A/N: Another silly idea of mine... It will be mostly from Hermione's POV.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and other characters.

Summary: At the age of five Harry turns into a snake. Five years later he saves a girl named Hermione.

No, Harry won't be found until 3-5th year and Hermione won't have a clue that he's an animagus for quite a long time.

Hermione Granger and the Prince of Serpents

Chapter 1.

A snake was slowly moving through a small forest somewhere in England. It wouldn't be surprising if it were an adder or a grass snake, but it was a huge almost three meter long dark-green serpent. However it wasn't a normal snake at all, it was a human child in his animagus form. Many people would be surprised to find out that an ten-years-old boy could do the complicated transformation. Even more people would be surprised to discover that it was Harry Potter, the savior of the Wizarding World. The Boy-Who-Lived.

It was his fifth year in this form and he was quite comfortable with it. Sure he was quite scared at first, because he didn't understand what the heck happened to him, but in the end he found that being a snake he had freedom. He could go wherever he wanted, he could eat whatever he wanted and as much as he wanted. However he felt alone. After he discovered that he could talk to other snakes Harry was thrilled, but it wasn't the same as a human conversation. Snakes weren't that intelligent.

That's why he was currently heading to humans. He wanted to hear a human voice. He was very cautious though. He couldn't let humans catch him and he didn't want to hear the crowing of a roosters. For some reason it caused head-aches. As for predators… he wasn't worried at all. There weren't any. He had been attacked by a dog once. It died a few seconds after it had tried bite through his skin in vain. Harry was very poisonous.

Suddenly Harry froze when he smelled humans and then a few seconds later heard a human voice. It was a female, a young female. But not only: he heard a male voice as well. The girl was very distressed, so he decided to look what was happening there. When he got nearer he stopped at the sight before him. There was a small brown-haired girl that was trying to fight off a bigger and older man. Her clothes were torn and she was almost naked. Harry wasn't stupid, he saw a lot things in his life as a snake and was sure that the man was trying to force her to mate with him. He was mere seconds from doing so in fact. The animagus was however unsure if it was supposed to be this way with humans. He lived far too long around animals already. However tears on girl's face were more than enough for him to interfere.

. . .

Hermione was terrified. She couldn't do anything to free herself and he was going to do that to her. Why didn't she listen to teachers and parents that said that she shouldn't go with unfamiliar people anywhere? She wouldn't end up in this situation. Would she die here? Would she be found? Would her parents know what happened to her?

Then she heard a loud hiss and looked to the left. Hermione would get even paler if it were possible. There was a huge snake mere centimeters away from her. It was hissing at the man who jumped off of her and moved backwards away from the snake. The girl didn't dare to move fearing that the snake would turn on her. And it turned after the man ran away. But surprisingly the snake just touched her hand in the manner a cat would do it to be petted and then put its head on her stomach. Hermione was so overwhelmed that she didn't hesitate and stroked the snake.

Then it came down to her: it saved her. If not for the snake, who knows what the man would do to her? And it didn't appear to be any threatening to her. On the contrary: it seemed to try to comfort her. To say that she was surprised is an understatement. A few minutes later she could collect herself and look at the snake more closely. It wasn't a snake one could meet anywhere in the Great Britain. Then she recalled how many fangs the snake had in its mouth and shuddered. It looked far scarier than a shark. Yet it was lying on her peacefully.

"Thank you," Hermione muttered feeling stupid that she talked to a snake. However she was astonished when the serpent moved its head, looked at her and nodded. It understood her!

"You understand me?" she asked and received another nod. Strange. "How come you understand me?"

The snake made indifferent move and began to wiggle away. Hermione remembered that the man was still somewhere there and she feared that he would come back.

"Wait!" Hermione exclaimed and the snake stopped looking at her quizzically. "Can you stay with me?" Hermione could swear that a puzzled expression appeared on the serpent's 'face'.

"Talking to a snake? I think I've gone mad," she muttered. The snake hissed but not in a threating manner. Was it laughing? She stood up and tried to cover herself with torn clothes. Fortunately the jacket was whole.

"I could take you with me," she suggested, but the snake shook its head. "On the other hand how would I explain to my parents a huge toothy snake…" she sighed looking at the snake as it continued to move away.

"But we live in a house and have a big garden, you could live there. And I wouldn't tell anyone about you!" The snake stopped and turned its head towards the girl. "Besides, what if that… man comes back?"

The snake hesitated for a moment and returned to her. Hermione smiled and moved towards her house. "I guess we shouldn't leave the park as long as possible. You're scary…" The snake hissed at her and she added quickly, "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't want to insult you. You're gorgeous, but your fangs are huge. And you have a full mouth of these fangs. Besides you yourself are huge as well. What kind of snake are you? Never read… Well I never read about a snake that could understand a human speech either…" She sighed and continued her way eyeing the serpent that was following her.

