Selena
Chapter 1: Selena
The sound of hammering fists on the door of his cupboard pulls Harry from the edges of sleep, and the piercing shrieks his aunt is directing through the grate makes him wish he had the ability to fall into an eternal slumber. “Boy! Get out here and help me make breakfast!” It never fails to surprise him how much Petunia sounds like a bird, those green and blue budgies you find in a pet shop, so sharp and shrill he fears for his eardrums. “I won’t ask Twice, boy! If you’re not out here in thirty seconds I’ll fetch Vernon!”
Harry breathes out a sigh. Petunia is one thing… Vernon is something else entirely. Threats to do with his uncle are not something to be taken lightly, the last thing Harry wants is to start his day with a black eye or broken ribs. So, he sits up on his rickety cot, careful to avoid whacking his head on the ceiling of the cupboard, and calls back as politely as he can, keeping all traces of annoyance or anger safely tucked away from his words and tone. “Coming aunt Petunia! Sorry Aunt Petunia.” He finds apologising in most sentences spoken to his aunt seems to placate her somewhat.
He hears a sniff of disgust, and then the sound of her footsteps receding down the hallway.
He rubs the sleep from his eyes tiredly, and reaches for his clothes, pulling on the T-shirt that is four sizes too big and practically drowns him, and a pair of way to big jeans that he has to tie with belt made from an old shoelace so they don’t slip down when he walks.
He mutters a “Good morning to you too fellow prisoner” to the spider that lives in the corner of the room, even though he knows the spider has loads more freedom and could leave at any time… it’s nice to pretend they are suffering together. He really should get round to giving it a name.
He reaches to open the door but just as he’s about to push it open, he hears the sound of his cousins thundering footsteps, Harry imagines it’s a similar sound to that of a baby elephant stomping down the stairs. Then Dudley does what he does every single morning without fail, he stops right above his cupboard and jumps up and down, causing the entire cupboard to rattle as if going through its own personal earthquake. Harry blinks quickly as the dust falls from the ceiling into his eyes, he sends a silent apology to the spider in the corner, who is probably going to die of fright.
Thinking Dudley must be finished he opens his door and tries to step out, but just as he pokes his head out Dudley races down the rest of the stairs and slams the cupboard door shut right on Harry’s head. He falls back against the cot and whacks his head against the wall, he bites back a series of swear words, (that petunia would wash his mouth out with soap for if she knew he had spoken them under her roof) and stands up again rubbing the back of his head.
Finally, he manages to make it in to the kitchen, preparing to face his aunt's wrath for daring to be longer than thirty seconds.
However, upon entering the kitchen he has to stop himself from groaning out loud in utter despair and annoyance, because he forgot that today is ‘ickle diddykins’ birthday (that's got to be the worst nickname ever). Harry hates Dudley's birthday for so many reasons,
One; it was the day Dudley was born, and there is no world in which Dudley being alive and breathing, is something to be celebrated.
Two; He has to stand by and watch as Dudley gets a gazillion presents, while Harry usually gets nothing except maybe an extra beating on his own birthday.
Three; He has to spend the day with Mrs Figg, and her small army of cats because Dudley goes out on a birthday trip every year and Harry (of course) is not allowed to go with them.
Four; Every year Dudley throws a huge tantrum about the amount of presents he gets, and how none of them are good enough. Which makes Harry beyond enraged because if he got even one present he would be overjoyed.
He could make a longer list, but those are the main reasons. It's just generally a very unpleasant day for the Dursleys resident freak.
He’s snapped out of his inner thoughts by a sharp well aimed slap to the back of his head. “I told you, boy! You are to make breakfast, not lounge about in your room like an ingrate.”
