Dire
"this is cold rain."
"It's snow actually. It's called snow when it's white and fluffy like this. It's frozen rain."
Lutain poked his head out of Harry's coat, his small tongue flickering just under Harry's jaw. "Snew?"
"Snow." Harry corrected, teaching Lutain yet another word. Lutain had been a very fast learner - actually suspiciously fast. If it wasn't for the fact that Harry was almost certain that Lutain wasn't a magical species, he would have suspected Lutain had been charmed.
Lutain had grown marginally longer. He had always been of decent length, now he was nearing two feet, which wasn't at all spectacular in the serpent world. He had thickened, something he boasted proudly over since he could now consume large mice.
Winter had come quickly, snow falling just after the end of October and carrying with it the biting chill everyone seemed to hate. The orphanage was not at all insulated against the cold and everyone became as frosty inside as it was outside. Madam Clover was more snappish, David more ruthless, and other children more avoidant. The entire building seemed to whisper of all the strange occurrences, rumors about Harry, ranging from being possessed by demonic beings to the offspring of a cult leader were widespread.
Harry learned that nobody could be trusted and everyone wanted something from you.
(Lutain was the one to point out that by making yourself necessary for everyone else, it secured your position as irreplaceable.)
Harry didn't have warm clothing; he had only what was brought to him. Of course, families donated clothing or money to the orphanage, but that money and the donations went to the other children first, because Harry had the misfortune of Madam Clover's frustration and annoyance.
Not that she could ever actually pin anything on him.
Harry stiffened when he was hit in the back by something cold and wet. Pausing, he could hear the snickers of David and Ralph, boasting likely to the younger children about how great their aim was. Harry heard someone, practically an infant, laugh gleefully as David hit Harry once again.
"Flea-coated rodents." Lutain grumbled, nestling further into Harry's coat to avoid the freezing cold of the melting snow. Harry twitched as a single trail of water slid down under his threadbare jacket and touched his spine.
"What's wrong, little Harry?" David laughed, sauntering over in a jacket not looking that much better, tossing a baseball-sized wad of snow in one hand to the other, "Don't like the cold?"
David snaked his left foot out to whack into Harry's foot. Ralph, having snuck up behind Harry, ran forward to knock into his shoulders. Not anticipating the tag team, Harry's arm windmilled as he yelped and crashed face first into the thin layered snow.
David laughed, posing something which made more of the newcomers laugh wildly.
Harry winced and glared at David who looked suddenly more interested.
"What was that?" David gasped, squatting to try and listen, "Are you trying to say something to me?" He clapped loudly, "Well done! I thought you were mute!"
"I don't have anything to say to someone with your intelligence." Harry grumbled, propping himself upright on his elbows.
David frowned, and promptly knocked Harry's face back into the snow.
"Aw, don't be like that little Harry," His eyes sparkled in amusement, "Are you giving me the cold shoulder?"
"Bite me." Harry hissed out, causing David to frown.
"You're lucky it's winter," David casually mentioned, "If you said that in summer, I bet I could get Clover to think that was a threat against me, with that weird snake that you had." David sniffed, "Creepy thing, I hope it froze."
"Snakes hibernate," Harry dryly pointed out, "I don't think you could convince her that I can suddenly talk to snakes."
"Oh I don't know." David shrugged, his gaze suddenly very intense, "People think a lot of things about you. Supernatural things," his lip twitched, "That you can move things without touching them, or I don't know, push my sister down a flight of stairs."
David looked much too friendly for the conversation to actually be that.
"So!" David chirped, "I just have to protect the rest of all of us from your weirdness and make sure you don't go around messing with my sister."
"Don't play with fire, David," Harry warned, "You'll get burned."
David's expression fell somewhat dark, his one hand moved instinctively to the faint burn scar around his wrist.
"You'll pay for that, Harry."
"You're the one who kisses up to Clover. You have more money than I do." David's nostrils flared and he looked up at Ralph who was waiting for some unagreed signal. He seemed at a loss. "Why don't you just leave me alone for once? You don't want to start something you can't stop."
"Oh shut up." David howled, punching downwards messily.
Although the strike was sloppy, Harry was on the ground and didn't have any chance of avoiding it. He tucked his chin down, taking the hit on the back of his head and feeling it recoil through his neck and shoulders. Ralph jumped in, giving a mighty kick which let the air leave Harry's lungs in a mighty poof.
