Serpentine

For the moment, Morena felt safe. She had a nice perch on a countertop in the tiny house in the middle of nowhere in Britain, and the two biggest threats to her safety (and her sanity) were both outside. It had been only a few weeks since she met Grindelwald, and he had already put her up to this. For that, she wanted to kill him. Then again, this was the most exciting her life had ever been. She constantly faced the threat of being nailed to a door if she didn't do everything she was told to do. If that wasn't exciting, then she wasn't a snake. Considering she was a snake at that moment, it was quite exciting.

She didn't like the shifty looks Merope kept giving her, but she really couldn't blame the girl. There was no doubt she was accustomed to her brother's odd choice in pets... friends... whatever he considered his snakes - but he had probably sent them after her more than once. Merope had spent only a week in Hogwarts before being pulled out in her first year, as far as Morena could remember. The poor girl had been sorted into Ravenclaw, angering the short-tempered Marvolo Gaunt to the end of his wits. He had pulled her from school and no doubt beat her within an inch of her life. She was jumpy in nature, quite thin, and had dull and lank hair, and it was no wonder. The way her father treated her was inhuman - much like the way Morena's own father had treated her mother. He had never done much to Morena - he had never really done anything for her, come to think of it - but Morena could recognize the similarities of the abuse easily.

Morena turned her head at the sound of the door opening to see a giant coming towards her. In the form of a small adder, he looked like a giant at least. She was picked up by this person and was inclined to bite him, but didn't - she didn't like the sound of having a nail driven through her spine, not in the least bit. She also didn't like being twisted like a plastic toy, but she would have to deal with it - her only options were to be killed by Morfin Gaunt, be killed by Grindelwald, or live life as a passive adder for a while. As the third option was the only one that involved her not being killed by someone, she would have to remain happy with it.

"All right, all right, all right!" Morena's head swiveled towards the door at the sound of Marvolo Gaunt's voice as her current controller sat down on an old armchair next to a fireplace. "Come in the bleeding house, then, and much good it'll do you!"

Morena watched as Marvolo opened the door and walked in. He looked furious, or at least more so than he usually did. The man who followed him in was quite an amusing sight. He was short and rather chunky, and wore thick glasses that made his eyes look tiny, a frock coat, leather gaiters that covered his shoes, and a one-piece bathing costume. His clothing rather reminded her of the tutus and red bandanas Muggles would dress their small dogs in, though the ridiculousness didn't look half as adorable on a human, much less this human. It was extremely hysterical, yes, but still slightly unsettling. Many wizards had no idea how to dress like proper Muggles, however - it wasn't the first time Morena had ever seen a sight like this, and she doubted it would be the last.

She vaguely listened to Morfin saying some senseless rhyme in Parseltongue, indicating he'd nail her to the door if she wasn't a good little snakey or something to that extent. She found it interesting that she could understand both plain English and Parseltongue in this state, since she was an Animagus and not just a snake... not that she enjoyed being told she would be killed if she misbehaved, of course. That bit wasn't as much interesting as it was just wrong.

She had a feeling this oddly dressed man was from the Ministry, and that he was here because of Morfin's attack on Tom Riddle, a Muggle in a nearby village. She had witnessed it herself. Tom Riddle was a young man, the son of an extremely wealthy landowner in the nearest town (she still wasn't sure of its name, as she had been Apparated by Grindelwald to the woods just outside of this house). He was handsome, tall, and dark-haired with dark-colored eyes, but also with an attitude that made her want to slap him. Despite being a Slytherin, she didn't have much problem with Muggles. However, she had problems with anyone who acted like a pompous spoiled brat - that was exactly why she hated Abraxas Malfoy, and she was glad she never had to see him anymore.

Being a Hogwarts graduate was absolutely wonderful.

Marvolo introduced his daughter to the oddly-dressed wizard in a resentful tone (and Morena wasn't entirely sure if the resent was directed at his daughter or the man). The man kindly bid her a good morning, but Merope chose not to reply. She only continued shifting shuffling around in the kitchenette area of the main room after giving her father a quick look of fear.

The man continued speaking to Marvolo in a businesslike tone. "Well, Mr. Gaunt, to get straight to the point, we have reason to believe that your son, Morfin, performed magic in front of a Muggle late last night."

Morena's head shot to the kitchenette at the loud, clanging sound of a dropped piece of crockery. Merope was already bending down to pick it back up.

"Pick it up!" Marvolo screamed at Merope. "That's it, grub on the floor like some filthy Muggle, what's your wand for, you useless sack of muck?"

"Mr. Gaunt, please!" The oddly-dressed ministry man sounded absolutely shocked at this display of hatred, but Marvolo Gaunt ignored it entirely. Merope picked up the pot she had dropped, looking rather embarrassed. Her hands were shaking so terribly that it fell from them again. She drew her wand from a pocket on the front of her ragged gray dress, pointed it at the pot, and murmured a spell. Her voice was shaking as bad as her hands were, and the wand seemed to misunderstand, as it shot a spell at the pot that sent it skidding across the floor. It only stopped when it hit a wall and split into two pieces. Morena was inclined to bite Morfin when he let out a cackle.

