Hey, everyone. If any of my loyal followers haven't noticed, I have taken down my three other stories to redo and I plan to continue them when my muse is back on track. Right now my muse has been yelling and pleading with me to write this new story. This is my first time writing a Harry Potter story. This is a Tom (Vold)/Harry slash but it will not be for many chapters, so be patient, please.

Anyway onto the story.

I do not own Harry Potter so do not sue me.

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"Talk"

'Think'

"Parseltongue"

Chapter One – Comfort in Hell

I am Freak Boy. I am five.

My name is Harry Potter. I am six.

My name is Harrison James Evans Potter. I am seven.

I often wonder if I will live or if I will die here in this small cupboard with only the darkness to keep me company.

Petunia saddened as she gazed at the back wall of the cupboard under the stairs that was the room of her beloved nephew, one Harrison 'Harry' James Potter. She turned her gaze from the childish writing to her sleeping Harry. He was a small child. In one day he will be 11 yet he looks like he was 8. Petunia blamed her abusive husband. He hated Harry. She did what she could but it wasn't enough, not while she was also a prisoner here in this house as well. She tried to leave with Harry once but Vernon found them a week later. He almost killed Harry that day with the beating he dealt out in punishment for leaving him. She, herself, was beaten until she could do nothing but lay on the floor in agony. After that, he threatened to kill Harry if she stepped out of line or left again. What happened to her loving husband? The man who would surprise her with gifts when he got back from business trips or on anniversaries? He used to show that he loved her, now, now she isn't sure if he ever truly loved her.

Petunia pulled herself from her musings. She gently woke her nephew by running her fingers through his black shoulder length hair. She smiled sadly as his eyes fluttered open at the touch. His emerald eyes, the same color as the killing curse Lily once told her in a letter, slowly cleared of sleep. He gave a hesitant smile as Petunia gently pulled him out of the small 'room' into her arms for a hug she desperately wanted to give him yesterday when Vernon kicked him in the stomach and sent him to the cupboard for another night of no food.

"Aunt Petunia?" Harry's voice was soft but smooth. It always reminded her of the dark chocolate that he loved to eat when she could sneak him some.

"Vernon is gone for the next three days for a business trip and Dudley is at friends this weekend. He won't be back until Monday after school. Let's spend the day in London shall we love?" Petunia smiled as his eyes brightened. Oh, how she wished she could see them bright like that all the time.

"Can we eat at the Rose Café?" Harry asked as he took the bundle of clothing Petunia handed him eagerly.

"Yeah, we can also go to the bookstore. You deserve some new ones for all your good work in school. You got all A's again this year. After that, we need to pick up Dudley's new school uniform." Petunia smiled as Harry's smile got bigger at the idea of getting new books. He was so much like her lovely baby sister, so much like his mother that at times she was sure her sister was shining through him. "Go on and get changed."

Petunia watched as her nephew ran up the stairs to the bathroom to change into one of the few pairs of clothes that she bought and hid just for him. Tomorrow he would be 11. The thought wouldn't leave her alone. Would he get a letter like Lily did? Will she be able to hide it from her husband? Will she finally be able to get them out of this prison they called a house? So many questions swarmed through her mind. Questions she didn't have any answers for. She just didn't know what to do anymore. Neither of them could take much more of this life, it was going to kill them.

Her thoughts were cut off as Harry ran down the stairs in a pair of black jeans and a silver shirt with a hood. It had a tribal dragon on the front, the same shade as his eyes. She watched as he put on a pair of black trainers and grab his black and emerald shoulder bag. Petunia smiled at him again as she opened the door and herded him to the small car that Vernon had gotten her to use. It had a GPS tracker in it but it was still a bit of freedom for the two of them.

The ride to London was filled with laughter as they sang to the radio and wistful smiles as Petunia told Harry stories of Lily's and her childhoods. Stories she had told him a hundred times but he still loved to hear all the same. She never told him a lie. Harry knew he was a wizard. He knew he was a hero to most of the wizarding world. He knew that he should be getting a letter for Hogwarts on his birthday tomorrow. She hid nothing from him because doing so would only hurt him in the end and she would not cause him more pain than he already is subjected to.

