Chapter One - Vipera Evanesca

Harry's body ached as he trudged out of the second floor girl's bathroom. His small body was covered with the dirt and viscera from the Chamber of Secrets. The blood of the Basilisk had just now begun to dry on his skin. Its tacky consistency added to the boy's discomfort. The wound from the same beast was healed but something about it felt 'off'.

Ginny Weasley and Professor Lockhart made their way to the hospital wing with Ron. Harry on the other hand knew he had to report everything to Headmaster Dumbledore. His travels were slowed by the weight of the sword of Godric Gryffindor and the aching tiredness that filled his body.

Once he arrived at the Headmasters office, He was surprised to find not only Dumbledore but also Professors McGonagall and Snape, Mr. Malfoy, Minister Fudge and two men dressed in light blue robes. It only took seconds to realize his problems had just started.

"Mr. Potter, you are under arrest for the opening of the legendary Chamber of Secrets, the release of its monster, subsequent petrification of the students and kidnapping Ginevra Weasley." Fudge said upon seeing him. "Aurors do your duty!"

~~o0o~~

Harry would later learn that he was stunned by one of the men in blue robes. He was taken to the ministry and given a 'trial'. After several hours of debate, Dumbledore was recused from the trial, but allowed to sit in the public gallery.

"Is there some magical way to show a memory or something?" Harry asked.

"Yes there is, but since you are underage it is not admissible." Answered a woman, who Harry later learned was Madam Bones the head of the magical law enforcement.

"Is there a potion or spell that would make sure I am telling the truth?" Harry again asked, hoping against hope that something would be able to help him clear his name.

"Again…Yes, but likewise it cannot be used on someone who is not of age." Was the answer given.

It was at that moment that Harry knew he would be able to walk away from this mess. He bowed his head as two solitary tears rolled down each side of his face. What he missed was the look of glee that crossed the faces of the minister and Lucius Malfoy and the looks of resignation that passed over the faces of Madam Bones and Dumbledore.

The trial itself lasted less than fifteen minutes, he was found guilty of the petrification of students. The charges of Kidnapping had been dropped after Ginny was found in the hospital wing. Charges of attacking Professor Lockhart were added instead. It was during the sentencing phase that Harry learned another lesson, that some people lives meant more than others.

He was sentenced to Azkaban for the crimes he was accused. Six months each for the petrification of Mrs. Norris and Nearly Headless Nick, which in a way made sense to Harry, since one was an animal and the other a ghost. What did not make sense was that he was given Two years each for the petrification of Colin Creevey, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Hermione Granger, each referenced as muggle-borns. An additional ten years each for the petrification of Penelope Clearwater and attacking Lockhart, a half-blood and pureblood respectfully. A total of twenty-seven years. Fudge commented that it would have been more, but for the fact that everyone survived the attacks. It was obvious that the man wanted Harry to disappear for some reason.

Harry's next memory was being led through the halls of Azkaban by three guards, to what would be his cell. The cold and dampness of the prison only enhanced by creatures that Harry would learn where called Dementors. The stone floor slick with the moisture from the North Seas.

"Well Black we have a new neighbor for you," One of the guards sneered as they led to the cell next to Sirius Black. "Maybe now you can finish what you started with James and Lily Potter."

That comment brought the disheveled man out of his stupor. He moved to the door of his cell as was just able to see who his new neighbor was to be. "Pup…" came the near whisper of the man as his heart began to break all over again.

~~o0o~~

That evening Harry was introduced to the prisoners that were nearby. Directly across from Harry was a man simply known as Jugson, a follower of Voldemort. Next to Jugson on the left side was another follower of Voldemort by the name of Travers. The cell on the left of Harry was empty and the one of the right, Harry learned held Sirius Black.

Both Jugson and Travers alternated between silence and attempts to draw the apparently disgraced Harry into following the ideals of Voldemort. Sirius on the other hand introduced himself, gave Harry a truthful history about their personal connection as well as informed him of their familiar connection as godfather and godson.

Sirius attempted to help Harry by telling him how to meditate. It was suggested as a way to help him overcome the effects of the Dementors, who visited their area of the prison several times each day. The first time Harry was exposed to the effect was that night, even with the help of meditation, he passed out within minutes of their exposure.

Harry had received no medical treatment, nor was he allowed to shower before he was thrust into the cell that apparently would be his new home. The lack of medical treatment and his continued exposure to the Basilisk's venom and blood started to have an adverse reaction to him. The only life saving grace was his absorbing of the Fawkes' phoenix tears. His body's reaction was a fever.

