Harry Potter and the Cataclysm

Carnie had been carrying the egg with him to class these past few days. After confirming with Hagrid, it was indeed a snake egg.

His hand constantly protected the egg in his pocket, and he even skipped flying practice, not bothering with his broomstick. During dinner, he felt the egg shaking more and more, making it impossible for him to focus on eating.

After briefly greeting Harry and the others, he ran straight back to the dormitory, going through the now-familiar routine.

Carnie gathered his spiritual energy, shrouding the egg in a mist of Qi. The snake egg greedily absorbed the energy, as if it had grown accustomed to this nourishment over the past few days.

"You are a white snake. You are a white snake. You are a female snake. You are a female snake…" He had been mentally conditioning the egg, though he had no idea if it even understood.

The egg trembled violently but still showed no signs of cracking. He wondered if he should drip a bit of blood onto it—blood recognition, after all. What if the little creature that hatched didn't recognize him?

As he was lost in thought, the egg wobbled and finally cracked open.

"White snake! White snake! White snake!" Carnie focused all his attention on the hatching egg. The cracks on the surface widened as whatever was inside began pushing against the shell.

"Female! Female! Female!"

With a crisp snap, a piece of eggshell was lifted away, and a tiny black snake slithered out.

The little snake was about five inches long, its pitch-black scales gleaming under the light. It was even thinner than a wand, and its small, oval-shaped head lifted slightly, flicking its tongue as its nearly invisible eyes stared directly at Carnie.

The moment their gazes met, all of Carnie's earlier thoughts vanished. Instead, a sense of warmth and familiarity filled his heart. After all, this little creature had been nurtured by his Qi, bit by bit, until it finally emerged. Slowly, he extended a hand toward it.

The snake showed no fear, tilting its head before curling around Carnie's hand, coiling itself into his palm.

"You… were something I picked up. I'm not your parent, nor your sibling," Carnie muttered, feeling ridiculous for talking to a snake that probably didn't understand a word. "You're completely pitch black. Let's call you Little Black for now. We'll decide on a proper name later."

He sighed. "Too bad you're not white. If you were, I'd have named you Little White—that would've sounded much better."

Carnie gently stroked Little Black's smooth back. The snake didn't react, simply closing its eyes as if enjoying the warmth of his palm.

If it had been a male, naming would've been easy—Ye Hua. If it were female, he could name it Hei Suzhen, Black Mamba, or Black Widow. Naming pets was something Carnie had always been good at—he had named all the cats and dogs at home.

"Little Black! Do you understand me? Your name is Little Black now. If you ever manage to turn into a human, we'll pick another name then."

As if understanding, the tiny snake began slithering in circles in Carnie's palm. It seemed particularly fond of his hand, likely because it had absorbed Qi from him all this time. His warmth made it feel safe.

Carnie couldn't help but smile as he watched the snake wriggle. It was incredibly smooth, without any of the slimy stickiness one might expect. The way it moved tickled his palm.

Judging by its energy, it had probably been ready to hatch for a while but had stubbornly delayed emerging. That explained why it was so energetic right after breaking free from its shell.

Carnie pulled out the small pieces of meat he had prepared in advance and used a pair of makeshift chopsticks to pick one up, offering it to Little Black. The snake curled its body, took a quick sniff, and immediately turned away.

"You won't eat? What, do you need me to kiss you first?" Carnie recalled the books he had read in the library. "Snakes are supposed to eat meat…"

Staring at the snake, he muttered, "I'm not kissing you. Your gender is still unknown, and I'm not taking that risk."

He moved the chopsticks back toward the snake's head. In response, Little Black curled into a tighter coil, completely hiding its head.

"You'll eat when you're hungry." Carnie put the meat away and lightly tapped the snake's head.

A short while later, Seamus and Neville returned. Harry and Ron were nowhere to be seen, and Neville didn't know where they had gone either.

"Neville, you better keep an eye on your toad. Don't let it mistake my Little Black for a snack," Carnie said.

"I lost my toad a week ago… I still haven't found it," Neville sighed, exasperated.

"You finally hatched your egg?" Seamus asked.

"It wasn't my egg. I just raised the egg!" Carnie corrected.

Carnie revealed Little Black, who uncurled slightly but remained coiled around his hand.

"That's just a plain black snake," Seamus muttered, quickly losing interest.

"Don't underestimate a small snake—things change," Carnie smirked.

"What does it eat?" Neville asked.

"I have no idea. It won't eat meat, so maybe it eats plants?" Carnie guessed.

After chatting for a bit, Harry and Ron still hadn't returned. Neville and Seamus had already gone to sleep, while Carnie continued meditating.

Nurturing Little Black had taken a considerable amount of his Qi, but the past few days had also greatly enhanced his reserves. He suspected that fully exhausting his Qi each time had accelerated his growth.

To his surprise, Little Black also seemed to understand cultivation—or at least it looked like it did.

Carnie meditated with the snake still curled in his hand. At first, the tiny creature occasionally wriggled, but after a short while, it became completely still.

Then, Carnie noticed something strange.

He felt Qi gathering toward his hand. Opening his eyes, he saw something unexpected.

Little Black was coiled in place, facing the partially visible moon outside. Its tiny body was glowing faintly silver.

It had already learned how to absorb the essence of the moon.

Carnie was both amazed and delighted. This little thing is full of potential. Maybe… he should raise more.

Just then, the dormitory door creaked open.

Harry and Ron finally returned.

"You guys are finally back. Where have you been?" Carnie asked, stroking Little Black's head, pulling it back from its trance-like state.

"We saw Snape sneaking into the room with the giant dog, so we followed him!" Ron blurted out. "He was trying to steal whatever that dog's guarding! Luckily, Professor Quirrell was there to stop him!"

"Snape pinned Quirrell to the wall and threatened him!" Harry added, looking serious.

Carnie hesitated. "That… doesn't sound right. Are you sure you heard them clearly?"

"We didn't dare get too close, so we couldn't make out the exact conversation. But based on the situation, it was obvious!" Ron insisted.

Snape's personality certainly didn't make him seem trustworthy…

"Remember when the troll got into the castle? We saw Snape rushing toward the third-floor corridor—he must have let it in to cause chaos and create a distraction to steal whatever that dog is protecting!" Harry added, fully convinced of his theory.

"Exactly!" Ron nodded in agreement.

"Great reasoning. Let's ask Hagrid about it tomorrow since we're free in the afternoon." Carnie encouraged their suspicions—it was better to let them continue doubting Snape.

Hearing Carnie say that, Harry and Ron were even more certain of their guess.

"Oh, by the way! Look at my new pet!" Carnie lifted the snake.

"Little Black!"

"You really hatched it! Hey there, Little Black!" Harry beamed.

"Snakes are Slytherin's symbol…" Ron mumbled, clearly uneasy.

"And now Slytherin's symbol is my pet," Carnie smirked.

Ron thought for a moment. "Fair enough!"

"Alright, it's late. Go to sleep. We have Snape's Potions class tomorrow morning!" Carnie reminded them.

"Ugh… I really don't wanna go to Potions…" Ron groaned.

Carnie suddenly remembered something—Harry could talk to snakes.

For now, though, no one else knew. It was probably best to keep it that way.

Still, Little Black was just a hatchling. It probably wasn't capable of speaking yet…

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