Darkness Unveiled

PROLOGUE

"Uncle Sirius!" screamed a dark, unruly haired boy with startling emerald eyes as he ran towards the man at the doorway. The man, Sirius Black just grinned his boyish grin and hugged the newly four year old toddler as he came close enough.

"So sport, what have you been up to? Any mischief?" he asked with a wink. Here, the toddler, a boy named Harry James Potter, just shook his head but a sheepish grin occupied his face. Sirius just barked a laughter since the boy was just like James and him that it was scary.

"Well it's your birthday kiddo, is there anything you want?" he asked the boy, who just shook his head.

"All that matters is that you're here Uncle Sirius!" he exclaimed and Sirius didn't wonder why this innocent boy had been his favorite godchild. Just then, his best friend, James Potter, and his wife, Lily Potter, came down from the stairway.

"Harry! Are you bothering Sirius?" demanded Lily.

"He was no trouble Lily," Sirius said before Harry could apologize. This was the odd thing that Sirius noticed. James and Lily seem partial to the newest addition to the family, a two year old named George Potter. Though Sirius couldn't understand it, both seem to be negligent towards Harry, so as his godfather, Sirius tried to make Harry seemingly happier about his life.

"Uncle Sirius! When's Uncle Remus coming?" asked Harry curiously.

"He'll probably be here around tonight since he's still tired. The moon has just been full two nights ago so Remus is still resting," said Sirius to soothe Harry. Harry was aware that his other uncle became frequently ill with the arrival of the full moon. His parents had told him that it was something about a werewolf but Harry didn't believe them. He thought that it was probably just another ruse to scare little boys.

"Prongs, where's the decorations for the party then?" James just grinned sheepishly.

"You mean you haven't started yet? Blimey, we better get going then!"

Harry stared longingly at the candles on his cake. Not George's, but all his. All around him were his family. At his left were Uncles Remus and Sirius. On his right were his parents and his brother. All around him were his family, and that was all that mattered on his fourth birthday.

"Come on Harry! Make a wish!" encouraged his uncle Remus. Remus Lupin was still tired looking and his eyes were still bloodshot, yet he wouldn't have missed his godchild's birthday for the world. Like Sirius, Remus noticed the way that James and Lily seem to like George more than poor Harry, although he had no idea why.

Closing his eyes, Harry thought of the thing that he wanted most in the world…his parent's love. I wish that mum and dad will love me like they do with George, Harry thought as he blew out the four candles on the cake, as the entire room went dark before the adults had their wands out and said, "Lumos!"

"Let's get started on those presents!" said Sirius eagerly. Harry happily complied, starting with the large, regally wrapped box from Uncle Remus. Opening it Harry found a mini revolving model of the galaxy. The stars shone brightly and the whole model was as big as Harry was though it weighed as much as a feather.

Harry gasped in shock and glee, "Thank you Uncle Remus!" Remus beamed at Harry's pleasure at his gift. James sent him a glance.

"Remus, are you sure that you should have done that? Things like that are very expensive-" but James got no farther as Remus shot him a glare. Harry noticed the tension between the two and stared curiously before Remus bent down to ruffle his unruly hair.

"You're welcome cub," grinned Remus as Harry gave him a tight hug. Next was Sirius' present, since Harry's parents had already given him a large treasure trove of chocolate frogs. Like Remus, Sirius also got Harry a large present. What was curious to Harry was that the box seemed to vibrate or jiggle just slightly.

Ripping off the wrapping paper, which had Quidditch designs moving around, Harry saw that the box was wooden and like a crate. Harry lifted open the box and gasped at the surprise within.

"Uncle Sirius! Thank you so much! I've always wanted a snake as a pet!" exclaimed an ecstatic Harry. Looking at the snake, all can see that it was of medium size, about half the size of Harry. The male snake was a vibrant green with golden slits for eyes.

"Padfoot…you didn't by any chance give Harry a poisonous snake did you?" asked Remus warily. Sirius was notorious for his pranks and rash decisions when they all went to school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A snake wasn't the most child-friendly pet, and Remus was afraid that Sirius (despite having good intentions) hadn't ask whether the animal was safe before buying it.

