A Hogwarts Welcome

"So you can really understand what he is saying?" Daphne asked in an interested voice.

"Yep," Harry nodded as Jet moved so he was now resting on Harry's shoulders. "he's my best friend, I talk to him more than anyone else."

"How long have you two known each other?" Tracy asked, looking just as interested as Daphne.

"Few years," Harry answered. "I woke up one day and he was just there." Harry smirked as Jet rubbed his head against Harry's cheek.

"Oh...um...can we touch him?" Tracy asked Harry.

"Let me check," Harry responded before turning to Jet and speaking in parsletounge. "Jet, can they touch you?"

"Yes, but why do they want to touch me?" Jet hissed in a questioning voice.

"Because you're interesting." Harry replied.

"Fair enough." Jet nodded, happy for the compliment.

"He says you can touch him." Harry said tot he girls.

"I don't know if I will ever get used to that." Daphne shook her head at Harry's casual use of parsletounge, she and Tracy carefully brought their hands up and began stroking Jet.

"Oh, he's so smooth." Tracy whispered.

"I told you snakes weren't slimy." Daphne smirked, reminding Tracy of a conversation they had yesterday. It had started with them discussing the different Hogwarts houses, then somehow ended up with them discussing how slimy snakes were and how aggressive badgers could get.

"Oh I like this." Jet hissed.

"What did he say?" Daphne asked Harry.

"He likes it." Harry answered.

"Oh, that's good." Tracy smiled.

"So, I didn't suspect that many people would be able to speak to snakes, but it sounds like it's really rare based off the way you two are speaking about it." Harry commented.

"It is," Daphne nodded. "the last person who was confirmed to have been able to speak it was Salazar Slytherin."

"The founder of Slytherin house?" Harry asked.

"The exact same one." Daphne nodded.

"I suppose it makes sense then that his house symbol is a snake." Harry said with a thoughtful look on his face. "You said the last confirmed one, does that mean there are others?"

"There might be." Daphne shrugged. "None that I know of, though it was rumored that you-know-who was able to speak it."

"Really?" Harry blinked.

"Yeah but that's just rumors, I don't know if they're real or just somebody trying to make you-know-who look better."

"Hmm." Harry hummed. "I..." Whatever Harry was about to say was cut off as the compartment door opened. Standing in the doorway was a girl about their age, she had bushy brown hair, buck teeth and was already in her Hogwarts uniform.

"Has anyone seen a toad?" The girl began in a tired tone. "A boy named Neville has lost one and..." The girl paused upon seeing the snake in the compartment, her eyes became wide and her jaw dropped.

"Haven't seen a toad." Harry replied.

"T...that's a snake!" The girl gasped as she pointed to Jet.

"We are very aware of that." Daphne replied with an amused look.

"But you can't have a snake!" The girl protested. "You're only allowed an owl, cat or a toad."

"I'm better than those!" Jet hissed angrily, the girl took a step back but to her credit didn't run away like the redhead from earlier.

"He's not my pet," Harry began explaining. "he is my familiar."

"Familiar?" She asked.

"Basically a bonded animal." Tracy explained.

"Oh," The girl frowned. "can anyone get a familiar?" She asked hopefully.

"No," Daphne shook her head. "most witches and wizards will go their whole lives without getting one."

"Oh," The girl frowned again, looking disappointed and a bit jealous. "but anyway, it doesn't matter if it's a familiar, it's still a pet and the rules say you can only have a cat, owl or a toad."

"Familiars are not pets!" Jet hissed, Harry said the exact same thing to this girl, except in normal English of course.

"I already asked teacher." Harry informed her. "And she said it was fine, anyway, don't you have to go back to getting a 'toad' or whatever it was?" Harry asked. The girl looked like she was about to say more but clearly decided against it as she closed the door and walked away with a small huff.

"Well, that was pleasant." Tracy said in a dry voice.

"Forget her! Pet me!" Jet hissed impatiently, Harry rolled his eyes but translated. The girls blinked at the command but dutifully continued.

...

A short while later the train had arrived at Hogwarts, all the students stepped out, wearing their uniforms. Harry had brought Jet with him because - I am not a damn pet and I am not staying on this damn train - Jet was hidden under Harry's right sleeve, he kept his body wrapped around Harry's arm.

"All first years this way." A voice called out, the first years all saw Hagrid waving them over, he had a giant lantern in one hand.

"He's a big man." Tracy gulped.

"He is called Hagrid." Harry informed her.

"You know him?" Daphne asked.

"Not really," Harry shook his head. "I met him once at Gringotts." Harry said before he looked around, all the first years looked disbelieving and intimidated in front of a giant man like Hagrid, they probably thought that he would eat them or something. Despite that they all followed Hagrid, as they walked Harry pretended not to notice people whispering and pointing at him, or his scar to be more accurate. A few people instantly realized who he was, others took a few moments but pretty soon everyone realized that the boy-who-lived was walking with them. A short while later they arrived at a lake that where a lot of boats were waiting for them.

"Four to a boat." Hagrid called as he took an entire boat for himself.

"Ladies first." Harry said to Tracy and Daphne.

"Thank you." Daphne said as she got into the boat.

"Thanks Potter," Tracy said as she got in next. "glad to know that chivalry isn't completely dead."

"Yeah, and I wanted to make sure the boat wouldn't sink." Harry quipped as he got in next, the fourth person to enter the boat was a black skinned boy who nodded to them all as he sat down in greeting.

"Nobody was sitting here, right?" The boy asked.

"No," Harry shook his head. "just the three of us."

"I'm Blaise, Blaise Zabini." The boy introduced himself just as the boats began moving on their own.

"Nice to meet you, that's Daphne Greengrass and Tracy Davis." Harry gestured to each girl, both nodding at their name. "I'm Harry, Harry Potter, though I guess it's pretty obvious."

"Yeah, the scar kind of gives it away." Blaise nodded. "I think most people have worked it out." Blaise commented as he glanced at the people in the other boats, they were subtly - and not so subtly in some cases - trying to get a look at Harry.

"Honestly," Harry shook his head with disbelief. "you think they would be more subtle."

"I would have thought that they would have realized that they have an entire year to look at you and don't need to squeeze it all into a single night." Daphne commented idly.

"Glad to know you've got a future in comedy." Harry said as he rolled his eyes.

"Oh, you think so?" Daphne smirked.

Harry was about to respond when suddenly Hogwarts came into the view, it was a wonderful sight. The light from the moon bouncing off the water as a beautiful stands there against he dark as if created by magic itself. Before Harry knew it, he was smiling.

.....

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