“I caught it for you.�

Sev had some very strange ideas, sometimes, about what a girl wanted from her best friend. “He’s…� He had some strange ideas, full stop. “…very…� There were lots of ways to end the sentence that would make the problem go away. “…handsome.�

Sev looked away, trying to hide a frown. Lily realised she was going to have to sound as though she meant it. “No, really. I was just surprised, that’s all. Symbol of Slytherin House, right?� she added, because Sev did like having the chance to tell her things.

“Right. The serpent is a symbol of wisdom and cleverness, and it’s a water symbol for the House that’s naturally good at Potions. Want to hold it?�

The snake had wound itself in a scaly coil around Sev’s arm and looked comfortable. It also looked big. Lily discarded the first two questions that leapt to mind – if it bit and was poisonous, obviously her friend would already have been bitten and poisoned. Well, probably, anyway. “What kind is he?� she tried instead. It sounded more like a sensible question and less like a frightened one.

“Grass snake. See the ring around its neck? It’s perfectly safe.�

She was out of excuses, so she held out her hand. He showed her how to hold the snake behind the head. “Practice for holding the dangerous ones,� he explained.

Lily hoped her next present from Sev wouldn’t be an adder. To her surprise, the greenish-brown scales were not slimy, but whisper-dry. Gradually the creature unwound from Sev’s arm, lashed in midair, and bound itself to her wrist. It seemed a little smaller once it was in her grasp. “What’s that language, the one people use to speak to snakes?�

“Parseltongue. Someone who can do it is a Parselmouth.�

Lily studied the blank alien face, trying to see if it studied her back. It flicked its tongue, tasting the air for who knew what. It would be far less scary if it had a name, she decided. “So let’s call him Parsel.�

Sev smiled just a little, which made Lily realize that naming her odd present meant she’d accepted it. “How do you know it’s not a girl?�

She didn’t, of course. “Does it matter? If he lays an egg, we’ll change his name to Parsella.�

“I’d hoped for…� He flushed, hesitated, and went on. “…something a bit more – dragonish.�

“Dragonish,� Lily echoed, feeling a sudden suspicion.

“Or monsterish. Basilisk, or something.�

“He’s going to give Tuney the screaming horrors as it is. If she thinks he’s actually a baby basilisk, she may faint.� Lily noticed a gleam in Sev’s eye and sighed. It would be nice if her sister and her friend got on – but that would take magic she’d not learned yet. “Why should my snake be a monster?�

“Because. I thought… Never mind. It wasn’t a good idea. I hope your mum lets you keep Parsel.�

“Sure, she will. She likes you.� Which wasn’t altogether true, but was close enough. “What was the idea?�

“You know the old tales. The evil knight takes the pretty young witch’s wand and chains her up for the dragon, and the gallant wizard has to come and save her.� There was still a faint note of enthusiasm in his voice, though his face was doing a fair imitation of indifference.

Lily didn’t know that one, as it happened. Not quite. Not with the characters in exactly that order. Still, she had the general idea, and she didn’t like where this was going. “Do I get to be the evil knight?�

Sev shrugged, his attention on the snake coiled on her arm, letting his hair hide his face. “I said never mind. It was a dumb idea.�

A few years ago, Petunia had been a willing enough princess in the tower, but now she would have nothing to do with the game. She seemed to be interested in far sillier things now, and she seemed to be angry most of the time. “It wasn’t. It’s just – how do we keep Parsel from slithering off? And what would I do while chained up in the dungeon? Knit something?�

Sev turned away. “Just forget it. Come on, we’ll need somewhere for you to put him, unless you want him wrapped around your arm forever. And some beetles. We should catch some beetles for him.�

Sev didn’t talk much as they hunted up something to store a snake in. Lily’s father eventually pulled an old fish tank out of the attic, and that worked well enough. By then, Lily had almost become used to her strange new accessory. Petunia, of course, had not. Petunia didn’t like Parsel one bit.

Lily couldn’t shake the feeling that her friend was disappointed in her for not liking his game. She wished she could find some sort of enthusiasm for it; she knew he would have liked rescuing her from even an imaginary threat. She just wasn’t the sort of girl who wanted rescuing. Still, she knew he’d come back tomorrow. She couldn’t think of anything she could say or do that would keep Sev from coming back to her.

Summer faded fast, and she went back to school. It was hard to keep a secret as big as hers, but she managed it somehow. There weren’t too many strange things happening around her – she turned the teacher red in the face, tomato-red, but that wasn’t altogether unusual and could pass. Sev studied at home with his mother, and Lily couldn’t help but feel he was getting ahead of her, though he shared as much as he could in the afternoons. She offered to tell him about Muggles, but he seemed to be uninterested, even scornful. After a while, she started to notice just how silly her television programs really were and spent more time reading with him. Petunia stayed on her own schedule, looking at the telly while painting her toenails a delicate shade of pink because their mother didn’t approve of painted fingernails yet. Lily decided that was silly, too. What was the point of painting what you were going to hide in socks and shoes anyway?

When winter came, Parsel began an odd little habit. He would go to the side of his tank that faced the window, stretch himself upward, and stare out at the cold landscape, then slither to the warmer side and coil up to stare into the room instead. Perhaps ‘staring’ wasn’t the word, Lily decided. A snake couldn’t blink. Parsel was only looking. Since snakes normally hibernated in cold weather, he’d probably never seen snow before. When she took him out of his tank, he slid into her jumper and wound around her arm, his head peeping out of her collar.

