Ilha da Queimada Grande, Brazil , 8/8/1983, 08:39
Harry followed the slightly wavy tracks in the mud, he was looking for a golden lancehead or Bothrops insularis, the most venomous snake in the country of Brazil. One bite from this particular snake would kill a human within a few hours and it would be a very painful death.
Mr Patil had been focusing on collecting venom from this breed of snake since arriving in Brazil a week ago.
Luckily there were thousands of these snakes on this tiny island so they were not very difficult to find and they usually cooperated with him or Mr Patil in exchange for an offering, the snakes seemed to prefer birds.
The island they were on was quarantined by the magical government of Brazil as these snakes were classified as XX magical creatures. They were considered a danger to any muggles who stumbled upon them and were responsible for hundreds of muggle deaths before the ministry stepped in.
The golden lanceheads parts had magical properties, their eyes, scales and fangs were valuable potion ingredients and as Harry was learning, their venom was very valuable which meant that poachers frequently snuck onto this island.
The lanceheads were relatively small for snakes, usually, between two and four feet long, their scales were a gorgeous goldenrod-yellow colour with slightly darker yellow triangular shaped splotches on their sides, and cream-coloured scales on their bellies. Their eyes were yellowish-brown and their heads had a distinctive shape resembling a spearhead which had earned them their name.
Most of the time the lanceheads were found in the branches of the trees where the snakes did most of their hunting but one always had to be careful when walking through the long grass because they still liked to hide in the undergrowth.
Today was the first day Harry would be collecting venom on his own so he was being extremely careful as he followed the snake tracks. He needed to fill two dozen vials with lancehead venom samples by the end of the day.
Working with Mr Patil was a lot different than working with Newt, for one thing, Patil seemed to be only concerned about one thing collecting venom.
Harry didn't particularly care for the man but had followed every instruction he had been given to the letter. He tried to learn as much as possible when the man Especially when Sanjay had shown him the techniques for extracting venom, which seemed to be the most important skill in their trade.
Sanjay Patil was a short man standing about five and a half feet tall, he had dark tan skin, whitish-grey hair, and brownish-green eyes. Sanjay was in his late sixties which was not that old for a wizard but he seemed much older but that could just be his standoffish demeanour. There was no doubt he spent a lot of time outdoors as his skin had a leathery quality to it and his face was starting to wrinkle.
Sanjay was a font of knowledge about serpents and seemed to be able to almost read a snake's mind.
Harry was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a warning from the undergrowth ahead, he had found the snake he had been tracking.
§ Do not come closer or I will ssstrike§, Harry heard a voice hiss about five feet away.
§ I mean you no harm, golden serpent, I only wish to make a deal for some of your venom§, Harry replied coming to a complete stop
§ A speaker how interesting, what do you want with my venom, speaker?§, The serpent hissed as it slithered out of the underbrush revealing that it was over four feet in length which was massive for the species.
§ Your venom is very valuable for potion ingredients§, Harry answered as he took a seat on the ground to be closer to the snake's eye level.
§ What do you wish to trade for my venom, speaker?§, The serpent hissed as she slithered over to him.
§ A nice juicy bird§, Harry offered as the snake started to slither up his leg, its yellow eyes looking into his own.
§ I do not need food, I will give you my venom if you use some of your magic to protect my nest, I will have my snaklings sssoon§, The snake countered as her golden arrow-shaped head slid up his body.
§You have a deal, mother serpent, show me your nest and I will protect it for you§ Harry agreed as he noticed the golden hue of her scales, they really were very pretty snakes.
§ You are in my nest, speaker§ The snake hissed as she slithered around his neck before making her way back onto the ground and coiled herself up to watch him.
Harry nodded his understanding and drew his wand casting some basic wards over a ten-foot area around where he was sitting to keep other creatures away, he then cast a spell over the snake so she would not be affected by the wards.
As soon as the spell took effect he heard rapid movement to his right and heard a terrified voice hissing, §fleeeee!§ and Harry watched the grass shift as the other snake left the area.
§ It works! She has been using my nesting ground for the past two summers§, the serpent hissed sounding almost gleeful.
§ As long as you live only you will be able to enter here§ Harry assured the snake.
§ That will not be long, speaker, this was my last mating§" The serpent said somewhat sadly.
§ Then this last birthing will be safe for your snakelings, mother serpent§ Harry hissed as he removed the funnel and a collection vial.