Lutain hissed something alarmed and frantic as he tried to wriggle free through the blows. Harry's ducked head wouldn't let the snake wiggle through.
"Master!" Lutain shrieked, whipping his tail angrily and panicked.
Ralph managed a kick which somehow knicked the lower half of Lutain's tail. Lutain cried in pain, curling up and shaking under the coat.
'Leave Lutain alone!' Harry thought vehemently, bubbling anger pooling over as he glared through his messy fringe at David, 'Leave us alone!'
David pulled back his leg to kick before he toppled and fell. His leg sunk through the snowbank, stopping just above his knee. The only strange factor, was that his other leg had found sturdy ground just an inch through the snow.
David had sunk into the ground.
David screamed in surprise and fear, staring at his leg dumbly for a few moments before hollering for Clover and screaming about witchcraft, which Harry found quite amusing.
Harry straightened, getting off the ground and wiping his nose with the back of his hand. His nose had started trickling a thin stream, not that anyone was looking at him. Even Ralph had stumbled back, skittering off for safety.
"What did I tell you," Harry sighed, still highly irritated.
Lutain moaned something quietly, whispering in agony and trembling against Harry's body.
Why was it that Lutain had to be hurt, he hadn't done a thing. It wasn't fair, it wasn't justified for an innocent to be hurt. David should be the one wounded, he had at least been the attacker.
Harry wanted David to hurt.
"When you poke the fire, you get burned." Harry hissed out, reaching out and snatching David's hand between his own. He heard the loud hissing crackle without actually feeling anything. The air was filled with an acrid stench of something cooking.
David screamed. Tears overflowed his glassy eyes as he flailed, trying to break free although he couldn't with one leg burrowed in the frozen ground.
Harry let go sharply, taking a step back. David's hand smoldered, the skin peeling and shriveling away from his hand like a timelapse video. It smoked and smelled of something rank, looking putrid dark red and swelling already.
"I'll get Madam Clover," Harry drawled, swallowing against the small sensation of guilt that was rising in his throat, "I'll tell her you were trying to play with firecrackers."
David said nothing, sniffling, staring at his hand in horror and excruciating pain.
Harry turned and walked quickly towards the house, already dreading the accusations and the future whispers that would spread about him.
He doubted David would ever bother him again.
David's hand scarred, a permanent reminder Harry thought. It was a mottled patchwork of dark red and pale pink that would never be smooth again. David hid the ghastly-looking scarring with an old ratty black glove and he was lucky it was his left hand and not the right. Harry had heard that the nerves had been damaged and that David had nearly no fine motor control left in the stiffened fingers and taut skin.
After that, the other children avoided him. The rooms around his were quickly vacated, until Harry was then surrounded by empty rooms. The orphanage staff couldn't actually prove anything, but it was likely a security precaution. He had been involved in both incidents, after all.
The other children avoided him like the plague whenever he went outside. They lapsed into silence when he walked past, often times retreating entirely into their rooms.
At dinner, nobody talked when he was in the vicinity.
He stopped having dinner at the same time as everyone else.
They didn't deserve his company anyways.
Christmas was a miserable holiday.
The other children laughed and played with the cheap toys they mysteriously were given, boasting and fighting for the best one.
Suzie picked up her teddy bear and, against the hushed and insistent advice given to her, she turned and pointedly looked at Harry. "Oh, looks like nobody likes you enough to give you a present!"
Harry made sure she woke up to burned cloth and ashes for button eyes.
Harry felt a wave of despair hit him the moment the snow began to melt.
Some small part of Harry had been hoping, that perhaps Vernon Dursley would return and take him back. Or even his parents. Harry hoped that they would at least check in on him, then, finding him no longer at the Dursleys', that they would come to take him home.
But it had been over a year and a half.
Lutain had gone silent, his damaged scales still remaining with a slight kink near the tip of his tail. The snake was now Harry's only decent conversation and rather skilled at it with Harry's constant teachings.
"They're not coming back, are they Lutain?" Harry asked, idly watching the melting snow.
The snake tightened around his wrist for a brief second, but never spoke.
The days were warmer. Behind him he heard the quiet chorus of young children shouting and playing. A slight breeze tugged at the dead grass and new tufts of spring foliage.