As if to answer Remus' question, the snake leap from Harry's arms and swayed hypnotically on the floor while cautiously looking at them all. He stared mostly at Harry since he was the one right in front of him.

"Foolisshh humansss, you ssshall never capture me," the snake hissed. Surprisingly no one understood it except Harry, who eyed it in wonderment.

"Who ssshall die firssst I wonder…that boy looksss like a tasssty morssal," the snake continued looking pointedly at Harry.

"Do not eat us. We will not hurt you," said Harry quickly upon hearing the snake's dinner plans. However, when he spoke that, it was not in English, but rather in Parseltongue, or the language of the snakes. Everyone was taken aback, excluding Harry since he wasn't aware that he had even spoken in another language. The snake hissed in pleasure, and with a "Yess master," nodded his head and went back into the box once more while Harry continued petting him.

Everybody was shaken, mostly Lily. "J-James," she stuttered, "This has never happened in my bloodline before!" Her husband comforted her with soothing sounds while caressing her to calm his wife down. Sirius was shocked at the outcome of his gift. He knew the snake was poisonous when he bought it, but had it charmed so that it couldn't bite anyone unless his master wanted it to. His new master would, of course, be the first one who touched it. Sirius simply wanted a familiar that would be able to protect his godson when he wasn't there, but didn't realize how much trouble it would cause.

'Well on the bright side, I guess there won't be any communication problems…' was his belated thoughts.

By the end of the day, Sirius and Remus had to leave after another quick "happy birthday" to Harry. Once they left, Lily broke down in hysterical laughter.

"How could he James? His blood has always been a part of my lineage, but no one in my family has ever gotten that…that cursed ability!" sobbed Lily into her husband's arms. James just hushed Lily and tried to quiet her down. He led her to the living room couch and held her while she cried.

Harry looked down at the snake guiltily knowing that it was him that caused his mother pain. He quickly turned and went into his rooms but not before hearing one last shout from his mother, "No Potter should be able to speak to snakes!"

After closing the door behind him, Harry fell to the floor and broke down crying. Now he knew why his mother was in distress, and it was his fault!

"Calm down snake child. It isss not your fault," soothed the snake. Harry rose and went over to the crate which held his pet.

"Mum and dad hate me!" wailed Harry, "Maybe it's best if I just left them alone, that way they can enjoy life with George and don't have to worry about me and my –my- freakish gift."

"Perhaps, but where will you go snake child?" asked the snake. Since they had met, he had taken a liking towards Harry since he could speak Parseltongue and treated him with respect.

"It doesn't matter. I caused mum and dad enough trouble. It's best if I just leaved them alone," said a determined and sad Harry as he rubbed the tears out of his eyes. He felt as if no one wanted him anymore. 'No that's not true… Uncle Remus and Uncle Sirius still want me… but they get into so many arguments with mum and dad already because of me' he thought morosely. Opening his window, Harry eyed the ground. His room was on the second floor and it was a long way down.

Luckily for Harry, there was also a tree right next to his window. It was this tree that allowed him to explore during the summer and to just escape the pressures at home. Before he knew it, Harry was on the ground with his snake and walked to, or slithered in the snake's case, the forest nearby.

Stopping by a nice a large tree as a resting place, Harry soon fell asleep with his pet right alongside him, guarding Harry from the dangers in the darkness. It was not until the late hours of the night that Harry was woken up by his snake.

"Wake up ssssnake child!" hissed his snake friend, "There is another dangeroussssss sssnake coming. I can sssmell it in the air!" Harry became alert at his friend's warning.

Sure enough, a moment later, a large and powerful snake came towards them. This new animal was at least three times bigger than Harry. It glided gracefully and swiftly towards them, and Harry became afraid. He was unarmed and his friend was only about a fracction of the size of the new monstrous arrival.

"What are you doing here?" it demanded angrily.

"We go assss we pleassse," Harry's pet hissed back.

