Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew and Kalilina on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too. Nor a girl. Yet Harry Potter and Kalilina Black were still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.

"Up! Get up! Now!"

Harry woke up with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.

"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back, careful not to roll on Kalilina, and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. He looked over at Kalilina, who was still sound asleep. He knew he had to wake her up, so he sat up and leaned on his elbow for support. He flicked her nose repeatedly.

"Leave me alone," grumbled Kalilina.

"No can do, Kali. You have to wake up," said Harry, continuing to flick her nose. Kalilina opened her dark blue eyes and glared at Harry.

"Fine!" she grumbled, sitting up. She rubbed her eyes and rubbed her jet-black hair and made it even more messier.

"Well good morning to you too, Miss Grumpy," chuckled Harry. Kalilina rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Harry.

"So, how did you sleep?" asked Kalilina. "Dream about me again?"

"Oh, Kali. You've asked me that since we were 5 and the answer hasn't changed; No," smirked Harry. "But I did have a weird dream."

Kalilina rolled her eyes at the first statement, but her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and her nose scrunched up.

"Weird...I had a weird dream too," said Kalilina. "It had a flying motorcycle in it..."

"Yeah, there was a flying motorcycle in my dream, too!" exclaimed Harry. "Weird..."

Kalilina shrugged.

Aunt Petunia was back outside the door.

"Are you up yet?" she demanded.

"Nearly," hissed Kalilina.

"Well, get a move on, I want you two to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."

Harry groaned.

"Oh, bloody hell, it's that loafs birthday? Time to start the torture times 14," hissed Kalilina.

"What did you say?" snapped Aunt Petunia through the door.

"I said - " Kalilina was cut off by Harry.

"Nothing, nothing ..." said Harry, quickly. Aunt Petunia left again.

"Harry," whined Kalilina. "I wish you would stop cutting me off. That bitch needs to realize that her 'Duddykins' isn't all perfect."

"Not today, Kali. It's already bad enough that it's his birthday. I don't want extra work," explained Harry. Kalilina huffed and rolled her eyes.

Dudley's birthday - how could they have forgotten? They both got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks.

When they were dressed they went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's presents.

'Hey, Harry...would it be cool if I...you know, murder the Dursleys and make it look like an accident?' thought Kalilina to Harry. They had a way of hearing each other's thoughts.

'As lovely as that sounds, I don't want to go visit you in jail.' Harry thought back. Kalilina put her hand across her heart and gave Harry an appalled look.

'You think I can't get away with murder? I am offended!' thought Kalilina, giving Harry an evil look. Harry rolled his eyes.

'Calm down, Miss Drama Queen. I don't just think, I know. Just like how I know that you ate my gummy bears when were 6.' thought Harry. Kalilina's mouth dropped open and Harry smirked.

'You knew about that?! What? How?!' thought Kalilina. Her eyes were frantic and she looked crazed.

'A Potter always knows, Miss Black.' he thought, tapping her nose. Kalilina glared at him and tended to the bacon. Then came in and gave a look to Harry and Kalilina.

"Brush your hair, both of you!" he grunted in a greeting. Harry could hear Kalilina faintly muttering, "Good morning to you too, Uncle Vernon," He shook his head at his best friend. Just as both Kalilina and Harry were finishing with breakfast, Dudley came bounding in.

"Happy birthday, Duddy!" sang Aunt Petunia. Kalilina grimaced. She already hated the woman's normal voice, but now she had to sing? Kalilina and Harry served breakfast, but there was barely enough space to fit plates due to Dudley's excessive amount of presents. Dudley eyed his presents.

"There's 37.." said Dudley, dumbly.

"Wow, you can count past your age, wonderful!" said Kalilina, sarcastically. Uncle Vernon shot her a dirty look but Kalilina grinned back, innocently.

"But - But- that's 2 less than last year!" grumbled Dudley. Harry and Kalilina, who could sense a tantrum, started scarfing down their food, faster. Obviously, Aunt Petunia sensed it too, because she said,

"But, Duddy, dear, you haven't counted that big one from Mummy and Daddy. Right under the one from Aunt Marge,"

Dudley seemed to take this into account.

"Okay. 38. But that's still less than last year!" exclaimed Dudley.

'You're lucky you get things, fat arse. Me and Harry get socks or coat hangers. Be greatful!'

thought Kalilina, bitterly. Harry snickered behind his hand, but stopped when Aunt Petunia gave him a look.

