Colours of Life: Prologue

"Avada Kedavra," Voldemort said with his wand at the child in the cot.

And with those two simple words uttered, Wizarding Britain was lunged into a roller coaster of events that swept across the whole nation.

Harry carded his fingers through his messy locks as he stretch his limbs in a feline-like manner. Languidly, he got out of bed a dragged his feet to the toilets to get ready for the day, but not before he glared grudgingly at his alarm clock; no, Harry wasn't a morning person.

After a quick shower, Harry decided to settle down in the library, choosing to seek solace in its comfortable silence, from the commotion going on outside. The students of Hogwarts were exhilarated by the pending arrival of the foreign students, buzzing around the school either preening in mirrors, dolling up, or gossiping about possible champions from the other two schools. There was nobody in the library, save for Harry and Madam Pince, the librarian. Even Granger, who had the compulsive need to read nearly every single book within reach, wasn't in sight.

It was Harry's fourth year in Hogwarts and in the four years he had spent within the walls of the institution, the dark corner behind one of the shelves quickly became Harry's sanctuary of sorts. Harry often came here to avoid the hoards of students that chattered relentlessly, filling every corridor, whenever there was something going on; which was pretty often since Harry arrived.

After his first year in the new environment, Harry had quickly adapted to his surroundings; after all, it was adapt, or die. Harry's childhood thought him an array of lessons; and one was the importance of adaptability.

Having been thrust into the unloving hands of the Dursleys, Harry had to quickly learn how do all the household chores; either that or suffer the wrath of his Uncle Vernon. The would slap him, calling him useless, whenever he accidentally burnt the breakfast for their dear Dudders, or when he accidentally broke a plate, accusing him of conspiring against them to drain their money more than he already had.

When he was younger, he would wail whenever his Uncle has hit him, when his Aunt denied him food, or when they scolded him. But as he grew older, he learnt another lesson: Crying was bootless. There was no use crying, not when no one cared for his tears. It was but a display of his emotional weakness. Since he was four, Harry swore to himself that he would never again shed a tear- the Dursleys wouldn't have the privilege of seeing him so weak. After all it would only encourage their abuse.

The next year, Harry learnt another lesson he never forgot. After Harry had lost control of his emotions, and vehemently defended his deceased parents from the slurs of the Dursleys, his Uncle Vernon has decided that he was sick of Harry's "ungrateful" and "freakishness" that he dumped Harry at the doorstep of an orphanage. Harry's eyes has widened in realization that his Uncle was serious, that they were about to abandon him in a foreign environment he has no clue how to fend himself in. He desperately begged his Uncle as the walrus of a man dragged him out of the car. He even went as far as to cling onto his Uncle's legs as to prevent him from leaving, only to literally be kicked to the curb.

He learnt then, that there was no use in begging.

Harry curled up in self-pity as he wept, crouched at the entrance of the orphanage, where the matron found him later. He broke his own promise to himself that he would never cry, and on top of the distressing situation he was already in, he hated how pathetic and vulnerable he was. He was subjected to the whims of the adults simply because of how dependent on them. He had no way to look after himself at the mere age of five, and could only bare with all the abuse his "family" has thrown at him.

He learnt of the need to strive for independence.

Life in the orphanage was not much better.

Harry was fed more regularly, but his "freakish acts" left him ostracised and bullied. The matrons avoided him, whispering words that he was the demon's advocate behind his back, and the children were as ruthless, if not even worse, as the Dursleys were. For the first few weeks, Harry would fight back with every ounce of energy he had in his little body, but it was useless; he was outnumbered. Soon, he realized that there wasn't any use in reacting to the bullying he was subjugated to. He realized that the bullies thrived on his emotional outbursts and reactions.

Harry had then learnt of the wonders of nonchalantness.

Throughout the years he spent in the orphanage, he learnt how to pick himself up from the dirt people around him threw him in. He learnt how to rely on no one but himself.

Learning was something Harry deeply enjoyed. He had no control in many aspects of his life, but studies were something he had control over. He could chose which subjects he wanted to dig deeper into, and with nobody to control him, he could dig as deep as he wanted into the pools of knowledge. Harry would borrow books from his school's library, immersing himself in the depths of knowledge. He felt a sort of power by simply knowing. He excelled in school, surpassing his peers and it made him feel like he was better than others, a feeling he loved. It wasn't only contextual knowledge that granted him a sort of power he never had previously; having information of the misdeeds and ministrations of the people surrounding him gave him power over them. He could make them do thing things he wanted them to do, by simply threatening to spill to knowledge of their acts.

Knowledge, was power.

