An hour later Tom found himself pacing in the hallway outside his chambers; occasionally he would stop and look at the door, wringing his hands, before resuming his pacing. Snape was leaning against the wall watching him, amusement plain on his face.
"What do I say to him?" Tom finally asked.
"I dare say he won't care what you say as long as you say something. Pacing around here certainly isn't going to resolve anything."
"You are right of course."
"Of course. And besides, if the boy didn't want anything to do with you, he would have left tonight without ever having revealed himself."
"What if he only showed himself because of Black?"
Snape snorted.
"You've met Celeste and Oma, correct? And from what you've said of the boy as Frost, they could have gotten the mutt and the boy together with no one else being the wiser. Harry chose to show himself to you and you are acting like a ninny."
Tom stopped pacing abruptly.
"A ninny?"
Snape smirked.
"Most definitely a ninny."
Tom 'hurumphed' disgustedly and entered his chambers.
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Meanwhile Draco was not having a good day. He was alone at his family estate having begged off going with his father to Riddle Manor over some captive. He liked Tom, really, but most of the time the man just spoke to Oma and since Draco couldn't speak Parseltongue, it was rather boring.
"How the Hell had this happened?" he asked himself, turning side to side while examining himself in the floor length mirror.
He'd been admiring a new set of robes when he'd sneezed. Now he was setting in a crumpled pile of the aforementioned set of robes. He'd turned into a snake.
"Draco? Is that you my Draco?"
The confused Wizard turned but only saw Oma.
"Who's there?" he called.
"I am the only one here, my Draco."
Draco blinked, realizing with no little shock that it was indeed Oma that had spoken to him. He apparently now understood the snake language.
"Oma?"
"Yes, my Draco."
"I've gone and turned myself into a snake."
"I had noticed. And a very fine specimen you are, too."
Draco ducked his head shyly. This was not one of the fawning sycophants that followed him around in school and he was not used to honest compliments from anyone but his parents.
"Do you know what kind of snake I am? My father will like this development; I've never had any Animagus training before."
"You are a King Snake. I'd have said an albino but you've kept your normal eye color.
Draco turned back to the mirror and admired the light yellow markings that traced down his white body.
"Am I poisonous?"
"No. Humans like to keep King Snakes as pets."
"What?" Draco hissed, incensed.
"It is because they are so even tempered. I've met several King Snakes and I've liked them all. They are the most popular among the Serpent's Court."
"Snakes have a Court?"
"Of course."
Draco slithered closer to the Syren.
"Oma? What is that wonderful scent?"
"It is mating season for me."
Slowly he twined them together.
"Is it really?"
"Yessss..."
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Tom found Harry perched on one of the two cushy chairs flanking the still burning fireplace. The younger man was kicking his feet back and forth as if he were a child of five, his head was bowed and he was still gloriously naked.
"Hello Harry," Tom said softly, from only a few paces away.
The younger Wizard froze. After a moment he swiveled his head to look at the Dark Lord who couldn't contain his gasp of surprise. He'd been too far away in the throne room to see it, but Harry's emerald eyes were still slit, as they were when he was in his Syren form. The effect was startling.
"Hello Tom," he replied.
Tom cautiously moved to the chair opposite the young man and sat. Harry didn't move but watched intently, teeth worrying his lower lip.
"Did you mean what you said Tom," Harry asked, "Do you still want me as your mate?"
The Dark Lord smiled at the uncertain tone. Harry was rather irresistible when he was being shy and bashful.
"More than anything else in this world Harry. I think the real question is, however, do you want to be the mate of the man who killed your parents?" He raised a hand before Harry could answer. "I want you to truly think about this – it is not something that can be undone. In killing your parents I was inadvertently responsible for the abuse you suffered at the Dursley's and their subsequent abandonment of you. It is my fault you have spent the last twelve years as a Syren."
Harry's forehead wrinkled.
"You said when you killed my parents you were ill – cursed and not in your right mind – you were not lying. I could smell the truth of your statements. You also said that we are meant to be together and our magic has already bound us together. Everything is pointing me to you and I would be stupid to ignore this. I wish to mate and you are more than suitable, so let's mate."
Tom was a little dazed by Harry's reasonableness. In all the scenarios he had foreseen, this calm acceptance was not one of them. Harry's last statement finally penetrated and brought his thoughts up short.
"What? Right now?"
Harry stood and taking Tom's hand pulled him over to the bed.
"There is no time like the present, my Tom."
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Draco lay on the edge of wakefulness, enjoying its warm timelessness. He floated in the dark, comforting embrace where nothing existed and nothing mattered.
The young Wizard frowned as ripples of awareness penetrated his dark cocoon. He could hear hissing. Something about that sound pricked a memory but it didn't want to emerge from the sleepy sludge of his brain.
There was a slight movement behind him.
Groaning he managed to roll over, eyes still closed. He felt like a melted chocolate frog. He didn't think he'd every felt so loose, so relaxed. But something was fluttering at the back of his brain making him tense up. He could feel panic but there was nothing for him to be panicking about. Then the blonde realized that it wasn't him panicking – it was more like knowing someone else was.
Blinking open his eyes he began to panic.
There was a girl in his bed, a naked girl in his bed. He blinked again as she turned her tiny frame toward him. There was a naked woman in his bed, he reevaluated. Her skin and hair were perfectly white, making her seem like a beautiful statue carved from a single piece of marble. Her eyes were liquid silver with slit black pupils. Here eyes were mesmerizing; her eyes were wide with fear and filled with tears.
Draco shook his head and he was finally aware enough to hear her short staccato breathing. Then he made the connection.
"Oma?"
أنت تقرأ
Snake Boy
قصص الهواةAbandoned by the Dursleys at the age of four, Harry is raised by a magical serpent called a Syren. What happens when he decides the Dark Lord is the only one who can help him 'get hatchlings?
