**Harry Potter/Era Damon White
Harry's school shopping was finished. He'd popped into the pet store, gotten a lovely midnight owl named Agate, and then immediately left to enter a familiar store as Era. He'd seen snakes in the window and had been unable to resist.
There were mostly mammals of some magical persuasion in the store, but there seemed to be some of just about everything. The store was ridiculously large, multiple engorgement charms likely had been used on it to facilitate all the animals different ecosystem set ups. Upon entering, he immediately knew that any of the animals would willingly become a familiar to him, although only some were strong enough to properly fulfill the role.
Era had immediately gone to the snake section though, and while the selection was much smaller than that of most other creatures, there were still a good twenty or so snakes.
~Hello darlings~ he hissed to them, letting Pyre, Derum, Death, and Lily out so that they would tell him which of the snakes they liked.
~Speaker? We haven't had a true speaker visit the shop for almost 30 winters. Have you come to choose a familiar?~
~Yes.~
~Well, any of us would gladly go with you, though some of the younger and less powerful ones likely wouldn't be a good fit. Aspen?~ a lilac colored snake asked.
A very large turquoise snake replied ~Yes?~
~Give a rundown of power levels and ages please.~
~Lira is 734 years old and the most powerful out of us scoring a 793. She is an alatum anguis, a close relative of dragons, but she is also blind and quite small for her species. She is mislabeled by the stupid humans. Her magical abilities are like those of a wizard except wandless, wordless, and less structured.
~Cornan is 314 years old and on the power scale at 699. He is a type of water serpent that has no known name, but is believed to be a cousin species to the basilisk, although their eyes do not petrify people, they can release a gas from a gland behind their jaws and it has many uses. Depending on Cornan's intent, it can kill, calm, knock unconscious, disorient, cause happiness, or merely be odorless inactive vapor.
~Bliss is 309 years old and on the power scale at 230. He is a sirenheart snake, which is rare, and they are cursed rather than born. Bliss' only active magical ability is to turn invisible, but his venom can be used in making love potions that can only be countered by potions also made of sirenheart venom and his blood can be used as a truth serum as powerful as Veritaserum but needs another dose of blood to make the person stop being impelled to tell the truth.
~Ziva is 268 years old and 701 on the power scale. She is a subspecies of alatum anguis, and likely to outstrip Lira when she reaches her final growth
~Zion is 268 years old, Ziva's hatchmate, and 701 on the power scale. He is likely to be more powerful than Lira but less so than his sister because most of the times a female snake grows larger than a male, meaning she'll have a larger core.
~Raz is 240 years old and on the power scale at 562. No species identification. He can transport himself pretty much anywhere and can channel you easily if you bond with him, making it easy for him to transfer messages you don't want evidence of. Raz can also split off into as many as four of himself at one time, though it splits his power. Like, if he split in 4, each him would roughly have 140.
~Graydon is 177 and on the power scale at 98. He is an anaconda who got hit with magic and can speak to his familiar and change his size.
~Villa is 125 and is not on the power scale because she will gain the power level of her familiar. She is a corswal and her powers will mirror those of her familiar.
~I am Aspen, I'm 114 years old and am on the power scale at 702. I am a mindserpent, or at least, that's what I'm called. We're pretty sure I don't have an official designation, but I'm a natural occlumens, legilimens, and can shapeshift for up to four hours at a time into any reptile species, though I cannot take on their magical abilities. I take a half hour to 'recharge'
~Aegis is 96 and is on the power scale at 389. He refuses to tell us what he can do, and has shields I can't get through even if I wanted to. We don't know his species either.
~Everyone else is under fifty years old, and we don't recommend you take anyone so young as your familiar, though you of course will do as you see fit.~
~I will, and thank you. First though, do any of you really want to come with me?~
Era watched as Cornan, Bliss, Ziva, Zion, Villa and Aspen all raised their tails.
~Really?~
All of them nodded and slithered towards him. Pyre planted himself in front of Era, and Era watched as he went up, looked each of the snakes in the eyes, scowled, and moved to the next one. Lily, Derum, and D watched, looking amused in that way only snakes can.
~So, Pyre, what do you think?~
~They're fine, but I swear, if any of them harms you, they won't live to regret it.~
~Understood~ Era said, amused.
As it had been with Pyre, each snake had to bite Era to solidify the familiar bond. They each were surrounded by a cloud of smoke, before it cleared away leaving snakes made of shadows, though each had different colored eyes, with the exception of the twins. Ziva had a sky blue left eye and a cobalt right eye while Zion had cobalt left and sky blue right. All the eyes snapped and swirled like angry flames though, and Era was as entranced by their beauty as he'd been with Pyre.
Cornan had orange eyes, Bliss had a deep blood red, the twins had blues, Villa had one bottomless black and one that snapped with white, gold, and silver, and Aspen had a a pale mint green as opposed to Pyre's Avada Kedavra eyes.
