Hi! This chapter is a bit shorter than the previous ones because there's no reading done by the characters, but I hope you enjoy it all the same! Thank you so much for the reviews and the support!

Disclaimer: All the text in bold and the characters belong to J. K. Rowling. This is just a story written by a fan who doesn't get any kind of compensation except for a few reviews from time to time.

Nightling, impossible challenges and guardianships

"Please, if I can have your attention for a minute," Dumbledore intervened, standing up. "I think it's time to have a little break so we can let everything we've learnt for now sink in," he announced, nodding once towards the floating book. It was glowing yellow once more, showing that they had finished the third chapter.

"And because he knows that many of the adults are just itching to rip him a new one and they aren't gonna wait another whole new chapter for it," Ron snorted under his breath. The headmaster looked directly at him, his eyes shining with mirth. "Crap. You don't think he could've heard me, do you?" He muttered wide-eyed.

"If you don't want him to hear you, shut up already, Ronald," Hermione snapped at him in a whisper.

Dumbledore smiled slightly. "I believe that an hour is more than enough for everyone to stretch their legs, go to the bathroom and relax for a while. I believe that the weather is surprisingly good today. Off you go, everyone. Please, don't be late."

With those words, everyone began to stand up and leave the Great Hall in small groups.

"Let's go, Moony," Sirius growled as he stomped over to where Dumbledore was with the staff and the officers of the Ministry.

Remus sighed and stood up. "Slow down, Sirius. He's not going anywhere. You can always talk to him later."

"No. It has to be now. It can't wait another minute. I want answers and I want them now," the animagus insisted stubbornly.

Remus hesitated and looked back at Harry, who was staring at them with sadness and a little longing. When the teenager realized that he had been caught staring, he quickly averted his gaze.

"Maybe we could talk to Harry, Sirius," the werewolf suggested. Maybe it was their chance to make amends before they could have more problems caused by miscommunications between them.

Sirius glanced at his godson quickly before shaking his head. "We can talk to him later. First, Dumbledore owes us some explanations."

Remus wasn't convinced. He had the feeling that they should really go talk to Harry right then instead of waiting, but he finally relented. He couldn't leave Sirius alone. He would probably do something reckless and stupid and the Ministry would have a real reason to throw him back in Azkaban.

"Let's go then," he sighed.

Harry watched them go sadly. He thought that he would have had the chance to talk to them during the break, but apparently it was going to have to wait a little longer.

"C'mon. We've got a lot to do," Hermione said as she stood, snapping him back to the present. She grabbed Harry's and Ron's wrists to drag them behind her at a fast pace.

The two boys exchanged a baffled look but followed along.

"We do?" Harry asked confused.

"We're going to the library," she announced.

"To the library?" Ron groaned in disbelief. "For what? There are no classes, no homework, nothing until the reading finishes."

Hermione glared at him over her shoulder. "Have you forgotten what Professor Moody has said he's gonna do? I don't trust him not to begin planting traps and poisons today."

Ron blanched. "Today? You think he's gonna begin today? But, Hermione, he has to give us a few days to learn the spells and prepare…"

"I think he'd say that the bad guys aren't gonna give us time to prepare," Harry reminded him.

Ron gulped. "That sounds like him," he agreed. "But it's not fair! We're just teenagers!"

"Are you gonna be the one to argue with him about it? Because I prefer to use my time getting prepared for when he ignores you and hexes us anyway," she replied with a raised eyebrow.

Ron opened and closed his mouth, unable to come up with a response. There was no way he was going to argue with the ex-auror. That man was terrifying and had quite a temper on him. The redhead sent Harry a helpless look, but the black-haired boy only shrugged.

"Not that I wanna spend time in the library, but I don't wanna get cursed either, Ron," he said as an excuse.

"What's this we've heard about a library?" George's voice interrupted them from behind. Before they could turn around, the older boy threw his arms around Hermione's and Harry's shoulders.

"You aren't dragging these two to the library right now, are you, Hermione?" Fred asked, wrapping an arm around Ron and ignoring his little brother's attempts to shrug it off.

"Get off me!" Ron protested uselessly. He was turning red in embarrassment.

"I am," Hermione said firmly. She staring at the twins resolutely in the eye.

"Oh, but you can't," Fred shook his finger negatively at her. "Not only do we have a couple of weeks with nothing to do but read the books."

"But we also have more important things to do than to spend even more time surrounded by books. Very important things that can't wait a minute longer," George said.

The witch stared at them indignantly. "Important things? We have important things to do!" She berated them. She wasn't in the mood for pranks or whatever they were planning. "I don't wanna find out what Professor Moody has in mind the bad way!"

The twins stopped for a second and winced. They wouldn't want to find out what curses the ex-auror was willing to use against them the bad way either.

"Fair enough," Fred nodded.

"We'll just borrow Harry then," George decided.

"Me?" Harry asked surprised and wary.

"Harry?" Ron asked at the same time, equally surprised.

"What do you need Harry for?" Hermione asked with narrowed eyes. She studied them for a moment. "This is about parseltongue," she guessed.

George grinned at her. "We always knew you were a smart girl."

"It's exactly about parseltongue, which is why we need Harry. He promised to help us," Fred announced with a mischievous smirk.

"But I… Now?" Harry asked with a grimace. "I was going to the library to learn how to detect curses and all that. It's… kind of urgent, you know?"

"But you wouldn't want to get back on your promise, would you? Because you promised us a conversation with a snake," Fred said.

"Yeah, I know but..."

George, who still an arm around the younger boy, shook him gently. "And you wouldn't want to go back on the promise you made to one Ms. Luna Lovegood, would you? She was awfully polite when she asked for help."

"No, but does it have to be now?" Harry asked, fidgeting uncomfortably. "We could do it later. After, you know, I'm relatively sure that I can eat the food in front of me."

"No, no, no. That won't work," George shook his head. "It has to be now."

"Ronnie and Hermione can get a head start while you help us out for a few minutes, can't they?" Fred suggested, smirking at the two teenagers.

"Why can't I go too?" Ron protested.

"You wanna leave Hermione to do all the work alone?" Fred scrunched up his nose.

"Way to be a gentleman, Ron," George huffed.

Their younger brother blushed. "No, I… I just…"

"You're coming with me," Hermione told him firmly, staring at him challengingly with her arms crossed over her chest. "There's no way I'm doing all of it on my own."

"No! Of course not!" Ron exclaimed hastily. He looked around for an excuse. "I just… I wanna hear Harry speak parseltongue too," he blurted out.

Harry had to bite the inside of his cheek to avoid letting out a snort. He didn't believe that. Ron had never showed any interest in him speaking parseltongue. He hadn't been against it, but he hadn't gone out of his way to hear that weird language more than he had to.

Obviously, Hermione agreed with him on that because the girl was glaring at the redhead impatiently.

"You can ask Harry to speak parseltongue again later," she scoffed. "You're coming with me and Harry will join us in the library as soon as he can. Right, Harry?"

The black-haired boy nodded quickly. Not only did he not want to get on Hermione's bad mood by messing with her research, but it was only fair that he helped as much as he could, seeing as they were in this mess because of him. "As soon as I can," he promised.

"Good," she said satisfied. She reached out to grab Ron's wrist again and continued to drag him out of the Great Hall. "C'mon, Ron. We've got less than an hour before we have to be back here."

"But… But…" He spluttered. He sent a pleading look over his shoulder, but no one seemed inclined to help him get out of it.

"So… Where's Luna?" Harry asked once his best friends had disappeared. He looked around for the blond girl. "Didn't she want to be present too?"

"I'm here," she said from right behind Harry.

The boy jumped and turned around startled. He wasn't careful enough, though, because he accidentally pushed her. Thankfully, he reacted quickly enough to grab her arm and pull her back upright.

"Merlin, Luna, sorry. That's twice today," he apologized embarrassed.

"At least I didn't hit the floor any time," she smiled softly. "You have good reflexes, Harry."

Harry smiled wryly. If he didn't want to end up knocking someone to the floor, he really needed to practice that 'constant vigilance' that Mad-Eye preached about all the time. Having his secrets in the open and having to feel things that didn't make sense, like the cold from earlier, was making him jumpy.

"Okay, so we're all here…" He said, looking at the twins.

"No, wait," Fred interrupted him.

"We're missing Lee. He wanted to come too," George explained.

"I'm here," Lee said, appearing out of nowhere.

"And we're going too. Someone has to keep these three in line," Angelina said, pointing at the twins and Lee with her thumb. Alicia and Katie, grinning widely, were coming with her.

"I wanna come too!" Colin declared, coming at a run. "I missed Harry speaking in parseltongue two years ago, but I'm not gonna miss it again!"

"I'm coming with my brother!" Dennis exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of his feet with an excited expression on his face.

"It's not that exciting…" Harry began to say. He was getting a little alarmed to be honest. He didn't want a crowd while he spoke parseltongue. It was ridiculous.

"Can we come too?" Justin intervened shyly. Ernie, Hannah and Susan were standing behind him, looking equally nervous.

Harry blinked in confusion and surprise. "You wanna come too?" He asked stupidly.

"Well, we gave you a hard time over this in our second year," Ernie rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly.

"It was just a little creepy," Hannah shrugged, her face as red as a tomato.

"Yeah, a little," Ernie agreed. He would rather say that it was very creepy, but it was better not to dwell on that matter. "But now that we know it's not bad and we're not freaking out…"

"We'd like to be present too," Susan finished firmly. "It wasn't right of us to treat someone who speaks parseltongue like that, so…"

"So… Now you wanna hear it again?" Harry tilted his head in confusion. "Why? You were right to say that it's a little creepy and you don't like it."

"That's the point. It's just another language, a very peculiar one. It's irrational to be wary of it," Padma intervened as she approached the growing group. She had her arm intertwined with Lisa's. "Except for the fact that no other person in the world can understand what you're saying."

"Apart from You-Know-Who," Justin pointed out.

"Yeah, apart from him. You could be planning world domination with the snakes and the only one who would know would be You-Know-Who. I bet he wouldn't like it if he suddenly had competition on the world domination plan," Terry smirked. Michael and Anthony were with him.

Harry was getting more and more confused. "So, you wanna come in case I'm planning world domination? I'm not doing that. And even if I was, like you said, you wouldn't understand it so..."

"We're not coming because of that," Padma huffed. "We're coming because it's an almost unique experience."

"With only two parselmouths in the whole world, there aren't a lot of chances of hearing someone speak that language. And if we ever meet the other parselmouth, we're not gonna stop to ask him to speak it," Michael said, half jokingly. They still had to suppress a shudder at the idea.

"It may shock him enough that you might have a chance of escaping," Harry grinned. He had only survived his encounters with that monster because Voldemort had drawled on and on instead of killing him quickly. Perhaps parseltongue was one of those topics that could have him talking for hours too. If Voldemort ever found out that he had accidentally given Harry the ability to speak with snakes, he would probably have a conniption.

"We're not gonna try it anyway," Padma grimaced.

"But if my sister is coming, we're coming too," Parvati declared. As usual, she was accompanied by Lavender, but the other girl didn't seem too enthusiastic with the plan.

"If they're coming, we're coming too," Seamus said firmly, pointing at Dean and himself. They weren't going to let the Gryffindor fourth-years be represented only by girls.

"We are?" Dean asked surprised.

"We are," Seamus nodded stubbornly.

"You have to be kidding me," Harry murmured incredulously. Why was this becoming a school trip? He hadn't invited everyone to ogle him like he was a circus freak! A hesitant tap on his shoulder made him turn around, only to find himself face to face with a shy Neville Longbottom. "Let me guess. You wanna come too," he said resigned. He couldn't say no to Neville. It would be like kicking a puppy.

Neville flushed slightly and fidgeted embarrassedly. "If you don't mind," he said with a tiny shrug. "It just that it looks like most of our year are going, so…"

Harry sighed. "Yeah. I don't know how that happened, but come along if you want."

"You don't mind?"

"If I minded too much, I'd be already shooing everyone away and sneaking away to follow Ron and Hermione to the library," Harry sent half a smile. He shrugged, trying to hide how uncomfortable he was with the whole situation. "It's fine. They're just curious and if I can help get rid of the bad reputation parselmouths have this way, it may be worth it."

"That's the spirit, Harry!" George said, pulling him closer with an arm around his shoulders.

"We knew that you were hiding your positivism somewhere," Fred grinned.

"That's one way of putting it, I suppose," Blaise drawled out. Everyone whirled around to stare at him and Daphne, who was coming with him.

"What are you doing here?" Lee asked warily.

Blaise raised an eyebrow. "You're all going because Potter speaks parseltongue and we're Slytherins. Therefore, we're going too," he said, leaving no room for argument.

Harry hesitated for a moment. He had never even talked with these two people. Not that he spoke too much with people from the other houses, but he got along with them well enough in class and everything. However, he didn't have the best experiences with Slytherins. The only thing he knew of these two was that they said that they didn't like Voldemort and that they had laughed more than once about the insults and comments Malfoy made.

Although, he couldn't exactly turn them away. They hadn't done anything wrong right then and they seemed to come with the sole intention of hearing a parselmouth speak, which was what everyone else was there for.

"Okay," he said before he could rethink his decision.

"They're coming?" Ernie asked surprised and mistrustful.

"They want to," Harry shrugged. "And they're Slytherins. If anyone has the right to be curious about parseltongue, it's the students in the house of Salazar Slytherin, don't you think? I mean, I'd be curious if Godric Gryffindor had had a language that only he could speak and understand."

Some people were clearly against the idea, but they didn't dare argue against Harry's decision. After all, he was the one who was going to speak parseltongue and he had every right to decide who could come and who couldn't. A few people, though, were unaffected by this decision, like Luna or the twins. If Harry didn't mind that the Slytherins came to listen, they were okay with it.

"Is everyone here already?" Harry asked after a minute when nobody talked.

"Don't leave us behind!" Tonks exclaimed excitedly, skipping a step and almost falling on her face because of it. The only reason she didn't get more acquainted with the floor was because Charlie caught her arm. "Thanks," she said distractedly.

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Will you slow down?" He asked exasperated. He turned towards the big group. "Mind if we tag along? A few people are gonna talk with the headmaster and we'd rather not be present for that conversation."

Already, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, the Marauders, the teachers, the officers from the Ministry and the headmasters from the two guest schools were getting closer to Dumbledore, like they were preparing to pounce on the old man as soon as he was distracted. The expressions some of them wore bode nothing good for the headmaster.

"I don't think they're gonna talk about anything we don't already know and hearing a parselmouth speak is a wonderful opportunity," Percy stated.

Charlie stared at him and shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder how you weren't a Ravenclaw," he muttered under his breath.

"I believe mum's gonna reach new levels of shouting in that conversation and I don't wanna have to go to Madam Pomfrey to get my eardrums repaired," Bill said, only half joking. He had rarely seen his mother as angry as she had been when Harry's treatment at the Dursleys' hands had come to light, and even less when they had found out that Dumbledore had known at least part of it.

"You wanna come to avoid your mum?" Harry asked incredulously.

"This is a better option," Bill shrugged. He had Ginny tucked under his arm, but the girl seemed a little nervous about hearing Harry speak in parseltongue. It may have been because it could bring bad memories for her.

"And I wanna avoid Mad-Eye. He's not good company when he's cranky," Tonks chipped in.

"I think he has every right to be a little cranky," Neville pointed out nervously.

