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Chapter Text

Harry was just trying to reach down to tie his shoe, that was all. He was on his way to the park, jumping at a chance to get away from his ever-so-loving family, the Dursleys. He had a particularly rough day and just wanted to curl up under the slides. However, his plans were ruined when his hand came back with a limp, limbless, tiny body with its fangs sunk into his skin.

“Ow! Bloody hell!” he shouted, more out of surprise than pain. In reality, the snake was tiny, barely the length of his hand, and as skinny as his pinky finger. It was mostly black, with red stripes running vertically down its sides. However, despite its small size, it had a set of fangs on it that must have been at least an inch long, though he couldn’t know for sure because they were still buried in his hand.

The snake froze as he spoke, staring at him with dark eyes and a still-pulsing jaw. Oh. He had spoken parseltongue. Of course, the snake would be confused.

“Could you let go, please? As much as I love having your teeth in my hand, well, I really don’t.” Harry hissed out, figuring he could at least, hopefully, use his gift (or was it more a curse?) to get the snake to cooperate. He watched carefully as the snake slowly worked its jaw open, fangs sliding out of the two puncture marks caused by the bite. Harry sighed in relief, watching the snake carefully as it curled up on his palm, looking at him warily.

“You are a speaker,” the snake hissed. “We have not had one of you for centuries.”

“Yeah, well, there has been another one, but I guess he wouldn’t have taken the time to talk to you.” The snake cocked its head, mouth fully closed now. In a way,  it was sort of cute, the tilted head, flickering tongue, and overlarge fangs hanging past its lower jawbones.

“Two speakers… quite rare, human. You must take me to meet the other.” Harry laughed incredulously, the slight motion causing the snake to coil up tighter.

“The other happens to be… not so friendly. He’s trying to kill me.” Harry didn’t know why he was even still talking to this snake, much less telling it this, but it was sort of… nice. He hadn’t had anyone to talk to all summer besides Dudley and his gang, and more punches were exchanged than words.

“Are you battling over a mate? Did you cross into his territory?” Harry had to stifle another laugh at the thought of him and Voldemort fighting over a girl.

“No, nothing like that… he killed my parents when I was young. He’s a bad guy.”

“I do not see the issue with him killing your egg-layers. I have never met mine. Such is the way of life.” The snake looked confused now, tongue darting out more frequently. Harry sighed.

“Humans take longer to get out of the… nest. We stay with our parents for longer.”

“How strange. Humans are odd.” The snake, in what Harry hoped was a sign of trust and not of another brewing attack, uncoiled and slowly wrapped itself around his arm. He winced as it tightened around some of the fingerprint-shaped bruises wrapped around his wrist.

“You are hurt.” Observed the snake, licking the purple and yellow skin. “Who did this to you, speaker? You should be treasured for your gift.” Harry looked at the snake, surprised. He didn’t know being a speaker automatically put him in the goodwill of snakes, but, hey, he’d take it.

“Umm…” Harry debated telling the snake. He hadn’t told anybody about the Dursleys, minus Ron and Hermione. Oh, it’s just a snake. Who will it tell, anyway? “From my nest-mates, and the nest-mates of my egg-layers.” Wow, that came out weird. Nest-mate? A realization dawned on Harry. I can only say things snakes will understand.

“Why do you let them hurt you so? I would kill them.” Harry was quiet for a few seconds.

“Humans have this thing called laws, where you can get in trouble for stuff like that, so I can’t. Plus, I don’t want to.” The snake seemed to ponder for a moment, eyes darting back and forth.

“I could kill them.” Offered the snake, baring its fangs. Harry looked at it incredulously and was secretly kind of… touched. It was the nicest thing anybody had done for him since school ended.

“Not to be rude but… how would you do that?” The snake answered by letting two, foggy white drops drip off of its fangs, shimmering as they rolled down slowly. “Holy shite, you’re venomous!”

The snake bobbed its head up and down. “Yes, speaker. One bite and they will be dead.” Harry gulped.

