The day started out, just the same as every day, with Aunt Petunia rapping at the door.

Tap! Tap! Tap! "Up!"

Harriet grunted.

Tap! Tap! "Get up!"

Oh how Harriet wished she could have a few more minutes. Maybe Aunt Petunia would go away if-

BANG! BANG! "NOW!"

Nope. Harriet sighed, and turned on her light, before grabbing her glasses, which were covered in a decent amount of tape, due to the fact her cousin, Darla Dursley, took it upon herself to grab them off her face and throw them across the room as hard as she could, leaving poor Harriet to scramble around half blind trying to find them.

"Wake up, cousin!" Darla shrieked, jumping on the steps, making dust fall down in Harriet's hair. "We're going to the zoo!" Darla let out a laugh and finished scampering down the steps.

Harriet groaned. How could she have forgotten? It was Darla's birthday. She made to climb out of the cup board under the stairs, which was her bedroom, only to be shoved back in by a passing Darla, causing several papers to fall down. The papers were a few of Harriet's many drawings, which were either loose papers hanging up in the cup board, in stacks on the shelves, or in her small little sketch book that she fished out of the trash when Darla threw it away last year. It had brown leather cover and creamy white pages. She had filled up almost half of it and dreaded the day it would be full.

"Happy birthday, my beautiful birthday girl." Aunt Petunia cooed to Darla.

"Happy birthday, Angel." Harriet's uncle Vernon said, giving his daughter a hug. "Fetch me my coffee." He said, looking at Harriet.

"Yes, Uncle Vernon." Harriet said.

"Cook the breakfast, and don't you dare burn it." Aunt Petunia said, steering Darla to the table, which was covered in presents. "I want everything to be perfect on my Dolly Darla's special day."

So Harriet cooked the breakfast as Darla counted her presents.

"36." Darla said, wrinkling her nose as Harriet put breakfast on the table.

"That's right, pumpkin." Uncle Vernon said proudly.

"36! But last year I got 37!" Darla shrieked, screwing up her face like she was going to cry.

"But sweetheart." Aunt Petunia said, looking ready to cry herself. "Some of them are bigger than last year."

"I don't care how big they are." Darla sobbed.

It actually had been many years since Darla had really cried, but she learned if she screwed up her face and whimpered, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would give her anything.

"Now, now, Angel. We'll get you two more presents while we're out." Uncle Vernon said, looking distressed.

Darla paused for a moment. "So I would have..." She began counting on her fingers.

"38." Harriet said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh. Alright then." Darla said, sitting down and eating.

After they finished eating, they made their way out to the car, Harriet was just about to climb into the vehicle when she was grabbed roughly by Uncle Vernon.

"I'm warning you girl." He hissed. "Any funny business, any at all, and you won't have any meals for a week."

Harriet nodded quickly.

"Good. Get in." Uncle Vernon growled.

Harriet climbed in and buckled up. It wasn't her fault anything funny happened. Really. Even though it seemed to always happen around her. She honestly didn't know how she managed to regrow her hair in one night, after Aunt Petunia, tired of yanking out all the snarls, chopped it all off, save for her bangs which covered up her lightning bolt shaped scar, it was cut off so close to her head that Harriet was almost bald, yet the next morning, Harriet woke up, and it was almost an inch longer than it had been before Aunt Petunia had at it. She got a week in her cupboard for that. But the strange happenings never caused anyone harm. Except for the time Darla had taunted Harriet to her wits end and suddenly a blistering rash spread all over the older girls body, but that was blamed on an allergic reaction to the school cleaning supplies, and the only one Uncle Vernon yelled at was the principal.

The car jolted and Uncle Vernon cursed the maker of motorbikes.

"I had a dream about a motorbike." Harriet murmured, just recalling the dream. "It could fly."

Uncle Vernon almost wrecked the car, and turned to her, red in the face. "MOTORBIKES DO NOT FLY!"

"I know that." Harriet said, wishing she hadn't said anything. "It was just a dream."

Harriet sulked the rest of the way.

"Oh, daddy! Can I get an ice cream!" Darla cried as they pulled in front of the zoo, where an ice cream stand had been placed in front of the entrance.

