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After storing the food in his trunk, Harry headed to the Apothecary and bought enough ingredients, cauldrons, and misc. potion supplies to create his own potion lab. 'I can use the spare room for it' Harry thought. He also bought some ready made potions. A few basic healing, nutrition, Pepper-Up, and Dreamless Sleep potions. The next stop was to get a new pair of boots with no slip, size adjusting, color change, cushioning, plus durability charm. There were eight galleons but were totally worth it. The next stop was a store for curse breaking supplies and misc. called Enchanted Objects.

Walking up to counter Harry pulled out his Sam Underhill cursebreaker ID and showed it to the man behind there. "Hi. I was just hired by Gringotts and need everything."

The shop owner took the ID from 'Sam' and ran his wand over it. It glowed blue and then he handed it back to Harry. "Everything is in order. I'll pull the basic kit together. Why don't you look around and see if there is anything else you might like."

Wandering around the shop he saw a Professional Dragonhide vest, gloves and cloak set, Target dummies and practice equipment, a belt with many expanded pouches, and a Bottomless Backpack. Deciding to get a backpack for himself and another for Hermione's birthday, he added it to the growing pile at the counter.

"Quite the selection Mr. Underhill. If you're going to spend a lot of time in the field, I would recommend a Wizards tent?"

"Not necessary, but thank you. What else did you bring me?"

"This is The Cursebreaker Field Kit. It has a bronze 12in telescope that is enchanted to see magical auras and wards. A Variety of chisels from 1in across to size of a needle, and a small hammer, all held in roll up Dragonhide. A variety of blank rune stones and pieces of bone for rune carving and The Cursebreaker guide book. All for 75 galleons."

"This all looks good. Add some more blank rune stones and I should be good to go."

"Right away sir."

After stowing his new purchases away Harry noticed he had two more hours to kill. Harry decided to get a few robes. Heading to Madame Malkins, he entered and started browsing. Madame Malkin approached and interrupted Harrys shopping.

"What can I do for you today, young man?"

"I just need one or two basic robes. Nothing too special."

"Nonsence, new robes are always special. Is there a color or trim you are looking for?"

"Basic black is fine. How about a deep red trim. Do you have that in stock?"

"Of course, of course. Stand up here and let me get your measurements." Harry bought two standard robes and Madame Malkin talked him into getting a set of dress robes. Harry also found a selection of 'Muggle' clothes. Just a few basic pants and shirts, but it was better than what he currently owned.

Feeling hungry found Harry back at the Leakey Cauldron. After another excellent meal and a reassurance he still wanted his 'To Go' order, Harry stepped back into the alley.

Deciding to get Hedwig some treats, Magical Menagerie was Harry's next stop. The smell hit Harry as soon as he entered the shop. Wet fur, piss, and all sort of droppings assaulted his nostrils. Deciding not to stay too long, Harry went straight to the counter, "Hello?" There was no answer so Harry asked again, "Hello, is anyone here?"

No answer but there was some noise coming from the back. Harry decided to explore. Winding his way through cages of cats, mice, lizards, toads, and owls found Harry looking at several tanks filled with a variety of colorful snakes. Realizing he was hearing their conversation, Harry started to turn around to go back to the front of the shop when an idea struck him. 'If I get a snake I can use it to spy for me at Hogwarts, and magical snakes can do some amazing things. If nothing else, it will be someone to talk to at home. I could also scare Petunia and Dudley with it, better keep it away from Vernon though.' With that thought in mind Harry asked in Parsseltounge "Hello, I'm looking for a companion to help me out."

All the snakes stopped their conversations and turned toward Harry. "A ssssspeaker!" The largest and brightest colored one said. Harry assumed he, she, it was the leader of the group because all the other snakes got quiet. "We would be honored to sssssserve."

Thank you." Hissed back Harry. "Can you tell me what each of you do?"

The leader spoke again. "I am a piosssionesss Boa Conssstrictor. The two in the cage over there," The snake pointed its tail to the cage to the right with two poisonous green colored snakes in it. "are a mated pair of Boomslangs. The human like to collect their shed skin. The one over there issss a baby Runesssspoor." The tail was pointing to a cage with a three foot ,three headed, orange and black striped snake in it. "I'tsss three headssss make it one of the ssssmartesssst ssssnakessss in the world but mossst humansss tend to avoid them."

Harry heard three voices arguing with each other from that cage 'That would probable drive me crazy in a week.' Thought Harry.

"The three in that cage," again pointing with its tail. "are Magical Pythonssss. Their poisssson isss not fatal and they can turn invissssible to hunt their prey. And finally we have sssome unhatched Assssshwinder eggssss."

Harry turned to cage with the three dark green, almost black Pythons. "Hello you three. What are your nanessss?"

"Hello sssspeaker, I am called Sssloker, my companionssss are called Sssslisssser and Ssssliter."

