluorescent lights of the enclosure hit its shining scales.

0--0

George Weasley had never been to a muggle zoo before, and honestly he had never wanted too, instead he had planned a lovely day with his twin ruthlessly pranking their brother Ron before school started again. Alas, it was not to be, because here he was, in a muggle zoo, with his dad fawning over every little muggle detail.

The twin sighed, this place was awful, so many animals locked up with nowhere to go, it was barbaric. He looked to his twin who gazed back just as gutted by the muggle treatment of the animals and the disappointment that the best prank they had managed to play today was an "oh no, I think the spider escaped" followed by a prank spider on their siblings shoulder.

That had been funny though, Ronnikins really did squeal like a dying chimpanzee when scared.

He was thankful when they finally reached the end stop of their tour, the reptile room. A room dedicated to snakes and frogs and other scaly animals that looked bored at the sight of the wizards traipsing around and almost disdainfully at his dad, who after having a rant to the zoo staff about the happiness of the animals had finally seemed to accept that the treatment wasn't bad, simply limited.

A fact that made all the difference to his dad but less so George. Ginny was just happy to be there, peering eagerly into the glass enclosures to watch them slither around and curl onto branches or hop or blend into branches.

George wandered ahead, leaving his twin, who shot him a curious look, and other siblings to attempt to get their dad to stop pestering the staff, and came across a side room labelled the "Snake room" the only animal inside was a small snake, oh, and a girl.

The light refracted off the strands of her auburn hair as she drew something in her notepad. Her tongue sticking cheekily from the side of her mouth in concentration. She distracted him from the posing animal immediately.

The curious girl wore dark jeans, slightly worn at the knees and a large grey hoodie lined with moth holes that looked like it had seen better days, in fact the whole of her did, her skin was pale and shining a dull grey.

He supposed it could have been a healthy olive, but as now, it was a tan but lifeless colour. Her jumper was hanging off her obviously thin frame. She looked malnourished, deprived of routine sunlight and warmth.

It might have been pitiful if not for the way she held herself, defensive yet confident. The girl was undoubtedly utterly bewitching.

From looking at her she seemed to be about Ron's age, probably younger, but then where was her family?

The room was warm but completely empty. Were they around somewhere? Or was she here alone, like the tiny snake in the ginormous enclosure.

He stepped closer curiously, stopping when he could make out the detailed drawing of the snake in the girls art pad, that somehow succeeded in perfectly capturing the way the light stood out on each scale and curve of the animal.

"You're good at that" he declared as he ambled around the bench to plonk down next to her. She flinched away minutely but stayed put, turning glittering green eyes up to meet the gaze now settle on her. Sallow cheeks puffed out more and the dark shadows under her eyes were made prominent by the fierce contrasting colours.

Her eyes, emerald-like and glimmering with slits of silver like a strange pattern of wood focused on his face. For a second he could have sworn they were slitted like a snakes, but he blinked and they were normal.

Normal and narrowing slightly as they seemed to assess him through her fringe, looking him up and down to analyse him from his appearance to his demeanour, which came across as friendly he hoped, before saying, "thanks" in a gruff tone that left no room for further comment.

She looked away, and he immediately missed those bewitching irises, she was… cute, he supposed, but guarded.

George wanted her to look at him again.

"what kind of snake is that?" he asked curiously, peering closer at the grey-red snake that was still posing as if ready to strike. She looked at him again and he blushed slightly pink when she said almost incredulously,

"It's a boa, it says so on the sign." And pointed a slim finger towards the sign where it indeed read 'Boa Constrictor habitat' in bold, he shrugged grinning bashfully down at her, pleased when Snake-girl smiled back.

--

Haven hadn't noticed his arrival until he had sat down next to her rather abruptly and loudly complimented her drawing, forcing her to pause and turn mid-stroke to thank him, as was polite.

Surprised, the unsuspecting girl had looked up, taking in stormy blue eyes, a true blue-grey that she didn't think could exist, they looked magical and completely at odds with the messy fiery red hair that he brushed back leisurely with a hand as he surveyed her curiously. Now, taking it upon himself to ask her stupid questions that somehow made her laugh a little.

"I would've thought it would be bigger." He commented casually, gesturing to the Boa hatchling poised behind the glass.

"It's mother was in the tank, but I set her free, I still can't believe she left her eggs to die though." She revealed, looking to the hatchling who cocked its head at her, noting how now her drawing of it had ceased and curled around to await her explanation, scales shifting silkily over each other.

This boy was a wizard. That was clear.

He had a wand strapped to his arm for goodness sake, unless he was a hardcore everyday cosplayer it seemed obvious, he also wore a strange combination of muggle wear, the jeans were fine but the worn ABBA t-shirt and cardigan that looked straight out of the 60s made her question how much time this boy had spent in the muggle world before.

That wasn't even mentioning the slight glow emanating from the jeans that she knew meant they were charmed, probably to be self-altering or something, the glow was similar enough to the blood ward shield that emanated a pale red around the Dursleys house that she supposed it also had some form of protection charm.

