Snake in the Park
Six thousand years and for beings that time doesn’t particularly effect such as Crowley and Aziraphale, some things never changed. Aziraphale always enjoyed food, Crowley still enjoyed minor mischief, Aziraphale still would collect books and Crowley still enjoyed his snake form, on warm sunny days he enjoyed spending time in his snake form sun bathing where ever he could get the most sun, if he scared a few people along the way that was just a bonus really.
Laying in the sun in his snake form was always a wonderful way for the Demon to relax, something he was trying to do more of these days, only a few months after the a-not-alypse it was hard to find time to relax when you were always looking over your shoulder for Hastur to appear with another tire iron (That had technically happened to Aziraphale but it still had Crowley paranoid, Hell and Heaven weren’t exactly known for letting things go very easily.)
Crowley was technically supposed to be waiting for Aziraphale to go on a picnic which Crowley wasn’t a fan of the idea other than getting to spend time with his angel in public without having to hide their meetings, that and good wine that the angel always brought out.
Of course, Crowley wasn’t in his full snake form, someone surely would have had a heart attack if a serpent as large as the one from Eden showed up in the park, he enjoyed trouble not animal control after that. No Crowley had chosen a form much smaller than the original one, much more the size of a red bellied black snake (That’s the name of the snake not the definition) curled up on the grass and basking in the sun, eyes closed as he tried to relax knowing Aziraphale would find him because of the large red and black checkered blanket he’d laid out for them to sit on that was a short distance away by some trees closer to the shade, Aziraphale liked to read in the shade and Crowley had found he liked to curl up around the angel’s shoulders and listen to him read. Crowley also liked doing it on rainy nights by the fire, he himself didn’t like reading but listening to Aziraphale…. well that was entirely different.
Crowley was just beginning to relax and possibly even doze off when he heard the stomping of heavy footsteps headed towards him, Opening his eyes Crowley just barely had the time to slither quickly out of the way and over to the trees as a group of shouting boys ran over where he had previously been screeching something about finding a ‘Potter’
Why these boys were so excited about some clay maker was beyond him all Crowley knew was that he had nearly been trampled because of it. Honestly, they didn’t look like the type to be interested in that sort of thing, not to mention it was quite an outdated term that he would only expect someone like Aziraphale to use. Crowley let out a tiny snakey snort as the boys continued on their wild search and slithered over to the cluster of trees only to find a young boy hiding among them and peeking out at the boys that were searching for the Potter.
He was young, couldn’t have been older than Warlock. He had Dark skin and Jet-black hair with brilliant green eyes that were just behind a pair of cracked glasses. Crowley couldn’t help but notice he was sitting on his blanket and covered in grass stains and bruises….
Oh
So, Potter wasn’t a title but most likely a name, call the demon crazy but he’d bet a fair amount of money this was the Potter they were looking for. Crowley sat and stared until the other group of boys ran off, Potter visibly relaxed and finally turned to face Crowley and for a moment seemed startled to have the black and red snake staring back at him, tongue flicking out as he observed.
“Oh, H-Hello there.” The Potter boy said softly, nervously as he eyed the snake obviously trying to find some sign on whether or not the snake was poisonous or not, true Crowley had a bit of venom in him but he’d never used it, he wasn’t cruel enough to use it on a child either.
“Is this your tree?” Potter asked pointing to the small cluster he was currently hiding behind Crowley kind of gave a nod which clearly caught the boys attention by the way he sat bolt up right
“Can you understand me?”
Wouldn’t this kid get the shock of a lifetime if he turned back into a person right then and there? Or even just started talking. Crowley was a bastard, but he wasn’t that much of a bastard as to scare a kid half to death right then and there by doing that. Crowley settled for just another nod which continued to stun the boy, it was amusing
“How?” Potter asked Crowley rolled his eyes a bit, if he had shoulders he could have shrugged but he also just couldn’t tell a kid ‘oh I’m a demon, got kicked out of hell though that’s always a bit of a bummer but I’ve got my angel friend who I’ve been in love with since I first tempted eve with the apple’
Potter seemed to understand though and nodded
“Sorry, probably yes no questions for the moment huh?”
Crowley nodded a bit Potter nodded a bit before he heard thundering footsteps on the grass and remembered why he was hiding, Crowley hated bullies. Gabriel had bullied Aziraphale and gotten much to far under his skin. This was just a boy, those other boys were so much bigger than him it made his blood boil, four on one wasn’t a fair fight Crowley wondered if he could even the scales a bit.
Dudley came round the tree and instantly spotted Harry grabbing him only for a man with red hair and bright snake like eyes to appear and grab him in return by the collar of his shirt with a sadistic snake like grin as he hissed in Dudley’s face
“Fuck off.” He warned the boy Dudley screamed and ran as did his friends upon seeing the man still with scales littering his face once they were gone Crowley relaxed and went into his pocket pulling out a new pair of glasses and he turned to Harry who though he grinned did look a bit paler
“Sssorry bout that,” Crowley told him offering Harry a hand to help him up just as Aziraphale happened to be coming round and frowned a little noting the screaming boys and the one that Crowley seemed to be helping
“Crowley I thought we were keeping a low profile?” Aziraphale asked but Crowley merely shrugged
“They were chasing Potter here around like a cat and mouse, thought I should give them something to really run from.” Crowley said with a wicked grin, Aziraphale obviously wanted to be upset but the little smile on his face said otherwise as he shook his head and turned to tend to Harry
“Are you alright my boy?” Aziraphale asked Harry nodded but Aziraphale could still sense a hesitance in him and glanced at Crowley who seemed to sense the same thing and Aziraphale smiled
“Do you like cookies?” Aziraphale asked
That was how Harry ended up joining them on their picnic, the three sat around for a long time and just chatted Harry asked a few questions about Crowley’s magic and Crowley answered best he could without out right revealing that he was a demon and the answers seemed to satisfy the boy, Harry even opened up a little bit and revealed that one of the boys that had been after him had been his cousin Dudley, the more Harry seemed to share he noted the more irritated Crowley became, gripping the picnic blanket so hard that Harry was certain his nails were going to puncture the fabric. Aziraphale didn’t seem to like the idea either. Harry tried to reassure them but it didn’t seem to work, so when harry could hear his uncle yelling across the park for him he didn’t pay much attention to the glance that the two sent to each other as he thanked them and ran off.
Harry really only thought about the lovely afternoon he’d had, the look on Dudley’s face when he got in the car was quite entertaining and it seemed like he would have to store the memory away for a rainy day. Aziraphale had been so nice and kind with his seemingly bottomless picnic basket and Crowley was great with jokes they were both surprisingly kind and Harry wasn’t quite used to it.
The last thing Harry had been expecting was when he got back to Privet drive was to see Petunia sitting in the living room stiff as a board as she had tea with none other than Aziraphale who rather seemed to be enjoying Petunia’s cookies and Crowley who ignored the tea and was slinked across the couch and gave a crooked smirk as he waved
“Hello Harry, Sorry to invite ourselves over but we had so much fun this afternoon we thought we’d come over and have a- uh chat with your aunt and uncle.” Crowley explained with a grin