A few minutes later, Darla was licking a chocolate ice cream, and Harriet had a cheap lemon ice pop, as the ice cream lady asked what she wanted before the Dursley's could hurry her away. It was pretty good.

It was fun looking around the zoo at the animals, Harriet had never been before, as the Dursley's usually stowed her with Mrs. Figg, the batty old lady next door.

But poor Mrs. Figg had broken her leg.

Harriet knew she should feel sorry, but she couldn't help but be elated that she wouldn't have to sit in Mrs. Figg's cabbage smelling livingroom and look at her pictures of her cats.

At lunch, Darla ordered an extra large hamburger, and Harriet got a cheap ham sandwich, and she even got to finish Darla's Knickerbocker Glory when the older girl complained of it being too small and made Uncle Vernon order another. Harriet couldn't believe her luck.

She should have known it wouldn't last long.

They were in the reptilian house, which was surprising. Maybe it was because of the cute boy they saw walk in earlier, but Darla insisted on going in, even though she was terrified of snakes.

Sure enough, Darla followed the boy, Piers, around and chatted with him.

"Isn't this snake cool?" Piers asked, pointing at the boa constrictor that was lying asleep in it's enclosure.

"Yeah." Darla said, shifting nervously.

"I wish it would move." Piers said, sadly.

Darla puffed up. "Daddy, make it move." She ordered.

Uncle Vernon studied the snake, then rapped his knuckles on the window, much like Aunt Petunia does to wake up Harriet. "Oi! Get up!"

Darla banged on the glass. "MOVE!"

"It's asleep!" Harriet said, knocking Darla's hand away.

Darla pouted.

"It's boring. Let's go look at the lizards." Piers said, walking away, with Darla, Vernon, and Petunia following.

Harriet looked in at the snake, who had been woken, and gave it a sad look. "Sorry about them. They just don't understand what it's like. Lying there day after day, having people press their ugly faces in on you."

The snake rose it's head, and Harriet swore, she swore on her life, that it winked at her.

Her eyes shot open wide. "Can you hear me?" She asked.

The snake, to Harriet's further astonishment, nodded.

"It's just- I've never talked to a snake before Do you... I mean... Do you talk to people often."

The snake shook it's head.

"You're from Burma." Harriet said, reading the sign beside the enclosure. "Was it nice there? Do you miss your family?"

The snake used it's tail to motion at the sign again.

Harriet looked and saw the words, "Bred in captivity" in big red letters at the bottom of the sign. "I see." She said, as the snake laid it's head down. "That's me as well."

The snake raised it's head up questioningly.

"I mean, I never knew my parents either." Harriet elaborated.

The snake gave her a sad nod.

"WHOA! Darla! Come look at this snake! You wont believe what it's doing!" Piers shouted, rushing over.

Darla followed and took great pleasure in shoving Harriet out of the way, before both she and Piers climbed up on the hand rails and pressed their bodies against the glass.

The snake looked as irritated as Harriet was growing to be.

Then suddenly, well it was hard to explain, the glass disappeared, Harriet almost thought it was a trick of the light, but then Piers and Darla let out yells, and went pitching through the glassless window and into the enclosure.

Harriet gasped as they splashed into the water.

The snake wasted no time in crawling over the two, playfully snapping it's jaw at Darla who looked faint, and climbing out of the enclosure. "Thankssssss." It hissed at her.

"Any time." Harriet said, absolutely stunned.

The snake took off, being followed by screams, yells, and stampeding feet.

Darla and Piers both jumped up and tried to climb out of the window, but they hit a barrier, the glass had returned.

Darla and Piers cried for their mummy and daddy's who rushed over and went into a panic, and Harriet sat on the floor laughing. But the laughter caught in her throat, when Uncle Vernon turned to her with an absolute murderous stare.

An hour later, Aunt Petunia was leading a shaking, bundled up Darla into the house. And Uncle Vernon was leading Harriet into the house, with a tight grip on her hair, causing her to cry out in pain.

"What happened!" Uncle Vernon roared.

"I swear I don't know!" Harriet said, struggling as large man was pushing her to her cup board "One minute the glass was there and then it was gone! It was like magic!" She cried, before she was thrown violently into her cup board.

"There's no such thing as magic." Uncle Vernon hissed venomously, before slamming the door shut, plunging Harriet into darkness.