Collecting the venom of a serpent had been a terrifying prospect the first time he had seen it done, he had watched Mr Patil hold the snake's head as it bared its fangs over a glass funnel and the way he gently squeezed and massaged the snake's venom sacks to milk the venom out of the serpent. Harry had been instructed to milk his first snake on their second day on the island and he quickly got the hang of things.
Still, the thought that one slip up and he could get bitten was always on his mind whenever he extracted venom. It was a slight adrenaline rush, he was hyper-aware of every movement of the serpent's head as he went about massaging a snake's venom sacs his fingers sometimes inches from their exposed fangs.
This serpent was no different, he took great care to be as gentle as possible as he milked this female, she had to have been the largest snake he had seen on the island and produced the most venom in one go he had seen so far.
When he had finished milking her and sealed the vial of clear-yellowish venom he turned to the serpent who was coiled on the ground again watching him curiously.
§Thank you mother serpent, may your hatchlings go forth and flourish§, Harry said as he packed up his gear.
§Well met speaker§, the serpent hissed before slithering back into the undergrowth and out of sight.
'One down twenty-three more to go,' Harry grinned as he made he moved away from the large female's nest.
Ilha da Queimada Grande, Brazil , 8/8/1983, 19:49
Harry arrived back at their base camp on the west side of the island, the camp was under some powerful creature repelling wards at the top of a hill overlooking the Atlantic ocean.
They each brought their own tents which were set up on the outer edge of the warded area. There was a large fire pit in the middle of the clearing with a roaring fire, and a wooden picnic table near the ocean side of the clearing where they ate their breakfast and dinner when it wasn't raining.
"Good you're back, were you successful?" Mr Patil asked when he noticed Harry enter their campsite.
"Yes very, I ran out of collection vials," Harry said as he pulled a case out of the magically expanded pocket of his robes.
The case was an eight-inch by eight-inch wood box that was three inches thick. On the inside, it was sectioned into fifty tiny square compartments that were designed for holding glass collection vials in the upright position. The box was enchanted to keep the items inside safe from damage as well as at a very cool temperature to extend the life of the venom.
Mr Patil accepted the case before setting it on the table then unlocking the case and flipping the lid open. He selected vials at random and inspected them with a critical eye for contaminations and the like.
"You cleansed the funnel after every collection?" Patil asked as he looked over more of the vials.
"Yes, I put up a new barrier spell on the funnel before every extraction as well," Harry answered as Patil grabbed the vial that had the number '1' stamped into the cork.
"Where did this sample come from?" Patil demanded as he noted the unusually large amount of clear-yellow venom in the vial.
"A few hundred yards from the old lighthouse, that came from a pregnant female. She had to be the biggest lancehead I've seen so far," Harry answered.
"And this came from a single milking?" Patil pressed as he held the vial up to the setting sun.
"Yes," Harry answered.
"Well done, I believe with our work today we can head back to the mainland in the morning," Patil said still staring at the vial.
"Alright, what species are we looking for next?" Harry asked as he dug in his expanded pocket and pulled out his canteen.
"The South American rattlesnake or Crotalus durissus terrificus, they are not as aggressive as the lanceheads but yield a lot more venom," Patil explained as he placed the vial back into the case and shut the lid.
"I have been reading up on them, their venom is not fully understood but very potent," Harry said as he got up from his seat and started getting supper ready.
"Yes it is, their venom is sought after for that very reason, it could be useful for other things besides perfecting the current antidote," Sanjay said as he levitated the Weber grill to cook the lamb kabobs Harry was preparing.
"I'll just be glad to get off of this island, I almost stepped on two of them today," Harry admitted.
"Yes, I love snakes but this place has too many for my liking," Sanjay chuckled.
'Well he seems to be in a better mood,' Harry thought as he watched Sanjay light the grill.
Peverell Beach House, Cornwall, 8/13/1983, 07:36
Harry was glad to be home, he sat in the nursery rocking Carina as he fed her a bottle. Being away from his family for a week at a time was more difficult than he had expected.
Last week he had spent trudging through the Amazon rainforest hunting tropical rattlesnakes which were almost docile compared to how energetic the lanceheads were.
The rattlesnakes were about the same length as the lanceheads but were much girthier in the middle, their necks and tails seemed to taper from their thick bodies. They had white diamond patterns on their backs that almost looked beaded, they really were very pretty to look at.
