Beginning of the End

"Happy birthday to you..."

In the darkness of a decrepit cupboard under the stairs, locked closed from the outside, sat a boy of five, hunched over a torn piece of white bread.

"Happy birthday, to you..."

He cupped the minuscule piece of food, eyeing it as if it were the last morsel he'd ever be allowed to eat again. Eyes damp as he quietly sang to himself, terrified that one of his relatives might hear him.

He was emaciated and frail, with deep bags under his weeping eyes, bruises and scars covering his from his uncle's punishments. Something that occurred often, as nothing he did seemed to save him from drawing his relative's ire...

"Happy birthday, Freak..."

This year would change things, he desperately hoped. He heard that at five he'd be starting school soon, so maybe he could prove to his relatives he wasn't as bad as they thought... Or maybe they'd actually tell him why they didn't love him, like the telly said they were supposed to...

"Happy birthday to you..." he quietly finishes with a sigh, closing his eyes tightly to prevent himself from crying. Uncle Vernon had made it clear that he'd get the belt if he ever cried... Freak just wondered why Dudley could cry all he wanted and be fine...

He starts breaking apart the piece of bread into smaller parts. This way it lasted longer, and helped him imagine it was more than it was.

He'd prove them wrong. He would.

------------------------------

He'd learned something new today! Well, he'd learned a bunch of things! The biggest being that his name wasn't 'Freak', but Harry Potter! He'd almost broken down and cried in the middle of class when he realised the teacher was referring to him, but held himself back when he remembered his uncle's words.

The teachers were actually nice to him too! They didn't hit him, or call him names, or make him do chores... The lessons were fun too! He had no idea that the world revolved around the sun, he'd assumed the big ball of light just went round and round like a hula-hoop!

He'd had a school lunch too! They gave him milk, and a slice of pizza! It was fantastic! The best thing he'd ever eaten!

He'd tried to make friend but, his cousin Dudley had scared them all away... He hadn't liked it when Harry could read aloud just fine. He'd learned from his limited time watching the telly, so he was slightly confused on why Dudley was having trouble with how long he sat in front of it?

Maybe he needed glasses too? His weren't the best, but they made things slightly less fuzzy... He'd tell his aunt Petunia, that should make them happy, right? Maybe they'd even let him eat with them at the table!

-------------------------

Harry got home slightly later than Dudley due to being held up by his favourite teacher Mrs Geraldine. He wasn't sure why she was asking all those weird questions, but she gave him two lollipops while he sat in her classroom.

He did wonder what his Uncle's punishments had to do with anything though...?

Once back home at Privet Drive he gentle wraps his knuckles on the door, and is surprised when it's flung open by Uncle Vernon. His usually sallow skin was now red, and was steadily turning purple.

Harry'd learned early on that patchy red was his Uncle's normal irritated mood, and full red meant he'd either gone up the stairs twice in a row or he was mad...

Purple however, meant he was very, very mad.

A chill went up Harry's spine but he pushed it down as he stepped inside the house, eyes locking onto his aunt. "A-aunty! I think Dudley might need glasses-, like me!... He couldn't read as good in class!" he quickly says, hoping to do something right before his punishments started.

"Liar!" Dudley suddenly shouts, peeking his head out from the front room and revealing his chocolate-stained lips, "No one but you could read! You cheater!" he exclaims, causing Petunia's eyes to go cold.

A plump and clammy hand drops on Harry's shoulder, causing him to tense up, "First we get a call from your school, talking about coming here to check on your living conditions... Now I hear you've done your freakishness at that place!?"

"U-Uncle, you're hurting me!"

"You think that hurts!?" he squeezes the frail boy's shoulder harder, "I haven't even gotten the belt out yet, freak!"

Harry whimpers as the fat man tosses the boy to the floor and takes his belt off, Dudley cheering in the background as he raises it over his head. "Take off the shirt, we don't need your brood staining it."

"Y-yes... Yes Uncle..."

---------------------

"You had better hope you didn't screw us, boy. Or the belt's gonna feel like a massage compared to what I'll do to you..." Vernon growls as he tosses the beaten and battered Harry into the garden.

The cuts across his back had been covered with cheap plasters and hidden with a thin shirt Dudley owned two years ago...

"The garden needs mowing, get to it, or you'll be sleeping in the shed tonight." he spits before slamming the door shut.

Despite his beating, Harry was actually pretty happy at this turn of events... The shed was much more roomy than his cupboard, and September was warm enough that he wasn't breathing out mist.

The last time he'd been put out had been in December, and he'd shivered the entire night... He could have sworn the tips of his fingers had turned black and blue, but he was pretty sure it was a nightmare.

He stumbles to the shed and pulls out the manual lawn mower, he'd seen the neighbours use the ones you plug in, but Uncle Vernon said the ones you have to push would take the freak out of him...

It was hard work, pushing it fast enough that it cut the grass and didn't get tangled, forcing him to turn it over and pull the green off. But he'd found that concentrating fully on the task made things hurt less.

~Move, pink one.~

...

Harry glances around to look for whoever had just spoken... It was weird sounding, like the static of the telly combined with one of those funny lisps his teacher Mr Peters had. "H-hello...?" he quietly asks as he sits on his heels, dropping out of sight of his relatives who had their eyes locked on the telly.