Four Years ago

Severus Snape walked into the orphanage, surprised to find out that the great Harry Potter, the revered Boy-Who-Lived, was living in an orphanage. He was even more shocked by the ignorance of the boy to the Wizarding Society. The circumstances of Harry Potter, however, were not something Snape had expected. He had thought that the boy would have been spoilt pampered, treated like a typical pureblood heir would; like a prince. Instead, Harry was dressed in tattered hand-me-downs that seemed awfully large on the boy's petite frame. He thought that Potter would be an exact replica of his childhood tormentor, especially with the grotesque similarities the two had at first glance. Other than the boy's striking green eyes, Harry looked like a carbon copy of James Potter. Naturally, Snape sneered and assumed that the boy would be as his father was, only to be stunned by the way the boy had reacted to his taunts. Snape blatantly insulted James Potter in front of Potter, and even called him an insufferable child like his father was, expecting some sort of Gryffindor-esque act of defence towards the venomous words aimed at his father. Instead, Potter merely arched an eyebrow, stating calmly that his father and Snape obviously had an unpleasant history, one that he had no intention of getting involved in. He politely, albeit sarcastically, reminded Snape that he hadn't even known his father before the man passed away. He reacted in such a poised manner, one that Snape did not expect at all.

Like any Slytherin would, Severus Snape decided to further observe Harrison James Potter with a scrutinizing eye.

At a closer look, Harry's facial features were more of a Black's than that of a Potters. His high cheekbones and striking eye colour were signs of a typical Black. True, Lily had eyes with a beautiful shade of green, but Harry's eyes were much more vibrant than Lily's. His eyes seemed to convey every bit of emotion his expression didn't; like any other Black's. It didn't surprise Snape; after all, the boy's paternal grandmother had been a Black. There weren't many purebloods either, and so it was common for most pureblood families, especially the old ones such as the Blacks and Potters, to have relations with one another. What had surprised Snape however, was the manifestation of the Black's in the boy. He seemed to be more of a Black than a Potter, especially with the way he behaved.

After explaining everything to Harry, Snape took him to Diagon Alley, despite the requests of the boy to visit the Alley on his own, with much ire on the boy's part. He brought the boy to Gringotts, where they withdrew some money for Harry, and applied for a magical credit card of sorts, making purchases easier. He grudgingly allowed the boy to linger longer in Flourish and Bott's, but warned the boy that he wouldn't put up with wasting time allowing the boy to ogle at the wonders of Diagon Alley like many muggleborns normally would. The boy simply nodded before browsing through the different tittles with great interest. After the boy finally paid for the dozens of books he bought, fit into a bag with a bottomless and feather light charm, the pair proceeded to Madame Malkin's where the boy bought several robes including his school robes.

The boy also bought a few pair of slacks, shirts and sweaters, which he changed into, replacing the terrible clothes he wore when Snape had left him to make a trip to the Apothecary. Snape had to admit, that the boy looked incredible with the new set of handsome clothes he wore. The dark green sweater he wore over a plain white shirt brought out his beautiful, green eyes, and the boy's aristocratic features made him look like a well-groomed heir of a respectable pureblood family. He told the boy to stay around the vicinity so he could grab some much needed supplies, and also to give the boy a bit of the freedom to explore the area- though he would never admit the latter.

Snape was further surprised, shocked even, when he returned from the Apothecary with the his needed supplies, to see the boy staring longingly at a boomslang through the windows of Anguis Array. Snape tapped the Harry on the shoulder, causing the boy to jump a bit, which was a little strange as the boy seemed unusually enamoured by the snake. Most children, even Slytherins, were usually wary and afraid of snakes. It wasn't due to the scorn towards the serpents with the notion that they were evil and dark, like the Gryffindors; but rather the Slytherins ability to appreciate the dangerous beauty serpents held.

Instead, Harry asked hopefully if Hogwarts allowed serpentine familiars. Snape nodded, replying that it was fine so long the snake could be controlled by the child. He hadn't added however, that there was no way a child could have full control over the animals as there were hardly any children with actual familiars. Having a familiar required a wizard or witch, with a significant amount of magic in their cores, that was compatible to the magic of the animal itself. Animals of the magical world all held a certain amount, and type of magic, unlike the muggle animals, which made them much more intelligent than their muggle replicas.

Snape nearly gapped in astonishment when Harrison James Potter, beacon of the Light, the boy that was meant to be the Golden Boy of Gryffindor like his father, stepped out of the shop with a boomslang curled around his neck as he cooed at it lovingly and smiled up at Snape, proudly telling him that the snake's name was Parisinus. Severus Tobias Snape would have opened in jaw so wide till it dislodged if not for the fact that he was Severus Tobias Snape, cool, indifferent, stoic potions master that has a ten inch stick stuffed up his ass. Harrison James Potter was stroking his snake lovingly and silly with joy, which was nuzzling the crook of his neck, purring in satisfaction. Snakes did not purr. They weren't meant to be cooed at. They were snakes, not kittens! And yet, there Potter was, treating the deadly snake wrapped around his neck like it was a bloody kitten!

What more, the snake that known for its aggression and was letting Potter treat it like some fluffy, domestic animal!

The amount of control the boy had over the snake made the shocking amount of magic his core held blatantly obvious. Serpentine familiars were rare for a reason. Snakes were highly intelligent animals, even more so than the average magical animals. They were extremely temperamental and it was next to impossible for a human to own a snake as a pet, not a familiar. Snakes held a great amount of magic, dark oriented magic, making them incredibly powerful. They looked down on any human who was not their master, which included their owners, however powerful they may be. There had only been certain cases whereby a snake hadn't shown animosity towards a human other than their masters, and the other human, in all cases, also had a snake familiar; and even such cases were rare.

