Harry looked at the pile of money in front of him and smiled wryly.

His first bank robbery had gone as well as he could expect.

No, it was not a daylight robbery like what's shown in many movies but a night time robbery.

Of course, there was just much danger of being caught at night than there was during the day but things become far more simpler when the robber is a wizard.

An amateur wizard but a wizard nonetheless.

The plan was simple.

Capture the manager of the bank and read all his memory about the bank and where all the money is kept along with the number of guards, their shift times, the password of the vaults and things like that.

Drink Aging potion before starting in order to look like an adult under the mask and not a kid. Especially because longer legs allowed him to run faster.

Go to the Surveillance room and Sabotage the security cameras and take out the recording device so his use of magic would not be taped.

Knock the guards unconscious and then run to the vault.

Use Alohamora to open the locks and then dump the cash quikly in the limitless purse with the help of telekinesis.

Use the shroud and get out of the bank.

The plan was as simple as he could make and safe enough for him to go with it.The actual robbery went far differently then he had assumed and he had to change his plans numerous times in order to get out of there safely but his magic worked perfectly and he was finally able to get out of the bank from the front door along with the guards while the police surrounded the bank.

He had a feeling that those policemen were probably still surrounding that bank and asking him to come out and surrender to them, even though he had already come back to his home.

He realized that there must be more than 200,000 pounds lying on his bed right now. Along with the 40,000 pounds he'd stolen over the past few months, he had over 240,000 pounds on himself.

That's about 300,000 dollars. And converting that to galleons would net him about 60,000 galleons.

That's more than enough for him to buy just about anything the wizarding world could offer. Even a firebolt doesn't cost more than 1000 galleons.

He wondered how much the shares of Daily Prophet cost. If he should bother buying it or not. But then he realized that if the Daily Prophet caused too much problems for him, then he could simply burn down their building.

With a feral grin he jumped on the bed and fell asleep on top of the pile of money, sleeping soundly after a hard day.

—————

As much as the robbery was for the sake of money, it was also for the sake of learning practical ways to learn magic.

Harry realized that he learned better usage of magic if he had some practical goal to work toward.

If he followed the example of the book and was told to transfigure match into needle, he might be able to do it but it would not be that interesting for him.

However, if someone challenged him to transfigure sand into a miniature medieval stone castle, then even though the project was hard, he would give it his all to complete it.

That was how Harry progressed.

During his stay in his new home, he completed multiple projects that increased his knowledge in magic by leaps and bounds. Be it transfiguration, charms or something else. Even his wandless magic has reached to the point where he could complete second or even third year tasks without much difficulty.

But the biggest driving force behind his eagerness to learn magic would always be the fact that his soul came from another world where magic was not present.

And there was also the fact that he would have to fight Voldemort at some point or another in his life, so yeah. He wanted to learn as much about magic as he could.

—————

Harry looked at the various snakes kept in cages and felt a pang of hurt in his heart.

He could talk to these snakes which meant that they were sentient.

But how could anyone treat a sentient being like this. What right does humans have to treat other species like this.

To keep them in cages and feed them the minimum amount necessary for their survival.

As he moved among them they whispered to one another. Most had no idea that he could understand them so they talked freely among themselves as if he was not even there.

And he did not like what he was hearing.

They were afraid of him. Afraid that he was a potions master and that he was only going to buy them so that he could dissect them for potion materials.

How could the wizards do this to them. Did they not know that magical snakes are just as sentient as a human.

He wondered how those same wizards would feel if some day some other species rose up to the top of the food chain and started dissecting them for potions material instead.

He took a deep breath and turned to look at the shopkeeper once again.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"You said that they are magical creatures?" he asked with a bit of skepticism.

"Indeed they are child." The shopkeeper said with a patronizing smile that irked Harry to the bones. Actually, he hated whenever someone treated like a child.

He would have consumed an aging potion before coming here but he had finished his supply last week and planned to buy more of them this time.

"What do they do. What makes them magical?" he asked and the shopkeeper quickly moved to show him individual snakes in their own private cages.

"This here. Greyskin Cobra. One of the deadliest of it's kind. It's venom is corrosive and some even compare it's venom to that of a basilisk. One drop of it's venom is deadly enough to kill an adult troll." He said as the grey colored cobra shrunk back in his glass cage with a hiss and Harry wondered where the young cobra had learned all those profanities.

"This here. Silverneck Python. It grows up to 35 feet in length and can live up to 100 years. It also has magical immunity which means that most spells will just bounce off of it's skin harmfully." He said and then moved on to the next one.

"This one here. The most of special of them all. And the most expensive one. A Horned Serpant. It was a bitch and a half to get this one." The shopkeeper said proudly and took out a small one feet long black colored snake with small horns growing on the crown of it's head.

Harry wondered if the snake was venom less or just too young at this point to release venom.

One thing he could tell was that the horned serpent was much more intelligent than the other snakes he'd seen so far.

His conjecture was proven true when the snake lowered his/her head to him and in greeting and hissed "Greetings Speaker" and Harry knew that he would not leave the shop without the Horned Serpent.

The Horned snake had after all known that he could speak with them without him even speaking a single word so far.

But there was something else he had to do before he could leave the shop.