Harry closed his eyes. Like the spring breeze, he left himself relax. And he let himself go.
"They're not going to come back," Harry repeated to himself, more firmly this time, more decisively. It carried assurance that was often associated with speaking orders. "So I'll give them something to miss."
"Like what, Master?" Lutain asked, peering out and slowly sliding out of Harry's sleeve and onto his lap.
"I'll be turning ten near the start of August. On magical children's eleventh birthday, they're given a letter of enrollment for the school Hogwarts. Which means, we have little over a year and a half to learn as many spells in that book as possible," Harry said.
"Why learn them?" Lutain inquired, "Already can magic heat."
"Wizards know more than just that. I need to learn a few more. Enough that I can do some things that Skylar can't-"
"Master." Lutain interjected, voice quiet and sounding defeated, "I thought you let your birth-kin go?"
Harry felt the instinct to argue rise, but he held it back. Was he still holding on to Lily and James?
Of course he was, that small, dark voice whispered. He was still desperately trying to prove to them that he was worth something. Or maybe he was trying to prove it to himself? He'd been abandoned, cast aside so easily, and every minute of every day that passed was just a little bit more proof of his value to them.
"What would you have me do, Lutain?" Harry sighed, hanging his head and eying a dandelion struggling to sprout. "What does the mighty snake say I should do?"
Lutain flicked his tongue and scented the air.
"Make new kin?" Lutain offered, "Hatchling of own?"
"Lutain!" Harry guffawed, trying to resist the sudden urge to laugh, "I'm not old enough for that!"
"All humans look same. Tall and scaleless."
"All snakes look wriggly and hairless."
"Toushes."
Harry paused, trying to figure out what Lutain had obviously mispronounced. "...Toushes?"
Lutain nodded, agreeing with his word choice in a distinctly human manner. "Toushes."
Harry found himself laughing and was ever so thankful for his reptilian companion. He found out several days later that the word Lutain had remembered wrong was actually touché.
Spring hormonal changes and puberty led to a rise in the testosterone and tension in the building.
Harry had finally relaxed, finding peace in his recent epiphany. Then, his trunk had been set on fire.
Thankfully the seal was magical and impossible to open, that didn't stop the latches and magical lock from being smashed and damaged beyond use. It would require a spell to unlock the trunk in the state it was now. Harry could have done so, he knew his book detailed a powerful unlocking spell.
Except his book was trapped inside the chest.
He was fueled in a sudden bloodlust, knowing full well that David had attempted arson. The older boy constantly yawned or found excuse to flash his uncovered burn directly in Harry's line of sight, staring at him in a silent challenge. 'Come on, you know you want to.'
Harry did want to, that was the problem.
Even Suzie had somehow managed to convince her friends and others to rile Harry. Most of the children at the orphanage was well aware of the viciousness between Harry and David. They'd heard the rumors: David had somehow given Harry the scar on his side (which an older boy had seen while stealing Harry's comb one morning), while Harry had returned the favour with the scar on David's hand. One rumor went into depth with how Harry had somehow schemed with a now fired cook to press a burning spatula into David's sleeping palm.
Things had been too quiet, plenty of children had entered the orphanage after Christmas and too many were frothing at the mouth for some sort of action.
It was just bad luck that the straw that broke the camel's back happened to fall the day two well dressed men visited with the intentions of viewing the children.
Harry was outside (like he always preferred to the stuffy quiet of his room) with Lutain.
David approached, a small mob of wide eyed eager children following a short distance behind. Harry sighed, flexing his arm to signal that Lutain should stay quiet.
"What do you want?" Harry sighed, looking as disinterested as possible as the crowd shifted and formed a half ring around them.
David's grin widened, Ralph stepping out from the masses to pass something small into David's hand.
Harry frowned, trying to see exactly what it was that David now had.
"I have a present for you!" David chirped, rocking back and forth on the tips of his toes to the heels, "You'll love it!"
David opened his hand, and revealed a young garden snake. Harry blinked, looking apprehensively between the snake and David.
"Let down!" It wailed, the voice was feminine although only barely, "Eggs! Down!"
It was a mother.
"What are you doing?" Harry struggled to keep his voice calm, recognizing the situation as being a disaster.
"I know you like snakes!" David beamed, his eyes wide with mock kindness, "I'm being generous!"
"Down!" she wailed, thrashing her tail nervously, "Eggs! Hatchlings! Must protect!"
