Harry’s first week back at Hogwarts was one of the happiest he could remember. Although, on leaving Uroborus, Harry had felt almost sick with nerves at the prospect of meeting his friends, in reality it was much easier than he had anticipated. Reggie, being an exceptionally friendly and sociable little snake, had immediately stuck his head out of Harry’s collar when Harry and Severus entered the Serpents’ Nest and, although the assembled children could not understand his hissed greeting, Reggie’s cheerful demeanour made the intent more than obvious. Soon Harry was surrounded by a gaggle of first years, each of whom was talking excitedly about Reggie, commenting on his cuteness or coolness (depending on the gender of the speaker) and begging to hold him. Professor Snape, smiling at the predictability of children, had patted Harry on the shoulder, whispered ‘goodbye’ and left him to the conversation of his year-mates which, supplemented by Bertie Botts beans and ginger-snaps, lasted well into the night.

It had been no small relief to Harry that the Slytherins all acted like the last month or so hadn’t happened. No one said anything to Harry about his strange behaviour and nobody treated Harry too differently from the way that they had during the first fortnight of term: Pansy, Tracy and Daphne were still friendly but they did not seek Harry out, while Greg, Vin and Milly still shared the odd joke, asked his advice on homework and saved him the last of the treacle tart. Theo and Hermione drew Harry back into their study sessions, walked him to the library and often sat with him in class. Blaise and Draco were as friendly as ever and, apart from a minor upset on Draco’s part, evolving from a deep and burning desire for a dangerous snake, his father’s not unreasonable refusal and Blaise’s teasing suggestion that a Black Mamba (a highly aggressive, incredibly venomous species) might make a good pet, all was harmonious amongst the Snakes.

Outside the Nest, things weren’t all that bad either; the teachers were all highly impressed by Harry’s homework, Professor Snape, while having reverted back to his class-room persona, always had a special, secret smile for Harry and the Gryffs weren’t too bad, though Weasley had taken to calling him a teacher’s pet. Harry didn’t mind, though; he’d rather be a ‘teacher’s pet’ and have the ‘Uroborous’ Professor Snape than not.

While Harry’s days spent were spent learning, his evenings were filled with fun; Draco’s little club to introduce Harry and Hermione to Wizarding Culture, which had been on hiatus since Harry’s decline, started up again and all the Slytherin First years joined in; Blaise, Theo and Milly attended every meetings and, depending on the subject being discussed, the others would join. (Daphne and Pansy enjoyed stuff like music and plays, Tracy and Vin liked Art, Greg and Daphne joined in on talks about animals and Pansy and Tracy were keen on Wizarding fashion.) The little group went from strength to strength, especially when Blaise discovered that Harry knew how to disarm, cast a shield charm and summon wandlessly: every First year and even some of the Second and Third Years, gathered around when Harry, blushing, gave a demonstration and explained how to cast the spells.

And, at night, when Harry felt insecure or unhappy, he’s sit in bed, with the curtains closed him, talking to Salazar whilst Reggie cuddled him and pressed Snake kisses on his cheek. Salazar was invariably kind but he was also pretty stern; he wouldn’t allow Harry to be ‘self-indulgent’ or irrational, so Harry swiftly learnt to answer the ‘voices’ with cool logic rather than emotion. Although it was tough at first, it soon paid off as, the more Harry argued his corner, the more he was convinced that Salazar and Professor Snape had been right; that he was a good, nice boy who deserved to be loved, provided for and protected. Reggie too, helped heal the wounds in Harry’s psyche; although a young, rather happy-go-lucky snake, Reggie knew that some mothers bit and rejected their hatchlings and, when he heard Harry speaking to Salazar, he soon worked out that his poor two-legs had been badly bitten by a false-mother. While initially almost wild with fury, Reggie, being a biddable little creature, accepted that it was Salazar’s prerogative, as Basilisk, to avenge Harry and took it as his solemn duty to comfort Harry and sing him lullabies all night, every night, so as to disguise the occasional hissing of Parseltongue when the young boy opened his locket.