The fever began that first night, during the exposure of the Dementors. Harry's magic instinctually reached out to the nearest other source of magic and 'pulled' on the energy of the Dementors themselves in an attempt to heal Harry. It would repeat the same pull with each exposure to the foul creatures.

Over the next few weeks, Harry and Sirius bonded. Harry described his life pre-Hogwarts, his first year in school and what happened in the second year that caused him to be put in Azkaban. Sirius talked of his time at Hogwarts, James and Lilly as well as began teaching Harry not only meditation but the beginnings of the Animagus transformation, all in hopes that it would keep the boy occupied, sane and possibly gain some protection from the Dementors.

Harry continuously was running a fever. During the days it was nothing but a low-grade ache, during the nights it would spike to extreme levels. The only time that he was freed from the punishment of the fever was just after the Dementors visits, each time his magic pulled on their magic, which in turn lowered his temperature.

What was not known due to Harry's lack of medical treatment, was that a tiny fragment of the Basilisk fang remained in his skin. That along with the trace of venom in his blood and the blood on his skin fought against the phoenix tears and Harry's own magic. The fight was expressed by the continuous fever that he suffered though. The regular exposure to the Dementors' energy kept the combative energies mostly in check. That would change a few days after Harry had been in Azkaban for a month.

"Hey Sirius?" came the happy voice of Harry.

"Yeah pup?" Sirius responded.

"I found my form," Harry said with a mixture of pride and concern.

"What is it?" Sirius asked, his excitement evident.

"Well," Harry paused.

"Come on Harry," Sirius whined. It was only then that he realized that Harry was scared about something. "No matter what you form is, it will be great!" He then added.

"Well," Harry paused again, sighed and then continued. "It is some form a black snake."

"That is shocking," Sirius admitted. Though after their conversation about Harry's sorting, it was not too surprising. "Is it at least fairly small?" He asked. "If so, you can slip out and come visit me." His voice edged with excitement.

"Yeah around the size of my arm." Harry agreed. His arm being roughly 18 inches or 45cm.

Over the next week Harry began the slow process of changing his body into that of his Animagus form. It also was the turning point for the changes that were coming for nearly 13-year-old boy.

Harry's focus for the time between his Animagus revelation and his birthday was the transformation. Unlike the Marauders, who might have spent an hour a day over a three-year period working on their transformations, Harry spent every waking moment, at least twelve to sixteen hours each day; talking with Sirius, dealing with the Dementors and attempting to transform.

On his 13th birthday, he world changed forever, simply because he succeeded with his first Animagus transformation.

~~o0o~~

At midnight on his birthday, Harry ached due to the continuous fever but he gritted his teeth and pushed with his magic in an attempt to force the transformation. With a powerful grunt, he changed. Instead of the newly minted 13-year-old, there was a nearly 3-foot-long black spitting cobra in his cell.

Harry knew almost immediately that there was something wrong. His body as expected felt different and his perceptions were much smaller, but almost from the moment that he transformed, his body felt like it was flooded with lava. He attempted to transform back so he could ask Sirius what he had done wrong, but the pain increased as he changed.

Sirius was woken up by a scream from Harry's cell. Almost immediately after the scream, a blast of fire escaped the cell. Harry's scream morphed into what Sirius would come to realize was the screech of a Phoenix.

"Harry!" Sirius screamed as he realized where the fire was coming from. "Harry!...HARRY!" He continued to scream, call and beg as the fire in other cell raged.

~~o0o~~

Harry was in agony. Pure and simple agony as his body exploded into flames. As it morphed into something new, Harry's mind was filled with genetic memories and instincts from both Fawkes and the Basilisk, name of all things, Samson. That combined with the instincts from his new Animagus form flooded all reason. Harry's mind finally drew into itself.

Harry became aware that he was not alone in the darkness of his mind. What appeared to be a mutilated baby-like thing laying on its side also appeared several feet from him. He was torn between touching the creature and revulsion at its condition. Thankfully logic was winning, at least until the real world reasserted itself on his mind.

Harry was shocked out his own mind by a blast of internal fire. The blast of Phoenix fire, the thing was consumed. In the next instant so was Harry.

Harry's black snake body expanded and warped. The upper one-third of his snake body grew and attempted to reform into his human body, but the phoenix tears and basilisk changed and perfected him into something else, something greater and more terrifying. His tiny body grew until it was much larger than even his human body.