Harry presses his lips tight together to prevent himself from snarking back at her. If he wasn’t so used to things being utterly unfair, he would scream; ‘it’s not my fault I was late. Your stupid son tried to knock me out cold and I couldn’t quite manage to get of my cupboard with all the stupid dust in my eyelids.’ But of course, he doesn’t dare say any of that because it would most certainly be a death sentence. Though some days he wonders if it would be worth it, to lash out and speak what he really means for once in his pathetic life. He sighs internally, careful not to show anything incriminating on his face. “Sorry aunt Petunia.”
She sniffs at him in disgust, her face pinching together even more so than usual. “Watch the eggs.”
He ducks his head and tries to make himself smaller in a show of obedience and takes over the task of cooking eggs, for a breakfast that he knows he probably won’t be allowed to a single bite of.
He has to fight the urge to gag, when petunia bustles across the kitchen to fawn over her precious Birthday boy. “My little diddykins is growing so big! Mummies little angel, isn't that right dudders?" She coos at him.
Dudley looks up at her with a simpering smile as she pinches his cheek fondly. “Yes mum.”
Harry grimaces at Petunias sickening use of wildly inaccurate nicknames for her son. Dudley is the furthest thing from an angel possible, unless of course angels make a habit of bullying and beating cousins?
Harry tunes out the rest of petunias talk, and stares bleakly at the wall thinking of the boring mildly torturous day ahead of him. He thinks of Mrs Figg who always looks at him strangely, and gives him out of date cake, and she always tells him the same stories over and over again about all the cats and their names and where she got them, and so on.
He is snatched out of his thoughts yet again by Petunias bony hand striking his head, it seems she too is hell bent on giving him a head injury. “Boy!” She screeches enraged. “You utterly useless excuse for a child, you burnt the eggs! I told you did I not? To watch the eggs, are you incapable of simple tasks?” She demands harshly pushing him out of the way. “Get away from the pan before you do any more damage. Set the table, do not ruin anything else.”
He bows his head low in a silent apology, before walking over to the cupboard where the plates are kept and carefully pulls out the correct number of plates, and begins setting the table. He glances up momentarily from his task, only to see Dudley smirking at him with smug pleasure at aunt petunia’ berating of him. Harry swallows his anger down, and stifles the urge to smash the plates over Dudley’s head, and simply rolls his eyes and carries on setting the table.
“Where's the birthday boy!" Vernon's voice booms from the hallway, Harry stiffens as the sound of his uncle's heavy footfalls gets steadily closer.
“Here Dad!" Dudley says gleefully.
Vernon chuckles fondly. “My little man is getting so big now! Won't be long before you take over my drill company!" Dudley smiles proudly, as Vernon pats him on the back, and sits down at the kitchen table. “BOY! Get me my tea!” Vernon orders.
Harry of course obliges without hesitation. Though silently thinks to himself as he makes Vernon's tea that he is nothing more than a servant in this house. A worthless freakish pathetic incompetent servant. It's not a new thought he thinks the same thing pretty much every day, but for some reason, it hurts just a little bit more than usual today.
He sets the tea down in front of Vernon, as usual he doesn't bother to say thank you or even acknowledge that Harry is there. Before his uncle can request anything else, Petunia calls him over to help her dish up breakfast, scolding him the whole time.
Then Harry sits down at the table after everyone else has sat down, and looks at his meagre portion of food, half a piece of toast and maybe a tablespoon of eggs. He sighs inwardly and eats as quickly as possible, before his aunt can change her mind about feeding him. He waits for everyone else to finish and then is left to clean up, as they all move into the living room to watch Dudley open his presents. Once Harry finishes washing the pots and wiping down the units, he goes into the living room to see what ridiculous amount of presents Dudley got this year. As he opens the door to the living room and hears Dudley beginning his annual birthday present tantrum. "How many are there?!” Dudley demands.
“thirty-six counted them myself.” Vernon announces proudly.
“Thirty-six?! But last year I HAD THIRTY-SEVEN!" Dudley shouts.
Petunia quickly intervenes. “How about this poppet when we are out today, we will buy you two more presents, is that okay diddykins?"
