(I'm thinking)

"I'm speaking"

Pairing: Yaoi M/M, Harem – top Harry x bottoms Draco / Tom (TMR) / Cedric

Last Time:

The Minister dumped out the tiny copy of his memory and set the empty bowl down in front of Remus, "I'm going to need as much detail as possible. Everything about the cloak that you can remember and Sirius' escape."

XXXXXXXXXX

'Persephone, how are you feeling today?' Gloria spoke as she glided out of the water and sat in the patch of sun right next to the large basilisk.

'About as well as can be expected in a hospital type dwelling.' Persephone scoffed in annoyance. 'I'd much rather be looking after those hatchlings especially after what happened. Foolish spiders had no right going on my territory. Tell me, is that minister doing anything about that?!'

The massive crocodile noticed a light blinking on the collar the basilisk was wearing, 'Now do calm down. Your blood pressure is going far too high, my friend.'

'I have every right to be furious. I don't like the greedy brat in charge. That school is unprotected. Also, let's not forget I'M IN A HOSPITAL! I only agreed to come out because my eyes were itchy and I thought this would be quick, but it has been nearly two moons!' The giant serpent hissed.

Gloria groaned, 'You've spent too much time around little ones. You're actually acting like them. Keep in mind that itchiness was a full blown infection and you only started recovering last week. Also, how many times must I tell you it's a sanctuary not a hospital. Believe me, a human hospital is far more boring.'

Persephone scoffed in annoyance, 'I'm centuries older than you so I won't hear such nonsense. Now tell me something interesting instead of chastising me like a hatchling. Let's go back to that question of mine that you didn't answer.'

'Yes, yes. You are quite a stubborn serpent.' The crocodile muttered slightly amused by the use of the 'I'm older' excuse from the snake who acted like a child. 'As I was going to say, the minister was talking to Brian. They are going to have Gringotts call a court hearing to discuss Dumbledore's actions during your extraction.'

'You mean lack of action. While pathetic, revealing that stupidity it won't stop that brat from pulling off more of his schemes.' The basilisk hissed, still not liking that Dumbledore was anywhere near impressionable children. 'What he did to Tom was awful. I'll sink my fangs in his flesh the first chance I get.'

Gloria gave a guttural growl that almost seemed cheerful, 'If timed correctly then this should drag Dumbledore out of that school and, hopefully, into Azkaban. I'll tell you more later. Right now you have a guest.'

'A guest? Who-' Persephone was raising her head to see if any humans were in the enclosed domed building a not far away and was happy to see that there was. 'Tom! My little hatchling! How are you? Is everything ok at your new school?'

Tom came out onto the balcony encircling the glass dome with a sanctuary healer, 'Persephone! I missed you! How did you know about that? No one would let me visit until now.'

The blue robed sanctuary healer sighed, "You would've been allowed to visit a month sooner if your friend wasn't so stubborn about taking her medication-"

'That stuff was foul and as you can see I didn't need it!' Persephone hissed showing off her coils.

The healer leaned over to whisper in Tom's ear, "We mixed the medication in a portion of beef. She never noticed. Her friend down there helped distract her so we could apply ointment without her knowing.'

Tom tried to hold back his amusement of the sneaky trick and looked down to see who the healer was talking about, 'Gloria! Hello!' He yelled happily. In an instant he knew Brian's familiar was filling his old friend in on everything going on. He waved at the crocodile as a third person came onto the balcony. Tom jumped slightly surprised by the person's presence.

Persephone saw the slightest hint of nervousness in her hatchling and zeroed in on the newcomer, 'Who are you?' She asked, though despite her protective nature she kept herself from snapping. After all, the newcomer was just a young hatchling too and she wanted to tread carefully before marking the boy as a danger to Tom.

'I'm Julian. It's nice to meet you!' Julian smiled as he looked at Tom. "Sorry it took so long. Tanzanite had to be scanned before being let in."

'Foolishness! I'd never taint my human. Those spells were unnecessary.' A tiny Tanzanite muttered sulkily as he perched on Julian's ear.