"Yeah, but he doesn't have to pay it with everyone else," the metamorphmagus rolled her eyes. She looked at Harry sympathetically. "You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into when you basically gave him permission to train you. I would've given him hell if he had said that he was gonna try to curse and poison me by surprise."

Harry grimaced. "That bad?" He asked a little afraid. He hadn't given Mad-Eye permission to train him, had he? He had just thought that it wouldn't be a bad idea to make sure he knew how to detect traps and poisons. That... Did that count as training?

"Worse. You'll be in the infirmary before the end of tomorrow," she warned him.

The boy snorted. "The adults are gonna make sure that I go to the infirmary before today ends," he reminded her. He very much doubted that Madam Pomfrey would forget about the check-up she wanted to give him, but he was still going to try his best to avoid it.

Tonks winced. She had put her foot in her mouth there. "If Mad-Eye has anything to say about it, he'll make sure you have to go there every day."

Harry's face of horror would have been comical if they weren't talking about a paranoid ex-auror who would really have no qualms about sending him to the infirmary for weeks. Maybe he should have thought about this a little more before agreeing so quickly to have Moody 'helping' him be a little more cautious and vigilant of his surroundings.

"I think I have to go to the library as soon as I can," he choked out. He shook his head. "Alright, anyone has a snake? Because it's much easier when there's one present."

"We can always use the spell Malfoy used in second year during the duelling club," Michael said with a frown. "I can't remember the incantation, though..."

"No need! We have a snake!" George exclaimed.

"You what?!" Percy said alarmed.

"Why doesn't it surprise me?" Charlie murmured, rolling his eyes.

"It's the reason we needed Harry's help," Fred explained. "Meet us outside in five minutes."

With that, the twins ran out and disappeared around the corner. Everyone was left staring at the place where they had been in bewilderment.

"You think they're keeping the snake in the tower of Gryffindor?" Neville asked, gulping nervously.

"I hope not, because that would mean that I've slept in the same room as a snake and I had no idea," Lee said disturbed. If that was true, he was going to kill the twins. While most of the time it was great to share a dorm with them, sometimes he could have killed them for the stunts they pulled.

"We better get going, or they're gonna get outside before us," Angelina sighed.

"What kind of snake do you think they have?" Terry asked curiously.

"Knowing them, one that's very dangerous," Bill said ruefully. Thank Merlin that their mum wasn't with them or she would have the twins' hides for keeping a snake in the school.

"And one that they shouldn't have been able to get their hands on," Charlie grinned.

The group arrived outside and, without anyone having to say a word, they walked towards the lake in unspoken agreement. They were talking in smaller groups among themselves, but it was still odd enough to see so many students from all the houses together that they attracted quite a bit of attention.

"Where are they?" Dennis asked impatiently once they had been sitting down for a minute.

"If they really kept the snake in the tower of Gryffindor, which I hope they didn't because I'll skin them alive, it'll take them a couple of minutes yet," Alicia said.

"We thought that you loved us, Alicia," George said, coming out from behind a nearby tree and startling some of the other students.

"What the hell? How long have you been there?!" Alicia exclaimed.

"Not long," George said distractedly, looking at his twin.

Fred was coming closer with a terrarium floating behind him. If his serious and slightly nervous was anything to go by, the snake they could see inside wasn't one to mess with.

"You humans, despicable species! I'm going to kill you for keeping me prisoner here!" The snake was shouting. Not that anyone other than Harry understood the hissing.

"What…? Fred, George, that's a black mamba!" Bill exclaimed when the terrarium was left on the ground. He instinctively grabbed Ginny's arm to push her behind him as he leant his body forwards to shield her.

"Let me go, Bill," she huffed, twisting her arm to get free. She scowled irritated when her oldest brother grabbed again. "Bill!" She protested.

"Yeah, let her come closer," the snake hissed, glaring at the two siblings that were causing a ruckus near her. "These two stupid humans don't give me enough preys."

"Where did you get this?" Bill demanded, staring at the twins and ignoring his sister's protests.

"We have our ways," Fred shrugged. "It wasn't easy, though."

"I should hope so. They're found in Africa. A friend's brother was killed by one last year," Bill grimaced. Suddenly, Ginny didn't seem so eager to get away from him. "He didn't get the antidote in time."

"So, they're poisonous?" Hannah asked nervously.

"Venomous," Percy corrected her.

"Yeah. Very," Bill answered her question.

"Why do you have that snake?" Blaise asked, half wary and half curious.

"We need its venom. It's useful for a lot of potions," Fred explained.

"It isn't very cooperative, though," George continued the explanation. He grinned at Harry. "Which is where Harry comes in!"

"Cooperate? I will think about cooperating when you show me some respect!" The black mamba snapped furiously. "They call me 'it' like I'm prey and they want my help?! Oh, no. No way!"

"It's a she," Harry corrected him distractedly.

"Well, she doesn't seem very happy," Anthony grimaced. He had come a little closer to the terrarium, crouching down to take a closer look. However, the black mamba didn't appreciate being watched like a bug under the looking glass and she lunged for him with a furious hiss, stopping half an inch before she hit the glass. "Shit!" He shouted, falling on his butt and scrambling backwards.

"C'mere," Michael huffed, grabbing his arm to pull him to his feet.

"She attacked me!" Anthony exclaimed, white as a ghost.

"Damn right I attacked you! Stop ogling me like that! I'm a hunter not prey! I'm not to be observed like that!" The black mamba hissed, staring at all of them with her mouth wide open and her fangs on display.

"Hey, now I know why it's called a black mamba. I was beginning to think that it was a misnomer, but the mouth explains it all," Padma said weakly. She seemed content with keeping her distance.

It was true that the name didn't fit at first. The snake wasn't very long, only about three feet long, with a narrow body and a narrow head. The scales on her back were soft grey with a faint purplish shine when she shifted under the sunlight and the colour turned lighter and lighter until her underbelly was almost white. Apart from the inside of her mouth and her tongue, only her eyes were pitch black. She was beautiful.

"Black mambas are notorious for being aggressive when they feel cornered or threatened in any way," Bill said. "It doesn't surprise me that she tried to attack."

"Harry, you mind doing the honours of calming her down?" George said, tilting his head towards the terrarium.

"And maybe get her to help us?" Fred added hopefully. It really hadn't been easy to get their hands on that snake and they didn't want to have another one that would hopefully be more cooperative.

"Calm me down? Nobody's going to calm me down!" The snake said enraged. "And I will not help you! I'm going to pump all my venom into your body and I'm going to eat you! No, wait, I'm not going to eat you. You don't deserve to be my prey. I'm going to watch you die helplessly!"

Harry cringed. "Jeez, guys, what in Merlin's name did you do to her? She's absolutely furious with you."

"Nothing!" Fred exclaimed.

"We've treated her right, Harry! Promise!"

"You're the Harry who's going to calm me down?" The snake scoffed, eying Harry up and down. "You're a scrawny human hatchling."

Harry smiled a little and walked closer to the terrarium. "I may be a little scrawny, but I'm not a hatchling," he told her amused.

The black mamba froze, staring at him intently. "You speak?" She asked in awe. She raised her head as if wanting to get a better look at him.

Harry's smile widened and obliged. He crouched down in front of her and leant closer until his face was only a foot away from the glass. "I speak," he confirmed.

"I heard legends about humans that could speak to us, but I never believed them. I thought that, if there had ever been humans like that, they were all extinct," she said.

"There aren't many of us. As far as I know, there's only another one apart from me," Harry explained. He tilted his head and smiled. "You're beautiful."

The black mamba hissed pleased and coiled tighter, as if embarrassed. "Thank you, speaker-hatchling."

Harry chuckled. "I'm not a hatchling. I'm fourteen years old. And my name's Harry."

"Fourteen winters aren't that many. I know that humans live to see many more than that, Harry-hatchling," she told him.

"You can just call me Harry, you know."

"You're a hatchling. I call you hatchling until you aren't one anymore," she said stubbornly.

Harry rolled his eyes and let it go. He knew when he was fighting a lost battle. "What should I call you?"

The black mamba tilted her head slightly. "You may call me whatever you wish, but my nest-mother called me Nightling because I was always more comfortable in the dark than my nest-siblings."

"Nightling. I like it," Harry smiled. "Where's your mother now?"

"I met her briefly before she left. Snakes don't need to be looked after very much after we can see the world."

Harry's smile dimmed. "How old are you, Nightling?"

"I haven't seen my first winter yet," she told him nonchalantly.

However, her answer made Harry's heart clench in sympathy. She may be fine without her mother, but he couldn't help but feel sad for her being alone when she wasn't even a year old yet. It was a bit too similar to his own story for his liking. He had managed to do fine on his own (because no one would think that the Dursleys counted), but that didn't mean that he wouldn't have liked to have his mother.

Harry looked at the twins. They were staring at him in complete silence, along with the rest of the group. "Did you know that Nightling is only a few months old?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. If she was that young, she probably had a bit of growing to do left.

"Nightling?" They repeated at the same time.

"Her name. Don't change the subject."

"We knew that she was young," Fred admitted.

"But not that young," George winced.

"Why do you speak to them?" Nightling hissed. She didn't like it when Harry-hatchling stopped speaking her language. It wasn't right.

Harry turned back towards her. "They're my friends, the closest thing I've ever had to a family."

"Family? Like nest-brothers? They're your nest-brothers?" She asked sceptically.

Harry smiled in amusement. "I suppose you could call them that, yeah. They, and their family, take care of me much more than the people who are supposed to be my real family."

Nightling hissed incensed. "Your nest-parents are bad? They don't treat you right?"

"Not my nest parents. They're dead," Harry explained uncomfortably. "My mother's nest-sister, her… mate and their… hatchling were the ones supposed to take care of me, but they don't like me too much."

"Nobody takes care of you?!" She screeched agitatedly.

"Mmm… Harry, what are you telling her? What's going on? You were doing a better job of calming her down earlier," Charlie said warily.

"It's fine. She just considers me a hatchling and she asked who takes care of me. She, uh, wasn't happy with the answers I gave her," Harry grimaced, telling them a briefed explanation.

The group winced as a whole. Yeah, they hadn't been happy either. They were still trying to avoid thinking about the Dursleys and how Harry had been treated by them. They honestly didn't know how they were supposed to act around Harry now. They were sure that he wouldn't appreciate it if they walked on eggshells around him, but…

Nightling kept spitting insults at the Dursleys "Those good-for-nothing, disgusting, rotten humans! Even I know that human hatchlings aren't like snake hatchlings! They're soft and vulnerable and need protection for years! If I ever find them, I will sink my fangs in them and pump them full of my venom!"

Harry grinned, torn between being disturbed and amused. "Calm down, Nightling. It's not so bad."

"You're a hatchling, whether you admit or not! You need care and they aren't providing!" She hissed, utterly enraged. If hatchlings were to be looked after, a hatchling that was a speaker was precious!

"I know they aren't, but I told you that Fred, George and their family are, along with my other best friend, Hermione," Harry told her calmly.

Nightling stared at the twins mistrustfully. "They're the ones taking care of you? They can't take care of anyone," she scoffed. "They don't provide enough food, or warmth, or space. They're utterly useless."

Harry's eyes widened. "What?" He asked quietly.

He knew perfectly well what it was like to be kept somewhere small and cold without food. It wasn't fun. He couldn't allow Nightling to continue like that.

"Guys, how much do you feed her?" He asked the twins, not taking his eyes off the snake.

"I don't know," Fred shrugged.

"A mouse or two every couple of weeks, I guess," George said, scratching the side of his head.

"I think it's not enough, because she's hungry," Harry told them.

Since he was still maintaining eye-contact with the snake, he didn't see everyone else stiffen in fear and lean away from the terrarium, showing that they would have taken a step away had they been standing up. He didn't see how a couple of them drew their wands nervously when they heard his words. The only thing he was paying attention to was the snake he could now see was shivering slightly.

"You're really cold, aren't you?" He realized.

"Not that much, Harry-hatchling. Don't worry about it," she said. Contrary to her words, Nightling coiled her body more tightly, trying to keep whatever body heat she had. However, everyone knew that snakes were coldblooded and couldn't warm up on their own.

Harry bit his lip and hesitated for a moment. "If I get you out of there, do you promise not to attack anyone? I promise that I'll get you food," he told her.

Nightling stared at him surprised. "If you don't want me to, Harry-hatchling, I won't bite anyone."

Harry smiled a little shakily and hoped that he wouldn't regret this decision. "Okay, then," he said. He didn't give himself another chance to rethink his decision before reaching inside the terrarium and caressing the snake's body.

"You're warm, Harry-hatchling," she hissed, leaning against his hand and closing her eyes in pleasure.

Harry smiled, relaxing even though he was touching one of the deadliest snakes in the world. "C'mon then. Climb," he offered.

Nightling stared at him in awe. "You'll share your warmth?" She asked shocked.

"Sure. It's never fun to be cold," he told her.

The black mamba didn't need to be told again. She was already slithering up Harry's arm, inside his sleeve, while he tried not to twitch and show how ticklish it was. He bit his lip and kept a blank face while Nightling reached his shoulder, went around his chest and finally pressed her head against the side of his neck.

"Thank you, Harry-hatchling. You're warm," she said in bliss. It had been so long since she had felt warm.

"Harry?" Neville squeaked.

Harry turned towards the others, only to find all of them staring at him with white faces full of fear. "What?" He asked confused.

"Didn't you say that she was hungry?" Lavender asked, trembling in terror.

"Is she gonna eat you?!" Dennis exclaimed wide-eyed. He didn't know whether to help Harry or run in the opposite direction as quickly as he could to avoid being the next victim.

"What? No!" Harry shook his head. "She's promised not to hurt anyone, but she was cold and didn't have enough space in the terrarium, so I got her out. I have to find her something to eat, though."

"Uh… that's good, I suppose. You sure she's not gonna attack anyone?" Ernie asked warily.

"She promised," Harry nodded firmly. He looked down at Nightling, who was beginning to doze off now that she was warm. "Hey, do you think you could do me a favour?"

She opened her eyes lazily. "What do you need, Harry-hatchling?"

"Do you think you could give some venom to two of my nest-brothers?" He requested, pointing at Fred and George.

She raised her head in interest. "You want me to bite them?" She asked giddily. Her tongue flickered out briefly, enjoying the way their expressions paled even more and the faint scent of their fear and nervousness filled the air. It was the scent of a prey that knew it was being hunted down.

"No! No, no! Of course not!" Harry denied quickly. "But they need some of your venom, so they would be very grateful if they could collect some in a bottle or something."

"Harry, we know that you love us," George said nervously.

"But it looks awfully like you're telling Nightling to eat us," Fred gulped.

Harry snorted. "I'm explaining to her that you two need some of her venom. She thought that meant that you wanted her to bite you…"

The twins blanched and stared at him wide-eyed.

"Kinky, but no," Fred denied quickly.

"The paralysis and consequential death would definitely kill the mood," George tried to joke.

"I already corrected that notion of hers," Harry reassured them. "She's not gonna bite you, or anyone else."

"Why would they need my venom? Are they jealous that they have none while I have lots? Because they can't use it like I do. They can't put it in their teeth," the black mamba told Harry.

He grinned and shook his head. "I'm pretty sure that they want it to create something. They create products to prank people and sometimes they have to experiment a little with some things to get it right," he explained. He had talked with the twins about it over the summer, but he hadn't pried into their business too much.

"Pranks?" Nightling asked confused.

