AUTHOR'S NOTE: okay, I've been getting too distracted from writing my other story but I just have to start this.

DISCLAIMER: I despise writing this on every chapter so this goes for the whole story. I do not own Harry Potter; if I did it would not have been as awesome as J.K. Rowling did it (She's a genius!).

"UP!" A shrill screech pierced my ears and snatched me away from my dream. I groaned and turned to my side.

"Are you up yet?" The screech came back and I snuggled deeper into my twin's warmth. Unfortunately, we both knew that we were going to get up one way or another.

"Nearly." My twin brother replied while he let go of his teddy bear (AKA me) and sat up to look for socks. He didn't bother changing until later in the morning.

"Hermelinda, get up" Harry said while trying to shake me awake. I moaned and muttered something about a few more minutes.

"We don't get a few more minutes." He's right about. I sat up, stretched, and yawned. I kicked the blanket off my lower half and ran my fingers through my auburn hair.

"G'morning Harry." I muttered while rubbing my hazel eyes to get rid of the sleep and drowsiness. I had on dark blue pajama bottoms and put an off-the-shoulder purple shoulder over my cream-colored tank top. The sweater wasn't meant to be off-the-shoulder but it's too big to stay on my shoulders.

"G'morning Hermelinda," Harry replied with an amused smile. "Time to get up." He declared and opened the door leading to our cupboard under the stairs.

"I don't wanna." I complained as we bent over to fit through the small door. He pretended to not hear me and led me into the kitchen by the hand so we can finish making bacon for Dudley's birthday.

Dudley's our cousin. He's like an oversized pig except without the pink skin and…yeah that's about the only difference. He has blue eyes and blond hair which could have been a great combination had he not be so closely related to a boar. The shrill voice that woke us up was Aunt Petunia. She has the longest neck I have ever seen; the complete opposite of Dudley, all skin and bones. Then there's Uncle Vernon, he's where Dudley got his looks from. He has almost no neck and a bushy mustache that about covers his upper lip. I think he also has blue eyes but his face is scrunched up most of the time. What's more, I think he had blond hair at one point but it's more of a brownish now.

Harry and I never looked like any of them. I have long dark red hair that ends at my lower back, and hazel eyes. Harry however has a messy mop of black hair, green eyes, and large round glasses that are held together with tape thanks to Dudley's daily beatings. We hardly look alike to each other except for two things; we both are small and skinny for our age and we have a thin lightning shaped scar on our forehead. I cover mine with my bangs which also cover my left eye as well and Harry covers his with his bangs.

We set up the table with breakfast (bacon and eggs) and sat down to eat. Dudley came down at that moment and counted his presents immediately.

"Thirty-six," He said after a few minutes of his slow counting. "That's two less than last year." Wow, he's really spoiled I thought with a roll of my eyes and a look shared with Harry told me that he had the same thought; a great benefit of being twins, we can practically read each other's mind.

"Darling," Petunia started. I hate when she starts with all his nicknames. "You haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, its here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy."

"All right, thirty-seven then," Uh-oh, Dudley's turning red. Harry and I glanced at each other before shoving our food down our throats. Whenever Dudley throws a tantrum, he flings anything in sight.

"And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?" Ugh, you mean I basically shoved food down my throat for no reason? So unfair. After we finished eating breakfast Harry, Uncle Vernon, and I watched Dudley open his presents. He got a gold watch, a racing bike (why he wants it is beyond me), a video camera, new computer games, a remote control airplane, and a VCR. Aunt Petunia was in the kitchen answering a phone call.

"Bad news Vernon," Aunt Petunia said as she walked through the doorway with a sour expression. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take them." She jerked her head toward where we're sharing an armchair. We felt a surge of hope rush through us, if Mrs. Figg broken her leg then maybe Harry and I can have peace and quiet in the house by ourselves. "Now what?" Aunt Petunia asked with a harsh glare in our direction. Yeah, as if it's our fault. I might pay Mrs. Figg a visit but only a quick one, her cats are a bit annoying. While our aunt and uncle discussed where to keep us while they go on Dudley's birthday trip, Harry and I shared another glance and started to talk.

