Chapter Text
When Harry awoke on his thirteenth birthday, all he could think about was the day ahead; he was meeting his friends in Diagon Alley and then they were all coming back to Hogwarts for a mini party.
Him and Neville were having a joint celebration, as their birthdays were only a day apart, and they had the same friends.
The last two weeks had been pure bliss for Harry, he hadn’t been able to meet up with his friends up until that day, but he had spent lots of time with Severus as well as his godfather and Remus.
On top of that, he had got all his summer homework done, which meant that he wouldn’t have it hanging over him and he could also start reading the content for the next year.
Every day, he had been practicing the spells he already knew, and Severus had even taught him a few more, including the Trip Jinx, the Stinging Hex, Reducto and Accio, among others.
After lying in bed for a few minutes, staring at the galaxy above his head, he checked the time; it was eight thirty and he was meeting his friends in the Leaky Cauldron at eleven.
Hopping out of bed, he jumped in the shower, then pulled on a pair of black jeans and a green t-shirt that had a Hungarian Horntail roaring on the front of it.
Once he was ready, he pulled open the door and walked into the kitchen. Severus was already in there, cradling a cup of coffee, and at the sound of the door he looked up.
“Happy birthday, Harry.”
“Thanks, Sev!” He replied, grabbing himself a few pieces of toast, “Are you coming with me to Diagon Alley?”
“I think so yes, I need to get some supplies anyway.”
Harry just nodded as he spread jam on his toast, then perched on one of the dark wood chairs. They ate in a content silence, as Severus didn’t fare well with conversations that early in the morning, and Harry was quite happy to just sit, as he found his mind to be a very interesting place.
When he had finished eating, he got himself a cup of tea and, sitting down with it, asked, “How are we getting to Diagon Alley?”
“We can floo to the Leaky Cauldron. What time are you meeting your friends?”
“Eleven, so two hours.”
“And what are you going to do for the next two hours?”
Harry thought for a moment, “I’m not sure, do you have any plans?”
“Not for me, but I do for you.” Severus waved his wand and a scroll zoomed into his hand from the next room, which he then pushed across the table to Harry, with a smile.
“What’s this?” Harry frowned.
“It’s your birthday present. Open it and you’ll find out.” The Potions Master rolled his eyes.
Harry looked up at him in shock, “You got me a birthday present? You didn’t have to do that.”
Severus frowned, “I did, Harry. But not only that, I wanted to.”
“Sorry, I just not really used to it. I never had birthday presents before.” Harry murmured.
“Never?” asked Severus, astounded.
“Well, Hagrid gave me a cake for my eleventh birthday, when he came to give me my Hogwarts letter.” Harry frowned, “But that’s the only one I’ve had.”
“What about last year?”
Harry fidgeted uncomfortably, “I didn’t get any post at all last summer. It couldn’t be delivered to my cupboard I guess.”
Not for the first time, and probably not for the last, the Potions Master felt a wave of murderous intent wash over him, as well as a wave deep rooted anger at the Dursleys. Seeing how uncomfortable Harry was, he changed the subject.
“Are you going to open it then?”
He watched as his charge pulled the ribbon from around the scroll and unfurled it, Harry read:
Dear Headmaster Dumbledore,
The board of governors has discussed the idea of having a space
Where all four houses can meet together within the castle,
And we think it is excellent.
Our only stipulation is that the students know what the area is for,
So that they do not misuse or take advantage of it.
This is our formal consent to the proposal,
And we will leave the design of the room in your capable hands.
Signed; Lady regent Longbottom,
Chairwomen of the board of governors
When he had finished reading the letter, Harry looked up at his guardian in shock.
“What did you do?” He asked, bewildered.
Once Severus had finished smirking at his charge’s expression, he answered, “You mentioned a little while ago how your Ravenclaw friend had no friends in her house but that there was nowhere sensible you could meet her, especially in the winter.”
“You remembered that?” Harry interrupted, “That was a comment I made months ago.”
“Yes, I asked Dumbledore back when you first mentioned it and he promised to ask the board of governors. They wrote back last week. So, this is your birthday present.”
There was silence for a moment before Harry threw himself across the room to give his guardian I hug, “Thank you.” He whispered sincerely.
