Harry Potter The Serpent’s Turn

Harry yawned as he woke up in his bed, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before he sat up and stretched.

"Dobby," Harry called and the elf popped into the room. "is my breakfast ready?" Harry asked.

"Yes great master Harry Potter, Dobby has..."

"Dobby," Harry cut him off. "as your master I order you to simply call me Harry or master Harry." Harry said, while the hero worship was appreciated it was also starting to get very tiring.

"Oh...master Harry is so kind to unworthy Dobby!" Dobby cried, looking like he was about to faint with happiness.

"Just go damn you." Harry sighed, he was too tired to deal with overactive hyper house elves in the morning.

"Oh yes gr...master Harry." Dobby nodded and corrected himelf before popping away.

"Dada." A voice hissed. Harry glanced to the side and found the baby basilisk on his bed, it slithered up his arm before resting itself on his shoulders, it nudged his head in a show of affection, one that caused a smile that Harry couldn't help.

Yesterday Harry had read up as much on basilisks as possible, he had learnt various things such as what they eat and how to care for them. This basilisk was growing on Harry even though he hadn't even known it for more than a day. Unlike Hagrid, who thought that nearly all dangerous creatures were simply misunderstood, Harry had a healthy respect for how dangerous the basilisk is, he had fought a bigger version of it after all. In some ways he felt that the smaller one was deadlier.

Yes the big one would be helpful against a large amount of wizards, but with this small sized basilisk all he had to do is sneak it into somebody's room or have it sneak up on them. A simple bite or even a look and the person would be dead. Harry knew that if he told anyone about it the basilisk would be taken away from him and killed, after that it's body would probably be destroyed if not studied first then destroyed.

"I'm hungry." It hissed, thought to Harry it sounded childlike, it sounded like a baby's voice.

"Let's get you something to eat then." Harry hissed back as he stood up and walked to the other room.

To Harry's amazement the snake had an inborn ability to speak and understand parsletounge, it's first words upon seeing him was 'mama'. Harry took a brief moment of silence before deciding to just go with it. After a gentle correction it now referred to him as 'daddy' or 'dada', amusing but he didn't mind. He did briefly worry but after checking books and confirming that the basilisk didn't grow big and eat it's parents he was much more calmer. Apparently from what he had read they are rather attached to family members.

"I think you need a name." Harry said as he took a seat, he ate with his right hand while the basilisk slid down and curled around his left forearm with its head resting on his hand.

"A name?" It repeated.

"Yes, how about Selena?" Harry asked.

"Sel...ena? Selena?" The snake spoke, trying out the words. "Hmm, I like it. Selena."

"I'm glad." Harry smiled. He didn't think he would have been able to get a name on the first try but then again she was technically born yesterday so she probably wasn't too picky about her name.

"Daddy, I'm hungry." Selena hissed.

"Dobby!" Harry called and the elf popped into the room. "Selena is hungry."

"S..ena?" Dobby asked with a questioning look.

"Selena," Harry corrected. "and I am referring to the beautiful lady on my hand." Harry said as he gestured to Selena with his head. "Well, do we have something for her to eat or not?"

"Oh yes we do!" Dobby said quickly before he popped out and appeared a few moments later with a jar full of spiders. "Master Harry said that she be eating spiders, Dobby found these spiders yesterday." Dobby said as he placed the spider jar on the table.

Selena slid off of Harry's hand and onto the table, she slithered towards the spiders. The spiders tried to run away from her despite the fact that they were stuck in a jar. Selena circled around the jar in a predatory manor, looking like a cat that wanted to play with it's food.

"Leave Dobby," Harry ordered as he removed his wand, Dobby left as Harry aimed it at the jar. The jar lid opened, Harry slowly raised it but was prepared to place it back if the spiders tried to escape. They did not which lead Harry to believe that they thought it was better to keep the glass between them and Selena. "I'd probably be more sympathetic to you lot if your relatives hadn't tried to eat me." Harry said, remembering how Aragog tried to set his children on him.

"These are all for me?" Selena asked.

"Yes," Harry nodded before an idea came to him, he pushed his breakfast to the side and looked at Selena. "Selena, you called me daddy, right?"

"Yes." Selena said as she looked at Harry.

"That means it's my job to protect you." Harry smiled at her.

"Really?"

"Yes, it means we're family. I look after you and you look after me, do you like that?" Harry asked, still smiling.

"Yes daddy." She said, giving the snake equivalent of a smile.

"Good, you see those spiders, they have bigger ones that tried to eat me." Harry told her with a sad look on his face.

"They tried to eat you?!" Selena hissed, glaring at the jar of spiders.

"Yeah, all I did was talk to them and ask a few questions. The big ones tried but I escaped," Harry told her. "now you and me are going to show these spiders who is in charge. Ready?"

"Yes!" She hissed, eagerly awaiting the chance to gain revenge for her daddy. Harry levitated one spider out, it struggled in the air but couldn't escape. Harry hovered it above Selena.