Harry Potter: The Boy Loved by Beasts

Chapter 11: ENSURE DAILY MILK WITH MILK SMITH!

Author: "Not gonna lie, I don't know what to put in here."

Vira: "Yeah? And yet, you somehow managed to pull out an entire chapter of me struggling with a milk bottle. But now, with this short section, you're clueless?"

Author: "It's different, alright? There's... a subtle diff.

Vira: intrupting "Different, huh? Sure, keep telling yourself that. Just don't make me crawl on the floor for two more chapters."

Author: "You know what? I'm just gonna put this conversation in there."

It wasn't that Vira couldn't climb back into the crib—far from it. The height wasn't much, especially for an adult. If he had Viper's help, he could have managed it.

But the real issue was the lack of anything to make the effort worth it.

The blanket, the only thing that might have offered some comfort, had been taken by Caroline when she rushed him to the hospital. Later, Andrew, in his careless way, had simply tossed him into the crib without a second thought. The blanket? It stayed in the car, forgotten, just like everything else Andrew had touched.

And then Andrew was gone.

Vira slept on his makeshift cushion, curled up amidst the scattered clothes. Seeing him nestled inside, Viper slithered over and coiled itself around Vira's arm.

In its innocence, the snake likely didn't consider that its cold body might wake him.

Fortunately, that didn't happen. The clothes, though dirty and damp from spilled milk, still managed to protect Vira from both the chilly air and the cold touch of the snake's scales.

The two of them—boy and serpent—slept through the evening and deep into the night, undisturbed.

It was around 9:00 a.m. when Vira stirred, waking from his long rest.

Hunger gnawed at him again, sharper than before. He had hoped that the new day might bring some relief—that Andrew would come back and finally take care of him.

But as he opened his eyes, the bitter truth hit him: Andrew hadn't returned.

There was no sign of him anywhere.

With groggy, reddish hues tinting his beautiful blue eyes, Vira woke up. The cold floor beneath him was a stark reminder of the dire reality he faced. As he looked around and realized he was still on the floor, a sense of dread crept in. Andrew, the only adult who might have cared for him, still hadn't returned.

If Vira didn't find a way to get help soon, the pitiful amount of milk he had managed to drink the day before wouldn't be enough to sustain him. He would starve.

Fortunately, all hope wasn't lost. He recalled from the previous day—his ranting and conversation with Viper—that the door had not been locked. Andrew had simply slammed it shut when he left. Viper, ever observant, hadn't heard the telltale sound of keys clicking or rattling.

Not wanting to waste precious energy, Vira asked the serpent to check if the door was indeed just shut or if there was a key lodged in the keyhole. Viper, coiled in his arms, slithered toward the door and confirmed Vira's suspicion: the key was still stuck in the keyhole, facing inward.

With this major hurdle out of the way, Vira felt a wave of relief.

Preparing himself for the long journey ahead, he licked the floor clean of every last drop of milk he could find. Then, he began crawling toward the door.

It took over an hour, with numerous breaks and heavy assistance from Viper, but Vira finally managed to crawl past his room door, through the corridor, and into the living room. Exhausted, he found himself in front of the main door—a crooked, blue-painted door, peeling in places, with a small dog flap at the bottom.

Seeing the dog hole, Vira sighed in relief. "At least I don't have to waste energy trying to open it," he thought.

Crawling closer, he asked Viper to help him stand. With great effort, he pushed the dog flap open and peered outside. He could see the garden beyond—and a milk bottle lying on the ground.

Spotting the bottle, Vira's heart leapt. He let go of the flap, letting it fall shut, and quickly asked Viper to go outside and bring it back.

Viper, as always, did what Vira asked. It slithered through the dog flap, coiled around the bottle, and dragged it inside with surprising efficiency.

This time, Vira didn't even attempt to open the bottle himself. "Smash it from the top of the sofa," he instructed Viper.

The first attempt didn't work; the bottle hit the floor but remained intact. Undeterred, Viper tried again, and on the second attempt, the bottle shattered.

Just like the day before, Vira rushed to the spilled milk and drank as much as he could, leaving a small portion on the floor. However, unlike before, he asked Viper to drink the remaining milk.

As he sipped, his eyes caught sight of the sticker on the bottle, which read:

"USE YOUR MILKMAN, DON'T LET HIM BECOME A THING OF THE PAST."

"ENSURE DAILY MILK, DELIVERED FROM YOUR TRUSTWORTHY MILKSMITH."

The sticker's wording struck Vira as strange, but it didn't matter. What did matter was that he now had a reliable source of milk delivered to his doorstep daily.

Though he initially hoped to find help, the sheer size of the garden and the distant gate quickly dashed those thoughts. Realizing he wouldn't make it far in his weakened state, he resigned himself to his situation. He asked Viper to pull down a cushion from the sofa, gathered a few scattered clothes, and fell asleep.

This routine of drinking milk and sleeping continued for nearly two weeks.

Andrew returned once during this period, in the evening, drunk and stumbling. He even stepped on the glass shards littering the ground.

Truly a pity , because he hadn't removed his shoes, he remained unharmed. The next morning, he left again, walking past the broken glass and completely ignoring the child he had abandoned. Perhaps Andrew had forgotten about Vira altogether.

Vira, for his part, remained asleep during Andrew's brief return. As a baby, he spent most of his time resting.

Viper, meanwhile, refused to drink the milk Vira offered him. Despite the cold December winds, which should have driven him into hibernation, the serpent ventured outside to hunt for food. He couldn't bear to leave the child he loved alone and chose instead to brave the freezing surroundings, scavenging for sustenance.

During these two weeks, Vira often found himself consumed by anger and frustration. The first cause of his anger was the absence of Andrew and Caroline. Despite everything, he still thought of Caroline as his mother—she was the only female figure he had ever seen, after all. The second source of his frustration was his own helplessness. He couldn't even manage to request help from anyone.

On one occasion, he tried to get the milk delivery man's attention by sleeping near the doorstep, hoping to speak to him. But his attempts to stay awake failed, and the cold December winds, which couldn't be blocked by the thin clothes he had, eventually forced him into slumber.

Another time, he asked Viper to help him by keeping the delivery man from leaving. Viper tried to block the man's path, but the attempt ended in disaster. The startled man reacted defensively, throwing a stick at Viper, nearly hitting the serpent.

These failed attempts only deepened Vira's frustration. He felt trapped—powerless in his small, fragile body, unable to make himself heard or seen, and completely abandoned by the people who should have cared for him.

But this wasn't the worst part—not yet. Despite his frustration and discouragement, he still had the milk to sustain himself. It was his lifeline, the only thing keeping him alive and giving him hope for a future where he could repay the pain he had endured. He dreamed of growing stronger, returning the suffering to those who had abandoned him—starving them or even torturing them to death.

However, everything changed on the 16th day. When Vira crawled to the doorstep that morning, there was no milk. The familiar bottle that had been his lifeline was gone, leaving him with nothing.

Luckily, Viper's refusal to drink the milk—something that had frustrated Vira in the past—turned out to be his salvation. The leftover milk that had accumulated over the past few days was just enough to sustain him for that day.

He could only hope that this was an anomaly, perhaps caused by the snow blocking the delivery man. With no way to do anything else, Vira clung to the fragile hope that the milk would return the next day.