“So, do you want to see the room?”
Excitement bloomed across the boy’s face, “Yes, please!”
“Very well, go and get your shoes.”
When he came back a few minutes later, Severus was wearing muggle clothing in the form of black jeans and a black leather jacket over a green t-shirt and brown boots. For Harry, the weirdest part of living with the Potions Master was when he dressed in muggle clothing, as he was so used to seeing him in his black robes.
After Harry pulled on his trainers, they left (saying goodbye to Paeon on the way of course) and Severus led him to a new door near the Great Hall. He opened it and motioned Harry through.
The room was about ten metres by eight metres, but it was completely empty with plain concrete walls and floor.
Harry turned to his guardian excitedly, “When is it being decorated?”
“Right now.” Smirked Severus.
“Now?”
“Yes, Dumbledore asked me to tell you that his birthday present for you is letting you decorate this room.”
“Me? Really?”
“Yes, Harry, you. I wouldn’t tell you something like that as a joke.”
“Awesome! I’ll have to remember to thank Professor Dumbledore later.” he wasn’t exactly on bad terms with the Headmaster, but he wasn’t on the best terms either.
“He’s coming to your little party this afternoon, so you can thank him them.” Said Severus, taking a magazine out of his pocket and enlarging it, “Now, what colour do you think the walls and carpet should be?”
“Well, I think we need to stay away from any of the house colours, because the whole point is that the area is house ambiguous.”
Harry bit lip considering his options, “How about grey, cream and maroon?”
“Interesting combination, do you have a future in interior design?” Severus joked.
Smiling, Harry replied, “Maybe. Ok, so smoky grey carpet, cream walls, I think.”
As he said it the walls turned cream while the floor seemed to grow like grass into a carpet and change colour at lightning speed.
“I think we should have a few nests of charcoal grey and maroon beanbags around the room. And one of those big glass tables with grey, cream and maroon chairs around it. Then in the rest of the space we can have a few clusters of bucket chairs; cream with maroon cushions.”
Trying to keep up with everything that he was suggesting, Severus flicked through the magazine as rapidly as he could, while Harry grinned at the House-elves appearing every few seconds with a new item and a wave before disappearing again.
When it was all in place, Severus turned to the boy, “Is that what you were thinking of?”
“It’s perfect!” Harry exclaimed, but then he added, “Maybe there is one thing. There’s a muggle game, called table tennis, you have a low net and small bats that you hit a little ball with. It takes between two and four people. Do you think we could get hold of it?”
“Mm, I don’t see why not.” Murmured Severus, checking the time. “You go back to our quarters and I’ll have a word with Dumbledore. I’ll meet you back there in half an hour and then we can leave for Diagon Alley.”
Harry nodded and took off, grinning at the fact that his guardian had said ‘our quarters’ not ‘my quarters’.
Stepping out of the fireplace into the Leaky Cauldron’s dimly lit floo room, Harry immediately saw Hermione waiting for him. He smiled and walked forward to give her a hug.
“Happy Birthday, Harry!” she cried, returning the hug.
“Thanks, ‘Mione.” He replied as he stepped backwards again.
The floo flared and Severus stepped out; he gave Hermione a nod and something that might even have been a small smile before stepping off to the side.
Curiously, Harry watched as Hermione pulled out a package from her bag, it was rectangular and beautifully wrapped in colourful muggle paper. And definitely a book.
“Here, open this.”
Carefully, he took the present out of her hands and unwrapped it, to reveal a small, blue book with the title:
Duelling: everything beginners need to know
Harry looked at the book in shock, he hadn’t realised his friend had paid so much attention to the extra spells he was learning.
“Thank you, Hermione!” He exclaimed, pulling her into another quick hug, “This is perfect!”
“You’re welcome. I thought you would find it useful and interesting.”
“Yeah, it’s great! Severus said I would be able to start duelling soon.”
The two smiled at each other but before either could say anything the floo flared again and two red heads popped out, greeting Harry with a wave and a chorus of “Happy Birthday!”
“Hey guys, thanks.” He grinned.
They walked forward and Ron held out the box he was carrying to Harry, who accepted it and ripped off the wrappings to find the biggest box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans he had ever seen. He patted Ron on the arm in thanks and his friend grinned back at him sheepishly.
