Chapter 1.
The war is finally done. Finished. Ended! Voldemort is no more, and most of the Death Eaters have either fled the country or have been arrested. Of course, there is the exception of the Malfoys who can buy their way out of anything.
The Weasley clan are still in mourning of Fred. However, they are opening their arms up to little Teddy as requested by Harry who found himself too young to take care of the cub. When Harry spoke to Molly about this, she said yes a thousand times and held the baby orphan with just as much love as she did with her other children.
With Hermione in Australia looking for her parents and Ron helping George at the shop, it seemed the boy who lived was alone again.
Harry was now horcrux free but intriguingly he was still able to speak to snakes. The only answer anyone had for this revelation was perhaps Harry was born with the gift all along.
And snakes he spoke to. With no where else to go and Harry still wanting to go back to Hogwarts for his 7th year and not wanting to go back to Grimmauld Place, Harry was now wondering around the grounds of Hogwarts.
The school was repaired within a week of the battle and the school year is not scheduled to start again until September. Harry and a few of the teachers remained at the school for the holidays but several weeks into his stay it seemed there was nothing else to do but to walk along the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest and talk to the local serpents of the area.
The soil was damp from recent rain and the morning dew glowed with the rising sunlight. The air was crisp and fresh and cooled the sweat at just the right temperature.
Harry took in the scene of the fields in front of him and the school in the distance. The sparkling of the wet green grass and the suns beams, the gentle breeze of dancing dandelions in the wind. Finally, there was peace. Harry sat down on his favourite bolder and reflected in his thoughts. There was still so much guilt for him to take in. For every day he lived, it seemed another soul was punished for protecting him or celebrating his name.
It's been 7 years since he found out he was a wizard and that magic was real. 7 years since his whole world turned right side up and then upside down again.
What was life even like for Harry before he learned magic? He thought about it as the sun rose. There wasn't much to his life was there? There was school where he was bullied, and then there was home where he was bullied more and then there was his cupboard under the stairs which in secrecy, was his safe place. If he was in that cupboard, he couldn't get into more trouble. Sure, Dudley would still run up and down the stairs like an angry elephant to make the dust fall on him but it was easy for Harry to close his eyes and imagine that he was actually in a storm with thunder and rain.
It wasn't long before Harry's newest friend had sluggishly slithered out of the forest and made its way to the sun to warm up.
"Ssssaaaah haaassssassshaaarrrr"
Harry opened his eyes to see Sassy curling in front of him to warm up.
"Good Morning to you too, how did you sleep?"
The poor snake complained about how it almost struck a mouse but was too slow and the vermin got away.
"That sucks, would you like me to see if Hagrid has any spare for you?"
Sassy nodded and nestled her little head back into her curled body to rest.
Harry rose and begun is hike to Hagrid's house. His done this for a few of the snakes already and suspected Hagrid was now keeping extra mice just for Harry to feed to the snakes.
He climbed the large steps and before he could even knock on the door, it swung open and revealed the jolly giant and his dog.
"Arry! Why'a up so early?
Harry tried to respond but before even opening his mouth, he was stuck in the giant's warm, morning hug.
Harry muffled into the giant's leather coat.
"What's that? More mice? Al'ighty, I av a big rat for your snake frien' which one is thisn?"
Harry muffled what sounded like a request for more air
"Moya? I avnt' eard' about that one yet"
Harry managed to pop his head out of the giants grasp.
"More Air!"
Hagrid, even with that large beard is still able to visibly blush.
"Ah, sorry about that! You al'ight?"
Harry nodded with the gasps of air now becoming more like regular breaths.
"It's okay Hagrid. The mouse, it's for Sassy. She hasn't eaten yet."
Hagrid nodded and pulled a dead mouse out of his pocket which seemed like a small m&m in his hand compared to Harry's regular sized hand.
"Thanks Hagrid, I guess I'll see you at breakfast?"
Hagrid stared at Harry for a moment and then asked.
"Avent' you 'eard the news?"
Harry who had already taken a few steps back in the direction from where he came from turned around to give Hagrid a look of confusion.
"Nooo…What news?"
Feeling his heart starting to beat hard, fast and jump around in his chest, he was scared to hear what evil, horrible news could possibly come from the sweet old giant.
"It's Snape Harry, He's been found…And he's alive!"