“And is that the new fashion for the season?� Sev asked. He was sprawled on her bed, when she turned to him with the snake’s nose edged out of her hair.

“According to Petunia, a snake at the neck is not and never will be the fashion anywhere at all.� Lily dropped her lecturing tone. “I think it’s a little chilly for him in here. He keeps wanting to snuggle.�

Sev edged sideways to make room for her to sit, a book lying at an angle almost comfortable for them both to read. “I’m glad you decided you like him.�

“He’s all right. And it’s sort of nice, really, having him like this.� She wouldn’t have asked for a snake, but she had always wanted a pet. This one would do. “You’re so lucky, having a witch for a mother so you can learn all these things. I just learn boring old geography and stuff.�

Sev shrugged. “Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to go to school with you. But the other kids think I’m odd, so maybe it’s all right. Geography doesn’t sound much fun.�

“What’s she like? I still haven’t met your mum.�

“You won’t.� He said it with a solid finality.

“That’s not fair. You’ve met mine. You see her all the time.�

“It’s fair. Your mum is nice. Figure I’m doing something nice for you. You don’t want to meet my parents, and you don’t want to hear about them.� He pushed the book at her and turned away.

She ignored the open page, tantalizing as it was. She could learn about plants some other time. “Sev?�

“And I don’t want to talk about them.�

His silence implied all sorts of things almost beyond her imagining. “It’s that bad?�

He jerked his head in a nod once, pulling a little farther away and a little more into himself. “Talk about fennel. Or geography. Or snakes. Talk about something else.�

Instead she reached out, Parsel’s body a reassuring weight on her arm. Sev would always come back and always forgive her, no matter what she said, and now she needed to know. So she put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed, just a little, to reassure him. “All right, but you can tell me anything you want to.�

He made a sound that started as a snort and ended with more of a sob. “Not this. Not a lot of things.�

“Come on. We’re friends.� After a moment, she added, “Best friends.�

That made him shift a little under her hand. “Best friends?� he echoed, doubt in his voice.

“You have a better one hidden somewhere?� When he shook his head, she confirmed, “Me neither.� After all, sisters were something else altogether. “Do they fight?�

“Yes. Yes, they fight.� It was the same word, but when he said it, it had a different depth to it. Sev knew what the word really meant; Lily realized she didn’t.

There was another question that she had to ask, and she didn’t want to. She tried to swallow it back, but it wouldn’t be denied. “Do they… hurt you?�

She could feel him shiver, once, under her touch. “Dad doesn’t. Not anymore.�

“That’s awful.� She wanted to shout it, or scream it, but her voice barely came at all. She didn’t know what to do about this giant towering problem. She knew instinctively that she could never, ever tell her parents, or anyone else. This was Sev’s secret, one he’d only now shared with her. All she could imagine was escape. “Isn’t there somewhere you could go instead?�

He shrugged. “Hogwarts.�

In another year, they would be safely in Hogwarts, and she had never thought of it that way before. She’d looked forward to learning magic, and to going somewhere new; she’d fretted over leaving her family to do it. Never once had she thought of it as a safe place against some unnamed danger. Suddenly she knew why Hogwarts had to be a castle and not just a big house. Some students would need those thick walls. Her home suddenly felt very flimsy. “And here.�

“And here,� he agreed. “But I don’t come here to feel safe. I come because you’re my best friend.� His voice was unsteady on the last words, as though they were as unfamiliar to him as ‘fight’ had been to her, but the eyes he turned to hers were dark with honesty.

She still had her hand on his back, but it suddenly didn’t feel right anymore. “Good.�

He bit his lip, uncertain, as the silence stretched awkwardly between them. “Fennel?� he suggested after a moment.

Lily wasn’t in the mood to learn anything else, not right now. “No. I think you need to rescue me from this basilisk.�

Sev pinched his eyebrows together in surprise. “That peacefully sleeping basilisk?�

“If I dump him on the floor, he’ll be cranky, and you’ll have to rescue me before he slithers up to squeeze me some more,� Lily said practically.

Sev still looked gloomy and tense, but Lily suspected that rescuing her, no matter how far he had to delve into his imagination to do it, would help. She couldn’t save him from anything, but she could cheer him up. “All right,� he said finally.

She fished the snake from out of her clothing, headfirst to keep from rubbing his scales backward and balking against her tug. As predicted, Parsel was not happy to lose his comfortable warm place. He lashed about in a fair impersonation of a dangerous animal. When she deposited him on the floor, he bundled himself into a heap and raised his head high, tongue flicking. She hopped up onto a chair and did her best to act terrified as her pet, seeking his favourite warm place, slithered after her.

Sev seemed to have a little trouble getting into his role, but he did his best to catch the moderately evasive snake with some style. Lily was sorry she hadn’t seen him capture Parsel the first time, last summer, before the reptile had learned people were comfortable. Sev did have quick hands. “You are freed, fair maiden,� he told her solemnly, the snake waving in his grasp before he hitched it up over his elbow.

“Thank you, kind sir.� Lily climbed down from her chair, trying to remember what was supposed to happen next in the story. Sev seemed to feel the speech should be longer. Nothing more occurred to her, so instead she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

Apparently that wasn’t part of the story he’d read, or one he thought she would act out. He looked stunned, but Lily had the feeling she hadn’t done anything wrong. After a moment, pink-faced, he bowed his head to her. “It was an honor, my lady.