"Hello. I'm looking for sssssomeone to help me. You will be ssspending mossst of the year in a cassstle. There is a sssspecial chamber that you can sssspend most of your time with plenty of ssssmall prey to hunt. I will probably need your help for a few ssssmall thingsss. You will have to hide from mosssst everyone, but you will have a good life. Ssssso which one wantsss to come with me?"

There were three "I do's" coming from the cage. After a quiet moment Harry thought 'Why not? They can keep each other company when I'm not around' "Ok I'll take all three of you if you want?"

"Yessss."

"Yessss."

"Yesss pleasssse."

"Fine. I'll be right back to pick you up. Pleassse be quiet if other humansss are around. I don't want other humansss to know that I can ssspeak the noble sssnake language. Ok."

Three "Yesss sssspeaker's." later and Harry returned to the front of the shop. There was a little old lady behind the counter selling a brown Barn Owl to a customer.

When the transaction was complete Harry approached and asked, "Hello, I need some owl treats and was wondering how much the three Pythons you have in the back are?"

"The Three African Bush Pythons? They are three Galleons apiece. Their venom and skin are excellent potion ingredients."

Harry had to hold back his original response of 'Potion ingredients! Why would I kill them for something like potion ingredients?' Instead he said "Yes, so nine Galleons. How much for the cage and some food for them?"

"Three sickles for the cage and two Knuts for ten feeder mice. Oh, and three knuts for a package of owl treats."

"Ok. Please pack them up. I'll also take the cage, thirty mice and ten packages of the owl treats." The little old lady trotted off to the back and Harry brought out his money pouch. When she returned and harry paid, another customer entered and she left to help them. "I'm going to have to put you all in thissss trunk for a little while." Harry said while enlarging his trunk. "Don't worry, it is larger on the insssside. I have a few more thingssss to do before we can head home, but ssssoon I will let you out and feed you."

"That is Ok sssspeaker. We are ussssed to sssssmall sssspacessss, and we ate thissss morning sssso we aren't too hungry." Sssloker replied.

"Oh, OK. It ssssshouldn't be too long. And call me Harry." Putting the cage and owl and snake food away, Harry reshrunk the trunk and wandered back into the alley.

Having an hour to kill, he wandered the alley looking for anything that caught his fancy. Deciding to go to Flourish & Blotts another day, after he has read and possibly reread the books he already has, Harry did find one or two small knick knacks that caught his eye, like a new watch and assorted Zonco's products, before heading for an ice cream sunday. Looking at his new watch and seeing it was after three, Harry made his way back to see Carla and pick up his new pair of glasses. He did feel a little creepy flirting with someone at least five years older, but also he felt a little good. Too bad he had to lie about who he really is.

Entering the shop saw Carla's face lightening up with a beautiful smile. "Hi Sam!"

'Hi Carla. "

When Harry arrived at home he made a bee line immediately for his room into his trunk, going directly to the third compartment. Letting out the three snakes, he fed each a mouse for being such good sports. "Thissss will be your new home for the next few weekssss. We will be moving into the casssstle in Sssseptember and then I will sssshow you to the chamber. I hope you like it."

Sssloker, Sssslisssser and Ssssliter started to explore their new habitat and after about five minutes came back to Harry and said "Thissss issss fine assss long assss we have ssssomething to eat, there sssshould be no problemssss."

Glad that there didn't seem to be any conflicts Harry started putting away the rest of his purchases. The food he put in the pantry and the butter beer he put in the chilled icebox.

Tomorrow he would go into the Muggle world and see what they had for his new flat. Returning to the couch with an already cold butter beer 'That icebox sure work fast.' he sat down and started a conversation with three snakes. "OK, my primary reasssson for getting all three of you issss sssso that when I get back to sssschool, Hogwartssss, that isss the casssstle I told you about, I have a lot of people who I'm not ssssure if they have my best interesssst at heart. I would like each of you to randomly wander the casssstle and groundssss and keep an eye on one or two people I point out to you and tell me if they mention me or really anything that they ssssay assss long assss you are ssssafe in doing ssso."

"That sssshould be eassssy enough we are sssstill being fed though right?"

"Of coursssse. I would like to think that we will be friendssss and I take care of my friendssss."

"Friendssss. I would like to be your friend."

"And I would like to alsssso."

"Me too, me too."

"Well friendssss, isss there anything I can do for you that will make you more comfortable?"

"If you could provide a dark and warm sssspace for us to ssssleep that would be great."

"Let'ssss ssssee, there issss a permanent warming charm on your cage and I can cover it up to provide the darknesssss. Do you mind using that for now until I can find something a little more permanent?"

"That will be fine Harry we don't mind ssssharing we are from the ssssame hatching after all."

"You're all brotherssss?"

"We're all sssisssters. Couldn't you tell?"

"Whoopssss, ssssorry, and I couldn't tell. I didn't mean to offend but it'ssss hard to tell the difference in a boy and a girl sssspeaking this language. I've only talked to two other sssnakessss before and one didn't talk back."