Since no one else heard the tiny occamy Julian decided to respond through his mental link with his familiar, (It wasn't me they were worried about. They were being careful to protect the other creatures here. Now we have to go to the meeting soon so go grab details from Gloria while Tom's talking.) Julian commented mentally getting a little nuzzle for an affirmative. The occamy used his tiny size to his advantage and slipped away to have a secret chat with the crocodile.

"It's ok." Tom smiled almost shyly.

The healer chuckled, "I'll leave you boys to chat." He glanced at Persephone. 'Behave.' The healer ordered before going back inside to give them some privacy.

Persephone snorted in annoyance, 'The nerve of these supposed healers.'

Tom sighed in amusement, 'They're trying to take care of you so I'm on their side.'

'My hatchling has betrayed me! Where did I go wrong?' The basilisk hissed dramatically getting the two boys to chuckle. 'Now tell me, how do you both know each other?' She asked, taking note of the cute way Tom kept glancing at Julian.

'We live together!' Julian said with a cheeky smile as Tom blushed at the blunt statement.

'Oh thank the scaled gods! Not all my lessons have gone to waste!' Persephone snickered.

'He's eleven! That's not what he meant!' A very red faced Tom yelped.

The basilisk hissed in amusement as she leaned her massive, yet graceful, form closer to gently nuzzle him, 'A little teasing, Tom, it's just some teasing. Really, you can't take a joke sometimes. It reminds me of my old master. The crocodile told me one named Brian became your guardian and that man has a son.' She looked over at Julian. 'That's you, correct?'

'Yes! I'm Julian River White, Brian White's son. He's here too, but they only allow two visitors out here at one time.' Julian said happily subtly glancing at Gloria who was seemingly silently chatting with a bug, but it was actually the tiny occamy.

Persephone's whole body seemed to soften at that and nuzzled the boy, 'Thank your father for me then. Tom has always needed a family. I always wished it'd happen and it did … a little late, but I'm happy nonetheless. Now tell me everything!' She hissed happily no longer suspicious about the blonde boy with Tom.

For the next hour the boys told the giant basilisk about school and their home life. Tom did most of the talking since he was so excited to see his old friend. There was so much to tell and the old serpent waited patiently absorbing every word.

'Wandless Magic … oh that brings back memories. I feared it would become a forgotten art. It's also nice to see more snake speakers again even if they are rude.' Persephone hissed with a hint of longing brought about by the nostalgia.

'Again?' Tom glanced at an equally confused Julian before looking at his serpent friend. 'You knew there were others before? Everyone in magical Britain seems to think Salazar Slytherin was the only one and you had to be related to him to have that skill. How did that happen?'

'Well …' Persephone actually seemed to shift her eyes guiltily. 'I was so excited when I found my master I told him he was the only one who understood me … and I might not have explained everything about familiars and the deep link between us. He got the wrong idea and assumed I meant he was the only one who could talk to snakes. There weren't any other snake speakers locally and the thought made him happy so I never corrected him.'

Julian chuckled, "So that was one big misunderstanding." His smile turned to a frown as he saw Tom's thoughtful expression. "Tom? You ok?"

The teen jumped slightly as the comforting hand on his shoulder broke him from his thoughts, "Yes, I'm fine." He said with a slight hint of shyness in his tone. "I was just curious if I will find my familiar too."

"Uncle Sev found his familiar not long ago so it might take time, but you will find it eventually. I know it!" Julian said barely noticing his own familiar sneaking into his hair.

'He is right, hatchling. You will have one …' Persephone said softly, letting her sentence trail off as thinking about something. 'The sun has crawled across much of the sky. Little hatchlings should be home right now.' The slight knocking on the glass door alerted the boys to Brian's presence and everyone knew the visit was done. 'Rest well and learn much, my little hatchlings.' Persephone said with a couple affectionate nuzzles before both boys left. 'My eyes may not be as deadly as they once were but they are still sharp. Are you going to tell me what you were chatting about with the occamy?' She asked, shooting the crocodile a suspicious look.

Gloria gave an amused growl, 'Of course … it was nice to see that you aren't always an old grump.'

'My teeth are still sharp too. You'd do well to keep that in mind.' Persephone huffed.

XXXXXXXXXX

Brian smiled as Tom and Julian came back through the glass door, "So how was the visit?"