He was now nearly 20 feet long. From the waist down, Harry retained his snake-like form but gained green, red, orange and yellow scales on his sides, and back. His upper torso was nearly human in appearance with the black, green, red, orange and yellow scales continuing up his sides, back and into his hairline. His chest, arms and face were now pale and without the scars of his childhood, other the scar he was famous for having. His finger and nails were replaced by claws. He gained snake-like fangs instead of his previous canines.

His hair morphed slightly gaining highlights the same colors as his scales and feathers. Its texture becoming a cross between the two, instead of hair. Small pin feathers appeared near his eyes and at the tip of his tail.

The greatest and most awe inspiring change was the growth of phoenix-like wings, which sat lower than what would be expected. They were roughly where his human butt would have been. They were massive and the feathers, like his scales were red, orange, yellow and black with a green tint. The second most notable change was the Cobra hood that covered Harry's upper back and connected with his head. Other than the green and red scales that encircled the hood, it was completely black.

The Dementors, which were the only guards that the prisoners had regular contact with, came to investigate the change in temperature caused by the fire. Their approach and the pull on their magical energy by Harry's magic was what drew Harry from the depths of his mind. The new being that was formally Harry James Potter opened his eyes and mouth at the same time, releasing a phoenix-like screech.

Harry's eyes were still the gemstone green that they were previously, but had become slits like a snake with the formerly white portion being replaced by pitch black. This iris itself was now reflective and was presently showing the flames that were dancing both within and outside of Harry. His fanged maw was also filled with the internal fires. The Dementors scattered upon seeing the new form of their prisoner.

~~o0o~~

The fires from Harry's celled died out slowly. Other than Sirius the nearby inmates each hid at that back of their cells, trying to get away from this new threat. Sirius was beyond terrified, he just knew that his godson was dead and there was nothing that he could do about it. It was only when he heard the slight sounds of shuffling from the cell that Sirius relaxed even the slightest.

The rest of that night, Sirius sat near the door of his cell in hopes of hearing Harry once more. He and the other inmates would have enjoyed the uniqueness that the ambient heat provided, if they were not terrified. Needless to say, Harry was the only person that slept that night. He had no choice in the matter since he passed out moments after the changes had finished.

While Harry slept his mind worked to understand the new information. He had an understanding of what all three of the magical creatures were capable of, but he did not gain understanding of how they would affect his new body. He dreamed of both flying above the mountains as phoenix and hunting in the forest as a basilisk. The occasional flash of raid, dark spell or partial memory was the only thing that separated them and was quickly forgotten.

The debris, dirt and other filth had been destroyed and purified with the fire. The formally cold damp stones of the floor, walls and ceiling of the cell were replaced by a warmth. The warmth was such that it radiated out and into the nearby cells.

~~o0o~~

The morning came early for Harry. He was startled awake and began examining his new body. In typical 13-year-old fashion, he was intrigued with the fact that his developing manhood was now an 'inny' instead of an 'outty'. That occupied his time for a good half hour by itself. It was only when he felt/heard Sirius waking that his attention went elsewhere.

"$$Good Morning, Sirius$$ He said, not realizing he was speaking as a snake, not as a human. When Sirius did not respond he tried again. Again no response. When he attempted the third time, his slightly muddled mind realized that something was not right in how he sounded. He then focused on his words as he again said, "Good Morning, Sirius," That time in English.

"Merlin pup!" Sirius bellowed, "Are you alright?"

Harry smiled at the concern in the man's voice. With only a slight bit of concentration he answered. "I am fine, but something really strange happened."

"Were you able to change into the snake form?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, but something weird happened after that," Harry acknowledged. "I think it is best if I show you."

Harry the attempted to change into his Animagus form. The change did not go exactly as he planned. Instead of changing into his snake form, he reformed as human. With a huff, he tried again and this time was able to transform into the snake.

Quickly moving out of his cell he hurried down the short distance to Sirius' cell and entered.

"Harry is that you?" Sirius asked cautiously.

Snake Harry simply nodded. That was enough for Sirius to begin an examination of the snake's form. It was almost completely black except for a smattering of scales that were the other colors. His head was flatter than most snakes and it had the cobra 'hood'. The most noticeable feature he had in this form was the green eyes, instead of black and yellow that was typical for the species.

"Can you turn back now?" Sirius asked. When Harry did not move or change, he asked, "Is the problem involve changing back?"