"No offensssse taken it has been a long day for usss ssso if you could pleasssse ssset that up we would like to go to ssssleep."

"Not a problem. Issss thisss corner OK for you? Here let me put a cover on." The snakes entered the cage again and Harry asked, "Issss that good for you?"

"Thissss isss fine but pleasssse leave the door to the cage open."

"Not a problem."

Harry sat down on the couch and pulled the Curse Breaker guidebook out and started to flip through it. 'Boy you sure looks like runes are going to be the main focus of what I'll be dealing with. I'll probably have to take ancient runes this next semester. if it means I can drop divination that won't be too much of a problem, I'll ask Barkaxe when I see him next week what he recommends, who knows what they'll teach me over the summer.'

Deciding to have a stew for dinner he went back to the kitchen, pulled one out of the pantry, set it in a pot on the stove and heated it up.

The next morning, Harry woke with a start to find three snakes lying on top of him and one gently tickling his ear with its tongue. "Shit." Harry's heart was beating so fast and his sleep addled mind took a moment to realize that the three snakes were the ones that he bought the day before. They seemed to be laughing at him; it was hard to tell with all the hissing

"Time to get up Harry! it issss morning and it issss time to sssstart the day!"

Calming down you took a few moments and then Harry asked, "What time is it?"

"How sssshould we know? All we know is that it'ssss morning and it'ssss time to sssstart the day."

"Looking at his watch her he saw that it was five in the morning he just got to sleep a little after midnight being so engrossed in the new book and five hours sleep is diffidently not enough. But how do you argue with three snakes? "It'ssss too early. I ussssually ssssleep in for another two hours or three if I'm lucky."

"Why? It issss morning and it'sss time to sssstart doing things."

"Normal humans sssstart the day a little later because we usually sssspend more time at night awake then you I guesssss."

"But you're not a normal human you're a sssspeaker."

Harry could tell that this was an argument he probably wasn't going to win, especially this early in the morning. Deciding to get up, he made his way to the bathroom to do the morning activities and take a shower to help wake him up. Going into the living room he found the three snakes on the couch and asked if they needed in mouse for breakfast or if there was anything else they wanted.

"No usssually we eat every 2 to 3 days and we had a lot yessssterday sssso we sssshould be good for a while"

Deciding to have a breakfast of fruit, Harry talked to the snakes and told him what his plans for the day were. "There are sssstill many things that I have to get sssso I will be leaving in a little while. The place where we are now is my relativesss housssse, I do not like them and they will definitely not like you sssso you will sssspending mosssst of your time in the trunk. They are away for the next few daysss sssso I will let you explore but remember to sssstay invisible to anyone other than me unlessss I sssay otherwissse. Now I know you can turn invisssible but there issss there anything elsssse that you can do?"

"We can alsssso sssenssse when ssssomething magical isss nearby. It issss just a vague feeling but we know when ssssomething isss not normal."

"Cool! When I let you out to explore the resssst of the housssse can you tell me if you can ssssenssse anything magical, other than me of coursssse?"

"Yessss Harry." All three said.

Going downstairs with the three snakes, Harry started doing some of the chores on his list while the snakes explored. Three hours later found Sssloker, Sssslisssser, Ssssliter, and Harry in the kitchen. "Sssso, what do you guyssss, I mean gallsss think? Did you find anything magical?"

"There is ssssomething magical in the ssssmall room under the sssstairssss."

"That would be my Firebolt. The Dursleyssss locked it up when I got home."

We couldn't find anything elsssse, but there isss a feeling of like, a bubble ssssurrounding the housssse. There isss alsssso a magical cat in the back yard."

Racing to the kitchen door Harry saw one of Mrs. Figgs cats lounging around the back yard. When the cat saw Harry, it immediately took off. 'That was strange.' Harry thought. "OK. I didn't know there were any other magical creaturessss around. The cat belongssss to a neighbor, Mrs. Figg. Sssshe hasss lotssss of catssss and I don't know if all her catssss are magical. The feeling of a magical bubble mussst be wardsss protecting the housssse. That must be why Dumbledore keepsssss sssending me back here." Inside Harry thought, 'Couldn't any home be warded? Why do I have to keep coming back here? Isn't the Weasleys' house warded? Isn't Rons' older brother a cursebreaker? I'll have to check out the wards when I learn more about them.' Continuing out loud, "I am going out for a little while. While the Dursleyssss are gone you can sssstay in the housssse or you can sssstay in the trunk. When the Dursleyssss return you will have to sssstay in the trunk. Sssso, what do you want to do?"

"We will sssstay out here until you get back." Replied Sssslisssser.

"Not a problem. I'll be back ssssoon." Gabbing a bottomless backpack and making sure he had his glamour necklace, Harry left to get some muggle clothes, more food, and whatever stroked his fancy.