"It was fun. Thank you for letting me see her." Tom said gratefully getting a smile from the headmaster as they walked towards a floo. As grateful as he was he couldn't help but feel sad. "She had several scales that were broken. I never saw that before." He said sadly as they flooed home.

Tanzanite fluttered up to his perch next to the couch, 'You are human like my human. You never could've seen much in the dark pipes.'

"I don't know what he said, but I feel like it's true." Brian said cheerfully. "Now what do you boys want for dinner?" After some options were thrown around they decided on quesadillas, but as they were sitting down to eat Brian became serious for a minute. "I asked Professor Goldman and Professor Kathy to call Silvia and Sophia if things run long tomorrow."

Tom raised an eyebrow, "It's just a meeting, right? How long could it go?" He asked, feeling as if something was off. "I can floo home myself if it's too much trouble."

"No." The headmaster said firmly, "There is a safety issue there. No children floo without a guardian." He couldn't help but smile as the teen pouted.

"It's ok." Julian smiled comfortingly. "We have it covered. Just trust us and we'll explain later. We'll be celebrating a lot this break." He said before munching on a cheesy quesadilla.

"Umm ok." Tom said, but then his eyes widened. "Is this about my-"

"Shhh," Brian shushed the boy. "Some details need to stay quiet. That way no one can lie." He said with a wink.

The teen pouted slightly, but he knew they'd explain tomorrow when they returned from the meeting. Of course, knowing that didn't make the next day any easier for him. His curiosity was destroying his focus. Unfortunately, it was the day of break that he was working with his professors and they were working with levitating heavy books.

"Tom!" Kathy yelled when the teen seemed to zone out and lose control of the dictionary he was trying to levitate over his head.

When the teen lost control the DADA professor, who was watching the interaction at the edge of the class, froze the book in mid air and right before it hit the teen's head no less, "You must maintain focus. Allowing a single foolish distractioning thought to take over would've led to your skull being cracked." Brian's deputy headmaster snapped though it was hard to find the comment or tone harsh when a long feathered cat toy on a string popped out of the long white charmed hair. A kitten jumped out of the old wizard's hair soon after and ferociously tackled the feathers on the shoulder before racing after it as the toy dove back in the hair. Both the kitten and the toy vanished in the hair and Greg didn't even acknowledge that anything happened at all.

"Yes, I'm sorry, Professor Goldman, Professor Kathy." Tom said sheepishly while subconsciously looking for the kitten and wondering what spells the man had on his hair for it to do the many things it does.

Kathy chuckled, "It's perfectly ok. I'm not surprised that you're distracted with it technically being winter break and all."

Greg huffed seemingly not noticing the cat toy that suddenly popped straight out of his head or the tiny kitten paw that popped out to swat at it, "It's only the first day of break, an early break mind you, and he volunteered to use the day to expand his studies so he can get to the level he should be at. He shouldn't be this distracted. He was nearly hurt and it's not like him." The old strict wizard said, sounding concerned. "Is there something specific on your mind, Tom?" Greg asked not even flinching as the feathers on the string toy, and unfortunately little kitten claws, swatted his forehead.

"It's nothing, sir." Tom said, trying not to laugh at the kitty and his professor's complete lack of reaction. "I was simply wondering what the meeting was about."

"An intriguing mystery indeed." Greg nodded understanding the lack of focus now. "Answers are right around the corner though so try not to worry."

Kathy nodded with a smile, "Yes, we'll see what's going on soon … umm Greg, you're bleeding."

"Hmm?" The cat toy sprang up making the kitten spring all the way out to try and grab it before they both fell straight down and disappeared into the hair again. It wasn't until after the toy and kitty were gone that Greg inspected his head and shrugged, "Those pixies must be wreaking havoc again."

Tom looked at Kathy, "Does he really not know?" He whispered pleadingly. He really wanted to know if the wizard was an insanely good actor or really didn't know about the enchanted hair.

"Don't think about it." A laughing, and rather unhelpful, Kathy said.

A far more focused hour passed and finally it was time to go home, but Tom was concerned when the twin potion professors, who finished their honeymoon and were back to work, ended up needing to come pick him up. They took him home and stayed with him, but didn't say what was going. It wasn't until Brian and Julian got home that he learned everything ...