Harry nodded.

"Are you able to change?" Sirius asked.

Harry nodded again.

"So the problem is something that happened to your other body." Sirius said with understanding. "Well if the only way to deal with it is to see it."

Harry did the snakes equivalent of a sigh and then began changing back. As Harry expected, instead of changing into human form, he changed into the hybrid form.

"Bloody Hell!" Sirius nearly screamed. He quickly composed himself and asking, "Can you speak like this?"

"Yesss" Harry responded with a slight hiss. The ability to remain speaking English seemed to be getting easier, except when he was stressed.

"Well let's have a look, eh?" Sirius said as he began to examine the new form of his godson. As he examined Harry, he pointed out the various features and which creature they came from originally. "It looks like you are something closely related to the Naga, more so than Lamia. Though with traits of a Quetzalcoatl. I would say you are some form of flying Naga." Sirius finally declared.

After that they began tentative tests to see what forms Harry was able to shift to and from. It was found that he only had the three forms; the hybrid, the snake and the human. Sirius encouraged Harry to shift between them regularly so he would be more comfortable with the changes and would gain the strength to remain in whatever forms longer, since two of the forms were not his new normal form.

Harry made sure to return to his cell for the regular daily Dementor visits. He found it funny that as days passed they visited less often and stayed for less amounts of time. He learned that even during their visits, his new form blocked most of their effect. His magic no longer needed to take any of their energy.

They never were bothered by human jailers as the only humans on the island was the human warden and a small garrison of human guards. The humans stayed near the main gate of the prison and only entered the prison proper, when delivering a new prisoner or retrieving one whose sentence was completed or had died. Due to this fact, they were completely ignorant of the changes going on around them.

Over the next few days, they experimented with the various aspects of his new form. They found that he had the ability to spit, spray or inject a venom, though the type or types were unknown. The idea to test it on the Death Eater prisoners was suggested, by Sirius and rejected by Harry.

He also had a weak version of "dragon breath" but weak was a relative term. It was nowhere near as strong as a dragon's fire but was stronger than most spell based fires. It was found that he had the proper feathers for flight, but they had no way to test it out. His claws could produce a mild and temporary paralytic when he was upset or he wanted them to do it.

When Harry had shown a shocked Sirius his human form, he learned that the eyes remained slit like a snakes in that form. With Sirius' continued help, Harry quickly gained the ability to shift between forms at will. They found that apparently the hybrid form was his new base form and both the snake and human forms were his 'animagus' forms.

He quickly learned to switch back and forth between English and Parseltounge without issue. They learned that he drew other snakes to him for some reason that neither of them nor the various snakes could explain. Harry's cell and to a lesser degree Sirius' cell became the new home for many of the snakes on the island. This terrified the neighboring prisoners.

One thing about the new Harry that Sirius found slightly repulsive, was his changed eating habits. While he could eat much like a regular human, Harry also could and would eat frogs, rodents, lizards and small mammals that happened into his or Sirius' cell. Interestingly enough he would metabolize those meals much slower than anything he ate like a human. This was a good thing overall as the wet environment was a magnet for reptiles and rats and the additional food helped Harry gain limited muscle and heal any lingering effects of his time with the Dursleys.

The one drawback that they did find to Harry's new situation, was that regardless of which form he was in; Harry was susceptible to the cold, much like a regular snake, though the effect was muted thanks to the phoenix portion of his body. As such Harry made sure that his cell and an area of Sirius' cell were warmed by a bit of fire breath on the stones. This eventually made the whole area more like the semi-tropics instead of the cold North Sea.

Near the end of July, Sirius and Harry had a serious conversation about the future. Harry admitted that even if he was to be released he had no interest in ever dealing with the wizarding world again. Both of them talked about the desire to visit if not live on a tropical island, far away from Britain. Even though Harry no longer wanted to be part of the Wizarding World, He acknowledged that because of what he had become, it would be nearly impossible to not have some dealings with the overall magical world. He made sure to define the difference between the two.

It was during that conversation that the idea of escaping the prison came up. Without further conversation about it, they began planning on how to escape. Little did they know that their plans were radically going to change very soon.

~~o0o~~ ~~o0o~~

Authors Note: Next chapter, things are happening with the rest of the world that will affect Harry and Sirius.

You may wonder about the title of the story, Vipera Evanesca, in Latin it means "Viper Disappears" which fits this story completely.