Snakes are Easier than Birds
Chapter 1: Meeting Nagini
Harry and his mom meet their family at the zoo and end up taking a pet snake home.
Word Count: 904
Harry Potter knew he wasn’t a normal boy.
And he wasn’t talking about how he could fly on a broomstick, or how his parents turned into giant monsters every now and then. He wasn’t talking about his perpetually messy hair either – the same hair that stubbornly grew back to its favorite length every night, no matter how many times his mum shaved it in hopes it would “finally grow into a workable style.”
(Harry supported her efforts; he wanted to style his hair sometimes. It would be nice if it cooperated.)
He also didn’t mean the part where he had to hide that he came from a magical household from all his non-magical friends at school. That was just normal magical upbringing stuff.
No – Harry knew he wasn’t normal because, compared to Dudley (who Mum insisted was her sister’s “perfectly normal” son – a phrase Harry suspected she didn’t mean literally, though at ten he hadn’t quite figured out sarcasm), he simply couldn’t imagine being so spoiled that you’d yell at a poor boa constrictor to move when it was clearly enjoying its sun lamp.
So yes, Harry supposed, he wasn’t normal.
And that was okay with him.
Sharing a look with his mum – whose face scrunched up like Dad had set off a particularly disgusting prank in the house – the young raven-haired boy turned back to the boa constrictor as Dudley eventually grew bored and wandered away from the railing.
They stepped up to the glass, and, not seeing their muggle companions nearby, his mum sighed and said softly, “Sorry, hatchling. I didn’t exactly think about how my prim and proper sister would’ve raised her kid in all the years we weren’t talking.”
“It’s okay, Mum. We can still be cousins even if we don’t like each other,” Harry replied. He leaned forward on his crossed arms, gaze fixed on the snake basking under the heat lamp.
“That’s very mature of you, Harry. Family is important – but never at your detriment.” Lily beamed at him, pride shimmering in her eyes.
“Detriment?” he asked, brow furrowing. He wasn’t quite sure what that meant.
“Ah, found one you don’t know!” his mum giggled – the sound short and soft, almost more hiss than laugh. “Detriment means something that harms you in some way.”
Looking as though he’d just been handed the secrets of the universe, Harry nodded very seriously.
“Detriment. Got it.”
He shuffled his feet and turned his eyes back to the snake. “It’s a shame Dad couldn’t come.”
Lily’s eyes widened; she rubbed the back of her neck and let out an embarrassed, “Haaaaa…” before collecting herself.
“Well, unfortunately Daddy has a past with the London Zoo. The owner’s a wizard – he’s very interested in non-magical animals – and your dad and his friends ended up receiving lifetime bans a while ago.”
Harry shot her a baffled look. “What’d they do to get a lifetime ban?”
“Well…” she trailed off, clearly debating whether to continue.
Then a mischievous glint sparked in her eyes. She bent down to Harry’s level and whispered conspiratorially in his ear:
“The last time your father was here, he was twenty-one on his summer hols. And as you know, griffons are part bird. We’re not sure exactly what happened, but apparently the moment he stepped into the aviary, every single bird swooped down on him and started grooming him. A nearby child cried because your dad ‘stole all the birds.’ Your father loved it, of course – but the owner was not amused.”
Harry hummed thoughtfully at that, imagining a flock of birds roosting on him.
“No offense to Dad, Mum, but I hope I get yours. Snakes are just so much simpler.” He gestured to the basking constrictor in front of them. “I mean, what an awesome life. Sitting there, soaking up light. Even if nosy, annoying boys tap the glass all the time.”
I appreciate you not doing the same, snakelet.
Harry froze, staring at the snake. Its mouth had moved. It spoke?
He looked at his mum – she was staring back with the same wide-eyed shock.
You speak? Harry asked, leaning closer to the glass.
The snake lifted her head – her, judging by the voice, but he remembered he wasn’t supposed to assume – and hissed smoothly, Yes. Just as you and your dam have been speaking for the past five minutes.
Lily smacked her forehead lightly.
Of course! Stupid Lily! Basilisk! Of course I can speak to normal snakes too!
She took a breath, turned to Harry, and said aloud, Hashee Son , she paused, noticing she was still speaking parseltongue, “shit – don’t repeat that – son. We have an ability called Parseltongue. It’s native to mainly India, but those with certain inheritances can speak it too. It lets us talk to…”
Nagini.
“…Nagini here.”
She blinked.
Wait. That wasn’t Parseltongue. How did you understand that?
The snake rolled her eyes in the most unimpressed serpentine way possible.
I took a class at Oxford.
Harry nodded solemnly as if this made perfect sense.
Lily, however, continued staring.
Nagini sagged slightly, giving up the joke.
Fine. No, I didn’t attend your human universities. I used to be a witch. My family carries a blood curse – turns our Naga form into this lovely non-magical shape and eventually locks us in it. Can’t change back. Can’t speak English. Got scooped off the streets by animal control like a lost pet and ended up here. There. Explanation.