"Like jokes. Things to make people laugh," Harry tried to explain. He paused and added, "They also use them sometimes to mess with people they don't like, people who have messed with them or those they care about."

"And you said that they care about you, that you're their nest-brother?" She asked pensively.

Harry blushed a little. He was suddenly so thankful that nobody else in the school spoke parseltongue. "They've never called me that, but I think… I think they may consider me family," he admitted quietly. It was easier to say it aloud when only a snake could understand him.

"And they protect you with these pranks?" She asked, looking at him in the eye.

Harry's mind immediately flashed to the pranks the twins had played on all those who had messed with him in his second year. "Yeah, they do," he said with a soft smile. They didn't do it often because Harry was more than capable of taking care of himself, but he knew that Fred and George would stand up for him against anyone.

Nightling nodded decisively. "Alright then. I'll give them as much venom as they need," she announced.

Harry smiled and looked back at the twins. "Do you have a bottle or something?"

"She agreed to give us some venom?" George asked giddily. He grinned widely when Harry nodded. "Great!"

Fred was rummaging his pockets for a phial. "Here," he said, handing it to Harry. "Tell her that it'd be great if she could fill it completely, but it's okay if she can't."

"He doubts me? I'll show him how much venom I can produce," Nightling grumbled annoyed. Immediately, she bit the edge of the phial and allowed her venom to trickle inside.

"You can tell her yourself. She can understand you just fine," Harry told the others with a smile, holding the phial still.

"That answers one of my questions," Luna intervened, smiling dreamily at the snake.

"There's no way you can prove it, though," Padma pointed out. "We only know because Harry has told us, but it's not common knowledge that he's a parselmouth."

The blond girl shrugged uncaringly. "If people don't want to believe, it doesn't really matter how much proof we collect, does it? Those who keep an open mind will know the truth and that's enough."

Harry grinned in amusement. He wished that he could have that view of the world, but it always annoyed him when he told the truth and nobody believed him. He was used to it because of the Dursleys, but he hated it.

Nightling released the edge of the phial, having filled it to the brim. "There. That'll show your nest-brothers not to doubt me again," she said satisfied.

Harry corked the phial and handed it back to Fred. "Here. She doesn't want you to doubt her again," he said.

"Doubt her? We'd never dream of doing that," Fred said.

"You have our most sincere gratitude, o great Nightling," George told her, bowing mockingly.

The snake stared at them and tilted her head. "Your nest-brothers are weird, but they may not be so bad," she said, preening a little at the praise.

Harry bit his lip to avoid bursting out laughing. Instead, he turned back towards Luna. "Do you wanna ask her something else, Luna?" He asked her kindly.

"Was she someone else in another life?" She inquired.

Nightling blinked in surprise. "Another life? Why would I have another life? And why would I be someone else?"

"I don't think she was, Luna," Harry shook his head. "And if she was, she doesn't remember it."

"Well, of course, I don't remember another life! I was inside my egg until I was strong enough to break the eggshell and then I saw the world."

"Definitely not another life. She only remembers her egg before she was hatched," Harry told Luna with a small shrug.

The blond smiled. "That's okay. Had she heard of parselmouths before?"

"Parselmouths? What are parselmouths?" Nightling inquired confused.

"I'm a parselmouth. Humans who can speak parseltongue, which is what we call the language of snakes, are called parselmouths," Harry explained patiently. Then he looked up since he already knew the answer. "She had, in legends, but she hadn't believed that they… or we, I guess, were real. She thought that, if there had ever been humans like that, they were extinct now. She also knew us as speakers instead of parselmouths."

"Legends? They have legends?" Luna asked with bright eyes. She wasn't the only one interested. Many of the other teenagers were listening intently.

"I suppose, she hasn't told me any, though," Harry said. He raised up a hand to stroke Nightling's head softly and smiled when she smiled and leant into his touch.

"They're not for humans to know," Nightling said firmly, but she sounded somewhat distracted by Harry's caresses at the same time. "I can tell you if you want, Harry-hatchling, but the other humans can't know."

"Can you tell me one later then?" Harry asked eagerly. "I promise not to tell any human if you don't want me to."

"Later, Harry-hatchling," she told him. She was tired and comfortable. It wasn't the time to tell legends.

"She doesn't want humans to know their legends. Sorry, Luna," Harry told the Ravenclaw girl.

"Oh. Okay then," she said, her disappointment only showing briefly. She stared at the black mamba and smiled. "She seems tired."

"The cold isn't good for sleeping," Nightling mumbled sleepily.

"She was cold earlier, so she couldn't rest well. I suppose that, since Bill said that black mambas can be found in Africa, she would be more comfortable with higher temperatures," Harry said, continuing to pet the snake gently.

"So, she's going back to Africa?" Susan asked, staring at Harry and Nightling. They made a cute picture. Creepy, but cute.

The twins exchanged a look and shrugged at the same time.

"If she wants. It's up to her," George said.

"She already gave us more than we wanted, so we could probably find a way to take her to her natural habitat," Fred said. He had a hand inside his pocket, grasping the phial filled with venom tightly.

Harry looked at Nightling. "Heard that, Nightling? You wanna go to back to Africa?" He offered her. He would be sad to see her go since he liked her quite a lot, but he knew that she would probably be more comfortable somewhere warmer.

The snake stirred and roused from her light doze. "Go back?" She repeated. "Would you be coming with me, Harry-hatchling?"

Harry's eyes widened in surprise. "Me?"

"You need someone to take care of you and your nest-mother's nest-sister, her mate and their hatchling aren't doing a good job," she said firmly. "You need to have a nest that takes care of you."

Harry smiled fondly and looked sideways at the mass of redheads among the teenagers. They were all there, except his best friend, who was looking for ways to protect him with Hermione, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who were scolding Dumbledore on his behalf. Of course, he would love nothing more than to be able to include Sirius and Remus in that small tiny group that he considered his family, but he needed to talk with them first and clear the air between them.

"I have a nest, Nightling," he told her softly. "We may not have all been born in the same nest, but that's okay. We're all sharing one now, and I can't leave it. I don't want to."

Nightling turned to look at the humans with red hair, the ones that her Harry-hatchling had looked at. It was clear to her that he loved them, she could practically taste it in the air, and he wouldn't leave them. So, there was only one option left in her mind.

"I'll stay with you, then," she decided.

"Stay with me?!" Harry choked on his own spit. "But… don't you want to go back to Africa? You'd be happier there."

"I left my nest several moons ago, Harry-hatchling. I can choose where I want to live now and I'm staying with you. Someone has to make sure that you're warm and fed and you're growing adequately," she insisted. She eyed him critically. "You're scrawny, so you're not growing adequately. You need more food. Didn't you get food in your nest?"

Harry grimaced a little. "Not as much as I wanted," he admitted.

The black mamba hissed irritably and nuzzled the side of his neck possessively. "I'll make sure you have enough food from now on," she promised. How dare they not give her Harry-hatchling enough food to grow and become a hunter himself?

"Harry, what's going on? Does she want to go back to Africa?" Bill asked. "I could maybe take her with me when I go back and make sure she's released somewhere where she'll be fine."

Harry shook his head and cleared his throat to try to get rid of the lump he felt there. Once he was sure that he wouldn't sound choked up, he spoke. "She's decided that she wants to stay with me since my relatives aren't taking care of me," he said, avoiding everyone's gazes. "If Fred and George don't mind."

"She… What?" Tonks asked perplexed.

"We, uh, don't mind? I guess?" George answered confused. What else could he say? He wasn't going to argue with a black mamba.

"She... She wants to stay with you?" Fred asked as a grin slowly appeared on his face. Oh, the mayhem they would have at Hogwarts with a black mamba as Harry's pet and, if he was right, as Harry's protector too. This year was going to be so much fun.

Harry shrugged uncomfortably. "I think I may have to ask for permission to have a second pet with me," he smiled awkwardly.

"I'm not a pet!" Nightling hissed incensed. She nicked the side of his neck with her fangs.

"Harry!" Many of the teenagers shouted while others gasped in horror or leant away.

"Goddammit, we have to take you to Madam Pomfrey!" Bill said frantically, scrambling to his feet.

"It's okay," Harry shook his head. "She didn't use venom. She just didn't like that I called her a pet."

"Because I'm NOT a pet and you better not call me that again if you don't want me to think about using venom next time, Harry-hatchling," she warned him as she licked the tiny scratch.

"I just called you that because it's what humans call their animal companions, not because I think you're a pet!" Harry protested. "You didn't have to bite me."

"I didn't bite you. I barely scratched you," she scoffed.

"I know you barely scratched me," Harry said offended. He didn't like how her tone made him think that she was calling him a weakling. "But you made them panic anyway."

"Harry," Charlie called him seriously, interrupting the conversation. "Are you absolutely sure that she didn't use venom?"

"Positive," he nodded firmly.

"The symptoms don't always appear immediately," Bill fretted. He was warring with the urge to drag the younger teenager to the infirmary regardless of what he said. "Any tingling? Blurred vision? Nauseas? Are you dizzy or tired? Do you have trouble breathing? Does anything hurt?"

"No to everything. I'm fine, honestly," he told them.

"Perhaps it'd be better if Madam Pomfrey took a look at you anyway. Just in case, you know," Tonks insisted anxiously.

"Nightling promised me that she didn't use venom," Harry assured them. Well, she hadn't actually said those words, but he knew it was the truth regardless. Unfortunately, nobody seemed totally convinced, so he had to explain a little more if he wanted them to leave him alone. "She wouldn't harm a spea… uh, a parselmouth. And she, uh, she calls me a hatchling and she said that she wanted to stay to make sure I'm okay, so yeah, I'm sure she wouldn't hurt me," he said awkwardly.

There was a minute where nobody talked. They were all staring at Harry while the black-haired boy squirmed uncomfortably. Finally, though, Harry couldn't put up with it anymore and he stood up.

"So, I'm gonna… I'm gonna go look for Ron and Hermione," he said, walking backwards. "Uh, see you later, okay?" He said before turning around and basically running away.

"Did he just say that he was adopted by a black mamba?" Anthony said gobsmacked.

"I think he did," Daphne said with a raised eyebrow. She would have never imagined that Potter could actually be interesting instead of a total dunderhead, like her head of house called him.

"Doesn't he find it weird, though?" Dennis asked, scrunching up his nose. "It's a snake. A very poisonous snake."

"Venomous," Percy corrected him.

"I think it's not the weirdest thing it's ever happened to him, if any of the rumours are proven to be true by the books," Katie pointed out. "I never wanted to ask, but…"

"Like when Malfoy was telling everyone in our common room that he was gonna get Potter in so much trouble in our first year that he was gonna be expelled and the blond ponce ended up in detention with Golden Boy?" Blaise snorted.

Dean looked at him curiously. "You don't sound particularly fond of Malfoy," he observed.

Blaised raised an eyebrow. "I'm not a fan of anyone who expects everyone to bow to them and kiss their feet, which is what Malfoy thinks that everyone should do because of who his father is," he scowled.

"But you've laughed more than once when he insults other people, or when he curses them," Neville remembered. He would know, since he had been the victim in more than one of those occasions. He looked at Daphne. "You too."

"Some things are funny," she said unfazed. "That doesn't mean that we like Malfoy, though."

"And, unfortunately for us, Malfoy has power in Slytherin. It's not a good idea to antagonise him more than necessary. He's more useful as an ally than as an enemy," Blaise explained. They may not like his attitude, but the blond could make their lives more difficult than they had to be. It was pure convenience to stay on his good side.

"So, you're saying that you actually enjoy it when he's the one ridiculed?" Michael asked with a raised eyebrow.

Blaise smirked. "Oh, yeah. Those moments are quite fun."

"Even though they aren't all that common," Daphne said, a little disgruntled. She didn't like to have her fun limited.

"Don't worry. I bet we'll hear at least a couple of times when Harry has ridiculed Malfoy and he's gotten away with it with practically no one knowing about it," Alicia smirked. "Harry, Ron and Hermione get into tons of trouble. Even more so than Fred and George."

"Which is quite a challenge," George said, grinning proudly.

"We'd be indignant if they didn't make us so undeniably proud," Fred smirked.

"I still wanna know what they did to lose one hundred and fifty points in their first year. I mean, we were so mad at them back then, but I bet it was epic," Lee grinned excitedly. "They had to have fought a troll or something to have pissed off McGonagall so much."

"Fought a troll? Are you crazy? They can't have fought a trouble. They're fourteen!" Susan said horrified.

"Hermione's fifteen already," Lavender chipped in.

"Whatever. Fifteen, fourteen. It doesn't matter. That's way too young to have fought a troll," the Hufflepuff girl insisted.

"The rumours don't say that, though," Lisa pointed out. "We've all heard some crazy things and neither them nor the teachers are willing to say what's true and what's a lie."

"I've heard some things about how Harry spoke to the Minister at the end of last year," Percy said, scrunching up his nose. "If it was true, he showed zero respect for him."

"Please, Perce, we don't have to wait for the books for that," Charlie scoffed. "We've all heard Harry basically daring him to try to persecute Hagrid earlier. Hermione had no problem correcting and arguing with Fudge either. And Ron basically proved him an idiot with a single sentence."

"Ronnie was quite brilliant there, wasn't he?" Fred said proudly.

"We knew that we considered him family because of some reason," George grinned.

Percy's face was getting red in anger. "Minister Fudge may have been a little out of line, but Harry shouldn't have talked to him like that. Nor should have Ron or Hermione. Whether they like it or not, Cornelius Fudge is the Minister and he's the head of the Ministry of Magic."

"That just shows the kind of people that work in the Ministry," Lee snorted.

Percy gaped at him outraged. "The Ministry is a very important institution without which the wizarding world would crumble!" He protested. "People there work very hard to keep order and make sure that things run smoothly."

"Percy, we're not saying that everyone in the Ministry is an idiot, but you have to admit that most of them aren't the brightest bunch," Angelina tried to reasoned with him.

"Or the most honourable. Everyone knows in whose pocket Fudge is," Terry snorted quietly.

Percy pursed his lips angrily. "There's never been proof of that bribery," he argued, but it was a weak excuse and he knew it.

"Percy," Charlie sighed, sending him a knowing look. He knew that his brother wasn't that thick.

"And Fudge isn't the only one who accepts bribes," Tonks intervened. "Many people in the Ministry have gotten to where they are by owing other people favours. Or by paying them more money than anyone else. They're all a bunch of hypocrites."

"There are still good and bright people. The Ministry wouldn't work otherwise," Percy insisted, making an effort to keep his calm. "They… They're respectable people."

"Bet we hear at least one incident where Harry, Ron or Hermione, or all three of them, make a fool out of at least Fudge, if not the whole Ministry," Alicia snorted with a smirk.

"They wouldn't!" Percy exclaimed scandalized. "I'm telling you that there's no way that would happen."

"It will," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Do you think they'd find a way to make a reporter shut up?" Lavender asked pensively.

"What? What are you talking about?" Padma asked confused. "We were talking about Fudge, even though it's not the most pleasant topic of conversation."

"I know," Lavender said dismissively. "I was just thinking about people I don't like. People nobody likes but who get away with doing whatever they want and they still have all the power."

"You're talking about Rita Skeeter," Parvati guessed.

Lavender pursed her lips. "That woman wrote the most horrible things about my mum's shop and they were all lies, but the sells still dropped a lot. My mum was devastated about it."