"Master…" Lutain soothed low and quiet, he too was growing anxious with how desperate the mother was to protect her young.
"Why would I want a snake?" Harry said, voice tense though he tried to hide it.
"Well, you always had that one snake, so I thought I should try one." David said nonchalantly, trailing his other fist down her body far too roughly. She cried in pain as he gripped her tightly, "I don't really like it though. My mistake."
Crack.
Harry jolted, already taking a step forward while the mother snake seemed to howl and hiss in pain. Her lower body didn't move, lying limp below David's face.
"Actually, I take it back. This is kinda fun." David beamed, hand sliding up an inch before twisting sharply. The snake screamed again as her bones were broken once more.
"Stop it," Harry growled, voice low and eyes wide in fascinated horror.
"Fine." David shrugged, eyes getting a wicked gleam as he reached up with one thumb, getting bitten by the weakly snapping jaws of the snake. David didn't seemed deterred, instead he scowled and grasped the bottom jaw between his fingers.
Harry felt sick, and stared at the chunk of bloody muscle lying on the ground between them.
David laughed, dropped the weakly spasming snake and stomped.
Harry punched David in the nose, this time Lutain said nothing to convince him otherwise.
David laughed as he was tackled to the ground. They rolled, David beaming in breathless enthusiasm as he was punched twice more in the face.
"Why are you smiling!" Harry shouted, moving his knee to David's gut. The other boy wheezed, still breathless as he raised something in his right hand.
"You're dead," David wheezed, blood staining his teeth from where it was pooling out of his nose. His right hand was sloppily holding a knife, stolen from the kitchen.
Oh, of course David still wanted revenge.
Harry scrambled back, scurrying across the dirt on his back. He flinched when his fingers accidentally brushed against the mutilated corpse of the worried mother. He had to force down the sickening vomit that threatened to rise up.
"Come here little Harry!" David cooed, slashing outwards with the knife with full intent to do harm. "You've been a pain in all of our arses for a long time and now you're going to be the one screwed up!"
The crowd of kids cheered.
Harry's eyes watered and his stomach churned and at what point was this fair!
"Master." Lutain's quiet voice brought him back to reality. The snake had slithered down his arm, nestling in the oversized sleeve of his borrowed coat. Lutain was coiled up tightly, like a spring of muscle and scale.
At that moment, Harry had a thought, which seemed to cut through the rising hysteria caused by David's flashing knife. Alright Lutain, I hope your bite is as painful as you said.
Harry nodded frantically, likely looking psychotic as he shakily stood. David grinned, towering inches above Harry.
"You wanna fight like a man?" David chuckled, the crowd watching eagerly for the knick Harry was undoubtedly going to get. "Well, bring it."
Harry swallowed and lifted his one arm, pointing his hand flat and directly at David. David blinked in confusion, it looked like Harry was offering something on his palm.
"Bite him, Lutain."
David blinked in surprise and started laughing at Harry's incomprehensible hissing. The children who'd come to gawk mumbled in confusion. Some laughed outright. What was the freak up to?
Lutain lunged. The snake unhinged his jaw, his fangs coming upright as his mouth opened to ridiculous proportions.
David had been too confident he was going to win. He wasn't prepared for Harry's snake. Lutain's fangs pierced somewhere on his upper left shoulder.
Everything seemed to slow to a crawl for Harry. A split second seemed to last forever.
David stumbled back, a confused, dumbfounded look on his face. Around them, the other kids started to react, screaming and scrambling in every direction to get away; was one of them Suzie? Had she seen-
David dropped to the ground, tripping backwards over his own feet. The snake venom couldn't have-
Lutain must've hit a blood vessel, some part of Harry thought. A bloodstain bloomed across David's shirt, quickly getting bigger.
Harry stood transfixed. David just kept bleeding and bleeding. His face had gone pale and his eyes had gone wide.
It was quiet though, almost peaceful. Or maybe Harry was just so focused that he didn't hear David's horrified screaming.
Harry was distantly aware of people rushing over. Someone was screaming David's name. He recognised Madam Clover. She completely ignored Harry, rushing to David's side.
But it was obvious that she didn't know what to do.
David's breath was coming in short, shallow gasps. He wasn't moving quite so much, more twitching than moving really. How much time had gone by?