To have magic compatible to a boomslang, one of the most dangerous snakes in Africa, was an unmistakable reflection of the power bottled up in the small body of the boy.

He quickly collected himself as he tore his stare away from the snake, which was bearing it's fangs at him, and turned around to lead the boy to Ollivanders, but not before seeing the boy rap the back of his familiar's head lightly, hissing at it with reprimand, as if the snake would understand him. Snape hastened his pace, wanting to rush back to his labs, feeling the impending headache as his head started to throb.

After what seemed to be eons spent at Ollivanders, Snape brought the boy back to the orphanage, where the boy thanked him for taking time out to bring him to Diagon Alley. He then walked off to a safe distance away from muggles before apparating back to Spinner's End, but not before thrusting a potion for the boy's eyesight that he got after his trip to the Apothecary.

Merlin, he needed a drink, a strong one.

Harry was ecstatic when the man in strange robes revealed to him the existence of the Wizarding World. The exhilaration though, was soon dulled down by doubt, which was soon cast away. Any normal person would have been dubious of such a revelation. Most would most likely thing that the man, Professor Snape as he was introduced, was some deranged asylum escapee, but no, not Harry. Harry knew he was different. He knew he had certain powers. Powers that he discovered when he was seven, when a class bully decided to physically attack him, and had been practising to control ever since. Powers that seemed magical. Harry would never admit it, but he finally felt like he might belong some where. He always felt different, special from everyone around him and however that stroke his ego, it bore him. He didn't have any challenge in life and he didn't have any companions.

He was lonely.

And knowing that there were other people who were also like him gave him hope, hope he wished he didn't have, that maybe, just maybe, there would be someone who would finally understand him; a friend.

Harry was so high up in the clouds that he didn't even feel insulted when Snape sneered about his father and him. Usually Harry would have been ticked, not by the fact that the man had slandered his father, but rather because this man whom he didn't even know was comparing him to a man he had no memories of. True, James Potter was his father, and he carried the genes of the man, but he didn't even remember how the man looked like.

The orphanage wiped whatever positive feelings he held for his parents. He learnt how heartless people were, parents or not. It didn't mean that simply because the child was birthed by them, that they cared for the child. Whilst his parents had passed away, not abandoned him, he didn't feel any more cared for with knowledge of the fact. His parents obviously did not care enough to at the very least assign him proper guardians should anything happen to them, not the sorry excuse of guardians the Dursleys were. They may have loved him, but he held no love for people who sent him to a hell hole, obviously knowing what sort of people the Dursleys were.

The fact that Snape knew his father also proved that his father was not a muggle, and from what he gathered from the snarls and sneers of his professor, his mother too, was a witch, and that they both were active in the war waging in Britain when he was a year old. That meant that they knew how high the possibility of them passing on were, and that morphed his feelings of disregard to them into dislike.

Harry was rather amused by the obvious bias Snape showed as he politely conveyed the message of, no I'm not my father, to Snape. No doubt his daddy dearest must have been quite the prick to the man for him to be so sour towards a boy he hadn't even met before. Snape seemed to be a bit less of an ass but more wary, or at least observant of him; but Harry couldn't bring himself to care. He was a bloody wizard and he was about to leave this boring orphanage in a week!

Snape informed him that they were to purchase his school supplies, and Harry asked if he could do it alone, in hopes that he would have more time to explore the new environment, and sneak out of the orphanage to stay in a Wizarding hotel, or whatever accommodation the Wizarding World held, since Snape told him his parents had left him a small fortune in the Wizarding Bank, Gringotts.

Much to his dismay, Snape outright denied his request, leaving no room for argument as he dragged Harry off. The physical contact and rough treatment annoyed Harry but he just kept quiet as the man led him to a distance from the orphanage, before he suddenly felt like he was squeezed in a vacuum after he heard a loud pop.

The next thing he new, he was in a pub, feeling rather queasy from the weird teleporting thing the man did. He hid his discomfort well though, both of the form of travel and rowdy crowd, as the man pulled him through till they came face to face with a brick wall. Snape tapped what Harry assumed to be his wand in a sequence Harry noted, and the wall folded horizontally, revealing what he presumed was their destination, Diagon Alley.

Harry wasn't too surprised by the whole new environment he was in; after all he expected no less of a Wizarding Society. They had magic and anything less than what he saw would be disappointing. He was did however, spare a few interested glances at the different creatures and practices. The goblins were one of the beings that perked his interest and he made a note to purchase a book on them later on. The way they got to his vault was rather fun, he felt. It was like a roller coaster, something he always heard his classmates talked about, and there was a sort of thrill the rushed through his body that finally made him feel like he was alive.