Once in London they parked and quickly made their way to a small café on the corner of the main market. The atmosphere was warm and inviting as they made it to the small table by the main window. The waiter was quick to get their order and even quicker to bring it to them. Petunia and Harry sat in silence as they eat.

Harry was happy. It wasn't often that he got to spend time with his aunt. He couldn't help the smile he wore freely on his lips. He watched his aunt hum as she ate her piece of cherry pie before he turned back to look at the people around them. It was a hobby, people watching. You can learn a lot about someone by just watching them. You can also learn a lot about the world by just watching. A man in all black caught his attention across the street. 'Just a wizard going into the Leaky Cauldron. That world was so close, yet so far away.'

"Ready to go Harry?" Aunt Petunia drew his attention back. She was standing, waiting to go with a soft smile on her face. She knew what he was looking at. Harry nodded.

The bookstore was only two stores down so they made their way there first. Harry was barely containing himself from bouncing as they stepped in. Aunt Petunia just shook her head with the smile still in place as she gave Harry the go ahead. He left her at the front of the store to go to the back left corner. Psychology, human behavior, and animal behavior were the topics of the day for him. Politics too but they were on the other side of the small bookstore.

'Inside the Mind of the Killer' caught his eye in an instant. He grabbed it after a moment and moved on. It was a few shelves over that he found a book that caught his eye after that, 'Reactions at War: Nature or Nurture'. He didn't hesitate to grab it before moving further down the shelves to the animal section. Harry spend five minutes looking for something interesting, yet nothing caught his attention. He was about to just pass the section when a book on the bottom made him pause. It was black leather, nothing truly eye-catching, no words on the cover, yet he felt the need to grab it. He pauses but added it to his pile without opening it. He moved through the store to the politics section for a quick look through. He found a book called 'Blood and Tears'. It talked about the politics that were at play during the Dark Ages of Britain, it was just the thing he wanted to read.

With his 'small' pile of books, Harry found his aunt standing by the cashier with her own three books. She was talking to the young woman behind the counter about the part-time opening the shop had. It would never happen, not while they were trapped with Vernon but he didn't need to tell her that.

"Aunt Petunia? Are you thinking of working here during the day while us kids are at school and Vernon is at work?" Harry asked putting his books up on the counter for the cashier to ring up.

"Yes, but your uncle might not like it." No, he wouldn't. "Now let's get these paid for so we can get Dudley's uniform and maybe ice cream after." Petunia set her own couple of books next to Harry's. The cashier rang up the books as Petunia finished up the job application. While waiting for Petunia to finish and get her wallet out, the cashier handed Harry his books when he indicated that he wanted to put them in his bag. The girl couldn't help but coo at how cute and well behaved he was.

Aunt Petunia grabbed Harry's hand in hers as she held her bag of books in the other. They left the store and continued down the street looking into windows and laughing at what people called fashion. The store to get Dudley's uniform came up and they went in. Different color and style uniforms hung on the walls. Petunia picked up Dudley's style and color before making her way to the cashier to pay. They made it out in less than five minutes. They moved on happy to just walk around together. It wasn't until they got the corner of the street that Harry saw a shop the caught his eye.

"Aunty, can we go in there please?" He asked pointing at the small dark shop. Petunia looked where Harry pointed to. It must have taken her a moment to realize that it was new before she nodded her head and started walking to it. They walked into the store to find it dimly lit and filled with the light noise of animals.

Harry smiled as he pulled away from his aunt to look around. Petunia let him as she herself went to look around. Harry looked at the fish in tanks swimming in colorful schools and then to the rats in a tank beside some mice. He happily petted a cat that was walking freely around the shop as he made his way to the ferrets. He watched as the small white ones pounced and played with each other but stayed clear of the smallest black one. That one caught his attention the most. It was the smallest and its eyes were still closed. Surely it was too small to be away from its mother?

The sign on the glass said you could hold them so Harry opened the top of the tank and carefully picked the little black ferret up and brought it to his chest with a calm, soft smile. The little one started nuzzling around in his hands. It was cute and fit in the palm of one hand.