Thus, Saturday dawned far sooner than Harry could have believed possible on leaving Uroborus. Lying in bed, listening to Reggie hissing softly in his sleep, and enjoying the sensation of sunbeams combing their warmth through his hair, Harry studied his first riddle. It was a curious one and, at first, Harry thought it must be some sort of water dragon: the roaring rampage in which the riddler wrecked huts and palaces sounded sort of like something a dragon would do. However, Professor Snape had said that, in the Exeter book, the poems were all very tricky and made themselves out to be something else entirely.

*“Sssalazar?”* Harry whispered, opening the golden locket.

*“Yess, Sssnakelet?”*

*“Have you heard of the Exeter Book?”*

*“I helped write part of it”* snisshed Slytherin, wryly. *“And I won’t help you, Sssnakeling, you must learn to think for yourself. By the way, there’sss a very interesssting debate going on in the Big-Basssilisssk’ss Nessst: one of the hatchling’sss Bassilisskss, big-gold-ssssnake, wants hiss sssnakelet to have a water-snake-familiar and the big-bassilissk won’t have it! Ah, and now your bassilissk hasss arrived. Oh the hissssing and ssspitting! Good sssshow!”*

Harry giggled and turned back to his riddle. He couldn’t wait to see his basilisk again.

oOoOo

“Ah, good afternoon, Harry” said Severus, opening the door with a brief smile. Harry entered and was surprised to see a tall, grey-eyed man whose long, bright hair was just the same shade as Draco’s.

“Mr Potter, let me introduce Mr Malfoy, Mr Malfoy, Mr Harry Potter.”

“Good afternoon, Master Potter” said Lucius, extending a silver-suede gloved hand. Harry shook it shyly.

“Hello, Sir! Draco talks about you all the time. Thank you for the quill and all the sweets and stuff.” Harry burbled, reddening.

“You are very welcome, Master Potter.” Lucius turned to Severus. “I will leave you to your studies, gentlemen, thank you Severus.”

When Lucius had stepped into the floo, Severus indicated a chair to Harry.

“What shall we order for tea, Harry”

“Please, Sir, can we have some eccles cakes?”

“Of course, Harry.” Severus poured Harry’s tea in the green cup; it was funny, really, how the human mind worked. The green cup had always been his and, now, he found himself reserving it for Harry. As Severus added a teaspoon of sugar, he idly wondered whether his father had always given him his tea in that particular cup for the same reason.

“Um, Salazar said that the Headmaster didn’t want Draco to have a water snake” Harry offered shyly.

Severus raised an eyebrow “He really does get worse every year. I suppose it is a small blessing that Salazar doesn’t fully understand modern English or no secret would be safe.” Severus sighed, deciding that the horse had truly bolted, “Yes, Harry, Mr Malfoy called on Professor Dumbledore today to persuade him to allow Draco to keep a Hydrophis Belcheri. I expect that was how Slytherin got the gist of what was being discussed: ‘Hydrophis’ meaning ‘sea snake’ in Latin.”

“Oh, Draco really wants a snake” said Harry eagerly “he got dead upset on Monday because his Dad was cross with him and Draco thought he wouldn’t be allowed to have one at all, then Blaise, who thought Draco was dumb, getting so uptight over having a poisonous snake, told him to ask for a black mamba, which are well poisonous and real mean, like Aunt Petunia. And, when Draco found out, he was dead cross with Blaise for a bit but, then, on Wednesday morning, Draco received an owl from his dad which said that Madam Zambini, Blaise’s mum, had suggested something far more impressive than a cobra but he had to get Dumbledore to agree first. It was kind of a relief as Draco had been very angry at Blaise for fibbing and, when the owl came, Draco forgave Blaise because, if Blaise hadn’t fibbed, Draco’s dad wouldn’t have talked to Blaise’s mum and Draco wouldn’t be getting a cool snake. He’s decided to name it Isis if it’s a girl and Dahn if it’s a boy!”

Severus smiled; where was the poor, timid child of last week who would scarcely utter a word without cringing?

