A Snake Named Voldemort

Chapter 17

"You're an odd child."

"I am?" Harry asked automatically, and then frowned as the world shifted, giving him a sense that he had just sat up though he had been unaware he had even been lying down. But that was silly, because last he knew he was lying down asleep...

The voice spoke again, slipping pleasantly past Harry's ears like fine silk and contradictorily sounding faintly like the rattling of bones. "Yes, you are." Harry twitched as a thin film of woven cloth, oddly familiar in weight, brushed over his face and blocked his vision...which really didn't say much, considering there hadn't been much to see except a grey haze. He shivered.

"Tom?"

There was a soft chuckle. "You are odd—far too auspicious for your own good—but he's a cheater," the voice said conversationally and with humor. "Ah, but you are both so interesting. A favourite of Fate's as well."

Dry, bony fingers combed through his hair. Harry was oddly indifferent as he tried to comprehend this mysterious conversation.

"Who are you?" Harry questioned, trying to look around him but his eyelids were much too heavy, and they closed before he could see more than a black shadow.

"I am watching you," came the wispy reply, the last Harry heard before his mind drifted away.

It was a soft transition from sleep to wakefulness. Harry woke with that innate feeling of having had a dream despite the fact he couldn't quite remember it, his mind idly reaching for shadows. In the physical world, his outstretched arm told him he was alone in the bed, the spot next to him cold. He sighed, a little disappointed, and opened his eyes.

:Wakey wakey.:

Harry yelped and sat up with a start, managing to bang his skull on the headboard. Wincing, he rubbed the bruised crown of his head to the ambient sound of twin snake laughter. He was having a flashback to the first morning after rescuing Voldemort, when he had similarly woken to the man-snake watching him on his chest. This was worse, though, what with there being two snakes staring at him with their unblinking eyes. He almost preferred Voldemort's insults as opposed to the hissy laughter now.

:Glad to see you two bonding over my pain,: Harry grumbled, still rubbing his head.

:Silly Master,: Lady hissed to him, winding her way around his neck, apparently getting cozy.

:So, have you two settled your differences now?:

:I would thoroughly enjoy crushing her in my jaws,: Nagini informed him.

:She couldn't catch me,: Lady said smugly. :Your mate told her to behave before he left.:

Harry coughed. :Uh, my mate?:

:Is that not right? It was Master who said what we saw was a human mating ritual.:

:I thought it was torture, from the sounds you were making,: Lady sibilated into Harry's ear. He made a gargled sound in the back of his throat. Meekly, Harry's mind provided, 'Well, it can be a form of torture...'

:You... you watched?: He groaned, mortified. "Oh Merlin,"

:That's not the name you said earlier,: Nagini commented.

:Stop! Just...stop right now.: Harry could feel his face heating up. 'Dammit, I shouldn't be embarrassed in front of a couple of reptiles!' Harry thought. Aloud, he said, :I'm leaving, try not to follow me.: Harry pulled Lady off him and kicked away the covers before he stood from the bed, only to belatedly remember his state of undress. Too late, though.