Harry hardly worked with Mr Patil anymore, the man would give a box filled with empty vials in the morning and send him to collect samples on his own, while the senior magizoologist did the same.
According to Sanjay, this type of work was much easier to do by yourself, the snakes seemed to respond better to a single person instead of a group.
There were all sorts of dangers in the rainforest besides the poisonous snakes, which for the most part avoided people. There were jaguars, leeches, mosquitoes, and the Brazilian wandering spider which could kill a human as effectively as any snake could.
Then there was the most dreaded fish of all, this foul creature lived in the Amazon river. It was called the candiru and according to local legend, this species of catfish was attracted to urine in the water. It was said that this fish would swim up a human urethra if someone was foolish enough to pee in the water. Harry had wisely avoided the river after hearing this, whether the legend was true or not, he did not want to find out.
Besides a few run-ins with a band of spider monkeys that flung 'chocolate' at him when he got too close to their tree, he had not encountered anything hostile during his trips through the rainforest.
On Monday they would be moving to a different location in search of the lachesis muta also known as the bushmaster, the largest species in the viper family of snakes. The bushmaster was a highly venomous snake known for injecting its victims with large amounts of venom in a single bite. This snake was a priority to Sanjay because a bite from a Lachesis muta had been known to be fatal even if the victim received medical treatment in a timely manner. This meant that the antidote still needed some fine-tuning so the potioneers would need plenty of venom samples to develop a better one.
On the upside, last weekend when he had come home he had received a statement from Gringotts letting him know that funds had been deposited into his vault from Chupacabra Potions Suppliers. He was quite satisfied with the amount, five hundred and twenty-two galleons for a week's work was more than satisfactory.
When he asked Sanjay about this the man had shrugged and said, " they pay us by the ounce on the venom, the more we collect the more we get paid."
Sanjay seemed to be warming up to him now. Granted for the most part they only saw each other during breakfast and their evening meals as they both collected venom on their own during the day, neither one of them usually came back to camp until nightfall. Recently Sanjay had become quite friendly and Harry attributed this to the fact that he was pulling his weight on the expedition.
Harry learned that Sanjay's son was the father of Parvati and Padma Patil and that the older man was getting ready to retire so that he could spend some time with his grandchildren.
"You're up early," Bella whispered as she came out of their room catching his attention.
"I heard Carina waking up and figured I would let you sleep for a bit," Harry said as he burped his daughter.
"Thank you, how was work this week?" Bella asked as she took Carina into her arms.
"Minus the monkies it was pretty easy, the snakes usually cooperate they have simple demands like a rabbit or a nice juicy mouse and then let me have some of their venom," Harry explained as Ignotus opened his eyes and waved both of his tiny hands at him.
"Good, I don't want you getting killed by one of these filthy serpents," Bella said matter of factly.
"The mundane serpents are usually pretty obedient, it's the highly magical serpents that I have to worry about and there aren't any in Brazil," Harry shrugged.
"Where are you going next?" Bella questioned as she started dressing Carina in a tiny summer dress.
"Arizona," Harry replied as he picked Ignotus up.
"For what?" Bella asked.
"Diamondback rattlesnake venom and Sanjay wants to visit the horned serpent reserve," Harry replied as he began feeding Ignotus his bottle.
"Why are you going to see horned serpents?" Bella demanded.
"So I can get some experience handling highly magical snakes," Harry shrugged.
"Hmm, did you hear that Aunt Cassie is putting a bill in front of the Wizengamot to raise taxes in the alley?" Bellatrix asked not so subtly changing the subject.
"What is the money going towards?" Harry asked curiously.
" To increase our Auror corp, training more aurors so we have an auror force comparable to France's," Bella answered as she took a seat in the rocking chair.
"That is not a bad idea in principle, a strong auror corp would detour another dark lord from taking root," Harry said thoughtfully.
"But?" Bellatrix asked.
"But Cassie having a private army at her command is... unsettling," Harry admitted as he started burping Ignotus.
"Yes, Bella agrees. Aunt Cassie could set herself up to be the next dark lady," Bellatrix agreed.
"Do you think the bill will pass?" Harry asked curiously.
"No, the light and the dark factions seemed uneasy when she proposed the bill, I think they are both concerned she is planning something," Bella giggled.