"Do you have a name? Do you mind if I give you one?" she asked the serpent. "Do you like the name Alice?" The snake hissed furiously and Hermione frowned. "Wait… You are male, aren't you? How stupid of me. How about… Naga? It's a name for snakes that can take human form… You're kind of intelligent." The serpent didn't hiss at her and she decided that it liked the name. "Great, you have a name now, Naga!"

Soon they had to leave the park and Hermione stopped. "We have to leave the park. I'm not sure how can you follow me," she said and was surprised as Naga climbed onto her and placed its head on her shoulder. Naga was almost completely hidden under her jacket and it was evening, so she doubted that anybody would see the snake.

"Oh, you're heavy. You weight at least five kilograms aren't you?" The snake hissed at her and she said, "I didn't mean that you're fat. But honestly, there aren't a lot of snakes in England that weight so much. And these teeth… I'm sure you're the only snake that has, well, a mouth full of three-centimeter-long fangs. Venomous, I bet." When she mentioned it, Hermione felt uncomfortable that the snake's head was mere centimeters from her neck. But it wouldn't bite her, would it? She sighed and headed home.

. . .

The human girl was amusing. That was, what Harry thought. She gave him a name. A strange but appropriate one. He was surprised that she was so comfortable with him and it was the only reason he decided to stay with her. Harry wanted to have a human that could talk to him. It reminded him that he was once a human too. As soon as they approached her house he slid from her and headed to the garden. It was big enough and there were a few trees and bushes that could provide him a good cover. If she would speak to him, he wouldn't mind to stay there.

And that was the start of their friendship. Her name was Hermione. There was a huge commotion at first when she told her parents what happened in that forest or park as it turned out. Of course she didn't tell them about him and he was glad she didn't. He doubted that her parents would react well to a huge snake that lived in their garden. Hermione talked to him almost every day and he was happy that the girl could understand him somehow. Sure she couldn't tell what exactly he was saying in the snake language but she understood his intentions. That was enough. But it was too good to last.

It was a cold winter and the garden became less safe for him, so the human girl suggested he would live in the attic. It was quite big to hide and he successfully did it, but soon her parents caught her carrying meat for him and she didn't have an explanation why she needed to bring a big piece of raw meat to the attic. The sad fact was that it was completely unnecessary, since he could get food himself. He could temporary petrify his prey using his eyes and it worked very well with birds. Hermione, however, was providing him with delicious snacks and he was thankful.

"What are you feeding here?" her father asked looking around.

"Nothing," she answered.

"Hermione, what did I say about telling lies?" mother said disapprovingly.

"We'll find it anyway," father said and began to search the attic.

Unfortunately there wasn't any escape route, so sooner or later he would be found. And he could tell that Hermione was very scared about what her parents would do to him. Harry wasn't surprised when she ran to him and shielded him from father as he was about to find the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Hermione, what… Oh holly… get away from it… slowly," father said when he noticed Harry behind his daughter.

"Dad! It doesn't mean any harm to me," she pleaded.

"Hermione, it's not the time to argue. Just do what I say," he said clearly hesitating to make a step towards his daughter afraid to provoke a huge snake to attack her.

"What is it, Ed?" mother asked coming nearer.

"Stop! There is a snake," he warned.

"Dad!" Hermione exclaimed and turned to Harry. "Naga, please. Do something."

Harry looked at her in confusion and wondered what he could do. Well, he could flee, but would he be able to find Hermione again later? He didn't want to lose her. So he did the only thing he could think of, he climbed on Hermione, winding around her waist and placing its head on her shoulder. Now she had to explain and if she would fail, he would flee. He could see that the sight terrified Hermione's parents. They were pale and could only watch, because they had no idea what to do.

"Mum, Dad, it's Naga," Hermione said, "Do you remember… that day? He saved me from that man and I brought Naga here. He's living here for a few month already. If he'd mean any harm to me, he had million chances to do it."

"But, Hermione…" Edward tried to reason.

"No, Dad, he's good and very intelligent," she said petting Harry. "Don't be afraid."

"Why… didn't you tell us?" Jean, her mother asked.

"I promised him. He stayed with me because I promised him that I wouldn't say anyone."

"Surely it can't understand…" Edward tried to say but was interrupted by Harry's hiss at him.

"I assure you, Dad, Naga understands you very well."

"But that's impossible!" her parents exclaimed simultaneously.

"Well, I could hardly believe it too, but… take a look," Hermione said, "Naga, could you hand me over that ball to prove that you can understand me?"

Harry looked where she pointed with his finger and did what she asked handing over a small yellow ball to her.

"See?" Hermione said smiling. "Naga has understanding of math too... Well, he isn't very good with numbers but at least he can count and I taught him the addition even though he was clearly bored."

Her parents didn't answer, they just gaped at her. Harry hissed in laugh and Hermione said, "Yes, Naga, I think we broke them."