I'm probably jinxing myself in finally posting this fic, but over the past month or so I was hit by my muse and words kept coming out - enough that I have finished several chapters of this fic already and I am fairly confident enough in my more detailed plans that I won't grow bored of this one and it fizzles out. I suppose we'll see. :) I'll get back to my other wip fics some time, but for now this is the one I know exactly where it's going.

I'm fairly positive that this idea has never been used before, at least in this way. But, I came up with the idea because I was thinking in the wee hours of the morning how irresponsible it was to leave Harry out in the cold all night like a box from UPS where you didn't hear the knock on the door. Yes, there are warming charms, but those wear off after a while. I couldn't remember exactly how long, so I just went with about four hours. But it's crazy to leave a child on the doorstep outside in the middle of the night, let alone for several hours. In my books, that's child abuse, and it really pisses me off!

Sorry for my mini rant there. I just really hate Dumbledore. :(

Anyway, I know there's been that thought before, so I thought - how could he get away on his own without anyone noticing. So I decided he would turn into a snake, because they seek out warmth, and I feel like they have to have some sort of instinct to be able to find it quickly. And because Harry has just gained his Parseltongue abilities through Voldemort, I figure his magic will think of turning into a snake before any other animal that may or may not be a better choice for getting warm. At least that's what I tell myself.

I try and stick as close as I can to snake behavior, but I have taken a few liberties myself and modified it a bit. My excuse is that he's not really a snake, so he won't have all of the instincts that his species does. And any others of his species are affected too, because he's magical. Just accept it, even if it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. ;)

Also, there will be NO SLASH, so if you're expecting to see that, I suggest you go find another story. Sorry.

However, it will talk about sex between snakes, though I feel that it's mostly scientific - not at all pornographic. BUT - Harry, although he thinks he's a snake, is NOT going to have sex with a snake. He's too young in human form to think about that stuff, so that will translate to not being sexually mature in snake form either. Plus, that would be like bestiality and that's gross. *cringe* Not my cup of tea. (If I actually drank tea.)

Anyway, I think that's all the need-to-know for now, but I'll let you know at the beginning of the chapter if I've forgotten something. Hope you enjoy, and remember to favorite, follow, and review!

...

Britain is fairly well known as having a moderate climate. Mostly cool, warmer in the summer, and always cooling off at night. This is especially true in the approaching winter season. It can get close to freezing temperatures at night.

The first of November in the year of 1981 was just such a cold night. People were warm inside their houses, under blankets and with their heaters turned up high. Especially as it was almost four-thirty in the morning - it was inconceivable for anyone to be outside for any reason.

Little Harry Potter woke up shivering, however. It was no surprise that the one-year-old was cold - after all, he was wrapped in just a single blanket, lying on the front doorstep of the house on Number Four, Privet Drive. The warming charm that had been placed on him by the people who left him there had worn off after four hours, and now the child was practically freezing.

As the wide green eyes darted around the unfamiliar surroundings, he gave a little whimper - in equal parts fear and cold. He didn't know where his mama or daddy were, but he was getting hungry now and the cold wasn't helping.

He didn't bother crying out - somehow his subconscious knew that there was no point. So, the magic within him welled up as it fought to protect him from the cold and fear on its own.

It didn't happen in a bang or a flash or even a small crack. Rather, one moment a little boy with a curious scar on his forehead was lying tightly wrapped inside the blanket, and in the next, a small grey-green snake with black markings was slithering quickly away in an instinct to find warmth.

...

By noon on November 2nd of 1981, Albus Dumbledore knew that something was wrong. The blood wards he had placed on little Harry Potter had yet to activate, and he knew that Vernon Dursley left for work in the morning and Petunia liked to get a start on her day early as well. One of them should have found Harry, and Petunia should have decided by now to take the boy in. It had been hours after all, but Dumbledore had been hoping that perhaps it was a delayed sort of reaction. But five hours was quite long enough.

He quickly made his way to Privet Drive, having just enough forethought to transfigure his robes into an old fashioned but not terribly noticeable Muggle suit.

Walking up the path to Number Four, he paid no heed to the Muggle across the street peering suspiciously at him out her window. He walked right up to the door and rang the doorbell, all the while wondering about little Harry.

A horse-faced woman Dumbledore recognized as Petunia Evans Dursley answered the door with a tight smile. The fake smile disappeared into a scowl as soon as she recognized him for who he was.

"What do you want?" She said sharply. "I got your letter, but I absolutely refuse to take that boy in - who knows what he may do to my little Dudders!"

Dumbledore was somewhat startled at her abrupt, brash manner, but still maintained his sense of polite calm when he spoke.

"Mrs. Dursley, I wonder if I might take a moment of your time," he said. "May I come inside?"

Petunia scowled, but she saw how the neighbor across the street (Margaret Ullman - what a horrible woman) was staring curiously at them through her open window. So, she gritted her teeth and opened the door wider, allowing Dumbledore to step inside before she immediately closed the door behind him.

"I suppose one of your people will come to bring the boy later," she spat. "Well, bringing me his blanket does you no favors and doesn't garner him any sympathy from me. Lily and I haven't even spoken since her wedding, so you can just tell whatever freak of yours plans to come by that they can go right back where they came from, because he's not going to be living under this roof!"

Dumbledore had taken in all of her words with an acute feeling of dread. The normal twinkle in his eyes had dwindled somewhere in the middle of her speech, and now it was gone completely. "You mean to tell me that he's not here?" He demanded. "You've not even seen him?"

