What's your name?" Harry whispered to the beautiful black snake, taking special care to keep his voice down so Uncle Vernon and the other Dursley's couldn't hear him.
"I don't have one yet," It whispered, to Harry it sounded like a boy's voice. "what's yours?" It asked.
"My name is Harry." Harry whispered. "My full name is Harry Potter."
"Why are you speaking so quietly?" The snake asked in a confused voice.
"Because I will get in trouble if I be too loud." Harry answered. "My uncle will get angry if I make too much noise."
"Oh...should I be quiet too?" It asked.
"Yes, please." Harry nodded, glad that the snake was understanding him. "How did you get here?" Harry asked.
"I don't remember," The snake admitted. "I just remember being moved and waking up here."
"But your a baby, aren't you? How come you already know how to talk?" A confused Harry asked.
"I don't know." The snake replied, sounding equally confused. "I just do." It said, before briefly shaking its head. "I'm hungry." It said to Harry.
"Oh?" Harry frowned. "I don't have any food here," Harry said quietly. "if you want something to eat then we'll have to wait for later. Then I can sneak into the kitchen and get some food for you."
"Sneak? Do you sneak a lot?"
"Little bit." Harry shrugged. "Now shush, you've got to stay quiet." Harry whispered, he was glad when the snake nodded as if to say 'okay, I will'. It brought a smile to his face, having someone that would listen to him, even if it was a snake.
The next day was a school day, meaning Harry had to go to school. Luckily he was able to hide his new snake friend from the Dursleys, he couldn't imagine what they would do if they found him. Actually scratch that, he could, they would more than likely end up killing it and then end up punishing him. Though when Harry went to school he had to take the snake with him, he obviously was not going to leave it at home where it could get found by Aunt Petunia.
The Dursley's avoided Harry's cupboard for the most part, unless they wanted to throw Harry in or pull him out of it, but they also stored other stuff in there so it was possible for them to go in occasionally to take something out. The last thing Harry wanted was to come home to find a dead snake on his bed. Harry's new little friend was smart enough to hide under Harry's uniform, usually he wrapped himself around Harry's right arm but he would sometimes move.
Like in the car when Dudley sat on Harry's right, the snake moved itself from Harry's right arm to his left. Feeling the snake crawl up his own body was a funny feeling, and a weird one but Harry managed to hold back any reactions, or at least limit them so they were not easily detectable.
During his school break Harry went to the library, to look up information on snakes, like what they would eat. Harry learnt that while a lot of snakes had venom, other snakes killed their prey by wrapping around them and squeezing until they died. Harry had heard before that some big snakes could eat cows and deer but he thought they would just rip it up into pieces, but apparently snakes can open their mouths really wide so they could swallow big things, but they don't chew on their food or eat it like people do, snakes preferred to eat their food in one go. While reading Harry couldn't help but wonder how big his own snake would get. Though, that would only be if he could keep it. The snake would probably leave him eventually, why would he stay in a cupboard with him when he could be free?
A week later and Harry was pleasantly surprised to still have his snake friend with him, the two had also settled in a name for him. One day Harry had simply decided on 'Jet', Harry had heard a teacher say 'jet black' and got the idea from that, it was a simple name but Harry liked it and his snake like it so it didn't really matter.
Harry had enjoyed spending time with Jet whenever he could, he liked to talk to Jet, he had never really had long conversations with anyone before Jet. Jet also enjoyed listening to Harry, but he also liked to explain stuff to him. Jet didn't know how but he just knew stuff, he explained to Harry that he was actually talking in parsletounge which was a snake language, and not many people could do it, apparently it was a very rare magical ability. That was another thing that Harry had learnt, magic was apparently real.
"But magic can't be real." Harry had told Jet, paraphrasing his Uncle Vernon's words.
"Then how are you talking to me then?" Jet had countered.
Harry found that he was unable to think up a logical response, he knew magic wasn't the only possible reason for him being able to hear snakes talk. It was entirely possible that the Dursley's had hit and worked him hard enough that his mind had broken and he had gone crazy, but if he had to choose between being crazy and being magical then he knew which he would prefer to be.
"Boy!" Uncle Vernon yelled when Harry had fell on the floor, dropping the tray carrying his Uncle Vernon's tea and cakes. The tea sank into the carpet while the cakes were ruined, Aunt Petunia screamed loudly at the damage done to her 'beautiful' carpet. The two either did not notice that Dudley was the one who tripped Harry or they simply did not care, Harry could honestly not tell which.
"I'm sorry!" Harry was able to get out before his uncle grabbed him by the collar of his oversized shirt and lifted him to his feet.