"That woman's disgusting," Hannah agreed with a grimace. "But she still keeps writing whatever she wants for the Daily Prophet and people keep believing her words."

"That's why I'd love it if Harry, Ron and Hermione would find a way to shut her up like they shut up Fudge," Lavender sighed, imagining it.

"How exactly do you think that would happen?" Justin asked perplexed. "You think we'll read about them going to her house, politely asking her to stop writing lies and she'll agree out of the hidden goodness of her heart?"

"I don't know," Lavender scoffed. "That's not my problem. I'm just daydreaming."

"I don't think Rita Skeeter will ever agree to stop writing lies and write something that's the truth for once," Ginny huffed. Her mum hated Skeeter too, so she had heard lots of complaints about that woman. "She'd never change so much."

Angelina snorted. "That'd be a day. I think Harry's cousin would treat him right before Skeeter writes something that people actually like and it's the truth."

"Vernon Dursley would trust a wizard before that happened," Hannah grinned in amusement.

"Do you think we'll read about things like that in the books? It'd mean that some people would have to change a lot," Ernie said dubiously.

"Of course not. That'd never happen," Hannah snorted.

"We're not trying to really guess," Susan rolled her eyes. "We're just imagining what could appear in the books. Like, the wildest things we can come up with."

"Like the rumour that Harry can make a corporeal patronus," Padma grinned. "Personally, I don't think that one's true."

"What? A corporeal patronus?" Susan said startled. Her aunt had told her sometimes how so very few aurors knew how to make a corporeal patronus, which limited a lot the amount of aurors that could go to Azkaban on their own.

"We saw him conjure one last year in the quidditch match against Ravenclaw, but it didn't have a definite form back then. Still, it's possible that he may have perfected it," Anthony shrugged.

"No way," Susan breathed out in awe. If that was true, she had to find out how Harry had done it to tell her aunt. Maybe she could ask him to talk to her directly.

"I don't believe that he could have," Padma insisted. "It's one thing for him to conjure one that had a vague form in the middle of a quidditch match, when he was full of adrenaline. Plus, if I remember right, he had been about to catch the snitch, so he was probably high on excitement. Those conditions aren't the same as being able to conjure a corporeal patronus in class or, Merlin forbid it, in front of a dementor."

"I still insist that he could've done it," Anthony shrugged.

"No way," Padma shook her head.

"There is a chance that we'll actually read about him conjuring a corporeal patronus," Michael agreed with Anthony. He grinned. "Although, I bet we won't read about him successfully teaching anyone how to conjure one."

"Oh, please, Michael. I bet you just wanna learn how to conjure one yourself," Padma scoffed.

"I'd like to find out if any of them has found a way to… control Peeves or something," Neville said hesitantly. The poltergeist still tormented him after more than three years in the school.

"Nobody can control Peeves," Fred shook his head.

"But you can convince him to get on your side if you offer him a good deal," George smirked.

"You may be able to offer him to be part of some pranks if he leaves you out of his little schemes, but not all of us play pranks" Neville said, a little more bravely. "I just wanna find a way to… scare him a little and get him to leave me alone or something," he said embarrassed.

"Scare Peeves? I don't think that's possible. He's only scared of the Bloody Baron," Daphne drawled out. "And that poltergeist knows better than to get in his way."

"So, Potter scaring Peeves is something we'll definitely not read about in the books," Blaise finished for her.

"Do you think we could read about Harry winning the Triwizard Tournament this year?" Colin asked enthusiastically.

"He's not of age, Colin. He can't even put his name in the Goblet of Fire," Parvati said impatiently.

"But that's the whole point, isn't it?" The younger boy grinned. "We're coming up with things that we won't read about, but it would be awesome if we did. And Harry entering the Triwizard Tournament and winning it would be awesome."

"I don't think he'd like it so much, kiddo," Charlie snorted softly. He knew that there were dragons involved in the first task, even though he didn't know what it consisted on exactly. He didn't want to imagine Harry participating in something like that. He was fond of the boy.

"But it'd be so awesome. I mean, I know it can't happen, but if it could…" Colin insisted excitedly. He looked at his little brother. "You agree, don't you, Dennis?"

"I think it'd be even better if we read about Harry meeting mermaids," the younger boy said, almost bouncing with excitement.

"Mermaids? What mermaids?" Lisa asked confused.

"Some older students told me that there are mermaids at the bottom of the Black Lake," Dennis said, talking very quickly. "They said that they live at the very bottom, with the Giant Squid. So, it'd be awesome if Harry met them because then we'd read about it and we'd know all about it."

"I think those older students were messing with you, Dennis," Hannah told him kindly. "I've never heard of mermaids living in the Black Lake."

Dennis frowned and shook his head. "I prefer to think that they exist and Harry will meet them."

"You kids are taking this 'imagining impossible challenges' thing a little too far," Angelina said amused.

"If the whole point it's to imagine impossible things, I bet we won't read about Harry fighting an acromantula," Anthony grinned.

"What? You're crazy," Ernie shook his head.

"The point is to come up with crazy things," Anthony defended his option.

"I… I think Hagrid once mentioned that there were acromantulas somewhere in the Forbidden Forest," Charlie said, trying to remember the exact conversation.

"What?" Anthony said startled. Many of them sent nervous glances at the Forbidden Forest, which suddenly seemed much darker and more ominous than before. The Ravenclaw boy gulped and forced a grin on his face. "Well, even if there were acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest, they're probably very deep inside, and far away from the school."

"I hope so," Justin shuddered.

"Then, why would Harry go there? There's no way he'd ever encounter one," Anthony finished happily.

"Just to be sure, I bet we won't read about Harry, Ron or Hermione meeting a giant," Terry grinned triumphantly. "There's no way there's one in Hogwarts because we'd know about it. The Ministry and the Board of Directors of Hogwarts and the whole wizarding world would know about it."

"But what's the point on imagining things that you know can't happen?" Justin argued.

"It's what we're doing. This whole conversation is about coming up with nonsense things that could never happen," Lisa reminded him. He couldn't have already forgotten it, could he?

"I know," he scowled at her. He wasn't an idiot. "I'm just saying that it'd be better if we came up with things that have a tiny, very tiny possibility of happening, but could still happen."

"Like what?" Tonks asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Like… Like…" Justin hesitated, trying to come up with something.

"Like any of them getting into the Slytherin common room unnoticed?" Blaised asked with a raised eyebrow. "Because we all know that not a single student who isn't a Slytherin has ever put a toe inside, but some could be stupid enough to try."

"Exactly!" Justin exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Or any of them ridiculing Lucius Malfoy and getting away with it?" Katie snickered. "Because we know that we'll read about Malfoy Jr. making a fool of himself at some point and his only threat is…"

"'When my father hears about this…!'," the twins finished for her, making a remarkable impersonation of Draco Malfoy.

There was a roar of laughter around the group. Only a few, like Daphne, Blaise or Luna, managed to only grin a little in amusement. Everyone had heard at one point or another that ridiculous threat that Draco had been repeating for years.

"Exactly that," Katie chuckled. "But I bet Malfoy Sr. doesn't say that. He'd probably retaliate if he was humiliated in any way, so there's a very, very small chance that we'll read about him being ridiculed and Harry getting away with it unscathed."

"There is a possibility it might happen, though," Justin pointed out.

"Okay then, if you wanna do it that way, what do you think could maybe happen if the stars were correctly aligned but won't happen because that only happens, like, once in a million years?" Parvati asked him with a raised eyebrow.

Justin frantically tried to think of something that would fit the criteria, but it wasn't so easy. Then he looked towards the Forbidden Forest and he came up with something. He smirked. "I bet we won't read about Harry riding a centaur."

"A centaur?" Tonks asked incredulously. "Do you want him to get killed? No centaur would ever tolerate being ridden like a horse."

"I know, but there are centaurs in the Forbidden Forest, so it could happen," Justin said smugly.

"It won't. It's suicidal and not even Harry would do that, no matter how little self-preservation he has," Fred snorted. "You may as well be asking him to survive an Avada Kedavra."

There was an awkward silence as everyone remembered that Harry was the boy-who-lived, who was famous for having survived one already.

"You mean, another one?" Luna broke the silence. She was asking the question calmly, like she was genuinely curious about what the answer would be.

Fred rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah. I… I didn't think it through. I mean, he already survived one, didn't he? So, maybe we could read about him being hit by another one and surviving and then we'd all know how he did it."

"Fred…" Alicia said with an uneasy expression on his face.

"I know. I went too far," Fred recognized. He didn't even want to imagine Harry being hit by an Avada Kedavra. He would never want to risk Harry's life like that.

"Your mind flew ahead of you, brother mine," George grinned, clapping him on his shoulder. "I think we were thinking more along the lines of… I don't know, Harry, Ronnie or Hermione finding a place that isn't in the Marauders' Map. Which we both know would never happen."

"The what?" Ginny asked.

"Nothing," the responded at the same time.

She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "This is the second time you've mentioned that thing."

"And it's also the second time we'd refused to explain more," Fred pointed out.

"It'll happen a third time if you insist, dear sister," George warned her.

Ginny gritted her teeth. She didn't like being kept in the dark about anything. She hated being treated like a little girl who didn't understand or could be trusted with important things.

"Fine," she spat. "It'll probably appear in the books anyway because Harry clearly knew about it."

"We know," George shrugged.

"We're still not telling you anything about it," Fred told her. "Instead, you could tell us what you think we won't read about."

Ginny clenched her fists, but she let it go. She would get her answers at some point either way. After all, she had argued the night before about being allowed to read the books and, even though she hadn't won the discussion, she was being present for the reading.

"I think we won't read about them being present when a dragon egg hatches," she decided. She looked at Charlie. "You always told me that it's incredibly rare because there's no way a dragon would allow a human close to its nest."

For a moment, Charlie was about to tell her that he wasn't actually sure if Harry, Ron and Hermione had already witnessed a dragon egg being hatched. He knew that they had been in contact with Norberta when she had been growing up, but he didn't know if they had been there for her birth.

"Charlie?" Ginny called him with a raised eyebrow.

Realizing that he had stayed quiet for too long and he was getting a few curious looks, he quickly said the first thing that came to his mind to change the subject. "I was thinking about what I believe we won't read about."

"Well? Don't leave us hanging. Go on," Bill prompted when his brother didn't continue.

"I bet we won't read about either of those three flying on a dragon," Charlie smirked. It was one of the dreams many of the guys at the reserve had and one that they knew was completely impossible.

"But there's no way that could happen! What would a dragon be doing in Hogwarts in the first place?" Anthony scoffed.

"You bet they'd fight an acromantula, so you have no room to talk," Susan snorted, elbowing him on the side.

"But a dragon? It'd destroy Hogwarts and nobody wants Hogwarts destroyed!" Anthony insisted. "So, there's no way there's even the tiniest chance of us reading about it."

"So, change of rules again. I prefer it when the ideas are totally crazy," Bill shrugged. He smirked. "I bet we won't read about either of them robbing Gringotts."

"Bill! They aren't criminals!" Percy exclaimed scandalized.

"I know. That's why I said that we won't read about it," Bill said, satisfied with his contribution.

"Why would they rob Gringotts in the first place?" Blaise asked incredulously. He was surrounded by idiots. What was he still doing there? He had already heard Potter speak parseltongue.

"Why would they want to get into the Slytherin common room?" Bill counteracted.

The Slytherin boy frowned and stayed quiet, conceding the point. It was true that Potter and his friends would have absolutely no interest in getting into the Slytherin common room. More importantly, they wouldn't be able to do it.

"I'd like them to find out the diadem of Ravenclaw," Luna said softly. "It's a treasure that should be conserved, not be lost in time."

"It just appears in legends, Luna," Padma pointed out awkwardly. "It probably doesn't even exist."

"I believe it does. There's no proof that it doesn't," Luna argued calmly. "And I believe it's time for it to be found again, don't you think?"

"But if it doesn't exist…" Padma tried to argue.

"Then it fits this crazy 'impossible challenges' thing," Ernie grinned. "I've heard that Helga Hufflepuff had and cherished some kind of cup or vase or something. I bet we won't read about them finding it."

"You don't even know what it was, Ernie," Hannah rolled her eyes exasperated. "How could they find it then?"

"That's not my problem," Ernie shrugged. "I know that they won't find it."

"If we're talking about objects from the founders, I bet we won't read about them finding a ring of Gryffindor or something," Parvati grinned.

"Gryffindor didn't have a ring. At least, not one he was famous for. He was famous for his sword, made by goblins," Michael snorted.

Parvati rolled her eyes. "Then I bet we won't read about them finding that sword then."

"And about Slytherin, the most famous legend of all, even though it wasn't about an object," Tonks said enthusiastically. "The legend about the Chamber of Secrets. I had a friend that was obsessed with that legend, but she could never prove that it existed. I bet we won't read about them finding it."

There was a bit of an awkward silence where no one knew what to say.

"What?" The metamorphmagus said, losing her grin.

"The Chamber of Secrets… It was, uh, kind of… opened? Two years ago?" Katie tried to explain without making her feel bad.

"What?!" Tonks exclaimed startled. Why hadn't this made the front pages of the Daily Prophet?

"Yeah, it was a huge deal. Everyone was terrified out of their minds," Susan cringed.

"What happened?" Tonks asked wide-eyed.

"Nobody knows the whole story for sure. Professor Dumbledore refused to tell even the prefects," Percy said, pursing his lips.

He had insisted vehemently, demanding to know since it had been his sister who had been taken, but the headmaster had just smiled and said that it was over and there was nothing to worry about. Ginny refused to say a word about her experience, but the whole family knew that it had been bad. Hermione had been petrified for months and used that as an excuse not to talk. And Ron and Harry were just plain stubborn and refused to tell him anything.

"They just told us one night that the Chamber of Secrets had been closed, there was no more danger and Harry and Ron were awarded two hundred points each and the Special Award for Services to the School," Dean shrugged. "Which won us the House Cup and that was awesome, but…"

"A little explanation would've been nice," Terry scowled.

"But you don't know if Harry and Ron actually entered the Chamber of Secrets, do you? Maybe they just helped the teachers find it somehow so they could close it?" Tonks asked, looking from one teenager to another in search for answers. Why did none of them seem to have them?

Ginny bowed her head and refused to meet anyone's gaze. She didn't want to talk about what had happened down there, about what she had been forced to do. It had been the worst months of her life.

"No clue," Justin shrugged. "I don't even know where the Chamber could be or how they could have found it when none of the teachers were able to do it."

There was another awkward silence as they all remembered or imagined that year in school. It had (or would have) been horrible for all of them.

"Well, if you aren't sure, I'm not gonna change my contribution," the metamorphmagus decided. "I bet we won't read about either of them entering the Chamber of Secrets."

"You didn't have to stir up all this drama if you wanted your bet to be something about Slytherin," Daphne huffed, rolling her eyes. "There are several texts that talk about Salazar Slytherin wearing a locket that he carried with him everywhere, but it's never been found, so many people don't believe that it existed. I bet we won't read about those three knuckleheads finding it."

"No need to insult them, ice queen," Seamus rolled his eyes.

She whirled around to glare at him. "Don't call me that," she warned him with narrowed eyes.

He raised his hands defensively. "Sorry, sorry. Jeez, it was just a comment."

Dean snorted. "Shut up before you dig a hole too deep for you to climb out of. She's gonna hex you into next week," he said amused. "Just think of an impossible challenge yourself."

"You haven't said one either," Seamus pointed out defensively.