Dudley gets a look on his face like he is about to spontaneously combust, but it's actually just his thinking face. “Then I will have…?" Dudley questions uncertainly.
“Thirty-eight popkins.” Petunia responds with a smile. “Oh, well… that's all right then." Dudley concludes, then proceeds to open his presents, without any further problems.
Harry watches these events with a combination of annoyance and exasperation because how is it possible for a human being to be so utterly stupid, Harry doesn't think he will ever understand Dudley and he thinks that might be a good thing.
~~~
It's later in the morning, he guesses it must be around 10am by now, but his cupboard doesn’t have a clock so he can’t know for certain. He was sent back to his room as soon as Petunia realised, he was done cleaning the kitchen, and now he sits on his cot with his ear pressed to the grate of the cupboard, listening closely to his aunt and uncle as they argue about (you guessed it) him...
“The boy will not come with us Petunia! I will not have it! He brings misery and problems wherever he goes, he will ruin our son's birthday!” Vernon hisses, and from the tone of his voice Harry guesses his face is steadily turning puce, as it always does when he is angry.
“Well, what do you suggest we do with him then, Vernon.” His aunt sounds almost as enraged as she was when one of the neighbours' children stepped on her prized begonias. “That useless old crone Mrs Figg, broke her leg! She can’t look after him now and no one else would take him, they all know he is a freak! We cannot leave him here he will destroy our house!”
Vernon lets out something that sounds like a growl of rage. "Fine! fine ! We’ll bring the boy! But you can explain to Dudley why he has to come with us.”
“Yes, yes, Vernon! That's fine.” Petunia snaps and then Harry can hear the sound of her sharp footsteps retreating.
He can't quite believe what he's hearing. Harry, the boy servant of the Dursley household is going on his cousins Birthday trip! He knows they planned to take their precious Popkins to the Zoo, so for the first time in his living memory Harry will get to see a real-life Zoo with all its exotic animals and for once in his pathetic life not be left with Mrs Figg whilst Dudley has all the fun. Maybe, just maybe... this day won’t be as bad as expected.
Next comes the sound of Petunia upstairs, breaking the terrible and utterly devastating news to her son that they will be forced to bring Harry along on the day trip. He listens as Petunia goes through the various stages of bargaining with Dudley, hears as his cousin throws yet another tantrum. But Harry can't bring himself to care because... He is going to the ZOO!!!
Eventually Dudley shuts up, and after a brief moment of silence Vernon shouts up the stairs. "PETUNIA! DUDDERS! Time to go!"
Then the cupboard door is wrenched open, making him scramble back against the wall and away from the fuming form of Vernon Dursley. “Boy you’re coming with us. But I'm telling you now, if there is any funny business, even a whisper of it! I will beat you black and blue, you understand me Boy!” Harry nods quickly his heart beating fast in his chest, and the fear is rolling in his gut, but it is somewhat numbed by excitement.
Vernon steps away, satisfied that Harry has been sufficiently warned off from ‘funny business’. So, Harry makes his way out of his cupboard, following Vernon at a (very) careful distance out to the car. Dudley and Petunia are already seated in the vehicle, with Dudley sitting in the back of the car in the right corner and Petunia sitting in the front passenger seat. Harry cautiously slides his way into the car and straps his seatbelt on, just as Vernon begins to drive the car off the driveway and down privet drive.
Harry stares out the window. Falling into thought.
Harry has lived at number 4 privet drive all of his life or at least as long as he can remember. He knows the first year of his life was spent with his parents, but he has no memory of it. He can’t remember his parents either, not their names or their faces... and the Dursleys have certainly never told him anything nor have they should him any pictures. The only thing Petunia will say is that they were drunks and Vernon says they were lazy jobless freeloaders, but he’s not really sure if he believes anything the Dursleys say.
He knows they died in a car crash, he knows his mums name was Lily (Petunia had let it slip one time when she was berating Harry for his freakishness), He still has no idea what his father was called, Petunia just refers to him as ‘that nasty freak’.