"I'll buy them all." He said and the shopkeeper's smile faltered for a bit and his eyes narrowed in an instant as he asked "All of them?"

"Yes. I'll buy all of them."

It took some time for Harry to prove that no, he was not trying to prank the shopkeeper and yes, he had enough galleons to buy all the damn snakes but at last, he was able to buy all the snakes in the shop.

He dumped all of them in his trunk along with a warning to not eat each other before he took them along with him.

—————

Most of the snakes he bought from the shop wanted to be free so Harry took them to a dense forest and freed them.

There were a few who wanted to live with him as well but he knew that feeding so many snakes would be a chore so he asked them to leave as well.

By the end of this, only one of the snakes remained with him.

The Horned Serpent whom Harry named as Selena.

And the little snake would spend most of the rest of her life wrapped around Harry's shoulders.

She would also be one of the few people that Harry would ever consider a friend.

—————

"So… you can sense other people through their magic?" He asked in confusion as he talked with his new friend in Parseltongue.

"Yes. I can sense all manner of magical beings. Be it wizards, witches, goblins, elves, centaurs, unicorns or even squibs."

"What about muggles?" he asked.

"Muggles are… harder to sense because they hold very little magic in their bodies but yes, if I concentrate hard enough, then I can sense muggles as well."

"Hmm… I didn't knew that muggles had some magic as well."

"And they don't." Selena firmly denied. "But the earth is saturated with magic. There might be places like Hogwarts were there is more ambient magic in the air but there is magic everywhere. Even in the deserts and the Seas. So overtime, so of the magic seep inside their body. It doesn't make them magical but it gives them a very small chance to produce a magical baby."

"Huh… I didn't know that. I wondered if this is how the first magical beings were born." Harry mused to himself before he turned to his new friend and asked her another question.

"What else can you do?" he asked.

"How come you get to ask all the questions. It's not fair." She complained and Harry was suddenly reminded that she might have been a mythical creature but she was still very young.

"Very well then. Ask what is in your mind."

"Tell me what you can do. Can you move your stick and make me fly?" she asked with a childish enthusiasm and Harry chuckled.

"I can do it without the stick." He said and made her fly a few rounds around his small house while she made a sound that sounded strangely like 'Weeeee'.

"Tell me what else can you do?" the little tyke asked after she wrapped herself around his shoulders and Harry sighed at her enthusiasm and hoped that she won't always be this enthusiastic.

He was mostly a stoic and boring man and her enthusiasm was already starting to tire him. But he was also happy to finally get a friend (little sibling) who would not have any hidden agenda for him.

"I can do a little bit of Telekinesis. A little bit of…"

"What's telekinesis?" she interrupted and he explained it to her patiently. Hmm… who knew that he could be so patient when explaining things to young people. Perhaps he might have it in him to become a good father after all.

"Aside from that, I am fairly good at mind arts. I can also use a lot of household charms and I also developed a passive ability to remain undetected by others."

He then went ahead to show her some of the household charms he'd recently learned like warming food, painting wall, cleaning dishes among other things.

"You can use your magic without a stick. I don't think I've ever seen any human use magic without a stick." The little snake said "Is that why you've so much magic in you than the kids of your age."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"You've more magic in your body than any other humans of your height I've ever seen. Perhaps twice as much or maybe even thrice. Is that why you can use magic without a stick?" she asked curiously while Harry tried to digest this news.

"I have more magic than my peers?" he asked and she nodded. "Do you know why that is?"

"Not really. I've seen a few humans of your height but all of them had about the same amount of magic in them. You're the first one who had so much more magic than the others. Your magic also have a different taste to it which was why I was able to tell that you are a speaker."

"Huh…" Harry replied in a non committed manner while he wondered why he had more magic in his body than his peers. Was it because he used his magic so regularly.

Was this was Albus Dumbledore and Voldemort were so much more powerful than others. Could the answer be so simple. That they just used more magic than most other people.

"There's also something else." The little snake said and flickered her tongue near his scar. "There's a disgusting piece of magic attached to your head. It's not your magic but it's attached to you for some reason. Do you know what it is?" she asked and he nodded his head.

"I know but I believe it's my time to ask the questions." He said with a smile and she huffed.

"Very well then. Ask away."

"What other things you can do aside from sensing other magical signatures?" he asked.

"Well… I can shapeshift a bit and become invisible at will." She replied shyly and Harry's head jerked around to meet her's.

"If you can turn invisible then how did they capture you?" he asked curiously.

"I was very little back when they killed my mother and captured me and my brothers and sisters." She explained sadly and Harry felt anger rise in his heart before he damped it down and caressed his little friend in order to soothe her. In hindsight, it was a stupid question to ask.

There was no question why her mother was hunted in the first place. By now some potion master had probably already turned her horns into potion material and her skin into leather belt or something like that.

Humans were really cunts once you moved past their civil appearances.

"I'm sorry." He said and meant it. He would not have liked it if someone killed his mother for some potion material either.

No, he would not have liked that a single bit.

"It's alright." She murmured and Harry had the suspicion that she was feeling a little sleepy. Well, she was still a child so that would explain her sleepiness.

"Go to sleep then little princess. I'll protect you from bad people from now on." He said gently as she fell asleep in his shoulders.