"Because I already have the perfect impossible challenge," Dean smirked. He had gotten it from one of the stories he had found out were told to wizards and witches when they were kids. He had been surprised about how different they could be from the ones muggles told. "I bet we won't read about either of them finding the Deathly Hollows."

"The Deathly Hollows?" Justin repeated confused. "What's that?"

"It's from a stupid bedtime story for children. It's about three men that encountered Death and got gifts from her for having been clever enough to avoid her. The first one was an idiot who asked for an unbeatable wand, bragged about it and got killed for it. The second one was an even bigger idiot who asked for something to resurrect the dead, but he got a rock that only allowed him to see his dead fiancé instead of really being with her, so he killed himself to be with her. And the third one was supposedly the clever one who asked for a way to avoid Death herself and he got a cloak of invisibility that allowed him to stay hidden for years until he gave it to his son. Then, he idyllically left with Death peacefully like they were best friends forever. The end," Daphne told him quickly with a scowl of distaste on her face.

The others stared at her, weirded out.

"What the hell has crawled up your arse and died?" Terry asked wide-eyed.

"Terry!" Lisa said, punching his shoulder hard.

"Oi!" He protested. "I'm just saying that she completely butchered a perfectly good story."

"She doesn't like that story," Blaise explained with a little smirk.

"Yeah, we've noticed that," Lee whistled.

"So… The Deathly Hallows?" Justin asked, trying to get back on track.

"The ones that appear in the story," Luna smiled. "The Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the Cloak of Invisibility are the three Deathly Hallows, and whoever reunites all three of them will become the Master of Death."

Justin gulped. "That's… morbid. They told all of you that story before going to sleep? So, you'd… what? Dream about conquering death or something?"

"Don't be stupid. It's just a story for kids," Ernie scoffed.

"Which is why my impossible challenge is perfect," Dean smirked triumphantly. He looked at his best friend smugly. "So? What about yours?"

Seamus scowled at him. "I bet… I bet…" He said uncertainly. What could be more impossible than finding lost, probably inexistent relics and conquering death? Then he came up with something. "I bet we won't read about either of them traveling in time," he said smugly.

Dean snorted. "Mine's still better," he teased him.

"What? You're both crazy," Parvati scoffed. "It's not funny to simply come up with stupid things. It has to be at least a little realistic."

"That's what I said," Justin grumbled under his breath.

"No changing the rules again! We can say whatever we want!" Seamus argued stubbornly. He was very much satisfied with his impossible challenge.

"You're both idiots," Lisa stated. "I bet that we won't read about either of them finding out who the Grey Lady is," she said before they could continue the absurd discussion.

"Who's the Grey Lady?" Lavender asked confused.

"She's the ghost of Ravenclaw," Lisa said. "No one knows her name, or anything about her life, so they just call her the Grey Lady. She's not the most social person…"

"She's a ghost," Michael pointed out.

"And you're an idiot like the others," Lisa scowled at him. He didn't have to interrupt her to correct her on a technicality like that. "Ghosts are dead people. The point is that she's as unsocial as you can get and she always avoids any kind of questions about her life."

"Sounds like quite an impossible challenge," Angelina grinned.

"If we're doing it like that," Susan smirked. "I bet we won't read about either of them finding out what happened to the Bloody Baron."

"What? C'mon, that's not fair! There's no way anyone would dare to ask the Bloody Baron what happened to him! He'd haunt you for the rest of your years in Hogwarts and he wouldn't even answer!" Terry groaned. Why did his impossible challenge about meeting a giant suddenly seemed tame in comparison?

"That's the point," Susan grinned. "But there's a tiny chance that it could happen if any of them has the courage to ask him. Or if they stumble upon the information by chance even though tons of people have wondered the same thing and no one has found out the answer."

"You girls are cruel," Ernie frowned. Not that his impossible challenge was that bad since finding the cup or vase or glass of Hufflepuff would be impossible, but still.

Now that the whole group had come up with something, they all fell silent. They were thinking about the impossible challenges they had said aloud, about how dangerous some of them were even if others could be kind of funny.

"Why did we do this?" Tonks asked aloud with a frown.

"What?" Charlie asked. He had lain down on the grass with his head pillowed on his hands to enjoy the sun before they had to go back inside in a few minutes.

"Come up with all this. It's like we want Harry, Ron and Hermione to do those things," she said, feeling a little guilty for some inexistent reason.

"We were just talking, passing the time, Tonks," Charlie dismissed her lazily.

"We came up with the stupidest things exactly for that. Because they were stupid and impossible," Bill grinned, leaning back on his hands as he stared at the Black Lake. "It's not like we asked them to mess with Snape during Potions class, which would be equally stupid but possible, knowing them."

"I know. We were just messing around," she said.

"Then why are you worrying?" Charlie asked, opening an eye to squint at her. He raised an eyebrow incredulously. "You don't actually think any of those things can actually happen, do you?"

"Some can," Angelina said. "There's a very tiny chance of that happening, but some can."

"Like the one Percy came up with," Fred smirked.

"We won't read about those three making a fool out of everyone in the Ministry," George grinned. "I'm looking forward to reading that part."

"It won't happen," Percy scowled.

"We know that's what you'd want. It's not what will happen," Fred told him.

"You better assimilate the truth as soon as you can," George said. He patted his arm in mock-sympathy.

Percy swatted his hand away. "Get off me," he grumbled.

Tonks grinned a little before sobering up. "I know some of them can happen, but if some of the others do happen…"

"Then we should've all taken Divination when we had to choose electives in our second year," Charlie joked, having closed his eyes again. "Moody's rubbing off on you, Tonks. You're beginning to sound like him."

Tonks had to chuckle at that, but she couldn't completely let go of her worry. "I'm serious. I'm gonna feel really bad if they go through some of those things."

"Even if they did, which I doubt, how could it have anything to do with us?" Anthony asked.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "Well, I know it won't be because we said it, but still, if they somehow entered the Chamber of Secrets and something happened to either of them, I'm gonna feel awful."

Anthony thought about it and grimaced. Maybe he would feel a little uneasy if they fought an acromantula and something didn't end up going according to the plan —supposing that they would actually have one, because nobody faced an acromantula without a plan.

"But it won't happen. I mean, I wish they'd find a way to shut up Rita Skeeter, but it's just wishful thinking. We won't read about it," Lavender sighed, facing the sun to try to suck up as much of it as she could.

Tonks forced a smile on her face and forced her uneasiness aside. Charlie was right when he said that Mad-Eye was rubbing off on her. She was just being paranoid.

That unwritten list of impossible challenges wouldn't ever be completed, right?

*** TTC ***

Dumbledore watched resigned as many people walked closer to demand answers and explanations.

'Maybe I should've waited a little longer before calling a break,' he thought as he watched the students leave the Great Hall in small groups. Well, not all of the students. Curiously, he observed as several students from all the houses began to congregate near the door. That wasn't a common sight.

He wanted to get closer and figure out what they were up to, but he hadn't taken more than a couple of steps before a stern voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Where do you think you're going, Albus?" Minerva demanded.

The headmaster smiled innocently at her. "Nowhere, Minerva."

"Good, because we have to talk," she scowled at him.

"Maybe it would be better to have this discussion somewhere more private," Molly said as she came closer with her husband in tow.

"We can go to the room where the Champions of the Triwizard Tournament were going to go after being selected," Filius suggested.

"Excellent idea, Filius," Poppy grinned. "We'll have privacy and we won't lose any more time than we already have. Let's go."

"Where are we going?" Sirius demanded when he finally reached the group with Remus. They were already entering the adjacent room through a small door near where the table of the staff usually sat.

"We are going to have a private conversation, Black, and it most certainly does not include a wanted criminal like you," Fudge told him haughtily.

Sirius scowled at him. "If it's about my godson, it involves me."

"You're a wanted criminal! You have absolutely no say over Mr. Potter!" Fudge snapped at him.

"Gentlemen, have this argument inside," Pomona told them firmly as she basically pushed them inside the room and closed the door behind her.

"And you do? You hadn't even met Harry until last night!" Sirius replied angrily. He knew that he legally had no say over Harry until he cleared his name —and that would take a while—, but he would be damned before he let Fudge think that he had any control over Harry either.

"I'm the Minister! It's part of my job to worry about the boy-who-lived!" Fudge argued.

There was a moment of silence as everyone processed his words. The Minister had just revealed his hand ahead of time with that statement.

"You wanna make Harry a ward of the Ministry," Sirius whispered in horror and anger.

Fudge floundered for a moment. He hadn't planned on saying anything until he was sure of how to do that and the others were too late to stop him. It didn't matter, though. Everything was in his favour to make it happen.

"It's obvious that Mr. Potter isn't safe in his current residence," he said as he composed himself. "So, it's the duty of the Ministry to make sure that he's safe, and there isn't a better option than the Ministry. He'll have..."

"You just want the boy-who-lived under your thumb, Cornelius," Minerva scowled at him.

"What? I'd never!" Fudge huffed. "I'm just concerned about Mr. Potter."

"If you're that concerned, you'll allow him to stay with us since he's already spent more than one summer with us and we're perfectly capable of looking after him," Molly told him firmly.

"With you? B-But..." The Minister spluttered, momentarily out of his depth. He quickly got a hold of himself, though. "You already have enough children to look after..."

"Don't you dare begin with that nonsense!" She snapped at him. "Three of those children already have their own jobs, and two of them moved out years ago. Harry's like another son to us and he's always welcome in our home."

"That's not...! He should stay somewhere approved by the Ministry!" Fudge insisted stubbornly.

"Then approve of our house," Arthur told him seriously. He wasn't going to allow Harry to go somewhere else where he wouldn't be happy. "Give us a good reason for why you can't do that."

The Minister opened and closed his mouth for a minute. "I... But... The Ministry..."

"Even if it's true that it's the job of the Ministry to decide where children should go when their guardians are deceased or found unsuitable, it's not the decision of the Minister himself," Kingsley Shacklebolt reminded him calmly.

"That's right," Ludo Bagman agreed. He was unusually serious. "I believe it'd be the Department of Magical Law Enforcement the one that would have to decide how to proceed from here, but I don't know what they'll do. Cases of abuse are very rare, especially as grave as this one."

"Which means that Mr. Potter is currently my responsibility as the senior auror present and, in my absence, the responsibility would fall on Nymphadora Tonks," Kingsley concluded.

"That metamorphmagus? She can barely look after herself!" Fudge protested.

Kinglsey levelled him with a cold look. "I'd like you to show some respect to the aurors employed by the Ministry, Minister," he said snappishly. "Nymphadora Tonks may have some problems with her balance, but she's fully qualified as an auror and she's one of the best I've ever seen on the field. She's responsible and trustworthy, which I think it's what matters right now. And," he added, raising his voice slightly to avoid being interrupted. "In case she can't for whatever reason, Alastor Moody would be the one responsible for Mr. Potter as an ex-auror and current staff of Hogwarts."

"Moody?!" Fudge shouted. "Do you want the boy-who-lived to end up as paranoid as him?"

"At least he'd be safe with me and he'd learn how to protect himself instead of being used as a poster boy like you plan to do if you manage to get your hands on him," Moody scowled. He didn't appreciate the slight suggestions that he was crazy. He wasn't.

"Alright, enough!" Sirius interrupted, taking a step forward. "Harry won't go to the Ministry, whether they're the aurors or Fudge."

"That's not your decision…" Fudge tried to argue.

"Shut up," Sirius snapped at him. "And he won't go to the Weasleys either. Thank you for the offer, Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, but it won't be necessary. Harry's my responsibility. I'm his godfather, which means that James and Lily would've wanted me to take care of him."

"Sirius, my boy, you did give him to Hagrid for him to be brought to me thirteen years ago, which could be seen as you relinquishing your rights as his guardian to me," Dumbledore pointed out delicately.

"Oh, no. No way," Sirius shook his head furiously. He stomped closer to the old man and waved his finger in front of his face. "You're not Harry's guardian."

"You were his magical guardian before you were incarcerated. After you were sent to Azkaban, I'm afraid that you were relieved of that responsibility. I was named his magical guardian while his muggle guardians are currently the Dursleys," Dumbledore told him calmly, unaffected by the anger in the animagus' eyes.

"Those monsters don't deserve to be his guardians!" Sirius shouted at him. He had never, nor would he ever ask to be relieved of the responsibility of being Harry's guardian. "They beat him and starved him and abused him! That's not the childhood anyone should have."

"I know it wasn't ideal, that Harry wasn't as happy or loved as his cousin, but they still took him in and that's kept him safe," the headmaster insisted.

"Safe?" Poppy spat. "You call having his growth stunted and being scarred physically and emotionally 'safe'?"

"It would've been much worse for him if he had grown up in the wizarding world, surrounded by his fame. He needed to grow up in the muggle world to learn to appreciate both worlds," Dumbledore insisted. Couldn't they see that Harry's compassion came from those experiences he had gained during his childhood? That meant that the child couldn't have been that bad off.

"Appreciate them? I wouldn't blame him if he hated both," Pomona snorted. She was trembling in rage. "His muggle guardians abused him. His family, the people who were supposed to take care of him, hit and starved him. That could've easily made him hate all muggles and not one person would be able to say a word about it."

"He already distrusts all adults in his life," Snape observed with a sneer. He couldn't fault Potter for that when he had been the same because of his own father. He hadn't told anyone about it either.

"And the wizarding world didn't treat him any better. After he lost his parents, everyone shoved him aside and didn't check on him for years," Filius continued with a displeased expression. He glared at the headmaster. "Not his self-appointed magical guardian."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, not having expected resistance on that when no one had uttered a protest in thirteen years. "I made sure that Harry had somewhere safe to stay," he argued. He wasn't going to feel guilty about that.

"He wasn't safe. And you would've known that if you had just opened your eyes, accepted the truth and checked on him once," Flitwick snapped at him. He turned his glare to Remus. "Someone he called an uncle didn't check on him either."

"I… He wouldn't have been safe. You all know what I am," the werewolf argued weakly.

"That only makes you dangerous once a month, Remus," Minerva told him, disappointed in her old student. "You don't have an excuse not to have visited, not more than the rest of us."

"Not even you, his godfather, helped him," Flitwick snapped at Sirius.

"Me?" He asked surprised. "I was in Azkaban!"

"I don't care! We've all heard that you gave your godson to Hagrid when it was your duty to take care of him! You said so yourself! You gave him away to do Merlin knows what!" The tiny professor scolded him.

"I was…" Sirius tried to explain. Catching Pettigrew had been important.

"I don't care what you were doing, Mr. Black," Flitwick interrupted him. "I'm sure we'll hear all about it later. The point is that your godson was your responsibility. His parents trusted you with him if anything happened to them. He should've been your first priority, and he wasn't."

Sirius didn't know how to answer to that. Flitwick just didn't understand. He hadn't been the one that had been betrayed, he hadn't been the one that had lost two people that were like his siblings to him. He couldn't imagine the grief and the need for vengeance that had consumed him that night.

Harry understood it, though, because he had lost a lot that night too. His godson didn't blame him or Remus for staying away. He understood their reasons for doing so. Harry knew that they loved him, but that sometimes things needed to be done first. He understood that.

"None of us did right by Mr. Potter," Minerva said, totally serious. She would never forgive herself for having argued more with the headmaster, but she couldn't change the past. She could only put Harry's best interests first from now on.

