Neglected

Rubbing salt in the wound

'Bleh'- thoughts

"Bleh"- speech

§Bleh§ - parseltongue

~5 years later~

It was quiet in Potter Manor, the house containing what, to the outside world, seemed like the perfect family. Lily, James and Iris Potter, always at the ministry events, other people's parties, yet those who knew the elder Potters knew otherwise. The fame got to Lily's and James' heads and they completely neglected, even borderline abused their son. Now Lily was pregnant again, and it seemed Harry would always grow up in the shadow of his younger sister.

Harry's neglect was gradual. First it started when Lily wouldn't tuck him in when she came to say goodnight, then she stopped saying goodnight, even going as far as to wonder why there were two beds in her precious Iris' room and removed Harry's, forcing him to move to a guest room. Forgetting to call Harry down for dinner escalated to not setting him a place, to asking the House Elves to prepare only three portions of food. It got so bad that Harry's parent figure was a House Elf named Lulu. Said elf taught him how to read, write, cook and fly. Occasionally Sirius and Remus would come round but now they only had time for Iris. 'Just like everyone else.' thought Harry dejectedly.

He was on his sister's old broom, one of the thirty six she owned as she got all the new models free of charge. Harry was a seeker, and much better than his sister who was a chaser but wasn't that good, not that it ever stopped his father from praising her every time she flew without even a "well done son" for Harry's daring feats. He was performing one now, his favourite, the wronski feint. He was 10 metres from the ground now so pulled sharply up and carried on level with the ground, toes almost brushing the grass of the quidditch pitch as he used the momentum gained to put on an extra burst of speed and wrap his fingers around the practice snitch before coming to a stop. He landed, pleased with his performance and headed towards his room and a shower to wash off the grime from his exhausted frame. As he was walking across the field back towards the manor, he heard a strange hissing sound.

§Ugh, stupid humans, always running around like the world's going to end tomorrow.§

Not knowing who, or what, it was, he replied with the intention of asking those questions.

§Umm, hello? Who are you?§

§A speaker?§

§Um, yes?§

§Greetings speaker of the noble tongue§

§What do you mean? Where are you?§

§You speak parseltongue, the noble language of the snakes. I an here on the ground in front of you§

Harry looked down and, sure enough, there was a medium length snake looking up at him. To his surprise, the snake coiled itself around his leg and made its way up to his upper arm where it stayed. They spent the next hour getting to know each other better, and Harry learned that the snake's name was ular, a literal meaning of snake in Indonesian. Ular was disgusted with Harry's home life and vowed to help him through it. Harry also found out that Ular was what he called an adder with magical potential, meaning that if Harry did a ritual with him, he would turn into a magical snake, namely a runespoor or basilisk. The ritual would create a very strong bond between,them as well, allowing them to sense each other's emotions and communicate telepathically. Harry would also be immune to the venom of the snake Ular turned into and, if it was a basilisk, would be immune to the lethal gaze.

Harry went to his most frequented area of the manor, the extensive Potter Family Library. Here he went to the areas marked rituals and picked up all the ones that were to do with snakes. After an hour, he found the desired one; the serpo familiar ritual bond. They went into the unused area of the manor that Harry found one day when he went exploring and entered the ritual room. Harry stood inside the ritual circle, set Ular down at his feet and started chanting the well practised words:

"Hoc Serpens ,revelare suampotentiam, Formam, et dare novum nexum autem mecum et core"

(Take this snake, reveal its power, give it a new form and bond it with me and my core)

A multicoloured dome rose and circled around Harry and Ular and began to change them. Harry's muscles grew, and his height increased until it left him feeling healthier than he ever had been due to His parent's – no, Lily and James' neglect. Ular's body began to grow, and his eyes turned from yellow to blood red. He had become a basilisk.