"You dropped my food and ruined the carpet!" Uncle Vernon shouted angrily.
"But it wasn't my fault!" Harry protested.
"Whose fault was it then?!" Vernon demanded. Harry was about to respond but then shut his mouth, he knew better than to blame Dudley, that would just get him in more trouble. "That's what I thought!" Vernon continued when Harry did not respond. "I will teach you to..." Vernon paused when he heard hissing. "what the devil is that?" He muttered.
Vernon got his answer a second later when a small, emerald eyed, black snake stuck its head out of Harry's collar and tried to bite at Vernon who had barely managed to move his hand away in time. He jumped back as if he was actually bitten, Aunt Petunia shrieked again but wasn't able to stand up as Dudley had screamed and jumped on her lap, despite probably weighing more than her, or at least looking like he did.
"What is that?!" Vernon demanded now that he was a safe distance away.
"What are you doing?!" Harry whispered to Jet.
"Why are you hissing at it?!" Vernon yelled, one side effect of parsletounge was that to everyone who didn't speak it, it just sounded like hissing.
"Don't worry, I have a plan." Jet hissed.
"What?! Since when?!" Harry hissed.
"Boy!" Vernon snapped when Harry hadn't responded. "I..." Vernon once again found himself interrupted by hissing, though this time the hissing wasn't from Harry or Jet. All three Dursley's screamed in terror when suddenly a small army of little snakes entered the room, surrounding the Dursley's while also placing themselves between them and Harry.
"Stop it!" Petunia screamed but could not do more as she and the rest of her family were petrified by fear, because even though the snakes were mostly not venomous - not that the Dursley's knew that - there were still a few snakes in there with low amounts of venom, a single bite wouldn't kill but would hurt.
The floor was soon covered in snakes, some snakes began climbing up the furniture and the now silent Dursley's. Even Dudley stopped screaming, if only to reduce the risk of aggravating the snakes.
"How the hell did this happen?" Harry gaped.
"Last night when you were sleeping, I went out and met some more snakes." Jet spoke in a proud voice. "I told them that you needed help, then they went out to get more snakes."
"We will protect the speaker." Another snake hissed proudly.
The next thing happened that happened happened before Harry could stop it, and once it happened he didn't bother stopping it, Harry laughed. It started off as a small laugh, but then Harry's laugh grew. It got bigger, louder and less restrained. Eventually it turned into full blown laughter, full blown maniacal laughter. Jet matched him, or as closely as a snake could.
At that moment, Dudley was desperately trying to work out what was going on. Meanwhile Petunia and Vernon were coming to a realization, perhaps it was a bad idea to abuse the boy they knew would eventually grow and end up becoming a wizard.
A few years passed and Harry was now eleven years old, sitting on his bed and reading a book in what used to be Dudley's room, or at least it was until Harry kicked him out of it and took it over. ever since becoming friends with Jet his life had improved beyond what he could of ever dreamed of. The Dursley's were now beyond scared of him and Jet. Jet would occasionally call back the other snakes if the Dursley's ever needed reminders of why they should not mess with Harry. Though Jet was a big enough reminder on his own, the snake was now clearly longer than before, but was still small enough to be able to rest on Harry's shoulder.
The Dursley's had originally tried to rebel against Harry but that ended quickly thanks to the help of Harry's snakes. Harry, despite how tempting it was, did not have his snakes bite the Dursley's...much. Harry was smart enough to know that things would be 'difficult' at best if his snakes ended up killing one of them. For the most part a snake would simply climb up and hiss in their ear or wrap themselves around their necks, though they non-venomous ones would bite at them threateningly but would rarely bite them.
"Harry," Jet hissed in his ear. "you have a visitor." He said, Harry frowned and looked up to see and a bird flying towards his open window, the bird ended up being a brown owl, one that happened to be carrying a letter that was tied to its leg. "Can I eat it?" Jet asked when it landed on Harry's desk.
"No." Harry rolled his eyes as he stood up with Jet still perched on his shoulders, Harry slowly walked over to the bird, hoping he doesn't spook it. The ow looked wary of Jet but otherwise did not react beyond raising the leg that had the letter tied to it. "I'm assuming that that is for me." Harry said before he took the letter from the owl, he opened it and began reading.
'To Mr Harry Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of of all necessary equipment's and books.
The term begins on September 1st, please respond via owl and do not hesitate to contact us if you need to do so.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress.'
"Hogwarts." Harry said softly before he quickly went to his desk and began writing his reply, once he was done he looked at the owl who was still there. "I'm guessing that you're going to be the one who will take my response back?" Harry asked, the owl nodded in response, Harry wasn't too fazed by that, he had spent the last few years talking to snakes after all. "Wait there," Harry said as he ties his response to the owls leg. "done." Harry said, the owl hooted before taking off and flying away.