"I think Mr. Potter should have a say in what's going to happen to him," Pomona said firmly.

"He's a child," Karkaroff pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"He's fourteen," the head of Hufflepuff argued. "And he's proved to be mature enough to make difficult decisions about his life."

"You can't honestly trust him to make a proper decision about this, Pomona," Snape said incredulously.

"I'm not saying that he should decide on his own, but he should be present for this. He's old enough for that," she insisted stubbornly.

"It's not necessary because there won't be any changes in Mr. Potter's guardianship and residence," Dumbledore declared firmly. He was tired of this nonsensical chatter. He was Harry's guardian so it fell upon him to decide. These people had never had a problem leaving him to make the hard decisions that had to be made sometimes, so they couldn't come now to try to force his hand.

"What do you mean there won't be any changes? You're not sending Harry back there, Albus!" Molly exclaimed incensed.

"He'll be safe there. Now, when we've been told that Voldemort will be back soon, it's more important than ever that he stays with his family," he argued, refusing to back down.

"He won't be back! You-Know-Who died thirteen years ago!" Fudge screeched. He was totally ignored.

"His family?! They're not his family! We are!" Molly snapped at the headmaster.

"Mrs. Weasley…" Sirius began to argue. He was getting annoyed. Why did this woman keep saying that they were Harry's family? Remus and he were Harry's real family, the one that James and Lily would have wanted him to have!

Molly rounded on him. "I know that you care about Harry, Mr. Black, and it's clear that Harry loves you," she cut him off. "But right now, you're in no condition to take care of him on your own. You've spent more than a decade in Azkaban surrounded by dementors, so you have to prove that you're mentally sound and responsible enough to take care of a child before you can take one as your ward."

"He's never been mentally sound and he wouldn't know responsibility if it hit him in the face," Severus scoffed, rolling his eyes. Black had never owned up to his actions and he had always been a bully. Why did he think that he was a good role model for Potter? Oh, that's right. Because the child reminded him of James Potter and Black missed him.

"Shut up, Snivellus," Sirius snapped at him.

"Enough, both of you! You're adults now! I like to think that you've matured some since you were in school," Minerva snapped at them.

"This exactly is why you can't take care of Harry, Mr. Black!" Molly exclaimed. She poked him in his chest with her index finger. "What kind of example are you setting for him if you keep insulting his teachers?"

"But Snivellus…" The animagus tried to argue.

Severus drew his wand, staring at Sirius with a murderous expression.

"Oh, for the love of…! I'll hex you! I swear to Merlin that I'll hex you!" Poppy threatened them. "Severus, put your wand away right now! And you, Sirius, if I hear that word one more time, I'm gonna hex your tongue off! Is that clear?!"

"Yes, Poppy," Snape said, reluctantly putting his wand away.

"Yes, ma'am," Sirius said through gritted teeth.

"You're welcome to stay with us, of course," Arthur said, looking at the animagus. He put a hand on his wife's shoulder. "But I think it'd really be best for Harry if he stayed with us and our family, at least for the moment."

Sirius was shaking with rage. Why did they insist on him being unable to take care of Harry? Why did they keep trying to keep them separated? Harry was his responsibility!

"Arthur, that's not possible. I insist that Harry has to go back to Privet Drive this summer," Dumbledore intervened. "And it's legally my decision," he added, raising his voice to stave off protests.

"Legally your decision?" Kingsley repeated incredulously. "Neither the Dursleys nor you have done your duties as Mr. Potter guardians, magical or otherwise. Therefore, it's perfectly within my power, not to mention my responsibility, to take him from your care and make sure he's cared for."

"But, Kingsley, you can't do that. You'd have to file the proper paperwork for that and you can't do it," Dumbledore reminded him with a small smile. He looked at everyone. "None of you can."

"Because the oath will stop us from talking about anything we've learnt from the books or communicate it to anyone in any way," Remus realized horrified. They really had their hands tied.

"Which means that as far as the wizarding world knows, Harry lives happily with his muggle relatives during the summer, where he's safe. And they'll keep believing that," the headmaster nodded.

"Albus, you can't be serious!" McGonagall snapped at him. "Mr. Potter isn't safe there!"

"He's safe from the danger that Voldemort and the Death Eaters represent," the headmaster argued stubbornly. "We have to protect him from that and the blood wards will do the job much better than any other protection we could ever raise."

"Blood wards?" Flitwick said incredulously. "That's what you put around Privet Drive."

"And they were activated the moment Petunia Dursley took Harry in," Dumbledore nodded.

"There's no love lost between them, Albus, and you know there has to be some form of affection between them for the blood wards to work," Severus told him gravely.

"And they are," the old man smiled happily. "Which is why I know that Mr. Potter's situation isn't as bad as the book implied."

"Not as bad as the book implied?" Poppy repeated incredulously. "They locked him in a cupboard, withheld food from him and beat him up. We can all see that he's smaller than most third-years, and some second-years too. And he talked about scars! I don't even wanna know what I'm gonna find out if I manage to drag him to the infirmary for a full check-up."

"He didn't say that the scars were product of the Dursleys' actions," Dumbledore argued.

"You really believe that, Albus?" Pomona told him horrified. "Is that how you're justifying your own actions? Because we can all see that they beat him up, even if Mr. Potter didn't say so outright."

"Yeh aren' really gonna send Harry back there, are yeh?" Hagrid asked hesitantly. He didn't know if he could allow that. He wouldn't be able to look at Harry's face ever again if he did nothing to prevent him from being sent back to those monsters now that he knew how they treated him.

"It's for the greater good, Hagrid. Harry has to go back to renew the blood wards every year and keep his mother's protection alive," Dumbledore nodded sombrely. It wasn't like he enjoyed forcing Harry to go back to those people, but it was a necessary evil. He was sure that Harry understood it.

"The greater good?" Hagrid repeated as his horror grew. That was Professor Dumbledore's excuse?

"We won't allow it," Molly told the old man firmly.

"Damn right, we won't," Sirius agreed, narrowing his eyes. He may be annoyed with Molly, but he knew without a doubt that she held Harry's best interests at heart, even though they may not agree on what those were. He could team up with someone who genuinely cared for Harry to ensure that his godson never went back to those monsters.

"You can't change anything," Albus sighed tiredly. It was pointless to argue.

"Not with the information we got from the books, but we can do something with the information our children told us and that we dismissed," Arthur reminded him. "That would be enough to at least call for an investigation and a lot would be revealed from that."

"Perhaps the check-up wouldn't be counted as information from the books either," Poppy said pensively. "If we made it mandatory for all students as a precaution, we'd just 'stumble' upon the marks of abuse."

"It wouldn't a bad idea. I'd like to make sure that we aren't missing another case of abuse somewhere," Flitwick told her, completely serious. He wasn't comfortable trusting his own judgement anymore when he had missed the signs of abuse on a student whom he had had for more than three years.

"You would need the headmaster's permission to do that," Albus reminded them. He was trying to reign in the increasing anxiety. He needed to get things under control and calm everyone down. Perhaps it hadn't been such a good idea to allow everyone to attend the reading.

"Dumbly-dorr, it doesn't sound like you care for your students. It doesn't surprise me zat Mr. Potter doesn't show you proper respect," Madame Maxime told him disapprovingly. "Ze 'eadmaster's job is to take care of 'is students above everthing else, and you're not doing zat."

"My dear Madame Maxime, while I'd love nothing more than to ensure that Harry is as happy as he could possibly be, I have more to think about than his happiness. Sometimes, hard decisions have to be made for the greater good," Dumbledore replied.

"If you can't protect your students, perhaps you shouldn't be the one in charge of them," Karkaroff told him, barely able to hide his smirk. The old man was digging his own grave.

Albus' eyes flashed dangerously. "Are you implying that I'm not up to the task of being headmaster of Hogwarts and that I'm not doing my job correctly?" He asked, all warmth gone from his voice.

"Implying? I'm not implying anything. I'm saying that you're consciously putting at least one of you students' health and welfare in danger," Karkaroff replied innocently.

"Bugger off, Karkaroff," Moody scoffed. "We all know that you're just using this as an excuse to try to kick Albus from his post."

"It doesn't…"

"I'm finished with you. I don't wanna hear another word coming from you," the ex-auror growled at him. He turned to glare at Dumbledore. "Oh, wipe that smile off your face, Albus, unless you want me to do it for you."

The old man's expression filled with shock at being talked like that by his friend. "Alastor…"

"Don't you 'Alastor' me, Albus. I may not blame you for not recognizing that there was an impostor in my place even though we've been friends for years. It was my own fault for letting my guard down," Moody growled. He shook his head. "I may not know what Barty Crouch Jr. was planning, but I know that it had to do with Potter and he's had two months to begin to make a move."

"He's not done anything, Alastor. He hasn't had enough time. The letter exposed him," Dumbledore dismissed his concerns.

"You don't know that, Albus!" The ex-auror snarled. "You don't know if that man has done something already, but if he has, I'm partially responsible for it! Which means that, apart from being the third on the list of people responsible for Potter right now, I have a personal interest in keeping him safe."

"You have a funny way of showing it, Moody," Ludo said nervously. "You announced in front of everyone that you were gonna hex and poison him."

"Do you want that boy to learn how to take care of himself?! Because the letter not only told all of you about the impostor, it told you that You-Know-Who is coming back and we all know who'll be his main target!"

"You-Know-Who is not coming back! He's dead!" Fudge shouted. He was ignored again.

"We can protect him…" Molly said anxiously.

"No, we can't! Not all the time! It's impossible!" Alastor shouted at them.

"But he's at Hogwarts…" Arthur tried to argue.

"Arthur, as much as I'd like to swear that Mr. Potter's safe in the school, I know that there's been several instances when his life's been in danger," McGonagall admitted pained. "Sometimes it was because of Mr. Potter's own doing, sometimes he was pushed into the situation by others and sometimes it was caused by an unfortunate series of coincidences. Regardless, the fact remains that he's had to save himself several times now."

"Which is exactly why he should know the basics, like how to detect poisons, curses and other traps," Moody said, more subdued. He glared at Dumbledore. "If he's been in danger here, in the supposed safest place, what assures you that it won't happen again? Or that it won't happen when he is with his relatives or whoever he'll stay with?"

"I believe Harry's actions just show that he has a remarkable strength of character," Dumbledore tried to make them see reason. "Alastor, you yourself are willing to train him…"

"Strength of character?!" Molly screeched. "That's what you call everything he's been through?"

"And you haven't heard me say that I wanna train him, Albus, nor will you ever hear me say it," Moody warned him. "I know that kids don't belong in the front lines. I won't turn Potter into a soldier. I'm just trying to give him the tools to prevent attacks on his person or to protect himself in case something happens. Just in case he needs them! Not because I'm willing to shove him at You-Know-Who and hope that he'll survive!"

"Yeh're still gonna hex him," Hagrid pointed out nervously.

Moody whirled around on him. "To teach him! Not with the intention of killing him or seriously hurting him, like You-Know-Who or his Death Eaters wanna do! Including the impostor who spent two months around him! A scare now is better than a tragedy later!" He turned to stare at Dumbledore with both eyes. "If you're so set on Potter facing You-Know-Who, why aren't you preparing him for it Yourself?!"

"I only want the best thing for Harry and he deserves to enjoy his childhood as much as he can," the old man tried to explain.

"Childhood?" Remus repeated sadly. "Albus, what Harry had with the Dursleys wasn't a childhood of any kind. It forced him to grow up much faster than he should have had to."

Dumbledore sighed and rubbed his temples. "He may not have been happy, but he was safe," he repeated for the umpteenth time. This was exactly the reason he had never consulted with anyone his decisions regarding Harry. They didn't understand them. They were blinded by their emotions. "And when he came to Hogwarts, he proved that he had an immense compassion and love for his friends and that he was willing to face his parents' murderer and do the right thing."

"You approve of everything Potter's done these years?" Snape demanded sharply. He couldn't believe his ears. Was Dumbledore really okay with Potter, with Lily's son, risking his life again and again? Weren't they working to try to keep him safe, in spite of the child's best efforts to make their job much more difficult than it should have been?

Dumbledore's face was serious and old as he stared at all of them. "He's done what had to be done and he's proven that he's capable of it. He's never disappointed when faced with a challenge. It proves that he'll be ready when he faces Voldemort again."

"You… Albus, you can't be serious," Minerva said horrified.

"If Dumbly-dorr expects zat from Mr. Potter, perhaps 'e would be better off in another school," Madame Maxime said haughtily. "It is clear zat 'e is not safe 'ere."

"I agree. He'd probably be better somewhere where the staff is serious about protecting him," Karkaroff smirked.

"You can't be seriously suggesting that Mr. Potter should change schools," Pomona said incredulously.

"Of course, they'd be more than happy to have the famous Harry Potter in either of their schools," Snape sneered disgusted. He would do everything in his power to stop Potter from leaving Hogwarts, if only because it would be much more difficult to keep an eye on him otherwise. He shuddered to think the trouble that damn boy would get himself into if there was no one to stop him.

"That's not an option," Dumbledore told the other headmasters.

"Of course not, but not because you say so," Sirius scoffed. "Harry wouldn't want to leave his friends behind, nor would he want to leave Hogwarts."

"He does love the school," Arthur smiled.

"Of course, Harry's staying at Hogwarts," Molly said impatiently. "That's not the real problem here and we've completely strayed from it. The biggest problem is that you, Albus, put Harry somewhere where he was abused and you refuse to allow him to leave that place for good."

"We can't…" Albus sighed tiredly.

"No. We've heard enough from you," Molly cut him off. "Unless you swear that you'll give up Harry's guardianship and allow us to take care of him."

Dumbledore looked at her sadly. "I can't do that, Molly. I'm sorry, but I really have Harry's best interests in mind."

Molly huffed and turned her back on him. "Then I don't wanna hear another word from you," she decided. "We'll do it on our own."

"You can't do anything. You can't ask for check-ups for all the students without the headmaster's permission and a few children's words won't be enough to warrant an investigation if I say otherwise," he told her. He didn't enjoy doing this, but he was left without options. Harry needed to stay with his relatives, where his mother's protection would be renewed.

"We may not be able to do anything, but Harry could always come forth about his abuse," Arthur told him. He was clenching his fists by his sides to stop them from trembling in rage. He didn't like being helpless about protecting a boy that was like a son to him. "And people would believe him, without a doubt."

"Harry would never tell anyone," Albus said knowingly. "He'd rather go back to his relatives than allow anyone to know."

"Which you knew when you left him at their doorstep thirteen years ago," Arthur accused him. "You knew that he wouldn't tell anyone because abused children tend to hide it. And if he didn't tell, no one would find out because who would imagine that the boy-who-lived was being abused?"

"Harry will understand at some point that it's a small price to pay for the greater good," the old man said, very sure of what he was saying.

"I swear to Merlin, Dumbledore, if you mention the greater good one more time…" Sirius growled threateningly. He wanted to strangle the old man with his own beard, something that he had never believed that he would want to do.

"I think Harry will surprise you," Arthur told the headmaster. He wasn't sure if the respect he had for Dumbledore would ever be what it had been before they had begun reading these books. "Like you said, he's a remarkable young man and he has wonderful friends who'll support him and his decisions. With them, I believe that Harry may be able to come forth about his abuse if it means not going back to those people."

For the first time since they had started this discussion, Albus' expression faltered and he showed doubt. He knew, maybe better than anyone else, that Harry always surpassed everyone's expectations. Would he really be able to tell anyone about his life with the Dursleys? And, more importantly, would anyone who hadn't read the books believe him?