“The twins gave me a hand with buying it.”
“That’s awesome Ron, thank you.”
Next Ginny held out her gift, it looked very similar to Hermione’s, but it was wrapped in silver paper. He accepted it with a smile and tore off the wrappings to reveal a book with a red cover that was by the same author as the book from Hermione. The title read:
Uncommon and unusual Hexes
“This looks amazing, Ginny, thank you! Now I’m just going to have to find someone to test them out on.” He gave her a wink as he subtly motioned to Ron, who was eyeing Severus warily.
Ginny laughed and opened her mouth to suggest a good hex to start with, but before she could speak Luna and Neville appeared with the floo together.
They both had slightly dreamy looks on their faces as they said happy birthday to him.
“Thanks guys.” Harry replied, slightly taken aback at the oddly shaped flower Neville was holding out to him, “What’s this?”
“A Gloriosa Superba, more commonly known as a Flame Lily, because the petals look like flames. Gloriosa are muggle plants, native to the tropical parts of Africa and Asia but we’ve put a charm on it to keep it warm, so you’ll just have to do sunlight charms every month or so, I’ll show you how.”
Here Luna interrupted with her usual dreamy voice, “What Neville means is, this is your birthday present from the two of us.”
Neville blushed bright red as Harry let out a chuckle, “It’s beautiful guys, thank you.” Then he added, “Sev, do you think you could send these to my room for me please? I don’t want to be carrying them around all day. And do you think you could please pass me Neville’s present, as well?”
The Potions Master nodded and waved his wand, then pulled a small plant with slightly fuzzy leaves out from his robes and handed it to Harry, who gave it to Neville with a smile.
“A Origanum Dictamens?” his friend breathed in shock.
“I don’t know the Latin for it, Nev.” Harry laughed, “I just know its Dittany, which is a rare plant I thought would be good for you to have in your collection.”
At his words, Hermione, Ron and Ginny looked up from their conversation in awe, Hermione looked especially exited.
“Wow, Harry. Where did you get that?” she asked.
“Severus helped me.” Harry admitted.
“It’s amazing, Harry, thank you so much!”
“No problem mate, happy birthday. Now, shall we go?” they all nodded and walked out the pub towards Diagon Alley.
Harry waved goodbye to his guardian, who called, “Remember, you only have so much money to spend, I’ll meet you back here at one for some lunch!”
An hour and a half later, and the group had been in most of the shops in Diagon Alley, including spending quite of a lot of time in both Quality Quidditch Supplies (admiring the new Firebolt broom) and Flourish and Blotts (Harry and Hermione had to be practically dragged away).
It was nearly time to go back to the Leaky Cauldron, but there was one more place Harry wanted to visit; Magical Menagerie, as he realised, he had never actually been in there before.
As they entered, Harry was hit by how cramped the shop seemed, because every available space held a cage or tank of some kind.
Ginny and Hermione had their attention on the Kneazles and Pigmy Puffs, while Neville and Luna looked at Firewater Geckos and Ron actively avoided looking at the rats who were showing off in their cage.
There were different noises coming from each cage, but Harry was immediately draw to the hissing voices that he could hear from the next room. He made his way, with Ron following behind him, past the counter and towards the back of the shop.
“Excuse m’dear.” Called the harassed looked witch who was looking after the shop, “Ya can’t go back there.”
“Why not?” Harry asked surprised, “I would like to look at the snakes.”
“How d’ya know there’s snakes back there?” asked the dumbfounded witch.
“I can hear them.” He explained patiently.
“Oh. Well I’ll have ta call me husband to go back there with ya, some of them snakes is not safe.” She turned as called over her shoulder, “Stan, love. There’s a man ‘ere who wants ta look a’ the snakes.”
An older wizard appeared through the doorway and eyes the two boys warily, “At the snakes you say? You’re being serious, not just messin’ around, aren’t you lads? Snakes are serious business, they are, we have a few rare ones back here.”
“Yes, Sir.” Replied Harry, “I like snakes, I respect them.”
The wizard considered him for a moment before nodding and leading them though a door. They were met by the sight of about twenty vivariums, all of different sizes, all holding different snakes, most of whom appeared to be asleep.