"She could be planning to declare herself empress of magic," Harry suggested only half-jokingly.
"I imagine that it would appeal to her if everyone had to address her as your royal majesty or queen Cassiopeia," Bella agreed.
Harry may be joking about this but Harry could sympathise with the other factions, Cassie with that kind of power at her fingertips was worrying. Harry knew he was partially responsible for getting her elected but he chose the lesser of two evils. Augusta Longbottom was a direct threat to his family so she had to be neutralised but that had aided Cassiopeia in her goal to become minister of magic.
'I definitely need to keep an eye on this situation,' Harry thought as he got his son dressed for the day.
Amazon Rainforest, Brazil, 8/17/ 1983, 09:39
The snake Harry was currently conversing with was a giant, true it had nothing on some of the constrictors that he had seen in the jungle but a twelve-foot bushmaster was considered quite large for the species.
The snake had a large rounded head with very well defined venom sacks, there were black stripes across the side of its face starting at the corner of its eyes making the snake's brownish-red eyes hard to make out in the dim light of the jungle floor.
The snake's light tan coloured head was lifted about a foot off of the ground on its powerful neck, its body's colouring was darker and more of an earthy brown with triangular markings going down both of its sides in a deep chocolate colour. The body was thick and powerful, Harry could actually see its muscles ripple as it slithered closer to him flicking its pink tongue as it tasted the air.
Harry had already collected four vials of Lachesis venom this morning but none of those snakes were near as large as this specimen
§ You wish for some of my venom, what will you give me in return?§, The snake hissed back.
§ I can get you any food you wish or cast protection over your nest§, Harry offered as he sat cross-legged on the ground while the snake slithered closer to him.
He had found that Snakes tended to respond better to him when he didn't tower over them, they seemed to relax and feel less threatened when he was closer to their eye level.
§ I can get my own food, speaker§, The snake hissed back slithering around him so the Harry was seated inside a circle of the snake's body.
§ What do you want?§, Harry asked curiously.
§ I want to see the world, take me with you and I will let you have my venom whenever you wish, speaker§, The snake hissed as it cocked its head sideways almost curiously.
Harry's first response was to decline, the snake was huge and very dangerous but when he thought longer on it he could see the benefits of having a snake, snakes could smell out other snakes and even the largest of predators were wary of approaching a snake. There was something else, almost like a deep feeling inside him urging him to accept the snake's terms.
§ Very well but you must agree to never bite anyone unless I permit you or your life is in danger§, Harry countered after making a spur of the moment decision.
§ You have a deal speaker§, The snake hissed happily.
§, What is your name?§, Harry asked the serpent as he removed his venom extraction equipment.
§ I have no name speaker§, the serpent hissed as she placed her fangs over the glass funnel and allowed Harry to massage her venom glands.
As soon as his fingers touched her rough scales he felt a feeling he couldn't describe in his chest, the closest thing he could compare it to was the first time he had touched his wand. This all happened in a split second though somehow he knew this was significant.
Harry pushed this to the back of his mind and quickly filled the vial full of her deep yellow venom before asking, §You are female, aren't you?§
§ Yes I am an egg bearer§, The serpent replied as she watched him tag the vial of venom before storing it in his protective case.
§ Then I shall call you... Athena§, Harry decided after a few minutes thought.
§ Athena... yes that sounds nice §, Athena hissed as she slithered over Harry so that she was coiled around him before he slowly rose to his feet.
She wasn't all that heavy maybe fifteen pounds or so, Harry jumped slightly when her forked tongue flicked beside his ear.
'That will take some getting used to,' Harry thought in amusement.
The rest of the day he had a much easier time finding other bushmaster snakes, Athena could easily smell them out. Even better she had male bushmaster snakes coming out of the jungle, her size made her a very desirable mate it would seem.
He managed to fill his quota earlier than expected.
Base Camp, Brazil, 8/17/1983, 17:49
Harry walked into camp with Athena draped over his shoulders and set his venom crate on top of Mr Patil's before making his way to the campfire.
" I knew it would happen eventually," Sanjay said as soon as he spotted Athena on Harry's shoulder.
"What would happen?" Harry asked curiously as he grabbed a bottle of butterbeer from the cooler.
"You were adopted by a snake," Sanjay said matter of factly as he began setting up the charcoal grill.