"I think the students are coming back," Flitwick broke the silence that followed. He was standing close to the door, so he could hear the increasing ruckus as the Great Hall was filled again.

"We'll finish this conversation later," Sirius stated, staring at Dumbledore warningly. The headmaster wasn't getting away with a simple slap on his wrist, nor was he going to succeed in sending Harry back to those monsters.

"C'mon," Pomona said, opening the door again and leading the way back to the Great Hall.

*** TTC ***

Harry only slowed down once he was out of sight of the group, safe inside the castle. He sighed and stared at the dozing snake on his shoulder. "You really freaked them out, you know?" He told her.

Nightling flickered her tongue out and closed her eyes. "I wouldn't hurt you. You know that," she replied. If a snake had been able to shrug, she would have done it.

Harry rolled his eyes and kept walking. Then, suddenly, he realized something. "Crap!" He exclaimed, facepalming and stopping in his tracks. "You're hungry," he remembered.

The black mamba, who was now staring at him with alarm and confusion, nodded slowly. "A bit. I finished digesting the last mouse two days ago," she said. She narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance. "Did you just wake me up to tell me that?"

"No. Well, yes. I was just planning on asking Fred and George where the kitchens are so I could go get you some food, but I left in a hurry and I forgot," he explained sheepishly. "Do you… You want me to go back and ask them?"

He knew that would earn him some laughs and ribbing, but he couldn't allow Nightling to be hungry when he could do something about it. He knew how awful it was to be denied food, so he would never want to do that to anyone, even if it was to a snake. She was his friend now.

"Are you hungry, Harry-hatchling? I know that humans eat much more often than snakes," she asked him, tilting her head to the side.

Harry shook his head. "Not really. We had breakfast a couple of hours ago," he said. He checked his watch. "And we'll have lunch in a bit more than a couple of hours too."

"Very well, I can eat then. No need for you to go ask the red demons," she said satisfied. She cuddled close to his neck again and closed her eyes.

"Red demons?" Harry repeated amused.

"They're annoying and their fur is red. Or their hair or whatever you humans call it. You have such ridiculous names," she huffed annoyed. Really, humans had this stupid need to name absolutely everything.

Harry's lips twitched into a smile and he petted her head. "Do you want to meet my best friends?" He offered. He was actually quite eager for Nightling to meet Ron and Hermione.

Nightling opened an eye. "Best friends? Does that mean that you're closer to them than the red demons?" She asked curiously.

Harry smiled fondly. "I'm closer to them than to anyone else," he told her sincerely. "I guess you'd call them my best nest-siblings or something."

The black mamba stared at him for a moment before nodding. "If they're important to you, Harry-hatchling, I want to meet them."

Harry grinned and began walking quickly towards the library. "They're very important to me. If it wasn't for them, I probably wouldn't have a nest other than the one with my nest-mother's sister, her mate and their hatchling."

Nightling seemed a little more appreciative then. "They protect you then."

"We protect each other," he corrected her gently. "For example, right now they're researching ways to detect curses and poisons so that Moody doesn't catch us off guard."

"Moody? Who's that Moody? Does Moody want to hurt you? Why? I'll bite Moody if you're poisoned," she hissed agitatedly.

"No, no, Moody's good. He's a teacher, but I think he believes in learning from experience," Harry tried to explain. Although, he hadn't technically had Mad-Eye as a teacher yet, he had the feeling that his classes wouldn't have been much different from the ones they had had with Barty Crouch Jr.

"Experience?" Nightling prompted when he fell silent.

"There are bad people who would want to hurt me for real," Harry continued explaining as he climbed the stairs. "And I have no idea how to avoid their traps, like if they poison my food or curse my things. So, Moody wants me to learn and, to make sure I do, he's going to put mild curses and potions in my food and things I'll probably touch. If I learn to avoid his traps, I'll have a better chance of not getting hurt if the bad people try."

At least, he hoped that Mad-Eye only used mild curses and potions because he was pretty sure that more than one would put a fuss if that wasn't the case. Madam Pomfrey would probably refuse to let him leave the infirmary.

Nightling looked pensive. "So, Moody's helping you by hurting you a little so that you aren't hurt a lot later?" She was a bit confused. Wouldn't it be better to avoid getting hurt at all? Why didn't they protect Harry-hatchling? Were they trying to kick him out of the nest?

"I'll only get hurt a little if I can't avoid his traps. Which is why my best nest-siblings are currently looking for ways to detect them," Harry grinned. He automatically sped up until he was almost jogging.

The snake hung on tightly as she mused over his words curiously. She wanted to meet Harry-hatchling's best nest-siblings. They sounded interesting, and like good nest-siblings were supposed to be. That was good, because Harry-hatchling needed protection.

Soon enough, Harry reached the library. As soon as he pushed the door open, he could hear his best friends' voices. He wasn't surprised in the least to hear that they were arguing.

"We can't start with that, Ron! That spell is too specific!" Hermione was reprimanding him.

"It says that it's for detecting potions that melt you from the inside! I don't wanna be melt from the inside! That makes it a good reason for learning this spell!" Ron argued.

"What will happen when you find out that your food doesn't have potions that would melt you from the inside but you've missed one that would shut down your lungs or your brain?" She snapped at him. "I'll tell you what will happen! That you'll die and your stupid spell will be for nothing!"

"Are those your best nest-siblings?" Nightling asked, a little dubiously. They sounded nothing like Harry-hatchling. Harry-hatchling was much quieter.

"They are."

"They're loud," she protested.

Harry snickered. "Not always. Mostly only when they're arguing." It was better not to tell her that they argued a lot. She could figure that out herself later.

"Wait. Shut up," Ron said suddenly.

"Don't tell me to shut up, Ronald Weasley!" Hermione said indignantly.

"No, I heard something. Like a hiss or whatever."

"Are they talking about us?" Nightling asked.

Harry nodded. "They only hear hissing when they hear parseltongue."

"There it is again!" Ron exclaimed, sounding freaked out. "Did you hear it?"

"Yes, I did. Shut up."

"Oh, so you can tell me to shut up but I can't?" Ron replied annoyed.

"Ron, I'm trying to hear where it's coming from and it'd be much easier if you could shut your mouth for a minute!"

Harry grinned and turned around the corner. He leant against one of the shelves with his arms crossed over his chest while he watched them. "How long do you think it'll take them to find us?" He asked Nightling in amusement.

"Are they good hunters?"

"When they put their minds into it, they're the best," Harry grinned.

Just then, both Ron and Hermione turned around to stare at him wide-eyed. "Harry!" They exclaimed at the same time.

"See? Told you," Harry told Nightling smugly.

"Why are you speaking parseltongue?" Ron frowned.

"How long have you been there?" Hermione asked at the same time.

"Long enough to hear about poisons that melt you from the inside," Harry said. "And you wanted to hear me speak parseltongue, Ron."

The snake chose that moment to raise her head to take a better look at the new humans. They were both bigger than Harry-hatchling, especially the male, who was much taller. He had the same red hair as the red demons, while the female had a lot of brown hair.

"Harry?" Ron called him nervously. He had paled to the point that his freckles stood out a lot more than usual.

"Yeah?" Harry replied, biting his lip to stifle a grin.

"There's a snake on your neck."

"There's a black mamba on his neck, to be precise," Hermione specified. She was just as pale as Ron.

"Does it matter which species it is?" The redhead asked. His eyes widened. "Wait. Don't tell me it's poisonous," he whimpered.

"Venomous. And yes, it is. Very much so," the girl nodded. "Harry, what are you doing with a black mamba around your neck?"

The black-haired boy grinned. "Ron, Hermione, meet Nightling. Nightling, meet my best friends, Ron and Hermione," he introduced them.

"Harry, you're avoiding my question," Hermione told him sternly. She hadn't taken her eyes off the snake yet and she was fingering her wand nervously. Would she be fast enough to protect Harry if the black mamba tried to bite him?

"She was the reason Fred and George were interested in me being a parselmouth. They needed her venom, but she wasn't cooperating. Then she found out I speak parseltongue, she wasn't satisfied when she found out who was taking care of me and she decided that she wanted to stay with me to do it herself," he explained briefly.

"Why would she care about who looks after you?" Hermione asked, narrowing her eyes.

Harry coughed and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "She may or may not call me Harry-hatchling," he said embarrassed.

Ron's face lit up in amusement. "Hatchling? She considers you a hatchling?"

Hermione sighed, more amused than exasperated. "Are you telling us that you were adopted by a black mamba, Harry?"

Harry shrugged. "Maybe?"

"So, she's staying?" Ron asked curiously. He needed to know because, if she was, she was probably going to stay in their dorm and he would freak out if he didn't have a warning. And if he freaked out, he would probably startle the snake and she would bite him and he would die. Not fun.

"I think so. She wants to, but I haven't asked for permission yet," Harry said. He hoped that they allowed her to stay. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to keep her hidden and comfortable.

"I want to meet them," Nightling announced, slithering down Harry's body to reach the floor and then creeping towards Harry-hatchling best nest-siblings.

"Nightling, you're going to freak them out," Harry sighed, but he didn't try to stop her. He had the feeling that, even if he managed to stop her then, she would get closer to them later, when he wasn't there to supervise.

"I need to know the scent of your best nest-siblings, Harry-hatchling. It's important," she insisted.

"Harry?" Ron asked nervously, taking a step back.

"She just wants to meet you," Harry explained resigned. "She knows that you're important to me so…" He blushed a little and averted his gaze.

That was enough for Ron and Hermione to relax marginally. They even crouched down to be more eye-level with Nightling. They could admit that she was beautiful, but they weren't ready to have a snake climbing over them. They would probably never be.

"Hi," Hermione said awkwardly. She reached out a hand, not sure if it was okay to pet her. Did snakes like to be petted or not?

Nightling took the chance to flick her tongue against Hermione's hand. She ignored the startled yelp the girl gave as the hand was hastily retracted.

"What was that?!" Hermione exclaimed wide-eyed.

"She, uh, wants to get your scents, I think?" Harry answered, a little confused. "Why do you want to know their scents, Nightling?"

"It'll be easier to find them if they're ever lost," the black mamba said. She tilted her head. "She smells like this place."

"You mean like books?"

"Is that what all these things are?" She asked. She received a nod from Harry. "Then yes."

Harry grinned amused and looked at his best friends, who were impatiently waiting for an explanation. "She says that it'd be easier to find you if you're ever lost."

Hermione scrunched up her nose. "I guess that's not a bad idea, then," she conceded.

"She says that you smell like books, by the way," Harry snickered.

"Why am I not surprised in the slightest?" Ron grumbled under his breath. He reached out a hand towards the snake and tried not to shudder when Nightling flicked her tongue against his palm.

The black mamba blinked. "He smells like wood," she decided. "But it's a weird wood, not like the wood from the trees."

"You smell like wood, Ron. Weird wood, according to her," Harry snickered.

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Ron asked perplexed.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "She's probably talking about the wood from the brooms. It's treated with products and magic, so it has to feel different from the trees to her."

"Oh. Right. That makes sense," Ron nodded.

Hermione went back to the books they had left open on the table. "C'mon. We have about ten minutes left before we have to go back quickly."

"Did you find anything useful?" Harry asked, coming closer. He stopped by the table to take a look, allowing Nightling to climb and settle on his shoulder again.

"We found a lot, but we don't have time to learn all the spells now," Hermione huffed. She was annoyed about that. She didn't like to be interrupted when she was researching something and this hour-long break had been too short. "I think our best bet would be to learn a generic spell that would detect if the food has been tampered with any kind of potions or spells. It doesn't matter if they're harmless or not."

"Alright then," Harry nodded. He trusted Hermione and if she said that it was their best option, he would believe her. "What's the spell?"

"It's Specialis revelio," she said, demonstrating how to do it on one of the books.

Harry observed the object closely, but there were no changes. "Hermione, it's not working," he told her hesitantly.

"Of course, it's working. If nothing happens, it means that it's just a normal book."

"Or that the spell hasn't worked," Ron pointed out.

She sent him a scathing look. "Do you wanna try it yourself then?" She snapped at him. She knew that she had done the spell correctly.

"I'm fine," he grinned, sprawled on a nearby chair comfortably.

Hermione rolled her eyes and returned her attention to Harry. "It's not the most specific spell, and I'm not sure it'll work properly for all the potions since some of them are very difficult to detect, but I think it's our best option until we can come back here to do some more research."

"That's great, because we have to leave if we don't wanna be late," Harry said. He grabbed one of the books to put it back in its place.

"I'm taking this with me," Hermione decided, closing the book on top of the pile and setting it aside.

"What? Why? Don't we have enough books to read?" Ron asked, standing up to help them return the books to their places.

"I'm not gonna read it during the reading. I wanna use our next break to look for more specific spells and it'll be easier if I already have the book with me," she told him impatiently.

"We probably won't have another break until after lunch," Harry reminded her.

"All the more reason to take the book with me then. Maybe I can research some more if I eat quickly," she decided happily.

"You're bonkers," Ron muttered.

She narrowed her eyes. "Don't worry. I won't bother telling you what I find then, if I'm so bonkers," she huffed.

Ron's eyes widened in horror. "No! I didn't mean that! I totally didn't mean that! You're not bonkers! You're the most amazing wonderful smart girl I know!"

Hermione rolled her eyes, but her lips were twitching in amusement. "Flattery will get you nowhere."

"It's not flattery if it's true," Ron counteracted.

Harry sniggered and grabbed their arms to drag them back to the Great Hall. With how much they flirted, how could they not see that they liked each other? "C'mon, you two," he said. "Nightling, do you want to come with me, go to my dorm or go do your own thing?" He asked the snake.

The black mamba lifted her head. "Where are you going, Harry-hatchling?"

"We're going to read some books about my life. Someone sent them from the future to help us defeat the bad people that want to hurt us."

"Humans can do that?" She asked surprised.

"Not all of them."

"Then I'm going with you, Harry-hatchling. If you're learning how to defeat the bad humans that want to hurt you, I want to know how you plan on doing it," she announced.

Harry grinned and stroked his head. "Then I should warn you about something. These are special books. They're, uh, connected to me or something and I feel what we read is happening to me in them."

"All books do that?" Nightling asked. She wasn't sure how to react to that. If Harry-hatchling felt like he was eating a juicy mouse, or whatever humans ate, it would be wonderful because he was scrawny. But it wouldn't be so wonderful if he felt the bad people hurting him.

"Just these ones. They're special."

"Harry?" Ron intervened. He was getting a little unnerved with all the hissing he couldn't understand.

"Nightling wants to come to the reading with us, so I was explaining to her the whole… business with the books," Harry grimaced. At least the following chapter was going to be an easy one, as long as it was the one about his first visit to Diagon Alley. He hadn't gotten hurt then.

Ron winced. "Yeah. Good call. She'd freak out if she didn't know what was happening."

"You can take the opportunity to ask for permission for Nightling to stay with you," Hermione said.

"You think it'd be better to ask in front of everyone?" Harry asked dubiously.

She shrugged. "They're gonna ask anyway when they see you with the snake. You might as well get it over with, don't you think?"

Harry grimaced. "Guess you're right. Any ideas where we can hide her if they don't give me permission?"

"You can always leave her with Hagrid," Ron suggested. "He'll love her, even though Nightling's not that big. She compensates it by being more than dangerous enough."