"You set her free?" The boy asked inquisitively, brows pinching together in a way that made her chuckle slightly, he grinned at her showing rows of white teeth and a small dimple in his right cheek. "she said she wanted to go to Brazil, to be free, so I did my best to help. I hope she's in Brazil now." Haven said, mostly to herself than the boy.

Glimmering eyes turned to settle on the hatchling who opened its eyes to look at her not noticing the way the boy was still looking at her she turned back to her sketchbook, turning the page to the runes she'd been practicing drawing, the ones from the pages of the blood runes book, a disappearing rune. "She just left her eggs?" the boy asked but Haven was already thinking and plotting.

"Happens more often than you think… being abandoned by those meant to care for you. I guess Brazil was more appealing." Haven commented dryly, trying to move on with her plan.

Out of school she couldn't use magic... with her wand... but this, working with runes, wasn't technically not allowed, as she had discovered weeks ago. She'd had plenty of spare time in her cupboard and had pretty much learnt her textbooks off by heart but Runes was by far her favourite. The symbols and measurements just made sense to her eleven-year-old brain in a way that she doubted potions ever would. She'd have to work on that, she planned on being good at the subject, just in case her magic failed her.

"Are you alone?" the boy was asked, sparing a quick glance around the room as she stood, not looking back at him.

Peering out of the archway, a red-headed man was easily spotted seemingly distracting the zoo employee. Next to whom, appeared to be a copy of the boy sitting in the reptile room attempting to force his brain out his nose from the force with which he was facepalming. So the other one was a twin, cool.

A small girl, probably about a year younger than Haven with the same red hair as the twin was looking at the frogs while yet another boy attempted to get his dad to leave the poor employee alone. The storm-eyed boy's family then, it was an easy guess even before she heard the confirmation from the boy as he too stood.

A quick glance at the clock across the hall told her she needed to be heading back to the Dursleys if she wanted time for a bite of whatever Petunia would be making for dinner. A sigh escaped her mouth, at least tomorrow she would be leaving, going off to Hogwarts where maybe she'd fit in, be herself and if she was lucky, get a good meal.

Turning to the glass of the enclosure Haven set about retrieving the sketches and cutting a little nick that bubbled blood into her shin with the pocket knife. One she'd nicked off one of the bullies at school, it was just enough blood.

"Fuck, what was that for!?" the other boy exclaimed, she didn't have too much time, he would just have to be here for this, she needed his dad to distract the employee.

"Erm, I'm going to free the snake." She confirmed shooting him a carefree wink as his eyes sparked with barely concealed excitement and curiosity, showing him the runes shed spent the past few weeks cultivating and creating until she'd achieved what was hoped to be a primitive prototype.

--

This girl was what? He surely must have misheard, sure she could free the snake but the girl had cut open her finger and showed him runes, was Snake-girl a witch? He wondered; sure his face had expanded into incredulity.

He watched curiously as she walked to place her finger, now dipped in the blood running from her leg, on the glass and traced out the rune onto the surface, or more a sequence of runes overlapping and merging so none were complete.

That was blood magic he realised, and an innovative type at that, he decided then that liked her and whenever she joined Hogwarts he would go out of his way to make her his friend.

Grinning he made to move forwards and join her but she held out a hand commanding "stop" in a voice that left no room for an argument. He stopped, mocking a bow that made her smile and the corners of her eyes crinkle.

For a second he could have sworn they flickered to turn the same blue as his twins but hhis bow blocked his view and when he looked up the change was gone. She closed her lids, and George mourned her laughing eyes but waited expectantly as the rune glimmered and disappeared with the glass.

Oh shit he thought. It had worked, well partially, most of the glass was gone apart from a few shards that shattered on the ground. Of course it had worked, he hadn't really doubted her, but now he was faced with the realisation that a Boa constrictor, albeit a small one, was now very much free to come near him or to wreak havoc in the zoo.

He grinned, that was going to be so fun to watch but he took a step back anyway from the hissing animal, but it seemed his slight anxiety was misplaced as the snake slithered out and curled onto the snake-girls arm flicking it's tongue out at her delightedly.

Snake-freer chuckled, it was a lovely sound honestly, especially when it was broken by a little snort she tried to cover with a cough before hissing back as if the thing could understand her. To his surprise though the snake just hissed back as if it was having a conversation, could it be she was really talking to it? That would make her a parselmouth. So. Fucking. Cool. His mind immediately filled with the prank possibilities for that little trick.

"Thanks" she winked at him again as the snake curled into her hood and she began to stuff her things back into her bag. He realised he'd said that last bit out loud but didn't care. When she came to Hogwarts they could wreak so much havoc with that handy little trick he thought. Just wait until Fred heard about this.

"Later Storm-eyes" She called to him as she swung her bag over her shoulder and sauntered from the room. "Later Snake-girl" He called after her.

It was only after telling Freddie about the girl that he realised he hadn't actually gotten her name.