"You expected that?" Harry asked in surprise as Athena slithered off of his shoulders and Harry took a seat at the picnic table.
"Yes, when I first started working with serpents I travelled to Austrailia to collect venom from inland Taipans, I ended up bringing one home with me," Sanjay said with a far off look in his eye.
"I have named her Athena," Harry grinned as said snake curled up beside the campfire.
"It is a good name, did you fill all of your vials?" Sanjay asked as he lit he grill with his wand.
"Yes, those snakes really deliver the venom most of my vials are more than half full and Athena nearly filled a vial all by herself.
" Excellent, we should have our quota for bushmaster venom by the end of the week," Sanjay said as he placed a whole chicken on the smoker and put the lid over it.
§ Hello Athena, I am Sanjay§, Mr Patil said introducing himself.
§ Another speaker?§, Athena said in surprise.
§ Yes, we work with serpents because we can communicate with them§, Sanjay explained.
§ You speak to many serpents?§, Athena asked cocking her head to the side.
§ Yes, serpents all over the world§, Sanjay replied.
§ I want to see the world §, Athena hissed cocking her head to look at Harry.
§ You will come with me on my journeys, Athena§, Harry assured her as he took off his boots.
§ Good, I think I will go hunting now, I smell prey near us §, Athena said before slithering away into the undergrowth.
"She will be a great companion for you in your travels," Sanjay said as he opened the grill to turn the chicken and sprinkle some spices over it.
"She was very useful in finding other snakes this afternoon," Harry admitted.
"I have been meaning to ask you, is it true that you and Newt captured a thousand-year-old basilisk at Hogwarts school?" Sanjay asked.
"Yes, but Newt did most of the work on that job, I just spoke to her," Harry explained.
"I have only seen three basilisks in my entire career and none of them was more than a decade old, she must have been magnificent," Sanjay said wistfully.
"She was, we transferred her to a preserve off of the coast of Greece to live out her days, hopefully, her last decades will be more comfortable than living in a cave in Scotland," Harry said thoughtfully
"Well compared to that what you will see on the day to day will not compare, usually our job is doing what we are now. We collect venom for potions, relocate magical snakes from muggle areas, and occasionally we have to heal serpents at the magical reserves," Sanjay explained as he checked the chicken again.
"I'm fine with that, this kind of work is fascinating though I could do without the monkeys hurling crap at me," Harry chuckled.
"Just wait until you have to deal with the baboons in Africa, now those things are a nuisance," Sanjay chuckled as he pulled the chicken off of the grill and set the platter on the table.
Harry had noticed that Sanjay was lightening up the longer they worked together. When he had first started working with the man, Sanjay had been borderline hostile and only talked to him when explaining something.
They had started to get on pretty well the longer they worked together, now they acted more like colleagues than teacher and student.
"My daughter has the gift," Harry said after a few minutes of comfortable silence.
"How can you tell, she is only a few months old?" Sanjay asked in surprise.
"She started hissing the word hungry when she was a few weeks old, scard the hell out of me the first time she did it," Harry grinned.
"I have never heard of something like that, usually the gift develops after a childs magic asserts itself, around seven or eight," Sanjay explained.
" I haven't either. I have no way to look into it in Britain with the stigma that surrounds parseltongue," Harry said before taking another bite of his drumstick.
"Yes, it is utterly ridiculous. One Greek bastard perverted the ideals of parselmagic and the British call the rest of us dark because of it. In my home country there is still a sacred healing art that uses parselmagic almost exclusively," Sanjay admitted.
"Do they have any books on parseltongue in children?" Harry asked.
"I inagine so," Sanjay said thoughtfully.
I might have to make a trip to India then," Harry said after summoning another butterbeer.
"Oh you will, the occamy reserve usually calls me in at least once a year, and I am expecting a call soon," Sanjay assured him.
They soon finished their food and turned in for the night. It took Harry a while to get to sleep as he thought about going to India and wondered if he would find the answers he was looking for there.
Peverell Beach House, Cornwall, 8/20/1983, 00:28
Harry and Athena stepped into the house having just arrived by portkey much to the bushmaster's displeasure.
§ This is your nest?§, Athena asked from her position on his shoulders.
§ Yes, my mate and hatchlings are asleep, you can meet them in the morning §, Harry answered as Athena slithered to the floor flicking her tongue to taste the air.