"She has a while to grow yet. She's only a few months old," Harry informed them, remembering that they hadn't been present when he had found that out.

"What?" Hermione asked startled. "She's just a baby?"

"Baby? I'm not a baby!" Nightling protested indignant.

Harry winced. "She doesn't like to be called that. Maybe… just say that she's young or something."

Hermione was staring at the snake with a frown. "Does she need anything special? What does she eat? And how much? How does she cope with cold temperatures? How much is she going to grow?"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, Hermione," Harry said, raising his hands and making gestures to stop her. "I have no idea how much she's gonna grow. Fred and George gave her a couple of mice every two weeks or so, but she was hungry. And she's from Africa, so she doesn't cope well with the cold. That's why she's curled over here," he said, waving his hand towards his shoulder. "Any preferences about food?"

"I like mice. And I wanna hunt. I'm a hunter. I don't like dead prey," she warned him.

"She likes mice, and she likes to hunt, so they have to be alive," Harry said, barely hiding a grimace. He was fairly sure that he wouldn't like to witness her eating an alive mouse.

"Alright. We can do that. And we can take care of any other issues as they come up," Hermione nodded. "We're gonna need somewhere for her to stay, like a terrarium or something."

"Fred and George kept her in one, but she said that it was too small for her."

"We can enlarge it, if they aren't gonna need it for anything. And we can put rocks or something with warming charms on them so that she's comfortable," she said, planning the whole thing in her head.

"We can put the terrarium under the window," Ron suggested, referring to the window between the beds in their dorm. "The sun hits that spot most of the morning. I bet she'll like that."

Nightling was staring from one to the other. She may not have understood all the words, but she understood the gist of it. "Are they… Are they planning how to make a home for me?" She asked. She sounded a little choked up.

Harry smiled and stroked her head. "Yeah, they are. They want you to be comfortable if you're going to stay with me. I told you that they were brilliant, didn't I?"

She nodded slowly. "They are," she admitted. "I'll protect them too," she decided.

"Harry, does Nightling want anything?" Hermione asked him.

He smiled and shook his head. "She just likes you two. She's decided that she'll protect you too, like she wants to protect me."

"She has?" Ron asked surprised. He grinned. "Well, that's great then."

Hermione smiled. "For that, we have to get permission for her to stay without having to hide," she reminded them as they entered the Great Hall. "C'mon. Go ask McGonagall. We'll save you a seat," she told Harry, pointing to the couches from earlier, where everyone except them was already seated.

They were ones of the last to return to the Great Hall, so it was fairly full by then. The teachers were already back in their seats with the officers of the Ministry.

"Professor," Harry called his head of house when he was close enough.

"Mr. Pot…" She began to say before she stopped herself. She closed her eyes for an instant and took a deep breath. "Do you mind explaining to me why you have a snake on your shoulder, Mr. Potter?"

"Um, she's called Nightling?" He said sheepishly.

"That's not what I asked you, Mr. Potter," she said, pursing her lips. She could feel the headache that had begun earlier, during the argument with the headmaster, grow quickly.

"She, uh… She was cold. And she's just a few months old. So, she's warmer on my shoulder," Harry explained nervously.

"Is she venomous?"

"Uh, yes?" Harry winced. He knew that was a point against them.

"Of course, that snake is venomous. It's a black mamba. One of the most venomous species in the world," Snape intervened. He sneered at them. "Guess you're breaking the rules again, Potter?"

"I didn't break any rules," Harry defended himself. "Some of the others wanted to hear me speak parseltongue and it's easier for me when there's a snake present, so we found Nightling and she wants to stay."

It was the truth, even if it was a little tweaked. He couldn't say that Fred and George had gotten it from somewhere. That would get them into a lot of trouble.

The head of Slytherin raised an eyebrow. "How did she get here if black mambas are found in Africa then? And don't you dare lie to me about it, Potter. I'll know if you do," he warned him.

"I don't know," Harry answered sincerely. To be honest, he didn't want to know.

Snape frowned. He couldn't detect any lie on his superficial thoughts. He would have to delve deeper into his mind to know everything —because he knew that the blasted child wasn't speaking the whole truth—, but he couldn't do that without Potter feeling it.

"And what reason would… 'Nightling' have to want to stay?" He questioned instead.

Harry blushed a little and looked away. "She calls me a hatchling. She wants to take care of me," he mumbled.

Snape had to fight the urge to gape or facepalm. Of course, Potter would get adopted by a black mamba. Because this week hadn't been weird enough with the books from the future that revealed his thoughts and secrets. So, the head of Slytherin turned away and decided to ignore them. It wasn't his problem and Minerva wouldn't want his input anyway.

In the meantime, McGonagall was suddenly having a hard time refusing to give permission to Harry to keep the snake. It obviously meant a lot to him and after what they had read that morning so far… Goddammit, why couldn't he have found a cute rabbit or something instead of a very venomous snake?

"Mr. Potter, she's dangerous," she tried to argue.

"She's promised not to hurt anyone, professor," he assured her quickly. "She can stay with me every second she's not in the terrarium we were planning to prepare for her. She won't cause any problems. I promise."

"What if a student startles her?" She asked sternly. As much as she would like to let him keep the snake, she had to think of the safety of all the students.

"She won't hurt them. And it's not so easy to startle her," he told her hopefully.

Minerva closed her eyes to hide from the green ones staring at her pleadingly. Could she really say no and put up with them becoming sad? Merlin, she was going soft.

"She has to leave if she hurts anyone," she said before she could rethink her decision.

"Really?" Harry grinned at her happily. His whole face had lit up with joy. "I mean, yeah. Sure. She won't hurt anyone."

"And you'll be responsible for any incident that happens," McGonagall told him. It was harder to remain stern when she wanted to smile.

"Of course," he agreed easily.

"And you have to brew an antidote for her venom to keep some in the infirmary and some on your person at all times," she said.

"What? But I don't know how to…" Harry began to say. They had learnt how to make a couple of generic antidotes that counteracted most common poisons. He doubted that the venom from black mambas fell into that category, though, and they hadn't learnt how to make antidotes for specific poisons.

"Then you figure it out. Or you ask for help," Minerva told him, not giving in.

Harry stared at her in confusion. Was she suggesting that he should ask Hermione for help? His best friend could probably figure out how to do it easily enough, but they hadn't really been taught how to do it. Then he saw McGonagall send a certain professor a sideways glance.

"Snape?" He blurted out wide-eyed. She couldn't be serious.

The head of Slytherin looked up sharply. He looked from Potter to Minerva and quickly reached the correct conclusion. "Oh, no," he denied. "You want me to help Potter brew the antidote for the venom of his little snake? I refuse."

"Severus, you're the professor of Potions," McGonagall argued. If she could make him see that Harry wasn't like James, he would stop giving her little lion a hard time.

"No," he said firmly.

"It's your duty to help the students with matters related to your subject. Or with anything they need help with, to be honest."

"No."

"What if you could get some of her venom in exchange? I've heard that it's useful in a lot of potions," Harry intervened. Snape was the head of Slytherin, after all. They would have a better chance of getting him to help out if they offered him something worth his time in exchange.

Severus narrowed his eyes. "What would you know about that, Potter? Your grades in Potions show that you have zero skills on the subject and you put little to no effort into it."

"Which is why we're having this conversation in the first place. If I was good at Potions, I wouldn't need your help," Harry replied before his head of house, who was opening her mouth, could intervene. "I give you some of her venom and you teach me how to make a perfect antidote for it."

"How much venom?" Snape asked warily. He wouldn't be happy with just a phial.

Harry looked at Nightling. "I forgot to ask you. Are you willing to give him some of your venom?"

"If I can stay with you that way, then yes," she decided. "Tell him I'll fill five of those things the red demons used."

Harry looked up at Snape, who was watching him with barely disguised curiosity, along with most of the other teachers and officers of the Ministry. "She says that she can fill five phials for you."

Snape thought about it for a moment. "And I'll keep her skin next time she sheds it," he bargained.

"Do you mind?" Harry asked the black mamba.

"I won't have any use for it then," she shook her head.

"Deal," Harry accepted, holding out his hand.

"Deal," Snape nodded, shaking his hand.

"Thank you," Harry said, looking first at Snape and then at McGonagall. Not waiting another second in case any of them changed their mind, he turned around and walked away.

"I believe that's the most civil conversation you've ever had with Mr. Potter, Severus," Pomona said with a little amused grin. "There were no shouts, almost no insults and no points deducted."

"It was almost polite," Flitwick snickered.

Snape ignored them, choosing to glare at McGonagall instead. "Why in Merlin's name did you put me in that position?" He demanded harshly.

"You're the professor of Potions of the school," she reminded him innocently.

"Minerva," he growled.

"And I think if you can both put aside your pride, and you stop looking at him like you expect to see James Potter, you may actually end up taking a liking of one another," she added.

Snape looked like he had swallowed a lemon. "There's no way that'll ever happen."

"Then maybe you'll end up respecting one another at least," she sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Doubt it," he snorted. There was a better chance that he would end up using Potter's body parts as ingredients for his potions.

"You know, I'm surprised by the way Mr. Potter handled it," Filius said pensively.

"Why? Because he actually showed that he has some manners and a brain in that skull full of air," Severus scoffed.

"No," Flitwick said calmly. "Because he handled it like I would expect one of your snakes to do it."

"What? That's ridiculous," Snape replied startled.

"Most of my badgers wouldn't have uttered a single word and they would've let me argue their case in their place," Pomona shrugged.

"And most of my Ravenclaws would've tried to argue that it was your duty as a teacher of the school," Filius said.

"And we all know that none of my lions would've even considered asking you for help," Minerva smirked. "And maybe they would've thrown a fit when I suggested it."

"The Slytherins, though, they're the ones that tend to bargain the most. You know that they do," Poppy smiled in amusement.

Severus didn't know how to answer to that. Potter acting as a Slytherin? Impossible.

*** TTC ***

"Did she let you keep Nightling?" Ron asked as soon as Harry came closer. He scooted over to make space for Harry on his right, leaving Hermione on his left side.

"What's a nightling?" Sirius asked confused.

"This is Nightling," Harry replied, sitting down.

"Wh…? Holy Merlin! That's a snake!" Sirius screamed startled. His eyes seemed about to fall out of their sockets.

"A black mamba called Nightling, to be exact," Bill said in amusement.

"She has adopted Harry," Tonks chuckled.

"She has what?" Remus asked startled.

"She likes me," Harry shrugged. He allowed her to climb down from his shoulder and into his lap. "Comfy?" He asked her as he stroked her gently. She was half hidden in the folds of his robe.

"Very," she said sleepily.

"Are you cold?" He asked in concern.

"You're warm," she shook her head. She leant into his hand as if to prove her point.

"I'm glad," he smiled. Then he looked up and found himself the focus of many stares. "What?"

"We had just never heard you speak parseltongue," Sirius said weakly. "It's cool. Creepy, totally creepy, but cool."

Harry smiled in relief. He had totally forgotten that they had never heard him speak parseltongue even though they knew that he could.

"Oh, Harry, but isn't it dangerous? Is she venomous?" Molly fretted.

"She is," Harry confirmed. "But she's promised not to hurt anyone, so it's okay."

"Does that mean that you've gotten permission for her to stay?" Ron insisted. He hadn't gotten his answer yet and it was important. He needed to know if they were going to share their dorm with a snake or if they were going to have to hide her somewhere and visit frequently.

"I did," Harry grinned. Then he grimaced. "There are conditions, though. First of all, if she hurts anyone, she has to leave."

"Understandable, but you said that she wouldn't do that so it shouldn't become a problem," Charlie nodded.

"Exactly. Seconly, I'm responsible for any incidents that may happen," Harry added.

"Again, understandable," Arthur agreed.

"And finally, I have to brew some antidote for her venom and keep some in the infirmary and some on my person at all times," Harry finished.

"As a precaution," Percy nodded. He didn't agree with keeping an animal that dangerous in a school full of children, but he could understand that, with Harry being a parselmouth, the circumstances were special.

"But you don't know how to brew an antidote for it," Hermione pointed out with a raised eyebrow. "I've read some books about antidotes for complex poisons, but…"

"Don't bother, Hermione. McGonagall wanted me to brew it with Snape."

"What?!" Many people exclaimed in shock.

"With Snape?" Ron repeated in horror.

"It was nice knowing you, Harry," Dean told him sympathetically.

"Don't be an idiot. Snape would never agree to help Harry," Parvati huffed. "He hates him more than he hates anyone else."

"He agreed to help," Harry corrected her.

"What? No way! He's always refused to help us with anything!" Anthony protested indignantly.

"He didn't agree just because," Harry snorted. "I made a deal with him. He teaches me how to make a perfect antidote and I give him five phials of Nightling's venom and her skin next time she sheds it."

Daphne raised an eyebrow. "Very Slytherin of you, Potter," she said impressed.

Harry shrugged. "He hates me. I believe he'd rather swallow armadillo bile before helping me. So, the only way I could get him to agree was to offer him something in return."

"Very true," she smirked.

"Well, he got the venom and the skin, but what are you getting for having to spend time with him?" Ernie asked him with a grimace. He didn't see it as a very fair exchange, especially when McGonagall had been the one that had suggested it.

Harry shrugged. "I get to have Nightling with me for as long as she wants. We all win."

"You're gonna end up killing each other. Then you won't win," Lee said, looking at Harry.

"Maybe. Hopefully not," the black-haired boy replied.

"You better learn quickly, mate," Ron told him with a grimace.

"Yeah," Harry sighed. He looked at the adults. "What were you doing during the break? Did you spend all of it talking to Dumbledore?"

"It was a long conversation," Remus sighed. Long enough that now they didn't have time to speak with Harry privately.

"How did it go?" Hermione asked with a frown. The adults didn't seem satisfied. They were tense and on edge.

"As well as it could go, I think," the werewolf told her.

The teenagers stared at them expectantly, waiting for an explanation. They could all sense that there was more to the story than they were being told, but they couldn't guess what it could be. They had just wanted to vent at the headmaster for leaving Harry with the Dursleys, hadn't they?

"Did something happen?" Harry asked warily.

The adults exchanged a look that spoke volumes. It was all the teenagers needed to know that something had happened.

"Nothing important," Sirius said nonchalantly. There was no reason to worry Harry about the fact the Fudge wanted to make him a ward of the Ministry, or that he wasn't being allowed to be Harry's guardian, or that Dumbledore insisted on sending him back to the Dursleys. Harry had enough in his plate right now without having more problems piled on top of him.

Harry narrowed his eyes. That was a lie. He was being lied to and he didn't like it. A glance at his friends showed him that he wasn't imagining things. And he would bet his Firebolt that it had something to do with him because the adults were constantly looking at him when they thought that he was distracted.

"Excuse me, if I could have your attention, please," Dumbledore called before they could continue questioning the adults. All the conversations were silenced almost instantly. "Thank you. I believe we're all back, aren't we? Is anyone missing someone?"

For a moment, people looked around them curiously, but apparently everyone could locate their friends because nobody spoke up.

"Marvellous," Dumbledore grinned happily. "Then I think it's time to continue the reading."

"I can do the spell again," Flitwick offered, pulling out his wand and flicking it towards the book. It rose into the air again and opened, presumably on the first page of the following chapter.

"Everyone ready?" Albus asked. It was always on the most inconvenient times that someone suddenly had to go to the bathroom or had forgotten to do something important. "Then let's begin."