"You sssshould not be here. What are you doing here?" it demanded once again.

"We are running away and are just here to spend the night. We have no other places to go to, so please just leave us be," Harry said in Parseltongue, hoping that the new snake would leave him and his friend alone.

"You ssspeak our tongue! There iss but one mortal that can do that!"

Harry just shrugged. "So will you leave us alone?" he asked hopefully.

"Do you need a place to ssstay? My massster would be pleassssed it you sstay with him," said the snake slyly.

Harry turned to his pet and saw that it had turned its head to look back at him. The sign was clear. He would go along with Harry whatever Harry's choice was. Thinking about how he needed a home, Harry turned and smiled at the snake. His smile was the first one after he ran away from home.

"I accept," was all that Harry said before the snake led them away.

"Nagini, what has taken you so long?" demanded the man on a large chair overlooking the large room. His blood red eyes shone in the dark and his pale skin had an almost iridescent sheen to it.

"My lord, I found some…company in the forest while I was hunting," said Nagini in snake tongue, "They are waiting for you outside."

"Very well, summon them," he said impatiently as the snake slid off towards the door.

The next sight that the man saw was surprising to say the very least. He found himself looking at a small kid with messy black hair and piercing green eyes. Looking into those eyes, he saw a world of innocence and beyond that…pain.

"Nagini, why have you brought him?" he asked once he saw the boy and his companion…another snake.

"Master, he is able to speak our tongue," replied Nagini with a mysterious spark in her eyes. Then man was startled slightly. The ability to talk to snakes was reserved to the descendents of Salazar Slytherin only. Who was this boy that had the ability then?

"You, boy, who are you?" he asked in Parseltongue to test Harry's capability.

"Harry Potter," was his innocent reply and the man saw instant trust in the boy's eyes. "Who are you?" he asked innocently.

The boy was a Potter! The whole lot of them was nothing but a pain in the Dark Lord's eyes. Time and time again they foiled his plots!

The man drew in a sharp breath; it had been quite a while since someone had spoken like that to him. "I am Lord Voldemort!" he exclaimed.

"What were you doing in the forest by yourself?" questioned Voldemort.

"Running," was his reply, but the Dark Lord didn't miss the darkness that just veiled his eyes.

"From what?" he further asked in a demanding tone.

"My parents," was Harry's hesitant reply, "They don't care for me so I left to spare them the pain of having me." Voldemort was puzzled; a Potter forsaken from his family?

Also there was the fact that the boy was a Parseltongue. Furthermore, Voldemort could just feel the power emanating from him. Was this Slytherin's attempt at telling him something? He did need to train an heir, and was this not the perfect choice? He was both strong in magic and still young so Voldemort can teach him and train him in the ways of the Dark Arts.

There was the large fact that the boy in front of him reminded him of himself. Having no family, and not knowing the care of his parents, not that a Dark Lord cared about such trivial things as that. But still, Voldemort couldn't deny the fact that Harry reminded him of himself.

"I've a deal for you prat," said the Dark Lord. His large, hopeful, emerald eyes met Voldemort's smoldering gleaming ones. Voldemort soon found himself drawn into those eyes before he wretched out of his gaze.

"How would you like to work for me?" asked Voldemort. Harry just stared at him and bit his lips thinking.

"You dare to refuse my generous offer? What would you do without it? I'm offering you a chance to survive here but if you're not smart enough to see it then be gone!" Harry stared at Voldemort's statement.

Finally, Harry grinned and nodded his head, "All right then, under a wish."

The Dark Lord glared daggers at him before hissing out, "What?"

"Allow me to call you father," was his simple and earnest reply.

A/N - WOW! That was bloody LONG! First Harry Potter fanfic so please review okay? This story is an alternate version (kinda) of xxxlostdreamerxz's Darkly Treacherous. Please REVIEW!

Disclaimer - This will be for the entire story. J.K. Rowling owns and copyrighted everything about Harry Potter. This is just my entertainment and imagination.

Last revised: 12/18/2010

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