"Harry is that you," Harry heard Bella's voice call from the bedroom.
"Yes and I have someone for you to meet," Harry said as he made his way to the bedroom Athena slithering along behind him.
"Who do you have... Harry, there is a massive snake behind you Bella said as she subtly reached for his wand.
" Yes I know, this is Athena my new familiar," Harry explained as Athena slithered into the room sniffing the air.
"Is she venomous?" Bella asked curiously.
"Extremely, one bite from her and most people do not survive it," Harry grinned.
"She is gorgeous," Bella admitted before shifting into her animagus form catching Athena's attention.
§You are a serpent but you are not§, Athena said as she smelled Bellatrix's king cobra form.
§ She is a powerful witch, she can change into a serpent at will§, Harry explained.
§ And I can speak to you in this form§, Bellatrix hissed flicking her own forked tongue at Athena.
'My family really is a strange one,' Harry chuckled as his wife and familiar talked to each other in snake form.
To anyone else, two twelve-foot highly venomous snakes slithering around their bedroom would be cause for alarm but Harry couldn't be happier.
Amazon Rainforest, 9/15/1983, 21:38
Harry was doing the rounds again, this time he was searching for a much smaller snake, the micrurus lemniscatus or the South American coral snake.
These creatures were very colourful and mostly only come out at night, hence why he was walking through the jungle by wand light.
This would be the last specific species they would be collecting venom from as the monsoons would be here soon.
Harry had let Athena go off and hunt tonight since she also was a nighttime hunter and had no interest in the pretty little decorative snakes Harry was searching for.
Harry had been noticing something odd about Athena, the longer she stayed in his company, the more intelligent she had seemed to become.
When he had first started conversing with her she only gave him simple answers and didn't seem to understand some of the things he told her. Now she seemed to be becoming almost sentient, she could carry on deeper conversations and seemed to be getting smarter by the day.
When he had told Sanjay about this, the man had nodded and said that this would happen as the familiar bond grew stronger.
All snakes were technically magical creatures some more so than others, and paraelmouths called to the innate magic of serpents. When the familiar bond asserts itself between a parselmouth and a compatible serpent, the serpents will take on some of the qualities of the parselmouth they have chosen to bond with. This bond would also extend the life of the serpent, Athena would live as much as three times longer than a common bushmaster. And as he had already noticed her personality was subtly changing.
Harry was brought out of his thoughts when a green pixie sized creature popped out of the undergrowth and stood in front of his path, instantly Harry recognized this creature from his studies on Brazil, this was a caipora.
They were native to this forest and usually stayed close to the school Castlebruxo the South American counterparts to Hogwarts, they were guardians of the school and notorious for their love of mischief.
The creature was about ten inches tall, humanoid in shape with short lime green fur all over its body, it had long red hair and dark blood-red eyes.
"I suppose I am getting too close to the school?" Harry asked the creature tentatively.
In answer, the creature let out a high pitched shriek, within five seconds dozens of them appeared out of the jungle all brandishing long primitive spears.
"Fuck!" Harry scowled as he turned and started sprinting back the way he came the high pitched cries of dozens of the little spear-wielding caipora chasing after him.
He had to duck and weave between trees and low hanging branches, praying he didn't stumble upon a venomous snake as he blundered his way to his only chance at safety.
Harry pushed his way towards the campsite as he was certain the wards around it would keep them out. To his right one of the spears they were wielding, flew through the air and embedded itself into a tree.
The spear was the size of an arrow with a large ovular shaped head, and if the book he read was correct, tipped with the mucus of a poison arrow frog.
Harry lost focus for a split second and tripped over a root, he managed to roll over the ground and pop back onto his feet without losing speed.
Harry continued running through the dense jungle with only the tiny beam of light from his wand to guide his way. He knew he was getting close, he could see the flickering light from the fire through the trees in the distance.
Another spear flew by his head and disappeared into the jungle making him dig a bit deeper, and push himself a bit harder, he knew he was almost back to the campsite now.
Seeing the camp about twenty yards ahead he sped up his pace and ran flat out, stumbling at the last second and tumbling quite painfully into the campsite.
Looking behind him, he took vicious satisfaction in seeing the little green monsters bounce off of the protective wards that were set up around the camp, he grinned when he saw the wards violently fling them back into the jungle.
