Never Trust A Snake

Chapter Two

'Snake in the grass'

Harry slowly sat down amongst the flowers in the Dursley's garden. His head quickly slumped against the wooden fence as a deep sigh escaped his lips. Petunia and Vernon had been working him all day, first cooking breakfast, then cleaning, then polishing the counters and he'd just escaped Dudley's game of Harry Hunting.

Harry was almost 11, 'soon I'll escape to Hogwarts' he thought as he began to weed the tulips. Whilst the Dursley's hated magic and never even mentioned the 'm word', Harry had still grown up, well to age 5 at least, hearing stories about the magical school. He'd heard all about the "evil Slytherins, useless Hufflepuffs, nerdy Ravenclaws" and of course the "great, powerful Griffindors" from his father James. Despite being young when he heard of the houses, Harry could easily tell there was a lot of hate towards Slytherins for apparently being evil.

"Boy! Get to work!" A gruff yell from Vernon pulled Harry out of his thoughts and caused him to continue gardening.

Harry worked tirelessly, until he came across an immovable bush of thorns. Harry scrambled with the weed cutters, trying to break through.

"Away from my nessst! Away from my babiesss!" A cold hiss escaped the bush. Harry froze, who had spoken? He was sure the voice had came from the bush, yet noone, let alone the Dursleys, could fit in there.

"Who's there?" Harry asked, before letting out an exasperated sigh, "Dudley if this is you-"

He was interrupted by a black snake, it's scales shimmering a dark green in the light, exiting the bush and looking upwards to him.

"A ssspeaker?" It asked cautiously.

Harry's mouth fell open as he stared at the snake. Surely it hadn't just spoken, there was no way.

"Can you here me?" Harry managed to question through his shock

"Yesss. There hasss been no sspeakerssss for many yearss, who are you?" The snake asked, it's quite hiss barely reaching Harry's ears.

"My name is Harry Potter" he replied, frowning at his last word. He was barely a Potter, even the word left a sour taste in his mouth.

Soon Harry and the snake, who eventually revealed her name to be Circe, fell into a deep conversation about recent events in the magical world. Circe enjoyed helping the speaker learn, while Harry enjoyed a good conversation.

***

Harry had been speaking to Circe for a while, the sun was going down now, placing a light orange light onto the house and garden. He hadn't realised but most of the day had past while he chatted. Although, this happy peace was soon broken by a furious yell.

"Boy! You haven't got any thing done at all! I was out slaving at work while you sat! And I didn't even get my promotion! Because of you and your freakishness!" Vernon yelled as he painfully dragged Harry into the house, his tight grip digging into Harry's arm.

"You need to be punished, boy" Uncle Vernon's voice had dropped to a harsh, threatening whisper. Harry didn't like it when this happened, it meant he would be hurt. Last time, Vernon had took Harry up to his room and made him- Harry almost gaged at the thought. The sound of metal on metal made Harry look up to Vernon taking off his belt.

"Twenty hits then we can go upstairs" Vernon whispered, his fat Face contorted into a sadistic grin. He quickly and harshly ripped Harry's oversized shirt off before pushing the boy to the floor.

"Please, please don't!" Harry screamed, it wasn't the belt that scared him, he'd become used to the pain, it was what came after.

"I don't want to!" Harry pleaded, recieving only a whip from Vernon. The belt sliced through the top layer of his skin, drawing a thin line of blood. 'Please, please someone help' Harry thought, wishing for an escape. Then belt hit again, then again, then again.

Hope glimmered in his eyes as he heard the footsteps of Petunia and Dudley. 'They would stop it' Harry breathed a sigh of relief. His hopes were soon shattered as Petunia ignored this foul sight and walked into the kitchen.

"I want a go next, Daddy" Dudley yelled, looking excitedly that the belt and then at Harry's bloody back.

Harry's vision was clouded by rage. Rage towards his parents, for putting him here, towards his brother, the Dursleys, his supposed magical guardian; Dumbledor and the whole wizarding world. Vernon dropped the belt as the whole room slowly dropped in temperature.

"Stop that you freak!" Petunia yelled. Though Harry didn't hear her. Harry only heard one word, one word that echoed around his head as the kitchen knives slowly levitated out of their draws and holders. Three knives floated towards Petunia, pushing her against the counter where they still continued forward, slowly digging into her skin. Her long, sharp face, that had moments ago look furious, turned pale as the knives dug deeper into her skin. Her screams ripped through the freezing room.

A similar scream was soon heard from the stairs that Dudley had tried to retreat up. A large bread knife had pushed its self against Vernon's large neck.

"Boy. Stop this at once" Vernon's voice was shaky and nervous as he attempted to plead for his life. However, as he look into Harry's cold, toxic green eyes, he knew the boy had no mercy for him.

Harry slowly walked back outside to the garden, where after a short talk with Circe, he collected the snake. Vernon's loud yell of pain could be heard as the snake coiled itself around Harry's neck. The pair then made their way back to the house. Harry had a sadistic smirk on his face as he stepped over the lifeless body of Vernon Dursley and out of the front door. No one in the neighborhood heard the sequence of screams that came from Number 4 Privet Drive that night. No one saw the thin, pale boy with messy black hair, oversized clothes splattered with blood and an insane look in his eyes leave the house. No one noticed the absence of the Dursleys over the next few days.

***

Seven days later

"I can't believe that brat didn't reply to his Hogwarts letter!" James Potter yelled angrily as Rubius Hagrid, Sirius Black, Dumbledor and he walked towards Number 4 Privet Drive.

Dumbledor politely knocked on the door, waiting for a response. They waited a few minutes but no one came to the door.

"This is taking too long!" Sirius whined childishly as James tried the door handle. Surprisingly, the door swung open, revealing a pile of unopened Hogwarts letters that littered the floor. The house look abandoned.

"Ello! Anyone 'ome!" Hagrid yelled.

James sauntered through the corridor, just past the open cupboard only to trip over a cold object. As he landed in a pile of overflowing letters, his hand plunged into a sticky liquid. With a yelp, he quickly withdrew his hand, seeing it coated with a dark red liquid. Carefully, Sirius began using his feet to shuffle the letter out of the way. The floor was coated in dried blood, dripping down the stairs and filling the corridor. The group's eyes widened as the noticed the three bodies. Each mutilated, with knives sticking out of the cold flesh that had sat there, rotting, decaying for seven days.

"Harry!" Sirius frantically yelled as he rushed upstairs to look for the boy, praying he hadn't been hurt.

James let out a short gasp, perhaps scared that his son had been hurt or perhaps pretending that he wasn't relieved that a squib had been erased from the Potter line.

***

"Choke them on the ashes of the dreams they burnt"