They then made their way to purchase his school books after getting other school supplies he needed. He felt like he was in paradise when he saw the rows after rows of books. He had the time of his life browsing through different books. They were all on topics he had never seen before. He grabbed a few on the Cultures, Traditions and History of the Wizarding World, Arithmancy and The Basics of Spellwork that would be required for Spellcrafting, Runes, Ancient Latin, and Magical Creatures. He wanted to know everything about this new world in which he was now part of. Snape has been kind enough- as kind as the grumpy man could be at least- to let him spend more time in the store, and in turn, he decided to rush rather than take his time to go through every book leisurely like he normally would.

They then went to buy robes which Harry was more than happy to. He hated the pieces of cloth that were falling apart after being patched together time after time, and now that he has the money to, he would indulge a bit and buy the finest clothes he could, if not to rub into the faces of the other children in the orphanage. Snape told him to stay in the vicinity rather than follow the man, something he was grateful for. His professor was obviously giving him a bit of freedom to explore the area on his own and Harry was more than happy to do so. He changed out into his new clothes, throwing away his old ones, and made his way to the pet shops he had seen further down.

Harry paused when he walked by Anguis Array. From his knowledge of ancient languages, something his loved due to his passion for history, Anguis stood for snake. He saw the most beautiful creature every, whose beady black eyes, stared right back at him. He was captured by its beauty. The exotic scales, a mix of black and a green as vibrant as his eyes, covered its body and its eyes seemed to convey the intelligence of the animal.

:Quit staring man-hatchling,: The snake said.

:I'm sorry, I was captured by your beauty,: He replied apologetically.

The snake stared at him in shock, he didn't know how he knew what the snake felt, but wondered if he didn't something to offend it.

:You speak.: It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

:Yes, is it not normal?: He asked rather curiously, he assumed talking snakes were the norm, after all, it was the Wizarding World.

:No, it is rare,: The snake hissed in reply, :Come in and buy me master,: she demanded.

Again, how he knew it was a female, he didn't know.

Just then, someone tapped his shoulder, causing him to tense up and jump in surprise. He relaxed when he realized it was Snape, and proceeded to ask if he could bring a snake to school- a rather ridiculous question he guessed, from the subtle expression of shock on his professor's face.

When his professor said it was fine, he went in right away and bought the snake.

:My name is Parisinus. Don't speak in parseltongue when around the humans, they do not take it well,: Parisinus said as he wrapped her around his neck and felt a slight tingle upon contact of her smooth scales.

He merely stroke her in acknowledgement as he paid the shopkeeper for his new familiar.

He gained a new companion, even if it was in the form of a boomslang, as Parisinus informed him, and he felt a warm gush of emotions from the fact.

Parisinus started hissing threatens and barring her fangs as Snape stared rudely at his familiar, something that Harry couldn't blame him; she was after all, gorgeous. He reprimanded her under his breath when he turned to walk away and rapt her head lightly. She merely sneered about rude man-lings and smelly humans in return which caused Harry to chuckle. His professor indeed smelled strongly of potions, something his snake obviously did not like.

Snape brought him back to the orphanage with his snake hidden in the bag with his books, and he thanked the man before plopping onto the bed with a grin on his face and taking Parisinus out. He didn't even need his horrid glasses that kept slipping down the bridge of his nose any more, thanks to the eye-sight correcting potion his professor has thrust into his hands before they parted, sneering about his disgusting glasses.

It was the best day of his life.

A week later, he was staring at the magnificent train, coated in shiny red that had steam chugging out. He changed into his robes, so Parinsinus could curl inside them and enjoy the warmth of the heating spell he learnt how to cast a day after his visit to Diagon Alley, before finding an empty compartment to settle in. He took a book out, enjoying the comfortable silence of the compartment, which was destroyed however, the moment a red head ginger opened the door to ask if he could sit there. Harry nodded and the boy thankfully lugged his trunk in, whining about his brothers kicking him out of their compartment and the rest of them being full. He then continued to go on about the different houses, a boy name Draco Malfoy whom he evidently detested, and the evil snakes. Harry had closed his book out of courtesy, but was rather uninterested at the babblings of the boy. The last part however, annoyed him. The boy sitting across him was obviously a bias bigot. He wouldn't bother if not for the fact that he just called his familiar evil. Parisinus did enjoy threatening any human who came with a radius of a meter of him, hissing rather creative ways to kill them and main them. She did also like scaring people and chasing animals.

Harry liked to think that Parisinus was mischievous rather than evil though.

"Sorry, but snakes aren't evil. I have a familiar who's a snake and she's rather lovely," Harry snapped.

Colour seemed to drain from the ginger's face as his eye widened comically and looked away.

A pregnant silence filled the air, as the rude red-head finally decided to shut up. However, it didn't last long as the door was slammed open, much to the annoyance of Harry, as a frizzy brunette stuck her head in.

God were all the children so rude?

She then went on explaining that she was looking for some boy's toad, but Harry didn't pay much attention to her, distracted by her birdnest of a hair. He idly wondered if there was some creature between the thick locks of her hair.

It wasn't until he saw a hand stuck out in front, snapping him out of his musings.

"Hello, my name is Hermoine Granger," she said.

Harry didn't really care what her name was, she was irritating, why would he even want to know her? He however took her hand and quickly shook it as he replied, "Harry Potter."