He thinks about what they would look like, does he look like them? He wonders if they would have loved him and bought him birthday presents, or if they would have been worse than the Dursleys. That would be quite a difficult thing to achieve though... he doesn’t think there is anything worse than Dursleys.
But the point is he doesn't remember his parents, all he knows is the Dursleys; his first memory is of being shut in his cupboard at around four years old, after accidentally breaking a mug. Petunia had slapped him and said "Go to your cupboard boy!". What a pleasant first memory he muses with an inward chuckle.
The Dursleys have always hated him, he doesn't know why, they just simply do, it's like breathing for them instinctual natural necessary, hate Harry the boy who did nothing wrong except exist.
He has long since accepted that this is his life... he used to hope that some distant relative would save him, whisk him away and love him, or even just like him, like the Dursleys never could.
But no one ever came, no one turned up looking for a boy named Harry, no one cared enough to save him. So, Harry just accepted that this was it; Dursleys and bruised skin, cupboards and cleaning.
Harry is broken away from his thoughts when the car rolls to a stop in a large carpark, Vernon pulls the keys from the ignition and grabs his wallet and for some strange reason his moustache comb. Petunia delicately picks up her beige coloured handbag, and steps out from the car. While Dudley flings the car door open and charges out, not bothering to close it behind him.
Harry quickly gets out of the car and carefully shuts the door so Vernon can't yell at him for damaging the car and follows them into the zoo, after shutting Dudley's door as well.
He walks behind the Dursleys, careful to keep his head low as they enter the zoo through a stone archway that has the words ZOO nailed into the top of the arch in big green letters. They go through the ticket booths, Vernon begrudgingly pays the entrance fees.
~~~
The day shockingly goes very well, better than Harry could ever have expected. They look at all the animals. He saw lions and zebras, flamingos and bears, and loads of other animals that he thought were amazing! Though he did find it sad that they were all trapped. They stopped at an ice cream truck to buy Dudley a Mr. Whippy ice cream, and the lady behind the counter asked what Harry wanted before the Dursleys could stop her, and to keep up appearances they bought him a cheap lemon lolly.
So... he feels happy, actually truly happy, for the first time in a long time. The last time he was this happy was when he figured out how to sneak out to the local library.
The last stop of the day is the reptile house, they walk into the building it's a large long corridor with vivarium's lining both sides, it's warm and humid with dim lighting.
He wanders past the cages every now and then stopping to watch the different reptiles, until he gets to the end of the corridor and sees a small cage that catches his interest.
He peers in through the glass and sees a beautiful little emerald green snake, with dainty black markings on its head. He thinks the reptile must be about fifty centimetres in length but it's hard to tell because it's coiled up under the heat lamp. Its cage is tiny and Harry can't help but feel sorry for it. Squinting slightly, he looks at the label next to the cage that reads:
Species: boomslang snake
Gender: Female
Age: 3 years
Place of origin: Sub-Saharan Africa
Venom: deadly
(Bred in captivity)
He looks back to the snake, and whispers. “Hi there, you’re very beautiful I'm sorry they keep you caged.” To his surprise, the snake lifts its head to look at him, Harry can see her eyes now they are bright green like her scales and have black dots in the middle. The snake moves closer to the glass, and proceeds to speak back to Harry.
"Hello speaker child.” she says in a soft melodic hiss.
“Hello.” Harry replies softly. “What is your name?”
“I do not have one, speaker.”
He decides not to question why he can speak to a snake and just decides to go with it, weirder things have happened to him. “Why don't you have one?" Harry asks.
"Because I have not yet met a speaker in this lifetime and these humans never choose to name me."
"Am I a speaker?"
“Yes." she hisses. "You are a serpent speaker child.”
“Can I… name you?” He asks uncertainly, he doesn’t think it’s fair for any living thing to go without a name.