“So I have gathered, Harry. However, given the events of today, I imagine that, very soon, Blaise will be held in very high regard by young Master Malfoy?”

“You mean Dumbledore said yes?”

“Indeed. Within a week, Draco Malfoy will be the proud owner of the world’s most venomous snake.”

“Oh wow!” said Harry, his emerald eyes wide. “But, Sir, isn’t that dead dangerous?”

Severus smiled wryly “Draco had to have a poisonous snake and we were faced with a choice; either Lucius bought him an Adder, which are generally bad-tempered, albeit mildly poisonous, little brutes, or a Belcher’s Sea Snake which, while exceptionally deadly, are placid, friendly, tolerant little creatures who won’t bite without extreme provocation and, when they do, they only choose inject venom twenty-five percent of the time.”

“So, it’s like the choice between a nasty Yorkie and a nice St Bernard?” asked Harry, biting into an Eccles cake.

“A masterly synopsis” replied Severus with a wry smile “Yes. And there is also the fact that the sea snake, being aqueous in nature, would have little desire to leave its aquarium, whereas the Adder would escape it’s vivarium at every possibility.”

“Draco’s going to be well pleased” beamed Harry.

“Yes, I expect he is. Now, I have been hearing very positive reports from your tutors, Professors McGonagall and Flitwick are particularly pleased with your progress and Madam Hooch tells me that I have a Cup-winning Seeker in the making,” Severus said with a smile “However, is there anything that you need to discuss with regards to your studies?”

“No, Sir, though…” Harry blushed and his eyes dropped

“Yes, Harry?”

“Well, um, Professor Quirell doesn’t seem to like me much. He gives me funny looks and, well, it sounds a bit mental but he makes my head hurt.”

Severus’s heart froze “Where does your head hurt, Harry? Is it behind your eyes, or at the back of your skull or..?”

Harry reached towards his scar.

Right.

“Sometimes headaches can be caused by stress” Severus said gently, wondering how much he should reassure Harry. He didn’t want to make the boy complacent.

“Yeah, probably” said Harry, his eyes brightening: he had been a bit worried about those headaches but it was logical, wasn’t it; Harry became stressed because of the looks Quirell was giving him and that stress gave him headaches.

“And how are you settling back into your year group?” Severus asked, leading Harry away from the dangerous subject.

“Oh, it’s great” grinned Harry “Draco’s club is dead cool. I’m learning loads about Wizarding Culture and, some evenings, we go exploring. We’ve met some well cool second years, Gred and Forge; they’re Weasley’s brothers but they’re dead nice and they’ve told us about all sorts of cool things that they’ve found around Hogwarts. Draco, at first, didn’t think we could trust them but everything they’ve told us is true; there’s a dead cool portrait on the fourth floor- he knows some well funny songs.” Harry blushed "We’ve decided to call our club the 'DA', the Defence Association, because I’m teaching my friends the spells you taught me. I’ve managed to teach Draco, Blaise, Theo and Hermione all the spells, Pansy, Vin, Daphne know how to Disarm and Summon and Greg, Milly and Tracy know how to Disarm and Shield.” Harry’s face glowed with quiet pride.

“Well done, Harry, I’m very proud of you. If you like, I could give you a list of suitable spells which are, regrettably, not on the First Year Curriculum.”

Harry’s eyes sparkled “Thanks Sir! I really want to be a teacher when I grow up: I really like teaching Defence”

Severus chuckled “As do I, Harry. Unfortunately, the Headmaster wishes me to remain in my current position.”

Harry smiled winsomely “Maybe if I got a Mastery in Potions, I could teach Potions instead and the Headmaster would give you the Defence job? I’d like to stay at Hogwarts forever” said Harry shyly, adding in his mind ‘and with you, Dad’.

Severus smiled and offered Harry the last Eccles cake. If the Potions Master had been asked, at this moment, when he stopped seeing James and started seeing Harry, he would have claimed that he had never observed the father in this charming, all-too-loveable boy at all.