"Merlin! You're Harry Potter?! I'm Ron! Ron Weasely!" The red head suddenly jumped up.

He reached out to swipe Harry's fringe away as he exclaimed, "Can I see you-"

Harry didn't even have the time to react to the other boy's question before he shot forward invasive, attempting to see his scar. But before he could touch Harry however, Parisinus got up from her slumber and coiled up in an S-shape, ready to strike were Weasely to come any closer.

:Rude man-child don't you dare touch my master!: She hissed angrily.

Ron Weasely let a high-pitched shriek, that would put a girl's to shame. It was so loud that Harry was sure the whole train could hear him.

"Bloody hell mate! Keep your snake it check!" Ron yelled before shrinking back.

Harry calmed Parisinus down, who then curled back under his robes while he shrugged rather unapologetically to him. It was the idiot's fault for coming too close anyway. Where did he think Parisinus would be? In his trunk? Over his dead body she would.

"Sorry," Harry said anyway.

Harry was uncharacteristically forgiving that day, he didn't really even know why he hadn't let Parisinus bite the two annoying additions to the compartment. The other girl even helped herself to flipping through his book without any permission and sat next to Ron.

The compartment door slammed open again as two identical redheads popped in and started teasing their ickle-ronnykins. Harry couldn't even bring himself to bother any more, instead, petting Parisinus.

After the two left, Ron and Hermione started talking to him and he actually participated in their conversations, although it took every ounce of patience he had to snap in annoyance. Instead he would just grunt whenever they said anything that annoyed him, which was every sentence. The two shrugged Harry off as shy, and thought naught of his behaviour.

Soon, they arrived at Hogwarts and led by a man Harry was rather sure was a half-giant and split into groups of four as they sailed in small boats towards the castle of Hogwarts.

They were greeted by the Deputy-Headmistress, a severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses. She briefed them on the sorting after introducing herself as Minerva McGonagall, then entering the castle, leaving the children outside. A blonde boy who was poised and proud, leered at Ron and made fun of his family. Harry found it rather amusing honestly, and for some reason, a small part of him felt a bit annoyed at the blonde. He didn't know why, but shrugged it off as Professor McGonagall returned and led them to the Great Hall to be sorted.

The first years were sorted individually as Ron continued whining about some unimportant thing and Hermione reciting everything she read in her books.

When it came to Harry's turn, every stared at his direction, causing him to tense up uncomfortably. He sat on the stool to put the hat on. It barely even touched his head before it screamed, "Slytherin!"

Ron had gave him a dejected and disappointed look from across the hall at the Gryffindor table, where he was sorted to, and so did everyone else other than the Slytherins who politely clapped.

He felt a sort of unpleasantness in his chest. He felt like he had disappointed them. But he quickly pushed it away, reminding himself to not be ridiculous.

The three friends- Harry didn't even know when he thought of them as that- seemed to be rather close and everyone thought of Harry's sorting into Slytherin to be a fault of the sorting hat, especially since both of his best friends were Gryffindors.

They might have been Harry's friends, but Harry was still incredibly irritable when it came to the two of them. They were all his dislikes in personification. They were bigots, immature, obnoxious and boisterous. However, he still hung out with them, and he constantly pushed aside any snide comment he felt like sneering at them. They were after all, friends.

The first year was far too dramatic for Harry's liking. Hermione was bullied for being a know-it-all, and had hidden in the girl's lavatory on Hallowe'en, and Ron dragged him to "save" Hermione from the troll that had broken in. Harry thought the boy was ridiculous for even assuming that two eleven year olds could face against a troll. Trolls were daft, but they were tough. Harry just followed though, since Quirrell screamed that the troll was in the dungeons. However, they soon found out that the troll wasn't in the dungeon; no, it was in the first floor girl's lavatory.

"Stupefy!" He shouted, pointing his wand at the troll while Ron was screaming, throwing derby from the troll's rampage, and Hermione brawling uselessly crouched under a sink.

Harry knew it wouldn't work. He wasn't powerful enough. It took an incredibly powerful wizard to be able to stun a troll and he knew that there was no way he would be able to. But he had panicked and had shot the first spell he could think of. Much to his surprise, and relieve, however, he had somehow miraculously managed to stun the troll.

That however, was just the start of it all.

The trio often snuck out at night, getting into all sorts of trouble, thanks to Ron Weasely. Harry simply went along with him, despite the annoyance. They were friends, and that was what friends did right?

Harry had been poisoned, by Snape as accused by Ron, even though Harry doubted so. The man didn't have a reason to do so, but Hermione insisted that the only person who could brew a tasteless, scentless poison was him. Harry rolled his eyes, and thought inwardly about how stupid they were and how someone could simply purchase the poison from Knockturn Alley. Harry had luckily stuffed a bezoar he was carrying in his potions kit, which he brought as the class after breakfast was potions, and nothing serious came out of it.