Lying back he took a few staggering breaths, he could feel his heart thudding in his chest, hopefully, Sanjay was having better luck than he was.
Ten minutes later a very harried looking Sanjay flew into the camp on his broomstick. Harry could have kicked himself, he had a shrunken broomstick in the pocket of his robes and hadn't even thought to use it.
"I take it you discovered the caipora?" Harry asked as he shakily got to his feet.
"Yes, they are always a bit on edge before the monsoon season, I admit that I didn't realize how close we were to Castlebruxo," Sanjay sighed as he took a seat at the picnic table.
"Maybe Athena will have better luck tonight," Harry said optimistically.
"The caipora don't bother the animals of the forest, their sole purpose on earth is to harass wizards," Sanjay scowled. as he summoned himself a butterbeer.
"Do you think we can go back out when they leave?" Harry asked as he saw the little beasts still hammering on the wards.
"No, they will stay out there all night waiting for us to leave the wards," Sanjay said knowingly.
"Wonderful, I think I found a creature I dislike more than quintapeds," Harry muttered.
"Just wait until you meet baboons," Sanjay smirked.
"I suppose I will soon enough," Harry agreed as he got his own refreshment.
"I have no doubt you will, runespoor venom is always in demand," Sanjay chuckled.
"So what are we going to do about the coral snakes?" Harry asked.
"We will just have to search for the corals in the mornings but they are not very easy to find to hide in the leaves of the trees and burrow into dead leaves in the ground," Sanjay shrugged.
They stayed up for a bit longer before turning in for the night, Harry hoped they would have some luck finding the coral snakes during the day tomorrow because he had no interest in getting chased through the jungle by little green men again.
Peverell Beach House, Cornwall, 9/30/1983, 23:39
Harry groaned after walking into the house and watched as Athena slithered to the floor making her way towards the fireplace, it was much cooler here than it was in Brazil.
For the last two weeks, they had been gathering as many venom samples as they could instead of focusing on a specific species.
They had collected venom from a lot of different pit vipers species but then again all of the snakes they had been collecting from except for the coral snakes were members of the pit viper family.
Mostly, for the last two weeks, they had collected venom from the jararaca which was easy to find and gave decent venom yields.
Today had been his last trip into the Amazon rainforest. On Monday he would have to make a trip to the ministry and begin filling out the paperwork to get a wand permit, MACUSA required all visitors to register their wands. Once the paperwork went through they could move on to the next leg of their trip, which was in some national forest in Arizona.
Still, he had a week before they left for Arizona and Harry was looking forward to some family time.
He had been gone for the better part of two months and really missed Bella and the kids while he was gone.
'I am going to have to talk Bella into getting on a plane,' Harry sighed as he made his way upstairs.
Peverell Beach House, Cornwall, 10/1/1983, 09:39
The next morning the whole house was woken up by a shriek that put Harry in mind of a teenage girl.
Grabbing his wand from the bedside table he ran downstairs to find Sirius frozen in terror, he was standing in front of the fireplace. The Marauder was pale and staring at Athena who was coiled up in front of the fireplace and seemed to be ready to strike.
" What's the matter Padfoot?" Harry chuckled knowing about Sirius' aversion to snakes.
"Sn-snake," Sirius studdered out, he looked like he was close to fainting.
"This is Athena, my familiar," Harry said with a chuckle.
"Is she poisonous?" Sirius asked still staring transfixed at the coiled snake.
"Extremely, there isn't an antidote wizard or muggle that can counteract her venom consistently," Harry grinned
§ He screams like a female, speaker§, Athena hissed.
§ He is scared of serpents let him come through, he is family§, Harry chuckled as Athena slithered away towards the east-facing windows where bright sunlight was shining into the room.
"Come on Padfoot, let's get some breakfast," Harry said leading his shaken godfather to the dining room.
"Yeah alright, so how did your trip go?" Sirius asked as he followed Harry.
"Good, I made a fortune collecting venom samples," Harry grinned.
"I still say you're insane working with those evil little creatures," Sirius snorted as he took a seat.
"They're not evil and I would be careful what you say, Athena is learning to understand English," Harry grinned mischievously.
"Ugh and I thought Bella's animagus form was frightening," Sirius muttered.
"So why are you here this early on a weekend?" Harry asked as breakfast appeared on the table.
Sirius beamed at him before saying, "Amelia's pregnant!"