This is my very first fanfiction, so bear with me. If you have any comments, don't be afraid to review, even if it's a negative one

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter (I wish I was that awesome…)

Chapter 1: a very surprising birthday

'Wake up!' said my aunt Petunia as she rapped on the door of my closet. My brother, Harry, sleeps in the cupboard under the stairs. I used to sleep there as well, until we got to big. Uncle Vernon made this closet so I would have a place to sleep.

My name, by the way, is Amber Lily Potter. My brother and I live with our aunt, uncle and cousin, Dudley, because our parents died in a car crash when we were one year old.

I hear my aunt rapping on my brother's door. 'Get up! You need to take care of the bacon. Duddy's friends will be here soon and he can't be hungry!'

When I hear aunt Petunia go to the kitchen, I get up, take my cloths and go to the bathroom to change and comb my hair. I have wavy red hair and unlike my brother's messy jet black hair, it's usually fine, even when I just came out of bed. My cloths aren't fashionable, like those most of my classmates wear, but at least I don't have to wear hand-me-downs from Dudley like Harry has to. As I'm a girl, my aunt buys worn, second-hand cloths for me, but I don't really care.

When I get downstairs, I see Harry distributing the bacon. 'How many presents are there?' demands Dudley, my spoilt, fat, cousin. He always enjoys seeing Harry and me in pain. He's the school bully and takes every chance he gets to bully us. 'Thirty-six, I counted them myself.' answers my uncle. 'Thirty-six? But last year I had thirty-seven!' 'Yes, but this year your presents are bigger.' 'I don't care!' Dudley screams. 'I want more presents!' 'Ok, how about we buy two new presents whet we're at the zoo?' aunt Petunia asks. She just cant bear to se her sweet little Duddykins sad. It's pathetic.

As Harry and I finish our toast, we hear the doorbell ring and aunt Petunia opening the door. We see Dudley's best friends, Piers Polkiss and Darren Kendrick, come in.

To my surprise, though, I also saw Darren's younger sister, Mila, enter. She gave me a little smile and quickly turned away.

Mila was my friend, kind of. We hang out together, but we made sure Dudley and Darren didn't know, because she would become their next target. It had been my idea, but apparently she decided we should be more open with our friendship, as Darren and Dudley would be off to Smeltings next year, while Mila, Harry and I would be going to the state school.

Strange thing is: Darren is about a year older than Mila, still they're in the same year in school. That's because Darren was born at the end of September and Mila was born eleven months later, at the end of august. Their parents don't pay much attention to them, so when Mila said she wanted to go to the state school instead of a more expensive privet school, her parents agreed.

'Mila, what are you doing here?' uncle Vernon asked. 'I wanted to come as well and my parents said I could. Oh, and they wanted me to tell you Mrs. Figg broke her leg, so she won't be able to take them,' she pointed to Harry and me,'today.' Mila and Darren lived next to Mrs. Figg, the old woman who always took care of Harry and me whenever our aunt, uncle and cousin went out to do something fun. 'Oh, no.' complained uncle Vernon. 'We could just leave them at the house or in the car.' aunt Petunia proposed. 'No, they will burn the house down. And I'm not leaving them in the car! It's brand new!' Uncle Vernon thought for a moment, than said: 'I guess we just have to take them with us.' he sighed.

Dudley, however, didn't agree with that at all. 'No, they can't come! They'll ruin everything!' 'No, they won't. We will make sure of that.' uncle Vernon said, wile glaring at us.

When we went to the car, uncle Vernon warned us not to do anything that would ruin Dudley's special day and we went off to the zoo.

When we arrived, we visited all animals, before stopping at the reptile house. Dudley was trying to get the snake to move, but it didn't work. Idiot. After a while he became bored and started bothering other animals in the reptile house. Harry and I stayed behind and looked at the snake.

'Annoying, isn't it, to have people staring at you the whole day.' Harry said to us, but the snake suddenly nodded. What the hell? Snakes don't nod. 'You can hear me?' Harry exclaimed, surprised. The snake nodded again. 'Where are you from?' I asked as I got over my surprise. The snake pointed towards a sign that said: Boa Constrictor, Brazil. 'Brazil? Is it nice there?' Harry went on. I nudged Harry. 'You have to read the entire thing, dummy. It sais: Bred in captivity.' 'Oh.' I laughed at that comment, because it was just so Harry.

'DAD, LOOK AT WHAT THE SNAKE IS DOING!' Dudley suddenly shouted and I turned around just fast enough to see Dudley charge at Harry and me before he knocked us over. He pressed his nose to the glass and suddenly both Harry and I got angry. Then the glass just vanished and Dudley fell into the water.

The snake got out and slithered over the floor to Harry and me. 'Thanks.' we heard the snake say as it left the reptile house. We were stunned for a second, then we smiled. Unfortunately, uncle Vernon turned around and saw us. We were in big trouble.

'What the hell happened! Mila asked me as the zoo workers helped my aunt and uncle with Dudley. 'I don't know.' I replied honestly. 'All I know is Dudley pushed us aside, we became mad and the glass just disappeared.' 'Wait, you became mad?' Mila asked incredulously. 'Since when do you get mad?' – Ok, hold it right there. I forgot to tell you something. I know redheads are usually very short tempered, but I'm living proof that's just a stereotype. However, my aunt and uncle only think it makes me even more of a freak. Arg, annoying. If I get mad they punish me and if I don't get mad they punish me. WHAT DO THEY WANT!

Anyway, Mila asked me why I suddenly got mad. I replied: 'You know why, they messed with Harry.' Even with my easily controlled temper, I didn't accept it when anyone messed with my twin. Mila nodded she understood. 'It's still strange, though. The glass just disappeared, it didn't even shatter!' 'I know, it's like…' I didn't get to finish that sentence, because my uncle came back out, looking furious. I know better than to talk when he is in a fowl mood like this.

When we got home, our uncle kept his word and locked both Harry and me up in our 'rooms'. They only opened the doors for two meagre meals a day. I sighed. Our life at home was bad, but life at school was almost worse. We got enough food, yes, but everyone bullied us. Harry because of his baggy clothes and broken glasses, me because of my worn, second-hand clothes. It probably wouldn't have been that big of a problem, but Dudley was the leader of the school bullies. He bullied us, thus everyone else bullied us. They knew better than to get on Dudley's wrong side. I just wished next year would be better because at least school would be Dudley-free.

Well, I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think!