“Hello beautiful and noble snakes, how are you all today?” he asked, not to any tank in particular.
Most of the snakes shot their heads up to look at him, but he wasn’t sure if that was because he talked to them or because the older wizard had tripped over in shock.
Between them, Harry and Ron helped the man up and led him to a chair where he could catch his breath.
“You… You can talk to Snakes?” he almost whispered.
“Yeah.” Replied Harry, “But I’m sure lots of people can do it.”
Ron was shocked as well, but he managed to say, “No, Harry. Being a Parselmouth isn’t very common at all, I doubt there is a single other person at Hogwarts who can speak Parseltongue.”
Now it was Harry’s turn to be shocked, “Really?”
“Yeah, mate. This is really special; the kind of thing Hermione would immediately rush to the library to research.” Ron rolled his eyes and Harry chuckled.
He turned to the older wizard, “It’s alright if I just look around and talk to them, isn’t it?” The man just nodded.
Starting at one end, he began to walk around all the snakes introducing himself to each and inquiring its species, name and health. He had got about halfway around the room when he realised Ron had left, but he carried on anyway.
He was just about to introduce himself to the last snake, a pretty little thing, about fifty centimetres in length, with beautiful eyes and iridescent scales that were the same shade of piercing navy blue, when Ron came back into the room, joined by the rest of their friends.
“Is it true?” Asked Hermione breathlessly, “Ron says you can talk to snakes!”
“Yeah Hermione, I can talk to snakes. I didn’t realise it was uncommon until Ron told me.”
“Uncommon?!” Shrieked Hermione as quietly as she could to not disturb the snakes, “Uncommon is a bit of an understatement, Harry. There’s only about five people in the world today who can talk to snakes!”
“Calm down.” Soothed Harry, “I didn’t keep it from you guys on purpose, it just never came up. Anyway, I just want to introduce myself to this last snake and then we can go.”
The older wizard said there were too many people in the room, so Ron ushered the others out while Harry and Hermione stayed for a little while longer.
“Hello, beautiful one. Do you have a name?”
“Yes, speaker. My name is Elpis. Do you have a name?” replied the tiny snake.
“I do, my name is Harry Potter. Elpis is a beautiful name, who named you?”
“I was born with this name; a name I can tell it only to those I can to bond to.”
Harry was surprised, “Does this mean you want to bond to me?”
“Yes, you are the one I am to be bonded with. I will be your familiar.”
He thought for a moment, he had never considered getting a snake before.
Turning to the shop keeper he asked, “Is this pretty blue snake for sale and how much does she cost?”
The man gave a laugh, “Technically she’s for sale, but I doubt you will be buying her today laddie. She’s an Alysisian.”
At those words, Hermione – who had been looking at a corn snake on the other side of the room – hurried over, “An Alysisian? Really? Where?” She breathed.
Harry was confused, “I’m sorry, what’s an Alysisian, and why does that mean I can’t by her?”
“Honestly Harry, don’t you read? Alysisians are category A light creatures, the only other animals in category A are Unicorns and Phoenixes!”
“Wait, what does category A light creature mean?”
“It means they can only be owned by the purest and lightest wizards.” Hermione answered, a little exasperatedly, “The only person known to have a familiar of a creature this light is Dumbledore!”
“Wow! In that case I guess I am buying her!” he decided allowed.
The shop keeper spoke again with a chuckle, “Laddie, I don’t think you understand, humans don’t pick creatures like these, the animals pick who they want to be bond with. You will know because you will know their name.”
Trying to keep the smile off his face Harry answered, “Well what if I tell you that her name is Elpis and she wants to bond to me?”
Both the shop keeper and Hermione frozen in shock.
“She wants to bond to you?” the old wizard whispered, “She’s been in this shop for ten years and she has never wanted to bond to anyone. She doesn’t come cheap though, I’m afraid. Seventy-five G”
Harry gulped, that was a lot of money, he certainly didn’t have that much gold with him.
“I’d better ask Severus to come. But I can’t send him a note because I can’t use magic, do you think you could fetch him please Hermione?”
He watched gratefully as his friend sped off before turning back to the shop keeper, “So, what else do I need to know about Alysisians?”