What's your name?" Harry asked, peering down at the small snake which coiled around his wrist.
"Name?" It questioned, flicking its tongue curiously. "No name, Den-Harry."
They were hidden away in a park just down the road from the Dursleys'. Harry had created a soft glow with no real source, just enough for him to see by really. The subtle warmth of magic thrummed under his skin, feeling almost tangible. Harry had forgotten the multiple times since his outburst, that his blood was only deep red and not illuminated by the magic pulsating with each heartbeat. He had plenty of opportunities to try and remember this fact, Dudley and his friends were almost obsessive with maiming him whenever possible now.
"Just Harry," he corrected, using one hand to pet the sleek back of the snake. He enjoyed the feeling of its scales; he'd expected the snake to feel slimy, but it was smooth and dry. Its scales were a dark brown, almost black, but they had a faint, splotchy pattern: dirt stained, like Harry's own fingers.
"I could name you, if you'd like?"
"Den-Harry, yes." It flicked its tongue, catching itself quickly. "No Den-Harry, Harry?"
Harry nodded his head, before realising that the small snake probably didn't understand human body language enough to know what a nod meant . They had totally different bodies after all, Harry and his little friend. " That's right. I am Harry. "
"I am?" It asked, its voice rising at the end to indicate a question.
At first, he'd thought talking to a snake would be just like talking to another person, only with foreign-sounding hissing, which, to Harry, sounded just like English anyway. The little snake didn't understand the majority of the bigger words though, some of the bigger concepts. Its vocabulary was very limited. It made talking with it a challenge, but an interesting challenge.
Realising that his little friend was asking for its name, Harry tilted his head, looking at the serpent curiously. "I'm reading a book, the creator of this spell is Nikkoli Lutain. I don't know what it does. But the name sounds interesting."
" Lutain? " The little snake asked, pausing in what seemed like concentration, " I...am? "
Harry nodded, then, remembering himself, he smiled. " You're Lutain. "
The snake looked as confused as Harry thought a snake might look. "You're Lutain?"
Was it the contractions that the little snake didn't understand? He thought about it for a moment, then realised that the problem might've been one of perspective.
"Okay, I am Harry. You are Lutain. In your eyes, I am Lutain, you are Harry," Harry said, gesturing with his hands, before realising again that, since snakes didn't have hands, his gesturing might not mean anything to the little snake.
It seemed to understand despite the language gap. "I am Lutain! You are Harry! You are Harry no prey!"
" Not prey, " Harry agreed.
"You are Harry," It hissed gleefully, "You are not prey."
....
"What Harry prey?" Lutain asked one day, curling around a flower pot while Harry pruned carnations by the side garden.
"What is Harry's prey." Harry corrected instantly, not looking up from where he tugged at a few browning stalks. They'd been working on overcoming the language gap between them.
"What is Harry's prey?" Lutain repeated, flicking its tongue.
"Well," Harry started. "I am human. I eat many things, sometimes I can eat certain plants or fruits. I can eat meat, but we eat larger animals like pigs and cows. "
"Plants?" Lutain seemed baffled, "Human prey plants?"
Harry plucked off a dandelion that was trying to grow up through the ground. He held it up for Lutain to see, then stuffed it in his mouth.
Lutain reared back, hissing in disgust, "Not plant! Not want!"
Harry smiled. "Plants we eat are called vegetables."
"Vegetables, not want," Lutain rephrased firmly. "Vegetables, I not want."
"I do not want." Harry corrected.
Lutain slid forward, flicking its tongue against the dandelion stump where some sap was beading. "I...I do not want vegetables."
Harry smiled. He reached down, holding his out hand and Lutain wriggled against it, pleased. For the first time in a long while, Harry chuckled.
...
"When do Harry shed?" Lutain asked quietly, peering at Harry's skin curiously. Harry paused, looking over his shoulder where Lutain coiled on his cot. He had smuggled the snake inside earlier that day; it was supposed to rain that night.
"Humans have skin. Snakes have scales." Harry explained, finding a shirt to change into, "Humans heal their skin over time."
"No shed mark?" Lutain tasted the air with its tongue, then moved its head closer to something on Harry's body. Its tongue flickered out again, tickling his side.
Harry peered down at his body and saw the thin scar along his side from where Dudley had grazed him with his slingshot. It was an angry red still.
"No, the mark may fade. Some scars do. Some scars never will," Harry offered, brushing his fingertips over the raised skin.
"Humans skin no want. Humans skin hurt."
Harry hummed in agreement, pulling on his shirt and moving to sit on the bed next to the snake, "You know, I never asked what gender you are."
"Gender?" Lutain asked curiously.
Harry thought for a moment. "Eggs? Do you lay eggs?"
"No eggs! Lutain no eggs." Lutain hissed.
"If you don't have eggs, you're male. If you do, you're female," Harry explained, reaching for the one well-loved spell book, "I am male. You are male. Male and Female are genders."
Lutain nodded as if understanding, peering curiously as Harry pulled up the book and opened it to a specific page, a certain spell he had been working on. " This is a book of spells. "
" Book? "
" Talking, each marking is a letter and letters together makes a word. You can look at the letters and understand what someone says. "
The little snake's tongue flickered and it brought its head closer to the old pages. There was, of course, no way for it to actually know how to read; it had no idea at all what each of the words said, or even what sounds were represented by which squiggles on the page.
Harry didn't mind, in fact he enjoyed the conversation. He wasn't quite as lonely anymore, now that he had someone to talk to.
....
Want to read ahead by more than 60 chapters. Then join my pa*treon now.
Link: pa*treon.com/Amelie796 (Remove the *)
Free members will get 2 chapters for free.