~S-speaker!?~

Harry's head shoots toward the origin of the voice, only to see a thin brow and black line lying in front of his lawn mower. He freezes as he follows it and spots two small, beady eyes staring at him, a forked tongue flicking out from its mouth.

T-that's a snake! He saw on the telly that they are super dangerous! A single bite could kill twenty of those big things with trunks!... Though, he wondered why it didn't have wings on the sides of its head?

~Did you just speak, pink one?~ the snake hissed at him, but Harry could somehow understand its meaning, causing him to fall backwards as he stared at it in shock.

~I-I don't know? D-did it?~ he mutters before shaking his head, ~How are you even talking, I thought animals were dumb!?~

~Some are, but they are not us! You speak the tongue of snakes! You are a speaker!~

...

~S-so they were right, I-I'm a freak...~ he blinks, wondering if this is what they meant. People didn't speak to animals!~

The snake bobs its head up and down, ~Yesss, you are a freak! A good one! Different!~

~A good one... But I thought all freaks were bad?~ he asks, flinching as the critter slithered up to him and rested near his feet.

~But you are a speaker, you are good. Speakers can not be bad.~ it states naively yet somehow matter-of-factly.

~How would you know, you're just a snake?~

~Can 'just a snake' speak?~

~Not usually...~ Harry replies, glancing at the house to make sure his relative would see him speaking to an animal.

~Then I am more than a snake. I am different. Am I bad?~

...

~I don't know...~

~Are hairless ones who throw rocks at me good?~

He blinks at it, ~I-uh, probably?~

~Then you are different. You are good, they are bad.~

~I'm not sure that's how it works...~ he trails off and shakes his head, ~You should go, before my relatives start throwing rocks at both of us.~

~Both of us?~ it hisses, ~Why would you kin attack you?~

Before Harry can reply he spots Uncle Vernon getting up from his recliner in the house and ambling towards the door, most likely to check on his progress... ~Y-you need to go before they see you.~

~But speaker-~

~Go, go now!~ he quietly urges before standing up and walking to the back of his mower, just in time too as Vernon opens the door.

"Looks like you really want to sleep in the shed tonight. I warned you, boy, if you'd rather play around in th cold, be my guest. And you can forget getting fed either!" he grouses before slamming the door and loudly locking it.

...

He shoots the snake a glare, ~You lost me my piece of bread!~

~If you are hungry, just hunt for something yourself... You hairless ones can eat anything...~ it hisses.

~Okay, let me just eat some grass and I'll be fine.~ he growls and starts pulling the mower into the shed. There's no point finishing it now that he was already being punished.

-------------------------

Harry grumbles as he tosses and turns in the shed, trying to find a comfortable place to finally sleep. He'd found a dirty tarp to use as a blanket, but plastic wasn't exactly nice on his skin, and neither was the damp, wood floor. The clutter didn't help either, the occasional screw digging into his back, or the pinch of accidentally brushing against the chainsaw propped against the wall.

It wasn't cold, just uncomfortable...

"You know what, I'll make my own bed." he mutters, taking the cut grass from the mower's storage and exiting the shed, gathering the red into a mound of grass. He lays the tarp over it before wrapping himself up, allowing him to stare up at the sky.

The light pollution from London made most stars invisible, but the few he could see were worth the slight nippy-ness of the outside air... Though, he was sure some of the stars were just planes...

~Speaker...~

The annoying voice from earlier asks, and he could feel a small weight travelling across his leg. Looking down he spots the snake poking its head from the mound of grass and staring straight at him.

~What do you want now?~

~We wished to apologise. We did not mean to cause you trouble.~

~Too late for that...~

...

At the silence he looks away from the snake and stares up at the sky, not feeling any danger from it. It was hard to feel threatened by someone who was trying to apologise and is also way smaller than you.

~Speaker?~

~Yes?~ he reluctantly replies.

~May we enter your burrow?~

~Burrow...?~

~Your small blue home.~ it bobs his head at the tarp he was using as a blanket. ~It's cold.~

...

~Fine.~

The creature slip under the tarp and to his surprise wraps itself into a coil atop his stomach... It wasn't warm, perse, but it wasn't uncomfortable either.

Regardless, he'd dealt with worse.

...

~Speaker?~

~Yes?~

~What is your name?~

~Harry... Harry Potter.~ he stumbles over his words slightly, unused to actually having a name, ~Do you even have a name?~ he continues.

~No, would you grace us with one?~ it asks, its tone almost pleading to his ears.

~You want me to name you, like a pet...?~

~No. You keep dumb things as pets, we are smart.~

~So... W-would that make us friends?~ he mutters after a moment of thought. Would it be freakish for his first friend to be a snake...? He'd tried his best at school but Dudley acted so bad... He even spat at a girl he was drawing with.

~We are friends. The name...?~

...

~How about... Kaa?~ he says, remembering that old movie he'd managed to watch from the gap in his cupboard.

~Kaa....~ it mutters, its tongue poking from its lips as if it were tasting the name, ~My name is Kaa.~ it decides after some thought.

...

~Hey, Kaa, does this count as a sleepover?~