If an attempt at his life wasn't dramatic enough, it turned out that his Defence professor turned out to be Voldemort, the man who was out for his life. Ron had Hermione had dragged him to the third floor corridor, determined that they had to save the Philosopher's Stone from Snape's clutches. Harry doubted that Snape had anything to do with it, but didn't care. After all, why would he give up the chance of getting to experiment and research the Philosopher's Stone? It didn't matter if Snape was out to steal it or not, he could always steal it for himself if the other man wasn't, and return it later on to say he held onto it for "safekeeping" so as to not get into trouble.

Or maybe not. After all, why should he give up the chance of possessing such a wondrous object? Harry didn't have anything against nicking things. After all, he had nicked the map from Fred and George after seeing them using it when he was trying his invisibility cloak. Harry's childhood skewed his morals. He didn't really have any qualms against "evil" deeds like stealing. He did so many times before he came to Hogwarts. There wasn't any way for him to get things he wanted otherwise and it was the fault of the owners for being careless with their objects.

Over the course of the year, Harry had developed a mistrust for Dumbledore. The Headmaster was a powerful wizard; Harry could feel it from the man's aura. But such a man had allowed uncountable accidents to occur right under his nose, and Harry felt that the man was up to something.

Said distrust was only deepened when they managed to get through the "obstacles" with ease. Hagrid has let slip how to overcome the obstacle of fluffy, and the second obstacle, devil's snare was taught in Herbology already. They were all ridiculously easy, so easy that a first year could get through them with practical ease. Ron, being the Gryffindor he is, decided to sacrifice himself and played against the chess pieces, only to be defeated. Harry took over from him, having played chess a few times with Ron before, beating him every time, and quickly got pass the board. He managed to convince Hermione to take Ron back and inform the teachers; after all he couldn't possibly nick the stone with her around could he?

He got through the flames after downing the potion, and found himself face to face with Professor Quirrell. Harry tried to make an excuse as to why he was down there but was interrupted by a voice that commanded Quirrell. Quirrell then unwrapped his turban and turned around.

Harry found himself looking at the most grotesque thing he had ever seen. There was a bloody face on the back of the man's head. It demanded to know why Harry was down there, and Harry for some reason, couldn't lie to it. It sounded amused when it found out Harry was there to steal the stone, not protect it. He then got Harry to stand in front of the mirror that was in the middle of the room.

In the mirror however, wasn't his reflection, but an image of him, inspecting the stone with fascination. Then, he suddenly felt the stone in his pocket. He grabbed it and looked at it in amazement. Before he could stop himself, he gave the stone to Quirrell. The thing behind Quirrell's head was pleased.

"Lord Voldemort rewards his followers should they please him. Tell me Harry, what do you want?" It purred.

Harry didn't find himself as panicky as he should have been. For some reason, he trusted Voldemort. He merely replied, "I want a wizards oath that you won't harm or kill me, and that you will let me research the stone."

Voldemort agreed, and thereafter fled. Harry acted as if he had been attacked and robbed off the stone he was trying to protect, and the Headmaster believed him.

In the train back, Hermione and Ron reminiscent the year, but the only thing that occupied Harry's mind was Voldemort.

If he thought his first year was bad, his second year was even worse. He was revealed to be a parseltongue while in a duel with Draco Malfoy, who had conjured a snake up. The poor snake was panicking and was in distress and it was too late to salvage the situation. Harry had already bent down to coo at the poor snake, thinking of Parisinus, and the whole school, save the Slytherins and turned against him in a blink of an eye.

Everyone started accusing him of being the next Dark Lord, and it only escalated when a series of attacks upon the student body, by what Harry quickly figured out was a basilisk. Harry wasn't really bothered by the rumours, or at least he told himself he wasn't.

Everyone, including his friends turned against him. The Slytherins never welcomed him in the first place; not when he was the reason to their families' downfall. The situation with the Slytherins took a turn for the better after it was common knowledge that he was a parseltongue. The too, thought of him to be some scheming Dark Lord on the rise and started to thread around him with more caution, instead of treating him with blatant animosity as they previously did.

His two friends however, had turned against him in a blink of an eye and accused him of attempting to brainwash them, and that he was an evil git that was out to trick them. And that hurt Harry more than he realized it would.

Harry realized, that the only reason why he even tolerated the two, why he was even friends with the two, was because he was naive. The only reason why he felt hurt by his peers were his own fault. He had allowed them to betray him. He had given them something to betray him with. He was a fool to think that the Wizarding World would be any different from the Muggle World. Wizard and Muggles, despite all the differences, were ultimately the same; they were both humans. He was a fool for putting himself in such a vulnerable position, for allowing himself to be friends with people he disliked for the sake of comfort from the solitude he had. He shouldn't have bothered with them. He already had Parisinus as a companion. Parisinus was the only one he could hold a substantial conversation with. He spoke to her every night. He could trust her with his emotions and thoughts; after all it wasn't like she could spill them to anyone. He had such a wonderful companion, and yet, he was greedy and seeked for more. He had been unknowingly hungering for companionship of which he never had throughout the previous years, and that had rendered him vulnerable.

The more he dwelled on his folly, they more sillier he felt. He had let himself waste precious time he could have spent last year on studying, to be dragged around by his friends. He had allowed them to abandon him, simply by being their friend.