Petunia glared. "Of course not," she said. "All I found this morning was his blanket and the letter that you left me." She turned away to leave the room as her own son's crying came down from upstairs, sounding like he was being tortured for all his shrieking went on. He had obviously awakened from his nap. "I don't need the blanket, obviously. It has his name embroidered on it, and we have quite enough blankets as it is." As though it was infested with disease, she lifted the soft blue baby blanket from where it had obviously been dumped carelessly on the floor by the chair. She tossed it in Dumbledore's direction.

"See that I don't hear anything about that wretched boy ever again," she spat disgustedly. "We don't need your kind infesting our home and our very lives."

Dumbledore however, was now even more disgusted than Petunia. He remembered what Minerva had said just a little over twelve hours before - that these were the worst sort of Muggles imaginable. He couldn't help but agree, now that he saw this proof in front of him.

"Oh, don't worry," he called after her with suppressed anger, walking to the entrance of the living room as Petunia walked up the stairs to attend to her bawling son. She paused to listen to him, still shooting glares his way.

"I will," he said. "Now that I see what you are like, I am grateful that he is away from you, so he can grow up to be...normal. I would never want him to be as odd as your family." He said this last part with a slight smirk, knowing how Petunia had strived to appear "normal" after Lily had gone to Hogwarts, and knowing just how much those words would grate on her.

Then, without so much as a by-your-leave, he Disapparated before she could get a single angry word out in her defense.

...

The first person Dumbledore contacted was Minerva, who was still upset about the boy being left at the Dursleys and was giving him the cold shoulder. It made sense that perhaps she would find a way to get little Harry away from that house, seeing as how she was the one who had been so opposed to it when he'd told her the plan the night before.

When she found out the reason for his visit however, she exploded on him, citing that he should not have ever left the Potter boy with those Muggles to begin with, and that his disappearance was largely his fault. If he had not been left on that doorstep, he would not have disappeared without a trace (as Dumbledore had checked for signs at the Dursley household and there were none). Even knocking on the door and explaining it to the "horrible Muggles" might have been better - at least then they would know exactly where he was.

Dumbledore idly wondered during her ranting if perhaps mistakes could be made in the identity of a person's Animagus form. She much more strongly resembled that of Gryffindor's house symbol of a lion protecting its cubs than that of the house cat she actually was. That would be good looking into.

After several threats to Dumbledore's continued well-being if the child was not found soon, he finally departed from the Deputy Headmistress' company to find the other person who had helped in the placement of Harry on Privet Drive.

Hagrid practically bawled a lake when he found out that "sweet li'l baby Harry" was missing. As it was, a large puddle formed on the wooden floor of the hut. Clearly Hagrid had nothing to do with the boy's disappearance.

After that, Dumbledore tried contacting Sirius Black - he was the child's godfather after all, and it would make sense for him to go after Harry, whether to hurt him if he was in fact Voldemort's spy, or to take custody of him if he truly did care for him. He had lent Hagrid his motorbike - it was possible that Hagrid had told him where he was taking his godson, as he wasn't exactly well-known for keeping secrets.

But, Sirius currently couldn't be found, so he told Auror Moody to let him know if and when he was found, as he needed to speak with him - about what, he wouldn't say.

The next person he contacted was Remus Lupin, also because he was James' best friend and he might have taken Harry to care for him. Lupin had been shocked to hear that Harry was missing, and then angry that Dumbledore had somehow lost his best friend's son, and so soon after the child's parents' deaths. After much shouting, he had crumpled to the ground and began sobbing, not knowing what to think about the Potters, Harry, and Sirius' possible betrayal. It all seemed to hit him at once - the deaths, Sirius, the fact that he hadn't seen Peter or Sirius since the deaths when they should have banded together in their grief...finally Dumbledore gave him a cup of tea laced with a sleeping draught and a calming draught. In his distraught state, the werewolf didn't even notice the out-of-place smells and drank it all down in a gulp. Dumbledore had gently guided him to his bed before he passed out. Clearly the man knew nothing.

Lastly the old wizard tried contacting Peter Pettigrew. It was less likely of the quiet wizard to have taken Harry - he always was more of a follower - but grief could do things to people, give them courage and strength where they previously appeared to be lacking. The chubby wizard might have taken the boy out of a sense of duty to his late best friend.

It was as he was searching for Pettigrew that he received news from Moody that the man was dead, and that Sirius Black had killed him and twelve other Muggles in a street full of witnesses. The news that Black had laughed as he was carted away by Aurors disturbed the old man greatly, but perhaps he still knew something about where Harry was.

Minutes later, he was walking down the row of holding cells deep within the Ministry. He almost hoped Black had something to do with Harry's disappearance - otherwise he would have no leads. Especially now that Pettigrew was dead.

As he spoke with Black however, he found that while he didn't know anything about Harry's disappearance and was in fact devastated by it, that Black was not actually the Secret Keeper, and was therefore not a servant of the Dark Lord and not the Potters' betrayer. Discovering that Pettigrew was still alive and that he, Sirius, and James were Animagi had shocked Dumbledore as well. For Sirius however, already filled with grief over his best friends' deaths, receiving the news of the disappearance of their son seemed to have put him on the edge of madness, ready to tip him over with the push of a feather. After giving the Marauder a strong calming draught, Dumbledore had gone off to make plans - plans to catch Pettigrew, plans to get Sirius freed, plans to save his spy, and plans to figure out what in the world had happened to little Harry Potter.

...

Next chapter you'll see some of his life as a snake, as well as a very interesting meeting between some individuals...

I'll have that posted in a few days - let me know what you think of the teaser!

Thanks for reading!