"How about when we go out we get you 2 presents while were're out. 2, pumpkin, how does that sound?" asked Aunt Petunia, desperately. Dudley nodded his head, still pouting. Kalilina glared at Dudley.

Aunt Petunia went to phone for a bit and came back into the living room.

"Miss Figg can't take them in," hissed Aunt Petunia, glaring at Kalilina and Harry. "She broke her ankle."

There was silence.

"How about Marge?" asked Aunt Petunia, suddenly.

"On a holiday," grunted Uncle Vernon.

"We could stay here by ourselves," suggested Harry, hopefully. Uncle Vernon turned to him.

"And let you burn down the house?" snorted Uncle Vernon.

"We weren't going to burn down the house," said Kalilina. "Quite the contrary, actually. We were going to burn the bodies we've stored away. Isn't that right, Harry?"

The Dursleys looked at Kalilina, terrified, but said nothing.

"I don't want them to go!" cried Dudley. Kalilina scoffed.

"Oh boo-hoo, what makes you think we want to spend time with a pompous arse like you," snapped Kalilina. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon gave her a murderous look, but she did nothing but shrug and roll her eyes. Dudley burst into faux tears. His mother tried comforting him, but his cries grew louder. The doorbell rang and when Aunt Petunia opened the front door, Dudley's faux sobs cut off. There stood Piers Polkiss one of Dudley's cronies. Both boys glared at Harry and Kalilina, and they glared right back. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat.

Half an hour later, Harry and Kalilina were sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in their life. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with them.

The problem was, strange things often happened around Kalilina and Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys they didn't make them happen.

But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, their cupboard, or 's cabbage-smelling living room.

While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry and Kalilina, the council, Harry and Kalilina, the bank, and Harry and Kalilina were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.

"...roaring along like maniacs, young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.

"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."

"Yeah, my motorcycle was flying, too," said Kalilina, remembering suddenly, as well.

Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry and Kalilina, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"

Dudley and Piers sniggered. Kalilina sneered.

"We didn't say they did, you fucking dunce," growled Kalilina. "We just said we had a dream about one."

Harry nudged her, but she continued to glare at the back of Uncle Vernon's fat head.

Kalilina and Harry had the best morning they'd had in a long time. They were careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back and start using them as punching bags.

After lunch they went to the reptile house. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Kalilina hoped that the snakes would mistake Dudley for food and eat him whole. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could wrap itself around Dudley numerous times - but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.

"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.

"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake snoozed on.

"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.

Harry and Kalilina moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake.

The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry and Kalilina's.

It winked.

Kalilina couldn't believe her eyes. "Please tell me you saw that too," whispered Kalilina not removing her eyes from the snake.

"I saw it," breathed Harry. Kalilina winked at the snake.

"Kali, someone could be watching!" scolded Harry.

"Really, Harry? Yeah, some random person will be like 'Hey that girl is so weird, winking at the snake.' for all they know, I could've had something in my eye," explained Kalilina.

Harry stayed quiet, knowing it was true.

The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, the raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave them a look that said quite plainly:

"I get that all the time."

Kalilina rolled her eyes.

"I know," she murmured through the glass, though she wasn't sure the snake could hear her. "It must be really annoying."

The snake nodded vigirously.

"Where do you come from anway?" asked Harry.

The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry and Kalilina peered at it.

Boa Conscrictor, Brazil.

"Was it nice there?"

The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry and Kalilina read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see - so you've never been to Brazil?"

As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry and Kalilina made all three of them jump. "DUDLEY! ! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"

Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.

"Out of the way, you two," he said, pushing both Kalilina and Harry to the ground. Kalilina wanted so badly to just get back up and pounce on Dudley and murder him with her bare hands. But Harry's grip on her arm made her stay on the ground.

One second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had lept back with howls of horror.

Harry and Kalilina sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits,

As the snake slid swiftly past Harry and Kalilina, they could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come...Thanksss, amigos."

Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting to go off on the two. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go - cupboard - stay - no meals," before he collapsed in a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy. Kalilina kept yelling, "We didn't do anything! You have no proof!" for the next hour.

"It's all Piers fault," she pouted. "We didn't even do it!"

"I know! We get in trouble for everything!" grumbled Harry. Kalilina huffed and removed a spider that was crawling up her arm.

They'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years. At school, Harry and Kalilina had no one but themselves. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter and that bitchy Kalilina Black in their baggy clothes and in Harry's case, broken glasses, and no body liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.