He didn't wallow self-pity as he did seven years ago, when the Durselys abandoned him.

No, instead, he picked himself up from the dirt he was once again flung into by his peers. He had learnt much from the incident. He discovered the holes in the walls he built around his heart. With a mistake there was always a lesson learnt.

And from this mistake, he learnt one very important lesson.

His friends wanted him for his fame, and became his enemies when the famous boy became infamous.

His enemies started being friendly, because of his ability to speak parseltongue.

There were no permanent friends or were there any permanent enemies; only permanent interest.

His third year, was relatively normal if one turned a blind eye to the dementors that lurked the perimeter of Hogwarts. Apparently, Sirius Black, the man guilty of betraying his parents and resulting in their death had escaped from Azkaban and was after him. The Headmaster initially refused to allow the dementors to be in such close proximity to the children, insisting that the wards of Hogwarts was enough to keep Sirius Black away. Lucius Malfoy however, kindly reminded him of the death of Ginerva Weasley, Ron's younger sister, in the school the previous year, and that the culprit had still yet to be found.

Their old defence teacher, Lockhart, mysteriously disappeared after he exclaimed he was going to rescue the youngest member of the Weaselys. Harry was rather sure the incompetent fool fled, in fear for his own life. He was replaced by Remus Lupin, someone Snape seemed to strongly dislike. It didn't take long for Harry to figure out that the man was a werewolf. He was always gone during the full moons and Snape was dropping pretty heavy hints whenever he took over the werewolf's classes.

His third year flew by with no anomalies, until he suddenly received a letter one morning. He never received letters. He had no friends nor family members to send him letters. Harry checked the letter, to ensure the owl dropped it on the correct lap, and indeed, it was addressed to Harrison James Potter. In it, was a plain, white paper with words elegantly written in red;

I haven't forgotten my promise to you, my child

It didn't take a genius to figure out who it was.

Harry stood outside the owlery, having sent a letter in reply. He didn't know if Voldemort would receive it, but was rather confident the owl would have a way to delivery the message. It was due to the mysterious magicks animals had. They were around for much longer than humans had been, and much about their magical capabilities were yet to be known.

Harry leaned over the wall, looking over the forest covered by a blanket of snow. The serenity of the view and the near eerie silence throughout Hogwarts was refreshing for Harry. He'd much rather spend his time in the silence of the school than to visit Hogsmede that was as always, bustling with life.

Professor Lupin saw him, and walked up to him after sending off an owl, saying, "You look a lot like James, but your eyes, they look just like Lily's."

Harry hummed in acknowledgement and gave a nod before turning away and walking off.

"I'm sure they'll be very proud of you!" Professor Lupin shouted as he left.

Harry didn't care. He didn't need approval and acknowledgement of people who he had never knew.

It was a week into his fourth year, and the school had been buzzing in anticipation since the announcement of the Triwizard tournament Hogwarts was to host. While the students were excited about the tournament, Harry was excited about Voldemort. The Dark Lord had held a raid at the World Quidditch cup just a week back. It meant that the man was growing stronger, and that life was going to become more chaotic; more interesting.

Life in Hogwarts was dull. It was boring and the classes moved at a pace far too slow for his liking. He applied to skip a year and take his OWLs this year, which was immediately approved by the Board of Governors. After all, he topped all his classes with ease, and never received a grade that was lower than an O. Harry hated school. He hated classes. Subjects taught in Hogwarts were not only useless, but also as biased as Ronald Weasely was. It was always a clear cut between the dark and the light.

Harry had taken an interest in the Dark Arts after reading a book he got from Knockturn Alley in his second year. He was after all, a dark oriented wizard. Harry could feel people's magic in their auras, and it usually gave a good indication of what sort of a wizard the person was. Snape's magic was like the icy wind of winter; much like the man's chilly demeanour. Dumbledore's magic felt like the scorching sun in the middle of summer; far too bright that it blinded, and far too hot that it burnt. Some people however, had such weak auras, like Ron, that he wasn't able to feel their magic unless he came into contact with them. The ginger's magic was like him; plebeian.

Harry often wondered how Voldemort's magic would feel like. Ever since the man rise to the public again, Harry found that his thought often surrounded the man. Even now when he was reading, he could feel his focus shifting from the book to Voldemort. He couldn't feel magic as well as he can now when met Voldemort, but even then, the man's magic sent pleasant chills down his spine. He felt comfort in the man's magic, as unusual as it seemed. Harry should have been scared, terrorized of the man back then; especially since he was after his life. Instead, he acted like some obedient puppy around the man. Any logical thoughts were hazed by the mere warmth he felt by being around the man.

Despite Harry's fascination however, he wasn't going to blindly follow the Dark Lord. He wouldn't allow himself to become and obedient puppy like he had been when he was eleven, with pleasing the man being the only purpose in his life. He wanted to know what the Dark Lord planned to do. He wanted to know he ideals and beliefs before joining the man. Harry obviously was not going to fight for the Light; not when they've already messed up so much of Wizarding Britain. Harry hated how the ministry had banned all sorts of ancient practices and traditions without reason. He refused to call accommodating the muggleborns a reason for such a drastic ban. Harry fumed silently as he thought about the idiocy of the Ministry.