Muttering hurriedly to herself in words too quiet and too quick for Harry to understand, Madam Clover yanked Davit's shirt up with frantic, shaking hands. His blood was everywhere. How was it possible to bleed that much from such a tiny wound?
"Bloody hell," one of the strangers muttered. It was the first time Harry even noticed their arrival. "It's a ruddy snake bite."
Of course it was a snake bite, Harry thought distractedly.
The other man hissed something quietly to his partner, though Harry couldn't make out the words. He was looking at Harry suspiciously.
All of the blood did come from the two small puncture wounds left behind by Lutain's fangs. There was only a minor amount of swelling around the actual wounds; it was increasing unequally to the rhythmic pulsing of blood from his body.
"For God's sake, do something!" Madam Clover shouted, her voice shrill with panic. She had her hands pressed over the wound, trying in vain to stop the bleeding. They were absolutely covered in David's blood. "Call an ambulance!"
The two men looked at a loss.
David stopped moving. Then he stopped breathing.
Madam Clover wheeled on Harry. Her face was tear-streaked and her eyes burned with a mix of grief and anger. "You did this!"
She grabbed Harry by the shoulders and started to shake him violently. Harry managed to shove her off. Maybe his magic helped him, he couldn't tell. She fell back, sobbing and grief-stricken and refusing to look at him.
And there was guilt there too, as if acknowledging her own part in this. None of it would have happened if she'd just reined David in, instead of turning a blind eye and letting him to become a monster.
Lutain hissed and Harry felt him tense up, ready to strike again.
"No Lutain!"
Harry ignored the strange looks that the two men were giving him. They'd probably just think he was being a freak too; Harry couldn't bring himself to care about their opinions.
"You didn't tell me this would happen."
"I told you I was dangerous. I strike and they fall."
He hadn't meant it. Not like that. At least, that's what Harry tried to tell himself. A small part of him though...
"I thought Master said for flea-rodent to die."
A small part of him knew that David would never mess with him again. Looking down at David's lifeless eyes, a small part of Harry couldn't help but feel satisfied.
He brought this on himself, that small voice in the back of Harry's mind whispered.
Harry agreed. He wanted David to hurt. He wanted David to-
"This is ridiculous," one of the men muttered. He reached into his pocket and he pulled out a wand.
Harry gasped involuntarily, staring in disbelief as the one man pointed it at Madam Clover and muttered a spell. She was knocked down on top of David and she didn't get back up again.
"Alright boy," the other man rasped, pointing his own wand now at Harry. Harry felt a stab of panic. Lutain tensed and hissed menacingly. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but tell that thing to calm down. We aren't going to hurt you."
"Lutain," Harry started, speaking low and cautious. "Back down."
Lutain grumbled, but seemed to calm down a bit. The man at once seemed to relax.
"Good," said the first man, gruffly.
"Bollocks! What do we do now? What's the plan?" The second man demanded.
"You came here with a plan?" Harry echoed. Maybe he was still feeling the shock himself, but he was beginning to feel suspicious. "Why did you come here?"
"For you, Potter," the first man said. "But now our plan's out the bloody window."
"What-" His partner started. He glanced over at Harry. "Oh you can't be serious-"
"What choice do we have? The boy's a bloody parselmouth!" The first man argued angrily, flicking his wand in Harry's direction. "I say we burn this whole place down, take him, and go. You know the Lord's going to wonder too."
"But Rodolphus-"
"Look, think about it for a minute: a Potter?" The man now identified as Rodolphus stressed. "Being a parselmouth?"
The other man seemed conflicted, but he nodded grudgingly.
"Wait- burn this place down?" Harry said, his brain catching up to their conversation. That sense that something was wrong was suddenly very, very urgent. "I don't-"
"Silence, Potter," the unidentified wizard snapped.
Harry's eyes narrowed and his fingers twitched. There was an uncomfortable pressure between his ears, and before their eyes, the ground around them burst into bright scarlet flames. They licked hungrily at the wizards' boots, though the material seemed to be fireproof.
"Did he just do that wordlessly?" Rodolphus started.
Harry glared and the other man started chuckling. "Alright, he killed a muggle, speaks to snakes, and can do wordless, wandless magic. Bella is going to love him."
Harry's eyes went wide and Lutain reared. There was an unfamiliar word and a flash of red. Then, blissful unconsciousness.
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