“Not to ruin the whole killing people thing you have going but… should I be worried? You just bit me.”

“No. I can smell your magic. I only wanted to get you off my territory.”

“What does my magic have to do with anything?”

“Magic is sacred. I must not hurt it.” The snake hissed this with a fervor, slithering slightly up his arm to rest by his shoulder. “There was no venom in that bite.”

“Wow, yeah okay. You scared me for a second.” Harry laughed dryly, unable to get rid of the stomach-dropping feeling of maybe being poisoned.

The snake slowly moved back to his hand, scales gleaming in the evening sun.

“Put me down, speaker. It is time I return to my den.” Harry hesitated.

“Can I talk to you soon? Also, stop calling me speaker. It’s Harry.” The snake bowed its head.

“Yes, speaker-Harry, we shall talk soon.” Harry sighed at the name. Well, it’s better than just speaker.

“What should I call you?” Harry asked. Calling it just “snake” gave him an odd feeling, like how the Dursleys never used his name and just referred to him as “boy” or “freak.”

“Snakes do not have names. We are not odd like humans.”

“Umm… okay, well, I’m calling you Fangs. Because, you know, you have big fangs…” Harry wondered why he was feeling apprehensive about the snake liking the name. It was just a stupid snake! Who cared what it thought?

“Acceptable. Till next time, speaker-Harry.”

The snake slithered off of him and as he crouched to let it to the ground. Harry sighed as he watched it wriggle into the bush, and disappear from his line of sight. He felt lonely without the snake. While the conversation had been…different, to say the least, it was the first enjoyable interaction of that summer. He found himself subconsciously looking forward to the next visit, and making plans to be at the park more often.

Till next time, Fangs.

Chapter Text

Their next meeting was not what Harry had expected.

It had been a week since Harry saw his new friend, and Harry longed to talk to him again. He had visited the park multiple times, only to see no sign of the snake. After a few visits, Harry resigned himself to probably not seeing his friend again.

Aunt Petunia was lounging on a lawn chair in the backyard, watching Harry mow the pristine lawn and weed the garden. She occasionally lifted her head to yell some variation of “Boy! Work harder!” before closing her eyes and lying back down. Harry sighed every time, muttered a dutiful “yes, Aunt Petunia” and attacked his chores with a new vigor.

By noon, the yard was almost finished and his neck was quite red from the summer sun pounding down on him. Sweat beaded on his forehead and fell into one of Petunia’s esteemed roses as he attacked the weeds viciously, yanking out a particularly large one and tossing it into his ever-growing pile.

“Stupid garden,” he muttered. “Fend for yourself for once.” Aunt Petunia snapped her head his way, clearly having heard. Harry gulped.

“What did I just hear you say, boy? We house you, feed you, and clothe you and you can’t do a couple of chores? You’re ungrateful, just like-” Petunia’s spiel that would undoubtedly defile him and his parents in numerous ways was cut off, thankfully. Instead, a loud screech echoed through the backyard as Petunia leaped off of her chair, face screwed up in horror as she pointed a long, skinny finger to an area next to it. Harry peered around her, suddenly discerning her issue.

“S-snake! Snake!” She screeched, sunhat falling off her head and fluttering to the ground as she panicked and hopped around. The reptile coiled up, tight, before hissing and lunging at her. She squealed and jumped back, looking at the snake with terror. Harry stifled laughter, knowing it would only get him in further trouble, at the sight of his Aunt cowed by something so Lilliputian. She shrieked once more before running towards the back door, pausing only to shout back at Harry.

“Get that snake out of my backyard, boy!” And with that, the patio door was banged shut. Harry finally was able to burst into laughter, chest shaking with the force of it as tears leaked out of the corner of his eyes.

“Fangs!” He called in Parseltongue, having recognized the black and red striping as soon as he saw the snake, walking closer to the lawn chair his friend was still by. “That was… that was priceless!” Harry was still shuddering in laughter, but he forced his hands to stop shaking to pick up Fangs. The snake eagerly slithered up his arm, resting by his shoulder.