Their bodies looked like Pyre's, made of shadowy tendrils and they seemed to disappear where the light did not strike them directly, and when Era first touched each of them, white sparks sprang up, though that reaction settled down after the first initial touches. All of his snakes tried to curl up on him, but there wasn't enough room, considering how big his familiars were.
~Do I have you permission to shrink you guys down?~
All the snake responded with affirmatives, and Era was relieved when some simply shrank and the others easily became smaller with a little bit of magic from him. They all twined up onto him, and he bid polite goodbyes to all the remaining snakes before heading off to find the reception counter to officially purchase his familiars.
As they reached the register, Era took out his checkbook and greeted the teller politely. The six snakes he planned to purchase were all tightly wound about him, with the others all having slid into his skin as tattoos.
"Yes. I'm taking all six of them."
The young man behind the counter blinked owlishly up at Era and said, "And they're all snakes? The magic sorts?"
"Yes. I believe I stated this when I initially came over?"
"Y-yeah, you did, but I'm just making sure. Prices are nonnegotiable, and each snake is worth seven hundred galleons. That's literally 4,200 galleons!"
"I still see no problem," Era said confidently, and set a slip on the counter to fill it out.
As soon as his quill touched paper though, something large and furry crashed into his head and sent him tumbling to the floor with its weight.
"Hell's fried potato sticks!" Era cursed as his hipbone made painful, jarring contact with the floor.
Of course, the second his magic washed the pain away, he was grabbing the surprisingly soft creature. It had silky gray fur that was unbelievably nice against his hands, and large violet eyes that seemed to look into his soul. Black clawed paws braced against Era's chest, and he took the opportunity to study the creature closer. She was built a little bit like a bear, though stood on two feet. Her face was a little bit like a barn owl's, though she didn't have a beak, rather a lipless mouth, and she had feathered gray wings that were as soft as her fur along with two horns that curved at the sides of her head. Era wouldn't have thought that combination adorable, but it was, and he just sat there staring at her.
That was, until she stuck her tongue out at him and said, "If you're just gonna keep staring like a creep, put me down."
"Uh, sorry?" Era said, not realizing he'd been creepy.
The creature snorted, "Not very bright. I was joking you idiot. Anyways, you've a very powerful and clean aura. I wanted to come over and check you out for myself. I must say, it's surprising how young your mind is. You look like you're twenty winters, but you seem to be twelve at the most. Why is that?"
Era darted a quick look around. The only person in earshot was the clerk, who still looked startled by the creatures sudden appearance, but Era still shushed her.
"It's because I'm eleven years old."
"I know that! That's not what I was asking though, you ignoramus! I wanted to know why you're pretending to be what you are not!"
"That's a bit too long of a story and quite private. I'm not just gonna answer a random familiar in a shop about my personal life decisions!"
The creature looked decidedly unimpressed with this response, and gave him such a deadly 'get real' look that he had the oddest notion that she would bite his face off if he didn't fess up. Still though, even with that obviously imminent threat to his face, he refused to budge. He was not about to reveal a secret that large in a public area.
"We'll then, idiot. I guess you're not the most stupid creature I've ever met, and you're almost barely interesting. So, you are going to make me your familiar."
Era wasn't sure about that plan, not sure at all, and he looked at the creature who'd done nothing but insult him.
"I'm waiting. . . Accept now or so help me-!"
With a quiet sigh, he said, "I accept," and she ran forwards, bit his arm rather deeper than he believed was necessary, and disappeared inside of a plume of glittering silver smoke.
When at last it dissipated, she looked much the same in built and attitude, but her violet eyes were actively snapping with power like the flames of a bonfire and she'd adopted the same smoke-like quality as his other familiars. Era sighed again, though internally, and motioned for her to go to his shoulder, which all the snakes had vacated when he went tumbling to the floor. With his ridiculous number of passengers now secure, he turned to face the young man at the counter.
"I'll take seven, then. How much do I owe you for her?"
The clerk gulped and squeaked, "T-two th-thousand five hundred galleons, then plus the money for the snakes."
With an amused side eye, Era looked at the creature on his shoulder, "Now that you've claimed me as your familiar, would you be so kind as to tell me your species identification? And, for that matter, your name?"
With a haughty huff of annoyance, she tossed her head like a girl would to flip her hair and said, "My name I Kayleira, and, as you are clearly woefully uneducated and cannot discern it for yourself, I will also tell you that I am a sworvax."
"Ah. Of course," Era said, still amused, as he had no idea what a sworvax was, and his new familiar's prickly personality was so insulting it was funny. He continued, slightly belatedly, "It's a pleasure to meet you Kayleira."
"I know," Kayleira said loftily, using a taloned forepaw to preen her right wing.
Era snorted, filled out the check, pressed his ring's seal on the designated area, and handed it over before apparating back to his private rooms at the club. After all, there was plotting to be done, and he didn't like procrastinating.