Not Normal

"Hiss~ Haha~ Idiot, you still haven't noticed where I am. How amusing~"

The voice drew closer and closer. Blinking, Tom lowered his head. A little black snake at his feet was staring at him, flicking its tongue. Rubbing his eyes in disbelief, Tom cautiously crouched down. "Were you talking?"

"Oh, f***! I actually ran into someone who can speak Parseltongue!"

That confirmed it. Tom was now truly certain that he wasn't normal. He had never heard of anyone else being able to talk to snakes. "Matron didn't like children who swore, so you shouldn't swear anymore..."

The little black snake flicked its tail, turned its head, and slithered away. Even a Parselmouth couldn't interfere with a snake's freedom! It wasn't human, so why should it care about anything some dean said?

Talking with the little snake improved Tom's mood somewhat. Though he still felt as if something was missing from his heart, at least he had made a new discovery. That way, he could survive in places without Matron, just as she had wished...

That night, Tom quietly opened the door and slipped into the courtyard. He looked up at the stars, wanting to find which one might be Matron, but there were too many. He couldn't count them all.

Holding his face in his hands in frustration, Tom sighed. "All right, then the biggest and brightest one is Matron! The one beside her is Mum..."

"Wow... you really are such a childish little kid~"

Looking down at the little snake that had appeared at his feet again, Tom bit his lower lip in embarrassment and annoyance. He was a child to begin with! Why did a snake have to mock him too?

"At least I'm better off than you. I have hands, and you don't."

Rolling around on the ground, the little black snake was suddenly consumed by the urge to win. It wriggled back and forth until it tied itself into a knot. "I can tie myself into a knot! Can you? You really are an unlovable hatchling!"

Not wanting to pay attention to the thing on the ground, Tom continued gazing at the sky with his face in his hands. Even if he wasn't a normal child, he wouldn't randomly make himself look like that. It was too stupid. Really, really stupid.

"Hiss hiss hiss... Help me untie myself... Please, I can't get free by myself..."

Sighing like a little adult, Tom shook his small head and helplessly reached out to untangle the snake. He had said so—this was too stupid. Considerately pretending it had never happened, he changed the subject by recalling their conversation from earlier that day.

"Is it strange that I can talk to you? Haven't you seen anyone else like that?"

If it could roll its eyes, the little snake definitely wouldn't have held back. It was only a few years old; how many people could it possibly have seen? The fact that humans hadn't chopped it into pieces was only because it was clever. "Do you think I'm that idle? Why would I go looking for humans to chat with?"

Tom raised an eyebrow. That was true. If he hadn't been able to understand snakes, he probably would have found a way to kill this one during the day. Who knew whether it might suddenly bite him? If it was venomous, that would be terrible.

Someone had been bitten to death by a venomous snake during the summer. Old Headmaster had told him then never to run into the grass.

"...Sigh."

Poking the dejected little hatchling with its tail, the little snake flicked its tongue. It didn't understand humans' complicated feelings. Wasn't death perfectly normal? When it needed to fill its stomach, it hunted other creatures, just like humans killed pigs.

"Why are you sighing?"

"You wouldn't understand." Tom thought of Old Headmaster again. He had been the only person here who had treated him well. "Why do people die...?"