“I have been watching you, speaker. She is a threat to you. I will kill her.” Harry’s mirth quickly faded. He ignored the anger that rose around the thought of the snake watching him but never stopped to at least say hello, instead choosing to focus on the last part of its words. Stop caring so much, Harry. It’s a snake you’ve talked to once.

“Okay, wow, erm, I appreciate the sentiment but I would prefer it if you wouldn’t do that. She’s not that big of a threat.” Harry felt a little unsettled, knowing that Fangs was venomous and had just tried to kill his Aunt. Sure, the woman was vile, but she didn’t deserve to die. Plus, if it reached the news his Aunt had died by snake bite, it would surely be blamed on him, since it's public knowledge that he’s a Parselmouth. It has been, ever since the blasted Dueling Club.

“She swung a large block of metal at your head. You could have died. She is a threat,” repeated the snake, peering up at Harry. A large block of metal? Oh. The frying pan.

“Oh, well I sort of mouthed off so I probably deserved it. It maybe would kill me if it hit me, but I’m good at ducking, and she knows that, so it wasn’t a real problem…” Harry trailed off, ending his ramble. It wasn’t that big of a deal, Harry remembered the incident, plus he needed to convince Fangs not to poison his Aunt.

“I kill snakes for encroaching on my territory, or over a mate. I do not kill snakes, or nest-mates, for what they say. She does. She is a threat.” The snake was now staring at Harry like he was the stupid one. Wow. Lectured by a reptile.

“She didn’t kill anyone, Fangs. It was just a warning. Either way, I’d appreciate it if you would stop attacking her.”

“I will let it go for now, speaker-Harry. Just be aware you are nesting in danger.”

“Thanks, Fangs.” Harry sighed in relief.

“However, you are valuable, as a speaker. I will be accompanying you into your nest.” Harry stared at the snake, stunned. He would love to have Fangs there, but he had no idea how he would take care of the snake, or even why Fangs would want to go back with him.

“What? Why?”

“I must protect you, speaker-Harry, your kind is treasured by us snakes. I must make sure the large man and the large boy or that woman do not hurt you.” Harry stared at the snake incredulously.

“You can’t! If they find out you’re in the house, they’ll kill you! And how would you eat? Drink?”

“Let me out during nights to hunt. They will not find me. If they hurt you, I will bite.” The snake bared its fangs threateningly and hissed.

“No! End of discussion!” It twisted Harry’s heart to say that, to send away the snake, but he was too worried about Fangs getting hurt to ever allow him into the house. Also, Harry knew he couldn’t guarantee his relatives wouldn’t hurt him. He didn’t want to be responsible for Dudley’s death via snake bite if he decided to start up a game of Harry Hunting, similar to his Aunt or Uncle in case they decided to get a little violent.

“Boy!” Called a voice from in the house. “Quit playing around and do something about that snake!” Harry turned to see his Aunt, head peeking through a window and watching Fangs warily as he coiled up on Harry’s shoulder. Harry sighed as she popped her head back into the window.

“Look, Fangs, I like you, even though you’re a snake and all, and I can’t let you get hurt. Thank you, though.” The snake hissed but said nothing. “If my Aunt comes out and sees you here again, she’ll try to kill you. Get out of here, go back to the park, anything. I’ll stop by later, you can make sure I’m okay, whatever you want. Just don’t come back here.” Fangs slithered off of Harry’s arm and turned to look at him reproachfully.

“You are a fool, speaker. Goodbye. We shall meet again, soon.” Harry sighed in relief as he watched Fangs exit the backyard through a hole in the fence, ignoring the pang in his heart as his friend got further and further. Harry turned and opened the back door, entering the house, resigning himself to spending a couple of days without talking to his friend.

Imagine his surprise when he crawls into his bed, late in the night, only to find a certain serpent waiting for him, tucked under the blankets.