Not wanting to put the little one back just yet Harry shut the lid and continued his exploration with it still in his hands, gently petting it. He looked at the rabbits, then the birds. He got excited when he saw the lizards and then the one animal he loved to watch and read about, the snake. The shop only had four tanks but he didn't care. A python, long and lazy on a fake branch, lay in the first one. He passed it by as they were so common and they never really interested him for some reason. A green tree snake no longer than his forearm lay in the next one curled up on a heated rock. He looked at it for a few minutes before he moved on. The third one was weird to his eyes and it caught his attention fully. He had never seen another like it in any of his studies. It was also small enough to lie in his hand, finger to wrist. It must have been a hatchling. Its eyes were like opals, shifting between different colors. Its scales looked black in some angles but then green and blue in the others. It was, "Beautiful".

The snake lifted its head to look at Harry. "Thank you, Speaker. I am a Twilight Viperesk." A female as her voice was smoother than the male snakes he had spoken to in the past.

"I am sorry beauty, please pardon my ignorance but I have never heard of such a breed." Harry moved closer to the glass when he felt the little one he still held scrabble up to lay on his shoulder under his hair. Harry gave it a gentle scratch on its back and turned back to the beauty inside the tank.

The snake looked at the ferret with interest for a moment before dismissing it and focused its attention back to Harry. "My kind is not known in this world and in the other we are rare. Only a handful of us has let ourselves be seen. Fewer of us have ever bonded with a magic user." She paused a moment to look at Petunia who walked behind Harry before looking back to him. "Speaker, will you please take me with you? I fear the filth who owns this shop is planning to try to feed me to the cobra. My venom is not yet strong enough to keep me safe."

Harry looked at the Viperesk then to the king cobra in the next tank. He turned to Petunia with a troubled expression. "Aunt Petunia…" He paused to chew on his lip "I know this might sound strange but can I please get this snake and maybe the ferret?" He indicated to the little one curled up on his shoulder.

"Oh Harry," Petunia looked worried at the animals, not worried if they might hurt her nephew but what Vernon and Dudley would do to them if they were found. She looked at her Harry, who looked so hopeful that she just couldn't tell him not and crush that look. He so rarely asked for anything. "Alright. Yes, but you need to keep them out of sight at all time and they need to be silent. We don't want them to get killed now."

Harry gave Petunia a strong hug whispering thank you over and over. Petunia looked to find a worker as Harry turned back to the tank. "You cannot bite anyone where we are going, cannot eat my little one, and you must stay hidden. Where I live is dangerous but I will hopefully be leaving that place soon and taking you two with me. Understand?"

"Yes, but your little one is too little. I will watch over her and keep her safe with you." She nodded, seemingly making it official that she was going to be the little one's caretaker when Harry was busy. Harry smiled at that. His aunt pulled him back before he could say anything else. A greasy man with leather gloves came up beside them. Harry watched him open the lid and without a care grabbed the Viperesk and shoved her into the box he held in his left hand. Harry felt his anger rise. He pushed it down as he took the box from the man's hand.

"Aunty, I am going to get some milk, a bottle, and some soft food for my little one. I will meet you up front." Harry barely waited to see his aunt nod before turning on his heels and making his way over to the food aisle to get the items he listed. He needed away from the man before he gave in and hit the man.

They made it out of the store with only a small fuss from the store worker trying to take the ferret from Harry's shoulder and put her into a box. Harry was having none of that. Petunia had to insist it was fine before the man relented. As they exited the store Harry opened the box holding his beautiful Viperesk to allow her to slither out of the horrid thing and wrap around his wrist instead.

Before going home they stopped by an ice cream stand to relax and enjoy a cold treat. Harry spent the time learning about his new beauty. She was only two weeks old, old enough to hunt but not to protect herself. She told him how some knowledge was passed from generation to generation at birth so the two of her kind that was born would be able to survive. She spoke of how her kind came about by the joining of the last Twilight Viper and the first Basilisk and how after that it didn't matter what kind of snake a Twilight Viperesk mated with, the young would always be a Viperesk. She finished by telling him that she would like to start the bonding process with him. Harry agreed. Before they could go into the process Petunia reminded him that they needed to go home. They needed to do so quickly as his little one would be waking up to eat soon.

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Here's the first chapter everyone. Hope you liked it. Review and tell me what you think!