In Company of Wolves

Harry’s eyes opened slightly. Several weeks had passed since Vernon had first… raped him; the man had not been satisfied with only the first occurrence and continued to torture and abuse him, raping him constantly on top of his beatings. Today was his birthday, but it brought him no joy. Even though he would be turning sixteen and in one more week the sixth year of Hogwarts would begin, he couldn’t bring himself to feel any emotion. It had fled the moment Vernon had touched him. What could be considered the worst was that his Aunt knew… and she did nothing.

Scars were still raw on his emotions from the summer’s events, almost causing him physical pain as he made himself get out of his ratty bed. Strange things had also been happening, usually right after Vernon had finished with him. Things changed, or broke, and his body was healing at a much faster rate than it had ever been before. This alone terrified him; he had never been normal, but what would his friends think of him now?

He hadn’t received any mail from Ron or Hermione; he assumed that the reason was because his uncle had been rather thorough in that aspect. The house was boarded up tighter than his room had been the year the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. They were more than likely worried about him. He smiled slightly as he remembered their exploits during the previous years at Hogwarts. They always had been an unruly bunch.

Padding softly towards his dresser, he pulled out some second hand clothes of Dudley’s and got dressed for another day. Harry didn’t even acknowledge the differences to his own health and powers; habit reinforced by his upbringing making him shy from any more differences that were being thrust upon him.

He walked slowly down the stairs and made his relatives their breakfast, laying it out on the table and leaving the house before any of the louts made it down the stairs. He was still aching from Vernon’s last beating, and that alone impeded his progress.

Chores had been heaped on top of his already overflowing workload, the stupid pigs forcing on him things that would increase his misery. A sharp pang of fear was followed quickly by anger as Harry knelt down in Petunia’s flowerbeds and began to weed them. He knew that he should have no right to feel the way he did about the three of them; this he had been told since he was a child, and it was firmly engrained in him not to question their orders. It surprised him that even Voldemort couldn’t scare him like the Dursleys did. As soon as the wave of fear hit him, it left, leaving in its wake a surge of anger that threatened to consume his entire being.

Harry’s eyes glowed a brief green as he grappled with that anger before fading to their normal color, however the only way he could have known would have been to look into a mirror. A sob bubbled up in his chest, one that he couldn’t choke down. He buried his head in his dirt-covered hands, wallowing in his misery.

A hissing sound brought him back to the present and he looked up in shock to see a delicate looking snake thread its way through the grass covered portionof the magnolias, making its way toward him. The snake was a beautiful, iridescent silver, its scales lining up seamlessly and glistening in the sun as the dirt refused to attach itself to them. It stopped several feet from where Harry lay and drew itself up into the air to address him.

"Harry Potter?"

The boy in question looked slightly startled, tears tracing his muddy face that made his green eyes seem ever so ethereal. What did this snake want with him?

"Yessssss?" Harry replied in parseltongue.

"For what reassssssson have you sssssssummoned me, my Masssssster?" The snake’s onyx orbs reflected none of its confusion.

"Sssssssummoned?" Harry replied, equally confused. "I didn’t ssssssummon you; you musssssssst be misssssssssstaken."

The snake flicked out its forked tongue, before moving closer. "I felt your sssssssummons. What isssss your disssstresssss?"

Harry nearly broke out crying again. No human contact for months on end could do that to a person.

"Why… why would you even care! I’m a freak!" Tears did fall once more from the poor boy’s eyes as his emotion crept out from under his control and he could barely help himself as he blurted out what had happened to him over the summer. His pain made his newborn power flare, unconsciously touching the winds and forming a small maelstrom around himself. “You sssshould bite me now, and let me end my missssery.”

The snake hissed in anger, untouched by the abating outburst, and bared its fangs as it turned towards the house.

"I will kill the mugglesssssssssss! No one touchessssss Masssster in sssssssuch a way and livessssssss!" It started towards the house to carry out its threat.

"No!" Harry nearly shouted in panic, eyelashes dewy with released moisture. "You can’t do that!"

"For what reassssssson do you protesssssst?"

"B... becausssssse. They are ssssstill my… My family, and Dumbledore wouldn’t like it if they died. They would all blame me…" Harry sniffled.

The snake could no more grasp Harry reasoning than it could talk like a human, but the people in question were Harry’s relations, as well as the one who had wounded him, and as such Harry would be the one to determine their fate. Giving a small sigh, the silver snake wound its way up his arm to rest gently around his neck.

"Thissssssss is your grievance, and ssssso you are the one who musssssst take justice." The snake stated. "You have ssssssssssumonned me, sssssssso I sssssssshall remain. You have but to command me and I will gladly kill the mugglessssssss, Masssster."

"Thank you." Harry whispered, comforted in the fact that any being would care enough for him to remain after seeing or rather hearing about what he endured.

“Boy!” Came the loud shout from inside the house. Harry rose with a sigh and wiped away the remaining tears from his eyes. As he moved to see what his uncle wanted, he realized that he didn’t know his new friend’s name. So he asked.

"I am called 'Armand'." And the snake gave him the equivalent of a smile. Harry returned it as the snake turned its attention back towards the mountain of blubber before it, towering in the doorframe.

“Boy, you know better than to lazy about; when I call you, you’d better come!” Vernon shouted.

“Yes, uncle Vernon.” Harry muttered, looking at the ground. The man went to lay a hand on Harry’s shoulder to drag him inside, but the snake that had just befriended Harry rose with a hiss, unsheathing it’s fangs threateningly towards Dursley. The horrid man backed away with an audible gulp at the angry serpent. The Dursleys were not fond of snakes, especially after a Python had nearly bitten Dudley.

"Armand!" Harry hissed at the snake. "Pleasssse, pleasssssse don’t get me into any more trouble!"

"Do not worry, Masssssster. I will take good care of him." Armand was unconcerned. He wasn’t going to hurt the fat man, even though he deserved it. Harry had requested him not too. Scaring him on the other hand…

“W- who do you t- think you are trying to fool?” Vernon blustered, palling visibly.

“No-one, uncle Vernon.” Harry muttered, frightened.

The snake drew itself back to strike, growing slightly in size as it wielded its inherent magic talent. Vernon scuttled back to fast he almost tripped over his own feet to escape the serpent that his nephew was clearly controlling.

“K- keep it away!” He screamed as he slammed the door in Harry’s face. Harry stood there stunned at what had just happened. Armand returned to his original size, just over three feet long, and curled around the boy’s forearm.

"I trussssssst you won’t have any more problemssssss with me around." The serpent stated.

"Thank you." Harry replied, shocked.

"It'ssss my duty. I’m ssssorry I wassssn't here before."

The entire mood of the day changed as Harry once again was reminded of the degradation he suffered at the hand of the oaf that couldn’t ever possibly be classified as human.

"It’sssssss alright, it’sssss not your fault."

The silver snake looked at him in sympathy, offering what support it could. It knew that it wouldn’t be able to repair what had been damaged in this poor boy, but maybe it could assist him in… other matters.