“Yes, speaker, you shall name me."
"Ok hmm, do you like the name… Selena? It means moon, have you ever seen the moon? It shines as brightly as your scales.”
“Yes, speaker. Selena is a good name. I have not seen any of the shining orbs you call moon, in this lifetime I have lived only in cages. I do not remember what it looks like.”
“Oh... I’m sorry Selena that sucks. Can I help you escape?" He suggests, he doesn’t want to leave her trapped. Though he has no idea how to get her out without being seen.
“Yes, speaker I am yours now, I will go with you." She declares, and harry hears very little room for argument in her tone.
"Selena my family would kill you if they found you, and I don't know how to get you out."
“I am a serpent with venom they shall not kill me. I will go with you speaker; I shall protect you. To break me from this cage, you need only use your magic.”
“My magic?" He says, quietly bewildered by this whole interaction.
"Speaker, you have used magic before I feel it in the air around you. Have you never done strange things before? Strange things, that normal humans do not understand?"
“Yes…” Harry replies slowly thinking of all the times he has done unexplainable things. “I have but I don't know how to do it on purpose.” Harry whispers to Selena, pressing his hand gently against the glass.
“Do you want me to escape speaker?"
“Yes, Selena. More than anything.” He replies earnestly.
“Very well, speaker. Reach to where your power lies, far down in the core of your being. Find it and use your will and thoughts to direct it. Bring me to you.” She says pushing her small body up against his hand, only the glass between them.
Harry closes his eyes and looks inward, it's easy to find, the power hidden out of sight. He wonders if it's always been there and he just never knew to look. He takes a deep breath and focuses his mind on using his will to guide the power... magic, to free the serpent. Suddenly there’s a quite “pop” and Selena is on the floor in front of him. “What the...oh my god! I did it. We did it.” He hisses in hushes excitement. Honestly shocked that he just did that. “Are you okay?”
“I am more than okay speaker, for I am free. Thank you! Thank you speaker.” She says in an unmistakably overjoyed tone. Her forked tongue flicking out as she tastes the air outside the confines of the small cage. At least one of them can escape. “Now speaker quick you must hide me, before the humans see."
"You can go under my sleeve, is that ok?" He prompts, gesturing to his left arm.
“Yes, speaker that is good." Then without warning or further questions, she slithers up Harry's leg and around his middle before slowly sliding down his left sleeve.
"You can stay with me but if the humans catch you, they will hurt you, so we must be careful.” He whispers to her sternly, he does not want her to die. Especially not at the hands of the Dursleys.
“We shall be careful, my speaker. Do not fear." She says pushing her cold nose against his wrist gently. Perhaps a serpentine attempt at comfort?
He doesn’t say anything else to her and she stays equally silent, as he makes his way back towards his relatives, now with a highly venomous snake wrapped securely around his arm.
Not long after that they head back to the car as the end of the day draws to a close. As they are driving the realisation hits him... he just talked to a snake? And did magic??? He has always been able to do strange stuff, like regrow his hair pink when Petunia cut it off, or appear on the school roof as he was running from Dudley's gang. But he never thought it was magic, he just thought he was a weird disgusting freak, like petunia always says.
This new information is staggering, and it could come in very useful if he learns how to use it.
~~~
Once they get home, and Harry is sent to his cupboard as usual, thankfully having made it through the day without being beaten black and blue. He lays down on his cot and Selena slithers out from his sleeve to lay on his stomach and stare at him, then she hisses softly. "You are caged too speaker. Your humans wish you harm.”
“Yeah.” He hisses back quietly, staring into her unblinking black and green eyes.
“We protect each other now speaker." She says decisively.
Harry smiles at her, before speaking. "We protect each other.” Then he voices the question that has been flitting round his mind since the beginning of the car ride back. “Are there others like me? People who can do magic?”
“Yes, speaker. You are not alone. There are other creatures like you. We will find them one day, or they will find you.”