Luther stepped into the loud store hoping to find a companion. 'I wish I could bring Leo to Hogwarts.' he thought.

For the better part of an hour, he wandered in the store looking at the animals in cages, tanks and other containers.

Then in a tank, he saw it, him actually if the tag on the tank was to be believed. A beautiful black snake adorned with a golden wave-like pattern on his smooth scales.

"You are so handsome." Luther said without realizing it. Then a voice said "You are not so bad for a human." Luther looked around to see who said it.

Seeing no one around him, he looked in the containers. Many magical creatures could speak human languages after all but he never heard of one small enough to fit in such containers. Then he heard the same voice again, "Yet as dumb as others, he doesn't even know he speaks the Tongue." Trying to locate the source of the sound Luther looked at the tank with the snake he was looking at when he heard the voice first.

Then something clicked and with it, countless many other questions appeared.

Feeling slightly dumb for thinking such a thing possible, he slowly talked to the snake "Can you... understand... me?" Just as Luther was starting to mock himself for thinking such a ridiculous thing, the voice spoke again and this time Luther was looking at the source. It was really the snake, after all. "Yes... human. I... can... understand you."

The condescending and taunting tone of the snake sobered up Luther from his utter befuddlement. "Hey, I don't know about you but I don't accidentally discover a rare ability every day. Even less with an arrogant snake." he huffed. The sound that came next was almost like laughter yet it was still so different. "Fine, fine. What's your name, human?"

Trying not to think of the absurdity of the situation he was in, he said "I am Luther Apollo Starriver and you, snake?" The snake reared slightly in its tank and spoke, "Hello, Luther Apollo Starriver. I am Alana, the First of my nestmates. Nice to meet you." Luther sighed and said, "Nice to meet you too, Alana. It's just Luther and I guess, we will have to finish this conversation later. Unless... you want to come with me?"

The snake was silent for a while, "I will go with you. I am bored of this tank. However, I demand to be fed or be able to hunt adequately." Nodding, Luther went to the counter to buy the required equipment and paid for Alana. Meanwhile, his mind was whirling with questions, 'How am I going to explain this to Caes, Aria and their dads? How am I going to explain this to Leo? Can I take her to Hogwarts? I will have to write to the new headmaster soon.'