However, his train of thoughts were paused when a dreamy blonde suddenly walked up to him.

"Hello, my charm that mysteriously disappeared last night seems to be sitting here with you," she smiled as she sat across him.

Harry looked at her in confusion and she pointed to the necklace made of bottle caps sitting by the ledge of the table.

"Oh, I didn't notice it," Harry replied as he took the necklace to return it to her. He wouldn't be surprised if the girl was being bullied. After all, things to mysteriously disappear, not even in the Magical World.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it felt that you needed it more than I do. Nargles do tend to like the dark; nasty things really," the girl smiled, "I'm Luna Lovegood."

Harry nodded in acknowledgement before getting up and heading to the Great Hall for dinner. Parisinus was sleeping in his dorm, comfortably under his duvet, as usual. She hated crowds and commotions as much as he did and would avoid having to be in the Great Hall. Luckily for her though, she was a snake, not a student compelled to dine in the Great Hall. Today however, he was going to drag her along; he wasn't going to sit through the chatters that were sure to be twice, if not thrice times worse today.

A joyous laugh came from beside him. Everyone around him looked at his direction, staring at Potter who was- god forbid- laughing. The boy had snake, that was very obviously pissed the fuck off, and he was laughing like he was having the best time of his life.

None of the Slytherins had ever seen much emotion displayed by Potter before. Sure, there were times he was annoyed, peeved, or irritated but that was it. No one, save for Draco, had ever seen the Boy-Who-Live choke on his food and laugh. The laugh however, caused a shiver to run down the spines of many, Draco included. How the hell could someone be laughing as if they were just told the funniest joke in the world, when the only thing speaking to him was the deadly, enraged snake curled around his neck, barring its fangs every other minute? The Slytherins weren't sure which was scarier; Potter's snake, or Potter laughing.

Draco Malfoy, for one, decided that Harry laughing was definitely scarier. Draco got along fairly well with Harry, or so he would like to think. At least as well as one could when the other party was Potter. The boy had been different ever since he fell out with the mudblood and Weasley; a good choice in his own opinion. He seemed far more like a proper Slytherin, cunning, calm and scheming, unlike the Gryffindor he was before. He always got into trouble and snuck around with that mudblood and blood traitor. Harry had indeed been rather reserved and stoic previously, but he became even more so after the fall out. Malfoy had wanted to speak with his housemate ever since his the revelation of his ability to speak to snakes, but never really had the chance to. The only time he really had the opportunity to talk to the boy alone, was when he went back to the castle to grab his pouch, which he left in the dorms. He saw Harry sitting with his snake by the fireside, giggling- oh god he was giggling?- to his snake.

Draco asked him what his snake said, something he always wondered since he could always hear Harry speaking to his snake at night, and Potter replied with a grin, "Nothing much really, just the usual. Parisinus is just coming up with all the possible ways to kill Zaibini for corrupting her innocent ears with his lewd activities."

Merlin, Harry sure had a weird sense of humor.

Another one of the boy's bone chilling laughs rang from beside him, causing a chill to run down Draco's spine.

He really hated it when his friend laughed.

Harry could see the obvious shock in the face of his fellow Slytherins and it amused him to no end. He too, was human and had the ability to feel happy. Simply because they didn't have the ability to tickle his funny bone, meant that he didn't know how to laugh.

Parisinus glared at a first year who's mouth was wide open and said, :Close your mouth you fool, or I will slide down you gullet and eat you inside out, then regurgitate your innards all over you.:

:Well that's a new method,: Harry giggled as he nuzzled Parisinus.

:Of course, what fun will it be if I were to kill the same way every time?: She replied, sending Harry into another bout of laughter.

The Headmaster was commencing the selection of the Champions.

Harry didn't really pay much attention to the man announcing the names of the Champions for each school, focusing instead, on summoning mice discretely to feed Parisinus who was threatening to slither off and catch her own.

Bending down to pick up the stunned rat, Harry nearly jumped in surprise when he heard his name being called.

"Harrison James Potter!" the headmaster bellowed.

And with that, colour started to fill the dull canvas of Harrison James Potter's life.

I'm looking for a beta, do PM or comment, preferably with an edited, improved portion of this chapter, if you're interested!

Parisinus stands for emerald in latin. Anguis mean snake in latin. You can refer to the link on my profile if you're curious as to how Parisinus looks like. I do admit I have a rather soft spots for snakes, especially boomslangs because of their breath taking beauty.

A/N: Do leave a comment if you spot any errors. I don't have a beta (and would really really appreciate having one) yet and am a bit unsure of certain western cultures/practices cause I'm as asian as asian gets. I'm not clueless but I still worry that what I type etc might seem a bit awkward(?)

I tried to compress most of Harry's childhood so I can get straight to the interesting parts. I don't really like having a ten chapters or so all on Harry's childhood, so yeah. It's my first fic so I hope it's fine!

-Lavi

29/06/13