"You could always leave us here." We suggested. We tend to talk together sometimes. Aunt Petunia didn't take to this lightly.

"And what, find the house in ruins?" She acted like we'd actually…okay like Harry would actually let me do that. They considered taking us with them but Dudley started fake crying and babbled about how we ruin everything. Yeah, how do we do that when we barely go anywhere with you? He has to work on his crying too; he just looks like a wrinkly tomato. The doorbell rang and Dudley stopped whatever it was he was trying to do. That would be his friend (or more like his lackey), Piers Polkiss and his mother. He's a bony kid, with a face like a rat, he was the one that held people back as Dudley beats them. Now I really don't want to go.

But when has it ever matter as to what I want?


Half hour later and I'm in the car with Harry, Dudley, Piers, Aunt Petunia, and Uncle Vernon. I kept my tank top and sweater but changed into a pair of jeans that I managed to fix into my size (they were hemmed and I wear them because I knew how much they annoy my aunt and uncle) and Harry was wearing a t-shirt that was much too big for him and jeans he kept up with a belt. I'm just happy Harry and Dudley separated me from Piers. We were stuck in traffic for a while and laid my head on Harry to catch up on my sleep. Well, I would have had Uncle Vernon not start complaining about whatever his choice of the day was. Usually it's about Harry and I but this time it was motorcycles, which remind us about our dream.

"We had a dream about a motorcycle, it was flying." We said together and bumped our heads on the seat as Uncle Vernon stepped on the brakes abruptly.

"MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!" He shouted at us with his face scrunching up and turning a rather scary shade of red.

"We know they don't," Harry started.

"It was just a dream." I finished and moved closer to Harry out of fear. Yeah, I'm not bold and Harry loves to live up to the big brother role.

I suppose the zoo wasn't as bad in the beginning; Harry and I each got a cheap lemon pop (after the nice ice cream lady saw us before our uncle and aunt can hide us), shared a knickerbocker glory (after Dudley complained about it not having enough ice cream), and managed not to get beat up or chased. We entered the reptile house at our own pace as Dudley and Piers shoved past us to check out the biggest and deadliest snake in the exhibit. It was sleeping and Dudley started whining to his father.

"Leave it alone, it's sleeping." Harry told them I just looked at the snake and wondered if it would bite these people if I asked nicely. The snake immediately opened its eyes and raised its head until it met our eyes. And you wouldn't believe what it did next.

It winked.

Harry and I glanced at each other and (feeling very silly) winked back. The snake seemed to give us a gesture that plainly said:

"I get that all the time." We ended up having a conversation with him and learned that it's supposed to be in Brazil but instead was bred in captivity.

"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" A deafening yell came from behind us and I mentally cursed piers for having such an annoying voice. Dudley came over and pushed us both on the concrete floor.

I didn't really know what happened next but all I knew was how angry I was and next thing I knew the snake was slithering on the floor, Dudley was behind the glass, and the snake thanked us before leaving for Brazil. After everything ended the reptile house director made Aunt Petunia a strong cup of tea, apologized a million times, and we left after everyone calmed down.

In the car all Dudley and Piers talked about was how the snake tried to get them when all it really did was mess around with them by scaring them.

"Harry and Hermelinda were talking to the snake, weren't 'cha two?" Great, thanks Piers you just got us the punishment of our lifetime. Uncle Vernon managed to keep quiet until after we dropped off Piers and we got home. But when we did he grabbed both of us and threw us in our cupboard for our punishment. We were to stay in our cupboard until he lets us out. Sounds more like child cruelty to me.


I wished Harry or I had a watch. I have no idea how long we've been stuck here. We just lay down and left to our own thoughts. I was thinking how badly our lives been. We lived here ten years since birth, we didn't know our parents (Aunt Petunia said they died in a car crash but we get a dream of green light and pain would come to our foreheads, no one in school wanted to befriend us (thanks to Dudley's gang), and we knew of no other family besides the Dursley's.

Can you say "screwed-up life"?

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, this is an OC/George story but he's not here yet so that ruins everything. (T-T) This is my first try at Harry Potter so please review! More reviews equal more chapters and happy Chibi-chan!