"Hogwarts," Jet repeated. "what kind of a name is that?" He asked.
"Beats me, but finally I can learn about magic." Harry grinned.
"You can't just learn about magic," Jet replied. "you need to be the best!" He said enthusiastically. "You're my master! My master has to be better than the other stupid wizards and witches!" He said, Harry simply laughed and shook his head in amusement.
Bathsheda Babbling, nineteen year old Professor of the Study of Ancient Runes at Hogwarts, arrived at Number Four Privet Drive, to speak to Harry Potter about his induction into Hogwarts. This wasn't normally her job, in fact she had not ever introduced a muggleborn or muggle raised to the wizarding world before, imagine how nervous she felt to be starting with Harry Potter, the most famous child in the wizarding world. In the wizarding world it was hard to find someone who didn't know who Harry Potter was.
"Oh merlin, why me?" She muttered to herself, before remembering exactly why. Usually it would be one of the four heads of houses that would introduce a muggleborn, but Professor Sprout, McGonagall and Flitwick were away while Professor Snape, the unpleasant ass that he is, refused to do that part of his job. Hagrid couldn't do it as he would stand out in a muggle neighborhood thanks to his size and Professor Dumbledore was busy with some international event. There were reasons for why the other teachers couldn't do it, such as Binns being a dead ghost and Trelawny being a drunk idiot.
Eventually it had been narrowed down to herself and Septima Vector, the Arithmancy teacher. Bathsheda was about to remind Septima that she shouldn't have to do this as she was the youngest teacher in the school but Septima had cut her off by simply saying 'dibs on not doing it' before she walked away, damn it!
"Great, try not to embarrass yourself in front of Harry Potter, you'll never hear the end of it." She said to herself before walking towards the house where Harry Potter was supposed to be staying in, she hoped she got it right, the houses all looked the exact same here. She knocked on the door and a few moments later it opened to reveal a cute eleven year old boy with messy black hair and dazzling emerald green eyes.
Harry looked up at the woman in front of him, she was a beautiful woman with light brown skin and chocolate brown eyes. Her black hair was in a bun and dressed in a black smart shoes, leg tights, a grey skirt that ended at her knees and a white shirt under a grey jacket. She looked slightly nervous in Harry's opinion.
"Hello, Mr Potter?" She asked.
"Yes," Harry nodded. "are you from Hogwarts?" He asked in a hopeful voice.
"Yes, I am." She smiled. "I am Professor Bathsheda Babbling, I teach Ancient Runes at Hogwarts."
"Ancient runes?" Harry asked, sounding very interested.
"Yes," She nodded. "it's a form of writing that witches and wizards used hundreds of years ago," She explained. "in my class I teach a lot of things like how to read runes and how to use them."
"So if I come then I would get to learn Ancient Runes?" Harry asked.
"Actually, not in your first year." Bathsheda replied. "At the end of your second year you will be given a few classes to chose from, Ancient Runes is one of the options you can choose from."
"Oh," Harry hummed before shaking his head. "sorry, I should have invited you in already. Come on in." Harry stepped to the side so she could enter.
"Thank you," She smiled at him as she walked in, Harry closed the door before leading her into the living room. When she entered, she looked around the rather boring room and noticed a ton of photos but none of them appeared to be of Harry. "Where is your family?" She asked as she sat down on a sofa.
"My relatives are currently out," Harry replied, the Dursley's were currently off visiting some business partner of Vernon's. "but don't worry, they're aware that somebody would be visiting." Harry lied, he was rather hoping to surprise his relatives by suddenly having a witch or wizard show up, sadly he like many had to suffer thanks to bad timing. "So, you're here to explain and talk to me about Hogwarts, correct?"
"Yes, I..." Bathsheda found herself cut off when she suddenly heard a hissing sound. "...what was that?" She asked.
Her answer came when she saw a black snake with emerald eyes slithering into the room, she gasped and jumped out of her chair, pulling out her wand. She was about to cast off a spell when she saw Harry Potter stand up and calmly walk to the snake, she was about to tell him to get back when he kneeled down and picked it up before placing it around his shoulders.
"Oh, this is Jet." Harry smiled as he gestured to the snake on his shoulders who hissed at Bathsheda. "He says 'hello'." Harry translated. "Oh, can you understand him? I've never met anyone else who can speak to snakes." Harry admitted.
"You can speak to snakes?" Bathsheda said slowly, as if she couldn't believe what she just heard.