"Mend it, you pointless lump! Mend it!" Gaunt was yelling now.

Merope managed to stagger across the room to the pot quickly, nearly tripping over her own feet a few times. However, before she could raise her wand, another voice had spoken: "Reparo." The pot repaired itself. Morena turned her head in enough time to see the man from the ministry putting his wand away and Gaunt glaring at him in an utterly livid manner, looking something like an angered, oversized, and elderly monkey. He seemed to think better of whatever his initial instinct was (most likely either to hex or stab the man), and he directed his glare at his daughter. "Lucky the nice man from the Ministry's here, isn't it? Perhaps he'll take you off my hands; perhaps he doesn't mind dirty Squibs...."

Merope inclined her head to her feet as she picked up the pot. Without offering a thanks to the man, she moved quickly back over to the shelving in the kitchen area and put the pot in its rightful place. She then stood with her back to a piece of wall between a window and a stove and continued her intent staring at her feet. Morena had seen that same look many times upon the face of her own reflection when she had to deal with her own father ordering her around like a slave - it was the look of a person who wanted nothing more than to either escape or just disappear.

"Mr. Gaunt." Morena's attention turned back to Marvolo and the man from the Ministry he was no doubt beginning to hate. "As I've said: the reason for my visit -"

"I heard you the first time!" he snapped. "And so what? Morfin gave a Muggle a bit of what was coming to him - what about it, then?"

"Morfin has broken Wizarding law."

"'Morfin has broken Wizarding law,'" he mimed in a childish manner. Morfin cackled at this. "He taught a filthy Muggle a lesson, that's illegal now, is it?"

"I'm afraid it is," said the man, looking rather annoyed as he pulled a scroll of parchment from a pocket on his frock coat.

"What's that, his sentence?" said Marvolo angrily.

"It is a summons to the Ministry for a hearing -" he began, but was interrupted quite suddenly.

"Summons!" Marvolo yelled in outrage. "Summons? Who do you think you are, summoning my son anywhere?"

"I'm Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad."

So this was Bob Ogden, then. Morena only recognized his title because a letter had been sent to her father by him around a year ago for hexing a Muggle who had attempted to steal one of his sheep off the farm. The situation had been cleared up quickly once it had been assessed, as it was merely prevented thievery. It was no worse than Muggles shooting at each other with "guns" for the same reasons. As it had been the first and only time the Ministry had ever bothered their family, Morena had remembered almost every detail of it.

"And you think we're scum, do you?" Marvolo was now yelling and advancing on Ogden, pointing at him. "Scum who'll come running when the Ministry tells 'em to? Do you know who you're talking to, you filthy little Mudblood, do you?"

Morena was beginning to like Marvolo Gaunt less and less. He was extremely childish, especially for his age, to think that the Ministry had some sort of personal grudge against him because they were summoning his son for hexing a Muggle. It was Wizarding law - it treated everyone the same. He was a bloody fool.

"I was under the impression that I was speaking to Mr. Gaunt," said Ogden, trying to stand his ground but looking slightly fearful.

"That's right!" he yelled. He held up his hand an inch from Ogden's face, waving a finger with an old-looking gold ring with - and Morena's mind clicked instantly at the sight - a large black stone in it. "See this? See this? Know what it is? Know where it came from? Centuries it's been in our family, that's how far back we go, and pure-blood all the way! Know how much I've been offered for this, with the Peverell coat of arms engraved on the stone?"

"I've really no idea, and it's quite besides the point," said Ogden, moving his head back a few inches as the ring was waved within less than an inch of his face. "Your son has -"

Marvolo yelled something inaudible. Morena only blinked, but that was long enough to miss half of what had happened, as he was now dragging Merope by a gold chain around her neck. He shook the heavy gold locket at the end of the chain at Ogden, the chain strangling her,

"See this?" he yelled at Ogden.

"I see it, I see it!"

"Slytherin's! Salazar Slytherin's! We're his last living descendants, what do you say to that, eh?"

"Mr. Gaunt, your daughter!"

Marvolo finally released Merope, who scurried quickly back to her corner in the kitchen, straightening out her locket as she gulped for air.

"Don't you go talking to us as if we're dirt on your shoes!" said Gaunt indignantly. "Generations of purebloods, wizards all - more than you can say, I don't doubt."

"Mr. Gaunt," Ogden said impatiently, "I'm afraid that neither your ancestors nor mine had anything to do with the matter at hand. I am here because of Morfin and the Muggle he attacked last night. "Out information is that he performed a jinx on the Muggle, causing him to erupt into highly painful hives."

Morfin laughed at this, as though he thought nothing could have possibly been more amusing. He stopped immediately when his father hissed at him in Parseltongue to be quiet.

"And so what if he did, then?" said Marvolo insolently. "I expect you've wiped the Muggle's filthy face clean for him, and his memory to boot!"

