[BOOK 2]
____________________
"Whatsss that you've got there?"
"Who's there?"
"Up here, human."
"Y-you're a snake!"
"A grasss snake. Well obssserved. And you, are a human."
_______________________
During the summer away from Hogwarts, Aludra makes...
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In the peaceful woods of western England, it is rare that to see a disturbance in the evergreen setting, less it be a bird taking flight or a squirrel scurrying up a tree. It was a picturesque beauty, one that was barely witnessed by man.
Yet there twelve-year-old Aludra Malfoy was, disregarding her mother's warning to not stray too far into the woods and instead going just as far as she pleased, her copy of Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them resting in the grass beside her shoes and socks while she waded through the knee-high stream. The skirt of her dress was tucked into her knickers, so as not to wet it and alert her mother that she had gone wandering again. The clear water cooled her down on the sweltering July's day, and Aludra took pleasure in the sweet singing of the blue birds in the trees and the occasional splash of a passing fish. She sat on the edge of the stream and opened her book, flicking to the dog-eared page titled: BOWTRUCKLES.
The Bowtruckle is immensely difficult to spot, being a hand-sized, insect eating, tree dweller with long sharp fingers (two on each hand), brown eyes, and a general appearance of a flat-faced little stickman made of bark and twigs, which serves well as camouflage in its natural habitat. The Bowtruckle can be found in western England, southern Germany, and certain Scandinavian forests.
"Western England...you're around here, somewhere..." Aludra whispered to herself, looking around at the trees. What sort of tree would a Bowtruckle inhabit? Aludra climbed of the stream, wiping her feet in the grass and putting her socks and shoes back on. She kept the book open as she inspected nearby trees, looking closely for any moving twig-like creatures. At one point, she even collected a handful of wood lice to try and lure them out, but to no avail. When her stomach began to growl, Aludra considered heading back home, but remembered the lollipop she had put inside her dress pocket that morning. She pulled off the wrapper and popped it in her mouth, continuing on her little adventure.
"Whatsss that you've got there?"
There was a smooth, hissing voice that made Aludra jump. She whipped her head around in all directions, seeing no one. "Who's there?" she called out.
"Up here, human."
Aludra craned her neck upward to meet the beady eyes of a snake, its lower half coiled around a low tree branch while its upper hand hung downwards to be at level with Aludra, showing off its yellow belly.
"Y-you're a snake!" she exclaimed, taking the lollipop out of her mouth to gawk. The snake tipped its head to the side.
"A grassss snake. Well obssserved. And you, are a human." the snake replied.
