Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own it. Still not making any money.

A/N: During parseltongue, the speakers will speak in italics, but will never use more then the correct amount of 'S's, becaussse ssspelling thingsss like thissss really annoyssss me. And Harry's sorta excepting of everything for a four year old because... well, he doesn't know what to be afraid of. So there. I win.

Harry was cold, and didn't know where he was or what was going on. He had never been outside the house before, and he was pretty sure that his uncle wasn't there anymore. He was scared, but he knew that crying noisily was bad (noise of any manner was bad, actually), and he got slapped for doing so, so he began to cry very silently. She heard it though. She had been sunning her self in a clearing before a large (from the sound of it) human lumbered past, and she headed back they way he came, curious as to what a human was doing in this forest. Soon, she had come across Harry.

Harry was very lucky, to say the least. The basilisk that found him had just eaten. She flicked her tongue in the direction of the terrified human, determining it to be very small, and therefor a child, obviously abandoned. She turned and started to leave; she wanted nothing to do with humans, child or not. She snorted to her self contemptuously, "Well, at least the human didn't eat his young, I suppose. Which is more then I can say for some of the creatures here..."

Now, this shocked Harry enough to stop his frightened crying. The large green moving thing had spoken, and he had understood it, unlike when his aunt and uncle spoke to him, which was a rarity in itself. Completely stunned by this, Harry decided to see if he could speak as well, "lady?" Harry had decided that the thing sounded female to him, and addressed it as such.

It was the Basilisk's turn to be completely shocked. She maneuvered her self around to face him, testing the air in front of her as she went. The human was the only thing around generating heat, and was the only thing that could have spoken. "... Did you just speak to me, Child?" She asked incredulously.

Harry immediately stuck his little fingers into his mouth, feeling that he had done something wrong, "'m sorry. I won't do it anymore."

The basilisk slowly swung her head in closer to Harry, as if peering at him. Harry stared wide eyed at her, his vision becoming clearer as she neared. He had never seen anything like her before... but something seemed off about her. She interrupted his musings by addressing him thoughtfully again, "A Parselmouth." She swung her head a bit, in contemplation, "I've never met one before. Tell me, child, what are you doing out here?"

Harry looked around a bit, seeing nothing but different shades of green and brown, "I don't know. Where is 'here'?"

If the basilisk had eyebrows, she would have raised one, "We're in my forest. The Muggles call it a Wildlife Preserve, the Wizards use it to have a spot for magical creatures to live without worrying about Muggles seeing them."

Harry was silent, not understanding most of what she said. She seemed to regard him for a minute, "What is your name, child?"

Harry was quite for a couple of seconds, thinking about this, "What's a 'name'?"

The basilisk tightened her face, making a snake's version of a frown, "Why, a name is what you are called."

Harry sucked on his fingers contemplatively. There was something that his uncle and aunt always called him... "... Boy."

"What? You'll have to try to say that in Parseltongue." she paused, "that's what we're speaking, you know."

Harry crinkled his forehead, "It's... My name is Boy, I think. That's what I'm called."

"Boy? That's... Well, that's not a proper name, that's what you are."

Harry was quite, "Well... What's your name?"

"I don't have a name. I wasn't given one."

"Why not?"

She gave a hissing chuckle that shook her whole body, making her head bob slightly, "That's a bit of a story, really. Where did your father go?" She worded her question carefully, not wanting to upset the boy.

Harry frowned again, pulling his hand away from his mouth with an audible pop, repeating "father" over and over in his head. Suddenly, something clicked in his mind, the word connecting with a meaning. There were lots of words that were in his newly discovered vocabulary that he didn't understand, but it seemed that if he concentrated long enough on them, they'd figure themselves out. "That wasn't my father. That was my uncle. I don't have a father, I think."

"And your mother?"

"I don't have one of those either." Harry paused, looking unsure about something, before making up his mind, "I'd like to have one, though. Will you be my mother?"

The basilisk stilled. That has been unexpected. She smiled as much as a snake can, "I suppose it would be nice to have a son. Basilisks don't have those, we're created."

Harry didn't really understand what that meant, but smiled up at her anyway. It was growing dark, and Harry shivered from the growing chill in the air. She noticed a slight drop in Harry's body-heat, "It's time for good little human boys to go to sleep," She said, curling herself next to Harry, scooting him so that he was leaning on her, and covered him with her tail, "Would you like me to tell you a bedtime story?"

"Can it be about your name?"

She let out another rumbling chuckle, "Yes. Basilisks like myself are hatched from regular chicken eggs, if a toad sits on them. So, one day, a young dark and foolish wizard decides that he wants a basilisk, in order to make himself more powerful. So, he hatches me. He thinks that when he's the first person I see, that I will regard him as a parent figure. But, Basilisks can kill people with their eyes, and he didn't want to take any chances..."

She continued her tale until Harry had fallen asleep, keeping the details to a minimal. The wizard had taken the back of her head in a firm grasp after she had gotten a little look at him, tilted her head back, and lit his wand. She had tried to squirm away from the flame that was descending toward her left eye, wishing snakes had evolved to have eyelids. The wand tip was was pushed into her eye and twisted, her eye snapping and popping like overcooked meat. She writhed, but the process was repeated on her other eye, completely burning her eyes over. His grip had relaxed slightly, and she had managed to twist her head around, sinking her fangs into the flesh in-between his thumb and first-finger. She ended up in the forest, where she learned to adapt to her blindness.

AN: Wow, I got a lot of reviews. I guess I should write Tom/Harry fics more often. oo

SithelfJen: But, I is using the spellcheck and everything. ;; Dost thou mean my challenge criteria? 'Cause, I didn't write that, PxW did. Yup. thumbs up

Vampire Kid Kara: Thanks! I liked the idea too, which is why I'm writing it and junk. I wish I could take credit for the idea, but sadly, I cannot. wistful sigh

Nancy: Yeah, the main idea for the plot was PxW's, but if you are complementing my plot padding, then thank you. wiggles happily

Maryna: PxW is the author who made the challenge. She's on , they have a little individual challenge section. They also have bigger contests.

Serpent of Light: I hope you know that when I read you review I thrust my arms into the air and made little squealing noises. Thank you very much, you make me blush! (And, shhh. I can spell 'since' that way. I'm just cool like that. shifty look mebbeh I should actually read over my chapters before I post them. Nah.)

Thank you to everyone for the great reviews! I am quite pleased with myself now. You've given me an inflated head. If I didn't respond to your review, don't think that I didn't appreciate it, I just haven't had that many for a story before, let alone a chapter falls over You all are awesome.