"That's hardly the point, is it, Mr. Gaunt?" said Ogden. "This was an unprovoked attack on a defenseless."

"Yes, I had you marked as a Muggle-lover the moment I saw you."

"This discussion is getting us nowhere."

Morena couldn't have agreed more. However, it seemed the more that Bob Ogden spoke, the more Marvolo Gaunt spouted something about how noble his herritage was or how much higher up he was than Ogden (which was something, considering he lived in a three room hut). Unfortunately for Ogden, the moment he managed to get out something about Morfin's hearing, the sound of voices and horses' hooves outside the house became audible. Everyone quieted instantly as Marvolo shot a glare towards the door and Merope looked up cautiously from her feet. A girl's voice drifted in through the open window.

"My God, what an eyesore! Couldn't your father have that hovel cleared away, Tom?"

"It's not ours," said another voice, one Morena recognized to be Tom Riddle's. "Everything on the other side of the valley belongs to us, but that cottage belongs to an old tramp called Gaunt, and his children. The son's quite mad, you should hear some of the stories they tell in the village."

The girl laughed, and the sound of the horses' hooves galumphing over the ground outside seemed to be growing nearer. Morfin started to get out of his armchair - Morena was praying he would put her down somewhere, as she was dead tired of being restrained - but he was stopped.

"Keep your seat," Marvolo said to him warningly in Parseltongue.

"Tom," said the girls' voice from outside, sounding to be right near the house now, "I might be wrong - but has somebody nailed a snake to that door?"

"Good lord, you're right! That'll be the son, I told you he's not right in the head. Don't look at it, Cecilia, darling."

Morena couldn't help but notice how Merope looked down at her feet at the sound of the word "darling".

"'Darling,'" she heard Morfin whisper in Parseltongue. "'Darling,' he called her. So he wouldn't have you anyway."

Merope's face seemed to grow a shade lighter at this, and she kept her eyes on her feet. She looked close to fainting.

"What's that?" Marvolo said sharply - they obviously didn't want Ogden to hear this conversation, as Marvolo replied in Parseltongue. "What did you say, Morfin?"

"She likes looking at that Muggle." Merope looked absolutely terrified - if Morfin kept on with this, there was no doubt Marvolo would lose his temper. "Always in the garden when he passes, peering through the hedge at him, isn't she? And last night -"

Merope had finally looked up, and she was shaking her head pleadingly at her brother, but he didn't seem to care. "Hanging out the window waiting for him to ride home, wasn't she?"

"Hanging out of the window to look at a Muggle?" said Marvolo quietly, his voice sounding venomous.

If Morena could have laughed at the absolutely bewildered look on Ogden's face as he stood in the middle of this exchange of hissing voices, then she probably would have chuckled a bit. She wouldn't have done so in a cruel manner, as she knew she would have been just as confused had she been in her human form.

"Is it true?" Morena looked back at Marvolo, who was advancing towards his daughter. Her eyes were wide with terror. "My daughter - pure-blooded descendant of Salazar Slytherin - hankering after a filthy, dirt-veined Muggle?"

Merope pressed her back against the wall as though hoping she could sink through it, seeming incapable of speech. She shook her head "no" frantically, but Morfin continued.

"But I got him, Father! I got him as he went by and he didn't look so pretty with hives all over him, did he, Merope?"

"You disgusting little Squib, you filthy little blood traitor!" Marvolo yelled. He reached his daughter and closed his hands around her throat.

As Morena was reconsidering her agreement with Grindelwald to stay in her serpent form for as long as possible to save the girl, Ogden took the opportunity. "No!" He raised his wand and brought it down so it pointed at Marvolo Gaunt whist yelling "Relashio!" He was thrown off of his daughter and landed on his feet, but he stumble over a chair and fell on his back. Morfin gave a roar of anger. Morena shut her eyes tightly as she was dropped onto the floor next to the chair, then opened them in time to see Morfin brandishing a knife at Ogden and shooting hexes at him. Ogden did what anyone with an ounce of sense would have done - he ran. Morfin started after him, but was commanded by his father to stop as Marvolo managed to get to his feet. Reluctantly, Morfin walked back over to his chair. Morena lay very still, hoping not to be noticed, and she wasn't. She would have given a sigh of relief if snakes could sigh.

She managed to slither out of the house through a hole in the wall that she had located earlier when she was making an escape plan just in case something went wrong. Morena would return later, but she had to report back to Grindelwald first - there was no doubt both Morfin and Marvolo had just secured themselves two tickets to Azkaban, which was going to make getting that ring quite a bit harder.

After slithering back a little ways into the forest surrounding the small house, Morena changed back into a human. After being tossed onto the floor like that, her back hurt worse than it ever had in her life, and she also had a slight stomachache just from watching the way Marvolo treated his own daughter. None of that was important to Grindelwald, of course. What was important was that she had seen the ring, but it would soon be headed off to Azkaban. With a picture of what Grindelwald called headquarters in her mind, Morena disapparated from the scene, grateful to be leaving if only for a little while.